Author's note: Really short and pretty much written just for fun.
Note: italics indicate thoughts. Usual disclaimers apply.
Once Upon a Thief
Epilogue
The bell signifying the end of the school day finally ran, eliciting sighs of relief from a majority of the students. The teacher officially ended the day and excused the class. Kurama, known to his peers as Minamino Shuichi, packed up his things and followed the rest of the students as they filed out of the classroom.
"Minamino-kun! Minamino-kun!"
Kurama stopped when he heard his name and turned to find the speaker. It was Satoshi Arai, one of his classmates from literature class. "Satoshi-kun," the redhead addressed the other teenager, "What can I do for you?"
"I was wondering how well you did on the last literature test," Satoshi asked.
Kurama was a bit confused by the request but he answered nonetheless. "I got a perfect. Why do you ask?"
"I didn't do so well," the teenager admitted, a bit embarrassed. "How can you remember everything, with all the names, dates and events? Don't you find it all somewhat boring?"
"No, actually," Kurama replied, "I find them quite fascinating and intriguing." And it's more of a flashback for me, really, he added in his head. "I've always loved literature, especially ancient folklore and mythology."
"Yeah, I guess some of the stuff is really interesting," Satoshi admitted. "I really liked the stories in Saiyuki."
Kurama simply nodded, not really paying that much attention to the conversation anymore.
"Hey, I hear that the monk in that story actually existed," said Satoshi. "Can you imagine a monk so religious and dutiful as to actually travel so far for some scriptures?"
The redhead let his mind wander back to the times when he was still a youko. Kurama tried to picture Sanzo, who was holding a gun and smoking a cigarette, and the words "religious and dutiful" together. The image almost had Kurama rolling on the floor with laughter. Fortunately, the reincarnated youko had enough self-restraint to just laugh softly.
"What's so funny, Minamino-kun?" his classmate asked with a slightly puzzled look.
"Oh, nothing," Kurama answered, "I just remembered a joke a friend of mine told me a long time ago." He shook his head to dispel the image from his mind. "Anyway, I don't think the real monk was quite as pious as he was described in the stories."
Satoshi laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess not. I doubt he was a perfect Buddhist priest."
If you only knew, Kurama thought, If you only knew.
- End -
Quick note about the last chapter. A lot of people complained that the final battle was too quick and too rushed (I probably would've, too, if I was a reader) but I did have my reasons. Aside from main antagonists such as Homura, Kami-sama and Hazel, the Sanzo-ikkou have always defeated their enemies within one episode, usually within a few minutes. Something like a pride of low-level, drunken lion demons would really not take them long to kill. The pride would also provide no trouble whatsoever to a Makai demon like Kurama. The battle was quick because I wanted to keep the power differences realistic. Sorry if I disappointed.
I thought this epilogue would be a fun, light-hearted way to end the whole thing. It could also serve as a lead-in for a sequel, if I decide to write one. If there is a sequel, though, it'd be in the YYH world, meaning modern-day Japan and such.
I'm really tempted... I don't have the time to be tempted.