The morning after...

Sunlight, warm and inviting, bathes him in its rays. He can feel it caressing the exposed areas of his skin, reminiscent of softer caresses he had experienced the night before. It feels wonderful--soothing--but not nearly as welcome as those other touches had been.

Gojyo blinks, annoyed with the sunlight pouring in through the window, even as he is praising its glory. His eyes are heavy, his body aching, and when he rolls over to curl in closer to his companion for a few more minutes of blissful sleep, he suddenly feels excruciatingly alone.

Gojyo blinks again, lifting himself up to stare at the empty space beside him. Hakkai is gone. A quick glance around the room proves that every single trace of the man has vanished completely. No clothing. No bag. Had Gojyo imagined the entire thing...?

A quick recap of the night's events makes Gojyo very certain he had not. Erokappa that he is, he has never had an erotic dream quite like that. Never has one ever been so real and so perfectly wonderful, and he certainly has never had one starring Hakkai. No. They slept together, all right, but now, despite the early hour, Hakkai is long gone, and the space beside Gojyo is painfully cold with the brunette's absence.

Gojyo does not waste a moment's time, but climbs out of bed and begins to dress, making himself as presentable as he is willing to take the time for. If things happened as he remembers--and he is certain that they did--he cannot understand why Hakkai would leave him without a word of explanation. The healer is not the love 'em and leave 'em type. At the very worst, Hakkai should have been rousing Gojyo from sleep so he could take the bedding out to be washed.

He should not be gone.

Groggily stepping out into the hallway, Gojyo is affronted instantly by the smell of simmering food. The Inn they have taken refuge at is separated into small cottages, each with two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen, leaving the search for a good meal completely up to them. Hakkai had been thrilled at the prospect; he loves cooking, and does so whenever given the opportunity.

True to his nature, the brunette is positioned in front of the small stove as Gojyo enters the kitchen, and the kappa is struck by an instant wave of relief. He should have guessed the man would rise early to make breakfast for them all.

Gojyo waits a few moments before making his presence known, enjoying watching the small, swaying movements of Hakkai at the stove. The brunette's strong frame is deceptively frail looking--thin, with smooth muscles perfectly toned in a way so understated, an amateur would consider him a very small threat, if any at all. That, of course, is far from the truth.

Gojyo almost kicks himself for never having noticed how enticing his friend really is. The gentle curve of his pale neck, his thin waist, so like a woman's, and his tight rear end, which reminds Gojyo once again of the events the previous night. Hakkai is a beauty, and Gojyo has always been a sucker for a pretty face.

He just never expected his first lay on the road would be his best friend.

"Hakkai?"

The brunette jumps at the sudden sound of his name being called, spinning around to face the door with a very startled smile. "Gojyo." he says simply, unconsciously bringing a hand to his heart, as if to still its rapid beating. "You surprised me."

Gojyo raises a crimson eyebrow, silently asking the pressing question on his mind.

"I...I'm sorry about...I...I just didn't want to wake you." Hakkai covers, reading the kappa's expression as easily as he could devour a timeless novel. Sometimes, it is almost frightening how well they know each other.

Trekking the last few steps inside the kitchen, Gojyo hops up to sit on the edge of the little dining table, only about three feet or so from Hakkai's stance at the stove. "No big deal." he dismisses, whipping out a cigarette that is lit and releasing a trail of smoke within seconds. "I hate waking up to a cold bed, is all. Made me feel lonely."

Hakkai laughs nervously and looks down to stare at his feet, unable to meet the ruby eyes regarding him with such intimate familiarity.

"So..." Gojyo starts in, grinning wickedly. "...about last night--"

"I'm so sorry, Gojyo." Hakkai interrupts--too quickly. "I feel so ashamed."

This is not the reaction Gojyo was expecting. "Ashamed...?"

"My own sorrow is no excuse. My own...needs...should never come before yours, or anyone else's." the brunette continues, his words coming out rushed and panicked, as if he had been practicing this very conversation since first waking up, though he still isn't sure what to say. "What I allowed last night was...reprehensible...and...I just hope you can forgive me."

"Forgive you...?"

"Please, can we just...forget what passed between us? I would feel better knowing such a mistake was put behind us quickly."

If the hammer had yet to fall, it certainly did with that last phrase. "Mistake...?" Gojyo repeats, his eyes narrowing on the figure still refusing to meet his gaze. "Right. Of course. I mean, if you wanna forgive and forget like nothing happened, who am I to refuse you?"

Gojyo's tone is anything but understanding, his temper flared, his words sharp and biting. All his beliefs concerning what happened last night are amounting to nothing right before his eyes.

At last finding the courage to raise his head, Hakkai looks up in obvious confusion to return the kappa's stare. Gojyo's rage looks back at him with the force of a physical blow, and if the stove wasn't just behind him, the healer would have had to take a step back.

"Gojyo...are you...angry with me?"

"Angry? Why would I be angry?" Gojyo shoots back, standing abruptly and grabbing one of the mugs off the table if only to have something to clench in his fist. "What the FUCK do I have to be angry about?!?" he yells, and in a burst of anger, he chucks the mug at the wall, shattering it with a crash that makes Hakkai's breath catch in his throat.

