The ikkou were only on their third game of poker when Sanzo threw down his hand. "Feh, enough of this."

Gojyo grinned. "You know how good Hakkai is."

"He beat you, too," Sanzo grumbled. "How come you're not mad?"

"Eh, I'm used to it by now. Besides…it's funnier to watch you get all mopey."

Sanzo glowered. Hakkai couldn't help but smile, face flushed happily from Gojyo's praise…..and he turned even more red as the kappa leaned in, throwing an arm about Hakkai's shoulders, their cheeks practically pressed together. "So, then….whaddaya wanna do now?"

"Yes." Hakkai set down his cards. "Maybe another game?"

Gojyo thought about it. Hakkai couldn't think of anything else they really played except Mah Jong. But he didn't have to think of anything, for a wicked smile curved across Gojyo's face. "How about Truth or Dare?"

Sanzo looked skeptical. "Truth or Dare?" he scoffed. "That's a kid's game."

"Not if played right." Gojyo was smirking like the proverbial cat that caught the canary, and Hakkai felt a little chill down his spine. This could be going nowhere good.

"Gojyo, maybe we should be getting back to our room…" he murmured, but Gojyo interrupted him.

"C'mon, 'kai, just one game?" he wheedled, in that voice, with those eyes, that look that Hakkai could never resist, and he was amazed Gojyo hadn't realized yet that he was oh so completely in love with him.

He sighed. "Fine. Just one."

Gojyo, his arm still around Hakkai, squeezed him even tighter, a hand ruffling that messy brown hair, and Hakkai could feel his face burning. Sanzo was shaking his head, obviously not at all interested, but Goku was tugging at his sleeve.

"Can we, Sanzo? Please? Please? I've never played!"

"…do you even know how to play?"

"…."

Sanzo sighed. "Didn't think so."

"So what? I can learn! I wanna plaaaaaaaaaay!"

"Fine, okay!" Sanzo said at last. "Geez!" Goku was grinning, bouncing a little with happiness. "Who's starting?"

"Me! Me!" Goku was waving his arm around. "Pick me!"

"Gojyo, truth or dare?"

"Hey!"

"Quiet, monkey."

"But I wanted to.." but Goku was interrupted by a fan whack to the back of his head, and sat grumbling under his breath, glaring at Sanzo.

"Well?" Sanzo looked at Gojyo. "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

"Geez, how is it fun if you take the wussy way out?"

Gojyo grinned. "Truth."

Sanzo sighed, shaking his head. "Fine." Thinking for a minute. "How many women have you slept with?"

Without even stopping to think about it, Gojyo shook his head. "I don't know."

Beside him, Hakkai stiffened. It wasn't a surprising answer, but it also wasn't something he'd ever wanted to hear aloud.

"Once again, the easy way out."

"Look, stupid, if I knew, I'd tell you. I don't know."

Sanzo sighed, shaking his head. "Wuss."

Gojyo glared, turning to Goku. "Okay, kid, your turn."

"Yaaay!" A pause. "….what do I do?"

Gojyo shook his head, grinning. "You choose truth or dare. If its dare, you hafta do what I tell you. If its truth, I ask you a question and you hafta answer it…honestly."

"Oh. That's easy. Okay. Dare."

Gojyo jerked his head in Sanzo's direction. "Kiss Sanzo."

Sanzo's eyes shot wide open. "WHAT?"

"You heard me."

"This is a dare for him, not me. Leave me out of it."

"Oh, come on, Sanzo. Behave and let the kid get to first base."

Goku was watching the two of them argue, pondering. A determined look came over his face, and he rose from the table.

"There is no way I'm going to…" but Sanzo didn't get to finish his sentence, for Goku grabbed Sanzo and yanked him forwards, kissing him.

Gojyo stared, wide-eyed. "Holy….."

Sanzo simply sat there, too stunned to move. Goku let go, pulling away with a smile and returning to his seat. "Okay. Is it my turn to ask now?"

"Yea." Gojyo glanced at Sanzo, who looked completely shell-shocked, and he bit back a laugh.

"Mmm….okay. Hakkai." He hadn't gone yet.

Oh dear. Hakkai had been dreading this. "Yes?"

"Truth or dare?"

Hakkai couldn't decide. He didn't want to take a dare and end up doing something horribly humiliating, but on the other hand, what if he chose truth and got asked a question he would never ever want to answer? Such as something pertaining to his true feelings about Gojyo? Dare was definitely safer. "…dare."

Gojyo's eyebrows shot up. He hadn't been expecting that.

