The Trouble With H
Chapter Ten: The Trouble With...Hairdye
A/N: WHOO DOUBLE DIGITS! ::dances:: Anyway, the Homura one is coming up, but I need a bit more research before I try to write him... ::cough-excusetowatchSaiyukisomemore-cough:: So I had to pull something else off. Welcome to second choice kids! Yeah, I know I already did hair, but this was too fun to pass up. You know you love em. I dun even know if this is -possible-. Sorry it took so long. ::sweatdrops::
---
Hakkai was in the hallway, disposing of the leftover boxes when Sanzo exited his room. Pai had been right when she had said the monk had looked more irate than usual. He stormed over to the brunette. "So nice of you to join us," he crossed his arms.
"I'm afraid I used a little more ki than was needed."
Sanzo gave him a skeptical look, but decided to change the subject. "Do you have any shampoo?"
"Yes," he looked curiously at the blond. "Does this have anything to do with last night?"
"If you -must- know," he growled, running a hand through his hair and glaring at it, "the monkey somehow managed to get soy sauce in my hair."
Hakkai stifled a laugh. "I'll go get it." After retrieving a bottle from his room and passing it off to the monk, Hakkai busied himself packing.
---
Goku woke up to hear the shower running lightly. He stretched, yawning, before hopping out of bed. He started toward the room door when he heard Sanzo curse from the bathroom.
"Something wrong?" Goku leaned on the wall next to the door.
"Goku, go get me a towel," Sanzo ordered.
The boy sighed. "Good morning to you too." Stretching once again, he padded his way down the stairs to the front desk.
Pai looked up at him from the counter. "'Morning Goku!"
This cheered him up. "Hi Pai-san. Can I get a towel? After I take it to Sanzo, I'll come back down for breakfast, okay?"
She giggled a bit. "Sure thing," she left through the door behind the counter for a moment, before returning with a towel in hand. She threw it to Goku, who caught it with a smile.
The brunette started back to his room when Gojyo ran into him, narrowly avoiding a crash down the stairs. Both fell to the floor.
"Dammit monkey, where the hell did you come from?!" Gojyo winced, rubbing his head.
"Me? Why don't you watch where you're going, stupid kappa!" Goku shot back, picking himself up. "Why're you running through the hall anyway?"
He grinned. "Trust me. You don't wanna know."
Goku grabbed the towel as Gojyo started down the stairs, muttering something about revenge. The brunette continued down the hall. He came across Hakkai next to his room.
"Oh, Goku," Hakkai shut his door and walked over to the boy, "have you seen Gojyo?"
"Yeah, he went downstairs," Goku replied. "Why? What'd he do now?"
Hakkai crossed his arms. "Well, it seems Sanzo took his last pack of cigarettes for some reason, and I was afraid he might do something in retaliation."
The monkey frowned. "Why would Sanzo take Gojyo's cigarettes? He always says they taste funny."
"I don't know, but keep an eye out so he won't do anything to upset Sanzo more than he already is."
Goku nodded. Then he finished his trip back to the room. "I'm back!"
"Took you long enough," Sanzo snapped from the bathroom.
Goku opened the door enough to set the towel on the sink. "Do you want me to wait for you, or go on to breakfast?"
"Do what you want."
Normally he would've stayed. Only Sanzo could make him wait for food. But he also remembered the soy sauce incident of last night, and he wanted to keep watch on Gojyo. So he left the blond to get ready and ran back to the dining room.
Hakkai and Gojyo were already sitting at a table when Goku got down, though neither was eating. Pai, who was hovering around the table, waved him over, setting a plate down in front of him.
Goku dug in. "Wow! Thanks Pai-san!"
"Is Sanzo going to be joining us this morning?" she asked.
"I saw him earlier," Hakkai took a sip of tea. "So he should be down anytime."
"'Kai lent him some shampoo, so it's scrubby-time for monk boy," Gojyo grinned, stirring a cup of coffee.
Pai nodded. "There was a bit of an accident last night."
