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Counterpoint: "I dislike you less."
"There's nothing much that I can do right now about it. You should at least realize that."
"I realize it."
"Then why are you here, hm? You didn't have to call my attention in order to locate me. Where's the trust?" Hakkai smiled because he knew he was forcing from the monk an answer the man was too proud to vocalize. A sense of satisfaction- knowing that no gun could be pointed at his head. No threat for Sanzo to hide behind. Exploitation of vulnerabilities was not Hakkai's style at all, but then again, where was Hakkai?
"Reminding you to come back." Stone still features glowed eerily beneath the moonlight, the pond below casting reflections up into his window which pierced right through the monk as if he were air. Sanzo's features blurred. His concentration was breaking. "Because you're an idiot and might forget to."
"You want me to come back?" The thought amused him. Are you afraid that I've abandoned you? Afraid enough that you'd starve yourself fasting, torture yourself by abstaining from your precious cigarettes, and then jumping headlong into a reckless...dangerous...meditation... just to say...
"You're coming back."
"When I can. There are a few loose ends I must tie up before I leave."
"You're not on a fucking business trip, Hakkai. You have one day. Just one day and then I'm taking you back." He didn't say how, but knowing Sanzo, there was always a way that made things more convenient, at least for him.
The blonde turned away from him, hiding what Hakkai could only assume was a pout. But even with that last ultimatum, he still didn't leave, lingering drearily out of many nights' habit. Not saying anything at first, then nodding to himself. "This is you." A quiet silence. A Hakkai silence. He still lingered.
"Sanzo?"
"Shut up."
"Ne, Sanzo..."
"What?" He didn't move.
"Get yourself something to eat then rest some. We'll be leaving soon and there's still a long way to travel. Make sure Hakuryuu's well fed too, please?"
A nod. "Don't wake up late. I hate leaving late."
"Good night, Sanzo."
"Ch."
And then he was gone. Only Sanzo could make something as simple as friendship into some impossible four dimensional puzzle.
The bed shifted next to him, and all the sensations of cold sweat and high fever dissolved, replaced by a heady musk that could only belong to a certain stubborn general smelling of cologne and cigarettes. The mist next to the window was gone, revealing only shutters and curtains. A cool hand checked the heat on his forehead, the heat on his neck. Ran down to the newly changed bandages and wondered who had changed them and why nobody else had informed him that someone else was tending to the Marshal in his absence. Farther and farther back into sleep, all that Hakkai could sense was the coolness, the warmth, cigarette smoke and musk. And the world congealed in a collective darkness, caressing and full. And something that breathed nice and slow nuzzled the crook of his neck in an apology his body seemed to understand.
"Taishou..."
"My head's been pounded by every fucking commander in all the fucking armies of fucking eternity." He felt the words on his skin. "Give me your worst. I can take it."
Given the liberty to do so...
"Broken and whimpering now? I don't like."
"Fuck off." But Kenren only pulled him closer. Don't leave.
"Are you going to stay with me this time? Or do I have to take another arrow?"
"Shut up."
And then he couldn't resist. "Still jealous?"
"Okay, I didn't mean it. I can't take your worst right now. Kick my ass for forgetting who you are. That's salt in an open wound, Tenpou. Mercy's a good virtue."
And he pretended to sleep. And he thought he would finally be able to until a single word pierced their silence.
"Well?"
Nagging wife...
"Okay, fine. Shit. Yeah, I am."
"So, are you going to stay with me this time?"
"Who the hell said I was going anywhere?"
"Mnh."
Chapter 9: The Scent of Battle and Revelation:
"Nataku. Nataku!" Litouten was vigorously shaking his son's shoulder. "Wake up!"
"Huh?" The boy dazedly asked as his father pulled him up from the bed and literally dragged him out. His long, black locks fell to his waist and he barely had time to tie them back when he was pushed onto the balcony. "Does Tentei want me again?" He rubbed his eyes.
"No."
"Then wha-"
"Ssshh." Litouten hushshed him with a vile grin on his face, a filthy hand on his shoulder. "And watch."
Nataku did. All he saw was dead blackness and the Western Army housing complex not too far into the distance. "There's nothing there."
"Not now. Just wait. Tonight will be..." he trailed off, searching for a word glorious enough to do justice to this sensation of sweet, sadistic victory he was now tasting. "Nataku, wake up!"
The boy had fallen asleep on his feet. "I'm awake, Father. Tonight will be what? You said it'll be what?"
"Mine."
He sounded like one of those comic books the Marshal always slipped under his door whenever he knew Litouten isn't around. Nataku looked grumpily towards his father and shrunk back as the hand on his shoulder tightened into an oppressive grip. He looked to Western Army, then closed his eyes again. He didn't want to see this.
****
He had never really seen barrenness until now, the charred homes, trampled flower beds, broken fences, and severe emptiness -made more painful by the multitude of footprints in the snow indicating that there were once many more people here- it all tugged at memories that only this body knew. And what this body knew, Tenpou could only guess.
Walking the cold empty streets, that part of him numb to human suffering seemed to die with each step. Whisps of smoke from dying fires rose from various points in the village where several families had decided to stay out of love for homeland. "When it comes right down to it," a woman had told him. "Total disaster is in the eye of the beholder. Yes, we miss our lost friends...but we still have ourselves. Homes are just sticks and stones, and they can be rebuilt. Besides, the town was starting to look a bit decrepit anyway, wouldn't you think?"
