Right Where He Wants

"Sanzo…"

"I'm being fucking still, god damn it, just take them off!"

Hakkai tries not to snicker at the monk's blatant lack of control. Being the next morning, the healer has dutifully appeared once again to remove Sanzo's bandages after last night's final ki treatment. However the cuts look now, there is little more he can do.

The pair is alone in the bedroom since both Gojyo and Goku, along with Hakuryuu, are downstairs eating breakfast. Goku had mentioned wanting to stay when Hakkai first came in but Sanzo made a big show of not needing the chimp every second of the day and that if he really wants to help he should leave and be productive. Eating is, of course, the most productive activity Goku could imagine.

"There. That's all of them." Hakkai says, tossing the last of Sanzo's bandages into the trash. To Sanzo's extreme impatience Hakkai seems hesitant to look directly at the monk's face, and even when he had been removing the bandages his gaze remained relatively passive. "Would you like my expert opinion then or…merely a mirror?" the healer adds.

"Just tell me, for fuck's sake," Sanzo grumbles, avoiding Hakkai's gaze perhaps even more than Hakkai is avoiding making his judgment, "I'm not a child. It doesn't matter either anyway." With a small huff, Sanzo adds, "If it looks terrible, maybe all those damn perverts will finally leave me alone."

Hakkai laughs good-naturedly, pleased that Sanzo is at least trying to seem at ease. But the monk's adamant display of apathy is quite telling of how he must actually feel, and the last thing Hakkai wants is to be the bearer of bad news. "Well then…" Focusing his eyes slowly, Hakkai turns his full attention to the details of Sanzo's face. He had noticed between treatments that the welts became less and less vibrant, but to be hopeful as to imagine not a single scar remaining is very foolish. Therefore, Hakkai rightly gasps when he looks…and finds not a single one.

Reflexively, Sanzo's fierce eyes tighten at hearing Hakkai's gasp, but he quickly opens them again to dismiss any thoughts of him being nervous. He stares up at the ceiling, saying nothing.

"Sanzo…" Hakkai begins in a gentle tone, "…I honestly don't know how you manage. But someone up there must really like you."

The ceiling is abandoned for Hakkai's kind face in a heartbeat.

Hakkai laughs, "Though I suppose you may not like the idea of someone looking out for you. Still…the skin is smooth, perfect. You would hardly know there had been such deep marks before. Goku will be pleased."

Turning the conversation onto Goku eliminates the need to add, "I'm sure you're pleased, as well, Sanzo," while still alluding to how true it must be.

Strangely, Sanzo is not as pleased as one might imagine. To Sanzo's own surprise…he is quite deeply disappointed.

Looking away from his smiling friend, Sanzo returns his gaze to the ceiling. Instead of finding blank, white plaster he is affronted with coinciding images that he has seen on numerous occasions. One a centipede-like patch of rubbery skin just above a good friend's navel, the other parallel lines that droop slightly beneath another good friend's left eye. He can recall not a single patch or gathering of lines on his own form and against his will it sickens him.

What makes him so pure, so above being marked? What makes him unworthy to carry tokens of mistakes and trials? What makes him untouchable alabaster when those closest to him are truly, humanly (even when they are not) vulnerable in ways he could only dream about?

It is a sick fancy perhaps that Sanzo longs to have some remembrance of Seiten Taisei's rampage, but just once he would like to prove he is not as untouchable as some would think.

He seems to forget that Goku too remains perfectly unmarred in all his lightly bronze-skinned glory. Not even a gash on his leg when he was younger stayed more than a day, each time smoothing out again. But Goku is something unlike all of them, Sanzo reasons, not a man who very likely should have died…over ten years ago.

"Ah, but there is one thing, Sanzo," Hakkai says, perhaps unaware of Sanzo's silent turmoil but pleasant regardless, "I hope it will not wound your ego too much, but there is one small mark remaining."

Sanzo must have heard wrong. He turns once more to face Hakkai.

"Yes, it seems the cut that ran through your eyebrow left a small reminder. It's not surprising really. Injuries there often come out this way. The hair will probably not grow back in that small area, but otherwise it is quite unnoticeable, I assure you."