"Damn soy sauce," Sanzo muttered from the doorway, rubbing a towel vigorously through his hair. He sat down beside Goku as Pai served his plate.
"Oi, Sanzo," Goku pulled the towel off his guardian's head, "are you--"
He stopped, starting. Hakkai's eyes went wide, Pai gasped and Gojyo burst into laughter.
"What the hell is wrong with you al?" Sanzo glared, taking a drink of his coffee.
Hakkai hesitantly pointed at his head. Pai, looking as worried as the older brunette, moved to the other side of the table to avoid any harm coming.
"What?!" Sanzo demanded.
"Sanzo," Goku said in awe, "your...your hair..."
Gojyo was near tears in his laughter. "It's BROWN!"
Sanzo pulled a few strands into view. Sure enough, the normal golden locks had turned a shade of sickly brown. His usually pale face flushed a previously unseen tinge of pink, and he stood abruptly, walking to his room.
The remaining four watched him go, before turning questionably to each other.
"Aw man!" Goku bit his bottom lip. "I didn't know soy sauce could turn your hair brown! Sanzo's gonna kill me!" This statement made Gojyo laugh even harder, if possible.
"Goku," Hakkai spoke up to be heard over Gojyo's uncontrollable laughter, "soy sauce can't do that. It must've been some kind of reaction to the shampoo."
"He looks weird with brown hair," Pai giggled a bit. "I wonder if anyone will recognize the great Sanzo-sama now?"
Gojyo laid his head on the table, trying to catch his breath. "I think...it looks good on him. Gives him a punk edge."
Hakkai raised an eyebrow. "You wouldn't have anything to do with this, would you Gojyo?"
He smiled winningly at his friend. "Of course not. How could I? That was the first I've seen him all day!"
"At any rate," Hakkai sighed, resting his chin on his hands, "we're not leaving either until Sanzo's hair is returned to it's normal colour, or he gets insistent on moving on worse than damaging his reputation."
Goku stood up. "I'm gonna go see if I can help," he ran out of the dining room.
"Think he's gonna be okay?" Pai crossed her arms, watching the boy.
"He'll be fine," Hakkai smiled. "He always manages to keep Sanzo from killing him."
---
"Saaaaanzo..." Goku knocked on the bathroom door. "Are you okay?"
"What do you think?" came the reply.
Goku leaned against the wall again. The bathroom door was open ajar, and Sanzo leaned over the side of the tub, washing his hair furiously. The brunette stepped inside quietly, sitting on the edge of the sink.
"It doesn't look that bad," Goku muttered optimistically.
"You're an idiot," Sanzo said, rinsing the shampoo out again.
He frowned. "Still brown. Hakkai said it wasn't the soy sauce."
Sanzo growled in frustration, squeezing out some more shampoo. "That's obvious."
"So what about the shampoo? Is there something wrong with that?"
The former blond examined the bottle. "No."
The monkey shrugged. "So what was it?"
"Damn it," Sanzo growled again.
"Here, lemme help," Goku hopped off the sink and knelt beside him, trying to help work the shampoo through the copper-coloured hair.
Sanzo seethed silently, but consented to the youkai's help. Soon he gave up altogether, leaving Goku to the task. He made sure he got all the hair lathered, and then he started to rinse it all out.
"Hey Sanzo?"
The reply was quiet and oddly relaxed. "Hmm?"
He smiled sheepishly. "I like your hair. I like it better gold, but if it's stuck brown..." he let a few wet tendrils slip through his fingers absently, "I'll still like it."
Sanzo lifted his head up. "Goku."
He blinked. "Yeah?"
A slight smile. "You're an idiot."
Goku beamed. You already said that."
"And I meant it, bakasaru."
The brunette looked around, dripping water on the floor. "Hey Sanzo, where's your towel?"
The smile faded. "I must've left it downstairs. Goddammit."
Goku stood up. "It's okay. You can use mine from last night." He retrieved the towel and started to dry his guardian's hair. When the monk pulled the towel away, he was greeted with their results.
