Chapter 11 - Shower of Bullets

Shower of Bullets is Saiyuki's eleventh chapter.

Summary
Using his talisman technique, Rikudo has just killed the two yokai who had attacked the inn's kitchen staff. Sanzo knows that Rikudo is Shuei, and he wonders why he now radiates so much evil energy and seems like a different person than the man Sanzo used to know. As Goku, Gojyo, and Hakkai head back to bed, Rikudo blocks their path and says that he knows they are yokai. Goku reacts with anger and starts to say that it doesn't matter whether they are yokai or not. Rikudo interrupts him by declaring that he will destroy all yokai, and prepares his attack. Gojyo tells Goku to get out of the way just as Rikudo attacks, causing the thrown talismans to miss and hit the wall. Goku leaps towards Rikudo, but Rikudo dodges the attack and strikes at Goku from behind.

Sanzo suddenly steps between Rikudo and Goku, causing Rikudo to abort his attack. Sanzo address Rikudo as Shuei and asks him what he is doing. Rikudo is initially shocked to see Sanzo, but then he begins to laugh. He says that he had heard that Sanzo was traveling with hooligans and asks Sanzo how he could travel with yokai when it was a yokai who had murdered Kouymou Sanzo. Sanzo says Shuei would never have said such a thing, and Rikudo responds that Shuei is dead. Rikudo goes on the describe what happened at Kinzan on the day Sanzo left the temple.

Ten years ago at Kinzan Temple:

Shuei pushes his way into the room where Koumyou Sanzo was killed. He sees Koumyou lying dead on the floor while Kouryuu stands there in shock, covered in blood. Shuei shakes Kouryuu by the shoulders to snap him out of his daze, demanding to know what happened. With tears falling from his eyes, Kouryuu says that he could not protect Koumyou.

Later that day, Kinzan's head priest holds a meeting with Kouryuu and several other monks, including Shuei. Kouryuu explains to them that a group of yokai burglars had broken in and stolen the Seiten Sutra, but that the Maten Sutra is safe. He tells them that Koumyou was killed in the act of protecting him and that he accepts the responsibility for the loss of both Koumyou and the Seiten. A monk shouts out that he believes Kouryuu's story is a lie and that Kouryuu himself must have killed Koumyou and hidden the Seiten. Shuei begins to come to Kouryuu's defence, but Kouryuu interrupts. He asks permission to leave Kinzan in order to retrieve the Seiten and avenge Koumyou. The monk who had accused Kouryuu of murder yells that this is merely Kouryuu's excuse to make his escape, but Kouryuu silences him with a deadly glare. The head priest tells Kouryuu that the loss of the Seiten is not his alone to bear, but Kouryuu responds that he is merely going to retrieve his own property. Kouryuu reveals that just before Koumyou's death, he had granted Kouryuu an official Buddhist name. Kouryuu says that from this day forward, he is now named Genjo Sanzo. He proceeds to unwind a bandage from around his forehead, revealing the chakra, the mark of one chosen by the gods, upon his brow. Everyone is shocked. The head monk accepts the truth of what he sees, and places Koumyou's golden crown upon Kouryuu's head, formally recognizing him as Genjo Sanzo, the 31st Sanzo Priest of Toua and the rightful heir to the Seiten and Maten Sutras.

Back in the present day:

Rikudo tells Sanzo that after Sanzo left Kinzan that night ten years ago, the yokai had returned in search of the Maten Sutra. He describes how the temple's defense was no match for the yokai. In desperation, Shuei cast the Alaya curse on himself using a forbidden talisman, asking it to grant him the power to destroy all yokai. Although the curse allowed him to defeat the yokai attackers, the talisman's power could not be contained. The talisman embedded itself in his body and for the past ten years he has had no choice but to massacre innocent yokai as the talisman uses his body to satisfy the curse. As Rikudo laughs maniacally, Sanzo realizes that Shuei is gone, his soul having been taken over by the talisman. Gojyo says that Rikudo is nuts and seems more like a yokai himself, triggering Rikudo to prepare another talisman attack. Hakkai shouts at the ikkou to exit the inn.

Outside in the pouring rain, visibility is poor. Rikudo sneaks up behind Hakkai and grabs his arm. Hakkai cries out in pain, seemingly immobilized. Rikudo states that since the talisman has assimilated his entire body, yokai are unable to touch him without being affected. Goku intervenes, but Rikudo blocks Nyoi-bo's strike with his staff. Goku is having difficulty getting a good footing in the heavy rain, and jumps backwards to break the duel.

Meanwhile, Sanzo is standing under the inn's roof and has not joined the fray. Rikudo asks him if he is unwilling to help yokai after all. Sanzo responds that it doesn't matter if he helps or not, because either way the others won't be killed. As Hakkai and Gojyo agree with this comment and joke that Sanzo wouldn't recite a sutra for them even if they did die, Rikudo launches another attack.

As Sanzo reiterates to himself that the rest of the ikkou will be fine without his help, he remembers and incident from his past when he had come across Koumyou folding orange paper airplanes. Koumyou had said the orange of the paper and the blue of the sky enhance each other's beauty exactly because they are opposites. As Sanzo watches Rikudo fight with the others, he thinks to himself that when he lost Koumyou, whom he had wanted to protect, he learned how worthless he was. Koumyou's death had made him realize that he wanted something that he doesn't have to protect.

As Goku and Gojyo complain that their attacks against Rikudo keep failing, Sanzo steps out into the rain. He says that there is only one way to free Rikudo from the talisman and begins to aim his gun. Goku gets in front of Sanzo, grabbing his gun arm. He yells at Sanzo not to shoot because Rikudo used to be Sanzo's friend. Gojyo shouts out a warning as Rikudo attacks Goku from behind with the spear end of his staff. A memory of Kouymou jumping in front of him to save him flashes through Sanzo's mind. Blood sprays through the air. Goku is knocked to the ground and presses a hand to his head in pain. When he lifts his hand away, he see that it is covered in blood, but the blood is not his own. Sanzo had jumped in front of Goku to take the blow, and now lies wounded on the ground with Rikudo's spear impaled through his abdomen. As the others react in shock, Sanzo coughs up blood as he pulls the spear out of his body and rises to his knees. Gojyo asks why Sanzo, of all people, would do such a thing. As Sanzo collapses to the ground, he thinks to himself that he would also like to know the answer to that question.