Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Saiyuki characters. They honorably belong to Minekura Sensei. Please don't sue me.

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Ayie: Arigatou minna-san, for keeping up with this fic. For GS-san, actually the idea just popped out while I'm typing…it's spontaneous ^__^. Aiko was indeed lucky… please keep on your good work with "Holding the Blue Moon". Gee…now is the chap where Hakkai confessing to Aiko about his feelings…can you imagine how it would be like for Hakkai to confess his feeling when all the while he just hid it behind his smile?

Hakkai: Yameru kudasai ayie-san Face so red that it matched the color of Gojyo's hair

Gojyo: Yada…yada, ayie I hope you'll make me as lucky as Hakkai in your next fic…

Ayie: Ekk?… I'll try…but not so soon. looked around Eh! Where's Sanzo and Goku?

Aiko: You asked them to surf the Internet to find the lyrics for some songs… Ayie: slapped forehead Hai hai! I forgot…

From the family room, Sanzo: Oi saru! Who asked you to surf the food website whacked Goku's head Goku: clutched head Harahetta yo Sanzo….

All: sweat dropped

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Chapter 16 – The Confessions

The first ray of light glowed and enlightened the earth. It was followed by the great orange orb emerging from the east and hovered the fertile land beneath it with magnificent color of red and orange. The morning breeze sent the chill down to the girl's spine. Aiko enveloped her body in her arms. She gazed at the river down at her feet and turned around to look at the hut.

There is no sign of any movements from the beings inside. When she left the hut earlier at dawn, none of the bishounens had wake up from their sleep. She just left them like that, not wanting to disturb their peaceful sleep, a real rest they had had since the last encounter with Xiang. Aiko sighed and glanced back to the river.

Aiko's hand wandered around her left shoulder. Hakkai had put her dislocated join into the right place. She didn't even remembered when Hakkai did that but she knew well the dark haired man spent his energy to the last to heal her. Hakkai had stayed by her bedside for the entire night and only fell asleep when it's almost dawn. She tried really hard to get off the bed and at the same time preventing her movements from disturbing the man's sleep. Any slight mistake would cause Hakkai to jerk awake.

 Aiko let her feet dragged her to the riverbank. Her mind flowed fluently, just like the current of the river. But then she scratched her head with annoyance. Since dawn, she had been thinking of the thing that Hakkai wanted to tell her last night. She could not figure out what does Hakkai had in mind. And Sanzo… Gosh! That man is making her even crazier. Her mind tangled with confusion. Aiko shook her head, shoving the confusion away.

"Reika…" a voice popped out from nowhere. The word struck to her ears like thunder from a stormy season. Aiko turned around immediately and stumbled head over heels once she found the source of the voice.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!!" Aiko asked as she looked up to the monk with eyes wide opened. She rose up to her feet and brushed the dust on her outfit. Aiko stared at Sanzo, who stood silently in front of her. Aiko stammered, the look on that monk's face was different from she had ever seen before. Sanzo looked a little bit disturbed. Aiko was stunned as she recalled what the monk had uttered right before she turned around to look at him. "Why you called me that?"

"Are you really Reika?" Sanzo asked, fixing his gaze upon Aiko's face.

"Why do you want to know?" Aiko snapped back.

"She's my sister" Sanzo said calmly. The answer made Aiko astounded and gasped for air. She turned her back to Sanzo and looked down to her feet.

"You are not him aren't you?" Aiko asked with a very low voice. It almost sounded that she's sobbing. "Tell me you are not Koryuu" she almost pled. Now, her shoulder trembled slightly and she hung head so low that her face almost touched her chest.

"I was once" Sanzo stepped closer to Aiko. Now he's standing right behind her. "Now, you tell me…are you Reika?" Sanzo repeated his question as he put a hand on the girl's shoulder. He knew what the answer would be but he wanted to hear it from her mouth.

