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new_kateIn honour of International Saiyuki week and because ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
octopedingenue and mistressrenet practically dared me to (thanks guys!), here is yet another version of how Hakkai got his limiters.
Title: Errand
Fandom: Saiyuki
Words: ~1200
Rating: R for violence etc
Warnings: Gonou is bonkers. Minecura doesn't skimp on gore. Mild spoiler for Even a Worm - 18 (vines!)
Betaed by wonderfulhibem *hugs*
His clearest memory from the fight was the peculiar feeling of sinking his claws into flesh. The talons didn’t transmit the sensation the way fingernails did, but it wasn’t easy to exactly pinpoint the difference and the reason behind it. Perhaps – and the deep gouges in the body next to him and the stone floor underneath him supported this theory – the talons were attached directly to the bone. Perhaps.
The prince was still looking at him with dry, unblinking eyes, watching his every move carefully, but at least Gonou had managed to silence him. He reached over and clawed another chunk out of the youkai’s torso, because he didn’t want them to have matching wounds. That would have been in extremely bad taste.
He longed to be lying next to Kanan, where his place was, where she would want him. Pushing away fatigue and dizziness, he rose to his knees and brought both palms to his stomach, ready to catch the intestine as it slipped out. It didn’t. Intrigued, he pulled the gaping cut in his shirt further open and saw a tangle of thin shadows snaking there, on him and in him. He seemed to be riddled with ghostly green shoots, like an old tree stump in springtime, and they held the edges of his wound tightly closed, twisting together in a daisy chain of living surgical stitches. He ran a claw tip over them, and found that they felt dully ticklish, like old scar tissue. Small leaves clung to his skin, captured the blood drops seeping from the cuts and drank them up like dew.
He felt no revulsion or fear. It was convenient, and it was only temporary. He got up, feeling his vines tighten and shift, and awkwardly grasped the cage bars, trying not to drive the talons into his own palms. The smooth steel, so cold and heavy before, felt different now. He gave it a tug and watched, rather surprised, as the bars bent and contorted till they snapped out of stone.
Now he could go in. He had to go in and take his knife out of Kanan’s stomach - it had to be extremely painful for her, but she would never complain, she was always so brave. He had to give her a hug – he missed her so much! – and then he had to give them both a decent burial, because nobody else would take the time and trouble. He wondered if the claws would allow him to hold a chisel, because he wanted a marked headstone. Should it be made to the Cho siblings or spouses he could not decide, but since public approval no longer mattered it was possible to mention both.
But he couldn’t – not like this. He couldn’t possibly touch her with these ugly, monstrous hands. She would not even recognise him, for one. She would be terrified. After everything these animals had put her through, he had no right to approach her wearing this body.
The solution occurred to him almost immediately, before he had the chance to despair. The nearest town was very close, just at the foot of the mountain, and it had a small youkai population. There was bound to be a store catering to their needs, selling – limiters, that’s what they called them. He remembered. He could acquire some there. It would only take a couple of hours.
“Kanan,” he said, wincing at the sound of his voice, deep and rough. Elongated teeth filling his mouth made him lisp and mangle the words. “Gonou will return very soon. Please wait just a little bit longer.”
He turned and ran, stumbling over bodies and then tree roots as the flagstones of the castle gave way to soft forest bed under his feet. He ran with all the speed he had, feeling no pain, only the burning in his muscles and his throat and the unfamiliar weight of his strong alien body. Water poured down his face, and he wondered if it were tears. It seemed like an odd time to be crying.
The town was dark, fast asleep, unsuspecting. He rushed to the youkai quarter and saw the store sign right away, as if led by a divine guidance. The door splintered under his hands, and he stepped in, shaking in anticipation.
The store was empty. There was a rack of adult magazines near the entrance, and it was oddly surprising to see that all the women on the covers were youkai. Several long strips of jerked meat were hanging from the ceiling, and his torn guts clenched painfully as he forced himself not to think about it. He could already sense the thing he needed. It was a quiet hum under his skin, a yearning in his heart, and it was very close. He discovered a large cabinet full of drawers behind the counter, broke it to pieces and began sifting through its contents, tossing away rings, bracelets, diadems and earrings. Finally his fingers brushed the smooth silver of a plain earcuff, and he instantly knew.
