Title: Still Time
Author: Sariyuki
Disclaimer: Saiyuki and its wonderful characters belong to Kazuya Minekura sama whom I worship!
Pairing: Sanzo + Hakkai
Warning: Shounen ai. Adventure. Romance.
It was a fine morning that greeted Sanzo and the gang. Another dawn had come and it was time to go on their journey to the West yet again.
A big yawn was coming from a bleary eyes Gojyo as Goku was walking towards the front door of the inn they were staying for the night. As always, he said, "I'm so hungry!"
"Ch!" replied Gojyo. "Can't you say anything else? Something intelligent, monkey?"
"Hey!" protested Goku. "Don't call me monkey!"
Goku turned to Sanzo who was reading the morning news provided by the inn keeper. "Sanzo, when are we leaving for a restaurant?"
"Shut up, Goku. I'm reading," replied Sanzo, not looking up from the paper.
"But, Sanzo...," whined Goku, not taking the hint to shut up.
"Just wait in the car, will you?" snapped Sanzo, irritated to be disturbed so early in the morning.
Gojyo saw Goku's crestfallen expression and pitied him. Goku never learnt his lessons, thought Gojyo. Didn't he know already that Sanzo's grumpiest in the morning?
Gojyo put his arm around Goku's shoulder and dragged him outside. "Come on, monkey. Never mind that wordly monk."
As Gojyo was reaching the door, he turned around and realized that one member of their group was missing, "Sanzo, where's Hakkai?"
"Still in the room," replied Sanzo, still not looking up.
Gojyo frowned and then shrugged.
"Well, okay. We'll be waiting in the car. Be quick, you two."
The door was slammed shut. At the same time, Hakkai was appearing in the room.
"Where's everybody?"
Sanzo folded the newspaper and put it on the table. "They're waiting in the car."
Hakkai looked puzzle, "Car? What car?"
Sanzo gave Hakkai a critical look, "What do you mean 'what car?'?"
"If what you mean car was Hakuryuu then you must be mistaken because he is sill with me. See?" explained Hakkai.
"Kyuu," added Hakuryuu helpfully from Hakkai's shoulder.
"What the...," Sanzo began.
Hakkai was already running towards the door, just in time to see Gojyo and Goku talking animatedly at the back of a Hakuryuu look alike jeep.
"Kyuu!" even Hakuryuu was surprised.
"Gojyo! Goku! Jump out from that car!" shouted Hakkai urgently.
"Huh?" replied Gojyo intelligently.
At that very moment, the Hakuryuu-look alike jeep suddenly started itself and drove away.
"What the hell?" yelled Gojyo, startled.
"Hey!" protested Goku as a seatbelt magically appeared on the side of his seat and bound him firmly onto the seat.
Gojyo saw what happened to Goku but it was too late because the same thing was happening to him too.
"Shit! What the hell is this?"
"I can't break the damn seatbelt!"
Meanwhile, Hakkai had asked Hakuryuu to change form and motioned Sanzo urgently to follow the fake jeep.
"Damn," muttered Hakkai crossly as he started the jeep up. "How can they be so careless?"
Sanzo sat himself in his usual position in the jeep and muttered, "Idiots."
They began their chase but the fake jeep was going very fast ahead. Hakkai accelerated as fast as he could and tried to keep up but the distance between them was getting wider.
"Can you see anything, Sanzo?"
Sanzo peered into the distance. "I could just make out the shape of those two idiots, bickering still."
Hakkai shook his head, a faint smile appeared on his face. "Those two really can't stop, can they? Even in this situation..."
Sanzo scowled, "A pair of total idiots. That's why."
Hakkai took a sharp turn following the fake jeep into a small path that led them into a mountain track. It was getting difficult, not to mention dangerous, to drive fast in the zigzag track. One wrong turn and it's game over.
However, Hakkai couldn't care less about driving safety right now because he was more concerned with the fate of his two companions. The distance between them was impossible to breach and it made him even more worried. He couldn't even see the smoke behind the other jeep. They were losing their chase.
Hakkai pressed the gas pedal deeper and accelerated.
"Oi, Hakkai," warned Sanzo.
"It's okay, Sanzo," replied Hakkai, eyes concentrated fully on the dangerous path ahead of him.
It seemed that they had been driving for a whole hour but the mountain track seemed to lead them nowhere and the other jeep was long gone from their vision.
"Sanzo," called Hakkai warily after a few moments of silence. "What do we do now?"
"Keep moving," replied Sanzo firmly. "There's nothing else we can do."
"You're right," agreed Hakkai.
