Pairings/Characters (for this chapter): Genjo Sanzo's reincarnation, Kougaiji
Prompts (for this chapter): "4. Angels and Devils; Disguise (~wings stain with blood)" from 30_angsts, "22. Resemblance" from 30_deathfics
Rating (for this chapter): PG
Chapter summary: Kougaiji just wants to help. Jinhai is wary.
Word count (for this chapter): ~562
Chapter Two: BFFs
Jinhai looked at Kougaiji out of the corner of his eye. "What are you doing here?"
"An important matter requires my personal attention."
Jinhai snorted, and Kougaiji decided to take that as a sign of amusement. Outside, the rain beat down stronger, and the temperature inside the stone church dropped a little more. Absentmindedly, he flicked his wrist and lit all the candles inside the church.
Jinhai's hand moved a fraction towards his holstered gun, and he shot Kougaiji a wary look. Kougaiji laughed. "Didn't you know I could do that?" he asked.
"The answer should be obvious, shouldn't it?" Jinhai snapped.
Kougaiji laughed again, remembering the times when he had summoned Engokuki in front of Sanzo's group. "That's funny. Sanzo used—"
"I'm not Sanzo!"
The anger in Jinhai's voice surprised him. He hadn't expected the intensity of it or the glint in the purple eyes that glared at him from across the aisle. Jinhai had stood, his fists clenching and unclenching as if he were resisting the urge to draw his gun and shoot Kougaiji. His black hair (Sanzo had been a blond) fell across his forehead, shadowing his narrowed eyes.
"That old hag keeps calling me 'Konzen,'" Jinhai said, voice filled with an emotion that the youkai couldn't identify, his body tensed as if he were preparing himself to attack. "You keep calling me 'Sanzo.' And I keep telling you to stop that! Can't people see that I'm not either of them? I'm me. Nobody else!"
Kougaiji was tempted to say, "You have the same temper as Sanzo," but he didn't think that Jinhai would appreciate that. Instead he kept his mouth shut and waited for Jinhai to calm down. He had forgotten how sensitive reincarnations could be when things turned towards their past lives. But this was a bit too much.
"Is there something you want to tell me?" Kougaiji asked softly after Jinhai had sat down again.
"Hn," was the only response he got.
"Well?" Kougaiji knew he was prodding, but he still saw Jinhai as Sanzo, and Sanzo had been … important to him. A friend. He repeated that to himself again and again as he waited for a response, trying to ignore the stirring of long-buried feelings in him.
"Are you going to tell me that you're a psychologist, too?" Jinhai finally said, the sarcasm evident in his voice.
Kougaiji sighed. "I'm asking as a concerned individual. I know you don't want to hear this, but Sanzo was my friend, and I'd like to help you."
The laughter that erupted from Jinhai was short and sharp. "Like hell you do."
It hurt Kougaiji to hear how cynical Jinhai voice sounded. He looked young—around his mid-twenties; Sanzo had been barely twenty-four when they'd first met—and Kougaiji wondered what brought about that change in the human's perspective.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to help you look for the sutras," Kougaiji offered.
"Why?"
Kougaiji didn't answer immediately. He asked himself the same question, wondered what he was hoping to achieve by helping out a human he had just met.
Why did I ask my men to look for the soldier who got the sutra from the altar? Kougaiji rubbed his suddenly sweaty palm against his slacks.
"Sanzo was my friend."
"Is that your excuse for everything?" Jinhai asked. "'Sanzo was my friend'?"
"Not for everything."