Title: Hakkai's Surprise
Rating: T
Summary: Kanan took her own life because she believed the child inside her to be Hyakugan Maoh's, but what if it was really Gonou's? A year post facto, Hakkai's been living with Gojyo for a while, and they've fallen into the commonplace normalcy of life (punctuated with visits from Sanzo and his pet monkey). But when a young girl comes bearing an announcement and another chance, what will happen to our beloved human-turned-youkai?
Chapter the eighth: Uncertainties and Fate
Hakkai woke instantly to the sound of Kanan crying. His instinct told him to get up and tend to her needs, but his body was screaming at him to stay in bed. By this, I mean that he could barely move. As a result, all he could do was speak to Kanan.
"Kanan-chan, don't worry. Don't worry, Kanan-chan, Tou-chan is here." He tried to comfort, feeling quite helpless, confined to bed as he was. The cavalry arrived in the form of Jihira, who gently picked up the screaming baby, cradling her in one arm and holding a full bottle of formula in the other hand. Before she gave Kanan the bottle, she glanced over to the bed, doing a quick double-take when she saw that Hakkai was awake.
"Well, hey, why am I doing this? Here you go, time to go see your daddy, little one. He'll give you your bottle." Jihira smiled, carrying Kanan to Hakkai. The youkai froze when he saw his daughter, the first good look at her that he'd gotten since she was born. His green eyes widened, and his hands started shaking.
"Hakkai-san?" Jihira asked worriedly. "You alright?"
"I-I can't...I'll hurt her." He said, his horrified, frightened gaze falling to his trembling hands. "Don't you understand! I can't hold her. I'll hurt her." He received a slap to the head from Jihira, who had transferred the bottle of formula to the hand holding Kanan.
"Idiot, I'm standing right here. I don't care if you've never held a baby before; you can't hurt her as long as I'm standing right here. Now, are you going to stop being paranoid and hold your newborn daughter, whom you carried inside you for nine months, or do I have to slap you again?" She received no response from Hakkai, so she slapped him again. "Third time's the charm?"
"No, no, you're right." Hakkai said quickly to avoid another blow to the head. "Show me how to hold her."
"I'll show you how to hold her and how to feed her, all in one fell swoop." Jihira said with a grin. Hakkai smiled and nodded. "See how I'm holding my arm? Do the same." Hakkai did. "Now, put your other arm under the first, for extra support. Alright, now I'm going to put her in your arms. Remember to support her head." The stork gently placed Kanan in Hakkai's arms.
"I officially deem you a professional baby holder. Now, adjust your arm so that her head is supported in the crook of your arm and you have a free hand." Very, very cautiously, Hakkai did so. "And here." She handed him the bottle. He took it.
"Now, hold it to her mouth but don't force her to take it. She'll tell you when she's done." Jihira watched the look of awe settle on Hakkai's face, as he fed his daughter for the first time. Kanan's baby blue eyes fixed on her father's emerald green, even as she suckled hungrily on the bottle. A tinge of green was discernable near the pupils of her eyes.
"Hello there, little Kanan. I'm your Tou-chan. You don't know how long I've waited to see you." Hakkai said softly.
Two years later
The two-year-old ran shrieking through the house, giggling insanely. She was, of course, stark naked and sopping wet. Her dark brown hair stuck to her head and face as she fled from another brunette, her 22-year-old father. He was wet as well, but only because she had splashed him in the bath. Currently, they were playing chase through the house, with the girl's father holding a towel out in front of him.
"Kanan-chan, come here so Tou-chan can dry you off," he called to his squealing daughter. Rather than stop this fun game, she ran around the corner and toward the door. Luckily, the two-year-old was swept upside down by a new arrival. The girl's father stopped.
"Gojyo-jisan!" the two-year-old squealed, hanging upside-down in the other young man's grip.
"Hey, mei-chan, have you been good for your Tou-chan?" the crimson-haired hanyou asked, his left arm wrapped around the little girl's waist. The girl's father, Cho Hakkai, took his daughter back, wrapping her in the towel. The girl, Cho Kanan, pouted cutely.
"Mei-chan, what do you say we go get ice cream later?" Her 'uncle', Sha Gojyo (not really a biological relation, but he was her father's best friend, so earned the title of 'uncle Gojyo'), offered.
"Tou-chan too?" Kanan asked, her hazel eyes bright and curious. Somehow, she had ended up with hazel eyes instead of the predicted green, but that changed nothing.
"Yeah, sure, I guess he can come." Gojyo said mock reluctantly. "It's not a party without him, is it?" Kanan shook her head actively.
"Come on, Kanan-chan. It's time for you to take a nap." Hakkai said with a gentle smile, hoisting his daughter up onto his hip.
"Nuh-uh!" Kanan protested, trying to escape Hakkai. Even so, she yawned.
