A Fools Dream
~Chapter: 5~
He awoke at the sound of sharp knocking on the door to his room, and groaned irritably as he grabbed his pillow and placed it over his head, trying to stuff out the incessant noise. He prayed – something he didn't normally do – that the knocking would just stop, allowing himself to get the needed extra hours of sleep…but no, the gods were not kind to him this day, 'Since when have they ever been…' he wondered, then ripped the pillow away, as he turned onto his back, wincing in pain as the sudden burst of light seared through his tired mind, through the windows which were his eyes. He opened them again, this time slower so as to limit the amount of light entering at a time, then rose into a sitting position, after having adjusted to the brightness.
"Dammit! I'm up already, quit with the knocking!" he exclaimed, hoping that the one making the noise would hear his voice above the sound, and stop their rapping…but no, the call had been to no avail. Gojyo's face drew down from a frown of annoyance, to a perplexed look, and then rubbed his head as he thought about what action to take on the infernal knocker. Coming to a suitable idea, he came to his feet, pulled on his trousers, and zipped it up, leaving the top button open, and not bothering to pull on a shirt or neaten his appearance in any way, since this first problem needed to be settled first. He made his way to the door and swung it open, causing the young Goku to pause in his knocking, and take in the other's appearance. The half-breed had an unreadable expression; giving the impression that he was not quite fully awake, and by the way he was dressed…it seemed to add some truth to his suspicions.
"Gojyo…" the young youkai began normally, then paused as he saw that something seemed to shine behind the possibly pseudo-glazed look of the older mans eyes, "er…Gojyo…" he began again, this time more tentatively. Suddenly, a tanned arm shot out, the hand grasping the collar of the brown-haired teen, who yelped in surprise as he was dragged into the crimson-haired man's room. "Gojyo!" he exclaimed, digging his feet into the carpeted floor, only to find that it had no effect, "let go of me! Sanzo sent me, and I never go against his words!" he exclaimed, struggling to get free of the tight grip at his neck. Suddenly the dragging stopped, and he found himself being flung through the air, his eyes snapping open as he landed on his side on something soft. He flipped onto his back, propping himself on to his elbows, his eyes wide in shock and worry, as they met the phased-out gaze of the half-breed, "Gojyo!" he said, trying to get the older man out of his hazy state of mind. Gojyo didn't seem to respond and proceeded to lean towards the young man, who struggled futilely to push himself away, only to feel the others strong grip clamp about his wrists, then shoulders, pinning him down, "Ah! Gojyo! What do you think you're doing?!" he cried out, just as the mans face came a little to close for comfort to his own. Unable to bear what could happen next, Goku clenched his eyes shut, turning his head away, as he tried to bury it deep between his shoulders.
"I'm doing this," came the gentle reply, which was so close to his exposed ear, the youth could feel the light breath blow over it, playing gently through the tufts of hair around that area. His eyes flew open and he turned his head to look up in shock, only to feel something being tightly wrapped about his slim form. "There…that should do it," came the satisfied announcement of the half-breed, as he stepped back to survey his handiwork. Goku struggled against the unknown bonds that prohibited the movement of his arms and legs, grunting with the effort, and then became slack as he placed a vehement gaze upon the redhead, who was making his way towards the bathroom.
"Hey, asshole! What'd you do to me?!" he demanded, lying bound as he was to the bed…a sudden thought occurred to him then, "Hey! Let me off of your bed! I don't know what you've been up to in here, and I don't want to be anywhere near where you've been, now let me off!" Gojyo turned to look at the protesting teen, one hand at his hip, while the other hung limply by his side.
"Look, you unceremoniously woke me up from my sleep, so what I've done is tie you up in my bed sheets, and I'm quite proud of the way I did it, considering the way you were squirming…oh, and monkey-boy, my bed's clean, nothing happened in there, apart from a few fags being puffed, now stay there like a good ape and shut the hell up!" he said, then turned and continued towards the bathroom, ignoring the barrage of exclamations and profanities which followed him, and slammed the door shut.
The young youkai continued to yell at the closed door for some time, until he lapsed into mental cursing and evil thoughts of what he could do in revenge for this injustice. Many minutes passed, with him trapped as he was, listening to whatever the older man was up to in the bathroom, then the door flung open, revealing a seemingly freshly washed and groomed Gojyo, wiping at his face with a towel. Goku watched as the half-breed went straight to his somewhat neat pile of remaining clothes, and began to pull on his white vest and blue jacket. He then proceeded to tend to his hair, then tied the bandanna up, around his forehead, then headed to the door, whistling to himself. The young youkai grit his teeth in anger and frustration, and once again struggled against his bonds, but to no avail.
