King Rat: Deep Water
Notes: For the uninitiated, this is a rewrite of the original King Rat story. It's bigger and better and with a little more stuff that will get me banned. For those who are here because they read the original, welcome back! Don't spoil the surprises.
When you see a Suggested Track, that's music that inspired the scene or goes with the scene, because I write with music. They go from where denoted to the end of the scene, as denoted by a line break, unless otherwise noted. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Saiyuki and its characters belong to Kazuya Minekura-sensei. The scenario is mine. This story has been cross-posted to AO3 and FFN, but it should not be seen anywhere else. (If I do upload it elsewhere, I'll be sure to make a note of it.)
1: Deal with the Devil
There was only one room, and in it were only two beds, and Hakkai won at cards every single time. The Sanzo party had been on the road for more than three months now, and December had come on bitterly cold. They had been fortunate enough to find a town with an inn that night, as they were sick to death of sleeping in the cold and nearly sick in body from the same, they didn't even care that there was only one room with only two beds. They just settled things like they always did- a simple card game.
Three hands of poker, no bluffs, whoever drew the highest hand won, and Hakkai always won. His sleeves must have had Kings, Aces, and Jokers sewn into the sleeves. Goku had come in second, because every once in a while, the monkey hit a lucky streak. Rather than electing to keep the ever-warring kappa and priest apart from one another, he took the second bed and left the two together. Two futons were laid on the chilly floor of the inn room, side by side, crowded and cramped yet thankful for the body heat, with Hakkai in one bed and Goku in the other. Both were already fast asleep, but they were the only two with the good fortune to find sleep so easily. Genjo Sanzo and Sha Gojyo were on opposite sides of the room, perpendicular from their other party members and staring directly at one another: Sanzo with what seemed to be immeasurable hatred, and Gojyo with a cigarette between his fingers and a sneer painted onto his features. It wasn't that they couldn't sleep; allegedly, it was that neither wanted to agree on where.
"Pick a blanket, pretty boy," Gojyo taunted in a low voice, puffing a smoke ring and licking his lower lip, just begging Sanzo to react. "Come on, I ain't got all night."
"I'll kill you," Sanzo muttered, giving Gojyo zero satisfaction. "I could wipe that smirk off your face permanently, and put coins in your eyes and a bullet between them without a second thought."
"I love it when you talk dirty," Gojyo teased, tossing his hair back. "Now, what's it gonna be? You next to the idiot monkey, and myself protected by Hakkai, or you by Hakkai and me arguing with the idiot monkey all night?"
"When the fuck do you even sleep?" Sanzo grumbled, his voice a bored monotone. "All you do at night is toss and moan about how badly you want to get laid."
"I don't sleep well alone. I need a teddy bear, preferably one with a good set of tits," Gojyo chuckled as he tapped the ash off the end of his cigarette. "Masturbation only takes the edge off, you know. I could yank it until I passed out, and I'd wake up five minutes later knowing I didn't get laid."
"For fuck's sake," Sanzo hissed, rolling his eyes. "I'm sick of hearing you talk. Do you really need to get laid to sleep?" Gojyo smirked eagerly; he liked where this was going.
"Damn right. What, are you volunteering? I'll even pass ya my wallet if you're willing to brave the cold. I'll tell ya now- I like 'em with big t-"
"If it'll shut you up and make you sleep the whole night without disturbing me, I'll give you exactly what you want." With that, Sanzo began to strip his robes down, leaving them folded over his obi, and pulled his pants to the floor. Gojyo shook his head, wearing a derisive smirk that revealed a little of his teeth.
"You're not gonna get me a hooker dressed like that."
"Who said anything about a hooker?" Sanzo replied coolly, and yanked his robes and belt off. "You want sex, you can come goddamn get it." As Sanzo kicked his jeans aside, the smile slid from Gojyo's face.
"I don't do that, man. I want a woman. I want a goddamn woman!"