"Well, it's not -as- brown."
Sanzo threw the towel to the floor, looking in the mirror and glaring at his reflection. Goku reached up to play with some of the brown-blond strands. The monk whirled around, catching the boy's wrist and holding it.
Goku looked up at him with wide eyes. "S-sorry."
"It doesn't matter," Sanzo let the boy go, pulling at his hair.
"Your hands are brown."
The monk looked at his hands. They were stained lightly with brown. Normally it wouldn't have been noticed, but the harsh light in the bathroom revealed it. "So?"
Goku looked at his own hands. "Mine aren't. And I washed your hair. Wonder why that is?"
Sanzo's jaw dropped. He grabbed Goku's hand, inspecting it carefully. Then he bent over and picked up the discarded towel, looking that over as well. It was clean white, without a trace of brown. Towel in one hand, golden-eyed youkai in the other, Sanzo left the bathroom.
"Sanzo?" Goku let himself be dragged along, out the door and down the hall.
"A little mystery," he said, more to himself than to the boy. "Hair washed twice. The first time it turns my hands and towel brown. The second time, it doesn't," now he turned to Goku, speaking directly to him. "What was the variable here?"
Goku thought for a moment. "Are variables like vegetables?"
He sighed. "Never mind."
Sanzo dragged the boy downstairs with him, all the way to the dining room, where Gojyo, Hakkai and Pai were playing cards. The three looked up as the monk and monkey entered.
"Still sporting your new look, Sanzo?" Gojyo grinned, throwing down some of his cards.
"Urasai, kappa," Sanzo shot out, snatching his towel from this morning off his chair. "I need to speak with you, Pai-san."
Pai sensed that he meant without the other two there, so she got up and followed him to the lobby. "Something I can help you with?"
"The towel," he said sharply. "You gave Goku the towel this morning, correct?"
She blinked. "Yeah, but I don't see why that's important."
He held out the two towels to compare them, one covered in brown, and the other white. "The dye wasn't in the shampoo, it was in the towel."
"What?" Pai and Goku asked in unison.
"The dye was already in the towel when I got it," he elaborated. "So when I dried my hair, it was activated by the wetness, dying my hair-and my hands- brown. I figured it out when I used Goku's towel and it didn't turn brown like mine had."
"And my hands weren't brown either!" Goku finally caught on. "But you don't think Pai would do something like that?"
"It might not have been intentional. But the logical solution was that Pai's towel is what did this to my hair."
The girl looked shocked. "I didn't--I mean, I would never--"
"Do you have any dye in the stock room?"
She shook her head. "No. Why?"
He crossed his arms. "I need to consult the label to see if I can get rid of it."
"But she doesn't have any! She just said so!" Goku spoke up.
Sanzo frowned. "You have to. Then what was on the towel?"
Pai shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. But I've never had any dye around, especially not brown. My hair's already brown."
It was then that Hakkai and Gojyo entered the circle. "I do hope you're not accusing people again Sanzo."
"Yeah, cuz you're usually wrong about it anyway," the redhead grinned.
"Was there anything wrong with the shampoo?"
Goku shook his head. "Sanzo figured out that someone put some dye on the towel I got for him this morning. Pai said she doesn't have any though, so we dunno who did it."
"That so?" Gojyo rested his arm on Goku's head. "So who's the culprit?"
Goku took the colour-stained towel suddenly. Free from it's wrenched state; something fell from the folds of it. The boy picked it up. A cigarette filter.
"That certainly narrows the suspects," Hakkai forced a smile.
"What the fuck is that doing in there?" Gojyo snatched the filter from the boy. "It's from mine. But Sanzo took mine last night."
Sanzo glared at him. "Why the hell would I do that? Your cigarettes taste like shit."
"Then where'd they go?"
Goku's mouth shot open. "I've got it!" He started up the stairs. Everyone followed.
He started searching around the landing, finally holding up a crumpled pack of Hi-Lites. The redhead immediately grabbed them. "How'd they get out here?"
