Ch. 3-

The yelling woke me up. First thing in the fucking morning and those fucking pricks, "Didn't you take a fucking vow of silence or something!"

My head is throbbing as I stumble out into the hall, half dressed and in desperate need of coffee and a smoke, stupid old man and his bad habits, who the hell makes a monk smoke?! "What the hell is it now?!"

"Sanzo-sama, Sanzo-sama!!" I think I know my own name, thank you, who else would you be screeching for?

"It's your charge!" head's up with that one, after this many years they still don't say his name, pricks.

"Oh, fucking fabulous..."grinding my teeth together I kneel by his side and gently reach out to touch his forhead. I knew something was up, he'd stopped eating, didn't think I'd noticed, *Tsk* "Moron."

"You five, carry him into my room." Their scared to touch him, but there's no way I'm breaking my back for a moron that goes and gets himself sick. I don't even have to say anything, there's a certain look I've perfected for dealing with stubbornness, of course it doesn't work on three specific hard-headed asses, well, two asses and one monkey, but it works just fine on annoying wanna-be monks. See? Works just fine.

I can't help but smile, just a tad, a small twitch of the lips, as they try and pick him up and ah, now they're getting it, freaking thing's a goddamn boulder when he's unconscious. He's not wearing the chains he had when I found him. Mo~r~ons! Great, now even my brain's starting to sound like him.

I gotta get out of here before I go batty. "You two, bring water and call for Hakkai, we don't know what'll happen if that fever gets too high." Smart-asses, think I didn't notice the smirks at not being called to help carry him? I'll run you through the ringer for that one. Humble monks my ass.

They finally have him up on the bed, my bed, stupid chimp. As they scamper away I prod him with my foot, taking the time to sit back and lean out the window and take a drag. It looks like it'll be a two pack day; I can already feel my blood pressure raising.

Glancing at the door, closed, good, "Bakasaru...I told you, you're not allowed to leave me." Leaning over, the briefest of contacts, just a glancing touch, maybe a little bit harder, not like he's awake or anything. I stop hard, noses almost touching and blink, when did this start? When did I not only allow contact, but start to crave it?

I refused to have the other monks touch me, went out of way to beat that idiot cockroach senseless when he dared to drape his arm over my shoulders, Hakkai's the only one, but only when he was healing, even those two little brats shied away from me, mostly. So why? Why is it he's allowed when no one else is?

Sitting back I look over the garden, is this what you meant master? When you heard me calling out to you, is this what you meant by we were family? You were the only one back then I let touch me as well, a gentle pat on the head, hand on the shoulder, nothing much, never anything too deep, but it was enough to show you cared, that you worried about my well being.

Shit. Fine. Fine! I give up, I know the only reason he's allowed is because it's him. No one else, but him. "Fuck it all."

I don't even notice when the water's set inside the room, I'm too busy leaning over him, holding him and telling him if he even dares to die on me I'll kick his ass all the way back to India.

"Bakasaru..."

***