A SAIYUKI FAN FICTION

By NAGA

Disclaimer: This fanfic is based on Saiyuki by Minekura Kazuya. There is no profit to be made and no copyright infringement was intended.

Ratings : PG13 (I think ^^;, violence, no adult content, sorry folks ; )

Timeline : The story starts before Genjo Sanzo’s first meeting with Son Gokuu

Spoiler : A tiny bit - mostly from the Shuen story line

BINDING FATE

PART 2

Sanzo leant against the boulder with a sigh, letting his travel sack drop to the ground. His shoulder ached where the sack had rubbed against it. His feet hurt. His back sent twinges of pain up his nerves, warning him against pushing healing muscles too far.

He set aside his walking staff and uncapped the bamboo water container, dribbling precious water on chapped lips. This high up, the air was not just cold, it was also bone-dry. His body was crying for moisture and his lungs crying for easier air to breathe. The thin mountain air insidiously sapped the strength out of his body and the cold made it shiver continuously in a losing effort to keep warm.

Ten days, he thought tiredly. Still nothing yet. The peak loomed above him, seeming close enough to touch in the clear air, but in fact still a long journey away. The vegetation had dropped away as he climbed, trees replaced by sparse bushes, to be replaced by moss and lichen growing on stones. Animals had disappeared even faster, leaving only the occasional lizards and other small reptiles, and of course the birds wheeling high in the sky. But even the latter had turned scarce now, the only birds capable and willing to live this high the vast-winged predators that preferred the craggy heights.

He had searched the mountain as he climbed, keeping his senses alert for any whiff of youki. He was still quite unsure whether the phantom voice he had heard came from the same youkai that had attacked him, or from someone else altogether. Lately as he thought about it, the second possibility seemed more likely - the phantom voice did not feel malevolent, even though it was eerie as hell. He did not believe in the whole powerful-youkai-trapped-for-centuries crap legend -- but something was calling for him. And although the voice never resurfaced with as much strength as it did in his dreams, there was a kind of pull that drew him onward. Drew him to this mountain.

So he climbed, risking limbs and life wandering along treacherous mountain paths, half-expecting to be ambushed by wild animals or worse at any moment. And was actually disappointed when no one-armed youkai jumped out of the bushes at him. It would have simplified a lot of things, and he always did prefer a more straight-forward approach.

As each day yielded nothing, his search took him higher, higher, until here he was, in the middle of stony wasteland where nothing but rocks existed. The gravel-strewn path he had followed up was a small, narrow path carved into the mountain side that must be a natural channel for melting snow during spring time. The footing had become more treacherous the higher up he went, and he seriously considered turning back and searching the lower grounds.

He had grown to hate the cold, and he was tired of waking up with aches from unforgiving hard ground. The latter normally would not bother him, but bruised flesh and half-healed wounds were not so impervious against unyielding rock.

He wanted off this mountain. He wanted, if not soft bed, then at least grassy soil to lay his body down on. He wanted air that did not parched his throat going down. And he wanted decent food that would yield to his teeth and burst into flavor in his mouth, instead of travel biscuits that were as hard as his walking stick and taste about as good.

Just one more day, he promised himself, glancing at the western sky and the falling globe of yellow sun. The sky will fall dark in another two hours or so. If there was still nothing to be found, then he would turn back. And cussed the old woman out for sending him on this wild goose chase.

He re-tied his travel sack across his chest and leant on his walking stick. The stones underneath crunched and shifted alarmingly. He had to concentrate so hard on his footing that he did not see the cave until it was literally on top of him.

Sanzo halted, gazing up the mountain side. The path he was following took a steep turn here, meandering up the stone surface and passing beside a natural plateau in front of the cave, before continuing in a steep climb almost straight up the mountain side.

