Genjo Sanzo's eyes widened - his whole body trembled in surprise - an uncharacteristically exaggerated response for a level-headed man like him - as he heard an awfully familiar feminine voice from behind. Immediately he turned around, and as an eldery woman's figure entered his sight, he couldn't help but to let flashbacks of the past eat through his mind. It had been more than ten years since Sanzo last saw her, and while indeed she looked way older than in the person in his memories, he could still see her defining feature: beautiful clear eyes, filled with light and hope. Despite having lost her youth, she still retain the dignified aura about her.
Sanzo's legs moved before he could even process the entire happening unfolding before him.
"...-sama?"
As he reached out his hand and let the woman's name escape his lips, in that instant, his late master - Koumyou Sanzo's face and the first time his master introduced him to her flashed before his eyes.
Perhaps it was fate, one cruel yet kind, that allowed him to meet her once again.
"It really is you, Kouryuu!" She beamed, gently holding Sanzo's reached-out hand, "You've grown up... how many years has it been since we last met?"
The older woman proceeds to observe Sanzo from head to toe. Had she been just anyone, Sanzo would've probably glared and called her names - yet, in all honesty, Sanzo felt completely comfortable under her gaze. She was still a kind and cheerful woman, and she still has that light - the light that made Sanzo feel very warm, both in the past and now.
As laid her eyes on the kyoumon rested on Sanzo's shoulders, she whispered: "That kyoumon..." with a very small voice that didn't escape Sanzo's ears.
...That's right, she couldn't have known that his master had...
Sanzo could feel his whole body stiffening. His chest tightened, and he felt light-headed - it was as if a mountain fell on top of his. He couldn't breathe - no, no, no all of it was his fault, his fault, his fault that his master ended up...
Sanzo flinched as he was brought out of his reverie by a pair of slender arms wrapped around him, "It's alright, Kouryuu," he could hear her gentle voice entering his ears, and her warmth engulfing his body, "I'm glad that you've become a full-fledged Sanzo."
...But the tinge of melancholy in her voice was hard to let go unnoticed.
"Uhh, could you explain the current situation, Hakkai-sensei?"
Gojyo's voice cut through the long silence between Hakkai, Goku, and himself, who were left behind by their 'leader', Genjo Sanzo. The three of them could only watch from a few meters away the exchange between Sanzo and the older woman who's currently embracing the Sanzo-sama they knew despised physical contact the most.
"Even I am not quite sure of the situation myself, Gojyo," Hakkai replied, his expression full of surprise, "But I do think I heard her call him 'Kouryuu'... wasn't that Sanzo's childhood name?"
"Then, she knew Sanzo from the past?" Goku chimed in.
"Supposedly -" Hakkai was about to say, before Gojyo interrupted.
"That's for sure!" Gojyo huffed, "There's no way an ordinary woman, much less one who'd only known him a few minutes ago, would hug a walking blasphemy like him."
Hakkai could only let out a dry laugh - after all, Gojyo wasn't wrong, per se.
"...Sanzo looks so comfortable, though," Goku pointed out, his yees looking at the two fondly, "She must've been someone really close to him."
As Goku spoke, Hakkai turned towards the pair and alerted his mates: "Ah, they're coming," he said.
When the pair finally reached them, the first one to speak was the woman.
"All of you must be tired from your long journey," she spoke, slowly yet in a dignified manner that made the three of them unable to avert their eyes, "I live by myself, so there's still a room available. It's quite small and not a fancy place, but please do stay if you wish."
"Ah, um, thank you very much..." Hakkai immediately replied with a smile and courtesy, but stumbled upon her name, "Umm...?"
The woman smiled in return, "I am . It is a pleasure to meet all of you."
It didn't take the group long to reach the woman's home. It was a small, run-out-of-the-mill house, yet it has a beautiful garden in front of it - one look could tell that the plants, the colorful flowers blooming in-season were handled with care and love. They walked past the garden and waited for the woman to open the lock.
"It's... rather quiet," Hakkai observed, "Although it's not very far from the town, it's tranquil here."
