Gensomaden Saiyuki Fan Fiction / Saiyuki Reload Fan Fiction ❯ The Story of the Recalled Souls ❯ Lost and Found ( Chapter 1 )

The Story of the Recalled Souls

 

Chapter one: lost and found

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Saiyuki, or Journey to the West.

 

 

 

 

It had been four months already. Four long, free and wonderful months away from the prison of her family's home. Four months ago, a dark brown haired girl had been a chubby 17 year old living with her wealthy parents, younger brother and younger sister. She was a high school graduate with many friends, she had been attending college, and had just finished up her first semester…badly. She had only passed 2 classes, much to her parent's dismay.

 

They were angry and disappointed with the girl's bad grades and immaturity, but mainly they had been displeased by their daughter's reaction to her failure. She was fine. It was as if she were happy with her futile attempts at school. The truth was that yes, the girl was a bit unhappy that she had failed her classes. But she wasn't going to let them bring her down. She was happy with the bit of freedom she had. She was happy being able to see her friends everyday and being out of the house.

 

Her parents said she was irresponsible and she was abusing their kindness. Alright. Maybe she was. So what? They had never before given her the chance to have fun, they only wanted her to be a perfectly trained monkey for them. All her free time was to be used for school. They gave her every opportunity to be great, to be perfect, to be their princess. They placed her in a Heaven, of sorts.

 

She hated that fucking Heaven. It was boring.

 

As ironic as it sounds, that's how she pictured it. Any escape into reality, as cruel as it may have been for the girl, was cherished. She enjoyed the sense of veracity that washed over her, enveloping her with a spontaneous world of wonder. That is what she loved, it was one of the few things she wanted.

 

People may have said she couldn't handle reality, that she should just embrace the solitude her parents set for her. But it was hard to when she subconsciously resisted. At one point in her young life she allowed herself to become shallow and adjusted to the world her parents made. She began to make good grades, she began to see that her friends were nothing but losers with no future. She rid herself of them, much to her parent's approval.

 

But after a while, she began to recognize what a robot she had become. She was so ashamed of the monster reflection that stared back at her from the mirror. She no longer saw the care-free monkey that was once that she once was.

 

So she lashed out again. She started to make a mess of everything in an attempt to shatter the mirror. She did it.

 

She won. She was once again happy, she was so excited to be outside the Hell they called Heaven. It was brilliant. She was brilliant. The sky was brilliant, the souls of the world were brilliant.

 

But her parents were so angry with her. So very, very angry. They said she was messing everything up, staining the once happy home. Her brother disagreed with them, finding himself in his own bind-wanting nothing more than to be rid of the family he had come to hate.

 

The only person who understood him was his big sister. She listened to him, she knew what it was like to be in his situation. But there was one big difference between the siblings. She didn't hate her family. She loved them.

 

She was just thwarted that they could not accept her happiness. Her brother had tried to run away, like she had once done. He wanted to. But his sister stopped him. She needed him to be strong for her. She needed him to be stable for her if not for the rest of the family. Because she knew what she was going to do.

 

She was going to run away for good this time. She had run away once before when she was fourteen but because she was so young she was easily found. But this time she would not be so easily discovered. She doubted her parents would want her back anyway. Not this time. Not since she was such a major “Disappointment.”

 

So she picked a night when she knew it would be stormy, the thunder would cover up her unlocking the alarm on the house, and another clap of thunder masked the opening and closing of the front door as she fled into the rain in the middle of the night. Before she left, she left two notes. One of the letters was for her entire family and the other was specifically to her brother. Telling him to be strong and that one day they would meet up again. She told him a way to keep in contact with her, by e-mail, she also told him how happy she would be. She told him to not give up faith because God was watching over both of them.

 

She stuffed what she felt was important in a duffle bag, jewelry and other valuables she could pawn off. She took few extra clothes, not wanting to keep herself loaded down with too much, she also took her drawing utensils. She could try to make a bit of money with her art skills.

 

She knew it would be a difficult way of life. But she could handle it. God would protect her. Besides, she felt that she had to do this. She felt as if there were a tight, invisible rope pulling her away. She followed it.

 

Thus her present status four months later. She stood in a large store, eyes on the fruit before her. She was broke, no money, she had run out of paper so she couldn't draw pictures for anyone, she had also run out of things to pawn and she refused to get rid of the gold necklace around her neck. It was too precious, too full of memories and spiritual faith.

