The Fan and the Mask

Sanzo wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, honestly he wasn’t. It wasn’t his fault the rice paper walls of the goddamn cheap-ass inn were so thin you could hear a mouse fart three rooms down. Actually, once it started, he tried not to hear it, as hard as he could. First he opened his window so the night noises of the birds and crickets would help distract him from what he was hearing, but unfortunately his noisy neighbors apparently had their window open as well, and it must have been right by their bed because their voices had gone from being somewhat muffled to fairly clear. He couldn’t identify them, and had no idea who the fuck they were. He had been the first of their party to go up to their rooms, and the corridor had been empty when he had let himself into his room, so he had no idea if the room’s occupants were members of his crew or complete strangers. He just wished to hell they would be quiet.

Hakkai had made all the room arrangements with the desk clerk that night, and Sanzo had no idea if the healer had had the forethought to get them rooms as far away as possible from Gojyo and the monkey, to afford them some privacy should they decide to share a bed for some adult recreation that night, something that didn’t involve poker or mahjohng.

Their “no-strings” arrangement had been working out very well, at least as far as he was concerned. Neither of them could be hurt or disappointed because neither of them had any expectations of the other: they knew what they wanted from each other, they got it when they needed it and it was physically practical to do so, and they continued to be friends that respected each other. No messy romantic business, no jealousy, no silly emotional attachments complicating things. Everything else could stay the way it was.

As leader of the ikkou, he just couldn’t afford that kind of crap that on top of all the other bullshit he had to deal with on this “epic” road trip of theirs. It was bad enough that he was still technically responsible for Hakkai, as far as the Sanbutsushin was concerned, even though there was no doubt in his mind that the converted youkai was more than able to take care of himself and make competent decisions regarding his own fate at this point. He had already resolved to bring that subject up with the talking heads at the first opportunity and simplify his life in that respect, regardless of whether he and Hakkai continued their little dalliance or not.

They had tried to keep their physical relationship just between them, not because they were ashamed of it, but because… well, because it really wasn’t anybody else’s business, goddammit. The freaking monkey was too curious about sex as it was these days, and Sanzo didn’t feel like having to deal with explaining to him why he and Hakkai were suddenly spending nights in the same bed, and even worse, what they were doing there – he wasn’t even crazy about Hakkai having to spell it out to him. And he sure as hell didn’t want Gojyo laying it all out for the saru… who knew what kinds of emotional scars that would leave on the monkey’s impressionable psyche: Uncle Gojyo explains how and why mommy and daddy are doing the nasty. Holy fucking hell.

As the voices next door, indistinguishable giggles and muffled mumblings, began to give way to pleasure sounds, Sanzo lit a cigarette and got up and started to pace. It had been two weeks at least since he and Hakkai had been able to get away together, and simply walking into the dark cool room of the inn, with the low firm bed and its dark linen coverlet laying there begging to be mussed, had started a chain of conditioned responses in his body. His mind started restlessly mulling over all the similar rooms that had been the scenes of their unions over the past months, causing his cock to begin to swell in anticipation of perhaps finding some time with Hakkai in either this room or the healer’s room sometime before they left the next morning. He imagined running his fingers through the sleek chestnut hair as those soft lips closed around his hardness, finally easing that aching need that had been plaguing him every night and every morning for almost a week now.

Sometimes even in broad daylight, riding in jippu, he would get a glimpse of those slender tapered fingers curling around Hakuryu’s gearshift, and imagine them curling around his cock. He would close his eyes and he could almost feel Hakkai’s thumb brushing is small circles around the swollen head, and all he could do was squirm in his seat, discretely re-adjust himself in the confines of his tight jeans, and open his eyes and fix them on the horizon and try to train his mind towards some neutral subject. Sometimes he almost welcomed the intrusive squabbling of the two in the back seat, when it helped him divert his mind from wandering too far into his desire for his front seatmate.

