One Step Too Far
"Out of my way." Sanzo hisses, barely containing himself enough to remember to keep his voice hushed. He tries to push past Gojyo and out of the bathroom, but a firm grip on his shoulder spins him back around to face that piercing, knowing red.
"Running away, Sanzo? Guess I shouldn't be surprised. You're good at that, aren't you."
Sanzo tries to throw the kappa's grip from his shoulder, but finds that Gojyo has a better hold than he expected. "Shut up." he growls, ears sensitive to any sounds behind him should Hakkai or--gods forbidd, Goku--show signs of waking. "Get your hand off me before I break it."
Gojyo smirks, tightening his grip instead, and reaches out with his other hand to grab one of Sanzo's wrists, holding the monk even more in place. "Not gonna be that easy, bouzu. I saw you. I saw the whole self-worshipping display, and I know exactly who's hand you were wishing was yours."
"Fuck off."
A corner of Gojyo's smirk twitches in pleasure. "No. That's what you were doing."
Using his free hand, Sanzo fiercely pulls at the offending fingers still clutching his shoulder and claws, raking his fingernails over that tan skin, anything to get Gojyo away. But Gojyo is too focused, more focused than Sanzo could ever hope to be right now, and suddenly the redhead has hold of both of Sanzo's wrists, one in each of his larger hands. Gojyo gives a harsh tug and Sanzo nearly falls forward against him as he is pulled in closer.
"You wanna play fucking clueless? You wanna be an asshole? Fine." Gojyo says through clenched teeth, his smirk still present but strained and angry, making the expression more unnerving than Sanzo would ever admit. "But what you're doing to him…" He huffs in disgust. "You're killing him."
Sanzo is practically shaking in Gojyo's grasp from anger, his violets staring hard enough into the hanyou's deep wells of red tomake out every shade of varied crimson. "You don't know anything." he whispers darkly.
His words are meant as a warning, his control all but lost, but Gojyo isn't listening. "I know enough." the redhead replies. "Keep up the denial all you want. But I saw you. I saw how you got off watching them, wishing you had your own monkey to touch you like that."
Sanzo gives a mighty pull to free himself, but Gojyo only grips tighter.
"The sad things is," the kappa continues, enjoying himself perhaps a little too much that he is maintaining this kind of power over Sanzo, physically AND where it counts. "All you'd have to do is ask…and the stupid monkey would drop to his knees, ready and willing."
Against his better judgment, Sanzo finds his eyes clenching shut. He doesn't want to hear this. He refuses to listen. Gojyo doesn't know what he's talking about. It's not true. None of it. What he allowed of himself tonight was…a mistake. Just a stupid mistake. That's it. That's all it--
"What's even worse…is how you've fooled yourself into believe you're doing the right thing by being this jackass. What do you think your dead master would say to that?"
Sanzo eyes snap open.
"What would he say about where you've 'set your tired feet to call home,' huh?" Gojyo mockingly quotes, unaware of the danger fueled in Sanzo's returning glare. "You wanna know where those feet are, Sanzo? They're trampling Goku's heart with your God damn heel. Think your master'd be proud 'a that? Huh, Sanzo-sa--"
Just like with Sanzo's elbow suddenly planting itself in Gojyo's stomach earlier, when Sanzo strikes, the kappa never even sees it coming, he is merely hitting the wall behind him suddenly, gritting his teeth at how the side of the bathroom's doorframe has struck his lower back.
Before Gojyo can recover or even have a moment to hiss at the lingering pain of sudden impact, Sanzo is on him, gripping both his shoulders to roughly slam his head back into the wall. The doorframe hitting his skull is decidedly much more painful than hitting his spine.
Gojyo tries to push his weight forward, using his height and the good many pounds he has on Sanzo as leverage, but Sanzo's timely focus is more concentrated than the kappa's now. It is the kind of concentration Sanzo uses…when going for a kill. Gojyo only has a second to register just how dangerously far the gambler in him has brought him before the pair lands in a struggling heap on the floor, and he tries in vain to reclaim the upper hand. But Sanzo is too fast, too frantic. With inhuman ease for the only completely human member of the group, Sanzo soon has Gojyo on his back, straddling the kappa's chest as he wraps thin fingers around a too tempting neck…and squeezes…with all the intentions of ending this so that only one of them can walk away.
