The Game of Love

Title: The Game of Love
Author: Despina
Pairing: Gojyo x Hakkai, some Sanzo x Goku
Rating: NC 17 - just to cover all future possibilities *wink-wink*
Summary: A series of ‘moments’ between Gojyo and Hakkai. What are they to one another? Confusion, exploration and testing boundaries are necessary in order to find out.


Sorry this took so long – there were complications. I could really use a Beta! But anyway – here is chapter 2 – warts and all!


The Game of Love


Chapter 2


“Hot springs?” Gojyo and Goku said at the same time as they looked at their server.

“Yes,” the petite, pretty girl smiled, batting her eyes at, of all people, Sanzo. “It’s about a two hour walk from here. There’s a wonderful place to stay and the food is very good. My aunt runs it.”

“Hey Sanzo, we should go!” Goku said happily, as he stuffed an entire egg roll into his mouth.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Sanzo answered testily.

Gojyo couldn’t believe his luck. He knew Hakkai had a particular weakness for hot springs and if Sanzo stayed in town then of course, that would mean the monkey would stay. His mind whirled with illicit thoughts of hot springs and a naked Hakkai.

“Oh come on, Sanzo!” the monkey king whined through his mouthful of food. He turned to the server again and once he managed to swallow, asked, “How are the beds?”

“Stupid monkey!” the priest snapped. “Shut up!”

“Yes Goku,” Gojyo snarled. “Do us all a favor and shut up.”

Sanzo’s violet eyes narrowed as they met Gojyo’s crimson ones.

“Maybe…” Sanzo couldn’t resist. Gojyo was so blatant about how hot he was for Hakkai, and Hakkai was so obliviously interested in Gojyo. And yet the two spent so much of their time denying the truth that Sanzo couldn’t help thinking they didn’t deserve each other. They were annoyingly dense about going after what they really wanted. If he could disrupt the half-breed’s dreams of getting Hakkai alone and defenseless, so much the better.

“On second thought,” he announced, “we’re going.”

Gojyo’s fiery glare could have ignited a fire.

So, the four made their way to the hot springs, enlisting Hakuryuu’s help until the undergrowth became too dense and the path too narrow for him to traverse farther. They had to walk the remaining half-mile, carrying cigarettes, wine and snacks, just in case they had to fend for themselves.

Gojyo glowered during the jeep ride, relegated to the back seat and away from Hakkai – fuming about the likelihood of having Goku and Sanzo disrupt his moments with Hakkai or worse; listening to two screwing, which was equally frustrating.

He hadn’t known until the day before that the monkey and the surly priest were an item, but it was so clear now, he couldn’t believe he had ever missed it. He had heard them the night before, going at it with gusto and the sounds the two made were surprisingly sexy. Who knew Sanzo had it in him to be so noisy? Unwanted images assaulted Gojyo as he stole a look at the priest.

“What?” Sanzo barked at him.

“Nothing,” Gojyo answered with a smirk, as he considered Sanzo on the bottom. Who knew, indeed?

“Gojyo,” Hakkai’s soothing voice said just behind his right ear. “Would you carry this?”

No one could sneak up on the redhead as easily as Hakkai could. In fact, Hakkai made a bad habit of surprising everyone; Sanzo had nearly shot him on several occasions when he had startled the priest. Gojyo was convinced his roommate got a kick out of surprising everyone; it was an aspect of his bizarre and twisted sense of humor. But Gojyo was equally certain that Hakkai never got quite as physically close to anyone else as he did to him.

“Um, sure,” the half-demon said as he reached out to take the cooler from Hakkai’s hand. His fingers brushed against Hakkai’s and for a moment, the two hands lingered as they experienced the jolt of electricity jump between them.

Dear gods, Gojyo thought, if our hands coming in contact caused this reaction, what would actual sex be like? The possibilities made his knees weak.

Green eyes mirrored Gojyo’s own thoughts for a moment before Hakkai hastily backed away and hid behind the phony smile. There was something about Gojyo, some unidentified quality that served to disorient the demon. Hakkai found himself torn between fearing for and longing for the feelings his friend brought out in him.

