"It's a pastime." replied Tenpou, watching as Goku scrambled to erect another snowman for him to obliterate. He looked at his hands, the glowing green seeping quietly back into his skin. "Thank you, Gojyo."
For the past hour, the two of them had been teaching Tenpou how to use Hakkai's powers, toppling many a poor snowblob.
"Now close your eyes." instructed the half-breed, taking off his own bandanna and tying it around Tenpou's head. "The monkey's gonna make a whole lot now. I'm not going to tell you how many." At this point, Gojyo lifted six fingers for Goku to see. The boy gave an enthusiastic nod, then went back to work. "When he's finished, I'm gonna take off the blindfold and as fast as you can, blow any snowman you see to hell, okay?"
Tenpou nodded. The sound of packing snow caused him to tilt his head. Yes...a little to the left...perhaps a bit behind...
"No cheating!" Gojyo shouted before clapping his hands over the other's ears.
"Is this really necessary?"
"Yeah. So don't complain." Not that Tenpou could actually hear him by now. So he stood there, shifting uncomfortably. No sight. No hearing. Totally, utterly...vulnerable. He hated it. Nervously, he bit his lip, oblivious to the fact that Gojyo was intently watching him.
The redhead's eyes shifted to Goku. "Oi...saru. Take your time...you know...while your at it...make one over there."
"Here?" Goku inquired, pointing to a spot.
Gojyo shook his head. "Nah. Waaaaaaaaaay over there. And make it...like...eight feet high so it'll be more intimidating."
"Why don't you help some? That'll take forever!" the boy whined.
I know. Hungrily licking his lips, he turned back to Tenpou; called out to his "younger" teammate. "Can't. I'm busy." And so Goku stomped away, heaving armfuls of snow. Now, Gojyo thought, to business.
"Tenpou."
No answer.
"Tenpouuuuu."
Nothing.
"Your hair's on fire."
Nothing.
Well, can't say I never told him. Who cares if he didn't hear? It was just as useful as talking to a wall. "I know you ain't Hakkai. And that's fine. As long as he gets back all right, you know?"
Nothing.
"You should just know that...you know...I've got nothin against ya, okay?"
Nothing.
"But you should also really know that I'm a horny bastard who doesn't give a damn sometimes."
Nothing.
"Anyway, that's just a disclaimer." Gojyo leaned in closer until their lips just barely, barely grazed each other. Tenpou's breath hitched, his mouth opening in a slight gasp. "Cause I'm gonna kiss ya now." And he did, taking advantage of the other's surprise to slip his tongue in.
"Mh." Hands instantly went up to clutch at Gojyo's vest as Tenpou pulled him in to deepen the kiss until it was almost vicious. Haven't had this...in a very...long time. He lost himself in it, the darkness of the blindfold serving only to further the illusion that this was...
Gojyo pulled away, gasping for air and pressed his forehead against Tenpou's. His hands slid down to the other's waist and squeezed gently. "But I'm not..."
"Doesn't matter." Tenpou said before taking his lips again. Quickly this time. "I'm a horny bastard too. Who just doesn't give a damn sometimes. Besides..." He added between kisses. "I have no doubt...that he's...doing the exact same...thing...to Hakkai. This is only fair."
The half-breed could only laugh, breaking the kiss to tilt Tenpou's chin up, exposing the nice soft flesh of his neck; the cold air and wet butterfly kisses sending shivers up the smaller man's spine. "Baka. You're jealous of yourself." he said, exploring a bit farther up, then finding that spot behind the ear that made the other bite down a moan before losing all aggression and melting into him.
Like that, hm?
"Gods...you must be..." Tenpou almost choked on his own words. "...good at it."
"Understatement of eternity, my little kami." Gojyo teased as he slipped a leg between Tenpou's and nudged...just a little.
"Mmmnh." The god's breath stopped short and he buried his face into the other man's shoulder. "W...We really...really should stop."
"Can't take the heat?"
"Goku's almost finished."
"Eh?" Gojyo looked over Tenpou's shoulder and sure enough, the snowblob's head was being placed on a seven foot tall body. "Holy shit...you were paying attention?"
