Gensomaden Saiyuki Fan Fiction ❯ Marionette ❯ Chapter Fourteen ( Chapter 14 )

MARIONETTE
© June 12, 2005 By Rory V. Pascual


CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Jien sat at his desk, scowling at the voluminous data that Dokugakuji had given him. He compared these latest notes with the data he had inputted into his computer, and it only confirmed what he feared.

Gojyo was suffering from a gradual cellular breakdown. There was an instability in the protein component of the clone's cellular structure, making it vulnerable to various forms of stress. In addition, he had a weak immune system. Gojyo was virtually defenseless against the devastating virus that was literally eating his fragile life away. A virus that he had contracted from…

Jien shuddered. He had hoped that Gojyo would be spared, that he would survive him. But given the marionette's condition, he doubted if the clone would last a year.

"Jien, are you there?" a sweet voice spoke over his headphones, interrupting his troubled thoughts.

Adjusting the mic to his lips, Jien replied, "Yeah, Gojyo. What's up?" He switched his monitor to the security camera in the marionette's room.

Gojyo was dressed in a sleeveless tee and sweat pants, panting from heavy exertion. "I did what you told me. I studied all your moves in the fight scenes." He even went so far as to demonstrate a few perfect air punches and kicks before the camera. "I…think…I will be able to use the shakujou as well. It looked complicated at first, but maybe if I have it in my hands, I'll be able to adjust my calculations with the actual length and width."

"Very good, Gojyo," Jien beamed with pride. "You did well."

"But…"

"Hmm?"

Gojyo looked reluctantly at the security camera. "I was hoping you and I could spar together."

"Is it a sparring session you want or is it because you want to meet me?"

"Well…yeah…."

"Oh, Gojyo! Didn't I tell you why it's impossible for us to see each other? I'm not even supposed to talk to you like this. There's no telling what Gyumao might do to the two of us if he finds out we're actually talking to each other."

"But what's the point in my learning all this? True, it's very exciting to watch, but I'm not really into violence." The marionette flashed the peace sign and grinned. "Make love not war is what I say."

"FOOL!"

Gojyo nearly jumped out of his skin at that sharp rebuke. This was the first time that Jien had spoken harshly to him.

"I did not go to all this trouble just to let it go to waste," Jien murmured hoarsely. "I wanted you to learn how to defend yourself against anyone who would…hurt…you, and that includes Gyumao."

"I can't fight Mr. Gyumao, Jien," the clone argued. "He's my master. Hakkai made me to serve him."

"Do you really believe that Hakkai created you to be beaten and raped? You yourself told me that he didn't want to let you go!"

"It's okay! I mean, I'm just a cyborg. After all, I'm not human."

In his frustration, Jien stood up from his seat and banged his fists on his desk, the loud sound sending harsh static through the mic. "You ARE human, Gojyo, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise! True, you are part metal, but you possess living cells, cells that came from MY body. And you have a heart that feels, that makes you smile and laugh when you're happy and makes you cry when you're sad."

"If I'm human…" Gojyo began in sorrow, "…Then how come I don't have a soul?"

Jien started at that reply, suddenly at a loss for words.

"I wasn't created by a Higher Being," the clone continued. "It was Hakkai who made me. Only God has the power to grant a soul. Why should a…marionette…like me possess one?"

"Gojyo, you can't know that for certain."

"I'm sure of it, Jien," Gojyo said firmly. "A man-made creature like me could never possess a soul. In all my readings, a clone, a cyborg like I am is a travesty of nature. I am not one of God's creatures."

Jien shook his head stubbornly. "No! I won't accept that reason! You have a soul, Gojyo, and I'm going to prove it to you!"

"You will never find that proof when a soul never existed in the first place."

"So are you saying that, by your definition, you are not a human being because you don't have a soul? And since you're not human, you're just going to let Gyumao do whatever he wants with you?"

"Like I told you, Mr. Gyumao is my master. I was created to serve and obey him." Gojyo smiled in reassurance. "It isn't always as bad as it seems, Jien. The only thing that embarrasses me is that I always leak…in my eyes and…down there. But you'll see. The longer we get to know each other, Mr. Gyumao will learn to love me."