Suddenly, Aiko turned around and punched the monk right on the face. The punch was so soft that Sanzo didn't feel even the slightest pain. The punch brought him back to his past. Reika always punched him on his face. It seemed to be her mark and Sanzo knew too well that the punch he received just now would only belonged to Reika. Sanzo looked up to Aiko, the girl is smiling at him. Now he remembered why the smile seemed so familiar, it's the same sweet smile of Reika, which he longed so much for so long.

Aiko sunk his face to Sanzo's chest. "I thought you were dead" she whispered from the bottom of her voice. "A month after I settled with the family who had adopted me from the orphanage, I heard that Oshio-sama was slaughtered to death by a youkai who wanted to steal his sutra" Aiko is sobbing beneath his face.

Sanzo stood listening.

"I asked them about you… but they said they never heard of a boy named Koryuu being mentioned in Chang-an Temple" Aiko explained. "So, I assumed that you had died during the assault" Aiko clung to the monk's robe. Sanzo stayed silent.

"Now I finally met you…but I didn't hope it would be this way" Aiko's sob continued.

"We swore to be brother and sister forever and I guess destiny brought us back together" Sanzo whispered as he held Aiko's trembling shoulder. Now he had found what he had been searching for.

Aiko flung her arms around Sanzo's neck, causing the blonde man to jerk slightly to the back at the sudden impact on his body. She hugged him tightly. Sanzo sighed with relief. He returned that hug by cuddling her lovingly, as a brother would hug a sister. Aiko set herself free from his embrace a little while later.

Aiko looked at Sanzo. The monk's face looked so soft and soothed. "I guess I'll never see this calm face if I'm not Reika ne Sanzo?" she asked with a sneer. Sanzo grunted and yanked himself away from Aiko.

"Ch! Omae wo baka" He muttered beneath his breath. Aiko giggled. "Reika or not Reika, you still got a lot of explanation to do" Sanzo turned around and headed back to the hut. Aiko chuckled edgily. She brushed the back of her head with one hand as she watched Sanzo retreated to the hut.

"Should I call you Sanzo or should I call you Sanzo-nii-chan?" Aiko yelled from behind him. Sanzo turned around and flung his harisen toward the onna. It hit her right on the face. Aiko yelped in agony. Sanzo smirked upon his triumph. But deep inside, he was relief that Reika he once knew was still the same even though she bore a different name.

"Ittai…" Aiko rubbed her face as she cursed slightly in between her breath. 'Namaguza bouzu, baka Sanzo-nii-chan'. But then her lips curled in joy. She had found the first person on earth she ever called family, the person who taught her how to love and to be loved. It's the person she treasured so much that she's willing to die for him.

Sanzo turned around and proceeded toward the hut. "You still want to stay here?" he asked without turning to look at Aiko.

"Hai!" Aiko answered merrily. "I want to get some fresh air"

"Ch!" Sanzo grunted as he walked away, toward the direction of the hut. "Hurry up with whatever you're doing, we'll be leaving here soon" he told her as he lit a cigarette and put it in between his lips.

"Oki Sanzo-nii-chan!" Aiko jested the man. Sanzo grunted as a vein popped out on his forehead. He quickened his pace toward the hut in the middle of the woods. Aiko gazed at the monk as the latter disappeared into the woods. Aiko turned around. Now, her tangling mind has loosened a little bit. But Aiko had some questions hovering her mind as soon as the wonders faded away. 'Why Koryuu-nii-chan changed his name to Genjo Sanzo? Why he's heading to the West? Why he never came and looked for her?'

"K'so" Aiko guessed that's the very same question she has to answer later on their journey to Baron's mansion. "I'm dead" she muttered.

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"Ohaiyo Aiko!" Aiko stammered at another voice that appeared from behind her ears. Aiko sweat dropped as Hakkai appeared next to her. She didn't even realized when that man came to that place. The emerald-eyed man bent down to the riverbank and scooped out the water with a bucket. "You wake up so early, you should really rest you know?" Hakkai added without even looking up to his subject.

