Gensomaden Saiyuki Fan Fiction ❯ Saiyuki Serial: Beautifully Broken Evolution ❯ 16 Neither Man Nor Beast ( Chapter 16 )

Author's Notes: I don't own a damn thing here except the smutty idea. Rights to the characters, as always, remains with their creator.

 

 

16 Neither Man Nor Beast

 

~Hakuryuu~

 

He smelled of sex.

 

I could scent it on him the moment he walked in the room with the dawn. He smelled of both Sanzo and Gojyo although the taste of the kappa was stronger than that of the monk. It didn't matter. I hadn't spent countless lives looking for him to give him up to either man. Five hundred years was a long time to wait for a lover. It was very fortunate that dragons had ages of patience.

 

I remembered everything about our time in heaven.

 

I remembered when he was a god and went by the name Tenpou. When I was the Dragon Lord of the Western Army of Heaven. When my name was Gojun and I was in love with my field marshal. He left heaven and me because it was something he had to do and my damn dragon pride wouldn't let me bend. I'd learned that pride was a cold comfort when you had no one to be proud of you. It had been a harsh lesson but one I knew now I'd needed to learn.

 

It took centuries for the right circumstances to come together so we could be as one. I'd finally found him or he'd found me at the correct time. I wasn't sure anymore which it was. It didn't matter. I was with him. But this…. This was not to be allowed. I had not struck a bargain with the less than merciful gods in heaven to have it all fall apart now. I gave up everything for Tenpou once I fully realized what he meant to me. It was too late for that at the time but the gods hadn't seen fit to tell me that.

 

I pleaded with them to let me go find him. I gave up an existence that was millennia old because it was meaningless without him. I bartered to keep my memories intact of my time in heaven and of Tenpou. They agreed with a speed I now realized I should have been wary of.

 

Tenpou struck no such deal with them.

 

He died and was reincarnated as I expected. The first time I found him was when I was made aware that he didn't remember me or the love we'd shared. He'd been afraid of me then and ran away. I chased him to his death and felt such guilt and grief I wondered if I should just abandon my desire to be with him again. I'd held his body for a very long while that first time before I was able to lay him to rest. It was after that first time that I was also made aware that just because I remembered who I was and who he was didn't mean that I'd find him in every life.

 

I waited and died and searched and died until I found him again. He wasn't a man the next time but it didn't matter. I loved his soul not the body that housed it. Again, I was too late by the time I found him. He'd married and had a family he adored. Because I loved him, I let him be happy with his children and husband. I watched over him until I passed to the next incarnation and prayed that he'd continue to live a full life.

 

I was a dragon again when we met this latest time. I was barely past the fledgling stage. I shouldn't have been out on my own but after waiting for nearly fifty years, I didn't want to miss yet another incarnation of his again. I left the nest and followed my heart. It was telling me that Tenpou lived again and that he was hurt and in danger. I searched for months and nearly died myself before he found me. I believe he was drawn to me as I lay broken and nearly dead just as I'd been drawn from the safety of the nest to search him out.

 

He looked remarkably like Tenpou in this incarnation and my heart leapt for joy. To feel his hands on me again had been a pleasure that was a dim memory. He'd healed me and I became his constant companion. I saw that he managed to find Kenren again, called Gojyo now, and that he'd been the one to save Tenpou. For that, Gojyo had the gratitude of a dragon.

 

I eventually met Konzen, now Sanzo and Goku who had been imprisoned in the mountain until his keeper found him again. The four of them were then sent on a journey but not before I had a visit from the Merciful Goddess hirself. Se told me that I was to go with them to help them. I was told that it would be useful for me to learn to take the form of a vehicle to carry them on their journey.

 

Se also gave me a warning.

 

This was the first time that Tenpou hadn't run from me in terror or already been in a happy relationship I was loath to intrude on, no matter my feelings for him. I was told not to reveal to him or anyone in our little group who we all had once been. Se didn't say why things were to be that way but the expression on hir face when I protested reminded me that I was in the presence of a god and if I annoyed that god enough, I could very likely lose Tenpou yet again through my own untimely demise.

