An Overabundance of Evil


"Sanzo, if you would please hold still."

"I am still."

"Of course." Hakkai smiles appeasingly, a spark of light in his eyes betraying his mild frustration. "The medication should be kicking in again soon. If you'll just bear with me in the meantime--"

"I'm fine. It doesn't hurt anyway."

"I'm sure." Hakkai appeases again. Carefully he peels away the last of the gauze on Sanzo's face, revealing the deep welts left by Seiten Taisei's rampage. Hakkai places the soiled wrappings in the small trashcan at his feet. His eyes look intensely at the marks on Sanzo's face, gauging their severity and depth as best he can. "Hmm…"

Sanzo fidgets. And keeps fidgeting. A pull from his lips, a twitch in his cheek, the constant shifting of his shoulders all contributes to Hakkai's irritation. But Sanzo can't help it. The pain medication is kicking in, but the marks on Sanzo's face tingle, feeling unnaturally cold as air strikes them for the first time in hours. The last thing Sanzo wants is to admit he is anxious to hear Hakkai's appraisal, but the darting of his eyes gives him away as much as his fidgeting.

Noticing the increased agitation of his patient, Hakkai meets his gaze with Sanzo's and smiles warmly, hoping the look doesn't appear contrived. "It's still too early to say," he begins, "Various milder ki treatments will be the most affective in reducing scars, but…it is impossible to know whether that will be enough. I'll do what I can, reapply bandages, and change them again later tonight."

Sanzo gives a short nod. He tells himself this information is enough to keep his mind at ease for now. If there is no way to know then there is nothing to think about. "Fine." He says, miraculously stilled as he waits for Hakkai to begin the transfusion of ki.

A warm glow encases Hakkai's hands, the shade of a dulled sun. The warmth passes from expert fingers into the tissue on Sanzo's face and the tingling the monk had been feeling is replaced with the most soothing numbness. Sanzo is reminded of having one's face fall asleep after lying on one side for too long, but he knows the feeling and the warmth will dissipate when Hakkai's hands fall away. For now he merely enjoys the feeling and tries to keep his mind alert despite the fatigue pulling down his eyelids.

Hakkai sees how Sanzo's eyelids droop, his muscles relaxing until all the fidgeting that had been annoying him fades away completely. Soon Sanzo is but a lump of human flesh. Hakkai decides not to mention that ki healing done to someone's head often has certain side affects. Nothing long-lasting or dangerous. Usually just some mild lethargy and an overwhelming sense of calm and compliance as the spiritual energy carries its harmonious nature into the brain.

When Hakkai is content with the amount of ki he has used and the welts look less angry, he pulls his hands away and observes the trance Sanzo is ignorantly under.

The monk looks serene and sleepy, eyes half-closed and mouth just the slightest bit open as he breathe slowly like a person already asleep. Hakkai says Sanzo's name and violet eyes take much longer than should be necessary to look from wherever they are focused towards Hakkai's face. The monk's eyes are slightly glazed.

"Do you feel better now?" Hakkai asks, his voice light and soft with the tone one might use on a small child.

Sanzo dips his head in a slow nod. "My…head…"

"A bit heavy?"

"Mmm."

"That's to be expected. But the pain is gone now and the cuts feel better?"

Sanzo nods again. "What…did you…?"

"I healed you, of course. Here now, I'll put fresh bandages on, and this time I'll be sure to leave a place for your eye. It feels and sees all right?"

"…yes."

"Good." Hakkai smiles, and then reaches to the little table beside the bed for the fresh gauze he set there earlier. Carefully, he begins to place it over Sanzo's cuts with gentle, practiced hands. "Now tell me, Sanzo…" he begins with a rush of delinquency, "…you really are glad to have all of us along on this journey, aren't you?"

Sanzo seems confused by this question, hesitant, but eventually nods, keeping his glazed eyes trained on Hakkai's face.

"Couldn't possibly do it without us?"

Sanzo shakes his head to indicate he could not.

"And why is that?" A devious smirk tugs at Hakkai's otherwise innocent smile. He would feel terrible about doing this if he didn't feel terribly justified by so much more.

