Saiyuki Reload Fan Fiction ❯ You Were Meant To Be Mine ❯ Unbearable Truth ( Chapter 12 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Once Layla is herself again, Sanzo resumes the fight with Gojyo. Again Layla protects Gojyo from Sanzo's wrath, an act which hurts Sanzo deeply given the night they've just spent together. A vision of his master sends Sanzo running off into the forest. Goku confronts Layla, demanding that she stop freaking Sanzo out with the weird things she says and does. He brings Sanzo back to the Jeep while Hakkai, Gojyo, and Layla wait there.

Anime/Manga: Saiyuki Reload Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Psychological / Hentai / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 09.15.2006 | Updated On: 10.02.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.0K | Visits: 215 | Status: Completed

CHAPTER TWELVE Unbearable Truth

Sanzo stopped chanting and sat up, rearranging the sutra across his shoulders. He got to his feet and held out his hand to Layla. She lay there, eyes shut tight, rubbing at her temples.

"Sweet mother of mercy," she muttered. "Now I understand what people mean when they say they need a drink."

Sanzo bent down to curl his fingers around her wrists. "You're in luck. I think I still have one bottle of decent sake tucked away."

Layla jerked her wrists free. "No thank you, Sanzo-sama." She kept her eyes shut and turned her face away from him. "I don't think it's a good idea to accept a drink from the same hand that struck me down."

"You tell him, honey!" Gojyo said. "Knock him right off that high and mighty pedestal he likes to stand on!"

"You!" Layla scrambled to her feet and pushed past Sanzo, marching up to Gojyo and jabbing him in the chest with her forefinger. "Just because I offended you with my narrow-minded racist upbringing, that didn't give you any right to say such horrible, filthy things to Sanzo-sama!"

"Oh yes. I still have to kill him for that." Sanzo stuck his hand into his sleeve, brought out the pistol, and thumbed the hammer back. "Layla. Once again, you are standing between me and my target. Move."

"As for you...." Layla marched right up to Sanzo, shoved his pistol hand aside and glared up into his eyes. "You had no right to say such horrid things to Gojyo when I was doing my best to answer him as gently as I could!"

Sanzo stepped back and held the pistol straight out from his shoulder, the muzzle centered between Layla's eyes. "No half-crazed slave girl has any right to hold me back when I'm about to kill that bastard kappa for daring to slander the monks of my home temple!"

Layla held his glare for a long moment, then her shoulders sagged. "How sad, Sanzo-sama. Your pride really is worth more to you than anything else."

She walked back to Gojyo. "Could you kneel down for a minute, please?"

"Sure."

Gojyo did as she asked. Layla stood right in front of him, facing Sanzo, blocking him completely from Sanzo's shot. The sight of that made Sanzo even more determined to finally wipe Gojyo off the face of the earth.

"Shoot, Sanzo-sama. But this time, shoot twice."

"I'm not joking, Layla." Sanzo raised the pistol and sighted down it, centering the sight between those beautiful eyes. "I will shoot you."

"I know that. And, knowing that, I'd rather die for Gojyo than live for you."

Sanzo stared at her. His heart lurched, every beat forcing his veins to carry not blood but broken glass. "I just saved you from some kind of seizure, and you dare speak to me this way?"

"Who will Heaven favor, Sanzo-sama? You, for murdering a man over mere words, or me, for giving up the life that man saved so that I may at least try to save his?"

The sun had shifted overhead. Sunlight speared down through the treetops. Golden light seemed to blaze around Layla. For a moment Sanzo thought he glimpsed the golden crown worn by Sanzo priests. His master's face, his head leaning back against the trunk of the tree where he sat, surrounded by little children whose hands were full of paper airplanes....

A cry of agony tore itself out of Sanzo's throat. He flung away the pistol and clutched at his head, then whirled and rushed off into the forest.

***

Gojyo got to his feet. "Thank you, Layla." He put his hands on Layla's shoulders. "No one has stood up for me like that since--" His voice broke. "Since that night my brother saved me."

Layla turned and wrapped her arms tight around his waist. "I'm sorry, Gojyo. I'm so sorry. You're the last person in the world I'd want to hurt."

"Hey, hey." He stroked her hair, smiling down at the top of her head. "Since you just saved my life three times in the last half an hour, I'd say we're even."

