Hey ya!
Ack, I hate to leave arguments unfinished... therefore, I must write more...
DISCLAIMER: Nope, not mine. Don't try suing for anything, I don't have anything.
CHAPTER 5
Goku and Gojyo, who had been about to enter the room where Hakkai, ever the healer, was keeping watch over their unconscious companion, stopped in their tracks when they heard voices from the inside.
"He's awake!", Goku rejoiced quietly before he pressed his ear against the door to hear what was being said.
"Hey, monkeyboy", the half-youkai teased him, "you're not exactly displaying your best manners here..."
One moment later, however, his ear had joined Goku's on the wood of the door. He could hear Hakkai's voice, alright, but the door was too thick to actually understand more than the occasional word. And there – San... Kouryuu's voice, strained and rough, but unmistakably his.
'So he's back from the dead', the kappa thought, reluctantly admitting his relief. Ever since their leader had tried to take his own life, he had been in a state of profound disbelief – the ever-superior Genjo Sanzo (to hell with the name 'Kouryuu', he simply couldn't get used to think of the blond man any other way), sometimes depressed, but always defiant, so utterly beaten down that he refused to live any longer? It seemed impossible, and yet it had happened.
'Hopefully Hakkai can talk him out of trying again...'
He had been wandering around the town aimlessly for the last couple of days – there was nothing else to do for him, with Hakkai staying at his patient's side, trying to make him gulp down some water and meat broth, and Goku hovering at his side.
Gojyo glanced over to the boy; dark rings under his eyes told him that he had barely slept since Hakkai had found his master. As far as the halfbreed knew, Goku had also declined to eat anything until Hakkai had practically forced a meat bun down his throat.
'He has seen Sanzo get hurt before, but never by his own hand', the red-headed man mused.
'I don't even know whether he understands the concept of suicide – to be unable to go on with your life...'
His thoughts were interrupted at this point, when yelling started coming from the inside of the room. Gojyo flinched away from the angry voice instinctively, shoving Goku against the doorframe. A rather loud "clunk" resounded when the boy's limiter hit the wood.
"Ow, that hurt, Gojyo...", he started complaining.
"Shhh, now we can understand something", the older man hissed and held his ear back on the door again.
"...Genjo Sanzo is dead – he died the night I changed! WAS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED TO KNOW?"
The sheer volume of the last sentence did not require anyone to listen at the door anymore; a maid who passed them on her way to the stairs gave them an odd look as Goku slowly stepped back from the entrance to the room, his face paling.
"What on earth is Hakkai telling him?"
Gojyo shook his head, now utterly bewildered.
"Dunno – but it sure has him in a fit..."
Suddenly, Hakkai stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him, nearly crashing into Goku and shoving him out of the way in a rather unfriendly manner. Surprised, the half-demon called after him, "Hakkai, what..."
"Leave me alone!", came the angry – and totally uncharacteristic – reply. Shortly afterwards, another door slammed – this time the one to Hakkai's room.
Goku and Gojyo had barely recovered when the door was ripped open again and Kouryuu came stomping out, clearly not in the best of moods either. He wore his leather shirt and a pair of jeans, and had traded the sandals for a pair of worn-out boots that Gojyo had provided. His arms were bare, save for the gold bracelets confining his youkai persona, and a large discolored slash on his left arm, whichstill vividly told the story of his suicide attempt.
Gojyo, still bewildered by Hakkai's behavior and surprised to see San... Kouryuu up and about, took a second to find words to address the piercing violet stare:
"Uh, hi Kouryuu, nice to see you on your feet again..."
"Shut up and let me through" was all the answer he got for his attempt to be friendly before it was his turn to be shoved out of the way. The blond man walked down the hallway and down the stairs.
Goku and Gojyo exchanged a stare, and then the kappa decided that it was time for them to leave this madhouse for today – he had the feeling that neither Kouryuu nor Hakkai would appreciate company right now.
"Oy, Goku, I won some more money last night... wanna go and get something to eat?"
That got the monkeylike boy's attention immediately.
"Are you kidding – I'm starved! Let's go!"
Okay, I hadn't planned for this to be so long... wanted it to be part of the next chapter, not THE next chapter :sweatdrops:
Ah well, regard it as a companion piece to the last one. Will write one more tonight – the one I had actually planned to be here...