The Trouble With H
Chapter Seven: The Trouble With...Hair
A/N: Heading to the end I think, for the plan anyway. I never thought I'd actually –get- this far... Everyone keeps telling meh to keep going! Which means, I'm now taking requests for after chappeh nine! Anything with an 'h' will beh considered! Here's one for Pai, who figured out my weakness for dedication reciprocation.
Oh yeah, and the picceh in question is that last one on the roll Gojyo took in chappeh five. Remember that one? [winks]
---
Gojyo woke up with a knot of dread in the pit of his stomach. Usually the morning brought some eagerness, despite the early hours, but today's sunrise brought only a bad feeling. It took him a moment, disoriented by a rude awakening by a certain monkey, to remember why.
He and Hakkai hadn't spoken since yesterday morning, and he was wicked pissed. Gojyo sat up in bed, running a hand through his hair with a curse. In his own defense, Hakkai was getting all worked up over a stupid picture. But it –was- his fault for letting Sanzo see it when Hakkai obviously didn't want him to.
"Damn monk, probably knew it already..." he leaned back against the headboard, grabbing his cigarettes from the nightstand and shaking one out.
"Knew what?" Goku asked, coming out of the bathroom, rubbing a towel vigorously through his hair.
Gojyo glared, lighting his cigarette. "None of your damn business."
Goku frowned. "God, cranky much? You guys have been so moody lately—it's getting on my nerves!"
The redhead scoffed. "You're a fine one to talk. Jumping through windows onto people."
"It was all your fault!"
He got out of bed without reply, stretching dramatically and walking to the doorway. He paused. "Hey kid, if threesomes are your thing, more power to ya...but I'll pass."
"PERVERT!" Goku yelled, throwing one of his nearby boots at him. It bounced off the doorframe, landing on the floor outside.
Gojyo was already down the hall, walking casually to the next room.
---
Hakkai had decided, ever since Gojyo had let Sanzo see the picture, not to talk about it. He was going to pretend nothing had happened. But talking to the redhead would only lead to anger on one of their parts, so he decided also not to talk to Gojyo until this had blown over a bit.
Leave it to Goku to come through...a window in this case, but it helped nonetheless. With everyone's attention on his little stunt from last night, the infamous picture was now on the back burner. So went the soap opera that was the ikkou's lives.
Hakkai lay on his bed, eyes closed. Getting up early had both its good and bad sides. Everything was packed and ready, leaving him with nothing to do but wait for Goku and Gojyo. Sanzo had left already, out somewhere. He didn't care to tell, and Hakkai didn't care to ask.
Upon retrospect, maybe silent treatment hadn't been the best idea. Gojyo didn't get upset much—unless you tried to kill him, and even that was met casually at times—but when he did he could hold a mean grudge. Hakkai had been on the receiving end of such a grudge only once, and he was not anxious to do so again.
He frowned. "Although it –was- his fault..."
Something hit his face hard. He yelped, clamping a hand over his stinging cheek. He opened his eyes only to find Gojyo leaning over him. "You flicked me?!"
"What a drama queen," the redhead crossed his arms, sitting on the bed beside his shocked friend. "Stop ignoring me."
"I wasn't ignoring you. I'd just rather not talk about it."
"Like I did? If you'd have told me, instead of just pretending I didn't exist, we could've talked about anything else!" he leaned back, resting his arms behind his head.
Hakkai poked him in the side. "Hindsight is always 20-20."
Gojyo wiggled a little. "Whatever –that- means."
The two sat in silence for a few minutes, and then Gojyo spoke up again. "Look, I'm sorry I let the picture get out, okay?"
Hakkai sighed. "I suppose I did get a little more upset than was needed."
"Although I think Goku got more upset than you, and he didn't even see the damn thing!"
The brunette raised an eyebrow. "Which leads me to my next point..."
Gojyo winced. "Yeah yeah, I'm sorry about that too. But you weren't talking. I needed –something- to do!"
"I'll admit...it was kind of funny...after the fact." He looked at his friend and smiled.
"So...we're okay then?" Gojyo leaned on a hand.
"I believe so." Hakkai stood. "But I think we'd better get moving before Sanzo gets back and yells at you and Goku for not being ready."
The kappa grinned. "I –always- ready!"
Hakkai shook his head.
---
With the two again on speaking terms, the day's journey progressed smoothly. Or as smoothly as one could get with the Sanzo party. The town was too far, so it wound up being another fun campout.
