Chance

Chapter Four - Lovely

Disclaimer: I do not own Saiyuki nor any of its characters. If I did there would be translations for younger audiences whenever gojyo says something 18 . Then, there wouldn't be the factor of 'what does that mean?' every five seconds.

Enjoy!

"I-ite...!! O-oy! Hakkai! Tell her to stop pullin'!" Tug. "...You little.." Hakkai smiled good naturedly, and looked back to the red haired water deamon who's head was bent down in an awkward position due to the small hands tugging on his crimson locks. The healer had to force himself not to laugh. The consequences could be dire, seeing to how Gojyo was still scowling.

Last night's events seemed to be a long time ago, and as the group continued on their journey with the weather warming, they found themselves yet another job to accomplish. Goku pinched the baby's cheeks-well more like toddler-which caused her to forget about Gojyo for a few minutes and focus on him instead. "Ooohh..ne, ne Sanzo! Saaanzoo! Look! She's tiny!! San-"

"U-um, I think we can all see that, Goku." Interrupted Hakkai, who saw that the priest beside him was shaking due to the effort to stop himself from killing the boy. But seeing the disappointed look on Goku's face, Hakkai didn't hesitate to add, "Demo...She's adorable, ne.."

"Tch. Keep your eyes on the road, Hakkai." Sanzo closed his eyes with his permanent frown still in place. "Hurry up and get to the next village so we can discard this useless roadblock-" But no sooner had he said these words did a familiar feeling descend on his shoulders. Except it wasn't as painful as it usually was. And so their ride continued for a while in silence, with Hakkai humming a unfamiliar tune, Gojyo attempting to fix his hair vainly, goku nibbling on some foreign object while mumbling about being hungry, and Sanzo with a small toy-like body ontop of his shoulders, grabbing onto his silky golden locks.

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The next village they got to was a definite change from the last. But then again, anything would be a good change from that broken and run down old place. They got themselves a room above a restaurant that doubled as a bar, and decided to take a break from their traveling to relax and stretch out. It was dusk already, and the more adult places were beginning to open up. Gojyo, sensing this, wandered, or more like sneaked, outside, and disappeared in the darkening dark-dark darkness almost instantly.

"Sanzo, what would you like to do for the evening?" Hakkai asked pleasantly, letting the infant stroke his soft hair. She seemed to love to do this. The blonde man grunted, and turned over in his bed. "I'm going to go to sleep. You two can do whatever you like." Goku sighed boredly. "Neh... Sanzo is really like a grandpa, isn't he, Hakkai? No fun at all..." Sanzo decided to ignore that comment. "So... what should be do?"

Hakkai sweatdropped with a nervous laugh. He had been hoping that the blond leader of their group had an idea of how to occupy the monkey's time, since all he could think of was to one, go join Gojyo and probably end up waking with some unknown woman, or two, bring Sato to a bathouse to splash around with the water. For some weird reason, he didn't think the first choice was quite appropriate enough as there was no way either Goku or Sanzo could take care of the little girl, and the only option was to take her with him on his...trip. "Alright, Goku," Hakkai said, getting up from his position on the floor and gently removing small hands from his now crazy looking hair. Goku waited for the brunette man to continue, as he picked up Sato, and allowed her to wriggle around in his arms until she had a position that was both comfortable and able to look at Goku while he talked. "We're going to the bathouse. Would you like to come?"

Goku starred at the man as if he was crazy. "Bathouse." He repeated monotonously, obviously a bit sarcastic. "Meck.., how fun can a bathouse be?! Hakkaaaii!!" "SHUT UP ALREADY!! Fine!! Let's go!" Sanzo who had probably figured out that either way he wasn't going to get a wink of sleep, sat up and hissed, getting out his wallet and slipping on his priest robes once again. At this, Goku's eyes looked hopeful. "Eh? Are we going out to eat? Yay!!! Sanzo's the best!!" Happy cheers like this could be heard down the hall as the two men walked away.

Hakkai locked the door, and walked in the same direction, but a bit slower all the time murmuring to the child in his arms. He looked at the gigantic outdoor bathouse. It was quite a sight. Stepping onto the veranda and in the door, the healer paused a moment looking from the women's quarters to the men's, and back again. He then decided that it was probably more appropriate for a kid to enter in the wrong gender then for a twenty year old adult. Chidding his naive thoughts sheepishly, the pair entered the change room. There were a surprising number of people there today. "Don't worry, they won't harass you yet," Hakkai said jokingly. But he was wrong. They were even worst then the women.

"Your daughter looks like she would grow into a fearless woman!" Grinned one man, ruffling the already messy and dirty mop of tangled hair. He received a defiant glare from the girl, who seemed to have tears of fear brimming at the edges. Hakkai hid a frown as the man laughed, and had to bite his tongue to remind himself of his manners.

"I hardly believe you're her father-you look quite young, and your hair and eye color are completely opposite!" Pondered another. It was too bad the changing room was not separated into sections and everyone knew everyone else's business. With a firm smile, Hakkai mused if he should tell them that she wasn't his daughter at all, but decided not to as it was easier to protect the child that way.

After the necessary scrubbing was done, Hakkai walked out into the clean air, and took a deep breath. The bathhouse was more like a spring, with its unified ponds that had steam on its surface, making it seem warmer than it actually was. Stepping into one of the more secluded and smaller ponds, Hakkai slowly settle himself and his companion in the right temperatured water, and sighed. "Ah...It feels good, ne..." He whispered. A small tickling feeling on his stomach suddenly brought him back to reality, and as Hakkai opened his eyes again in surprise, he saw that the child had gotten up from her position on lying on him, and instead was curiously poking at his scar.

He winced, but remaind his calm, remembering the particular accident that caused that scar and the one on his eye. A sad smile appeared on his lips, and though the healer curved his eyes into half crescents, he felt that familiar stab of pain in his heart. "You're wondering what it is, aren't you, Sato? That's right. Sato... it means white sugar, doesn't it? It must be nice to be a child, ne... living freely without a worry in the world. There was once a time when life was like that for me, too. Living freely, loving freely..." Hakkai continued softly unraveling the story that once haunted his past. "...Demo that was the past. That was Cho Gonou. Now, Cho Hakkai travels around aimlessly as a nursery school teacher for a bunch of adolescents."

"Lovely story, Hakkai. But oy, next time, be sure to describe Sha Gojyo as a gorgeous red haired sexy nursery child, eh?" Hakkai laughed nervously. "Ahahaha... Gojyo... this isn't adult channel."

"Heh. There's adult channel where ever he goes. That is a lovely bedtime story, Hakkai. But unfortunatly her's isn't." Sanzo breathed a cloud of cigarette smoke. It seemed that the other three had slipped into the spring without notice. "You shouldn't smoke in here, but then again, when have you ever listened to me?" A rich womanly voice echoed behind the golden haired priest. He looked away. "Hmph."

Hakkai knew the sound of that voice anywhere. "Konzeon Bosatsu-sama, what brings you here?" The heavenly goddess smirked, and leaned over to the healer. "My, my, what a lovely face. You're enjoying this, aren't you? Niroi Setsu." The brunette man looked surprised when she said this, and for a second assumed that she had been talking to himself. But upon further notice, saw that she was actually speaking to the child. "Sato...?"

Thank you for reading!