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Ch 2
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'…cold…' Gojyo felt the sensation through his hazy sleep as his consciousness faded in and out.
"…lost a lot of blood…"
"…never been down this long before…."
"…I don't know what is wrong… have to run some tests…"
Fragments of sentences and concerned voices reached his ears between the hum of incoherent speech. Then he was back once more in the depths of sleep, the blackness of his subconscious surrounding him.
Hours… days… time… all he knew was it had passed, and too much of it at that. Gojyo's eyes opened his vision cloudy and swimming. The palms of his hands rubbed the sleep from his face and he began to look around the room. Hakkai was there or rather his clothes were sitting ruffled and slung across a rickety wooden chair. Sight clearing he sat up which proved harder than he had expected. His legs had some movement back but they seemed extremely stiff and inflexible. Holding his head Gojyo looked around the room. It was not the hotel they had been in the night before the attack. No, it was somewhere completely different but oddly reminiscent of where he and Hakkai had lived before Sanzo had recruited them.
Reaching to his shoulder then moving in a meandering line across his chest and down his torso Gojyo searched for his injuries. He found only small raised stripes of skin where his wounds had previously been. '…they must have gotten a good healer...' he thought as the fact that Hakkai was himself a healer escaped the redhead's brain momentarily.
"Hakkai?..." it came out choked and brittle. Coughing Gojyo tried to clear his throat, his next attempt at speech was utterly a failure. 'I need some water…' managing to get to his feet the red head made his way across the small room by leaning on the sparse furniture. Reaching the bathroom he pushed the door open, 'well I found Hakkai…' Gojyo mused as he saw the blurred outline of the brunette through the shower curtain. Finding the sink Gojyo turned on the cold water and cupped his hands. He took a few long drinks of chilled liquid then splashed some onto his face and torso causing goosebumps to appear over his skin.
Bending his head to the side he gave a sniff, 'well I don't smell anymore, guess the guys had enough sense to get me a bath... Hope the girl that did it was cute…' he mulled over the thought of a hot young woman cleaning every inch of his skin.
"Ow!" Hakkai stumbled inside the shower as something was knocked over; "hot!" tripping over the edge of the tub as he scrambled out the brunet had to do a bit of a dance number to keep from falling down.
Gojyo watched the amusing scene thoroughly before realizing that he had left the cold water on, "Sorry buddy," he smiled at Hakkai who was wrapping himself in a towel.
"Gojyo?!" Hakkai hadn't noticed the kappa until he had spoken consequently his voice sounded extremely surprised when he realized he was not alone in the room, "…when did you?..." the brunette was looking at him as though he were a relative from out of town who had showed up unexpectedly for dinner.
"Where're Sanzo and the monkey?" Gojyo asked as he pulled at his lips examining his teeth in the mirror.
Hakkai stumbled over his words as his mind raced around inside his head, "um… they… they left."
Gojyo turned around, "What?! Why the hell'd they go without us?!" the red head was annoyed at learning this new bit of information but even more irritated at his friends strange reaction to everything he was doing. He raised one irritated eyebrow as he watched the brunet start to look more uncomfortable and confused with each passing moment. "Hakkai… what's going on? Why are you looking at me so strangely and why are Sanzo and Goku not in that room bitching at one another like always!?" Gojyo's questioned seemed to hit a chord within Hakkai and the brunet sputtered a bit but nothing coherent came out. "Hakkai," Gojyo said in a low warning tone.
"Gojyo…" Hakkai breathed it unsteadily and in a flustered tone. "um… you… you were dead…more ...or less…apparently less…" he waved a shaking hand as he indicated the fact that Gojyo was indeed very much alive. "… we… um…even Yaone said you would never wake up." Hakkai regarded his friend with mixed emotion, water spiraling down his torso from soaked hair.
"What?" Gojyo's mind raced, he had no idea what was going on. Sure he had certainly been roughed up a bit by those youkai but it wasn't as though he had been on the verge of death. Then he remembered something… a nearly minute detail which seemed to have changed the course of his life. "Hakkai…how long has it been?"
"Five months…" Hakkai seemed to finally be getting a grip on the situation and the reality that his friend was indeed awake again. He took a few more steps towards Gojyo. "Yaone found trace amounts of a toxin in your blood, it… it was a paralyzing agent… we thought you had been permanently… um… disabled." Hakkai looked at Gojyo in slight disbelief.
The red head was leaning back onto the sink trying to take in all the information. His bare feet felt cold against the bathroom tiles. "Five months… huh… could be worse… fucking youkai bastard…" Gojyo remembered the look filled with gleeful hatred that the demon had given him just after stabbing him in the leg. Gojyo chuckled to himself then left Hakkai dripping in the bathroom.
Back in the bedroom, dinning room, kitchen area Gojyo sat on the edge of the bed. "Hakkai, where are my smokes?" Gojyo asked in a tone deprived of emotion. "You had better not have let Sanzo take them," Gojyo muttered to himself as he thought about the current situation.
Hakkai came out of the bathroom in his towel. He quietly considered his friend as he walked across the room. Delicate fingers wrapped around a pack on the table and the lighter next to it. Hakkai walked back over to Gojyo and deposited the addiction into the redhead's hands. "No I didn't let him take them." Hakkai pulled up a chair and sat across from his friend.
Gojyo regarded Hakkai's different behavior but passed over it as soon as the cigarettes were in his palm. Lighting up he felt a bit of relief flow into him. Calmness settled as the nicotine did and life didn't seem quite as bad as it had a few moments ago. Letting the smoke linger in his lungs Gojyo closed his eyes and held his breath. "So, can we catch up to them?" he asked as he let out the smoke filled air.
Hakkai looked at Gojyo with concern but at the same time a hopeful and thankful expression was in his eyes. The redheads question reached his ears and he considered the thought. "Well, it would be rather difficult… I let them take Hakuryu… since I decided to stay behind." Hakkai fingered his monocle which he had retrieved from the table moments ago.
"Fuck…" Gojyo continued to puff on his cigarette.
Hakkai got up from the chair he was in and turned away from Gojyo. He picked up his clothes and shed his towel as he got dressed.
"Hey Hakkai, where are my clothes?" Gojyo asked, as he absentmindedly stared at his naked friend. Gojyo had been wearing only a pair of shorts and as Hakkai moved to dress himself the kappa had been reminded of the properly dressed state he himself was not in. The redhead idly tapped his ash into the nearest cup, his eyes sagging shut. His head felt heavy and his eye lids closed as slumber crept its way into his brain once more.
"Gojyo?" … … … "Gojyo?!" Hakkai's yells seemed distant and white as Gojyo's senses drifted away again.