The increasingly vocal and intense moans wafting through the window were working on Sanzo’s last nerve. He wondered where the hell the rest of the group was, anyway. He hadn’t heard any of them traipsing down the hallways announcing their presence with their usual high noise level, which surprised him. Typically he could tell where they were anywhere in the hotel from the racket they made coming and going – it was no surprise that they were constantly getting set upon by gangs of youkai, they certainly announced they were coming everywhere they went loudly enough.

He remembered Hakkai saying at dinner that Goku would be going directly to his room upon arrival for the sake of all the guests at the inn, so dire was his need for a bath after the exertions of this particular day of demon fighting, and even Gojyo had agreed that the saru’s fragrance was pretty disgusting. They all had had a rough day of it: Sanzo was damned tired himself, Gojyo had ended up with a badly-pulled muscle in his thigh, even Hakuryu had gotten dusted up a little in the fray, but somehow Goku was the only one that seemed to have ended up looking and smelling like a muddy slaughterhouse.

So Sanzo figured that Goku having gone straight to his room to bathe would explain the loss of fifty percent of the usual noise but not the other half. Meanwhile, whoever was in the adjacent room was conspiring to drive Sanzo insane with their antics, their moans now sounding almost like someone was being tortured with red hot shrimp forks. The effect on Sanzo was like itching powder on his skin: he wanted them to stop, or he wanted to make them stop. Hell, he would possibly even consider being in the middle of whatever they were doing that was causing them to make those sounds of ecstatic agony, whoever the fuck they were. He wasn’t sure which he wanted the most, but it was making him twitch all over. But if he couldn’t have any fun, he sure as hell didn’t want to hear someone else’s in 3-D gory detail coming in through his window. And goddamn it, just where the blue fuck was Hakkai, anyway?! He lit another smoke and paced faster.

After one particularly long low, moan from next door, a sound which sounded like it had issued from deep in the throat of some ungodly hybrid of a bloodhound and a two-hundred pound Siamese cat, Sanzo finally decided he had had enough. He slammed the window closed in disgust and decided first he would let his vociferous neighbors have a piece of his mind, and then he would find Hakkai, and let him know he absolutely positively needed a little special attention from his healer that night, probably more than once. It’s not like he ever slept all that well anyway, and besides, he could sleep when he was dead. He considered the fact that none of his Buddhist studies had ever mentioned whether or not the afterlife included mind-blowing ecstasy-inducing fellatio like he got from the green-eyed youkai in this world. All-in-all, that shortcoming definitely weakened the concept of Nirvana as a place of perfect happiness as far as he was concerned, but then partings of the mind between himself and conventional Buddhist thinking were nothing new to the heretic Priest Genjyo Sanzo.

He slipped on his sandals and took off down the hall to the room housing the offenders, wailing on the door with his fist as if it were the skulls of the noisemakers in question.

“Goddammit, does the whole world have to hear your porno movie soundtrack up close and personal? Put a fucking sock in it, assholes! And for goddssakes, why don’t you…

He had not realized the door was not completely latched shut, and his banging had been enough to fling it wide open, affording him a sudden full view of the room and its occupants. Stunned to a sudden stop in mid-tirade, he stood with his hand poised to continue banging on a door that was no longer there. His jaw had dropped and his usually hooded violet eyes were wide and darkening under his fringe of blond hair.

There, on the linen coverlet and bed just like the ones in his own room, staring back at him in the dim twilight was Gojyo, stretched out on his back on the bed wearing nothing but a towel and a loopy wide-eyed smile. Hakkai, bare-chested and wearing only dark boxers, his thick thatch of chestnut hair still obviously damp from a recent shower, was kneeling over Gojyo in the bed. His ass was resting on the hanyou’s calves, and the first movement Sanzo’s eyes caught in the room was a sudden motion as Hakkai jerked bolt upright, having obviously been leaning forward over the kappa’s body. Hakkai’s face was luminous and pale as it swiveled towards Sanzo, shock and bewilderment flooding in his green eyes as he saw the rage exploding in Sanzo’s face, stiffening his whole body.

The door bounced off the wall and slowly back towards Sanzo and he batted it viciously with his upraised fist, causing it to hit the wall again with a loud thud. He trapped it with his hand as it bounced this time, his knuckles white as he gripped it and began to turn to leave, pulling it closed behind him without a word.

