Following a grand tradition...
...my 10 favorites from my latest set of sentences. These are for Saiyuki fandom.
#8 (Strike): Once, long before the journey to India, Sanzo grew extremely irritated with the way Hakkai was encouraging Goku’s teasing and smacked both of them with the harisen; Hakkai’s smile didn’t even flicker, but he stiffened, and it was only a few days into what proved to be several harrowing weeks of subtle retributions before Sanzo swore fervently to himself that he would never, no matter what the circumstances or how richly it was deserved, strike Hakkai again.
#16 (Before): Before is obviously the time before they knew one another, but it has a different meaning for them all; to Gojyo, it is a time without love, before anyone cared enough to come back; to Hakkai, it is a time without truth, before a soul on earth could know who he really was and still look him in the eye; to Sanzo, it is a time without motion, everything inside his soul lying still and dormant; and to Goku, before is a time without, without, without, without…
#18 (Kind): Kindnesses were subtle, always undeclared and unacknowledged expect by the briefest of glances, but they were still there: the way Goku occasionally timed his pleas for food in accordance with disturbed or withdrawn expressions on Sanzo’s face, the way Sanzo dumped responsibilities onto Hakkai not because he didn’t feel like doing them, but because he knew Hakkai had to stay busy to avoid unpleasant thoughts, the way Hakkai would turn to Gojyo for support sometimes when it wasn’t needed, because Gojyo had to believe that it was, and the way Gojyo would notice when Sanzo was ignoring Goku, and keep Goku too occupied to think about it much.
#19 (Warm): Goku’s first guess that Gojyo’s hair would be as warm as fire was disappointed; but Goku’s instincts were usually right, and as he got to know Gojyo and learned what it was like to have a fierce, affectionate big brother, he knew why warm had been his first reaction to Gojyo’s presence.
#21 (Cycle): Spring is Goku, bursting with energy and potential and enthusiasm for life; summer is Gojyo, lush and langorous and hanging all over everything; autumn is Hakkai, crisp and deceptively quiet and stockpiling supplies; winter is Sanzo, wrapped tightly against the cold, harsh and beautiful at once.
#28 (Lie): Goku rarely lied, and when he did he was bad at it; it put him at a distinct disadvantage against his companions, who were skilled not only at lying to others but to themselves, lies like I don’t remember her/him or I don’t need you, I don’t even really like you or It doesn’t hurt anymore or most especially I am attached to nothing.
#33 (Double): It was inevitable, when putting four strong personalities into painfully close quarters for long periods of time, that alliances would form and shift and break down as power struggles occurred, and that any two of them would be able at a moment’s notice to ally themselves and attack the others: Gojyo and Goku raising unbearable amounts of noise while Sanzo and Hakkai fired back with cool, sharp words, or Sanzo and Gojyo drinking and smoking and growling while Hakkai and Goku nagged at them, or old loyalties reasserting themselves and Gojyo and Hakkai huddling together in the corner, playing cards and sharing a beer and speaking in the shorthand of people who have lived together for a long time, while Sanzo and Goku sat together in a separate corner, not needing to speak at all.
#41 (Jewel): The limiters on Hakkai’s ears passed for jewelry with most people, and many of the local girls thought it added to his appearance; only those close to him knew how desperately Hakkai depended on those three metal bands, simultaneously loathing their necessity and clinging to their ability to suppress the monster--only those close to him knew that his first action every morning and last action every night was to run his fingers over them, reassuring himself that they were secure.
#42 (Fruit): Forbidden fruit always tastes the sweetest; whenever Gojyo heard that common phrase uttered, he couldn’t help the flash of memory that accompanied it--the man he’d been mourning for standing in the middle of the market, holding out an apple the color Gojyo had hated his entire life, his presence evoking almost every kind of desire that Gojyo labeled forbidden.
#45 (Family): They were every kind of dysfunctional, argumentative and angry and controlling and codependent and brutal in the ways they showed their love, but it was the way they so thoroughly disowned the level of their attachment to each other that made the most compelling case for their having become a family.