 "Ohaiyo gozaimasu and gomen for not resting" Aiko apologized as she bowed slightly. Hakkai rose up and chuckled edgily. Aiko smiled. "I just need to get some fresh air" she explained, trying to prevent herself from being scolded by the 'doctor'.

"You better go back into the hut or you will catch a cold" Hakkai advised as he looked at Aiko's face. 'Should I tell her now?' Hakkai shook the thought away. How could he imagine such thing? How can he end up with Aiko? The girl barely knew him and far from knowing his terrible past. Hakkai smiled.

"Hakkai…" Aiko looked down to the ground and then turned her gaze toward the river. She sighed as she stood listening to the sound of the river current. Then, she turned and faced Hakkai. Aiko lifted her face and looked straight into Hakkai's eyes.

Hakkai stood dumbfounded and stared at Aiko's face with wonders. "Nanda?" Hakkai asked and then he waited for the answer patiently.

"Gomen" Aiko smiled as she retreated her gaze away from Hakkai's face. However, after a while she looked up again to Hakkai and say "What is it that you were trying to tell me last night ne Hakkai?" She wanted to know the answer for all the questions that hovered her mind at once.

Hakkai sweat dropped and ended chuckling nervously. Now he could not run anymore. "Ano…" Hakkai stuttered as he tried to explain the answer and at the same time spitting out all that he had kept in his heart. "Aiko, I don't know how to tell you this…" Hakkai stopped again, leaving the sentence hanging in the middle and leaving Aiko to get more restless.

"Let's sit down… then may be you'll find the right words to spit it all out?" Aiko suggested as she grabbed Hakkai's arm and dragged him to sit down with her by the riverbank. Hakkai stared bewilderedly at the girl's sudden act but he didn't hesitate to settle himself next to Aiko.

"Hakkai…" Aiko whispered as she sunk her feet into the river. She swayed it around and let the coldness of the water absorbed right through the flesh in her feet, sending the chill down to her spine. She chuckled slightly as the coldness seemed to be tickling her. Hakkai watched the girl in action. The serene look that fell upon the girl's face made his lips curled without him noticing it. "Sankyu na… for saving me and for staying beside me all night" Aiko fixed her eyes into the crystal clear water.

Hakkai was snapped back into reality. He chuckled nervously. Lucky for him Aiko didn't realize that he was staring at her when she's not looking. "Iya! It's nothing!" He declined the appreciation. He didn't need any appreciation from the girl, he just did what he thought was his responsible. Hakkai had promised himself that the girl's safety would be his responsibility since the first time they met. He didn't know why, may be it's his nature or may be it's because the feeling he had upon that girl.

Hakkai sighed. Better end this for once and for all. He couldn't bear it any longer. Whatever the consequences might be after he spat out his feeling toward her, he will accept it. It's better to get hurt if she ever declined his feeling than keeping it all up in his heart. "Aiko…" Hakkai stared into the water.

"I know it's too drastic and it's too early since we didn't know each other quite well yet…but I can't help myself from falling into you" Hakkai finally spat it all out. Only then, he felt a sudden relief emerged in his heart. Now, he's waiting for the girl's respond and god… his heart pounded so hard that it felt like it could burst at anytime. "Gomen…" Hakkai managed to utter the last word he could think of.

No sound appeared from the girl next to him. Aiko didn't even moved a bit. She seemed to drop down dead to hear Hakkai's confession. Hakkai sighed. He already got the respond from his sincere confession from the girl's silence. He chuckled, more to comfort himself. "Sumimasen… I was not supposed to say that in a time like this" Hakkai apologized. He pushed himself up and stood watching the sky up above. It's not going to rain today but he indeed felt a little downcast… no, make it despaired. "Please forget what I've just said" Well, he could never forget that anyhow. Hakkai turned around and headed for the hut.