Brimming with curiosity now, Sanzo reaches for the first time to touch his bandage-free face, running the tips of his fingers over his left eyebrow. Not quite in the center but slightly more towards his nose is a thin absence of hair where the eyebrow simply stops and then begins again a few millimeters later.

Sanzo supposes he can be satisfied with that.

Leaning forward to check Sanzo's temperature with a swift and practiced hand, Hakkai pulls back a moment later with a pleased nod and signals his departure.

"Rest yet today and we can leave some time tomorrow," the healer says, heading for the door. He speaks again quickly before Sanzo can interrupt, "And I know you feel fine and want to be moving, but although the wounds to your arm and hips appear smooth and healed as well, I know they still hurt. We'll leave tomorrow."

Much as Sanzo may want to protest, he knows it will do little good against Hakkai's maternal nature. He resolves to grunt his unenthusiastic agreement and rolls onto his side to rest, pleased that at least his hips feel good enough to allow him to sleep in a different position.

Hakkai smiles to himself before leaving, comprehending the monk's mood better than most could hope to.

-----

Goku remained down in the kitchen with Gojyo and Hakkai well after they finished breakfast. It was only when Gojyo told him to get lost and stop waiting around for lunchtime that Goku figured he could return to Sanzo without the monk yelling at him for being so over-attentive.

Traversing up the stairs, Goku quiets his steps a little more the closer he gets to Sanzo's room. He swells with pride at his self-restraint when he enters his and Sanzo's room to discover the monk sleeping, knowing that he actually did good for once and didn't wake his savior up. He creeps quietly after shutting the door behind him, conscious of every sound.

Hakkai had mentioned taking a trip into town, but Goku said the other two could go since he would much rather be as over-attentive as Sanzo keeps accusing him. Besides, Goku knows Sanzo isn't really upset by it or he wouldn't pull Goku close every time the monkey climbs into bed.

It is a risk to be sure, but Goku does not want to crawl into the empty bed next to Sanzo's. He figures he might as well try and slip in beside the monk carefully, and if Sanzo wakes up maybe he won't be so hard on Goku if the chimp is already in bed with him.

Goku is happily barefoot and in just his pants and T-shirt. He instantly feels more relaxed and off-guard this way, which, since he so often has to remain on-guard, is a welcome release. He still wishes he could be in just his pants and T-shirt without the limiter as well, but his hopes for reaching such a point have almost entirely dwindled. Sanzo is more important, and even if he might hurt the monk later, he would rather not speed the process along.

Settling in beside Sanzo without incident, he gives an internal shout of jubilation. He stays sitting up at first, not touching Sanzo but watching him, watching the small movements of the monk's body in breath and the rapid movement of his eyes in dreaming. He is turned on his side away from Goku but the monkey is enjoying peering over Sanzo to watch him sleep, so he doesn't really mind. Somehow, seeing Sanzo curled up this way makes him look even more approachable, though sleep often is enough to do some of that on its own. In sleep Sanzo cannot wear any of his façades, and without them he looks…

"Beautiful…"

Goku snaps his mouth shut. Even as a whisper he knows he shouldn't have said anything. Sanzo might wake up. But he cannot ignore the thought he voiced for it is very, very true. Sanzo has always been beautiful to him, since the first day Goku saw him with all the sun's light shining behind him as he came to Goku and reached out his hand. Sanzo is beautiful.

Goku gives a little start. The wrappings are gone from Sanzo's face, he sees now. He hadn't noticed at first. Sanzo is turned onto the side that partially covers his once scratched face, so Goku leans further over the monk to see. He releases his breath, not having noticed he was holding it. Sanzo does indeed look perfect and beautiful on both sides, not forever scarred as Goku feared. One thing Goku does notice but is not really disturbed by is the little nick in Sanzo's eyebrow.

Leaning further yet Goku dares reach a hand to touch the mark, only half aware of his actions until he has felt the tiny divot and pulled back. Goku is hovering very close to Sanzo now, barely able to keep from touching him, and still, the monk sleeps on. Goku ponders if Sanzo might be fooling him, but the even breaths and rapid eyes (still closed) seem genuine enough.