End of the road. There was no way a human could climb that kind of slope. By this point, he was almost relieved. He took a cursory glance at the cave, more out of habit than real expectation to find anything. Took a second glance at the unusual stone formations that grew down from the top of the small cave to the floor. They took the shape of vertical bars that were more than three times as thick as his wrist. The roughness of the growth seemed to indicate a natural origin and he might have left it at that, when his eyes caught sight of something yellow against grey stone.

His gaze fixed on it, and his heart did a sudden back-flip as he recognized it. It was so incongruous that he stared at it for a long while before he could confirm what it was.

A fuda.

“What the…” Sanzo breathed.

He took a few steps closer. There were more, he found. Patches of yellow contrasting against the stone, looking like fungus growth until he looked at them more closely.

The wind blew across the mountain side, rasping on gravel and whirling small particles of dust into the air.

......

Sanzo shivered. Turned around, trying vainly to deny the origin of the call.

.…..< >…...

He slowly faced the cave. Squinted, trying to see into the darkness. But the light was failing and the shadow inside the cave was far too dark.

Was there really something in there?

...<here>...

He gritted his teeth. Oh, hell. Why not? He had climbed all the way here, after all.

He dropped his pack and his stick, wanting his hands free for whatever might happen next. Climbed the steep incline to the cave, and took long strides towards the stone bar, ignoring the clenching of his stomach.

He could now make out the markings of the fuda sealed to the bars. The ancient words crawled incomprehensibly across the yellowish paper. He recognized none of them, but this close their power raised goose flesh all over his skin. Strong. Damn strong seal. Each one of those would be at least ten times as powerful than the 'Curse of Araya', the most powerful of its kind the order have in existence. They were slapped haphazardly all over the bars and on what little of the cave walls he could see.

And finally, a faint whiff of youki tickled his senses. But it was so weak, muted somehow, that he would have missed it had he not been specifically looking for it.

A few more steps and he was almost flush against the bars. The cave was not that deep after all, less than ten meters and half again as wide. Only the shadows had made it impenetrable.

And he could see... there. Against the far wall. What had only been a darker shade of black before.

He saw...

...a boy.

He shook his head, and...

...and the boy looked up...

...gazed at him with brilliant inhuman golden eyes...

Even as he stared in disbelief, that voice that was not a voice, the voice that he had followed all the way here despite all logic and rationals sighed once again....

...<you're here...finally>...

***

Those eyes were staring back at him. Wide, wide pools of molten gold set in a dirty and scuffed face of a boy who was not a boy. The hair was long and as scruffy as a wild animal's fur, and the clothes were encrusted with dust and threadbare in places. A glint of gold on the forehead drew Sanzo’s attention. A circlet, one that he belatedly recognized as a youkai limiter. So that was why he nearly missed the youki completely.

There were other restraints on him. Manacles circled his wrists and ankles, another one on his throat, connected by thick chains to a large ball of what looked like iron. The chains reeked of binding spells, the aura another layer among the many that smothered this small cave.

And the boy smells of... not the usual sour smell of dry sweat an unwashed body gave off, but of dry dust and cold stone walls. It was as if he had absorbed the smell of the cave walls that made up the cell, as if he had stayed here long enough to...

Sanzo pulled his racing thoughts back with difficulty. The boy was still staring fixedly at him. The gaze was so completely focused on him, it was starting to feel unnerving. He had not blinked once.

He had to say something. After all, there was a reason he dragged himself across the forest and all the way up this gods-forsaken mountain. Memory came back of the persistent callings - the repetitive, unceasing, thrice-damned annoying voice that would not let him do anything other than follow it here...

And with that, his temper flared up.

"Oy."

The golden eyes blinked. Once. Twice.

He repeated more forcefully, building up to a major explosion. "Oy!"

"...eh...?"

That's it? He scowled in irritation. That was pathetic. Was this really the powerful youkai demon the old crone was talking about?

"...Are you the one who's been calling me?"

"...eh?"

Sanzo could hear his teeth grinding together. One more chance. If he says 'eh' one more time, I'll shoot him.