"This…journey…because I…need…your help…" Sanzo sounds out of breath, halfway sleeping, and as if his tongue is not entirely under his control. His eyes narrow slightly on Hakkai's smiling face but he can't quite figure out what it is he should be upset about.

"Just our help?" Hakkai presses, smoothing a wrapping over the cut through Sanzo's left eyebrow.

Sanzo blinks several times before responding, hoping to clear the fog in his mind but fails and quickly forgets why he had started blinking in the first place. "Because…I need…you…"

"All of us?" Hakkai adds.

Sanzo nods.

"Why?"

Now Hakkai is really pushing it, Sanzo thinks, and breaching several boundaries as well. But…what boundaries, and…what is being…breached? Why does he feel so tired and heavy now? And why is Hakkai looking at him like that? He…asked him something, didn't he? About…about the others?

Oh yes. Sanzo does indeed need them. Of course he does. He cares so much for them. Life would be positively boring without them around. Even Gojyo is a welcome friend. The kappa's bluntness is refreshing, much like Sanzo's own. Yes, Sanzo likes all of them and cares for them very much. He doesn't know what he would do if something happened to one of them. They're as close as family to him. Perhaps closer, since Sanzo has never really known family. Yes…much closer than friends or even brothers. If he could come up with a term truly fitting, he would coin a new word for them. The men that travel with him are, after all, the dearest treasures in his life.

Hakkai is proud of his ability to maintain a straight face. He vaguely wonders if Sanzo will remember any of this or that the many things the monk probably assumes he just thought were actually spoken aloud.

If Sanzo does not remember, Hakkai is most certain he will not bring the issue up. Not to Sanzo, anyway

Eventually, the trance overrides Sanzo's senses so much his loosened tongue slips into mumbling and falls inevitably silent when the monk surrenders to sleep.

Hakkai finishes wrapping Sanzo's cuts with a very satisfied smile.

-----

The smell of food is more than enough to incite Goku further and further down the hall in a desperate search for the source. He has just had a shower, feeling refreshed after his pleasant sleep in Sanzo's forgiving embrace. He cried himself to sleep but woke in arms that never once loosened.

Sanzo woke when he did, instantly demanding the monkey get out of bed and make himself useful, preferably preceded by some form of bathing since Goku had obviously neglected such things for far too long. With a very small smile on his face at how wonderfully things had returned to some sense of normal, Goku had complied.

But now, drawn by the scents of simmering food, Goku can think of little other than how quickly he can find and devour whatever is pulling him towards the kitchen. His conscience is as soothed as it needs to be to have his appetite back in full force. With little thought to what else might be behind the door, Goku heads straight into the kitchen, eyes trained on the wonders cooking on the stove.

"That's for all of us, asswipe. Don't go taking more than your share."

Goku jumps, not having noticed Gojyo until the kappa spoke. He turns his head to the left and spots the redhead seated at the kitchen table with a plate in front of him that is already half-empty of its contents. Since Goku does not quite know what to say, he shrugs a little and shuffles his feet, feeling awkward at having to interact with Gojyo so suddenly.

Gojyo is out of his chair and over to Goku's frozen form before even a few seconds have passed. "Cut the shit already. You're annoying enough without the sob story expression." Gojyo teases, hooking Goku into a headlock-like hug that pulls the smaller boy against him. Gojyo keeps Goku in place with ease, having the best holding techniques of the ikkou. "The Goku I'm used to would have grabbed the food right off the stove by now and had half of it down his throat. You gonna disappoint me?"

"But…you…you just said not to eat it all." Goku grumbles, struggling only half-heartedly to get out of Gojyo's hold and unable to see more than the kappa's bare feet with his neck caught in Gojyo's armpit.

"Yeah, so what if I did," Gojyo replies, "Doesn't mean I expect you to listen. Monkey brains. You should know better."

Goku wonders fleetingly if Gojyo's comment refers solely to the incident at hand. He decides not to ask. "Okay, okay, just let me go and I'll be as selfish and glutinous as ya want. Geesh." The brunette's exasperation is far more like his usual nature towards the kappa and does the trick in getting Gojyo to release him.

