Unlucky
by Kellen
a Saiyuki fanfiction
Dedicated to BakaBokken; feel better soon, hon. :o)
Rated: PG
Disclaimer: …they don't belong to me…
Feedback: Please. It may be written as a gift-fic for "teh awesome" BakaBokken, but it is a new fandom for me, and I do try to get things right…
Summary: It's an ordinary day with ordinary youkai… Just how can one man be so unlucky? Completed one-shot. Non-yaoi. Hakkai-centric action.
Cliffs and embankments were numerous in this rather treacherous forest, and that made them quite convenient for the sundry enemies that wanted the Sanzo-ikkou dead. Cho Hakkai, leaning against a sturdy tree trunk with arms crossed looked blankly at the low cliff in the distance and mentally counted the number of steep slopes between it and him. He should know how many there were; he tumbled down and scrambled back up them all. Then again, his route from the bottom of that cliff had been scrambling and circuitous, so he may have crossed a few of those more than once.
Whatever the number, the answer was the same.
He was in some trouble.
There was a quiet chirp and Hakuryuu landed on a branch near Hakkai's shoulder. A slim white neck arced and the small dragon laid his head against the man's neck. Hakkai absently scratched the dragon's shoulders lightly as he answered the questioning "kyuu".
"I'm fine."
Hakuryuu chirped lightly and flapped his wings once.
Hakkai smiled, turning slightly toward the dragon. "Really, Hakuryuu." He considered the cliff he could see rising above the trees. "That didn't work quite as well as I'd hoped."
Hakuryuu's answer elicited a quiet chuckle. "Yes, well, I suppose that's my due reward for that particular maneuver."
Youkai had attacked. It hadn't been anything too difficult for the Sanzo-ikkou. In fact, these were the basic, run of the mill, 'let's kill Sanzo for glory' demons.
Except for the fact that one of them among the mob may have had some semblance of a brain. They'd waited until Hakuryuu had been driven beside a cliff side, then attacked, and Hakkai – tired of driving, tired of the constant bickering and just plain tired – had been so distracted by making sure the little dragon got off all right that he'd completely missed the youkai that had slipped past Gojyo's guard. Hakkai had stepped back to give himself a little time and, well…
He shook his head. "Given that I knew we were on a cliff face, stepping backward was rather stupid."
The dragon chirped.
Hakkai held up one finger and grinned. "But at least I took a couple down with me."
Hakuryuu "kyuu"ed.
"And ran into a mob on the bottom of the cliff." Hakkai shook his head. "You know, Hakuryuu, I'm not the one who's supposed to have days like this. Gojyo, I could believe this happening to. Goku, even Sanzo, could have a string of luck this bad, and no one would bat an eye." He chuckled. "Guess I'm the unlucky one this time."
He pushed off the tree, gingerly testing the right ankle and knee that had been giving him trouble since his rather graceless tumble. "We should keep moving, Hakuryuu. I don't want to get caught in the middle of yet another fight right now, and I know I didn't get all those youkai. I can still feel them around."
Instead of the answering chirp he'd expected, Hakuryuu screamed and launched into the air. Hakkai, acting on instinct alone, ducked and a well-worn axe sliced through the tree trunk where his head had been. He tried to spin out of the way, gathering chi as he did so, but his leg folded. He caught himself on his hands and rolled instead, throwing up a defensive barrier over his shoulder. He could feel the axe ricochet off the barrier. Hakkai dropped the defense, chi gathered in his left hand for a throw.
No one was there.
K'so
Hakkai looked around, letting the light in his hand dissipate. I can still feel the youkai. He's here. Where? There was a flash of light to his right. He turned his head, hoping for a glimpse of his attacker.
Left! Senses screaming, Hakkai scrambled to the right as the axe swung in a wide arc. Without time to erect a barrier, Hakkai twisted, sending tendrils of hot pain up and down his right leg. Pain blossomed in his side as the axe head tore a gash across his ribs. He fell, landing hard on his right knee and curled around the new injury to his side.
