Hotel California
Chapter 6: How they dance in the courtyard…
A/N: I'm sooooo very terribly sorry for the long delay. This chappeh just would NOT stay in my hands long enough to get written! Every version I started disappeared… Sorry about the ones, but FF.N's not letting my scene break lines through anymore…
Hmm. Starting to sound like an older version of 'Thief of Always' isn't it? Imagine my surprise… I realized after this was posted that I forgot to place an item in the kitchen, but rather than take it down and repost, I'll just put it in at a more crucial place. Again, thankehs to NekoMegami-chan for her idea. You're such a big help! And to everyone else who is sticking with this!
It's exposition time kids!
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A person seems to sleep a lot later when there's someone sleeping next to them. Therefore, neither Hakkai nor Gojyo were surprised that they slept longer than usual. The fact that they stayed up most of the night, added to the comfort that comes from feeling someone sleeping beside you, kept them resting into the early afternoon.
What –did- come as a surprise, to one of them at least, was –how- they woke up. Much the same as the first time they'd fallen asleep together, the two had shifted in sleep, bringing them closer together. They awoke to find their arms wrapped comfortably around each other, as if they'd been doing this forever.
Hakkai woke up first, being a natural early-riser. Although he felt slightly awkward about the whole situation, he also felt quite comfortable, and decided not to get up quite yet. And though Gojyo awoke some time after that, he stayed put as well, not wanting to wake up Hakkai, whom he thought still asleep.
This went on until eventually, neither of them could stay immobile any longer. One did not admit to the other that they even noticed anything had happened.
The two had just gotten up and moving when Goku burst into the room, once again forgetting to knock. Sanzo followed a bit behind, looking mildly annoyed per usual.
"There you guys are! I thought you'd be up and running around somewhere by now!" Goku leapt onto the bed. "I was lookin' all over the halls for you!"
Hakkai busied himself cleaning up the cards from last night's game. Gojyo stretched, looking over at Goku.
"Hey monkey, you wanna run around for a bit?"
Goku glared a bit. "'M not a monkey."
He shrugged. "Yeah whatever. Let's go down to the kitchen for a minute, and get some late breakfast."
The boy immediately beamed at the prospect of food. "Okay!"
Goku ran outside, Gojyo following at a more leisurely pace. "I'll bring you back something."
Sanzo watched Hakkai for a moment. Finally the brunette turned to face him. "Yes?"
He didn't say anything for a few more moments, composing his words. If there was anything Sanzo was good at, it was tactful language…when he wanted to. He decided to use the direct approach, since he knew Hakkai would know exactly what he meant.
"Just like Kenren."
Hakkai blinked. "Oh." He didn't ask what he had meant. Sanzo wouldn't tell him if he'd asked, and it didn't matter anyway. "Sanzo, I—"
He cut him off. "I don't really care how you go about your personal life. It's none of my business," he crossed his arms, heading to the door. "Just don't let him get you in any more trouble than he already has. It's hard enough watching the monkey without you starting to act stupid as well. We don't need a repeat of –that- incident."
Hakkai smiled weakly. "Right…"
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Gojyo and Goku walked up the stairs, returning from their kitchen trip. Goku munched happily on an apple, while Gojyo balanced his and Hakkai's plates.
"That's neat," the brunette said around a mouthful of apple, nodding his head at the plates.
Gojyo grinned. "I used to be a waiter." He stopped short, seeing an ominous figure retreating down the hallway.
"Gojyo?" Goku tilted his head, curious by the redhead's actions.
"Let's go check out that passage again," he whispered.
Goku paled. "I don't think that's a good idea…I don't really wanna go through those mirrors again."
He shook his head. "Not the inside. Just the doorway. I saw Ni pop out of nowhere last night, and I think he might know about the passage."
"But…he just got here. How could he?"
"I dunno, but I wanna check it out."
They stopped at the wall where they had found the passage. Setting the plates down carefully, Gojyo stared at the wall, looking for any indications that would give it away.
"That's funny…I don't see anything…"
"And what, may I ask, are you looking for?" Ni questioned eerily, standing behind them once more. The two of them jumped.
"Ni! Oh! Um…looking for? My um…" Gojyo looked around, thinking quickly, "My contact lens! …I lost it over here and I can't find it. You find anything yet Goku?"
Goku's eyes widened, catching on. "Nope, nothing yet."
Ni looked from one to the other, a habit Gojyo was beginning to hate. "I wasn't aware you even wore contacts."
"Well, I do. Maybe I just left it in my room. C'mon Goku, let's go look there!" He picked up the plates and began down the hall once more. Goku jumped up from where he had been sitting and followed.
"Just one more thing," Ni called after them.
Wincing a bit, Gojyo turned back to face him. "And what might that be?"
He smiled. "Just a bit of advice. You should keep track of things that are important. Small things are –very- hard to find."
The two watched him for a minute, and then turned back around. "Yeah, okay."
Ni watched them go. "Contacts?"
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After dropping off breakfast, Goku had gone to play with Hakuryuu, leaving Hakkai and Gojyo alone for the afternoon.