Goku either. He smiled. "Kiss Gojyo."

Hakkai immediately turned a terrific shade of red. "….what."

"Kiss Gojyo."

Sanzo rolled his eyes. "Geez, Goku, that's original."

"Hey, it's a good one!"

….well….there are definitely worse dares I could have gotten… Hakkai glanced at Gojyo, and was surprised to see that the kappa was as flushed as he was. "….I….okay." He turned to face Gojyo, leaning in. The redhead seemed to be holding his breath. They both sat there, faces inches apart….and then Hakkai leaned in and gave Gojyo a peck on the cheek, pulling away quickly.

"Awww, Hakkai! You're no fun!"

"You didn't say where I had to kiss him." Hakkai pointed out, face aflame. He risked a glance at Gojyo and to his astonishment, the man actually looked…disappointed. No, I must be imagining it.

"Phooey." Goku scuffed the floor with his foot. The room was silent for a moment.

"…it's your turn, 'kai." Gojyo reminded.

"Oh. Oh, yes." He had forgotten. "Um, Sanzo."

"Why me?"

"Ha ha ha." That fake laughter. He really didn't want to play any longer. In a minute, I can leave, he told himself. Not much longer. "Truth or dare."

"Truth." Sanzo picked up Gojyo's lighter off the table and lit a cigarette, taking a drag. "I'm not going to be caught doing something stupid like the rest of you."

"Ha ha." He really needed to get out of here. "Have you ever….." thinking, at a loss. "…forgotten to separate your laundry and washed the whites and colors together by mistake and ruined all of your white clothes?"

All three men stared at him. He could feel himself blushing again. "…what?" he asked, somewhat defensively. "Its an easy beginner's mistake."

"….no, Hakkai," Sanzo answered, voice still somewhat incredulous at the question. "I haven't."

"…..okay." Oh God. He wanted to curl up in a ball. Get in bed, maybe read a bit…

He realized Sanzo was speaking, though not to him. That violet gaze was directed at Gojyo. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare," Gojyo answered.

Sanzo slowly looked to Hakkai, the barest trace of an evil smile on his face. "…give Hakkai a lap dance."

Hakkai stared, horrified. How could Sanzo say something like that? Ever? It seemed totally unlike something he would ever say….unless Sanzo was trying to torture him. And then he realized….he knew. Sanzo knew. The dare, and that smile….Sanzo knew how Hakkai felt about Gojyo. There was no other explanation.

Hakkai looked to Gojyo somewhat desperately, hoping the kappa would refuse. Gojyo did look slightly taken aback, and there was a trace of a flush in his cheeks, but he shrugged and smiled. "Alright."

It seemed there was no hope of salvation after all. Gojyo was on his feet, kicking his chair aside. It crashed over, but he didn't notice, or maybe just didn't care. He hooked his ankle around one leg of Hakkai's chair, tugging it out away from the table so he had better access to the brunette. Hakkai was dimly aware of Sanzo's smile, of Goku's wide eyes, and then he saw Gojyo's eyes….those beautiful red eyes…smiling down at him….and he couldn't see anything else.

Gojyo's graceful fingers began unbuttoning his shirt; he stepped forward so he was straddling Hakkai's hips, slowly sliding the shirt from his shoulders and rolling down, gently grinding against Hakkai.

And that was it. Hakkai had to get out of there before all of his feelings became apparent.

"I…I have to go." And he shoved Gojyo off him, harder than he'd intended to, scooting from beneath him and rushing from the room. He heard Gojyo call after him, a panicked sounding "Hakkai!" but he was already halfway into their room across the hallway, and he shut the door behind them, leaning against it, his heart pounding in his chest.

Gojyo looked at Sanzo. "Nice going."

"Hey, you didn't have to do it." Sanzo leaned back in his chair, looking quite pleased with himself.

"…..it was a dare," Gojyo said at last, but it was obvious he was trying to justify his actions.

Sanzo scoffed. "Bullshit. You wanted an excuse to touch him."

Gojyo flushed. "Excuse me?"

"Its painfully obvious how you two feel about each other."

Angry, Gojyo opened his mouth to retort, then stopped dead. "….each….each other?"

"Yes, moron. Both of you. God, you're so stupid." Sanzo stubbed his cigarette out on the table. "Why do you think he blushed like that when he kissed you?"

"…but he didn't kiss me. I mean, he kissed me on the cheek." "Yea….cuz he's the basic equivalent of a blushing virgin."

