Same Difference
As uneventful days go, this one is the pinnacle. Sanzo managed to sleep through breakfast and lunch, but now that it is finally nearing dinnertime Hakkai is most adamant about ensuring the priests gets something in him once Gojyo and Goku are finished. Considering the dangers in waiting to bring leftovers when Gojyo and Goku are involved, Hakkai was prudent enough to set some food aside.
Sitting at the kitchen table—with Sanzo's food safely on the stove—the three generally healthy members of the ikkou chat amiably while sharing the meal Hakkai cooked. Throughout the day they found themselves in each other's company very seldom with Goku sneaking up to Sanzo's room, Gojyo being sent out to shop for supplies, and Hakkai fretting like the mother hen they all know him to be. Currently, they are very much enjoying the chance to talk and eat, while Hakuryuu sits on his favorite perch of Hakkai's shoulder and occasionally swoops onto the table to steal a piece of food.
Hakkai, finished sooner than the others since Gojyo and Goku fill up only at great length, pushes his chair and prepares to gather Sanzo's meal…when the door to the kitchen swings open.
The teasing between Gojyo and Goku stops mid-jab and Hakkai freezes, muscles somewhat tense since he had been about to rise out of his chair. Sanzo stands in the doorway, looking disheveled but rested, bare from the waist up other than the bandages on his face, around his hips, and where Seiten Taisei had wounded him beneath his left arm. The monk is barefoot as well and the state of him appearing so fragile and beaten keeps any immediate remarks at bay.
Head held high and eyes stern, Sanzo starts to walk towards the table, meeting any gaze that dares meet his. When he stumbles just shy of reaches the remaining chair, Goku is out of his seat and at the monk's side before Sanzo can even come close to falling.
Once steadied, Sanzo immediately pushes Goku away. "I don't need your help. Do I look like an invalid?" Sanzo grits, wanting to clutch at the wounds on his hips, aggravated now from walking, but unwilling to allow such a blatant show of weakness.
Without Goku's help he eases himself into the empty chair, and hard eyes turn to each of his staring companions before settling finally on Hakkai.
"Well, did you let these idiots eat us out of provisions or what?" he asks, not very kindly.
As is in Hakkai's nature, the healer does not take offense, but promptly rises as he had meant to before and fetches Sanzo's portion from the stove. Sanzo accepts it with little gratitude but that 'little' comes across as a softly muttered, "Thanks," and is enough to keep Hakkai and the others in good spirits.
Slowly, Gojyo and Goku return to eating as well, and Hakkai sits contentedly with a cup of tea, Hakuryuiu still perched on his shoulder though a little more wary now of snatching food. Only when Gojyo and Goku slip into their usual routine of passing insults and stealing from one another's plates does the slightly static atmosphere ease. When they do and Sanzo shouts, "Shut the hell up! If you think I left my gun upstairs, you're idiots," which he then proves by pulling it into view from where he had tucked it at the back of his jeans, everything is clearly back to normal
Goku and Gojyo quiet down but feel supremely justified in warring if only for the response they received. Normalcy. That's all one really needs.
-----
"Ow! If you're going to help me, quit stepping on my God damn feet!" Sanzo growls, barely tolerating Goku's hold on him as the monkey helps him back up the stairs.
With dinner finished, Hakkai ordered Sanzo back to bed, explaining that he would be up shortly for another ki treatment and to change the monk's bandages. Goku had insisted he help Sanzo up to bed and would not hear a single complaint against it. Agreeing to this gives Sanzo full rights, of course, to complain every step of the way there.
"Damn it!" Sanzo curses after Goku accidentally squishes one of his toes on the last step. "You're more hurt than you're help, you know that."
Goku is flushed, angry at himself for fairing so poorly at aiding his "damsel in distress" as Gojyo put it (which Sanzo swore death upon the kappa for saying). He holds Sanzo a little closer against him, being careful to watch where he puts his feet now that they have successfully mastered the stairs. "Sorry," he says, "You're way light but you're bigger than me, and those stairs are narrow."
