Thanks to my
splendiferous beta, sharpeslass. She so totally rocks!
Title: Zang Fu Theory, Part 22
Author: Lotus
Email: ladylotusmoon (a) hotmail (o) com
Pairing(s): Sanzo/Hakkai/Gojyo
Rating: R
Warning: Swearing
Summary: : While the ikkou are staying in a town,
Sanzo and Hakkai are called away in the middle of the night to help a severely
injured farmer. Gojyo is left babysitting a dragon, who behaves very strangely.
At the farmhouse, Hakkai is possessed by a fire oni, & the oni's attempt to
draw heat results in a sexual situation with Sanzo. Upon Hakkai & Sanzo's
return to the inn, Gojyo & Goku realized what happened & Gojyo attacks
Sanzo. Hakkai attempts to be peacemaker, sending Sanzo & Goku to the bathhouse,
leaving him with Gojyo. Sanzo & Goku have a chat in the bath, and Sanzo is
attacked by the fire oni. Back at the inn, afraid he is losing his friend to
Sanzo, Gojyo uses his special brand of persuasion with Hakkai. Hakuryu flies
back to the inn for help, leading Hakkai & Gojyo to the bathhouse. They
battle the fire oni, and just when all seems lost, Gojyo remembers Jien's magic
beans. Hakkai & Gojyo wash the ash off each other. Returning to the inn,
Gojyo & Goku are kicked out of the room & Hakkai tends Sanzo's wounds.
Goku gets embarrassed in the bathroom in front of Gojyo, who ends up lending
him a helping hand. The healing session becomes intimate between Hakkai &
Sanzo. Hakkai remembers the past when he was at the temple with Sanzo and Gojyo
seeks solace after accidentally eavesdropping on Hakkai & Sanzo. Goku
follows the upset Gojyo & gets free dumplings from a vendor because he's a
companion of the Chosen One. During a passionate moment, Sanzo loses control
& Hakkai leaves to look for Gojyo. Goku leads Hakkai to the bar he had
followed Gojyo to the night before. At the Red Kimono, Gojyo is attacked &
mysteriously declared to be the Chosen One. The purpose of the Chosen One is
revealed to be a companion for the fire oni. And the villagers chose Gojyo!
Trapped by a talisman next to his heart, Gojyo decides to say goodbye to
Hakkai. Hakkai's passion is released. Sanzo meets up with the rest of the ikkou
at the Red Kimono. He and Gojyo had a confrontation over Hakkai sleeping with
both of them, and Sanzo realizes something is wrong. Hakkai realizes Gojyo is
being coerced by the owner of the Red Kimono. He says good-bye to Gojyo so he
can discuss strategy with Sanzo. Sanzo and Hakkai discuss Gojyo's predicament,
but Sanzo makes it clear he's not going to talk about anything else. Goku
reviews his feelings for Gojyo.
Chapter 22: The first part of Hakkai's rescue plan.
---
Hakkai divided his attention between the disreputable road and the dejected
young man in the back seat. Glimpses in the rearview mirror revealed an abjectly
miserable Goku sitting hunched up, staring at the empty seat across from him.
Hakkai suppressed a sigh. Gojyo's absence was distressingly tangible. It was as
if they were driving with a Gojyo-shaped hole in Jeepu. Although it had only
been hours since they'd left him at the Red Kimono, to Hakkai it felt like
days. He missed Gojyo's laugh, his smell, the light touches on his shoulder as
he drove...
Jeepu hit a large pothole and the steering wheel wrenched hard to the left in
Hakkai's hands. Sanzo cursed as Hakkai quickly regained control and
straightened Jeepu on the road. Hakkai glanced in the rearview mirror, out of
habit, to check the safety of the passengers. Goku had moved up as close as
possible and was resting his head on the back of Sanzo's seat.
Goku looked heart-breakingly lonely. Hakkai reached between the seats and
squeezed Goku's knee. When Goku looked up, Hakkai met his surprised eyes in the
mirror.
You're not alone, Hakkai thought.
