Nightshift 20: M71-M80 Hallway
“Where is that damn flashlight?!” Kuronue muttered to himself, shoving the remainder of the cookie that he was given into his mouth as he was quite nearly about to tear his room apart if the stupid thing didn’t show up sooner or later
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He nodded. "And you too, Cho Hakkai." He said the name, tasting it on his tongue. An odd name, really. It felt wrong where he knew another should be.
"Ah, now that's a story," he said, smirking slightly. Damn, he was itching for a cigarette. Maybe, possibly teeling him this would get him something useful at least. "The four of us, me Tenpou, Konzen and Goku, we rebelled against Heaven." It was kinda' amusing putting it like that. "They wanted to use Goku, make him the one who did their killing and the kid had made himself some bad enemies." He sighed, tapping his fingers against the wall. "We lost." He turned to his companion, face losing all of it's previous good cheer.
"Sentenced to eternal reincarnation in the world below. Three of us, anyway. Poor Goku, what they sentenced him to was just sick." He leaned back, running a hand through his hair, revealing clearly the chakra on his forehead. "They were gonna' lock him away in a mountain. Seal his memories and just leave him alone for eternity." He looked at the other man sharply. "Now see why I've gotta' find him?"
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Listening to Kenren's story, the answer seemed to dance right in front of him, but he was hesitant to actually admit that it might possibly be correct. "I'm afraid you have the wrong tense. There is no 'going to.' Goku was imprisoned in a cave for five hundred years before Sanzo found him. That is, of course, assuming we're talking about the same Goku."
He glanced back down the hall to the junction. It seemed deserted. He pushed away from the wall. No more wobbly. That was good. His color still hadn't come back, leaving him white as a sheet, but that didn't affect his ability to run from giant scorpions get around. "There are certain conditions here that do not encourage remaining stationary for an overly long time. Your story is quite interesting, though we should perhaps take this conversation elsewhere?"
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The information about Goku made him stare in shock for a moment. Five hundred years? How could that be possible? He'd only been with Goku a day or so ago. He had to make sure, although he wasn't sure that there would be two creatures with the same name. "Monkey boy," he said, slightly more subdued. "Son Goku, cute little thing, brown hair, big wide innocent gold eyes." The eyes of a heretical creature. "Golden diadem on his head." He smiled fondly. "Naive as they come."
He shook his head. "But I just saw him about a day ago, when they sentenced him."
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Alright, he was worried about Sanzo. After what he'd mentioned had happened to him the night before, Hakkai would be stupid not to worry.
He briefly considered telling Kenren about the last time he'd seen Goku. Somehow he doubted a person who had the sort of mental image of Goku as Kenren seemed to would take at all well to how he'd finally managed to stop Seiten Taisei. "I.. saw him not long ago myself. He's somewhat less 'little' now. Less naive, as well, though he doesn't always show it."
Talking about Goku so casually like this was oddly surreal.
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He sighed, turning to Hakkai again, a slightly rueful smile curling his lips. "Five hundred years, you said? Means he spent five hundred years locked up alone, without his friends, without Konzen. Konzen is... was Goku's sun. The one who named him." He looked away, as though remembering. "I can't imagine him being the same after that." It hurt to think of it, the monkey having all those cares placed upon him when they had no right to be there.
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The familiar feeling wouldn't go away. In fact, the longer they stood there, the stronger it became. Then Kenren described Konzen. It didn't make sense, yet it did. He was getting a headache.
"Goku is special." Images of mahjong games and fights over meatbuns played through his mind. "I don't think you need to worry about him."
Unless he was here. Which meant he was without Sanzo. Speaking of which...
"Konzen was Goku's sun. An interesting turn of phrase." He turned away, on the pretext of checking the hallway again. "Konzen... he didn't happen to have.. ah, something of a temper, did he?"
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He glanced at Hakkai for a second, eyes narrowing in concentration. He was so like Tenpou in some ways, and yet... his reactions could be so different. Tenpou didn't hide behind false smiles for one thing. And five hundred years? That was a long time, even for a creature of heaven. An odd suspicion was starting to form in his mind. They'd been sentenced to reincarnation, and this guy knew Goku...
Kenren smiled again as the subject returned to Goku. "Yeah, I doubt I do. He's not exactly defenceless," he said, rubbing at his arm where the monkey had decided to chew on it that time. "He loses that Diadem and, well... it ain't pretty." He smiled wryly. "Just, I made a promise that I'd stick with him forever. Not one I feel like breaking."
The next question threw him for a loop. "Well, yeah. I think punching the Merciful Goddess counts as a temper."
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He sobered quickly, though. "No, it's really not. I'm almost positive it hurts him as much as it hurts those he faces, as well." Hakkai had taken down Seiten Taisei, he knew he was defeatable, but it took more than most would be willing to give. Hakkai should have been dead. He might be dead, for all he knew. Goku... "Still, that's quite an admirable promise. I hope you are able to keep it."
Hakkai's smile was no more or less real than it had been at any point in their conversation, so there was no tell-tale sign of the pieces finally clicking all into place. The Merciful Goddess had called Sanzo 'Konzen,' this Kenren had known Goku over five hundred years ago, he was being confused with someone named 'Tenpou'... "Ahaha, indeed. That would."
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The memory of Goku in his feral form, violent and cruel and terrifying sobered him instantly. "Definitely. He... he attacked his friend when it happened. Didn't seem like he even recognised him." He could remember it so clearly, Goku leaping at Nataku and Li Touten, cutting at them like they were nothing.
He sighed heavily. "I hope to keep it too. Just.. doesn't look like I manage it if you're saying he was locked up for three hundred years." And that hurt. He prided himself on being honest and when he made a promise in all seriousness, not one of the sweetly murmured ones made in the bedroom, he intended to keep it.
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He smiled sympathetically. He was more familiar than he'd ever like to be with broken promises. "I somehow think you did."
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He stopped dead at Hakkai's next words, the forced away thought coming back to the front of his mind with a vengeance. "What... how?" He stopped for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "If he was imprisoned, then I did break it. I left him alone."
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The moment of honesty passes and the smile returns. "Besides, we're all often alone. It's behind Goku now, in any case."
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"Could have been worse, but I'm not exactly fond o' the idea. I quite like being me." Who knew what kind of person he'd be reincarnated as anyway? He could just hope that it was someone fun.
And hell, this guy was good at changing the subject. "You know Goku pretty well then?"
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Of course he was good at changing the subject, he has had quite a bit of practice. Probably much more than any of his companions would like. Then again, the best way to win an argument is to make sure you're the only one quite sure what exactly is being argued about.
"I suppose you could say I do. I've known him for about four years now. For Goku, that's more than enough time to make friends." Translation: Hakkai never really stood a chance.
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That kinda' hurt when he thought about it. It has been the four of them, Ten-chan and Ken-nii-chan and Konzen all centered around Goku. But he had other friends now, who he'd known for longer. And after what had happened, who was to say Goku even remembered him?
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He schooled his features into no more than polite curiousity. "How do you mean brought in?"
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