Title: Fragments of Memories
Author: AznSage
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.
Pairings: Sanzo/Goku, Hakkai/Gojyo
Rating: PG-13
Note: Wow. I should really put this fic off hiatus. So yeah. Goku POV. Takes place in Hong Kong in 2003.
In a little under an hour, we had reached the last stop of the bus and arrived at a station at the first level of a garage. The huge lot loomed in silence, despite all the rumbling of buses moving to and fro the station and the people bustling about to get on the right line. The bus driver began to pull us in from the road outside to the dropoff point and I shook Hakkai awake, smoothly standing and grabbing my pack in the same moment. He registered the familiar environments quickly and stood to leave as well. When the bus finally pulled to a stop, we started towards the door to get off.
"Ah! Goku! I think I left the water bottle on the seat, I'll catch up with you in a minute." He proceeded to go back to our previous seat in the back as I nodded absently at him and continued towards the door.
When passing the stairs to the second level of the double decker, I thought I had faintly saw the shimmer of golden hair that was so familiar. Closing my eyes, I shook my head a little and looked again. Whoever it was wasn't there anymore. I probably really was seeing things.
"Hey, are you going to move some time today or do I have to shove you off the bus?"
"Oh! Sorry! Sorry!" Eh, how embarrassing, spacing out like that. As we got off, I turned around to apologize again to the man when I suddenly who I had been talking to.
"Kid, what are you looking at?" I had to admit, I probably looked like a fish at that moment, mouth opening and closing in the same 'O' shape again and again.
But then again, who wouldn't when they saw Sanzo?
"Ah…uhh, sorry about that." I mumbled, though for which incident, I was unsure. "I thought I saw someone I knew is all."
He grunted in that non-commital way that was so much like the him that I knew and began to walk off. "Next time, don't do it when there are so many people behind you waiting to get off. Just get off the bus first and then see if he comes off."
"Ah…yeah." Okay, dropping head in embarrassment now…
"Ne, Goku?"
"Waaaah~!" I think I almost jumped there. Hakkai could just really come out of nowhere. Or I had really spaced out pretty badly back there. "Damnit Hakkai! Are you *trying* to give me a heart attack?!"
"Sorry," He scratched the back of his head apologetically. "But you really spaced out back there. Something the matter?"
I nodded solemnly at him. "I saw Sanzo. As in he's real. As in he's here. On Earth. Earlier than he was supposed to be, just like Kanzeon promised. And don't tell me I'm seeing things because he spoke to me and I spoke to him!"
"Oh! So he recognized you?"
"Well…not exactly…" I dropped my head and poked my fingers at each other in shame. "I kinda wasn't moving along to get off the bus and he kinda told me off."
"Ah, how Sanzo-like."
"Hey! Wait a minute! He called me 'kid!' I'll show him who's a 'kid!' I'm so much older than him now and he has the gall to call me a 'kid?!' How rude!"
"Well, it's not like we go around announcing our real ages to people…and you do look quite young all the time. Everyone at the office says that."
"Oh shush. Whose side are you on anyway?" I playfully punched his shoulder and we left the parking lot in higher spirits. It was well in the afternoon then and we decided that it would be a good idea to grab a lunch that we didn't have before anyway. Going to the restaurants with our packs would not necessarily be a good idea, so we decided to take the subway back and drop our stuff off before eating. We'd normally just cook dinner ourselves but the short trip today made it a bit impossible for us to do grocery shopping.
Our place was a simple one, just like any other apartment—small but sufficient for the two of us. It's not like we spent an extremely large amount of time in there anyway. Our routine for weekdays was go to the office and work, then go home and cook some dinner, hang out there with each other. Though, more often than not, the evening ended up being us hanging out with our co-workers. The door of the apartment opened into the small living room, branching out on opposite sides. Left of the door was the bathroom, kitchen, and minute dining room. Right of the door were our two bedrooms, placed across the hall from each other, each an exact replica of the other, except that Hakkai's was much cleaner than mine. In our living room, there was a door by the window that led to the outer balcony, which had a clear view of the city. We weren't exactly by the bay, but you could see a lot of the busy and crowded areas from there all the time. Besides, if you looked far enough, you could see all the way to the island, where the boats and lights were constantly flashing on and off. By the window, there was a small table which adorned a small Kanzeon statue and a large vase of bamboo. A small glass replica of plums on a varnished wooden platter stood before her, with two pictures adjacent to either side of it: that of Sanzo and that of Gojyo. The multimedia set was next to the table, with the coaches forming a perpendicular angle by the wall across from it, the shorter one dividing the door from the living room.