 

But this latest outrage just couldn't be borne.

 

Tenpou, rather, Hakkai was my treasure. Mine. And a dragon never willingly gave up their treasure. Gojyo had Sanzo as a lover and Hakkai as a friend. He didn't need Hakkai as a lover, too. I couldn't see Sanzo changing so much from how he had been in heaven to the man he now was. Konzen didn't share when in heaven and I couldn't see his latest incarnation doing so now either. I could see quite a bit of Konzen in Sanzo and I wished Gojyo the best if luck in dealing with the man. He was going to need it.

 

I wasn't going to defy a god with the plan I would set in motion. I wouldn't even be doing this now if Hakkai hadn't come back smelling of sex and the men we travelled with. In the time that I'd been with them, Hakkai had never dallied with anyone to my knowledge. That he'd done so now, forced my hand. If the gods could stick to the letter of their word, so could I. Dragons were notorious for twisting words around to be other than what they had originally been intended to mean. I wouldn't tell Hakkai a single word about my being Gojun or him being Tenpou. He was a smart man and if he happened to piece together what had come before… that certainly wasn't my fault. I was going to be reclaiming my treasure and marking my territory. I'd waited patiently enough for the chance.

 

*********

 

Hakkai was deeply asleep as I put my plan into motion. Dragons could assume many forms. It just required practice to get each form right. I had the added benefit of remembering exactly how to assume many shapes from the last time I'd been a dragon. The jeep was fairly simple to master. I could be a little sloppy about how similar it was each time I assumed it and none of them would notice. But a human form….

 

I'd been practicing from the moment I was healed enough to attempt it.

 

I looked mostly the same as I did when I was in heaven. The biggest difference was my apparent age. While in heaven, I'd been a fully grown adult already thousands of years old. Now… now I looked like the human equivalent of my current dragon age. Even if I was generous, I still looked less than adult. Sixteen would be a good approximation. I had to laugh softly at that and the apparent humour of the gods. Thousands of years worth of memories and experiences in a sixteen year old body just aching to put to use that carnal knowledge.

 

I changed to the form I'd spent months practicing in secret. Even if I was just a teenager in form, I was still a very good looking male. My hair wasn't as long and was much softer than when I'd been an adult. The scales that showed on my body were lighter and there were fewer of them. The line of hair over my spine was a baby-fine down, not yet the full ruff that an adult male had. Even the tracery of wings and tail on my back and down one leg weren't as prominent as they would be once I reached full adulthood. At least I had no complaints with the state of my cock, dragons being a typically a well endowed species as a rule.

 

I approached the bed where Hakkai lay sleeping. I watched him for several minutes before sitting on the edge of the bed and reaching out to draw the covers back. I was startled when his strong fingers snared my wrist. His brilliant green eyes focused on me and if I hadn't known him as well as I did, I would have thought he had only polite curiosity in the strange teen drawing back his covers in the dead of night. I knew he was seconds away from trying to do me serious bodily harm. I needed to re-assure him. I opened my mouth and no words came out.

 

I had no voice.

 

The grip of Hakkai's hand on mine became almost painful as he sat up. I tried to speak and nothing came out but soft, raspy noises and little chirps of dragon-speak. I was horrified to feel my eyes prickle with tears of anger and frustration. I was so close to having the one I'd given up everything for and was being denied the chance to tell him what I'd held in my heart for more than five hundred years.

 

It was so fucking unfair!

 

I tipped my head back and keened softly, the only option left to me to express my sheer frustration. I'd never told Tenpou that I loved him when we were in heaven. I'd thought it an admission of weakness. I'd assumed he'd known how I felt by my actions and the gifts I'd given him. That damn dragon pride of mine had been at work again. Tenpou had told me often that he loved me and, fool that I was, I'd never reassured him his feelings were returned. I wanted to tell him now and couldn't.

