Gensomaden Saiyuki Fan Fiction ❯ Saiyuki Serial: Beautifully Broken Evolution ❯ 23 Gift Of The Magpie ( Chapter 23 )

Author's Notes: I don't own a damn thing here except the smutty idea. Rights to the characters, as always, remains with their creator.

 

Self-beta job here. Thanks goes to those who helped/inspired/prodded me along.

 

 

23 Gift Of The Magpie

 

~Goku~

 

Sanzo was feeling better. I could tell `cause he'd started belting me in the head with his fan again when I said I was hungry. Gojyo was relieved Sanzo was back to normal. Not just `cause they could do, like, private bedroom stuff again. Gojyo'd been really worried when Sanzo was so sick. I'd been worried about Sanzo too but I knew he'd be okay. Hakkai said Sanzo would be fine in about a week and Hakkai didn't lie. Anyway, Sanzo couldn't die until he finished his mission for the Merciful Goddess.

 

Se wouldn't let him.

 

Oh sure, he'd get hurt and get the snot beat out of him sometimes. He'd even come close to dying, really dying, a few times. But I knew Sanzo wasn't allowed to die until the mission was done because of that one time after Sanzo's old friend from the temple stabbed him with a staff, Kanzeon Botsatsu came down from heaven to save Sanzo's life. Nah, Sanzo wasn't allowed to die until his mission was done and if all the demons and people attacking us couldn't kill Sanzo, some stupid cold sure wasn't gonna do it.

 

I chucked rocks into the stream as I thought about this journey we were on. I knew it was important and stuff. It was a mission from the Merciful Goddess. The demon fights were fun. Sometimes. When they didn't interrupt supper time or come in the middle of the night when we were all trying to sleep. I liked being with Sanzo, Gojyo and Hakkai. It was neat seeing different towns and meeting new people and trying new foods. I kinda liked the new foods part the best. But….

 

I was a little bit lonely.

 

Not lonely like Sanzo and Gojyo were before they started sleeping together. Or lonely like Hakkai was most of the time. Except, Hakkai didn't seem quite so lonely anymore. And he sometimes smelled like sex. I couldn't figure out who Hakkai might be doing stuff with. I was pretty sure it wasn't Sanzo and Gojyo. If Sanzo wouldn't share a lighter with Gojyo, I was damn sure he wouldn't share Gojyo with anybody. Not even Hakkai, who he kinda liked. Not that I really wanted to know who Hakkai was being not so lonely with or like it was any of my business. But it felt like a secret to me. And I really hated people keeping secrets from me.

 

As soon as we stopped for the day, Sanzo'd stomped off into the trees. Gojyo wandered off into the forest almost as fast saying he needed to have a leak. I think me and Hakkai were supposed to believe they were going to take a piss but Sanzo didn't need Gojyo's help to do that and who took a twenty minute piss anyway? I knew I wasn't as smart as Hakkai but I wasn't retarded either. Sanzo and Gojyo were doing each other and thinking me and Hakkai didn't know. What Sanzo and Gojyo did in the forest wasn't any of my business and after seeing them that one time, I didn't want or need to see it again. Even if watching them had made me feel restless and weird. I frowned as I chucked more rocks in the stream.

 

Keeping my mouth shut about knowing Sanzo and Gojyo were fucking each other was harder than I thought it would be. Sometimes Sanzo would be all grouchy like and I'd catch Gojyo touching Sanzo lightly when he didn't think anybody was looking and Sanzo would go all mellow for a little bit. That was a pretty neat trick Gojyo could do and I'd almost said so a couple of times before biting my tongue hard so I didn't say something that would get my ass shot off by a really pissed off Sanzo.

 

I still wasn't sure what the big deal was. Sanzo and Gojyo weren't hurting anybody by being together and Hakkai already knew about them. Did Sanzo think I couldn't deal with them sleeping together? No matter how many times I reminded them all, they still treated me like a dumb kid half the time. That was fucking annoying but I didn't know how to get them to stop and treat me like an adult not a kid.

