Questionable Luck   



             Throughout the game, enough cursing had filtered outside to knock dead several sleeping birds nesting in a tree outside the cracked window.  Eight to nine was the score, with Gojyo behind by one point.  Sanzo was glaring down the last of his cards as if they were the biggest disappointment the world had ever known.  He removed one of them slowly and replaced it with a new card from the pile.  Fuming, Gojyo threw three of his own back and snatched up the new ones. 


            "I swear, the gods have something against m—well, hello there…" The redhead was sure he'd lost, until a nice stroke of luck put the odds in his favor.  He grinned in expectation of his eminent success.  Sanzo raised an eyebrow at him, thinking that the game had turned in his favor. 


 "Straight."


            "Royal fucking flush, monk."


Sanzo blinked blankly at the cards before starting on a mile-long string of curses, which eventually deteriorated into a solid glare in Gojyo's direction.  "…Okay, one more hand."

            "Are you sure you're up for it?  I mean," he leered like a rooster in a hen house, "I'm just so good…."

Frowning deeply at the kappa, Sanzo willed the game to not be a draw.  To be sure, the bed would be nice, but he didn't mind sleeping on the floor if it meant that he would be out of arm's reach of his wily companion.  "Don't get cocky, kappa.  We're tied now."  He handed Gojyo five more cards to start the deciding hand.  

            Gojyo spread the cards out across his fingers.  A brief flicker of disbelief crossed his eyes as he glanced at the cards.  "...Sanzo, you might as well just give up now," he said quickly.  The priest raised a skeptical eyebrow, considering whether or not Gojyo had something good, or if he was all bluff and bluster.  He gave no indication whatsoever if he had a good hand or not and drew his cards silently.

            "You done?"

Gojyo beamed back at him, " 'Course—not even going to get rid of any."  He snickered, tapping the cards.  "Fold or face an extreme beating!"

"And let you win?  Right."  He set down his hand on the floor, deciding that whatever came out of this, it was better than sleeping in the same bed as the half-breed.  The cards were horribly mismatched—a very unlucky hand—except for a pair of fours on one end.

            Gojyo seemed terribly disappointed when Sanzo laid down his cards.  Swallowing and scratching his head, he said, "Eheh…well, I won."  Setting his own hand face down on the floor, he continued. "It was inevitable."

"Flip the cards over, you liar."  A smirk turned up one corner of Sanzo's lips, thinking that this night was turning out slightly better than he had anticipated just a few moments before.  He was quite sure the bed was his—it was far better then sleeping on the floor when it came down to it, despite the thing being dirty and saggy.  Gojyo flinched and let a single expletive escape his lips, just as he was already getting to his feet.   Irritated he'd been out-smarted, the redhead tossed his cards over without looking at them.  When Sanzo saw the spread, all he could do was star, dumbfounded. 

            "You fucker!  That was the worst cheat I have ever seen!  How in the hell did you get exactly the same cards as I did?" 

Gojyo just crossed his arms, giving the priest a self-satisfied smirk.  "Told ya you should have folded."

            Fuming, Sanzo clenched his teeth in frustration, wishing he had not bothered to draw that last card.  After a short pause, he ventured the fateful question, "It's a tie then…so who sleeps where?"

"Well…seems to me…" he drawled, raising his eyebrows suggestively, "we both won the bed…."

            Sanzo's blatant stare in the kappa's direction was followed by a string of curses even longer than the previous.  "I'll just sleep on the floor.  You can have that nasty old bed—it'll probably fall apart the second you lay on it anyway."  The priest pulled an old blanket out of the pack and spread it out on the floor.   Not one to be put off by anything, Gojyo draped his arms around the blond from behind. 

"Oh, it looks nice and comfy to me…." He brushed his hand lightly under Sanzo's chin, his smile wide enough to curl around his ears.  "I can always make it a little softer for you…."

            The priest's eyes narrowed in annoyance at the kappa invading his person space, despite the fact that his heart skipped a few beats.  "I think I'll manage fine without."  He shrugged off Gojyo's arms from his shoulders and went back to arranging a makeshift bed on the dirty floor.

"Well now…who would've thought the mighty Sanzo-sama would deign to sleep on the floor.  Not only that, but giving the only available bed to the erokappa.  Tsk, tsk…" 

            "It's better than having you pawing at me all night.  That's quite a bit more demeaning if you ask me."  He lay down on the floor and pulled the tatty blanket over himself.  It didn't quite cover the priest and would probably not be very warm during the cold, desert night, but he was desperate to make Gojyo think he couldn't care less. 

"Hey," he shrugged, ambling away at a deliberate pace, "I was just worried about your comfort level…. Oh, well."  Gojyo sat down on the edge of the bed, making a show of putting up his long, crimson hair. 

            Sanzo gave a derisive snort in reply and said, "The only thing you're worried about is getting laid.  I'm not sleeping with you."  The priest ignored Gojyo's attempts to catch his attention just as deliberately as the kappa was trying to hold it.  In truth, Sanzo wouldn't have minded sleeping next to the redhead, but only as a bed warmer.  When sex was involved he usually ended up with the short end of the stick.* 

"You make me out to be such a heartless bastard."  Shaking his head, Gojyo fell back on the mattress, which creaked dangerously under his weight.  "How can I think about sex when I'm so worried about your priestly back being ruined by the heathen floor?" His voice dripped with sarcasm, thinking he should take off his shirt as extra incentive, but it was just too cold.  

            "Stuff it, water beetle.  I don't want to listen to your prattle all night."  Despite what he said, Sanzo suddenly considered that sharing the bed didn't seem quite to bad anymore, provided the kappa kept his advances to a minimum.  The redhead definitely had a point—if Sanzo stayed on the floor he would be stiff and chilled by morning. 

"Alright…" the kappa purred, turning and laying down.  He arched his back and sighed softly.  So the bed smelled like old tomatoes—it was much better than the dusty floor.  Now, if only he could procure a certain priest for a little satisfaction…. Said priest muttered an irritated 'good-night', barely loud enough for the kappa to hear, and closed his eyes in complete determination to sleep. 

*Bad pun/double entendre intended.