Title: The Life that Wasn't His
Author/pseudonym: NemKess
Fandom: Saiyuki
Pairing: Hakkai/Goku main.. others to include Gojyo/Shun-Rei, Kougaiji/Yaone, Kanzeon/Jiro-kun
Rating: PG13
Status: WIP
E-mail address for feedback:: nemsmuses@msn.com

Disclaimers: Goku and Hakkai belong to me? I could only wish. Nope, not mine. No copyright infringement is intended and no money is made. This is purely to silence the voices in my head. ^_^


Notes: This just popped into my brain this evening while I was trying to get the Angel to sleep. My spelling of some names/titles could be a little off. Don't stone me for it, please?


Summary: After a serious injury, Hakkai wakes up to find things... a little different than he remembers.
Warnings: Mostly AU. Shonen ai. Het.

~*~*~

Cho Hakkai woke up with a groan. One hand instinctively reached up to gingerly touch the back of his skull where pain radiated.

What...

It was a struggle to think past the pounding of his head, but Hakkai forced himself to ignore the discomfort with practiced ease. The last thing he remembered the barrier he'd formed to protect his companions and himself from an barrage of artillery had cracked. Obviously he'd been injured. But how long had he been out? What had happened to the others? And where were they?

Wincing, the brunette managed to get himself propped up on one elbow to take stock of his surroundings. The bed he lay in wasn't the usual tatty, thin, small type thing they'd grown used to over the months of their journey west. It wasn't even the nicer, but still small bed he'd had when he'd lived with Gojyo. Big and fluffy with a worn but equally fluffy comforter that was printed with monkeys???, it was obviously a well loved bed and not something found at an inn. Mounds of pillows in various shapes and sizes were stacked around him.

Just then, a familiar face popped around the corner of the door. "You're awake!"

With a relieved laugh, the young man entered the room and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. He brought one hand up and pushed Hakkai's bangs back. Warm golden eyes softened. "You have a concussion, but other than that you should be all right. Aunt Konzeon is paying to have a doctor come out and check you again later. They weren't happy when I wouldn't let them keep you at the hospital, but I knew you wouldn't want to be there when you woke up."

Aunt Konzeon? Hakkai laid back down and frowned as the odd words made him do a double take at his companion's appearance. It was more like a familiar stranger had taken place of the Goku that he'd come to know. Gone was the heavy diadem that held the more monstrous Seiten Taison Son Goku in check. The chocolate locks were a bit longer than they had been in recent years, a short tail of it tied back at the base of his skull. He was older too, by a couple of years and not much younger than Hakkai himself.

It was the look in his eyes though, that was really different.

Goku was looking at Hakkai in a manner usually reserved for Sanzo when the priest wasn't looking or the coveted candied buns that he was rarely allowed to have. There was a soft loving glow to that gaze, the likes of which hadn't been aimed at Hakkai since Kana had died.

"Be more careful next time, please? If not for yourself, then for me? I was really worried." With those words, Goku sighed and pressed a chaste kiss against his lips. He then snuggled in close to hold the stunned Hakkai. "Don't scare me like that again."

"h... hai..." Too shell-shocked to do anything else, Hakkai stuttered out an agreement and hesitantly wrapped his own arms around the younger man. His mind whirled on though, trying to figure out just what the hell was going on. A quick scan around the room revealed a hodgepodge of items that he recognized. Things that were his from his time with Kana. Things he knew to be in Goku's small room at the Temple where Sanzo had taken him in. The green tunic that he'd frankly grown sick of over time hung over on the handle of what he assumed was a closet door. A small table in one corner was set up with an abandoned Mahjong set....

It was on the night stand next to the bed that sat the biggest shock Hakkai thought he'd ever had in his life. Two pictures were propped up on it.

One held Goku and himself, obviously younger, in a rather intimate looking embrace. The other held several smiling faces- well, and Sanzo, who very definitely was not smiling. The picture appeared to have been taken in a park on a sunny day. Gojyo was leaning against an annoyed looking Sanzo pointing off to one side. Shun-Rei was hiding a laugh behind one hand, her other resting comfortably on the redhead's leg. Konzeon Bosatsu and her servant guy were dressed in casual clothes and sitting in chairs behind the trio looking indulgent. On the other side of the picture, Yaone sat delicately on Kougaji's lap. Both looked distinctly human. Doku seemed to be falling out of the picture and Lirin was half obscured behind him. It was easy enough to see that the mischievous girl had pushed him and they'd both gone tumbling out of focus. The middle of the picture was what had Hakkai's eyes rolling back as he passed out again, though.

Goku sat between the legs of a man with his own face. The pair looked every bit like a happy in love couple should.

And kneeling behind them, was Kana.