Chapter 2

Gojyo slapped the hand away from his shoulder and rose to face his attacker. The man, as tall as he and at least twice as broad, looked grimly at him. Beside the bulky man was a smaller one with an even grimmer expression, and behind them stood the two boys Gojyo and Hakkai had met a little while ago, smirking.

Gojyo looked coldly at the man in front of him. “Anything particular you want, asshole?”

“Damned straight there is. My son and his friend just told me you and that shit there,” he pointed at Hakkai, who also had risen and now was standing beside Gojyo, “are homosexuals!”

“I don’t see what business that is of yours, but I’ve probably had more girls than you can count. ” Gojyo snarled. “Sorry to disappoint you, but you're not my type.”

The man frowned, a little uncertain now, but angry nonetheless because of Gojyo's insinuation.

“You two were kissing, as my son said, right?”

“What if we were?” Gojyo asked, an obvious challenge in his tone.

Hakkai took a step forward, placing himself between his friend and the bigger man. He looked seriously at the man facing him, and, with a voice that in ice easily could match Gojyo’s glare, he said: “Since this has nothing to do with you, I would kindly ask you to leave.”

The angry man struck fast, in an attempt to catch Hakkai off guard, but Hakkai easily avoided the punch.

“We don’t want to hurt you, so please just leave,” Hakkai said as he caught the man's arm and twisted it behind his back.

When the attacker's smaller friend saw that, he launched himself at Gojyo, who avoided the attack just as easily as Hakkai had. The redhead took a sidestep and held out a leg, making the other man trip and fall. Gojyo put a foot on his back, pushing him into a lying position.

“You heard my friend, get out of here,” he said, giving the man a kick, not too hard, but not gently either. That made the man quickly rise, but he did not leave, only placed himself out of reach from the group.

“Homosexuality is forbidden in this town, the man caught in Hakkai’s grip groaned. “If you’re not out of this town when the sheriff’s back, you’ll both go to jail.” He tried to sound triumphant, but it was hard as Hakkai twisted his arm a little further upwards.

“We’ll be out of here first thing in the morning, not because of this town's rules or your bigotry. But we’re in a hurry.” Sanzo opened his mouth for the first time. “If you mind your damned business, we'll mind ours.”

The two men stared at Sanzo, apparently only now noticing there was a high ranking monk sitting at the same table as the two they had planned to give a beating to.

“Sorry, your holiness,” one of them stammered. “They are friends of yours?”

“No,” Sanzo answered as expected. “Beat them up if you think you can, but I seriously doubt it. Either way we’ll be leaving in the morning.”

Trying to regain some of the pride they had lost to Gojyo and Hakkai, the taller man answered back. “Fine, but if those two aren’t out of here before noon tomorrow, the sheriff will get them. To separate cells.”

Gojyo snorted. “We hear you. Let’s hope there won’t be any attack from youkai tonight. Cause if there is, I sure as hell ain’t gonna save your asses.”

The two older men left the inn, trying to look superior, while Gojyo glared after them. The younger men were still standing beside the Sanzo party. One of them opened his mouth to say something, but stopped as Gojyo turned to glare at him. The angry look in the redhead’s eyes could have shut up anyone, and the boy was not as brave as he liked to think. Instead he beckoned his comrade to follow him out of the inn. His friend did so, but as he passed Hakkai he unexpectedly hit him hard in his groin. Hakkai bent over, groaning, and the boy quickly jumped out of reach from Gojyo, and both boys swiftly ran out the door.

“Gojyo, don’t,” Hakkai groaned as the half-youkai began to follow them. ”I’ll handle this myself later.”

Sanzo lifted his head from the newspaper he had been reading since the quarrel began. “Neither of you are going to do anything about them. We’re going to bed now, and you’ll be ready to leave at dawn.”

He folded the newspaper, tossed the gold card to the innkeeper, stood with his arms crossed while waiting to get it back, then without another word climbed the stairs to his room.