 

“Who are you and how did you get in here?” Hakkai asked in a voice of velvet covered steel.

 

I looked at him and opened my mouth again. No recognizable human speech came out and I snapped my mouth shut. Understanding dawned in Hakkai's eyes although he didn't let go of my wrist. Just the casual touch of his skin on mine was arousing. I was glad I'd transformed with clothes on instead of naked. To be in such a position, unable to explain myself while nude would have been embarrassing for both of us.

 

“You're mute?” Hakkai asked in a gentler tone than before but still with command in his voice.

 

I shrugged my shoulder and nodded my head. I could speak, after a fashion. Hakkai simply didn't speak dragon.

 

“Oh dear. Can you write?”

 

I shrugged again. If I couldn't speak anything other than dragon, I was willing to bet that I couldn't write anything other than dragon either. The gods were simply insuring that I didn't breathe a word of him being a former god. I wanted to stop and consider why that was but the frustration of the situation made me shove such considerations to the back of my mind. At least gestures didn't seem to be forbidden me. I raised my free hand and placed it over my heart before clenching it in a fist. Hakkai watched me intently, wariness evident in every line of his body. I extended my closed fist to him and slowly opened my hand. I was offering him my heart even though I knew he'd have no idea why I was doing so or if he even understood the gesture.

 

“I'm not sure….” he began.

 

I made a noise of irritation and yanked on the hand he was holding. He was caught off guard by the move enough for me to seal my lips to his and kiss him like I'd dreamed about for five hundred years. I kissed him as if it was the only chance I'd get to do so. For all I knew, it was going to be my only chance. He had worn only a pair of loose cotton pants to bed and I let my free hand glide over the bare skin of his chest. He let go of my wrist and fisted his hands in the folds of my yukata, participating in the kiss for several seconds before gently using the grip to push me away.

 

Hakkai blinked at me, surprised by the kiss and the feelings I knew he recognized that were in the kiss. He smoothed the wrinkles out of my yukata where his hands had gripped it and looked down into his lap for several seconds before looking back up at me. I could see he was confused by my being in the room, the emotions in the kiss and his own reaction to it.

 

“That was unexpected,” Hakkai said softly.

 

I reached out and touched his face gently. He jerked under the light touch of my fingers but I refused to pull my hand back. I was fully committed to experiencing the pleasure of my heart's treasure again. I remembered every caress of his skin, every brush of his lips against mine, every stroke of my cock inside him. I would have him again and he would remember who we were and what we'd had together. I would settle for nothing less.

 

I slid my hand to the back of his neck and pulled him towards me again. He resisted the pull so I changed tactics and leaned into him instead, pressing him back to the mattress. His green eyes were wide as he stared into my red ones. The mask he usually hid behind cracked and I saw confusion, arousal and the tiniest spark of recognition deep in the emerald depths. I smiled slowly at him and dipped my head to lick lightly at his lips with just the tip of my tongue as I'd done countless times in heaven. A traditional dragon kiss reserved only for those with a special place in a dragon's heart.

 

Hakkai placed his hands against my chest and pushed. I allowed him a little space although what I wanted to do was crush him closer to me and never let him go again. He had to clear his throat twice before he could speak.

 

“I don't know who you are or how you got in here but I won't take advantage of a boy.”

 

I gripped his chin with strong fingers and shook my head at him. He wasn't going to be taking advantage of me. I hadn't really been a boy in longer than I cared to think about. I took his hand and held it, palm flat to my groin and the growing erection I had. I needed him to understand that I wasn't an untried youth and that I knew what I wanted. I wanted him and I was going to have him.

 

“Uh, yes, well, we all have urges….” Hakkai began even as his fingers curled around me and made the breath leave my lungs in a rush.