"Hey, shithead! Are you gonna release me or not?!" he cried, his face heating up in anger. Catching the words, Gojyo turned about, pausing in his whistling and placing Goku with a gaze that seemed to say he had completely forgotten about the bound youth. He folded his arms, cupping his chin with one hand, as he seemed to think for a while.
"Um…nope," he said simply, opening his eyes as he came out of his moment of thought. He folded his arms behind his head, and continued to walk out the door, whistling to himself, leaving Goku still lying on the bed, bound as he was, shaking in anger.
"Gojyo! Get back here and untie me, now!" he cried, then began to shuffle more violently, as he tried to get off of the bed and make his way to the outside. He knew Gojyo had left the vicinity, clearly ignoring him, and so he mustered enough strength to urge himself to roll over, and continued rolling until he hit the floor of the room, landing on his back and gritting his teeth against the pain that shot through him. He opened his eyes to see the ceiling, then rolled over onto his belly, and began to worm his way as best he could, considering the way he was bound, towards the door. Upon reaching the doorway, he looked down both ends of the corridor, and caught sight of a plume of crimson bobbing down the stairs to his right, which led to the restaurant and bar, as well as the outside.
The young youkai grit his teeth and mustered his strength once more, feeling his anger rise and using it to fuel him, as he wormed his way towards the stairs, and looked down, 'Dammit…this'll probably hurt more than I'm expecting, otherwise I'd walk or hop down, but I can't…damn you Gojyo!' he thought, then drew in a breath to steady himself, and took the final few spaces, and tumbled down noisily. He cried out many times, but managed to keep himself in a somewhat safe position, then landed heavily at the bottom of the stairs, groaning in pain as he lay on his side, every part of himself aching painfully.
"Damn, you're determined, aren't you," came the mocking statement from above him, as the youth continued to steady himself after the fall he had taken. Goku's head snapped up at the voice, and his anger flared once more.
"This is your doing, jerk-off!" he yelled, only to have the half-breed begin to laugh at him. "Hey, where do you think you're going?!" he demanded, as Gojyo turned away and began to head to the restaurant.
"I'm going to get myself some food," he replied, and then continued walking towards his destination, 'Better make it a takeaway…or Sanzo'll kill me…not that it'll bother me, I guess,' he thought, as he walked straight to the counter and leant against it, waiting to be served. A young, female waitress came over to him, blushing lightly as he flashed her a dashing smile, as he placed his breakfast order. She bowed politely and hurried away to deal with his request, as he craned his neck to watch her leave…it was shame he couldn't make much out of her figure, considering she was dressed in a formal kimono. He jumped suddenly, sucking in a sharp breath as he felt something nudge violently against his leg, and looked down only to find a rather large sized brown-thing at his feet, "What the hell…" he began, then blinked several times as the thing looked up at him through a pair of very angry gold eyes, "oh…it's you…what do you want?" he asked rather nonchalantly, turning his attention to the door where the girl had disappeared.
Goku's glare turned darker than it was before, and looked at Gojyo's shin, he grimaced, but for now…the act would please him very much. The half-breed cried out in pain and shock, as the young youkai bit hard into his shin, the teeth digging in as deep as they could. He jumped away, crying out louder as Goku's mass followed him, and knelt down to grab at the youth's hair, tugging at it with all his might, "Damn you, you asshole! Get your stinking teeth out of my leg, quit biting on it!" he cried out, and then seeing that tugging on the other's hair was doing nothing, he turned his attention to Goku's mouth, and began to pull at his cheeks. The young youkai resisted the assault on his cheeks for some time, but soon found that he could not withstand it any longer, and released his dental grip, moaning in light relief as the crimson-haired man released his hold on the others cheeks just as quickly. "Okay, fine…you made your point…" he said, rubbing his stinging shin rapidly, in an effort to comfort it. He stood up, grabbing Goku by the gathering of his collar at his neck, and hoisted him up to his feet.
"Um…excuse me, here's your order, sir," came the meek words of the young woman, who had taken his order. Gojyo looked up, turning his attention away from the young youkai, and smiled gratefully at the girl, expressing his thanks as he took the bag and paid for it, then began to head towards the Inn's entrance, which would lead him to the rest of his group. Goku stared after him in disbelief; his jaw hanging open, then began to hop after him in heated pursuit.