Patting Goku's knee, Hakkai returned his hand to the gear shift. He watched
Sanzo out of the corner of his eye, but the monk sat with the same stoic
expression he'd worn since they'd climbed into Jeepu. He sat with his hands
tucked into his sleeves, arms crossed over his chest, staring straight ahead.
He didn't even speak or move when Goku lay his cheek on his shoulder.
Hakkai knew Sanzo was furious and hurt. In the park, Sanzo had been thrumming
with tension like a shamisen strung too tightly. Hakkai had sensed that if he
had plucked a single string, it would have snapped and cut them both. So he
hadn't pursued the discussion he had wished to have at that moment. However,
just because he had made a strategic retreat and acknowledged Sanzo's statement
that the issue was not to be discussed by no means meant Hakkai wouldn't
address it later. Sometimes a wound had to be re-opened and drained before it
could heal properly.
"Sanzo. Please don't punish Gojyo for my mistake."
"Which mistake would that be, Hakkai? Sleeping with me, or sleeping with
him?"
Hakkai had made his decision. Playing out various scenarios in his head, it had
been the choice that would cause the least amount of suffering and disruption
in the long-term. Or, at least during whatever time the ikkou had left on this
deadly mission they had embarked upon. He still wasn't sure what had come over
him to allow the situation to deteriorate to its current state. His role had
been unofficially established early in their journey: healer, mediator,
caretaker. There was no room for selfish motivation in the performance of those
duties. Possession by the fire oni had undoubtedly brought carefully suppressed
passion to the surface and lowered his inhibition. But what was his excuse for
what had happened later?
He had indulged in his freshly released desire with both Sanzo and Gojyo, given
in to the desperate yearning; yearning to be touched, to be held, to have...
some small kind of joy.
It was selfish and unacceptable and he would not permit it to continue. Once
the ikkou had extricated itself from this current debacle, he would sit down
with Sanzo and Gojyo and set things right.
He regretted the pain he had, and would, cause these two men he cared for so
deeply, but regret was nothing new to him. His entire life was a patchwork
quilt of regret and guilt wrapped around him wherever he went. Sometimes, he
thought he would suffocate beneath the heavy weight of it. What Hakkai had
forgotten - what he had permitted himself to forget - was that any kind of joy
came at a price. The lesson had been soaked into his body like the blood he had
shed. The cost of his happiness was the suffering of others.
"Hey, is that it?" Goku called from the back seat. "It's kinda
creepy."
Hakkai glanced over and saw the charred remains of the farmhouse he and Sanzo
had visited a few days ago. As they approached, Hakkai noted Wan Tu by the
barn, dragging off burnt timbers with the aid of an emaciated ox. It looked
like he was excavating the skeletal remains of a giant. Jeepu pulled off the
road and came to a stop in a cloud of dirt and loose gravel. Wan Tu paused in
his labors and leaned over the back of the ox, tilting his conical straw hat to
peer at them.
"So, that guy's an orphan now," Goku whispered as Hakkai turned off
the engine and lifted the parking brake. "Like us."
"Yes, Goku," Hakkai responded. Although whether or not Goku was truly
an orphan was a matter of semantics.
Climbing out of Jeepu, Hakkai raised his hand in greeting. Wan Tu returned the
gesture and began trudging across the dead field towards them. Goku jumped down
next to Hakkai, but Sanzo remained in the jeep.
"Good afternoon, Wan Tu," Hakkai said.
The young man looked a little worse for wear since they had seen him last. He
seemed thinner, and there were cuts, scrapes and burns beneath the sooty dirt
on his face and hands. Rebuilding was hard work for a man alone.
"Good afternoon, Hakkai-san," Wan Tu said with a short bow. "How
may I be of service?"
"First, if I may ask..." Hakkai took a breath. "Was your father
the last Chosen One?"
"Yes." Wan Tu's voice was as flat and bleak as the land behind him.
His dark eyes flicked over Goku and Sanzo before returning to Hakkai.
"They've taken one of you, haven't they?"
"Yes, they have," Hakkai confirmed. "And we need your assistance
to retrieve him."
Wan Tu nodded, his grim face showing no surprise. "What are you going to
do?" he asked.