 

I shook my head at him again and made a frustrated little sound. I hauled him against my chest and called him `my love' in dragon before I bit his throat. He hissed and tried to break free from my embrace but I refused to let him go. I may have looked like a sixteen year old boy but I was a dragon with a dragon's strength. I began placing delicate bites and sucking the skin of his neck in a deliberate pattern. Hakkai froze under the nipping assault and his breathing sped up. When I stopped, his eyes were a little glassy from an erotic pleasure his mind may have forgotten but his body remembered. Whenever I had marked him in such a fashion in heaven, I'd loved him hard, wringing every drop of delight from his body that I could. I released him from my hold and pulled him from the bed to stand in front of the small mirror.

 

Standing, we were the same height. His eyes still held a slightly dazed look as I gripped his chin and turned his head so he could see the marks I'd made on his skin. Red lines decorated his neck from his ear to his collar bone; my name in dragon script. I trailed a finger over the marks and let a possessive rumble sound in my throat. I pressed myself to him and ground my hips against him with an unmistakable meaning. Some of the passion glazed look cleared from his eyes but a flush now coloured his cheeks.

 

“Y…you're very striking and while that felt…. I don't take casual partners,” Hakkai stuttered as he unconsciously pressed his ass against my groin.

 

I smiled and let my hands travel over his chest as I knew he'd enjoyed when we'd been lovers so many centuries ago. His breath hitched and a quiet little `oh' of surprised pleasure left him. I gently raked my nails over his ribs and nipped at the fleshy join of neck and shoulder. His soft moan sent shivers of delight over my own skin. I flicked out my tongue to lick his ear and watched as he closed his eyes and licked his lips at the desire I was carefully fanning to life in him.

 

“I can't….” Hakkai started as his hands came up to cover mine, reluctantly pulling them from him.

 

I growled a low warning at him. He knew, somewhere deep in his mind, who I was and who he had been. I believed that with every fibre of my being. I couldn't remind him verbally and my marking his skin as I had didn't trigger the memories either. A little of my impatience leaked through and I jerked him around and spun him back towards the bed. His leg collided with the mattress, throwing him off balance and he sat heavily. Anger darkened his face. I smiled at him in a predatory way and stalked to the bed. An angry Tenpou was exciting in bed. I had no reason to doubt that an angry Hakkai would be just as thrilling. Maybe it was time that I stopped playing around and just claimed him as I'd initially done in heaven. That might awaken his memories. I was also finding I wasn't as patient as I used to be when I'd been Gojun.

 

“That's enough….” Hakkai warned with heat in his normally calm voice.

 

He trailed off into silence as I shrugged off the fine yukata I was wearing. The soft, dove grey garment slithered to the floor, the pattern of scales woven into the fabric looking like a beautifully shed skin. I was naked under the yukata. I was also half hard just thinking of what I'd soon be doing with him. I let Hakkai look his fill. Anger warred with desire in his eyes. I got the feeling that Hakkai was used to being the dominating one in the encounters he choose to have and it wasn't just my apparent age that was making him hesitate. He didn't seem sure how to not be the dominating one or even if he wanted to be the submissive one. He would though. Whatever name he had; whatever face he wore; my heart's treasure enjoyed being surrounded by my heat and power more than he liked enfolding me in his. Not to say he'd never get the chance to fill me. It just wasn't going to be this time. This loving was about my claiming what was mine.

 

I pressed my hand to his chest and shoved him to his back. Surprise gave me enough time to straddle his thighs and manacle both his wrists in one of my hands. He tried to buck his hips to throw me off him but this was a game we'd played countless times in heaven and I knew all his tricks while he remembered none of my weaknesses. He struggled against my hold silently, making me work far harder too hold him down that I remember having too five hundred years ago. I found it unbelievably exciting and arousing to lay with him like this. His breathing had become harsh and a frown marred his brow but he was undeniably aroused by the little dominance game. The erection tenting the soft fabric of his pyjama pants was visible proof of that.

 

His mouth was set in a thin, angry line as his eyes travelled over my body. Now that I had him under me safely pinned, a measure of patience returned and I let him look at me closely. I dipped my head and gave him that licking kiss as I had earlier. He opened his mouth to protest and I took the chance to deepen the kiss.