Sanzo cast a sideway glance at his companion and he could feel how Hakkai was worried. It felt strange to him that Hakkai was more concerned about the fate of those two than he was. But Sanzo was pretty sure that Gojyo and Goku were more than capable to take care of themselves. They were not weaklings.
Hakkai wore a serious expression on his face. His eyes fixed on the road and his lips pursed thinly in concentration. It was not usual to see him worked up like that. He was always so calm.
Does he really care that much for those two? thought Sanzo.
It couldn't be that he is worrying about Goku, thought Sanzo speculatively. All of them seemed to have formed an opinion that nothing could ever kill Goku. Goku was too strong. He was a special creature or a monster, some would call. No, Goku was more than capable to take care of himself.
So... he must be worrying about Gojyo? Sanzo frowned at the thought. He felt his chest burnt with jealousy.
Jealousy? Where did that word come from? Sanzo shook his head mentally to clear his head and scowled at himself.
"Sanzo? It may be a town ahead of us," pointed Hakkai ahead.
"A town?" Sanzo cast his mind back to current affair. "In the middle of nowhere?"
"It seems empty," observed Sanzo.
"What a strange town," said Hakkai. "It seems so old."
"And dead," added Sanzo, lighting a cigarette.
"Yes," agreed Hakkai. "It's a bit under populated, I have to admit."
Sanzo inhaled his smoke and tried to analyse the situation. It was obvious that the town wasn't just an ordinary town. There was nobody as far as eyes could see. It seemed like an abandoned town. This had to be the enemy's play ground, which meant that they could start searching for their lost companions in here. But Sanzo also realized that this could also mean somewhere in this town there was certainly a trap waiting for them to fall into.
"Shall we take a walk, Sanzo?"
"Why not?" replied Sanzo and strolled forward.
They walked down the main street of the town in silence. The street was covered with dust as if it hadn't been walked on for so many years. If there was only one word to describe the street, it was dusty.
Sanzo noted there were faint marks of car's wheels on the street. They had to be the marks of the other jeep, the fake jeep. He glanced at Hakkai and Hakkai nodded his agreement. They had come to the right place. Now it's time for them to look for the fake jeep and their comrades.
Dry winds blew the dust off the main street, even the air smelled of abandoned civilization. Hakkai looked around and took a mental note of everything he encountered along the street. He strained his sight and hearing, trying to find some clues as to the whereabouts of his comrades.
Sanzo was also deep in thought. He touched the cold metal of his gun for assurance. If this was a trap as he was as sure as hell it was, he would like to be prepared for the worst. He felt that there's something oddly wrong about the place. He moved forward. No living things seemed to be in sight.
Sanzo came to realize what was wrong. It was the quietness of the town. A kind of quietness which set people on edge. He didn't like the feel of it.
Suddenly, there was a shower of arrows bursting from the right side of the street.
"Watch out!"
Hakkai took a stance and created an energy barrier to protect both of them while Sanzo shooting at the general direction of their enemies. But Sanzo's bullets went wasted because they only hit the wall of an old building. The arrows seemed to come from a small alley in between the buildings on the side of the street. But who were shooting the arrows? There was no one there.
Then the shower of arrows stopped as abruptly as it came.
Hakkai lowered his hands and the barrier vanished. They both ran to the mouth of the alley and found there's no trace of the enemies.
They looked around expectantly, waiting for another burst of attacks. Sanzo scanned his surrounding, everything seemed as quiet as before the attack. How he hated this kind of battle. He had always preferred a more straight forward approach to cowardly ones. Cowards got on his nerves.
"What a surprise, eh, Sanzo?"
Sanzo glanced at his smiling companion and snorted. Even in the midst of a battle he'd find the green eyed youkai smiling amiably to the world in general. His character is getting worse, thought Sanzo. He found that sometimes Hakkai got on his nerves too.
"This town is not so dead after all."
Sanzo growled his agreement, "Soon it will be if I ever catch those cowardly bastards..."
"Let's keep looking," suggested Hakkai.
Hakkai walked around aimlessly, looking for some clues that the enemies might leave. All he could find was some broken arrows. Hakkai bent down to examine the arrows closely. Those arrows that had tried to penetrate his barriers and failed. Just ordinary arrows. No clues, whatsoever. That was highly suspicious. Their attack was so neat. What was this about then? The kidnapping... the attack...
"A psychopath, I've no doubt."
Hakkai looked up.
"I bet they'll try some cowardly tricks again."
"Yes," agreed Hakkai, standing up.
