[fanfic] - changing part 4/8
Argh! Sorry I didn't post yesterday! I spent the whole day checking out the 'Crafting art in modern Japan' exhibition at the British Museum, and my step-brothers were over, so I couldn't get any typing done after they went to bed because the sound keeps them awake. (The exhibition is awesome, by the way, I would definitely recomend it - go to the link to find out more! ---> http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/whats_on/all_current_exhibitions/crafting_beauty.aspx)
Title: Changing
Chapter: 4
Fandom: Saiyuki
Pairings: None for now.
Warnings: Total angstfest, just so you know! Worksafe.
Chapter 3: http://purpleicicles.livejournal.com/11431.html
Chapter 2: http://purpleicicles.livejournal.com/11158.html
Chapter 1: http://purpleicicles.livejournal.com/2007/09/11/
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Disclaimer: Sadly, we are not in the alternate universe where I own Saiyuki. Woe. Story, however, is mine. No stealy! The characters of Bing Zhu and Mr. Wenlong are mine.
PART 4
Unsurprisingly, Gojyo spent the next few hours enjoying the feeling of relief that had flooded through him after closing the deal. A small part of him worried over giving his real name, but he supposed that people often gave fake names for this sort of thing, so Zhu and Mr. Wenlong had no way of knowing if he’d given them a pseudonym or not. After those first few hours, however, his jubilance quickly gave way to anxiousness - he still had three days of stressful travel before his problem could be fixed, and he didn’t enjoy the prospect of lying to his friends. He stared out at the passing scenery silently.
Hakkai glanced in the rear-view mirror. Gojyo had certainly seemed much better after his talk with him last night, and after he had returned from his morning jaunt to forage for cigarettes (and quite possibly beer - he certainly smelt of pubs when he got back) he had reassumed his carefree, laid-back persona. He looked a little uncomfortable now, but that was probably his stomach playing up again - he had wolfed down his lunch a little enthusiastically. Hakkai shrugged to himself and concentrated on the long drive ahead. Gojyo could handle himself.
Several hours later, they had stopped to set up camp for the night. As usual, dinner had been a noisy affair, but tiredness had overtaken them in the end. At least, it had for everyone but Gojyo. Instead, he sat up on guard duty, with bossy instructions from Hakkai to wake Sanzo in a few hours’ time for his turn. Usually, Sanzo took first duty, ensuring the remainder of his sleep was uninterrupted. Gojyo took second because he rarely had trouble sleeping after, and was used to late nights. Hakkai took the last shift because he ‘liked early mornings anyway’. Goku just fell asleep, so he often sat up with Sanzo for a while.
Right now, Gojyo was insanely jealous of the monkey’s uninterrupted night’s sleep; it seemed so unfair when he couldn’t sleep at all. A youkai ambush would be a great distraction right about now, he thought, staring mindlessly at the waning crescent moon pinned in the sky above him. Only a quarter white now and growing darker by the day. Gojyo sympathised.
A rustle of cloth behind him signalled Sanzo was up. “Hunh. Anything?” Sanzo fished in a sleeve, eventually producing a pack of Marlboros from it’s depths. Gojyo held out his lighter.
“Nope, boring as hell.” Gojyo replied.
“Thanks.” Sanzo lit up and took a long drag before handing the lighter back. “Can’t sleep?” he eyed him over his cigarette.
“Nuh.” Gojyo sighed, taking a puff himself. “Too awake to sleep, if you see what I mean.”
Sanzo rolled his eyes. “Couldn’t you put it more straightforwardly?” Gojyo sniggered despite himself.
“Accept it, you’ll never understand my wisdom.” He grinned. Sanzo cocked an eyebrow at him.
“That’s one hell of a brand of wisdom.”
They sat in silence, smoking. Had he been paying attention, Gojyo would have felt that Sanzo was building up to something. “You seem to have recovered.” Sanzo commented idly after a moment. Gojyo turned to look at him properly.
“Say what? How’d you know - ?”
“Hakkai told me, but I’d noticed you weren’t quite one hundred percent yourself.” For a moment, Gojyo got the horrible impression that they weren’t quite talking about different things. Sanzo looked at him when he didn’t immediately reply.
“Yeah, well, didn’t think it was worth bothering everyone else with, y’know?” he gave a cocky half-grin. Sanzo tilted his head in a gesture that spoke ‘fair enough’ quite clearly.
