Disclaimer: I do not own Saiyuki. I do own Ana. And I do claim that this is the end of this story but not the end of the series (If I ever get my ass in gear).


Reviews:

White Fire Alchemist, I absolutely agree on all parts. Especially the driving.

The White Raven, if I ever get into the groove again, everyone will find out how it goes, even me. And thanks for such high praise for Ana. Ana's been a slap together with a little of me thrown in for good measure. To know that she's well liked is an honor.

DustBunnyQueen, I will eventually go into Reload... if I get busy. As for Gojyo suffering from loss of life, of course not! We have to have cockroaches!

Silver-eyed, I want this stupid story out of my head, but what can I do? My muse has decided to run away now that I have to worry about when my husband will come to the U.S.

Jesslynn's Vanity, thank you.

Miorochi, here's an update. I don't know when the next will be.

Ahchan, here you go.

Nami, I hope I do go into SY Reload. I have a couple of chapters, but nothing to work with and keep regular updates.

NoWaitAuthor, Borders is all I can say. That is where I get them. Half-Price has 'em too but it's a bit chancier. And welcome to the review pool.

Kayla, it might have been a little strange for Sanzo to do that, but at the same time fairly in character. Sanzo gets what Sanzo wants after all.

Goku's elegy, you have almost as much energy as Goku himself!

Naked-Lady Orchid, never saw that movie. And please tell me you aren't some crazy ass dude with a weird penname (thinking of Barenaked Ladies).

SakuraEmma29, actually, you're right. Kagome is indeed mary-sue. But I think the reason that Koga keeps up his 'attentions' is because it pisses Inu-Yasha off. And Sakura from Naruto... not as much of a mary-sue. Plus, she earns her attention by being dependable. I've read a shit load of manga.

Invisible-gurl, glad you liked!

Kitty Persona, no worries on the reviews. Check the stats at the bottom of the chapter to see how many I got. I'm still in shock.

ChibiPandaChan, I had to choose my area rather than anywhere else because I've only ever lived in and around Houston. And on the license, Ana really shouldn't talk. Remember when she drove to the store without her own license because her mom told her to go get it if it was so important?

Beatit, as I said above, it isn't totally weird because he gets what he wants.

Twilight-to-Nightfall, here's a bit more fluff for you.

FcS, of course! My pleasure!

A Reviewer, as for 'Sanzo being an idiot', he isn't. He's scared that the same thing would happen to Ana that would happen to every other person he ever loved. They all died. Ana is his responsibility. Unfortunately, those little buggers known as hormones overruled his logic. Or is that 'fortunately'?

Patriot16, I'll have that cherry! (Eats the cherry)

Blue Stocking, nah, you didn't upset me about the Japanese thing. I've used the titles (haven't you noticed?) and other small things that I am sure of the usage. But using words that I don't know or understand is foolish in my eyes. Unless you know the language (or have someone review your work that knows the language), I feel you shouldn't use it. An image of a tattoo that is supposed to read 'Love' in Chinese/Japanese actually reads 'I like screwing dogs' keeps popping into my head. Or similar. I don't want to get in over my head and write something totally offensive. Oh, and that ATT commercial with the guy seriously insulting the Chinese dude. That keeps coming up, too. As for a floor favorite, I think the riddle one and the Indiana Jones one. I love riddles and I love the whole 'Last Crusade' movie.

A Reviewer... didn't I just reply to you? And I'm sorry for the wait. Busy life.


Epilogue: Not Just a Book (Anymore)

They had managed to get back to town in one piece (thankfully), without anyone dying (even more thankfully, in Goku's opinion). Once again they visited the inn where they had stayed at before and the innkeeper clucked his tongue at their disgraceful and wounded appearance.

"Don't you have anything better to do than get hurt, gentlemen?" he asked them sternly before showing them to their rooms and calling the doctor… again.

For the next couple of days, the five of them laid up in their beds dead asleep (or if not asleep, eating or being tended to by the doctor).

Finally, between Hakkai and the doctor, they were given clean bills of health and the first thing Ana did by way of celebrating was to go to Sanzo and isolate the two of them while Goku and Gojyo gorged themselves and Hakkai watched over them… mostly to keep them away from the youngest and oldest of their party for the next few minutes or so.

"So…" began Ana, fidgeting a little as Sanzo gave her a questioning look, his scripture back around his shoulders.

"What did you want?" he asked, knowing what she probably wanted. He hadn't actively pursued any alone time with her during the past few days… mostly because they needed to heal and Hakkai had given very scary smiles in his direction every time he had tried to leave the bed before he was given a go.

"The kiss… a few days ago," she continued slowly, looking down some. He didn't push her, which made it seem all the harder to ask. "Um… Did… did you mean it?"

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have done it," Sanzo said flatly, but was very tempted to smirk at her for she wasn't raising her head up to meet his eyes. He wasn't Gojyo by any stretch of the imagination, but he was male. And her not looking at him was providing a very nice opportunity.

"Oh," she said, sounding very ashamed to have asked and her shoulders drooped slightly. "Are you… interested in me?"

