Title: Insatiable (2/?)

Author: Rroselavy

Rating: NC-17

Pairing(s): 39, 58

Beta: Akuchan

Spoilers: None, post series

Disclaimer: As if I could own something so utterly captivating.

Summary: Sanzo learns that Goku's insatiable hunger extends beyond food.

2.

"What are you doing? Didn't I tell you to rake the leaves?" Sanzo

folded his arms across his chest and scowled down at his charge.

"Done." Goku replied, not bothering to look up from his task. He was

seated on the couch, his legs curled beneath him, a book cradled in

his lap. Sanzo stepped closer in order to examine exactly what title

it was that had the teen's rapt attention. It was a basal reader, one

of the old musty textbooks that had been lying in an empty classroom

that he'd had the teen spruce up.

"What are you doing?" he repeated. Golden eyes glanced up at him, and

he could see the tinge of embarrassment stain Goku's cheeks.

"Tryin' to read," the teen mumbled.

"Trying? You learned how to read years ago."

"I know, but I forgot! I didn't get a chance to practice very much on

the road." His head tilted down, and his index finger began to travel

slowly across the page. Sanzo could hear him softly sounding out the

words; his progress was excruciatingly slow. Goku stopped suddenly,

closed the textbook with a frustrated sigh, and tossed it on the

table in front of him. He rubbed his eyes and then twisted his neck,

the cervical discs crackled as he worked out the kinks.

"Quitting already?" Sanzo challenged roughly, though his anger was

more directed inward; he should have been paying more attention to

Goku's education, even when they were traveling.

"It's not sinking in," Goku replied dejectedly. He leaned over the

armrest of the couch, his chin resting on his forearms, and from that

vantage point, stared out of the nearby window at the bare trees

beyond the temple's courtyard. After a moment of weighing the things

that he'd left unfinished on the desk in his study, Sanzo picked up

the volume and sat beside the teen. The infernal paperwork could

wait; he didn't understand why anyone would want to come to this

remote location to learn his vocation anyway. Goku turned back toward

him; the expression on his face told Sanzo that the teen expected to

be admonished, but his gaze shifted to the textbook as Sanzo opened

up to the first lesson. An elegant finger pointed to the first line.

"Read this to me."

Goku leaned into him, his head brushing against the taller man's

shoulder, and stared at the letterforms, and Sanzo was immediately

transported back through the years. He remembered how they used to

sit like this for hours under the peach tree in the courtyard at

Chang'an, he learning to be a patient teacher, and Goku soaking up

his lessons like a sponge, always hungry for more.

"I can't," the teen replied after a few moments of silence. In

response, Sanzo quirked an eye and shifted the book's position so

that he could wield his harisen.

"Okay, okay!" Goku said hurriedly, balefully eyeing the hateful fan.

Slowly he began to struggle through the text, at first syllable by

syllable, then word by word, sentence by sentence, and finally, page

by page. They stopped only when the room had become so dark that

Sanzo had to turn on a lamp. He glanced at the time then, and found

that they'd been at it for hours. As if on cue, Goku's stomach

growled.

"That's enough for today," Sanzo said, laying the book down on the

table. "But we can practice some more tomorrow."

"Thanks, Sanzo," Goku replied sincerely. "Could we also go over maths?"

The monk rolled his eyes, "What, you can't add, either?"

"I can!" Goku replied indignantly, "I mean, Hakkai an' I used to

practice my sums and division, but I think I'm a little rusty."

Sanzo's gaze softened slightly, "Okay, monkey, math too, but you'll

be getting homework then." He thought Goku would protest, but the

teen only nodded in agreement.

Within two weeks, Goku's reading had progressed beyond the remedial,

and Sanzo had learned the monkey's ulterior motive.

"Sanzo, can you show me how to email sometime?" he asked late one evening.

Sanzo peered up from the laptop screen, and over the top of his

reading glasses.

"Why?" he asked, his eyelid twitching.

It turned out that Goku had wanted to reach out to Hakkai, and soon,

it seemed, they were involved in a full-blown correspondence. Goku

would be on the laptop tapping away before breakfast, and then again

before he turned in for the night. He was careful not to impinge upon

the monk's computer time, but Sanzo was annoyed nonetheless, though

if he thought about it, he couldn't come up with a good reason as to

why it bothered him. He admitted to himself that at first he'd been a

bit put off that Goku was obviously confiding ~something~ in the

other youkai-something important, Sanzo had decided-and it was all he

could do not to violate the teen's privacy by snooping through his

inbox. In the end though, Sanzo decided that if the issue were at all

serious, Hakkai would have told him about it; and quite to the

contrary, the other man was downright evasive when Sanzo hinted at

his correspondence with the teen. So, the monk convinced himself that

he was relieved not to be bothered by whatever nonsense was occupying

Goku's mind.

He had more pressing matters anyway. Besides the never-ending

struggle to keep the teen's belly full, a new problem had arisen;

he'd outgrown his clothes. Pants that were too short and shirts that

were too tight hadn't bothered Goku at all, but when he could no

longer button his waist, things had become critical. Of course, Goku

had never thought to bring Sanzo's attention to the matter. Instead,

one morning, he just showed up for breakfast wearing a set of monks'

robes.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Sanzo seethed, immediately

relieved that they were alone in the monastery, so there were no

prying eyes to report the scandalous attire.

"Nuthin' fits anymore!"

