Heartbreaker

A/N: Hi everyone. This chapter begins the spiral downward into annoyed attraction. And what a spiral it is. Liquor, poker, blackjack, and secrets…and maybe a little bit more. The title of the chapter is, of course, a song, just like before. Stormy is pretty much the way I look at Gojyo and Sanzo’s relationship at this point. The blackjack game was actually played out on my living room floor, and I’m not sure that I shuffled my cards well enough. Please excuse my lack of understanding where poker is concerned. I never could play that game. Oh. And there is a very good reason why Genjyo Sanzo should never drink Bourbon whiskey.

CLARIFICATION: Kougaiji is NOT Gojyo’s brother. Gojyo’s brother’s given name is Jien (manga, volume 2, chapter 6, page 22), but when he entered Kougaiji’s service, he became Dokugakuji (manga, volume 3, chapter 16, page 148) the swordsman with a bone sword. He has black hair and a birthmark on his nose. Kougaiji has red hair and a red birthmark on his left cheek that looks a bit like Gojyo’s scars.

Inspirational Music: “Stormy Blues”, as performed by Billie Holiday.
--

Part III: Stormy Blues

Huffing loudly, Goku shifted in his chair. “Aw…” he groaned, “…why can’t I go?” He had been listening to the others talking, and honestly, he couldn’t figure out what was so bad about going to a tavern, or why he wasn’t allowed. Hakkai shot him an amused, though admittedly rather scandalized look, while Gojyo snorted. Then, he had to duck the harisen as it came flying out of nowhere. The resident holy man was towering over him, twitching with irritation. “Sanzo…I never get to do anything! I’m a grown man, you know!”

The monk glared hard at him. “You are a child in every respect other than the way you eat and fight, Goku.” One of the older man’s eyebrows was drawn upward, while the other was scrunched down over his violet stare. Goku relented, but he was still annoyed. He crossed his arms over his chest, pouting. Who wanted to go to a rotten tavern, anyhow?

“We’re coming right back, Goku. All we’re going out for is to get the sake.” Hakkai said this in a calm tone, and he thought that it was just to make him feel better. He must have been looking dejected, because Gojyo ruffled his hair and said she’d find something that tasted like bananas for him. Hakkai balked. “I don’t know that it would be such a good idea to give Goku alcohol, if that’s all right.”

Sanzo nodded. “We don’t need to find out what it’s like to deal with a drunken monkey, Gojyo.”

An annoyed noise came from the redhead. “Would a virgin banana daiquiri be allowable, o virtuous and pure Sanzo?” Goku’s eyes widened as the sarcastic insult sank into its target. The smell of gun oil wafted in Goku’s nose for an instant before the metallic click of Sanzo’s gun sounded loudly in the room. Gojyo leaned a hip on the table lazily, calmly facing the barrel of the cocked and loaded weapon. A smile twitched at her lips as she asked, “Would you like anything, Sanzo? I could see if they have any Bourbon. I think you’d like it.”

Goku was getting antsy. It was like the fight was already under way, but no punches were being thrown. They were fighting with words and looks, and it was hard for him to understand. Hakkai was slowly edging away from them, which only made the youngest member of the group believe that he was right. Sanzo wasn’t going to shoot her, Goku was pretty sure. But, it looked like Gojyo was going to push as far as possible without actually making him pull the trigger, and it was working, as far as Goku could tell.

“Whatever,” Sanzo grunted, putting his pistol away while growling unintelligibly under his breath. Gojyo laughed quietly and left with Hakkai to get sake and apparently, Bourbon, as well. But what the hell about bananas…he didn’t even like bananas.

--

Hakkai watched curiously as Gojyo ordered the jug of sake and a bottle of Bourbon (they didn’t have banana daiquiris). Seemingly oblivious to the attention that was being given to the languid way she was standing, the red-haired woman leaned on the bar and waited while the bar tender prepared her order. There were several men that looked as if they were about to approach the bar, no doubt to buy Gojyo a drink. The novelty of having the world’s greatest womanizer see how the other half lives was only beginning, and Hakkai was taking a measure of rather sadistic pleasure in watching it unfold.

A tall man with broad shoulders and dark brown hair slid up next to Gojyo on her right. “Barkeep, get the lady a double of whatever she’s drinking. On me.” The turn of Gojyo’s head was slow, and the disgust was plainly visible in those red eyes.