“Sanzo, wait!” Hakkai choked out, once he got past that initial horrible hanging moment of stunned paralysis. Leaping off of the bed, he made it across the room in several quick bounds just as the priest had begun to make his silent enraged retreat. The door closed in Hakkai’s face with a slow terrible click, not a bang, its message to Hakkai measured and very clear. He knew better than to follow Sanzo when he was this angry; it was better to give him some space first, and then try to explain.

“Who peed in his cornflakes?” Gojyo said as he slid up to a sitting position in the bed, rubbing at his thigh muscle. “What the fuck is priestylocks’ problem today?”

Hakkai pressed his palm against the back of the door and stood silently for a moment before slowly walking back to the bed and sitting down on the end opposite Gojyo. He looked up at his friend, trying to keep the worry he felt from showing in his face.

“Well you must admit, Gojyo, it did look more than a bit suspect, what he saw when he opened the door.”

Gojyo paused in the middle of lighting a cigarette, then grinned at Hakkai wolfishly. “Heh… I guess it did look pretty funny, didn’t it? Fuck it, man, if he had given me a chance, I would have told him you were just working on my thigh muscle, which feels much better, thank you very much.”

“He forgets how long we were roommates before this trip, and how casual we became around each other, I suppose…” Hakkai said quietly, speaking more to himself than Gojyo. “I really should have put my pajama pants on after my shower before I began working on your leg, but it seemed to be bothering you so.”

“And besides,” Gojyo groused, “what’s he got to be so pissy about, anyway? It’s not like he’s ever taken me up on all the offers I’ve made him, the fuckin’ prig. Gods and goddesses, I’ve done everything but throw my legs up in the air, and he’s never done anything but hit me with that goddamn fan and threaten to ventilate my forehead.” The redhead swung his legs over the bed and sat next to his friend. “So he ain’t got no room to go actin’ all jealous on me now, no frickin’ way.”

He waited for some kind of response from Hakkai and when he received none he looked surreptitiously at him and saw him knitting his brow and kneading his hands, like he only did when something emotional, something personal was bothering him. Gojyo thought and studied his friend for a minute, and an idea slowly began to dawn on him.

“And it’s not like there’d ever be anything between you and him, for goddsakes!” He laughed gently, nudging Hakkai with his foot, as if he wanted him to share in the humor of the far-fetched thought. Hakkai was clearly pre-occupied with something, his face was devoid of even the weak false smile Gojyo would have expected to see.

“Heh, that would just be too weird, wouldn’t it, ‘Kai? I mean you and the monk – pffftt… what a crazy idea. Jeez, that would be like the wicked prince getting it on with the innocent schoolmarm, right? Too fucking weird… “ He studied his friend’s face, which continued to be a study in misery and worry. “Right, ‘Kai?” He dropped his head and wrapped his hand around his brow and raked it through his damp hair, shaking his head. “Oh, fuck me dead. You have got to be kidding me.”

Hakkai looked up at Gojyo, lips pursed and his pale cheeks painted with a deep blush. “I’d hardly compare me to an innocent schoolmarm, Gojyo. And, well, it just… happened,” he said softly but unapologetically. He continued, his tone matter-of-fact, “and once it happened, it kept happening. I don’t know what it means… maybe nothing. But… it seems like we both… well, it seems like we both rather enjoy it…”

Gojyo stuck his fingers in his ears. “Stop!! That’s the TMI limit right there. All I need to know is that you are doing it because you want to, and the bastard isn’t fucking with your head or hurting you in any way. Beyond that, I don’t wanna know… it’s just too fucking weird.”

Hakkai smiled a small smile and touched his friend’s knee briefly. “I understand, Gojyo.” He looked back down and started kneading his hands again, not realizing he was doing it. “I’m not sure I really understand it myself. But just trust me that it’s ok, will you please?” He looked up at the hanyou, his emerald eyes clear and trusting, as they always were with Gojyo.