"Stupid monkey," Sanzo grumbles, though any animosity seems to be forgotten in the petname these days. Sensing Goku's dipping mood, Sanzo tries to force his own to brighten, despite how hard it is with so many wayward and grisly images still flashing in and out of his thoughts, "Forget it. You're trying too hard anyway. You don't need to protect me every second, you know."
"Sure I do," Goku counters, kicking the door open since Sanzo had partially closed it when he left, and helping Sanzo over the threshold.
He would never say so, but the flush in Goku's cheeks isn't only due to self-directed frustration. He rather likes having Sanzo against him, dependant on him, with one skinny arm slung over his shoulder and his own arm wrapped supportively about Sanzo's waist.
"Protecting you's the part of the job you'll never be able to fire me from, Sanzo. You never had to hire it or ask for it, it's just something I gotta do. Coz it's you."
Sanzo refrains from commenting only because they have had this argument already and he knows he could never win against Goku-logic. "At least tone it down then. If I have to hear that kappa say one more comment like he made downstairs, I'm shooting him," Sanzo considers this a moment as Goku helps him into the bed. He smirks when he triumphantly thinks of something even better, "Or neutering the idiot. That'd shut him up."
A snicker escapes the back of Goku's throat, "Yeah, and just think how fun it would be dealing with a pissed Hakkai afterwards," he adds sarcastically, looking downright smug with his analysis.
Violet eyes dart upwards in fierce disdain for the comment. "I'll give you one guess who's getting neutered second." The monk remarks.
Just how wrong this comeback is hits Sanzo the second it leaves his mouth. Before Goku has time for his smile to fall into an expression of sorrow and regret, Sanzo reaches out and tugs on the monkey's hand.
"Now shut up and get in here. You'll only make trouble otherwise," the blonde orders, bypassing any of Goku's ideas of him being upset or wary of contact. The last thing Sanzo wants is another angst speech. What's done is done, he figures (his dreams be damned). What more needs to be said on the past?
A shudder of thunder sounds outside.
The irony of the gods knows no bounds, it would seem. Perhaps Sanzo can escape having to call himself a hypocrite if only he can hold Goku tight tonight and think of how he is at least trying to live as his master wanted, even if Koumyou cannot be here to see it for himself.
Although Goku complies and climbs under the covers to join Sanzo, the monkey is restless. He has nothing better to do, of course, and he wants to be with Sanzo, but it is far too early for sleep. Sanzo needs his rest but Goku is—as he always is after a romp as Seiten Taisei—in perfect condition.
Besides, "Hakkai's coming up soon," Goku mumbles into Sanzo's chest, curling in as close as he can while avoiding any of Sanzo's injuries, "You sure you don't mind?"
"What do I care? And since when do you?"
"Well…he's gonna be healing you and changing your bandages. Won't it be…weird with me in bed while he's doing that?"
Sanzo considers this, "At least having you here means he won't try anything."
This comment comes across as so strange to Goku he has no choice but to press for more, "Try anything? What did he do before?" the monkey asks, peeking bright golden eyes up at Sanzo from his snuggled position.
"I don't know," Sanzo admits tersely, his own eyes focused straight up at the ceiling, unseeing as he struggles to remember what is still just out of his grasp. He growls, "And that's the problem. I can't remember. Bastard. I hate it when he pulls shit like this, messing with my head."
Goku does not comment, but seeing as how Hakkai almost never uses mental tricks on him—Goku is too open to require any—and how Goku rather likes it when Hakkai uses them on Gojyo and Sanzo, he resolves to ask the healer about this issue later. Whatever it is, he guesses it has to be something good.
"Whatever it is, it's probably private," Sanzo adds, "So don't even think about asking him."
Damn it. Sometimes Goku hates how attuned Sanzo is to his way of thinking.
Absently, Sanzo nuzzles his cheek and chin into Goku's hair.
But only sometimes, the monkey thinks.
-----
Everything feels so strangely heavy and gritty, like trying to breathe through gravel. Kougaiji barely has the strength to open his eyes and at first he does not remember why. He does not remember that Nii had released some strange-smelling substance that had him and his companions on their knees and unconscious before they could even touch freedom. He does not remember the lingering sounds of Nii's laughter as his vision darkened. He does not remember the panic that had risen inside of him only to be crushed when the world snuffed out.
