Two things.
Firstly, when I say Sanzo + Hakkai, I mean that there will eventually be Sanzo + Hakkai, not that they’re already boinking each other. Just in case you were wondering.

Secondly, there will be a very, very minor spoiler for Saiyuki RELOAD #2. I will be giving you a name. If even if that is too much for anyone, please run away quickly. Thank you.

Labrynth-san : Gratis. Is this fast enough for you? ^_^.

Uncle : Hurt-comfort ficcie? Excuse me? *bristles*. *g*. Actually, I could do one of those just to freak you out... but I’d use Hakkai/Gojyo. Yep yep.

Fall : Indeed, not as dark as I’m capable of ^_~.

Everyone else : Thank you ^_^. I wasn’t expecting such a positive response, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

--

Impossibility 2

He snapped awake, gasping.

"It’s alright," a voice said.

"Hakkai." He turned slightly in acknowledgement.

"A nightmare?" Hakkai asked.

"Don’t get up," Hakkai warned.

"How bad is it?" Sanzo asked. Warning or no, he didn’t feel like moving an inch.

Hakkai closed his eyes briefly. "Bad."

"How bad?"

Hakkai’s voice took on a detached, clinical quality. "Upper torso and arms-- mainly flesh wounds. There was some infection on the wounds on your left arm. They..." he faltered.

"Tried to eat me. I know," Sanzo said sourly.

"...I managed to clean up the worse of it, but there’s a large build up of pus and fluid, and that’s going to take a while to go down."

Sanzo flexed his arm and winced. "Go on."

"They broke your legs."

He remembered -- or rather, he remembered the aftermath of that -- or rather, he didn’t want to remember the aftermath of that.

Death was something they were prepared to accept, had to be prepared to accept. They killed; they were ready to be killed in turn. It was karma, it was the balance. He’d never been afraid of death.

And yet humans and youkai were animals; corner them and they would fight back, and when they couldn’t fight--

They panicked.

He’d been terrified -- no, not quite. It had been less than that. Terrified was a human emotion. What he’d felt had gone straight down to pure instinct, the primary response that said : Bolt.

Except that...

He took a deep breath. Returned to the present.

"Are they dead?"

"Every last one," Hakkai replied quietly.

He wanted to sleep, but something in him abhored the idea of being comatose and completely helpless.

But who was he kidding? In his present condition, he’d be helpless asleep or awake.

He wanted his gun. Hakkai had thoughtfully reloaded it and placed it on the side table. He glanced at it, noting a fleck of blood that hadn’t been cleaned off.

"I reloaded it," Hakkai said, following his eyes.

"I know." He didn’t take it. It would have been a pointless gesture. An admission of weakness.

"Are you alright?" Hakkai asked.

Stupid, stupid, inane question. He felt a flash of annoyance. "Do I look okay?" Damn, but he was starting to want those painkillers again. "Just keep the kappa away, you hear me? Even Goku is better than he is. Damn moron."

"He’s just worried," Hakkai replied.

"Screw him and his concern," Sanzo shot back. "How long do you think it’ll be before I can walk?"

"Well..." Hakkai frowned. "It was a simple break. I tried my best, but bone needs to heal on its own. I’d say... two months. And then it’d be sometime before you’re back to full speed..."

"Months." The word itself tested bitter. Two whole months.

"Maybe seven weeks," Hakkai said. "We’ll have to work out some sort of arrangement."

"Arrangement? Whatever for?"

"For necessities," Hakkai replied calmly, nodding at the toilet. Sanzo shot him a smoldering glare. "A pan, perhaps..."

"Oh shut up, Hakkai. And pass me more of that crap that the physician brewed up."

***

Something had changed. Sanzo hadn’t ordered him out of his room as he normally did. Perhaps it was a recognition of the need for safety in numbers, perhaps it was simply that Sanzo was medicated and not thinking straight, perhaps... idle thinking, Sanzo actually wanted his presence.

There were times, rainy nights, where they’d sit up and play cards. Hand after hand after hand; there were no stacks. And the hours would slip by, until the rain stopped. It was strange, trying to read each other’s faces during those times. Both of them were closed doors, one with a frown, one with a smile... and they’d stare at each other over the top of their cards, silently probing each other’s defences.

They’d gotten better at it, over the months. They’d learnt to read the slightest movement, the lack of movement, the different kinds of stillness. And so each schooled their expressions into something even more feriously unreadable. It was a game of sorts, a kind of competition to which the cards were only an optional extra. Words didn’t even enter the equation at all.

