Title: The "Morning After" Incident
By: TyrneJ
Series: Gensoumaden Saiyuki
Disclaimer: Written by a fan, for fans only. Especially SanzoxHakkaixSanzo fans, or 383, or however it's written. No profit is being made by the distribution of this fic, nor do I intend to infringe on Kazuya Minekura's rights to ownership of this version of a story from long ago. Good heavens, no. I'm just writing this to keep myself in whatever state of sanity I'm in right now, and to amuse other fans, if they so choose to be amused.

[This is my attempt at a submission to Sariyuki's 38 Incidents Project, which is linked on her (?) author page on fanfiction.net. It's also a first attempt at writing Saiyuki fanfiction, so please bear with me.]
It wasn't quite morning yet. Through a crack in the curtains, Cho Hakkai could see the darkened sky reluctantly submitting to the rising sun and causing a dim ray of light to spill across the wooden floor of the room. It was long and thin, and, as he watched from his position on the bed, was slowly receding from one of the room's two doors, the door to the hallway. Hakkai eyed the door lazily, then shifted his gaze to the chair next to the bed, where his clothes for the day were neatly folded, vaguely considering actually moving from underneath the covers.

A soft grunt sounded from beside him, and he turned his head to check on his roommate. The illustrious Genjo Sanzo had shifted onto his side, so that Hakkai had a detailed, but unexciting, view of his back, only halfway covered by the blanket the two of them shared. Readjusting so that he could feel better lying on his own back, Hakkai found himself staring at the wooden ceiling, yet another uninteresting view.

Across the floor, the line of light had brightened a little, and was slowly creeping toward the foot of their bed. The youkai nodded at it, as if to give it some sort of encouragement, then, after careful contemplation, slid out of bed, checking back once to make sure that Sanzo had not been disturbed.

The plan was to leave as soon as breakfast was over, so he had to start packing their supplies for the day's ride. Ten minutes, and he was out of the bathroom (where the other door led) and dressed to go. Five more minutes, and Hakuryuu was up and flying around happily. And in two more minutes –

"Oi."

Sanzo would be ready to go as well. Hakkai turned to give his roommate the cheeriest morning smile he could at the scowling blond, noting the quick appearance of a lit cigarette even while the monk sat up in bed. "Good morning, Sanzo."

The monk let out a stream of smoke from his mouth. "You're up a little early."

"As are you."

The youkai's cheery demeanor caused a sudden twitch on Sanzo's part, but he quickly reattained his morning scowl. "That's because last night..." He trailed off, shoving the cigarette back into his mouth. His other hand seemed to spasm for a moment, then lay, slightly clenched, on the bed beside him.

The other man paused in his packing for a moment to glance at Sanzo. "Yes, yes... last night would have been a little exhausting for you, eh?" Still said in the same cheery tone, even while he moved to sit on the bed again.

The scowl deepened, but the blonde did not say a word.

Hakkai had opened the curtains a little, so that now a wider rectangle of light spilled into the room to dance on the floor next to the bed, and the moving shadows of a nearby tree swayed patterns in the rectangle.

The wall next to Sanzo suddenly burped.

Sanzo's hand twitched on the bed, while Hakkai let out another one of his grins.

"It sounds like those two are up, now."

"Of all the..."

Through the thin walls of the inn, Sha Gojyo and Son Goku could be heard in their own morning ritual, though theirs was significantly less peaceful:

"Hey! Hurry up and get out, perverted kappa! I gotta go!"

"Wait your turn, I'm still not – "

The sounds of a door being burst into.

"What the – You broke the door, you dumb ape!"

"You were sitting there doing nothing for thirty whole minutes?! Bastard!"

"Hey, stylin' my hair is not nothing, ape. I gotta look goo – Oi! "

"Save it for later! I gotta go!"

Beside him, Sanzo could hear Hakkai's apologetic laugh. "Ahaha... I think we'll need to use that credit card again."