Opening his weary eyes to the sight of a grinning man with glinting glasses and common stubble about his face has Kougaiji instantly remembering all he had forgotten. "You bastard!" he growls, lunging towards the doctor with as much murderous intent as ever. The bonds holding him in place keep him stationary against the wall and sting his wrists for trying to strain them. "What is this…?" Kougaiji says, indigo eyes darting in hazy focus at his surroundings and his state of capture. He does not recognize this particular room but knows it to be somewhere in the castle.
"You and your friends are most safe, your highness. There is no need for you to worry," Nii grins, lazily tonguing the tip of his cigarette to make it gently bob at the side of his mouth, "The painful part will be quite brief, I assure you."
Kougaiji's mind rightly focuses on the word 'pain' and immediately turns to thoughts of his sister and his friends. "You…what have you done with them?"
"You think only them and your dear mother, never of the cost to your own life. How…noble of you." A few clicks on the cement floor echo as Nii steps closer to the bound prince. He grins around his cigarette and leans his face close to Kougaiji's, enough for each breath he takes to consume any fresh air with the smell of nicotine. "Do you ever think on why you are so selfless with your cohorts, hmm? With…the youkai woman in particular, perhaps?"
There is a shimmer of light that passes through Nii's eyes, greatly disturbing the prince, but when it has come and gone it leaves them looking inhumanly flat with no luminance at all. Kougaiji does not response vocally to Nii's allusion to Yaone. Part of his mind does not know what the doctor is referring to. But the other part is terrified of what the doctor might know.
"You have trained yourself well, your highness," Nii says, tilting his head only slightly and finding some impossible way to lean even closer to Kougaiji's face, "You show barely any emotion to betray your feelings. Ah, but I know the feelings even you will not face. Your own data was processed in an experiment of mine recently. It focused more closely on the Sanzo party, as I am so instructed, but the part you and yours inadvertently played…was most interesting indeed."
"What are you talking about?"
A smooth hand lifts, plucking the cigarette from Nii's mouth. He releases the smoke he had inhaled, causing it to waft up in a cloud that descends on Kougaiji at an agonizing pace. His eyes remain flat and black like his hair. "Love is a tricky thing. A dangerous thing. It causes so many to do so many foolish things. An otherwise sound man might…for example…throw himself before an enemy just to protect his treasured charge…but what does this sacrifice ultimately bring to both of them? Only pain."
Nii moves too fast, faster than Kougaiji would ever have imagined possible. His hand is on Kougaiji's throat now, not squeezing but applying faint, teasing pressure that warns and taunts.
Kougaiji is too proud to show his fear. He looks beyond it, wondering instead how this man, this human has grown so strong, been so strong without him realizing the extent. It has nothing to do with physical strength—the man's loose grip seems to say that even though Nii is clearly not intending the grip to hurt—but there is power in the man and Kougaiji can do nothing against it.
"Your love for them is noble indeed. But fighting would be so very unwise, your highness. I suggest a more submissive approach this time if you wish to avoid bringing such pain upon yourself."
A far off cry rips through the stale room, bouncing off cold walls and making it nearly impossible to judge where the scream has come from. Kougaiji's eyes fill with anger and fear, unable to hide either emotion. Though he does not know where the sound has come from, he knows the voice.
Yaone.
"I'll kill you…" Kougaiji vows, emotions raging behind the fire of his now illuminated eyes as he stares into the blackness within Nii, "Whatever it may take, however things may end, I promise you that. If you have done anything…"
"Now, now, your highness, don't be so rude. I promised you freedom from such pains if you cooperate, but that doesn't include…all pain," the doctor grins, "This particular experiment is very base, you see, but effective."
"What experiment? What are you doing to them?" And what do you plan to do to me, Kougaiji adds silently, though he would never vocalize such fearful thoughts.
