Disclaimer: I don't own Gensomaden Saiyuki. If I did, it would be full of blatant yaoi. Or something. ^^; And Sanzo would be my bitch. Yes. Ah, sweet dreams…

Cold Beer, Cold Rain (Chapter 5)

By, AmethystGleam

Sanzo's mind was fuzzy, and worse yet, he was too wet to have a good smoke, as the rain pounded incessantly down against him. The black muscle-shirt and gloves that Sanzo wore were providing very little help against the storm. His hair a damp mess, barred shoulders almost shuddering under the weight of the cold rain, the monk realized slowly that he felt, and must've looked, quite pathetic. It was only this realization that let Sanzo understand that he was drunk, and that fact, thanks to the intoxication, had only enraged him further.

More wasted bullets flew, embedding themselves into the trees that made up the forest the monk had somehow landed himself into during his drunken stagger away from the inn. Much too soon for the upset monk, and much too late for some of the forest trees, a faint clicking noise was all that was left of the resounding shots fired off from the revolver. He was out of bullets, at last.

Well…FUCK.

In extreme aggravation, the monk was every bit as ready to chuck his gun deep into the forest, hoping it would kill something wherever it happened to land. However, with his arm pulled back, ready to throw, Sanzo quietly remembered the gun's history.

"What is this place?" the young Kouryuu inquired, intrigued by his ignorance in matters concerning the fact that the temple had an armory. It made sense, though; After all, what reason would any of the stuffy monks have to give 'Kouryuu the River Rat' something to defend himself with? But he supposed that if the only one of those monks that mattered, his master-the young blonde's heart throbbed painfully at the memory of his Master Sanzo deceased on this floor-hadn't given him a weapon, then he hadn't needed one until now after all.

Behind Kouryuu, 'stuffy-monk number forty-seven' remarked that the young boy could take anything from the armory that he so desired, before the monk burst into a sermon over the dangers of the mountains; beasts shaped like humans, and so on, so forth; the lot which ended up at the back of Kouryuu's mind without the boy really having paid attention to any of it. After all, the only person who's lecturing he had paid heed to was his master's.

"This alone will be enough," murmured the young blonde, amethyst eyes capturing sight of a banishing gun, as lithe fingers twisted around twisted around the weapon's handle. Testing the weight and grip in his hand, Kouryuu studied the gun with fierce intensity, though his expression did not change from it's normally smug appearance. The gun itself was small enough, as the boy thought gravely at that moment, to press to his own temple, should it come to that.

As Genjo Sanzo snapped none-too-peacefully out of his memories, he carefully lowered the revolver in his hand, feeling he might still need it, and cursing himself at such a realization. It was then that the monk's rage began to fade, slipping slowly, distantly, into something closer to depression. Wordlessly, Sanzo's grip on reality began to unravel, and the man allowed his head to fall into a quiet bow against a nearby tree. The blonde blinked a little, his mind again reeling back to the image of his dead master, and then himself, Kouryuu, overlooking the loss, hands covered in blood.

"I couldn't save him."

Slowly, the gun slipped from his fingers, hitting the ground with an indignant, yet unnoticed, splash. Blood. There had been so much blood. It had bothered him so greatly at the time, but since then, he'd seen, even caused, sights of enough blood to fill hundreds of his master. That, however, did not bother him as much as the blood left from his memory. Master Sanzo's blood on his hands, never leaving.

'Blood can be washed away.' Sanzo recalled saying something along those lines once. But his hands were not clean; not at all, and it was the accursed rain that reminded him of that. Reminded him of everything.

"I couldn't save him."

The rain wouldn't wash the blood from Sanzo's hands.

On the contrary, it made the stains all the more apparent.

~**~

"Sanzo's been gone for a while now," came a quiet voice of concern from near the tightly shut window of Hakkai and Gojyo's room.

"Goku…," Hakkai began, trying to ease the smaller man's concern. "Sanzo's just letting off some steam is all. Rainy days aren't good for him."

"But WHY?" cried Goku, frustration apparent at his thus-far lack of success at getting a straight answer over the situation.

"Ne, monkey, give it a rest. Give US a rest. Leave the bastard monk alone until he comes back. THEN bother HIM about it," Sha Gojyo snorted, not glancing up from his comfortable position in bed.

"Has it ever occurred to you that Sanzo might NOT come back?!" snapped Goku, golden eyes turning viciously against the kappa that was lying with his back towards him.

"No," Gojyo spat back, suddenly turning very seriously to return Goku's heated glare. "It's never occurred to me, because Sanzo is not that much of an idiot. Asshole, yes. Idiot, no."

