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Silvered Glass by Elvaron
III The months passed without any word or any sign of the elusive bishop. Gojyo and Hakkai readily concluded that he had passed through the Chou'An and was gone, while Goku seconded by observing that there wasn't so much as a whiff of unusual youki around. Suspicion continued to gnaw at the back of Sanzo's brain. The feather continued to adorn his desk, and he felt an inexplicable sense of unease every time he glanced at it. Not a seagull feather. They don't get this large. An eagle feather wouldn't be this color. A vulture? But what would a vulture have been doing around Chou'An, shedding feathers outside his window? And when the light was just right, there was that flash of silver that reminded him all too much of... ...Frustrated, Sanzo tossed the paper he was trying to read back onto the pile. He flung the chair back and paced irritably, scowling at the blue sky outside. Blue eyes... Was it a threat? he wondered. An arrogant little gesture that the Shikyou-sama back in town and Sanzo-han beware? Or was it back to persuade him to go on more youkai crusades? Or, in the memory of his sole companion, was Hazel back for revenge? His errant footsteps brought him outdoors, where he circled the garden, contemplatively kicking snow into the lotus ponds. The acolytes faithfully broke the ice each morning, faithfully pretending that spring -- unusually late this year -- had already arrived. The fish knew better. The temple koi were still hibernating. Sanzo paused, looking at the glint of light off the golden roofs of the Sanbutsushin's temple. He had been troubled enough to go there since that day he'd run into Hazel. Again and again, he'd waited patiently before the great altar, each time the Gods had been silent. An incredibly powerful monster on the loose... ...was evidently no concern of the Gods. After all, the Gods save no one, he snorted. A single white feather floated down to land in the middle of the pond. Sanzo glanced down, then glanced sharply up as his senses tingled. Instinctively, he grabbed the revolver and leveled it at... ..."You." Hazel leapt lightly down from where he'd been standing on the temple wall. A wall that was too high and too smooth for a mere human to scale. "Ohayosan dosu," Hazel said cheerfully. He'd gotten a scarf -- a bright red one. It was, Sanzo thought inanely, completely out of place against shabby black. "What are you doing here?" Sanzo demanded. "Dropping by for a visit," Hazel returned sunnily. "Most people use the front door." "Ah, but I tried that the last time, and it didn't work." Sanzo took a step closer. "What do you want?" Hazel raised an eyebrow. "I've told you that already." "What, no recruitment speeches this time? No long, passionate sop stories? I'm disappointed." Sanzo let his gun hand fall to his side. "Actually, I came to ask you a question," Hazel returned. He chuckled as Sanzo shot him a skeptical look. "So defensive." "Hmph." "I was wondering..." he paused, staring off into the distance, evidently remembering. "...that time. You would have killed me, wouldn't you?" "You were trying to kill me," Sanzo shot back. "And now?" Hazel asked, returning his gaze to Sanzo's face. "Would you still shoot me?" "Do I look like I'm going to?" "With your finger on the trigger and the safety catch still off... yes, there is a fair chance." "You're an idiot," Sanzo replied. He scowled. "I've answered your question. Answer mine." "I already have." "Quit screwing around! You didn't come all the way here just to ask me one lousy question!" "So conceited, Sanzo-han. I didn't come to Chou'An solely to see you. I came to look for answers. But perhaps you could help me." He paused, glancing up sharply. "But perhaps not now. I will speak to you another time." "Sanzo-sama!" a new voice broke into the garden, accompanied by the sound of running feet. "Sanzo-sama, we found--" Hazel inclined his head, and in a single smooth motion, leapt to the top of the wall. "Get back here, you--" A ripple of movement, a flash of sunlight that blinded him, and the other was gone. Sanzo stared at the empty garden while the now meaningless exclamations washed over him. Right within my grasp, he thought, irritated. I must be losing my touch. "Find Goku," he ordered curtly, cutting their chatter short. "Tell him to get his saru ass over here now." --x-- "No good, Sanzo," Goku said. "I lost his trail right here." They stood at the crossroads in a back alley, Goku having followed the lingering traces of youki from the temple. "He can't just disappear into thin air," Sanzo said sourly. "Could he have resorted to the roofs?" "I checked the roofs," Goku replied. "I tell you, there's not a whiff