Title: Still Time
Chapter: 2
Sanzo stopped in his track. A couple of hundred metres from him there stood an old building, some kind of a church of Victorian style. It was a large and ancient building with high walls surrounded by dead trees on its right and left sides. The iron gates in front of the building were wide open. A closer inspection would reveal that the rusty gates hadn't been in function for ages. The tallest tower of the building had a big old clock at the very top.
Sanzo fancied he could see the movements of the second hand of the clock. That is odd, thought Sanzo, you would have thought everything is dead in this town. Apparently that clock was alive.
"Very interesting," stated Hakkai mildly. "Have you seen the clock, Sanzo?"
"Yeah," nodded Sanzo. "The hands are moving."
"Yes," said Hakkai. "I assume that's where we're supposed to go next."
Sanzo glared at the building.
"Let's go," he said briskly and led the way.
Surprisingly, the big entrance door of the building was slightly ajar, as if daring them to come inside. As if they were expected here. Sanzo kicked the door open effortlessly.
"Maybe we should knock first?" suggested Hakkai.
"We can just help ourselves, can't we?" replied Sanzo.
"Ah," smiled Hakkai. "You're right. We're being polite, aren't we?"
"Damn right!"
They found themselves in an empty hall, dimly lit by candles. Moving forward cautiously, they heard the stony floor echoed their footsteps and bounced the noise off the walls. Hakkai looked up. The high roof was decorated with a very big chandelier. Oddly enough, the candles on the chandelier were all lit. The glow illuminated the large room with uncomfortable light.
The door was suddenly shut with a loud bang.
"Interesting," said Hakkai mildly.
Sanzo shot at the door a few times but nothing happened. It seemed that the door was protected by some kind of invisible barrier. He kicked it, just in case but it stayed solidly closed. Sanzo suspected there was some kind of magical barrier used here. He glared at it for some time.
"Do you want me to try?" offered Hakkai.
"I don't think it'll make any difference," replied Sanzo slowly, still examining the closed door.
"My, my," mused Hakkai. "Might as well spend the night here. Free accommodation for once."
"Ch!" replied Sanzo. "This place stinks. Not my kind of accommodation, thank you very much."
"I was only joking, Sanzo," chided Hakkai half heartedly, while strolling forward and towards some kind of an altar in the middle of the hall.
Sanzo chose to ignore Hakkai's remark and strolled in a different direction. The suddenly shut door didn't worry him that much. He could deal with it later. More urgently than the door now was to find the pair of annoying idiots who had managed to get themselves kidnapped. Sanzo swore that he'd make them pay dearly when he'd found them.
"This place is a bit typical, don't you think?" continued Hakkai in a conversational tone, not the slightest hint of being affected by the fact that they're completely locked inside an unknown building.
"A door that's opened and closed by itself, a big chandelier full of lit candles, a big empty hall, an altar with strange carved writings on it...," mused Hakkai lightly, walking around to examine what else he could find in the room. "I expect we should now find a stair going to a dungeon and meet some monsters or probably a dragon there."
"What are you talking about, Hakkai?" asked Sanzo wearily.
"Well, this place is just like those in children's books. Your basic Witch Castle with some monsters and a princess to rescue at the top of the tower," explained Hakkai patiently.
"But we've only got two morons to rescue," pointed Sanzo.
"Yeah well," Hakkai smiled at Sanzo brightly. "Reality is a bit different from fairy tales."
"I suppose I still can hope you're right about the monsters," said Sanzo. "I could do with some ass kicking."
"Oh I'm almost certain about it," replied Hakkai, still inspecting the place with greatest interest. "As a matter of fact I think I've found the stair, Sanzo."
"The problem is," said Sanzo when he saw the stair. "Should we go up or down first?"
Hakkai seemed to contemplate about this for a while before he shrugged his slender shoulders. "Maybe we could do with a few ass kicking?"
Sanzo smirked. "To the dungeons then?"