"Hey Hakkai," Gojyo stared out the window.
"Hmm?"
"Are we allowed to go outside at all?"
The question caught Hakkai off guard. He blinked a few times, and then responded. "I suppose so, although there's really not much to see. Basically, anywhere on the hotel's property is okay."
He turned to face his friend. "What's there to see?"
"Well, there's a courtyard, but…"
"But?"
"I don't know how well it's been kept. I haven't been there for some time."
Gojyo looked disappointed. "Oh."
Hakkai smiled at him. "Why are you so interested?"
The redhead shrugged. "I dunno. It's just getting to be autumn, and the leaves changing are always really nice. I figured we could go out somewhere and watch em."
"Well, I'm sure the grounds are alright. It is part of the hotel after all. We can spend the day outside."
So the two went out later that afternoon. The courtyard was located on the north side of the hotel, straight down the hall from the first floor rooms. Hakkai figured that it would still be okay to sit out there, since it hadn't been –that- long since he'd been there.
Apparently he had been wrong.
The courtyard looked neglected at best. There were four paths, leading from different parts of the grounds, all of them coming to a stop in an intersection. At the center of this was a cement fountain, surrounded by four matching benches. On either side of each bench were rosebushes.
Normally, this would have been a beautiful sight. But in this case, it was altogether more frightening. The bushes were all dead and crumpled brown. The benches were covered in what looked like decades of moss and grime, as was fountain. The inside was filled with what might have been water at one time, now turned a sickly green-brown. There was a film of dead leaves and moss on the top, almost completely hiding the water beneath it.
"Jeez…I don't think anyone's been here in forever!" Gojyo looked around.
Hakkai let out a sigh. "No, I don't suppose so. It's a shame too. It used to be quite lovely."
The pair walked around a bit, looking everything over with a morbid sense of curiosity. They were at the fountain, looking into the murky water, when Hakkai looked up suddenly.
Gojyo looked over at him. "What's wrong?"
"I thought I saw something move out there."
He shrugged. "Probably just some dead leaves blowing or something."
A sudden rustle made them both turn sharply. Hakkai lost his balance and grabbed panicked at Gojyo's sleeve. He missed it by an inch and fell headfirst into the fountain. He came to the surface sputtering and coughing.
"Hakkai! You okay?" Gojyo leaned over the edge, offering a hand to his friend. The brunette took his hand, and felt himself pulled out of the water. "You're gonna die out here wet in the cold. Let's get you inside and in the shower."
He took off his jacket and wrapped it around the now shivering Hakkai, dragging him inside, completely forgetting the noise that had caused all this.
Once everything was silent once more, a figure stepped out of the shadows of the garden. It moved to the fountain, where now something in the water sparkled in the sunlight. It was picked up out of the murk and taken by the figure, which calmly walked inside as well.
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Gojyo waited in his own room while Hakkai was in the shower, figuring the brunette needed a bit of time to himself. After the whole fountain incident, he'd seem kind of dazed. Gojyo didn't really know what to make of this, so he decided to give his friend a bit of space. This of course, left him with nothing to do.
He vaguely considered checking out the passageway again, but shook this thought from his head after remembering the encounter with Ni this morning. He'd have to wait until everyone was asleep before trying that out. He didn't want anyone but Goku and himself to know of their awareness of the passage, until he was sure it was safe to divulge such information.
He found himself pacing, not aware he was even doing so. Blinking in confusion, he flopped onto his bed, resulting in a loud shrill sound of a cat being squashed. Gojyo jumped up in surprise, tossing aside the blanket and revealing a rather discontent Hakuryuu. He picked the cat up, and made his way down the hall, muttering to the animal about how he got in his room, and why he was in there at all.
Hakkai's door was unlocked, as always, so Gojyo knocked once and went in. The room, which was always so clean, was now a mess, with papers and clothing thrown around randomly. Gojyo wondered for a moment if Hakkai had been robbed, when the brunette rushed out from the bathroom, fully clothed and tearing around the room frantically.
Gojyo set Hakuryuu on the bed. "Looking for something?"
Hakkai whirled around, not even aware Gojyo had entered the room. "Oh! It's…nothing. I just lost something, that's all…"
The redhead plopped down in one of the chairs. "Must be a pretty important nothing to make you mess up your room…" he muttered offhand.
He ran a hand through his partially wet hair. "Gojyo, what time is it?"
Checking his watch absently, Gojyo looked at his friend. "Almost seven. Why?"
"An hour…" Hakkai muttered to himself, before speaking again to Gojyo. "Do you think we can talk about last night?"
Gojyo winced internally. He had hoped they wouldn't have to talk about that at all, let alone before Gojyo could think of a good cover story if things went wrong. But Hakkai had said he was forgiven, and he guessed it was better to get it all out in the open soon. "Um…if you want to, sure."
Hakkai looked worried. "I'm afraid I'll have to be quite blunt, since there's something I must do as soon as possible. I can't explain my reasoning in this, but please, whatever you thought might have been going on between us, I can't have you—or anyone for that matter—getting that close."