Jien wanted so much to scream, "He will never love you, Gojyo. Can't you see that he's killing you slowly with the same disease that he infected me with?!" Instead, he bit down on his tongue until he could taste the coppery tang of blood.

Gojyo glanced at the wall clock. "Oh, Mr. Gyumao will be arriving soon. I have to return all these CDs to Kougaiji and take a bath." He quickly gathered the shiny disks and put them back inside the box. Before he could leave, Jien called out his name.

"Gojyo…"

"Yes, Jien?"

"One can only take so much suffering – whether he be man or machine," Jien began meaningfully. "If it gets to be too much for you, use what you learned in those disks. Promise me you'll defend yourself."

Gojyo's answer was a smile and an assenting hum, as he ran off in search of Kougaiji.

Jien's hands clenched into tight fists. Despite the clone's assent, he knew that Gojyo had no intention of going against his owner. The poor marionette was already resigned to a life of servitude and abuse.

"Gojyo…" Jien's frustrated tears poured down his face. "What must I do to make you realize that Gyumao is evil? How can I help you if you won't help yourself?"

~~~~~

"What do you mean you can't figure out what's wrong with him? You're a scientist, Dokugakuji! FIX HIM!"

Dokugakuji cowered from the fury of his employer, suddenly lost for words. He stole a glance at the clone, who lay in a glass vat before them, floating in primordial serum. Cables were attached to the three sockets in his neck.

It was Kougaiji who decided to speak in the systems analyst's defense. Placing himself between Dokugakuji and his father, he said strongly, "Dokugakuji is an expert in computers! He is NOT a doctor!"

At that remark, Gyumao burst into sarcastic laughter. "A doctor? Now, tell me why Gojyo would need a doctor? He's a cybernetic clone for crying out loud. He is not a human being!"

"That's where you're wrong, sir," Dokugakuji straightened, swallowing hard as he tried to muster up his courage. "Physically, Gojyo is more human than machine. I have no idea how to fix him. I tried to immerse him in the primordial serum, hoping to induce his living tissues to regenerate but nothing happens."

"Perhaps..." Kougaiji cautiously started to say, "Perhaps if you don't use him too much or too roughly."

"He's my property and I'll do what I want with him," Gyumao spat back. His eyes narrowing, he asked, "Since when did you get the nerve for insubordination, Kougaiji?"

"I am merely safeguarding your...property, father," his bastard son answered levelly. "If you want him fixed, you must send him back to Hakkai-sensei. Only he knows how to repair Gojyo."

"Read my lips, Kougaiji. I will NOT bring him back to Hakkai. I nearly lost Gojyo to that lovesick fool. I have no intention of losing him again."

"But you will lose Gojyo any way if he continues to get this relentless wearing and tearing," put in Dokugakuji in desperation. "If he gets...destroyed, there is no way on this Earth that you could have another clone made. You know that Jien is no longer a suitable donor because of his illness."

Gyumao's hand suddenly lifted as if to strike down the computer nerd. Instinctively, Dokugakuji stepped back in anticipation of the blow. Before Kougaiji could protect his friend, Jien appeared and seized the rich man's wrist.

"You won't get any more cells from my body, Gyumao," he hissed angrily. "Not unless you want yourself saddled with a diseased fuck toy. Then again, why should a little virus bother you?" Jien smirked wickedly. "After all, you have the same microbe circulating in your bloodstream."

"So you're the reason for all this insubordination." With a furious exhalation, Gyumao wrenched his hand out of that grip, the fingers closing in a tight fist.

"As Kougaiji so eloquently said," Jien began, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the console, "we are merely seeing to the welfare of your property. We are not fix-it men who can repair anything you damage. You've read my assessment report. If you want Gojyo in good working condition, stop abusing him."

Gyumao bent over Jien, trapping the younger man between his brawny arms he had propped against the console. "And who do you think you are to order me around like this?"

"Oh, certainly not 'Jien the TV Star'. You needed my opinion based on my other area of expertise. I gave it to you, but you continue to refuse to listen. It's hard to talk to a man whose head is located between his legs."