Goku, who during the whole incident had been sitting with his elbows on the table, head resting in his hands with an amused expression, grinned at his two friends. “Hey, if you two go around kissing in public like that, I guess I don’t have to be afraid to walk in on you,” he teased.

Gojyo, still pissed off, frowned at the younger boy. “You better keep up the good work with knocking, monkey, or I’ll give you a lesson knocking with your head.”

Goku only laughed. “You just try that, ero-kappa.”

“I will, monkey brain.”

At that Goku raised an eyebrow and laughed again. “Yeah, sure you will, cockroach.” He yawned. “Well, there doesn’t seem to be any card game tonight, so I think I’ll hit the sack.” He rose and said mockingly. “Have fun tonight, Gojyo, Hakkai.” He started for the stairs but apparently changed his mind and disappeared into the kitchen once again.

Gojyo and Hakkai stared after him, then at each other.

“Goku seems to have grown up quite a bit,” Hakkai observed.

"Uh-huh," Gojyo nodded. “But he’s still annoying.”

The young innkeeper came up to them anxiously, looking down at the floor. “Eh, I’m sorry. I really don’t want to ask this of you, but would you please leave for your room now?” She looked embarrassed and almost whispered, “It would be even better if you don’t share a room tonight. I’ll be happy to give you separate rooms. I won’t charge you for the extra room, of course.”

“We share room.” Gojyo’s voice was stubborn.

Hakkai backed him up. “I hope we won't cause you trouble miss, but we are not going to give in for some bigots. Separate rooms will not be necessary. But we’ll go to our room now.” He smiled at the nervous girl.

Gojyo stared angrily at the rest of the customers sitting in the room, all very attentive to what was going on. Demonstratively he put his arm around Hakkai, and as they left the room and together ascended the stairway, he muttered, “So the rest of you fucking assholes can gossip as much as you want.”

When they reached their room Gojyo immediately threw himself on the bed. “Damn. What a bunch of fucking bigot bastards. What the hell’s with these guys?”

Hakkai, who had seated himself in a chair by the window, answered him calmly. “I remember you saying quite a lot of bigoted comments about men that preferred men before you admitted you loved me.”

Gojyo turned to look at Hakkai. “I admitted to myself I loved you long before I told you, you know that,” he said seriously. “And those comments were a stupid way for me not to show you how I felt. I was so afraid my feelings would push you away. Having you as my best friend meant so much to me. Still does. And if I revealed my feelings I might have lost your friendship. Better to love you secretly and still be near you, than risk losing you altogether.”

“I know Gojyo,” Hakkai smiled at him. “Subconsciously I knew what you felt for me, and you know I was struggling not to respond to those feelings. I’m glad you waited to tell me, because I don’t know what I would have done if you had told me before I was ready to deal with it. I might have pushed you away.”

Hakkai rose from the chair and went to sit on the bed beside Gojyo. He reached out to stroke Gojyo’s hair. “We can’t choose who we fall in love with. Sometimes we push love away because we’re afraid, but we can’t push it away forever. The time comes when we must surrender to it, whether we have the courage to live with it or not.”

His words, together with the gentle touch, made Gojyo long to feel Hakkai’s body against his own. He lifted his arm and laid it around the other’s neck, pulling him closer, and again they kissed. Gojyo was eager, but this time Hakkai held back and soon broke the kiss.

“Sorry, Gojyo,” he said apologetically. “I can’t do this right now.”

He rose and went back to the window. Gojyo followed his movements with his eyes. He was disappointed but did not want to push it. Hakkai’s dreams seemed to affect the healer more each day.

Hakkai stood with his back to Gojyo. “I’m going out for a walk,” he declared.

Gojyo immediately rose from the bed. “I’ll go with you.” He reached for his jacket.

At that Hakkai turned to Gojyo. “No, Gojyo. I need to go alone. Please don’t be offended. It’s got nothing to do with you. I just need to be alone to think for a while.”

“Sure, I understand.” Gojyo lay down again on the bed. “But don’t be too late or I’ll go looking for you.” He tried to sound like he was joking, but was sure Hakkai could hear the worry he felt.