“Beat it,” she spat, and turned back to waiting for the man behind the bar to finish sealing the jug of sake.

Hakkai nearly moved to intervene when a large hand gripped at Gojyo’s upper arm. “I don’t think that’s very nice missy.” His face was becoming pinched as his anger became visible at the rejection, his face reddening somewhat. “A man offers to buy you a drink, you should accept gratefully.” The only reason why Hakkai did not step in to (and he would wonder about why he even considered trying later) defend the lady’s honor was because her slender hand had shot out to grasp a very private area of the man’s anatomy and began squeezing. Was that a twist?

Grinning and keeping her voice sweet, Gojyo said, “I’m sorry. I’ve never been very lady-like. Now…I think that I said I wasn’t interested…” The man’s eyes were watering by this point, and he nodded vehemently before she released him. Hakkai watched in sympathy as the man limped away. Shortly thereafter, with their purchases in hand, they were on their way out of the bar. Turning to Hakkai, Gojyo asked, “Please tell me that I never acted like that…”

The former teacher smiled, shifting the jug of sake in his arms. “No. You were a bit worse.” The hand not holding a bottle of Bourbon slapped at her face. “Don’t worry, Gojyo. You handled that a lot better than I thought you would.” Her questioning look was met with a grin. “I thought you were going to slap him.”

“Fuck you, Hakkai,” she growled, and stalked quickly off in the direction of the inn, popping and lighting a cigarette with one hand. It never ceased to amaze Hakkai how Gojyo could make smoking an artful addiction. His friend was filled with surprises, it seemed. Following a bit more slowly to give the grumbling woman space, he laughed quietly to himself. This was cheap entertainment for his sadistic side. Novel, indeed.

--

Sanzo leaned back in his chair, eyeing the cards he held. Sipping at the Bourbon in the glass he held, he considered. Gojyo had just seen his bet, and raised by twenty, but Hakkai was looking at his hand with an expression of contemplation. The brunette’s poker face was better than anyone else’s he knew, so Sanzo wasn’t about to rule out the fact that he could be pretending to have a bad hand. Goku threw his cards down, claiming to have no luck with the game.

The fiery, but somehow sweet taste of whiskey seemed to soak into his tongue. It was a new feeling, but not unpleasant. Eyes flicking over to watch the other players’ body language, he gauged the possibility of bluffing. He could almost never tell with the kappa was bluffing, but that was because before their journey, Gojyo made a living at being a gambler. “Call,” came Hakkai’s amiable voice, made more so by the sake he’d consumed.

Sanzo lay down his cards. “Pair of ladies.”

Hakkai made a face, but shrugged slightly. “I’ve got a pair of tens…”

Gojyo, across the table from Sanzo, tilted her chair back, balancing on the rear legs and dropped a full house onto the table. “Read ‘em and weep, gentlemen.” Goku yelled something about cheating, and Hakkai raised an eyebrow. That was the third hand out of the last seven that the kappa had won. Usually, the dark-haired demon slayer won two out of three hands. This time, Hakkai had won the other four, but those games always seemed to go faster than the ones Gojyo won, and the pots were larger when the redhead took them. Sanzo just lit another cigarette, watching through the blue-gray smoke as Gojyo raked in the money on the table. She was grinning like the cat that ate the prized canary.

Hakkai put the lid back on the sake jug. “I’ve played enough, I think.” When he left the room, Goku gave a large yawn and said he was going to go and see if Hakkai wanted to teach him any math. According to him, that was the best way to make him fall asleep. For some reason, Sanzo did not doubt it. There were certain things that the monkey could handle, but higher math seemed to bore him to tears.

The door shut behind their companions, leaving a smirking Gojyo and a scowling Sanzo. “Care to play again, Mr. Monk?” A shake of blonde hair had that smirk widening into an evil smile. “What? Afraid you’ll lose your shirt?” Gojyo grabbed the cards and began shuffling.

