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Inu Yasha: Sesshoumaru, Rin, and Jaken

I don't pretend to any great familiarity with the details of all Inu Yasha's various storylines; I adore Sesshoumaru and I adore Rin interacting with Sesshoumaru. Jaken amuses me. And that's about it.

**********

On Paper

Jaken began to tutor Rin not long after his master took her in; an offhanded comment about her lowly ignorant state had landed him with the task. He rather suspected Lord Sesshoumaru found the idea very amusing. That was no surprise, his master often amused himself by tormenting his poor servant, Jaken was only trying to do his best for his lord, hard as it was stranded out here in the wilderness--

Ahem. That is, Jaken was teaching Rin how to read. At least he didn't have to teach her courtly manners, although as Lord Sesshoumaru commented sometimes, he could have made a profession out of it with the way he lectured the girl on her behavior.

Rin was a quick, bright girl, and picked up reading swiftly. Writing was not so easily mastered, especially since proper brushes, ink, and paper were not easy to procure or maintain when one was living off the land, forced to scrape and scrounge and sleep on rocks, really it was quite a barbaric lifestyle--

Ah, no matter, Lord Sesshoumaru replied with a shrug. Demons had no reason to write to each other anyway. (He'd gotten a funny look on his face when Jaken had pointed out that humans wrote to each other quite a lot.) So as long as Rin could write her name, and her kana were legible, that was enough of that. Rin did insist strongly on being taught how to write Lord Sesshoumaru's name as well, and Jaken's, which was good of her. That seemed to give his master some pause, and he'd knelt down when Rin had asked and drawn the characters of his name in the fine silt with one long claw. How pretty, she'd said, and she'd traced them with her fingers, and afterwards repeated each stroke over and over on the night sky before she fell asleep.

Rin's lessons usually began in the evenings after settling down for the night. Jaken had started out with utilitarian stuff-- records and lists and things he kept because someone had to do all that for Lord Sesshoumaru, he was a great demon lord after all-- but Rin quickly mastered the meanings and sounds and became bored. Lord Sesshoumaru, who had been pretending not to pay attention, suggested that Jaken find something else to use. Jaken protested that he knew nothing about human scribblings, he had better things to do with his time than read silly fairytales anyway, but his master waved him away. I don't care how you get them, he'd said, just make sure it's something long and interesting to her so she won't complain.

Poor Jaken eventually procured The Tale of Genji and most of The Tale of the Heike. He refused to explain how or where he'd gotten them, saying Rin wasn't old enough to hear such horrible accounts. Lord Sesshoumaru said that was rubbish if Jaken was going to teach her to read war stories and tragic romances anyway, and that he was just embarrassed by the indignity of it all. It took Jaken a while to realize he ought to wonder how his master knew what those tales were about, but Lord Sesshoumaru merely replied that all stories were about love, death, or fighting, and Jaken should know that by now.

Lessons proceeded apace, and soon Rin could read aloud as Jaken minded the fire or took care of Ah and Un. Lord Sesshoumaru continued to ignore them, unless Rin stumbled over a difficult word or hesitated at a new character. Jaken tried his best to pay close attention, he really did, he didn't want to be reprimanded for not keeping a closer eye on the girl, but usually his master was quicker with the answer, and eventually Rin just asked Lord Sesshoumaru instead, whenever he was in sight. She wasn't making as many mistakes as before, in any case, and her speed was improving. His master was always the one who noticed that Rin was nodding off, though, and ordered Jaken to call it a night before she nodded right into the campfire.

Even so, sometimes Rin got tired of the paper stories, and turned her inexhaustible curiosity on Jaken. Jaken was a terrible narrator, however, Jaken was only concerned with the glories of his Lord Sesshoumaru, and Rin said that didn't make a proper story. So she asked his master if he knew any good stories, with demons and warriors and tragic princesses.