The healer gave him a small smile. “I’ll probably be back in an hour. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

“Whose worried?” muttered Gojyo.

“You are.” Hakkai answered, showing he had caught the worry in Gojyo’s tone. “Don’t be.”

“Alright, have a nice walk. But don’t forget me waiting for you, will you?”

“Of course not,” Hakkai said and left the room.

As soon as he was out of the door, Gojyo rose again and stepped up to the window. It faced the square before the front door of the inn, and Gojyo stood watching as Hakkai came out and crossed the now empty area. When he saw which street Hakkai took, he hurriedly grabbed his jacket and ran out of the room and down the stairs to follow his friend. Dammit, if Hakkai thought he could just sit here waiting while his best friend was suffering, then Hakkai was very wrong. Of course Hakkai could take care of himself, and Gojyo wasn’t going to impose on him, but just in case… Gojyo sighed. Maybe it was him and not Hakkai who was the mother in this party.

Outside the inn he too crossed the square and took the same street he had seen Hakkai take. He was in luck. When he turned around the corner Hakkai was still in sight, maybe 50 meters ahead of him. Gojyo remembered there was a park at the end of this street; maybe that’s where Hakkai was going.

Silently he followed his partner. He was right, Hakkai walked into the park, seemingly without a goal. Gojyo could see his friend slowly walking under the trees with his head bent. The moon and the stars on this cloudless night made it possible to see him clearly.

As the half youkai walked behind his friend at a distance, he saw Hakkai sit down on a bench by a pond. Gojyo silently placed himself behind a tree as close to Hakkai as he dared.

Someone was coming; he could hear voices talking quietly to each other. Did Hakkai have a meeting out here? No, the healer looked as surprised as he at hearing voices at this hour in a small town like this.

The owners of the voices came into sight. They were the two boys who had tried to get them into trouble. The shorter boy’s limp was more obvious now than it had been earlier today. They stopped dead when they saw Hakkai. “You!”

The healer and the boys looked at each other, then Hakkai rose and approached them. The boys stepped back. “Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you,” Gojyo heard Hakkai say. “I’m glad I met you. I had hoped I would get the opportunity to talk to you before we left this town.”

The boys looked almost terrified, but Hakkai smiled reassuringly at them. “Come on, let’s talk.” He beckoned them to join him as he started to walk further away from Gojyo’s tree, in the same direction that the boys had come from. They anxiously looked after him, but after a few whispered words to each other they followed him.

Gojyo was about to do the same when something caught his eye. Behind the tree the three young men were passing, he could see movement. Someone was hiding there, just as he himself was hidden. Gojyo stood still as the person behind the other tree silently moved around, not to let the other three see him as they passed.

No, not him. Her. The other person hiding was clearly a girl about his own age. Gojyo couldn’t see much, but he thought there was something familiar about her posture. Where had he seen it before?

Hakkai and the other two were now out of sight, and the young woman was standing in the path looking after them. Her side was turned to Gojyo, and he saw a wicked smile cross her face before she began walking the same path as Hakkai and the boys. Gojyo left his hiding place and followed them all.

On the other side of the park lay a small house. Just as Gojyo reached the street outside the park, he saw Hakkai and the two boys enter the house. The girl was standing a little bit in front of him, in the dark shadow of another house; but after she saw those she followed disappear into the house, she disappeared, too.

Gojyo returned to a bench a little further back in the park. It was a perfect spot; between the trees he could see the entrance to the house Hakkai had gone into. He lit a cigarette and waited.

Where had he seen that girl before? Maybe… wait a minute. What girl? Hadn’t there been a girl in the park? No, there couldn’t have been. He had followed Hakkai; Hakkai had met two boys, and they had entered the house at which Gojyo was looking right now. He had seen no one else. Why was he thinking there might have been someone else there? Gojyo frowned. It felt like something had been poured out of his brain, but he couldn’t remember what. What the fuck, it probably wasn’t anything important.