"I'm not interested in men either, but frankly, I don't care right now." Sanzo pulled a cigarette from his waistband and tucked it in his jaw in one silky motion. "I won't say a word, I'll let you do what you want with my body, and you will go to sleep having had a fuck." Sanzo lit his cigarette and folded his arms, as Gojyo stared at him, agape. Sanzo waited to Gojyo to refuse, shut up, and go to sleep.
"Wait, ain't you priests supposed to be all chaste and celibate and shit?" Of course Gojyo wouldn't shut up. Sanzo dragged deeply on his cigarette, and started to explain in the slow, delicate voice one reserved for simple children:
"Celibate doesn't mean 'virginal.' Celibate means 'unmarried.' People think it means abstinent from sex, but they're wrong. And as for chaste, Buddhism tells us that the body is meaningless. It is the soul." Sanzo let smoke puff from his lips, and continued. "You don't seem the type to remember your lessons, but let me give you a refresher. There are four great truths in Buddhism, the third of which is that 'suffering ends when craving ends,' and as a priest, I will lead you to goddamn Enlightenment by ending your cravings for fucking." Sanzo extinguished his cigarette and pulled his gloves off, letting them drop beside his jeans. "And if you're not going to buy that explanation, I don't care about Buddhism. I care only about my master, and my master cared about making others happy. Screwing will make you happy, so be it. Moreover, if I don't get you to shut up and sleep, we aren't going to complete our mission, and I'm never going to be happy. Got it?"
Sanzo looked at Gojyo, but realized that he wasn't paying attention. He had instead retrieved a beer from their pack and begun to pour it down his throat. He put the empty can in the trash and opened another one. The tab had barely finished hissing before Gojyo put the can to his lips. Sanzo raised a cold eyebrow as he drained the can, wiped his lips as he gasped for breath, and turned to the priest.
"Look, we'll make a deal. Give me five minutes." With that, Gojyo opened another beer and poured it into his gullet like he needed to replace his blood.
(Suggested Track: "Alone Down There," Modest Mouse)
Five minutes and six empty beer cans later, Gojyo and Sanzo were seated on the floor of the bathroom with a piece of blank paper torn from the inn's neglected ledger and a pen. Sanzo hadn't bothered retrieving his clothes but had dug a pen from one of his sleeves and had filled the ledger with calligraphy detailing a basic contract. Gojyo wasn't paying attention, draining a seventh can as quickly as he could. Sanzo finally detached the beer can from his lips. "Are you still sober enough to do business?"
"Alcohol hasn't hit bottom yet, I'm good," Gojyo chuckled, though the pink in his cheeks suggested otherwise. He wiped his mouth. "Just tell me what it says." Sanzo scoffed and straightened the paper out, reading in his usual bored tone:
"I, Sha Gojyo, hereby agree that in exchange for shutting my trap and not pissing Genjo Sanzo off, I will be granted the privilege and opportunity to have sexual relations with Genjo Sanzo.
I, Genjo Sanzo, hereby agree that in exchange for the silence and appropriate behavior of Sha Gojyo, I will allow aforementioned pervert to participate in sexual relations with my person.
Both parties agree that the contents of this contract and all activities related to it will remain secret. Should the aforementioned information be compromised by revelation to or discussion with any parties not mentioned in this contract, this contract will be considered null and void." Sanzo took another drag on his cigarette, and slowly exhaled. "Sign." Without a second thought, Gojyo took the pen from the table and scrawled his name, lopsided and seemingly misspelled. Sanzo signed his name directly under, and put the date beside it. "There. Now, I'm going to lay down and shut up. Do whatever it is you want to do."
"Wait, you want to suck me off, or should I just stick it in your ass?" Gojyo pounded the floor, trying to keep his attention.
