Standard disclaimers apply. If I owned Hakkai, trust me, I would do more than just write about him.
If It Had Been DarkIf it had been dark, they never would have seen him.
They never would have stopped.
They never would have tried to help.
If only it had been dark…
And yet they did see him. Hakkai spun the jeep to a stop, spraying gravel and dust clouds in their wake. For a moment they all sat there, wondering if he was dead or alive. Goku was leaning forward, nearly hanging out the jeep. Gojyo saw at once that it was a man and turned his attention elsewhere. Sanzo grunted in annoyance at the stop but said nothing.
"Hey, Hakkai," Goku finally broke the silence, "Why did you stop?"
"Don't you find that a bit odd, Goku?" the brunette murmured, nodding to the man on the floor of the forest.
"He's hugging the tree! Is that wrong?" Goku looked again.
Hugging the tree was a bit of an understatement. A massive oak towered above them, stretching its limbs into the dark night. At the base of its trunk, lay the victim. He was tangled into the roots of the tree. Tangled very deeply. In Goku's eyes, it was a mere hug, but Hakkai could see the person was trapped in the roots. He looked to Sanzo.
"Don't look at me, bastard. You do what you want. Just don't come crying to me when you're in deep shit," the monk slouched further in the passenger seat, twirling a cigarette with his tongue.
Hakkai shut off the jeep and opened the door. He stepped onto the forest grass, and paused. This man was different, somehow. His chi read differently than any Hakkai had seen before. It wasn't automatically dangerous, yet there was something cautious in the way it moved. Hakkai took a step back, debating what to do.
"Hakkai, is something wrong?" Gojyo muttered from the backseat.
"No." It was a lie, but Hakkai wasn't about to climb back into the car and leave the man. Trying to shake off the bad feeling he had, the youkai moved towards the roots of the tree and started prying them apart with his chi.
"Sanzo! I'm hungry!" Goku whined as Hakkai worked.
"Shut up, you stupid ape."
"But Sanzo! We haven't eaten in four hours!"
"I said shut up."
"Sanzo! Sanzo!"
The noise behind him escalated, as Hakkai delved further into the tree's roots. He finally freed a path, and was reaching for the man's arm, when a pair of luminescent brown eyes flashed open. Hakkai started, pulling his hand back. The man had awoken, and was staring intently at the other.
Those eyes…
Quickly recovering his poise, Hakkai smiled as always, "Hello. Sorry for startling you. If you'll give me your hand, I can help you out."
The man reached out his arm, and Hakkai pulled him from the remnants of the tree prison, trying not to writhe noticeably under the other's touch. Something just wasn't right.
The boy looked a mere year or two younger than Hakkai himself. He stood straight, and looked around. Dark brown hair fell over his eyes messily, and flakes of tree bark hung from the slender strands. He shook his hair with a fair hand, and Hakkai noticed how thin the boy was. His build was small, like that of a lithe woman.
He silently brushed himself off, with the rest of the group watching intently. Hakkai tried to keep himself from shifting uncomfortably in the silence. He walked to the jeep and hopped back in, smiling at the man, "Take care not to get too close to anymore trees." The man said nothing as he continued to stare blankly at the four. "Do you… need a ride to the next town?" the words slipped out before Hakkai could stop them. Damn his politeness.
Taking it as an invitation, the man stepped forward and stood at Sanzo's door. Hakkai looked from Sanzo to the stranger. "Sanzo," Hakkai said, "I believe he intends to take your seat."
"Go to hell."
Hakkai shrugged, smiling, "I'm afraid you'll have to sit in the back with Gojyo and Goku."
The man said nothing as Goku pulled him into the backseat. "Hakkai! Food!" the young one yelled.
"All right, all right," Hakkai chuckled, "The next stop is the town. We can eat there."
"Yes!"