A/N: Hooray! I'm happiest with this drabble of the three I've written so far…I think it's because of the dialogue. Anyone want to hazard a guess at which Psalm I quoted in the end? I'm not particularly religious, so when I decided I wanted a biblical reference at the end of the story, I had no idea where to start. I eventually just opened the bible with my eyes closed and picked a page. The first time it was about the destruction of Jerusalem, the second time about Jesus condemning avarice, but the third time I struck gold and landed spot on where that Psalm started on the page. It seemed like fate!

Disclaimer: I do not own Saiyuki, Kazuya Minekura does. And she is brilliant.

"And if God does exist, then he's incompetent." Cho Gonou pushed his clumsily large glasses up over a young upturned nose. He found the sister's manner unseemly, how her face wrinkled up in pity, and she stooped to embrace him. He gazed impassively at the floor. But in a moment he forgot his statement in favor of contemplating the existence of a sister – another one like him.

Years later, Cho Hakkai opened his eyes and blinked uncomprehendingly at the dingy grey ceiling and a soft yellow light, wondering aloud at the hell he has woken in.

Now he kills on a daily basis, simply to survive. The sinner Cho Gonou may have died, but the sinner Cho Hakkai still lives and commits his sins under the pretense of God's incompetence. When the question came from Gojyo, he was totally unprepared.

"Hey, Hakkai."

"Yes, Gojyo?" he paused with his arms full of laundry which he was taking to hang in the bathroom.

"I know you were raised Christian and shit, but do you honestly think that there is a God?" His long fingers twirled his cigarette idly, but Hakkai could see he was actually carefully gauging his reaction. Best to keep it neutral, then.

"What prompts you to ask such a question?"

Easily thrown off track, Gojyo raised his eyebrows in brief surprise before ruffling through his hair with his free hand, thinking aloud, "well, it's just that we have Mr. Holier-than-thou who actually doesn't give a shit about his religion, and then we have Goku who can't comprehend a non-edible deity…and then we've seen one of the goddesses herself, in the flesh…so where does that leave you?"

"Ah, you seem to have left out yourself as well, Gojyo." The reply came swiftly.

The laundry dripped once, twice, in the uncomfortable silence.

"I obviously don't care one way or another." Gojyo subconsciously brushed his fingers over his lips and examined his cigarette for the sixth time in the past half-minute.

"I see. I suppose you could stand to say that I take a neutral stance on this topic as well." Hakkai called out as he slammed the door to the bathroom, disappearing with his pile of damp laundry.

"Dammit Hakkai!"

Inside the bathroom, Hakkai sighed at the havoc Gojyo had wreaked with just one simple shower. Was it even possible to get suds up there? Well, he obviously had. He wiped down the bathroom and rearranged the bottles compulsively, neatening up the tiny sink counter as well. Finally, he hung the soggy towels and few pairs of extra clothes up on the curtain rod and towel rack. Mechanically he worked, and his mind distractedly chased itself into corners and trapdoors.

For what had happened to him and his parents, him and Kannan, he supposed there couldn't be a merciful, competent God. For what had happened to him and Gojyo, Goku and Sanzo, he supposed there couldn't be no God. While he found the idea of destiny comforting, he also found it constraining, and he equally disliked the idea of a puppet-master pulling the strings on people's lives. All he knew was that if there was a heaven (a Christian heaven), it would never accept him. He wondered if it would accept Kannan, who had committed the ultimate sin by taking her own life. He hoped that heaven would reject them both together, along with Gojyo-

Something seemed terribly wrong about imagining Gojyo and Kannan together. Perhaps because they so neatly separated his life into two: Cho Gonou, the sinner who loved his sister, and Cho Hakkai, the sinner who was saved and accepted by a demon. For all the sins of his past he could never atone. But then, he thought if there was a God, for all the sins overlooked, Hakkai could never forgive him.

He stepped out of the bathroom and closed the door softly, looking around for Gojyo. The half-demon had fallen asleep on his side, facing away from Hakkai. He went to gently pull the covers over the sleeping figure and saw that his old torn bible was clutched open in the man's hand, his index finger propping the pages open and indicating a psalm:

Fools say to themselves,

"There is no God."

They are all corrupt,

and they have done terrible

things;

there is no one who does what

is right.

God looks down from heaven at

people

to see if there are any who are

wise,

any who worship him.

But they have all turned away;

they are all equally bad.

Not one of them does what is

right,

not a single one…

Hakkai blinked. He slipped the book from under Gojyo's fingers and buried it deep in the bottom of his pack.