"Perhaps," he said, having edged closer while she was looking down. The nearness of his voice and sudden presence of his feet in her line of vision startled her into looking up at him. "If I wasn't," he continued. "I wouldn't have done this." With that, he met her lips once again in a simple chaste kiss and was privately amused by the fact she melted into him immediately, her knees buckling under her own weight and forcing him to wrap his arms around her to support her.

"Oh… that's not fair," she said when they came up for air, her eyes glassy and her breath short.

"What in life is?" he asked rhetorically, deciding to lower his shields for once. He knew that they were totally alone so it wouldn't bring the repercussions that it normally might, though any hurtful words she aimed at him would cut through him like broken glass on tender flesh.

"Mmh… You're right…" she agreed slowly, making him raise an eyebrow in questioning. "So… you like me? At least a little?" He smirked at her.

"Just a little," he 'admitted ruefully', his smirk present.

"That's nice," she sighed and buried her face into the cool plate covering his chest. She felt the hard edges against her cheek. "I suppose I should be happy that you're willing to go as far as this?" He didn't answer, not really wanting to admit that though he had feelings for her, he couldn't let himself go completely. She sensed his reluctance to admit to such a thing and smiled, though he couldn't see it. "Don't worry," she whispered. "I am."

He peered down at her and absently noted that the highlights had grown out quite a bit in her hair. A long moment passed before he gently released her. She shifted her head to blink up at him and cocked her head to one side like a spaniel as if asking what was up.

"The others are probably wondering what happened to us…"

"You worried they'd come busting in on you being nice?" she asked him, her tone incredulous.

He just shot her an un-amused look, having placed the barriers around his heart again though now they were a good bit lower than before towards her. Confessional time was over and done with and if he was to let himself go completely, he would probably murder people… namely Goku and Gojyo. "Get your ass down stairs before they come running up here."

"Whatever you say, Sanzo-chan," she teased him before moving out of the room.

"Call me that again, and I won't give a damn whether or not there's anything between us," he hissed lowly. "You will be shot. I swear it."

"Fine, fine. No need to get your knickers in a twist," she muttered in English with a faux-English accent.

"What did you say?" he demanded.

"None of your business!" she shot back in Chinese.

"Don't give me that!" he snapped, bringing the fan out of nowhere and smacking her upside the head, eliciting a yelp. "Now move!"

"Goddamn twisted knickers!" she bitched in English as she ran down the steps, eager to get away from the not-so-tender Sanzo and his Fan of Certain Doom. "Jeeze," she bemoaned to herself. "It's not like I think of them as comic book characters anymore! That kinda went out the window back when that Rikudo person attacked us." For sake of privacy to her bitching, she continued in English to insure that none would decipher her words.

She looked around very carefully and noted that no one was in this particular area. That meant… "Oh, yes!" she hollered, happy to have release from her excitement by way of fluent English huzzah-ing as she punched the air over her head with her fists. "He likes me, he likes me! Neener neener neener! Oh, yeah! Uh-huh! I'm the man! Or the chick! Whatever! The bastard likes me! Woot!"

"Shut up!" yelled some random patron to the inn's bar as he walked past her.

"Eh heh," laughed Ana, blushing furiously at the admonishment as she ruffled the back of her hair self-consciously. "Oops."


FIN


((Author's Note: Here ends A Seriously Messed-Up Series by me, Khait Khepri. This story will be continued in the following story A Really Loaded Series, which also follows the Saiyuki manga series. I hope you enjoyed this story for the number of reviews I have received over the course of this story not to mention the hits have indicated as such save for a couple of flames here and there.))


STATS:

Prologue: Reviews-7; Hits-3950

Chapter 1: Reviews-1; Hits-753

Chapter 2: Reviews-3; Hits-649

Chapter 3: Reviews-7; Hits-628

Chapter 4: Reviews-6; Hits-763

Chapter 5: Reviews-5; Hits-582

Chapter 6: Reviews-7; Hits-675

Chapter 7: Reviews-8; Hits-516

Chapter 8: Reviews-12; Hits-618

Chapter 9: Reviews-10; Hits-543

Chapter 10: Reviews-9; Hits-489

Chapter 11: Reviews-12; Hits-391

Chapter 12: Reviews-14; Hits-416

Chapter 13: Reviews-18; Hits-501

Chapter 14: Reviews-22; Hits-631

Chapter 15: Reviews-16; Hits-540

Chapter 16: Reviews-15; Hits-418

Chapter 17: Reviews-17; Hits-416

Note: Reviews-6; Hits-313

Chapter 18: Reviews-14;Hits-358

Chapter 19: Reviews-16; Hits-390

Chapter 20: Reviews-19; Hits-371

Chapter 21: Reviews-23; Hits-381

Epilogue: Reviews-?; Hits-?

Total: Reviews-267; Hits-15290

CS2 Communities: 3 total

1. All Stories that ROCK!

2. Calliope's Playground

3. Ugly.Beautiful's Favorite OC/Gender-Bender Stories

Favorited 51 times!

Story Alerted 52 times!

All stats as of May 30, 2008