"Mmm-hmm, I think someone's sleepy. Wouldn't you agree, Gojyo-jisan?" The hanyou nodded.
"Well, then, it's off to bed. Say good day to Gojyo-jisan."
"Good day, Gojyo-jisan." Kanan parroted sleepily. Hakkai smiled, carrying his daughter off to the bedroom. After Hakkai had left the room, a knock came at the door. When Gojyo opened it, a letter was thrust in his face. He opened it right there.
Sha Gojyo -
You have been requested to accompany Genjyo Sanzo-houshi on a journey west to destroy the source of the minus wave that is causing the youkai to lose their sense of self.
And as long as he isn't actually dead, Cho Hakkai has been requested as well.
"Damn it, he didn't fall for it." Gojyo cursed, shutting the door in the messenger's face without even looking up from the letter. Hakkai, having put Kanan down for her nap, came in just in time to hear this comment.
"Who didn't fall for what? And what have I said about swearing with Kanan in the house?" Hakkai immediately went into 'maternal mode', his hands on his hips, one eyebrow raised.
"Right, sorry. Sanzo...he, um, oh damn." Gojyo didn't want to tell Hakkai about his lie two years before, but it seemed that he'd have to.
"Gojyo!" Hakkai scolded. "No swearing. Now what didn't Sanzo fall for?"
"Right after Kanan was born, Jihira and I...sort of tried to convince him and Goku that..." the hanyou trailed off. Emerald eyes narrowed.
"Gojyo, what did you and Jihira do to Sanzo and Goku? And why did you never tell me about this?"
"We sort of convinced them that you had three days to live." This last part was said in a barely legible rush.
"Wait, you told Sanzo that I was dying?"
"That's one way to put it." Gojyo said.
"I can't believe you! What in the world got into you two! What were you thinking!" Hakkai exclaimed. "Telling those two that I was dying. Of all of the hare-brained schemes – and just what, pray tell, did you tell Sanzo and Goku was wrong with me?"
"A lung infection and kidney disease." Gojyo said softly.
"A – Gojyo! What in the world made you think up that cock-and-bull story?"
"The details were Jihira's idea. I just said that you were sick." The humor of the incident seemed to recur in Gojyo's mind as a grin broke out on his face. "You should have seen the saru. He offered to give you one of his kidneys."
"That's not funny, Gojyo! You probably scarred the poor boy for life!" Hakkai scolded.
"Oh well, he deserved it." Gojyo said. "Anyway, Baldy wants us to go save the world with him."
"Well what are we supposed to do with Kanan? This isn't a field trip! We can't take her along!"
"And we can't leave her here alone..." The two looked up at the same time, emerald eyes meeting ruby.
"Door post!" They said in unison. Hakkai quickly wrote down a note asking if the storks could watch Kanan for an indefinite amount of time, and stuck it to the door.
"Now we have to go out for ice cream with Kanan-chan." Gojyo said.
"I'm still mad at you for lying to Sanzo and Goku." Hakkai said, not even looking toward his friend.
"Would you have liked it better if I said 'Oh, sorry, you'll have to go away, Hakkai's pretty tired from giving birth!'?"
"Well, no, but surely you could have come up with an option that didn't involve my imminent and unpreventable 'demise'!" Hakkai exclaimed, sitting down at the table.
"Hey, I call it revenge from when Baldy made me think that you were dead." Gojyo said, sitting across the table from Hakkai. They were facing away from each other. Hakkai turned to face him.
"He made you think I was dead?"
"Three years ago," was all that Gojyo said, setting his crimson gaze somewhere out the window. Hakkai smiled.
"And you believed him? You really are gullible."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Gojyo exploded, slamming both hands on the table. It shook. Hakkai put his hands up in submission.
"Nothing, Gojyo." He said with a laugh. "Although I feel it necessary to point out that two wrongs don't necessarily make a right. And I would appreciate it if any further lies didn't involve my demise."
"Not unless they need to." Gojyo agreed.
"Did the letter say why Sanzo needed us to join him?" Hakkai asked.
"Something about the youkai losing their sense of self. I don't know why we have to go on this ass-sucking mission, though."
"Gojyo, language." Hakkai warned for the third time in the past ten minutes. "And what's this about the youkai losing their sense of self?"
"The letter mentions some minus wave thing. I don't know." Gojyo said with a shrug. Hakkai sighed.
"How are we going to tell Kanan that we're leaving?"
"Well, that sounds like a pretty good start." Gojyo said.
"Very funny, Gojyo. We'll have to tell her when we take her out for ice cream after she wakes up." Hakkai said. "But what if Jihira and Jyuuseii aren't able to watch her? I mean, we really shouldn't ask them to drop everything for us."
"If we had another option, we'd use it." Gojyo said.
"You're right, but still. It seems rude."
"It's their job, Hakkai. Taking care of kids is what they do. And Kanan-chan's a perfect angel, so she'll be no trouble at all."
