Gensomaden Saiyuki Fan Fiction ❯ Metamorphosis ❯ CHAPTER SIX: Sacrifice ( Chapter 6 )

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

A BRIEF NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: I would like to thank everyone who has been eagerly following this story. The first time I posted "Metamorphosis" on the Net, I was disheartened by the early feedback I received. But I am thankful that this tale has finally found a loyal readership, especially here at my site and at MediaMiner.org.

However, I must be very honest at this point. After this chapter, the wait for the next chapter in this saga might take much longer to be posted. My mother has suffered several heart attacks in a month's period, and taking care of her has to be my priority. This is the reason for the delay in the release of this chapter to begin with. Caring for a sick loved one is a 24/7 affair, and that gives me little time to do anything else, especially the things I love to do, which is writing.

I am hoping for everyone's patience. I will try my best to update this story as soon as RL allows me to do so.

Again, thank you very much for your wonderful support of "Metamorphosis".

---

CHAPTER SIX: Sacrifice

"You may leave us, Kougaiji."

"But, Sanzo, I cannot..."

"You heard him, boy. We desire to be alone. Don't worry. You'll have your turn very soon."

Kougaiji bit down on his lip, drawing blood where fang pierced skin, his fists clenched at his sides. Wordlessly, he went towards the door, ignoring the soft moans of pleasure, the smacking lips and quiet cries behind him. He didn't have to look back to see what the priest and his father were doing.

As he stepped into the hallway, Kougaiji pulled the door quietly close behind him and leaned back against it. From his own bitter experience, he knew what Sanzo was going through. First, it had been Gyokumen Koushu and Dr. Nii, taking advantage of his tinkered brain to use him as they saw fit. It was only a matter of time before his father did the same to him. So far, he could tolerate Gyumao's mauling and pawing, but he doubted if he could endure what his father was doing to the priest, more so when he finally makes the decision to take him completely.

But unlike him, Sanzo had no such experiences. From what he knew of the monk, Sanzo abhorred even a mere touch. Anyone who dared found themselves staring down the barrel of a gun. Now, however, the priest simply lay back on the bed or on a divan, allowing the Demon King to use his body. There was not a single inch of that pale flesh that Gyumao had not explored, all except for that one spot where he could at last get the ultimate gratification. But even without this final act, Sanzo was as good as taken.

It bothered Kougaiji greatly to see Sanzo wasting away before his eyes. The priest had lost his usual fire. He would obey Gyumao's commands without question or argument. One would think that he was looking at a different person entirely.

After one such tryst, the youkai had confronted the human. "Why, Sanzo?" he asked in despair, shaking the monk's shoulders. "Why are you doing this?"

Sanzo's answer was a weak smile and the glimmer of tears in his lavender eyes. "It doesn't matter anymore what happens to me. Goku, Hakkai, Gojyo, Yaone-san and Dokugakuji-san...they're all safe. The only thing left for me to do is to figure out a way to get you and Lirin out of here. Your safety...that's the only thing I care about now."

Kougaiji buried his face in his hands and wept at the memory of that reply. He knew this wasn't right. Sanzo had done so much for him and his sister, taking the full brunt of Gyumao's anger and perverted desires. His dear friends were now in the care of the monk's road companions. But, with the notable exception of that month when the priest had been ill, he had done nothing for Sanzo. Kougaiji had been more than content to let Sanzo shoulder both their burdens. Seeing what was being done to the once proud man, he knew he could not bear to see Sanzo suffering any longer.

"Niichan?" a timid voice interrupted his troubled thoughts. "Is something wrong? Why are you crying?"

The youkai prince swiftly wiped away his tears as he smiled down at his little sister. "It's nothing, Li-chan. I just have a speck of dust in my eye."

Although not convinced, Lirin was too eager to show her brother what she had found. Keeping her hands behind her back, she grinned mischievously. "I have a surprise for you, Oniichan. Something I'm sure that will make you very happy."

Kougaiji got down on one knee before her. "Okay, Li-chan! What is it?"

"I want you to close your eyes and hold out your hands."

He eyed Lirin with suspicion. "If it's a toad, I don't want it."

"NIICHAN!" Lirin exclaimed impatiently.

"All right! All right!" With a sigh, Kougaiji obeyed his sister. He heard her happy giggles and then she laid something on the palms of his hands.

"You may open your eyes now," she chirped in breathless anticipation.

As Kougaiji's eyelids fluttered open, he gasped, seeing what his sister had given him. At once, the tears renewed its trickle down his cheeks.

