Wow! I actually finished something! :happy: Well, this is actually the first Doku x Kou fanfic with chapters! Yay! I really like this story, and I promise it will get better! Forgive me if some of the characters seem OOC. And while the general story has similarities to the plot of Saiyuki, some things are quite different.

Note: This story is rated T for violence, sexual references, alcohol, and future mentions of abuse and rape.

Please, read and review! Both flames and compliments accepted with good grace!

euonym: a pleasing or beautiful name

Disclaimer: I do not own Saiyuki, or Kougaiji. (damn…)

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Kougaiji slammed his fist onto his desk, seething with rage. How dare she? She had no right to order him around like that! In certain aspects of his work, maybe, but his life outside this hell hole? No way. Never. He would never allow himself to be controlled by her.

Sinking sullenly into his huge office chair (an unnecessary flourish, he thought, to the already over clichéd room), Kougaiji let lavender eyes close, blending into the shadows. His office was cloaked with them, the setting sun's blood red glow too gentle to pierce the cloud of gloom hanging contentedly around him. He was so tired. Tired of this whole situation. Now only one thing bound him to this company – his mother, and he knew, with a certainly that had once been shocking but now was his only certainly, without question, he could never leave her. And so he was stuck.

His mother had never told him of the cancer inside her body, ignoring the doctor's warnings and her own deteriorating condition. Eventually, however, it had come to be too much, even for her. Rushing her to the hospital, Kougaiji had been informed of the cancer and that she was currently in critical condition. The doctor had shook his head helplessly. There was nothing he could do but keep her alive for a few more precious days, and after that…she would die. There was nothing to be done about it. They couldn't operate because the tumor was already attached to vital organs. All the drugs they had that might've worked they'd already tried. It was too late to start her on radiation. They could do nothing.

Nothing.

Kougaiji had stood there, too stunned to think or even move. He wanted to seize the doctor and shake him vigorously, tell him that they should never give up hope. But, somehow, he couldn't. He could only stare as the doctor gave him a look filled with pity and sauntered away. Damn him. He didn't want anyone's sympathy. He wanted an answer, a solution, a way to climb this insurmountable obstacle looming so mockingly in front of him. He needed a way.

That was when she approached him.

Gyokumen Koushu.

--

Yaone gently pushed the door open. Upon seeing her red haired superior, she let out a sigh. He was in one of his 'moods' again, when he would get quiet and moody and re-erect walls that Yaone was working so patiently to pull down. She was never sure what would set him off, but she guessed it had something to do with the meeting with the company's president, Gyokumen Koushu, that he had just returned from.

Yaone didn't really understand the relationship between the two. The president seemed to have some sort of hold over Kougaiji-sama, which appeared to hate but put up with nonetheless. Why was a question she wanted to ask him, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. She was, a little, afraid of the answer, and afraid of ever forcing Kougaiji to tell her, something he did not want to. So she would wait, forever, if need be, for Kougaiji-sama to finally open up to her and trust her with the secret he was so obviously harboring.

"Kougaiji-sama?" she called softly.

Lavender eyes glistened threatening in the dark lighting.

"Oh. It's you, Yaone." His eyes lost their heated look. Yaone shivered slightly. She knew that Kougaiji-sama, kind as he normally acted to her, had a darker side to him, sitting in the most forgotten corner of his soul. Rarely had she ever seen it, and if she was honest, she had never wanted to see.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Ah…phone call for you."

"All right. Thank you." Kougaiji picked up the phone as Yaone left, closing the door behind her. "Yes?"

"Kou?!?" came the practically screamed answer.

Wincing, Kougaiji pulled the phone away from his ear slightly. In the background he heard the overwhelmingly loud noise of a guitar. "Goku?"

"Yeah! Hey, I – "There was a pause, and then Goku's voice came from farther away. "Damn it, Gojyo, I'm on the phone! Practice your stupid guitar somewhere else!"

"I'll practice it wherever I damn well please!"

"Not if I have a say in it, you stupid cockroach!" The guitar abruptly stopped and the sounds of a scuffle soon started. He heard the phone clatter to the ground, and wondered absently if he should hang up.

But a moment later another voice came across the phone. "Hello, Kougaiji. How are you?"

"Fine, thank you." Hakkai was there, then.

"We tried to call your cell phone…"

"Oh. Yeah, I turned it off." Just in case that woman tried to call him. "Why'd you call?"

"Goku was wondering if you'd like to attend our performance tonight. You heard that we have a new singer, correct?"

He had. Goku, apparently, could think of nothing better to do then rant to Kougaiji about his band, Epsilon. So, for better or for worse, he knew each new piece of information about the band. He'd gone to listen to them once or twice and thought it was alright, but nothing to make a big deal about. Maybe this new singer would make a difference?

"Hm…" He didn't particularly want to go out tonight, but then again, it felt like he never wanted to go out. Still…

"Why not? The usual, I suppose?"

"Yes, we –" There was a crash and an "oh, dear" form Hakkai. "I apologize, Kougaiji. We seem to be having a slight crisis. I'll see you at seven."

"Yeah. See you." Click.

Kougaiji set the phone back on its cradle and leaned back. Tonight promised to be interesting.