A moment later Goku is at the stove filling his plate and Gojyo is sitting back at the table. Gojyo watches Goku carefully, still a little frustrated that the monkey won't make direct eye contact for more than two seconds. "Hey," he calls, as Goku heaps yet another helping onto his plate, "Quit it with the big words, will ya? Glutinous? Creeps the hell out of me hearing that kinda stuff from you."

When Goku turns back around and makes his way to the table, a very small grin is pulling at the corners of his mouth. He looks up briefly to meet his eyes to crimson, but as soon as he is seated his attention strays to his plate and remains there as he ravenously eats.

Gojyo wouldn't mind this so much if Goku was speaking. Good food or not, the chimp always makes a point to run his mouth off even while he is stuffing it with food. Seeing as how Gojyo's own appetite has fallen by the wayside, he leaves the remainder of his plate untouched and watches Goku instead.

Eventually, the constant attention on him starts to make Goku uncomfortable. He looks up from his plate, gold eyes darting around Gojyo's eyes but never directly into them. "What…?" he asks, fork halfway to his mouth as if the feeling of being watched hit him mid-movement and froze him there.

"Nothing. But if you're trying to creep me out more, being quiet does that a helluva lot better than playing smart." Gojyo lightly kicks Goku's shin, almost like a challenge, just to see how much he can get the boy to react. "Aren't ya even gonna ask if I'm okay? The all-mighty-fanged one got me pretty good, ya know."

Goku lets his fork fall back to his plate. His eyes stare through Gojyo—distant, lost. "I…I guess I figured you seemed okay enough, and…I…I didn't…wanna…geez, Gojyo, do we really hafta talk about this?" Goku finishes in a rush, his eyes diverting further and his cheeks flush from shame. "You know I'm sorry. I'm always sorry. I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry I hurt Hakkai. I'm sorry how with Sanzo I…almost…almost--"

"Shit, monkey, calm the hell down." Gojyo breaks in, reaching out a hand to place on Goku's arm and finally succeeding in getting the chimp to look him honestly in the eyes. At this progress, Gojyo offers a teasing, sideways smirk. "I'm just givin' you a hard time," he says, and then adds under his breath, "…shit-for-brains."

A flash of anger illuminates Goku's sorrowful eyes, but when it fades, giving way easily to a look of relief and appreciation for the norm, the monkey is soon pushing his plate of food away and leaping out of his chair.

Gojyo's smirk twitches at the realization of practically having a monkey in his lap, but this strange show of affection isn't unwelcome. It's overdue. "Never try playing the tough-guy routine with me, and don't you even dare try pulling that silent act again. I'd rather you be you. Even if you are annoying as all hell." Gojyo chuckles, patting Goku tentatively on the back and wondering just how long the boy plans to keep a sniffling nose pressed into his chest.

Goku's hold tightens, small hands clutching Gojyo's arms while a stubborn head turns to press deeper into Gojyo's ribcage. Goku doesn't want to let go just yet, and all masculine foolishness aside, Gojyo doesn't mind nearly as much as he might let on later.

"Now, does this mean you and the bouzu are doing well or shitty? Coz the way you're clinging right now is making me nervous."

As always, Gojyo succeeds in getting Goku to laugh, even if the sound is muffled by the rumples of Gojyo's tank top. "Not…shitty," Goku mumbles into Gojyo's shirt, still hanging on with fisted hands. "But…Sanzo's not the only thing that…matters, ya know."

"Well that's news to me, monkey, with the way you let on."

"I'm…sorry."

"Did I ask for an apology?"

"…no. But…but I'm sorry anyway. I am. You should know, you and Hakkai, that…if Sanzo's the sun then…then…you and Hakkai gotta be…I dunno…uhh…clouds?"

Gojyo quirks an eyebrow. He supposes this new metaphor is better than blood at least. "Clouds?" he restates, as sardonically as possible.

Goku sniffles. "Not good?"

"Gee, let me think about this. The damn monk's the sun, Homura of all people gets to be the moon, and Hakkai and me are clouds. Oh yeah. That's perfectly fair." Every note in Gojyo's voice betrays his actual humor over the issue, but he knows just how to play Goku and figures riling him up is the only way he'll still have a dry shirt when the monkey finally lets him go.

