The Pain of Leaving and the Surprise of Coming Back

~Sanzo~

It's been a couple weeks since the incident and the night I spent with Ren. Okay, we did that again a week ago. Hakkai, Goku, and Gojyo were all better and we were ready to get back to our journey to the west. I didn't want to leave, but I knew I had to. We all had breakfast and I could see the others were a little upset about leaving as well. Ren'ai had been like a sister to the Water Sprite and chi user. She had been a mix of a mother and elder sister to the monkey as well. Now we were packing our things into the jeep and I saw Ren'ai watching us, mainly me. The others got into the jeep and I walked over to Ren'ai. She gave a small smile to me. I sighed and just pulled her into my arms. She immediately wrapped her arms around my torso.

"I love you, Kouryuu," she whispered shocking me. She loves me. I couldn't help but smiled a little at that. I cupped her cheek and kissed her soft and lovingly.

"I love you too, Ren'ai," I whispered against her lips. She smiled a watery smile at me, tears pricking her ruby eyes.

"Be safe out there and make sure to come back to me. If you don't, I resurrect your ass and kill you myself," she told me. I let out a slight chuckle.

"I promise," I said to her. I kissed her one last time before I went to the jeep. I got in the passenger seat and we left. I knew the others were looking at me with shock. Hakkai was looking at me with sadness after a while since I was being quieter than I usually was.

"We'll come back, Sanzo," he promised.

"Yeah, and once we do, we're getting her out of that village," I stated. I planned to get rid of all those hunters so Ren'ai will be safe.

"I doubt she'll let any other man near her now, monk," Gojyo said to me. I raised an eyebrow at him. "It's obvious she'll only let you touch her that way," he stated.

"Do you love Ren'ai, Sanzo?" Goku asked me. He couldn't have heard me and Ren'ai earlier, right? I mean, we whispered and they were twenty feet away!

"We can tell, Sanzo. You're face softens at the mention of her name," Hakkai chuckled. I glared at them.

"Shut the hell up," I growled before they all laughed and we went west. Then after three and a half years, we finished the job. We made our way back to the village. We had killed the hunters so Ren'ai was free. Once in the village, I looked around. Nothing has changed. We went to where the leader of the village was and I walked in without knocking. The man was about to yell until he saw me.

"Priest Sanzo, how may I help you?" He asked me.

"I want you to release Kasai Ren'ai from that little contract of yours," I glared at him.

"I-I can't do that! If she wants to remain safe in this village, then I need her to do as I say," the man told me. I glared harshly at him and grabbed him by the collar of the shirt.

"Listen up and listen well. We killed those hunters so she's free to do as she wishes. She only stayed here to hide from the hunters. I am getting her out of here and there's nothing you can do about it. If you try anything, I'll come back and put a bullet in your head. Clear?" I asked him coldly.

"A-as crystal!" He shook in fear. I dropped him. While I was doing this, the others were looking for the contracts.

"My, my, having extras of this contract in case of anything," Hakkai mused holding up a stack of the same contract. We all took some and ripped them apart before we left and went to Ren'ai's house. We made it to the house and saw it hadn't changed. I was about to walk up with the others until something ran into me. I looked down to see a young boy, about three, with black hair. He rubbed his head and looked up to reveal amethyst eyes. My eyes widened. They were the same shade as mine. He…even looked like me. I helped him up.

"You alright?" I asked him.

"Yeah! Thanks!" He smiled at me. I nodded and bent down to his level.

"Where's your mother or father?" I asked him.

"Ryuu!" I heard.

"That's mama!" The boy, Ryuu, smiled brightly. He turned and ran up to a woman with black hair and red eyes. Ren'ai. She smiled and picked him up into her arms. She looked over at us and her eyes widened.

"Sanzo…" Hakkai was about to say.

"I know," I replied quietly. We walked up to her as she met us half way. She set Ryuu down and hugged me. I immediately wrapped my arms around her.

"I missed you so much," she whispered.

"I missed you too," I whispered back. We pulled back and I saw Ryuu hide behind Ren'ai's legs. "Ren'ai, is he…?"

"Yeah….he's your son," Ren'ai smiled at me. "His name is Genjo Ryuu," she told me. I looked down at our son and couldn't help but smile a little. He looked at me with the eyes that matched mine as I bent down to his level.

"Awe you weally my papa?" He asked me. I guess he was still learning his pronunciation. I nodded to him.

"Yeah, I am," I replied. He grinned and hugged me, his little arms around my neck. I blinked in shock for a moment before holding him close. I stood up, picking him up into my arms.

"Why is his name Ryuu?" Goku asked as he looked at the boy.

"My name. My real name is Kouryuu," I told the others.

"Dude, you gave us a fake name?" Gojyo glared a little.

"No, I just didn't give you my real first name," I stated. Ryuu looked at Goku and tilted his head. Goku grinned at him.

"Hey, pal, I'm Goku. I guess I'm your big brother now," he said to the boy.

"Big bwothew?" Ryuu tilted his head innocently.

"Well, you papa adopted me years ago. So I guess I'm your adopted brother," Goku rubbed the back of his neck. Ryuu looked at me as if asking for confirmation. I nodded to him and he grinned.

"I have a big bwothew!" He said happily making all of us chuckle.

"Heh, he's a cute kid," Gojyo said.

"I guess he takes after you in personality," Hakkai smiled at Ren'ai. Ren'ai smiled back.

"Yeah, looks like his father, but acts like his mother," she mused. Ryuu just giggled and hugged me. I hugged him back and held Ren'ai close as well. Three years then passed and we were living in a different village. I wasn't a Sanzo Priest anymore and I changed my name to Genjo Kouryuu. Ren'ai and I got married making her Genjo Ren'ai. Goku's name also changed now that he was staying with us. Hakkai and Gojyo pretty much became Ryuu's uncles. We were all staying in the same village and ran shops to earn money. Another surprise, I had quit smoking, mainly because I didn't want Ryuu getting into that habit. Let's just say the first month was horrible and it took all I could not to kill Gojyo or Goku. But as the years passed, Ryuu grew to look more like me and he became quite the ladies' man. He developed his mother's magic so I knew I wouldn't have to worry too much. Ren'ai was relieved about it too. I never expect to find an amazing woman on that journey to the west, but I also didn't expect to get a great family out of it. For once in my life, I was happy.