Gensomaden Saiyuki Fan Fiction ❯ Awakened Soul ❯ Awakened Soul ( Chapter 1 )

    Disclaime r : the Saiyuki’s characters aren’t mine. I don’t earn money with the story, only a lot of pleasure.   oOoOo   Whe n the unthinkable happens. When a sleeping soul awakes from a half millenia’s slumber...   What is more unnatural than a human being turned into a youkai...There wasn’t any word to describe this kind of metamorphosis. Even humans or youkai telling this kind of story thought of it as a joke. No other exemple of this monstruosity had been seen on Earth ( till a mad mercenary tried the thing on an insect later, but this is another story…)...For every single living being as on Earth as in Tenkai it was an impossibility...   But there is always The Exception...   In the Hyakugan-mao castle, deep inside, in the shadows of a cell, an honourable woman chose to end her life...   A man - her brother, her lover, no, a murderer now - cried in anguish and helplessness...   And a youkai of vision called Chin-Yisou appeared. A new twist of fate takes place at this moment.   A few words full of venom, and that’s it. The blood of a thousandth youkai has been shed. A youkai is dead ! Raise the new Youkai !   This was that kind of moment, this split second when the impossible becomes reality. This was a moment when even the Kharma’s cycle could be disturbed. The dying soul of the man called Cho Gonou, to escape the pain, reached a place it never should have, deep inside his own mind, leaving a nearly-empty body, panting and leaning against the wall of the castle (devoid of any other life now), whereas the part of a soul which should never have come to consciousness again possessed this transforming body. During this second of eternity, Tenpou gensui came back on earth...   There was madness in this mind. The memories of a god, the memories of a man, a whirlwind of touches, sensations, pains, feelings, dreams, sufferings, trying to tear apart the two personalities now enclosed in this monstruous body. But everybody who had known Tenpou gensui knew he was stubborn, determinate and above all powerful and dangerous. And he took over the pain.   And he knew. Who he had been. Who he was now. What he was becoming.   And he screamed again against the Fate. He had failed again. People he cared for were dead again. Every sacrifices vainly. He had never been able to protect his beloved ones.   Kenren, fiery Kenren   Goku, innocent Goku   Konzen, shining Konzen   Forgive me...I should have seen what would happen... I should have known... I should have killed Litouten when I had the opportunity, instead of waiting for him to make the first move...   Kanan, sweet Kanan   Forgive me… For not having felt what was happening, for not having protected you, for being late, for allowing you to shed your own blood...   This was his punishment for defying Heaven again by trying to protect the people he cared for. Was love forbidden in Heaven? He knew he was going to lose them again and again and again and again and... Till the end of the cycle of reincarnations. It was so... clear.   And the new born youkai screamed in agony. For sure, his wounds were lethal. And the screams echoed far away, where the laments coming from Earth shouldn’t even been heard. Small ripples moved on the surface of a lotuses (as red as blood) pond, in front of a throne where a empty-golden-eyed god was sitting, in catalepsy. Maybe a near witness would have seen a shudder pass over the body, how so faintly... but the young boy remained dormant.   But another being was here. The bodhisattva looked at the water and smiled...   « The time has come, nee, Nataku? », the androgynous creature stated.   In a bright flash of light, se disappeared. As Jiroushin came back with his go ban, the deity was gone, and with a sigh, he remained alone to look at the surface of the crystal-clear water...   The new-born youkai was kneeling, hugging himself tighly as the blood kept on leaving his body endlessly. The salty taste of his tears mingling with the one of his own blood... He was rocking back and forth slowly now, waiting for death. Engrossed in his own darkness, he didn’t see the light when a person appeared before him.   « Look at me, Cho Gonou : your time has not come yet... You still have a mission to fulfill. »   And the youkai looked up. Totally lost. Stunned beyond surprise in front of the just-appeared form.   « Strange, marshal... Your face is always as kirei as it was 5OO years ago... », Se added inwardly.   And that was true. The expression was wild, the features sharp, the eyes were narrowed in a predatory stare with their split pupils, and slight vign-patterned lines were running all over the pale skin. But this vision, even so dark, was breathtaking. A long-nailed finger reached towards the newcomer...   « You... », hissed the creature, who paused to take a laboured breath.   « …Old hag... », added the creature with a bitter laugh full of the memory of the blond’s voice which should have used these words...   « …Coming to taunt me? » in a barely whisper...   For the first time since more than half a millenia, Kanzeon Bosatsu’s features showed surprise...   The precedently screaming youkai was suddenly deadly silent. The only sound was the rythmic pouring of the rain, far away. And the whizzing breath of the unnatural creature.The silence stretched till the unbearable, then a mirhtless laugh was heard...   « How come...? This is an... unexepected pleasure to hear you again... Tempou gensui. » The deity’s head was slightly tilted in wonder. Se was nearly radiant with hir own light, and the shadows looked darker and darker around se.   « What...happened... » spat the youkai with a hoarse voice.   « I thought it was obvious... If a human is in contact with a thousand youkai’s blood, well, he is turned into a youkai himself... Your reaction was a good guess of mine, nee? » replied the god(dess).   