The place gave off a comfortable, tranquil, yet somewhat melancholic atmosphere - as if there were countless of warm memories drifting in the air, untouchable, invisible, yet one could certainly feel it's there - no matter how strange that description sounded.
"Come on in!" 's cheerful voice pulled Hakkai out of his reverie, as the members of Sanzo-ikkou walked in, with guiding them to the vacant room.
Entering the room, they noticed that the room itself wasn't too big - it only has a twin bed, a wooden shelf, two chairs, and a table - perhaps it was once used as a guest room, but the lonely feeling in the room gave off the impression that it hasn't been used in a long time. Of course, the bed wouldn't fit four adult men on it, so out of consideration, brought out some futon for them - much to the group's gratitude.
Ignoring his mate's shrieks of delight for finally getting to sleep in a proper room under a proper room, Snazo walked towards the simple wooden shelf. Nothing interesting was inside - only a few books, some small accessories... however, Sanzo's eyes stopped on the objects resting on the uppermost compartment of the shelf.
It was a pair of sake cups, made of porcelain and decorate with a beautiful moon ornament. Despite being the farthest from reach, the cups look very clean, Sanzo observed, and it was clear that they were taken care of very meticulously.
"That sake cup..." Sanzo whispered, "Is it..."
...Master's?
He wanted to ask, yet he knew that at this point, any inquiries about his master would only hurt .
Nonetheless, , who seemed to have been following his gaze from the start, affirmed, as she moved to stand beside him: "It was, indeed, Houmei's," she said, "He only comes more or less once every few months, but he's always so adamant on leaving some of his belongings here. Though, the cup, I bought it for the two of us - it fits him very much, don't you think?"
Sanzo turned only his eyes towards her, quietly gazing at her expression.
She let out a small laugh, her eyes sparkling remembering the blissful past, "Of course, cups don't really matter when you're drunk."
Wordlessly, Sanzo turned his gaze again, this time towards his comrades (although even if he were to die he wouldn't outwardly admit it), who were already making themselves comfortable inside the room, resting. Indeed, the journey before they reached this particular town was long and tiresome - it had been three, four days since they last slept under a roof with a proper bedding. Even Goku, the person with the most energy, had begun feeling exhausted from the road.
"Ah, did I talk too much?" covered her mouth with her hand, "The effects of being old, I tell you!"
Sanzo shook his head and replied curtly, "No," before falling silent once again.
After noticing the sun already half-way setting through the window, said, "I'll go and prepare dinner. All of you must be very hungry!" with her characteristic kind smile.
Hearing the word dinner, Goku was the first one to react as he sprang up, eyes glittering: "Dinner! Dinner! Dinner!" He cheered, as if it's been years since he last ate. Though of course, he got immediately shut up by Gojyo, who hit his head as he yelled, "Shut up, you're embarrassing us!"
Goku covered his head with his hands - it seems that Gojyo's chop hurt quite a bit - and glared at the red haired man in discontent, "Isn't it normal to feel hungry!?" He yelled back, "Even you were asking bout dinner earlier, Gojyo!"
"No, I didn't!"
"You did!"
"Shut up, idiot monkey!"
"What was that, perverted kappa!?"
Hakkai, who had noticed Sanzo's expression gradually darkening, tried to intervene the (rather childish) fight, saying, "Goku, Gojyo, I think it's better to-"
However, he was a little too late, as Sanzo's hand had already moved, hitting both Goku and Gojyo's head with his deadly harisen before either of them could react.
""OWW!""
The two of them yelped in pain, as Sanzo death-glared at them.
"All of you are too noisy!" He shouted angrily.
Looking at the party's antics, couldn't help but to let out a laugh, "What a cheerful group!" She said, "All of you are such great friends."
Her words were met with instant denials from Sanzo, Goku, and Gojyo, though, as the three of thems said in unison: "We're not friends!!"
Before more fights could break out, Hakkai stepped in: "We're sorry for being so noisy, -san," he said, "It's always like this."
replied with a warm smile, "I don't mind at all... Hakkai, was it?" She asked, and after Hakkai nodded in confirmation, she added: "After all, this place looks brighter with all of you around..."
