Beast of Burden

A Hakuryu Discovery Story
Inspired by the Premium OVA

Epilogue: ...kyuuUUUU!!

By Nekochan

Author's Note

I made it to the last chapter! HUZZAH! You'll discover rather quickly why this is an 'Epilogue' rather than 'Chapter 4'. Since I don't want to give anything else away, I'll get right to it!

Arigatou Minasan! (Thanks everyone!)

Nekochan

(-)(-)(-)

Hotou Castle, India

On a small laptop, a flickering pixel on the far right side of the screen blinked out with a melancholy beep.

A dark-haired man stirred from his slumber and reached for his still dimly lit cigarette. "Hmm?"

After an instant or two, another pixel near the spot of the previous one also dimmed. Then a third.

The man rose to his feet, staring eagerly at the screen with a wide grin. Then, he turned to speak to the rabbit doll sitting to his right on the desk, shifting his cigarette to the left side of his mouth. "Oh, dearie me . . ." (1)

Three more from the same vicinity blinked out in rapid succession.

"Would you look at that . . ." The young man chuckled as he quickly checked a program on his computer. The experiment survived. I should've known . . . Chang'an, hmm? He was in a white lab coat and hunched over in front of his computer. "It would appear that sempai (2) has met an untimely end. It is our solemn duty, therefore, to inform the Lady of this tragic news, right?"

The doll stared back with its stitched-on expression of contentment.

"After all, if the Knight has the Queen by his side, a few Pawns lost along the way won't be missed." (3) The grin on his face widened. "Really, sempai should have been more careful to check his devices before using them out in the field - that's how 'boo-boo's are made." (4)

(-)

"This had better be important, Dr. Ni; I was just about to have my nails done," a youkai woman called from her seat of honor in front of Gyuumaoh's containment unit. She began tapping the fingers of her left hand on the arm of the chair.

The man bowed once and made his rabbit bow with him. "I am truly sorry for delaying you, Milady, but I am afraid that I bring you terrible news."

"Oh?" She said, voice full of disinterest.

"My superior, Dr. Ensui, apparently made it all the way to China with his small contingent of subordinates, which I suppose is quite the feat where his experiment is concerned . . . However . . ."

Gyokumen Koushu stopped tapping her fingers. " 'However'?"

A gleam appeared over Ni's glasses as he tilted his head ever so slightly. "His tracking device stopped registering a little less than an hour ago along with those of the three sent with him. I can only assume that such an event is a portent of my superior's death."

"What a shame . . . it really was such an enormous effort to find a scientist among my faithful youkai in the first place," the cyan-haired woman whined and continued to complain, "I really don't want to have to go through all that again."

"Gyokumen Koushu-sama, if it would please My Lady, I could do my best to take my dearly departed superior's place as your personal researcher."

"That will have to do, I suppose," she sighed. "Dr. Ni, I believe you had your own ideas about how to revive my darling Gyuumaoh in addition to your work with the Flying Dragons instead of land-based ones, did you not?"

"That would be correct, Milady."

Gyokumen Koushu rose to her feet accompanied by the rustling of silk kimono. "Get started on that right way."

Ni smiled, both he and the rabbit bowing as he did so. "Actually, Milady, it is already in the works."

"Good. Don't you dare prove to be a disappointment like Ensui, Dr. Ni."

"Of course not, Milady." Sorry, sempai, but only the Head Scientist gets to do anything fun around here.

(-)

Chang'an Temple, China

"Oh my, Hakuryu!" Hakkai complained as he was washing the dishes. "Were you playing with Goku out in the temple's courtyard after our picnic?"

"Kyuu?" The dragon had been nipping along his back for more than five minutes now.

"I think you may have picked up a tick . . . Here, let me get that for you, little one," the brunette insisted as he reached over with a soapy hand to grab the black dot on Hakuryu's white mane. Crushing the small insect between his fingers, Hakkai scolded his friend again, "We have no idea where it could have come from. Those can make you sick, you know."

Hakuryu just kyuu-ed happily in thanks.

(-)(-)(-)

-owari-

3/6/2007

(1) This is a reference to the Japanese phrase "Oya, oya" meaning "Lookie, lookie" - a more childish version of "Look here". In this case, it showcases Ni's sarcastically childish speech.

(2) A sempai is an elder, in terms of rank, often within a career or professional field. The term is also applied to a person usually more accomplished than the speaker. Ni uses it for Ensui sarcastically.

(3) All chess pieces. Chess is a game of strategy and the different pieces make different kinds of moves. Pawns are the most limited, able to move only one space at a time (except as their first move of the game). The Queen is widely regarded as the most powerful piece in the game, since it can move in any direction (except backwards) and any number of spaces. The Knight has the most complicated style of movement - an L-shape; it moves two space forward, left, or right (orthogonally) and then another space perpendicular to that in either direction OR only one space orthogonally and then two spaces perpendicular to that. Ni is comparing himself to the Knight, Gyokumen Koushu to the Queen, and 'unimportant people', such as Ensui, to a Pawn in a game of chess.

(4) Here, Ni is being remarkably childish because, in Japanese, he would be using the English word 'accident' or 'akkushidento' in the same way that Ensui often quoted English. I couldn't think of any good 'quotes' to use, so I figured this childish manner of speaking would work well enough.

Song inspirations: 'Menschmachine' ('Man-machine') by Megaherz (Himmelfahrt) for Ni Jienyi and 'That's My Perogative' by Britney Spears for Gyokumen Koushu.

Despite the fact that I gave Ni and Gyokumen Koushu any "screen-time" at all, I really do hate them both except that Ni wins the 'most hated villain of Saiyuki' contest in my book. For some reason, I guess it's easy for me to write him due to that fact. He was actually easier to write than Sanzo . . . Weird.

Well, that's it. I know the epilogue was short, but I think it makes up for Chapter 3 (laughs). I hope you have enjoyed this first venture into my Saiyuki Plot-Hole-Filling world.

Nekochan