A/N: I'm… barely alive… exams are finally OVER!!! And it's back to catching up on the fics I haven't read yet… or not. I still have Don't Dream it's Over, In The Days of Koryu, Baby Blues and Alone to finish up. I'm so late to update T__T Gomen!
Thank you pple! I actually got 11 reviews for the previous chapter alone… thanks!
The Crimson Blood: Oooo… GojyoXHakkai…? Got it down! I'll write more of it in the next chapters… hehe^^
Sk8er Boi: No, no… thank YOU, sk8er boi-san, for reviewing ^__^
sanzo-chan: Er… heh… *blush* Yeah, he's naked… but I'll get him into some decent clothes soon… to prevent myself from drooling more… k… can't believe I said that… but yeah… ^^;; Thanks for reviewing!
gallatica: Opps… it ain't him T__T But thank you so much, gallatica-san, for reminding me that Chin Isou also has a part in this plot^^ Thank you thank you thank you! I think I would've forgotten about him if you didn't review *phew*
Ami: OoOooO… yaoi… Ee… I'm not THAT good when it comes to that, and I'm not a good teacher either… but I'll try! Let's see… if you're not comfortable with yaoi (which I doubt since you're reading this fic) then I suggest you *imagine* one guy being the girl and the other still remaining as a guy… dun go overboard tho ^^; k… bad teaching… 'tis easy. Maybe read some yaoi fics to get inspiration or… romance novels? Nah, they didn't help me one bit, but really… when I first came to ff.net, I didn't like shounen-ai at all. Seriously. Before I had an account, I hated it so much. But after I read some yaoi fics, I, er, accepted it ^^;;;;; So I suggest you go read *lotsa* yaoi fics to get ideas, k? I'm not a good teacher T_T
chris: Okay~ ur so damn smart, you know that don't you? You remind me of David Blaine. Consider it a compliment. Hah… thanks for cracking ur brain for this… maybe it was too obvious… I dunno… but congrats for guessing right^^
koureshin: Aa… haha… gomen, I just adore Sanzo torture ^^v Hope this update was fast for you! Tho I believe it ain't…
sun: Haha! Yeah, I guessed it should have been between Sanzo and Goku… but I pity Homura… oh boo hoo… he's so lonely… but WHO CARES, ne? ^___^
tsunogirl: All questions answered in this update^^
black luna: I guess you could call it a cliffhanger… thanks for reviewing!
Shiroki: You smarty you… ^^Yup, you and chris guessed right! Hehe… seems like there are more GojyoXHakkai fans around than I thought there would be…
Once Forgotten by real-circus
Chapter 5: Taunting
Sanzo buried his lower body with his discarded clothes while trying desperately to untie himself. He forced the knife out of Homura's cold, clenched hand and fumbled about with the blade. The cuts on his arms would surely worsen if he was returned to the Academy, where they would torture him to no end…
He somehow managed to slip the blade between his two wrists while holding the handle with both hands. He peeled the bonds off his raw skin and cursed at the unmoving figure slumped at the window. The boy was outside. Sanzo guessed that he'd either fainted from the shock or ran away in fright… or perhaps even died vomiting. Hell, he was just guessing. He heard a whimper outside, and his question was answered.
Sanzo quickly clothed himself, unable to stop the shivering. Damn Homura. Damn him for everything… but Sanzo couldn't help but feel something shatter in his heart when he shot the man in the head. Everything they'd gone through together—gone. Out the window of his battered heart for good. He resisted the urge to clasp the dead body to him and keep it warm for now… but he knew it would be such a stupid thing to do. Homura was dead… definitely. He checked for a pulse himself.
Why, he could've shot him in the stomach where he'd live at least a few seconds more, but no—it just had to be the head. He didn't know why, but he always aimed for the head and no where else before, unless it was for a motive.
Two years or so ago… Sanzo's second week at the Academy…
Homura loaded in the bullets of the gun for Sanzo, who was all pent up and annoyed at his lover. Jeez… I can do that myself! Stop treating me like your freaking junior, Homura! Well, it was true that he was Homura's junior, but he usually preferred to be treated like an equal, especially because his skills were much better than most seniors.
The men at the practice room glared at Homura, and some even offered to help Sanzo load and polish his gun. After all, Sanzo was the hottest being that ever walked into the Academy in a very long time. But Homura got to him first, and all hope was lost.
"The shots will be loud," Homura cautioned. "Just put on one of those ear-muff things and--"
BANG! BANG!
"Fuck! Sanzo just what…?!"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
…And he didn't even bother to use 'those ear-muff things'. The room seemed to stop and everyone gasped at the five holes in the dummy's cardboard head. Very accurate, but the target marks were drawn at the stomach area… which were so far away from the head.
