Our four travelers came to a small town after having a bad day with each other, and things could only get worse for them. Sanzo was threatening to shoot all of them, more than usual and yes that included Hakkai as well. Gojyo was picking on Goku, like usual, but a couple of times Goku drew his Nyoibou, which in turn Gojyo drew Shakugetsujyo to fight back. Before blows could be struck Sanzo took out his gun and fired at them, but not hitting them like usual. That usually gets them to do what he wanted but for some unknown reason they felt like fighting back and to keep them from killing each other Hakkai had to put a barrier up between Sanzo and the other two. With interruptions like this it made their day longer then it should have been. After this happened twice Hakkai did not feel like dealing with the problem all day. He made Goku and Sanzo switch places in the jeep. This solved the problem of Gojyo and Goku fighting and it would keep all of them from getting hurt. The only downside was that Sanzo was furious with Hakkai, while Goku was ecstatic to be sitting in the front. Moving the two of them around, brought quiet peace to the jeep once again.
With having moved Sanzo to the back of the jeep, he took his anger out in the only way that he could, if Hakkai went over a bump or through a dip roughly he would bring the gun out again and fire it at Hakkai. This was the first time Sanzo had ever fired his gun at Hakkai and it brought him to the edge of his self restraint. He was able to keep himself in check and even if he was going to burst out at Sanzo he would have been to slow. Gojyo would start yelling at Sanzo every time Sanzo would fire his gun. It made it seem that whoever sat in the back of the jeep they were doomed to start fighting.
While Sanzo was getting angry at Hakkai, Goku was doing his usual complaining of wanting food once the excitement of sitting in the front seat wore off, for he had missed lunch. He had left to go and relieve himself and when he got back the other three had eaten all the food that they had left. There had not been much left when they started the day and none of them were thinking of the monkey that had left them for a few minutes. Hakkai would have shared the little food that he had if he was in his normal mind state, but there was something that was messing with their mood and state of mind. They had felt some negative energy first thing in the morning even if it was briefly. Shortly after they started to feel the negative energy their irritation thresh level had been lowered to the point that it would not take much to set any of them off. At that point the feeling of the negative energy started to disappear. Once the fighting broke out in the back of the jeep any thoughts on the negative energy was lost and not noticed anymore.
With all the noise of the arguing and the complaining it was getting on Hakkai's last nerve. When it was only a half hour from the small town Hakkai snapped and used his chi on his companions and blasted them out of the jeep. All three of them were injured to varying degrees, but Hakkai would not look at them to see what damage he had inflicted on his friends. He felt bad about taking that action, but there was something that was interfering with his ability to really care. Hakkai gave them two options, they could either walk to the next town or they could sit in quiet until they got there. By this point it was starting to get dark and if the three of them walked then they would not get there until half way into the night. Before they got back in Goku asked if Hakkai was going to heal them, but Hakkai would not look at them or even entertain the idea of healing them.
They got into the jeep and remained quiet for the rest of the trip, just waiting till they could get to the hotel and have their own rooms for the night and not have to look at each other's faces any longer. When they finally arrived at the only hotel, to their dismay there were only two rooms available and to make things worse there was only one bed to each room. They all wanted to be on their own and least of all having to share a bed, not like they haven't done that before. They took the rooms, none of them wanted to sleep in the jeep or outside another night. They wanted the comfort of a bed and most of all a shower, which anyone walking by them would have thought that they should have taken one a few days ago. To settle who was going to be in the same room they played a couple rounds of cards in the lobby of the hotel, to the disgust of the woman working the desk.
Naturally Hakkai won the first hand and took one of the keys and left without taking his bags. The second game was closer then the first one, none of them wanted to be with Hakkai. Sanzo won the second hand and left the other two to play till one of them won, he also left them with all the bags.
Goku lost the last round and Gojyo had to decide which one of the two men he wanted to share a room with. He also could not figure out which one he hated more at the moment Hakkai or Sanzo. He had not seen Hakkai lose control like that before and was a little scared by it, even if he was not willing to admit it to anyone, least of all to himself. He did not want to be in the same room as Sanzo when he looked ready to kill anyone. He did know that Sanzo could not stay angry at the monkey very long. Him and Hakkai had speculated that there was more than a friendship between them. It was a known fact in the group that it did not matter how angry Sanzo got, he could not stay angry at Goku. With having Sanzo angry it would be safer for him to go to the same room as Hakkai. It would also give him a chance to yell at Hakkai for what he did to them. Goku took his and Sanzo's bags to their room on the first floor, while Gojyo had to carry Hakkai's and his up to the second floor at the far end of the hotel.