He clasped the trinket between his claws and clipped in onto the edge of his ear, cringing at the hideous size and shape of his cartilage. The effect was immediate. All the pain and exhaustion he seemed to have left behind along with his humanity crashed back at once, at it took all his strength just to stay upright. Yet he didn’t change. Still he saw the claws on his hands, felt the demonic vines caressing his flesh. He picked up another limiter, identical to the first, and clipped it on, more out of sheer stubbornness than because he truly hoped for the compound effect.
But it did work, and he sobbed with relief, clearly crying now. He felt the vines becoming thinner and weaker, snapping one by one in their attempt to hold him together. When he grabbed the counter for balance, two of his talons broke off to the quick. It was working, and there were plenty of limiters left in the drawer. His ears – he touched them to check – were getting smaller, but if he ran out of the space for earcuffs before he was done, he would think of another way to bind them to his flesh. He could swallow them, or embed them into his wounds. Eventually it would be enough.
The third limiter was all it took. The vines were gone, and he fell on the dusty floor, clutching the reopened slashes with his soft, human hands. He was himself again, or at least he could pretend for as long as it took. The excitement drained him, and he allowed himself to rest for a while, talking to Kanan soothingly and reassuringly, promising to see her soon.
When he made it out of the store, it was still raining. If his memory was to be trusted, it had been raining for the whole month. He tipped his face back, letting the cold drops slap him in the face and prevent the fainting spell he felt coming. The empty street twirled around him, tipped on its axis, and slowed down. He could walk. He would make it. He pushed off the doorpost and headed back to the castle, smiling in triumph.
octopedingenue and mistressrenet practically dared me to (thanks guys!), here is yet another version of how Hakkai got his limiters. Title: Errand
Fandom: Saiyuki
Words: ~1200
Rating: R for violence etc
Warnings: Gonou is bonkers. Minecura doesn't skimp on gore. Mild spoiler for Even a Worm - 18 (vines!)
Betaed by wonderful
hibem *hugs*His clearest memory from the fight was the peculiar feeling of sinking his claws into flesh. The talons didn’t transmit the sensation the way fingernails did, but it wasn’t easy to exactly pinpoint the difference and the reason behind it. Perhaps – and the deep gouges in the body next to him and the stone floor underneath him supported this theory – the talons were attached directly to the bone. Perhaps.
The prince was still looking at him with dry, unblinking eyes, watching his every move carefully, but at least Gonou had managed to silence him. He reached over and clawed another chunk out of the youkai’s torso, because he didn’t want them to have matching wounds. That would have been in extremely bad taste.
He longed to be lying next to Kanan, where his place was, where she would want him. Pushing away fatigue and dizziness, he rose to his knees and brought both palms to his stomach, ready to catch the intestine as it slipped out. It didn’t. Intrigued, he pulled the gaping cut in his shirt further open and saw a tangle of thin shadows snaking there, on him and in him. He seemed to be riddled with ghostly green shoots, like an old tree stump in springtime, and they held the edges of his wound tightly closed, twisting together in a daisy chain of living surgical stitches. He ran a claw tip over them, and found that they felt dully ticklish, like old scar tissue. Small leaves clung to his skin, captured the blood drops seeping from the cuts and drank them up like dew.
He felt no revulsion or fear. It was convenient, and it was only temporary. He got up, feeling his vines tighten and shift, and awkwardly grasped the cage bars, trying not to drive the talons into his own palms. The smooth steel, so cold and heavy before, felt different now. He gave it a tug and watched, rather surprised, as the bars bent and contorted till they snapped out of stone.
Now he could go in. He had to go in and take his knife out of Kanan’s stomach - it had to be extremely painful for her, but she would never complain, she was always so brave. He had to give her a hug – he missed her so much! – and then he had to give them both a decent burial, because nobody else would take the time and trouble. He wondered if the claws would allow him to hold a chisel, because he wanted a marked headstone. Should it be made to the Cho siblings or spouses he could not decide, but since public approval no longer mattered it was possible to mention both.
But he couldn’t – not like this. He couldn’t possibly touch her with these ugly, monstrous hands. She would not even recognise him, for one. She would be terrified. After everything these animals had put her through, he had no right to approach her wearing this body.
The solution occurred to him almost immediately, before he had the chance to despair. The nearest town was very close, just at the foot of the mountain, and it had a small youkai population. There was bound to be a store catering to their needs, selling – limiters, that’s what they called them. He remembered. He could acquire some there. It would only take a couple of hours.
“Kanan,” he said, wincing at the sound of his voice, deep and rough. Elongated teeth filling his mouth made him lisp and mangle the words. “Gonou will return very soon. Please wait just a little bit longer.”