"Ee… Sanzo," Homura gripped the blonde's raised arm. Hell, he didn't even use two hands to steady the gun! "You're supposed to aim for the dummy's guts, not the head…"
"If it were a real person he would've been dead either way," Sanzo replied, firing his last bullet in the middle of his previous five bullet holes, creating a rather impressive hole in the center of the fake head.
Homura took the gun from him and reloaded. "Do you really want your victims to die that quickly? Don't you want to see the pain and anguish in their eyes one last time before they end their pathetic lives? If you want a slow, painful death…" he fired, and a hole appeared right at the groin of the dummy. "…then this would be more suitable, don't you think?"
Back to the present…
Goku needed to puke somewhere… and quick. He was trembling frenziedly now, and to make things worse, the sharp pain in his right arm was hurting more than ever. Someone had hit him hard there, probably with a thick iron rod or something, when he was trailing Sanzo. Someone obviously didn't want anyone to follow him.
The blond man was standing above him now. How… how can he still be so… composed after what he'd been through!? Goku shrunk into himself, clutching his right arm to stop the pain. He held back the tears that were forming behind his eyes. He wanted to scream out, in anguish and in pain, to let it all out… but the older man did something that drew all attention to his presence once again…
Sanzo reached out, extending a hand to Goku, and all other sounds were blocked out, except his deep, husky voice, saying, "Hmph… I've got no choice but to take you with me… can you stand up?"
Goku had a sudden, fleeting vision of another man, with blond hair too but in strange garments, offering his hand to him. The sun illuminated his slender outline… those violet eyes looked down at him in slight worry and somewhat frustration… before it all evaporated into nothingness… and Sanzo was standing in front of him again.
"What… what did you do… just now?" Goku asked timidly, withdrawing. "What did you… make me see?"
"Just shut it and take my hand, will you? It was Homura's fault, not mine. It was partly your fault for stumbling on us…"
"N-not that… I mean… never mind it…" Goku stretched out his right arm, only to realize of the sting that seared through his bones when he did that. He cried out sharply, whimpering. The throbbing pain hurt even more.
"What? What is it now?" Sanzo asked, eyebrow knitted in irritation.
"My arm… someone hit me when--"
"Homura."
"Huh?"
"It was the man I killed just a moment ago. I believe he did it. Come on, let's get you inside." Sanzo was about to lift the frail thing off the ground but Goku pulled away.
"N-no… I think I'll stay out here…"
"You don't have to look at the body, you know. You can close your eyes. Just close them, and see nothing."
Goku obeyed, and moaned as Sanzo carried him, seemingly without much effort, into the little shack, and at a good distance away from Homura's body. Sanzo laid him on a tattered rug, as it was the only source of comfort in here for the boy. After rolling up the sleeve carefully and examining the fractured arm closely, he removed his belt.
"It's not a very serious injury," he stated. "Your shoulder bone's just disjointed."
"Disjointed? It… it sounds serious to me…"
"It can be fixed." Sanzo smoothed out the leather belt on his hands. "Bite into this—hard. It will help. Just do it!"
Goku clenched the material with his teeth, afraid of what the man might do next. Sanzo placed his head on his lap, gently caressing the arm. He knew he shouldn't be doing this though, touching the kid like this, but it couldn't be helped. He hoped Goku wouldn't get the wrong impression of him. He stroked every part of the boy's face until the child calmed down a bit. Fearful golden eyes stared at him, and it reminded Sanzo of Homura's right eye, which was of the same hue. He looked away.
"Don't think of it." Without warning, he crunched the boy's shoulder joint and pulled it back into its original position. Goku bit into the leather hard, almost ripping it. His cries and screams were muffled by the belt over his lips.
Goku's breathing grew harsher, and he gripped Sanzo's hand for comfort. He had time to slip his fingers between Sanzo's, and it was then that he realized that their hands fitted into the other's perfectly.
Sanzo had probably realized that too and said, "Let go."
Goku did just that, now burying his head into Sanzo's clothes, eyes shut tightly, belt still in mouth.
"Homura's dead, isn't he?"
Sanzo's gun pointed straight at the sound of the familiar voice. His eyes were peeled for the slightest movement of a muscle, or the twitch of a hand in the darkness.
"Shien," he said, lowering the gun. "What are you doing here?"
"Seeing if my plan worked out just the way I wanted it to," the man replied, pulling down his grey hood. The pale skin looked whiter and ghastly under the moonlight. The half-closed eyes regarded the two people on the floor with interest. Lanky fingers flexed themselves, their owner smiling widely.
"You?" Sanzo rose, pulling the boy up with him. "Spit it out. What did you say to Homura? What did you do, Shien? What the fuck did you do to ruin my life?"