Lord Sesshoumaru looked dismissive, then thoughtful, and then something else Jaken couldn't name. He said yes, as a matter of fact, he knew a very good one, and it had all of those things and more besides. Once upon a time, you see, there lived a great demon lord, and he fell in love with a beautiful human princess....

jumping at shadows

Weiss Kreuz, Omi, introspective (...surprise!):

They only went out at night, and so while the more mundane aspects of their job might intrude upon the daylight hours, the killers only came out in the dark. When the sun rose the blood was scrubbed away, only to flow again after sunset.

Perhaps that was why if he could at all avoid it, Omi never went out after dark (and oh, how he detested the winter months!). He stayed inside with all the lights on, music, television, anything to shut out the night and the silence of an assignment-- because once he felt it, he'd be Bombay. Dark was for missions.

weapon of choice

Slayers, Zelgadiss and Kizamiya and Rook, conversation on the road:

(note: Kizamiya is a sorceress with her own odd style-- she can hum and sing her magic. Rook is some sort of dragon, not sure exactly which. Kizamiya is also Zel's older sister. Poor Zel.)

Zel decided to butt in, largely thanks to a serious case of boredom and an even worse case of terminal curiosity. "So, just what exactly is going on with you two? Why do you stick together?"

His sister looked away, and said nothing for a minute. He ducked his head and tried to get a look at her face. It was pensive, slightly perturbed. Apparently his question irritated her. Awesome.

"It's... profitable, is one way to put it. We're still getting used to each other's company-- both of us are more accustomed to operating alone, really. But we like the way things go when we work together. Our way." The narrow-eyed expression on her face now was more her old self, the one Zelgadiss used to see whenever she had won an argument or slithered out of an unpleasant situation. "We can do more as a pair, we can be entertainers, mercenaries, bodyguards, fortunetellers, traders-- two heads are better than one, especially for keeping a lookout."

"How very practical of you," he commented dryly.

She smiled at him, small and smug like some rich lady's spoiled cat. "Of course! You know me, brother dear."

"But you're forgetting something, Keez!" Rook chided her, as she slung an arm about Zelgadiss's shoulders. "Your sister's incredibly sensible, but she's also too damn uptight." She winked at Kiza, who rolled her eyes and waited for whatever outrageous thing Rook was going to blurt out. Rook bent closer to Zelgadiss and whispered, very loudly, "She's gotten much better, though. All that wild sex, you know. It's a big help."

Zelgadiss nearly tripped over his own feet. Rook snickered, stepping away, then choked. Her eyes rolled to Kiza, who was smiling far too sweetly at her as she hummed. She quickened the tempo as she walked ahead, and Rook was abruptly flipped around and dragged backwards as if someone had grabbed her by the collar, leaving a very flustered Zelgadiss staring after her. Rook glared back at him, pointing at his sister and miming (quite graphically, Zel thought) knocking her out.

Zelgadiss smirked, shook his head, and resumed walking. He almost whistled, but thought better of it. Rook glowered at him all the way over the hill, which only seemed to improve his mood. Certain things did run in the family, after all. He was pretty certain Rook wouldn't be foolish enough to make a remark about that, however.

Rook managed to contain herself all the way until dinnertime, before proving him spectacularly wrong.

keep me a secret

FFVII, AF, Elise, post-game (I suppose this might fit before AC... ........nah, it's just a silly bit of nothing really):

It had been well over a year, after everything, when she saw him.

Elise had bought a house in one of the more remote mountain hamlets, a solid secure place filled with woven rugs, trapper's blankets and animal pelts covering most of the furniture. Zack would've had a field day with the place. She kept to herself, mostly, although she was a regular face in town; she didn't talk much, and nobody asked much either. Everyone had their reasons for liking that kind of place, after all. She'd learned the hard way, not to drink alone: nearly freezing to death sitting right next to her own door in the false warmth of alcohol.

Zack would've had a field day with that one, too. She'd laughed, when she'd stopped being quite so horrified at herself.

The fall and winter since she'd bought the place had come and gone, and spring was turning into summer when she noticed a new face walking through the door of the tavern. A new person, rather, as Elise could only see the back of his head, but she knew no one for miles had hair that particular platinum blond, not short and fine and carelessly swept back, like--

Like-- well I'll be damned

He turned away from the bar, and she found herself staring right at Rufus ShinRa, who was staring right back. Without missing a beat, he walked over to her little table in the corner and set down his bowl and mug, then slid onto the vacant bench as if he belonged there.