There it was a game. But here it meant that, in the unguarded moments of sleep, Hakkai could read Sanzo like a book. The attack had affected him badly; shaken something, perhaps something fundamental.

Of course, it was perfectly natural. If it had been any of the others -- Gojyo, Goku, himself -- they’d have been grateful for reinforcements. That sort of feeling bypassed conscious thought which was governed by principles and past experiences. Except, of course, that this was Sanzo, who had non-attachment burned into his soul. This was Sanzo, who’d never showed a flicker of human emotion when they’d rushed to his assistance in the past.

Hakkai left as quietly as possible, making his way back to his own room. No sooner had he stepped in when he caught sight of movement at the corner of his eye, and looked up. Goku bounded in, all nervous energy. It radiated off the youth, made you feel like fidgeting and twitching along.

"He woke up, didn’t he?" Goku asked.

"Yes, yes, he did," Hakkai said. Even his smile felt nervous.

"Will he be okay? He’s never been hurt so bad before." It wasn’t the first time Goku had asked that question.

"He’ll recover. The worst is over." And they weren’t trying to kill him. But they did inflict internal damage in their unmoderated savaging... he noticed his hands had clenched. He forced himself to relax.

"Oh good good good. But he hasn’t eaten anything! Will he be alright?"

"The doctor gave him some thing to drink," Hakkai assured him. Best if he doesn’t eat anything for a while. Nevermind what I told Goku; I wasn’t actually sure if he’d survive that gut wound.

"They got in through the window, right?" Goku asked.

"I think so. They must have known that we were coming--" common knowledge, these days "-- and watched us going into the inn."

"But they seemed stupid!"

Hakkai paused; Goku had hit on something. He hadn’t noticed -- no, he’d been too concerned with making them die slowly and painfully. But yes, these youkai had been brutes, scarcely more than savages. Granted, they had the instints to stalk and kill, and perhaps even track a target to its den...

...but then, it must have taken some work to find out which room the target had been in, then time it such that his companions were out of the way.

And someone had locked the door. He was quite sure that it hadn’t been Sanzo.

"Think the bar brawl was staged?" Gojyo said, looking in. "The innkeeper said that he’d never seen those people before. And they kicked up a fight almost immediately after they came in."

Hakkai frowned.

"I don’t like where this is leading," Goku said. "Means that there’s some clever enemy out there, right? Means that this was planned..."

"Wow, he actually managed to figure that out," Gojyo said. It was a sign of how worried Goku was that he let the comment pass.

"That seems to be a conclusion," Hakkai said relunctantly. "But that means... this youkai must have come from afar. And disappeared after the attack. But if this attack was planned... why not kill or capture their target?"

"It might have gotten out of hand," Goku pointed out.

"That seems too simple an explanation," Gojyo said. "The easy way out."

"Hm," Hakkai said, noncommital.

"Well, maybe they didn’t expect Hakkai -- wait, Hakkai, just why did you go upstairs to look for Sanzo?"

Hakkai paused. Yes, why had he gone up? It wasn’t as if dinner had been ready -- not with the tables overturned and the people lying on the floor in various states of incapacitation. "Dinner. That was it. I thought that we might had to venture farther afield for dinner, and it was getting late..."

"...oh, so no clues there," Goku said.

"Of course, Hakkai here might just have a nose for trouble."

"I don’t," Hakkai told Gojyo.

"So do we still need to pull nursemaid duty?" Gojyo asked. "Are we going to have to draw up a roster or something?"

"I’m thinking of changing to a double room," Hakkai said. "Firstly, it’d be a good idea to change location, and secondly, it’d save on costs. And it would forestall another surprise attack. If, as Goku said, there’s someone behind this, we can expect more attacks."

"Aw damn, does that mean that I have to room with the ape again?" Gojyo groaned.

"Hey, it’s my loss!" Goku snapped.

"What kind of road trip is this? Where I either room with a trigger happy, grouchy monk, or a whiny, annoying brat--"

"--who are you calling a brat?"

"And it might be a good idea to get you two rooms that are somewhat further away from Sanzo’s," Hakkai sighed. "And with extra thick walls, thank you."

***

"Do you have any idea who’s behind this?" Hakkai asked.

Sanzo looked up; he’d been reading the papers. ‘Youkai attack’ the headlines said. "I thought you’d killed them all."