When Gojyo finally entered the room he slammed the door shut to let Hakkai that he was in the room and that he wanted to vent. Hakkai came out of the bathroom moments after the door slammed. He had wrapped himself in towel, but high enough to hide the scar that he was embarrassed of. He would not look as Gojyo as he came out; he was ashamed at what he did to the people that were supposed to be his friends and especially what he had done to his best friend and lover. The little time away from the group had given him time to cool down and think about what he had done. He was not sure how he could have lost control like that, it was not like him. He went to grab his bag from Gojyo but the other wouldn't let him near them.
Gojyo wanted answers first for what Hakkai had done, but he was unsure where to start. When he got his thoughts in order he tried to ask as calmly as possible as he didn't have total control of his anger, he shouted, "Why did you blast us out of the jeep? You could have killed us."
Hakkai just stood there not knowing what to say. He was staring at the floor, but not really seeing it, he was trying to think of what he could say. All he could mutter was, "I'm sorry." Gojyo could not hear what he said.
"What did you just say?" he yelled, he found that yelling was taking some of his frustration away. It prevented him from moving over to where Hakkai was standing and take all of his frustration out on his best friend.
"I'm sorry." Hakkai said loudly enough for Gojyo to hear, but to bring his eyes up from the floor was too hard for him to do. He could not look into the fiery red eyes
"I don`t want to hear an apology from you. I want to know how you could lose control like that. It is not like you."
"I don`t know why I snapped. I just could not stand all the noise that you three were making. What I did worked. I got the quiet that I wanted." he whispered, feeling more ashamed then before. Still not understanding what was going on to make him lose control like that.
"Were you not thinking? You could have killed us and why didn't you tell us to be quiet?" Gojyo said, raising his voice again. He did not like the response that he had received.
"I don`t know what to tell you." he said brokenly and went and sat down on the bed that they were going to have to share.
Gojyo could see what pain he was causing his friend, but he did not really care at the moment. "There has to be more of a reason why you snapped like that."
"I don`t have an answer for you." If Hakkai could have hung his head even further, he would have.
Not getting the answers that Gojyo was wanting was starting to bring up the old issue of Hakkai trying to keep people at arm's length or further if he could manage it. He had lived with him for three years before going on this ridicules trip to the west and there was still barriers that Hakkai had still up. "Let me in; tell me what you were thinking."
"I just wanted quiet as I have told you."
"That is a cop out and you know it. When are you going to start acting like your normal self? You don`t act impulsively. You always have a good reason for doing anything and just wanting quiet is not a good enough answer. If you were Sanzo that might fly, but you aren't him."
Hakkai did not answer right away. He thought back to their days travel and tried to understand what make him lose control. The fights between Sanzo, Goku and Gojyo he never got involved in. He knew that understood why he made Goku and Sanzo switch places, but he could not understand why he had gotten involved. After the thought of switching them, he could hear and see everything clearly. Bang ... Bang ... Bang. With each gunshot he flinched while he was sitting on the bed. On the third one he raised his hand to his face felt his left cheek there was a scab of where the third bullet had grazed his face. He realised how close he had come to dying and being able to be with and see his beloved Kanan again. That is when he realised that Sanzo never fired his gun at him before, like he had done so many times to Goku and Gojyo, just to keep them in line and so they would not kill each other. He knew that it was a while after that before he blasted his friends out of the jeep. After the last shot all he could hear was noise and there was nothing coherent about it. Bang. He heard the fourth shot and that is when he used his chi on them. There was something that was different about the last shot it was sounded more like it was all around him. Did Sanzo really fire his gun or was it something else that happened?
He needed to know if he was going mad, "Did Sanzo fire his gun just before I blasted you guys out of the jeep?"
"He did not fire his gun. Why do you ask? When you were sitting there you did not answer my questions it was like you weren't here, you also flinched three times, why? " Gojyo said fearing for his friend.
"So the noise was in my head, but that does not sound right." he muttered and once again Gojyo was getting angry with him.
"You need to speak up. I can't hear you!"
BANG! It sounded like the fourth gun shot.
"Did you hear that?" Hakkai asked looking around the room for the sound.
"What are you talking about?" Gojyo asked getting worried about his friend.
"It sounded like a gun shot."
"There was no such noise. 'Kai what the fuck is wrong with you?"