A wicked smile is on Goku's face before he can banish it. He leans the last bit closer to plant a very innocent kiss on Sanzo's cheek. When Sanzo fails yet again to wake, Goku plants another. Successful again, Goku begins a slow, soft trail of kisses down Sanzo's neck. He keeps going, his lips tingling with the feel of soft, warm flesh beneath them. Pulling the sheet down just the smallest bit, he reveals Sanzo's shoulders and kisses there as well. The skin on the curve of Sanzo's shoulder is so very sweet, Goku decides, and when the idea of 'sweet' is in his head he really has no choice but to try for a taste.

Sanzo moans ever so lightly and Goku freezes, managing to pull his tongue like a lizard's back into his mouth before Sanzo turns to look at him with a mild glare. "What the hell is wrong with you? Do I look like an entrée?"

All wickedness banishes from Goku's mind, replaced by a sense of utter disgust for allowing wickedness at all. Goku does not want to be wicked. He does not want to be like him.

It mystifies Sanzo that Goku does not speak and that the monkey seems to be losing every bit of color in his usually tan face. Soon, Goku even seems to be trembling. "Hey…cut that out," Sanzo commands, barking his words but meaning them at the deepest level.

Goku pushes himself up quickly, rapidly shaking his head and looking paler by the second. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Sanzo. I didn't…I shouldn't have…I mean you weren't even…wh-what if…you didn't want me to…"

Sanzo can hardly make sense of Goku's ranting but understands immediately his charge is having some kind of breakdown. Really, Sanzo thought he had dealt with all this shit, but maybe that was just wishful thinking. "Idiot, you never apologized before," he says, already exasperated as he reaches to grab Goku and yank the monkey back down beside him.

For the first time, Goku pulls out of his reach. "I…I'm sorry, I just…after what I…almost did…I…I shouldn't do things like that when you don't know, I mean…it's so…it's just like…"

"Goku, enough. You didn't do anything wrong. So you're a horny monkey. Who cares? I'm used to it by now."

Goku flinches. "But…but he…"

"God damn it."

Sanzo extends his reach to grab the monkey whether he wants to be caught or not and pulls until a shaking lump of mumbling, ranting, nonsense-talking pile of limbs is lying beside him. He turns Goku in his arms, the boy being only too compliant in this strange mood, until he can best pull the boy close. Goku's back is pressed into his chest and he holds him there firmly, speaking over Goku's shoulder.

"You're really getting on my nerves, ya know that? All this self-loathing crap, I can't stand it. We talked about this already. I'm not angry at you. You can say all you want that you and the other part of you are one in the same. But I'll tell you this. If he would have gotten what he wanted that day…it wouldn't have changed a damn thing between us." Within his tight hold Sanzo feels Goku's trembling start to cease, but the monkey says nothing, so Sanzo speaks on, "If you don't get the difference, then you really are an idiot. How could I be mad at you if I didn't see it as you? It was him. To me there will always be a you and a him, because when we're together there's never a question of dominance. Power doesn't belong to just one of us. With him? He wanted to claim something. I don't think you do."

"I don't! Of course I…don't," Goku jumps in, grabbing tight to the encompassing arms Sanzo has wrapped around him.

"So what does it matter to me if you try stuff without permission? Since when do you ask my permission for anything? I don't want you to. I don't want you thinking you have to. You'll piss me off if you try this spontaneous shit too often, but…never coz I'm thinking of you like him."

Goku quiets again, huddled in Sanzo's arms and enjoying the feel of the monk at his back, so warm and comforting. He understands his own foolishness but cannot escape it. Every sweet and supportive word from the monk is more than Goku would ever ask for, but in the back of his mind he still sees darkness. He sees that darkness in himself with fangs and claws and no…attachment.

And everyone needs a little attachment, don't they?

Holding Goku as close as he can without causing himself pain, Sanzo accepts the fleeting silence and closes his eyes, breathing in deeply the scents of Goku's hair and sun-kissed skin. Even when the monkey has bathed and been trapped indoors still does he smell of something wild and earthy. Sometimes Sanzo forgets how much he loves the smell before being reminded by Goku's absence, however brief. Only then, only when he can miss it does he recognize its worth.

"Goku…where's your pack?"