 

Another rock hit the stream with a loud splash.

 

I think Gojyo loving Sanzo like he did was good for Sanzo. Sanzo wasn't so mad and tense all the time. I got whacked with the fan a lot less, too, when Sanzo was more relaxed, so I was all for the idea of them being together. Sanzo could hit way harder with a paper fan that he should have been able to.

 

I wasn't jealous of Gojyo or anything. He loved Sanzo different than I did and that was okay. You could love lots of people in lots of different ways. You couldn't run out of love. I loved Gojyo like a brother; a really annoying older brother. And I loved Hakkai like a… brother or teacher or something. Hakkai love was hard to figure out but I did love him. I loved Sanzo like… well… it's Sanzo love and that's about all I can explain about it. I knew they loved me back even if they'd never say it. Well, maybe Hakkai would but he was sorta special like that and not afraid to talk about feelings and stuff.

 

I felt all those different kinds of love but it wasn't the same as what Sanzo and Gojyo had with each other. Or even whatever was up with Hakkai. So, maybe I was a little jealous. Not that I wanted Sanzo or Gojyo to love me like they loved each other. Or wanted Hakkai in that way either. That'd be kinda gross. Like sleeping with your brother or something. I guess I wanted somebody to love me like Gojyo loved Sanzo. Or however Hakkai was being loved that put that real smile on his face not the scary creepy one he usually had. I wished I had somebody who loved me like that. I felt like I might have had something like that once but I couldn't really remember it and that made me sad and mad at the same time.

 

The next rock hit the water so hard it actually skipped half way across the stream.

 

“Goku!”

 

I sighed and stood up. Supper must be ready. I felt a little better when I remembered that Hakkai said he'd saved some meat buns from the last town we'd been in. I smiled as I jogged back to camp. Maybe if I was really fast, I could get Gojyo's meat buns too without Hakkai or Gojyo noticing.

 

*********

 

“Honestly, Goku, I didn't call you. I thought you smelled supper cooking and came back on your own. Put that down, that's for Gojyo,” Hakkai said as he stirred whatever he'd made that smelled fantastic.

 

“But I heard my name called,” I said dropping the meat bun back onto the plate and waiting for Hakkai to turn around. I could finish the meat bun in two bites if I had too. Hakkai didn't turn around. He was busy doing the last few things he needed to for us to eat but I knew he was watching me.

 

“Well, it wasn't me. Maybe it was Gojyo. Or Sanzo,” Hakkai said as he added stuff to the pot making whatever it was smell even better. My mouth watered.

 

“Gojyo and Sanzo are… it wasn't them,” I finished lamely. I'd almost spilled the secret. Not that Hakkai didn't already know or would say anything but I was trying to keep my mouth shut like I'd told Gojyo I would. And I didn't think Hakkai knew I knew about Sanzo and Gojyo. I slowly stretched my hand out for Gojyo's meat bun again when Hakkai was stirring the stuff in the pot and didn't seem to be paying attention to me.

 

“Goku,” Hakkai warned in the scary calm voice he had.

 

I muttered under my breath but left the meat bun alone. I didn't really think I'd be able to snatch it but it was worth a try. `Cause, you never know. I might have been able to steal it without Hakkai noticing what I was doing. I went across the campsite to play with Hakuryuu while I waited for Hakkai to finish making supper.

 

Hakuryuu'd always been really protective of Hakkai but over the last few weeks, he'd been acting really weird. He didn't like Gojyo or Sanzo getting too close to Hakkai. He seemed okay with me but he didn't want to play as much as he use to. And sometimes, I'd smell sex on Hakuryuu which was just freaking weird. I wondered where he found a lady dragon and if she followed us or something. I shrugged my shoulders when Hakuryuu decided to play with me. Whatever he did wasn't any of my business either even if I did want to see what a lady dragon looked like.

 

*********

 

“Maybe you're finally loosing it,” Gojyo said between bites of the meat bun I'd tried to steal earlier.

 

“I'm not loosing it, you stupid cockroach. I heard my name called. If it wasn't Hakkai or Sanzo or you, who was it? I didn't smell any demons or people, not that they'd know my name anyway.”