Hakkai nodded his agreement and followed Sanzo going down the stairs. The stairs were curling downwards, illuminated by sets of candles on the stony walls. Someone or some people were certainly expecting visitors here because everywhere the candles were lit. Hakkai started to feel uneasy again. What is this building and who owns it? he frowned at the thought.
They walked in silence and their shadows were moving swiftly here and there as they progressed on. Hakkai was still deep in thought when suddenly he smelled something in the air. Fragranced candles? thought Hakkai. It strangely smelled like roses.
"Smell like dead roses."
Sanzo slowed down his pace and nodded, "Hm."
"This is a pretty creepy place I must admit," stated Hakkai.
Sanzo kept on walking. "Not your idea of a witch castle?"
Hakkai shrugged, "I don't know. Never been to one."
"Maybe a real witch castle is like this," said Sanzo.
"Maybe," conceded Hakkai.
"How was your hand?" asked Sanzo after a few seconds of silence.
Hakkai checked his bandaged hand, "It's fine. The blood has stopped leaking out. Thanks."
Sanzo wondered what else he should say. He felt quite unlike his usual self to be concerned about trivial things like for example, Hakkai's hand and its wound. He should be thinking something useful, like how long would it take them to reach the dungeon? It seemed that they had walked forever and would never reach the bottom of the stairs. This wasn't good. The passage was quite narrow and they'd be easy targets for their enemies if they were attacked here.
Meanwhile Hakkai was wondering the same thing, only from the opposite direction. Sanzo was being very civilized for sure, thought Hakkai amusedly. He paid his attention to the outline of his blonde companion. Sanzo's hair reflected the candle light even in the dark, the way shadows and light alternated to fall on it fascinated Hakkai. He was always one to appreciate beauty and what he was seeing now was no doubt beautiful. He had always liked the graceful way Sanzo moved, the elegance that's always radiating from the monk whatever he did.
Hakkai carefully went through the strange chain of events that had happened to them since the morning. The kidnapping of Gojyo and Goku, the fake jeep and the failed chase, which resulted in him and Sanzo ended up in this strange and sinister castle. Everything that had happened so far was too strange. And this included Sanzo's behaviour.
Hakkai remembered the strange way Sanzo had been giving him looks. When did it start, Hakkai tried to recall some recent incidents. Sanzo had been giving him special attention lately. At first, he thought it was strange and left it at that. And now it's all coming back to his mind. What did he say before? thought Hakkai. My hand was cold he said. Why would he care about my hand?
Hakkai glanced at the injured hand. Sanzo's robe was wrapped around it but his blood had stained the ivory cloth. He never knew that Sanzo cared enough to want to tear out his robe for anyone, let alone bandaging a wound. Sanzo had always said that he didn't care a bit for any of his travel mates. It turned out that he did care for him though. The thought made Hakkai smile. Well he had suspected that quite a while. Sanzo wasn't always honest with everything. Why should he anyway?
This was the second time today that Sanzo had made him smile. He shouldn't get his hopes too high, he knew. The higher you fly, the harder you fall. That was the one lesson that he had learnt the hard way. It was one lesson he wasn't going to forget. If he was able to smile like this occasionally it was more than good. Because Hakkai knew only love could break his heart and he didn't want to be broken again.
If he could protect Sanzo until this journey was over, it was more than good for him. It was what he had intended to do ever since that night when Sanzo asked if he wanted to leave their group to avenge Kanan's death. He had decided to stay because vaguely as it was, he had found a reason to stay.
Suddenly Sanzo came to a halt. Hakkai stopped himself in time, as not to hit the monk in front of him. The sudden stop had put Hakkai's mind back to reality.
"What is it, Sanzo?"
"We're here," replied Sanzo and motioned Hakkai to follow him.
It was pitch black in the dungeon. The last of the candles on the wall had been a few metres away. Hakkai couldn't even see Sanzo's outline in front of him. His eyes blinked a few times, trying to adapt to the sudden darkness. He kept on walking forward cautiously.
