Saiyuki - The advantages of being wet
Title: The advantages of being wet
Fandom: Saiyuki
Pairing: 85
Theme: #27: splash
Summary:
A/N: set right after the end of the Zakuro arc of Gunlock. When they’ve wound up in the river the second time.
‘Damn it, and after we just got dried off, too,’ Gojyo complained. ‘Twice today. Twice!’
‘Oh, shut up,’ Sanzo snarled, and then sneezed. Six times. He inched closer to the fire and dared anyone to say anything at his display of uncharacteristic weakness.
They’d found a small beach and crawled out of the river wet, achy and miserable, whiny, irascible or cheerfully homicidal as their natures dictated. Hakkai had built a fire, and they were huddled around it shirtless while their clothes dried, seeking the warmth; while the river itself was sun-warmed and comfortable, a chill wind had risen as evening fell. Goku had estimated the chances of a meal, come up with a negative answer, shrugged and curled up to sleep with his customary pragmatism, leaving the three older men to snap at each other. The solid wall of the cliff rested at their backs, the river flowed serenely a few feet to their left, and its gurgling seemed extraordinarily mocking at the moment.
Sanzo sneezed again.
‘Are you coming down with a cold, Sanzo?’ Hakkai asked politely.
Sanzo looked like he was coming down with a murderous rage. ‘No,’ he gritted. And sneezed.
‘Someone must be talking about you, then,’ Hakkai observed.
‘I hate the water,’ Gojyo said to no one in particular.
‘Shut up or I’ll kill you.’
‘I hate you, too, by the way,’ Gojyo clarified.
‘I’m heartbroken. Truly.’
There was another long silence. Hakkai was just drifting off to sleep when he heard a thump and a loud, ‘Ah, shit!’
‘Gojyo?’ Hakkai asked, concerned.
Goku snored gently.
‘Moss,’ Gojyo grumbled, rubbing at his behind. ‘Stupid slippery…I hate moss. I hate being cold. I hate shopping for clothes. I hate stupid rivers. I hate stupid fake monks who drag me all over the countryside trying to find some stupid sutra that somebody’s probably already used to wipe with, I hate deserts, I hate mountains, I hate the bloody roads.’
He paused for a breath, and Sanzo cut in smoothly. ‘Nobody asked you to come along.’
‘Please. The group needs me. Hakkai’s the brains, Goku’s the brawns, you’re the helpless idiot, so that leaves me to have the stunning good looks, right?’
‘For a bear, maybe,’ Sanzo grunted.
Gojyo flushed. ‘Well, at least I wasn’t mistaken for a girl!’
‘’Ch.’
Gojyo muttered obscenities under his breath as he lay back down on his roll.
There was another period of quiet, and Hakkai fell asleep again.
He was woken an hour or so later by a soft sound of pain from Gojyo.
‘Hey, ’Kai.’
‘What?’ he asked, cracking an eye open.
Gojyo tried to stand up, and clutched at his hip. ‘Hakkai, I think I strained something.’
‘It’ll be fine in the morning, I’m sure,’ Hakkai said shortly.
‘No, really, take a look at this. It’s hurting.’
With a sigh, Hakkai stood. ‘All right,’ he said wearily, making yet another note to slowly eviscerate whoever it was had appointed him nurse, launderer, cook, mediator, driver and babysitter for this party.
‘Come over here.’
Gojyo staggered a few steps forward, coming within reach, and Hakkai stood, resigned to spending the next half-hour healing him or working out a cramp, and it was right then that Gojyo’s feet went out from under him again.
A drowning man will clutch at a straw. A slipping kappa will clutch at a converted youkai.
They fell backwards into the river, and Hakkai choked as the water covered his face, and choked again as Gojyo landed on top of him.
The crushing weight lifted almost immediately as Gojyo sat up, and Hakkai broke the surface and coughed the water out.
‘Damn stupid…wet again…hey, you okay?’
Hakkai glared at Gojyo and wiped a wet hand across his wet face.
Obviously, this was not terribly helpful in drying himself up.
‘All right, stupid question,’ Gojyo mumbled.
‘Oh,’ Hakkai said quietly. With his slightly blurry vision, the firelight behind Gojyo turned his hair into a work of art - red caught in darkness, each drop sparkling in the fire in oranges and brilliant yellows. Involuntarily, he reached out a hand to touch, and stroked the hair back gently, watching as the pattern of fiery drops shifted and trailed away. ‘Do you know how beautiful you are like this?’
‘So I guess it’s okay, huh?’ Gojyo joked quietly as he leaned in-
‘Not here,’ Sanzo said firmly, with deep sincerity. ‘I swear I’ll shoot you both if you even think about doing anything here.’
Hakkai sneezed.