"Are you sure?" he asked hoping that Gojyo was only messing with him, while looking at his friend for the first time since he entered. He started to feel worse for his actions earlier, he saw what damage he did to his friend. There were scratches all over his face, as long with dark spots over his clothing, which he took for blood. He saw that Gojyo would not put much weight on his right leg.
"There was no noise. Are you all right?"
"No, I thought I heard ... never mind it was nothing."
"Don`t do that to me. You should know that you can tell me anything. I am you friend. Tell me."
"It was nothing."
"Why do you shut me out like that?" all the issues that he had with Hakkai were coming out.
"I don`t mean to I just ..." He did not know how to say his feelings.
"You just what?"
Hakkai wanted to change the subject. "Do you want me to heal those wounds?"
"No, I want to know why you are shutting me out." Gojyo was not going to let Hakkai to change the subject so quickly.
Gojyo started to lose his balance, it was apparent that he could not put much weight on his leg. The only place that he could sit down was on the bed, which was at the other end of the room. Hakkai could see that he was in a lot of pain and knew that he did not want to complain about it, it would make him seem weak. He looked like he was going to collapse where he stood.
"Gojyo sit down and let me heal you."
"I'm not hurt that bad, you are just trying to avoid answering my question."
"Don`t play the tough one. I can tell that you are hurt. Sit down before you fall down."
"I'm fine." he stated as he collapsed to the floor.
"Are you going to let me heal you now that you are on the floor?"
"No, I wanted to sit down."
Hakkai knew that he was just going to have to heal him while he sat there. He knew that Gojyo was going to try to push him away, but that was nothing new. He went over to where Gojyo was sitting, and drew his chi and started to heal the injuries that he could see or where there was a pool of blood on his shirt and pants.
Every time Hakkai started on a new spot Gojyo tried to push him away, but every time the push was softer and softer. He had always found it erotic the feeling of Hakkai's chi on his body. There was something different about this time, like there was something else that was making it feel better. His hand finally just ended up resting on Hakkai's chest, not putting much pressure on it. He enjoyed the feeling of Hakkai's well muscular chest. As many nights in the past month or so when he and Hakkai were in the same room he enjoyed the feeling of Hakkai and always wanted more. Every time they had to be in different rooms or in a room with the other two or a room on his own, he always craved Hakkai's strong body next to his and to taste Hakkai's skin again. Arguing with him always made him more appealing and fuckable and the craving was even stronger.
When Hakkai was finished healing all the wounds that he could see, he could tell that Gojyo's mind was somewhere else. He started to feel Gojyo's body to see if he could find any more injuries. He could not find any more. With Gojyo being distracted he was able to grab his bag and start to rummage through it to find his PJs. He still wanted to find out where the gun shot noise came from.
Bang … He heard it again as if it was answering his wish, but this time it was a lot closer.
"Did you hear that?" he asked Gojyo without thinking.
"Huh? I didn't hear anything."
Hakkai started to wonder why he was the only one that could hear it. "Did it have anything to do with the negative energy that we felt in the morning that we could not feel anymore?" he thought to himself.
BANG… It happened again and this time he could tell where it was coming from. It was like he could see something, an outline of another person. He did not know why but he took a swing in the air and it surprised him that his fist made contact with a person's face. The man fell to the ground and that is when he noticed that this was no human but a youkai.
With the youkai falling to the ground there was a surge of negative energy, more like the one that they felt this morning. As the man got up he spat some blood on to the floor. "How did you see me?" he asked in a low gruff voice.
Before Hakkai could answer, or even think of answering, the youkai started to play many different sounds in both of their heads, and once they were trapped within the sounds he pulled up their most painful memories.
It did not take long for Sanzo and Goku to come bursting though the door, feeling the youkai energy. The youkai had forgotten about the other two; he was not ready for the sudden interruption. Sanzo did not know what he had done to Hakkai or Gojyo, but he was not going to take any chances. He started to use his sutra when the memory of his master's death came through his mind. He tried to get the memory out of his mind, but the memory came stronger and stronger. It enveloped him and made it seem like it was really happening.
He could feel the youkai breathing on the back of his neck and whispered, "I'll take this, you won't need this anymore." He could feel his sutra being pulled from his shoulders. It was all that he needed to be brought out of the trans. Before the sutra was off his shoulders he pulled out his gun from his sleeve and pressed it to the youkai's temple. Out of all the noise that he was hearing from the other three men, the only one that rang in his head was Goku's cry of "I was free." This made him angry beyond control and without trying to get any answers out of the youkai he pulled the trigger. The youkai fell to the ground, but before he could hit the ground there was nothing left of him but sand.