Sanzo's whisper is so light that although Goku hears it he is uncertain if he has heard correctly. "My…pack?" he asks.

"Where is it?" Sanzo asks again.

"Uhh…I think…behind you. In the corner."

Cold permeates the bed as Sanzo turns and shifts, leaving Goku on his own. Without the monk to hold him steady, Goku shivers, feeling strangely isolated. He does not turn to see what Sanzo is doing, but he lifts his head when there is the sound of a slight click as Sanzo places something on the nightstand.

But…what could he have gotten from Goku's pack? The monkey is about to turn and ask when Sanzo's warmth returns, along with arms that wrap affectionately around him. He forgets he even had a question, just resting again with Sanzo behind him and nothing but peaceful bliss between them. Like this, Goku can almost imagine nothing horrific happened those few days ago.

"Are you better now?" Sanzo whispers, his breath dusting Goku's ear.

It occurs to Goku as odd to hear Sanzo whisper in this manner, so feathery light. Sanzo can speak softly and even gently on occasion but never in a true, alluring whisper. The feel and sound of it is too strange, and Goku shivers before offering a weak nod.

"This will not come up again, you understand?" Sanzo says, still breathy but with more urgency behind his words, "No more guilt trips, no more sob story. I'm fine. And you and that other part, even while the two of you are the same, you're separate. He wants to claim me. You…want to be with me." Sanzo's whisper becomes so soft and—Goku dares not think it—sensual. "And…there is more than one way to be with me…if you want to prove how different the two of you are."

Goku's heart is already racing like a lab rat expecting to be shocked. At times the monkey may be a little slow on the uptake, but when something hits him, it all hits him at once.

Sanzo's question. The pack. Sanzo's tone. The click of something on the nightstand. Sanzo's words. The feel of more than warmth now, the feel of heat.

Goku blushes clear down to his toes. "Sanzo…"

"I'll prove it doesn't matter, Goku. It never did."

"S-Sanzo…" Goku hisses, sucking in a sudden gulp of air in reaction to what Sanzo is doing.

The monk's tight hold has loosened, one of his hands traveling seemingly innocent down to Goku's hip and then turning to reach between the boy's legs. The sensation has Goku completely floored. Sanzo has never touched him. It has always been Goku leading with Sanzo either unwilling to respond or returning caresses only fleetingly. The touch Goku is being granted now is anything but fleeting.

"San…zo…"

"So noisy…" Sanzo replies in his sensual whisper, "And if you ever stop being that way I'll never forgive you."

Goku would laugh if he thought Sanzo only meant his words in this context, but he knows Sanzo's command stretches further than the bedroom. If Goku wasn't a noisy monkey who would Sanzo tell to shut up? Who would Sanzo hear even when the rest of the world is silent?

True to form, Goku remains constantly noisy with little whines, yips, moans, and a long strain of muttered "Sanzos". Soon the initial novelty of this as the first time begins to pass and Goku relaxes into the sensation of Sanzo's hand working him.

The sound of a zipper being pulled down strikes Goku's ears before he notices how Sanzo's hand has shifted. He doesn't know what to expect next since Sanzo has shown such little sensuality in the past. Not that Goku would ever call Sanzo a poor lover—and the monk is an amazing kisser—but the novice level of Sanzo's love-life portrays itself far more than Goku's.

Sanzo reaches beneath the elastic of Goku's shorts and renews his hold, surprisingly self-assured. But he must be assured, for if he shows hesitance just now he might disillusion Goku into thinking he is resistant to repay what Goku so boldly gives without thought. Sanzo is not fearful of taking charge, only inexperienced. He means to prove to himself and Goku that if dominance means nothing than there should be an ease to their relationship in every form.

Squeezing experimentally the flesh in his grasp Sanzo relishes in the gasps that spill from Goku's lips. Before, Goku's only sounds of pleasure were by the monkey's own doing, regardless of the role Sanzo's body might have played. The other times Sanzo ran his hands over Goku's naked skin and kissed the boy's neck and chest, but it was such meager acts compared to the full indulgence Goku took in pleasuring Sanzo. Tonight any form of such one-sidedness will no longer have a place.

