Sorry for the lateness…I've had block. But here is zee final part! This makes me feel warm and fuzzy when I read it. Love to everyone who reviewed and whoever placed this on the c2 thingamy, which I don't really understand yet. Chappy title from Blaqk Audio again.

Three: I'll whisper you this truth, uncompromised

"Oh, come on." Gojyo said gently. "I know my face ain't pretty but it can't scare you that badly."

Hakkai shut his eyes momentarily and then rolled over, his expression blank. If Gojyo had said anything else, he probably wouldn't have turned to face him. If he had begged for forgiveness, gotten angry or broken down into tears Hakkai would not have moved. But a joke? Gojyo knew how to get him, every time.

The kappa's eyes registered surprise at the fact that Hakkai had actually turned to face him and then smiled nervously. He flicked a strand of hair out his face absently and waited for Hakkai to say something. After a long, awkward moment, he smiled back.

"Well, you know that's a lie." He said quietly. Gojyo raised an eyebrow and adopted a frown which showed his confusion about the conversation taking an accusative tone. Although, he should have been expecting it, really, after what he'd done…

"What is?"

"What you just said." Hakkai suddenly smiled widely if a little hesitantly. "About your face. It's quite handsome if you'll allow me to say so and you do know it."

There was a moment of tense silence where the conversation could have gone either way but then Gojyo smirked.

"Well, you caught me out there." His voice suddenly became softer, unsure and Hakkai almost flinched, expecting some insult or another confession that he didn't know how to deal with. Instead, Gojyo said, "But does it? Scare you, I mean."

There was something in Gojyo's eyes that was a lot like fear. Hakkai sat up on impulse and leaned across to where Gojyo had crouched down by the side of the bed. He reached out a hand and placed it gently against the redhead's cheek so that the eyes turned upwards to look at him again. Staring into those eyes, Hakkai found all range of emotions; surprise, relief, nervousness and…yes, a small hint of happiness that such a rarely occurring touch gave him. Hakkai was shocked to find something else. As he stared deep into Gojyo's eyes, he found the same feelings running through him. It wasn't just the fact that Hakkai could see himself reflected in the crimson of Gojyo's eyes; he could feel himself there too. And it was terrifying.

Hakkai smiled ruefully. "Does it scare me? No. Not as much as the person that greets me when I look in the mirror."

Gojyo raised a hand to the elegant one laid against his cheek and clasped it, bringing it down to rest on the side of the bed.

"Well." Gojyo squeezed Hakkai's hand gently and then let go when it became clear they were both trembling. "That may or may not be true. Whatever the case, it's not going to help us clean you up. Come on."

He stood up quickly and held out a hand, which Hakkai took, a little confused. He rose to his feet to find his legs didn't hurt as much as he had thought but still in excruciating agony; the once clean sheet had been dried into the wounds on his back by the blood.

"Christ." Gojyo murmured, gently pushing Hakkai back into a sitting position on the bed. "Here; stay still."

Hakkai did as he was told, letting Gojyo scoot him backwards on the bed until one leg was curled up under him and one was hanging off the side of the bed, with him facing the headboard. Gojyo sat down in front of him and instructed Hakkai to hold his arms up. Once this was done, Gojyo reached around Hakkai's chest to reach his back. He began to pull the material out of the wound as gently as possible but it still felt awful to Hakkai who found himself holding onto Gojyo's neck and shoulders as though it would help.

One final tug and the material came loose, letting fresh blood spill in warm rivulets onto the already soiled sheets.

"There ya go." He said quietly but couldn't move due to Hakkai not letting go. "What's wrong? Did I make it worse?"

Hakkai took a deep breath, not really knowing what to say. Gojyo started to feel intensely nervous that he would run off again, something he didn't think he would be able to handle. Eventually, Hakkai spoke and his tone was one of curiosity.

"Why didn't you sit behind me to pull the sheets off? It would have made more sense."

"I…"

"Gojyo, are you blushing?" Hakkai sounded on the verge of laughter.

"No! I…well…maybe a little. But it's not 'cause I'm bashful or anything! It's because…I don't really like the sight of blood…your blood in particular. It seems so much more vital than anyone else's."