"Remember when you crashed into me this morning?" Goku asked.
Gojyo nodded. "Right. They must've been on me, and I didn't see them. Then when Goku and I bumped heads out here this morning, they fell out."
"And one of them fell into the towel Goku was carrying to Sanzo," Hakkai continued. "So the tobacco dyed his hair brown."
"And I'm off the hook!" Pai cheered.
"Can it -do- that?" Goku asked Hakkai.
The green-eyed youkai shrugged. "I really have no idea."
"So that's it?" Sanzo asked. "It was the kappa's damn cigarettes that did this?"
"It would appear so."
A telltale flash brought everyone's attention to aforementioned kappa, which grinned behind his camera. "Say cheese?"
"Die," Sanzo aimed the gun at his head.
---
The day had been saved. Knowing what it was that dyed Sanzo's hair in the first place, they formed the theory that it just had to be washed out, since it had already gotten lighter with two washings. Sanzo set out immediately to accomplish this, leaving them at the hotel for another night. No one minded; Pai was more than happy to accommodate them once more.
The placing was familiar, Sanzo at the side of the tub and Goku sitting on the sink. The stained hair had already regained most of its normal golden colour. Neither had said anything for quite some time. Sanzo just washed again and again, and Goku watched him with rapt interest.
Finally, the silence was broken. "Hey Sanzo?"
"What?"
"I meant it." He mumbled.
Sanzo shook his head. "I can't hear a damn word you're saying saru. Speak up, I have to hear you over the water."
Only one curse, Goku mused, that meant he was in a better mood. He spoke louder. "I meant what I said earlier, y'know. About liking your hair."
"I knew that already," Sanzo turned the water off, trying to wring his hair out a little. "You wouldn't say it if you didn't."
Goku handed him the towel by the sink. He smiled. "I guess I'm pretty transparent, huh?"
Sanzo smirked. "Where'd you learn a big word like transparent?"
"Hakkai."
He nodded. "Figures. You're not transparent, I just know you."
The boy tilted his head. "That's okay, I suppose. We –have- been together an awful long time..."
"Believe me, I'm aware of every moment." After rubbing his hair moderately dry, the once-again-blond stretched out on his bed. Goku hopped up to sit at the other end of it.
"Hey! We should celebrate!"
He gave the youkai an odd look. "Why in the hell would we do that for?"
Goku sprang from his perch, wrapping his arms around Sanzo. "Cuz it's our anniversary!"
WHACK!
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End of chappeh 10! ::grins::
Joonie: Yeah, cuz when I got the idea, I hadn't seen that part of Saiyuki yet, so the other one seemed a lot better! Glad you liked it!
Zelgadis55: No prob. Better late than never! That goes for updating as well! ::grins::
Me-Nuriko: Yeah, I liked that too. I figured they've been doing it so long, they can plot for each others moves too. It rocks.
KarotsaMused: Karu no baka...I should've remembered that. Sorry! ::winces:: Just pretend I typed tickled instead, ne? ::smiles sheepishly::
EvaYasha: Thankehs!
Wilson: Everyone loves a little SanzoGoku! Hope this chappeh is to your liking, tho there isn't very much in the way of romance...hmm. And plushies are like little stuffed dolls of anime, game or just in general charas. They're so cute they could get away with murder.
super kitty: Good to know I've got an order! I'll keep you in mind when I get the supplies, so don't go too far! ::winks:: And thankehs for reading!
Saturn Imp: ::giggles:: Another 58 fan on baord! Lovely to have you! We found Pai's twin! Now which is the evil one...::looks at Pai-san::
KawaiiLilMarron: Dude...when did you grope Sanzo? Are you molesting charas when I'm not looking?
Crimson1: Uh, nah. I meant the end of the chappeh. ::giggles:: Sorry if I made you think this was over. My cousin Chi and I made a long list of chappeh ideas, so expect a -lot- more!
Ranma Higurashi: I'm working as fast as my lil hamster wheel can chock it out! ::grins at the mental image this produces::