Sanzo moves his lips to the nape of Goku's neck, kissing there with each movement of his hand. Goku is quickly hard within his hold, still being wonderfully noisy, though not so loud Sanzo's fears Hakkai and Gojyo will come charging up the stairs. Sanzo is hardly the best judge of sexual satisfaction, on himself or others, but he knows what feels good and what can be a tease just on the border of pleasure.

Only when he has brought Goku to the edge, and the monkey is on the brink of falling to a blissful demise, does Sanzo stop. He slides Goku's pants and shorts down the boy's legs in a single, smooth motion, only stopping when the articles get caught around Goku's ankles. Desperate need has Goku madly kicking them off until they get lost somewhere in the sheets.

Impatient monkey, Sanzo smirks, pleased that Goku is clearly aware of what he plans to do and not at all against the idea. It annoys Sanzo how he has to uncoil his arms from around Goku in order to undo his own pants, so he works quickly, sliding his pants off to settle around his knees. The bandages over his hips are gone now, with only faint marks remaining of the puncture wounds that will soon heal. Over-activity still hurts though, and what Sanzo has in mind is definitely over-active. So he tells himself he doesn't care and reaches behind to grope for the tube on the nightstand.

Goku is being so still and silent, left alone to his thoughts while waiting for Sanzo's warmth to return. Sanzo does not like such stillness in Goku and runs a hand down the monkey's arm, slow and soothing.

"Hey…brat…I'm not looking for a dead-fuck here so you better snap out of it." Sanzo's words are seldom the type to offer pleasant solace, and besides, Goku is used to a rougher form of being pacified.

The norm works well, "I'm…I'm here, Sanzo…" Goku says, his voice shaky at the height of pleasure, still lingering in his body from Sanzo's touch. He looks over his shoulder, meeting violet for the first time since Sanzo awoke. "Sanzo…don't stop now…I want--"

"What do you want?"

Goku blushes, the intensity of violet searing back at him with something so blindingly sexy and…predatory. No! Not predatory, Goku thinks. Predatory is him. Sanzo wants me. He wants us to be equal.

And I want that too.

"I want you…"

Arching his neck back almost to the point of pain, Goku reaches for that lost touch of lips on lips. Sanzo's meets him halfway and the crick in his neck fades. The way Sanzo kisses him is…different somehow. Slower. Deeper. As if the monk is giving Goku the perfect preview to what he has planned.

The prospect has Goku shivering when they pull apart, and when Goku turns forward again to save his neck the strain, he consciously presses back into Sanzo until he can feel the hardening length of his master against him.

Sanzo fights off a deep shudder and squeezes Goku's shoulder. He can't wait much longer. He has to begin now.

A thorough coating is on Sanzo fingers and the tube is quickly forgotten, knocked off the bed or lost. Sanzo reaches for Goku's opening with hesitance he knows couldn't possibly compare with what the boy must be feeling. Goku is always so confident and sure when topping Sanzo, but this is a different dynamic, with Sanzo playing the game like he never has.

Goku gasps a little when Sanzo first begins to stretch him. It doesn't hurt—Goku's tolerance for pain is quite remarkable despite his constant shouts of 'ow!" whenever the fan comes into play—but the feeling is singularly unique. It makes his stomach feel funny, Goku decides, and he wonders how much of the feeling is due to angry butterflies.

"Sanzo…" I'm ready.

"Mm." I know.

Sanzo amazes himself for being able to take Goku as deeply as he does when he first begins to push in, because everything in the monk's line of vision is stars and flashes of light—his senses overrun. Goku is being noisy again and Sanzo can think of nothing better than finding more ways to draw little whimpers from his charge.

The first backstroke causes Sanzo to hiss more than Goku does. He has to be gentler, for Goku's sake and his own. No large sign remains on his skin of his wounds, but he is still sore where Seiten Taisei gripped his hips and plunged deadly claws. Sanzo does not want to be reminded. So he slows. Moving his hands to take Goku's hips in his grasp, he uses the monkey's lighter weight and moves Goku against him to better control each thrust. The ache in his own hips dulls but he keeps the rhythm steady and fluid to the most torturous extreme.

