Sanzo would never admit to it, but he always checked on his companions' states before going anywhere with them. All except Goku; if the diadem had cracked or had been damaged, Seiten Taisei wouldn't resort to guile to kill anyone. Sanzo and the others would have known immediately. But the others... Gojyo, being a hanyou, had his human bloodline to suppress the youkai strain in him, but who knew when the youkai would defeat the human in the amorous redhead? Hakkai in his human form was terrifying enough, and as youkai he would be more than a match for Sanzo and Gojyo combined.

Today, however, he was drawn to how close the two seemed.

There had always been an intimacy between the two of them, as far as Sanzo was concerned. Gojyo did save Hakkai's life, and Hakkai did the same for Gojyo when the fucking priest shot a mahjong tile talisman into the stupid redheaded kappa. In addition, they had been housemates for a long time before they started on this godblasted journey.

But had Gojyo always kept touching Hakkai like this?

The redhead had his long arm slung over Hakkai's shoulder. The healer, who usually was averse to touch, leaned in to whisper something to the kappa. Sanzo frowned. It wasn't that he minded the idea of homosexuals, but he did not want any romantic complications on this journey. He didn't care about love or romance or sex or lust, all that shit. He knew, however, that Hakkai was still a romantic deep within and that walking potential STD carrier (if he wasn't a hanyou, he probably had rotted from the dick up already, Sanzo thought uncharitably) and if they got involved as more-than-friends, somebody might make errors in judgment. Out of the ikkou, Sanzo only trusted Hakkai's brain. Goku was still an immature brat: the kid was learning, but that starving monkey hindbrain would always impede his assessment of situations. Gojyo relied too much on heart and on instinct, and would lead the group into disaster. Hakkai was the only one who could be relied on to keep an even keel even in the direst of situations.

"Shit," swore Sanzo as the kappa passed by two young ladies who had been eying the lanky redhead. This looks serious.

Goku bounded over. "Sanzo, Sanzo, can I have this? Please?"

"What's that?" Sanzo frowned. It was a mask, with curving horns and tusks painted a gaudy gold, and the bulging eyes glaring red and orange. The face was swathed in dusky yellow with red patterns all over it. "No."

Goku made a face. "But Sanzo..."

"What do you need it for?"

"But... but I just want to have it..."

Sanzo sighed. Then he called out, "Oi, Hakkai!"

The dark-haired man turned around. "Yes?"

"Give the monkey some cash to buy something as dumb as he is," muttered the monk.

Hakkai complied, though he told Sanzo not to call Goku stupid.

"He is," Gojyo drawled, left arm draping over Hakkai's shoulder again. "I call him that all the time anyway. Why ain't I told off?"

"Because in your case," said Hakkai with a beaming smile, "it's a situation of pot and kettle."

Gojyo frowned. "Pot and – hey. No potshots."

"Sure, sure." Hakkai smiled and headed to the fruits stall, muttering under his breath. Sanzo caught the word and had to half-grin: Hakkai had just called Gojyo a 'potty mouth'.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Hakkai was bushed when he climbed up to the bedroom he was sharing with Gojyo. They were heading out early the day after next, since the bridge out of town was under repairs. His best friend was already seated at the window, idly smoking the cigarette from last night's pack.

"Hey," Hakkai said as he plopped into a seat facing Gojyo. "Are you alright?"

Gojyo glanced at Hakkai and flashed him a smile before looking out the window. "I'm fine. Just not in the mood to trawl."

"That's gotta be a first," joked the brunet.

Gojyo's response was a simple smile. He puffed a few smoke rings out the window. They watched the white rings rise and dissipate. After some time Gojyo asked, "Kai, have you ever felt... felt like you're smoke?"

Hakkai's brow creased. "I don't quite understand that."

Gojyo turned his ruby eyes to Hakkai. "Like you're there, but not there. As if you could fade away at any moment."

The dark-haired man pondered over the question. "Yes," he answered at last, "the days when I was recovering. I wanted to die, and I wanted to live... some days I did not know whether I existed at all and if everything had been a hideous nightmare, whether I would just fall into ashes, leaving ni trace."

"Huh," Gojyo commented eloquently. "I feel like smoke."

Hakkai was concerned, but didn't want Gojyo to brood. "You smell of smoke too. You practically excrete cigarette smoke, if I may so rude."

The redheaded male smirked. "Yeah, yeah..."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Goku tossed a ball to the young son of the innkeeper. The large mongrel that belonged to the family yapped joyfully, chasing after the rubber sphere. The boy, Hong, threw the ball back and the dog ran to Goku, barking for it.

"Hey, monkey!" Gojyo's voice floated out from the inn's second storey.

Goku stepped back and peered up. "Don't call me monkey, you stupid kappa!"

"We're going for dinner, you wanna come?" Gojyo asked, ignoring the protest earlier. "Hakkai has a hankering for shrimp dumplings."

"Yeah! Yeah! I'll come along!" Goku shouted, excited by the prospect of shrimp dumplings. Of all of them, Hakkai was the one who almost never craved any particular kind of food. So when he had a craving, he would lead them to the best restaurant to satisfy the desire. It was a reason to celebrate.

Hong pouted. "Goku-nii-san, aren't we playin' anymore?"

"We'll play when I get back, okay?" said Goku with a broad smile. The boy was pale and sickly looking, but in the couple of days he had bonded with Goku who didn't treat him as an invalid. Pochi, the mongrel, had taken to Goku early on too. (Gojyo had snidely remarked that it was because Goku was also a tamed pet – Sanzo had glared, but said nothing.)

"Promise?" Hong asked, pinky finger extended.

Goku grinned and hooked his finger about it too. "Promise."

That seems familiar... Goku frowned as he walked to the entrance of the inn, thinking that he thought somebody had once said the same thing to him. But for the life of Goku, he could not recall the person's face, or voice.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Sanzo was definitely on alert now. He doubted any of the others noticed the cause for his alert, but Hakkai did tell him to slow down on the cigarettes. Still, dinner was excellent, and as usual Hakkai polished off almost a dozen platters of shrimp dumplings all by himself. When he had a craving, he really had a craving.

Gojyo was almost-but-not-quite his usual self, laughing and fighting with Goku for food and teasing him relentlessly. Hakkai focused on the delicious food. But between the hanyou's bouts of rowdy behavior and Hakkai's seemingly endless voracity for shrimp dumplings, there was an air of wistful yearning. Very very slight, but present. Gojyo's gaze would drift to a point slightly to Hakkai's left hand; Hakkai sometimes met that gaze and both would hold the look for a short moment.

Sanzo remembered how he used to watch his sensei Koumyou. The way the saintly man had held his cigarette, leaning against the wall, watching the sunset. A vague sense of longing that young Kouryuu had never dared articulate.

His two companions had that same atmosphere between them now, and though he hated being bothered, Sanzo sensed the beginnings of worry prickling along the edges of his nerves.