“Not interested, kappa.” He said, taking a long drag on his cigarette. Why did every word that came out of her mouth seem to be a piece of bait? A month earlier, when Gojyo had been a man, he could handle it. All he had to do was yell, pull his gun and threaten. But now, everything was subtle. The insults weren’t open, therefore the retaliatory action couldn’t be. So he ended up setting the harisen aside for cutting remarks that required more thought than his old blustering over how many women Gojyo slept with. However he decided to counter-attack, most often, he had become passive-aggressive. They’d only had three real blow-ups, and that was only when he couldn’t stand the build-up any more. Showing just how much of a woman Gojyo was turning into, she seemed to find it infinitely more entertaining to watch Sanzo stew in his annoyance, that infuriating smirk plastered over her face.

Sanzo watched Gojyo give him a sidelong glance. Her eyes narrowed in a way that said she didn’t believe him. “Drink your damned Bourbon, priest. I’m going change for bed. Cut the cards while I’m in the bathroom, will ya?” She left her jacket hanging on the back of the chair, and grabbed her bag on the way to the bathroom door. He let out a long, annoyed breath. It was a good thing they were going to be in this town for a few days to resupply; the Bourbon was a lot stronger than the sake, and he was going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning, but he couldn’t quit drinking it. Now that he thought about it, he was not quite sure why.

Five minutes later, Gojyo emerged from the bathroom, wearing her usual nightwear: a white tank-top and an old pair of boxer shorts. These were leftovers from her men’s clothing. Apparently, there were still some things that she wasn’t able to let go of. Once her things were tossed at the foot of her bed, she eyed him for a moment. “How’s the Bourbon?”

“Fine,” he mused, waiting for the insult that was sure to come. It didn’t. Instead, Gojyo turned her chair around, straddling the chair-back. Her chest pressed against the wood, and the woman shifted to make herself more comfortable before she picked up the still uncut deck of cards. She cut the deck, shuffled one more time, and dealt him two cards: one face up, the other down.

“Blackjack.”

Sanzo’s cigarette got snuffed, and Gojyo lit one. “What’re we betting?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Just a friendly game. I think I’ve taken enough of your money.”

A friendly game. Since when had they been friendly? Brushing the comment aside, he filled his glass again before offering the bottle to the red-eyed woman. She took it, and poured a healthy amount into her own glass before she took a sip. An almost dreamy smile came over her face as the liquor went down, and it was clear that good memories were connected with this particular beverage. Before he could make a snide remark about that, the cards were dealt to the dealer.

Sanzo’s visible card was the Eight of Hearts, while Gojyo’s was the Jack of Clubs. He lifted the bottom card. The Queen of Hearts made eighteen. “I’ll stay.” Gojyo looked at her cards, smiled, and then flipped over the Ace of Hearts. With twenty-one, the dealer won. Sanzo’s eye twitched. “Deal again.” The cards were cleared away, and a new hand dealt, with Sanzo showing the Ace of Spades and Gojyo the Three of the same suit. Sanzo only had the Two of Hearts to work with. “Hit me.” He was dealt the Five of Spades, and Gojyo took the Ten. Wondering at the suit distribution, Sanzo stayed at seventeen. When the cards were shown, the kappa had twenty-three.

“Fuck. Dealer busts.” She pulled heavily on her cigarette, and dealt again, letting smoke drift from her lips aimlessly. Sanzo stayed at eighteen, but Gojyo couldn’t resist taking two more cards and going bust at twenty-two. Risk-taking was a trait that was more suited to poker than blackjack, and this was becoming painfully apparent as he watched the frown developing between those slender eyebrows. Emptying her glass in one gulp, she poured another and dealt yet another hand. “Okay.” She leaned heavily on the table before they looked at their cards. “I don’t wanna play for money. How about we play for information?”

“Information?” He asked, intrigued, but slightly wary. Male or female, this was Sha Gojyo, an individual that was not to be trusted further than a tight leash allowed.

“Yeah,” Gojyo said slowly, “I win, you gotta answer any question. If you win, I’ll tell you whatever you want.” Now, this was either going to be very entertaining, or dangerous. On the one hand, it was a way to get inside that stupid, perverted head, but on the other, it could blow up in Sanzo’s face. He agreed to it only because he was past the point of caring. Bourbon made his judgment fly right out of the window, he decided, but as previously stated, he couldn’t make himself care.