Gojyo shook his head and crooked up one corner of his mouth. “Man, ‘Kai, you have been one weird fuck as long as I have known you, and you will always be one weird fuck. But, hey, whatever floats your boat. If it works for you, it’s fine by me. Two things, though, OK?”

Hakkai nodded. “Anything.”

“One. If he hurts you, I’ll kill him. Pure and simple. You can even tell him that. And two. If this isn’t a serious thing, if you guys aren’t gonna, like, declare your forever love or something, I’d suggest you try to keep this on the QT as far as the monkey is concerned. He’s got enough trouble spending his teenage years riding halfway around the world with the three of us, not to mention that he’s wrapped his whole world around that monk - his “sun” - may the gods have mercy on him. I can’t imagine what it would do to his head to find out that nana Hakkai and papa Sanzo were making the beast with two backs every other night right now. That’s just too much for his little monkey brain. Hell, it’s almost too much for mine.”

“Understood, my friend. And I think you’re right where Goku is concerned. But right now I have a more pressing problem to deal with.”

Gojyo raised an eyebrow and looked at him questioningly. “Don’t know what to wear on your date? Uncertain whether to call him or to wait and let him call you? Not sure if you should play hard to get?...”

Hakkai punched the smugly grinning hanyou on his arm and rose from the bed to begin getting dressed.

“I wish it was that simple. I have a very angry Sanzo priest that thinks I have been having sex with my best friend behind his back. Could you make sure Goku doesn’t disturb us, and keep Hakuryu for the night, my friend?”

Gojyo looked at him skeptically. “He looked pretty pissed, ‘Kai. You remember what I said, OK? You need me, you call me. And hide that fucking gun.”

“He won’t kill me,” Hakkai grinned as he stood in the doorway, “he needs me too much. Who else would take care of you three as well and put up with your crap as much as I do?” With that he winked at Gojyo with his good eye and was gone.

Hakkai went first to the bar next door to the Inn and purchased a bottle of a brand of sake he knew Sanzo would enjoy, stopped back by Gojyo’s room and retrieved one of his bags, and set off for the priest’s room. He couldn’t remember a time when a hotel corridor had ever seemed so long or so forbidding as it did now as he approached that door and tried to formulate some sort of plan for approaching the angry monk. He reminded himself of the good things about their relationship: the way Sanzo’s face completely relaxed after they had sex, free of the furrows of stress it usually bore twenty-four hours a day, even in his sleep. He remembered the warmth he felt deep inside when they were together, when he came as close to fully connecting with another human being as he had come with anyone since Kanan, even with Gojyo.

As he stood in front of Sanzo’s door and tried to summon that last bit of courage to face the wrath he knew he was bound to have to endure inside, he reminded himself of the thing about his involvement with the priest that gave him the most satisfaction of anything in their relationship. The greatest salvation Hakkai found in his clandestine relationship with Sanzo came not from experiencing intense sensual joys heretofore unknown to him, or even from taking his lover to new heights of pleasure by applying what he learned about Sanzo’s body and making the monk moan and writhe under him. The most redeeming feature of his liaison with the leader of the Ikkou was not a sexual thing at all, it was that he had learned that, in the privacy of their time alone together, he could make Sanzo laugh. Better yet, they could laugh together.

Hakkai knew all too well how their lives had been marked by tragedy since birth, how they had been scarred by death in ways most people could never have survived, much less understand, and for them the act of simply carrying on was an act of ongoing courage. They both fought the dark sucking demon of depression every single day of their lives, and for both of them each day not spent completely wrapped in its dark cloak was a victory, yet somehow in their time alone together they could find humor in things both silly and perverse, and they could allow themselves the sublime luxury of genuine spontaneous laughter. It was with that image more than any other in mind that Hakkai summoned his courage and knocked on Sanzo’s door.

“Fuck off,” came the surly but muffled response.

“Sanzo, if you would just let me explain, this is a simple misunderstanding.” He spoke as quietly as he could and still be sure he would be heard. He could almost feel the white heat of Sanzo’s anger radiating through the door.