 

I swept the inside of his mouth with my tongue wanting to taste all of him. The strong flavour of toothpaste overrode his personal tang. His tongue battled mine, trying to push me out. I watched his eyes as we fought for control of the kiss. The anger bled out of his eyes as arousal rose in him from the erotic battle we waged. Confusion lurked in his gaze as well as need. I knew with absolute certainty that he'd never, in this life, been forced to submit to another as I was demanding he do now. I let him see how much I wanted him, needed him.

 

Loved him.

 

The tension in him drained away as he became aware that what he was seeing was love and that it was for him. I could see that he was shocked as to why I would feel that way but he was hungry for the kind of love I was offering and grabbed at it like a starving man. I knew he longed for love and that he thought he'd lost the love of his life when Kanna died. That he'd loved her, I didn't doubt. But what we'd shared in heaven was a love that spanned centuries and one that he could have again, if he choose to accept me.

 

I continued to kiss him as I let all the things I'd held bottled up since the very first time I'd had him in my bed in heaven break free and fill my eyes. His emerald gaze remained locked with mine and some kind of understanding passed over his face. I broke the kiss and watched him with a gentle smile. I believed he knew what he was seeing in my eyes. He had always been a stunningly intelligent man and he had been in love in this life time before.

 

He stunned me when he made a noise in his throat that I hadn't heard in ages. It was capitulation and pleading in dragon-speak that made my heart hammer in my chest. The sound one dragon makes to another when recognizing their mate and signalling their willingness to breed. Tenpou spent hours learning how to make the sound exactly right because it pleased him to give me the joy of hearing him give himself to me so completely in my own tongue.

 

Hope bloomed in my chest and I crooned softly to him, accepting his words as I released his wrists. Memories would come with time. This small sound was proof. He likely didn't realize what he'd said but the memories were there, buried deep in his head. He would eventually remember us as long as I continued to be patient. I licked his throat, moving down his chest as I murmured words of endearment in dragon to him. He brought his hands up to my head and I closed my eyes in pleasure as he brushed his fingers over the small horns budding from my skull and just peaking out from my hair.

 

“I'm to take what you're offering, aren't I?” Hakkai asked with quiet wonder in his voice.

 

I opened my eyes and nodded at him while caressing his chest, dragging my nails over his nipples and making them pucker. I let my hands drop to the waistband of his pants and gave a tug. He wriggled his hips to help as he fingered the elegant points of my ears. I slid the last bit of clothes between us away and groaned softly at seeing him naked and aroused. I took his erection in hand and started to stroke him firmly.

 

“You love me. As a lover… not a friend. You've loved me that way for a long time, haven't you?” he asked in a shaky voice.

 

I nodded again and added a squeeze to the stroking I was doing to his erection. His sigh of pleasure made blood surge into my cock. My patience started to slip from my grasp again. I wanted to take my time and bathe him in all the affection I'd held in my heart but I was finding that even though I had millennia worth of experience, my current body was teenage eager. I smiled against his chest at the thought that at least I'd be ready to go again in short order. I kissed my way down his chest, stopping at the jagged scar on his belly. I'd nearly lost him yet again from that wound. I inhaled his scent and the arousal he was giving off, closing my eyes in pleasure. I licked the line of the scar gently making him shudder and try to twist away. I gave the scar one more, long lick before moving down his body.

 

I wanted to take his cock into my mouth but need was starting to press at me urgently. I wanted to take the time to enjoy the feel and taste of him in my mouth but if I did that, I'd likely push him over the edge and I wanted to be buried deep in his body for his first orgasm with me in centuries. Another time, I promised myself, I could feel his velvet length fill my mouth as his seed hit the back of my throat. I cupped the backs of his thighs and pushed his legs up, exposing his hole to me. He murmured a soft protest as I flicked my tongue out, teasing him before sliding it inside him. His surprised groan of pleasure was music to my ears. Dragons have a wicked tongue and I'd had endless time in heaven with him to learn how my lover liked me to use it.