"Put it in my ass." Sanzo sounded disgusted to repeat Gojyo's phrasing. "I won't feel it. If you put it in my mouth, I'd have to taste it." Sanzo got on his knees, folding his arms on the ground, leaving his hindquarters in the air as an open offer. "Just... get it over with." Gojyo stared at Sanzo before him, who stared at him with apathetic eyes, and at the thin trail of smoke from his cigarette drifting lazily past his forehead. He couldn't even muster a comeback.
"You're going to need to give me another minute. I can't get hard with you staring at me like that," Gojyo finally said, and turned partially away from Sanzo, who scoffed towards the tile.
"I thought you were perpetually hard."
"Shut up," Gojyo hissed. He briefly thought to his companions in the next room, thinking of what they would think of him. He tried to pretend they weren't there, and that the monk laid on the mat was a beautiful blonde woman. The alcohol had begun to affect him, and as his vision blurred, he could see Sanzo as a pretty woman. A woman. Yes, a beautiful woman. He pulled his pants down, as his cock rose to half-mast, slowly growing at just the potential of having sex with a woman. Oh, the woman was in his imagination, but it had been so, so long. Gojyo felt his lips curl into a devious smirk as he grabbed his member with one hand, thinking about a warm, tight body for him. Just for him, oh yes; no way tightass Sanzo had done this before. It would be tight, he thought, and warm, and tight. Want it, want it, think of how good it's going to feel. He gave it a few slow strokes, he licked his hand, he grasped his cock harder. Slowly, the beast reared its head, swelling and engorging, turning crimson with pent-up passion. The demon from his depths wanted a vacation from the left hand, and as he found himself fully erect, Gojyo turned back to Sanzo. Sanzo didn't look; he was drumming his fingers lightly on the floor and bracing himself against the side of the tub, clearly putting his mind somewhere else. Gojyo shook it off with a thought: 'He may be a man, but he's as bored as any hooker.'
"Hurry up, my knees are getting cold," Sanzo complained quietly, but Gojyo held his tongue.
Gojyo sauntered across the room, feet silent on the icy bathroom tiles, and he knelt behind Sanzo, lifted the back of his robes, and surveyed his pale, thin back. Sanzo sighed softly, impatiently, but said nothing. Gojyo tried to focus through his now-affected head. The alcohol was working- Sanzo had a thin waist, and with the help of the liquor, Sanzo looked enough like a woman from the waist down, at least until he started easing his cock into the crack. He hesitated for a second as he glanced at Sanzo's exposed manhood, but reminded himself- 'it's not about who or what it is, it's a warm body to put myself into.'
Gojyo spread Sanzo's flesh out in his palms, found Sanzo's tight asshole. He gazed upon the offered opening like they were the gates to Heaven, and forced his way in with one quick buck of his hips. He heard Sanzo make a noise like he'd been punched in the gut, but the monk quickly bit down on his fist to silence himself. Gojyo pulled back, and thrust again, bucking his hips and pressing his bones into the soft flesh of Sanzo's backside. Another thrust, hard, deliberate, forcing himself as far into the tight, warm gap as he could. Sanzo made another muffled noise, and if Gojyo wasn't as drunk as he was, he would have considered it a moan of pleasure. Instead, he thrust into Sanzo again, and felt a grin creep to his face. 'Sex with a man,' he thought, 'is not so bad at all.' He gripped onto Sanzo's shoulders, holding on tight, pulling him back towards him. His rhythm was slow, but the beat was hard, throbbing like a bass guitar, and it may well have shaken the room. "Dirty bastard," he found himself muttering as he pounded against Sanzo. "Dirty, rotten, bastard, you love it, don't you-" Gojyo felt a light kick, and looked down at Sanzo's foot on his thigh, then to Sanzo's face. Sanzo shook his head 'no,' and Gojyo remembered the two youkai sleeping three meters and one door away. Gojyo grinned drunkenly; he did have an audience for this performance.