“I think what I saw pretty much spoke for itself. Fuck off, Hakkai. Go back to the kappa.”

He could picture the forehead veins standing out and hear the clenched set of the priest’s jaw in his speech. It would take him weeks to get these tension knots out of Sanzo’s body, assuming he could get him to let him touch him again.

“Sanzo, I’m coming in. We simply must discuss this.” Before he could protest, Hakkai let himself in with the key he had secured from the desk clerk on his trip downstairs. “You can’t shoot me, you need me to drive too much,” he said, forestalling any threats. “Just listen to what I have to say, and if you want me to leave, I will. Promise.”

He stood and waited as Sanzo glared at him with eyes almost black with anger, his face unreadable as he obviously weighed his options.

Finally, after an unbearably long silence, the sullen monk slowly lit a cigarette and dropped his eyes from the glare he had been pinning Hakkai with. “What’s in the bottle?” he demanded.

“Sake.”

“Hot?”

“No, but it’s a very fine brand. I believe it’s one of your favorites.”

“Hnn.” Shrug. “Cups in the john.”

He had apparently just taken a shower, as the room was humid and his hair was damp and clinging to his neck in wet tendrils. He was wearing only his jeans, and Hakkai’s heart galloped in his chest hopefully as he retrieved the cups and poured them both cups of the strong wine. Moving his bag he had brought with him to floor at the end of the bed, Hakkai carefully pulled the desk chair over and perched on it, close but not too close to where Sanzo sat up, legs stretched out and his newspaper beside him, in the bed. He placed the sake bottle on the nightstand next to the priest. Sanzo drained his first cup and lit a cigarette before looking up at Hakkai, one slender eyebrow arched imperiously.

“Well?”

“It’s very simple, Sanzo. Remember during our encounter with the youkai that attacked us today, how Gojyo twisted his leg, and was limping so badly? By the time we got here, his thigh muscle was badly swollen, I believe he actually tore the muscle, and I needed to heal it as soon as possible.”

“Tch, yeah it was obvious something was swollen in there,” Sanzo replied dryly.

“Sanzo, honestly, I had to be in that position to get the best angle at his injury.”

“And I suppose you both being mostly unclothed was mandatory for the healing as well?”

Hakkai looked down at his cup and a flush painted his cheeks, a fact which did not escape Sanzo.

“Ahaha, yes, that. An error in judgement on my part, I admit. And I can see how it looked bad, Sanzo, and I apologize. We both had taken showers,… separately!.. When I came out from mine Gojyo was complaining so much about how badly his leg hurt, I decided I’d better look at it right away. It never occurred to me how it might look.” He sighed and pushed his monocle up on his nose. “Honestly, Sanzo, we lived together so long, we got rather casual about such things…”

“So I see.”

“Now Sanzo, honestly, don’t you think if something was going to happen between Gojyo and I, it would have happened long before now?”

Sanzo was quiet for a long moment and poured himself another cup of the rice wine. Hakkai began to see a faint glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

“And didn’t I tell you when you and I first… became intimate… that there was nothing sexual between Gojyo and I, that we were the best of friends, but that was all?” There was another long silence. “Sanzo, didn’t I?”

“Tch. Yes.. . Whatever.”

“And now, Sanzo,” he made sure he had the monk’s violet gaze locked with his, “have I ever, ever lied to you? Do you honestly think I would start lying to you now, just to have sex with Gojyo?”

Sanzo stubbornly looked back down at his now-empty cup, his eyes hidden by his fringe of damp blond hair. Hakkai felt a large bead of sweat roll down his back as he waited for Sanzo to reply. He was about to give up, when he heard a soft chuckle coming from the direction of Sanzo’s down-tilted head, very soft at first and then getting louder, a low and salacious growl of a laugh.

“Heh heh heh… guess not. You do generally have better judgment than that, ‘Kai, I gotta admit.” He looked up at the healer, his eyes finally softer, and free of the anger. “But did the moron have to make so much fucking noise? Do you have any idea what it sounded like in there?”