There was laughter. It wasn't the slightly mad, malicious kind Hakkai was used to hearing from his enemies. This was full of genuine amusement. "I knew you were the weak one." The youkai's voice echoed in the trees. "The others, they said go after the human priest. No, I said. I said you were the one to take out. I said you were the one to single out. The others, they didn't listen. Now they're dust, and I'm the one who's brought down one of the Sanzo-ikkou."
Hakkai barely listened. Misdirection, is it? Simple enough. Make me see something in one direction, attack from the opposite. He lifted his head. "Weak, eh? Sorry to disappoint."
"On the contrary, I rather like my prey weak. Easier to take down."
The light flashed again, this time in front of him and to his left. Hakkai erected a barrier and again the axe ricocheted. From the right. So he's not attacking from whatever direction the light comes from.
Bright light to his left. Hakkai spun and sent a bolt of chi toward the light. The axe bit into the earth near his feet and disappeared as quickly as it came.
"Smart," the youkai commented. "But not smart enough. And that was one weak offense. You're not tired, are you?"
Hakkai's lips quirked in a sardonic smile. "Tired of you, perhaps." In truth, though, he was tired. His side was throbbing, and he knew that if he looked down at himself, he'd see a bloody, bruised mess hardly capable of defending himself.
But of course, he was never going to tell his enemy that.
A streak of white caught his attention. Hakuryuu What are you still doing here? The small dragon hissed a challenge and dove toward a copse of small trees and bushes. Hakkai grinned. Thank you, my friend.
He gathered as powerful a blast as he could – which he thought abysmal, given the circumstances – and destroyed the grove. A flurry of curses littered the air and the youkai was in the open as he jumped away from the blast. Hakkai attacked again, hoping his aim wasn't off, since his vision seemed to be not just swimming, but flailing and drowning.
Hakkai was never more glad to hear a youkai's dying scream. Knowing that falling was imminent, he drifted to the ground, left hand pressed against the wound in his side. Hakuryuu, chirping worriedly, settled next to him.
"I might work on healing this," Hakkai told the dragon, "but I don't think I have the energy." Hakuryuu pushed his head against Hakkai's leg. "I need to find the others."
The world spun lazily, and Hakkai found the only way to keep himself from getting sick was to lay back and stare at the sky. He held up his left hand. "That's a lot of blood."
Hakuryuu flapped his wings and peered into Hakkai's left eye.
"Stop moving," Hakkai told him.
The dragon chirped; he hadn't been moving.
Hakkai's hand fell to the ground beside him. "Arigatou," he whispered.
Hakuryuu responded, but the man had already passed out. The dragon settled himself above Hakkai's shoulder, head resting on his chest and "kyuu"ed softly.
Hakkai woke up in the back of the Jeep. The sun warmed his face, but that was eclipsed by the throbbing in his knee and side. He blinked lazily at the clear blue sky before a mass of red replaced the view. The Jeep rocked and he winced.
"I never thought I'd say this," Gojyo commented as he steadied Hakkai, "but you have got to be the unluckiest excuse for a youkai I have ever met."
"Or the stupidest." The gruff voice came from the front. Sanzo was driving then.
Gojyo nodded, giving the point to Sanzo. The Jeep rocked again, and Gojyo cursed. "What the hell, monk? Are you trying to hit every pot hole?"
Sanzo growled.
"What possessed you to step backward off a cliff in the first place?" Gojyo asked him.
Hakkai tried to answer, but he was cut off.
"Hakkai! You're awake. Are you ok?" Goku leaned over the seat, excited smile firmly in place.
"Does he look ok, you stupid monkey? What kind of stupid question is that?"
"I was just asking, water sprite," Goku whined. "Besides it's a lot better than calling him stupid the second he wakes up."
"Oi, Monkey… that was Sanzo…"
"Don't call me that."
"Shut up!"
Hakkai smiled and waited for the inevitable gunshot to punctuate the argument. He drifted back to sleep, content in knowing he was safe.
Well, until the kappa and monkey annoyed Sanzo to the point of murder.
Better make it a short nap.
The End.