"My earrings!" Kougaiji couldn't believe that his cherished possession had been returned to him. "Lirin, where did you find them?"

"I was going through Kaachan's things, looking for them. I knew how important those earrings were to you, being a gift from your mother and all. I found them in a small chest hidden in the bottom of her dresser."

The youkai prince embraced his dearest sibling. "Arigato, Lirin! Arigato gozaimasu!"

"You've done so much for me, Niichan," Lirin sobbed, hugging him just as tightly. "Even if I'm merely your half-sister, you still cared for me. When Kaachan took your earrings away...and hurt you, I wanted so very much to help you. But it was still you who rescued me from Dr. Nii's experiments. Finding your earrings...this is just a small thing, but I wanted to show you how much I love you." She gave Kougaiji a gentle squeeze. "Oniichan, I love you!"

Kougaiji bussed his little sister on the cheek. "I love you, too, Li-chan."

---

An hour later, Kougaiji stood before the stone pillar where his mother was imprisoned, the earrings now back to their rightful place, adorning his ears. He was dressed in his mother's red silk yukata, pink sakura blossoms embroidered on the elegant garment.

"Haha me, I hope you'll understand what I'm about to do," he told the woman in the stone. "I have to do this. Perhaps, I could persuade Touchan to break the seal of your prison. Besides that..." Kougaiji lowered his gaze in guilt. "I cannot allow Sanzo or anyone else to sacrifice themselves for me. Forgive me, Haha me, for what I'm about to do."

Bowing to his mother, the young youkai exited the basement lab, closing the iron doors, and headed up to his father's chamber. He found Gyumao in the hallway, about to enter his suite. Kougaiji paused for a moment, feeling his father's sharp gaze rake his body.

"Kou-chan!" Gyumao greeted him, giving his son a broad grin, revealing sharp fangs. "What brings you here?"

"Touchan...I mean, my Lord..." Kougaiji prostrated himself at the Demon King's feet. "I have a...boon...to ask of you."

"My favors don't come cheap. You must be willing to pay the price. Of course, it is only I who could judge if the payment made meets to my satisfaction."

"I will do anything," answered Kougaiji firmly. "For my boon to be granted, I am at your pleasure."

Strong hands bade him to stand. Lifting his son's head up by his chin, Gyumao tinkered with the fringe of one earring. "You have certainly made yourself beautiful for me tonight. Let's see if you could please me, Kou-chan."

Saying this, the Demon King opened the door to his chamber. Without any hesitation, Kougaiji cocked his chin up proudly and, keeping his eyes forward, strode inside the room.

Gyumao smiled at the determination in the young youkai. Following after Kougaiji, the Demon King locked the door behind him.

---

Sanzo was limping down a darkened corridor, each labored step drawing pain from his groin. His abused nipples scraped against the soft silk of his robe, trying to force his mind back to the tryst he had with the Demon King.

But something else had captured his attention -- the heated sounds of sex and anguished weeping reverberating throughout the castle. He didn't have to guess where it was coming from.

Reaching Gyumao's chamber, Sanzo's hand was about to touch the latch, but he paused in apprehension. Sudden dread made him wary to see what lay beyond the door.

Then, he heard someone whisper brokenly inside, "Please, Touchan! Be gentle with me! It hurts!"

Sanzo's heart acted at once. In the blink of an eye, he found his astral form standing in the middle of the huge chamber, his amethyst eyes widening in horror.

The Demon King was a huge bear of a beast, his body completely covering Kougaiji's slim, naked form beneath him. The young youkai was on all fours, trembling, barely able to support the weight of the elder demon. Gyumao was thrusting in wild abandon inside Kougaiji's body, his right hand stroking his son's member in that same frantic pace and rhythm.

Kougaiji was screaming, tears of agony pouring from his eyes.

Sanzo shook his head in disbelief. No! This isn't real! This is a nightmare! Kou swore to me that he would never...

Their bodies still joined, Gyumao went up to a sitting position, pulling his son along with him, impaling the youkai prince completely. Helpless and in terrible pain, Kougaiji was forced to ride the crest of his father's lust, his hands groping for those cruel fingers that twisted his nipples and pumped his member.

It was a sight that Sanzo could not take.

With a furious cry of "LET HIM GO!", the priest charged at the Demon King. However, his fists went right through him. Again and again, he struck out, but to no avail.

Sanzo stepped back in shock, hearing the two youkai scream -- one in ecstacy, the other in anguish -- as they climaxed.