The darkness surrounding Nii seems to swell, emanating from the flat planes of his empty, black eyes. He squeezes his grip on Kougaiji's neck, almost…affectionately, "My dear, dear prince…it will not last long. I only wish to enlist your services. It was you who included the others; your sister, the woman, and that brotherly protector of yours. Haha. But if you want a small bit of solace…before the true experiment begins…"
Nii's hand does not tighten further, but within the gaze of the doctor's eyes Kougaiji feels his throat constricting of its own accord, collapsing in on itself in sheer terror only this vile man could instill.
"Before the true experiment…temporary servitude is all I require to succeed."
-----
Hakkai's voice is close to quaking when he speaks, "Things haven't really settled down yet, Gojyo."
"Close enough." Gojyo shrugs and makes a very casual grab for Hakkai's left ear.
A grip anything but casual descends upon his wrist and stops him before he can reach it. "Never do that again, Gojyo." the healer warns, emitting his occasional darkness in rolling torrents that overcome his recent quaking. His grip is painfully tight on Gojyo's wrist. "If I cannot be trusted to remove them and place them back by my own power, than I am not to be trusted at all."
Gojyo is an entity of submission within the force of Hakkai's glare and grip. He backs off without question. "Bad move on my part, I got it," he says, and gives a light tug to free himself of Hakkai's grasp.
The healer is oddly reluctant but releases Gojyo and pulls back some of his unleashed anger. "I…I apologize. But please…if we are to do this, let me be the one to take each step forward. Belief in my control is slight enough as it is. I would like to maintain at least some semblance of it."
"I get it. I really do. But I'm still saying we should give it a go now while we're hold up here." Gojyo says, able to dismiss Hakkai's minor outburst with ease few others could manage. After so many years together, Gojyo has learned how far Hakkai can be pushed and how wise or unwise it may be to push a little further when the stakes are high. "You've fixed the monk up for the night, Goku's with him and out of our hair, the dragon's out on a romp in the rain…"
Shit, shit, shit, Gojyo curses himself for mentioning that last word. Sure he had noticed the claps of thunder and drops striking the roof and walls, but whatever possessed him to mention the phenomenon aloud must be one of his more masochistic traits.
"I mean…really, Kai, we've got a golden opportunity here." Gojyo starts anew, "It's just me and you. We can even lock the door if it worries you so--"
"The last thing I want is to give you an extra obstacle should I get out of hand. The door will not be locked."
Gojyo feels an oncoming grin before he can suppress it. "So…that means you're willing?"
Hakkai flinches visibly, his brow furrowed with conflicting desires. Gojyo stands before him looking so very confident and supportive, and now that Hakkai understands better Gojyo's reason for desiring this, he finds himself becoming more agreeable towards giving in.
Something in Hakkai's demeanor must have shifted to give his decision away, for Gojyo's smile widens and with a sure, unafraid hand, the kappa reaches out to take Hakkai's arm and pulls his friend into the center of the room. They do not speak but Hakkai motions Gojyo to back away to a safer distance. Only when he is very mildly soothed and convinced that Gojyo is far enough does he slowly begin reaching for his limiters.
Both Hakkai and Gojyo are dressed for bed, Gojyo wearing a pair of pants only, free of even his bandana. Hakkai, as is the norm for him, is in cotton pants and his black undershirt that exposes his neck and clavicle in great contrast to his high-collared tunic. He too is without his bandana, and with sudden resolve he reaches to his right eye instead of his limiters and tosses his monocle at Gojyo, who catches it easily. The kappa even has the gall to supply Hakkai with a teasing wink. But there is nothing funny in this act and Hakkai does not answer with even a smile.
The healer's next movement is so swift Gojyo believes the act to be done out of pure adrenaline.
Hakkai's limiters fall to the floor and bounce lightly on the carpet. He does not call out as Goku would, but releases small, cutoff sounds of painful distress that are dimmed by having to pass through tightly clenched teeth. He convulses only slightly and staggers a single step forward before reclaiming his footing and looking up at Gojyo with an unfathomable expression.
This is not the first time Gojyo has seen Hakkai transform—once before Hakkai removed his limiters to save the kappa's life—but something in the motivation this time makes it so much different. And the look on Hakkai's changed face speaks of that difference. This youkai Hakkai has nothing to overtly attack and its only focus of attention just now…is Gojyo.