"Idiots." The monk breathed out the word on another stream of smoke, imagining the bill for the broken door, plus the wreckage from the night before.

The night before. Sanzo could feel his head throb just thinking about it. Gojyo, being the womanizer he was, had brought back someone to play with for the night, and, as he should have, locked the door to keep people from walking in on them.

So Hakkai and Sanzo had woken up to the sounds of a lot of sex, coming from the room right next to theirs.

And, shortly after about the third round – it was hard not to count the number of times they went at it – came the sounds of a very pissed-off Goku, who had apparently been downstairs knocked out from a mug of "something alcoholic", as Goku put it. He was explaining this as he banged on the locked door. And he made sure the entire complex knew about it.

Hakkai had to really work to keep Sanzo from stomping out of the room with his revolver and putting a bullet in everyone's heads, Gojyo's lady included. Then he had to try to keep a bullet from his own head. This had involved a lot of fast talking and "shhh"ing noises, plus a few healthy nods.

And, with the way things were going this morning, Hakkai had the feeling that he would be doing a lot of that again, before breakfast, even.

There came a sickening crack from the bed in the other room, and Hakkai suddenly laughed softly, causing the other man to look up sharply.

"Can you imagine what's going on there now? I have a feeling – "

"That's it, stupid ape! I'm gonna pound your face in!"

"Gojyo's on the bed, one fist ready to hit Goku – " Sanzo stared at Hakkai quizzically as the youkai relayed what he thought was happening on the other side of the wall, even as Gojyo's and Goku's voices filtered through the wooden structure.

"Oh, yeah? Well, take that!"

"Oof!"

"And now Goku rolls away, kicking Gojyo in the stomach, so Gojyo's going to attack with a low sweep – "

Swipe. "AhHAH, fooled ya there!"

"Cue 'Dammit'," Hakkai snapped his fingers.

"Dammit!"

Sanzo frowned at Hakkai. "You seem to be enjoying this."

A smile. "You try, Sanzo. Goku's still on the floor, maybe he'll grab Gojyo's leg – "

"The monkey bites."

Chomp. "AAAIIEE! WHAT THE HELL - ?!"

"Ooh, nice one!" Hakkai congratulated his roommate by clapping, then continued his commentary, standing up to demonstrate. "And now Gojyo's hopping around on one foot, dragging Goku with him."

"Get offa me!"

"Mo ayyy ng hahhr!"

Watching the normally mellow Hakkai hop around on one foot pretending to be hindered by an eighteen-year-old boy chomping on his ankle, Sanzo once again wondered just what exactly went on behind that smiling youkai face. He had learned some time ago that Hakkai had a hidden mean streak in him, but so far on their journey he had not really tried to mock any one of his traveling companions, at least not in this way. Vaguely, the monk wondered what that man thought of him, but the thought was fleeting.

He stood up and finished dressing, eyes and ears tuning back into the conversation through the wall, and Hakkai's demonstrations.

"No fair! You're taller!"

"Sucks to be short, eh, kiddo?"

"Ne, Sanzo, I think Gojyo's got the upper hand." Hakkai chuckled, one hand high in the air, holding up the imaginary Goku's wrist. "We might see the end of this yet – "

The dark-haired man was interrupted when his other arm was suddenly caught in a tight grip, and twisted painfully behind him. His raised arm dropped, and after a quick kick behind his knees, Hakkai found himself face down on the floor, straddled by an emotionless Sanzo.

Thump. A similar sound came from the other room, followed by a sudden cry of protest.

"H-Hey!"

"Too slow, perverted kappa!"

"Dammit, get off me!"

Another chuckle. "Nice one, again, Sanzo." And, with a twist, and another lightning-quick movement, Hakkai had thrown the blonde off his back, just as the same sounds came from next door.

At the foot of the bed, Sanzo stubbed out his cigarette (he had nearly swallowed it when he was thrown off), and crouched, eyes focused on Hakkai, not even realizing that he had decided to join in the youkai's game.