#8 (Strike): Once, long before the journey to India, Sanzo grew extremely irritated with the way Hakkai was encouraging Goku’s teasing and smacked both of them with the harisen; Hakkai’s smile didn’t even flicker, but he stiffened, and it was only a few days into what proved to be several harrowing weeks of subtle retributions before Sanzo swore fervently to himself that he would never, no matter what the circumstances or how richly it was deserved, strike Hakkai again.
#16 (Before): Before is obviously the time before they knew one another, but it has a different meaning for them all; to Gojyo, it is a time without love, before anyone cared enough to come back; to Hakkai, it is a time without truth, before a soul on earth could know who he really was and still look him in the eye; to Sanzo, it is a time without motion, everything inside his soul lying still and dormant; and to Goku, before is a time without, without, without, without…
#18 (Kind): Kindnesses were subtle, always undeclared and unacknowledged expect by the briefest of glances, but they were still there: the way Goku occasionally timed his pleas for food in accordance with disturbed or withdrawn expressions on Sanzo’s face, the way Sanzo dumped responsibilities onto Hakkai not because he didn’t feel like doing them, but because he knew Hakkai had to stay busy to avoid unpleasant thoughts, the way Hakkai would turn to Gojyo for support sometimes when it wasn’t needed, because Gojyo had to believe that it was, and the way Gojyo would notice when Sanzo was ignoring Goku, and keep Goku too occupied to think about it much.
#19 (Warm): Goku’s first guess that Gojyo’s hair would be as warm as fire was disappointed; but Goku’s instincts were usually right, and as he got to know Gojyo and learned what it was like to have a fierce, affectionate big brother, he knew why warm had been his first reaction to Gojyo’s presence.
#21 (Cycle): Spring is Goku, bursting with energy and potential and enthusiasm for life; summer is Gojyo, lush and langorous and hanging all over everything; autumn is Hakkai, crisp and deceptively quiet and stockpiling supplies; winter is Sanzo, wrapped tightly against the cold, harsh and beautiful at once.
#28 (Lie): Goku rarely lied, and when he did he was bad at it; it put him at a distinct disadvantage against his companions, who were skilled not only at lying to others but to themselves, lies like I don’t remember her/him or I don’t need you, I don’t even really like you or It doesn’t hurt anymore or most especially I am attached to nothing.
#33 (Double): It was inevitable, when putting four strong personalities into painfully close quarters for long periods of time, that alliances would form and shift and break down as power struggles occurred, and that any two of them would be able at a moment’s notice to ally themselves and attack the others: Gojyo and Goku raising unbearable amounts of noise while Sanzo and Hakkai fired back with cool, sharp words, or Sanzo and Gojyo drinking and smoking and growling while Hakkai and Goku nagged at them, or old loyalties reasserting themselves and Gojyo and Hakkai huddling together in the corner, playing cards and sharing a beer and speaking in the shorthand of people who have lived together for a long time, while Sanzo and Goku sat together in a separate corner, not needing to speak at all.
#41 (Jewel): The limiters on Hakkai’s ears passed for jewelry with most people, and many of the local girls thought it added to his appearance; only those close to him knew how desperately Hakkai depended on those three metal bands, simultaneously loathing their necessity and clinging to their ability to suppress the monster--only those close to him knew that his first action every morning and last action every night was to run his fingers over them, reassuring himself that they were secure.
#42 (Fruit): Forbidden fruit always tastes the sweetest; whenever Gojyo heard that common phrase uttered, he couldn’t help the flash of memory that accompanied it--the man he’d been mourning for standing in the middle of the market, holding out an apple the color Gojyo had hated his entire life, his presence evoking almost every kind of desire that Gojyo labeled forbidden.
#45 (Family): They were every kind of dysfunctional, argumentative and angry and controlling and codependent and brutal in the ways they showed their love, but it was the way they so thoroughly disowned the level of their attachment to each other that made the most compelling case for their having become a family.