Once again, Ni found himself hiding in the shadows to watch. Goku was sprawled on a bench, his head resting on Lirin's thigh, her hand tangled in Goku's hair. The doctor couldn't hear the words they spoke, but the tone was light and teasing, and occasionally one or both of them would laugh, true happiness on both of their young faces. They looked... The dark doctor's lips thinned to a grim line as he finally admitted it to himself. They looked like they were in love.
"You see it too, don't you, Ni Jianyi?" a voice said behind him, and Ni forced himself to jump as if the Prince had surprised him. He'd actually felt Kougaiji's presence for a while. For a moment, Ni toyed with the idea of brushing it off, pretending he had no idea what the Prince was talking about, then gave up.
"Yes, I see it. It was entirely unexpected, I assure you."
"I don't care what you expected," Kougaiji hissed. "This is the result of your little game. So you're going to fix it."
"And just how do you propose I do that, hmm?" Ni asked coolly. "The heart wants what the heart wants, your Highness," he added, with mocking lightness. "And the Lady Lirin has a most generous heart." So does Goku, Ni mused privately. And that's the problem, isn't it? He was brought here to be a weapon; and we all want to keep him as... As what? Lover, friend, student, pet..? The dark doctor shook his head slightly. "Well, if he does what he's supposed to do, Goku won't be going anywhere, will he?" The demon Prince bared his teeth, ready to retort, when a voice rang out.
"Big brother! Come have lunch with us!" Kougaiji turned, his grim expression lightening into the smile that his sister always seemed to be able to bring to his face.
"Of course," he replied, walking towards the pair. Ni watched as Goku sprang to his feet, bowing slightly to the Prince before offering Lirin his hand. The unlikely trio walked off together, the couple hand in hand, a sweetly innocent picture that brought bile to the doctor's throat.
What the hell is wrong with me? Ni demanded of himself as he returned to his lab. Goku is a means to an end, nothing more..! The corners of his mouth turned down in a sour expression as he realised the lie. Well, perhaps it had been true, in the beginning. The youth had been a toy, a piece on the gameboard, but... When had Goku become more than that? The dark doctor sank into his chair, fumbling for a cigarette, and turned it over and over in his long fingers as he contemplated. Then Ni's eyes came to rest on a small, awkward clay sculpture of one of the castle's flying dragons that sat on the other side of his keyboard and memory stirred.
"I made it for you."
"Goku, you didn't have to do that."
"You remind me of one sometimes."
A huffed laugh. "I do?"
"Yeah. They can look really clumsy, but when they fly or they fight, or they're looking after their babies, they're amazing. And... they can be kinda scary sometimes."
"I, ah..." A pause. "Do I scare you, Goku?"
"Me?! No way! But..." A longer pause.
"But?"
"Sometimes... Sometimes you get this look, and I get scared of what... What you're thinking. But that's not the same as being scared of you."
A wry smile. "You're right; it isn't. Thank you. I'll treasure it."
"You're welcome."
Ni's lighter clicked as he finally lit his cigarette, and as he exhaled, he leaned back and rested his feet on the desk. Fuck me, he thought, shocked. I never thought I'd actually end up liking the little bugger.
0o0o0o0o0o
"It's time," Gyokomen Koshu snarled. "Send him and be done with it."
"As the lady wishes," Ni replied.
0o0o0o0o0o
"Lirin, please. Please stay here. I don't think I could handle it if... If you got hurt again."
"But Goku-"
"Goku's right, Lirin," Kougaiji soothed. "Wait here for us; we just want to keep you safe."
"But-"
Goku gave her a cocky smile. "We'll be back before you know it." Hesitantly, he lifted one of her hands, and kissed the back of it. "I promise." Lirin was still for a moment, then she reached up, closed her fingers across the back of Goku's neck and dragged him down to mash her mouth against his.
"You'd better be," she growled before running off. Kougaiji watched, carefully keeping his amusement hidden as Goku reached up to touch his lips, a happy, bemused expression on his face.
"Are you ready?" the Prince asked.
0o0o0o0o0o
The mood was lighter after they'd decided on their plan, Hakkai realised. It may have been stupidly dangerous, but it did offer a ray of hope. No matter what the other two said, he knew they missed Goku, and it made them all feel better to have a plan to get him back. But the days dragged on, with only random demon attacks to break up the monotony, and everyone was getting more edgy by the minute. So it brought the strangest feeling of relief to turn a corner and see two figures standing in the road ahead.
Kougaiji was the same as always, his long red hair caught by a stray breeze to stream out behind him, that familiar look of arrogance stamped across his features. But Goku... Goku looked different. Somehow, he'd added a few inches in height; and he was broader across the chest and shoulders. Even the way he held his body had changed.
"Sanzo party," the demon Prince declaimed. "You know why we're here."
"Yeah, yeah," Goyjo replied, waving a hand as he poured his lanky body out of the jeep. "Give us the scripture or die." His Kougaiji impression was actually rather good, Hakkai thought.
"And you brought the monkey," Sanzo sneered as he also got out. "So he's your pet now? Is that why you took him?"
"I'm no one's pet," Goku snapped in return, hands extending and his nyoi-bo appearing. "Just give us the scripture and turn around and no one needs to get hurt."