Gojyo seemed constantly to tread on dangerous emotional ground with Hakkai, yet the healer could not bring himself to reject his roommate. He wondered why. And lately… lately Hakkai seemed to unconsciously seek out his friend, for no apparent reason other than simply taking comfort in Gojyo’s presence.

He wondered why.

He knew why, but he couldn’t face the reality as of yet. Gojyo was a man, for one, and a heterosexual man, at that. In addition, Gojyo was not relationship material. All concerns regarding considerations of male anatomy aside, the other major problem was that redhead didn’t seem to stick around once he’d managed his conquest. He might be fun in that no strings attached way that everyone spoke of, but Hakkai could never really get the hang of that life style. Being intimate with someone meant something deeper to the green-eyed man. He didn’t like the feel of empty sex, no matter how impressive it might be.

Hakkai would prefer to keep Gojyo as his best friend rather than lose him to a crazy lust-filled tryst.

Lewd images swam through Hakkai’s head of a naked and wet Gojyo as he stepped fresh from the shower. No. Gojyo was too important to give into that…

“Hakkai?” Gojyo’s teasing tone and smirking smile broke through his daydream. “You’re staring at me. Are you dreaming about me naked again?”

The healer internally scrambled for an explanation, but immediately realized that any denial on his part would only result in fueling Gojyo’s focus on teasing him. So instead of giving an excuse, he opted for a more direct approach.

He smiled.

Gojyo blinked in confusion, completely disarmed by his friend’s genuine smile. He was still standing and staring after his roommate, opened mouthed and dumbstruck when Sanzo passed him.

“Some player you are” the priest said dismissively. “He’s one up on you, loser.”

“What?” Gojyo started and then smiled slyly. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous, Sanzo.”

“Tch, as if. It seems to me that at the rate you’re going, nothing will ever happen between the two of you.” Sanzo glared at the taller man as he lit a cigarette before he added, “Probably just as well, he’s too much for you to handle.”

Gojyo shrugged, “I think I’m capable.”

Droopy purple eyes sparkled with the verbal challenge. “Do you? I’d think very carefully about it if I were you,” Sanzo turned away but paused long enough to add, “As a thousand demons before you should have.”

“Whatever,” Gojyo said to the priest’s back, wisely holding back the barb about being the monkey’s bitch. Besides, there was nothing Sanzo could say that would ruin the half-breed’s good mood, Hakkai had just shamelessly flirted with Gojyo. At least that’s what Gojyo thought had happened.

The redhead was further elated when he learned there were only two rooms available in the inn. Of course, he and Hakkai would share one and Goku and Sanzo the other. Gojyo felt as if nothing could go wrong.

He should’ve known better. Predictably, after that, everything went to hell.

Later that day, a larger than normal band of demons attacked them, destroying a portion of the inn. Because of the vast numbers, the four fighters were unable to dispatch the band quickly and many people were hurt in the resulting wave of violence. Much to his embarrassment, Gojyo was one of them, although he hid it credibly well.

Hakkai spent much of the following six hours tending the wounded only to finally fall into bed, completely exhausted.

Gojyo was also exhausted, but he found sleep elusive. And when Sanzo and Goku started going at it next door, well, that was all he could take.

Wandering passed the ruined part of the inn, Gojyo was grateful to find the hot springs completely undamaged. Never one to be overly concerned with his nudity, he stood on the cold slate tiles in his bare feet and quickly peeled off his clothes, hissing when he had to tug the blood-adhered fabric from his gash on his side. He wasn’t worried about the injury – he healed fast and it wasn’t enough of a wound to trouble the already inundated Hakkai.

Besides, when Hakkai healed him, other things happened, intimate things, that left him incredibly vulnerable to the dark-haired man. As far as Gojyo could tell, he was the only person to get a hard-on when healed by Hakkai, but he also couldn’t rule out the possibility that it might have something to do with his own perverted nature.