Hakkai fell to the ground with the release of the spell and did not move. Sanzo pick up his sutra off of the ground as the frustration that he and the others were feeling all day slipped away. They started to feel a little bit of negative energy like the beginning of the day again.
"I AM FREE!" Goku shouted with glee.
Sanzo left the room without seeing if Hakkai and Gojyo were alright. Even with the frustration gone, he was still angry at Hakkai for his actions all day, but he started to wonder if it had something to do with the youkai that had control over the shikigami. He did mutter as he left his the room, "If they die this easy then they were weak," but no one heard his comment.
"Look at the monkey, he is so easily pleased." Gojyo commented.
Normally a comment like that would get a reaction out of Goku, but he didn't seem to hear it. Like Sanzo he left without see how the two reaming men were.
"Hakkai are you alright?" Gojyo asked moving over to where his best friend was laying.
Hakkai did not answer. His face was contorted in pain. Gojyo had seen that pained expression on his face before. The memory of her death always brought that look to his face, when he was not masking it with the false smile that he wore so often.
He picked Hakkai off the ground and laid him on to the small bed. Hakkai's skin was burning up as if he had a small fever. He went to the bathroom to get a cool towel to place on his face. On his way back to Hakkai's side he noticed that Hakkai's leg was outside of the towel and he could see part of his hip. How he wanted to stroke the muscle and to press down on hip that was sticking out. He also wanted to hear the moan from Hakkai's mouth is response to his touch, but with him not responding to his name there would be no satisfaction to his actions.
He placed the wet towel on Hakkai's forehead. At once his body became calmer, and the raggedness was slowly sapped away.
The green eyes opened slowly and took a long look into the red ones opposite, the ones that were watching over him. Almost at once his face went from pain to confusion. "Which is real? I can't tell, I see both, and neither. Which one is real?"
Gojyo knew what the matter was, but it still hurt knowing that he could not tell what was real. He was never good with words; he did not know what to say. The one thing that he did know was that he could not let Hakkai think that he was not real.
Gojyo stood there thinking on what he could do, but before he could think of anything to say he wanted to taste those lips again. He started to kiss Hakkai over and over again; he could not get enough of Hakkai. With the first kiss Hakkai's memories came into the correct order and started to kiss back. The ease and the bliss that they felt was over whelming to both of them.
"Don't … ever … do … that … again." Gojyo said in between the few seconds that they broke apart.
"I'm sorry." Hakkai whispered.
"Thinking that I am going to lose you, is not what I want. I want you all to myself. Don't do that again." Gojyo said getting a little angry again and the questions that he wanted answered came bursting from him before he had the chance to get control of his mind. "Why do you block me out? If you didn't block me out you would have an idea of which one of us is real and which one is a memory."
"If you knew all about me then you might leave and I would not be able to handle that." he said quietly trying not to let Gojyo hear him, but they were so close that Gojyo could hear him. "I'm sorry."
Hakkai sat up with what little strength he had left. He grabbed Gojyo's blood stained shirt to bring him down and closure to him. He started to kiss him and parted Gojyo's lips with his tongue. He tasted the cigarettes that Gojyo liked to smoke; his tongue ran over each tooth. Every time they parted to catch their breath he would say that he was sorry.
Gojyo did not want to hear Hakkai mumble his apology. To get him to be quiet he started to kiss his neck and that produces a deep moan from Hakkai and he was unable to speak, the ability had left him. Hakkai fell back onto the bed which made Gojyo follow him. Gojyo moved down the neck to the collar bone and down to the nipple. At the same time his hand came up Hakkai's leg and rested on his exposed hip. The hip started to get more and more exposed as Hakkai's erection started to harden. Gojyo grinned against Hakkai and he got a gasp of pleasure from the green eyed man. The gasp went straight to his groan, so he moved his hips again this time they both gasped with pleasure.
Hakkai could not move, it felt like Gojyo was taking all of his remaining strength with every kiss or lick on his heated body. His body felt like it was nothing more than a dead weight, but he could not resist Gojyo's touch. It felt more addicting then the cigarette that Gojyo smoked. He wanted to place his hands on the strong chest that was so close to him. He gathered what strength he had and took the hem of the shirt and slowly pulled it off, not wanting those lips or hands leave his body.