With a slap of flesh to flesh, Gojyo pushed his cock deeper and harder into Sanzo, and Sanzo let out another, more pained moan. He pounded the floor with one fist, bracing one hand to the wall and biting down on his free arm, but Gojyo ignored his antics. He pulled back and bucked again, trying as hard as he could to make Sanzo moan again. He shifted his hands, sliding up Sanzo's back and gently squeezing Sanzo's chest. He found the nipples between his middle and index fingers like a cigarette, and rolled them between his fingers. Yes, Gojyo decided- he has breasts. Flat breasts. "And here I said I liked big ones," he cackled, though more to himself than anything. Sanzo made a muffled noise and tightened around him, and Gojyo laughed deviously, out of breath as he continued to ram Sanzo from behind.
He was feeling the pressure build against the head of his member, his seed aching to escape. He couldn't resist, and it had been too long since he'd actually let himself orgasm, but he couldn't lose this. He hadn't even realized that despite the cold floor and the cold company, this was the best sex he'd had in years. He pushed himself back from Sanzo, almost feeling his manhood freeze, but it wasn't enough to halt his passion. He doubled over and let his cum gush onto the floor, gasping to himself, and he could hear Sanzo sigh with relief.
Gojyo panted roughly, his jaw slack in his sudden tiredness. He tucked his cock back into his boxers and wiped his seed from the floor and smeared it onto the sink. Sanzo remained on his hands and knees, head to the ground and hands folded in what some would think was prayer. He got up as Gojyo pushed himself back to lean against the wall and light a cigarette. He chuckled softly to himself as Sanzo dusted himself off. The priest looked at the seemingly sated kappa with disgust and disdain, shaking at the fingers, and suddenly punched him in the face. Gojyo yelped and covered his eye, as Sanzo's entire body shook with barely-contained rage.
"Next time you do that, you… spit on your cock first!" Vitriol poured from his tongue, rage from his every motion. His cheeks were bright pink. Gojyo choked out a laugh, and extinguished his half-finished cigarette.
"Just go to bed," Gojyo chuckled, shaking his head as the bruise began to blossom on his face. "And... thank you." He sunk at the waist in a half-bow. Sanzo huffed wordlessly and dodged from the bathroom. Gojyo watched through the crack in the door lay down on the mat next to Hakkai, pulling the covers over his head. Gojyo kept his laugh under his tongue, and decided that he, too, was exhausted. He'd poured himself into his favorite hobby, and found his body satisfied despite his icy reception. He slid down the wall and into the bathtub, closing his eyes for the night without a second thought to any other element of comfort.
"Enlightenment, huh?" He chuckled to himself, but was gone before he could think any further.
When the party awoke to Hakuryu's crying at the rising sun, Hakkai, Sanzo, and Goku found that they were short one member. None of them had the presence of mind to worry, but they never did; it was easier to assume he'd gone off on his own and would turn up without a second thought to their concern. The three went down the stairs to the dining room, where surely enough, Gojyo waited with a table. It seemed a waitress had already brought an order of breakfast and laid it out, with four empty plates waiting to be filled. Gojyo waved to them, and they joined him.
"Good morning, Hakkai!" Gojyo sounded exceptionally cheery. "Good morning, idiot monkey!" Goku tried to hit him, but he caught his wrist and yanked him down to his seat. He turned to Sanzo, the smile on his face subduing, and he simply nodded in the priest's general direction. Sanzo grunted irritably.
"Good morning to you too, Gojyo. That is a most excellent black eye." Hakkai took it in with his usual cheer. "Where did you get it?" Gojyo continued to grin, not certain how to answer, but fortunately, Sanzo intervened.
"I gave it to him," Sanzo muttered, taking a seat at the table. "He deserved it."
"Ahh, of course. I should have known. Gojyo, did you sleep at all sharing the floor with Sanzo?"
"Oh, I slept wonderfully. Now, can we all just be quiet? I've got a murderous headache." Gojyo continued to smile, pulling out chairs for Goku and Hakkai. Gojyo sat down after they did, and began to load up his plate with fried eggs and cucumbers.