Well, nice to know some things don't change even when the world ends. If that's how it's gonna be...

"You're new here. Passing through?"

He didn't so much as blink. Smug bastard. "Perhaps. Depends on how I like it here."

"Really. What's your trade, then?" She'd been here at least long enough to know the grilling all the new faces got.

Still unfazed. "Oh, a little of this, a little of that." A polite smile. Elise wanted to grind her teeth and she could just hear Reno laughing at her. Both of them.

"Well, what's your name?"

"Hans." Elise tried, she really did, not to snort beer out of her nose.

"Ah, well." Quieter. "Is it really?" The tiniest of nods, and a careful smirk. She didn't realize she'd been apprehensive until her shoulders relaxed. "Fine. So, Hans... you come all this way by yourself?"

"Not exactly," came a voice from behind her left shoulder, and Elise decided she was going to need a much stronger drink if this kept up.

"Alright you two, dammit, if you think I came up here because I actually wanted to ever see any of you again, you--" Pause. "You. Sir."

"Yes...?" A casual drawl. That wasn't like him, some dim Zackish part of her brain noted gleefully.

"Goddammit, please tell me you're the only dead thing walking around up here. Besides our friend Hans, I mean." She was sure Reno would've been on the floor howling by now.

"Well, I think so, but I'm not too sure about that concoction they're calling 'stew', either," a third voice piped up as its owner sat down on her bench. Speak of the devil. It was official, Elise thought faintly, Zack would've really killed to see this.

"Reno, I hope you're enjoying yourself, because you're going to be paying for this for years."

"That's what I told him, but you know he never listens to us. Or me," Rude's voice slid in next to Tseng.

"Are you all going to just keep popping up like daisies through the floor, or can we take this freak show somewhere less public?" Elise hissed. "I think at this point you at least owe me more than cryptic facial expressions."

Tseng shrugged, as elegant as ever. "If you don't mind having a few guests, I suppose so. Reno, what's keeping Elena?"

"Oh, uh, she said she'd stay behind and watch the chopper."

"Reno..."

"Okay, okay, geez, I'm callin' her..."

"Like she said, Reno, paying for it for years," Rude added mildly. "If we didn't know any better we'd think you actually missed the abuse."

**********

Holy crap. Writing dialogue is, it's like, some kind of verbal trainwreck. I start getting into it, then it's too much fun, and then I just can't stop and I watch it get lamer and lamer and it just keeps spiraling into pointlessness and stupidity. (You'd never know the first half of this was from a three-year-old notebook. Except it's probably painfully obvious.) ARGH. DONE NOW.

evil and flowers

X, nameless humor fic (one day I'll put all these bits together and realize it's actually FINISHED), opening redux:

THEIR DESTINY WAS FOREORDAINED

...and, to be honest, it sucked.

Kamui often wondered, as he sat in the garden trying to catch up on schoolwork (and what was the point of THAT if the world was about to end?) whether or not any of the other Dragons shared his own low opinion of the workings of Fate. Sorata was too wrapped up in the insistence that Fate had given him Arashi-- and Arashi was rather preoccupied by dealing with his attentions. Yuzuriha, he thought, might have something to say about it, but she seemed to be doing her best to retreat into a happy bubble with Inuki and ice cream and big hulking ex-army types. Aoki and Karen were too distracted by being 'responsible adults', whatever that meant, and trying very hard not to jump each other.

That left Subaru. Yes, Subaru seemed to have it pretty bad where Fate was concerned, Kamui reasoned, as he doodled little sakura flowers down the margins in his math book. Being locked in a bizarre love-hate relationship with one of the Bad Guys, who'd also killed his own sister...

...wait, that was Fuuma, Kamui corrected himself.