 

“Shut up and eat, both of you” Sanzo said as his hand moved into the sleeve of his robe.

 

Gojyo smirked at Sanzo and some kind of look passed between them. Sanzo grunted at Gojyo and I had to almost bite my tongue in half to keep from saying something about the blush on Sanzo's cheeks. I rolled my eyes at Gojyo instead and grabbed the last piece of meat from under his chopsticks. Gojyo yelled a protest and I stuck my tongue out at him before stuffing the meat in my mouth. Hakuryuu made little chirpy noises that sounded like he was laughing. Hakkai had a real smile on his face. Sanzo snorted and went back to eating without the Fan of Doom being whipped out so, I guess he thought it was funny too. I made all kinds of chewing and yummy noises just to piss Gojyo off even more.

 

Hakkai asked me to clean the pots in the stream after we'd finished eating. I didn't mind doing that. It seemed fair. Hakkai cooked really good stuff for us so pitching in to help clean up was the right thing to do. Besides, I could usually lick out the pots before I actually washed them. Gojyo said that was disgusting but food was food and it wasn't his tongue licking the pot. I'd told him he could just shut the hell up and go away if he was gonna make fun of me. I think he just didn't want to be on dish duty.

 

I was just finishing up the last pot when I heard my name called again.

 

“I don't know who you are or how you know my name, but you're asking for an ass kicking if you're trying to screw with me,” I warned as I scanned the area. Nothing moved as far as I could see and I couldn't smell anything that wasn't supposed to be there.

 

A big black and white bird flew down onto a log near the river bank and tilted its head. It stared at me for several seconds before bobbing its head up and down. I'd seen birds like that before. They were kinda hard to miss, being about as big as a crow. I'd never seen one this close before. If it was after some scraps, it was shit out of luck. I'd already licked the pots clean and didn't have anything on me.

 

“Goku,” the bird said before bobbing its head up and down again.

 

My eyes got wide. The bird was saying my name!

 

“Are you talking to me?” I asked not really expecting an answer. Birds didn't talk. And how would it know my name?

 

“Goku, Goku, Goku,” the bird said as it danced back and forth on the log.

 

Holy fuck! It was saying my name. This was freaking cool!

 

“Can you say anything else? What's your name?”

 

The bird stopped saying my name and hopping around on the log. It tilted its head again and just watched me, not saying anything. I guess all it knew was my name, which was a little strange. I was kinda suspicious and maybe a bit creeped out. I mean, when shit like this usually happened, there was almost always a demon fight not long after the weirdness. I should probably go back to camp and warn the others that bad stuff might be coming. Maybe it was a normal bird. Maybe not. If I made a bunch of noise and it took off, it was probably a normal bird that knew my name, somehow. That sounded lame but stranger things than a talking bird happened around us lots of times.

 

“I've got to go. Back to my friends. Uh… bye,” I said as I banged the pots together.

 

All the racket I was making didn't scare the bird away. That made me even more sure there was something not right about the bird. I wouldn't attack it `cause it hadn't done anything to me. Yet. But I was gonna ask Hakkai if he had any ideas about why a bird would say my name. I really hoped Gojyo didn't hear me talking to Hakkai about this. He'd tease me like mad for the next month. And then Sanzo would get pissed at us and either hit us with his fan or maybe even shoot us if we bugged him enough.

 

I handed Hakkai the clean pots when I got back to camp and hung around him a little. Gojyo was leaning against a tree across from us smoking. Sanzo was trying to read a paper but the sun was setting so he was squinting at the paper. Gojyo started to bug Sanzo about wrecking his eyes in the bad light. I sent another glance over at them. They seemed to be arguing and if I was fast, I might be able to ask Hakkai about the bird before Sanzo hit Gojyo with his fan or took a pot shot at him and Hakkai had to step in to stop the fight.

 

“Hakkai? Can birds talk?”