Goku gropes back with his hand to find some hold, some anchor, finally gripping the back of Sanzo's neck and leaning his head against the monk's chest. Sanzo seems to need the grip he has on Goku's hips, so Goku reaches down with his other hand, focusing fully on the sensations of Sanzo in him, around him, and with him, that it almost seems unnecessary when he reaches to touch himself.

Sanzo grunts something unintelligible and one of the hands that had been guiding Goku's hips slips around to knock Goku's hand away, taking the boy's hard flesh for itself. Goku gives no protest, half-smiling around his moans as Sanzo moves like the waves on a river behind him, gentle, giving. Even though Sanzo is taking him, the act is giving and Goku thinks he finally understands what Sanzo is trying to tell him.

It's not about positions or power, and between the two of them they understand that. Seiten Taisei does not. And that makes all the difference.

Therefore, the only remaining thought Goku gives to the other part of him before succumbing fully to sensation, is that he wants more than anything else to teach his lesser half how to understand. If only Seiten Taisei could know this feeling and allow it, everything would be different.

The very fleeting thought of removing his limiter passes Goku's mind…and immediately seizes him with panic.

No. Never. The next time Seiten Taisei is unleashed they are going to be ready for him.

"Ah!" Goku cries, the grip he has on Sanzo's neck tightening to the point of pain for the priest. Goku's prostate has just been given attention it never quite knew before.

"Goku…?"

"Good…" Goku gasps, by way of explaining it had not been a cry of pain, "So good…Sanzo. Don't…don't stop…"

Sanzo nuzzles his nose in Goku's hair, trying to concentrate on so many things at once. Moving the boy's hips with one hand and his own thrusts in a way that does not aggravate his wounds. Pumping Goku in a way that draws pleasure out rather than forces it. Moving within Goku gently to make this easier on Goku's smaller—though honestly stronger—frame. Keeping his own voice from losing control while finding euphoria and hearing the gasps and groans from his partner.

As they near the end, Sanzo decides to hell with pride and holding back. He gives voice to his pleasure too, and the harmony in his deep and Goku's more tenor voice gives rise to quicker movements, to desperation. And then the whole perfect, beautiful mess is over like the crash of a wave, and both young men—aching—collapse against each other's bodies, boneless and limp on the bed.

A few minutes filled only with gasping breaths follow before Goku tilts his head back at that same awkward angle and kisses Sanzo with every ounce of strength in him. "Next time," the monkey whispers against the damp lips of his savior, "You're fucking me on my back." he says. And then grins. "I like seeing the faces you make."

Sanzo tries to scowl, but the smile twitching at his lips and making him forget all about the ache in his wounds makes the word that leaves his mouth sound purely like an endearment. "Brat."

-----

"But Doctor Nii, the treatments are so crude. How do we know Kougaiji and his fellows can withstand it?"

"They'll stand it well enough. The Sanzo party is ripe for the picking just now, my dear Hwan, and I wouldn't want to miss such a perfect opportunity."

"I suppose if I say I'm against this you won't bother listening."

"Against what, my dear? What it might do to Kougaiji's group or Sanzo's?"

"Both."

"Haha. Dear, dear, Hwan, such a sentimentalist. Don't worry that pretty head of yours, hmm? Trust me. This is what must be done. In the end we will have the sutra and isn't that our objective?"

"It is. I just don't understand why you need to resort to such…low acts to get it."

"Hahaha. Well…that part's just a bonus. Hahahaha…"

"I'll never understand you."

"Be glad for that then. Oh…and be a dear and send the Kougaiji group out first thing tomorrow, won't you? I think it's time things were set in motion."

-----

"Gojyo would you hand me that frying pan?"

"You're just gonna use it again. Why wash it?"

A single raised eyebrow is enough to tell Gojyo he should already know the answer to such a ludicrous question. Obediently, he walks over to the stove, grabs the dirtied frying pan, and hands it to Hakkai at the kitchen sink, whose hands are already almost elbow-deep in suds.

Hakkai offers a polite thanks and returns to his washing.

For a moment, enjoying a little domestic quiet, Gojyo leans back against the counter next to his friend and just…watches. He watches how Hakkai's arms are half-eaten by the sink. He watches how the man has to flick his head sharply to rid a piece of hair from his eyes while his hands are occupied. He watches how Hakkai's lips form a content little line and he listens to the very faint humming the healer cannot help produce, despite having absolutely no ear for music.