Gojyo stayed on her first two cards, showing the Jack of Diamonds. Sanzo only had sixteen, and thought to at least tie with what she had in hand, but he busted when he got a second King, landing him at twenty-six. Gojyo snorted. “And I only had seventeen…okay. What I wanna know,” a long swig of Bourbon went down with ease, “is…why do you keep the monkey around?”

Well. That was a far more innocent question than he had been expecting. But it wasn’t easily answered. “I don’t do it willingly…at least not completely.” One of Gojyo’s eyebrows rose inquisitively as she dealt again. Sanzo frowned, looking at his cards but not really paying much attention. “I can’t get rid of him. He’s…he’s like my little brother, I guess. Or the dog that I can’t make leave me alone.” Tapping his cards, he motioned for another.

She nodded slowly, and set an Ace atop his Four and the Nine of Hearts. Fifteen. He could feel bust coming, and the conversation was starting to make him a little uncomfortable, but he took the obligatory hit, getting the Two of Spades. Gojyo took the Four of Hearts, and stayed distractedly. She won by one point, and Sanzo was forced to answer another question. He took another drink to steady himself.

“Do you really want to kill me, or is it just anger talking?” There was a kind of sly tilt to her head. What was she up to?

His response came out a bit too quickly, and sounded automatic, even to him. “What do you mean do I really want to kill you? Of course I do. We just happen to be on the same side.” More cards were dealt, and he refused to look at Gojyo. Sanzo stayed at seventeen, and Gojyo took two cards for twenty. Damned Aces…Sanzo had to answer another question!

That sly look came over her face again, and a Cheshire-cat grin unfurled over her mouth around the rim of her glass. “So…” Her voice was slow, showing the amount of alcohol she’d consumed. Gojyo was more than tipsy. “…does Genjyo Sanzo masturbate?” Sanzo sprayed Bourbon across the table, and then wiped his mouth while goggling at the woman, who was still grinning at him in spite of being covered in a fine spray of whiskey. “Well? Spill it.”

His shock persisted, but the alcohol in his system made his mouth move of its own volition as he gripped the edge of the table and stared at the beads of amber liquid clinging to the rim of his glass. “Fuck…why do you want to know?” On second thought, he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer to that.

“I’ll answer that if you win the next hand, Sanzo. Now. Tell me.”

That twitch started under his eye. Quivering with suppressed annoyance, he growled, “Yes.” Gojyo’s small whoop of triumph frightened him a little, and he leaned away, eyes widening. “Damn it…I’m human, aren’t I?” Cards hit the table, and Gojyo smiled, the way her mouth spread causing her scars to stretch oddly and answered him in a quieter tone.

“It would appear that you are.” Sanzo took two cards and stayed at sixteen. Gojyo also took three, and winced as she busted at twenty-five. “Fire away, high priest.”

Sanzo took a long moment to think about what he would ask, but how hard could you think if you’ve been guzzling sake and whiskey all night? Fuck, his entire head felt like there was a fog settled over it. Wanting to be petty and get revenge for that last embarrassing question, he asked, “How many women have you slept with?”

Blood-colored eyebrows tried to climb into Gojyo’s hairline. “You want pointers or something?”

Snorting, Sanzo waved his hand. “As if. Just answer the question.”

A perplexed frown etched itself over her face, and she remained silent for close to five minutes. Finally, when Sanzo was about to pull the harisen and slap the side of her head, she said slowly, “I think…somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred and fifty. I didn’t keep a tally…” Now, it was Sanzo’s turn to look surprised. Gojyo noticed the expression of disbelief, and she leaned across the table, a challenging smirk leveled at him. “I’d be happy to give you tips. Seeing as I can’t indulge anymore, I guess somebody ought to be getting laid around here.”

That gave him pause. It must have been almost a month now…and still, Gojyo stayed as close to them as possible. She didn’t go out alone, and there was no sign of her old perverted tendencies. “So…you’re not going to try and find girls that might be into…girls?” His thoughts were spewing out of his mouth before they could be filtered. Damned Bourbon.

Gojyo snorted. “Hell no! Do you know how hard it is to find a decent-looking lesbian?” That drew a genuine laugh from Sanzo, and Gojyo blinked at him in surprise. “Did you just…laugh?”

Frowning, he said mockingly, “Yes. I do laugh occasionally.”

