Le joy!

[keire_ke]

Going home on Sunday, wheeeee!

I got the Christmas cards hellfire_angel and yami_tai, thank you!

solanum_d there's no way around it, the customs boys have stolen the package again. Stupid subtext hogging customs boys. GET A ROOM, WILLYA?!


“What are we gonna do with the feds?” Kougaji asked. He was leaning against the pilot’s seat, watching Yaone search the net. Sanzo was staring off into space, his legs propped against the window. It’s been two standard days since Sanzo discovered the stowaway. It was only now that they managed to get a clear signal. The magnetic resonance around Bob stretched far, disrupting the more sophisticated communication.

“Ditch them, first chance we get,” he replied. Kougaji threw him a troubled look.

“They followed Hakkai, didn’t they?”

“Yeah. Though I got the feeling they weren’t overly concerned with him. They could’ve arrested him as soon as they caught up on Bob, they’ve had enough time.”

“So that means they were after Goku,” Kougaji said slowly. Sanzo didn’t reply, but his expression darkened. He knew what his second in command was thinking, because it was the same thing that was running through his mind. Goku was – problematic. He reacted to the surroundings with child-like curiosity, but there was nothing of a child in the way he seemed to understand it. Physically, he was easy to place. Late teens, early twenties. Psychically though, he seemed ageless.

What could he’d possibly done, to provoke a federal pursuit?

“There’s nothing here,” Yaone said, breaking the silence. “No bounty, no warrants, no reward, nothing. You’d think the feds didn’t care at all.”

“Maybe these two aren’t feds anymore.”

“Don’t think so. They tried to arrest me.” Sanzo smirked to himself. Behind his back, Kougaji was smirking as well.

“I imagine that did not go over very well.”

“It did for me.”

“I hope you didn’t hurt them too much.”

“Men, honestly.” Yaone sighed. “Don’t we have a situation here?”

“Yeah. A fugitive without a price tag. That’s new.”

“They don’t want to let this out. Whatever it is that Hakkai did, they want it under wraps,” Kougaji said. There was silence.

“Dismissed,” Sanzo said eventually, not moving away from the window pane. Yaone rolled her eyes, but moved out of her chair and out, closely followed by Kougaji.

The captain stared out the window for a little while longer, but soon he walked to the abandoned console and sat down. The chair was still warm. Sanzo reached for the keyboard and typed in a string of commands. A cheerful “you’ve got mail” popped up on the screen. Sanzo smirked and opened his inbox. Checking the recent messages was a work of a moment. He read through two, deleted five, closed the mailbox, and moved on. The next three sites he visited took a little more typing, but within ten minutes he was done. He finished downloading a set of files onto his datapad, shut the computer down and left for the common room.

“Off,” he said to Lirin, who was bouncing on the sofa. She pouted at him, but did as she was told. Sanzo sat down, stretching his long legs in front of him. The rest of the crew looked at him with varying degrees of amusement, which he very pointedly ignored. Kougaji shook his head and returned his attention to the game of chess he and Yaone were playing. Lirin grabbed a piece machinery laying around and started fiddling with it, curled up on a low chair next to Kougaji. Jien was busily cleaning and assembling a rather mean-looking gun.

Strangely enough, all of them were very pointedly sitting alongside the walls, away from the rug in the middle, which was everyone’s, Lirin’s in particular, favourite spot.

“Sanzo?”

“What?”

“You were supposed to be locking Kouryuu up,” Jien said. Sanzo raised a brow and looked down. A vague hint of a smirk twisted his mouth.

“Is he disturbing you?”

Cue the reason for the rug being abandoned. Kouryuu was a force to be reckoned with, especially when he decided a spot was his for the reigning. For reasons that had yet to be discovered, the otherwise untouchable cat was pawing at a piece of string Goku was dangling in front of his face, like he was a precious kitten and not the Satan’s spawn the crew knew him to be.

Sanzo almost smiled. The kid was completely engrossed, as if a cat and a cord was the most amazing thing he’d seen in his life. A weird thought entered his mind – what if this was the first cat Goku had ever seen? But it was preposterous, cats were common enough. Yet, somehow, the idea wouldn’t leave his head. The fascination on Goku’s face was more than obvious, and although the warm, content look suited him, it made Sanzo feel uneasy.

Exactly who was this kid, that a housecat was a source of so much wonder?