He had seen and touched that chest before, but this time there was something that tingled through his body seeing it and touching it at the point of exhaustion. He had had many swooping, stomach crunching, butterflies and shivers down the spine, but nothing like this. He wanted more than he had before from Gojyo and he did not want the tingling sensation to end. He wanted to be inside Gojyo, but didn't know if he had the strength. There was one way that he could think of for getting the strength but it could destroy him and everyone he had left to care about.
Gojyo could tell that there was a struggle going on in his lover's mind, but could not read what it was. Well he knew some of it; at least he thought he did. He could feel Hakkai trying to take control of the situation. He knew that if he let Hakkai be the dominate one, like he had never been before in their short relationship as lovers, he might find out something new about his lover. How many times before he had wanted to be dominated by the green eyed man, how he wanted his cock to be the one pressed between their bodies, but it never felt like Hakkai would take charge. Seeing the desire in those green eyes he could not resist the longing that both of them shared.
Gojyo wrapped his arms around the smaller man and rolled on the bed and for the first time Hakkai found himself on top of the redhead. The wonder, the glee, the lust in the green eyes made his decision to be the passive one more excitable. How he craved for Hakkai to rip his pants off. They were becoming too tight to bear.
Hakkai had found the strength without taking off his limiters, it helped that Gojyo rolled them both over. He could feel the bulge in Gojyo's pants and the look in the redhead's eyes, begging to be free of restriction. He thought that he would have some fun with Gojyo before he gave into the desire of his lover.
He started to kiss every inch that he could get and he was delighted to hear the moan from his partner when he found the sensitive spots. He was barely touching Gojyo with his hands or lips and it made the redhead arch his back to get closer to his lover, but every time he did that Hakkai would pull away so the amount of him touching Gojyo was the same or less. This drove Gojyo mad with lust. He did not know how much longer he could stand the tightness in his pants.
A couple of times Gojyo tried to undo his pants but Hakkai would slap his hand away. To keep Gojyo from trying to undo his pants, he took off his towel and laid on top of Gojyo. It did not take much to pull Gojyo's hands through the bars of the bed. Hakkai was able to tie the towel to one of Gojyo's wrist before Gojyo's other hand came back down and place it on Hakkai's butt. Hakkai threaded the towel through the bars and pulled to keep Gojyo's hand in place. Hakkai took his free hand brought Gojyo's hand back up. Gojyo did not fight, he was enjoying having Hakkai on top of him, which made it easy for Hakkai to tie the remaining hand with the towel.
Knowing that both of Gojyo's hands were tied he started to kiss his way back down Gojyo's chest. Gojyo went to follow Hakkai with his hand and met the resistance of the towel against the bed's bars and every time he pulled on the towel the tighter the knots became.
Hakkai had reached just above the pants; he stopped and looked at the red eyes. They were pleading and longing for Hakkai to continue and not stop until they both were satisfied. Hakkai could not resist the look in those eyes, the colour that he loved and had a strange attachment to. He bent back down and undid the button and looked back at those eyes, they wanted more. He took the tag of the zipper in his mouth and undid the zipper. He quickly took the pants off but took his time folding Gojyo pants and shirt before returning to having power over his lover for the first time since they started being lovers. It had only been about a month since Gojyo kissed him when they were getting water at the end of a day of traveling. From that point everything happened fast, but it seemed right.
Hakkai wondered what he should do first, but the look in Gojyo's fire red eyes was telling him that he should not tease him, not tonight. He started where he left off at, he made his way down to Gojyo's hard length. Hakkai ran his tongue up the underside of Gojyo's length, which sent a shiver through Gojyo's body. Hakkai licked the head of Gojyo's cock before taking it in to his mouth.
"Fuck 'Kai, just hurry up, I can't wait much longer." moaned Gojyo between gasps of pleasure.
"All things come to those that wait." Hakkai said slyly looking up at his lover with a mischievous grin on his face.
Gojyo did not know what that facial expression was supposed to mean, it was the first time that he had seen it on his lover's face. Hakkai resumed his sucking of Gojyo and with his free hand he started to press his finger around Gojyo's entrance. He slid his finger in as far as he could before Gojyo tensed up, which was only to the first knuckle. He had to wait till his lover relaxed, but that did not take too long. When he finally gained enough he started to feel around for the spot that would make Gojyo cry with pleasure. He managed to find the spot in a rather short time and started to move his finger in and out and every time hitting that spot. He added a second finger and got a more satisfying cry.
"Just hurry up, I want you in me."
