Disclaimer: "Saiyuki" and all of its characters belong to and were created by Kazuya Minekura. In this story they are used without prior permission. No profit is made through this story.
Only a Fighter?
Goku strolled along the streets in this new town they had arrived at. Sanzo and the others had left to go back to the inn, but Goku did not feel like sitting inside tonight.
There were not many people in the streets now. The shops had closed, and most people were probably at home eating supper, Goku thought. At least he had been properly fed. They had found a great restaurant, and Goku had eaten in his usual manner for about an hour. Since it was only ten minutes since he left the restaurant his stomach had not started rumbling yet.
Turning around a corner he suddenly heard a beautiful sound. Coming closer he found a little girl, maybe 12 years old, sitting outside a house, playing a flute. Goku stopped in front of her and listened.
The girl did not care that he stood there. Not until she had played the tune to the end did she lift her head and smile at him.
“Wow, that was great,” Goku exclaimed. “How did you learn to play so well?”
The girl’s smile grew brighter. “Just a lot of practice. And you got to have the feeling for the music, too.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Goku admitted longingly. “I wish I could play like that, though.”
The girl looked thoughtfully at Goku. “I think you’ve got the music in you. If you just keep trying I bet you can be very good.”
“Sure,” Goku grinned at her. “If only I had something to practice on. Nah, I better stick to fighting, that’s something I know I’m good at.”
There was an unmistaken frown on the girl’s face now. “You shouldn’t just be fighting.” She stared into Goku’s eyes. “Wait here.” She disappeared into the house. Goku stood outside, curious, wondering what she had in mind.
“Here, take this.” The girl handed him a long box.
Curiously Goku opened the box. Inside was another flute, very similar to the one the girl had played on.
“It was my sister’s,” the girl explained. “She died from an illness last year, and she was a very good musician. No one has played on that flute since then.”
“I can’t take this flute,” Goku said, overwhelmed, and tried to give it back.
“Yes.” The little girl refused to take the flute. “I think it was meant for you. My sister said before she died that she had gotten a message in a dream that her flute was to be given to a boy with golden eyes. That must be you.”
A voice from inside the house interrupted her. “I must go now. Please learn how to play. I know that would make my sister happy.”
Goku stood alone outside the house, holding the flute tight to his chest.
-x-X-x-
The next morning when they had left the town and once again were sitting in the jeep on their way to the west, Goku picked up the flute and blew into it. The only thing that was heard was a wheezing sound, not the pretty tone Goku had been expecting.
Gojyo laughed at him. “Hey, monkey. Where did you get that thing?” He tried to grab the flute from Goku. “Wasting money on a worthless thing you can’t use? Just like a stupid monkey.”
Goku held the flute away from Gojyo. “It’s a gift, if you must know, you cockroach. And I’m gonna learn how to play.”
Gojyo laughed again. “Yeah, right. That would be the day. Stick to fighting instead, that’s at least something you know how to do.”
Goku did not answer. That was what he had been thinking himself, but hearing Gojyo saying it only increased his wish to be able to play like the girl had. He blew again into the flute. Nothing.
Gojyo laughed even more. “Phu, phu,” he mimicked the sound.
“You must blow like when you blow to make tones from a bottle, Goku,” Hakkai gently explained.
Goku changed the angle and tried again. “Haha,” he exclaimed triumphantly when this time he produced something that had some similarity to a tone.
“Well done, Goku,” Hakkai turned and smiled at him.
For a couple of miles or so, Goku blew, and blew some more, into the flute with more or less satisfying result. Gojyo kept laughing, while Hakkai encouraged him. What put an end to the whole thing was Sanzo, who suddenly had had enough. “Shut the hell up!” He turned and smacked Goku over the head with his fan. “One more sound from that whistle, and either that or you will be thrown out from this jeep!”
“It’s not a whistle,” Goku muttered, but put the flute down.
-x-X-x-
Sitting in his room in the next inn, in the next town, Goku heard a knock on his door. “Come in,” he called.
The door opened and Hakkai entered. “I bought you something, Goku.” He handed Goku a thin book. “It’s a book on the basics of flute playing. It can help you if you really want to learn how to play.”
“Thanks Hakkai.” Goku was grateful. “Do you know anything about how to play?”