After dinner, Hakkai decided to go out for a little nature walk. Gojyo went with him, eager to make up for their missed day in conversation.
"You've still got it, don't you?" he asked suddenly.
Hakkai stopped dead in his tracks. "Got what?'
"The picture," Gojyo smirked. "I know you've still got it."
The subject established, Hakkai continued walking, more for something else to concentrate on that for an actual destination. "I have all the pictures. I've got the first set, remember?"
"Yeah, but I'm not talking about the envelope. I'm talking about –that- picture."
Hakkai suddenly developed a fascination with a hangnail. "Yes. Why?"
He shrugged. "No reason. Just wanted to know if it was the kind of thing you'd throw away."
"What kind of question is that?"
The redhead dismissed him with a wave. "Never mind. It's not important."
They started to head back, finding something easier to talk about, like driving conditions, weather, demons they'd seen. They were almost to the camp when they heard something above them.
Gojyo looked up. "What do you think that was?"
"Probably just some squirrel or something," Hakkai answered, walking on.
Gojyo stood, looking up into the tree. He could see something moving, but he couldn't tell what it was. Whatever it was, it didn't seem to take any interest in him, so the half-breed shrugged and started walking again.
"DEATH FROM ABOVE!" Goku cried, leaping from his hiding place in the tree onto the surprised redhead.
Gojyo was thrown to the ground, Goku landing on his legs before jumping up again. The kappa was after him in a second, chasing him through the campsite. "Damn monkey! What the hell is your defect? You can't go around jumping on people like that! You coulda killed me!"
Hakkai and Sanzo watched the two run around for awhile, before the blond grew annoyed. "Shut the hell up and stop acting like little kids!"
"You're no fun," Goku pouted, slumping down on ground in front of the fire.
"I'll show you no fun," the monk replied, yanking the boy up by his shirt. "Bedtime monkey."
"Aw man!"
Gojyo smirked, sitting down next to Hakkai, watching the monkey get dragged off. "Be a good monkey and do as mommy says!"
"You wanna go too?"
Gojyo hid behind Hakkai. "No mother..."
Sanzo glared, shoving Goku into the tent and climbing in after him.
Hakkai yawned. "It is getting late. We should probably get some rest as well."
"I suppose..." Gojyo ran a hand through his hair, only to have something scrape his hand. "Ow! What the hell?"
Hakkai, who had gotten up to extinguish the campfire, looked over at him. "What?"
"I think there's something in my hair," the half-breed replied, pulling the end of his hair into vision. It was covered in tiny burrs, snagged in the locks of red.
"Oh my."
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Gojyo whined, attempting to pick out one of the barbs.
"They must've fallen from the tree when Goku shook it over you," Hakkai reasoned, sitting beside him again and examining the mess. "They seem to be caught hard."
"Fuck..." he slumped his shoulders, sulking.
"Come here," Hakkai motioned him to sit on the ground in front of him. Gojyo obeyed, and the brunette began to pull the sticky burrs out of his hair.
Gojyo winced as another one was pulled. "Jeez, try to be a little more gentle with it, will ya?"
"I'm trying to be careful," he answered honestly, "but these things are really stuck. Goku must've tangled them up when he landed on you."
It took a few minutes to get one section of hair free from the plants. Hakkai was working methodically through the mess, and Gojyo, despite the small pains, was trying his hardest not to fall asleep.
"You're awfully quiet," Hakkai remarked, tossing another of the burrs to the side after being freed from the tangles.
Gojyo mumbled a reply. "Sleepy. People messing with my hair makes me go to sleep."
"I'll save that for future reference," Hakkai smiled.
"Yeah, you do that..." Gojyo yawned, laying his head on one of Hakkai's knees. The green-eyed youkai turned pink. Gojyo mumbled something.
Hakkai leaned down closer. "What?"
"I said thanks..."
Hakkai finished another section of hair. He ran his hand through it, untangling it. It fell through his fingers and he heard Gojyo sigh.
He smiled again. "No problem."
The brunette continued to work his way through the barbs and tangles in his friend's hair, aware of the lack of consciousness coming from him. It was late, and it was getting rather hard to keep himself from dozing off. He yawned for what seemed the thousandth time, his hands seemingly performing their task of their own accord.
"Sometimes," he said jokingly, "I think you're more trouble than you're worth."
