Gensomaden Saiyuki Fan Fiction ❯ Metamorphosis ❯ CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Surreal ( Chapter 13 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Surreal

How can a person distinguish between what is real and unreal?

This was the dilemma facing Sha Gojyo as he immersed himself in the rhythmic pace of firewood chopping. The feel of the axe's old wooden handle was real to him, and so were the splinters pricking his palms. The "ka-thunk" of the axe's blade as it chopped through the wood also felt real, the impact of which vibrated to his clenched jaw. As he paused to wipe the sweat from his brow, he gazed at the small cottage that was his childhood home and at the large cracks on the walls marking its poverty-stricken state. They all looked too real to him.

"Gojyo! Breakfast is ready!"

"Hai, Kaasan! I'll be right there!"

Minutes later, Gojyo found himself breaking bread together with the one unreal thing in his new reality. This haggard, yet smiling woman seated before him was not the violent, mentally-unstable youkai of his childhood. This woman possessed his stepmother's face, true, but her demeanor was calm, more understanding. Sane. Nothing in her ways betrayed the lunacy that had gripped her when her youkai husband abandoned her for a human woman, who was Gojyo's mother.

"More cheese, Gojyo?"

Smiling, he held his plate out to his stepmother, who laid a slice of goat cheese on his bread. Gojyo admitted that he liked this woman, unreal though she may be. It was so easy to fall into this illusion of a loving stepmother he had always dreamed of having. And this time, there was no Jien around to steal all her affections away.

Perhaps this is my test, the half-breed mused. Like those cracks I saw earlier in the walls, maybe this is my opportunity to mend the rift between us, so she could truly become my mother.

As he ate his bread and cheese, Gojyo caught the quick glance his stepmother threw at him before lowering her eyes. For the past two weeks since he arrived in this place, he had been observing the surreptitious glances the woman had been throwing his way, as if she wanted to tell him something but would change her mind at the last minute. Gojyo wondered if it had something to do with the man who had been calling at their home almost every night. A man whom his stepmother never lets inside their house, speaking to him in hushed whispers in the shadows near the front door.

Whatever was troubling his stepmother, it has something to do with that man.

"Kaasan..." Gojyo began hesitantly. "Is something wrong?"

His stepmother quickly shook her head. "Nothing. Just everyday worries, that's all."

"If it's about money, don't worry. I'm sure I'll make some when I sell the firewood in the village." He gave her a charming smile and a wink. "If that doesn't work, there's always the poker table."

A hand closed around his fingers. "Gojyo...I don't think it's a good idea for you to go to the village."

Hmmm... thought Gojyo. I guess that means I haven't lost my notoriety. Some things never change. Squeezing his stepmother's hand, he said gently, "There are some good people in the village. Those are the ones I will be going to for help." Quietly, he added, "Is it that man you've been talking to every night that's worrying you?"

"Gojyo..."

"Kaasan, I do wish you'd tell me what's wrong. What does that man want?"

His stepmother's answer was a quick shake of her head.

Rather than pry, Gojyo patted her hand and he stood up. "It will be fine, Kaasan. Things are going to work out for us, you'll see."

As he confidently strode towards the front door, Gojyo did not notice the feral glare that his stepmother gave him and the way she wiped her hand, which he had touched so lovingly, on her dress in disgust.

---

There was a bright red flash as a rock connected with Gojyo's right temple. It came so suddenly that he fell to his right knee, his hands letting go of the ropes that secured the bundle of firewood to his back. As the firewood fell to the ground, so too did the blows and kicks.

"Monster!"

"Accursed creature!"

"Get out of our town!"

If this had been that reality where he had come from, Gojyo would have let his fists fly or he would have downed them all easily with a quick sweep of his scythe.

But that was then and this is now. That scandalous rogue had no place in this reality. None of these men who were beating him now were his enemies. These were just misguided, prejudiced humans who had every good reason to fear the unknown.

"YAMERU!"

That powerful command stopped the rain of blows. Through eyes blurred with dizziness and pain, Gojyo saw dim figures scurrying in every direction. He wanted to see who his savior was, but he felt himself close to blacking him out. As the half-breed keeled over, strong arms seized him before he hit the ground.

"Daijoubu desu ka, Gojyo-kun?" That question momentarily pierced the mist of pain. It reminded him of someone....