Gojyo finds himself suddenly nostalgic for that old paper fan or even the damn gun. At least in the past he never really thought the monk would kill him. Gasping for air that is thoroughly cut off with Sanzo's thumbs pressing hard into the soft juncture of his throat…Gojyo isn't sure how true that is this time. He stares up into violet fire and silently pleads, apologizing for it all as panic surges through him and he finds himself wishing to take it all back. Anything to make this not real, not happening. Not with Goku and Hakkai sleeping just a few feet away. No way. Sanzo wouldn't really. He would never really…
But as his vision begins to tunnel, his periphery going impossibly dark, and with Sanzo's expression showing no signs of compassion or reprieve, Gojyo realizes he is this close to praying.
"Sanzo!"
FLASH. Green and white and a pulse of bright, sizzling power, and Gojyo knows his prayer has been answered.
Hakkai.
"Sanzo, what were you doing!"
Hakkai sounds so panicked, as panicked as Gojyo had been, but Gojyo can only distantly hear his friend, curled in on himself now as he gasps desperately for air and tries to remain conscious even though the room has gone completely black around him. He can only imagine that Sanzo has been chi-blasted a safe enough distance away from him.
Sanzo, a good distance away indeed, staggers to his feet, his entire left side burning with the effects of Hakkai's strike. The concentration of chi had been dull, more like one of Hakkai's shields rather than an offensive blast, but it still hurt like hell. Sanzo would yell at the brunette if he wasn't shaking so bad…at what he almost did…with his own bare hands…
Not that he…cares…
Oh shit.
No, the kappa deserved it, Sanzo reasons. He doesn't care if he took things too far. He doesn't. He doesn't give a fucking wit for that kappa! He…doesn't…
"Keep him…away from me…" Sanzo breathes in weak command to Hakkai, who has dropped beside Gojyo now to be certain the redhead is all right. When green eyes look up to stare back at Sanzo not in anger, or challenge, or even shock…but in disappointment and…shame…Sanzo feels his own throat beginning to close up. "Keep…him away…" he says again, and does not care that his voice sounds about as threatening as a child to his teacher.
Stumbling his way across the room towards the still unoccupied bedroom, Sanzo does not meet a single one of the gazes watching him. He does not stop moving until he has cleared the living room and closed himself inside the bedroom, alone.
Though he had not met gold--the gaze watching him more intently than any other--Sanzo had felt it. He knows. He knows…Goku had been awake. He only hopes…the boy hadn't been awake for as long as he fears.
-----
"Hakkai, knock it off already, I'm fine!" Gojyo says in his most exasperating tone of voice since Hakkai has not stopped fussing over him since Sanzo secluded himself in the bedroom. While Gojyo is currently leaning against the back of the couch with Hakkai crouched beside him and Goku standing over them, Gojyo is just as he says. Fine. He even arches his neck to prove it, showing that the bruises have already faded. "This place heals us fast, remember. My mind just thought Sanzo was trying to kill me."
This last line is meant as a joke, but judging from his companion's reactions, it hasn't gone over very well.
Hakkai couldn't look more worried and frazzled.
Goku--a much more sobering sight for how…collected he looks--merely gives off an impression of being a little out of it. He is clearly concerned for Gojyo, but can't help how his gaze repeatedly drifts to the closed bedroom door.
"I can see that you are fine physically, Gojyo, but--"
"And don't you start going all psychiatrist on me either." Gojyo cuts in. "I am in no way reevaluating my life after that, other than deciding to never push the monk that way again. Okay? I learned my lesson, everyone's still breathing, so let's just forget about it. I fucked up."
Hakkai scowls; he really hates how Gojyo manages to blame himself for everything, even when it is clearly someone else's problem. "Gojyo…what did you say to Sanzo exactly that set him off so much? I don't think I've ever seen him so…I don't know what his countenance was back there, but rage is a pale description."
You can say that again, Gojyo thinks, still half-wondering if those unforgiving fingers are still clawing at his throat. He swallows, thankful that his windpipe is intact enough for him to swallow at all. "I was just…pushing his buttons a little." Gojyo says, a look up at the overly preoccupied monkey telling him he probably shouldn't say anything more than that. Especially not if Sanzo decides that him spilling the truth is worthy of another homicide attempt. "I pushed things a little too far out on the porch before, and pushing again was…clearly a bad idea. Don't worry about it. He'll…cool off eventually."
Hakkai is skeptical, unsure if Gojyo is lying to him or not. Though the redhead often accuses him of being hard to read, Gojyo is a far more complex puzzle as far as Hakkai is concerned. Just when he thinks he has the man figured out…something comes up to change his perceptions completely.