Stepping into the bath the Gojyo sighed with pleasure then groaned with pain as the warm water lapped against his laceration. A single demon had surpassed all his defenses to give him the wound with an ordinary kitchen knife.

A kitchen knife.

Sanzo’s earlier words suddenly flowed through Gojyo’s head. There was a time when Hakkai had been one crazed human armed with only a kitchen knife and he had managed to slaughter a thousand demons. Was that what Sanzo was trying to remind him about? Was the priest trying to warn Gojyo that the cost of Hakkai’s love was high?

But Gojyo knew that. Right?

One thousand demons. Kanan had meant all of that and more to Hakkai.

No, not to Hakkai, to Gonou. But in the end, did the name really matter?

Raising his left arm, he looked at the deep gash that ran down his side. One demon, surrounded by a hundred others managed to get to him. How had one measly human managed to kill a thousand demons with a kitchen knife?

It was love. Hakkai’s love.

Gojyo wondered what was it like to experience a love so deeply.

“You should have told me you were injured,” the soft, lilting voice said behind him.

Gojyo hastily lowered his arm. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s hardly ‘nothing’ if you are trying to hide it from me,” Hakkai answered. “I figured I would find you here. I’m glad I brought two towels.”

“Towels?” Gojyo asked with confusion.

“Yes towels, plural, as opposed to towel, singular. To dry off with when you leave the spring,” he began to strip. “Make room, Gojyo.”

He slid over in the pool, but he never took his eyes off Hakkai, as he watched his friend undress.

Hakkai was normally shy about disrobing in front of people; Gojyo suspected he was self-conscious of the wicked scar on his stomach. But the healer was habitually at ease in front of the half-demon, possibly because Gojyo was the one who had initially tended to the wound. Or; possibly, because Gojyo was the one person in the world Hakkai trusted.

Gojyo turned his head abruptly, awash with confusion. If he pursued Hakkai, would that deep trust disappear? Gojyo was suddenly unsure he wanted to risk such a loss.

Shedding the remainder of his clothes and his monocle, Hakkai slipped into the pool. The contact with the warm water caused him to sigh, echoing the sound Gojyo had made earlier. The redhead smiled contently with the sound as he leaned back, resting his head on the rocks, letting his long hair drift in the water.

Hakkai watched with keen interest as Gojyo’s hair floated in the water as if it were sentient. The healer secretly adored the long hair, but he resisted the urge to capture a strand of the fiery locks he found so tempting. Instead, he watched the red strings float and swirl, merge and part, mesmerized by their beauty as he listened to the comforting sounds of Gojyo’s breathing.

After several calm, relaxing minutes, he came back to himself and said patiently, “Now let me see that wound.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Gojyo protested, as he opened his eyes to see Hakkai’s intense scrutiny. He realized he was half-hard and certain he would become completely erect, probably more, if his friend touched him. “It’s just a scratch, really.”

“Never the less, let me see it,” Hakkai demanded as stood up to move to Gojyo’s side.

“Hakkai,” Gojyo sighed, “you’ve already done enough today…” He trailed off as he watched his roommate plant his foot on an unsteady rock and… fall.

Gojyo didn’t have time to consider he’d never before seen the green-eyed man slip. Hakkai’s skill with martial arts made him limber and centered, even if he did fall, his training would save him from impact. But the redhead tended to act without thinking and leapt to catch his friend, leaving him, in the end, underneath a naked Hakkai. “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” Hakkai began to laugh with the absurdity of the question. “I believe that is the question I should ask of you. You are the one with the wound, after all.” The dark-haired man shifted on top of his friend.

Gojyo had to hold in the groan as Hakkai’s firm, naked ass rubbed against him.

“And it appears as if you are something else as well,” the healer smirked as he slithered off Gojyo’s lap. “But then again, I’ve noticed the current condition of certain parts of your anatomy is chronic.”

“No,” Gojyo defended. “That’s not true. I’m only chronically hard around hotties. You just happened to be one.”