"Hakkai…" the calm voice of the girl he'd just confessed his feeling to put Hakkai in a halt. He turned his gaze and stood waiting for the girl's word. Aiko is standing up on her feet. Her head hung so low that it's impossible for Hakkai to see her face. Aiko walked toward him with a slow but steady gait. She walked gracefully and her hair swayed aimlessly when the morning breeze blew upon them.

The girl halted right in front of him. Surprisingly, she opened her arms and hugged Hakkai tightly. Hakkai was astounded and almost stumble on the ground as the impact hit him at sudden that he didn't have the time to balance himself. The bucket of water that he held in his hand fell tremendously on the ground. But then Hakkai smiled. He had guessed it wrong. Without him noticing it, Hakkai's arms had already enveloped the girl's trembling body. He sunk his face into Aiko's soft hair and smiled quietly. It smelled so good.

"How dare you confessed that you love me and walked away from me without hearing my answer?" Aiko whispered at his ear. "You reminded me of my dead fiancée, yes it was right but that's not the reason why I liked you" she added as her grip on the emerald-eyed man's waist got even firmer.

Hakkai smiled. Then, we're even. Each of us reminded each other of the people we once loved and that wouldn't be a problem since we loved each other for who and what we are. Hakkai remembered something and yanked himself away from Aiko's tight grip.

"Hakkai?" Aiko looked at Hakkai with confuse. She didn't understand it. A moment earlier, Hakkai confessed to her that he love her and right now Hakkai seemed to try to get away from her. 'Men are so annoying!'

"I can't…" Hakkai almost chocked down with the word. "I mean I loved you… but I can't" he said with a trembling voice. He backed away a few steps. "You don't know the real me" Hakkai explained briefly. She would never accept him when she knew his past and the sin he had committed. It's impossible that a human girl such as Aiko would love a youkai and a sinner like him. Hakkai shook his head. The world is taking the girl he loved away from him, again!

Hakkai fell down to his knees. He wept at sudden. The feeling that is hovering his mind and haunting his heart right now was equal to the one he felt when Kannan slaughtered herself to death right in front of his eyes. Hakkai hugged his stomach and bent down with sorrow.

Aiko fell disheartened at that sight. She kneeled down in front of Hakkai and put a comforting hand onto the man's head. "To know that you once committed a sin, to know that you are a human who had turned into a youkai after bathing in the blood of a thousand youkais that you had killed, to know that you had lost the one you loved…" Hakkai startled to hear the statement from the girl's mouth. He looked up and found Aiko's staring down at him with a soothing look. Aiko caressed Hakkai's head and dragged it to her shoulder.

 "You don't have to tell me that because I already knew about it and trust me… I've being through the same thing" she reassured. She made a hushing sound as she brushed the hair of the man in her arms. "None of us were guilty even if the world said the opposite"

"Nani?" Hakkai released himself from Aiko's embrace and stared at the latter's face, looking for answers. He felt like he had lived once again. Aiko just smiled and Hakkai couldn't help it than to returned it with another smile.

"I told Meili that she'd fought a dead girl but the girl is not Aiko, it's Reika" Aiko said. "So was Cho Gonou, he was no more and the one in front of me right now is Cho Hakkai" her exclamation left the man to smiled lively. "And Cho Hakkai was just the man that I loved"

Hakkai held Aiko on her shoulder and pulled her to stand up with him. "If that so… then Cho Hakkai is who I am" Hakkai said as he smiled.

Aiko landed a soft punch on that man's shoulder. "That's the spirit… and Hakkai, thanks" Once again she thanked him but this time for no reason. Hakkai's lips curled slightly.

"No need to thank me… I saved your life because I don't want to lose you" Hakkai explained as he giggled in glee. He was quite embarrassed to be thanked over and over for a thing he did nothing much.

"It's not that" Aiko shook her head. "It's for this" Aiko stood on her toes, pushed herself forward and then kissed Hakkai on his lips. Hakkai felt his body went stiffed from the surprise treat. She disengaged from him in a matter of a second and blushed severely. She walked passed Hakkai and headed toward the hut. Her pace was so fast and swift. "I see you in the hut" she called out.