What Gyumao whispered in his weeping son's ear stunned the priest to the very depths of his soul.

"You have done well, Kou-chan," he said with a lick on a pointed ear, "but not good enough for me to fulfill your more...difficult...request. However, because you wished it, I will abstain from enjoying Sanzo's chaste flesh...for as long as you continue to take his place."

A "NO!" was drawn from Sanzo's lips as he sat bolt upright from the bed. The pain in his heart told him what he already knew -- that it wasn't a dream.

Swiftly, he donned a robe and ran out of his chamber in search of Kougaiji, ignoring the dull aches of his early encounter with the youkai ruler. It was his intent to go to the Demon King's chamber. But then, a crying Lirin ran past him and bolted down the stairs. Sanzo hurried after her, almost stumbling down the steps in his haste to catch up. He found poor Lirin in the basement, pounding frantically on a metal door.

"Oniichan! Open this door!" Lirin cried. "Let me in!" She turned, seeing the priest running breathlessly towards her. "Sanzo-sama! Niichan!"

Sanzo patted the girl's head, trying to be reassuring. "Go back to your room, Li-chan."

"But Sanzo-sama..."

"Let me be the one to talk to your brother. I promise we'll return."

Lirin stared at Sanzo and then glanced at the metal door. Pressing her face to the cold metal surface, she called out to her brother, sobbing, "I love you, Oniichan. No matter what he did to you, nothing's ever going to change how I feel for you."

At these words, Lirin sadly walked away.

When the little girl was gone, Sanzo laid his palm over the control box, his spiritual power opening the door for him.

The priest found Kougaiji half-kneeling, half-lying at the base of a stone pillar on which was carved the image of a beautiful youkai woman. Through the opening of his torn robes, Sanzo saw that Kougaiji's long legs were streaked with blood and other body fluids. To his horror, blood continued to stream down, forming a crimson puddle on the floor. Weeping miserably, the youkai prince raised a bloody hand to the woman.

"Haha me!" Kougaiji let out a heartbreaking wail. "I thought I could take it, but it was terrible. I've never felt such agonizing pain, and to have it inflicted by my own father! Why do I have to suffer like this? Why do I have to endure the touch of those who are meant to be a part of my family? First, it was Gyokumen Koushu-sama. Now, it's Touchan! Am I only meant to be a receptacle of people's lusts? I have nothing more to give, Haha me! I've lost all pride, all self-respect! What more must I do before I could free you from your prison and save all those whom I care for?"

Before he realized that he was doing so, Sanzo grabbed a fistful of Kougaiji's crimson locks. Raising the youkai's head, he gave him a fierce slap on the cheek. The force of the blow nearly caused Kougaiji to fall against the pillar, but Sanzo seized him in a desperate embrace.

"You stupid fool! Why the hell did you do this?" Sanzo, in his remorse and sorrow, was oblivious to the tears that were streaming from his eyes. "I told you to stop making all these sacrifices!"

"I...I didn't want him to hurt you! I couldn't bear to see you suffer!" Kougaiji gazed up longingly at his mother's face. "And I want my mother freed!"

"Your mother would rather be imprisoned for all eternity in stone than see you hurting like this! Don't you know how much it tore at her heart to see you being abused by Gyokumen Koushu and her scientist...right before her eyes? Because you wanted to free her? Don't you hear your mother crying in anguish, knowing what your father did to you?"

Closing his eyes, Sanzo reached out to the woman in the stone, allowing himself to be the conduit between a loving mother and her son.

He heard the woman say pleadingly, :I cannot do this, Sanzo-sama. What can I say to ease the pain in his heart?:

:You're his mother, aren't you?: Sanzo replied simply. :Just say anything. Your image in his mind, the sound of your voice...that would be enough to soothe him. The only thing I ask in return is that you order him to stop doing this. He must cease and desist from making all these useless sacrifices.:

:I will do as you request, Sanzo-sama.:

Kougaiji started, feeling gentle, graceful fingers running through his hair. Slowly, he looked up, expecting to see the priest. Instead, he beheld the beautiful face he had not seen in half a millennia.

Tears welling up in his eyes, he stammered, "Haha me? Is it you? Is it really you?"

The youkai prince found himself enfolded in a desperate embrace.

"My son! Oh, my poor son!" Rasetsunyo wept in bitterness. "What kind of mother am I that I could not protect my beloved child!"

"Haha me, I missed you so much! I've been trying so hard to find a way to set you free."