He turned and ran, stumbling over bodies and then tree roots as the flagstones of the castle gave way to soft forest bed under his feet. He ran with all the speed he had, feeling no pain, only the burning in his muscles and his throat and the unfamiliar weight of his strong alien body. Water poured down his face, and he wondered if it were tears. It seemed like an odd time to be crying.
The town was dark, fast asleep, unsuspecting. He rushed to the youkai quarter and saw the store sign right away, as if led by a divine guidance. The door splintered under his hands, and he stepped in, shaking in anticipation.
The store was empty. There was a rack of adult magazines near the entrance, and it was oddly surprising to see that all the women on the covers were youkai. Several long strips of jerked meat were hanging from the ceiling, and his torn guts clenched painfully as he forced himself not to think about it. He could already sense the thing he needed. It was a quiet hum under his skin, a yearning in his heart, and it was very close. He discovered a large cabinet full of drawers behind the counter, broke it to pieces and began sifting through its contents, tossing away rings, bracelets, diadems and earrings. Finally his fingers brushed the smooth silver of a plain earcuff, and he instantly knew.
He clasped the trinket between his claws and clipped in onto the edge of his ear, cringing at the hideous size and shape of his cartilage. The effect was immediate. All the pain and exhaustion he seemed to have left behind along with his humanity crashed back at once, at it took all his strength just to stay upright. Yet he didn’t change. Still he saw the claws on his hands, felt the demonic vines caressing his flesh. He picked up another limiter, identical to the first, and clipped it on, more out of sheer stubbornness than because he truly hoped for the compound effect.
But it did work, and he sobbed with relief, clearly crying now. He felt the vines becoming thinner and weaker, snapping one by one in their attempt to hold him together. When he grabbed the counter for balance, two of his talons broke off to the quick. It was working, and there were plenty of limiters left in the drawer. His ears – he touched them to check – were getting smaller, but if he ran out of the space for earcuffs before he was done, he would think of another way to bind them to his flesh. He could swallow them, or embed them into his wounds. Eventually it would be enough.
The third limiter was all it took. The vines were gone, and he fell on the dusty floor, clutching the reopened slashes with his soft, human hands. He was himself again, or at least he could pretend for as long as it took. The excitement drained him, and he allowed himself to rest for a while, talking to Kanan soothingly and reassuringly, promising to see her soon.
When he made it out of the store, it was still raining. If his memory was to be trusted, it had been raining for the whole month. He tipped his face back, letting the cold drops slap him in the face and prevent the fainting spell he felt coming. The empty street twirled around him, tipped on its axis, and slowed down. He could walk. He would make it. He pushed off the doorpost and headed back to the castle, smiling in triumph.
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no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 07:53 am (UTC)Absolute adoration for the details about the marked headstone, and spouses versus siblings.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-26 07:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 08:32 am (UTC)I'm going to go away and wibble now.
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Date: 2006-03-26 07:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 09:59 am (UTC)Oh. Dude.
The voice in this - working through the haze with Gonou-logic like enunciating words very carefully when drunk. Calm and detached, and to him at least, the sense can't be faulted.
*wibble*
no subject
Date: 2006-03-26 07:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 10:18 am (UTC)Ouch. Oh, Hakkai.
This is so very good.
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Date: 2006-03-26 07:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 12:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-26 07:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-26 07:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-23 04:51 am (UTC)So very sad.
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Date: 2006-03-26 07:58 am (UTC)And Gojyo will make it allll better. He's handy like that.
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Date: 2006-03-23 09:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-26 08:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-23 09:45 am (UTC)What a phenomenal mental image that is. Wow, just wow.
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Date: 2006-03-26 08:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-26 10:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-23 11:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-26 08:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-23 12:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-26 08:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-26 09:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-26 09:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-26 01:12 am (UTC)“Kanan,” he said, wincing at the sound of his voice, deep and rough. Elongated teeth filling his mouth made him lisp and mangle the words. “Gonou will return very soon. Please wait just a little bit longer.
That broke my heart. You're right, Gonou isn't very sane so this does fit very perfectly with the Chin. Y arc.
He pushed off the doorpost and headed back to the castle, smiling in triumph.
Very, very eerie, as it is very, very Gonou. That sentance just somehow made me shiver. I'd kinda of imagine he wouldn't make it back to the castle to save her, and would inevitably collapse in the forest- I'd love to see a writing piece from you of him being found by Gojyo.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-16 04:31 pm (UTC)Spiegel
no subject
Date: 2011-01-17 03:25 pm (UTC)