 

The girl glanced around at the security guards as she loaded up the clear, plastic bags with fruit. Three green apples, four peaches, a pound of cherries, and a pear, that was all she could fit in the bag. She bit her tongue and looked around again. There was a large pyramid-stack of cans a few feet behind the guard. She waited for the guard to look away and without any hesitation she threw an apple at the cans, knocking them down. The guard turned towards the fallen cans and the other guards rushed foreword to help pick them up.

 

The girl took the opportunity to bolt out of the store. But she wasn't home free just yet, another guard had been watching her from outside. He grabbed her arm and pulled her closer. “What the hell do you think you're doing?” the guard growled, spit spraying on her face, she groaned in disgust and kneed him in the crotch, he dropped to the ground, releasing her.

 

She ran again, faster this time, accidentally knocking groceries out of a woman's arms. The woman screamed in outrage but the girl couldn't stop “Sorry, ma'am!” she called over her shoulder as she continued to run. She didn't stop running until she was about a quarter of a mile away, she headed towards the thick woods that would lead to an old country road where she would stay the night.

 

She gave a small, adrenaline-pumped laugh of triumph for getting away with the food. She hadn't been forced to confront a guard of nay type in a long time. She sighed as elation passed, leaving her exhausted. She was thin now, with lithe muscles from having to outrun police and guards.

 

She plopped to the ground and took an enormous bite from the pear, letting the juices run down her face. Her honey-colored eyes lifted towards the sky, the clouds were a lilac color against the now yellow-orange sky. It would be dark soon. She had to hurry towards the road, before it became too dark for her to see. Finishing off her pear she grunted and stood up, popping her neck to the side before heading north to the road.

 

How many times had it been now that she had slept in the ditch on that road? As she walked she counted the number of times on her fingers…she ran out of fingers. “Over ten times…” she frowned and looked back up towards the sky. The clouds were gathering. It was going to rain again.

 

Luckily, there was an empty sewer pipe under the old country road that she could take shelter in. She saw lighting in the distance. It was going to be another bad storm. It was April, though, so it was expected.

 

A small smile crept to her lips. Despite not having a home to go to, or anyone to talk to, she was happy. She loved the struggle for survival she had to face every day. She was truly happy.

 

It took fifteen minutes to get to the beginning of the empty country road, and it took twenty more minutes to get to the sewer pipe. A light drizzle began to fall, it was warm fortunately, so when the heavy rain started she could perhaps bathe and wash her clothes. She had a large pail and some soap in her duffel bag in the cesspool.

 

By the time she reached her destination, the rain was pouring heavily. She ran to the cesspool and shook herself like a dog. She giggled gleefully, remembering the wolves she had once seen in the woods, playing with each other in the large puddles. It had been really cute to see such a happy family, even if they were animals.

 

She began to strip down to her under clothes, a tank top and boy-shorts, and then she ran out under the rain with the bar of soap and began to bathe. Humming a light tune, she closed her eyes and didn't notice the lights in the distance, coming from the south. She finished bathing and then disappeared back into the pipe, dragging the empty bucket under the rain.

 

But there was something moving in the dark, coming towards her. Her eyes narrowed, the moving thing didn't stir like an animal. It was a person. She glared and moved back, and grabbed her red, fighting rod that she had stolen from a pawn shop three months ago. She would have bought it but she would never have been able to earn $1,000.

 

She was deadly with the powerful rod in her small hands, she knew how to wield the weapon well. If she had to kill this person it wouldn't be the first time. When the person came closer she jumped out and thrusted her rod forward, the person jumped back and held their hands up.

 

“Hey hey! What the hell, man?!” it was a man who shouted “I'm not going to hurt you, my friends and I are just lost. We saw you come down here earlier.” The girl gave a feral glare.

 

“Go away.” She slunk back into the pipe and sat down “Leave me alone.”

 

“But, hey! Come one, man, don't leave. We just need some help.”

 

“Go away.” She repeated “Or I'll kill you.”

 

“Joe, what the hell is taking so fucking long? We're getting soaked to the fucking bone up here!” came another man's voice, though this one sounded extremely angry and farther away. It was difficult to hear because of the pounding rain.

 

“Don't get pissy with me, fucker!” the man named Joe snapped back “This kid just tried to attack me, I think he may be `fenal' or whatever…”

 

“It's `feral', you nimrod.” Came the other voice, it was closer now. Too close. The girl under the pipe slunk away even more, holding herself close. This new man was wearing bright colors. He stepped into the pipe slowly, it was too dark for her to see the man clearly. But she could tell he was bright…although she didn't think he was just physically light. His soul seemed to shine, too.