As succinctly as possible, Hakkai outlined his stratagem, leaving out most of
what he and Sanzo were doing. Instead, he concentrated on what he needed Wan Tu
and Goku to do. Wan Tu listened carefully until Hakkai was finished speaking.
Wan Tu pushed his hat off his head so it hung behind him, suspended from a cord
around his neck.
"Give me a moment to unhitch the animal and wash off, Hakkai-san,"
Wan Tu said.
Without another word, the young man turned and plodded back to the ox. Goku
tugged on Hakkai's sleeve.
"How'd you know he'd help us?" Goku asked.
"Because we prayed for his dead," Hakkai answered.
"Che," Sanzo snorted.
Hakkai twisted around to look at Sanzo. The monk fished cigarettes and a
lighter out of his robe sleeve and lit up a stick. As clearly as if it had
happened yesterday, Hakkai remembered Sanzo praying for his own dead: his
Kanan. They had been standing in front of another incinerated ruin, dust devils
swirling papery cinders around their feet. Bleeding, half-blind, his gut torn
open, Hakkai had felt that all the color had been bled out of the world, and
that everything had been covered in a gritty layer of ash.
Then Gojyo had asked Sanzo to pray. When those first chanted words had flowed,
it had been like a sunrise after the longest, darkest night imaginable. Closing
his eyes and lifting his face, Hakkai had imagined, for a moment, that the air
was a little fresher, less choked with death and the smoldering embers of
violence. Hakkai had struggled to focus his one eye on Sanzo: a blindingly
bright creature of white and gold, sitting on the filthy, blackened ground,
like a lotus, unstained by the mud beneath it. Hakkai had known then that
whatever happened after that moment didn't matter. He had known he would give
himself freely over to the monk and to whatever justice his gods demanded.
For a moment, Hakkai saw a double image: Gonou's Sanzo and Hakkai's Sanzo; the
smoke from the destroyed castle of the past mingling with the cigarette smoke
presently wreathed around his golden head. A phantom pain spiked through
Hakkai's glass eye. Closing his eyes, he reached up to rub at it beneath his
glasses.
"What's the matter, Hakkai?" Goku asked. "Got something in your
eye?"
"I'm fine, Goku." Hakkai blindly patted Goku on the shoulder.
Opening his eyes, Hakkai adjusted his glasses and found Sanzo watching him. He
smiled and Sanzo frowned. Staring into the narrowed purple eyes, dark with
pain, Hakkai wondered how long Sanzo was going to suffer with the headache
before asking for help. He had seen Sanzo pinch the pressure point in his hand
as they drove to the farm, trying to hide the gesture in his sleeves. Even if
he hadn't seen, Hakkai would know. He knew Sanzo had been suffering with the
headache since the park.
Hakkai always knew when Sanzo was in distress.
"Here's the guy," Goku announced.
"Wan Tu," Hakkai corrected absently.
---
On the ride back to town, Goku pestered Wan Tu with questions. Sanzo glanced
over at Hakkai, surprised he wasn't intervening. He caught the small, bitter
self-mocking smile twisting Hakkai's lips and realized why. Even though Hakkai
knew Goku's tactlessness was causing Wan Tu discomfort, the information the
recently orphaned farm boy was providing could be useful to the ikkou. In some
ways, Hakkai could be ruthlessly practical.
Sharp pain stabbed into Sanzo's temple and he clenched his jaw, nearly biting
the cigarette in two. Without the calm to relax and work on the pain, the
headache was turning into a migraine. Scowling, Sanzo pinched the webbing
between the thumb and forefinger on his left hand so hard it made his pinkie
spasm. No relief. Hakkai would be able to banish the agony with a small amount
of healing chi, the briefest touch to his temple...
Closing his eyes, Sanzo decided to ignore the throbbing in his head and listen
to the farm boy. Slowly he unfolded the story of how the town's tradition of a
Chosen One began.
