Counterparts

Chapter 2



Nobody in Tenkai, the underworld, or hell itself could dissuade Genjo Sanzo from sitting vigil over Gojyo. The problem Sanzo had was that his self-imposed penance left him with too much empty time on his hands, and that meant too much time to think. The newspaper wasn’t the comfort that it normally was, and he was way too distracted to meditate, consequently much of his time ended up being spent mulling over the events of the months –or was it years? - since he had assembled his little party and begun this ill-fated journey west at the Sanbutsushin’s request. In some ways it seemed like a lifetime since they had called him for in and commissioned him to stop the Minus Wave and its effect on the youkai population of Shangri-la. And in some ways it seemed like only yesterday... As images of the weeks and months – or was it years?- spent with his three fellow sojourners flashed through his mind, the ones that seemed to burn brightest all seemed to feature the smiling red-haired kappa for some reason.
Gojyo had always challenged Sanzo in one way or another, from the very first words he had said to him when he found priest Genjo Sanzo at the door of his cabin.

“What kind of a monk goes around hunting murderers?” he had spat out at Sanzo as he tried to shut the cabin door against him. The monk had blocked his effort, and they had ended up in a scuffle, threatening each other, Sanzo recalled. And I made some smartass crack to him…. Oh gods. I remember now. He sighed deeply and lit a cigarette trying to keep the smoke from drifting over Gojyo where he lay in the bed.

I know exactly what I said to him. I said “I don’t want to have to bloody up those luscious locks of yours, pretty boy.” How could he have known how much he would come to enjoy the feel of that hair under his hands as they fucked … How the hell had they gotten from that day to today, when he and Hakkai were going to have to wash that beautiful scarlet hair that now lay limp on this pale lifeless form… It tore at his heart with that crushing pain that was becoming by now all too familiar. He ground his teeth and sighed and took another drag on the cig before stubbing it out in the full ashtray. He realized he needed to dump the evidence before Hakkai came in or he was going to catch hell from the healer for smoking so much.

He walked over to the bed and sat gently down beside Gojyo. He tried to remember the first time he had ever admitted to himself that he had the hots for the kappa. Of course the hanyou had flirted with him, but he was a shameless flirt with everyone, that was nothing special. He remembered wondering about Gojyo’s relationship with Hakkai when he came to take Hakkai in for his crimes. It was obvious the two were extremely close, they were living in that small cabin with one bed, Gojyo was such an obvious perv, Hakkai was a pretty man… he couldn’t help but have theories about that.

He remembered an off-the-cuff remark Gojyo had made the morning they set off together to recapture Hakkai and take him in. Sanzo had been trying to explain to Goku the concept that the horrible things that the Gonou had done did not necessarily make him a horrible person, and about karma, and how the will to live determining one’s course in life.

Gojyo had been listening very intensely to everything the monk was saying to the young saru, and when Sanzo was finished he stood thoughtfully for a moment mulling it all over. He looked like he had just been given the key to some deep personal puzzle, or the answer to the question of a lifetime. His trademark grin then spread across his face as he put his arm around Sanzo’s shoulder and leaned in close, deliberately violating what he already knew was the priest’s very tight personal space. With more than a hint of a leer on his face and in his voice he said, “what a shame you became a monk.”

He had been laughing when he said it, but it had unnerved Sanzo terribly nonetheless and he had batted the kappa away, saying “What’s THAT supposed to mean? Hands off!”

Of course he had known damn well what *that* was supposed to mean, and the thought had niggled at the back of his mind all that day as they had gone searching for Gonou. Truthfully, it never fully left his mind from that point on. Looking back, Sanzo realized how that one remark had planted the seed in his mind of his attraction to the kappa. Prior to then he had simply never allowed himself to think about being attracted sexually to men – or anybody for that matter. But once Gojyo introduced that simple kernel of seduction in his brain, Sanzo could never completely eradicate the idea from his thoughts no matter how hard he tried to convince himself that *sex* with the stupid cockroach was the last thing in the world that he needed or wanted. And it didn’t help that the damned moron was always there, always flirting, always insinuating…

Remembering all of that brought back another rush of memories from when Hakkai was in the cell awaiting trial for his crimes, and it all came flooding back to him. Of course. He knew just when he had first felt really attracted to the kappa – how could he forget?

It was long before they ever went on the road. Hakkai was in a cell awaiting his time in front of the Sanbutsushin. He surrendered and gone there quietly, almost gratefully. After the horrific scene at the destroyed castle where Kanan’s body should have been, and Sanzo chanting the sutra, Cho Gonou had said virtually nothing from then on. He seemed reconciled to his fate, and to simply be preparing himself for what he assumed was his inevitable execution and death. Sanzo knew Gonou had been raised Catholic but long since lapsed, and he had wondered what thoughts about the afterlife awaiting him Gonou had as he sat alone in that cell all those days. He was sure it couldn’t have been pleasant for the man he now knew as Hakkai.

Because of Sanzo’s beliefs in personal accountability and free will, as well as his experience of the man Cho Gonou, he had decided to intervene on the jailed man’s behalf with the Sanbutsushin. It was no big deal, it was simply the right thing to do. As part of preparing his case to present, Sanzo decided to research the life Gonou had been living since he had finished his murder spree, in order to be better able to establish with the Talking Heads that the man had well and truly changed. Because he was not from the area where Gonou and Gojyo had been living, Sanzo had asked Gojyo when he came to visit Gonou one day if he would assist him by acting as local tour guide and help him meet people in the town who knew Gonou. Before he could even complete his request Gojyo responded with an enthusiastic confident affirmative yes, saying he would do anything to help save his friend.