In the silence that followed that statement, Gojyo didn't know whether he had said the right thing or not; Hakkai's head was on his shoulder so he had no way of knowing. If he had been able to see the small smile playing around Hakkai's lips, he would have realised it had been the right thing to say.

"Well then…" he said at last, trying to stand up again but stopping when Hakkai's grip on his back tightened. Gojyo could feel the warmth of his skin through the thin material of his own shirt and was trying as hard as possible to ignore it. "Look, I know Sanzo said to talk but we need to clean those wounds or-"

"In a minute." Hakkai said softly. "I just…could you just hold me for a while? It's been so long since someone's done that for me."

Gojyo sighed and stopped fighting, eventually tightening his own grip on the pale skin before him. He shut his eyes and let his head rest against Hakkai's, savouring this moment. He let himself believe that they were holding each other like this because of shared sentiment, not because Hakkai had lost control because of Gojyo's rash actions. Each could feel the others heartbeat against his own chest. They weren't beating in time or anything so cliché but it was clear to both that the speed of the pulse was not normal. For the first time, Gojyo started to wonder why Hakkai had run off; was it really because he was angry? Or was it…

Damn. It looked like they were going to have to talk about it now after all.

"Gojyo?"

"Hmm?" Gojyo tried not to speak as he found himself almost crying.

"Don't cry, Gojyo."

"How did you know?" Gojyo was shocked. "I never cry. You've never seen me cry. So how did you-"

"I can just tell. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry I ran away from you. I was focussing too much on myself and not thinking about how it would hurt you."

"Hey, it's alright. I mean…you were angry enough to kill all those youkai with a damn knife, it's clear you had other things on your mind."

"Strange isn't it? How love seems to make me a murderer." His voice was too casual.

Gojyo was silent for a moment, thinking of Kanan as he knew Hakkai was…but then…wait…did he mean now?

"What do you…what are you trying to say, Hakkai?"

"What do you think I'm trying to say?" Hakkai pulled away from Gojyo just enough to look him in the eyes. "I think I put it rather more eloquently than you did. I love you Gojyo."

So, it was true. The look in Hakkai's eyes told Gojyo that, at least. He almost smiled but found himself unable; some emotions transcend such a simple gesture as smiling.

"Then why did you run away from me?"

"I felt like a traitor. I didn't care whether I lived or died as long as I didn't betray anyone anymore." Gojyo hated the way he could say such things so casually; it made it even more heartbreaking. "I guess I've always loved you, Gojyo but at first I wouldn't let myself see it. Not so soon after she died. I wasn't even able to see it. As I finally realised what was going on…I felt like I was betraying her. I said I would never love again and I thought I meant it; the thought of touching someone with hands as dirty as these made me sick. But as time went on, that's all I wanted to do. I wanted to show you how I felt but…well, you didn't feel the same so in doing so I'd be betraying your trust. I kept it hidden an as long as I thought I was doing the right thing, it was fine."

Gojyo held up a finger to stop the flow of words. "I…you don't have to explain all this to me."

"I want to. I owe you that at least."

"Okay…so why did you run away earlier when you found out?"

"I still felt like I was betraying Kanan. Which is stupid, I guess. She was so kind, she would never want me to deny my own feelings. I wanted to tell you, I really did and not telling you meant I was betraying you…betraying myself too. I just…didn't know what to do. So when I saw the youkai…things just took their own course. So Gojyo, I'm the one who's sorry."

Gojyo did smile, then. Hakkai had dropped his gaze to the floor beside the bed and there was something wrong with that.

"Hey. Hakkai. Look at me, will ya?"

Hakkai turned his eyes upwards. In the dim light from the lamp, their colour seemed deeper than usual and harder to read. Gojyo reached out and cupped Hakkai's chin with his hand. He tilted his head to the side.

"Never apologise. Never. Even if you have to kill me one day, I don't want you to apologise. The only time I will ever want an apology is if you hurt yourself in some way. I'll kill anyone who hurts you and don't think you're excepted from that."