Gojyo couldn't help a chuckle at that metaphor, and he took a moment to think things through. All of the time they'd spent together…..Hakkai's actions…..his responses to Gojyo's actions…..and after Sanzo's words, it wasn't hard to put the pieces together.

Watching Gojyo, Sanzo saw the realization dawn on his face. "See?" He shook his head. "Morons, the both of you."

Gojyo was too happy to be irked by the words. "Thanks." He headed after Hakkai. Before he shut the door, he heard Goku speak up.

"Hey…Sanzo….can I have another kiss?" There was the sound of the fan smacking across Goku's head.

"Shut up."

Hakkai had changed into his pajamas and climbed into bed, hoping to read his book and relax, but he was finding it difficult. His concentration was in tatters. His mind kept returning to the feeling of Gojyo's skin against his lips during that kiss, of Gojyo's eyes boring into his as he danced…

There was a knock on the door and Hakkai nearly jumped out of his skin. "Y…yes? Come in."

The door opened a crack and Gojyo poked his head around the door. "Hey."

Hakkai immediately colored again. "Gojyo. You don't have to knock. It's your room as well."

"Okay." Gojyo entered the room, shutting the door behind him. "Thanks." He leaned against the door. "I just…..aw, man." He raked a hand through his hair, and Hakkai couldn't help admiring how lovely those crimson locks were. "…I feel terrible. About the dance, I mean. About everything." For he knew that the statement about his sexual partners had bothered Hakkai as well. "I never meant to upset you."

Hakkai felt a pang in his chest. Gojyo was apologizing when he hadn't done anything wrong. He shook his head. "No, really, its fine. I was just….surprised. That's all." He managed a smile. "Really, come in. Don't lurk by the door like that."

Gojyo smiled, pushing himself off the door and moving into the room. But he didn't stop by his own bed, but kept coming, and Hakkai's heart began beating faster, and faster, as Gojyo sat down beside Hakkai on his bed.

"…'kai?"

Hakkai managed to take a normal, even, breath. "Yes, Gojyo?"

"Well…I was thinking…..I never got a truth or dare round with you."

Hakkai felt a vague stirring of panic. "Oh?" His voice came out slightly higher than usual and he flushed.

"…..so….truth or dare?"

It was a bad idea…Hakkai knew it was a bad idea…but he couldn't refuse. Not with Gojyo so close, the intoxicating scent of his skin making Hakkai dizzy, the smile on his face and in his eyes calming the speedy beating of his heart.

"…I…..dare."

He didn't know what insanity had made him choose that, but it was too late to take it back. Gojyo smiled. "Kiss me."

…..forget anything about being calm. He felt as though his heart would explode. "I…..in that case, I'll take truth."

Gojyo's smile faltered for a minute, and Hakkai was surprised. Was Gojyo upset? Did he…..did he feel the same? Had that request been an honest one?

But Gojyo didn't falter for long. "Okay." The smile returned, calm and genuine, and caring. "Ask me if I want you to kiss me."

Hakkai felt as if his heart had stopped. He couldn't breathe. "…..I…." Gojyo was watching him, waiting, and he wondered if, beneath that calm, gentle smile, Gojyo was as nervous as he was. "…..do you want me to kiss you?" His voice was barely audible.

Oh. Gojyo reached out, stroking Hakkai's cheek. "Yes," he whispered. "Yes."

And this time, Hakkai didn't hesitate, leaning in and kissing Gojyo. The kappa immediately pressed closer, both hands moving to cup Hakkai's face as he deepened the kiss. Hakkai's fingers found a lock of red hair and wound it through his fingers. He had Gojyo, and he wasn't letting go, all those other women be damned.

He pulled away, breath still coming difficult to him but he didn't care. Gojyo was smiling at him, thumb tracing Hakkai's lower lip.

"You don't know how long I've wanted to do that," he said, and Hakkai smiled.

"Really?" he asked. Gojyo nodded. "Then I suppose it won't be a problem to give up all of your many women."

Gojyo shook his head. "No other women. Only you. For so long now, its only been you."

Hakkai's heart did some strange sort of fluttering thing, and he sort of pounced on Gojyo, pinning him onto the bed and kissing him again, Gojyo laughing into his mouth.

"I always thought you'd have a crazy possessive dominant side."

"Oh, you have no idea," Hakkai murmured.

"Mmmm," Gojyo made a noise that was more purr than anything else, hands sliding up around Hakkai's neck. "…show me?"

And Hakkai had absolutely no problem giving in to a request like that.

~fin~