“Regardless,” the healer’s smile became more plastic as the denial took over, “I need you to get out of the water so I can see that wound.”

“It’s really not that bad,” the redhead reasoned.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Hakkai answered determinedly.

“Okay, but no healing me without warning. You know what happens.” Gojyo moved out of the pool to sit on a towel Hakkai considerately placed on the cold slate tiles for him. He watched Hakkai closely. Healing from his friend was always an issue and tonight, considering how weak he was for the green-eyed demon already – he wasn’t sure he could keep himself from jumping on Hakkai.

“This is bad, Gojyo. Why did you hide it from me?” Hakkai chastised.

The kappa snorted derisively. “As if you didn’t know.”

“I am going to heal you now,” Hakkai whispered.

“No, Hakkai… I don’t think that would be a good idea …”

“Would you rather to wait when we get back to the inn?” Hakkai smiled. “So that Goku and Sanzo can watch.”

“Tch.”

“Then hold still,” the gentle hands warmed on Gojyo’s skin.

The soft-green light of Hakkai’s healing chi reflected off the bathing pool as Gojyo’s head tipped back and he began to shake, groaning loudly as the warmth from Hakkai’s hands became a fire. His body quivered as the flesh on his wound knitted together and sealed. But inside of the half-breed, something else happened. He felt as if a thousand hands stroked him, no, a thousand mouths, all warm, wet, and exhilarating, they knew exactly where to touch him and how to satisfy him. His pleasure turned to pure euphoria as he arched his back with his lightening fast orgasm, splattering both of them with silky strands of his cum.

Afterwards, as he lay panting on the towel, he glared at his friend, “You do that on purpose, don’t you?”

“Do what?” Hakkai asked innocently.

“No one else comes when you heal them!” he said with exasperation as he sat up and began rinsing himself off with warm water outside the bath. “But almost every time with me! You do something to me.”

Hakkai slipped back into the pool with a laugh and a shrug. “It’s different with everyone.”

“No, it’s not,” Gojyo snarled as he slid back into the water. “Sanzo and Goku are indifferent when you heal them and it causes pain to everyone else.”

“Hmm. Is that so? I guess I never noticed before.”

“Bullshit,” Gojyo snapped. And then he groaned as he watched the healer blatantly lick the cum off his hand. “You are a tease, you know that Hakkai?”

“The moon is beautiful tonight isn’t it?” Hakkai said as he ran his tongue over his lips.

“Whatever,” Gojyo snarled. “I prefer dinner and a kiss before I come.”

“Hmm. But you do feel better, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah. Of course, but I like more contact,” Gojyo looked up slyly at his friend. “Don’t you?”

After a few moments of silence Hakkai announced, “Well, I’m going to bed.”

Hakkai tried to be discreet as he reached for a towel, but Gojyo did catch sight of the healer’s rather impressive erection. That vision did much to mollify the redhead’s outrage.

Maybe that healing thing worked on both of them.

Now, if he could just manage to get some caressing in, that might help take their teasing to the next level. But then again, he wasn’t certain Hakkai was ready for that, it was probable his friend still needed a little wooing.

“Thanks, Hakkai,” Gojyo said softly. “Thanks to you, I’ll have great dreams tonight. Your touch always does that to me.”

Hakkai laughed as he dressed in the near darkness.

“I’m serious,” he whispered with hurt in his voice.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Gojyo, I was not laughing at you. I was laughing with the idea that I, too, would also have terrific dreams tonight.”

Gojyo knew he shouldn’t ask, but he couldn’t stop the word, “Why?”

“Why?” teasing green-eyes sparkle as they picked up a hint of moonlight. “Because I realized when I fell earlier how wonderful it felt to have you underneath me.”

“What? I’m not sure I...” Gojyo said as he watched the healer disappear.

Gojyo let his head loll back again as he considered the words. Hakkai had said underneath, did he mean underneath as in…

Closing his crimson eyes, Gojyo whispered aloud to the inky night, “Oh, shit.”

Hakkai’s laughter answered him from the darkness.

TBC