Chapter 1
The spiky brown haired boy leapt out of the bathroom and entered his room. Goku tossed his towel randomly to the floor and put on his favorite outfit, a cream colored shirt, a tight fitted pair of jeans and lastly a yellow cloak. He dried his hair. Fringes of brown hair popped up at instant and he later combed it before splashing some of Gojyo's cologne onto his cloth. The golden-eyed boy then leapt out of the room and hopped into another room, where two men stood waiting.
"Ohaiyo Hakkai!" Goku chirped merrily as he slammed the door opened with one mighty push of his body. The emerald-eyed man, standing by the tableside, looked up to him and greeted him with a smile so bright.
"Ohaiyo Goku!" Hakkai returned the morning greet with a melodious tone. He was busy arranging the plates and bowl on their breakfast table.
Goku glanced at Sanzo. The blonde monk sat reading a newspaper before the table. He had his reading glasses on. The young itan tiptoed silently when he reached before the monk. He looked at Sanzo out of the corner of his eyes. The paper was still held upright before the monk's face.
Goku sighed. A little further, just a little further. Suddenly, he heard a ruffling sound. Goku's pace stopped and he halted right in front of the monk. He turned around abruptly and gaped at seeing the harisen coming down onto his harisen connected with his skull and disengaged in a matter of a second. Then, it was withdrawn into the oversized sleeve of the blonde's robe.
"Ittai!" Goku groaned and rubbed his head hastily, trying to cease the throbbing pain. A nasty lump appeared from beneath the scalps. The young itan pouted as he looked up to Sanzo. "Nande sun dai yo?" he asked, rather annoyed.
"That's for drinking sake without my permission, being unconscious soon after that and making us dragged you to bed!" Sanzo said calmly as he settled back to his chair and lifted his newspaper once again.
"Ch! If it's not for that kappa challenging me to drink I wouldn't do it" Goku defended himself. It's not his fault anyway. Gojyo tricked him to drink the sake and he ended up having the worst hangover he ever had. That however was the only hangover he ever had and yet he only drank one glass…
"Eow!" he yelled alarmingly as the harisen had once again came in contact with his body, this time his butt. Goku hopped and settled himself on a chair, next to Hakkai. "Sugoi!!" he exclaimed happily at seeing the delicious meal on the table, no doubt prepared by the chef of the ikkou, Hakkai.
"Itadakimasu!!" Goku greeted everyone before he picked up a pair of chopsticks and started gobbling up everything on the table in haste. Hakkai and Sanzo looked up to each other as if wanted to say something. Hakkai glanced to the door and shook his head.
"Yare…yare… I guess we don't have to wait for Gojyo ne?" Hakkai sighed as he picked up his chopsticks.
Goku stopped eating. A meat bun stuffed in his mouth. His eyes widened. "That kappa left at midnight… saying that he wants to buy a new pack of cigarette" he explained and started gobbling the food all over again.
Sanzo grunted. He picked up a spring roll and when he was about to take a bite , the door was jerked opened. A loud bang, caused by the door slamming to the wall made their heads turned the other way around.
A tall, redheaded man stood by the door, staggering on his feet and supporting his body from stumbling to the floor by holding to the doorknob. The bloody sight of the man made Hakkai and Goku rose up to his feet at sudden. Hakkai dropped the chopsticks on the table and darted toward the red haired man.
"Gojyo!!" Hakkai, Goku and Sanzo yelled out the man's name.
Hakkai reached him just in time, right before he collapsed to the hard floor beneath his feet. The emerald-eyed man held him by his shoulder and crouched the wounded man to his bed. Gojyo was all gored and bloody. There was a huge and nasty wound on his side. Judging from his wounds, Gojyo must had fought an army of youkai. But there was another thing that made Hakkai's face 's suffered a delirium and his body shook madly as if he was so cold, yet his body is burning up. Hakkai, being a professional healer after months of experience, put his forefinger on Gojyo's wrist. He counted the hanyou's pulse. It was so slow. Hakkai glanced at Gojyo's chest from the corner of his eyes. The red haired man's chest heaved up and down hastily and his heart beat so loud that they could merely hear it from the outside.
"Hakkai… what happened to him?" Goku looked up to Hakkai, then he followed Hakkai's gaze, back at Gojyo's face. The kappa now started to convulse. He screamed in agony, clutching his head with a deadly grip as he did so. He kicked aimlessly to the air and flailed his arms frantically before his face.