He wondered what Hakkai talked about with those boys. Probably the teacher in him was giving a speech about morals, ethics, love, and social life in general. Whatever. Gojyo chuckled. Hakkai could get anyone to listen, and he would not give up until he had made the boys see it his way. Or at least they would say they did from pure exhaustion.

Hakkai. The most beautiful man in the world. And Gojyo had finally won him. Gojyo leaned back on the bench, contentedly smiling to himself while he smoked. It was only a month since Gojyo had finally found the courage to admit his feelings to Hakkai. Man, had he been nervous. The reason he had taken the step and told his friend was that Hakkai had started to subtly respond to Gojyo’s friendly flirtations.

At first Gojyo had not really known what to believe, but after a couple of weeks he had become more daring, and Hakkai’s responses had not ceased. Instead Gojyo had seen something in the healer’s eyes that almost took the breath out of him. Love.

In a way there had always been love in Hakkai’s eyes when he looked at Gojyo, but it was the kind of love that was there when he looked at Sanzo and Goku, too. Only Sanzo would never want to recognize it, and Goku somehow took it for granted. And for Gojyo it was not enough. But the love Hakkai had let be seen then…

Still, Hakkai had not been ready to take the first step. But Gojyo, encouraged by the other man’s responses, had asked Hakkai to join him for a walk. There, out in the forest, Gojyo had stopped, and taking a deep breath, he had finally uttered the words he had been holding inside for so long.

And Hakkai had smiled. The most beautiful smile one ever could see. Then he had put his arms around Gojyo’s neck, decreasing the distance between them until their lips met. Gojyo’s arms had at last been able to lay around Hakkai’s waist, where he had wanted them to be for more then a year. He shivered at the thought. It was still hard to understand this was true. Staring at the house, Gojyo lit another cigarette, waiting patiently for his lover.

It took almost an hour before the door opened again and Hakkai stepped out. Gojyo saw his friend approaching, and this time he did not try to hide.

“Oi, Hakkai,” he called.

Hakkai looked mildly surprised, but smiled nonetheless. “So you followed me after all, Gojyo.” He chuckled. “What if you had found me with a girl? What would you have done?”

“Then I’d have thought you had gone insane, like you asked me before.”

“Why? You’ve always chased girls. What if I wanted to try that, too?” Hakkai teased. He sounded more relaxed than he had for a long time now.

“If you first told me off, just because I looked at the girl in the inn, and then went out girl-hunting yourself, then I really would get worried.” Gojyo smirked, but then tried to hide a frown. “Or was there a girl inside that house?” He pointed behind him.

“Yes, there was… No, on second thought there wasn’t.” It was Hakkai’s turn to frown. “I don’t seem to remember. That’s strange.”

Gojyo watched his friend wonderingly, but for some reason he was not curious any more if there had been a girl or not. “So, who was in the house? And what did you do?”

Hakkai answered without hesitation: “If you followed me, you must have seen I met the two boys from earlier. That house is their home, and I followed them to talk about bigotry and how such can limit people’s thoughts. How you fall in love with a person, not a gender.” Hakkai looked thoughtful. “They already knew, Gojyo. It turned out they have feelings for each other as well. They recently discovered it, and they were terrified someone would find out. They jumped on us because it was an opportunity to make sure no one suspected their relationship to be more than just a friendly one.”

Gojyo gaped. “Those damned guys love each other? What a fucking pair of hypocrites! They deserved a beating instead of a lecture.”

Hakkai gave Gojyo one of his looks, and Gojyo silenced immediately. “Gojyo, just a little while ago you mentioned why you made bigoted comments about this kind of love. You had your reasons, they have theirs.”

“I know, I know” Gojyo said. Shit, Hakkai was always right. He changed the subject. “Wanna go back to the inn now, Hakkai?”

“Absolutely,” Hakkai answered. “I think I’m in the mood for what I turned down an hour ago… If you still are.”

Gojyo's smile widened. ”Always, and you know it.”

Hakkai laughed. “Yes, I do.”