"Six attacked you. You took three down, I killed one, and the remaining two ran. We found them -- and more like them -- hiding in some cave on the outskirts of town. The townsfolk said that they’d been terrorizing the place for weeks now; killing the random villager and raiding the markets... They were extremely grateful for our assistance," Hakkai said blandly.

Sanzo turned back to the papers, seemingly uninterested. "Well, then you got them."

"Hm." Hakkai said. "Fancy a game of cards?"

Sanzo paused.

"Very well."

They’d played for almost an hour, before Hakkai got up to close the window. "You know, it might be a good idea..." he mused.

"Because winter is coming?" Sanzo asked.

"Because winter is coming. The townsfolk say that it’s very tough, travelling through the winter blizzards in these parts."

"And I thought we’d faced the worst of it up in the mountains."

"Well, winter comes earlier to the mountains. Which means, spectacular timing and all, we just outran it momentarily, and it’s catching up again."

Sanzo sighed, and his breath was momentarily visible. It was getting cold.

"I’ll deal," he offered.

"Thank you," Hakkai said, sitting down again. He picked up his cards. "So... shall we name the stakes?"

"Ah."

"Loser declares what’s on his mind."

"Ah." Sanzo picked a card. He’d been winning three games out of four. Hakkai pretended to look away for a moment.

When they shot glances at each other, it was like crossing swords. For a moment, eyes met and wills clashed. And Hakkai thought : I can tell he’s thinking, but I can’t tell what...

"You’re not going to pull a stunt and read my mind?" Sanzo said wryly. "I’m disappointed."

"I’m a little out of practice," Hakkai ceded. "We haven’t played in a while."

Sanzo was still staring at him. It was easy to forget that, behind the bandages and the foul temper, behind the seeming and occasionally genuine disinterest in his surroundings, behind his tendency to shoot first and ask questions later...

...Sanzo was terrifyingly perceptive.

Perhaps it was the gift of a Sanzo -- the ability to see into the hearts and minds of others, friend or foe. Perhaps it was a defense, when strength failed. Perhaps it was just a talent. But whatever the case, he was their unspoken leader -- not because he was appointed by the gods, but because he saw the way.

Sanzo threw the cards onto the table. "It was Zakuro [1]," he said flatly.

Hakkai nodded. He’d been thinking the same; loyal to Gyokumen and seemingly unaffected by the Minus Wave, Zakuro could easily have tracked them to the inn, and then guided and hidden the attack force of six youkai onto the correct room.

"Why did the attack fail, then?" Hakkai asked.

"You call that a failure?" Sanzo snorted. "Besides, that hasn’t been on my mind. Anyway, I’m going to sleep."

"Understood," Hakkai replied. He glanced down at his own cards, still unrevealed. A full house stared back at him.

To be continued...

[1] Zakuro -- as said, a youkai loyal to Gyokumen, who actually survives an encounter with the Sanzo-ikkou in Reload #2.

--
And now for some inanity.

Scenes that didn’t make it to the final cut --

Take #1

"I don’t like where this is leading," Goku said. "Means that there’s some clever enemy out there, right? Means that this was planned..."

"Wow, he actually managed to figure that out," Gojyo said. It was a sign of how worried Goku was that he let the comment pass.

"That seems to be a conclusion," Hakkai said relunctantly. "But that means... this youkai must have come from afar. And disappeared after the attack. But if this attack was planned... why not kill or capture their target?"

"It might have gotten out of hand," Goku pointed out.

"That seems too simple an explanation," Gojyo said. "The easy way out."

"I know! It must have been the sadistic fanfic author pulling strings behind the scenes!"

--

Take #2

"You’re not going to pull a stunt and read my mind?" Sanzo said wryly. "I’m disappointed."

"I’m a little out of practice," Hakkai ceded. "So I’m just reading your thought bubbles instead. Let’s see... Zakuro, eh?"

--

Take #3

"Maybe seven weeks," Hakkai said. "We’ll have to work out some sort of arrangement."

"Arrangement? Whatever for?"

"For necessities," Hakkai replied calmly. "We’re going to be in bed for a whole seven weeks, but it’s difficult to screw with your legs broken."

--

Take #4

"Thank you," Hakkai said, sitting down again. He picked up his cards. "So... shall we name the stakes?"

"Ah."

"Winner gets to be seme."

"...I’m not taking this bet."

--