 

My tongue swirled in and around his hole in exactly the way I knew he enjoyed. He was breathing in little panting gasps and before long, his hips started to roll with each thrust of my tongue inside him. His fingers stroked through my hair and rubbed the base of my horns with a skill I thanked the gods he instinctively remembered. I let go of one of his legs and impatiently pushed two fingers inside him. His back arched off the bed and he hissed his discomfort. His fingers tangled in my hair and he tugged hard. I allowed him to pull my head up but kept my fingers inside him, moving and stretching him.

 

I rose up to my knees and let him see how aroused I was. His eyes travelled down my body and he licked his lips when he finally saw me fully engorged. Mating with a dragon, even in human form, was not to be done without some preparation. While a dragon's cock did produce lubrication, a necessary thing when sometimes breeding with a not so willing female, I didn't want to hurt Hakkai any more than I had to.

 

“Oh my,” Hakkai said as he raised his eyes to my face.

 

I couldn't help the surge of male pride at his reaction and smiled at him.

 

“I don't usually… that is… I'm generally… oh my.”

 

I chuckled softly, feeling ridiculously pleased that he was impressed with the size of my equipment. Apparently, I hadn't abandoned all of my dragon pride. I withdrew my fingers from his body and pressed the head of my cock to his hole. He tensed before relaxing and let go of the hold he had on my hair. I stroked my fingers over his cock until he was starting to rock his hips, distracting him before giving my hips a little jerk and pushing the head into him. Hakkai grunted and let out a harsh breath.

 

I pushed slowly into him, allowing him to adjust. He'd bitten his lip and his brow was furrowed as he waited for the sting of my entry to fade. When I was fully buried inside him, I voiced my pleasure in dragon and leaned down to lick at Hakkai's lips again. He wriggled his hips and tangled his legs with mine. His arms came around my back and I felt his surprise when his forearms brushed against the baby fine hair travelling down my spine. Not giving him time to wonder over the uniqueness of that, I began the slow, measured thrusts that never failed to drive him crazy with want when we'd been in heaven.

 

He responded beautifully to me moving inside him. The mask he wore was long gone and only pure pleasure showed in his face. Noises of delight were forced from his body with every thrust. His cock was pressed tight between our bodies, sliding against my belly in the sweat glistening on both our bodies. He arched to meet every press of my hips, pulling groans of satisfaction from me. Need crowded me with this claiming. I wanted to be gentle and make it last but I was in a losing battle. I'd been denied him too long and dragon instincts flooded my brain. I growled low and sped up my thrusts. He made gasping sounds of pleasure and writhed under me. I shifted slightly; changing the angle I was penetrating him at and stimulating his prostate with every thrust. His short nails dug into my back and his body bowed as release caught him and smashed through his body. His lashes fluttered down as his mouth opened in a scream that I knew nothing human would hear.

 

I'd never heard a sweeter sound.

 

I felt his cock spurt between us and smelled his release. Saliva pooled in my mouth as memories of licking him clean of our combined seed crowded my mind. His body clenched tightly around my cock. A shudder wracked me as I pushed into him as far as I could and let my own orgasm rip through me. I keened with an intense joy as my seed pumped into him before collapsing over him. My breath rasped in my chest and my heart raced. Love making with him was even better than I remembered it to be. Hakkai panted under me, fine tremors shaking his arms and legs every so often. I smiled, pleased more than words could say. I'd brought intense joy him. Easily half my pleasure was because I'd made him feel so very good.

 

“This felt so very right,” Hakkai said in a languid voice as his hands began stroking the sweat damp hair over my spine.

 

I raised my head with effort and nodded solemnly at him. I didn't want to move off him but I knew he would be uncomfortable soon with his cooling seed smeared between our bellies. I reluctantly left his body and moved from the bed to fetch a cloth from the wash basin on the dresser. As much as I would've liked to lick him clean, I didn't want to completely shock him with such an intimate gesture. I'd given him enough things to think about for one night.

 

“Hakuryuu?”