But no, Kamui didn't have a sister... damn, this was confusing.

listen to the stars

FFVII, AF, Vincent and Elise, just before reaching the Northern Crater:

The only sound up there at the top of the world was made by Vincent's boots, sloughing through the powdery snow as he went to take the pre-dawn watch. The air was so still that his breath hung paralyzed in clouds behind him, slowly fading above his footprints as he reached their lookout.

"My turn. If you're quick the blankets might still be warm."

Elise didn't move. "Come and sit."

Vincent moved around behind her watch-perch on the edge of a flat boulder, and settled in a crouch beside her. "End of the world or not, rest is still necessary."

"Sleep isn't restful with those kinds of dreams. It's comforting out here."

Vincent didn't ask, but the bare sound of his head turning to regard her was as good as the question.

She tipped her head back and looked straight up, up, and up, into the well of stars spread over the snowy horizon. The expanse was so immense it almost felt as if she were being pulled away from the earth, spinning, enfolded in glittering vastness.

"No matter what, the stars will be here. Nothing on a human scale can change them... and they are so beautiful," she whispered, a smile in her voice as it hung in the still and frozen air.

Vincent shook his head.

"You forget. Jenova came from those stars, and she will likely return to them, if she succeeds. They might not vanish, but they are not safely remote."

Elise sighed heavily, a gust of smoke, elbowing him sideways. The twist to her lips was audible. "Thanks, Vincent, knew I could count on you to piss on the one shred of happiness I had left." She took a very long swig from her hip flask and pointedly continued to look up.

Vincent huffed, a hoarse and empty sound that might have meant amusement, and reached for the proffered flask without comment.

you learned all you know from me

FFVII, AF, Zack and Cloud followed by Zack and Sephiroth:

"Well, the way I see it, me quitting won't make the company stop screwing up the planet or people's lives. Sure, I've had to to a lot of things I don't agree with, and I've had to watch people suffer for it... but it would be someone else doing those things if it wasn't me, and at least if it's me then I know I'll do my best to soften the impact. You know?" He clapped the smaller boy on the shoulder, his grin almost apologetic.

"I mean, as long as I'm here I might as well help the people who'd just get overlooked-- don't look at me like that, kid, you're no ordinary charity case!-- and if I walked away I'd be left feeling even more helpless than I ever do here on the job. It's a matter of being on the inside, of knowing what's really going on, you see, not of being responsible or not. At least in here, I can see." Zack pulled his shades off and tossed them onto the table, rubbing his eyes with one hand. "I always did hate not being able to see everything."

Cloud found the shadow of a smile, then. "General Sephiroth was right. You really are just the nosiest person on the planet."

"What?! He said that?"

"Um, well, that is, he was agreeing with something someone else said, I think?" Zack rolled his eyes. Cloud's loyalty was so transparent it hurt, sometimes. Okay, all the time.

"Hmm. Was that someone a woman in a dark blue suit?"

"How'd you know?"

"Never mind. Next time you see Sephiroth, kick him for me, wouldja?" Zack laughed as Cloud blanched at the thought of such a sacrilegious act. "Alright, fine, I'll do it myself. Chicken."

"Am not. I'd just like to keep my foot attached to my leg."

**********

"So I'm the nosiest person on the planet, am I?"

Sephiroth half-turned to see Zack trotting up beside him, easily falling into stride as he juggled an armful of file folders and two rucksacks full of Shiva-knew-what. He was preoccupied with his burdens, but Sephiroth could see the edge of his grin, and hear the mischief in his voice.

"You didn't hear that from your sister," he stated with a (reasonable) amount of certainty. Elise had still been stuck in a meeting, last he'd checked, and no pager access allowed.

"Nope. My spies are everywhere."

Sephiroth refused to rise to the bait. It was much more entertaining to make Zack spill things out of sheer impatience. "Really. I'll just have to do a better job of instilling mortal terror in the hearts of all my men, I suppose."

"I don't think you could intimidate Cloud any more if you tried."

Aha. "You're getting sloppy; I expected to have to be much less interested before you'd tell me who it was."

"I hope that was sarcasm." Zack swung one of the sacks at him, thwacking his elbow. "And anyway, I'm really pretty sure you couldn't make him more afraid of you if you started breathing fire and laughing like Heidegger."