"I said - were you the one who called me?"

The boy's mouth worked, but no sound came out.

He's going to say that damn word again, Sanzo thought morbidly. Just shoot me now. What is he, a retard? Just his luck, all the way here and he got himself a senile lunatic who could not even...

"...I... I didn't... call you..."

Sanzo cocked his head, quickly revising his opinion. That had been articulate, even if the voice had sounded rusty, as if it was unaccustomed to talking. And the intonation was strange.

"No...?"

The boy - youkai, he reminded himself irritably, whoever heard of humans with golden eyes? - shook his head. Maybe the shock of seeing someone else had finally worn off, but all of a sudden he looked...forlorn. As if the he was just now beginning to understand that the person standing in front of him had come looking for someone, and that someone was not him.

Forlorn, and... lonely. Golden eyes or no, he looked human. A rather exceptionally scruffy example of it, but human. And with very human emotions now flowing across what had become a startlingly expressive face.

"Ano...who are you?"

Sanzo stared at him. The youkai-boy sounded sincerely confused. He certainly looked confused. Either that, or he was a very good actor. And if he did not call him...

The phantom voice chose that moment to re-appear, sighing its call across his heart.

...<here>...

And his temper snapped.

"Don't lie to me!" The youkai-boy shrank away from him, eyes widening to the size of small saucers. "Do you have any idea how noisy you are? How annoying it is?"

He was about to launch into a tirade almost a month in the making when his gaze locked with those huge golden eyes, and the strangest thing happened.

He could see inside him - this strange youkai who looked and felt more human than even a human. Those eyes had no barriers, no walls that people naturally built up over the years. They were as clear and honest as a babe's, and he could see so clearly...

...confusion, shock, fear...

....and eagerness, a yearning, and something too small and unformed to even be called hope...

His breath caught.

…all because for perhaps more years than he could remember, someone actually came to this dreary mountain top, someone he could talk to and listen to, someone who could understand his words...

...someone who could, no matter how short a time it would be, be with him and help him take away some of the loneliness he must had felt, trapped here all alone where not even birds would ventured so high...

He did not want to know this. This strange flash of understanding, the loneliness that was almost crushing in its weight but was frighteningly familiar. It called to his own with the feel of intimacy that made him distinctly uncomfortable.

He opened his mouth to say what, he could not have said. Something, anything to break this unwanted connection. And stopped, remembering.

The voice that was not a voice…

...his teacher, the true Genjo Sanzo, standing by the tree, the autumn foliage falling like red rain around him, smiling...

..."because you kept on calling me, Koryu...that’s why…

...maybe one day, you will hear it, too... that voice that was not a voice at all..."

Oshou-sama...

Sanzo closed his eyes. Teacher, was this what you had meant? What is this? I didn't understand it then. I still don't. He looked back at the boy and felt his chest tightening and twisting in what was even worse than fear.

What if I'm wrong? What if this wasn't it? How could it be?

His teacher's smile, serene and with that gentle hint of irreverent humor.

And what if it is, Koryu?

Twisting and churning. It was getting harder to breathe. The boy was still looking at him, that rapt gaze fixed on him like a lifeline. Who was the one holding the lifeline, he wondered.

He could turn back now. Just walk back down the path and never looked back. Forget all about this. After all, there must be a good reason why this youkai-boy was sealed up at the top of a mountain, with spells made to last until the end of the world if necessary. A grievous crime, the old crone had said. Committed against heaven itself, and punished for it. The punishment must had fit the crime.

He had no obligations here. It had nothing at all to do with him.

He should leave.

Except that he was sure the boy's golden eyes would be following him down the trail, would keep on watching until he disappeared into the distance. And he would watch for hours, for days, or even for weeks - for what was time in this timeless prison made by the gods?