A blindfolded head tilted to the side in amusement. "You don't know me at all, do you?" At that moment, Goku came running up to the two of them.
"Kaaaay! Finished!" he said proudly.
"Ready?" Gojyo prompted.
Tenpou nodded and ripped off the blindfold.
1. Near the fence. Gone in three shots.
2. Over by the street lamp. Gone in two.
3. Doorway.
4. Garden. Both melted by a shot from each hand.
5. Park entrance. Gone.
6. The chimney. Done.
7. The one with the scowling face...
"Sanzo!" Tenpou grit his teeth...stopped the rushing ball of ki in mid-flight...an inch from Sanzo's nose. The priest hadn't flinched. The god was starting to break into a bit of a sweat. Holding so much energy was difficult. "Um...Sanzo..."
"What?"
"Could you...please...move." It was starting to slip from him. Closer and closer to the monk...
"Why the hell should I do that?" Sanzo looked straight through the looming green beam of light and right into Tenpou's face.
"Sanzo please...I don't want to..."
"Go ahead. Give me an excuse to shoot you."
Without warning, a screech like a dying hyena's ripped through the wind and a strangely shaped white bird came up behind the blonde. "Sanzo!" He couldn't help it...he let go. And the world was engulfed in bright green as shattered snowflakes fell in sparks around them.
Had he? Could he have...Tenpou blinked and adjusted his eyes.
Sanzo was still standing, teeth clenched and gun halfway raised. His hand was visibly shaking. "How did you..." It had passed right through him, without even touching a single hair...
"Ch' looks like the monk gets scared after all!" proclaimed Gojyo as he slung an arm around Tenpou's shoulder. "Man, and I thought I would never live to see the day..." A bullet whistled past his ear and into the head of another snow demon.
"Save your breath, asshole! They're coming to get us." Sanzo snarled.
Goku could hardly begin to contain his excitement. "Bring em' on!"
****
They hissed. The doors and windows burned their hands as they touched. Like animals from the wild put into a circus cage, they went raging about the complex, overturning tables, ripping curtains, and clawing at the walls. Locked into the library, Hakkai contemplated the situation.
Absently, he ignited Tenpou's lighter over and over again, looking into the flames as if the answer to all his troubles resided in that tiny piece of fire.
Chances were fair that he'd get out alive despite the fact that he was now deprived of his powers. There was also the chance that he might not. He lacked anger- and it was anger that drove him to kill those one thousand. For Kanan. But this time it wasn't really for anybody. It was for an "entity" whose goodness he was already beginning to question.
Perhaps he would live. And within several days time, perhaps less, the problem wouldn't be his anymore. It would be Tenpou's. Hakkai could just imagine it...Tenpou waking up and finding himself arrested for breaking the highest sacred law in heaven: he had shed the blood of his own kind.
However inevitable, it seemed rather cruel of him to leave his predecessor with such a mess on his hands.
"Have I taken things too far?" Hakkai asked the air in front of him. "Yes. I think I did."
Oh well.
"Like I said, Heaven deserves its share of heat." He ignited the lighter once more and brought the dancing flame to touch the cover of a single book. "I'm sorry, Tenpou. You must have treasured this little heaven of yours." Dry and dusty, the pages quickly flamed up and spread to the other books of the shelf. 'The Art of War' turned into a heap of cinders, as did 'The Seven Steps of Revolution.'
Hundreds and hundreds of years of war crackled in a gold-orange brilliance, beautiful... their stillness finally becoming un-still; the life contained within the pages realizing itself...as if a spell on the brink of completion had finally heard its magician utter the final chant. Burn burn burn. With satisfaction, Hakkai pushed over the shelf, causing ash to jump and the fire to diffuse from its source.
Hakkai grabbed the oil lamp that stood on his desk and hurled it over Tenpou's bed, liquid fire like molten lava creeping in rivulets over the soft covers. At last he re-lit the lighter and locked it. He opened a desk drawer and dropped the living flame inside.
The heat felt good on his skin. The excess of it breaking the tepid balance of sensation in this unsensaitonal place. And he liked the feel of cold metal against his skin. The excess of it reawakening the part of him that lived for bloodlust. Hakkai unsheathed the sword and headed for the door that lead to the demons' wails and screeches...