Hakkai could not resist his lover's pleases any more. He removed his fingers and slowly entered his lover and stopping when Gojyo tensed up. As he started to move in Gojyo, Gojyo tried again to get out of the towel that restrained him, but he could not get his hands free. The knots just got tighter. The only way that he was able to get closer to Hakkai was to wrap his legs around Hakkai's waist, which sent Hakkai further into him and he cried out.
"Are you wanting to leave?" Hakkai teased seeing Gojyo trying to get free.
"No, I just want my hands free."
"You are just going to have to do without them." Hakkai said as he started to kiss Gojyo again. He also started to pump Gojyo's cock in time with his thrusts, and that sent Gojyo over the edge and could not resist but to pull on the towel to try to get free.
Gojyo could not get free, but soon he did not even care that he was still tied. Hakkai picked up the pace and at the same time he picked the pace up on Gojyo's cock. Before Gojyo could tell what happened he had come and his seed were all over his and Hakkai chest, and with Gojyo tensing up Hakkai came shortly after and fell onto his lover.
It took both of them to catch their breath, and when Hakkai had finally managed to get some of his breath back he rolled off of Gojyo and weakly removed the knots in the towel to release Gojyo's hands. Hakkai did not have the energy to get up off the bed to clean himself off. Gojyo was the one that had to get the warm damp cloths to clean them up this time. When he returned to the room he thought that Hakkai had fallen asleep on him. It was not till he started to wipe Hakkai down that Hakkai gave any indications that he was still awake. Hakkai did not take the towel, but he watched Gojyo wipe him down and waited for him to return to bed. They fell asleep wrapped up in each other. When they awoke the next morning Gojyo had wrapped his arms around Hakkai and pined Hakkai to his body and did not want to let go of Hakkai when they were suppose to go down to breakfast.
The breakfast was a quiet affair today; no one was willing to talk about what each of them had on their mind. Gojyo and Goku were not even fighting over the food like normal. Hakkai could see some of the marks that his actions of the day before had caused the other two. He wanted to heal them, but he Sanzo did not look like he was in the mood to let Hakkai near him. Goku tried not to make eye contact with Hakkai, it was obvious that Goku was scared of Hakkai.
It was not till Sanzo said, "We don't have time for this, but whoever created the shikigami is not going to leave us alone. We are going to have to find the fucking asshole that is responsible for this and kill him. To keep the villagers out of this we are going to have to camp out near the town till we find the bastard that is doing this." He got up and left the table. "We leave in fifteen minutes."
With all the food gone from the table Goku followed Sanzo back to their room. When Goku was walking away he saw that there was a slight limp in Goku's walk, Hakkai knew that he was going to have to heal both of their injuries. It would do no good if half the team was injured and could not fight to their full potential.
On the way back to the room Hakkai felt a bit of negative energy, but it was not strong enough to worry about, it was like yesterday morning. It was there, but not close enough to cause any problems for them. When they entered into the room Hakkai heard a buzz of noise. The window was open so he assumed that it was coming from the street below.
Hakkai was a little tired from the night before and the noise was giving him a headache. "Gojyo do you think that you could close the window, the noise below is giving me a headache."
Gojyo looked at Hakkai confused there was no noise coming from the street below. "There is no one on the street." he said as he looked out the window to make sure that he was not missing something.
Hakkai started to wonder if it had anything to do with the youkai that created the shikigami. It was the only thing that made sense. "It has to do with the youkai that is after us. It is the only thing that makes sense." he said quietly.
"What are you talking about?" Gojyo asked.
Before Hakkai could answer there was a soft chuckle that started to ring throughout the room. "You are too smart for your own good." said a voice, but each word was said at a different place in the room. The chuckle continued to move around the room
Gojyo was not taking any chances he drew out Shakugetsujyo, but there was no one that he could see to fight. The laughter seemed to be zeroing on Hakkai and Gojyo had to watch in terror as Hakkai went rigged. There was pain in those green eyes and not just physical but emotional pain. He could see tears running down Hakkai's face.
"You can't help him, he is going to die and you are the one that is going to cause it. Even if you are happy now, in the end you will get him into the same trouble as Kanan. It would be better if you just did it now, it would save him from having to feel disappointed in you. You will be alone again and have to carry around the guilt that you killed both of your lovers. The other two will leave you and then you might get your wish of dying that you had so long ago. The only way to save him from being killed by you is to take your own life. It is the only way to save those that you care about. See the knife on the bed and plunge it into that scar that is on your stomach. Kill yourself like she did. You will be able to join her, that is what you want isn't it? If you want to live rip the heart out of Gojyo. Pick, take his life or yours, save him from you."