A gentle smile graced Hakkai's features as the green-eyed man moved to comfortingly place his hands on Goku's shoulders," We've all been through so much together, Goku. Sanzo wouldn't disappear, knowing the gods would rain holy hell down upon him if we don't finish our quest. And while I'm sure Sanzo's not frightened of such a thought, he'd just be quite annoyed if he ran out of bullets to use against those in the heavens, and would therefore end up considering the whole thing a waste of time and bullets."

"Speaking of which, how much ammo did the monk take with him? We should go make an fatality count after the rain stops," Gojyo snickered, resting his eyes shut after a minute.

"Oh dear… I do wonder if anyone DID get in his way outside! Maybe I should go check right now for those who might need healing…," Hakkai removed his hands from Goku's shoulders, starting to move towards the door.

"Oi! Hakkai! You aren't going anywhere; you're still sick, remember?!" the red-haired water sprite yelped, concern in his voice, throwing the bed sheets aside as if ready to get up and detain Hakkai physically.

The baka saru, too, spoke up," Besides, if anyone should go after Sanzo, it should be me! I was the one who pissed him off in the first pace!"

The healer paused with his hand hovering a few inches from the doorknob; True, he was still feeling a little under the weather, but people might need help! Gojyo coughed in the background, but Hakkai's thoughts continued, as the man wondered what would happen if Gojyo's condition were to worsen during his leave? And Sanzo? It's always been obvious he couldn't stand the others when it was raining, therefore It'd be best if he, himself, were the one to go talk with him. However, leaving the room with Gojyo and Goku behind? Yes, Goku…; what would happen if Goku went to talk to Sanzo? Would Sanzo shoot Goku? Even when Goku went berserk, Sanzo never SHOT him…

The sound of a slamming door interrupted Hakkai's train of thought, and the man blinked, confused, at the door, before a pair of arms swept him off his feet. The healer flailed, surprised, as he was carried over to the bed and plopped gently into it.

Gojyo had been careful not to injure his friend with the aforementioned actions," While you were thinking, the monkey slid out past you, and ran out to find Sanzo. I let him go; better him than us at this point." Gojyo coughed again, this time into his hand, before moving to sit in the chair beside the bed. "Go ahead and rest or a while. I'll watch for the monk and the monkey, so you don't have to worry."

"Thank you, Gojyo," the healer replied, gratefully, still worried but knowing he'd do better to simply listen to Gojyo and rest. Emerald orbs vanished from the world, but Hakkai did not sleep, for he, like Sanzo, was unnerved by the sound of rain drumming incessantly in his ears. That was one of the things that made him and Sanzo such good company to each other during times of storm. A coughing fit escaped Hakkai, as suddenly as such things did come, one with enough ferocity to shake the man's entire body until his writhing frame came to uneasy stop at the feel of something cool pressed against his cheek.

Ruby eyes peered down at the sick man in bed, as Gojyo held a cool glass of water to Hakkai's cheek. He pulled it back a little to let Hakkai sit up, and the healer did so, graciously sipping the water that had now been handed to him, nodding gratefully in return.

"I know you don't like the rain, either, Hakkai. None of us do, but you're ill, and you really should try to get some rest. The rain doesn't look to be letting up anytime soon, after all…" The half-breed would've loved nothing more than to grab a cigarette, but being sick made that idea seem very unhealthy. (For once.) But then again, everything that had ever tried to sand between him and a smoke(with the exception of his traveling companions), was dead and deceased. Therefore, the water sprite reached plainly for his pack of cigarettes, but paused upon hearing Hakkai begin coughing again.

Under his breath, lisping with sarcasm, Gojyo shook his head," Second hand smokesies hurts peoples." Snorting lightly, Gojyo dropped the cigarette pack back to where it had been, as he sulked over to the window, half glaring out through the glass as he watched a familiar little monkey dash in the direction of a forest near the inn.

"Hurry, Baka Saru."

~**~

Goku had changed out of Sanzo's robes by this point, leaving them neatly folded on the bed of the room he and Sanzo shared. The baka saru had returned to wearing his own clothing, of which was still a little wet, but Goku thought little of it, knowing he was about to get even more drenched than before. Surely, Sanzo would be angry at the fact he was being searched for, but Goku was too worried to care how many times he'd be whapped with the harisen as punishment.

In the rain, it was harder than ever to search for Sanzo. Vision was horrible in the gloomy lack of light, and the sound of rain bashing down on anything and everything was loud enough to drown out any sounds of splashing footsteps. Furthermore, Sanzo wouldn't be able to smoke in this weather, unless he'd found a cave, or not even come to the forest at all (possibilities that Goku absolutely dreaded), so it wasn't like the monkey could follow the smoke trail to his master. After a long moment of thinking, Goku finally decided that the best way to go about finding Sanzo would be to scream. Sanzo always told him to shut up when he was being noisy, and the monkey dearly hoped that sometime during his search, his cry of "SANZO!" would be followed by a healthy, arrogant, demand of 'urusai!"