"Once Upon a Time” Lasts Forever

Title: Overcrowded
Author: opalmatrix
Warnings: Swearwords. Worksafe.
Rating: PG or PG-13
Pairing(s): n/a
Spoilers: none
Notes: For saiyuki_time challenge #4: Opposites. Time given: 45 minutes. I'm not very happy with this: it went overtime (about an hour), and I lost any ending I had in mind somewhere in the middle of it.
Summary: Four tired travelers and a noisy, busy taproom. Heaven, or hell?

"Well, I must say that the only thing wrong with this inn is the lack of vacancies," said Hakkai ...

Title: Never Look Back
Author: opalmatrix
Rating: PG
Warnings: worksafe; angst and misery
Pairing(s): n/a
Spoilers: Yaone's history, through vol. 2
Notes: Challenge: Rebirth; time allowed for this challenge is 30 minutes.
Actual time: just under that. Written for meganbmoore and redbrunja, for the community saiyuki_time: Daytripping to the West. Spoilers for Yaone's history, through Saiyuki vol. 2
Summary: When your past has already given you up, there's no point in clinging to it.

The guards were all around her ...

Title: Left Behind
Author: opalmatrix
Rating: PG at most
Warnings: none
Pairing(s): n/a
Word count: 1096
Disclaimer: Samurai Deeper Kyo characters and situations belong to Akamine Kamijyo
Spoilers: for vol. 6 (mild)
Notes: Yukimura may have had a rough time in Aokigihara, but things weren't so easy for the ones he left behind, either. This is how it went for Kosuke. (Originally posted to my main LiveJournal account)
(For those who aren't familiar with Samurai Deeper Kyo: Sanada Yukimura, a leading dissident against the rule of Tokugawa Ieyasu, is supposedly in exile at Kudoyama (Mt. Kudo). However, Anayama Kosuke, who is one of the Sanada Juuyuushi - 10 ninja warriors who serve Yukimura - serves as his kagemusha, or body double, allowing him to slip away unnoticed when he wishes.)

Comments? Questions?