Rhyming Games

I just love making those chapter titles rhyme...
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Rhyming Games

Chapter 4: A Hesitant Trial and Gojyo’s Denial

Hakkai stood shirtless in front of the bathroom sink, looking closely at himself in the mirror.

Three weeks had passed since Hakkai had returned his books on youkai to the library. In that time, he had made six trips to the market, four trips to Chang ‘an, had graded 37 math tests and had bought eight brand new books, none of them about youkai.

But although he was going through the motions of normalcy, although he’d thought he had solved the problem, he had not been able to forget the pictures in that one book, not to mention his red-headed roommate’s physique.

Youkai were different. In all sorts of ways. Their senses were heightened. They were faster, stronger, more agile. And… of course, their sexual features were undeniably more pronounced. Humans…

Hakkai looked down at his grotesque, twisting scar, sprawling across his abdomen like a living thing.

Humans were weak.

But youkai… He closed his eyes as the images assaulted him. The memories paraded behind his eyelids. Nothing but claws and teeth and blood… Youkai disgusted him still. There was too much hurt that could not be undone. Too much that could not be ignored. Far too much than could be forgiven… on both sides.

He was Cho Hakkai the youkai-killer now, was he not? Though he had scarcely seen blood since his recovery, almost a miracle in itself, as often as Gojyo picked fights, and though he could turn a blind eye to it when need be (and how fortunate that he had one to turn), he was still awash in it. Youkai-killer indeed. A killer of youkai, and a youkai who killed.

Youkai were hated. Repulsive. Unforgiven. But ultimately, kin.

And they were not weak.

Hakkai lifted his gaze from his scar, the mark of his old self, to the three little ear cuffs glinting in the bathroom fluorescents, the ever-present, ever-necessary reminder of who he had become. If he removed those cuffs now…

Strange that he couldn’t remember where they’d come from. Strange that there were three of them. Would he need to remove all three of them to transform, or could he remove them one at a time and change gradually? A mysteriously appearing instruction book sure would have been nice.

Hakkai’s brow was furrowed. He noticed and un-furrowed it. He stared at himself and graced himself with a small, humorless smile. Then he straightened, decided to head into the woods to practice his chi techniques, and went to find his shirt.

Gojyo sat nursing a beer in one of his regular taverns, and stared at himself in the mirror behind the bar.

Three weeks had passed since he’d run full speed out of the apartment of a tousle-headed blonde with sleepy blue eyes. In that time, he’d been propositioned by seven redheaded tarts, eleven raven-haired beauties, fifteen brunette knockouts, and thirteen blonde bombshells. He’d counted.

He’d slept with exactly thirteen women in the last three weeks, and he wasn’t sure he even recognized the sorry son of a bitch looking back at him the mirror.

Wasn’t he Sha Gojyo? The famous lady-killer? True, he prided himself on being picky about his conquests, but… THIRTEEN BLONDES? And how many of them had smoked?! He downed his beer in three long gulps and ordered something stronger, trying to massage the headache of self-disgust out of his skull with one hand.

He may not be all educated like Hakkai, but he wasn’t stupid enough not to notice what had been happening. His subconscious had finally caught up to him, and he was not at all happy with who he found there…

Damn that hypocritical, holier-than-thou bastard!

It was barely four in the afternoon, but he downed his next drink like a man dying of thirst.

It didn’t mean anything! Not a single thing. So he was on blondes this month! So what? Next month he’d switch to brunettes! Yeah… like that one in the corner over there. His face slipped automatically into a roguish grin, and he lit up a cigarette with practiced flair. This one looked like she worked here. Kind of shy, but classy. And she wore glasses. Looked like she’d know the meaning of the word “pontificate”. She lingered by the doorway to the stairs leading above the tavern, and held a book in her hands. Nice hands, too. And pretty, pretty eyes. He couldn’t tell what color they were from this distance, but he was betting on not caring. Maybe tonight was the night he’d break out of his little blonde rut, eh?

He ordered something a good deal less toxic than his last drink from the bartender (who looked like he might be the girl’s father) and when he looked back towards the stairs, the girl was gone.

Ah, well. The evening was young. Gojyo smirked to himself and complimented the bartender on his excellent stock.

A blazing ball of white-green energy sizzled through the air and struck a harmless cedar tree with deadly accuracy, exploding its midsection into innumerable shards and splinters, and sending its majestic crown of foliage crashing to the forest floor.