Gojyo realizes he is clutching Hakkai's monocle a little too tightly, but can't bring himself to loosen his grip. Hakkai, standing in the middle of the room in all his transformed glory, is something Gojyo's eyes are transfixed with so completely the kappa can hardly imagine moving. The first and only other time Gojyo saw Hakkai this way it passed by him in a blur—literally. One moment Hakkai was changed and the next he was in motion, ridding the room of Gojyo's captors. By the time Gojyo caught sight of Hakkai afterwards the healer was already placing his limiters back where they belong.
This time Gojyo can take his time looking. Hakkai's hair is longer, not quite as long as the dreamworld Gonou's had been, but as long as the real Gonou kept it. It brushes his shoulders and falls well past his eyes, which are iridescent now, with slit pupils. Fangs reveal themselves from within Hakkai's slightly slack mouth, and most notably of all, something Gojyo marveled at even with the brief glimpse he caught that time before, are the many vines wound about Hakkai's form, covering nearly every space of skin. Black vines with black leaves. Hakkai once said there must be 1000 of them to match every life he took.
"Fuck," Gojyo says beneath his breath. When Hakkai tilts his head with a strange semi-smile, Gojyo knows even his whisper was loud enough for the youkai ears to hear, "Uhhh…" he tries, not knowing quite what to say or do since he hadn't given this nearly as much thought as he made Hakkai think he had, "You…umm…okay then?"
Hakkai's head moves awkwardly, turning slowly to look down at clawed hands that appear like pieces of artwork decked in daggers. The youkai turns his hands in the light, catching the contrast of white skin and black vines. Gojyo does not have to ask whether or not his friend has ever studies himself this way before, it is clear this is the first time he has ever really looked.
"Hakkai…?"
Glitteringly dangerous eyes look up and Hakkai flexes his fingers, testing the movement of his long claws. "I…this…" he can barely form the words he means to say, not because his voice and intellect are lessened as one might think of Seiten Taisei, but because he has never thought to speak in this form, nor does he quite no what he should say. In the end he tries his best to smile though the expression is far more devious and frightening than he may intend. "I am…fine, Gojyo. I think you may have been on to something…when you first thought…to have me stretch my claws…" Hakkai does so, momentarily distracted by how they glint at sharp, deadly angles. His voice is like his own but different, slightly deeper and rumbling as if half of it is constantly growling.
Gojyo finally manages to stop squeezing Hakkai's monocle so tight. He walks the few steps to an end table and sets the eyeglass down, careful to never look away from the youkai still standing in the center of the room.
Lifting his eyes to watch Gojyo, since Hakkai could not help noticing the other man's movements, Hakkai tilts his head as he had before, looking disturbingly like an animal considering its prey. "Gojyo…what…do you suppose…should we do…now?" he asks. The initial sense of control Gojyo had felt from Hakkai already seems somewhat lessened.
With all the strength in him, Gojyo does not think any answer would be a smart one.
"Gojyo…" Green eyes practically glow, lowered as Hakkai's lowers his head the smallest bit, grins, and takes the first of many following steps towards the redhead on the other side of the room.
"Shit…uhh…is…this the part where I should be running for the not locked door?" Gojyo says, his voice a mad rush, with pride alone keeping him from stepping back and forming his body into the wall behind him.
"Are you…afraid, Gojyo?"
"Should I be…?"
Green eyes glitter and a feral grin widens further still.
"Hakkai…?"
The barest twitch of the youkai's shoulders is enough to warn Gojyo of the impending attack but still, he moves too slowly when the strike finally comes. There is a clawed hand attached to his wrist before he has even begun trying to escape, but try he does, struggling to get his legs to move and carry him safely…anywhere. His frantic efforts send him tumbling into the end table next to him and he crashes to the floor, knocking the table onto its side and sending Hakkai's monocle to bounce under the bed.
