Disclaimer- Minekura Kazuya owns all that is her Saiyuki

Warning: Spoilers for the most recent chapters of Saiyuki Gaiden (i.e. the chapters that will be eventually collected into vol. 2.) Also, language and sexual situations.

Notes: I call this a "what if" because the real ending has not come yet. Hopefully soon we'll know what really happened. Feedback is always appreciated and thank you. :)

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And All Returns

The walls seemed to shake from the noise outside, or maybe it was caused by the fitful breathing from the small boy asleep on the table. Goku's face, flushed from fever, still had a tracing of blood on the side of his jaw. Tenpou watched from where he sat as Konzen took the cool cloth from Goku's forehead and wiped it gently across his face, dabbing the red away.

"Why isn't he waking up?" He brushed Goku's hair from his forehead and laid the cloth back down. Whatever stiff composure Konzen normally maintained had been left on the floor of the court, along with the blood of the Toushin Taishi and of the guards Goku had killed.

"Exhaustion, stress, shock." Tenpou dropped the ashes from his cigarette on to the floor. He smiled because this was probably the smallest offense he caused that day. "Think of it this way. Goku is probably in a better place right now than us. And I hope he stays there as long as possible. Would you want him to be here for this?" He waved his hand to the wall.

His question silenced the room. Kenren, who had been pacing back and forth at the far end of the table, stopped and listened. Tenpou glanced over to the bookcase and watched Goujun, his hands tied behind his back, tilt his head to the side, his long slanted ears moving just slightly. Even Goku's labored breathing seemed to calm for a moment, and they rested in the dull roar gathering outside. Over the din, they could hear one man shouting. Or still shouting, Tenpou noted.

"Damn, will he just shut up already?" Kenren clenched his fists and went back to pacing. After he had finished blocking all the doors and windows, the General was left with nothing else to do but slowly realize their predicament. Tenpou's gaze followed him as he walked from left to right, back and forth.

"Perhaps he thinks if he huffs and he puffs, he'll eventually blow us all down." Tenpou replied, but his joke was met with only grim response. "…I guess I'm the only one who's read that story here."

"Fuck, we don't need stories right now!" Kenren turned on him, and Tenpou saw that his face was almost as red as Goku's. "What the hell are we going to do?"

Before he could respond, the King of the Western Ocean answered for him.

"You, General, are going to walk out that door and surrender." Goujun's voice was cool. "There is nothing else you all can do here. That is, if you want to come out of this with your lives."

"Is that a promise, Sir?" Tenpou turned in his chair and faced him. "Because something tells me that even your ranking can't save us poor souls."

Goujun returned his look. "As your hostage, I can promise you nothing, Marshal. As your superior, I can also promise you nothing. And as someone who wants to see this end quickly and without anymore needless bloodshed," he nodded towards the table where Goku lay, "I can only promise that staying here will lead to neither of those hopes."

As if applauding his statement, the outside roar increased, matched only by Kenren's fist pounding on the wall.

"We hear you!" He dropped his fist down and down again, causing a dent. "Just fucking shut up already, you fucking bastards!"

"General Kenren!"

Tenpou's shout stayed his hand, and Kenren turned, his expression of someone who had just woken up.

"We don't need you making it any easier for them to come in here." Tenpou pushed his glasses up. "What we do need is for you to go down the hall and get more supplies, more nails, more wood, whatever you can find. Do this now."

"What?" Kenren pointed his clenched fist towards him. "I did that already! There's nothing else to cover up-"

"I said now, General." Tenpou hoped his face was as stern as his voice. It must have been because Kenren left the room with out anymore objection. They listened to the sound of his boots stamp down the hall and heard the door to the other room open and slam shut.

"You're right, Sir." Tenpou bent over and stubbed his cigarette onto the floor. "Right now, there are few promises that we can hope to keep. Save this." He walked over to the door that Kenren had just left through. "I will be back." He turned and gave them all a wink. "We will be back."

He closed the door on Goujun, Goku, and Konzen, and walked down the hall, the roar of the outside following his every step.

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Kenren turned in surprise when Tenpou followed him into the supply room, but his eyes widened even more as he watched the Marshal slip off his own belt and pull down his trousers.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Ignoring his question, Tenpou tossed his pants to the side and walked over to him. "What I need right now is obedience and focus. What I, what we don't need is everyone losing it. Goku is in shock, and Konzen can barely carry himself. This leaves three. Now, we can either give our hostage a sword and say 'Let's all die one big happy family', or you can take your pants off right now."

"What the-" Kenren took a step back from him. "Have you lost it?"

"Oh, wait…" Tenpou scratched his head. "I'm making it sound like a choice. That's wrong." He raised his hand and pointed at Kenren. "Take off those pants, Soldier. Or I will tear every shred of them from you." As he took another step closer, he watched in satisfaction as the General fumbled at his belt. Tenpou's hand overtook his and made quick work loosening the rest.

"I need you. Right now." An order, a curse, a whisper. Tenpou murmured them into his ear, slipped them between his lips, and gripped them between his fingers, coaxing Kenren to look at him, to forget the noise beyond the walls, and the growing dread inside, and to focus- focus on him and everything he was saying. "Right now. I need you. Here. Right now. Here. Me."

And against the wall of the supply room, they cleared all away, and between clenched teeth, they came back to what sense they still held at this late hour.

In that one moment between rise and fall, it felt so quiet, Tenpou thought he could hear everything. Goku's breathing, Konzen's worry, Goujun's unease, Litouten's rage, the roar of the gods, the shaking of the earth, and the steady rhythm of the General's heart beneath his cheek.

"Do you know what I want right now?" Kenren asked. Without looking up, Tenpou reached for his pants and for the cigarettes that were in his pocket, but Kenren took his hand, stopping him. "I want to fuck you tomorrow."

Tenpou's glasses were off, somewhere on the table, but he didn't need them to see the sad resignation in Kenren's eyes.

"Who says you can't?" He got up and straightened his jacket.

"Heh, is that a promise, Marshal?" Kenren reached to the table and picked up his glasses. As he handed them over, he gently grasped Tenpou's fingers over the frames.

Tenpou felt all the bitterness in his smile. Looking down at their clasped hands, he remembered Goujun's warning only minutes before.

"…I promise you, General." He pulled his hand away and placed his glasses back on his face. "That there will be a tomorrow for us."

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Konzen didn't ask about why they returned rumpled and empty-handed. Somehow their little interlude composed them all a little more. Even Goku seemed to rest easier. It was Kenren who fished out the pack of cards. He dealt out a hand for Goujun still tied up on the floor. "Don't worry." He winked. "We won't peek, Sir. Much."

It seemed strangely quiet. Eye of the storm? Tenpou wondered as he lit another cigarette. He sat back, sated, and listened for the judgment swirling together outside. Out of all the promises he could make at that moment, there was one he knew he could keep, no matter what came through that boarded door.

We will be back. He tapped his ashes and watched them drop to the floor. We will remember, and we will come back. All of us.

As if applauding his thoughts, the eye passed over, and the outside roared back to life. But Tenpou just smiled in return, dropped his ashes, and played out his hand.