—and the gray haze finally cleared, and he blurted, “Mom tried to kill me again, didn’t she?”

The warm body pressed against his stirred, and a patient voice answered. “No, Gojyo.”

“Jien?” He was confused; he knew this voice too, but it wasn’t the one he had expected to answer. “Where’s Jien?” And then his scattered dreams ceded to reality and, sheepish, he coughed. “No. I’m sorry. Hakkai.” He mumbled it a few more times under his breath, sounding just like the fucking monkey when he’d been trying to memorize the name-change from “Gonou.”

“That’s all right, Gojyo.” Hakkai slowly uncurled from where he’d spooned against Gojyo and sat up—very carefully, Gojyo noted, probably so he wouldn’t jar the bed, and all those blossoming aches and pains really appreciated it—then reached over to smooth gentle fingers across Gojyo’s brow, brushing the curtain of hair back from his eyes.

Gojyo blinked hard, several times, then flicked his gaze around the unfamiliar room. From the otherwise empty bed opposite, Jeep lifted his head and chirped some kind of incomprehensible dragon greeting at him, but there was no sign of either Sanzo or Goku. Hakkai picked up on his train of thought and commented mildly, “They have their own room, but they’re out right now, eating breakfast.”

“Okay… Where am I again?” He didn’t remember much from when he’d passed out on the forest floor, just bits and pieces of things that might have happened, or might have happened a dozen years or so past; and he wondered if that was why he was expecting the smell of herbs, the prickle of claws against his skin, and a pain in his head instead of in his hip—which, by the way, happened to be throbbing like a bitch.

Huh. Weird.

Hakkai didn’t pause in his tender stroking of Gojyo’s hair. “A wayfarers’ inn, on the edge of the forest. Sanzo agreed you needed some time to heal and allowed us to check in.”

“That was big of him.”

“Besides,” Hakkai went on, and Gojyo knew just from the lilt in that one word that, if he were to see Hakkai’s face, there would be genuine amusement there, “with your hip splinted, fitting everyone into Jeep was nearly impossible. You took up so much of the back seat that Goku was forced to sit on Sanzo’s lap in the front.”

Gojyo sniggered, groggy and amused. “Sorry I missed it.”

“Just as well, I think.” Hakkai’s touch faltered for a moment, then he went back to applying that steady, loving caress to Gojyo’s disarranged hair. “Best that you managed to sleep most of the time until we were able to put you to bed—you were in a great deal of pain when you were awake.”

“Not much different from now,” he mumbled, hating to admit how much his hip, and a lot of other joints and muscles too, were hurting him; but then, Hakkai—unlike others—never used such confessions against him.

“Ah. Yes. I was afraid that might be the case. Let me work on you some more.”

When Hakkai folded back the covers and the chilly room air hit him, Gojyo realized he was naked. Not that being naked in bed with Hakkai was something that never happened, but still…. He shifted carefully, trying to check out just how much was wrong with him, especially below the waist.

Hakkai restrained him, catching Gojyo’s chin and tilting his face away. “Now, now, don’t look—you’ll just worry yourself,” he chastised gently. “Everything’s quite purple and swollen.”

“Oh,” he leered, or at least tried to, “so it’s business as usual then, right?”

“Not quite, Gojyo.” Hakkai chuckled, then released him. His hands began to travel over Gojyo’s body, assessing, testing, soothing. “Although, when you’re better, we may have to conduct whatever tests are necessary to confirm your fitness.”

“Looking forward to it….”

The hands floating down his body suddenly warmed dramatically, and heat began to flood into Gojyo’s muscles, centering on the hard pulse of pain at the crest of his hip. It throbbed for another moment when Hakkai’s deft fingers settled on the jut of hipbone, and Gojyo caught his breath and sank his teeth into his lower lip; but gradually, the knot eased and loosened, and the strain washed out of him, and away, and he relaxed.

“A hip dislocation.” Hakkai’s voice was stern and dry, but at least not cold—never cold. “That’s very hard to do, Gojyo, and also potentially very serious.” He paused, probably to give Gojyo adequate time to reflect on what he’d done. “It was very reckless to climb that high into that tree.”

“But there was a forest youkai up there. I hadda go after him before he went after any of… us.”

“Keeping your feet on the ground while you did so might have been a better choice.” Hakkai’s hands shifted, and now he was stroking Gojyo’s flank with his palms, in a way that might almost have been erotic, if Gojyo hadn’t been sleepy and aching and, much as he hated to admit it, nowhere near being in the mood.

“Hey, what’s a guy to do?” he defended. “The shakujou’s chain kept getting caught in the branches, so I hadda go up to where he was. I didn’t want someone to get hurt if I couldn’t take that dude out….”

“’Someone,’” Hakkai reminded archly, “can take care of themselves—”

“—but sometimes someone can’t, and then you gotta do what you gotta do, and make it worth it.” The words spilled from his mouth before he could stop them, and now he bit his lip for another reason. He wondered what the hell Hakkai had medicated him with—something to take the worst bite out of the pain, probably, and something to help him sleep too. But whatever it was, it was worse than liquor for making him rambling and maybe even sentimental, because, after all, booze never made him speak that kind of truth. “Pretty lame excuse, huh?” he finished weakly.

“Very ‘lame’. But…” he whispered, “I understand.”

Hakkai’s hands gentled even more, to match the softness of his voice, as he painted away the last trace of pain in Gojyo’s body. And then the familiar flow of chi altered, into a healing, comforting massage, and by the time Hakkai finished, Gojyo was very nearly asleep. He felt Hakkai cover him with great care, then curl around him again, his hand returning to rest protectively atop Gojyo’s injured hip.

Gojyo stirred drowsily, mumbling, “I need a smoke.”

Hakkai didn’t say a word, just reached over Gojyo’s reclining form to the nightstand, picked up the pack of Hi-Lites and inexpertly shook out one cigarette, then placed the cigarette between Gojyo’s lips and held it there with one hand while he snapped the lighter into flame with the other. Then he counseled, “Two puffs only.”

“That’s fine… just so you don’t count the drag to light it.” Besides, that was all he wanted anyway, just a couple quick puffs before sleep. And, sure enough, Hakkai took it away after he’d filled his lungs twice, stubbing the cigarette out with great care into the ashtray on the nightstand.

He’d almost returned to painless, tranquil sleep when another thought, out of nowhere, came to him. “Hakkai? Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course, Gojyo.”

“Your chi stronger when you take the limiters off?”

“Much stronger, as is everything else about my body in… that form. You know that. You’ve seen me fight.”

“No.” He yawned, but forced himself to stay awake, just a minute more. “I mean when you heal.”

Hakkai considered for a moment before his honest answer. “I don’t know. I’ve never tried.” Gojyo felt those warm and slender fingers flex against him. “Best not to, I suppose.”

“Yeah.” Gojyo considered it again. “I like your hands better this way.” He disentangled one hand from the nest of cozy blankets, groped down and back until he brushed against Hakkai’s, then clumsily laced their fingers together.

“Go back to sleep, Gojyo.” Hakkai kissed the back of his neck, those lips warm and soothing as the healing touch of chi-infused hands.

“Yeah….” And everything was blurring now, soft as smoke, thin as mist, and Gojyo slept—

~fin~