Hakkai considered for a minute, remembering how Gojyo had been bellowing and exclaiming as he had worked the chi heat through the torn muscle, causing a mixture of both pleasure and pain as the injury healed. His hand flew up to his mouth and his emerald eyes grew wide.

“Oh, Sanzo… Oh, my… I’m amazed you didn’t burst in and shoot us both on the spot.” He immediately started laughing, picturing Sanzo hearing the sounds, being tormented by his imaginings like that.

“Tch… and I didn’t even know it was you and him. If I’d known that, I’d have done it for sure. I was ready to shoot whoever it was!” They both burst out laughing again at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Hakkai wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes, realizing all of a sudden how glad he was to be alone with him, with their problem mended, and how he had missed their time together. Sanzo was also relieved to finally have Hakkai alone and the messy business ended, and impetuously pulled the brunet over to him in the bed. He leaned in to kiss him, but was stopped abruptly when Hakkai’s palm firmly pushed him away.

“Not so fast, Sanzo,”Hakkai chastised as he sat up and smoothed his clothes down primly. “I think it’s only fair that I should be punished, after putting you through all this today.” His lips set in a firm line, he gave Sanzo a look that indicated that he definitely meant business.

Puzzled, not to mention frustrated once again, Sanzo sat up in the bed and looked at the healer with his eyes narrowed. “Goddammit, Hakkai, what the fuck are you … ooooohhhh…..” As the realization hit him of what Hakkai had in mind, his expression changed to a wolfish grin, and he then quickly returned to as serious a demeanor as he could manage. “Yes. Yes, by all means. You deserve severe punishment for all the mental anguish I suffered today. It’s only fair.”

Hakkai lowered his eyes. “I understand Sanzo. I’ll go prepare myself,” he said, picking up his bag and disappearing into the bathroom.

Sanzo quickly smoked another cigarette, humming a little tune to himself as he did. He stubbed out the smoke and poured himself another cup of sake. Before he started drinking the sake, he got up and retrieved his harisen from his robes and came back to bed, placing the fan on the bedside table. He was happily sipping his sake when Hakkai emerged from the bathroom, leaving the light on and closing the door partially so the room was illuminated with the low diffuse light.

Sanzo grinned and stifled a laugh as his lover crossed the room. He attempted to look stern as he admonished him. “Goddammit, kappa, get over here, you’re late as usual,” he said accusingly.

“Bite me, priesty,” Hakkai said as he sat down in the chair defiantly, crossing his legs in the ridiculous jodhpur-like pants. “I’ll get here when I goddamn well want to,” he said, his emerald eyes flaring.

“Don’t give me your fucking lip,” Sanzo warned.

“Yeah, you wish you had my fucking lip,” Hakkai crowed defiantly, adjusting the blue headband a bit. “You wish you were fucking my sweet lips, your assholiness, that’s what you wish.”

“Keep it up, cockroach, you’re gonna pay.”

“Sha Gojyo never has to pay. People pay Sha-fucking-Gojyo,” he sneered, taking off the bulky vest and tossing it on the floor. “But for you, Goldilocks, I’d do it for free. Around the world, no charge, Cherry-chan,” Hakkai teased, slowly taking off the white shirt and running his hands over his chest, grinning deviously as his nipples hardened.

“You asshole. You are really asking for it. One more crack like that…”

Hakkai stood up and began unbuttoning the pants. “Crack? You wanna see the crack, baldy? I’ll show ya one beautiful crack…”

“That’s it!” Sanzo stood enough to yank the offender down on top of his lap in the bed, pulling the pants off of his ass as he did and exposing it, crack and all. “Gods and goddesses, I’ve wanted to do this for so long…” He grabbed the harisen and thwacked one side of Hakkai/Gojyo’s ass with a hard resounding “WHACK.”

“Pussy. You even hit like a girl,” came the muffled taunt.

“Goddammit.” WHACK WHACK. Red imprints in the shape of the fan appeared on the skin of Hakkai’s behind. Sanzo had always thought the thing made more noise than anything – he was surprised at the redness of the weals it was leaving on Hakkai’s ass.