"Not gonna happen," Sanzo replied, removing his gun from his robes and snapping it open to check the chamber.
"Then let's end this," Kougaiji said flatly.
0o0o0o0o0o
Hakkai checked the cold compress on Goku's forehead for what seemed like the hundreth time, his side aching as he shifted on the chair. It had been a close thing. Not the fight with Kougaiji, but what had happened after they'd put their plan into effect. Hakkai had reasoned that, if Goku was brainwashed, releasing his power limiter should act like a reset; returning him to the Goku they knew. It was just a question of putting the limiter back in place afterwards; and therein had been the real fight. He glanced across at the other bed, where Hakruyuu was sleeping, curled up in a knot. If he hadn't have changed into his other form and landed on Goku as a Jeep when he had, Hakkai admitted to himself that they'd all probably be dead.
The door opened and closed quietly behind him, and Hakkai turned his head to watch Goyjo slowly cross the room, one hand pressed to the bandages that enveloped his bare torso.
"How's he doing?" the red head asked quietly.
"Still unconcious," he replied just as softly.
"That's a bad sign, isn't it?"
"Not necessarily." Hakkai folded his arms and sighed. "But I honestly don't know, Goyjo. I just... don't know."
"Damn monkey. We go through all of this, and he doesn't even wake up to let us know it's worth it. He just keeps sleepin'."
"'S hard to sleep with all th' noise," a muffled voice replied. Crimson and green eyes whipped to the bed as Goku groaned and yawned. He tried to sit up, but the chains that connected him to the iron bed frame stopped the movement. "What the-? What gives, guys?" His golden eyes were wide with panic as he looked at Hakkai, then across at Goyjo, his glance moving up the kappa's bandaged body. "What... Did I do something... bad?"
"Do you know who we are?" Hakkai asked, trying desperately to keep his voice level.
"Is this some kind of a joke, Hakkai?" Goku's expression was pleading. "I thought you were my friends..!"
"What do you remember?" Goyjo asked.
Goku squirmed in the chains. "Well, I was in the market place, and I smelled somethin' real tasty, and I went to check it out, and then there was somethin' cold on my neck, and then... Then I woke up here! What happened?" Hakkai released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.
"You don't remember anything about the last few weeks?" Hakkai prodded.
"Weeks..! I've been asleep for weeks!? Wow, that explains why I'm so hungry!" Goyjo's lips curved in a smile at Goku's wail.
"Yeah, our monkey's back."
"Will you please let me out so I can get some food? I'm dyin' over here!"
0o0o0o0o0o
Kougaiji's hand tightened around Ni's throat as he lifted the doctor's slippered feet clear of the lab's concrete floor. "This is your fault." His voice was cold and calm, and Ni realised he was in some very deep shit. He closed his fingers around Kougaiji's wrist and fought not to struggle.
"How?" he managed to choke out. "I didn't make her fall in love with the enemy." Lirin had done nothing but weep since Kougaiji had returned to the castle with the news that Goku had returned to the Sanzo party, and obviously he thought Ni was to blame for it. The demon Prince bared his teeth in a snarl as the muscles in his arm bunched. Ni only had a heart beat to prepare himself before he was flying across the room, smashing through glassware and over a table to land in an untidy heap on the floor. The tread of Kougaiji's boots was measured, and Ni thought fast as the Prince approached, murder clear in the demon's eyes. "I can take away her memories," he said, his voice a rasp. "I did it to him; I can do it for her. She won't remember anything about Goku's time here." Kougaiji's step slowed as he reached the dark doctor and loomed over him.
"Goku doesn't remember..?"
"It was..." Ni replied, before a coughing spasm racked him. "Insurance," he finally managed when they died down. "Just in case he did break the brain washing, like someone else I know, I couldn't let him leave the castle with those memories intact." He coughed again, making himself look as helpless and human and afraid as he could. Ni forced a tremble into the hand that he lifted to his throat, and put a pleading tone in his voice. "I can do it." Thoughts whirled through Kougaiji's eyes, almost too fast for the dark doctor to read.
"Then do it," the demon Prince said finally. "Do it, damn you." He turned and walked away, but the sound of glass being crushed under his boots was not enough to drown out his final words. "And damn me, too."
The door hissed shut behind Kougaiji, and Ni eased himself up to sit with his back to the wall, fishing a cigarette out of his coat. The doctor blew a long stream of smoke at the ceiling, his free hand prodding at the soon-to-blossom bruise on his jaw from the punch that had been the Prince's way of saying 'hello'. Life was going to be extremely... interesting, for the foreseeable future. Kougaiji would not forgive; but having Lirin forget would mean the topic of Goku would be taboo for quite a while. Ni would have to stay out of the demon Prince's sight for a period of time, but things should settle down. Eventually.
Ni huffed out a sigh as he got to his feet and surveyed the damage to his lab. Nothing too bad, but... The dark doctor took a step, and dropped to a crouch, his long fingers picking up two pieces of clay from the floor. Put together, they took the form of a crude ceramic dragon. "Huh," he muttered. Ni's hand hovered over a bin, but for some strange reason he couldn't bring himself to open his fingers. "Sentiment," he sighed aloud, before stuffing the pieces into the pocket of his lab coat. "It'll be the death of me."
0o0o0o0o0o