They walked back to the inn and up to their room. Gojyo took off his jacket, but before he could turn around to face Hakkai, Hakkai’s arms caught him from behind. He leaned into the embrace, and as he felt Hakkai’s lips nibble his earlobes, he moaned and pulled his lover’s arms tighter around him.

Hakkai bit his earlobe rather hard and continued by kissing his neck, tracing it from ear to collarbone, and Gojyo knew that tonight Hakkai would be the dominant one.

Hakkai pulled them both onto the bed, and Gojyo managed to turn around. Kissing and caressing, they both eagerly helped each other out of their clothes. Hakkai was in a wicked mood and teased him almost more than he could stand. Gojyo bit his lips not to beg Hakkai to release him. His breathing was short, and with Hakkai’s hands all over his body he could not stop moaning. At last, with Hakkai on top, they reached their peaks, and together they lay gasping in each other’s arms.

“Oh, gods,” Gojyo mumbled into Hakkai’s chest, unable to articulate anything more meaningful.

Hakkai kissed his forehead and sighed contently. He reached out for the cigarettes and lighter on the table and offered them to Gojyo, who gratefully accepted.

Inhaling the smoke from the cigarette and blowing it away from Hakkai, Gojyo then looked at his lover. “You seem to be more relaxed now.”

“I feel fine, Gojyo.” Hakkai smiled. “First straightening things out with those boys and then making love to you…” He laughed softly. “How could I not feel fine?”

Gojyo thought about the dreams but did not mention them. He had not seen Hakkai this relaxed for quite a long time now, and he did not want to bring the tension back, so all he did was lean over and give Hakkai a brief kiss. “Good, and in case you wonder, I feel fine, too.”

-----

The next morning Gojyo woke up to agitated voices in the corridor outside the room, one of them Sanzo’s. So the grumpy monk had already gotten himself into an argument. Ch, some people did not know their own good; getting involved in an argument with Sanzo was not good. He yawned. Not that he cared. The monk could handle his fights just fine by himself.

Gojyo looked at Hakkai sleeping beside him. His lover had slept peacefully all night, without any disturbing dreams, and that was a blessing.

After their lovemaking, they had lain awake talking about nothing in particular. Hakkai had been relaxed and happy, and Gojyo had enjoyed seeing his friend back to normal. They had gotten up and taken a shower together, put on their night garments, and then gone back to bed. When they fell asleep Hakkai had held Gojyo in his arms, still a little possessive, Gojyo thought as he enjoyed the closeness. Sometime during the night that had changed, because now Hakkai rested on Gojyo’s arm with a pleased smile like he was dreaming something very enjoyable. Gojyo could not resist kissing him again.

The kiss woke Hakkai up; he wrapped his arms around Gojyo and kissed him back. At that moment the door burst open and three unknown men in uniforms rushed in. They were followed by an angry Sanzo and a confused, likewise angry Goku.

Gojyo and Hakkai stared at the intruders.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, bastards!” Gojyo yelled, utterly pissed off. “I know you assholes don’t like us, but you have no fucking right to come bursting into our room like this!” He scowled at Sanzo, who stood by the door with his arms crossed and a strange expression. “Why did you let them in, you bastard? Isn’t privacy part of your vocabulary?”

Sanzo did not answer. He only glared hard at his two companions.

Hakkai released himself from Gojyo’s arms and sat up. “Would you please tell us the meaning of this intrusion?” he asked icily. Gojyo could hear he was infuriated by the men’s behavior.

“Yeah, what's the fucking meaning?” Gojyo managed to calm down and regain some of his arrogant attitude. “I never thought watching us would turn you on,” he added sarcastically.

A fourth man stepped forward. It was the father of one of the boys Hakkai had visited last night. His face had an expression of grief and anger and hate. “You,” he said in a voice trembling with emotion. He pointed at Hakkai. “You killed my son!”

One of the three officials put a hand on the shaking man’s shoulder to calm him. He then addressed Hakkai. “I’m the sheriff in this town, and I’m putting you under arrest for the murder of Feng Tai and Lee Jin.”

TBC