“Tell him earlier next time, it could be something serious, and I’ve had more than enough of pointless setbacks.” Gojyo recognized that tone; no matter how much he tried to make it sound like an order, there was a definite undercurrent of… well, at least trust underneath the haughty, authoritarian impression Sanzo wanted to give.
Gojyo couldn’t have felt worse than he did right then.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Over the next two days, Gojyo tried his hardest to act normal, fighting with Goku, helping Hakkai and letching at Sanzo, but the more he tried not to, the more he found himself obsessing over his appointment with Mr. Wenlong. Whenever he was alone, he would feel in his pocket for his future limiter, afraid he would lose it, but unwilling to let it out of his sight.
“Hey, kappa.” Goku popped up behind Gojyo, meatbuns in hand. “I managed to swipe the last of yesterday’s meatbuns. I grabbed a couple for you, too.” Goku grinned, holding out a handful of meatbuns that he’d fished out of the bag he held.
“Thanks, monkey!” he grinned back, snatching the bag instead. “You shouldn’t have!”
“HEY!” Goku cried, making ready to grab the bag. Gojyo laughed. Teasing the monkey was just too fun.
“Just kidding, squirt. Here.” He handed the bag back, filching a couple out the top as he did so. Goku settled down a bit, contenting himself with a punch to the shoulder and a ‘smelly kappa.’
“Whiny monkey.”
“That’s generous monkey to you, greedy kappa.” Goku returned playfully, grinning again now he had his meatbuns safely in his possession. For a moment, there was just the sounds of eating. “Hey, Gojyo…” Goku said thoughtfully after a few moments.
“?”
“You feelin’ okay now? You haven’t been looking so good recently.” Irritation sparked low in Gojyo’s gut.
“Oh not you too!” he griped. Goku looked at him questioningly, forcing Gojyo to relent under that golden gaze. Little bastard makes it so hard to hate him, he grumbled mentally. “Am I really being that weird?” he asked, knowing that Goku at least would be honest with him.
“Kinda.” Goku admitted. “You just haven’t been… I dunno, you lately. You’re being kinda serious sometimes.” Gojyo thought about what Goku had said, that sick feeling of dishonesty churning in his stomach.
“Don’t worry.” He promised, “I’ll be better in a day or two, you’ll see.”
crossposted to: 1000_miles_west, saiyuki and saiyukiyaoi
Title: Changing
Chapter: 4
Fandom: Saiyuki
Pairings: None for now.
Warnings: Total angstfest, just so you know! Worksafe.
Chapter 3: http://purpleicicles.livejournal.com/11431.html
Chapter 2: http://purpleicicles.livejournal.com/11158.html
Chapter 1: http://purpleicicles.livejournal.com/2007/09/11/
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Disclaimer: Sadly, we are not in the alternate universe where I own Saiyuki. Woe. Story, however, is mine. No stealy! The characters of Bing Zhu and Mr. Wenlong are mine.
PART 4
Unsurprisingly, Gojyo spent the next few hours enjoying the feeling of relief that had flooded through him after closing the deal. A small part of him worried over giving his real name, but he supposed that people often gave fake names for this sort of thing, so Zhu and Mr. Wenlong had no way of knowing if he’d given them a pseudonym or not. After those first few hours, however, his jubilance quickly gave way to anxiousness - he still had three days of stressful travel before his problem could be fixed, and he didn’t enjoy the prospect of lying to his friends. He stared out at the passing scenery silently.
Hakkai glanced in the rear-view mirror. Gojyo had certainly seemed much better after his talk with him last night, and after he had returned from his morning jaunt to forage for cigarettes (and quite possibly beer - he certainly smelt of pubs when he got back) he had reassumed his carefree, laid-back persona. He looked a little uncomfortable now, but that was probably his stomach playing up again - he had wolfed down his lunch a little enthusiastically. Hakkai shrugged to himself and concentrated on the long drive ahead. Gojyo could handle himself.
Several hours later, they had stopped to set up camp for the night. As usual, dinner had been a noisy affair, but tiredness had overtaken them in the end. At least, it had for everyone but Gojyo. Instead, he sat up on guard duty, with bossy instructions from Hakkai to wake Sanzo in a few hours’ time for his turn. Usually, Sanzo took first duty, ensuring the remainder of his sleep was uninterrupted. Gojyo took second because he rarely had trouble sleeping after, and was used to late nights. Hakkai took the last shift because he ‘liked early mornings anyway’. Goku just fell asleep, so he often sat up with Sanzo for a while.