The rich man reached out and dug his fingers hard through Jien's cheeks. "Don't be cocky with me! Remember you're still my prisoner. If you don't behave, your brother can easily replace you."

"Try it and he'll pump your dirty head full of lead," Jien dared him. "After you abducted me, do you think he'll make the mistake of being careless? Let you or your men go near him and you'll be dead."

"Hah! You don't fool me! You were so concerned about him!"

"Did you think I was protecting him from you? Well, you're wrong! Don't underestimate my brother, Gyumao. You don't know what he's capable of, especially if he finds out what you did to me."

Gyumao gave Jien a bruising kiss on the lips, his tongue plundering the other's mouth. Grinning, he whispered in the younger man's ear. "Don't try my patience, Jien. You don't know what I'm capable of."

Whirling he pointed an angry finger at the two silent men and ordered emphatically, "You will fix him, Dokugakuji, or else." Eyeing Kougaiji with equal menace, he added, "And I won't hear another word of Cho Hakkai in my or Gojyo's presence. Do I make myself clear?"

Not waiting for his subordinates' reply, Gyumao stormed out of the laboratory, the metal door sliding shut behind him.

Jien rubbed his aching cheeks. "You two can relax now. He's gone. Good thing I saw that bullish bastard stomping towards here on the security monitor."

"That was a reckless thing you did, Jien," Kougaiji scolded his friend. "My father could've hurt you."

"He already had, Kou. Remember?"

Gyumao's bastard son nodded slowly.

Weakened by the ordeal, Dokugakuji sagged into his seat. Slapping his hands on the armrest, he declared helplessly, "Well, Mr. Gyumao is going to kill me! I don't have a clue as to how to fix Gojyo!"

"Of course you wouldn't know how to fix him!" Kougaiji blurted out in return. "How could you cure a body that's been brutally beaten and raped again and again? How could you heal an innocent heart that has been broken into a thousand pieces?" He went towards the marionette. Reaching out, Kougaiji wiped away the tears that persisted in flowing from the corners of his shut eyelids.

"Did you know that, for the past five days, Gojyo has been begging me to stop him from leaking too much?" Dokugakuji admitted to the secretary. "He wanted to stop crying and to stop...all the bleeding. He doesn't understand what's happening to his body."

"Oh, he understands what's happening to his body all right, but he doesn't want to accept it," answered Jien. In deep sorrow, he revealed, "Do you want to know what he really wishes you to do? Gojyo doesn't want to become like a human being anymore. He never believed that he was human in the first place. A cyborg, a machine...that's what he wants to be now. So he wouldn't have to feel the pain any longer. So he wouldn't have to cry."

"And I don't know how to do that. Only Gyumao could stop his pain."

"Which he is not willing to cease inflicting upon the poor clone," Kougaiji said grimly.

"That leaves Cho Hakkai," Dokugakuji softly suggested.

"Yes, that leaves Cho Hakkai," Kougaiji agreed with him. "But there's nothing we can do to bring Gojyo to him, unless you want us all to get killed. You saw what Gyumao did to Chin Issou. We're all indispensable to him."

"As Gojyo will soon be, if I don't figure out a way to fix him."

"To be very honest with you, Dokugakuji," Kougaiji began, caressing that satin soft cheek, "you be doing a great favor if you figured out a way to shut Gojyo off."

"Do that and I won't forgive you!" Jien said firmly. Breathing in deeply, he admitted, "I think I know a way to stall the breakdown process."

The two men stared at him, mouths agape. "You do? Really? How?" asked Dokugakuji.

"Your equipment is not enough for what I have in mind. We would still need Cho Hakkai's help. Besides, this is only a temporary measure. If only my brother were here, he'd find a way to correct the instability permanently." Jien added sardonically, "Of course, if we want Gojyo spared from any more damage, another option would be to kill your father, Kou."

"No matter how evil he is," Kougaiji said, "he's still my father."

"Then Cho Hakkai's the only option we have," Dokugakuji put in. "The big question is how do we bring Gojyo to him."

Jien signed wearily. "Let me figure out a way. While I'm at it, I'm going to see if I can stop Gyumao from hurting Gojyo any further."

Kougaiji smiled, seeing his friend's deep concern for the marionette. "You care about him a lot, don't you, Jien."

"I do," Jien admitted, touching Gojyo's cheek with his fingertip. "In a way, Gojyo is my son."