Goku is silent for almost a full minute. When he speaks again, his voice is timid, "If there were three suns I wouldn't need to think of something else," he says.

The arms Goku is clinging to slip out of his grasp and wrap around him faster than he can think. Gojyo doesn't mention anything more on the subject, but Goku figures he managed to say the right thing anyway.

Seeing as how the masculine side of things still has some sway over the pair, Gojyo releases Goku with a dismissing cough, pushing the monkey none too gently back into his own chair and takes a long gulp of his morning coffee to distract from the red in his cheeks. Goku's eyes are darting around the room again, but there is a true smile on his lips now and when Gojyo finally looks back at him there is nothing awkward or unspoken between them.

To vary this too sweet interaction and prove he is not and never will be a pushover, Gojyo messes Goku hair with a rough hand. "Eat the rest of your breakfast, dork."

Goku is more than happy to comply.

General and common conversation starts up at last, usually made up of teasing remarks and jabs. Once a sense of normalcy has been wholly established, Gojyo breaches one of the old but very important subjects. "So…not shitty, you and the monk. Meaning for once you decided not to be a complete pansy after one of your evil twin's tantrums."

Golden eyes narrow accompanied by a childish pout. "Sanzo and I are fine. He told me to stop being such a…hey, I'm not a pansy!"

Score one for the kappa. Clearly, Sanzo had come to the same conclusion as Gojyo and was naturally just as vocal about the finding.

"I know I overreact," Goku says, his pout still prominent, "But it's good that I do, coz…coz it'd suck if I didn't. If I didn't care that I hurt you guys I'd be just like him." Goku is decidedly done with his meal now, even though a few remnants sit on his plate. He faces Gojyo, his elbows on his thighs so that his hands dangle between them. "But things are really good with Sanzo. He yells at me for all the right reasons and listens when I talk. He…he actually holds me and tells me everything's gonna be okay sometimes, like…I always wanted. And he still does all of it like Sanzo, which is even more what I wanted. It's really…really…"

"Wonderful?"

Goku is briefly startled by the tenderness in Gojyo's voice, but since the same has been coming from Sanzo lately, it doesn't startle him long. He smiles, looking up into Gojyo's eyes and loving the softness he finds there. "Wonderful," he repeats, "And it scares the shit outta me, coz it'd be so easy to lose."

No reply comes from the kappa. It doesn't need to be said that he feels the same way about him and Hakkai. All of them have more to lose now than they ever would have admitted before.

Nothing can be said to ease worries that will always be with them, and with those worries hanging low in the room like a fog of bad tidings yet to come, Gojyo quickly decides the atmosphere is much too heavy to tolerate any longer. Leaning over the edge of the tabletop, he lowers his voice ever so slightly and sports a devious smirk.

"As for the wonderful…just how wonderful we talkin' here?" he asks, the look in his eyes speaking every last word he isn't voicing, "I got a few guesses but I'd much rather hear from you."

Goku goes flush in his cheeks and all the way down his collarbone. Sanzo would kill him. "I don't…know what you mean," he says, "Maybe you should save those perverted thoughts for you and Hakkai."

"Oh, I am, but I'll be honest, we haven't gone all that far. You and the bouzu though…my libido-sense is telling me you've gone a lot further than the little kisses and snuggles you steal in the jeep." Gojyo leans a little closer to Goku, bringing them only inches apart. "Come on, Goku, gimme somethin' here. You and the monk have screwed at least once, right?"

Goku tries his best to pull out of Gojyo's close proximity. "Wh-why should I tell you?"

"You don't have to tell me. Your stammering gives you away."

"I'm n-not stammering," Goku stammers, "Damn it!"

The devious smirk on Gojyo's lips turns into a very wicked grin. "So, twice for sure. Any more than that?"

"No!"

"But it is twice?"

"Gojyo!"

"Definitely twice. So how was he?"

A red collarbone is the least of Goku's worries now; his blush has a hold on the entirety of his face and is surely traveling its way south. "Gojyo…"

"Goku, if you're gonna start fucking regular, as a man it is your duty to offer up the details to your friends," Gojyo explains, taking on a rather Hakkai-worthy, authoritative tone, "All I'm asking for is the basics. You know…who's doing the fucking, how good Mr. Pissy is in bed. These are standard questions, kiddo."

