(A/N: So sorry that this took so long to get out! Spring Break happened, and then real life ran me over with a truck. -- Thank you guys for being so patient with me! -EoS)

--Chapter 10: Et dimitte nobis debita nostra--

Gojyo kept his face impassive, trying to keep the panic from Jien's sudden arrival out his eyes and his voice. He leaned against the nearby wall with his arms folded across his chest and the smallest bit of a smirk on his lips. "So, you came all the way here to apologize for her? Shit, you know this is nothing new." His gaze remained trained on his older brother, though the expression on his face contradicted his statement. The last thing he needed was pity from anybody, least of all Jien.

"That…doesn't make it okay." The familiar phrase made the redhead jump a bit, recalling that was what Hakkai had told him earlier on in the day. "I didn't know she would come here by herself," Jien tried again, ignoring his brother's silent pleas and hanging in his head in self-deprecation. His eyes grew wet when they trailed to the bandage on the younger man's arm that so starkly contrasted with his tanned skin. When the redhead noticed the look, he was quick to hide his arm behind his back.

"It's nothing, all right? It doesn't even hurt." He offered a brilliant, cocky smile then to dissuade his brother from pressing further. The lie rolled off his tongue in a practiced manner; truthfully, he had to hide the wince the pressure on the still-stinging wound was causing. "Besides, that priest guy fixed me right up. No harm, no foul."

Jien didn't look convinced. "You're a terrible liar, Gojyo." Then, the man's voice dropped to an almost whisper, so much that Gojyo had to strain to hear what he was saying. "I didn't send her here. I told her to stop coming up to see you. She agreed, but I guess she lied to me."

A slow burning began in Gojyo's veins at that. "Oh, really? And you thought that telling her would simply be enough? You know, this all started when you started going to see Kougaiji. That damn priest's always meddling in our business, insisting that you bring her here and make it all better. One big happy fucking family." Gojyo could swear that he could feel it burning the inside of his throat as he spat the words.

Jien's eyebrows furrowed hard in response, his cheeks reddening. "What does he have to do with this? He's a good man with a good heart-" he started, interrupted by a growl and the sound of Gojyo's fist connecting with the wall. Blood began to slither between his knuckles, brilliant red like the curtain of hair that swept down to hide the younger sibling's face from view.

"If it wasn't for that damned priest, you and Mom wouldn't visit at all. You never did before, until you met him. What, did you really think all of a sudden things would be all peachy? That we would be a perfect family because some priest said so? I don't need you, who never says anything to stop her. Then you turn around and spout lip-service apologies when it's already done. I have a family, Dokugakuji, and it isn't you." Crimson eyes turned in his direction then, emotions bare even as his face remained blank, like the surface of an ocean that hid the turbulent waves beneath the stillness. He had never accused his brother of anything before, but then again, he had never just come from an encounter like the one with Goku before either.

The redhead expected an explosion right back, or the weight of a fist cracking against his cheekbone. Instead, he received only a sigh. "You're right. You're absolutely right. Gojyo, I couldn't protect you, no matter what I did. It wasn't enough . . . ." His words trailed off after that, the dark-haired man looking away as his fist clenched at his side. The expression on his brother's face was pitying, enough to make Gojyo's anger ebb away and leaving him numb from the sudden switch in emotions. He dredged up a lazy smile and offered a shrug of his shoulders.

"Forget I said anything, okay? Today's been a weird day, and it has my nerves frayed." Again, Jien looked unconvinced, and the redhead could only sigh in frustration. "Look, Jien…you did what you thought was right. You didn't want to make it worse for any of us. I get that, I really do. Let it go, okay? It's done." Despite how calm he appeared, inwardly he was panicking. His fingers twitched and he felt a craving for a cigarette washing over him, anything to alleviate the nervous butterflies fluttering madly in his stomach. He had never wanted to have this conversation with his brother, ever.

Chocolate eyes widened in slight surprise, his gaze softening when the words finally sunk in. That was probably as close to forgiveness that he was going to get from his younger brother. He offered a weak smile and ruffled Gojyo's hair much in the same way the redhead was prone to do to Goku. "Yeah I guess. Who knew you were so smart?"

The redhead frowned at that, swatting the offending hand away playfully. "Shut up. So…we're cool, right?"

"Yeah, we're cool."