"I can't bloody see anything!" muttered Sanzo in the dark.
"Maybe you can use your lighter to brighten up this place a bit," suggested Hakkai.
It was at this moment when Sanzo stopped moving to fumble for his lighter that Hakkai hit him from behind and made him lose his balance. "Hey!" protested Sanzo as Hakkai reached out his hand to try and grab Sanzo by the sleeve only to be pulled down by Sanzo's weight.
The two of them went down on the cold hard floor, followed by a string of curses from Sanzo's lips. There was a sound of something hit by a metal and a yelp of pain. Something hard had hit the monk's head and he was flat on his back with Hakkai's weight on top of him. Sanzo found his current situation very undignified and cursed once more.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
"It's you who stopped suddenly, Sanzo," replied Hakkai reasonably. "I'm not a cat so I can't see in the dark all that well."
It was indeed very dark and quite impossible to see anything but Sanzo could feel the shape of Hakkai on top of him and it was starting to make him uncomfortable. He could feel Hakkai's breath on his face as he was speaking and felt a hot surge on the area of his cheeks. It seemed that his blood had rushed to his head, making him hazy with unholy thoughts.
Sanzo was confused. He found his position uncomfortable but he didn't want Hakkai to ever move. What's more he found that he was feeling very comfortable while being uncomfortable at the same time. I am going insane, thought Sanzo wearily. The feeling of Hakkai's body pressing so close to his made his whole body shivered and restless. Hakkai was so close he could even hear the other man's heart beating. Or was it his?
Hakkai found to his amusement that he was enjoying his current position. Sanzo was so close. He could almost see Sanzo's painful expression being pinned down by him in his overly imaginative mind and smiled in the dark. Three times, he counted his genuine smile for the day. And Sanzo was so close. If he leaned down a bit, he would be able to kiss the monk and blamed it on his clumsiness or on the darkness.
On second thought, Hakkai decided against taking advantage of the situation. He sighed inwardly as he was trying to get up, slowly and reluctantly. His mind switched to current event and he realized that something had escaped his mind completely. Surely he heard something before? Slowly and carefully he disentangled himself from the monk and positioned himself to sit on the cold floor.
"Sanzo, are you alright?"
Sanzo raised his body from the floor and sat himself in front of Hakkai. He placed his hand on the back of his head where he had hit something during his fall.
"My head hit something," said Sanzo grudgingly, rubbing the pain on his head.
There was something illuminating the dark now and it was coming from Hakkai's hand. "Here, let me take care of that."
Before he could protest, Hakkai had leaned closer and placed his hand on the back of Sanzo's head. It was the second time in the last few minutes that he had come so close to the green eyed youkai. And this time he could see Hakkai's feature clearly, illuminated by the faint glow of Hakkai's healing energy. Sanzo felt a warm sensation replacing the pain that he felt earlier. He studied the face in front of him which had seem to shine with some inner light, making it looked even paler than ever yet somehow still retained its indescribable beauty. How Sanzo longed to touch those pale cheeks and feel their flawless skin...
Sanzo's hand moved on its own accord. Just one touch, thought Sanzo. He could feel warm energy entering his body, enveloping him with strange yet comfortable feeling. He didn't feel the pain anymore, only the glowing warmth. Just one touch. His gaze was fixed on Hakkai's face, who was still concentrating with his eyes closed. Sanzo was mesmerized by the sight of the long dark eyelashes, the flawless skin of his cheeks, the pale lips...
Hakkai opened his eyes and said in mildly satisfied voice, "There!" He slumped backward and did a routine to maintain the flow of energy inside his body. After a while he asked, "How are you feeling now?"
Sanzo's hand stopped in mid air and he cursed himself silently. Whatever was he thinking?
