Saiyuki Reload Fan Fiction / Saiyuki Reload Gunlock Fan Fiction / Gensomaden Saiyuki Fan Fiction ❯ Sea of stones ❯ Sea of Stones ( Chapter 1 )

Sea of stones

 

Disclaimer: Saiyuki is not my property and all I get from this is good mood.

Warning: Very implied shonen ai. Honestly, who would be shocked by it?

 

Crossing mountains was much nicer when it was a summer and the sky was clear and serene, like blue glass with only the faintest tint of white that appeared far on the horizon. Hakuryuu couldn't carry them up there but Hakkai enjoyed climbing to the summit all the same. The rest of their wayward group seemed to share this opinion; Gojyo, who didn't like extreme temperatures, preferred the cooler climate to the heatwave of the plains and Goku was happy everywhere he could get good meals and maybe some interesting fights. Sanzo was bitching how walking took time but that was nothing new. Hakkai enjoyed the slower pace anyway. It wasn't like the revival would have proceeded any further without Maten Sutra and the possibility someone could wrestle it from Sanzo was approximately zero.

“My, isn't the breeze nice?” he asked cheerfully and stretched. There was the sweetest scent of some fragrant hay, faint and still it filled the whole sky.

“Yeah, and the view's even nicer,” Gojyo agreed and gave their volunteered guide an appreciating look.

“I like the Shell cliff myself,” the girl said, the very picture of reality-defying oblivion. “It's a bit dark now but just wait till tomorrow morning. When the sun climbs to the sky the lake down there looks like the water was burning.” Hakkai ceased an eyebrow.

“May I ask why this place has such an unexpected name?” he asked. Wu Ling smiled hesitantly like she hadn't quite understood why Hakkai would think he couldn't.

“Uh, sure. Just walk around that stone,” she said and pointed an overhang behind Hakkai. Its edge was sharp and it was slightly darker than the rock face around it. Hakkai walked around it and stared. Then he smiled and reached out, letting his fingers run over stone and small shapes fossilised into it.

“I believe you should see this too. This is the most interesting phenomena,” he called to his companions. Goku was the first to get up and follow Hakkai; Sanzo only snorted and concentrated on his paper and Gojyo was dishing flirtatious comment on a row.

“Hee, Sanzo, you gotta see this! How did you get those into stone, Ling-san?” Goku babbled and dragged Sanzo with him despite the stinging strike of harisen that followed.

“Ow! That hurts! Come on now!

“This is so stupid and so are you!”

Still the view made him cease his protests and Ling gently pulled Gojyo along with her.

There were six seashells petrified into the stone. They were huge, about the size of Gojyo's fist and still they gave the impression of fragility.

“Isn't it beautiful?” Ling asked proudly like she had carven them into the stone herself.

“Huh, sure,” Gojyo said and touched one spiral carefully, like fearing his hands would do what erosion was incapable of. “Why you carved them into it here in the middle of nowhere?”

“We didn't,” Ling said and smiled smugly. “Would you like to know?” she asked with a cheerful sing-song voice.

“I have read of this.” Hakkai told them. “This,” he said and waved his hands on a large circle, “was once below the sea.” Gojyo dropped his cigar and Goku's eyes widened.

“You are kiddin', right? It can't be!” he exclaimed and looked around like expecting to see the nonexistent sea and then looked down to the little lake. Hakkai chuckled to the face he made.

“Ah, but I assure you it is true. Even the bones of earth are not eternal. During millions and millions of years the sea fled and the mountains rose from the flat ground. Those seashells are ages old fossils. That means, dead petrified bivalves.” Goku's golden eyes were now large like little plates, almost illuminating and so very inhuman. Ling swallowed little and looked away.

“Like a sea of stones, huh?” Gojyo asked. Hakkai gave him a small amused smile.

“Really, sometimes I'm sure you only pretend to be rough. You obviously have the soul of a poet.” Gojyo blushed and stuttered something about saying things like they seemed. Goku had no idea why his fiery-haired sparring partner was so embarrassed but new insults were always welcome.

“Gojyo is a poet!” he screamed and poked Gojyo.

“You little brat!” Gojyo screamed and attempted to strangle him. And the mood was ruined.

“Stupid to make so much of it. Just shells in the mountain face,” Sanzo grunted and turned around to return to their camp. He didn't look back but Hakkai could tell even he had found the shells enticing.

“That's what scholars say,” Ling told Hakkai and it took a moment from him to realise she didn't comment Sanzo's words but his. “We have a tale of them though.”

“What kind of tale?” Gojyo asked and gave her a dashing smile. Ling blushed the tiniest bit.

