Prompt: Death
Author: Erik
Summary: Kanda dies first.
Disclaimer: We do not own Saiyuki or DGM.
Warning: Character death.
If anyone asked, everything was fine. One hundred percent okay. But both Kanda and Gojyo knew it wasn't. Gojyo had noticed the first cracks one night when he was absently running his fingers over Kanda's body as the lay in bed. Kanda had told him not to worry about it, so he let it go. Except they didn't go away.
It was like watching this constant rock in his life start to crack and crumble. It was weird to watch, to say the least. Gojyo tried not to think about what this meant for them, for Kanda.
It was a couple of months before Kanda told him. Told him that this was the end. Gojyo took it better than expected. If pretending everything is normal and aggressively ignoring the truth was better than curling up and going numb like he wanted to do.
Kanda didn't have a real date to give anyone, so they decided just to not tell anyone until it would be enough time to get them to a funeral. It wasn't an exact thing, knowing when your body would just crumble away.
For Gojyo, there would never be enough time left with Kanda. Before he would leave him too. He had really thought Kanda would out live him with that regeneration shit he did. Except that was the problem, there was a limit and he just couldn't be sustained anymore. Gojyo would give anything, anything to keep him longer.
When the day came, they spent it as they normally would. Kanda got up, did whatever he did while Gojyo still slept, although Gojyo didn't sleep in, he just watched him, barely wanting to blink in case it would be the last moment he'd see him.
Gojyo did his best to put on his usual bravado. He tried to make Kanda laugh just so he could hear the low rumble that would cascade from his mouth and fill a room. The house would seem empty without it. Gojyo took every opportunity to kiss Kanda, bring up reminders of stupid things they'd done or said, because these little gestures and actions would be gone.
That night in bed, Gojyo held him too close and too tight. Gojyo had a hard time believing it Kanda crumbling and dying, not him. They talked sometimes, but mostly they just held each other in silence. Kanda at some point drifted off to sleep, but Gojyo refused to. He watched the rise and fall of Kanda's chest, and brushed hairs away from his relaxed face.
It started slowly, sounding like the sand sifting in the wind. Gojyo held him tighter, kissing and asking for the first time in his life, "Please don't go."
Morning found Gojyo asleep, face still damp and Kanda nothing more than dust on the pillows and sheets. When Gojyo woke, his arms felt empty, his bed and his heart now cold.