"That sounds pretty frightening to me, are you sure?"

"Positive! ...Hey, so you know who Cloud is?" Sephiroth couldn't tell whether it was meant to be a statement or a question. Zack probably wasn't sure either.

"Blond, skittish, way too small, looks like he'd break if you frowned at him?"

"Wow, yeah, you've seen him. Be nice, eh?"

Sephiroth wrinkled his nose ever so slightly. "I'm always nice."

"Now that was sarcasm."

overlook this supposed crime

This is also OLD, and pretty much goes nowhere (much like the rest of AF, it is doomed to float aimlessly in a fog of AU half-plot). It is also really terrible. It niggled at me, is all.

FFVII, AF, Reno and Rude, on the topic of Sector 7:

"Then what's all this shit for, Rude? Would someone TELL ME, please, so that I can at least know why I shouldn't throw myself into the reactor immediately afterwards?" Reno sagged against the wall, so angry or upset or something else entirely that he couldn't even look above his own feet. "And if you tell me it's because we're well-paid for it, I swear I'm leaving." It wasn't a threat aimed at Rude, it was personal-- there was nowhere to go, and Reno had nobody but himself. At least, that was what Reno figured.

Rude decided he'd finally had enough of that particular load of crap. Faster than most people ever saw him move (at least, and live to tell), Rude lunged forward and grabbed a double fistful of Reno's shirt. He yanked hard, till they were nose to nose, and he allowed the sunglasses to slip down in order to give Reno the full effect of his rage.

"Alright, genius. I'll let you in on the big secret. It's not some grand executive plan for the greater good, or even the good of ShinRa. In fact, it's completely fucking selfish. Selfish because whatever it takes to keep us on top, we'll do."

"How does ordering me to--"

"Ordering you has nothing to do with it. You carrying out the order, that has everything to do with it. And here's why." Rude yanked Reno forward by his collar, that last crucial distance, and kissed him.

you break it, you bought it

Jeebus, this thing is OLD.

Tokyo Underground, Sui POV:

Sui returned Ginnosuke's intense stare for a fraction of a second, then looked down at the mechanical mess on his workbench.

What was it about those eyes, when he was serious? Sui wished he knew, because it gave him one hell of a case of the jitters. Ginnosuke was far too complicated for his own good. If that kid wasn't careful, soon there would be a long line of people scrambling over each other for the chance to figure him out. And Sui was just good with machines. What could he ever hope to accomplish?

"Sui-sensei can fix anything, so... I thought perhaps he could put the pieces back together."

His throat closed up, and he very nearly clutched at his jaw to keep from twisting his expression. "It means a lot, that you think so. I just wish it were true."

my favorite mistake

Saiyuki, sometime during RELOAD(?) perhaps, Goku and Sanzo:

Goku looked at him the way he usually looked at other people who had just said something so obviously wrong there was no verbal response possible.

"/What/?!"

"Sanzo's not the only one who ever makes mistakes," he stated, like it was the most obvious truth in the world. "Everybody screws up. We just try to fix things, and if you can't then you say you're sorry." There was that abashed little-boy grin again, just like in Chang'An. "I mean, you sure made me do it often enough..."

And Goku rolled back off the windowsill and bounded towards the walnut tree, and Sanzo abruptly noticed his hands were shaking.

There must be some sort of hilarious irony in the monkey bringing him this close to breaking, but he didn't feel like looking for it. Instead he sat, concentrating very hard on his cigarette and watching Goku clamber all over the walnut tree, for all the world like that little scrawny kid he'd dragged in all those years ago, and trying not to think about how reassuring that comparison was.

everything in between

Saiyuki, Sanzo POV, volume 6 or 9ish: There's no such thing as a good day for Sanzo, but some do suck less than others. (old temps_mort entry)

Sanzo grimaced as he rearranged himself behind Jeep's steering wheel, trying in vain to find a position that didn't jar bruises or press his bandages too hard. His entire body was one massive ache. Hakkai had refused to buy more beer or cigarettes, and for some reason his death threats had failed to impress anyone this morning. This was his last resort, stealing the driver's seat-- let them endure his driving for a few hours, and serve them right if they all got carsick. Sanzo swatted the steering wheel in an unusual display of petulance. God-damn-it, he was losing his touch. His throat hurt, his eyes burned, and he wanted to sleep in a dark quiet room so badly, he thought he might scream.