And until he, Genjo Sanzo, had lived his life and turned to dust, this youkai sealed forever in a boy's body would still be here. Still watching the road that trailed up the mountain and remembering the human that no longer existed. And that loneliness that was the prison for the heart and mind would stretch on into the centuries.

Oh, gods... I must be out of my mind.

He took one step closer to the bars. A corner of his mind was yammering frantically at him - what in the name of nine hells are you thinking? You’re making a huge mistake, stop, stop -

Except that he was not thinking. Not really. His body was moving of its own volition. And his heart...

He saw his own hand moved up, moved past the bars, the powerful fuda not affecting his human body. Saw the hand stretched to its length and stopped, palm turned up - heard his own lips moving to form the words -

"I can't stand you, your calls."

...<here>...

"So...come."

...<find me>...

"I'll take you with me."

And the luminous eyes were staring at him - fear, disbelief, suspicion... but that tiny spark of something that was not yet hope bloomed in their depth... and it rose like a tide to sweep everything away...

The boy was moving, shuffling on his knees, the chains scraping and rattling on the uneven floor. Closer, on palms and knees in front of the offered palm, the small upturned face lit up by the setting sun. He stopped.

And raised one bound hand, slowly, hesitantly, as if afraid Sanzo was a mirage that would disappear when touched -

...their fingers touched, the long slender human fingers and the sharp-clawed youkai's...

...the fuda flashed a muted gold, yellowed papers dissolving into nothingness...

...and the chain that shackled the boy's wrist crumbled to dust along with the rest, dissipating into the wind without a sound...

...<found you at last>..

That voice sighed one last time and it called him by name, his name yet not his - strange yet familiar - and fell silent with a sense of finality.

He stood there with the setting sun shining behind him and the boy kneeling in front of him, their hands linked together.

And far away from the mortal world, the wheel of fate spun in its eternal cycle - and two threads long separated meet once again to be woven into one.

***

The moment the binding spells had broken, Sanzo had snatched his hand away. The youkai boy made a sound, fingers reaching for his retreating hand, eyes mutely beseeching.

Sanzo stood there, trying to understand what had happened, still reeling from what he had just done. The spells… he had not even thought of them, had not even considered that they might stop him from what he was trying to do.

And they should have. It did not make sense that they had just… dissolved like that. What kind of idiot made binding spells this powerful that would just up and disappear the moment someone touched it?

Sanzo took a shuddering breath. Nothing made sense. The phantom voice’s final call disturbed him greatly - because at that moment there was a flash of feeling, of almost understanding some mystery just out of reach. A mystery that he had not realized existed, and one that his mind shied away from contemplating.

The youkai boy stared at him imploringly from between the stone bars, face and body pressed as hard against the barrier as he could manage.

One thing that he knew, the mystery was linked to this caged boy in front of him.

Well, then…

He cocked his head, spoke in his most bored tone. “Oy. Are you going to stay there forever?”

“Eh?”

The obiqutous ‘eh’ again. Sanzo gritted his teeth. “Even if you’re one hell of a sorry-looking youkai, a simple stone bar shouldn’t be able to stop you. Unless you want to stay there.”

The boy stared at him, eyes widening in astonishment.

“Fine!” Sanzo turned abruptly and started walking away. “Whatever. I’m not staying in this miserable place. Do anything you like.”

“…wait!”

Sanzo glanced back. “Hurry up.”

He watched through his eyelashes as the boy tentatively gripped a bar in each hand. His fingers could not quite circle the thick bars all the way around. Saw him strained against them experimentally. Dust and bits of stones flaked down from where the bars grew down from the cave ceiling.

The boy stopped, a strange look on his face. Released one hand from the bar and balled it into a fist.

He smashed the fist on the stone bar.

A deep cracking sound and the stone bar shattered into thousand shards, pieces of it spattering the ground near Sanzo’s feet.

Another fist. A second bar smashed apart. Then the boy was standing, gazing at him past the gap in the prison that had confined him for who knew how long.