"Are we?"

Gojyo kissed her hair, then rested his chin on the top of her head while he held her. Layla had spoken hard words to Sanzo with pity in her voice. Pity. Sanzo hated that more than anything else. And then she'd told Sanzo she'd rather die for Gojyo than live for him. Knowing she really did mean every word of it wiped out all the pain of hearing Layla admitted his cursed coloring kept her from letting Gojyo get any closer to her. What had hurt more than seeing her kissing Sanzo was the thought that she might actually look down on him the same way Sanzo did. She didn't see him as a Child of Taboo now, not really. If that wasn't a big enough thrill, Layla saw him as a better man than Sanzo. She'd even said so, right to Sanzo's face!

Hakkai shook the leaves from the blanket and folded it up. "Perhaps we should go back to Jeep and wait for Sanzo there. I'm sure he'll be eager to get on the road again once he's had a little time to himself." He glanced around. "I do hope we can find his pistol. He needs that, for more than just his transitional object."

"His what?" Gojyo said.

"Never mind."

Staring at the ground, Hakkai moved forward in the same direction that Sanzo had thrown his pistol. Gojyo kept his arm around Layla's shoulders as they started back toward Jeep. Goku stood in their path, his fists clenched, glaring at Layla.

"What's your problem, chimp?" Gojyo asked.

Goku took a step toward Layla. "What did you do to Sanzo?"

"Goku--" Hakkai began.

"What did you do to Sanzo?" Goku roared.

Layla shied back against Gojyo.

"You say these freaky things to him and he turns all white and sick-looking." Goku's golden eyes blazed. "Stop it. I mean it. Stop making Sanzo sick!"

"I'm sorry, Goku. I promise you that for the next two days I will say as little to Sanzo-sama as I possibly can."

Goku didn't look convinced. "No more sleeping in our tent. No more staying in our room. You just keep away from Sanzo. You make him think about his master, and that always makes him sad."

Layla nodded. "You're right, Goku. I should stay away from Sanzo-sama. I'll do as you say."

Goku nodded. He jogged past Hakkai, bent to thrust his hand into a pile of leaves like all the others, and pulled out Sanzo's pistol. He ran off after Sanzo, calling his name. Hakkai and Gojyo led Layla back to Jeep. Hakkai took his place behind the wheel. For a while only birdsong and the rush of the wind through the upper branches broke the stillness.

"How long should we wait?" Gojyo asked.

"Goku found the pistol without even trying," Hakkai said. "No matter where Sanzo's hiding, Goku will find him with even less effort. It shouldn't be long now."

Gojyo threw himself into the back seat. "Come on, Layla. Come sit on Big Brother Goyjo's lap."

Once Layla got herself arranged on Gojyo's lap, she reached up to draw a length of his hair through her fingers, looking him in the eye. Gojyo stared back, saying nothing, waiting for Layla to make up her mind about whatever she was thinking. Layla leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. It was a brief kiss, but sincere.

"You're amazingly handsome," Layla whispered. "You know that, don't you? So tall and strong, with that wicked smile and all this long hair...."

Gojyo touched trembling fingertips to the softness of her cheek. "So you would want me, if you could?"

Layla rested her head on Gojyo's shoulder, nodding against the warmth of his skin. "There will come a day when I kick myself for being too stupid to grab you when I had the chance."

"Well!" Hakkai looked up at the sky. "I think we've waited long enough." He turned on the ignition, then honked twice to signal departure time.

Less than a minute later Goku appeared at the far edge of the forest, leading Sanzo by the hand.

"Oh shit," Gojyo muttered. "Hey, 'Kai? Look."

Hakkai turned around in his seat and followed Gojyo's pointing finger. He sighed, shaking his head.

"What is it?" Layla asked.

"You know how to hit Sanzo where he lives, that's for damn sure. He must be in bad shape to let the monkey boy lead him around like that."

Muttering to himself, Sanzo took his usual place in the front passenger seat and lit a new cigarette. Goku hopped into the back, shot Layla one cold glare, then folded his arms over his chest and stared straight at the back of Sanzo's head.

Layla's face twisted with a spasm of grief. Gojyo wrapped one arm around her. He threaded his fingers through her long hair, combing it over and over again until she fell into an uneasy doze.