Hakkai laughed a little. "That's such a Gojyo thing to say."

"I'm not good at sentimental stuff. Which is why I messed this up so bad."

Hakkai smirked. "Makes me wonder how you got so many girls."

"Ah well…they didn't mean anything. Ever. It would be like writing a love poem for a cushion. They were just something to cuddle when I was lonely."

"And what about me, hm?" Hakkai asked but his voice made it clear he wasn't being serious.

"Well…I don't need an excuse to cuddle you."

They both smiled and suddenly seemed to realise how close together they were. The light mood which had been in place was swiftly replaced by one of nervousness. Gojyo inched forward until his lips were almost ghosting Hakkai's, who seemed to be shaking.

"Gojyo…" he murmured. "Should we be doing this? It's not like we talked it over properly-"

"I've never needed to talk things over before." Gojyo replied, matching Hakkai's tone. "Besides, actions speak louder than words. Especially my actions."

Hakai smiled but the tone hadn't changed. Gojyo hesitated, drew back a little and then sighed in frustration.

"To hell with it." He muttered and closed the distance without warning. At first the kiss was less of a kiss than a collision but as soon as they came into contact, the world seemed to soften. It wasn't as though it was a first kiss for either of them but it was different somehow. To Gojyo, it was as though bolts of electric were shooting out from Hakkai's lips and straight into his heart. It froze him into place. For Hakkai, it was like a marvellous homecoming but only to find out that the home in question had been redecorated, making it comfortable and yet exciting all at once. It surprised them both that Hakkai was the one to deepen the kiss, his lips moving with a kind of desperation. There was no question in his mind now; of course they should be doing this. They should have done this long ago.

The kiss began to become more passionate, more hungry and as their lips parted further, Gojyo felt himself becoming light headed. Hakkai tasted like a star studded night sky looked, not that that made any sense but that's the only way he could later describe it to himself. It became unbelievable that they had been denying this for so long.

One of Hakkai's slender hands crept up Gojyo's back and twined in his hair, the other hand pressed up against his chest. Gojyo found himself doing much the same thing, brushing back the soft strands of dark hair that always seemed to cover one eye. The room seemed hot suddenly, the air stifling. Without warning, Gojyo pulled away.. breathing heavily.

"Sorry, 'Kai." He said shakily and was pleased to see Hakkai didn't look angry. "I…I never thought I would say this but if we don't slow down I'll probably lose my mind."

Hakkai nodded and stroked a strand of red hair gently. "Beautiful." He murmured.

"What?"

"You." Hakkai smiled again and hen shook his head. "You seem to have robbed me of the power of speech. Actions do speak louder than words after all."

"What now?" Gojyo said, his voice sounding a little lost.

"We still need to sort out this." Hakkai said, pointing at his back. "My arm too."

"I didn't mean that."

"I know." Hakkai sighed. "Well, we're not children and we can keep a secret. If we can trust Sanzo and Goku to share a room without chaos ensuing then we'll be fine. And I don't think it'll matter if they do find out. Goku would pretend not to understand and Sanzo would pretend it wasn't happening."

"Heh, yeah. Okay. But…what now?"

Hakkai laughed. "You mean, what do we do now?"

"Yeah."

"We'll do what you said. Let things take their own course. There's no use planning something like this. We'll be alright, Gojyo, trust me. See, I'm not even adding an 'I think' to the end of that."

Gojy laughed and kissed Hakkai's forehead gently. "Okay. Thanks. So…clean up time. I get to put you in a nice, warm bathtub. My lucky day, eh?"

Hakkai laughed. "It would seem that way. Oh…" he glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall. "It's a minute to midnight. We still have time."

"What? Time?" Gojyo looked confused. "I don't-"

Hakkai placed a finger to his lips and then kissed them softly. "Happy Valentines. Gojyo."

Gojyo grinned. "You big softy."

"I know. And you love it."

"Yeah." Gojyo stood up and offered his hand to Hakkai, who took it. "Yeah, I do."

Weird ending, I know. I didn't want to write a sex scene, it didn't fit the way I had written them, OOC or no. Hope you enjoyed angels. Please drop me a line