Hakkai did not know what he should do; he picked the knife up and held it in a ready position. A voice in the back of his mind was saying 'kill him' over and over again and another 'kill yourself'. The voice that was saying 'kill him' was getting stronger and the urge to listen to it was also getting stronger. Hakkai ran at Gojyo trying to plunge the knife it to his heart. When Gojyo started to fight back the voice saying 'kill yourself' started to over ride the 'kill him' voice. Everything went black after he had managed to get the knife into Gojyo's arm.
Gojyo fell to the floor under Hakkai's weight when Goku had hit him over the head with Nyoibou. Sanzo and Goku came into the room just as Hakkai ran at Gojyo with the knife. With Hakkai starting to attack Gojyo a man appeared again and Sanzo shot him through the head, but it was not a man but another shikigami. To keep Hakkai from killing Gojyo, Sanzo had told Goku to knock Hakkai out, but not to kill him.
"What happened in here? Why did Hakkai run at you with a knife?" Goku asked.
"I have no fucking idea; ask the shikigami that Sanzo shot." Gojyo said trying to get up from under Hakkai and find something to stop his bleeding arm. Only have one arm that he could use made things hard for him to get up. "Goku get me something to stop this bleeding."
Goku brought over some of the bandages that Hakkai kept in his bag and he wrapped it around Gojyo's arm and tied it off, but not as gentle as he could have been.
"Ow, that hurt you stupid monkey."
"You shouldn't have moved you pervert kappa."
They had to wait for Hakkai to regain consciousness before they were able to leave. Goku was the one to remember that they were going to need food. Sanzo would not send the monkey out to get the food that they were going to need, it would have taken to long, and he could not send out Gojyo. Gojyo would not have been able to hold that many bags for the amount of food that they were going to need.
Hakkai was the one that would usually get the food, but with him being unconscious that was not going to happen, which left Sanzo. He did not have much of a choice, he had to go and get the food. He cursed and left the room. Goku and Gojyo sat on the floor at either end of the room. Gojyo sat next to Hakkai waiting for him to walk up. He hoped that there would not be the same problem as last night. He didn't think that the monkey would be able to understand what was going on between him and Hakkai.
When Hakkai did finally wake up his head felt like it was spinning and the pain of where he was hit by Goku was throbbing. He did not want to open his eyes; he could feel that there was someone next to him. He hoped that it was not a lifeless Gojyo. It took his mind a few minutes to realise that there was heat coming from the body next to him. Whoever it was, was not dead. He opened his eyes to look into the red ones looking down at him worried. Hakkai sat up slowly trying to get things in focus. He ran his hand over the back of his head and there was a fair size welt. He was lucky that he was not permanently blind.
Goku came bounding over say, "I'm sorry that I hit you on the head, it looked like you were trying to kill Gojyo."
"I was, well I was being driven to it." Hakkai said quietly and flinching at the loudness of Goku's voice.
No one knew what to say to Hakkai's comment. It took Hakkai a bit to remember that he had stabbed Gojyo. Looking over to his friend he saw that there was a bandage on his left arm. Without asking or thinking he leaned over and started to heal the wound that he had made.
Seeing that Gojyo was being healed Goku could not keep quiet about his injuries from the day before. "What about me?"
Hakkai was half way through healing Goku when Sanzo re-entered the room carrying the food that they were going to need. He dropped them on the bed and glared at the three men on the floor. It was clear that he had not forgiven Hakkai for any of his actions over the last day and a half. Hakkai realised that he did not injure Sanzo as much as the other two. It looked like he only had a few scrapes, but nothing that would really get in the way of having to fight. Hakkai knew that Sanzo was not going to let him come any were near him, not even to heal him.
After a few tense minutes Sanzo got up and said, "Let's go," and walked out the door leaving the three of them to deal with the bags of food and their personal bags.
They all climbed in the jeep and went to find a place outside of town that would be a good place to figure out where to find the youkai and to figure out how to fight him. It was not till they had driven a couple of hours that they found a clearing with a cave. It was a good enough place to set up camp.
Once they had finished setting up they sat in a circle trying to figure out how they were going to get rid of this problem.
"The only way that we can get rid of this youkai we are going to have to find him and fight him on our terms not his." Hakkai said.
"How? None of us are able to sense him. It is like he is a ghost." asked Gojyo.
