Gensomaden Saiyuki Fan Fiction ❯ Inbetween Days ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter Two

My brother worked at a few jobs -- nothing little jobs that barely paid anything, but somehow it was enough to keep us fed and a roof over our heads since the old man never seemed to be too generous with his cash. When I left our house the first places I went were where Jien worked. The restaurant, the tobacco shop, the gambling house . . . nothing. I sat down on the back step of the gambling house and started crying again, I don't think I'd ever felt as alone in my life as I did then. One of the bosses of the house came out and kicked me off the step and told me to get lost. I gave the bastard the finger and started running and I didn't stop until I got to the edge of town and then I just about collapsed on the ground.

The town where we lived wasn't too far away from Chang-An; my brother and I would walk there sometimes and spend the day hanging around the market and stuff. It was cool -- the two of us hanging together -- he'd buy me some candy or a cheap little toy and then we'd watch the girls pass by and he'd tell me which ones he thought were cute. Sometimes I think that's where I got my eye for the ladies -- Jien always did have good taste.

While I was lying there trying to catch my breath, I started wondering if maybe he hadn't gone to Chang-An -- it was a big city and if you were trying to get lost or hide it would be the perfect place. So I picked myself up and started down the road to Chang-An, sure I was gonna find Jien there.

Like I said, my brother and me had been there plenty of times and I wasn't afraid to walk there by myself; it was still daylight and I knew I could run fast if I had to. Of course getting there wasn't the problem, it was what I was going to do once I got there that was.

I never really paid much attention to how we got to the different places we visited once we got to Chang-An; I just followed Jien since he knew where he was going. After a few trips I could recognize some landmarks or remember a certain shop or something, but I really didn't have a clue about the layout of the city. So once I got inside, I was so fucking lost it wasn't funny. I tried asking people how to get to the market or to the candy store where Jien would take me. Sometimes they would ignore me, but every once in a while someone would point and tell me to go in this or that direction and look for this street or that one . . . but I still ended up lost.

I started getting scared again and I could feel the panic just waiting to take over. It was starting to get dark and strange as it sounds I was hungry, my stomach was rumbling and I couldn't remember when I had last had anything to eat. I wandered around the streets, looking for something that I could recognize and looking at every Youkai that I passed hoping that it would Jien. They were lighting the street lamps when I finally sat down again, this time on the back steps of an inn, and started crying.

I guess one of the cooks must have heard me, because the door opened up and this woman looked out at me. I was kind of surprised to see that she was Youkai and for some weird reason thought she might help me. She told me to go away -- they didn't want beggars hanging around. I told her I wasn't a beggar and that I was lost and looking for my brother. I don't know if she believed me or not, I could tell that she wasn't sure but then she knelt down and took my chin in her hand and turned my face towards the light inside.

"Poor thing" she said as she looked at me, staring at the claw marks on my cheek. "Guess it's true what they say about the bad luck." I knew what she meant and it made me mad so I pulled my head away. "It's a shame, because you really are a nice looking boy." She went back inside and came back a few minutes later with an apple and half a loaf of bread. She held them out to me and told me to take them. "Go on now, you can't stay here. The manager is superstitious and he won't like you hanging around." I wasn't sure if I should take the food, but my stomach was rumbling again so I took it from her. She looked at me for a moment or two and then shut the door.

Pitiful . . . that's how I felt, sad and pitiful. I wanted to throw her food back at the door and tell her I didn't need her hand-outs, but I didn't -- I was too hungry. So I took it and started walking, tears streaming down my face again.

I was just wandering around, not paying attention to anything, and clutching the food to my chest when the first blow came. It came down on my back -- just hard enough to make me stumble and lose my breath. The bread and the apple went flying as I hit the ground on my hands and knees. The kick to the ribs came next, knocking me onto my back and making me cry out. A hand grabbed me by the hair and pulled my head up just in time for a good slap across the face. There were tears in my eyes and I really couldn't see the face that bent down near mine, but his voice was hard and cold.

"Fucking newbie . . . don't you know better then to go beggin' on my turf?" Another slap, which opened up the claw marks on my cheek and I felt the blood on my skin. "You know what we do to poachers, huh dirty half-breed?" I heard the rest of them snickering and whispering as I got another hard slap. With a snap, my head hit the ground and all I could see were flashes of white as they started to show me exactly what their leader had meant.

I don't know how long they beat on me, it seemed like an eternity but I don't think it was more than a few minutes -- just long enough for each of them to get in a few good kicks and stomps. Taking the food with them, they left me lying on the ground crying and hurting so much that even hurt to breath. As I lay there, I wished once again that my stepmother had killed me.

And that's how my life on the streets of Chang-An started.