"Ruin your life, Sanzo? I thought I made it more bearable. After all, Homura's gone, and you can start all over again… but not with that child," he added with hatred, eyes staring pointedly at Goku.
Sanzo waited in silence for the other to go on. There's no one here that will ever leave me in peace… gods… "Well? You're just trying to tell me that you wanted my life to lighten up a bit with the absence of Homura? Fuck you! I could've done it without your help, and without having to kill him, too! What's your goddamn problem?"
"…I heard your conversation with Homura…"
"You fucking heard us? And you never tried to help? Even though I didn't need it," he added as an afterthought.
"I heard enough to understand… you two really were trying to kill Li Touten… I don't want to know the stupid reasons for that, I'm quite satisfied with the death myself."
"Quit it with the senseless talk and explain, before you end up where Homura is." Sanzo raised his gun again.
Shien grinned. "Well, if you really want to know… the plan's not complete yet. Homura's death was part of it too. You see, I watched the both of you for a very long time, waiting for a moment to strike. You don't know what I've gone through… that bastard Homura betrayed Zenon, which killed him in the end. Zenon was my best friend. I had nothing left, except Nataku, the head of the grouping I was placed in. All was lost when he was killed too, by that brat at your side right now, Sanzo."
"How the hell did you know all this from?" Sanzo tried not to sound too curious.
"Nataku told me to back him up on the day of assassination, and I saw everything. No, I had been too late when I reached him…"
Sanzo stood in front of the boy, as though protecting him. "Then why didn't you kill Goku yourself?"
"I wanted to, at first, but I had to avenge Zenon's death too. When I learnt of the connection between the three of you, I knew that my plan would kill two birds with one stone. And you, of all people, made that possible for me. Only one thing is left to do though…"
Goku gripped Sanzo's waist, concealing himself. Tears ran down again, as he recalled the night he made his first kill.
"I thought Homura would go for the boy's neck, after I lied to him about your relationship with the kid, but no—he just had to go after you, merely giving this Son Goku a hard beating on the arm. Well, I guess I've got to finish this…" Shien cracked his white knuckles, advancing towards them.
Sanzo pointed the gun at the latter's head out of habit, whenever someone came too close. Strangely, Shien grinned, pressing his forehead to the mouth of the gun daringly.
"Maybe Li Touten was right," he said, still wearing that creepy smirk. "You wouldn't dare, would you? Go ahead, do it. I dare you."
Sanzo, without hesitation, pulled the trigger with his eyes closed. He heard the thump of a heavy object falling to the ground in front of him, and let the gun slip from his fingers. Two deaths—no, make that three—tonight. It would have been any normal night only if the murdered were not people he knew and worked with. Oh hell, the police wouldn't be pleased…
…And speaking of police... "Oh fuck!"
Red and blue lights blazed outside, suddenly, followed by the sounds of a siren blaring all around the neighborhood. Tires screeched across the uneven road, coming to a halt right outside the door of the hut.
Sanzo and Goku were trapped, as Sanzo would find hard to admit. Why hadn't he heard the rumbling of the cars from a mile away? Why hadn't he ran out and sprinted away like all hell was loose?
"Get down and shut up!" Sanzo pushed Goku to the ground and straddled the youth, much to Goku's alarm and bewilderment.
Goku screamed into Sanzo's mouth as soft lips came to cover his. He struggled as hard as he could, shrieking for the police to come now, and they did just that. The rusty door fell to one side as a forceful foot kicked it open, revealing a group of five men in uniform with guns.
Sanzo allowed the strong arms to pry him away from the crying boy, and wondered enigmatically… why… why the hell did I do that for? Saving someone else's ass is not like me to do… why?
A/N: Sorry… this chapter was short and really sucked. If you were wondering, yes—Sanzo DID attempt to erm, rape Goku to save the kid. I hope you get it. You see, if Goku was found to be with Sanzo, he'd be accused too, and Sanzo (for some unknown reason) did not want that to happen. Yeah, sweet, but too drama though…
What to be expected in the next chapter: Let's see… Sanzo does go to jail. No, he didn't escape. He could, if he wanted to, but he didn't want to. But you know I won't keep him in jail for long! He meets someone who plays a vital role in the plot in prison… And another surprise (also acting as a little something that spoiled Sanzo's plans) is to come. Remember he said something in Chapter 3: Betrayal… something about him not actually killing Gojyo?? Yes, he will get some answers in the end, but it's not the way he planned it to be…
Gomen gomen gomen for the lack of GojyoXHakkai here! I'll make it up in the next chapter! Yup, lots of it in the next chapter^^ And forgive me for mistakes… I was too excited (who wouldn't be after exams) Didn't have time to check… it's real late now and I oughta get some sleep… big day ahead tomorrow! Ja~