A second later, Gojyo is gone, having stormed back out the way he had come without so much as a glance passed back to Hakkai.

The stunned brunette has never seen his friend so angry, and Sha Gojyo is well known for having a very short fuse.

"Gojyo..." Hakkai breathes, his voice unable to reach that retreated form, just as he is hesitant to follow with his feet.

What had he said to make Gojyo react so fiercely? He had thought Gojyo would agree with him, that Gojyo would be relieved he brought the subject up first.

Last night shouldn't have happened. Right...?

"Hakkai...why was Gojyo yelling?"

Hakkai jumps once again, spinning to face the other entrance into the kitchen and coming face to face with a certain young youkai with golden eyes. "Goku. I...it...it's nothing. Nothing to worry about." he lies, smiling his most luminous smile. Somehow, though, the smile never quite reaches his eyes. "Goku, do you think perhaps you could ask Sanzo to help finish making breakfast?" he asks suddenly, rolling back down the sleeves he had pulled up to keep from getting soiled. "I have...something to take care of."

"Eh? Sure, I guess." Goku shrugs, still looking rather sleepy, though he is already dressed and ready to meet the day. Most likely the only reason he is out of bed at all is because his superhuman sense of smell detected food. Goku eyes Hakkai closely as the brunette heads for the door. "You sure you're okay, Hakkai?" he asks, before the healer can get too far.

"Of course, Goku. Gojyo and I will be back shortly."

Goku nods as Hakkai quickly disappears, but he is not fooled. He, too, understands the kappa's quick temper, but Gojyo has never once directed that anger at Hakkai.

As Goku heads back towards his room to collect his guardian, he prays that whatever is happening between his comrades will soon be sorted out. After all, a feuding family is not enjoyable company to travel with.

-----

"Forgive me for handling this so inelegantly, but...I'm afraid I really don't know how it should be handled."

Gojyo stiffens at the sound of Hakkai's voice behind him. He is busy packing up the remainder of his things, his back to the door. "Here's a hint: not the way you tried back there." he grits out, slamming his now bloated pack to the ground. He does not turn around.

Approaching cautiously from the open doorway, Hakkai passes his gaze from his friend's taut back to the still rumpled sheets of the bed they had shared. The other is, of course, still crisp and made up, untouched. "You don't want an apology for how I used you?" Hakkai asks boldly, returning his attention to his irate companion.

"Used me? What the hell?!" Gojyo growls, at last whipping around and glaring with that same forceful anger ready to knock Hakkai flat on his ass. "I fucked you! If anything, I thought you'd be mad at me for using you last night, but no...you have to act all self-righteous about it."

"But...I'm the one who kept pushing for more. I was the one in the wrong."

"No, Hakkai." Gojyo responds, his eyes aflame through his steadily increasing anger. "We were both pushing for more--equally. We both wanted it. Or so I thought. But I guess for you...it didn't mean shit."

The force of those crimson eyes finally becomes more than the brunette can handle, and he stumbles back, caught off guard and more confused now than he ever imagined he could be. "You...you don't regret sharing your bed with me...?"

"Fuck, no!"

"But...I don't understand. When I first woke up in your home...you said that was the first and only time you would allow a man into your bed."

"Yeah, and that man was you, Hakkai. You."

Hakkai stares, at an utter loss. What can he possibly say? He had thought he had everything figured out. Then again, he had also thought he had everything figured out right before sleeping with his best friend. Clearly, things aren't following a pattern anywhere near normal.

"Listen, 'Kai, I didn't sleep with you because you were vulnerable and an easy lay." Gojyo explains, his anger simmering down as he addresses Hakkai's stunned silence. "And I sure as hell didn't do it because you coerced me. I slept with you because I wanted it, and I thought you wanted it, too. I guess...I read your feelings wrong."

"But you didn't." Hakkai jumps in, wanting so desperately suddenly to leap from where he stands, right into the kappa's arms. He is surprised at his own desires, but they do not overwhelm him as they had the night before. He knows what he feels. He always has. "I just...I never imagined my feelings for you would be reciprocated."

Once again, the reaction one expects from the other is not what is given. "Oh." Gojyo sneers, staring Hakkai down with an impressive resurgence of that fueled fury. "So you just thought I was some whore who'd sleep with anything in sight, and that emotion never came into play."

Hakkai gapes, forced to take yet another step back. "I never said you were a whore."

"Yeah, well you're sure as hell treating me like one if you think I'd sleep with you just to get laid." Gojyo bites, struggling with his easily resurfacing anger. "I haven't been with a woman in a long time, 'Kai, and I've never been with a man...not til last night. That's not something you do on a whim or just coz you need a good fuck. It's something you do because you realize after god knows too long...you're in love with your best friend."

And Hakkai is still gaping, still dreaming, he imagines, because Gojyo, a man he had lived in the same house with for three years, has just admitted the impossible. "In...love...?"

"Never could get it right with a woman. Guess fate was trying to tell me something." The kappa's tone is softer suddenly, and the part of his anger that has faded away is being swallowed by uncertain hope--hope for a better ending than the one he believes he is headed for.

