Rain
Goku liked the rain – the soft patter
of rainwater against the ground soothed him like a lullaby. He sat in a cave cut in the mountainside;
his back turned to the shadowy depths hidden in darkness that even the Sun
failed to penetrate. Hakuryuu sat by his side, and the two watched in silence
as the rain fell, each drop sparkling and illuminated by the sunlight streaming
down unimpeded by clouds.
But he
hated the rain too – Sanzo always became moody and depressed as he lashed out
at everyone – and today was no exception.
Goku hugged his knees closer to his chest, Sanzo had yelled at him no
more than a few minutes ago, resulting in the serious, contemplative air that
now clung to the young adult like a second skin. Normally he wouldn’t have taken Sanzo’s words to heart, but
lately he had become sensitive to the priest’s emotions to the point where even
Gojyo had noticed the change.
But Sanzo
didn’t. Or, At least, he decided to
ignore it. The genki attitude Goku had
adopted so long ago soon became a façade – a pretense to keep the others from
worrying. But lately he had begun
dropping his mask with increasing frequency, worrying Hakkai and – surprisingly
enough – Gojyo.
So Goku sat
there listening to the lullaby of the rain – loving it and cursing it at the
same time. He watched as the sun began
to set, turning the raindrops red like blood.
And as he nodded off, only one thing crossed his mind.
‘I wish I knew how to tell Sanzo what I
feel.’
Then he
fell asleep; never knowing that something inside him had answered that
plea. Never knowing that something had
changed – but for either worse or better was Time’s tale to tell.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“He’s asleep,” Gojyo announced softly,
glancing at Goku’s sleeping face before turning back to head deeper into the
shadows of the cave.
“Aa,”
Hakkai replied, glancing up from the fire.
Gojyo sighed, flopping down.
“Man,
everyone’s so depressing today!” He grumbled, fishing in one of his pockets
for his cigarettes. “Sanzo’s doing his best to breaking his record of
bitchiness and even the Saru is catching some of it.” Finding the object of his search he retrieved his lighter,
putting the cigarette to his lips.
“Sanzo was really harsh to him today – not that he didn’t deserve
getting yelled at,” Gojyo amended hastily, it wouldn’t be good for him to look
like he was getting soft on the boy, “but the Saru didn’t deserve all of what
he said.” He mock sighed. “Tough luck
getting an apology out of that monk,”
he muttered, glancing over.
The current
topic of conversation sat even deeper in the darkness of the cave, a mere
outline to onlookers, and the brightest point present happened to be the
lighted end of a cigarette – one of many that had been used that day.
“Ch’.” Sanzo glanced over – unlike them he could
hear and see them quite quickly. But to
look over at them meant having to see Goku, even if only his back. “Bakazaru,” he muttered, turning his
attention back to the wall as his guilt sprung anew – guilt accompanied by
anger at feeling guilty. It was bad
enough to be reminded of that fateful day so many years ago, but a depressed
Goku on top of that…
‘Fuck.’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fighting was all it ever knew; death
and madness was all it had ever seen. Unaware except for the basest of
instincts it always laid in wait at the back of Goku’s mind, suppressed only by
the divine power present in the diadem.
A temporary release from pain, an escape from loss; it reveled in that
which rationality shied from and unaware of the inhibitions present in a
civilized mind. But something was
different; something had changed.
It was becoming aware.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The rain
soon stopped as all summer rains do, and the ragtag group decided to press on
before the sun completely dipped below the land’s belt. Caves were suitable to sleep in, but a town
lay no more than a few miles down the road and everyone was in mutual
agreement: beds made for a much more comfortable sleep than the rocky ground.
And so the
group pressed on with a sense of complete normalcy – Sanzo was brooding
slightly less and the ruckus and fighting in the back seat was still as loud as
ever. No one was aware of the great
change that would affect their lives, which was normal since most of the great
changes went unnoticed. But the true
affects of such a change that could not be second-guessed – even by the gods.
But that
was Time’s tale to tell.
Author’s Notes ~ Ahhh, finally done! ^_^ I should really be working on my Inu Yasha
story “Confidential”, but then my shonen ai/yaoi muse picked up this idea and ran with it – effectively putting a
Writer’s Block on said IY fic. But this
fic shouldn’t be long – 5 or 6 chapters at the most – so it shouldn’t be too
bad.
Now watch
as this fic becomes a 20+ chapter monster to make me eat my words. ^^;;
And I would
like to apologize about the OOC-ness of Goku in this (and future)
sections. This is a fairly serious
story with a sprinkle of humor and lots of ‘evilness’ (poor Sanzo
*Snicker*). But Goku’s attitude in the
series is the biggest provider of comedy relief, which wouldn’t really fit in
with the tone of the story. Not to
say that this is an angsty story, there’s just a different type of humor other
than slapstick in here (Have I mentioned 'Poor Sanzo' yet? ~.^).
Japanese Dictionary –
Genki – happiness, how Goku regularly acts, that sort of
thing.
Saru – Monkey! Conversely, ‘bakazaru’ means ‘Stupid monkey’.
Oh yes, and diadem is the name of Goku’s youryoku/youki
limiter.
{Enter Standard Disclaimer Here} You can e-mail me at [email protected]
or [email protected] with
C&C. Flames will be used to
threaten my muses to work faster. ^_^
Mitsuu: Oi!