Title
- Hair
Author – Car Jack
Pairing(s) – Sanzo, Goku
Rating - G
Summary – An everyday act stirs up a vague sense of déjà vu that washes
over into a dream.
Disclaimer: Saiyuki is owned by Minekura Kazuya
Hair
"What were you
doing? Rolling around in the dirt?" Sanzo carefully worked the comb through Goku's
hair, gently working out the tangles and leaves and other debris that had been
knotted into the long strands. Goku was
standing with his back to Sanzo with the monk sitting at his desk in his office,
the peace and quiet of the last hour now gone.
"You stink." The boy
needed a bath, too.
The comb caught on a
snarl and pulled the hair as Goku whipped his head around. "But there was a squirrel! It stole some of my peanuts! I only wanted them back, but then it looked
so cute eating them, that I just wanted to pet it." He scratched at one of the scrapes on his
arm with a pout. "But, I guess he
didn't want to be petted."
"Che," Sanzo
snorted. "Of course he didn't. A squirrel is a wild animal, not some
domesticated pet." Pressing a hand
on the boy's shoulder, he forced him to stand still as the monk continued to
unsnarl the hair in his care, thinking that Goku fell somewhere in-between a
wild animal and a pet.
A strange feeling came
over the priest as he continued to make some order out of Goku's hair; a
feeling of having done this before.
That in itself wasn't strange, as he had combed the boy's long hair many
times, but this time it seemed to tickle some ancient memory. Frowning, he tried to bring the memory
closer to the surface, but it remained stubborn. With an irritated jerk of his head, he shoved the illusive thing
away.
He saw his hands gently
smoothing Goku's hair after the comb, actually registering the sensation of
silky strands as they passed beneath his palms. His irritation rose higher and he quickly finished the job and
hustled the kid to the bath, then to bed.
***
Running the comb through Goku's hair, he
smoothed his palm over the straightened strands. "You were gone a long time.
Were you having fun?"
"I was! Nataku showed me the coolest place! There were flowers and dragonflies
everywhere! He said that fireflies
appeared at night! Can we go see
them? It would be so cool to see the
fireflies at night with you!"
The dream rippled at the
mention of Nataku's name, but settled before he could wake. "Perhaps, if you behave yourself." The crown of braided flowers that Goku had
just gifted him with rested on his head and he was glad that no one other than
his ward was around to see him. It was
embarrassing.
But he didn't
remove it.
"I'll
behave! I promise, Konzen! I really will!"
Konzen arched an
eyebrow in skepticism and the
dream wavered again as Sanzo burrowed deeper into the mattress and pillow,
struggling to hold onto the dream.
"Well then, we'll see." Konzen
muttered as he pulled the comb one last time through Goku's hair. He tied it into its usual tail and pushed
the boy away. "Perhaps tonight,"
he whispered.
Sanzo found himself
staring at the far wall, the paint washed in moonlight, and realized he was now
awake. He hadn't had such a dream since
he was a boy – so long ago that he had forgotten all about them. He realized that the Goku in his dreams was
the same as the one with him now, he was sure of it, but how could he have
dreamed about the boy before he had ever met him?
He shifted and a warm
lump curled against the back of his legs told him that Goku had once again
crawled into his bed. Sanzo frowned,
habit pushing him to kick the boy out.
How often had he told the brat that he was old enough to sleep by
himself? He started to sit up, but the
Goku's head was resting on one of his calves, so Sanzo elbowed his upper body
up so he could look at him.
The darkened room didn't
allow much light to see the boy, wrapped up in his own blanket, except for the
glint of Goku's coronet, reflected in the moonlight as if the moon
intentionally aimed at it. The dream
still vividly fresh in his mind, Sanzo ran his hand over his own head, almost
expecting to feel flowers, but of course there was none. Involuntarily, his hand closed over the
short strands of hair tickling the back of his neck, expecting to feel a hair
clip.
Surprise stilled his
body. Why had he done that? Of course his hair wasn't as long or longer
than Goku's – it never had been.
He sighed and let his
hand drop, for once not waking Goku and kicking him out of the bed. Just this once he would let the brat stay
where he was. But only because the
night was cold and Goku wasn't. Sanzo
settled back into his pillow, curling his legs around the warm boy.
Just this once.
-end
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