Gojyo's hands clutched instinctively to long sleeves. Hakkai...Hakkai... Trembling lips mouthed the named that his voice could not say.

"It's all right, Gojyo-kun," a sinuous voice whispered in his ear. "You're safe now. No one is going to dare harm you as long as you're with me."

Something brushed against his cheek, like a caress. Then, a heated mouth seized his lips. Still dazed, and lost in the memory of his old friend, it did not occur to Gojyo to pull away. He simply lay limp in the arms of the large shadow that was holding him.

"Release him this instant, kono yaro!"

Strong hands laid him down on the ground. As he was released with great reluctance, his rescuer muttered, "Stay with me, Gojyo-kun. Stay with me forever."

The shadow moved away to be replaced by another, much slighter form. "Gojyo! Gojyo! Did he hurt you? Damn them all for their cruelty! Come, son. Let's get you fixed up."

---

The scent of fresh blossoms was like a breath of clean air to Gojyo's nostrils. Feeling the cut at his temple finally bandaged, he peered up to behold the old man smiling down at him. "Arigato, Ojisan."

"You're lucky I came when I did," remarked Sakata, the village florist and the one friend that Gojyo had. "Gojyo, when are you going to learn?"

"Sticks and stones won't hurt my bones..."

"Stop that! You know you don't have to put on that act for me."

Gojyo breathed in deeply. "I'm used to it. Nothing I do is going to change their minds about me. I'm here for Kaasan, not for them."

"She is not your mother, Gojyo!"

"That may be so, but she cares for me. She followed me when I went after those wolves. She saved my life!"

Sakata snorted in disgust. Pouting, he mumbled, "Probably protecting her interests."

"Ojisan, did you say something?"

Abruptly changing the topic, the old man said, "Jien asked you to go with him. Why didn't you? You should have left this place with him."

Jien asked me to leave with him? Although perplexed, Gojyo's face darkened at the thought that his older brother would ask him to leave their mother behind. "I have no intention of abandoning Kaasan, as he had done. It was wrong for Niichan to leave her like this, and he is her true son."

"Didn't Jien ever tell you what your beloved mother did to him?" This Sakata asked with spite.

"She loved him more than I, and yet he abandoned her. That is enough for me to know. Now that Jien's gone, I will take his place as her son and care for her."

Great sorrow was reflected on Sakata's face. "Are you so desperately in need of a mother's love that you are so quick to forgive and forget? A tiger cannot change its stripes."

"You say that, Ojisan, because you haven't seen how she risked her life to save mine."

"If she did that, it was certainly not out of love or kindness. Her fiendish heart is too dark for such niceties. She saved you because of your value to her, and it's not out of any maternal emotion on her part."

The old florist laid his hand on the half-breed's shoulder."Be wary of the company that your mother keeps. Eiji Satan will not stop until he gets what he wants."

"Eiji Satan..." Gojyo vaguely remembered the name. "He's the owner of the gambling house, am I right? Then, perhaps I should pay him a visit."

Sakata stared at him in shock. "Are you a fool? You'll go waltzing into the lion's den!"

Standing, Gojyo flirtatiously tilted his head so that his long crimson hair tumbled past his shoulder blades at his back. "Ojisan, for Kaasan, I will do anything to make her happy."

---

For someone considered to be the most unpopular and unwanted in the village, the welcome Gojyo received at the gambling house was not the kind that he expected.

As he walked through the swinging doors, the gamblers inside leaped to their feet, determined to throw him out. At once, the bouncers acted, threw the furious men out instead of him, and locked the doors. Gojyo was, in turn, led up to the second floor and into a modest parlor, where he was told to wait. He was seated at the card table when Eiji Satan entered the room, with two of his bodyguards taking their places on opposite sides of the door.

"Why am I not surprised that it would be you?" Gojyo mused aloud, recognizing the burly youkai not only as his mother's nighttime visitor, but the same man who had earlier saved him from the mob.

"Gojyo-kun..." Satan greeted in turn, "...You don't know how happy I am to see you here."

"Cut the small talk! I want to know what business you have with my mother."

