…
I see the world has folded in your heart
I feel the waves crash down inside;
It'll pull me under…
Somebody save me, let your warm hands break right through
I'll make this whole world shine for you
Just save, save, come on…
I'm still waiting for you…" –Remy Zero, Save Me.
…
"Gono, I really love your hands," Kanan smiled happily as she rubbed her cheek against his palm, savoring the softness. "Your fingers are so long and beautiful…" she laughed softly. "Or is does 'beautiful' sound strange for a man?"
"I'll do anything for you, my love." He gazed upon her tenderly; Gods he loved her so much, so very much…
She stood before him now, barely two meters away, yet forever separated by the cast iron bars of her prison. His dagger was in her hand; she'd taken it when he'd hugged her, and now it glinted mercilessly in the dim light. She'd pressed the dagger against the soft flesh of her neck, tears rolling down her fair cheeks.
No, no… "Let's go home, Kanan," he begged hopelessly, willing, with all his heart and soul, that she did not go through with it. Not when he'd done so much to see her again… "I'll protect you!"
Please, no…
Please…
"No, Gono, I can't come home with you. It's too late..." Those words, those last words cut into him with a shattering finality. And with one slice—
With a gasp, Hakkai's eyes flew open. He was not in Hyakuganmaou's prison; he was lying in the Jeep, staring up at the clear night sky, where the crescent moon hung overhead, bathing the entire area with a silvery blue light.
He raised his hands toward the moon and stared at them, shaken.
It all had been just a dream.
One of the many dreams of Kanan that had plagued him time and time again. His hands were spotless now, but there was a time long ago where they'd been so stained with blood that he was sure that they would never be clean again.
"I pretend to have forgotten all about it, but it keeps coming back to haunt me…" he murmured to himself with a bitter laugh. Leaning back, he rubbed a hand over his tired eyes in an attempt to shake off the remnants of that dream. There were some things, he supposed, that would never be forgotten or pushed back no matter how much one tried.
With a soft sigh, he got off the Jeep quietly so as not to awaken his sleeping friends, and headed off into the forest alone. He needed to think.
As he trudged towards the forest, Gojyo's eyes opened. He had obviously not been asleep for the past few minutes, and had heard Hakkai's every whispered word.
So that's what's wrong with him.
…
…Yes, and you bear the scars on your belly, do you not?
He remembered those words with a sickening clarity, as if they'd been whispered to him in the wind. He stared down at the mahjong tile emblazoned with the word Sin. Even now, the word seemed to be mocking him. Was it him, or was the word specially bold today? He didn't know.
The wound I can never speak of has started aching ever since we met that man, Hakkai thought, clenching his hand and slipping the tile back into his pocket. He's probably someone who bears a grudge from that incident…but why is he taking such a roundabout approach?
Kanan's face floated in his mind's eye once more, her brilliant eyes kind and loving; just like he'd always remembered them to be.
"Gono, I love your hands…"
I couldn't even protect my one true love, his thoughts were bitter even as he stared down at his hands, remembering what he'd done in his grief, and how much he had regretted it now. I can never hold anyone again…with these hands that were stained in sin—
"Man," a very familiar voice close to his ear said. "That's one short lifeline you've got there."
Hakkai jumped away from the speaker, startled out of his skin. "Ahh! You surprised me!"
"That's my line! Damn, I can't believe I snuck up on you so easily." Gojyo shrugged, looking exceedingly pleased with himself.
Hakkai stared at him for a moment to still his pounding heart, then held out his hand. "So which one is the lifeline?"
"Hmm, the line around here," the kappa pointed.
He held his palm up for closer inspection. "You're right, it's pretty short."
"Mine goes all the way to the wrist," Gojyo announced proudly. "See? I'm gonna live to a ripe old age, man. I've got the durability of a cockroach."
Hakkai chuckled at that, then sighed. "Did I wake you?"
"Well…it's more like I wanted to see what you looked like when you're depressed and all."
He was silent this time. For once, there was no smile on his face, and there were no typical cheery Hakkai comments to offset the current atmosphere. It was then that Gojyo knew it was serious. Very serious.
He continued, nonetheless, being careful not to look at his longtime friend. He had, after all, his coolness quotient to keep to. "This is about that fortune teller dude, isn't it?"
He's more observant than he looks, Hakkai thought, quietly impressed. Sha Gojyo normally acted like he couldn't care less about anything except gambling, smoking, and women, but he knew that that was just a cover. The real Gojyo cared very much for his friends; he just never really showed it. Much like Sanzo, in a way. "Yes. Chin Iisou."
As if on cue, something behind them chirped in a high, tinny voice. "Hello!"