"Gojyo, I...I feel like such a fool." Hakkai expresses, reclaiming the steps that had pulled him so unfairly back. "Last night...I wouldn't have slept with just anyone, no matter how vulnerable I was. Had I been sharing a room with Sanzo or Goku, I would have undoubtedly slept alone. It was you I wanted, not the comfort. Forgive me for being so blind...I couldn't see you felt the same way."

Now it is Gojyo's turn to step back. "You saying what I think you're saying?"

Hakkai smiles, and it is nothing false or forced, but tender in its honestly. "I love you, Gojyo."

Fate is indeed a mystery, and she can never be understood no matter how often we try to comprehend why she does what she does. That's why she's Fate, because she cannot be tampered with or completely understood. She just is. She pulls the threads of our lives in directions we may never have even entertained going on our own, and we are forever grateful.

Because when Fate steps in, if we have the faith to accept what she is offering us, we are in her debt forever for all the wonders she has set before our unsuspecting feet.

"Shit. I mean...holy fuck, Hakkai." Gojyo grins, lopsided as he begins to overcome those final traces of anger and sadness, his emotions giving in to the pure amazement of what is happening. "Me and you...in love? And...last night...we...we were...I mean...gods! This is crazy!"

Hakkai laughs, and the space that had been between them is suddenly no longer there, because Hakkai has bridged the gap. "And yet..." he breathes, raising one of those too beautiful hands up towards Gojyo's face. "...I don't think I'd want things any other way." Then...just then...their lips meet, as soft and tender as they had the night before. "We better get back." Hakkai whispers, after reluctantly breaking away. He is looking right in Gojyo's eyes--unflinching. "Goku might be burning down the kitchen as we speak."

"Oh...I don't think we have to worry about that."

Hakkai quirks an eyebrow, realizing that Gojyo is no longer returning his stare but is looking past him towards the door. He turns...and suddenly feels very foolish for having left that door open when he came in. "Eh...? Sanzo? Goku? How...how long have you been standing there?"

Book-ending the entrance to the room, Sanzo and Goku stand stock-still.

Goku's expression is one of frozen disbelief, his mouth hanging open so wide, one would imagine he is facing an impressive assortment of food rather than the sight of two male friends kissing.

Sanzo, too, looks quite shocked, though he masks his true response quickly, enabling him to pretend he isn't surprised in the least. "How long? Long enough to feel sick to my stomach." the monk grumbles, swallowing back the final, remaining traces of how he is actually feeling. "Are you two finished now so we can eat and get on the road?"

"You're not...angry?" Hakkai questions, pulling a little further from Gojyo to avoid making the others any more uncomfortable.

"What you do in bed together is none of my business. Just be sure your romance doesn't interfere with the mission. If it even seems like you're distracted, I'm neutering the kappa."

"Hey!"

"I'm going to eat breakfast." Sanzo continues, ignoring the kappa's protests. "When I'm finished, I'm leaving, with or without you." And with his consent given--in his own, special way--Sanzo turns on his heels and heads back to the kitchen.

Goku, however, has yet to speak or move since Gojyo and Hakkai turned to face the door. He is just standing there, staring, mouth agape, his large, golden eyes locked on the forms of his friends.

Hakkai smiles, but shifts nervously, not sure what to say.

Gojyo, on the other hand, has a knack for dealing with monkeys. "What are you staring at, saru?" he asks slyly, reaching out to grip Hakkai's waist and pull the brunette in close against his side. He grins, waggling an eyebrow in Goku's direction.

Goku grimaces. Finally, his mouth closes and his shoulders relax, but he looks anything but okay. His attention shifts to Hakkai. "You...you...you let Gojyo have sex with you? Hakkai, that's just gross."

"What?! Why you little--!"

"Goku, it isn't gross, it's just...different." Hakkai breaks in, saving them from the onset of yet another verbal fight. Though he can tell his close proximity to Gojyo is unsettling Goku somewhat, he does not attempt to pry himself from Gojyo's hold. "There is nothing wrong with two men finding love in one another."

Goku shakes his head. "I didn't mean it was gross coz he's a guy, just coz he's Gojyo. I mean, who knows where that kappa's been."

And with that said, it doesn't matter that Hakkai hasn't attempted to break free, because Gojyo suddenly releases him and is dashing forward towards the door. "That's it, I'm ringing your neck!"

"Ack! I was just kidding!" Goku cries over his shoulder, sprinting down the hallway in hopes of finding some place of refuge before Gojyo can catch up. "I think you make a cute couple!"

"Tell that to my fist, you little twerp!"

"Hakkai, help!"

But Hakkai knows to leave things be. He follows at a leisurely pace, shaking his head as he laughs lightly beneath his breath. "Yare, yare...the things I put up with..."

owari

A/N

Truthfully, I don't like this nearly as much as the first part, but I couldn't just leave things like that. Nights of passion have repercussions. Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews. Skycat, you made me tear up. Thank you all. I am so proud of this. You are what makes this worth it. See ya next ficcie, minna!

Crimson