Gojyo's head strikes the wall and he feels an ill-timed haze attack his senses. There is still a clawed hand on his wrist and a very unpredictable youkai attached to it. He tries to focus on that but is distracted when a hot breath hits the side of his face and a gruffer version of his friend's voice speaks beside his ear.
"Gojyo, Gojyo…you aren't running away, are you? I would never attack you."
Something in Hakkai's voice makes it strangely untrustworthy.
Gojyo forces his head to clear and he looks towards the warm breath and strange voice, meeting intense emerald. Hakkai is practically on top of him, though Gojyo's is curled on his side with how he fell.
"Not attack me…?" Gojyo repeats with a noise of disbelief, "Sorry to say but…trying for what Seiten Taisei tried with the monk…is not my idea of something better than being attacked."
"Is that what you think I want, Gojyo?" Still Hakkai wears his cryptic, eerie grin as he speaks.
"Just a little," Gojyo replies, debating his options and wondering just how much he is against a little rough play if the alternative means he has to call out to the monk and monkey for help.
Hakkai pushes Gojyo fully onto his back and leans over him, one hand still attached to Gojyo's wrist while the other stays pressed into the carpet near Gojyo's head. "Now, now, Gojyo…do you think I would give into you so easily when sex is so clearly what you have been craving?"
The youkai's movements are so quick Gojyo is aware only of rushing air before he is suddenly on his feet and being pressed painfully back into the wall. He hisses at the jolt of collision, feeling dizzy at being lifted so swiftly. He shakes his head, focusing on green, on fangs, and on the clawed hands holding his shoulders.
The wrong move could end in some very nasty cuts.
"How does it feel to be so helpless against me…" Hakkai asks, pressing his body flush against Gojyo and pushing forward with all his weight. "Me…the perfect, submissive, polite and ineffectual mother of our…wayward group. Hmm? Tell me…Gojyo…do you like seeing a side of me you can't bend to your will?"
Now Hakkai is speaking riddles, Gojyo thinks, for he honestly has no idea what the youkai is talking about. "Since when do you bend to my will?" Gojyo says before he has had time to clear his head fully and think better on what to say, "All those things you just called yourself, what a load of bullshit. Mother of the group? I'll give you that one. But you're not perfect…" he stops, moving his gaze over every changed feature on Hakkai's face, "…and I never want you to be."
Hakkai does not reply, but his strange and snarling expression flickers.
"Helpless? Do I feel helpless? Hell yeah I do. I got a 160 pound youkai of raw muscle and raw power pressing me back into a wall. I'm helpless. But you know what the really stupid thing is?" Gojyo pauses for effect, straining to smile and meet the gaze that has yet to waver as it watches him. "The stupid thing is…I'm still not nearly as afraid…as I maybe should be. Coz…shit, Hakkai…freaky as you are sometimes…you're still you."
That expression of unfathomable desire and animalistic intrigue slips from Hakkai's face. His eyes still glitter, his fangs still gleam within his open mouth, but he looks like himself somehow, so very tentative and aware. "I…would never…hurt you, Gojyo…" he says, his voice quiet and oddly calm, but still with its liberal remnants of gravel. "I would…never…do anything you did not want of me…"
"Yeah," Gojyo says softly, even less afraid and therefore, even more helpless now, "I know you wouldn't, Hakkai."
"Gojyo…" The senses in Hakkai telling him to seek, to overcome, to destroy in some form, any form, rise up in him slowly, trying desperately to take back the control they had so briefly held. Hakkai's hands start to shake and the tips of his claws scratch at Gojyo's skin.
Gojyo sucks in a quick breath. The cuts are small and shallow, they don't matter, he tells himself. But right now what he really wishes is that Hakkai's limiters weren't all the way across the room.
Still shaking, Hakkai removes his hands from Gojyo's shoulders, leaving them only slightly marred, and he stops pressing Gojyo so tightly to the wall. Their bodies are still flush, but Hakkai's hands slowly lower. Before they have gone even halfway, however, one of his more unseemly senses kicks in and they start to move back up.
Gojyo flinches when he feels Hakkai's claws touch his skin again and though the youkai is careful with them it makes little difference when the hands they are attached to are starting to wrap around Gojyo's throat.
