20. Zinnia; Thoughts of Friends
(The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
Word Count: 380
"What do you think Sanzo an' Goku are doing right now?"
"The usual."
Gojyo turned over and looked at Hakkai. The brunette was uncharacteristically quiet, his sentences curt, expression blank. He reminded Gojyo of Gonou, whom he'd only met for a few minutes over the years, and whose company he'd never enjoyed.
"What's up?" he asked, trying to come off as serious and not joking, like he usually did.
Hakkai rolled over, facing away from his friend. "It's nothing," he said.
"Liar."
"I would prefer not to talk about it, then," Hakkai conceded, polite as always.
Gojyo shrugged. "Fair answer. Just don't take your wallowing out on me," he replied.
Offended, Hakkai turned over again and poked a finger into the redhead's bare chest. "If there is one thing I am not doing, it's wallowing." He fixed his friend with a steely stare.
"Could've fooled me," Gojyo replied. Hakkai steamed a minute and then punched a pillow into a comfortable lump before wrapping his arms around it and facing as far away from the other as possible. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes, and that gave Gojyo time to think. What day was it? The third day of the fourth month six weeks after they'd returned from India, a little the worse for wear and fairly banged up but intact due to some divine intervention. He tried to remember what else happened on the third day of the fourth month, and then when he couldn't, he put it into his trusty Calendar of the Journey, which was the mental agenda he kept of what had happened on the days that they had been traveling. Around this time, they were –
Chin Yisou.
A triumphant smirk curved his lips, and he lit a cigarette off of the night stand in celebration.
Kanan. That's it. That's what's up.
Gojyo could have done a kind of dance, he was so proud of himself for figuring it out.
"Yo," he said, poking Hakkai's shoulder.
"What?" the brunette hissed, his voice partially muffled by the pillow.
"I think Sanzo an' Goku are fighting right now," he whispered.
Caught off-guard, Hakkai took a few seconds to reply, "I think so, too."