 

She closed her eyes and turned away. The sound of a lighter clicking into life made her turn back towards him. He had lit a cigarette. The soft glow drew her towards him, she crawled slowly. “Hey, kid.” He said, his voice was slightly gruff, very young. He couldn't be older than twenty…maybe twenty one. “What are you doing in here?”

 

“I…I'm not sure.” She felt confused and suddenly tired.

 

“You a runaway?” she nodded but she realized he couldn't see it.

 

“Yeah.” She replied softly.

 

“How old are you?”

 

“I turn eighteen in June…”

 

“Jesus, you're really a child.” He began to play with his lighter “You can't stay in this shit hole. It's gross.”

 

“It's never been used…” the girl replied “It was left here a long time ago and then cement was poured over it for the road.” The man frowned slightly, although she couldn't see it.

 

“You're a girl, aren't you?” he asked after a moment.

 

“Mmhm.” The girl replied, she heard the man make an impatient noise.

 

“Come on,” he said, holding his hand out, the girl could see it “You can come with us. We're going somewhere dry.”

 

“It's dry here.”

 

“But where we're going there's showers.” He still had his hand held out “Come on.” Normally, the girl would have screamed and busted the man's face with her metal rod but for some reason, she trusted this man. She wanted this man to take her from the hole. She felt like she…knew him. She pulled her duffel bag and her fruit bag towards her with her left hand and took the offered hand with her right. It was warm, and callused.

 

He had a gun. She recognized these calluses. But despite the potential danger from the gun-wielding man, she felt only comfort and familiarity. As if they had known each other for a very long time.

 

She held the man's hand for a long time. He helped her up the steep side of the ditch, the rain made it difficult to keep footing. The rain died down and she could make out a jeep of a dark color, perhaps green or black, with no top. No wonder they had gotten soaked. The man in the driver's seat stared inquiringly at the girl, who ignored him and continued to stare at the man holding her hand.

 

He had short blonde hair, it was so bright, even when damp. She wanted to grab it, and soak up all its warmth. But she had a feeling the man would get angry. He turned towards the girl “You're going to sit in the back with Joe, alright?” Joe grinned.

 

“You're not going to kill me are you?” It was then the girl noticed she had been gripping the metal rod tightly. She blinked at it several times and then grinned back, shaking her head.

 

“No, I won't. Just don't touch me.” She smiled and allowed the blonde haired man to help her into the back seat. She refused to wear a seat belt, she sat on her knees on the seat and stared back at the ditch. She doubted she would ever have to go back there.

 

“Hey, kid…” Joe started, the girl ignored him and continued to stare at the ditch, wondering if she had forgotten anything “Hey, kid. Hey, you.” Joe frowned “Hey you little monkey.” The girl snapped her head towards him.

 

“I'm not monkey!” she growled “I'm Goku! Get it right, dummy!”

 

“Well, Goku!” the driver smiled, he was facing her from the front seat “I'm Cho, and this is San Marcus.” He motioned to the blonde man. Goku crinkled her nose.

 

“I don't like that name!” she decided “I'm giving you a new name!”

 

“What? Why?” Joe laughed, Goku stared at him too.

 

“I wanna give all of you new names! Okay?” Goku giggled and planted a hand on the top of Joe's head “Gojyo!”

 

“Whuh?” Gojyo whined, Cho chuckled until Goku's small hand rested atop his head as well.

 

“You're Hakkai, now!” Hakkai smiled, he actually liked his new name. Goku moved on towards the other man “And you…you're Sanzo from now on, okay?” Sanzo shrugged and moved Goku's hand away.

 

“Whatever, doesn't matter to me. Didn't like the old one anyway.” He snorted.

 

“We all sort of needed new ones, eh, Sanzo?” Hakkai grinned “What about you Miss Goku? Don't you need a new name as well?”

 

“That is my new name, silly!” she replied, settling back down in her seat “So, where are we going?”

 

The three men exchanged glances “Well, that's the thing…” Hakkai started “We're lost, you see.”

 

“Oh…What were you looking for?”

 

“A motel, actually.” Goku grinned at his answer.

 

“I know where one is!” she laughed and then began to direct them…there was only one motel in the entire town. It was set in the west.

 

 

 

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