Saiyuki Reload Gunlock Fan Fiction ❯ Heaven above Heaven above Heaven ❯ Heaven above Heaven above Heaven again ( Chapter 1 )

Heaven above Heaven above Heaven again

 

 

Disclaimer: Never have been, never will be. Mei is mine though and this particular story too.

Warning: English is not my first language.

 

Summary: Three Aspects ordered Sanzo to take on a psychic medium named Dee Mei. She really has a function in this story, other than bringing feminine charm. You see, she is the reincarnation of goddess Rinrei. That's right, Homura's long-lost sweetheart.

 

Prelude

 

In the legend Genjyo is a T'ang priest sent to India to bring the Buddhist scriptures back to China. Along the way he is joined by the Monkey king, a kappa and a pig. There was a chain of proper symbolic events. The world was not in peril.

 

There is also a heretic legend of heretical heroes who saved the world. They were wronged and improper without virtues expected even from normal people. In exchange they possessed virtues or just useful traits that should be expected from no one. Once upon a time there were a brutal, worldly priest, an unholy child born from Earth's aura, a halfbreed kappa, a man who had slain a thousand for one and a girl who took away her father's ability to walk. They were all better people than they gave themselves credit for. Once upon a time there was a Heaven above Heaven above Heaven.

 

Chang An. In the Palace of the Setting Sun. It was a beautiful day. To Sanzo it was purely an annoyance since his usually tiresome charge went completely hyperactive in sunny days like that and tended to pull his hair for whatever reason. At least it was better than rain.

“Priest of the northern lands, Genjyo Sanzo. I have arrived,” Genjyo Sanzo voiced. He knelt between two fires and concentrated. For a minute there was only emptiness and silence, and then there was presence.

/Welcome, Sanzo,/ greeted one of Three Aspects. /Forgive the sudden call. There is a matter we must discuss./

“There is nothing to forgive,” Sanzo said and it was true. He had it in him to voice his displeasure even in front of gods if necessary. However answering to the call whenever it came was the big idea of being a Sanzo no matter how precious his time was. And he knew what this call was for.

/The glory of Shangri-La is tainted,/ the voice that was not quite voice spoke. Sanzo frowned.

“You talk of the sudden violence of the youkai and their loss of self,” he said. He had seen it firsthanded. A merchant in the marketplace had lost it and had killed people with his bare hands. He knew his grip had been solid as steel. A homeroom-teacher on a field trip. Sanzo had killed her before she killed the children but two of them would never walk again. People all over the land suffering from a sudden splitting headache and then submitting to the blood lust. That caused him headache.

/Indeed,/ was the answer. And Sanzo was being told about the attempts to bring back the Ox King Gyumaoh via combining science with youjutsu and the possibly downfall of the entire human race. It was very like Sanzo that this wasn't when he complained the task.

/Genjyo Sanzo, we appoint you. Travel with past associates Son Goku, Sha Gojyo and Cho Hakkai to the India in the West. You will stop in the town of Shang Tuan and persuade a psychic medium named Dee Mei to join you. She is a human./ Sanzo nodded at that.

“As you command,” he said, “but…” There was always a problem if not more. Sanzo just couldn't think like he was expected and he wouldn't even if he could.

“Sanbutsushin, my lords. I have two questions. At first the matter of appointing three youkais for this mission. Are you sure this is wise?” He heard what he had known he would. How those three were powerful and capable of withstanding the Minus Wave. That had not been his point.

“I acknowledge their strength but as long as they have youkai blood in their veins there is the chance that they, too, may turn against us.” Well, probably not Goku. The boy treasured him too much to side with his enemy. It went against the rule of non-attachment but it was not his flaw. There was difference holding something and being held but that was beside the point. The point was he didn't trust Cho Hakkai and Sha Gojyo.

/Whether that is what you truly believe or not the truth does not change. They have been chosen be the great Kanzeon Bosatsu herself. We have to put our trust in them,/ said one of Sanbutsushin. Pity that trust was not a simple matter to Sanzo. Blood so deep red it looked like black in the dark and the ruthless rain drumming the roof. Chakra on his forehead had still been warm from his thumb.

“I hold trust in no one than myself,” he said. That was the way of the world. One had to help oneself because no one else would including gods. What he had lost could never be replaced.

/Sanzo. It is time you trusted the eyes of your heart./ A black-haired aspect said that with the most beautiful smile and concerning the matter of trust that was the end of the conversation.

“As you wish,” he said. “Then there is the matter of this Dee Mei.” He was also supposed to trust in a person he hadn't known existing few short minutes ago? At least the woman was not in peril to lose her mind. Hopefully.

“Goku, Gojyo and Hakkai are fighters, Hakkai also a healer. What is the function of Dee?”

/She will be your guide./

“Is she able to defend herself?”