"Fine," replied Sanzo, looking away. "But you needn't to do that. It was only-"
"It doesn't matter now," cut in Hakkai. "I found where our friends are. Try the lighter."
Sanzo grabbed the lighter from the recesses of his robe and switched it on. He followed Hakkai's gaze and turned his head to find the thing that had hit his head. It was iron prison bars. Behind them was two figures lying on the floor.
"Oi, Gojyo, Goku!" shouted Sanzo at the motionless figures. "Wake up, idiots!"
Hakkai frowned when he noticed there was no positive reaction from the apparently sleeping figures of their comrades. He reached out his hand through the prison bars, trying to touch their bodies but couldn't because they were too far inside. There was no way to heal them if they were wounded by the enemies. Why didn't they move about? As if they were dead...
"Gojyo!" he called out. "Goku!"
No response.
Suddenly panic attacked him. Hakkai stood up abruptly.
"Sanzo, what if they're...," he didn't dare to say it out loud.
Sanzo ignored Hakkai's unfinished question and stared at the motionless Gojyo and Goku. The truth was he was actually worried. What he needed to look for now was some signs that those two were still alive. Surely he could just make out the way Gojyo's chest rise and fall? It wasn't very apparent but he was sure enough about it. In turn, he inspected Goku's form and found the same thing happening and sighed his relief.
"They're alright," said Sanzo, standing up. He wiped out his forehead, was amazed that he was sweating cold earlier. He wouldn't admit it, not even to Hakkai, that he was as worried as him about Gojyo and Goku. Not in a million years.
"Thank goodness for that," sagged Hakkai in relief. The thought of losing his friends made him nauseous. He started to hate this place. It's better for all of them to get the hell out of this creepy place. A thought occurred to him. Maybe he could break the prison bars with his energy ball.
"Sanzo, please stand back. I'm going to try something."
Sanzo obediently stepped back to allow space for Hakkai as Hakkai poised to let go of his energy ball. The dungeon was illuminated by bright light of his pure energy for a few seconds before something went 'bang' loudly and it was dark again.
"It didn't work," observed Hakkai a little puzzled. "The bars must be protected by something."
"I suspected so," replied Sanzo. "It's just the same as the entrance door. Something is protecting them."
"What do you think is protecting them?"
Sanzo thought for a while and shrugged, "I'm not sure. It feels like magic."
He took out his gun and aimed at the prison's lock. The bullet didn't seem to harm it in any way.
"Magic?" asked Hakkai incredulously. "You didn't mean there were gods involved in this, did you?"
Sanzo shrugged again.
"It's useless to hang around here," said Sanzo decisively. "There's nothing we can do here. Let's try upstairs."
Hakkai looked at the still figures of Gojyo and Goku. At least they're alive even although it's a bit suspicious the way they didn't stir during all the commotion around them. What's happened to them? thought Hakkai with an uneasy feeling.
But still, Sanzo was right. Maybe they could find something, anything in the tower. Maybe a key to fit into the prison's lock. He eyed the lock doubtfully.
"I wonder who's behind all this," Hakkai started walking up the stairs, following the monk.
Sanzo had been thinking the same thing too for some time, amongst other things. His first suspicion had fallen on Kougaiji and his gang. But as event developed, the suspicion waned especially after both he and Hakkai had arrived in the deserted town. It just didn't seem like Kougaiji's style. With Kougaiji, things had always been more straightforward.
His next suspicion then fell on the people, or rather, youkai behind Kougaiji. The villains who were working towards Gyumao's resurrection. This place had a malicious aura that would match the psychotic personality of those people. Sanzo wondered if it was wise to leave Goku and Gojyo just like that in the dungeon. But there was no other way. He nor Hakkai could do anything about the prison bars. Why did their attacks have no effect on anything in this building? There had to be some explanation to it and he's going to find out.