Gojyo moaned and groaned painfully. Again, his arms clutched to his head. He wrapped his head as if it was to explode at any moment and cried for the umpteenth times.
"Oi kappa! Get a hold of it!" Goku cried helplessly. This is the moment he never wished to witness. He always wished for the kappa to suffer but never this much. He hated seeing the kappa like that. Goku clung to Gojyo's hand and the latter locked it tightly in his own. Gojyo was in a lot of pain and they could see it from his face. He clamped his eyes shut, as if fearing they would pop out.
"Hakkai?" Sanzo looked down to Hakkai with a rare flicker of concern showered upon his beautiful face. His tone was relatively solemn. He glanced over Hakkai's shoulder, peeping at the moaning man lying on the put a hand on Gojyo's forehead, felt the burning sensation under his palm and yanked it away. The red haired man had a high fever and his body temperature rose highly.
"He's having a high fever and I just don't know what might caused it" Hakkai explained as he put his hand on Gojyo's wound, healing it with his ki. The wound started to close at instant. There was no inner wound that might caused the worst possibility. But something made Gojyo suffered enormously. It's not the wound… but what?
"Hakkai… what is this?" Goku asked as he revealed a red spot on the back of Gojyo's neck. The red spot was swollen and small. There was a puncture scar on the spot. Hakkai immediately checked the scar. "What is it Hakkai?" Goku looked up to the healer with a curious tone.
"He's being poisoned!" Hakkai announced, rather stunned. Goku and Sanzo's stood bewildered. The look on Hakkai's face made their foreheads wrinkled. Hakkai is a good healer but he is not an expert in mixing any antidote.
"K'so!" Goku hissed beneath his breath. He balled up his fist and slammed it hard to the bed.
'Damn it!' Hakkai rose up from the bedside. He must do something or else Gojyo will die. The poison was fast flooding Gojyo's body system. That hanyou wouldn't stand a chance to live if they do not find the cure before tomorrow's noon.
"Goku… do you have any idea where Gojyo went last night?" Hakkai asked. He needed more information.
"I don't know… but he kept saying something about visiting a place of sweet nightmare while he was out drunk" Goku tried to recall what Gojyo said to him last night, before they fell into their deepest slumber.
Hakkai was perplexed. 'That place!' He glanced down to Gojyo with sympathy. 'So…he did care after all'
Flashback
Hakkai approached Gojyo, who stood before an earth bed muffled of red flowers. He patted the hanyou's shoulder, making the latter yelped at instant.
"Hakkai! Don't you ever do that again…you almost killed me" Gojyo rubbed his chest, trying to calm his fast pumped heart. He looked at Hakkai and frowned to see the man returned his warning with a wide smile. Gojyo turned his gaze back at the flowerbed, which was colored with crimson red.
"You will get killed if you're off alert like this and this is just not you" Hakkai smiled wildly as he spit out his words in a mocking tone.
"This is a place that brings me sweet nightmares… a color matches the color of the blood" Gojyo exclaimed as he threw his gaze away at the red flowers, studying each of the petals and leaves. He snapped a cigarette in between his lips and started to smoke.
"Gojyo…" Hakkai's voice seemed to display great concern.
"Ch!" Gojyo smirked. "Never mind… I don't care about it anyway" he turned around and headed back to the jeep, leaving Hakkai behind.
Hakkai fixed his emerald eyes to the red flowerbed. He knew Gojyo had bitter memories concerning crimson color. He wished he could do something to lessen the pain but he was not able to lessen his own pain.
Hakkai turned around and trailed Gojyo, who was far ahead of him. In the meanwhile, Sanzo and Goku waited for them 'patiently' in jippu. Actually Sanzo's vein had popped out everywhere on his forehead as Goku whined continuously with his favorite line 'harahetta'.
Hakkai and Gojyo fastened their gait at seeing the shoureijuu making its appearance in the open.
End of flashback.
……………………….
Hakkai went to the door and was about to yank it open when Goku called out for him. "Nanda?" he tried smiling to hide his real feelings, but the smile fast disappeared.
"Where are you going?" Goku asked. He was not fond of Hakkai leaving Gojyo like this.
"I have to find the source of the poison" Hakkai explained, glancing at his dying patient lying on the bed.
"And may I ask where you plan to look for it?" Sanzo glared at Hakkai.