of youki for miles, and no tracks on the rooftops that I can see." "Damnit." Sanzo flung his cigarette to the ground and trod heavily on it. "And Sanzo, if he's like a youkai now, he would be able to sense me coming. If he's trying to avoid us, then it'd be hard for me to catch him, right?" Sanzo stared at him like he'd grown a second head. "It's not such a stupid idea--" "The saru's finally grown some brains." He turned his back on Goku's protesting howls and random insults. The kid was right. If he wanted to track Hazel down, he would have to do it himself. Or Hazel would find him. --x-- Mud splattered his robes with every step he took. Sanzo scowled furiously at the melting sludge, and sent a muttered curse up at the weather. Normally, he'd have grabbed hold of Hakkai and the Jeep, but normally didn't include an entirely too mobile and youkai sensitive bishop. So here he was, making due haste to a tiny village -- fortunately, one that was just under a day's travel from Chou'An -- wading through snowmelt and getting his robe ruined in grand fashion. Besides, he reflected morbidly, pushing his way through the crowd that had gathered, trying to get Hazel to talk while youkai were around was like pulling teeth. He reached the center of the circle, barking an order at the milling crowd to back the fuck off, thank you. Then he looked down. It wasn't pretty. The corpse -- barely distinguishable as youkai from the shredded remnants of one ear -- had been thoroughly disemboweled. Massive claws had ripped it open from throat to abdomen, leaving a trail of tattered intestines. Large chunks of flesh had been ripped away, from arms and legs and... face. Sanzo turned away from the sight of the gaping eye sockets. At least it seemed that death must have been quick. "We found the body this morning," one of the villagers babbled. "It must have been a youkai -- a wild crazy youkai. It's no one from the village, praise the Gods." "Does that mean that the youkai are going crazy again, Sanzo-sama? Will they come after us?" "Who could have done this?! It must have been some crazy super youkai! No human could have--" "--shut up," Sanzo growled. He leveled a glare at the last speaker. "Bury this. Then return to your houses and stay there." There were murmurs at that, fearful faces turned towards him, people desperately seeking reassurance. Sanzo ignored them, turning and striding purposefully off. He walked a distance away, waiting impatiently while the sound of shovels impacting frozen earth rang in the background. Some crazy super youkai, Sanzo reflected sourly. Close enough. He wondered if he was the only one who had noted, between the spilled innards and strips of shredded flesh... a blood-drenched feather. It was uncomfortably late by the time the earth was packed down over the hasty grave and the villagers had left. The evening sun was casting its last rays on the locked and barred doors of the villagers, over the scuffed, blood splattered earth. Sanzo glanced irritably at it as he stood by the grave, wishing that the timing could have been more convenient -- some time closer to day would have been infinitely preferable. He closed his eyes and reached out with senses gone slightly rusty after long years of residing in the safety of Chou'An. "I know you're there," he said aloud. There was a long pause, then the texture of the air shifted. Sanzo opened his eyes as a figure landed lightly on its feet before him. In the folds of his sleeves, Sanzo's hand tightened reflexively over his revolver... but the eyes that met his, albeit troubled, were as blue as the summer sky. "You killed it," Sanzo said without preamble. Hazel said nothing. "Why?" Sanzo asked. "It attacked me." "How did you kill it?" The corner of Hazel's mouth twisted. "I am a monster. You know that. Need you ask?" "You took off your limiter to kill a youkai just because it attacked you?" Sanzo demanded. "How the hell did you put it back on again? Just how did you turn the damn pendant into a limiter, in the first place?" A small frown grew on Hazel's forehead. "There was a town. There were those who made youryoku limiters in those towns. It was easier with a talisman." "You're lying." Hazel met his gaze squarely. "I am not." "There is no way you could have reached a town and negotiated with someone to fix up a youryoku limiter. If you don't remember, you were stark raving insane at that point. Not to mention completely out of control." Hazel smiled, gray and bitter. "That is precisely the problem. I don't remember." He examined his hands. "Who I am, where I'm from, why I'm here, obviously in a place I don't belong... I don't remember very much of anything at all." --x-- |
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