“Once upon a time, when the lake was greater there was a citadel on the bottom of it. It was habituated by a clan of kappas, who caused mischief and destruction all around the prefecture. They seduced townswomen and drowned their children and all men who were bold enough to try and fish on the lake. The prayers of desperate peasants reached the Heaven and the Heavenly Emperor sent the Toushin Taishi to execute the clan.” Ling paused and slid her fingers through her black locks. The good narrator always made their listeners wait a bit.

“What happened then?” Goku asked and all but writhed on the stone he had sit down on. Ling's smile was only very slightly patronizing.

“The Toushin Taishi Nataku approached their citadel and challenged them. He killed them all and the humans were happy. But hardly had the god had enough time to return to Heaven when the water youkais were born again as snakes and they bit the farmers and many died. Again they prayed and The Emperor sent Toushin Taishi again and he killed all the snakes. But again they incarnated as snakes, greater and with poison that burned like flames and even those who only touched the skin of a dead snake died painfully. By then the emperor was sick of the whole ordeal so he told Toushin Taishi Nataku to kill the snakes, gather their souls, seal them inside seashells and turn the sells into stone.”

“Whoa, really?” Goku asked and looked the shells with awe. Then his face darkened.

“That sucks,” he exclaimed. His cell had at least been larger than those little dead bivalves.

“Was that the end of the tale?” Hakkai asked hastily to banish the surprised thoughts of their guide.

“Ah, not. They say that on a summer nights like this a traveller can sometimes see beautiful people on places like this, holding candles and they beg whoever approaches them to hammer at the stone and free them so they could continue to the afterlife and they promise to fulfil one wish of the person who does that, whatever they wish for. One should not do it though.” Goku looked confused.

“Why not?” he asked eagerly.

“Nothing good can come of it. Once there was a man who tried. “Ling continued. “He was in love with the most beautiful girl of his village but the girl had given her heart to another. So one night he climbed to the mountains and searched till he found one shell and he hammered the mountain face till it crushed and the shell fell to the ground. Suddenly there was a beautiful young woman standing beside him and she promised smiling that before the next dawn the heart of his beloved would be his. He returned to his village and hardly had he shut the door when he already heard a knock. He hasted to open the door but there was no one to be seen. He came out and then stepped on something soft and warm. It was the heart of the girl he loved.”

“Shit happens,” was Gojyo's judgement. “Shouldn't mix magic with love.”

And that was pretty much the end of it. Goku approached later Sanzo nervously and fidgeted. He had even left one cucumber roll on his plate. Unfortunately his nervousness made his feet tangle on the ropes of Sanzo and him fall over his sun.

“Uh, Sanzo…”

“It was just a stupid tale. Nothing more,” the priest replied angrily. “And it was no reason to burden me!” And then he smacked the earth monkey on the head several times.

“Oh, good,” Goku said and returned to finish his share of the meal. Gojyo snickered.

“The monkey is easily comforted. So you were listening!” A vein popped on Sanzo's forehead.

“I couldn't not listen, the girl was so loud!” The barrel of his banishing gun kept Gojyo from teasing him more.

“Why we needed a fucking guide anyway?” Sanzo muttered darkly. Hakkai beamed.

“Because this mountain is a maze of little paths. We could waste a month or even more if we just walked around.” And soon after that they curled into their blankets and slept. But Hakkai found his sleep was restless. He woke up just before the dawn. The horizon was like a thin iron wire that had been heated until it shone red. He was about to try and get little more sleep before Sanzo would told them to get up and continue travelling when a tiny red shine behind the overhang caught his attention. He stared it disbelievingly and stood up carefully to not disturb his companions' sleep. Then he slowly walked to the little fire.

There was no beautiful woman asking him to free her, only a single candle that had almost burned down. The dim light of the candle and the morning was enough to illuminate shallow characters on the candlestick and the mystery was solved. It seemed Ling's parents hadn't given her a name that meant spiritual for nothing. Hakkai turned to return to his bed when the sun rose over the horizon and the sight caught Hakkai's breath. The little pretty mountain lake wasn't just pretty anymore; the water truly seemed to burn with scarlet flames. Like the hair of his halfbreed companion that slept only few steps away. Hakkai walked to him silently and pressed his palm on Gojyo's mouth. When Gojyo opened hi eyes Hakkai pressed his forefinger to his lips and suggested wordlessly Gojyo to follow him.

“Amazing, huh?” Gojyo whispered and Hakkai nodded. It truly was. There was Gojyo and there was the lake but he still spared a side glance to the overhang behind them.

“Make a wish?” he asked silently from himself and then shook his head. “Not worth the risk,” he decided and sis habitual smile was peppered with a tinge of dry self-irony.

“Did ya say somethin'?” Gojyo asked. Hakkai shook his head again.

“Nothing,” he said.