Like that characteristic--but still strangely tempting--wink.
Dismissing such thoughts for now, Hakkai decides not to think on it. Not when there are more pressing matters to attend to.
"I think perhaps I should talk to him this time." he says, standing from his crouched position to begin in the bedroom's direction. He looks back at his companions, seeing that both have him caught with fearful gazes, but merely smiles in reassurance. "I recognize the danger, but at this point…leaving him alone might be even more destructive."
Neither monkey nor kappa have anything to say as Hakkai quietly slips into the bedroom--not noticing that the smile he offered vanished the moment he turned away from them--and when a series of shouts thankfully do not rise up from behind the door, they both finally remember to breathe.
Since Gojyo doesn't appear to be moving from his newfound spot on the floor, Goku chooses to join him. Landing easily in a cross-legged position, the brunette lays his head back against the couch and looks to the side to stare at Gojyo, who at first…is still staring after Hakkai.
When Goku releases a small laugh, Gojyo is reminded that he is not alone in the room.
"What's so funny, monkey?" he asks, turning to address the boy sitting so close beside him on the floor.
Goku shakes his head. "Nothing." he says, in a way that clearly means there is a lot more than nothing to his laughter. "Just thinking how I might be the only one of us with a brain."
Not quite sure what the smaller man means by this, Gojyo offers a short laugh of his own , deciding the monkey must be talking about Sanzo's outburst. "Yeah, the monk sure went ballistic on my ass. I think I might have deserved it though…" Gojyo shifts a little in place, debating whether or not he should come clean and tell Goku what he saw.
If he turned to take in his companion's expression again, he might realize how unnecessary that is.
Studying Gojyo carefully, Goku forgets where his line of thoughts had been, and allows them to drift…to Sanzo. He sighs and lifts a hand to run through his sleep-tousled hair.
"Gojyo…" he starts, meeting the red eyes that turn to him with a half-hearted grin. "…I know."
Confusion reigns for only a moment before it hits Gojyo just what Goku means. "Shit. You mean you…you saw him too…?"
Goku's smile twitches a little. "No. But…when he ran for the bathroom…that woke me up. And…I could…smell it. Still can. And I know that smell. I've roomed with you often enough." he adds jokingly, bucking Gojyo with his shoulder.
Normally, Gojyo would have laughed, or bucked Goku back, or…something. But not tonight. "Shit." he curses again, a little disturbed by Goku's continued…apathy. "So I guess that means you can smell it on the pair behind us too."
Goku nods.
"Meaning you probably know why and what Sanzo was jacking to."
Another nod, accompanied by the smallest tinge of a blush to the boy's cheeks.
Gojyo sighs, closing his eyes a moment as he shakes his head at how messed up everything is now, and how…just as he predicted…it really doesn't seem like things can ever be okay between them again. "Look…Sanzo…he's…he's just scared, I think. He doesn't…know what he wants. This is all…freakin' him out, and…I don't think he ever planned or wanted to care for any of us, let alone have the hots for you. Ya know?"
No words reply, but when Goku sniffles a little and slowly lays his head against Gojyo's shoulder, the kappa momentarily stiffens, not sure what to do. Headlock-like hugs he can deal with. Rough-housing he loves. Even tackling the monkey over who gets to have the one bed in a shared room he half enjoys. But…he never expected something like this. To top it off, just when he thinks he can maybe relax into this strange new…affection, the feeling of something wet on his bare shoulder--since he had long ago removed his leather jacket for sleep--tells him he is treading uncharted territory.
"Yo…monkey…you're not…cryin'…are you?"
He feels Goku shake his head, but he can also feel the tears on his skin, sliding down his arm now. Really, Gojyo does the only thing he can do. He puts an arm around his friend's shoulders…and squeezes…for the closest thing to a real hug he has ever given the boy.
"You know…when we finally figure out who brought us here," the redhead says, speaking softly as he holds the sobbing boy against his side. "…I can't wait to go and kick their ass."
And the sound of Goku laughing…makes the wetness on Gojyo's arm…feel not so weird anymore.
-----
For the moment things are playing out just as they had with Gojyo and Sanzo on the porch. Hakkai is not speaking, waiting for Sanzo to speak first, and while Hakkai remains standing in the middle of the room, he leaves Sanzo to brood in his corner on the window seat, staring out at the night sky.