Sanzo cast his mind on a completely different matter. A matter that had been weighing him down in the last few days. Why did he have to have such strange feeling towards the green-eyed youkai? Sanzo gritted his teeth. He'd never felt anything like this before, a burning desire to touch someone that had become so strong, it hurt. Sanzo clenched his fist. He recalled the recent incident in the dungeon, when Hakkai was healing him, a wave of emotions had come over him and he could still feel the tinge of those emotions within his body now. If he closed his eyes now he could see the very scene playing so clearly in his mind. He could see Hakkai's fair complexion, his hair glowing by the energy's dim light, his closed eyes, the dark eyelashes and his pale lips...
Sanzo stopped suddenly and turned around.
Hakkai who had also been occupied with his own thinking almost ran into Sanzo but he managed to stop himself in time.
"What's wrong, Sanzo?" said Hakkai. "Don't keep on stopping so suddenly like that. You'll get us falling off the stairs."
Sanzo didn't reply but placed a hand on the side of Hakkai's face.
"S-anzo?"
Hakkai looked up and was surprised to see the expression on the monk's face. Sanzo's eyes fixed on him, devouring him as if searching for something, his lips set so thin, his jaw so determined. Hakkai felt Sanzo's fingers on his cheeks, slowly caressing him. Sanzo? Caressing? Hakkai's astonishment was beyond words.
Then Sanzo leaned closer. His face was so close to Hakkai's. His words came out hoarsely, surprising both himself and Hakkai.
"Hakkai," he whispered. "May I?"
Hakkai's eyes went wide. He couldn't tear his gaze from the sight of Sanzo's slightly parted lips, knowing what the monk's intending to do. Suddenly he felt his body trembled at Sanzo's touch. Slowly he was pulled closer to the monk. He couldn't trust himself to answer. Hakkai closed his eyes.
Sanzo pulled Hakkai closer and pressed his lips on the green-eyed youkai's. Electric sensation went straight into his whole body the second their lips touched. Hakkai's lips were soft and sweet. Sanzo felt Hakkai's hand on his chest, clinging to his robe. He pulled Hakkai even closer with his other hand. He could hear Hakkai's breath had become uneven, or was it his? It didn't matter now.
In the middle of the dimly lit stairs, their lips locked in each other, their worlds merged into one. The flickering light of the candles only served to illuminate two figures, standing a little unsteady, getting lost in each other's embrace. Sanzo slid his tongue inside and heard Hakkai gasped. The sound of it made Sanzo's body shiver uncontrollably. His mind went numb for Hakkai was kissing him back, almost as desperately as he felt. He burried his hand in the dark hair of the youkai. He would never let him go. He would never let him go.
He would never let go.
But he pulled away reluctantly and looked into the pair of green eyes that he loved so much. Yes, he loved. There was no other way.
"Hakkai, I'm...," Sanzo began.
Hakkai placed a finger on Sanzo's lips. "It's alright. I understand."
Sanzo couldn't tear his gaze away from the greenness of Hakkai's eyes, from the depth of sorrow that those eyes always seemed to conceal so neatly. There were so many things that he wanted to tell him, so many things he'd like to ask him but there were so little ways. If only he could read the answers in those eyes.
Hakkai looked away. He removed his hand from Sanzo's chest, adjusted his monocle and took a deep breath. In doing so, he tried to steady himself, steady his raging heart and mind for right now he was flustered and confused. He needed to calm down. It had been so long since he felt emotions this strong, felt a passion this hot. What did Sanzo do to him? There was so many things that he wanted to ask the monk. But personal wasn't the same as important. There was a more important thing to do. Hakkai sighed. Why did he always have to be the calm one?
"Sanzo," he turned to face Sanzo and tried to sound as normal as possible. "I think we'd better get going. I don't think we're safe here."
Sanzo opened his mouth and thought the better of it. Clenching both his fists, he turned around and walked on.
"Sanzo," called Hakkai in dismay. "I don't mean-"
"I understand," snapped Sanzo. "Let just get this over with."
To be continued...