Saiyuki Fan Fiction ❯ Shades of Time ❯ Making Connection ( Chapter 11 )

 

Sanzo took a drag on his smoke and tried to bully his sleep numbed brain into some vague semblance of coherency. He sat down at the same table they had used the night before, enjoying the low fire that was taking the morning chill from the room. There were a few guests at the other tables, most of them struggling to wake up fully at that early hour of the day. Anya brought him coffee and the morning paper then sat down at the table next to him.

 

“Where is everyone?” Sanzo grunted, stifling the yawn that threatened.

 

“Well, your Kappa is still sleeping it off upstairs,” Anya said with a grin. “I don't imagine we'll see him until well after noon.”

 

“He's not <i>my</i> damn Kappa, I just got stuck with him.”

 

“Goku has been in the kitchen helping me and your other friend went into town with Rei to get supplies. I'm guessing you want breakfast.”

 

“What made you think that, other than it happens to be morning?”

 

Anya laughed. “Are the other Sanzo priests like you?”

 

“I wouldn't know.”

 

“Just wondering. I've only met one other and I didn't like him much,” Anya said with a shrug.

 

“Which one did you meet?” Sanzo asked, looking at her around his paper.

 

“I don't know his name. Rei might though, she went a few rounds with him about him taking in a little street friend of ours. She said he didn't feel right.”

 

Sanzo's teeth nearly bit through the filter of his cigarette. “What did he look like?”

 

“I don't remember really. It was several years ago and I was only around eight or nine at the time. But I remember he had dark hair and it made me feel really cold to look at him. Kenji was just so happy that someone wanted him and he brought the man to where we'd been staying. Rei didn't want Kenji to go with him because she said she didn't think he was really a priest of that rank. She said there was no mark on his forehead so he couldn't be. She told Dad about it after we were all adopted and he said she was probably right. We never saw Kenji again. Rei said she doesn't think he's in this world anymore because she can't feel him,” Anya said sadly.

 

Sanzo grunted noncommittally and went back to his paper, his mind churning all the while. A Sanzo priest with dark hair and no charka mark who'd taken in a street child. That story sounded very familiar. He'd have to find out more about it later. Anya got up and patted him on the shoulder as she left, he raised one eyebrow in question.

 

“Just because you don't want anyone to touch you, that doesn't mean you don't need it sometimes.”

 

“Where'd you get that crap?” Sanzo said huffily, hiding behind his paper.

 

“It's what Dad told Rei when she wouldn't let anyone come near her without trying to do them serious bodily harm.”

 

“Why would she do that?”

 

“If no one can get close to you, no one can hurt you, is what she always said.”

 

***

 

Rei had somehow miraculously managed to pry Hakuryuu out of Tai and MeiLin's clutches early that morning so she and Hakkai were heading toward town. There were a few little things that Hakkai, Sanzo, Gojyo and Goku needed but the majority of the shopping would have to be done later, otherwise everything would spoil since it looked like they'd be there for at least the next two weeks. Rei thought it would be a good idea for him to meet some of the local merchants with her that way they would know him and he wouldn't have to haggle so much on prices.

 

All the way into town Hakkai kept glancing at her from the corner of his eye. Something strange was going on here, he mused. He felt . . . connected to her to the point he could almost see the threads binding them together. It was just so odd. He'd never felt anything like it before with anyone, not even with Kanan. There seemed to be a sense of destiny or intense purpose when he was around her, almost as if they had some bigger part to play in the grand scheme of things.

 

“Rei, I don't mean to sound too forward,” he said carefully. “But do you get the feeling that . . .”

 

“We're connected somehow?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“I feel it more and more by the moment but I'm not sure what it means.”

 

“I think it means we'll figure it out along the way,” Hakkai said slowly, pulling into town and parking a few blocks away from the market place.

 

Rei smiled a little. “Yes, I suppose we will. Gods, I have a million and one things to get. Hakuryuu, come along,” she said as she and Hakkai got out.

 

Hakuryuu changed to dragon form and landed on Rei's shoulder for a moment, poked his nose into her hair then changed over to Hakkai. Rei smiled and tickled Hakuryuu on the tummy, he squeaked and wiggled to the point of almost falling off of Hakkai's shoulder.

 

“Okay, okay, I'll stop. You didn't think I'd get that one out of Tai and MeiLin, did you?” Rei said, taking Hakkai by the hand and pulling him along toward the market.

 

Hakkai blushed a little but didn't try to pull his hand away from hers. There was something about it that felt so familiar and so right. No one had held his hand since Kanan had died. Not that he'd wanted anyone to but . . . Bad train of thought to start on. He cast around for a topic to distract him from the feel of Rei's fingers laced through his.

 

“Can you actually talk to Hakuryuu?” he asked.

 

“Not exactly. I get pictures from animals most of the time because their thoughts aren't ordered by an actual language. Although as a dragon, Hakuryuu does have that capability. People are easier and harder in some ways because they have language that's conveyed in their thoughts. It's really annoying though because most of the time I have no control over it and I just get random things. Usually whatever the person happens to be thinking about strongly at whatever time that talent kicks in. Or sometimes I'll pick up deeper things people don't want known. I see auras from time to time as well but nothing really major. Though it was enough of a gift to allow me to stay away from certain people when I was younger.”

 

“Anything else you can do?”

 

Rei shrugged and looked to Hakkai's left side at the young woman who constantly seemed to shadow him. “Sometimes, I see ghosts. But only when they allow me to.”

 

Hakkai turned his head to follow her line of vision and saw nothing out of the ordinary. He frowned a little. “Should I be worried about what your gifts tell you concerning me?”

 

“No. I think I should be the one who's worried about what my gifts tell me concerning you.”

 

Hakkai was taken slightly aback. Very few people could accurately read him even on a day when his defenses were down. That was one of the good things about being able to manipulate and control chi, he could mask a myriad of unsavory facts about himself. But Rei's comment made him wonder just how much she had picked up from him and what it was.

 

“W . . . why?”

 

She turned to face him, still holding onto his hand. “Because, what I feel and see from you breaks my heart.”

 

***

 

The Merciful Goddess leaned back from hir gazing pool a little and laughed. “Well, well, it seems our dear little Shi-ne kept to her word. She actually found them. Or they found her, rather. Just in time too.”

 

“But isn't it dangerous for all of them to be together, especially if she remembers . . .”

 

“You nag like an old woman, Jiroshin,” se said, waving him away. “Even if she <i>does</i> remember anything it will only be that they've had past lives together. Remember, even though there are core things about them that are the same as they're the same souls in different bodies they are different people from who they were all those years ago. Rei doesn't seem the least embarrassed about her abilities like Shi-ne was. And Hakkai has no clue to the fact he's gorgeous when Tenpou knew he was nice looking. It should be interesting seeing how this plays out.”