Goku is not convinced. "Sanzo'd kill me if I told you that stuff."

Jackpot. "So you are on top. Who'd have thought, huh?"

"Uhhhnnngg," Goku groans, embarrassed and defeated with a long line of unintelligible syllables to prove it. He flops forward with his head facedown on the tabletop. "Lemme alone, Gojyo. It's too weird talkin' about this stuff." He mumbles.

"Talking about what stuff?"

Gojyo and Goku both instantly tense, though for decidedly different reasons. While Gojyo turns a hand-in-the-cookie-jar expression towards the kitchen door, Goku slowly lifts his head from the table and looks over with a flood of relief.

Hakkai doesn't even have to ask. "Gojyo," the healer says, folding his arms over his chest and raising his chin the smallest bit higher than normal to better look down upon his soon to be scolded friend, "Whatever you may consider decent, times the possibility of indecency by ten and then continue your interrogation of Goku. If you find your questions to thus be indecent after all, I'd suggest refraining from ever bringing such subjects up again."

Now, Goku isn't completely sure he understood everything that came out of Hakkai's mouth, but one thing he knows for sure is that whatever Hakkai said it has just put Gojyo in his place. In short, Goku is saved and the monkey looks to Hakkai with adoration and eternal thanks.

Failing at appearing even remotely innocent, Gojyo shrugs his shoulders and returns to what is left of his coffee. "Don't know what you mean, Hakkai."

-----

The shades are drawn, leaving the room in total darkness even with the sun shining brightly outside the cottage walls. It is a quiet place, the room itself and the area the cottage rests in. Few sounds other than the gentle creaking of settling wood or the chirp of outside birds and insects disturbs the room. When those little creaks and chirps, the rustling or whistling of tree branches in the wind, or the very dim voices of the three men in the kitchen below filter inside the room, its occupant remains wholly unaware.

Groaning in his sleep and shifting uncomfortably within the hold of his dreaming, Sanzo's face contorts, scrunching the muscles as if the monk is in extreme pain. It is not an honestly physical pain, though any movement as Sanzo tosses and turns aggravates the many wounds still healing.

"Nnnnnn…" Sanzo groans loader now and clutches at the bed sheets around him in desperation. "Nnnn…nnnooo…" His eye move rapidly beneath the lids, telling of the horrors he is trying to escape from but is forced to witness anyway. "No…not again…"

Back arching off the bed, Sanzo claws with his hands madly at the mattress. His head pushes back into the pillow as wave after wave of imagined pain lifts him from the mattress in agony. Tears he would never let flow when awake sting at the corners of his tightly closed eyes. Every inch of his exposed skin—the sheet having long since fallen about his waist amidst his struggling—is chalk-white, and beads of sweat race each other down the pours of his skin.

"Not…again…"

Breath flies from Sanzo's lips as he wakes, eyes wide and staring though at first they see only the images of what had been in the dream. That same dream, intensified now to a sickening degree. Goku—not Seiten Taisei but Goku—vicious and bruising in his lust until the only option left was the trigger on Sanzo's gun.

Sanzo does not shoot up in bed, but collapses lose-limbed into the mattress. His eyes droop more than they had before. That was not rest. That was not sleep. Nightmares rob us of any peace in sleep, and without peace what rest is there to find? Sanzo had only the nightmare and now he scowls angrily at himself for being glad Goku is not in the room.

He has no reason to fear the monkey or to find relief in his absence. Sanzo is more tied to Goku now than he ever was as the boy's guardian. He is attached. Attachment. Once attachment was something he took an oath never to have, not only as someone once scorned by loss of love, but as a Sanzo priest.

The brief, traitorous thought that he should have been more resistant to Goku's initial advances passes through Sanzo's mind. He is sickened by his own weakness for even thinking it. He was not weak for choosing Goku; he would have been weak had he looked the boy in the eyes and pretended he didn't want the same things as the monkey. Sanzo didn't need a likeness of his master to tell him he needed something to call home before he could be free. He knew it the moment he laid eyes on Goku, no, even before, when he first heard that annoying voice calling him in the distance. He knew then that Goku would always be a marker of home because only with Goku did he feel at home, even in the temple he had lived at for so long.

