They had just had a fight with some demons and they were now sitting by a river, trying to get rid of the blood from their clothes. They had never been closer to death than today, and Gojyo was sitting far away from the other, his head in his hands. Hakkai elbowed Sanzo who fortunately take the hint but not without grunting something about a too sensible perverted kappa.

Approaching the redhead he hit him with his foot.

Gojyo gazed back at him without saying a word.

"What's up with you, water-sprite?"

"What's up with me? Guess what, you stupid monk, you, just because you're too fucking proud, could have died!"

"Calm d—"

"Calm down my ass! You should have accepted Hakkai help, but no! Prince charming couldn't admit he needed someone else than himself! Your shitty ego is so big that you can't even see what the fucking hell is in front of you, so fucking huge that you prefer die instead of asking help! Fuck you! If you hate so much living and staying with me then just go and kill your-self, go ahead, now I've understood that you really don't give a fuck to any of us, nor to your goddamned life!"

Sanzo just stayed still facing the cruel words of his lover. He was right, damn it. Anyway, there was no way he would say it out loud, even if Gojyo was really upset -he did swear he had never seen him like this before- he would not admit he was wrong and stuff like this, no way…but then…

"Listen, Sanzo…I accept the fact that sooner or later we'll die, killed by some bastards or stuff but…I think that, if we can avoid risking, as far as we can I mean,…well, it would be fucking nice to all of us…does that make any sense?"

Silence.

In this short time of quiet Sanzo had the time to ponder. In Gojyo voice there was something different: it wasn't filled with rage or eager…it was soft and sad at the same time. His statement came just from the deepest corner of his soul, it was something important and true and it carried the real meaning of their lives: they have been given born to fight and take their revenge, to travel and to never stop. Love and life itself were not contemplated in the way their lives meant to be.

"Yes…it does…"

The priest was stern and confused, these were the only words he could put together in that moment, like his brain had shut down all of a sudden, thanks to the heavy burden the words of his lover carried with them.

"Christ, Sanzo, I didn't even have the time to watch your back...and…I didn't say to you those freaking-shitty romantic stuff I should say to you, you were just there lying on the ground covered in fucking blood, and you weren't breathing, for fuck sake! How could I have lived without telling you how fucking important you are to me?"

Sanzo froze. But he was pleasantly frozen. He sat next to the redhead tilting his head to the side so that it could rest on Gojyo shoulder: the half-breed just tried to wrap an arm around the blonde but…

"Don't you dare. Don't fucking ruin this moment 'coz something like that will never happen again, got it? Now, like a good water-sprite, put your arm down and enjoy…otherwise I'll kill you."

Gojyo did as he was told, smiling to himself: what a stupid partner he had to fall in love with.