And took one step across the threshold.

Sanzo knew exactly when the realization of his freedom hit him. The head turned up, face chasing after the rays of setting sun that fell from above. And it kept tilting back, back, until he was looking up at the clear blue sky of autumn. Hands that had hung forgotten lifted to the side, spreading, stretching. And he spun, spinning on his feet, once, twice - and a clear sound, high and strong, burst out of him. Laughter, full with wild, unbridled joy.

Sanzo watched in fascination, drawn in despite himself. There was just something so pure about this undiluted joy - it slipped past his defenses and touched him to the quick. He started when the boy swung his eyes back to him. The small, dusty face was filled with a grin so huge it seemed liable to split his whole face in two. The boy gave a whoop, and broke into a run, leaping and bounding on the treacherous ground as if it was flat pavement, speeding past Sanzo without a glance.

Sanzo stared at the diminishing back, moving at a remarkable clip. Obviously the imprisonment had not impaired any reflexes or stamina. He was astonished to find himself feeling a pang of loss, an irrational and totally unacceptable feeling that was swiftly and ruthlessly squashed. Attributed it to the loss of a possible answer to the mystery.

But... just as well.

One did not seal an ordinary youkai with this kind of care. Powerful beings had been involved, and when they realized their precious cell had been breached and the prisoner gone, they would be sure to come looking for some answers. Sanzo was not afraid of troubles, but neither was he suicidal. It was just as well that he withdrew himself from this mess as early as possible.

He retrieved his belongings from where he had left it down the path, and trudged down the track at a distinctly slower pace than the youkai boy. The sun was falling fast, and he cursed long and feelingly at the prospect of spending another freezing night bedding on hard, rocky surface.

The whole unfruitful side-track did not bear thinking about. Now that it had become painfully obvious the youkai who had attacked him was someone else, the thought of re-searching the mountain range and forest for the correct youkai made him feel vaguely ill. And the thought that he had whipped his ass climbing this gods-damned mountain for nothing made him downright homicidal. Sure, the annoying voice had stopped. But right now he was bone tired and cranky and the fruit of his fucking labor, whatever it was, had just ran off without a word of thanks.

I want to kill someone. He thought grimly. I really, really want to kill someone. If this is the gods’ idea of a joke, I hope someone is choking on it up there.

And maybe the gods answered him or decided to punish him for his blasphemous thoughts, because right then, something thumped on the boulder beside him. He spun around in shock, only to come face to face with bright, golden eyes.

The youkai boy.

Before Sanzo could register the sudden arrival, the boy had bounded down beside him and snagged one sleeve with both hands, beaming up at him so hard his eyes were mere slits of gold.

“What are you doing?!” Sanzo tried vainly to pull his sleeve away, and almost succeeded in tearing holes in his robe. The boy had sharp nails, and they were sunk well and deep into the weavings.

“Go. Let’s… go,” the boy declared happily.

Sanzo stared. “What makes you think you’re coming with me?!” He tried once again to pry himself off, with as little success. “Temee…!! I have nothing to do with you. I don’t want anything to do with you. Go away. Do whatever you do, I don’t care, as long as… Are you listening to me?”

A happy grin was his answer.

Helplessly. “You…”

Another pull on the sleeve. “Iku…yo.”

Sanzo’s mouth opened, closed. Tried again. “Do you understand what I’m saying or not?”

The face that turned to him was solemn, earnest. “Go… together. I’ll go… with you.”

“You are not… oh hell, I give up.” He glumly resumed walking, one youkai boy clinging to his sleeve. “Sukinishiro-yo!”

The steps beside him faltered suddenly. Royally pissed off, Sanzo twisted around to give the vacillating piece of baggage a well-deserved tounge-lashing.

The boy was staring up the incline at the cave. The sun was failing now, and the shadows were smothering it, enveloping the mountain-side. The mobile face was somber, the eyes darkening with too many emotions to count.