"He likes to bite – " The words were barely out of his mouth when he followed them through, moving forward to try to snap at Hakkai.

"And Gojyo blocks – right hand, of course – "

"Hey, do I look like food to you?!"

"Of course." Sanzo said Goku's line in his own tones as he snapped lightly at Hakkai's bracer, taking the opportunity to swing a mock punch at the other man's abdomen. Hakkai danced away, waving a finger in typical Gojyo fashion.

"Tsk,tsk,tsk, you won't get me that way!" Gojyo laughed, and the blonde and brunet were treated to a filtered version of Goku's growl, followed by the stomp of running feet.

Sanzo lunged forward again, this time pushing Hakkai onto the bed, and before the youkai could react, had pinned Hakkai's wrists down with his hands. The sound of wood snapping loudly filled the room, then was silenced with two thuds.

Hakkai blinked up at clear eyes, a heavily-breathing face framed by bangs of gold, then past those bangs, at the wooden ceiling above them. For some reason, though, it seemed a little more interesting, now, with the added foreground. Vaguely, he could feel the blonde was on top of him, kneeling on the bed to hold his hands above his head.

Sanzo, for his part, stared down at two calm green eyes, Hakkai's bangs having fallen away from his face when he was pushed down. The blanket lay gathered underneath him, still wrinkled from the night before, and of course, bearing a hint of cigarette smoke.

It was one of those moments of pause, of strange clarity, where no one more, no one dared to breathe, where everything had been lit up in a blinding flare of – something – that somehow made things make sense. The only sound in the room now was the sound of heavy breathing: Sanzo's, with a hint of a deep sigh, Hakkai's, lighter, but just as strong –

And the sudden prolonged intake of breath from behind them.

"S-Sanzo?!"

"H-Hakkai..."

The moment was broken as Sanzo whipped his head around and Hakkai jerked his head up to see Goku and Gojyo standing at the foot of the bed, eyes widened in shock. Gojyo was visibly twitching, one hand moving up to his mouth, while Goku was on the verge of fainting, body weaving from side to side as both tried to process the scene in front of them.

"..." There was yet another pause as the two on the bed struggled to form into words just what had been going on, but eventually, all that really came out was:

"Ahahaha... Good morning, Goku, Gojyo. Are you ready for breakfast?" This said while Hakkai was busy extricating himself from Sanzo's grip, a smile plastered onto his face.

"Sa-Sanzo... Hak-ka-kai..." Gojyo was still processing. Sanzo took this opportunity to pull himself away from the bed, stepping lightly onto... splintered wood.

He looked up, taking in the giant hole in the wall, coming straight from Gojyo and Goku's room, and the large pieces of wood scattered throughout the room.

"Ara, ara, it seems that Goku pushed Gojyo right through the wall into our room, Sanzo."

"..."

"And I think I hear the innkeeper coming. We will definitely have to clean up part of this before we leave."

"..."

"Kyuuu."

"Ah! That's where you've been, Hakuryuu. You shouldn't go too far, you know."

"..."

"Sanzo, you and, and Hakkai, did you really, I mean..."

Click. "One more word, and die."

It was definitely morning, now.

[end]
[I've noticed that I tend to end a lot of my stories with plain dialogue. I'll try to stop that, but I figured that since this is the first one I've written for Saiyuki, I can be allowed at least one per series. There probably isn't a lot of in-depth, personal emotion going on here, and Sanzo and Hakkai's relationship after this incident is questionable, but I like to think of baby steps for those sorts of things. When Goku is biting Gojyo, he's saying "No way in hell!", for those curious. And, yes, I'm pretty sure there are parts here where every one of them has gone out-of-character, but for some reason, I had one of those moments of clarity, and figured, they'd end up doing something like this.

I also forgot to mention that those moments of clarity tend to look fairly stupid in the aftermath.]