“What a limpdick. I thought you were gay, but apparently you aren’t even that,” the youkai in hanyou’s clothing teased arrogantly.

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK. Hakkai began to emit little groans with each impact of the fan now, and was beginning to squirm against Sanzo’s leg.

“Tch…You think so,huh?” Sanzo taunted, continuing now with a steady barrage of hits with the fan. He was completely erect now, uncomfortably confined by his jeans. He could feel that Hakkai was also thoroughly aroused by the way he ground his hips each time the harisen impacted his ass, pressing his straining cock against the denim covering Sanzo’s hard thigh muscles.

Suddenly Hakkai deftly flipped him over in the bed, tossing the harisen to the floor and pinning the priest’s arms above his head. He let go with one hand long enough to pull off the blue headband and shake his dark hair loose, and as he met Sanzo’s defiant gaze, his voice slid back into Hakkai’s gentler softer tones, this time with a sweetly seductive edge to it.

“No, Sanzo… I know that’s wrong. I know just who you are, and I like it.”

A low growl emanated from Sanzo’s throat and he wrestled to wrench his hands free from Hakkai’s grip. His slender fingers wrapped around the back of the healer’s long neck and pulled him roughly downwards, closing the distance between them and seizing on his lover’s mouth with a groan as all the tension pent up inside him finally found its vent. Teeth clicked together and they tasted each other’s blood as they tangled in the long breath-stealing kiss, nipping and sucking tongues and lips, teasing and daring, arms enfolding and pulling their bodies to seal tightly together, hands stroking and scratching landscapes of skin mindlessly.

When Hakkai finally sank his cock into the dark warm sheath of Sanzo’s body, and the priest’s slick tightness slowly welcomed him in, their union was complete. The sweet lines of white heat coiling down around their spines spiraled and twined together, completing an endless circle of cock and ass and pleasure and pain and flesh and spirit. Now as they came together they were both themselves and no one, lost inside each other, completely free of their ghosts, finally untethered from the pain that held them earthbound, at least for those few moments when imperfect souls found escape through perfect flesh.

They slept later than they should the next morning and left hurriedly without breakfast, much to the dismay of the bakasaru. It was only later in the early afternoon when they were sitting around the table of an outdoor noodle stand in a small village that Goku finally looked up at Gojyo, stopping in mid-slurp of a large mouthful, his large golden eyes puzzled.

“Hey cockroach, those aren’t your usual ‘riding in jippu’ clothes, that’s one of your ‘cruising for chicks’ shirts. What gives?”

Gojyo whacked the teen on the side of the head and stole half of the pile of shredded pork he had ready to throw onto his giant pile of noodles.

“Since when are you the fashion police, monkey boy? At least I don’t have claws sticking out of my clothes!”

They began squabbling and food had begun flying across the table when the harisen appeared out of Sanzo’s sleeve and trounced both of them soundly.

“Enough!” Sanzo announced in an authoritative growl.

Hakkai hid his spreading grin behind his cup of tea as best he could and looked downward at his food, avoiding Sanzo’s eyes. Grumbling, Goku snatched back as many of his bits of food as he could and returned to his meal.

Gojyo shoveled in another bite of his and turned to Hakkai, shaking his chopstick as he spoke.

“Hey, ‘Kai, what the kid said reminded me. I’m wearin’ this ‘cause I seem to be runnin’ short on clothes…”

“Ahaha, yes, Gojyo, I should have told you. I noticed that some of your clothes were becoming rather worn and took them to do some mending for you. I should have them back to you tomorrow.”

“Good,”Goku exclaimed with a frown, his words somewhat garbled by a large mouthful of noodles, “I don’t like him not havin’ on his right clothes. It feels weird or somethin’ – like there’s a stranger ridin’ with me in the back of the jeep.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Hakkai said with a small smile and a glint showing in his emerald eyes in the bright midday sun, “I find it can be rather refreshing to get out of the same outfits we wear day after day- a little change in the routine can be good for the soul.”

The distinct sound of Sanzo choking on his coffee as he stifled a laugh could be heard coming from behind his newspaper.

~owari~