/She is not a fighter. What she exactly is capable of is your duty to explore and improve./ Sanzo sighed at that. Wetnursing some damsel in distress throughout the whole journey ? Oh great!

/There is one other matter,/ one of the Sanbutsushin continued. /It would appear that someone is using the Seiten Sutra, the sacred scripture of your late master which you have been seeking./ Sanzo was rarely stunned to silence. Actually it was practically never but that managed to do it. His scripture, the Maten Sutra held the power to break the darkness. The Seiten Sutra of Koumyou Sanzo held the power to forth the light. The night Koumyou Sanzo was slaughtered the Seiten Sutra had gone missing. He had tried to find it and Koumyou's killers from that very night. No rest for the wounded. Now it was a personal matter.

/Leave now, Genjyo Sanzo! Go to the west!/ Sanzo bowed his head.

“As you command,” he said but instead of proper and conventional respecting thoughts there was very uncalled thoughts of revenge. He knew it was one form of holding but with this he just couldn't help it. And it was relatively harmless form since once he would achieve his goal it would be gone too, leaving just a bittersweet memory and some more blood in his hands. He stood up and stormed out of the temple. “Goku!” he shouted and stood still. Nothing happened. He muttered under his breath and cursed the day he had first time heard the boy's voice in his head. He had had no choice but took the boy in but now he was several blood-pressure levels closer to death because of the boy and there was no end in sight.

“Goku!” he shouted again and this time he heard hasty steps from behind. From above too. He looked up and saw Goku standing there smiling like the idiot he was.

“What are you doing there? Come down now! We have to go.”

“Go where?” Goku asked and jumped. Sanzo looked irritated but then again when he would not have looked? That was the way of his keeper. Besides it was a great day. Goku wondered would he get hit if he hugged Sanzo.

To astray no doubt,” Sanzo said. Goku pondered that for a second.

“Is there good food in Astray?” he asked. The paper fan appeared.

“Idiot!”

“Ow! That hurt!”

“Good. Come now. We need to contact some people.”

 

Somewhere in Tenkai. It was a beautiful day there too. The weather was always beautiful in Tenkai, had always been and would always be. However there is more in beautiful day than weather. They were luckier these days than they had been, even if most people never noticed the difference.

“We have received a report from the Sanbutsushin at Chang An. Sanzo has headed to collect his companions and started the journey,” man said and looked to the half-naked beauty in front of him. That the person had made it bodhisattva proved that neither Karma nor enlightment was what most mortals thought. “And so it begins, Kanzeon Bosatsu,” he said. Kanzeon shook hir head smiling.

“No… this all started a long time ago. Five hundred years ago to be exact. That was when the Monkey king was born.” Se chuckled only a tad bit bitterly like there had been a joke told at hir expense and it had eventually grown amusing with time. With loads of time.

“I intended to ask…” the man began, “why you insisted Dee Mei should join them? There is connection but she was not part of their downfall. I admit that her ability to find is useful but we could have just given them a map.” Kanzeon smirked.

“It is more fun this way,” se said. A vein popped on man's forehead.

“Great Kanzeon Bosatsu! Do you think this is a laughing matter?” Kanzeon did laugh but hir mind was elsewhere.

“The mercy wears a different face to every different individual. That's why it is so often misunderstood,” se said. The man blinked unsure how he should take this sudden change of mood. Kanzeon's expression was a mildly amused, gentle one.

“The grand inevitable. A noble path to destruction and what follows is either the new beginning or the end. So melodramatic. There is no such thing as inevitable and he will find out.” Se stretched lazily. “Destiny may be his dance but fate is no one's bitch. Why should they all learn it the hard way?”

“Who will find out?” the man asked but Kanzeon just smiled.

“The finest ragtag party in the whole wide world,” se said sounding somewhat proudly. That was what people would see. As long as things would get done they wouldn't be interested enough to look what had been. And so it continues, se thought.

 

Shang Tuan. In the Dee mansion. The sky was hidden behind clouds and the wind was a bit chilly. Days were rarely nice to Mei anyway.

Dee Mei awakened slowly and stared hazily to the ceiling. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and smiled to the picture of a beautiful white-haired youkai girl on her desk.

“Good morning, Lao,” she said and stretched. “I saw just one odd dream.” She could hear the silent rolling sound of a wheeling chair from the other side of the door. Her father did it to punish him, petty little revenge since he could do no more. Mei's mouth then tasted like ash. If Laoghaire lived it would be one thing. Now it was just pitiful. They both were pitiful but that couldn't very well be helped.

“I'm trying my best, Lao,” she said. “Oh, God! Someday I'll leave and never come back and we can all be happier then.” The sound had stopped and Mei realised her father was listening. She smirked.

“Anything is better than getting married after all.” She could just hear her father gritting his teeth even behind the wooden door. Yeah, pitiful summed it nicely up.