 

Hakkai turned and looked a little surprised at my question. He smiled and straightened a little into what I called his teacher look. “Yes, some birds can talk. Members of the parrot family are well known for their ability to learn speech. I'd read about some having vocabularies as large as two hundred words and they apparently understand that the sounds they make are connected to objects or people around them. I'd heard that members of the crow family can learn to talk too as they're really quite intelligent and have problem solving capabilities.”

 

“Uh… so birds can learn to talk? But that would mean somebody had to teach them, right?”

 

“Generally, yes. They wouldn't start randomly speaking. Just like babies need to learn to talk by listening to other people speak, a bird would need to have a person teach them words.”

 

“Would that take a long time?”

 

“I suppose it would depend on how smart the bird was and how much it wanted to learn. It would have to be around people a good deal of the time, I would think. Why all the questions about teaching a bird to talk, Goku?”

 

“You know when I thought you called me earlier?” I waited for Hakkai to nod his head. “Well, when I was washing out the pots, this big black and white bird flew down on a log and it said my name just like before.”

 

Hakkai gave me a slightly disbelieving look. I knew how stupid it sounded but it was the absolute truth.

 

“The bird really did, Hakkai. Come with me and I'll show you. If it's still there,” I said as I headed back towards the stream hoping the bird was still there. I looked back at Hakkai, willing him to come with me.

 

Hakkai sighed softly and followed me. He might have thought I was making the whole thing up but he'd come and see what I was talking about. Hakkai was good like that. I stepped out onto the bank of the stream. The bird was still on the log. It started bobbing its head up and down when it saw me but stopped as soon as it saw Hakkai step out of the trees behind me.

 

“That's the bird, Hakkai. I swear it said my name. You know I don't make shit up.”

 

Hakkai studied the bird and tapped a finger against his lips. He was thinking. I waited, shifting from foot to foot. If Hakkai was thinking, he knew something about the bird. Well, maybe not this bird but birds like it.

 

“That's a magpie, Goku. They're a symbol of good luck and happiness, especially if you hear one singing. Some even say that you can send messages to the gods by talking to a magpie. They're part of the crow family and you can teach them to talk if you have a lot of patience. Sometimes, people keep them as pets.”

 

“Cool. Hey, bird, say my name again,” I wanted Hakkai to hear the bird talk so he'd know I wasn't making shit up. Or going crazy. The magpie tilted its head to the side, cawed a few times and flew off. I yelled after it and Hakkai laughed softly before ruffling my hair.

 

“Consider seeing it a good omen, Goku. I'm going to head back to camp before Sanzo gets mad enough at Gojyo to shoot him. I don't want to have to heal Gojyo of a gun shot wound just because he didn't have enough sense to stop poking at Sanzo.”

 

I watched Hakkai walk back towards the camp. At least I knew what the bird was and that it might have been able to talk. I didn't imagine that. It said my name. I know it did. Good omens were fine by me. We could probably use all the good luck we could get on this journey. The happiness thing was cool too. That was something else we could all use. Maybe some of us more than others.

 

*********

 

I jerked awake with a sob. I slapped a hand over my mouth and looked around the camp to see if I'd woken anybody up. Hot tears ran over my fingers. I so didn't want to explain why I was crying to my friends. I'd dreamed of the little yellow bird that used to visit me when I was chained up on the mountain. The bird had kept me company. I hadn't felt so alone when that little bird had been there. And then it died. And I couldn't reach it to bury it properly.

 

I still felt kinda guilty about that and I wasn't really sure why.

 

It was almost like I knew the bird. Only it wasn't a bird that I knew. It was somebody. An important somebody. But whenever I tried to remember who that somebody was, my head would hurt really bad like it was going to explode. I think it was something I wasn't supposed to remember. Maybe whatever I'd done to get chained up on that mountain in the first place.

 

I rubbed my sleeve over my eyes to take care of the tears and wished I had something to blow my nose with. Hakkai would have a handkerchief but I wasn't about to wake him up `cause then he'd want to know why I'd been crying and I couldn't really say why. I hadn't dreamed of the little yellow bird since Sanzo rescued me from the mountain. I hadn't forgotten about the little bird but once I was with Sanzo, I'd stopped waking up bawling like a baby over it. At least, until now, I hadn't. I sniffed to clear my nose and rolled so my back was to the fire, and everybody else and almost screamed like a scared little girl before I could stop myself.