Hakkai, however, is too weary for too many reason to wait Sanzo out as Gojyo had. "Are you going to explain to me what that was all about…or do you need another blast to knock the sense back into you." Though Hakkai's words are harsh, his tone is eerily even, telling Sanzo just how angry the brunette really is. "Your temper I can tolerate, Sanzo, but if I had not been around to stop you, I shudder to think…you really would have killed Gojyo just now."
Sanzo does not reply, his gaze steady--though unseeing--on the sights outside the window.
Hakkai cannot stop himself from clenching his fists, and has to struggle to remain where he is when his feet half want to storm over to the monk and shake him roughly by the shoulders. "I do not always agree with you, Sanzo, but I have always believed you had a firm grasp of common sense and control where it matters. I…admired you once for what you helped teach me about life and living. This journey has brought all of us so much closer. Even you and Gojyo I thought--"
"You thought what?" Sanzo says suddenly, slowly turning his head to stare with dulled and tired anger of his own. He too is weary for so many reasons. "That kappa is not my friend, Hakkai. Neither are you. I never asked any of you to come along on this--"
"God damn you, Sanzo, don't you dare speak those words to me again!"
Whatever expression Sanzo had been wearing it is replaced fully and completely with shock. Twice has he heard this kind of anger coming from Hakkai, both times directed at him, but it still comes as a surprise to hear the man's volume raised, let alone to hear him curse.
Emeralds glitter dangerously in the dark room as Hakkai--purposeful step after purposeful step--approaches the window. "I have told you only too recently that this journey cannot be completed by only two or three people, and certainly not by one. You never had to ask us, Sanzo, you need us. You can choose to deny that, but it is the truth, and you know it. And I think you also know…that you need us for more than just the mission."
"Get out." Sanzo says without hesitation, sitting straighter in the face of Hakkai's deliberate approach and cutting words.
Hakkai stops, only a foot or so from Sanzo now, and the anger in him falls away to leave behind that same disappointment Sanzo had seen earlier. "Is that really what you want?" he asks, pained. "Are you really going to keep pushing us away? Is it so hard to let us care for you and to care for us in--"
"Hold nothing. If you meet the Buddha--" Sanzo cuts off with a gasp as Hakkai strikes him with an open palm across the face.
The blonde is too stunned to go on, too stunned to lash out in return, because it is too surreal that Hakkai actually just…slapped him.
For a moment, the startling realization of his action reveals itself in Hakkai's eyes, but he recovers quickly, believing--knowing--he is validated.
He holds resolute as Sanzo gapes back at him. "I will allow you to think a little harder on the decisions you are making, Sanzo." Hakkai says carefully, his breathing steady, even though his heart is wildly thumping in his chest. "And rest assured that all of us will continue on this journey regardless of your…choices. But I promise you this…" His heart is an anthem now, a rhythm driving him onward as he leans down closer to Sanzo. "…if you ever think of hurting Gojyo like that again…or Goku or myself, for that matter…the next blast I send your way…will not be so friendly."
-----
"Damn. I'm getting a little scared now." Gojyo says, eyes trained on the still closed bedroom door. "I think I even heard Hakkai yelling for a bit there. That can't be good."
Goku lets out a small laugh, having dried his tears by now though he is still snuggled against Gojyo's side since the kappa doesn't seem to mind all that much. "If you're worrying over anyone, worry for Sanzo. You didn't get to see how scary Hakkai got that time you left and went after Kami-sama. He yelled at Sanzo then, too, coz of something Sanzo said about you. This time, after trying to…hurt you…yeah. Scary."
Gojyo takes a moment to process this new information. "Hakkai…yelled at Sanzo while I was gone?" he presses, trying not to sound quite as interested as he is.
"Oh yeah. Scariest I've ever seen him. Well…other than without his limiters maybe."
"Wait. When did you see Hakkai without his limiters?"
"Uhh…when we were dead."
Gojyo looks down at the monkey as if he must have lost his tiny animal mind completely.
"You know, when we were in that jar thingy."
Gojyo blinks for a few moments before things finally click into place. Oh yeah. The twins. Kinkaku and Ginkaku. In a way it was as if Hakkai and Goku were dead, the bodies lifeless while their souls remained trapped in that damn spirit-catcher.
"I bet it really sucked having to be alone with Sanzo all that time, huh?" Goku adds then, a spark of something Gojyo isn't focused enough to recognize flashing through the younger man's gold-colored eyes.
The kappa merely grimaces and nods his agreement.
"Yeah. I'll bet…you would have much rather been alone with Hakkai, right?"