They resumed their walk in silence along the dusty street. Hakkai felt there was something fundamentally wrong about the place. For one, the wind didn't seem to move and the air felt heavy. Everything seemed ill looking about this place. Even the colour of the sky looked wrong. And the silence, it was getting worse. The only sound that could be heard was their footsteps. Hakkai sidled closer to his companion without thinking.
Sanzo could feel Hakkai's uneasiness. They walked side by side and their shoulders brushed occasionally and sometimes their hands touched. Sanzo's face was carefully blank. What will happen if I just grab his hand and keep walking as if nothing happens? Will I be able get away with that? What will he do?
Sanzo frowned at his own train of thoughts. When did he begin to think like this of Hakkai? He had never wanted to touch anyone at all. He hated physical contacts with anyone. Just now he wanted to hold Hakkai's hand. Just because he was so close to him. Just because he could.
Just because there was only the two of them now.
What is it all about? frowned Sanzo.
Their hands touched again. Sanzo was startled. Hakkai's hand felt cold even if the weather was far from cold.
"Sanzo? What's wrong?"
Sanzo avoided Hakkai's gaze, "Nothing. I... was just thinking."
"Oh. Right. This place got on my nerves too."
Sanzo said nothing.
Hakkai scratched his head absentmindedly, "You know, I've been thinking... this street could la-"
"Your hand," cut in Sanzo suddenly.
"Eh?"
"It's cold," said Sanzo, not exactly looking at Hakkai.
"Oh," Hakkai looked down and examined his left hand, the one that he assumed Sanzo was talking about. "Is it?"
"Well," Hakkai mused. "I only notice they're cold when I use too much energy in battles."
Sanzo said nothing.
"Could it be that I have low blood pressure?"
Hakkai chuckled lightly at his own joke.
Sanzo snorted.
Suddenly Hakkai took Sanzo's hand in his and clasped it with both of his hands, "What about your hand?"
"Hey!" protested Sanzo. He was startled. Hakkai rarely initiated physical contacts with anyone. Yes, Hakkai was undoubtedly friendly with everyone but at the same time he had always seemed to distance himself respectably from them. Sanzo often wondered why. And now...
"Ah," Hakkai began. "Your hand is certainly warmer than-"
Hakkai gasped. An arrow had shot him on his right hand. He let go of Sanzo's hand. Sanzo turned around in a flash and shot his gun randomly. But there was no one he could see. He cursed loudly.
"Come out and fight, for god's sake!"
Only silence replied his challenge. There wasn't even as much of an echo of his shout. Sanzo scanned his surrounding wildly. He was furiously disgusted at being attack from behind, twice at that too! But how could they ask for fair play when their enemies were demons?
Hakkai is a demon too, thought Sanzo warily.
"Are you alright?" asked Sanzo.
"Yeah," lied Hakkai, still trying to smile as if nothing bad happened.
Sanzo eyed him suspiciously, "Let me see your hand."
He took Hakkai's hand. The blood was trickling down from the cut but fortunately the wound wasn't so deep. Hakkai's hand was even colder than before. Sanzo bent down and tore the end of his robe and used it to bandage Hakkai's wounded hand. Hakkai was startled when he saw what Sanzo's doing and was about to protest when he saw Sanzo glaring at him, daring him to protest his actions.
It wasn't like Sanzo to care about anyone so much, thought Hakkai. But it was a pleasant surprise, decided Hakkai that Sanzo should worry about him. A smile appeared on Hakkai's face, despite the pain that he's feeling.
"Thank you."
Sanzo only grunted in return, apparently still engrossed in the task of bandaging Hakkai's wound. It wasn't a neat job, Hakkai had to admit. But he was prepared to get wounded everyday if that's what it took to get this uncharacteristic care from the blonde monk. What have I done to get this attention? mused Hakkai.
"Wipe that smile off your face."
"Oh," Hakkai's smile got even wider. "Was I smiling?"
Sanzo looked at him and scowled, "You seem so satisfied about something."
"There it's done! Let's get moving," said Sanzo harshly.
But Hakkai didn't seem to notice the harshness. It was one of Sanzo's bad habit to be harsh to people and it was also one of Hakkai's bad habit to be ignorant about certain things when he wanted to. That was why they got along so well.
Hakkai stood up and walked after the monk. His hand was stinging from the pain but he could ignore it for now, he's used to wounds anyway. He was trying to think of something that he felt strange. Something strange about Sanzo, thought Hakkai. He felt pain in his chest suddenly and realized that this place was dangerous for the two of them. They were exposed in the hands of unknown enemies. What if something bad happens to Sanzo?
So deep in thought, Hakkai didn't realize that they had reached the corner of the street and had to take a new route to the right.
To be continued...