Burn them into nothing...so that you cannot even mourn the ashes.
Burn everything into nothing...so you cannot convict me for an act you were too cowardly to commit yourselves.
Burn everything down...and feel the heat from Down Below that you have so ignored.
The heat of karma is very sweet, is it not?
****
They rained down upon them like locusts, appearing to be a gray smear on the darkening sky. One after another, whenever a youkai was killed there was always another to replace it. Hundreds and hundreds of them...and those that were shattered remade themselves.
"Can't. They. Just. Stay. Dead?" Sanzo spat out between shots.
Gojyo ducked as one swept down to decapitate him. "Hey, monk, don't you have a sutra to take care of things like this? Or are you just waiting until we're totally fucked up?"
"Like trying to swat a fly with a hammer." the priest replied.
It wasn't the same; fighting without Hakkai. He had to watch his back more because...and he hated to admit it so he didn't...Hakkai took it upon himself to ALWAYS be at Sanzo's back. The feeling was as reassuring as having an extra set of his own eyes behind his head- maybe even better because he didn't have to think too much about what was going on beyond his line of vision.
There was no way in Hell that he'd give Tenpou that responsibility.
Energetic shouting over to his far left indicated where Goku was having his fun. Just a bit over the hill must where Gojyo had run off to; the glint of whiplike metal shining through the snow was an assurance that the man was still going at it. Now where was the other idiot?
They were starting to get separated. Not that it worried Sanzo any. Everyone could take care of themselves, but still...if he had his choice of battle scenarios...it wouldn't be anything like this one because:
#1. He was running out of bullets.
#2. He needed bullets.
#3. He needed TIME to load the fucking bullets
Then there was something warm and solid against his back. Green light like fireworks shot in all directions and not a youkai could get within five feet of either of them. He reloaded, as usual taking his dear sweet time. "Mmh. Thanks." Sanzo muttered.
"Am I doing a good job being Hakkai?" Tenpou smiled. It was almost starting to look like a Hakkai smile too.
"I'd give you a 'B+' for effort."
"That's cruel, Sanzo. Is there any way to get extra credit with you?"
The implication was there. Sanzo hadn't missed it, but he pretended to anyway because Hakkai never suggested things of the sort. And when Hakkai came back, he wanted to see Hakkai...and not think of any idiocies of the sort. Especially not THOSE types of idiocies.
No wonder Tenpou and Gojyo had taken to each other.
"Yeah."
"Oh?"
"If you figure out a way out of this. That's a Hakkai thing to do."
"Really? Why didn't you say so earlier?"
Really, he could have shot him in the head, right then and there. "Spit it out. What do you know?" Sanzo went to shooting again, noting how tired the other man was getting.
"Well...these youkai seem to of a primitive species, their thinking capabilities closer to that of pack animals than of more reasoning creatures. But better to compare them to insects, their existences revolving around the life span of a single queen who reproduces an heir once in a generation. The rest are simply pawns...their energies feeding off hers. And so therefore..."
"We have to kill the queen bee, am I correct?" interjected Sanzo, his patience wearing very very thin.
"You are correct."
"So which one is she?" Sanzo scanned the sky, but it had already gotten dark and all he could discern was the cloud of buzzing youkai...then there...a little ways off was a single youkai hovering in the air emitting a pulsating light from the chest. With the wings of a butterfly, she hovered, her eyes closed in meditation and her mouth moving in an instinctive battle chant- the words of resurrection. Sanzo narrowed his eyes and aimed.
"I'll kill the bitch."
Bang.
But it hit one of her pawns instead. Another shot. Another pawn. "Fuck." With each bullet, a youkai appeared to block. It was a living shield, easily replaced. "Are you just going to stand there!? Fight like the rest of your kin..." Sanzo taunted. "Or are you so stupid of a beast that you can't even do that?"
That got her attention. "Uh...Sanzo..."
"What?"
"Perhaps you should have chosen a more...how shall I say...tactful way to go about the situation." Tenpou pressed closer. The youkai had stopped in mid-flight and were simply hovering there...hollow ice blue eyes that stared into nothing...limbs that hung limply...like forgotten puppets...
"What's done is done."