-----

Hakkai's vision blurred, the sheer amount of text he had flipped through in such a short amount of time making his eyes burn with exhaustion. The dim lighting from the light bulb hanging above him in the small room where the medical texts and record books were kept didn't help, coupled with the dust that was stirred up from flipping through the underused pages. Frustrated that he had yet to find anything that could even begin to explain the strange events of the afternoon, he removed his glasses and set them on the table, pressing the heel of each palm into an eye to rub them.

The soft clink against the wood of the table he was seated at caught his attention, noticing Aria smiling down at him when his eyes regained their focus. She looked in better spirits now that she had been told what had happened, though the worry in her face was apparent by the slight shadows underneath her eyes. "I thought you might need a pick-me-up, and perhaps some help," she offered as she took a seat beside him, taking a book from the stack and leafing through it. She didn't speak again as she glanced down at a random page, seemingly unaware that Hakkai was watching her.

The sound of laughter drifted into the room, and Hakkai couldn't mistake the slight smile that crossed her features at the sound filling the formerly quiet room. "Ah, must be Jien and Gojyo. It's good to hear him laugh…he seemed quite shaken by what happened today." Hakkai had resumed his fruitless search by flipping through the pages of the book in front of him, looking at Aria out of the corner of his eye.

The woman nodded, tossing the book aside and picking up another. "It's not always like that. Sometimes they argue, especially when their mother comes." She cut her words short then, biting her lip. She looked harder at the book, but Hakkai could tell she wasn't focusing on the words.

"I see." Truthfully, he was still curious about the strange redhead, but didn't want to seem impolite by asking. He knew what it was to have an unusual past that was better left unspoken about. "Their mother seems to be . . . a bit strange, I think."

Aria sighed, closing the book as she cast a look toward the door, a note of sadness threaded through her voice as she spoke. "She is. Gojyo was the result of her husband's infidelity. Though she doesn't want to see that it was an unwilling girl of barely fifteen who had no interest in a man nearly twice her age. A pretty young thing she was, so naturally she caught his eye. It didn't stop him that she wasn't interested, and once Gojyo was born, she killed herself and left him on his father's doorstep. Desperate to avoid people finding out what he had done, he convinced his wife to take care of the baby and raise it like her own. But, he ran off with some other woman not long after that, which is when their mother started treating him as she does."

Hakkai looked utterly horrified, his eyes narrowing into dangerous slits. He had half a mind to go and chase Jien out of the hospital. "That's. . . terrible. So, how did he end up here?"

Again, Aria refused to look the brunet in the face as she spoke. "My father runs the hospital here, so I was always here helping out as a child. Gojyo's mother would bring him in all the time with bruises and scrapes, claiming that he kept getting into accidents. Falling down the stairs, running into things . . . that sort of thing. Then, when he was about eight or nine, he started getting sick all of the time. It got so bad that finally she just left him here, and he's been here since. He just kept getting sicker and sicker, at least, until Goku was brought here. They saved each other, you know. Goku wasn't alone, and Gojyo found a reason to live. . . ." A note of pride swept through her voice then, unshed tears glistening in the corners of her eyes. Hakkai couldn't help but smile as well.

"They're both quite extraordinary, aren't they?" he remarked, unable to help the small tremor of jealousy that coursed through him at that. He'd only had Kanan for a short while, and he could hardly consider he and Sanzo to be as close as Goku and Gojyo appeared to be. He was sure that the blond wouldn't take too kindly to the idea if even dared suggest it.

As though reading his thoughts, the nurse offered a sly smile as her eyes finally met his own. "The two of you aren't so bad, I suppose. I had my doubts, but . . . it'll be all right." An amused laugh escaped her as a light flush colored the brunet's cheeks. Though, Hakkai couldn't help his surprise when she added, "And the two of you have your own chemistry. You shouldn't worry so much about it."

Just as the man went to protest, the sound of a phone ringing interrupted whatever he had been about to say. "Excuse me," she said, disappearing from the room. Hakkai stared dumbly after her for a few moments, finally letting out a resigned sigh. He picked up a nearby book that he hadn't flipped through and began his search once more.