Panic rises in the hanyou and a series of images rush through his head. His mother and her axe, Sanzo with his hands—just like Hakkai's—wrapped around his throat, Kami-sama and his damn beads, and a hundred other close calls Gojyo would rather forget.
Gojyo closes his eyes against the rise of images. He knows he isn't helpless. He knows he could still try to fight Hakkai somehow, but the strength to do so is lost somewhere and try as he might he cannot find it.
When he opens his eyes and meets emerald again, he feels the hands on his neck tighten with a sudden urgency, causing him to audibly choke, before the hands, the eyes, and the youkai himself…are suddenly gone.
By the time Gojyo has regained his breath, a very human looking Hakkai is heading towards him, limiters very neatly back in place.
"So…" Gojyo says, a grin on his lips at how he once again escaped the worst possible scenario, "Taking those things off releases your sadistic side, huh? Good to know. I just about shit my pants back there."
Hakkai does not return Gojyo's smile. He says nothing, but walks briskly to Gojyo and raises already chi-filled hands to heal the small cuts on Gojyo's shoulders and neck. The cuts are gone in barely a moment.
Without looking into Gojyo's eyes, Hakkai tries to pull away once he has healed his friend, but Gojyo grabs the man's very skilled and very beautiful hands and brings them to his lips. "Don't you dare."
"Dare…what?" Hakkai prompts softly, eyes cast to the floor.
"Don't be Goku."
Hakkai is silent for some time. "That was…not very wise, Gojyo." He says at last.
"You okay?" Gojyo says rather than address Hakkai's very true statement. He kisses Hakkai's slightly trembling hands again.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
"Nah." Gojyo counters, "So we got some issues to deal with. Okay. I can handle that. Apparently I gotta prove to you I don't see you as the submissive woman in the relationship. That should be easy enough."
Hakkai promptly blushes, though he tries to tell himself he has absolutely no idea what Gojyo means.
"And another thing…" Gojyo says, tugging on Hakkai's hands to pull the healer against him in a parody of how they had been pressed together with Hakkai's youkai form holding Gojyo against the wall. "Differences proven, Hakkai. You stopped yourself." And for his troubles, Gojyo is rewarded with the sweet sight of emerald green looking up at him. Gojyo grins. "All we gotta do now…is make sure you're always able to."
Hakkai's first thought is to disagree with this or to somehow come up with a reason why this incident means he should never again take his limiters off for such a purpose. But when he thinks back on what happened and how he had felt with his limiters off…somehow he knows he meant what he said when he swore he would never hurt Gojyo. He couldn't. Not really, not in the final, defining moment.
And even with how close things had come to turning as ugly as Hakkai most feared, Gojyo still trusted him and trusts him now. Gojyo's affection is not even the smallest bit changed.
"…agreed." Hakkai answers, smiling and meeting crimson without an ounce of hesitance.
"Good to hear. Now…about you and me and this submissive nonsense."
"Gojyo…"
"Just so you know, you can take me any time you want. I don't plan to be picky."
"Gojyo."
"I'm just sayin'."
"Well you can stop."
Gojyo sports a pout for barely half a second before his usual grin breaks the surface. "Can I start again tomorrow?"
Hakkai doesn't answer, but in the secret little corner of his mind reserved for racier, uninhibited thoughts, he answers with a very anticipating yes.
tbc...
A/N: Okay, this is another one of those chapters I'm not entirely sure about. The Hakkai limiter thing did not turn out quite how I wanted. What do you think? Anyway, I have some things to explain here, one being that I keep forgetting to give my dear wonderful roommate credit for the "Sanzo waking to Hakuryuu" moment, since I was complaining about forgetting the poor dragon and she said, "Well...why not have him there when Sanzo wakes up." Genius! Also, I am going into Media Deprevation for the next three days so I can't respond to reviews for a bit. This is also why I have stayed up way too late to give you a chapter since I can't go on the internet for a few days after this. And...since I can only do homework and write for three days...you'll probably have another chapter by Saturday. Go me! Love you guys as much as ever. Please let me know how this part went.
Crim