The youkai took the seat opposite the half-breed. From his pocket, he produced a crisp deck of cards and proceeded to shuffle them before Gojyo's eyes. "Your dear father, wherever he may be, left your mother with a huge debt. He was one of my patrons, you see. He bet big and he lost big, and he ran up quite a tab. Your poor mother gave the deed of your land to me, but I'm afraid it's not enough."

The sly undertone in Satan's words was unmistakable. Gojyo's eyes narrowed grimly as he said, "If you think I'm going to let you lay a finger on my mother, you're damned wrong."

Satan leaned comfortably into his seat, ignoring that threat. "I've heard that you are a gambling man yourself, Gojyo-kun. I'll tell you what. How about a small wager? If you win, I'll write off your father's debt."

Gojyo looked suspiciously at the youkai. "And what happens if I lose?"

A broad grin went up Satan's mouth, a tongue snaking out to lick his lips. "Instead of your mother, you shall belong to me, Gojyo-kun, for me and my clientele to do with as we please."

Gojyo felt the hairs at the back of his neck stand on end. While it was true that he had experienced fending off advances from male admirers before, this time, however, was different. His mind and body still remembered the brutal abuse it had endured from Gyumao's psychic essence. To have this youkai and so many others use him... Seeing that leer on Satan's face, he was seized by an unfamiliar emotion -- panic. It took tremendous effort to quell the urge to flee.

Forcing himself to smile that rakish grin that had caused hundreds of women to swoon at his feet, Gojyo replied, "Start dealing the cards."

Three hours later, the half-breed burst into relieved laughter as he slammed his cards, a Royal Flush, down on the table. Grinning triumphantly at the seething youkai, he declared, "I win. You lose. Now, Satan, my man, as per the wager we made, you shall write off all of my father's gambling debts."

"Not so fast, my boy," Satan said just as strongly. "Three Royal Flushes in a row? And one four of a kind? With aces? I find that highly suspicious."

"Are you calling me a cheater?"

Casually, the youkai reached under the table and pulled out four cards that Gojyo had tucked in the crack between the table top and leg. At once, the half-breed blanched, realizing that his trick had been discovered. Before he knew what was happening, a hard hand seized his wrist and pulled him onto the lap of the grinning gambler.

A sweat drop formed on his brow as Satan murmured, "My dear Gojyo-kun! You should know better than to pull that trick on a master like me." Already, his hands were poking in places where they should not be.

"Let go of me, yaro!" growled Gojyo, trying to squirm away from the youkai's embrace. "If you think I'm going to give myself to you that easily, you're wrong."

Before Satan's youkai bodyguards could react, Gojyo ducked under Satan's grasping arm, seizing it as he did so. He ended up behind the gambler, with Satan's arm twisted at his back.

"Stay back!" Gojyo warned as he inched closer to the window, the guards moving cautiously towards them.

With a mighty shove, the half-breed pushed the youkai into his henchmen and leaped out the window.

"Shall we go after him?" one of the bodyguards asked his master.

Satan shook his head as he watched Gojyo disappear behind two houses. "No need. If she did what I told her to do, mark my words, my little prize will be back."

---

Foremost on Gojyo's mind as he hurried back home was to pack up what meager belongings they had and take his mother far away from Satan. But he was not prepared for the sight that greeted him when he finally arrived.

When he opened the door, Gojyo was shocked to find his humble home in shambles. The furnishings were broken into pieces, the curtains torn to shreds. Lying in the middle of the wreckage was the weeping form of his stepmother.

"Kaasan! Kaasan!" he cried, cradling the woman in his arms. There was a dark bruise on her cheek. "Daijoubu? Kaasan!"

His stepmother's eyelids fluttered open, causing renewed tears to fall. "Gojyo..." she sobbed, her body trembling.

"Who did this, Kaasan?" He then added softly, "Was it Satan?"

The woman turned away, unable to look at him. "Gomen."

Hugging his stepmother to him, Gojyo lowered his head that his hair covered the despondent expression on his face. "There's nothing to be sorry for, Kaasan. You did everything you could. Let me take of everything this time."

---

That same evening, two grinning youkai were walking up the stairs, escorting the subdued young man between them to their master's suite. Reaching the chamber, they simply opened the door and gave their master's guest a light push inside.

"Welcome back, Gojyo-kun!" Satan greeted the half-breed, his arms raised in eagerness. "I was expecting you a bit earlier, but seeing how you...prepared...yourself for this night, the wait was indeed worth it."