Sanzo stilled his tongue. A rare mood overtook him and he silently allowed the boy to lay whatever ghosts he had to rest, put down the final pieces of intangible chains binding him. He stood there waiting patiently until the boy was ready.

Finally, the boy turned towards him, the bright smile back on his face again. “Let’s go.”

Sanzo hmmphed, starting back down the trail.

“One thing…”

“Eh?”

“If you tear my robe, I’ll take it out of your hide.”

***

Sanzo poked the camp fire with a stick, sending sparks and embers into the air. The fire burned bigger, warming the chilly night air.

He had not gotten as far down the mountain as he had hoped. The sun had set about an hour ago and he had finally given up and sought shelter for the night. The bluff he had found gave shelter and protection from the wind.

The night out there was quiet. Whatever wild life existed this high up had curled back up into their nests, or at least had had the decency to be quiet while they went about their business.

In here…

Sanzo gave a low snarl in his throat as the continuous sound of gravel scraping on ground began to grate on raw nerves.

“Will you stop that?” He demanded through clenched teeth.

The sound paused.

“Nan-da?”

Sanzo closed his eyes and prayed for patience. “Fidgeting. If you’re restless, get out. I’m certainly not keeping you.”

“…oh.”

Silence. A second passed. Two seconds.

A sniffing sound closer by.

Sanzo cursed soundly and snatched his travel sack away. “And stop pawing my stuff. What are trying to do?”

Golden eyes gazed back at him, mournful. The youkai boy sat on his heels, looking rather like a lost, forlorn kid in his sorry condition. But when he spoke next, his voice was hopeful.

“…food?”

“…Not for you!” But the thought of food woke his stomach up and he realized that he had not eaten since early this morning. Sanzo took out the travel biscuits, pointedly turning his back on the boy. He bit into the hard biscuit, listlessly chewing the tasteless thing. He wished he was back in the forest, where there were at least some fruits to be found, and game animals he could trap. He missed the taste of meat. As it was, there was only this thing, and barely enough at that to last all the way down the mountain. He would have to ration himself if he did not want to starve during the last leg of the journey.

A small whimper. More scraping sound as the boy moved nearer.

Sanzo ignored him. The boy survived years cooped up in the cave without food and water. No reason why he needed food now.

A growling sound interrupted his meal. He slowly turned his head to stare at the boy, who ducked his head, looking quite embarrassed, but with eyes still latched on to the half-eaten ration in his hand.

I’m going to regret this.

The boy started as a biscuit was thrown at him, hands nimbly catching it before it fell to the ground. A wide grin split his face.

“Just one,” Sanzo told him flatly. “Don’t think this is going to be a habit.”

But the boy was already busy munching the meal, demolishing it at an astonishing speed. As Sanzo watched the biscuit disappear with something like horrified fascination, the boy choked, started coughing and hacking.

“Idiot…” Sanzo shoved the water container at him and yelped when the boy upended it into his mouth. “Kisama! Don’t finish it, you…!” He snatched the thing back, stared aghast at the decidedly empty container.

“Kono… BAKA!!” The container went flying, whacking the boy soundly on the head.

“Itte!”

“Hurt does it? I’m going to do more than just hurt you - I’m going to kill you! You water-guzzling, thoughtless, brainless, prehistoric piece of…!!!”

A howl pierced the night, like that of a wolf, but with a chilling otherness behind it that suggested something else. Sanzo’s skin crawled with the sound of it, and he stopped, trying to pin-point the location. Somewhere to the north, down near the edge where the forest met the mountain range. A couple of howls and yips followed, less distinct, but definitely wolfish in origin.

Sanzo listened intently as the cliffs bounced eerie echoes, but there was nothing more from the first one. That one… he had a hunch what it was.

“Youkai.”

He turned, surprised. The boy gazed up at him solemnly, hand still rubbing his head where the container had hit him. “What did you say?”