A hand was laid on his chin, lifting his head. "No, my son! Make no more sacrifices for me."

"But, Haha me..."

"It breaks my heart to see you suffering like this. I am already resigned to my fate, but you... Kou-chan, you cannot go on like this. That last time with Gyokumen Koushu...it tore at my soul to see you so...broken. And now, your own father had... Oh, my dearest son! How could he do this to you?"

"Touchan is not...well. I've been trying to tell myself that when he... Still, I am hoping that, with time, he would..." Kougaiji said haltingly, because, in truth, he was not hopeful that his father would ever heal from the wound to his mind. He laid his cheek on his mother's breast. "I'll...bear...this difficult cross. Not just for you, Touchan and Lirin, but for Sanzo as well. I...I never thought I'd say this about an enemy, Haha me, but I care about him. I won't let anything happen to him. I swear it."

"But at what cost to you, my son? Sanzo himself is begging me to tell you to stop making all these sacrifices for us."

"I will repeat to you what he had told me -- I don't care about what happens to me anymore." The youkai prince sighed and said sincerely, "Despite his infuriating personality, I see now what his friends have known for a long time. Sanzo is like the sun to me, precious hope that I thought I had lost. If he is lost to us forever, we have nothing more to hope for. Haha me, I cannot live without hope."

At these words, Kougaiji fell limp, exhausted from his ordeal, cradled in the arms of the startled priest.

His tears dripping down on the youkai's cheek, Sanzo laid a gentle hand over Kougaiji's bottom, suffusing the battered region with a warm, healing glow.

:Sanzo-sama...: the priest heard Rasetsunyo's sad mind voice. :You have heard his answer. Could you be the sun for my beloved son?:

Sanzo shook his head as he stood up, carrying Kougaiji in his arms like a child. "I...I was asked that once. I don't remember who it was who asked me that question, but, yes, I was asked that."

:And do you remember what your answer was?:

"I had no answer then, but I do now." Sanzo gazed bitterly at the woman in the stone. "The sun could kill, Rasetsunyo-sama, with the same heat that nurtures the earth. I cannot be the sun, if it means losing all those I love."

---

Gyumao was enjoying a plate full of roast meat slices and a bottle of wine when the door to his chamber burst open. He didn't even have to guess who was standing at his doorway. However, his ears perked up, hearing the rhythmic padding of furious feet rushing towards him. In one minute, he was sitting in his chair. The next minute, he was sailing through the air, thrown from his seat by the blond-haired priest with a strength that belied his slim figure. Gyumao landed with a heavy thud on the floor, skidding across the tiles and crashing into the wall. He growled at the angry form standing a few feet away from him.

"KONO YARO!" Sanzo hissed in blind rage, his right fist tightly clenched. His lavender eyes mirrored not only his fury, but the killing frenzy he was seized by. Snatching the knife on the table, he charged at the Demon King, roaring, "I WILL KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID TO YOUR SON!"

Gyumao barely got out of the way as Sanzo slashed at him with the knife. He was amazed by the blood lust in those pretty eyes as he evaded those sweeping slashes, the intense determination to see him lying dead in a pool of blood. This was a man who has been trying to control his urge for death and destruction under a facade of holiness. But now, that persona has emerged and it will not stop until it has achieved its purpose.

Strange, thought Gyumao, that this moment reminded him so much of a story he had gleaned from the whispers in the ether during those long centuries of convalescence -- both from human, youkai and, perhaps, even celestial lips. The story of a creature that had tainted Tenkai with blood. A powerful being known as the Seiten Taisei.

Why, as he watched Sanzo's futile attempts to destroy him, did the priest remind him so much of the Seiten Taisei?

Ah, but this game was wearying him, and he had no intention of being kept inside a metal shell to heal from his wounds once more. As Sanzo lunged at him again, Gyumao let his arm fly out in a sweeping side arc, backhanding the priest with a force that could have broken his neck, and sent him rolling and tumbling onto the floor. The Demon King frowned at the sight of the thing that flew out of the monk's robe.

As Sanzo wiped the blood from his mouth and got to his knees, Gyumao demanded, "Have you had enough, priest? I told you that I would do whatever I want with you and Kougaiji. You are in no position to do anything about it."

"Why?" came that tormented reply.

"Why, what...Sanzo-sama?" the Demon King asked derisively.

"Why did you do this?" Sanzo completed his question. "I'm trying desperately to understand how a father like you could do this to his son."