To fit his somber, defeated mood, Gojyo chose to dress entirely in black. His shirt was made of the sheerest silk that barely hid the finely toned body underneath. His jeans clung tightly to his long legs. Long hair was brushed like a shimmering red veil that partly concealed his handsome face.

For once, Gojyo was at a loss on what to do. Earlier, it had been easy for him to distract his mind with what Satan called "preparations". On the way, he smoked one cigarette after another. By the time he reached the doorstep of the gambling house, he had smoked a whole pack. But still his mind remained fogged by fear and confusion.

Sha Gojyo was a known seducer of women. So what was he doing here, in the chamber of a filthy youkai no less? After what Gyumao had done to him, how could he find the courage to play whore?"

For Kaasan... he said to himself again. He had been saying this like a mantra the minute he started his trek to the gambling house.

When he was yanked into strong, beefy arms and his shirt torn open, Gojyo closed his eyes tight until he could see the words, I'm doing this for Kaasan.

The cold rim of a wine glass was pressed to his lips, and he parted them briefly to allow the bittersweet fluid to be poured in. After that, his mind seemed to shatter in tiny bits and pieces as suffocating heat suffused his body, transforming him into a pliant doll for Satan's not-so-tender kisses and caresses.

A tear trickled from Gojyo's eye as he was lifted and thrown on top of the bed, the remainder of his clothing ripped from his body. His last coherent thought before he succumbed to the desires that were unwillingly being aroused from him was that of his former road companions.

Feeling that initial thrust, a choked sob escaped Gojyo's lips. I can't go back to them, not after this. I've lost the home that I always return to. Only Kaasan matters now. Only Kaasan...

---

"He is not a virgin."

"WHAT!" The youkai woman stared with undisguised hatred at the naked figure lying on the bed. "How could he not be a virgin? He's a skirt chaser."

Satan took a puff from his opium pipe. "Believe me, I know how it feels to bed a virgin, and he is definitely not one. I suspect someone must have taken him by force. He was trying to fight me off, but because of the potent aphrodisiac I had given him, he couldn't do anything." He clucked his tongue. "Too bad. He kept murmuring what sounded like names. I believe he has given his heart to someone."

Gojyo's stepmother let out a snort. "How could anyone love a bastard like him?" Looking at Satan, she remarked with suspicion, "You sound like you pity the little shit. I thought you were going to teach him the ways of a whore."

"The women come to me because they choose to do so. Regardless of what the hypocrites in this village think, I never force myself upon an unwilling lover. If their wives or daughters come to me, it's because their husbands and lovers themselves coerced them to come for one reason or another. Just like what you have done. But with Gojyo here..." The youkai reached out and wiped away the tears that continued to pour down the half-breed's cheeks. "He did this for you, you know. Although it is you who is indebted to me, are you going to continue with this charade? Shall he continue to pay your debts?"

"Please spare me! You never struck me as a man with a conscience. Why don't you just admit that you desire him? Well, I have given him to you. My debts are as good as paid." She gave the youkai a fiendish wink. "And you did promise me a cut in the profits once he starts working for you."

"He is your stepson, woman! Is there no love in your heart for him? Even just a little?"

"Love? Bah!" She strode towards the bed and roughly turned an insensate Gojyo onto his back. As she straddled him, she said derisively, "He possesses the face of that hated woman who stole my husband from me. Me? Love a slut such as this? Let me show you what he's really good for!"

Satan watched in stunned silence as the youkai woman took her stepson's flaccid member in her hands and plunged down on the length, taking it deep within her.

At once, Gojyo started shaking his head. "Yada! Onegai!" he cried feebly. "Yamete kudasai!"

Still in a drugged state, he could do nothing but cry as his stepmother used him. Satan could only thank the gods that the young man was oblivious to the identity of the person who was now abusing him.

The youkai woman cackled with delight as she rode the helpless half-breed. "Hah! Hai! He moves like a whore!"

Without saying a word, Satan stood up and went outside the room, closing the door. For a moment, the youkai just stood in the hallway, numbed by the atrocity he had just witnessed.

Yes, Satan was certain of the fact. If Gojyo knew who had just raped him, he would go insane.

Or he would take any weapon close at hand and plunge it into his stepmother's crazy black heart.