"Eh, Gojyo, you have a hangover?" Goku asked, blinking innocently. "I didn't see you drink that much last night."
"He did, and then I punched him," Sanzo grumbled, as he poured himself a cup of tea and flipped open his newspaper. Hakkai looked at Gojyo expectantly, waiting for the retort, but Gojyo said nothing. Goku began to eat quickly, but Gojyo ate calmly, subdued, much like Sanzo and Hakkai.
The atmosphere seemed oddly stiff without Gojyo and Goku's usual antics, and though Sanzo didn't seem to mind, Hakkai gently muffled a nervous laugh. He'd known Gojyo for three years, and he'd never seen the man act nearly so mature, especially when taking abuse from Sanzo. In fact, Gojyo was normally the one initiating the arguments. Hakkai decided it was time to put on the "adult pants" and see what the children were up to. He looked at Sanzo, and spoke in a very serious voice. "What happened between you two after I went to sleep last night?" Sanzo and Gojyo both choked mid-bite, looking at one another briefly, before Sanzo looked back at Hakkai.
"Why do you ask?" He asked, his voice as muted as it always was.
"He's acting so civil, especially towards you." Hakkai chose his words carefully, picking up his teacup between his palms. Gojyo's eyes darted anxiously between Hakkai and Sanzo, as he downed a glass of water. Goku didn't seem to be paying attention. Sanzo kept his eyes on his newspaper, his face unreadable.
"Gojyo and I had a discussion at length and have temporarily resolved our issues," Sanzo said after a moment. Hakkai smiled and giggled airily.
"Was this before or after you punched him?" Hakkai took a sip of his tea, as Gojyo gobbled his way through a cucumber. Sanzo huffed softly and didn't respond. "Still, it will be nice, the two of you not arguing. Perhaps we shall complete our mission with greater ease." Gojyo and Sanzo gave each other a firm glare, as though to remind one another of their contract, and continued to eat in silence.
Kanzeon Bosatsu, the Goddess of Mercy, witnessed their actions from Heaven on high with mild interest. She giggled softly to herself, and Jiroushin peered into her garden from the gate.
"Did you say something, milady?"
"Just thinking," she answered. She traced her cheekbone with one finger, smiling blithely. Jiroushin withheld his confusion, only too used to his mistress's furtive nature, knowing she would explain when she was ready. She looked up to face him. "What would you think if I decided to send the Sanzo party a small gift?"
"Pardon me, goddess, but you generally don't give gifts," Jiroushin suggested timidly. "Not for many years."
"Yes, but Genjo Sanzo is performing an act in the name of Buddhism, so he says." Kanzeon Bosatsu smiled slyly, turning back to the image of the Sanzo party leaving the inn and heading out into the snow. "I give gifts to my students and followers- that is the rule, isn't it?" She examined her scrying pool, swirling the image with the tip of her fingernail. "Genjo Sanzo has always been of interest to me, and it would be only to his ultimate benefit. He has opened himself to an interesting opportunity. Besides, I've loose ends to tie up." She laughed under her breath, and got to her feet. "I have some work to do. I've decided." She clapped her hands together. "I shall gift-wrap a special present for the high priest."
End Notes: I wanted to make a note on chapter numbering here. The original King Rat was 10 chapters and an omake. The way I did this rewrite was by taking the original chapters, going line by line to edit dialogue and syntax, and at points inserting entire scenes. These entire scenes came to be chapters in their own right, the longest of which I believe ended up at 26 pages inserted basically between two paragraphs. I have numbered chapters corresponding to the original chapters from which they sprouted, so next week, instead of chapter 2, we'll have chapter 1B. It'll be a nice little bonus for those who archived the original King Rat that want to compare.
Reviews and comments are better than chocolate to me, so please leave one! Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome! No matter what, updates will be every other week, so, I'll see you then!