"Oi, Sanzo, there you are! You didn't want to supervise our packing?" Goku eyed him warily as he deposited a bulging sack in the backseat. "Hakkai says he's almost ready, just gonna check with the owner and make sure he doesn't need anything else."

Sanzo didn't dignify that with a response. His eyes felt like they were glued to the windshield, anyway. He found himself hoping there was a mostly-straight road in front of them today.

Goku poked his shoulder, and FUCK, it hurt. "What the hell do you want, monkey? Don't touch me." He'd smack Goku, really he would, except the thought of moving his shoulders made him think again. Fine, he'd just cause extra pain as soon as he was more mobile.

"Are you really okay?" Goku had clambered over the door and was behind him, hands resting on the back of Sanzo's seat.

Stupid monkey. "What do you think? Poke me again and I'll give you three bruises for every one of mine."

An impatient huff. Goku thought he was being thickheaded-- now that was rich. "That's not what I meant."

Sanzo certainly didn't feel like replying to that, either. He kept his gritty eyes on the windshield, mouth pressed shut and oh how he wanted a cigarette. He was going to kill Hakkai... was that a hand in his hair? Fuck it, he was going to kill Goku first.

"When you get tired of driving, we'll be quiet, I promise." The touch was light, fingers combing through his hair above his left ear. Almost a whisper, then nothing. By the time Sanzo'd filtered out the realization that it felt pleasant, Goku had flopped back in his seat and was rummaging around for a snack.

Maybe if he drove recklessly for half an hour, they'd get the point. "Tell the kappa he'd better not sit behind me."

"Nmm? Nah, I've got dibs on this side. That bastard said he was gonna make me sit in the floor so he could nap." A snort. "Like hell." The hands were back, this time on his shoulders-- the stupid monkey really never listened, did he?-- and he could feel warm breath by his ear. "Ne, Sanzo?"

"What?!" Shit, he didn't even have the energy to sound angry, and that just made him angrier.

"Are you really really okay?"

It didn't take much, after all, to raise one hand from his sleeves and cuff Goku. He missed, though (he supposed, afterward, he'd been aiming for a smack on the nose), and his knuckles lightly grazed Goku's jaw.

"I'm fine, idiot. I'll be even better when you all sit down and shut up and we're actually on the road," he added, the last bit rising in volume as Sanzo turned his head toward the inn, directing what he hoped was a venomous glare at Gojyo. Stupid kappa was loitering in the doorway and was that a cigarette in his mouth? Fuck. He was going to kill Gojyo first, then Hakkai.

Goku sat back again, fingers ghosting through Sanzo's hair along the way. Sanzo closed his eyes briefly, and sighed through his nose.

"Sanzo, I really will--"

"I know. So start already." He almost couldn't stop one corner of his mouth curling upward in satisfaction, at the sound of Goku's teeth clicking together abruptly. He felt the brat's intent gaze directed at the back of his head all the rest of the morning, and it should have been as infuriating as his chattering, but by lunchtime Sanzo's headache was gone. He decided not to spoil the miraculous silence, and let it slide.

The weather was fine, the road was clear, and the scenery was thankfully empty. By the time he was able to drift into a doze, having switched seats with Hakkai, Sanzo was feeling magnanimous enough to lean his seat back and not complain when Goku draped his arms over the headrest.

Hakkai would have said it was a good day. Sanzo didn't have good days. Still, it was the least awful day he'd had in a very long time, even if he'd never admit it to himself.

not for all the tea in china

Crappy first draft-- Saiyuki, Goku and Sanzo, sometime during the journey (Goku's not very good at this non-attachment thing...):

It had started as another aimless conversation, the kind Goku always started with a 'why' question (or five, or ten) and Sanzo always ended with profanity. This time, though, Goku had been attracted to the gleaming of gold from the nearby temple, its roof ornaments shining bright in the afternoon sun, and he'd asked about the Buddha.