 

The magpie was back and no more than six inches away from me.

 

It bobbed its head at me and made a very soft cawing sound like it didn't want to wake up Sanzo, Gojyo or Hakkai. But that was stupid. Why would a bird care if it woke up the whole world or not? It just stared at me and I noticed that it had eyes the same colour as mine. I thought that was kinda weird. Birds usually had brown or black eyes. Even I knew that.

 

“Goku,” it said quietly and ruffled its feathers.

 

My eyes widened. I knew it! The magpie did talk and say my name. A quick look over my shoulder to make sure everybody was still asleep and I looked back at the magpie. It was really sort of a pretty bird. Its wings had a greeny-blue kinda thing going on when the firelight hit them. It shifted around a little before resting on its belly on the ground. Looked like the bird was going to stay where it was. I watched the magpie watching me. It didn't do anything or say anything more but it wasn't falling asleep either. I took a chance and slowly reached out a hand.

 

The magpie watched but didn't move. Not even when I touched it with my fingertips. I expected it to take off like it did when Hakkai came with me to see the magpie but it stayed still and let me run my fingers over its front. I'd never touched a live bird before. The magpie let me pet it a little more before it ruffled its feathers again. I brought my hand back close to my body and kept watching the magpie. It was acting way weird but it hadn't tried to hurt me or my friends.

 

I didn't think it would either.

 

Something about the magpie reminded me of the little yellow bird. I felt like I knew the bird. Not because I'd seen the magpie earlier. That wasn't it at all. Something about the magpie made me feel like I knew who it was. Like with the little yellow bird.

 

With the magpie sitting there, I didn't feel quite so lonely anymore. Dunno why, but I wasn't going to keep myself awake the rest of the night thinking about it. I fell asleep watching the firelight make the colours of the magpie's feathers change from black to blue to green. When I woke up in the morning, the magpie was gone. I was a little sad until I saw one perfect feather lying where the magpie sat next to me during the night keeping me company. I picked up the feather and put it inside my shirt where it'd be safe before I went to take a piss.

 

Even though I wanted to share how cool it'd been to touch the magpie and have it sit next to me at night, I also didn't want to say anything and have a secret all my own, too. And Gojyo would tease the crap out of me if I said anything about the magpie. Sanzo would tell me I couldn't have a pet and not to feed it or it would hang around and not go away. Hakkai would probably think it was cool but Hakkai was… Hakkai. He often got shit Sanzo and Gojyo didn't.

 

I stretched as I walked back into camp. I actually felt better than I had in a long time. Travelling with Sanzo and Gojyo and Hakkai was fun most of the time but lately I'd felt left out. Like everybody had a secret or something and I had nothing. I know they weren't doing it on purpose. But, now I didn't feel that way and it was because of the magpie. Even if I never saw it again, I had a secret of my own now.

 

“Hey, Hakkai, what's for breakfast? I'm starving,” I said with a cheerful grin.

 

Gojyo groaned and leaned his head over the mug of coffee in his hands. He wasn't a morning person. Sanzo muttered about how disgusting cheerful I was before stomping off to the edge of our campsite. Hakkai smiled and handed me an apple, telling me breakfast would be ready in a few minutes. I finished most of the apple when an idea hit me and I stuffed the rest of the apple into a pocket.

 

If the magpie did come back, I could give it the rest of my apple in, like, a thank you for making me feel not so lonely last night and giving me a secret of my own.

 

 

 

 

Author's Notes:

 

The views of magpies differ widely depending on which part of the planet you're currently standing in. Seeing as how Journey To The West started out as a Chinese myth/legend, I've gone with the Chinese meaning of the magpie. This page (http://druidry.org/obod/lore/animal/magpie.html) has some fairly good information on the magpie that I have cross-checked with other sites.