"It started with Quan, the youngest son of a farmer here," Wan Tu
told them. "A boy from my great-grandfather's time. Quan was severely
injured in an accident, and his father brought him to the temple by the spring
and begged the monks to save him. By the healing powers of the sacred hot
spring and the prayers of the monks, Quan lived. To show his gratitude, Quan's
father sent his son to serve at the temple. Quan was not permitted to join the
order of monks, but he lived in a hut by the water, tending the sacred spring
and accepting the offerings made by the villagers to the fire oni. While Quan
was the attendant at the spring, the village and farms prospered greatly. When
Quan grew too old to fulfill his duties, one of his brothers sent a son to take
over. As each caretaker grew old, a male child from the same family was sent to
serve in each descending generation from Quan to this one. They came to be
known as the Chosen One who served the fire oni of the sacred spring."
"Wait," Goku interrupted. "Why didn't they let Quan become a
monk?"
"Quan was youkai," Wan Tu said.
Opening his eyes, Sanzo glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Goku's golden
eyes widen as his mouth formed a silent "O." Sanzo doubted Goku
realized the only reason he and Hakkai had been permitted to live at the temple
was because they were his charges. Even then, it had been a constant battle
with the prejudices and pettiness of certain monks. It had been incredibly
annoying.
"Over a year ago," Wan Tu continued. "Our village was struck
with the Plague of Madness."
"The Minus Wave," Sanzo said.
"All the youkai on the farms and in the village went mad with blood-lust
and began killing everyone." Wan Tu paused. "Including my
mother."
"It affected the Chosen One as well." Hakkai's tone made it more a
statement than a question.
"Yes." Wan Tu turned toward the front seat. "He slaughtered most
of the monks at the temple before disappearing." Wan Tu looked away, out
over the blighted fields on either side of Jeepu.
"After that, we lost the blessing of the fire oni. Crops failed, merchants
stopped coming to the village. The high priest from the temple told us once a
new Chosen One was selected, good fortune would again be ours. Farmers with
multiple sons sent their youngest to the temple. One by one, they died within
hours of being given to the fire oni. Horribly burned, like..." Wan Tu
paused, blinking as he swallowed. "My father."
"The fire oni was drawing energy from their bodies through
possession," Sanzo murmured.
Hakkai nodded. "The frailer human constitution wouldn't be able to take
the strain of it as the youkai Chosen Ones had."
Sanzo remembered Hakkai, curled up on the blanket in the floor of the storage
shed, his entire body shaking and teeth chattering so hard he could hear the
clicking. When he'd held Hakkai, the other man had been cold as a corpse. If he
had not been there, how long would Hakkai's drained body have lasted before the
oni's elemental nature began incinerating his body from the inside out? Would
his youkai self have been able to withstand it? The thought of Hakkai dying so
horribly, like the farmer, made Sanzo feel vaguely ill.
Perhaps when it had a steady source, the oni only took what it needed and let
its Chosen One's body replenish. Sanzo was uncertain how much intellect an oni
possessed, but he knew elementals tended to be strongly instinctual.
"The farmers and villagers refused to send any more children to the
temple," Wan Tu said. "The fire oni burned a path down the woods from
the spring to the lowlands, sending lightning storms down on the farmers and
the village. The destruction was terrible. The high priest convinced the
village elders to do a lottery among the men to select a Chosen One. The priest
used his power to strengthen the hearts of the men so they lasted longer than
the sons."
The priest most definitely needed to be neutralized. Hakkai's plan wisely
allowed Sanzo uncensored latitude in that respect, while involving him as
little as possible in the rescue of the hostage and Gojyo. Sanzo felt
considerably less inclined than usual to exert himself on behalf of the kappa.
Jeepu hit a bump in the road, and red claws of pain squeezed the top of Sanzo's
head. Closing his eyes, he tried to slow his breathing, visualizing the pain
flowing out of his body like smoke...
Fucking kappa.
Sanzo lost the rhythm of his breathing. He rarely gave Gojyo much thought.
Actually, he made a point of not thinking about the irritating redhead. He
would never have asked Gojyo to come along on this journey. Then again, he
conceded, he wouldn't have asked any of them. Given a choice, he would have
undertaken this task alone. Sometimes he still thought about it, slipping away
in the middle of the night to finish it on his own. Although now his reasons
were different than they had been at the onset of the journey. At the beginning,
he'd felt the other three were an encumbrance; now he didn't want the
responsibility of their deaths.
Sanzo suppressed a sigh. Not even Gojyo's, damn him.