He shrugged eventually and returned his attention to the datapad on his lap. Every once in a while his eyes would flicker back to Goku and Kouryuu, both of whom looked like they were just handed a piece of heaven.

Sanzo would have probably done something irrationally violent if he realised what an endearing image he projected, casting the little looks every now and then. Luckily, the thought that he might be used in the same sentence as “adorable” had never occurred to him, so he was able to get on with his work.

The multitasking consumed the captain to the point that Hakkai’s arrival and greeting went almost unnoticed. The doctor seated himself at the table, resting a datapad against an empty glass, settling seamlessly into the crew’s down time. The atmosphere was peaceful – this was relaxation at its best.

And then Gojyo sauntered in. The man apparently had yet to master walking. He either sauntered or swaggered, both of which had as much to do with walking as a waltz.

“I’ve cards, anyone up to poker?” he said, holding up a deck.

“Sorry, no,” Kougaji answered not looking up from the chessboard.

“Oh, come on!”

“I’ll play.” The crew, as one, turned to look at Hakkai. “Poker?” he asked, reaching for the deck Gojyo was palming.

“Yeah.” The man pulled out a chair and sat down, watching the doctor deal. Several smirks blossomed across the room as the two picked up their hands and arranged the cards to their liking. “Full house,” Gojyo announced with a winsome grin.

“Four.” Hakkai laid his cards on the table. Gojyo raised a brow, collected the cards and dealt again.

“Flush,” he offered, several minutes later.

“Straight flush.” The smirks around the room faded. Inconspicuously, everyone paused in their activities to watch the show.

“Flush.”

“Full house.”

“Straight.”

“Four.”

“Straight flush, in diamonds,” Gojyo challenged. Hakkai smiled apologetically.

“Royal flush. In clubs.”

Gojyo blinked at the cards. “Holy fucking shit.” The room exploded with laughter. “Damn, how did you get so good?”

“I’m not quite sure,” Hakkai replied, sounding contrite. “I’ve always been good at card games.” Gojyo shook his head in disbelief.

“Shit, man. You make me glad I don’t do this for a living.” A rather indignant snort from the couch made him look up. “Shut up. I’d still do better than you do at thieving.”

“Stick to your whoring and stay out of my business.”

“Really, you should try it sometime, captain. Legitimate income does wonders for self-esteem. Plus, there’s the getting laid part, which to be frank you could use. Big time.”

“Fuck off.”

“Exactly what I’m talking about. Seriously, the more time I spend in your esteemed company, the more inclined I am to screw you, just to get the great big stick out of your ass.” Sanzo bristled, and evidently he wasn’t the only one disturbed by the comment.

“For fuck’s sake, Gojyo! I didn’t need that mental image!” Jien growled. Gojyo laughed.

“Sorry, bro. Force of habit.” Jien muttered something under his breath.

“You’re related?” Hakkai asked curiously, shooting a curious look at both men. At first glance they looked nothing alike. Of course, the most noticeable thing about Gojyo was his blood-red, shoulder-length hair, sharply contrasting with Jien’s coal black buzz-cut.

“Yeah, we’re brothers,” Gojyo said. “My hair’s actually black.” He flicked a strand away from his face.

“I see,” Hakkai said. There was resemblance there, once he looked past the hair.

“Right,” Jien said to himself suddenly. His words were followed by a sharp click and a very satisfied grunt. He lifted the gun to shoulder level and trained it on the opposing wall. “Do we have a job lined up?” he asked taking aim.

“Not at the moment. I’d appreciate it if you refrained from killing anyone until we do,” Sanzo said icily. Jien rolled his eyes, but put the gun down.

“Ah, I almost forgot!” Lirin bounced up in her seat. “Sanzo, the air-conditioning module is having trouble. The expansion valve is almost dead. We need a new one.”

“We need a new what?” Lirin rolled her eyes.

“The part that makes sure our air is breathable. Some of us still need oxygen, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“There’s something wrong with our life-support systems and you’re only telling me this now?” Sanzo pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose.

“Nothing’s wrong yet. I rewired it this morning.” She beamed proudly. “But it’s chortling to death, so we need to get a new one, first chance we get.”

“Fucking brilliant. Assuming it broke now, how long till we need to start learning to breathe carbon dioxide?”