“I’ve never heard you laugh…not like that.” Her voice had taken on a sulky tone that—and he thought he might be going insane—made her seem almost cute.

The next words out of his mouth sounded mocking, but he had to wonder at them once they’d been said. “That’s because you never said anything funny before.” Wait. Hold the phone and stop the presses…had he just given Sha Gojyo a compliment? Oh, it was time to get a razor and slit his fucking wrists. It seemed to surprise her, too, but she didn’t say anything on the subject.

“You want another hand, or what?” The way she wasn’t looking at him, and the way her hands fidgeted with the cards…Gojyo was nervous. Sanzo shook his head, declining the offer. “Hm. What now?”

Sanzo drained his glass and stood. Pulling off his robes and stripping to his underwear as he readied himself for bed, he asked, “What does it feel like?” He grabbed his glass off of the table and took the bottle, as well, padding over to his narrow bed. Once he’d seated himself on top of the blankets, he poured another glass while fixing Gojyo with his hazy amethyst-colored eyes. Being rather distracted threw his aim off a little, causing him to spill some of the whiskey onto his fingers.

--

It took a long couple of moments before that question actually sank in. She furrowed her brows, watching the blonde man lick the Bourbon off of his fingers. There was a little of the stuff between the index and middle fingers on Sanzo’s right hand, and Gojyo found herself almost mesmerized by the way the priest’s tongue slid out, his lips sucking at the knuckle of his index finger. Shaking off that train of thought, she blinked, “Beg pardon…what does what feel like?”

She shoved off of her chair, picking up her glass and holding it out to him for a refill. With a raised eyebrow, Sanzo clarified as he poured. “What does it feel like to be a woman? Is it different from being a man?” The priest reclined on the pillows at the head of the bed and waited for an answer. Gojyo dropped onto the foot of Sanzo’s bed, and thought hard about that. Did it really feel that different? Digging her toes into the blanket, her knees pulled up to her chest, she nibbled at the rim of her glass before taking a sip.

The burn of the Bourbon tried to take her back to a time not that long ago, but she refused to let it. That was not something she wanted to think of. “Well,” she began, “physically, there are the obvious differences. Carrying these around isn’t the most fun…” Gojyo pointed at her breasts, which stretched the cotton of her shirt, “and it feels funny…not having some other things. But the bitch of it is the fucking mood swings. It’s like I want to bite someone’s head off one minute, and then the goddamned hormones kick in, and I’m depressed.” Taking another sip from her glass, she slumped against the wall. This conversation was weird. Why did Sanzo want to know this shit anyway?

The monk snorted, sitting up and scratching at his bare chest. “You have been a moody bitch…”

Gojyo’s back stiffened and her eyes narrowed at him dangerously. “Excuse me? You’re calling me a bitch?” Her head swiveled to look at Sanzo, who was regarding her with even droopier eyes than usual. “God, you’re a hypocrite!” What right did this bastard have to say a word against anyone else? He blinked slowly and one of his blonde eyebrows twitched upward. Fucking cool, calm, collected mother-fucker! She was blustering in her own head. Was that a good sign? “If you ever get that stick out of your ass, and stop acting like a prissy little shit-brick, then maybe I’ll let you call me a bitch, but not before that, Sanzo.”

The monk threw back his Bourbon, and dropped his glass onto the floor. “You just proved my point.” He wasn’t even looking at her. Gojyo felt like she was being ignored. It took all she had not to grab a handful of his hair and just smack his head against the wall. Sanzo twisted the cap off of the bottle of Bourbon, swirling the contents around before tipping it and taking a long drink. The gaze he fixed her with when he lowered the bottle was unsteady, but had a hint of mocking in it. “It must be terrible for you,” he said, “to be…like you are.” Leaning forward, his arm brushed against her leg. “I mean…you haven’t gone out whoring in a while, have you? It must be killing you.”

The rage that boiled to the surface of Gojyo’s mind was so hot and frightening that she wasn’t sure why it was there. Sanzo had been calling her any number of names for as long as they’d known each other. But this…this was different. It felt different. There was this kind of pain that it produced, right in the middle of her chest. “What…did you just call me a whore?”

Sanzo blinked slowly at Gojyo, eyes looking a little unfocused as he plowed on, oblivious to the fire building inside the woman before him. “Well…you said it yourself. You fucked over a hundred women.”