Hakkai remained dumbfounded from the kiss he had just received. After a moment of total ecstasy, Hakkai finally regained consciousness. He turned around and smiled at seeing Aiko walked with merry steps to the hut. The girl looked like as if she was dancing to the rhythm of the nature. She seemed to blend with the nature around them and that's what Hakkai loved about her.

At sudden, something occurred to his mind. Hakkai looked up and shouted "Aiko, who had told you about my past?" Aiko turned around and smiled, both arms behind her back. She didn't stop walking though.

"Gojyo did" Aiko replied and turned to the hut abruptly.

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"Darn this girl" Gojyo slapped his head in disbelief at hearing Aiko's reply to Hakkai. "She doesn't even know how to keep a secret" he sighed as he shook his head in annoyance. 

"Hakkai would surely got me dead for revealing his past to her" Gojyo leaned himself hard to the tree behind him. He was just trying to help and he just wanted his pal to get himself alive again… 'Have I left the part of telling her to not to reveal to Hakkai that I'm the one who told her about his past?'

"Gojyo!" a voice popped out from nowhere, making Gojyo stumbled head over heels. He sweat dropped as he found Hakkai staring down at his face with a devilish grin.

"What did you tell Aiko about me?" Hakkai asked as he grinned menacingly at Gojyo. Gojyo laughed timidly as Hakkai reached his hand to his back and pulled out something from there. In a nick of time, a brutal whack landed on his head.

"Ittai…" Gojyo could see stars twinkling above his head. He looked up to Hakkai. The dark haired man grinned happily as he held a harisen in his hand. "Oi! I don't know you had one of those?" he was quite astonished with the sight he's seeing right now. 'Hakkai with a harisen?'

"I borrowed this from Sanzo a moment ago… before he went back to the hut" explained Hakkai as he smiled cheekily. "I saved it to whack your head when it's the perfect time" Hakkai had realized from the beginning that Gojyo was tailing him right from the start. Guess the hanyou can never help not to interfere when it comes to romance.

Hakkai looked around. "Goku, Kazo come out come out wherever you are" Hakkai sang out loud. He could sense the boys around the area. At instant Goku and Kazo climbed down a tree and walked toward Hakkai. Each of their faces flickered with guilt. "Minna-san, you know it's not nice to listen to someone else's conversation" Hakkai reminded the young ones and at the same time looked at the elder one from the corner of his eyes.

"Gomen nasai" Goku and Kazo apologized with a low voice. Hakkai smiled and ruffled the boy's hair.

"Boys! Breakfast is served" suddenly Aiko's voice penetrated the air, making the young ones dashed happily to the hut. Hakkai shook his head. 'I thought I already asked her to rest'. Hakkai glanced at Gojyo. The red haired already stood on his feet and walked surpassed him. By the time he walked passed Hakkai, the hanyou flung his arm around the dark haired shoulder and dragged the latter with him.

"You are so lucky loverboy" Gojyo smirked. Hakkai smiled. 'Thanks to you my friend'

The bishounens walked abreast toward the castle, with the kids up ahead, skipping with joy. Aiko was waiting at the entrance and Sanzo was leaning at the door.

"Ma…ma…what a peaceful day" Hakkai chirped as he chukled merrily. 'Until we are on our way to the mansion of course…'

To be continue……

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Ayie: I knew the villains's names is quite hilarious…but it's not easy to think of weird names that sounded like Chinese or Japanese…^_^. Even I'm laughing when I read the names again and again….

Sanzo: Yupe! She's laughing not only because she found the names hilarious but also because she'd gone totally insane…

Ayie: Urusai omae namaguza bouzu…slapped the back of Sanzo's head and received a whack on the head from Sanzo's harisen ittai….and uh gomen if you didn't found the scene of Hakkai confessing to Aiko is romantic…I'm not good in romance… ___

Gojyo: I can teach you anytime….

Ayie: chuckled nervously uh…. Sankyu…but I don't want… ^__^"