 

I stilled at the basin before turning and coming back to the bed with a damp cloth. Hakkai allowed me to clean his belly and ass before speaking again. He was staring at me intently and reached out to grab my wrist when I would have moved away.

 

“You are Hakuryuu, aren't you?” he asked as he sat up.

 

I nodded slowly as my heart climbed into my throat. As Tenpou, he'd known what I was from the beginning and the idea of sleeping with a dragon wasn't something abnormal considering that some of the gods in heaven have extra limbs or extra eyes or even more than one sex. Some look even less human than I did. He wasn't a god now and had no memories of what heaven had been like. It was entirely within the realm of possibility that he'd be horrified at what happened between us and refuse to allow me the joy of his body again. People were funny about cross-species relationships.

 

He wasn't supposed to put together that I was Hakuryuu so fast. I should have known better. Hakkai was a very smart man no matter the name he went by. I'd wanted him to remember what we'd been to each other before I revealed to him that I was the young dragon he'd rescued from certain death. I wanted to be secure in his love for me before showing him who I was now. I wasn't ashamed of being a dragon. I simply didn't want to be kept from him because I was a dragon and he was not.

 

“Why, Hakuryuu? Why reveal this to me now? I don't understand.”

 

I raised my hand and let it fall to my lap. How did I explain without words that I couldn't bear to watch him be with another person yet again? How could I tell him that I wanted to be his lover for as long as we had and that after this turn around the sun was done, I'd find him again and start all over. I opened my mouth and closed it again in frustration when I realized I couldn't tell him anything. I spread my hands and shrugged my shoulders.

 

“Ah yes, you're mute. Or are you? You made noises that sounded different than … when we…” he trailed off with a faint blush on his cheeks.

 

I nodded and warbled a few sounds before touching my own chest. I made different sounds and touched Hakkai. His brow furrowed as he thought before understanding dawned in his eyes.

 

“That's… dragon?”

 

I nodded.

 

“What's the word for yes? You can teach me dragon, can't you?” he asked intently.

 

I experienced a sharp pang of déjà vu. Tenpou had asked me that before during a break in an endless round of meetings that accomplished nothing but giving bored deities a chance to listen to themselves talk. I'd been surprised but answered. Tenpou had quietly asked me simple words through the rest of the meeting. I'd dismissed it as boredom at the time but been pleasantly surprised when my field marshal greeted me next time he saw me in careful dragon. His accent was horrendous and he mangled several words but he was making an effort to learn. I think I'd started to fall in love with him that day.

 

“I'm sorry. That was rude,” Hakkai said as colour climbed into his cheeks in embarrassment as he took my silence to mean I'd been offended by his request.

 

I shook my head and responded with the appropriate noise to signify no. I then nodded my head and gave him the word for yes. Excitement filled his eyes and warmth spread through me at causing him pleasure from such a simple thing.

 

“I have so many things I'd like to ask you. It'll take some time for me to learn enough to really talk to you. I'm… you… this isn't the only time I'll see you like this, is it?” he asked a little hesitantly.

 

I smiled as a weight lifted from my chest. He wasn't horrified by what happened between us. I shook my head and added the dragon word for no. I leaned forward and gave him the licking kiss once more, taking his hand and placing it over my heart. I looked into his eyes and told him I loved him in dragon once more before laying us both down on the bed. I held him and felt peace settle over me.

 

“I'm not to tell Sanzo, Gojyo or Goku about you, am I?” Hakkai asked softly as he played his fingers through the down on my spine.

 

I shook my head no along with saying the dragon word. No time like the present to start teaching him a language that would be difficult for him to learn. At least this time, because he was now a demon, he would have a little easier time with the sounds that exceeded human hearing.

 

“There's more to this than it appears, isn't there?”

 

I nodded my head.

 

Hakkai sighed softly and I could almost hear the gears in his head start turning. He'd figure things out eventually. I kissed him gently, making sounds of pleasure when returned the kiss and hugged me tightly. I had my heart's treasure again and I didn't intend to lose him.