Startled and immediately on guard, the two of them spun around to see a tiny Chinese-style doll ambling like clockwork towards them. It held something in it's little hands. The doll's painted eyes stared up at the two men. "Hello! Hello! Hello, Cho Gono the murderer!"
The two men stared, shocked. "How the hell does he know your old name?" Gojyo asked. It was the first time he'd ever seen a doll like this before, and it was simply too unnerving.
Hakkai stared at the mahjong tile in it's hands, his eyes fixated on the word that glared up almost angrily at him. Grudge…
"A Mahjong tile…" He murmured dazedly, then he tensed, immediately recognizing it. "Chin Iisou."
The doll began to talk, making clacking sounds whenever it closed its mouth and sounding entirely too gleeful. "You seem to have forgotten, so I'll remind you. There is nowhere where you can be at peace. After all, you are a sinner."
"You finished spouting shit now?" Gojyo demanded peevishly, glaring down at the thing. "Just who the fuck do—"
"I understand what you're trying to say," Hakkai said calmly, cutting an incensed Gojyo off. "But if you have some business with me…" There was a look on his face that Gojyo had never seen before. "Why don't you come and talk to me face to face?"
"Yes, yes!" The doll said happily. "Those eyes, Cho Gono. That's your real face!"
The kappa had had enough of this. He had never seen Hakkai look like that before, and it disturbed him very much. Obviously the damn doll was hitting through to him; which was the last thing Hakkai needed right now. "You little…" In an amazing display of footwork which would most likely secure him a place as striker in a soccer team, he kicked the thing into the nearest tree. It slammed into said tree, and the doll's neck broke and lopped forward like a miniature corpse. "Shut the fuck up, you asshole!"
"Let's get outta here, Hakkai!" he barked, oblivious to the way the doll's head turned, taking careful aim. "Wake the others and lets get out of this place."
"R…right."
A blue light appeared in the doll's open mouth, and a soft hum alerted Hakkai to what it was doing, for he turned immediately to his friend and shouted. "Gojyo, look out!"
He had no other warning even as he turned to see what was wrong. The light pierced through him, sending him stumbling.
"Gojyo!" Hakkai exclaimed in horror, rushing to help his friend.
"Hahahahahahaha!" the doll laughed happily. "Payback time!"
"You fucking doll…" Gojyo finally fell. The pain in his chest was excruciating. It was as if something was ripping him apart bit by bit.
Hakkai could only stare as his friend fell, and for a moment, he didn't know what to do. Until—
"Hakkai!" Sanzo's voice rang out through the clearing, and the youkai saw the three of them minus Jeep running towards him. "What's going on?"
"Gojyo is—"
Clutching his chest, the kappa cried out in agony even as purplish veins wrapped around his heart and spread throughout his entire body, painfully seeping through his veins and sealing them up.
"Fuck…" he managed to bite out through his suffering. "There's something inside me, and it's moving…through my blood vessels…" it was taking too much effort to even continue speaking, and he cried out again.
"W-what the hell is going on?" A panicked Goku asked as he stared in horror at his friend. He hadn't expected something like this to happen when Sanzo and Qing woke him up. A demon he could fight, but this—?
"What the hell is this?" Sanzo had a similar expression on his face.
"Don't just stand there!" Qing was also close to panicking; she had not seen anything like this before, and the fact that Gojyo was writhing around in agony while they just stood there and stared did not sit well with her. What she also hated was also the fact that she didn't know what to do. "Do something!"
"It's no use!" the doll spoke again, alerting the three of them to it's presence. "I planted a seed which is spreading it's roots throughout his blood vessels, drinking all his blood."
"What the heck is that?" Goku shrank back, a note of apprehension in his voice. This was definitely not the best way to wake up.
"A familiar belonging to Chin Iisou." Hakkai said flatly.
"Who?" Qing asked blankly, unable to take her eyes away from the doll. Her brain was definitely processing pretty much slowly at the moment.
"The fortune teller."
"Oh." She remembered the freaky guy with the blue hair who tried to stab her in the foot. Then, "Ew."
"The bastard did this?" Sanzo growled.
"If you don't do something quickly, he'll become just one more tree in the forest." The doll went on, the smile apparent in it's voice. "The seed's planted right next to his heart. What will you do, Cho Gono?" it sang.
"Asshole." Sanzo drawled, glowering at the doll. "What the fuck do you want?"
The doll laughed again seemingly enjoying their reactions to the scene before them. "Hahahahaha! This is fun! This is so much fun, Cho Gono! You better come here quickly, too—"
And suddenly the evil little critter's head was blown to pieces.