"Back to the place where Gojyo went last night" Hakkai pointed a finger up. He grinned widely, making Sanzo groaned with disgust. His smile always managed to bring the same responds from Sanzo and Gojyo. The latter guys were always one heart at giving respond to his 'sincere' smiles.
"I'll go with you" Goku offered his help. He could not stay watching the kappa suffers. He hated it so much.
Hakkai nodded. He did need help in case there is a surprise assault from the youkai which had attacked Gojyo the last night. The dark haired man glanced at the blonde guy standing by Gojyo's bedside. "Then I guess I have to rely on you to look after my patient ne?" Hakkai smiled.
Sanzo looked at Gojyo out of the corner of his amethyst eyes. Gojyo stirred restlessly on the bed, gripping hard at the pillow and the mattress. His body was soaked with cold sweats and blood that had started to dry up.
"Daijoubu da yo… you just need to soak his head to cool down the fever…nothing much to do" Hakkai explained. 'Nothing much to do since his life depend on the cure… there's no use of treating the minor wounds when he had a major problem that threatened his body system'
"Ch!" Sanzo turned around, facing the window and started smoking.
Hakkai smiled. 'Now… that's a cool yes' He looked down to Goku. "Ikkuzo!" he said as he yanked the door opened and ran out from the room. They must be quick.
"Hai!" Goku leapt out of the room and tailed Hakkai to the stairs.
Sanzo turned his head toward the closing door then he gazed at Gojyo."Baka!" he cursed slightly as he walked slowly toward the hanyou. Sanzo drained the water as he rolled the damp cloth after dipping it in the basin. He folded it carefully and put it on Gojyo's forehead. The latter stirred restlessly as the sudden cold on his forehead fought against the fiery heat of his body.
A pathetic cry escaped from the half-breed's mouth. He whined sadly in his deepest slumber. Gojyo clung to the pillow beneath his sweaty head with a deadly grip as he moaned and groaned painfully. He gnashed his teeth and let out soft hollow hiss.
"Wah!!" Gojyo wailed out loud, as he shed tears that came streaming down his bruised cheeks. He clutched his chest and curled up until his knees touched his torso. He screamed out his lungs again and this time he almost lost his breath.
"Shit!!" Sanzo cursed aloud. He put one hand on Gojyo's forehead. Gojyo's temperature kept arousing that it burnt that kappa to his bones. His blood seemed to boil and his crimson eyes looked even more furious as the heat colored it with nasty color of red. Gojyo kept his eyes opened in a matter of a second when he abruptly closed it again and gave way to another loud, agonizing cry to the ceiling. This time he looked terribly tormented by the pain.
"Oi kappa! Hang on in there!" Sanzo held Gojyo's trembling shoulders and shook it with annoyance. He was annoyed at his own inability to help lessened the pain Gojyo was enduring. Without him realizing it, his hand reached out for the kappa's head and caressed it. Amazingly, the half-breed stopped wailing and eased down. Sanzo hunched his shoulder and sighed with relief. He tucked the red headed with a blanket and secured him with it. Sanzo sank back to his chair near the bedside.
"This is the last time I'll be good to you kappa… don't expect more" Sanzo said frigidly. He took away the damp cloth, which he just put on Gojyo's forehead a moment ago and now had all dried up from the burning flame in the kappa's body, and dipped it again in the basin of the icy cold water. He dabbed the damn cloth all over Gojyo's face and then dipped it wet again before putting it back onto the man's forehead.
Even though Gojyo looked a little alleviated, Sanzo knew well that the man was barely surviving. He's dying. 'Hakkai…you better come back with that antidote you were saying' Sanzo leant against the chair and studied the kappa's pale face.
"Ch!" Sanzo snorted and looked face looked pathetic and stupid. The man lying on the bed was hardly a man he recognized and knew three years ago. Gojyo he knew would never let himself got bedridden. No matter how hard it would be, the kappa will always deny a rest.
Like that night of their last encounter with the blonde who identified himself with the name Sanzo; who claimed the maten kyoumou belonged to him. It's the night when they lost for the first time. It was the night where Gojyo stayed awake all night looking after him when at the same time the kappa himself was badly battered and bruised. Sanzo muttered something under his breath and heaved up a deep sigh. "Kono baka ero kappa…" he grumbled softly. He kept staring at the kappa's face and sighed over and over.
The grandfather clock at one corner of the room bellowed as it struck twelve at noon. Sanzo looked at the clock out of the corner of his eyes and then fixed his gaze to Gojyo's trembling body. The kappa seemed to suffer in his slumber.