When the day came for his visit to Gojyo and Gonou’s village Sanzo left Goku at the temple – better he should keep up with his lessons, and he knew Goku would only be a distraction with his constant demands for food. Besides, if the two men were in an openly-gay relationship, Sanzo was not sure he wanted Goku hearing about that just yet. At the very least he didn’t want to have to deal with the questions he was sure it would bring up with the very curious young boy.

He packed a small valise and headed to Gojyo’s village. They spent the first day talking to friends Gonou had made around the town – the shopkeeper, the apothecary, the librarian, and so on. All of them went on at great length about how he was the most pleasant, polite, and intelligent young man they had seen in that village in a long time, and how much they had missed him since he had been away. Sanzo took notes on a pad of paper, and asked all of them if they would be willing to testify in front of the Sanbutsushin if called. Being basically simple small-town folk, all of them looked somewhat startled and intimidated at the prospect, but every single one of them said that they would absolutely do it for Gonou, without hesitation. Sanzo began to wonder if Gojyo had been going through the town greasing palms prior to his arrival to make sure that Gonou got good reports, but his intuition told him that the townsfolk were uniformly sincere in their feelings about the man.

They had a fine dinner accompanied by a good bottle of rice wine courtesy of the restaurant’s owner at a small café near the cabin, where Sanzo got yet another earful about Gonou. Besides being a faithful customer, he apparently had shared recipes with the owner and taught him some cooking techniques he had never seen before. At this point in Sanzo’s recollections of his visit he was interrupted by Gojyo stirring slightly in the bed next to him and he looked at his friend in concern.

Gojyo whimpered slightly and his forehead creased. Sanzo felt his own forehead with his cupped hand and compared it with the temperature of Gojyo’s – the kappa’s did feel warmer. At Sanzo’s touch Gojyo’s head turned slightly into his hand, almost like a cat leaning into a caress, and he was making intermittent quiet breathy groans - it was clear that he was in pain, much more than before. Sanzo realized he had better get Hakkai in on this, and slipped on his sandals over his tabi and went to get him.

Hakkai determined that Gojyo’s fever had gone up, and gave his some willow bark and feverfew tea to bring it down. He was fretful about the kappa’s pain and worked over his friend carefully trying to adjust his chi to reduce his pain as much as possible. He lifted Gojyo’s eyelids and looked at his pupils, and shook his head ruefully. Sanzo stood to the side fidgeting while Hakkai sat pensively on a chair near the bed, as if he was meticulously ticking off a mental list of all he had seen and done and carefully arranging his thoughts. He finally looked up at the priest.

“Well?” the tension in Sanzo’s voice was obvious, though he tried to restrain himself.

Hakkai sighed. “I don’t know what to tell you, Sanzo. It’s like no matter what I do, he keeps getting worse, bit-by-bit. It’s like his strength is just gone.”

“Baka!” Sanzo spat, smacking the wall forcefully. “If that moron dies on me… on us,” he corrected himself quickly, ”I’ll chase his ass to hell and back again for it. There has to be something more we can do.”

“I haven’t given up on him, Sanzo. But I wouldn’t be honest with you if I didn’t tell you that it doesn’t look good. I think that the head injury is worse than we originally thought. I believe his brain may be swelling.’

“Can’t you do anything for him at all?” Sanzo asked quietly.

“I don’t know Sanzo, but I’m sure as hell going to try,” Hakkai replied. He shifted his gaze to Sanzo, studying him.

“You look like shit. Let me sit with him for a while. Why don’t you go in my room and take a nap. Or better yet, first go down to the restaurant downstairs and get something to eat. No one expects you to be here twenty-four-seven. Gojyo would want you to take care of yourself.”

“I’m out of smokes,” Sanzo said, obviously ignoring Hakkai’s concerns.

“I’m not at all surprised,” Hakkai dryly responded, eying the over-filled ashtray.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Sanzo said. He stopped to look at the kappa for a moment before he left, and habitually, not even consciously realizing that he had done so, reached down to brush a few strands of crimson hair back from Gojyo’s face.

“Take your time, Sanzo, and get something to eat, please? We can wash his hair when you get back. I’ll go ahead and bathe him while you’re gone. Maybe it will help his fever.”

“Yeah, right.” Sanzo said as he went out, his mind not really processing what Hakkai had said.

Hakkai sat and stared at the closed door for a moment. He sighed and shook his head slightly, pulled some hotel stationary out of the bedside table, and sat down at the little table to re-read the note the desk clerk had given him earlier. It was on pale yellow stationary and written in a fine precise script.

******************************


Dear Mr. Hakkai,

I am so very sorry to hear about the injuries sustained by Sha Gojyo recently. Even though our parties have fought at times, I have always had a great deal of respect for Gojyo, and have always found him to be quite a charming and entertaining man. I know that he is your close friend, and I am sure his illness must be quite trying for you. Please rest assured that I am available to help you in any way that I may be of assistance. To that end, please find enclosed a sample of my herbal formula for wound poultices as well as directions both for its use and its formulation. I hope this will be of some assistance and that it will help speed Gojyo to a swift and complete recovery.

I have of course informed Dokugakuji of these unfortunate events, and he has asked me to relay his profound concern for his brother to you, as well as his request that we be kept informed of any changes in his condition. He has spoken with Lord Kougaiji, and our benevolent Lord authorized him to also volunteer the use of our dragons or any other resources of Houtou Castle as needed to aid in Sha Gojyo’s care.

Please call on me any time if there is any other manner in which I may be of assistance in Gojyo’s care as well. He is very fortunate to have you both as his friend and as his healer, and I wish you all the best in this difficult time.

Yours Very Sincerely,

Yaone

TBC