Gensomaden Saiyuki Fan Fiction ❯ Stand Here With Me ❯ The Beginning of the End ( Chapter 1 )

Warnings: Character death, angst galore, angst!Goku, heavy themes on death, and mild language. (no shounen-ai for now, but there might be later on.)

Pairings: Mainly 93 and 89. Hints of 58 and 95, and a smidge of 83 and 53.

A/N: Blargh, first Saiyuki fanfic. Hope it's not too bad, and hope the characters aren't too OOC. Title named after CREED's song "Stand Here With Me". Song fits the story somewhat. Or the lyrics do, at least. ::shrugs::

Disclaimer: No, like plenty of other writers on Fanfiction.net, I do not own Saiyuki, nor did I create it. Minekura Kazuya is the one to credit and wub. ;) Oh, I'm...not apart of CREED, either. I don't even think I know the first thing about music to tell ya the truth...

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For such a melancholy day, the weather had a surprisingly warm temperature. Light from the sun above the woods gave the leaves sheen as though it were intended to be a day of celebration. But how can one celebrate if a close friend has just passed away?

This frustrated Goku. To see nature happy and bright, yet at such an inappropriate time. Sanzou, who had known for oh so many years, was now dead. But how? How could such a strong monk simply die? Sanzou had endured the stab in the gut from Rikudo as well as the fatal sting from that female youkai, so couldn't he endure death? These thoughts wouldn't leave the saru's mind as he stared at Sanzou's grave, his golden eyes refusing to wander off a site other than the grave. Everytime he even slightly did, he could feel his eyes stinging, as though his eyes were doing this on their own as a way to prevent him from looking away from the grave. This was fine with Goku, because he wanted to look at nothing but the grave.

Even as he heard Hakkai behind him say, "It's time to go now, Goku," not a single muscle in his body twitched with the urge to leave. He felt Hakkai's fingers grasp onto his shoulders, as he gently shook him to wake up from the "staring spell" the grave had cast upon him.

"Don't worry, Goku," said Hakkai, "We'll visit Sanzou again tomorrow, and stay for a longer time..."

Goku still didn't budge. He couldn't possibly leave the grave of Sanzou. It felt as though it were almost his duty to stay by Sanzou's grave, to keep his slumbering spirit company. To make Hakkai get the point, he walked close to the stone grave, and wrapped his arms around it.

"Oh dear..." sighed Hakkai, "Goku...I promise, first thing tomorrow morning, we'll come back."

"I'm not leaving him," Goku finally answered, still refusing to make eye contact with Hakkai, "I can't leave him all alone here. Otherwise, he'll feel like I did when I was once imprisoned and all alone...I don't want him to feel like I once did..."

"Goku," said Gojyou, "Sanzou's a tough monk, and you know it. He knows how to deal with being alone. Plus, he knows you're going to visit him again, right? He's not an idiot."

"Unlike me..." murmured Goku.

"Please don't talk so negatively about yourself like that, Goku," said Hakkai, "I don't think it would make Sanzou very happy."

"But Sanzou's always said that I'm an idiot. Or why would he call me a 'baka saru' all the time? And you, Gojyou, even you call me that..."

"Goku, please," groaned Gojyou, "Now you really are being a baka saru to even take that so seriously. If you want proof that you aren't an idiot, you'll follow Hakkai and me home."

"I guess I must be a real idiot then...because I'm not going to leave."

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"Where's that damn lighter?" growled Gojyou, as he looked under the table for what felt like the tenth time.

If he didn't find the damn thing, he was surely going to explode from the overwhelming amount of frustration growing inside of him. If there was anything that could get his mind off of this awful day, it would be women, gambling, liquor, or smoking. And currently, the only resource in existence was smoking. But how could he get some inhaling and exhaling smoke done if he couldn't even light the thing? The matches had all been used, Hakuryuu was certainly not going to participate in being a lighter without frying Gojyou's face first, and so, in conclusion, there was no resource of use to light a damn cigarette.

Shit, what have I done to deserve a day like this? Gojyou then smirked at his error. Well, plenty.

Hakkai still hadn't come out from the room Goku was sleeping in. Gojyou assumed Hakkai's attempt at coaxing that stubborn monkey wasn't working out too well. Gojyou finally gave up looking for the lighter and arose from beneath the table, careful not to bump his head, and took a seat, his throat now lust for alcohol to cool his spirit down. Damn, did he ever feel sick today. Maybe it was because of the heat? Yeah, the heat'll do that. Had to be the heat...

No.

It was too quiet. Not to imply that he hadn't been through excessively quiet times like these. To Gojyou, there were two kinds of "quiet"-one was the simple, natural kind of quiet. The kind you usually experience when waking up in the middle of the night while everyone's asleep, with hardly any sounds in existence but the soft sound of your breathing and the creaking of your bed. The other was the negative kind of quiet. It was the type of quiet that was actually caused by something. And it was that cause that gave out the poignant atmosphere.

Gojyou immediately awoke from his pondering on the meaning of the word, "quiet", as soon as he heard the creaking from the door of Goku's bedroom open, and Hakkai step out.

"So how'd it go?" asked Gojyou the minute Hakkai came in, "Did the saru finally budge?"

Hakkai shook his head sadly, a weak smile still playing on his lips.

"What happened?"

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A/N: So there's chapter one for ya. Next chapter will most likely be a flashback of Hakkai's visit with everyone's favorite baka saru. Writing a story with your favorite character now dead isn't an easy task. :( Anyways, due please feel free to share your thoughts in your reviews! But also please refrain from flaming. I know I'm a n00b to writing Saiyuki fics and all, but don't make me feel worse about it. XD