Right now, Gojyo was insanely jealous of the monkey’s uninterrupted night’s sleep; it seemed so unfair when he couldn’t sleep at all. A youkai ambush would be a great distraction right about now, he thought, staring mindlessly at the waning crescent moon pinned in the sky above him. Only a quarter white now and growing darker by the day. Gojyo sympathised.
A rustle of cloth behind him signalled Sanzo was up. “Hunh. Anything?” Sanzo fished in a sleeve, eventually producing a pack of Marlboros from it’s depths. Gojyo held out his lighter.
“Nope, boring as hell.” Gojyo replied.
“Thanks.” Sanzo lit up and took a long drag before handing the lighter back. “Can’t sleep?” he eyed him over his cigarette.
“Nuh.” Gojyo sighed, taking a puff himself. “Too awake to sleep, if you see what I mean.”
Sanzo rolled his eyes. “Couldn’t you put it more straightforwardly?” Gojyo sniggered despite himself.
“Accept it, you’ll never understand my wisdom.” He grinned. Sanzo cocked an eyebrow at him.
“That’s one hell of a brand of wisdom.”
They sat in silence, smoking. Had he been paying attention, Gojyo would have felt that Sanzo was building up to something. “You seem to have recovered.” Sanzo commented idly after a moment. Gojyo turned to look at him properly.
“Say what? How’d you know - ?”
“Hakkai told me, but I’d noticed you weren’t quite one hundred percent yourself.” For a moment, Gojyo got the horrible impression that they weren’t quite talking about different things. Sanzo looked at him when he didn’t immediately reply.
“Yeah, well, didn’t think it was worth bothering everyone else with, y’know?” he gave a cocky half-grin. Sanzo tilted his head in a gesture that spoke ‘fair enough’ quite clearly.
“Tell him earlier next time, it could be something serious, and I’ve had more than enough of pointless setbacks.” Gojyo recognized that tone; no matter how much he tried to make it sound like an order, there was a definite undercurrent of… well, at least trust underneath the haughty, authoritarian impression Sanzo wanted to give.
Gojyo couldn’t have felt worse than he did right then.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Over the next two days, Gojyo tried his hardest to act normal, fighting with Goku, helping Hakkai and letching at Sanzo, but the more he tried not to, the more he found himself obsessing over his appointment with Mr. Wenlong. Whenever he was alone, he would feel in his pocket for his future limiter, afraid he would lose it, but unwilling to let it out of his sight.
“Hey, kappa.” Goku popped up behind Gojyo, meatbuns in hand. “I managed to swipe the last of yesterday’s meatbuns. I grabbed a couple for you, too.” Goku grinned, holding out a handful of meatbuns that he’d fished out of the bag he held.
“Thanks, monkey!” he grinned back, snatching the bag instead. “You shouldn’t have!”
“HEY!” Goku cried, making ready to grab the bag. Gojyo laughed. Teasing the monkey was just too fun.
“Just kidding, squirt. Here.” He handed the bag back, filching a couple out the top as he did so. Goku settled down a bit, contenting himself with a punch to the shoulder and a ‘smelly kappa.’
“Whiny monkey.”
“That’s generous monkey to you, greedy kappa.” Goku returned playfully, grinning again now he had his meatbuns safely in his possession. For a moment, there was just the sounds of eating. “Hey, Gojyo…” Goku said thoughtfully after a few moments.
“?”
“You feelin’ okay now? You haven’t been looking so good recently.” Irritation sparked low in Gojyo’s gut.
“Oh not you too!” he griped. Goku looked at him questioningly, forcing Gojyo to relent under that golden gaze. Little bastard makes it so hard to hate him, he grumbled mentally. “Am I really being that weird?” he asked, knowing that Goku at least would be honest with him.
“Kinda.” Goku admitted. “You just haven’t been… I dunno, you lately. You’re being kinda serious sometimes.” Gojyo thought about what Goku had said, that sick feeling of dishonesty churning in his stomach.
“Don’t worry.” He promised, “I’ll be better in a day or two, you’ll see.”
crossposted to: 1000_miles_west, saiyuki and saiyukiyaoi