~~~~~

"Mr. Gyumao? Did I do something wrong? Why are you looking at me that way?"

"No one, and I do mean NO ONE, tells me what to do!"

Jien leaped to his feet, his chair rolling back with a noisy squeak, seeing Gyumao on his monitor grab poor Gojyo by his hair and drag him up to the bedroom.

The rich man's words returned to him, sending a chill up his spine. "Don't try my patience, Jien. You don't know what I'm capable of."

With his brother out of his reach, Gyumao found an easy target for his wrath in the poor marionette.

Jien did not think twice. He ran out of his suite, speeding past the startled guards, and dashed into the elevator. The doors slid close before the guards could race after him. He tapped his feet impatiently as he went up to the penthouse. When the elevator finally stopped, Jien squeezed through the opening doors. As he entered the living room, he could hear Gojyo's screams of terror and pain.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Gyumao! Whatever it is I did, please forgive me! I swear I won't do it again! Oh, please don't hurt me!"

Jien ran up the stairs to the bedroom and kicked the door open, calling out, "GOJYO!" He was horrified to see the clone lying on the bed, his clothes in tatters, bleeding welts on his skin from the heavy belt Gyumao used to lash him with.

"Stop hurting him, you son of a bitch!" Jien yelled as he punched the older man in the face. Again and again, he struck Gyumao. However, he was too weak from illness that his blows barely did the burly man damage.

Before he could evade it, Gyumao's fist clipped him in the jaw, sending him sprawling on the bed right on top of a startled Gojyo.

"Jien?" Gojyo asked shakingly, stunned at the sight of blood trickling from the cut on his friend's lip.

This only angered the rich man even more. Towering above them, he demanded, "How long have you two known each other?" He hit his belt on the bedpost with a loud clack. "How long?"

"You can't keep us apart, Gyumao!" Jien answered back. "Not while you're hurting him like this!"

Gyumao grinned at that reply. "So…you're willing to take the punishment, is that it?"

"It is I whom you wanted to punish to begin with! Don't take your anger out on Gojyo when it is I you are furious with!"

"If that's the case, I'm only happy to oblige!"

~~~~~

Gojyo's crimson eyes widened as that belt rose and fell with deafening cracks on Jien's skin. His friend did not utter a sound, although he could see that the belt had stung him by the way tears filled his dark brown eyes.

"Jien, get off me!" Gojyo cried, running his fingers through his dearest friend's reddish brown hair. "I can take it! I'm just a machine!"

But Jien covered him completely with his body. "You're not a machine to me, Gojyo," he gasped with every bite of the belt. "You were born from my own body. You're human, the son I will never have. I can't let him hurt you!"

"Jien, no!" Gojyo raised a pleading hand to their demonic torturer. "Please, Mr. Gyumao! Stop it! Don't hurt Jien anymore!"

Gyumao, however, would not stop. Again and again, he brought the belt down, Jien's blood spattering on the walls.

Feeling himself weakening from those blows, Jien gave his beloved marionette a reassuring kiss. "You must learn how to defend yourself, Gojyo. I won't be here on this earth long to protect you."

As Jien surrendered to the darkness, the last thing he heard was Gojyo screaming his name.

* * * * * * * * * *

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Happy Independence Day to one and all! Next week, two new chapters of "Fire And Earth" will go up, one of them being the kappa chapter, so please watch out for it.

I do have a question though. Are there any readers here who also enjoy Nitta Youka's "Haru Wo Daiteita" as much as I do? If there are, I might post something based on that popular BL manga very soon here on MediaMiner. But, it will depend upon the response I get from people. If you're interested, please email me at roryheadmavatyahoodotcom. I don't want to post something that people won't read, so I'd like to know if there any readers here who are at least familiar with Harudaki. That will give me the initiative to post it.