Gojyo didn't reply, so he went on.
"It's a personal thing, and my own fault. But I would like to keep things as they were, and not what they might be. I apologize for this, but I have to go. You can stay here if you like, and you're welcome as always anytime."
He dashed out of the room before Gojyo could think, let alone speak. The redhead sat there for some time, going over what had just happened. Flat out, things weren't going to work that way with Hakkai, so he said.
But Gojyo had been around people long enough to know that what they said wasn't always what they felt. However, he also knew that there was no convincing a person of anything by being in their face about it. There was no hurry; as Hakkai'd said, they were there for a while. Gojyo could wait.
He got up with a sigh, petting Hakuryuu on the head before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.
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Dinner was uneventful, save for Hakkai's absence. Everyone talked, Sanzo and Goku argued, and Gojyo ignored them, wondering if it was the big turndown that had gotten Hakkai so worked up. Kannon noticed both the brunette's absence and Gojyo's depression, commenting lightly as always.
"I wonder where our Hakkai's wandered off to now…"
Gojyo didn't feel like her game of careful stepping at the time, so he merely shrugged.
Kannon either didn't sense his reluctance, or decided to ignore it. Most likely the latter. "Really? That's odd, you two have been together a lot since you've come here."
"Not all the time though," he muttered, attempting to get her off the subject. "We're not married, you know."
She laughed. "No, I suppose not."
"It's hard to know everything about a person you've only just met," Ni spoke up, once again confusing them with his random riddles.
Sanzo looked from each of them to Gojyo, but didn't say anything.
Goku looked up from his meal. "Is he sick or somethin'?"
Gojyo's eyes narrowed, keeping his gaze on his plate. Not that he cared to eat it, but it was something to focus on. "I don't think so Goku."
Kannon smiled again. "I'm sure you're right. He might have just fallen asleep. After all, he did have a long night last night."
Gojyo glared at her, fingers gripping the edge of the table. "And what do you mean by that?"
Amused by his anger, she looked at him innocently. "I merely heard you two in the kitchen late last night. What did you think I was inferring?"
He winced internally, cursing himself for showing a sort of weakness for her to play with. "Nothing."
"I believe," Sanzo finally spoke up, voice even and quiet, "that Hakkai mentioned something to me about losing something in the courtyard earlier today. My guess is that he's trying to find it before it gets too dark."
Without having something to pick on Gojyo about, Kannon and Ni returned to conversing with each other. For once, Gojyo felt some gratitude towards the blond. Now he wondered what Hakkai could have lost. He didn't doubt Sanzo; the mess in Hakkai's room was proof enough of his story.
He stood up from his chair. "I'm going to help him find whatever it is," he muttered before making a hasty exit. He noticed violet eyes watching him as he left, but he didn't care enough to stop.
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He ran out the hall door, into the courtyard. Briefly, he wished he'd stopped in his room first to get his jacket. It was already quite cool out, and the evening winds were beginning to blow wildly. He wrapped his arms around himself and walked to the center of the yard. By now, it was dark, and there was no sign of Hakkai. Gojyo looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of his friend. The wind was blowing his hair frantically, momentarily blinding him with red.
Then something hit him, hard. He fell over one of the ceramic benches backwards. Before he could get back up, the same something landed on top of him, knocking the breath out of his chest. He looked up, eyes wide at the thing that had him pinned. Between the dark of night and the rapid strokes of crimson distorting his vision, he could only see one thing of his attacker.
Bright green eyes.
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Another cliffhanger for you all! I can't apologize enough for how long this took, and for all it was, I liked the first version better. But I guess this one's good too. You can never quite replace the first writing, can you? Well, anyways, I'm hoping since I broke the curse, it'll beh easier to update now. And who do we think our mystery attacker is, folks? You'll just hafta find out next time:ducks as things are thrown: Yee-hah. Now onto the review replies!
Ezorarion Nailo: I knew that was you! Sorry for making you wait so long...
obsydia: a 58 is basically a shounen-ai.yaoi whatever ficceh aout Gojyo and Hakkai. A 39 would beh Sanzo and Goku. It's about the Japanese numbers in their name. Don't worry, it tookmeh forever to figure it out. :grins: Glad to have you reading!
Me-Nuriko: Nah, he's acting strange. Heh. Tho for what reason? You'll hafta find out!
Celeste 1: Thankehs!
Zelgadis55: Not as late as I'm updating, tho! Ni is a creepy guy, huh? That's why he's so fun to use in a creepy story!
elven dreamer: Glad you liked!
gabyou: Ain't it great? Fun at parties, to beh sure...
fye chan: Wow, I didn't think it was that scary... :grins: Glad to know you're enjoying it!
KawaiiLilMarron: Why thankeh you for the death threat. :winks:
SweetSnowCherryBlossomDarkness: The best time to read anything is late at night or early morning. Glad you liked it!
kanzeyori: Yay, ficceh gets love!
Keruri1222: I think the same way Keru-san. But what about Hakkai? He needs some poking I think. Always happy to have you read, and can't wait for another update from you!
Until next time!