Wherever You Will Go – Part Two
(Hakkai's POV)
We stop at an inn and unload, piling out of the Jeep as gracefully as possible with sore muscles and stiff joints. I'm praying that Sanzo will, for once, push Gojyo and Goku together. Though I usually manipulate the circumstances to room with Gojyo, I can't tonight. It's been difficult enough not speaking to him in the Jeep; I can only imagine what will happen when we're sharing a room. He seems completely unphased as always, while I'm nearly sick with the thought.
"C'mon, Goku." Sanzo says, and immediately I know that he means to room with our youngest member. It shouldn't come as a surprise, really, try as he might to deny it, Sanzo radiates toward Goku in the same way I unconsciously move toward Gojyo.
They amble off together, and I hear Goku start to wail about being hungry before the door slams shut.
And then we're alone.
The ground is terribly interesting all of a sudden; a scuff of dirt on my shoe becomes engrossing. I shouldn't care this much; Gojyo has always done what he wants, even before we started the journey west. His life has been so solitary that it comes as a surprise that he even bothers with me at all. I shouldn't care that he left, that he didn't tell anyone, didn't tell /me/, but I do. We're such opposites, he and I. I worry over everything and everyone, and he merely laughs it off.
But I know now that isn't true. I suppose I've always been aware of the fact that his seemingly careless attitude was mere bravado and nothing more; there's something in his eyes that betrays him. By leaving to find Kami-sama, he's only added another chink to that armor of his, and slowly, I'm noticing it more and more.
I do glance up at him then, shielding my own anxiety behind a plastic smile. It's such an automatic gesture that it hardly seems real at all.
"Well," I say, because I am always the one to speak first in situations like this. "I suppose we should find our room. You need your rest."
(Gojyo's POV)
"C'mon, Goku…"
I watched Goku as he happily trailed behind baldy, continuing to pester him in his usual, annoying sing-song voice. Even though Hakkai and I aren't exactly on speaking terms, it woulda been hella rude for me to protest sharin' a room with 'em. We've never really fought over anything before, now that I think about it…unless I misplace my cigarette butts in one of my empty beer cans…
I got outta the Jeep, not really lookin' forward to bein' stuck alone with him. I don't know what to say, and I'm sure he doesn't know what to say either. For now, I stay quiet, watching Hakruyu change back into his dragon form and fly over to Hakkai only to land on his shoulder.
Hakkai turns to me when he reaches the entryway of the inn, Hakruyu chirping noisily in his ear. I'm frozen in my tracks.
Is he going to say something?
He smiles, but I can tell there is no emotion behind it.
He was one manipulative bastard.
"Well, I suppose we should find out room. You need your rest."
There was venom in his tone. I can hear it. I didn't bother saying anythin' as I strode past him. What could I really say to that? I know if I was going to say anything, it'd probably come out wrong or make me sound like a total dick.
But, considering everything…
I was a pretty big dick.
-End of Part Two-