We opened the door and I vaulted over the shorter coach, stretching lazily on it as I waited for Hakkai to finish in the bathroom before leaving. So Sanzo really was here. Perhaps this meant that I could finally tell him what I wanted to. Though, to be honest, I was curious of how we were going to meet this time. Circumstances here would be a bit odd since our lives were so busy and ordinary. And it wasn't like when he was a farmer and we were some of the only people around. His life now could be so much more complex than I could ever imagine and I would never know it. And what of his family? I wouldn't want to shatter everything that we have just for myself. It would be too selfish.
"Okay, Goku. I'm ready to go. You?"
"Un. Yeah. Sure." I hopped up from my place and smiled at him, hoping that it would hide what I was thinking. "Lemme go grab my coat."
Hakkai nodded at me, but as I turned to go, he placed a gentle hand on my shoulder and spoke. "You know it's alright to feel a bit anxious about this, but don't kill yourself over it. I know it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance, but we live forever, don't we? Just calm yourself and fate will run its course."
I smiled at him again, this time sincerely. I love how Hakkai is always able to read my thoughts. Though, that might be since we've been living together for far too long.
"Then I wish you luck with Gojyo too. The incident was…unfortunate."
He nodded sadly at me, but tried to cheer up quickly afterwards, making me immediately regret having mentioned it. "That's alright. Gojyo is human, he should be reborn soon." He quickly flung his jacket on and opened the door, motioning for me to go. "It's nothing to worry about, what will happen, will happen."
We went to a Western restaurant, waiting patiently to be seated. The place had been opened up recently and was the sort that had a bar by it. The seater took us to a spot near the kitchen, a bit off to the side of the restaurant, handing us our menus and then smiling politely, noting that the waiter would be back in a little while to take our orders. Hakkai smiled back politely as I started skiming through the menu. Hey, what'd you expect? I was hungry.
Our decision-making was suddenly interrupted by the sounds of glass cracking and shouts of surprise from a table near us. Apparently, some waiter had tripped over some kid's prank of putting a glass on the floor and the food he had been carrying before flew towards us, barely missing us, but slopping itself right into the empty place on the table in front of us. The glass he was carrying had dropped by him and the child's parents were already scolding the child, various other staff members going up towards him to help him clean up the mess and see if he was okay. We could here the curses flying out of his mouth. That really did look painful since he looked like he barely missed his head hitting a chair.
Other waiters came over to our table to apologize, cleaning up the mess as soon as possible. Hakkai and I politely replied to them that we were fine, though a bit dirty. I offered my help to the staff to clean our tables, insisting that Hakkai should go to the bathroom to clean up some of the food that splashed on his shirt. He smiled at me and began to get up.
When he stopped moving, I tugged at his sleeve, barely looking up to see what was wrong, but asking by a familiar touch. When he didn't respond, I had to open my mouth. "Hakkai, what's wrong?"
"G-G-Gojyo!"
And sure enough, our myseteriously tripped waiter (who had just picked himself up from the floor) was no other than our old friend, Sha Gojyo.
I didn't really know what to think at that moment, though I'm pretty sure I said "Hakkai, you lucky bastard."
End Part II
Mwweee....I have to decide on their white collar jobs. And I need to decide how the hell Sanzo's gonna show up. I've only planned how to get Gojyo mixed up more with these two. Sankyuu na to the reviews Juniper James, kitsune-oni, gallatica, bleit, chris37, and MoMo. *bows* I probably should update this more often...
