Chapter 14
You and Me
A/N: I decided to hold off on the inevitable fight in this one to get some strictly Nai/Sanzo action.
"How many rooms Sir?"
Sanzo looked over his shoulder at Nai who cuddled Hakuryu in her arms and looked for all the world like she wanted to cry, "One."
"Alright, if you'll just sign the book I'll get you a key."
Nai stroked Hakuryu's head and waited for Sanzo. He approached her without a word and she followed him up the stairs and into their room. She sat on the bed and set the dragon down.
"I can't believe we left them."
Sanzo glared at her and lit a cigarette, "Would you have preferred I left you and let them rip you apart?"
Nai glared back, "You're an asshole."
"I'm an asshole and your alive. Should have left your ass there…"
He didn't get a retort as she stood from the bed and stomped to the bathroom. Sanzo sighed as Hakuryu chirped at him from the bed, "Oh shut it you flying rat." He put his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands, "I wouldn't have left her there to die."
Nai stepped away from the bathroom door and started the water for the tub. She sat on the edge and smushed her face in the scarf around her neck to muffle her crying.
She didn't know how long she had been sitting there bawling but it must not have been too long. The water from the tub wasn't on the floor yet. She must have been loud too because she didn't here Sanzo enter the room until he spoke.
"Idiot. You're going to flood the place."
Nai dropped the scarf and tried to wipe her tears as he turned off the water. "I'm sorry."
Sanzo sat next to her and sighed heavily. He was sitting so close his leather-clad arm brushed hers, "Don't be. We'll wait here for them."
She nodded, "Then what?"
His violet eyes froze her, "I don't know."
The room was still for a moment and Nai put a hand on his knee, "I should be sorry."
"Don't be stupid."
"Sanzo please…" he looked at her and she sighed, "Please just let me be sorry. Let me apologize without explaining what I'm apologizing for, and accept it."
"Whatever you want."
"I'm finished with the tub Sanzo, you can…" Nai smiled at his sleeping form slumped on the bed, the paper on his chest, robes around his waist, and Hakuryu curled in a ball against his leg. She glanced around the room and spotted the scripture on the table.
She put it in a dresser drawer before approaching the bed and folding up the paper. "Sanzo you idiot…"
His brow twitched a bit when she gently pulled the glasses off his face and placed them on the table with the paper before walking to the small stove in the room and filling the teapot with water.
"What are you doing?"
Nai rolled her eyes before turning to him, "Making tea."
"Tch."
Sanzo sat up and watched her make the tea. She hummed a bit amongst the clanking of the tea holder and her wavy hair was tied up messily, some of it still dripping on her white shirt.
He frowned and stood from the bed, "Nai."
"Hm?"
He was already next to her when she turned to him and he gently grabbed her hand.
"Sanzo?"
"If we can't save them…you know what we have to do."
Nai shook her head, "I can't."
He scowled, "If they don't stop, I will kill them."
She narrowed her eyes back, "Then I'll leave their lives on your head. Unless you plan on killing me too."
Sanzo released her hand and stormed to the bathroom, "Stupid woman…"
Nai found it hard to sleep. It wasn't only that the heat coming from Sanzo made her nervous, but it was her wild thoughts. She couldn't close her eyes without seeing herself being killed by her friends…her family, or watching them be killed by Sanzo.
She was starting to remember something. The demon Yakumo they met in the mountains, the demon with the huge heart that saved all the youkai children… and ultimately killed them.
"Maybe I was the one who was dreaming that it'll all somehow work out. I don't even have that right either…"
Goku was confused and it showed clearly on his face, "What's going on? I don't get it at all!"
"Before they attacked the humans… I kept on killing the children that lost themselves. I did it over and over again…"
When the whole ordeal was done, Yakumo ended up dead, along with the children. Goku looked to Sanzo with a straight face and said, "If I ever…you know…"
Sanzo had nodded, "I'll kill you. I'll kill for you."
"…yeah."
Nai hadn't said anything, but she wanted to. She wanted to tell Sanzo she would stop him if he ever tried. But deep down she knew that if the youkai in their group lost it, it would be serious.
The image of Gojyo with his head in his hands shook her to the bone. She wondered it he over came and fought off Hakkai and Goku, or if it took him over… There were so many possibilities.
"Nai."
She jumped at the sound of Sanzo's gravely voice, "What?"
Sanzo rolled over and tugged her arm until she was lying down, stiff and wondering what he would do next. He sighed and put an arm around her middle, pulling her flush against his chest, "Go to sleep."
Nai breathed in deep, cherries, tobacco and beer before putting her own arm around him and sighing also, "Ok Sanzo."
Sanzo sighed as he situated the sutra on his robes and stared off down the road, "Did you eat?"
Nai shook her head as she cracked her knuckles and rolled her shoulders, "No. It wouldn't have stayed down."
"Hmph."
"Sanzo." He looked to her as she tied up her hair, "I meant what I said about leaving their lives on you. I can't kill any of them."
The priest nodded, "Fine."