Sanzo closes his eyes, taking in even, slow breaths to calm his racing heart. Absently, he reaches out to grab at the fallen sheets and pulls them up around him again. His mind is still racing with images from the dream, and also with very fleeting memories from before he fell asleep.

Hakkai had been here, hadn't he? Hakkai had been here replacing Sanzo's bandages.

A tiny nagging voice begins calling for Sanzo's attention. There is something he should be upset about. Something the healer did that should have Sanzo very angry indeed. But he cannot remember what it is. He knows he and Hakkai spoke and that after the healer began placing the new bandages on his face he quickly fell asleep. But what is it that remains just out of his grasp…?

Sanzo resolves to decipher this question later. He is still very tired, still healing, and there is no telling how quickly Goku will be back in the room, proving to be the very best distraction. Though it pains him to admit it, Sanzo hopes he falls asleep before Goku returns. He doesn't think he could face the monkey just now. Not when these dreams keep pestering him, sometimes of him shooting Goku without cause, and other times… of him shooting Goku for causes that could have come about so very recently but thankfully didn't.

Swallowing back a sudden rise in bile at the back of his throat, Sanzo tries to turn onto his side and curl in on himself, but instantly hisses in pain. The punctures on his hips are still tender, worse in the front than behind. Much as he hates to right now, he must sleep on his back.

Risking another nightmare, Sanzo allows himself to drift into the abyss of sleep, hoping that he is not woken by the same twisted and grim nightmare once again.

-----

"Kou, what the hell is going on?"

"Just do as I say, Dokugaku. Grab as many things as you can carry, but be swift. We have to leave now."

"But Niichan," Lirin whines, tugging at her brother's long, sleeveless coat and looking up at him with round, uncomprehending eyes, "I thought we had lots to do. Don't you still need to ask which guards are gonna help us?"

Kougaiji looks down at her in sympathy, afraid to look up at Yaone and Dokugakuji, who, though they are both running about the rooms to gather the party's things, are also intently watching the prince at every chance. "I've asked a few, Lirin, though not enough. But it doesn't matter. We don't have time to worry about it. We have to get out of here."

"But why, Kougaiji-sama?" Yaone asks, whirling past him with a bag over one shoulder and her eyes intent on a half-packed bag across the room, "Has something happened? We are eager to begin this, of course, but it seems so soon."

The hesitance in Kougaiji to speak is obvious. Yaone and the others do not press him further, and though he is always helpful and generous as their prince and leader, they are surprised when he too begins to hurriedly grab what he can, "Explaining would take too much time," he says, almost too quiet for them to hear him, "And we may not have enough as it is."

A few minutes pass in a flurry, with even Lirin dashing madly for the things Yaone and her brother send her to fetch. When the four youkai are laden with as much as they dare take, Kougaiji grabs his sister's hand and heads for the back door. The passageway will take them straight to the dragons, and hopefully, to safety.

"Let's go."

Yaone runs headlong into Dokugakuji, who nearly runs into Kougaiji, when the prince stops, neither quite understanding why he stopped so abruptly upon opening the door. A quick look past the redhead has everything clicking into place, though they are not entirely sure how thankful they are for finally understanding the haste they had been about to leave in.

Kougaiji tightens his hold on Lirin's hand and she tightens hers right back. The glares in like-indigo eyes stare out into the corridor at the lab-coat clad figure blocking their path.

"Going somewhere, your highness?"

tbc...

A/N: I think we all know who the guy in a lab coat is, right? Muwahaha. :-) So, the ikkou remains blissfully unaware and things are getting more and more tense. Hows about I give you a teaser. Next part...Hakkai might just take off his limiters with a bit of prompting from the kappa. If you know me at all, you should expect alot of 'fun' out of that. Not saying what kind of fun, but I get a kick out of all sorts of things. Okay, that's about it. Thanks for sticking with me. Off to get some exercise in and then maybe do the homework I have been neglecting. Boy, I must really love you guys. :-)

Crim