This is my first real love story, so please be kind! Not betaed because it's a surprise birthday pressie for chibiBritney-chan! (I know it's not your birthday, that's why it's a surprise!) To MSGena, who provided inspiration and wrote most of Chapter 1, and PurpleBarbie, for lots of encouragement, Thank You!!!

ENDLESS LOVE
by Princess X-S Moonshyne

Prologue: The end of the world

It was a dark night, not yet stormy, but the breathless humidity of the torpid tropical air pressed on them no less than the urgency of their mission, compelling them onwards, bringing them nearer, nearer to the end of their long quest. So close to completion... soon, soon they would be freed from the geas* laid upon them so long ago by the goddess Kanzeon Bosatsu. Free to go their own separate ways once more...

From the heated argument taking place in the back, which was rapidly degenerating into a shoving match, the stupid monkey and the kappa obviously had no concern about the danger they were fast approaching, nor any inkling of the implications should their mission succeed.

Sanzo looked at Hakkai's face, visibly pale and drawn even through the cover of darkness. They dared not stop, so close to the enemy's stronghold, yet they were certainly in no condition to fight now. Hakkai met his eyes, and a wordless understanding passed between them: It will not be over. They would not allow it, though they had come to the conclusion, early in the journey, that they really could not afford more distractions than already provided by their companions and the enemies they would encounter along their way. Emotional attachment was inevitable, of course, but they were both accustomed to masks, and it would not be seen and used against them. But once the quest was done with...?

Just as he was about to order Hakkai to pull over so they could find a place to rest before the final great confrontation, one of the fool combatants in the back -- he was not sure which -- gave a sharp yelp and fell forward, crashing into Hakkai, who lost control of the wheel, then they were all plummeting down the side of the deep canyon, Jeep screaming, and he knew no more. Their quest was ended.

It was over.

And the demons, safe in their castle, continued with their plans to revive Gyuumaoh until a few months later, a large meteorite blazed a bright trail through the sky to explode into the castle with the force of a hydrogen bomb or two, or maybe a really large volcano erupting from underneath, though it could have been a volcano triggered by the impact, and ashes covered the land for miles around. Nothing was left. So their lives, and deaths, didn't really matter after all. It was only a matter of time.

The threat to the world had ended, and everything went back to the way it had been before. People began to pick up the pieces of their lives that had been shattered by one woman's terrible dream, and in time, learnt to live with each other again, though humans and demons would perhaps never associate with each other as easily as they had before.

Thus closes this chapter of history.

end prologue

* Belated realisation re geas: this word is not as common as I thought. In fact, it's not in most dictionaries, but you can look it up at these urls.
Geas (also spelled Geis)
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geas
www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19990805

Wah! I killed Sanzo and Hakkai! And the others too! But don't worry, they'll all come back in MSGena's Chapter One! Yes, the prologue is very short, but the next chapter will be longer, I promise!

*****

Sneak preview!
From Chapter One: An Arranged Marriage by MS Gena
With lyrics from the song 'Dear Diary' in Britney Spears' album, Oops, I did it again.

*****

It was love at first sight. The moment she looked into his sparkling algae green eyes, Sanzo knew there would never be any other for her. She felt a song rising in her heart, and resisted the impulse to sing it aloud, though the words:

Dear diary
Today I saw a boy
And I wondered if he noticed me
He took my breath away

Dear diary
I can't get him off my mind
And it scares me
'Cause I've never felt this way

ran through her mind even as he spoke. "My name is Hakkai," he said in a voice soft as the summer wind. Tenderly, he raised her chin with strong, graceful fingers to look in her face and make sure she was well. "Are you hurt, my lady?" he asked.

Oh, dear diary...

*****

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