The youkai body with the marshall in it tried to stand up, leaning heavyly against the wall. The state of the body was affecting his reflection, that’s why it was so hard to put his own thoughts together whereas he could still feel Cho Gonou’s pain. But the meaning of the sentence cut like a knife through, a dark lightening...   Horror chilled him to the bones : « You planned it... » . A statement, not a question. He was a strategist. The stakes were all too clear for him. « You wanted him... Me... to become like that... »   « Well, yeah ! » Se said with an unsufferable carelessness. And then with a meaningful tone : « I need you to be strong, Tempou gensui... As I said, you have a mission to fulfill. And Heaven was getting boring, anyway... »   The marshall made a choking sound. « So it was all planned. Kannan, my love - Gonou’s love - for her, her abduction, HER DEATH ? ». He felt the madness in his skull again, Gonou’s personnality seemed to take the upper hand, but Tenpou remained firm, clinging at every particles of his own personnality. He couldn’t exactly distinguish anymore which were his own feelings and which weren’t...   He heard the subtil perfume of coaxing in the god(dess)’ voice : « Don’t you want the four of you together again? I need you together again... But you have to be able to defend yourselves... »   « You killed us ! You sent us down there ! You locked Goku alone in a cave! It wasn’t enough for Heaven? What are we now ? Your tools? Your toys?” shouted the youkai.   No more pain. No more tiredness. Only pure blinding rage. Words were spilling like water. A clawed hand lunged at the god(dess) of Mercy’s beautiful face. Se dodged naturally. Se had already gotten rid of the Seiten Teisen Son Goku singlehandedly in the past, after all. What was a half-dead youkai for hir?   « Be calm... » se said in a soothing tone which was so out of character, but not devoid of an inch of tenderness. The former human was now sprawled on the floor. He felt a chill cold like ice when three fingers touched his ear, sparkling light turning into three metallic clips. The body seemed to blur and got human appearence again. The astonished Tenpou stared his now normal-looking hands.   « Well, I suppose I can go now... I had a go game planned with Jiroushin. », said Kanzeon Bosatsu, looking at the ceiling as if se could see the said god looking at the scene through the lotus pond.   « Matte...What happens now? Am I ...fading?”. The marshall could already feel it, every one of his memories, fading bit after bit... And replaced by Gonou’s life’s episodes.   « Well, this is Gonou’s life after all. Your presence right here... It shouldn’t have happened, and you’ll forget after all, so, Ja nee ! », Se replied carelessly.   « What happened to the others? You could tell me if I’m about to forget the whole thing... ». The emerald eyes were closed. Resigned to disappearance, the soul of the former marshal only longed to know about his beloved ones’ destiny. Beloved indeed : they had faced death together, for each other’s safety... Their bound couldn’t be broken so easily...   A smile spread on Kanzeon Bosatsu’s features. Se considered departing without looking back... But it was so tempting. Se was rather proud of hirself afterall. Finding a way to reunite the four when they were meant to never meet again for eternity, and even giving them the force and power to survive (well, maybe) the mission they would have to accomplish...   The Goddess of Mercy turned towards the bleeding body and began speaking : « Well that’s true, I could tell you... No that I think I owe you anything, Marshal. Your little itan friend (Tenpou winced at the itan comment) has been freed recently, still genki, and starving I’m afraid. He found his sun again it seems... Speaking of the devil, my dear nephew, is born human too : he has been raised by a good man, really. Poor guy, he had to die after all, since I wanted Konzen to learn the will to fight and kill. You know how impassive he can be when he has no really purpose in his life... »   « So you played with his life, too... » It was harder and harder to concentrate on the meaning of the words. « And Kenren taishou? », he said, trying to hide the shaking in his voice.   « He is still the same, you know... Your redhead is still a redhead. A halfbreed redhead , I should mention. Still a fiery temper as always, but a little bit bitter than before maybe : It has often this effect on people, when you’re hated by the one you want to love - by everyone in fact since he is a taboo child, after all - or being left by the only one who loved you... » But the former marshal couldn’t hear the end of the deity’s rambling, Gonou was coming back so quickly...   « ...And wait meeting Goujun again, you will be quite pleased... » These were the last words of the long and dark-haired god(dess) before disappearing in a flash of pure blinding light... Darkness swallowed Tenpou gensuiagain.   When Cho Gonou regained his (own) consciousness, he didn’t remember how he had made his way into the forest. His only coherent thought was to run away from his failure and crimes. Like a dark wave, pain was overwhelming his mind as he fell in the mud. Rain was pouring hard on his body, its coldness making its way to his heart. He was waiting for his death. Only a few sparks of alien memories lingered in his mind about Heaven and a man looking like him in a library, a little boy with a bright smile, a bad-tempered blond and a fiery general. Then he blackouted.   As the man called Sha Gojyo found the dying man on his path, he saw him smiling. This was the last instant of lucidity of a former god before his definitive disappearence in the recesses of his new incarnation’s mind...   The end (or the beginning of the story…)