Gyumao strode towards the priest and pried the knife out of his hand. His fingers closing around that slender wrist, he jerked Sanzo to his feet. "Do you even have to ask, boy? You know damned well what my reasons are."

Sanzo wrenched out of his grasp, falling to the floor once more. Gesturing helplessly to his body, he said in despair, "I would give anything for the Three Aspects to remove these...defenses, so that I could truly belong to you, so that you won't hurt Kougaiji anymore. But I cannot!" He wailed, "Could you not wait? Time passes by so quickly. Surely you could wait!"

"And what do I do in the meantime?" Gyumao got down on his knees and pulled the robe down from Sanzo's shoulders, baring his upper body.

Sanzo winced as callused fingers caressed his chest. When a hand dipped down, and a delving finger insinuated itself in the cleft between his buttocks, he whispered, "What I allow you to do to me...is it not enough for you?"

The Demon King shook his head. "My sword yearns to be sheathed inside your beautiful body. While I am unable to do so, Kougaiji offered himself willingly to take your place. I am not stupid to refuse a gift as lovely as he...even if he, as you say, is my son."

The monk frowned at that last. "You don't remember, do you." With his fingertips, he touched the scar on Gyumao's brow. "Because of this wound, you have forgotten how much Kougaiji meant to you." Picking up the fallen Teddy Bear, the very toy that he had seen Kougaiji embrace and draw solace from on that first evening in Houtou Castle, Sanzo held it out to the Demon King. "You gave this to Kougaiji when he was still a child. After all these centuries, he still has it. The only precious reminder that he has of you and his mother, of your life when you were still a happy family."

Gyumao's eyes widened at the sight of that toy. He could not understand why that bear could arouse so many confusing emotions inside his heart.

Then, to his even greater surprise, Sanzo eased close to him, willing the youkai to enfold him in a tender embrace. Somehow, the Demon King found himself sitting down on the floor, letting the priest curl up on his lap. Sanzo leaned against him, the bear tightly hugged. Just like a child. Just like....

A soft sob followed by uncontrollable tremors. Gyumao was disheartened to see the golden tears streaking down Sanzo's face, tears he never expected to see pouring from this strong-willed, foul-mouthed monk's eyes. Each teardrop filled his body with heat that penetrated the fog surrounding his mind.

"Please don't hurt Kougaiji any more!" Sanzo begged him in earnest. "You wife is pleading with you to stop doing this! I beg you to heed the cries of your soul! It doesn't want you to hurt your son! Do what you will with me instead! I swear I won't disobey you! Just don't hurt your son!"

Hesitant fingers cupped a tear-stained cheek, before running through the golden locks soothingly. Gyumao rocked him gently, like what he did centuries back for his son.

"I...I wish I could promise you this, Sanzo, but I cannot," the Demon King answered, his voice shaking from the strain of trying to maintain his sanity. "I'm just not strong enough. Forgive me."

"Can't you at least try? For your son's sake, please!"

Gyumao could not speak at that entreaty. Instead, he continued to comfort the distraught priest, allowing himself to relish the warmth that radiated from the young man. Now that he was, for a moment, normal, he found himself wondering why the monk seemed virtually unaware of the true extent of his powers. Genjo Sanzo was like a deep well of sweet water, waiting to be tapped. But there was a barrier that prevented him from doing so, a thick wall, probably erected by the priest himself. However, there were minute cracks in that wall, the cause of which he did not know.

When Sanzo had finally cried himself to sleep, Gyumao picked him up and carried him and the bear back to their chamber. Opening the door quietly, he went towards the bed where his son lay in deep slumber. Carefully pulling the blanket down, the Demon King settled the priest beside Kougaiji, tucking the two young men in. Seeing Lirin sprawled on the cot, Gyumao also did the same kind gesture for the little girl, and gave her a pat on the head. Turning to Sanzo and Kougaiji once more, he bent down and bestowed true fatherly kisses on their cheeks.

"Aishitteru, Touchan," Kougaiji murmured in his sleep, his arm instinctively going up to pull Sanzo and the bear close to him.

Gyumao pressed his right hand to his mouth to stop his scream as splitting pain ripped through his skull. His left hand laid over his brow, tears streamed down his cheeks as he gazed at the sleeping young men.

"Gomen nasai, Sanzo, my beloved son Kougaiji," the Demon King wept in bitterness. "I hope you could find it in your hearts to forgive me for the terrible things I have done and will continue to do to you."

Lest the insanity overwhelm him once more, Gyumao fled from the chamber and ran back to his room, locking the door.

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER SEVEN...