Title:
Ichimotsu
Author: kisarazumama
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Sanzo/Goku
Rating/Warning: all ages
Summary: When they finally get Sanzo back from Hazel, there's just one thing Goku wants.
Disclaimers: Standard disclaimer: I do not own the characters,
plot or situations of Saiyuki, which are forever the property
of Kazuya Minekura, may she live long and prosper:
but I like to take them for a spin now and then. No profit made, no disrespect
intended.
Notes: Written for Son
Goku's birthday in 2008-in answer to the question 'if
you could give him any one thing for a birthday present, what would it be?'-No
gore, sex or bad language, but there's one epic glomp.
=) And if I had my way, it would've happened sometime in Saiyuki Reload vol.
10.
"Ichimotsu" means
"hold one single thing".
Goku was going to do something, though Hakkai couldn't guess what. He hadn't said a word as they'd
finally – finally
- driven away with Sanzo in his rightful seat,
but his eyes hadn't wavered from the monk in miles, and Hakkai
felt certain he was just waiting to be sure that insidious little bishop was
well and truly out of their rearview mirror.
Whatever he did, Hakkai hoped Sanzo would go easy on him. Not that he'd mind a scolding or
a wallop with the fan - he'd probably welcome either one, really - but he
deserved better. It had been heart-wrenching to watch him suffer, these long
weeks they'd been only three; carrying on, brave and cheerful, but always
waiting, wistful golden eyes always straying to the spot where Sanzo should be. Waiting for youÉhe glanced at the priest with
an inward sigh of concern. There was a strained, asthmatic rasp in his
breathing that Hakkai didn't like at all; he
suspected that Sanzo had been smoking much more than
he ought to while they were apart. Yare yare, none of us
have been ourselves.
-Well,
we'll soon see what Goku has in mind, he thought,
as Jeep crested the rise and started down into the valley. Up here the rocks
still glowed in the sunset, while in the vale below evening had already come,
and a small town's lights twinkled warmly. "The inn here is supposed to
have a very good restaurant, " Hakkai remarked,
"they spoke highly of it in the last town."
"Man, I could do with some food," said Gojyo,
stretching, with a sidelong glance at Goku. Usually
that was enough to get him drooling and anticipating the menu, but nope. He was
fixed on Sanzo with the single-point concentration of
a cat ready to pounce, and Gojyo's eyes flicked to Hakkai to be sure he'd noticed. Oh, for sure.
The silence held for about five more minutes, while Jeep carefully
crept down the narrow, twisting little road into the valley, and then Sanzo abruptly said, "Hakkai.
Stop."
Hakkai picked a flattish spot and pulled
off the road, and Sanzo turned to face Goku, weary but resolute.
"You've been burning a hole in the back of my head for the past
hundred miles. If you've got something to say, let's hear it."
"Not in the car," said Goku.
Now that,
Hakkai hadn't anticipated; but Sanzo
just ch'd and did as bidden, Goku
following. Hakkai looked at Gojyo,
not sure if they should say something or not. I suppose if he wants to take it out of Sanzo's hide, he's got a right to, after all he went
through -but-
The monk drew himself up and looked straight at Goku,
unreadable, and the saru-
-flung himself at Sanzo,
threw his arms around him and hugged him, face buried in his chest.
(And that, no one had anticipated.)
-A moment passed with no gunshot, no volley of curses, no whack of the harisen. Gojyo cautiously opened one squeezed-shut eye just in time
to see Sanzo rest his hand on the tousled brown hair
and stand there, head lowered, eyes closed. Awww,
sweet.
-Hakkai smiled: that timeless gesture of peace
and benediction, he'd seen it pass between them so many times, and it probably
meant more to Goku than they could imagineÉ
Then Sanzo exhaled - a long ragged breath -
bit into his lower lip, and took Goku's shoulders and
pulled him close, convulsively, hugged him so fiercely his feet left the ground,
and they overbalanced and sat down with a thud. Goku
pulled himself into Sanzo's lap, arms around his neck
and head on his shoulder, and the monk gathered him in, curled over him
protectively and held him tight, face pressed into the curve of his neck. If
either said anything, only the other could hear it.
You could feel the torn fabric of the world mend itself.
Gojyo reached over, without turning his head, and took
Hakkai's hand. Hakkai
folded his fingers around it, gave a gentle squeeze, letting every detail of
the moment sink into his memory. As we were. As we should be.
The evening wind shifted, carrying a drift of woodsmoke
and savory fragrance up from the valley. After a beat, Sanzo
spoke without looking up: "You say the food here is good?"
"So they tell me."
He straightened up and gave Goku's shoulder
a tap. "Food. Let's go."
"Okay," said Goku, more than a
little wistfully.
As they climbed back into Hakuryu, Hakkai cocked his head and listened: the discomfiting rasp
in Sanzo's breathing had completely disappeared.
Hours later, with Goku snoring on the table
and the fourth, or maybe fifth or sixth, flask of sake sitting between them, Gojyo said in an odd, dreamy voice, "It reminds me of
that time in the library."
"Library?" Hakkai raised a
perfectly sober eyebrow, privately doubting that Gojyo
had ever set foot in such a place. To his surprise, Sanzo
nodded, pouring his nth shot.
"The time your boring stories put him to sleep. I remember."
"And he decided to use your knee for a pillow. I thought you'd
hit the roof, but you just gave him a pat and went on filing. I said to myself,
that kid's gotten under his skin for good." Gojyo
tossed one back. " And here we still areÉ"
Hakkai stared at them. "What are
you talking about?"
"The time -um-" Gojyo blinked at Sanzo. "What are we talking about?"
Library
- Hakkai thought, something tugging like a
child at his sleeve, and suddenly there it was, clear as day: Goku curled
up on his side, long hair and chains trailing on the dusty floor, snuggled up
to a folded knee draped in lavender veils; and, for a moment, one graceful hand
resting on his head.
As
we wereÉ
The monk gazed into his sake cup. "ÉWhatever it was, it's
gone."
"No, I wouldn't say that," said Hakkai.
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