1. Ten Years Ago
(Old As…)
Word Count: 245
"You remember when we first met?"
Gojyo glanced at Hakkai and grinned. "Ten years to the day, right?"
"Exactly so," the schoolteacher replied, nodding approvingly. He poured tea for the both of them and then sat down opposite the redhead, opening up a book as he did so. Gojyo frowned.
"I feel old," he said, scowling.
Hakkai raised an eyebrow without looking up. "You're twenty-seven," he reminded him.
"Old," Gojyo repeated.
"People like the Bodhisattva would disagree with that statement."
"Good thing I'm not tellin' it to her, then."
The half-breed sulked for a few minutes as Hakkai sipped his tea and ignored him completely. Eventually, he went on, "I bet I wouldn't be able to get a girl if I went out to the bar."
"I bet not, too."
"Hey!" Gojyo shouted, offended.
"Because," Hakkai continued, "if you even tried, I'd beat you senseless." The brunette seemed completely unruffled by saying this, as if inflicting bodily harm on kappas was something he did everyday.
Gojyo glanced up at him, looked back down at the table, and then up at Hakkai again. "I guess I was pretty stupid, ten years ago," he said, smirking.
"How so?" the schoolteacher asked without looking up.
"I let myself get involved with you."
Hakkai closed his book and gave Gojyo a withering look. "I could have told you that, dear," he said dryly, and stirred some more sugar into his tea.