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Title: Eclipse - chapter 7
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Author: Meicdon13
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Pairing(s): Kougaiji x Sanzo
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Rating: PG-13
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Summary: Sanzo's reincarnation works for Kanzeon Bosatsu. While he searches for the three remaining sutras, he
comes across someone else from the past that might be able to help him out.
What he doesn't know is exactly what Kougaiji was to
his past life.
- Website: http://meicdon13.livejournal.com/
- Notes:
A short update is better than no update? :D *is shot*
Um. Forgot to mention that in this fic,
Kougaiji looks middle-aged. In my head!canon, youkai
do have longer life spans, but not that long; the only thing keeping Kougaiji and Lirin alive is the fact
that they're high-ranking youkai royalty.
Chapter Seven: All Hail the King
Kougaij wondered if Jinhai
knew how … creepy he looked at the moment.
They were in what served as the living room of Jinhai's
small apartment, and the policeman was standing to one side of the room, his
forehead pressed against that of his so-called copy. The latter's eyes were
open and blank. If Kougaiji squinted, he could see gray zeroes and ones scrolling down the pupils.
Beside him, Lirin was leafing through a book that had
been lying on the coffee table in front of the couch they were sitting on.
"Look, 'niisan," she said excitedly.
"It's a picture of you."
Kougaiji looked at the open book. It was open to a
page about the youkai king of ancient
Lirin laughed. "You just got used to looking
middle-aged, 'niisan." She closed the book and
put it back on top of the table. "Is this going to take any longer?"
she asked Kougaiji. "We really have to go. You
have to get ready for tonight's meeting with the lords."
"I just want to ask Jinhai something," Kougaiji said. "Then we can go."
"Okay." Lirin promptly leaned forward and
asked, "Chen-xian sheng,
are you done?"
"Almost," Jinhai replied shortly. After a
minute, he stepped back from his copy. He raised an eyebrow at the two youkai on his couch and crossed his arms. "Well?"
"This … copy of yours," Kougaiji began.
"I was wondering where you got it." The thing was obviously the
latest in AI technology. If he could get one for himself, he'd be spared having
to attend boring meetings and it'd be useful as a body double …
"That's classified information," Jinhai
said shortly.
"Did you get it from the temple?" Lirin
asked, her thoughts obviously running along the same track as Kougaiji's. She stood up and approached the copy, leaning
in to get a closer look at its blank face.
Jinhai snapped his fingers. The copy suddenly came alive, taking one step back and snapping, "Don't
touch me."
Lirin laughed. "It's just as surly as you
are!"
"Funny," Jinhai said. "Now if you
don't have any more questions, please leave."
Kougaiji stood up as well. "I have a
request." When the policeman did nothing but look at him, Kougaiji went on. "I want to go with you to the
"The temple provides me with everything that I'll need."
"Do they have an extensive info-gathering network at their disposal?"
Kougaiji asked, trying not to appear desperate. He
met Jinhai's narrowed gaze head-on, waiting for the
human's answer.
Lirin's laughter as she annoyed the copy was the only
sound in the entire room.
Jinhai opened his mouth to speak, and Kougaiji braced himself for the rejection. He was
pleasantly surprised when Jinhai said, "Fine.
You can come along."
Kougaiji was about to thank him when the policeman
added, "But if you screw this up for me, it won't matter if you're the youkai emperor or not. I'll exorcise your ass faster than
you can say Shangri-la."
He still has it. Kougaiji felt like laughing. What
were the chances that Jinhai would own the Maten Sutra? After all these centuries, it seemed that
Sanzo still wouldn't give up the one material thing that he really treasured.
Kougaiji was tempted to ask about the Seiten Sutra but instead said, "Thank you very much
for letting me go with you."
-----
"I'm sorry, Jinhai, but there's a problem with
the helicopter we chartered," the head monk said apologetically.
"It's okay, sir," Jinhai said calmly,
though he could feel the beginnings of a headache making its presence known. He
cut off the head monk's apologies, and said, "Really. It's
fine, sir. I'll just try to find some other way to get there."
"Once again, I'm sorry. And good luck."
"Thank you," Jinhai answered. He ended the
call on his commlink, and sighed in exasperation. It
looked like the trip would be delayed unless he could find and charter a copter
on short notice. He pulled up a holograph of the yellow pages on his commlink and began scrolling through.
"What's wrong?" Kougaiji asked.
Jinhai glanced at the redhead beside him and tried
not to snort derisively. The redhead looked nothing like an emperor; he was
decked out in practical clothes and carrying a knapsack. If anything, he just
looked like a hiker.
They were currently in Jinhai's apartment—again—the
redhead having arrived half an hour ago. Kougaiji
stood in the doorway leading into Jinhai's bedroom.
He'd been waiting for the policeman to finish packing when Jinhai's
commlink had rung, informing him of an incoming call
from the head monk.
"We're having trouble with transportation," Jinhai
said shortly.
"Is that all?" Kougaiji pulled out his cell
phone—Jinhai briefly wondered why the youkai emperor was still using something so outdated when
he could afford something more up-to-date—and dialed
a number. "Hello? Lakshanya? You're not going to use the airplane today, are you?"
He paused, waiting, then smiled. "Good. I'll be
using it for my trip. Can you have it prepared? Thanks." Kougaiji listened to whatever Lakshanya
was saying and ended the call with a, "You too. 'Bye."
"Who was that?" Jinhai asked as he stuffed
a few more clothes into his own knapsack. He supposed he should be marveling at how easily Kougaiji
managed to get them transportation instead of wondering who was
Lakshanya aside from being someone who could
sub for the redhead in important meetings and someone who could also use Kougaiji's private airplane.
"My wife."
Jinhai paused in the middle of zipping up his bag,
told himself he shouldn't care because he didn't have a reason why he should
care, and said, "Ah." He straightened up, putting on his knapsack as
he did. "Well? You got us a ride, right? Let's go."
Kougaiji nodded and made his way out the apartment
and onto the street outside. The sleek black hovercar
from yesterday was waiting outside for them, and they got into the car in
silence.