Hakkai stood straight and dropped his hands to his sides, pleased to only feel a single bead of sweat roll down his face. His aim was getting better, as was his strength. His mental exercises were paying off after all.

A low whistle of appreciation came from behind him as the dust and debris settled. “Damn,” said a familiar drawl, “You’re getting good at that.”

He turned to find Gojyo leaning casually against a tree, cigarette lazily polluting the crisp winter air.

“Thank you,” he replied with a tiny bow. “I’ve been practicing. Soon I hope to be able to use smaller blasts with the same effect.”

“Oh yeah? Planning on joining some war I don’t know about?”

“Of course not. This is to train my mind only.”

“Uh huh. Sure it is. And by the time you finish training our mind, there won’t be a forest here any more.”

Hakkai stared sheepishly at the wreckage that used to be a stand of trees. “Hm. I suppose you have a point. But it’s for a good cause.”

The redhead quirked an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”

Hakkai almost blushed. Gojyo missed it entirely. “Well, I think I’ve done enough for one day anyhow. Time to be getting home. By the way, Gojyo, how did you find me out here?”

Train of thought successfully derailed, Gojyo fell in stride beside his roommate as they hiked back to town. “What, you mean besides the blasts of energy going off every five minutes?”

Hakkai sweat-dropped. “Yes, besides that. You’d already found me before I fired that last one.”

“I could smell you.”

“Smell me?”

“Well, yeah. Guess it’s the youkai half of me. With all that ‘mental training’ you were doing, it was easy enough to catch your scent. ‘Course it helps that I know what you smell like. Um…” And the kappa went silent.

Hakkai maintained the silence, for his thoughts were now going like this:

Gojyo could SMELL me. He could smell me because of his youkai senses, such as they are.

I can’t smell him like that. I couldn’t sniff him out in the woods like he did me.

More differences...

And it plagued him. He’d been trying not to think about it, but it had plagued him nonetheless. He pondered as he walked with a carefree smile on his face. They did not talk any more, all the way back to town, but Gojyo didn’t appear to notice anything.

The fact was, Gojyo was quite content with the way life was going at the moment. He had completely shaken off his totally inexplicable blonde fetish, and had now cheerfully moved on to a brunette fetish.

Wait a moment, strike that. SHA GOJYO DID NOT HAVE FETISHES! He was… he was simply picky. Yeah. Of course. He was a connoisseur. And he didn’t need to explain himself! Right? Right!

Right!


Hakkai was alone in the apartment. Gojyo had left an hour ago. (Out prowling for brunettes.) Hakkai had decided that tonight was the night. He had been putting it off for weeks now, but when he’d seen the kappa’s outfit tonight, and realized after a few minutes that he was staring, mesmerized, at the bulge of Gojyo’s crotch, he knew he had to take drastic measures.

He’d been preparing mentally as well. The training in the woods had been to help him master his control. He knew he’d need it for when he did decide to act, and now his preparations would be put to the test.

Tonight, he would remove one of his ear cuffs. And if no change occurred, then he would keep removing them until he felt a change. It was time to see what the demon in him had to offer.

He locked the front door behind him, and set off into the woods behind the apartment. He remembered a time when a golden eyed boy had nearly stopped him from fleeing into these woods. He’d stolen a blond priest’s gun and made his escape, and had thought at the time that he would never return. And yet here he was, tempting fate again. He almost wished he could send an apology to Sanzo in advance.

The distance was necessary. If he did lose control, he wanted there to be as few people about to witness it (and be killed because of it) as possible. He wanted to remove the temptation. It had been a long time since he’d truly acknowledged his darker side.

There. About a mile. Dense trees as far as his weak human eye could see. He decided that was good enough. He was just stalling now.

He removed his shirt. (Too many raised eyebrows should he return with it ripped.) Then he removed his shoes, figuring that he should allow for the extra long nails. He’d already thought to leave his glasses at home. One of his eyes still worked perfectly well, after all. The sun was close to setting, but he was counting on youkai being better able to see in the dark.

Hakkai didn’t know if the gods were watching. He didn’t know if the so-called Merciful Goddess even bothered with sinners. He wondered if prayers ever helped people get what they wanted.

He wondered whether he would ever kill Gojyo. That thought alone nearly made him pack up and head for home.

He slowly raised one hand and removed the lowest ear cuff.


(To Be Continued...)
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