"It's alright," Hakkai said. "It is a public garden."

He could sense movement behind. "Do you take walks in the middle of the night often?"

Hakkai smiled. "I've been having problems sleeping." He smiled up at the starless, moonless sky.

"Is that so?"

The proximity of the voice caused Hakkai to start involuntarily. He'd expected the man to keep his distance... but no, Hazel had glided silently up to stand behind the bench.

"Please, have a seat."

To his further surprise, Hazel accepted the offer. There was a rustle of fabric as the priest sat, dark robes pooling in darkness around him. He was not wearing the white cape.

"Is it the rain, Cho-han?"

Hakkai took a breath. The night air was still and heavy, the sky marked by black clouds. "A storm seems to be blowing in, yes."

"I was talking about Sanzo-han."

"Sanzo?"

Hazel leaned back, and folded his hands on his lap. "Sanzo-han becomes moody when it rains. Or even when it threatens to rain."

"Aa." Sanzo had radiated stiff tension all afternoon. The news that the road out of town was flooded and inaccessible had not helped.

"And so do you," Hazel said quietly.

"Rain is always somewhat depressing," Hakkai said cheerfully.

"So are many things."

"True. Flagrant waste of life and false hope, to name a couple."

There were barbs in that remark. Hazel must have noticed, because his posture become somewhat more rigid. "Is killing a youkai a flagrant waste of life?" he asked.

"You ask me?"

Hazel turned clear blue eyes on him. "Yes."

"I'm just an unenlightened youkai," Hakkai returned. "And my opinion would be biased, in any case."

"Cho-han. I am trying to understand. You three are dissimilar from the other youkai. Not only are you not trying to kill humans, you aren't trying to take Sanzo-han's sutra." He returned his gaze to the distant trees. "Is it the limiters that you wear?"

"Every youkai is different, like every human is different," Hakkai told him. And there he would have stopped, there he intended to stop, but then Hazel glanced expectantly at him.

Perhaps he genuinely wants to know, Hakkai thought.

He found himself speaking, of Gyuumaou and Nataku, of the resurrection and the Minus Wave. Of their role in stopping the resurrection he said nothing. Hazel sat still and silent as Hakkai's words rose and fell.

"I see," the priest said at last, flatly emotionless.

Perhaps it was the tone. Perhaps it was the heavy, electrified air -- the stifling humidity, the tension that had been building since the night before.

"No," Hakkai said abruptly. "I don't think you see at all."

Both of them were on their feet before either realized.

"I--" Hazel started.

"You presume," Hakkai cut him off. "You, a foreigner, coming here to 'save' us? You who know nothing of this conflict presume to throw yourself head first into it?"

"I came to the assistance of people who needed it."

"And how many innocent youkai have you murdered in the meantime?" Hakkai's gaze was flinty. "You would have killed the three of us, if we had no proven so resilient against your shikigami. You may pretend to discriminate, but there is no distinction between one youkai and the next in your heart and mind, and the actions of your puppets reflects that too well."

Hazel inclined his head, and declined to answer.

"'Youkai', unlike the western word 'Monster', does not carry the inherent connotation or the traditional stigma of evil," Hakkai told him.

"I did nothing more than what the people of this land asked me to do. You said earlier that almost all the youkai in Togenkyou have gone mad, and those that have not have taken to their heels and fled." The pendant glinted gold against Hazel's dark robes. "Do you think that I deliberately went youkai hunting? I slew only those who attacked the townspeople -- predators intent on slaughtering helpless innocents. There was no sign of sanity amongst of them." His voice dropped. "I do not lie when I say that the three of you are different from any other youkai Gato and I have hereto encountered."

"And yet you tried to kill us."

"If I had really wanted you dead, do you think you would still be alive now?"

Lightning smashed across the hills and both of them moved without thinking.

The sudden flash of light faded on a frozen tableau. They hovered bare inches apart, Hakkai with a ki ball aimed at Hazel's midsection, Hazel with a slender blade aimed at Hakkai's throat. Rapid breaths rasped in the wake of echoing thunder.

Hakkai blinked away the flashing spots in his vision. "So you are armed. Poisoned, I presumed?"

The hand holding the knife did not waver. "Yes."

"Of course, I would blow both of us into the next week the moment you moved."

"We appear to be at an impasse, then."

The first drops of rain fell on those words, tiny trails of ice.

"You made me a suggestion the last time, Cho-han. May I make one to you?"

"Please do."

"If you would put away that energy ball, I will step down also."

"It does sound like a good plan." Hakkai's monocle glinted as he smiled.

It took a few second before they unfroze, statues come to life. With a soft hum, Hakkai dispelled the ki blast. The dagger disappeared back into Hazel's sleeve.

"Well, then. That is better." Hazel let go of the breath that he had been holding.

"I am rather surprised," Hakkai said.

"What at?"

"That you would wander into the presence of a youkai without asking Gato to keep an eye on things. I was almost expecting to be shot, back there."

Hazel's expression was darkly unreadable. "What will it take for you to trust me?"

Hakkai simply replied with the same, sunny smile. Rain fell, heavier now.

"Cho-han. Gato is not watching over me because I asked him not to. There are... indeed, times when one simply wishes to be alone. And I repeat: If I had wanted you dead, and Son-han and Sha-han as well... it would have been a simple matter of a single, well-placed bullet."

"And the shikigami?"

"Were a test."

"Ah. I--" he blinked as rain splashed into his eyes. Blinked and missed the sudden flash of movement in front of him, blinked and suddenly Hazel was standing right before him, something blazing in those unusual turquoise eyes, cold fingers cupping his chin.

"You too presume many things, Hakkai," Hazel said.

He'd somehow expected the cold of a reanimated, heartless corpse. But there was warmth, and there was the pounding of his heart in his ears, and the surging of blood through his veins. There was desperation, then hesitation, then retreat--

--Hakkai was not one to let an enemy retreat and regroup. His hands closed on slender shoulders, and he had a glimpse of genuine surprise on the other's face before lips met again. And now it was cold; but it was the burning cold of icy fire -- the stinging, silvery fire of the moon.

A hand came up between them, pushing him away. Rain slicked cloth slipped through his grasping fingers. A crash of thunder obscured the words he thought he said, and when the lightning-blindness passed, he was alone.

You too presume many things.

Hakkai raised a hand to his eyes to swipe the rain water away.

--x--

Hakkai - 1; Hazel - 1.

Random outtake: Ze Original Script!

Hakkai: "You ask me?"

Hazel: "Yes."

Hakkai: "I'm just an unenlightened youkai. And my opinion would be biased, in any case."

Hazel: "You are not unenlightened."

Hakkai: "So you acknowledge that there are differences between youkai and that youkai can be enlightened too?"

Hazel: "No, I... I mean..." >_>

Hakkai: ^_^v. Score!

Hazel, to typist: I am avoiding that line.

Hakkai: Spoilsport.

"So, this is the first time you've written /anything/ explicit. How do you feel?"

"Like I've just written a cheesy romance." *vaguely green*

"Not embarrassed?"

"Only by the cheesiness. Look, it wasn't even explicit. I suppose in the back of my mind I wanted them to start making out in the rain, because it's pretty, but Hazel and I are both down with head colds, so that's not very nice."

"So why did you--"

"UST OVERFLOWING! TOO MUCH UST! IT HAD TO GO SOMEWHERE!" *hides under pillow*