"Hey, Gojyo! You said you'd release me!" he yelled, continuing to hop towards the open door, where Gojyo seemed to have stopped. He too came to a halt beside him and looked up to study the other's expression, and saw that he was staring at Sanzo's direction, who happened to be talking with someone dressed in grey robes, similar to Sanzo's pale-yellow ones. They wore a wide-brimmed hat, making it difficult to tell what they looked like, "You staring at them? Well…it seems like they're still talking…wonder what about though," the youth commented, looking back up at Gojyo, who appeared to have regained himself and marched towards the pair.
"Mind telling me what you're up to, Ena?" he asked, as he came to a stop behind the woman he had been talking to the night before. Sanzo flashed him a warning look, which indicated that should the half-breed continue to anger him in this way, then there'd be some serious disciplining going on. Gojyo ignored the look, and continued to set his attention on the one he was addressing, who looked up at him and seemed to smile under the hat, "and take that hat off, it's annoying me,"
"Ah…Gojyo, you shouldn't interrupt them, they seemed to be having a rather important discussion," Hakkai said, from where he stood by the Inn door, the small white form of Hakuryuu perched upon his shoulder. Gojyo cast a quick look over his shoulder to the dark-haired man, and turned to meet Sanzo's very forced plain gaze, as he effectively kept his anger in check, 'Hmm…gotta give him points for that…even I can't tell if he's phased out, or pissed off…he's good,' the redhead thought, then shrugged as he stepped back.
"Okay, I'll wait my turn then…the honour's all yours Sanzo," he said simply, then walked back to join Hakkai, leaning against the wall beside his friend. Ena watched as he walked away, a small smile playing on her features, then her hands came up to her hat, one hand taking hold of the strap under her chin, and the other holding onto part of the brim.
"You're right…it's a little sunny out, so may as well take the thing off," she said, and removed it, letting free long locks of soft brown hair, which fell just past he shoulder blades. Gojyo stared for a bit, his mouth slightly open, then closed it as he remembered the previous night…the way she seemed to be a little suspicious. He turned his head to catch Hakkai studying him and scowled, while the other smiled and chuckled to himself, turning his attention to other matters. "Well, Sanzo…where were we…" she wondered, placing her simple dark-brown eyes upon him, "ah yes…I was wondering if it was possible for me to accompany your troop for a while…only to a few towns, and I'll gladly help in any way I can along the way," she said, smiling politely as she did so. Sanzo continued to look at her, mulling over the idea, then flashed his gaze upon the three youkai, trying to discern any ideas from their expressions.
"I'm afraid…that our journey is quite perilous…and we don't actually have enough room for, Goku! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" he snapped, catching the young boy rubbing against the wooden pole, which lead to the entrance to the Inn.
"I'm trying to weaken these bonds…Gojyo tied me up, and he won't release me," he explained, frustration colouring his words as he had had enough of waiting around for a service, which appeared to never be fulfilled.
"Oh…maybe I can help," came Ena's offer, as she walked over to the young youkai, her hat strapped to her right forearm, as the hand gripped the hilt of her wooden weapon. Goku watched in curiosity, as she turned it, and pulled free the blade sheathed within. His eyes opened wide, then snapped shut, as she performed a quick upward slash, then returned the blade to its sheath, "There, that should do it," then the bonds fell away, freeing the youth. Feeling the absence of the tight bindings, Goku's eyes flew open and he inspected himself, then looked upon the brown-haired woman and smiled gratefully, his eyes watering over.
"Thank you so much!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms about her in a grateful embrace, to which she returned by placing her hands upon his shoulders, "Sanzo! We have to take her with us, the least we can do is escort her to her destination," the youth said, pulling away and looking towards his friend and mentor.
"Ha, being set free from his bonds, and he already feels indebted to someone…" Gojyo muttered, the words barely audible as he turned his head away from the scene in front of him. The monk closed his eyes, a light twitch passing over his brow, as he thought about the number of times he'd been in this situation, and then sighed.
"Hakkai…" he said slowly, his arms folded as he turned to face away from the others.
"Yes, Sanzo," came the reply, as the dark-haired youkai stepped forward, holding Hakuryuu in his arms, preparing for the inevitable decision of setting up to continue their journey.
"Any ideas? Think we can afford to take Ena with us?" he asked, his back still turned to them, which made it hard to tell his expression, since his tone of voice was unusually calm.
"Um…yeah, I think so…I doubt she'll be much of a burden, considering she was able to hold her own against those youkai for a good while," he replied at length, a little surprised by the asking of his opinion.
"Then let's set out to leave…" he said, the words coming out a little weary, 'Damn…I hate it when I'm like this, I'm just so tired of bending to someone's will because of the outcome of defecting,' he thought a little bitterly, considering the journey he was on now, was of someone's will…not exactly his own.