Gojyo was the opposite of Sanzo in almost every conceivable way. Unlike Sanzo,
Gojyo was adept at talking about nothing; he could fill the silences between
people with the kind of nonsense that made them feel at ease. He was loud and
confident and laughed so easily. And, he was always... touching. Wrestling with
Goku, hugging Hakkai, Gojyo often even invaded Sanzo's personal space by
slinging an arm around his shoulders. Talking, laughing, touching. It was
irritating how effortless Gojyo made it all seem. He was so playful, even when
fighting, that at first Sanzo hadn't recognized Gojyo's skill as a fighter.
Just as he hadn't realized the true role Gojyo had played within the ikkou
until he was gone.
When Gojyo had left the group to fight "God", his absence had been
felt immediately. Gojyo had occupied Goku and used up his excess energy. He had
blunted Hakkai's sharp intensity and brought out the real smile. Although he
would never admit it, even Sanzo had missed the diversion provided by the
ridiculous flirting and lewd jokes. Gojyo filled in the gaps, quietly took up
the slack, distracting them for a few moments from the grim nature of the
mission and the fact that they were all most likely going to die.
"Sanzo."
Sanzo opened his eyes, wincing at the intrusion of the world. The day was
nearly gone. Jeepu had stopped behind a cluster of dead bamboo in the ditch
beside the road. A quick glance in the rearview mirror showed the back seat was
empty.
"This is where we agreed to split up," Hakkai said.
For a moment, Sanzo was confused, the migraine making his thoughts lag, then he
remembered. Once they had picked up Wan Tu, they were supposed to separate at
the bamboo grove just outside of town. Hakkai, Goku and the farm boy were going
to the Red Kimono and Sanzo was going to the temple.
The dead bamboo rattled in the wind like brittle bones and the faltering light
shifted strange shadows across Hakkai's concerned face.
"You should let me take care of that headache," Hakkai said.
When Hakkai touched his arm, Sanzo automatically pulled away.
"Please," Hakkai said quietly. "You need your full concentration
to confront the head priest."
"Che," Sanzo snorted.
He doubted some country priest at a backwater temple would be powerful enough
to make him break a sweat. However, none of them knew what was waiting at the
temple. Just like the orange, Sanzo briefly wondered what Hakkai would infer
from his accepting the healing.
"Fine." Sanzo leaned his head back against the seat and closed his
eyes.
He heard Hakkai shift closer. Even though he was expecting it, Sanzo flinched
when he felt the light touch against his temple.
"Relax, please," Hakkai murmured, breath tickling Sanzo's cheek.
Hakkai's fingers firmly massaged Sanzo's temple, releasing a warm circle of
chi. The sharp talons withdrew from Sanzo's skull and the tight band around his
head loosened. Fingers pressed against his other temple and soothing heat
rolled over him, like slipping into a hot bath dissolving away muscle ache.
Sanzo relaxed more deeply in his seat, shoulders dropping. Skillful fingers
slid through his hair, massaging his scalp, while the pads of Hakkai's thumbs
continued to press his temples. The heat began to tingle and the last vestiges
of pain evaporated.
"Better?" Hakkai asked softly.
Sanzo's eyes opened and focused on Hakkai's face, so close to his own. Hakkai
was wearing his "professional" healing smile. Sanzo wanted to rub the
fake smile away, reshape Hakkai's mouth with hard kisses. Sanzo's eyes rose and
met Hakkai's waiting gaze that saw too much despite being half-blind. The fake
smile vanished and Hakkai's real eye darkened.
"Sanzo..." he whispered.
Sanzo reached up and grasped Hakkai's wrists, pulling the slender hands away.
His eyes flicked down to Hakkai's mouth, lips still parted from saying his
name. Sanzo's grip tightened on Hakkai's wrists as his gut clenched. He wanted
him. Buddha help him, he still wanted him. Scowling, Sanzo released Hakkai's
wrists and turned away to climb down out of Jeepu. He had only taken a few
steps westward toward the temple when Hakkai's voice stopped him.
"Please be careful, Sanzo," Hakkai called out.
Sanzo continued walking towards the dying sun without turning around.