Thirty torturous minutes later, Sanzo finished his crash course of Buddhist history, mildly amazed he'd even bothered to waste his breath. Then he saw Goku's eyes narrow and oh hell, the monkey was /thinking/.

"But, what's the point then? What do you do, if you can't want or have anything at all, ever?" It was like trying to contemplate antimatter, or the entire universe crammed into a space smaller than nothingness. Goku's reality just refused to process the concept. "How can you live with nothing?" Living without wanting, without needing, without others-- that meant living without Sanzo, which was simply not possible. Beyond that truth, the rest was moot.

"To live is to suffer."

"Well, yeah, if you live like /that/ of course it sucks--HEY! Don't hit me for saying stuff like that, it's not like you follow those principles anyway!" Goku leaned out of reach and kept right on talking, he knew it just made Sanzo even angrier but he couldn't help it. It was the truth, and Sanzo maybe didn't hear honest things as often as he thought he did.

"The idea is to escape life in the end, you moron. It's something that has to be endured, is all."

"Escape life? So you want to die? Hey, heystoppit!" Goku ducked a second swipe from the rolled-up newspaper. "That doesn't make any sense to me, I mean, you sure seem attached to plenty of things, although you don't ever take good care of yourself." Goku blithely ignored the deepening crease in Sanzo's brow and his grip tightening on the paper. He had something to say and he wasn't about to let go of it just yet, Sanzo distracted him most of the time but this was more important. "You smoke, you drink... okay, so you don't care that much about food, but monks aren't supposed to eat meat, are they? You're attached to things, they're just not the same things everyone else gets attached to." Goku paused, frowned, concentrated. "No, that's not it. You're attached to things, just not the important things-- dammit, that's not quite what I mean either." He huffed and glanced up--

--just in time to see Sanzo scrape his chair back, stand up and stalk out the door. "Hey, where the hell are you going? I'm still talking to you!" He ignored the slamming door and climbed out the window instead, plopping down square in Sanzo's path as he moved towards the balcony railing.

"Damn monkey-- do you WANT me to beat you up?! Sanzo really did look mad, Goku noticed then, not like his usual reflexive grumpiness. Some small part of him was pleased at that and he didn't know why, but he kept pushing.

"No, I want you to answer me."

"You didn't ask me a question."

"Fine, then I want you to /explain/."

"I don't have to explain anything to you. Go bother Hakkai with that shit." The anger was frozen in place now, and Goku could either make it worse or leave Sanzo to stew in his own self-loathing per usual.

That routine was getting kind of old. Well then; variety was the spice of life, right?

"If you're not gonna explain anything, then you can listen to me." Goku felt that same irrational flash of enjoyment when he saw Sanzo's eyes widen in irritated disbelief. "You think you don't need us but you figured it out just like Hakkai and Gojyo did-- we have to work together to get anywhere. That's important. We're all strong but that doesn't mean we don't need things. Hakkai needs people to take care of, and Gojyo needs friends, and I need to be near you. Or is it wanting? They feel the same, to me, so I'm never sure..."

As Goku's reasoning trailed off into circuitous one-sided conversation, Sanzo rolled his eyes. Third time was the charm-- Goku'd forgotten about the newspaper. It made a very satisfying thwacking sound as it connected with the back of the monkey's head.

"DAMMIT! That hurt!"

"That's what you get for being annoying and stupid. I told you, go bother Hakkai."

"Fine." Goku stomped inside, taking his turn to slam the door. The sound echoed with disappointment.

Sanzo leaned against the railing, taking another drag from his cigarette, and glowered at the countryside below. His gaze studiously avoided the sprawling temple complex at the edge of town, its roofing tiles gleaming like fire under the setting sun.

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Didodikali's Lemonade Party

GWYaoi.org

Thorne @ LJ

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Eukaryotic Cell Division