Title: Wake Up
Fandom: Saiyuki
Pairing(s): Gojyo/Hakkai, Sanzo/Goku
Categories: AU, amnesia, future, romance, action, post-series
Length: Epic [41,000 words]
Warnings: violence
Author on LJ: viridian5
Website: The Green Room
Review: "Through time, they're trying to find themselves and each other." The Sanzo group keeps being reincarnated (except for Goku, who isn't quite mortal), and while they don't remember who they were, they are still drawn to each other... However, for some reason, Sanzo never lives long enough to find the others. This time, in modern Chicago, he has - and Goku's going to make sure that he stays.
This fic is a guilty pleasure of mine. Sure, there's an interesting plot, with a few twists that I didn't see coming, and the way the characters' reincarnations stay true to their past natures while being suited to the present world is great. Sanzo as an unwilling teenage psychic? Hakkai the college professor, and Gojyo the bartender? Sweet. But for every in-character moment, there's a scene that is pure Fanservice. Sanzo singing karaoke at a bar? Mmmm, no, not unless he was drunk or at gunpoint. I'll admit that the image is really arresting, though. Still, I think that the story does hold up to re-readings, and paradoxically I feel that a sequel would have been a great idea, what with the direction the plot went. I know, I make no sense. (In my defense, who doesn't think that Sanzo becoming the psychic aide to the police is extremely cool? Also, there are signs that the world is about to have a zombie incursion. Aw, yeah!)
Wake Up