Gojyo shrugs. Sure, of course he would have preferred his best friend to that bastard monk. Who wouldn't?
"I'd even go so far as to say…you'd much rather it was him snuggled here on the floor with you instead of me."
For a split second, Gojyo swears Sanzo's hands are tightening around his neck again. He looks down into shimmering gold and doesn't have to ask if the monkey is implying what he thinks he is. Gojyo knows. "Uhh…you wanna run that by me again?"
Goku lifts his head, a little disappointed when Gojyo's arm pulls away from his shoulders, but he is driven on by a higher purpose now. He may be striking out in the Sanzo department, but he can still help his friends. "Come on, Gojyo. You've noticed how Hakkai keeps watching you, right? And you flirt with him all the time."
"I wha--?"
"And…you get about as flushed as I do when Gonou and that youkai-you are getting all heated. Don't think I haven't noticed, you perverted cockroach." Goku pokes a finger at Gojyo's side in addition to his prodding words, and is not entirely surprised to have his hand swatted away.
"Back up, monkey-boy." Gojyo says seriously, situating himself now so that he is facing Goku more directly. "Maybe all this get-into-Sanzo's-pants business is going to your head, but not all of us are queer, thank you. I am totally straight. And that goes double for Hakkai. We are friends only. Just because Koryuu and the bigger you are together, and you and the monk want the same thing, doesn't mean Hakkai and I want to follow our doubles' example. Understand?"
Goku looks back at him with a world of skepticism in his eyes, stating quite plainly that he thinks the kappa is full of shit.
"Don't look at me like that. It's the truth."
"You so flirt with him."
"I do not!"
"You do too! You do it all the time. And not the way you do it with Sanzo when you're just trying to piss him off. With Hakkai you're nice about it. You're sweet even. Sweet in a way you're never sweet around girls."
Gojyo can only gape. Where does Goku get these crazy ideas from? They have absolutely no basis in reality.
Right?
"Goku, look…" Gojyo begins, then stops, mouth hanging suddenly slack. "What do you mean the way I do with Sanzo? I don't flirt with Sanzo."
Goku sighs. Gojyo is entirely missing the point. "I just mean the way you hang on him sometimes, you know? And he has to throw your arm off."
Gojyo isn't sure how much he likes this comparison but decides to shrug it off. "Whatever. But I do not flirt with Hakkai." He pauses, sucked deep into the gold staring up at him as if Goku is seeing right through him and catching him in a lie. "...do I?"
Goku nods enthusiastically.
"Shit. Well…I don't mean to. I mean…I'm just…me. The great lover Sha Gojyo. It's in my nature." Crimson eyes suddenly go wide. "Ah fuck. What I said to him about everyone deserving happiness…fuck. I didn't mean it like…well…I kinda did…but…not really…I don't…think I did. Ah fuck."
As sympathetic as he might be to his friend and to the situation, Goku breaks into giggles. A tongue-tied Gojyo is just too priceless.
The chimp's outburst only proves to untie that tongue, and Gojyo glares at his companion with the smallest hint of annoyed anger. "Shove it, saru. You're grasping at straws, ya hear me? Maybe I come across wrong sometimes with Hakkai, but I…I do not think of him like that."
A brief flash of what Gojyo had imagined back during the party returns to haunt its way through his mind. He sees color, complementary colors meeting in so many delicious, illicit ways. He can see it so clearly, his skin on Hakkai's…
No! Even if those things have been going through Hakkai's mind, as Gojyo half-suspects, that doesn't…mean…
Ah fuck.
"Earth to Gojyo…" speaks Goku, his voice sounding closer now, and he is, right up in Gojyo's face, since the redhead had been in his own world for a few moments there. "You off in Hakkai-dreamland, kappa?" the monkey smirks.
Gojyo swallows, the half of him wanting to smack Goku upside the head thoroughly hushed by the rapidness of his pulse. "If you're right, monkey…" he starts, his voice oddly soft and airy sounding. "…then a shit load 'a things just made a lot more sense."
For a moment, Goku isn't entirely sure he heard Gojyo correctly, but once the moment is over he nearly pumps his fist in the air with a triumphant 'yes!' Maybe he really can get his friends together.
The sound of the bedroom door opening pulls both of them away from the conversation as the object of their attentions is suddenly in their sights. Hakkai, looking a little more frazzled than he had when he went into the bedroom and wearing a very strained smile, walks over and immediately plops down onto the floor in front of them.