As though he was still here, Hakkai thought he'd heard her say, but didn't try to confirm out of consideration, despite his curiosity as to who she was referring to.
After saying that, excused herself and left the room to prepare dinner.
The room turned awfully silent after she left. The four of them all sat down on their respective places in the room: Gojyo and Goku sat down on the futon, whilst Sanzo and Hakkai took the chairs. All of them but Sanzo exchanged glances (the latter chose to look out the window without saying a thing), all itching to ask the same thing. Soon, it was apparent that Sanzo noticed.
"If any of you want to say something, just say it," He said, impatiently, as his gaze turned towards his companions.
"Sanzo?"
Wordlessly, Sanzo turned towards Hakkai.
"...Who is -san, actually?" Hakkai inquired, "I could infer a few things from your earlier conversations, but..."
Moments passed quietly before Sanzo decided to answer after he took a drag on his cigarette, "She was my Master... Koumyou Sanzo Houshi's most important person."
It took a while for the three to take in Sanzo's words - and when they did succeed, all of their eyes widen, surprise unconcealed.
"You mean like, she was your Master's lover?" Gojyo asked straight, and Sanzo nodded in affirmation, "Whoa... that's one huge coincidence - we managing to meet her, that is."
Goku chimed in right after, saying, "Then it should've been years since she last saw him...?"
Hakkai and Gojyo immediately turned to look at Goku in disapproval - even being insensitive has its limits. Immediately, Goku covered his mouth with both of his hands, as he slowly - very slowly - turned to look towards Sanzo, afraid of the upcoming rage.
However, what he'd waited for didn't come, as Sanzo instead took another drag on his cigarette. And then he said, "Of course, it's been years since Master died, after all."
Everyone could feel the heavy atmosphere in the room. It was suffocating, with Sanzo being unusually meek and Hakkai, Gojyo, and Goku not knowing what to say or do. Finally, unable to withstand the heavy silence, Goku stood up and ran out of the room while saying, "I'm gonna go help prepare dinner!" - which, of course, surprised the others, since up until now, Goku only knew how to eat, and to eat, and to eat...
"...She must've really loved him," Hakkai noted, drawing on his observation of . Moreover, listening to Sanzo's explanation made him empathize with the woman in question: perhaps because both of them had lost someone they held the dearest... However, he thought, must've been hurting for so long. To not be able to see the love of her life for long years, to become old by herself, to wait for him ever so loyally... only to one day be made known that the person she had been longing for had left the world long ago... without her knowing.
If it were Hakkai, under the same circumstances, would he be able to keep such a cheerful face, brimming with warmth?
"...No," Sanzo said, in a voice so small the other two barely noticed, "Master and -sama... they really, really love each other."
Gojyo looked out the window as he lit up a cigarette of his own, and said, "Even now, huh?"
Only silence greeted his words as both Sanzo and Hakkai fell deep into their own thoughts.
"~!" Goku greeted the old woman cheerfully when he saw her figure in the kitchen.
However, much to his surprise he was met with 's tearful expression, one so heartbreaking Goku didn't think it was the same person smiling and laughing with them just a few moments ago. Immediately he approached her, "!? Are you okay!?" with a worried expression.
jolted in surprise as she looked towards Goku, "Goku...!?" Immediately she wiped the tears off her cheeks, and assured him, "I'm fine, I'm fine."
Goku doesn't seem to buy her words though as he asked again, "Are you really okay...?" with a worried expression.
"I'm really fine," willed herself to smile, "Thank you."
Seeing ready to continue cooking (it seems she was in the middle of cutting some meat), Goku offered his aid: "I... I'll help prepare dinner!" He said, "What can I do for you?"
's eyes widened in surprise at his offer, but then immediately she smiled softly, "Could you help me slice up the meat, then?"
In response, Goku smiled widely: "Of course!"
In time the two of them were comfortably settled with their own tasks. looked at Goku with a smile, and said, "Goku?"
"Yeah?"
"...Would you mind listening to an old woman's boring monologue?" asked, as she continued peeling some potatoes.
Goku looked at her, "...I don't mind," he replied curtly.
Smiling, whispered a soft, sincere 'thank you'.
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