“Ninety seven hours, twenty three minutes.” Sanzo blinked. Everyone around the table, save Hakkai, mirrored his movement. Then, as one, they looked onto the floor. Goku was laying on his back, Kouryuu purring contently on his chest. “Give or take half an hour, depending on stress,” he finished calmly, scratching the cat’s ear.

“Lirin?” Sanzo asked very quietly.

“Uh- About four days. I think,” she answered, equally softly. Her eyes were very wide. Goku chose that moment to look away from Kouryuu. He stared at the varying degrees of surprise decorating everyone’s faces.

“How did you know?” Sanzo asked eventually, his eyes fixed on the golden eyes with intensity that forced most people to avert their eyes. Goku stared back, not at all daunted.

“How didn’t you?” he asked, running his fingers along Kouryuu’s back. As one, the crew turned to look at Hakkai.

“I’m really not that brilliant at mathematics, I’m afraid,” the doctor said, his eyes fixed on whatever he was reading. “But if I wear to bet, I would put my money on him being correct.”

Sanzo stared at the doctor for a few seconds. The he looked down at his work and up again. “Hakkai.”

“Yes, captain?”

“I thought you might like to know that you are wanted,” Sanzo said evenly. “For manslaughter. Additional info comes down to ‘exercise extreme caution’.”

“I didn’t find anything,” Yaone said looking at the captain and his second.

“A strictly inter-military memorandum, I would imagine,” Kougaji replied just as quietly. “Sanzo gets the passwords for their system.”

Hakkai didn’t as much as blink. “I see.”

“That’s all?” Sanzo asked looking the man in the eye.

“For the time being, yes.” The pause lasted for several seconds. “I find it increasingly curious how you keep bringing up my personal affairs in a distinctly not private setting.”

“No offence to your privacy, but my crew deserves a warning, if there’s a murderer onboard.”

“Aw, captain. I knew you cared.”

“… but if Gojyo fits you preferred victim profile, be my guest.”

Hakkai laughed and the sound was surprisingly comforting. He pushed his glasses further up his nose.

“I suppose you are right,” he said and focused on the text again.

Sanzo raised a brow. “And?”

“And, as of now, you have been warned. I am a murderer.”

This effectively killed any and all conversation at the table.

Later, Sanzo made a point of stopping to stare Hakkai down while he was busy in the infirmary. The doctor proved to be very good at this game, so eventually Sanzo caved in and started speaking himself.

“You know, I thought something was off between you and Goku the moment I saw you together. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was then. I still can’t, not really.” He paused. Hakkai didn’t offer any comments, so Sanzo started talking again. “You don’t look at him. Not a glance, unless you have to. You barely call him by his name. In fact, I think I’ve only heard you use it once. You don’t spend much time together, unless you’re examining him. You never talk. Sometimes you speak to him, but you never talk. Need I go on?” Hakkai said nothing. “Normally, that would suggest that you dislike him. But you go to extraordinary lengths to keep him safe. You abandon your home, your extraordinarily well-paid job, your whole life. Is there something you haven’t yet done for Goku? Because apparently murder isn’t it.”

Hakkai breathed in deeply and closed his eyes. “I am fond of him. He’s a sweet child. Rest assured, I will stop at nothing to keep him safe.” Sanzo was inclined to believe him, the way he pronounced ‘nothing’. The look in his eyes, now bereft of glasses, was the look of a man who’d walk through the fires of hell, and still wouldn’t turn back.

“And yet you don’t seem to like him much,” the captain said, crossing his arms.

“I’m learning to like him.” Sanzo raised a brow at this. “I imagine you find the idea of not liking him astonishing.” A very slight smile graced Hakkai’s handsome face. It was, very obviously, a smile, yet Sanzo had the distinct feeling he was being smirked at. “It’s very hard to grow to honestly like someone you’ve only ever pitied,” Hakkai added very, very quietly.

Sanzo looked at him dispassionately, as if he hadn’t heard his last remark. “Do I have to keep tabs on you, twenty-four-seven, to make sure my crew is safe?”

“No. It may sound strange, all things considered, but I am not a violent man. As long as Goku is safe and sound.” Again with the not-really-a-smirk. “So I suspect your crew’s safety is in good hands, isn’t that right, Sanzo?”

If it were Gojyo, he’d have been thrown up against the wall, for the very clearly insinuating tone alone. Then again, if it were Gojyo, the insinuation would be a lot more explicit. As it was, Sanzo could only bristle and stalk out of the infirmary.