"He's taking some time to think."
Goku and Gojyo exchange glances, look hard at Hakkai, and then back at the once again closed bedroom door. They turn back to Hakkai, silent and strangely…expecting.
"What?" the green-eyed youkai asks, absently brushing at his hair with his fingers, which is the type of nervous gesture Hakkai…just doesn't do. "I may have given him a slight ultimatum. And…perhaps…a small threat."
Goku and Gojyo blink at him.
Hakkai sighs. "What?" he says again. "Believe me, I am certain your conversation out here was far more enlightening than mine."
Gojyo coughs.
Goku grins.
Hakkai, confused, doesn't really know how to respond to that, so…he doesn't.
Unanimously, the three of them decide it is high time they returned to bed.
tbc...
A/N: So many things about that chapter was fun. I think I especially enjoyed Hakkai slapping Sanzo, because I hadn't planned on it. Hakkai just suddenly did it, and...when characters lead us, authors can only follow. I wonder if people will still be with me on the ICness, but I think i am still on. Especially after watching for a second time, and having read in the manga, the part where Sanzo and Hakkai nearly bite each other's heads off while Gojyo is off on his own. I was rooting Hakkai on the entire time. This situation feels similar because Sanzo is being the same kind of prick, and saying things he said back then. The other time Hakkai yells at Sanzo, since I say it has happened twice, is during the whole Chin Issou thing when Sanzo has to shoot Gojyo and Hakkai faints.
Well, I am not making this easy on the boys at all, and though Gojyo does seem to be coming around...that doesn't mean things get easier. As a little teaser, I will tell you that the next part will start with Goku waking up...alone.
Attiqah Gensui: I would love to explain how Heavan and Nataku fit in, but that would spoil the fic to a certain extent, so I'll just say...Nataku will not be making an appearance, but that has nothing to do with me forgetting his existence. It wouldn't work...trust me. ;-) As for Hazel, he can go to Hell. Ahem. Sorry, I have nothing against Hazel as a character himself (though I really dislike his sidekick) but I think his place in the anime was a waste of time and I choose to pretend Gunlock does not happen, or that at least all the Hazel stuff has been quickly forgotten. You see (and I could really go off on this) all of Gunlock felt like a regression for the boys to me. They didn't grow any closer at all, but seemed almost less together. I thought something good would come out of the whole Sanzo on his own thing when they had the big falling out due to Hazel, but...they just repeated the Gojyo/Kami-sama reunion. I don't know. I feel cheated. That...and Gojyo finally getting lucky killed my spirit like nothing else. Really, I could go on about Gunlock forever. So...no Hazel, this is set right after Kami-sama.
Sorchafyre: Hmm. It was Sanzo's reaction that I felt was the most IC, but I would never deny someone their opinion. We see characters differently sometimes. I do hope you are even happier with the speediness of THIS update, and I accept that hug with a firm squeeze of my own, oh faithful reviewer. Please stick it out, and do tell me any other times you feel characters might not be as IC as you would imagine, because it helps me reevaluate.
Diva Urd: Man, just when I think I'm being a better editor. (sigh) I hope this chapter turns out better. Good eye, I must say. I can't believe I never noticed the 'him him' thing. Secondly, it scared me how spot on you guessed what was to come with 'Sanzo's bare hands.' I had planned so all along, I swear. And yes, our boys and their head cases, I tell ya. :-)
Zierra: Love to make someone's morning, especially at work. :-)
Sakurazukamori6: Yay money! Considering my debit card was stolen recently, I'll take even imaginary cash right now. Good thing I'm getting the money back, but I'm stuck in England with almost nothing til Mom sends my new card. I hate being 21 and feeling like a little kid, but that's what I get for shopping online and being out of the country. :-) You are so kind with your comments, I hope I continue to produce up to par.
Whisper Reilman: ...yes, I meant defer. Silly me. I must say I am thrilled to be giving you a Goku that makes you even more fond of the character himself, seeing as how I love the monkey so much (I even have a stuffed monkey named Goku by my bed). I get really annoyed when people write him like he's 12. I know he is naive about some things, but not as much as people think, and in the sex area...I mean, really, how could he know Gojyo for over three years and not know about sex? Hope you're happy with Gojyo coming to his senses. Now you'll have to see what he does with them. ;-)
Thankies to all! You guys really are the best, and when I get fast responses it spurns me to write faster updates (hint hint). :-) Really though, I'm loving this, so let me know what you all think and I'll post again soon.
Crim