the boy visibly crged "but that's jt it, sir"

"what's it?"

"we don't knohose eyes to rip out we don't knohere to arch divisions six, eight, and thirteen were jt advised to ar theselves as preparation for a de be which aordg to the ilitary anual on page 4 les enty-eight to thirty, signifies"

he rolled his eyes before sparg the boy a good ng crap "preparation for ong vasion" kenren lifted a sli brow and crossed his ars "and what drunken idiot told you to do that?"

"whytenpou gensui did you didn't know, sir?"

"you bastard" it was jt a voice devoid of anger, fear, sypathy, or anythg it was jt a voice that floated over his head g fro the open doorhere the lights flooded to the dark, epty save for the o of the roo his eyes were closed and he breathed deeply, half a world of dreas, half an unlikely reality where a certa stubborn general was cursg hi fro ten feet away

and so at this ont, o thgs were existg at once

the door closed and there was darkness aga footsteps got louder to his right where the door was and a haze aterialized that ade the left side of his roo- the side with the aver as if he were tryg to see through a curta of ra hakkai tried to foc his eyes as a figure was ftterg there like the dyg fs of a settg sun

he sted and before long he was lookg to a pair of deep athyst eyes, deeply disapprovg and deeply relieved "found you, idiot"

"sanzo!" the na sounded strange to hi as if it had been an eternity sce he'd said it he wanted to get up and reach for hi, but his body was drugged with sleep he was dreag this or at least half dreag it sce kenren was still there, oblivio and so hakkai looked with a tge of longg and envy towards the onk who sat by the as if both of the were still back the hotel "how did you"

the blonde shrugged "there were only three pces where you uld have been: earth, heaven, or hell" he looked out the , boredo gracg his face as ever he went as if to reach for a cigarette then refraed "you paper the onkey too uch to go to hell, not that i fd this pce to be uch of a better alternative" hakkai wondered if he uld actually see his surroundgs

"tenpou" kenren whispered only a little harshly, reachg out his hand order to wake up the sleepg arshal, only to have send thoughts and pullg back

sanzo didn't see hi

"hakkai, get your ass back here" the onk grubled, but despite the nguage, he sounded scerely ncerned he knew for a long ti he knew aybe he was even aware of the exact, the exact ont when it happened becae soti the iddle of the night when they had shared that roo, the entire air above the was suddenly washed over with the scent of cherry blossos before dyg out less then a breath ter "i don't like hi"

pot: "you don't like anybody"

unterpot: "i dislike you less"

"there's nothg uch that i can do right now about it you should at least realize that"

"i realize it"

"then why are you here, h? you didn't have to call y attention order to locate where's the trt?" hakkai siled becae he kneas forcg fro the onk an answer the an was too proud to vocalize a sense of satisfaction- knog that no gun uld be poted at his head no threat for sanzo to hide behd exploitation of vulnerabilities was not hakkai's style at all, but then aga, where was hakkai?

"redg you to e back" stone still features glowed eerily beneath the oonlight, the pond below castg reflections up to his hich pierced right through the onk as if he were air sanzo's features brred his ncentration was breakg "becae you're an idiot and ight fet to"

"you want to e back?" the thought aed hi are you afraid that i've abandoned you? afraid enough that you'd starve yourself fastg, torture yourself by abstag fro your precio cigarettes, and then jupg headlong to a recklessdangeroditation jt to say

"you're g back"

"when i can there are a few loose ends i t tie up before i leave"

"you're not on a fuckg bess trip, hakkai you have one day jt one day and then i' takg you back" he didn't say how, but knog sanzo, there was always a way that ade thgs ore nvenient, at least for hi

the blonde turned away fro hi, hidg what hakkai uld only assu was a pout but even with that st ultiatu, he still didn't leave, lgerg drearily out of any nights' habit not sayg anythg at first, then noddg to hiself "this is you" a iet silence a hakkai silence he still lgered

the boy visibly crged "but that's jt it, sir"