“Fuck this,” she growled, and stood so suddenly that the displacement of her weight nearly made Sanzo roll to the side. “I’m not having this conversation with you.” She turned to walk across the room to the other bed, but didn’t get far. A hand grabbed hers. Looking over her shoulder, she saw those hazy purple eyes peering up at her. “What?”

“I…” Sanzo’s voice trailed off. Gojyo pulled her hand away from him, and his eyes stared at his hand. What was wrong with him? He’d been drunk plenty of times, and never acted like this. She turned away again, and walked away, ignoring him. Sanzo was piss-ass drunk, obviously in a bizarre mood, and Gojyo didn’t want to be anywhere near him. A hard shove in the back sent her flailing to the floor, and she caught herself just before her face got smashed on the wooden planks. Sanzo was on her in an instant, turning her over and settling all of his weight onto her hips as he sat on her. “Don’t walk away from me.”

The anger that had bubbled up before exploded then, coming out of her mouth in a stream of expletives and insults. “I’ll fucking walk away from you if I feel like it, you frigid asshole! What the shit do you want from me? I answered your goddamned questions, just like you answered mine. Now you want to dredge up the past? I’m not a fucking slut anymore. I don’t even goddamned well masturbate…For fuck’s sake, I can’t even look at myself in a mirror! Now get the hell off of me before I do bite your dick off!” Her hands came up to shove at his chest, but he caught them easily and pushed them down, pinning them to the floor on either side of her head.

He was now bending over her, his breath hot on her face, the whiskey smell sending a dizzy feeling through Gojyo’s stomach. Adrenaline was starting to pump through her body; her heart beat faster and breathing sped. “I have one more question.” Looking up at him just then was difficult. Sanzo’s hair was hanging down around his face, the way it clung to the perspiration on his cheeks doing strange things to Gojyo’s mind.

“Get off of me,” she whispered hoarsely, trying to muster every bit of sanity she could. It wasn’t working. Those dark, hazy violet eyes just bored into hers, holding her still. All she could do was turn her head to the side, looking away. That was a mistake. Hot breath gusted against her neck now, and a strangled sound escaped her throat against her will. Sanzo’s legs slid against Gojyo’s as he settled his body atop hers. Her mind locked up in panic when she felt the unmistakable hardness of an erection pressed against her lower abdomen.

Hair tickled the skin of her neck when his head dipped lower, growling low and almost threateningly in Gojyo’s ear, “What if I were offering?” It felt like someone dropped a block of ice into her stomach. Oh, merciful Goddess, please tell me this isn’t real… Lips trailed over the shell of her ear, and a gasp squeezed itself out of her lips. “Would you take me up on that…Gojyo?” Fuck, fuck, fuckety fuck-fuck… For some reason, all she could think was a long string of curses for letting herself get pinned to the ground by a drunk, deranged, and apparently horny priest. Trying to struggle did no good. His weight was in exactly the right places.

All she could say was, “Why?”

“Why not?” Teeth started nipping at the tendons of Gojyo’s neck, and she couldn’t lie and say it was only adrenaline now. Groaning, her eyes slid shut. Damned priest…it felt…good. “Hn…you like that?” His tongue curled and slid over sensitive skin, as if it already knew exactly how to drive her instantly mad, leaving Gojyo gasping for air and squirming to be set free. Vaguely, there was a part of Gojyo’s mind that was wondering why Sanzo knew how to locate erogenous areas. “You taste like…” another long lick went from her collarbone up to her ear, which he bit lightly, “…mmm…you taste like Bourbon and sugar.”

Gojyo couldn’t move, almost couldn’t breathe. And a strange hot tingling was spreading through an area that no other sensation had previously occurred, making it all that much more confusing. Hearing was nullified in favor of her body boosting its sense of touch. She felt helpless, abandoned by the strength that she’d come to trust. Memories flooded like poisoned waters through her mind, of nights alone and dreams that her male self had forbidden any thought of. Fantasy, dream, reality and a pair of darkened violet eyes seized at every fiber of her being, floating through her consciousness on waves of need that broke against the feeble self-control that was fast wearing away. Then, suddenly, through the haze of alien sensations that Gojyo could now identify as arousal, one thought rose: Not like this.