"What?" he asked incredulously, "You were just wearing your clothes yesterday!"

Goku looked at him then, his luminescent eyes piercing through to

Sanzo's very soul. "Everything's too small." The teen seemed

genuinely perplexed by this development, as he'd worn the same

clothes for as long as he could remember.

For a moment Sanzo was taken aback too. It wasn't that he hadn't

noticed that Goku had been getting taller, it was just that it had

never registered that the physical changes could truly be some kind

of latent growth spurt, instigated by regularly scheduled meals,

exercise and sleep. He grabbed the teen by his forearm and dragged

him to his sleeping quarters. Goku sat obediently on the edge of his

bed while Sanzo rifled through his drawers to find something

suitable. He finally settled on a pair of sweatpants and a pullover.

"Take those off," he said thrusting the clothes at the teen. He

rolled his eyes when Goku hesitated, blushing. "It's not like I've

never seen you naked before, monkey."

Goku silently stood, and shrugged out of the loose robes. They pooled

at his feet, and Sanzo was momentarily stunned by the Adonis that

stood before him. When the hell had the monkey become so ... hot? His

boyish body had filled out in a most pleasing manner, Sanzo decided,

his mouth suddenly too dry.

"What?" Goku asked guardedly. He'd caught the monk ~staring~.

Sanzo's eyes snapped up to lock on the teen's gaze. "Get dressed,

now," he gritted, turning away to hide the blush of embarrassment

that he could feel burning his cheeks. When he turned back several

moments later, Goku was once again decent, though his thoughts still

weren't. Goku bent over and rolled the cuffs of the fleece pants up,

and Sanzo was given an eyeful of a perfectly curved bottom. He

groaned inwardly when he felt the stirrings of an arousal. It was

wrong on so many levels to be even remotely attracted to the teen.

Nevertheless, it took a long time for the afterimage of Goku's

exquisite body to fade away.

He couldn't exactly leave the boy without any clothes to call his

own, Sanzo rationalized as boxes--the fruits of his Internet buying

spree funded by the Three Aspects' Gold Card--began to be delivered

to their remote locale. (Sanzo reasoned that They'd saddled him with

his charge, so They should bear ~some~ of the responsibility of his

upkeep.) And he had to make sure that everything he'd purchased fit,

too. That was the only reason he demanded that Goku model each

article of clothing for him. But, as his eyes roved appreciatively

over the boy's lithe frame, Sanzo did allow that clothes that fit

correctly only served to accentuate the enticing planes and contours

of the teen's body.

"Something wrong?" Goku asked, the uncertainly in his voice pulling

the blond from his musings.

Sanzo found that he was momentarily tongue-tied, and annoyed at that

until he brought his gaze up to the teen's face. There, he could see

all the self-doubt of his own adolescence. He remembered well staring

into mirrors, appraising his lengthening form, ever critical--he was

too pale, too slender, his features were far too feminine. There had

been no one to ameliorate his own disapproving eye, no one that is,

until Goku, who'd always gazed at him with unwavering adoration.

Sanzo took a deep breath, "No," he said curtly, "but you'd better

stop growing soon. I don't plan on buying you new clothes every

season."

"I can't help it!" Goku protested to the monk's back as he left the room.

They'd fallen into an easy pattern, Sanzo thought a few days later as

he gazed out his office window, watching Goku clearing a path through

the first substantial snow of the season.

The teen had taken to awakening quite early, and more often than not,

a cup of steaming tea would be waiting for Sanzo at the kitchen

table, his morning paper and reading glasses beside it. Over a light

breakfast, Sanzo would list the things that Goku needed to accomplish

for the day-usually some handyman's work around the temple-or

immediately after breakfast, he would send the teen on errands, and

then later Sanzo would prepare their lunch. There was little

conversation at the mid-day meal, as the blond would be sifting

through whatever letters and bills may have come by post, and Goku

would be working on the homework that Sanzo had assigned to him the

afternoon prior. After lunch, each would go off to finish up their

various tasks, before they'd meet up once again by mid-afternoon in

the library, to work together on Goku's lessons. When it became too

dark to continue, they'd retire to the kitchen, and the teen would

help Sanzo prepare their evening meal, and then they would clean up

the day's dishes together. The evenings were passed with both of them

curled at either end of the couch; Goku watching satellite TV while

the monk read a book.

Sanzo tried to put his finger on just when Goku had gone from being

interminably annoying to, not completely enjoyable, but rather,

companionable. He snorted, not fully believing it himself that he

actually looked forward to their quiet evenings together. Goku, Sanzo

finally decided, had matured. He was no longer inclined to come

barging in unannounced, expecting the blond to be able to jump into a

conversation that had started some several moments ago. No, it seemed

that the teen had quieted down substantially now that he wasn't

parrying with Gojyo every waking hour. On that point, Sanzo couldn't

remember who'd been more of a pain in his ass, the baiting kappa, or

the ever-so-predictable monkey, but one thing was true, the Goku that

lived with him in the temple now, hardly resembled the little brat

that shared the back seat of Jeep with the redhead.

He continued to stare out of the window, wondering idly what had

caused the shift in the teen's behavior. A snowball smacking against

the pane startled him, and he tilted his head to see the monkey

setting up for another toss. Sanzo smiled wickedly, grabbing his

heavy overcoat and a pair of gloves on his way out into the courtyard.

_____________
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