Hakkai sat down beside him on his bed. “Not much. I do know how to hold the fingers, but that’s in the book, too. I can show you if you want to, though.”
A little later Goku felt much better. Hakkai’s encouragement had strengthened his decision. One day he would show Gojyo and Sanzo that he could do something else than fight.
-x-X-x-
For the next few weeks Goku disappeared every time they stopped for lunch, dinner, or to make camp. He gulped the food down and was gone into the surrounding forest. Hakkai was the only one who knew what he was doing, and he could see the others were curious. Goku also could not help but notice that his vanishing pissed Sanzo off since every stop was prolonged, but the monk’s yelling and whacking did not make him stop. He was determined to learn how to play.
At first the sounds from the flute were hissing and squeaking, but Goku had locked in his mind the sound of the flute when the girl had been playing, and he struggled every day to make the tone as smooth and pretty as that. He had gone through the book Hakkai had given him, and was now finding out the tones, as he remembered old songs he had heard.
One day when they had stopped for food and Goku once again had disappeared, Gojyo asked, “How long has he been doing this? Vanishing, I mean.”
“42 days”, Hakkai answered calmly. He could not do anything but admire Goku’s determination, even if he did not have a clue of how the flute practicing was progressing.
“Geez,” Gojyo said annoyed. “What’s he doing anyway? I know you know, Hakkai.”
Hakkai only smiled and Gojyo knew better than to press. If Hakkai did not want to answer, then nothing could make him.
That evening they drove into another small town. When they had settled in at the inn, they left to find someplace to have supper. They stopped outside a restaurant where a sign pasted to the window read: ‘Entertainment every night’.
“Sounds like fun.” Gojyo winked at Hakkai. “Just what we need, right Hakkai?”
“I think it would be a very pleasant evening,” Hakkai agreed, and without waiting for Sanzo to tell his opinion, Hakkai and Gojyo entered the establishment with Goku in tow.
“Ch,” Sanzo snorted, but followed his companions through the doors.
Inside, Sanzo took the lead and found them a table not too close to the small stage, where a guitar player sat, playing and singing softly.
“Hey, where’s the monkey?” Gojyo asked when they had seated themselves.
“He’s standing there over at the door.” Hakkai pointed at Goku who was standing reading something from a board beside the door. As the three at the table watched he walked away and disappeared into small room at the end of the larger dining room.
“Again,” Gojyo complained, annoyed. “You think he’s sick, disappearing like that? And this time before he’s been served food.”
Hakkai looked thoughtfully after Goku and frowned, but did not say anything. Sanzo lit a cigarette and acted like he did not care where his protégé had gone. Gojyo shrugged, the monkey could take care of himself. He did not look or act sick, so Gojyo supposed he was all right.
They ordered their food; Hakkai saw to that there was ordered enough for Goku, too, and about the same time their food arrived they heard the guitar player leave and another man entered the stage. “Tonight I have the honour to present to you a new promising flute player…”
-x-X-x-
Goku lay in bed with a big grin on his face. He recalled contently the night’s events. The note on the board had told him that anyone who wanted to appear on stage was welcome. It had not taken him long to decide. Here was his chance to show his partners what he had learned. He smiled when he remembered the looks on his friends’ faces when they saw him entering the stage. Sanzo’s surprised expression, Gojyo’s almost fearful one. He had seen that the redhead had been scared that Goku would make a fool of himself. Hakkai had nodded to him, trusted that Goku knew what he was doing. Goku had been very grateful for that trust.
He had brought the flute to his lips and started to play. The first tune was the one he had heard the girl play the day he got the flute. When he was finished he had gotten a lot of applause. Both Hakkai and Gojyo had clapped their hands fervently. Sanzo had sit still, but Goku saw approval in the monk’s eyes.
For the next hour he had played every tune he had learned during these days. His final tune was one he had composed all by himself, and that had given him the biggest applause on the whole evening.
When he was finished he had joined his friends at the table. Hakkai had praised him a lot, and Gojyo had pounded him on the back. Sanzo, of course, had not said much, but he had nodded approvingly and given him a slight smile.
Goku stretched happily in his bed. He had proven something tonight. He had proven that he had other skills than just fighting, that he was more than just Son Goku, the fighter. His friends’ praise was worth a lot, but most important was that he had showed to himself that he could do whatever he wanted to, if he only tried hard enough.
owari