Her voice came out much clearer now, her resolution hardened. “I’m warning you, Sanzo. Get off of me, or you’re going to regret it.”

Breathing hotly against her neck, Sanzo laughed. “But you didn’t answer my question,” he purred, that voice sending a wave of heat through Gojyo’s already tortured body.

Jerking her head back toward him, she glared up at the priest, who pulled back to look into her eyes. “You…you think that just because I had an open mind about the ladies, I’ll fuck you now? Just like that?”

Sanzo’s face dipped lower, and Gojyo could feel the phantom tickle that always came over the skin of one’s lips before a kiss. “Something like that,” the blonde breathed, his tongue flicking out to wet her lips. If anything like this had occurred a month ago, Sanzo would be overpowered by superior strength and beaten within an inch of his life. While Gojyo was not so strong in this body as she had been as a man, she could still go with the one thing that worked best when dealing with this pompous, arrogant, self-righteous bastard. She fought dirty.

“Think again,” she snarled, snapping her head upward and smashing her forehead against Sanzo’s. The crack of flesh and bone sounded through the room, and the priest flopped off of her heavily, rolling to one side and groaning. Jumping to her feet, Gojyo glared hatefully down at Sanzo. The only way she could think of to describe the feeling that seethed through her mind was simply to call it womanly indignation. Later on, she could probably think of another word. Leaning down at him as he clapped a hand to his forehead and gaped up at her in total disbelief, Gojyo spat, “If you want a whore, go to a brothel. I’m not fucking anybody.” With that, she grabbed her bag, boots, and jacket, and was out of the door.

--

A pounding at the door woke Hakkai out of the early stages of sleep. He sat bolt upright in his bed, blinking in the near-dark. Goku groaned and sat up as well. “Hakkai…what’s going on?” The younger man asked, and threw the covers off of himself.

Frowning, Hakkai shook his head and said, “I don’t know. Just be ready for anything.” Cautiously, he tiptoed to the door, and listened. No sound came until the person on the other side of the door began pounding again. When he opened the wooden partition tentatively, he found Gojyo standing in the hallway, all of her worldly belongings in her arms and a look of utter rage in her eyes. Before Hakkai could speak, she kicked the door open completely and strode in, leaving the brunette speechless and gaping like a carp.

When the kappa dropped her things on the little table, she leaned heavily on her hands, which were pressed into the wooden surface of that same piece of furniture. “Hakkai, I’m not rooming with him. We’re switching.”

Unable to comprehend what was going on, Hakkai stared for a moment and then said, “But—“

The growl in Gojyo’s voice was so deep that Hakkai was not quite sure how he understood her when she said, “No questions. I’m not rooming with that asshole.” Her chest was heaving, and it was obvious from the way she still leaned on the table that if it weren’t there, her legs would give out underneath her. In all of the years he’d known Sha Gojyo, he had never seen his friend so angry. No argument, fight, or other situation had ever come close, except for when he’d stopped a gang of demons from raping a woman…and then it clicked in Hakkai’s head. His eyes widened as he took in her lowered head, hair hanging down over her eyes, and then, the drops of moisture on the oak table-top that gleamed in the light from the hallway that spilled in from the door.

“Okay,” He said quietly, “I’ll go.”

--

Goku watched in horrified fascination as Hakkai collected his things and left. What had just happened? Then, as soon as the door closed, Gojyo collapsed into the nearest chair and lay her head on the table. Swallowing hard, he slid out of his bed and turned on the lamp on the nightstand. Now, he could see that Gojyo’s shoulders were shaking. Her hands slithered up over the back of her head, gripping handfuls of crimson hair almost tight enough to pull it out.

The young man reached out a hand, placing it gently in the middle of her back. “H…Hey, Gojyo…”

Voice hoarse and gravelly, she said without lifting her head, “Yeah?” Now, Goku was surprised. She was crying. What…what could he do? He had never had to deal with a crying girl before. And it was even weirder in this particular case…because it was Gojyo. He thought for a minute. What would Hakkai do? Hakkai was so good at dealing with these things. When Goku had cried once, he remembered that Hakkai rubbed his back.

Mimicking that motion, he said, “Um…are you…you know…are you okay?”