“That was… not wolf. Youkai.” The boy tilted his head. “Sound is… different.”

“Hngh.” Sanzo snorted, sitting back down. There was nothing he could do now. Even if it was the same youkai who had attacked him, he was too far away. But at least he now knew the direction to go next. “Trust a youkai to know one.”

The boy looked at him questioningly.

“Never mind,” Sanzo snapped irritably.

Relative silence as the boy finished the remains of his biscuit.

“Oy.”

“…mmm?”

“You haven’t told me why you’re imprisoned up there.”

All of a sudden the boy looked crestfallen. The biscuit hung forgotten in his hands. “I… I don’t know.”

“Aa~h?!”

“It’s true.”

“…explain.”

The boy struggled visibly, brows scrunching up as he fought to comply. When the words came, it was halting and uncertain, but far more articulate than he had been until now.

“I don’t remember, anything about… the past. I did something…horrible, I think. That’s why I’m… shut in there. But I don’t remember…”. Here he looked at Sanzo beseechingly, as if asking for understanding, or forgiveness.

Sanzo narrowed his eyes, trying to see if the boy was lying to him. But the cursed thing was, every instincts he had were telling him the other was telling the truth.

“Then… your name?”

The boy shook his head, looking so dejected Sanzo almost pitied him.

“… go to sleep.”

Sanzo arranged himself to his liking and turned away from the fire, staring out into the night. No name. Doesn’t remember a thing. I suppose asking him about the voice will be useless too. He heard slight rustling behind him as the boy settled down.

“Ne…”

“What?” He muttered impatiently.

“…what’s your name?”

“None of your business.”

“…”

“…”

“…Genjo.. Sanzo.”

He heard the boy murmuring the name, repeating it several times. “Genjo Sanzo… Genjo… Sanzo… Sanzo…”

“Urusee-na! Go to sleep.”

The voice quieted, but he could still hear faint murmuring. Irritated, he pulled one sleeved hand over his ear. First chance I get, I’m dumping him. Still have to go after that youkai, and better to get this one out of the way. Just because I let him out doesn't mean he's my responsibility.

Decision made, he resolutely tried to get some rest. But somehow, his dreams that night were filled with memory of desolate golden eyes, and the sound of a familiar voice calling a name that was not his name.

***

He hurt. The stump where his right arm used to be bled blackened blood and puss, and it hurt to move. It hurt to hunt and if the wolf pack had not shared a portion of their food with him, he probably would have died on those early few days of his injury. The wild pack recognized him as one of their own, sensed the half-buried lupine origin in the strange two-legged thing that had come within their territory. Did not hurt that he often shared his own hunts with them, and that they had developed a liking for the human flesh he gave them.

That could prove to be useful. In his weakened condition, he might need their help if he was to go after the yellow-haired monk.

And go after him he would.

The youkai growled low in his throat, his remaining fist clenching and unclenching by his side. Alerted by the sound, a few of the wolves curled around him raised their heads to regard him with their unblinking amber eyes.

He smiled at them, thinking of how they hunted, how they tear their prey to pieces at the end of the hunt. But no, maybe he would stop them this time. It should not end so quickly. This time, he wanted more than just blood and death.

This time, he wanted revenge.

***

Notes:

1. Japanese translations:

· Oshou-sama = teacher - how Sanzou called his teacher

· Fuda = the paper with mantra written on it, the kind that Shuen used

· Sukinishiro-yo = do whatever you like

· Temee = you (roughly spoken)

· Iku-yo = let’s go

· Nan-da = what

· Kono baka = this idiot

· Itte = hurt

2. ‘Koryu’ is Sanzo’s old name, kanji roughly translates to ‘river’ + ‘flow’

3. I know, I know, I took some liberties with Sanzo’s conversation with Gokuu ^_^;. The original one didn’t seem to work that well, so I added some in, but I didn’t change the gist.

C&C Me!