Pairings/Characters (for this chapter): Kougaiji/Sanzo's reincarnation, Son Goku, Kenren's reincarnation, Tenpou's reincarnation
Rating (for this chapter): PG
Chapter summary: It gets worse before it gets better.
Word count (for this chapter): ~729

Chapter Twelve: Apples

"Here you go, princess; some ibuprofen for your headache."

Jinhai snarled at Allen before grabbing the medicine and dry-swallowing it. "I'm going back to the tent," he snapped, standing up.

Goku scratched at the back of his head. "Oh … is it okay if I stay here a while?" "—Gojyo said he'd show me somethin' cool!"

"Whatever." Jinhai opened the flap of the medical tent to step outside, but something in him prompted him to pause and glare at Allen. "Keep your perversions to yourself."

"What did you say—" "—you shitty monk?"

Jinhai left without bothering to answer. He walked quickly, ignoring the soldiers milling around the camp, his eyes squinted against the bright sunlight.

The headaches were getting worse—at first he could still force himself to just ignore them, but it had gotten to the point that he felt like either his head was going to explode or he was going to throw up. But what pissed Jinhai off the most were the voices.

Little snippets of conversation in Kougaiji's and Goku's voices that made listening to them difficult. And later on, they were joined by two more voices that sounded vaguely like Rick and Allen, the asshole.

It wasn't just the voices or headaches that were growing stronger; he kept getting flashes of emotions that weren't appropriate at all for the situation at hand, or seemingly came out of nowhere. Seeing Allen the first time, he had gotten a strong urge to pull out a gun and shoot at him. He still wanted to shoot the jerk, but at least the feeling was justified by a couple of hours of exposure.

It wasn't so bad when he was just with Goku, but whatever was going on in his head was at its worst whenever Kougaiji was around. Jinhai wasn't interested in finding out how it started or why it was happening. He just wanted it to stop.

He stepped inside the small tent he shared with Goku and sat down wearily onto his bedroll. Hakuryuu was arriving sometime tomorrow, and until then, he was planning on spending his time alone.

"Jinhai? It's time for dinner." No answer. Kougaiji stood in front of Jinhai and Goku's tent and wondered why he even bothered.

He stuck his head inside, wondering if Jinhai was asleep. However, judging from the glare he got, Jinhai was wide awake. "What the fuck do you want?"

"It's time for dinner."

Jinhai lay back down on his bedroll. "I'm not hungry."

Kougaiji squatted down beside him. "Goku's looking for you."

"Will you shut up about the stupid monkey?" Jinhai sat up quickly, shoving at Kougaiji's shoulder.

Kougaiji's hand automatically came up to grab Jinhai's wrist. They stared at each other for a few moments, eyes narrowed. For an infinitesimal moment, it was Sanzo's face that Kougaiji was looking at.

Jinhai yanked his hand back. "Just—can you just leave," he ground out.

Kougaiji wanted to grab Jinhai and yell at him, ask him why it was so wrong to just give in for once, to not let their duties and responsibilities be first priority, for just a moment. "Can't we talk about this?"

"There's nothing to talk about. These aren't my feelings," Jinhai hissed. "These aren't my thoughts or wants or memories. And there's no fucking way I'm going to let you fool around with my body just because you think I'm some sort of replacement for your Kouryuu!"

Kougaiji tensed at the mention of Sanzo's first name, the venom in Jinhai's voice draining away his anger. This wasn't the person he'd shared a life with—the soul might have been the same, but a completely different set of experiences and memories made up a completely different person. He didn't have a right to be angry at Jinhai for being pissed off with the way things were going between them.

"I'm sorry." Kougaiji stood up, looking at Jinhai who was still sitting on the bedroll. "I'll just tell Goku you're asleep."

He left the tent.

Goku leaned out of the side of the helicopter and yelled, waving energetically. His voice was drowned out by the helicopter's blades, but Allen could just barely make out the words. "Bye, Tenpou! Kenren!"

Allen looked at Rick, his eyebrow raised. "What did he call us?"

Rick shrugged. "I have no idea."

"Strange kid."