On principle, Gojyo loves watching Hakkai. How else could he be so good at his Hakkai-watching, after all? Even when he turns away and looks briefly up, wondering what the monk and monkey are doing to keep so busy when he and Hakkai have been downstairs for so much of the day, in the back of his mind he still sees flashes of green.

He stops thinking about Sanzo and Goku, because his mind has just pictured them in several compromising positions and then replaced their likenesses with his own and Hakkai, proving to cause a considerable amount of heat to travel south. He silently chides himself for having such little control over his libido. But really, why should he? Hakkai is the first man he has ever consciously, openly been attracted to, and damn it if the green-eyed beauty doesn't take his breath away like no woman ever has. It makes the pervert in him want to discover all sorts of ways to be deliciously lewd and muss up Hakkai's teacher persona. It makes him want to dig a little deeper for the Gonou that remains so he can find all Hakkai's hidden passion.

But above all, it makes him want to be terribly inappropriate in the kitchen.

"Gojyo, what are you doing?"

"Can't a guy get cozy with the man he loves?"

"Normally I would agree, but your idea of cozy is a rather indecent amount of contact while doing the dishes. Could you please remove your hands?"

Gojyo coils his arms around Hakkai even further, reaching below his friend's waist and grabbing a tight enough hold to pull Hakkai's back into his chest. He leans his head against Hakkai's and whispers, "Make me."

Even with his limiters in place, Hakkai's strength—with the aid of his focused chi—is greater than Gojyo's, and he dislodges himself enough to turn in Gojyo's hold, soaked hands and forearms at his sides now as he presses back against the sink.

Gojyo does not give Hakkai time to offer his next protest. He places his hands on either side of Hakkai, finding a hold on the sick at his friend's back and leans forwards. "Déjà vu, huh?" he says with a grin.

The desired effect is instantly brought out in Hakkai, for his cheeks blush bright red at the reminder of Gonou and the dreamworld Gojyo in such a similar position in their kitchen. "G-Gojyo…" Hakkai stutters. He pauses a moment, trying to find the will to look away from brilliant, hungry crimson. "…that was the stove," he says at last.

Gojyo merely laughs at the discrepancy. "Same difference." He leans further forward, soon flush against Hakkai and able to feel the other man's hesitant breaths mingling with his own.

Trapped within their linked gaze, emerald and crimson glisten and dare and plead with one another. At long last, Hakkai speaks again, "If it's really déjà vu…shouldn't one of us be on his knees?"

The moment these words leave Hakkai's lips his wet hands fly up to clamp over his mouth. His eyes are wide now, looking back at Gojyo's which are positively grinning.

He speaks muffled words through his fingers, "Did that just come out of me?"

"Hehehe. I think I've unleashed a monster." Gojyo leers, bringing his smiling mouth right against Hakkai's cuffed ear. "Good for me…"

"Gojyo…"

"We gotta do this déjà vu justice, right…?" Large, skilled hands roam unabashed down Hakkai's sides and to the clasp of the healer's slacks.

"G-Go…jyo…"

Gojyo pulls back just enough to widen his grin and meet emerald one final time, before he grips the sides of Hakkai's pants and pulls them down level with his own movements as he drops down to his knees.

tbc...

A/N: Falling pants! Falling pants! AGAIN! Hehehe. :-) Gave a little more SanzoxGoku since Hakkai and Gojyo have gotten a good amount lately, and will soon get more. ;-) Nii's plan gets closer and closer and my oh my is it evil. At least to me. The Kougaiji group actually only has a small part to play, but it will be important. Rather happy with this part and adoring you all, as always. I apologize for it being Sunday and not Saturday, but it was a friend's bday yesterday. Also, that damn "Media deprevation" I had for class was hell in a handbasket, but I wrote and wrote and wrote. I also watched some Saiyuki this weekend. Ah, memories. My roommate and I even came up with the cutest humor fic that will be posted eventually. Be looking for that. You're all such dears and I don't know what else to say, so since my roommate is looking rather antsy next to me, I better post and ease her curiosity. Thanks, everyone, and do remember that lonesome review button.

Crim