"That is true, but before each time he attacked us in the hotel I could sense a little bit of his energy, but it felt like it was further away and nothing to worry about. I know that it is going to be hard to fight him when he can use our memories and fears against us." Hakkai said. He had told them what was going through his mind when he attacked Gojyo.
"Back in the hotel I could not even smell anyone in the room or feel any power. It was not till the shikigami came into the open that I can smell them." Goku said eating a bit of the food that he had taken out of one the bags.
"The shikigami might not really be in the room until we see them, but how are they being brought in? How is the youkai being able to use our fears or past thoughts on us if he is not there already?" Sanzo said while lighting a cigarette.
They all sat there thinking on what they could do to find the youkai that was after them this time. Staying in one place for a period of time was dangerous, but what choice did they really have? For the rest of the day they could not think of anything that could help them with fighting the youkai.
With sitting in one spot it was strange that they were not being attacked by any of Kougaiji assassins'. Most of the time when they sat still for more than ten hours there was some sort of an attack, but that night there was nothing. None of them slept to well half of the next day was just sitting waiting for something to happen.
Just past noon, all four of them could feel something getting close, but they did not know if it was the one youkai that was after them this time. They all moved into the clearing and stood back to back. This way they could feel that each of them were still there and it would make it harder for him to make any of them to think that what was going on was real. They had figured out that he could only attack one person at a time, but once he had them in his spell he was able to move onto the next person.
"It smells different than the ones at the hotel. They had the same smell." Goku said and he drew Nyoibou, Gojyo drew Shakugetsujyo, Sanzo held his gun ready to fight, and Hakkai stood in a ready position. It felt like time was ticking by slowly. The heat of the day was getting to them as the man stepped into the clearing.
The man did not waste any time in his first attack. He tried to get them to be trapped in their memories like the first night, but they were ready for that attack. Sanzo and Hakkai were the first ones to make any response. Sanzo aimed for his head and Hakkai blasted off a bit of chi, but the man was able to dodge it, only barely. As he tried to dodge the bullet and the chi, he had to try to get out of the way of the crescent moon from Gojyo and Goku's close attack.
Having Goku away from the other three it was easier for him to try and place a screen of false memories on Goku, and to keep the others occupied while he worked on Goku he had created a few shikigami. If the man wanted more time to work on Goku he should have created more shikigami. Sanzo shot one in the head, Gojyo sliced one in half, and Hakkai blasted the third one with his chi, but it was just enough time for him to work on Goku. He had Goku believe that he was seeing the three of them as a youkai that needed to be killed and the man as Sanzo.
It was not till Goku started to attack them that they knew that he did not know who they were and the only way to get Goku back they were going have to try and kill the man while keeping Goku off of them.
"Sanzo can you freeze the man's movements?" Hakkai asked.
"I can try." Sanzo started to chant.
Hakkai and Gojyo had their hands full with Goku and the youkai. They were barely keeping them off Sanzo.
"Makai Tenjyo." The final words of the chant came clear over the ruckus of the fight.
The man's movements froze. Gojyo went into give the final blow to the youkai man while Hakkai was trying to restrain Goku from getting in the way of Gojyo. When he finally fell to the ground cut in half, the spell that was on Goku released and he fell asleep.
"Stupid monkey, wake back up." Sanzo said as he smacked him with the fan, but it had no effect on Goku.
Hakkai put Goku into the cave, while the other two were making sure that the youkai was dead and not just another shikigami. Upon entering the cave and looking at the food supplies Sanzo said, "We are going to have to go back to that town tonight, the food supply is almost gone cause of the stupid monkey, and I want to get an early start tomorrow after we get some more food." During the day none of them were really watching what Goku was doing, but he kept sneaking more food to eat.
They all piled back into Jeep, and Hakkai carried Goku to the jeep. The drive back to the town was quiet, but got harder as the sun started to sink. When they got back to the hotel they were in the same predicament as before, they were going to have to share a room. They took the same arrangement as before. Goku did not wake up till he was on the bed and Hakkai and Gojyo were just leaving the room.
"Sanzo what are you doing?" Goku asked upon awakening. Gojyo and Hakkai heard as they closed the door. The question caught there interest and listened through the door to try and hear what the response was.
At first they could not hear anything, but soon enough they heard the breaking of a kiss and Sanzo tease Goku. "Is my monkey going to be able to stay awake long enough for this?"
They heard all they needed to know and Gojyo waited till they were down the hallway before busting into laughter.