A loud snorting sniffle later, he was staring into blood-red eyes that looked more angry than sad. What happened? Did Sanzo say something mean? But that didn’t make any sense. Sanzo said mean things to Gojyo all the time, and she never cried. He watched her swallow down the lump that had formed in her throat from crying, and then she said, “Hey…monkey?” Goku tilted his head to one side and made an inquisitive noise. One of the woman’s hands rose, reaching up to ruffle his hair. “You’re a good kid…don’t change…okay?”

Goku blinked at her in confusion. He smiled a little, and grabbed a tissue from the box on the table. “Here.”

A slightly trembling hand took the offered tissue, and Gojyo laughed weakly. “Ah, fuck. I hate being a woman! Look at me…I’m a mess, aren’t I?” Wiping at her eyes and the wet trails that stained her face, she looked away from him, and Goku felt the bottom of Gojyo’s hair brush his fingers as he tried to rub at her back soothingly. It was soft, her hair. He could remember a time when he’d thought that because it was red, it would be hot, and that almost made him laugh in spite of the situation. Without really thinking too much about it, Goku ran his fingers upward, stroking at hair that was not hot, but not cool, either. It was normal hair, just like his. After a couple of minutes, she wasn’t shaking anymore, then a moment or two after that, Gojyo leaned against his chest.

“Hey, Gojyo?” he asked tentatively, hoping she wouldn’t get mad at him for speaking. A grunt that sounded something like ‘huh’ came out of her, and he said, “You want some water?”

--

Sanzo was still reeling from a wicked blow to the head when he saw the door open. Hakkai stood framed by the yellow light from the hallway, looking rather ominous. The chi-manipulator calmly entered the room, closed the door and set his things down on the now-vacant bed. He watched as the brunette pushed in the chairs at the table, stacked the cards, and collected glasses and the bottle of Bourbon (empty, now), arranging them neatly in the center of the oak surface. From his sprawled position on the floor, he saw the extremely serene set of Hakkai’s features, which he had only seen a few times before.

He wasn’t sure what the odd feeling he was getting in his stomach was. It was a tension, like expectation mixed with fear. Hakkai then moved to the bed he would now apparently occupy, and pulled a pair of jeans, shoes, and a t-shirt from his bag and put them on. Why was he getting dressed? Blinking at the man who had not yet even deigned to look at Sanzo, that fear in his stomach suddenly grew. Hakkai wasn’t even wearing his monocle, but he was now tying his shoes. Slender fingers grasped a handful of white fabric. Gathering Sanzo’s robes in his hands, Hakkai held them out to him.

Green eyes met his violet, and Sanzo shivered. There it was…cold, naked…rage. “Put them on.” His eyes casting about for his gun, he swallowed hard when Hakkai held the weapon in his right hand, cocking the hammer and leveling it straight at his face. “Now.”

No amount of alcohol fumes could cloud the meaning behind that gesture. If Genjyo Sanzo did not comply with the command given him, his life would be forfeit. And from the look in Hakkai’s eyes, he had little—if any—compunction at the moment. So he got shakily to his feet, numbly dressing himself, toed on his sandals, and standing for a moment staring into those enraged verdant eyes before he felt a hand gripping his neck like a steel trap, and cold metal pressed against the underside of his chin.

“We’re going to take a little walk.” Hakkai said calmly, almost sweetly.

--

A/N: Oh…I think it would be safe to say that the shit is about to hit the proverbial fan, what do you think?

Macha: We’ll deal with the underwear issue soon. Don’t worry. And Sanzo’s reaction is meant to bother you. There’s a reason for it, after all. He fears change…

Darkphoenix: The Three Aspects will have some screentime next chapter. Let’s just say that they’re…miffed. And yes, the goddess is laughing as always.

Vampslyr: You have no idea how your review made me giggle. It was also enlightening. Sterile? Well. I’ll say this: there are plenty of women who can’t have kids that still have that monthly horror, but I don’t know that I was planning on menstruation, per se. But monthly visit or not, she’s got hormones. Mood swings, the whole shebang. About Kougaiji…he’s not the type to ever force himself on anyone. He’s definitely an interesting guy, though, and might be some stiff competition for our monk’s latent attractions. Guess we’ll just have to see, won’t we?