"But she can be so rambunctious, and sometimes she just fights when it's time for her bath, and-"
"Hakkai, you're panicking. Calm down."
"It's just-"
"I know, I know, it's the first time that Kanan-chan will be separated from you since she was born. But you just have to trust the storks."
"I know, but I won't be able to stop worrying, wondering if she misses me or if she's forgotten about me."
"This god-forsaken quest that his mightyness is dragging us on will probably be pretty dangerous. If you don't give it your all, you might not make it back to Kanan-chan at all." Gojyo said bluntly. Hakkai's eyes widened, and he stared at the table.
"Hai, you're right. She's my reason for living. I have to come home to her." His voice was soft.
"Hey, don't worry 'Kai, you'll come home to her. You'll be back in no time at all." Gojyo said. "After all, I'll be there to watch your back." The hanyou added cockily. Hakkai laughed. The two friends switched casually between talking and just sitting in silence for a few hours. Finally, Kanan sleepily walked into the room, rubbing her eyes. Haku-chan (her white dragon plushie) dragged the ground, Kanan holding it by the wing.
"Well, look who's up. Ready to get dressed and go out for ice cream?" Hakkai asked, getting up from the table. Immediately, Kanan was wide awake.
"Yeah!" She squealed. Hakkai hefted the two-year-old up in his arms.
"What do you say when you wake up, Kanan-chan?" For a while now, Hakkai had been teaching Kanan different greetings, and the toddler seemed to be getting it.
"Good morning!" She chirped. Hakkai smiled.
"Good job, Kanan-chan. Now come on, let's get you dressed." He carried her into the bedroom, where her clothes were. No more than fifteen minutes later, Hakkai and Kanan came back out. Kanan was dressed in a pink dress, white socks, black shoes, and a pink hat. She modeled her dress for Gojyo with a few turns.
"Is that my little mei-chan, or has our house been graced with an ohimesama?" Gojyo asked in exaggerated awe. Kanan giggled.
"She's my little princess, at least." Hakkai said, smiling.
"Ready to go get ice cream all over that pretty new dress of yours?" Gojyo asked, hefting Kanan up onto his shoulder. She reached up and touched the ceiling.
"Can we go now?" Kanan asked.
"Of course." Hakkai said with a smile. With that, the three left to go get ice cream.
Three days later, Hakkai and Gojyo were ready to leave. Jihira and Jyuuseii had arrived to take care of Kanan while the two were gone, and it was finally time to leave. Kanan, Hakkai feared, was too young to fully understand that he might not come back for years, or maybe never at all. Jiipu was packed, and Gojyo was already lounging in the back seat. Hakkai was holding Kanan.
"Now you behave for Jihira-basan and Jyuuseii-jisan while I'm gone, alright?" He asked, trying to keep tears back from his eyes. Kanan didn't understand why her Tou-chan was sad. He was just going for a trip, right? She nodded.
"And don't worry; I'll be back in no time." Hakkai added. Kanan smiled. She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing Hakkai on the cheek.
"Love you, Tou-chan." She said.
"I love you too, Kanan-chan." He handed Kanan to Jihira. Jyuuseii handed him a small, golden disc.
"Here. Think of it as a long-distance baby monitor." Jyuuseii said. "Simply open it and say 'Cho Kanan', and you'll be able to see her at any time of the day or night."
"Where did this come from?" Hakkai turned the golden disc over in his hand, examining the clasp.
"It's standard issue for 'field storks'. Jihira has one too and we work as a team, so you can hang on to that. I have a feeling it will do you more good than it will me." The stork smiled. Hakkai smiled back.
"Thank you." He walked over to Jiipu. "Bye bye, Kanan-chan." He waved, getting into the driver's seat. She waved back, grinning.
"Bye bye, Tou-chan! Bye bye, Gojyo-jisan!" She said. Gojyo waved nonchalantly. With a heavy heart, Hakkai turned the ignition and drove away. After the house was out of sight, Gojyo leaned forward and put a hand comfortingly on his best friend's shoulder.
"Hey, it'll be alright."
"I certainly hope that you're right." Hakkai said with a sigh.
Language notes: mei-chan - niece, hai - yes, ohimesama - princess
Family notes: Tou-chan - daddy, -basan - aunt, -jisan - uncle
Canon notes: The latter part (the summons) is very unspecified in the manga. So unspecified that it's left completely blank. Therefore, I got to play with it to fit the story's timeline. And strangely, I personally thought that maternal!Hakkai wasn't all that OOC.
Author notes: This was officially the hardest chapter for me to write. The sequel is already done, and it's guaranteed to be much darker and dangerous than this was.
Next chapter: Epilogue – likely to be even shorter than the prologue, simply because I'm trying to finish this freaking story so that I can work on the sequel. Oo;