About two hours later, Gojyo's hair was free of the offending burrs, and Hakkai was ready to sleep sitting upright. He grabbed the redhead's shoulders, easing him onto the ground. Hakkai couldn't pick Gojyo up, so he went into the tent and got their blankets. He lay down beside his friend, covering them both with the covers and sighing. He could finally go to sleep.
He opened an eye, looking at the sleeping figure beside him. He wasn't lying about people messing with his hair. It was all the kappa could do to stay awake as long as he did.
Gojyo rolled over in his sleep. Hakkai scooted over, closing the distance.
---
Gojyo woke up uncharacteristically early that morning, finding Hakkai lying next to him with an arm over his waist. He sat up carefully, trying not to wake the brunette. He felt bad, falling asleep last night, leaving Hakkai to get all those things out of his hair. But Hakkai had finished, and even slept out here with him instead of leaving him in favour of the warm tent. He leaned over and kissed Hakkai's forehead.
Green eyes opened and blinked. "Gojyo...?"
Gojyo smiled. "Morning!"
Hakkai sat up. "Is it really?"
"Yep. You can go back to sleep if you want. I'll handle packing."
"No, it's alright..."
The redhead leaned in close, eye to eye with his friend. "You stayed up way too late helping me. So now you're gonna sleep. Got it?"
"But—"
"No buts," he interrupted. He blinked, noticing something in Hakkai's hair. He started laughing.
Hakkai tilted his head questionably. "What?"
Gojyo reached over, yanking a bit of Hakkai's hair. He pulled out one of the barbs, showing it to him. "I think you slept on them."
"Oh no..." Hakkai sighed.
Gojyo moved to the tree stump Hakkai had sat on last night, pulling the brunette in front of him. "Don't worry. Your hair's a lot shorter than mine. It shouldn't take as long."
Hakkai sat on the ground, letting Gojyo pull the plants out of his hair. It was a lot easier since Hakkai's hair was so short, and it was only about half an hour before the brunette was free of the barbs.
Hakkai hadn't spoken in some time. Gojyo had guessed that he'd fallen asleep. He was about to lay the shorter man back down when Hakkai tilted his head upward to look at Gojyo.
"Though you were asleep," Gojyo said, looking down.
"A few more minutes and I would've been," he answered.
Gojyo smiled. "Well, you're all done."
"Thanks..."
"Sure. But now it's time for sleep." He stood, Hakkai lying back down on their blankets. He fell down next to him, ready to curl up with Hakkai until Sanzo hit them awake.
"Hey, Gojyo..." Hakkai mumbled, snuggling in close.
"Hm?"" he put an arm around the brunette, closing his eyes.
"It is the sort of thing I'd keep."
Gojyo nodded, smiling. "G'night."
Hakkai was already asleep.
---
End. Sorter than usual, but it took twice as long. [sweatdrops] Oh well. Kit gave meh some ideas.
Me: What would you do if someone wasn't talking to you?
Kit: Flick them in the eye.
He's very violent, yes? Anyway...onto the review responses!
keistje: I'm gonna have to start a photo album for all these shots Gojyo's getting, ne? Yeah, Gojyo can beh that way sometimes, but it's all in good fun. Right?
KarotsaMused: Yeah, I figured he's got quite the career ahead of him...in blackmail. Actually, the whole camera thing was spur of the moment for chappeh 6. Now it's an entire plotline!
viciouscallisto: Glad to have another 58 fan on board. Just no ganging up with Pai and makig it totally 58, okay? [grins]
Me-Nuriko: I figured someone would think of it. Just an excuse to try an mix things up!
cesmith: Cool, another dub supporter. [smiles] Always glad to give people mental images!
kikvws: [winks] But of course!
Zelgadis55: Heh heh...act cat. Take your time. I get so many new ficcehs from Pai and Karot, it takes most of my time to keep up! I wanna do one for your challenge too, when I get the chance!
Crimson1: No, Goku only saw the ones Gojyo put out. He decided not to show that one, cuz it upset 'Kai so much, but Sanzo and Hakkai think he saw them all. Make sense? I fully intend to continue this as long as possible!
KawaiiLilMaron: [pats her head] Don't worry m'dear! Lots of 58 goodness in this chappeh, right? Picking up on that pattern thing? It was just easier that way. [hands her a tissue]
Well, until next time!