Sanzo put a cigarette in between his lips when suddenly he was taken aback by Gojyo's condition. The monk quietly shoved the cigarette pack back into his oversized sleeve and leant himself against the chair. "Che…kappa, you owe me one" he whispered as he dozed off into a nap. 'Or did I owe him one?'
"Kanzeon Bosatsu sucked Gojyo's blood to save you" Hakkai's words on several days after he woke up from his coma after the encounter with Shuuei in his monster form floated on his mind. Was it her effort that had saved him or was it his blood?
Suddenly, the groaning man on the bed hollered out aloud and from his wails, it was obvious he's agonized. Tears ran down on both of his cheeks and loud screams came out from in between his pale white lips.
"Shit!" Sanzo cursed in between his breath. He quickly rushed to Gojyo's side and held that man's shoulders with futile efforts to cease his trembles. Gojyo's body burned up to a fiery state that it hurts him to hold on the man's shoulders any longer. The kappa had turned into a living hell. Sanzo yanked his hands away and stood dumbfounded at the bedside, staring down speechless at the man on the bed.
The blonde monk seemed to blank off completely until Gojyo's next cry pricked his ears. There was solace and there was pain in that cry. Sanzo looked at the hanyou's face and suddenly fell downhearted.
'Hakkai…please found the cure…don't come back empty-handed' Sanzo sank onto the bedside. He held out a trembling hand and brushed the sweat on Gojyo's forehead. The man's jaunty crimson locks no longer held upright on his temple but now were plastered to his sweaty face. Gojyo let out another pathetic cry and this time Sanzo made haste of dragging that man away from his pain by shaking his shoulders furiously.
"Gojyo! Snapped out of it kono ero kappa!!" he yelled to the hanyou's face. He knew that it's not the physical pain that tortured the kappa but it was the emotional pain that he bore inside; and Sanzo knew there's nothing he could do to help the kappa lessen his pain. Gojyo could bear any physical pain but he would turn weak at emotional pain.
"Fight the pain!!" Sanzo urged as he slapped Gojyo's face in order to make the kappa snapped out of his delirium and fight him back. But he got no respond; except a painful groan and moan that escaped from the man's lips.
"K'so!" Sanzo swore when Gojyo howled for the umpteenth times; this time along with a cough that contained fresh blood. He coughed violently and blood splattered all over his body and the bed sheet. Pungent smell struck Sanzo's nose. The blood almost smelled like cooper. He swept the tiny drops of the crimson liquid dotting his face red with the back of his arms. Sanzo hastily took a damp cloth and wiped the blood on Gojyo's mouth.
The half-breed man finally ceased screaming but he's sobbing instead. He curled up his legs and gathered his knees before his chest and hugged his shoulders tightly. The physical pain seemed to alleviate but the emotional pain looked as if it growing and not going to stop. Gojyo sobbed like a helpless child as he curled up on the bloody bed. His chest heaved up and down hastily and he panted tremendously. Gojyo tried to catch up with his breath that he turned terribly exhausted.
Sanzo let out a relieved breath. He pulled up a blanket and muffled the man with it. Without him realizing it, a hand went up to Gojyo's temple and softly caressed it. The man below sighed and ceased the solemn sobs.
"Don't cry will ya…? I'm here…your brother is here with you" He could hear the voice that he always longed for. He always heard it since three months ago but he missed the voice uttering the words and he missed the affection when the owner of the voice gathered his small and slender body into his cradle and hummed him to sleep.
"Jien…" the word slipped out his trembling lips before he fell into his deepest slumber.
Sanzo sighed and turned away from Gojyo. He anchored his head with his hands that stood on his knees. 'Please make them come…' he uttered quietly in his heart. He never wished to see that ikkou… but if it could help lessened the pain Gojyo had torturing him inside and save him from attending to the sick man's need, he desperately hoped for the ikkou to scamper into the inn and demanded for the sutra. ……………………………..
"Jien…"
The bold youkai in a white long suit turned around and scanned the area. His stroll in the forest was disturbed by soft whispers of the wind that seemed to carry a sad message. His heart raced enormously when a strange thought struck his mind.
"O-nii-chan…"
The wind blew again and brushed his face softly. The scenery around him seemed to lie out dead. The birds ceased their chirps and the monkeys stopped gibbering. Only the wind kept on blowing sad tones. "Gojyo?" Dokugakuji halted at his last pace and clamped.
To be continued…