"So that's what this is about," Sanzo said darkly, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction in silencing the little shit up. It passed quickly, though, because there was a more pressing matter at hand. "Such wonderful taste that perverted bastard has got." His mind was working overtime as the realization of what that bastard was currently doing was sunk in. Also, he hated dolls. Especially the ones who talked and tried to kill people while they were at it.
Qing made a face. "For the record, ewwww."
"Sanzo…" Hakkai murmured.
The blond priest's gun was still leveled at the destroyed doll as he spoke, every inch the leader. "Goku, Qing, secure Gojyo's arms."
"Hold him down?" Qing balked as Goku made a sound of astonishment.
Sanzo reloaded his gun and stared at them.
"Uh…okay." Goku hurried to do as he asked.
The young woman looked down at him dubiously. Despite her best intentions, actually having physical contact with him was another matter altogether, especially since he looked pretty weird, like all the veins in his body were fighting to burst out and take a walk. Or something equally ew-worthy. "Is he contagious?"
"Shut up and hold him. Satisfied, Chin Iisou?" Sanzo spat darkly, staring at the darkness that lay beyond the destroyed doll. "I bet this is what you wanted, isn't it?" He spun and took aim at Gojyo's heart, the latter of which jerked and made a sound of surprise.
"Sanzo, what are you doing?" the worried monkey demanded as he saw the gun. Was he going to shoot Gojyo for real? Qing, on the other hand, struggled to pin down his arm; the guy was struggling too much.
"Hakkai," Sanzo barked, ignoring Goku's question. "As soon as I fire, close the wound."
"Wait a minute! The seed's right beside his heart! The target's too small, you might hit his heart instead!"
"I won't miss! If he dies, it's because his heart is too weak."
"Goddamit," Gojyo swore through his pain. "I ain't gonna croak, all right?"
"If you don't shut that big mouth of yours, you're going to bite your tongue." Sanzo moved to press the trigger, but a flustered Qing cut in.
"Wait! Here." To their surprise, she ripped out her sleeve from her toga-style top and unceremoniously shoved the piece of fabric in his mouth. Her fingers barely left his mouth when a single gunshot rang out.
Gojyo jerked, and blood filled the pink fabric that he'd bitten down on.
…
"His wound is closed, he'll be okay, but he'll be out for awhile." Hakkai said quietly as the green glow from his hand faded away. Gojyo was unconscious, and Goku had pried the cloth out of his mouth so that he could breathe properly. Qing—her extremely inconvenient Prom Queen instincts kicking in—had staunchly refused to go anywhere near his mouth. Or touch him, for that matter.
"Man, now my heart's bad!" Goku sagged in relief.
"Yeah." Qing agreed, looking sick. "I thought I was going to faint while barfing." She examined the tatters of her sleeve critically and shook her head. "Thank God I was going to throw this shirt out. Or else it would've really sucked."
None of them bothered to register that statement.
"It's all my fault, isn't it?" Hakkai spoke, his eyes downcast. Now that the danger was over, his guilt and fear started to sink in.
"Chin Iisou is clearly after me."
Sanzo simply said. "Stop it."
"But—" A barely rational Hakkai stood up abruptly, his fists clenched. There was panic and fear in his eyes now; it was something that none of them had ever seen before, not even Sanzo. It seemed like Hakkai's mental and emotional states were a lot worse than he thought.
"Shut up!"
"But Sanzo—!"
The angry priest grabbed him by the front of his shirt roughly, shaking him. "Calm down! If you lose your cool now, you'll play right into the bastard's hands!"
Hakkai's eyes widened, then he crumpled as the full force of his exhaustion hit him. He had not been sleeping well for a long while now, and after that whole healing session…
Sanzo caught him before he could hit the ground. "Oi!"
"Hakkai!" Qing was by his side in an instant. She had never seen him like this before, and it frightened her. What was going on here? Where did Alien Guy factor into all this?
"Goku, Qing, get the supplies from Jeep! I'll take care of them."
"Right!" Goku nodded as he started running, followed by the anxious young woman, who did not even stop for a minute to wonder why she obeyed his instructions so readily.
Looking down at Hakkai, Sanzo shook his head. Looks like he hasn't been sleeping at all these days. No surprise there. He narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the two unconscious men, trying to plan his next move. The situation was not good. Not good at all. Everything's going according to that bastard's plan. Planting that seed next to Gojyo's heart was clearly a ploy to make me shoot him right before Hakkai's eyes. We fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
That particular statement rankled on his nerves even more than the others. If there was anything Genjo Sanzo hated, it was being played for a fool. But this time, it seemed like his hands were tied; what could he shoot? To make matters more annoying, seemed like Hakkai had his own personal demons to fight, too. Fuck, the whole thing was a mess, and he, unfortunately, was stuck with the cleaning up.
Again.
…