-----

Meanwhile, Sanzo had found himself standing in front of the door to Goku's room, though instinctively he knew that the boy wasn't sleeping anymore. With a sneer, he opened the door to find him propped up in the window. The boy's form was illuminated in the moonlight, making him seem less than human once more. He had been staring out into the distance and hadn't noticed the blond opening the door. It wasn't until Sanzo cleared his throat, exaggerating the sound to get his attention. "Hey, brat…we need to talk."

Goku looked up then, his eyes wide and sad even as he offered a smile. "Sure…about what?" he asked, turning towards the blond. His eyes still glowed, though without the cruelty and callousness that he had seen only an hour or so before. For a moment, Sanzo found himself caught again by the boy's gaze on him. A shudder rippled through his body at those strange eyes, remembering what the thing had said about his attraction. He wondered vaguely if the boy had any idea of the war going on in his head.

At that line of thought, he shook his head lightly as a slight frown crossed his features. That was the last thing he needed to be thinking about. "You said some things when you were under that trance . . . and I wanted to know how the hell you knew them." He knew it was best to approach this bluntly. Taking a seat across from Goku on the windowsill, he did his best to quell his body's reaction to being so close to the boy.

To Sanzo's surprise, the other looked at him with a bemused expression, cocking his head to the side and studying the blond. "What do you mean? I didn't say anything," he insisted, frowning suddenly. "You may be thinking of something else. I don't remember saying anything."

"But you said . . . about Hakkai . . . And . . .you called me. . . ." Sanzo retorted, eyes narrowing. He knew what he had heard, even if this kid was being too stubborn to admit it. Then, it dawned on him that maybe Goku really didn't remember what had happened. He had been in a trance after all. "Never mind. Forget it."

"Well, what did I say? You look really upset, so it must have been bad." Those golden eyes were focused on the blond now, alight with curiosity and a hint of fear. Sanzo wondered absently why he was suddenly so interested in what had happened while his other self had been present. At the blond's look, Goku turned away and muttered something unintelligible under his breath. Irritated, the reluctant priest shoved him hard in the arm.

"Well?"

Goku's head shot up at that, still refusing to the look the other in the eye; instead, he fixed his glance on some undefined spot behind Sanzo's head. "This . . . isn't the first time this has happened. The first time was when the things on my head appeared. It was one of the reasons that they got so scared. They said that I attacked them and spoke in a weird language . . . ." His voice trailed off, wringing his hands together in nervousness. "I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"

"You really don't remember?" Sanzo asked, curious despite himself.

The younger man shook his head, moving his eyes to focus on the floor. "Another time, my friend and I were playing outside, climbing trees, when suddenly everything went black. It's fuzzy, but I remember waking up and I was covered in blood. My friend was laying on the ground, not moving, and his mother screamed at me to get away from him. I haven't been allowed outside since." Goku looked as though he were about to cry, his hands clenching the material of his jeans.

"Well, it doesn't matter. Just don't worry about it. It wasn't you . . . it wasn't nearly as annoying," the blond huffed, his only warning a sniffle before he found himself with a lapful of brunet. His entire body tensed and he reflexively went to shove the smaller form off of him. At least, until the feeling of warm skin pressed against the curve of his shoulder and a smaller hand clutching his robes made him hesitate.

"Thank you . . . Sanzo," was all the boy said, holding the priest tight as though he were afraid to let go. Forcing his body to relax, he rested his chin atop the messy mop of brown hair and threaded his fingers through the soft strands. The two of them sat underneath the moonlight in understanding silence, until Sanzo couldn't take it anymore. The closeness got to him and he shoved the smaller form off of him unceremoniously.

"Enough. Get off of me." A slight smile crossed the blond's features at that, but it disappeared before the brunet could see it. His body buzzed at the contact, a feeling that he wasn't entirely comfortable with but pushed to the back of his mind. He went to move off the sill and leave the room, but he felt a hand catch his wrist. "What now?"

"Stay with me . . . until I fall asleep?" Golden eyes gazed trustingly at him, and he found that he couldn't deny the request. Letting out an irritated sigh, he grabbed a nearby chair from the desk in the corner of the room and set it next to the bed as the boy snuggled down under the comforters.

"Stupid monkey," was all the blond said, folding his arms across his chest after clicking off the lamp next to the bed. As the sound of Goku's even breathing filled the room, another smile crept onto Sanzo's face and was lost somewhere in the darkness. He felt more at peace than he had in a long while.

(Translation: And forgive us our trespasses)