Saiyuki Reload Fan Fiction ❯ You Were Meant To Be Mine ❯ Sleepless Night ( Chapter 2 )

CHAPTER TWO Sleepless Night

 

Layla stood by the room's one small window, looking out at the cold, clear night sky. She'd unlatched the wooden shutter and swung it back. The breeze blowing in brought the clean scents of the nearby river and the forest. Here she was, bathed, fed, even dressed in a fresh nightgown of cotton dyed a pale blue with little buttons like small silver roses. The room was too small for three people and a little white dragon, but it was paradise compared to the big wooden crate the slavers had kept her locked up inside. With only some filthy straw on the floor and a hole cut in the corner plank whose purpose was more than obvious, the crate was its own taste of hell. She couldn't stand up, she couldn't stretch her legs out when she sat down, and she was constantly bumped and jolted as the slavers' wagons bounced and rattled along the trails. She should be grateful to Gojyo for her current much improved location, and she was, but she couldn't help keeping her guard up. Too much had happened in too short a time for her to feel comfortable around anything male, to say nothing of a man who bore all the signs of being a Child of Taboo.

 

Half demon, half human. That meant one of his parents had been a normal human being, while the other had been pure demon, one of those insane slavering monsters who were ripping human beings apart then eating what was left. Part of Layla's mind rejected that thought as too extreme, a caricature of the way events had unfolded once the demons started to go insane and kill humans. There had to be some basis for the legends about a Child of Taboo. Some of the male demons Layla had seen were actually quite stunning, with the strange colors of their hair and eyes. Easy to see why the right kind of human female might fall under the spell of such strange and dangerous beauty.

 

The key word was still 'dangerous.' Demons were going insane all over Shangri-La, turning on humans, killing them, eating them, leaving horror and carnage everywhere. That was the only small mercy in what had happened to Layla and her family. The bandits had been purely human. While they had been monsters in their own right, at least they lacked the inhuman claws, fangs, speed and strength of the demons.

 

So how could Layla possibly let her guard down around Gojyo, who had enough demon blood in him to make him vulnerable to whatever was driving the demons of Shangri-La insane? He looked so much like a lost puppy, and he was so pathetically grateful for any signs of affection. If only his hair and his eyes could have been any color other than red. Color of pain, color of blood. Poor Gojyo. Not his fault. Not his doing. Maybe she could talk him into dying his hair black. That wouldn't hide his eyes, but it would protect him against some of the instant recognition and loathing....

 

Gojyo turned over, one long arm flopping across the empty side of the bed. While Layla watched, his arm slid around, his hand patting the pillow. He jerked upright, raking his long hair out of his eyes, letting Layla see how wide open they were.

 

"Shhhh, Gojyo," she whispered. "I'm right here."

 

Hakkai slept on in the other bed with Hakuryuu curled up on Hakkai's jacket where he'd spread it out beside the head of the bed. Gojyo slipped out of bed and padded barefoot across the room to where Layla stood. Gojyo wrapped both arms around Layla's slim waist and cuddled her against his chest, rubbing his cheek against the silky softness of her hair.

 

"Bad dreams?" he whispered.

 

She nodded.

 

"Come back to bed."

 

Layla winced. There was no doubt in her mind what Gojyo planned to do to take her mind off her sorrows. He was not what she wanted. Not what she needed. Gojyo was fire and lightning, heat and fury and a thrilling ride on a wild horse straight for the edge of the cliff. Sanzo was moonlight and dawn, peace and discipline and cool, clear water in a quiet mountain stream. Sanzo. She wanted to be with him, wherever he was. Right then he was asleep in his own bed in the next room, not the most appropriate place for her to be near him, but better by far than the bed in which she now found herself.

 

Gojyo stroked Layla's hair back from her cheek, letting his fingertips trail down the side of her neck. She knew he meant it to be soothing, but it just irritated her.

 

"Want to talk about it?"

 

Layla moved her head side to side on the pillow.

 

"I know how hard it is to lose family." Gojyo sat up and reached for his cigarettes and lighter. The brief spark of the flame lit up his crimson eyes.

 

Seeing the reflection of the flame dancing in his strange eyes forced Layla to focus on his half-demon nature. No matter how sweet he tried to be, she couldn't help thinking of him as a creature whose existence the gods had expressly forbidden.

 

"My stepmother hated me." Gojyo took a long drag and blew two long, thin plumes of smoke out through his nostrils. "She saw me as living proof of the time my father cheated on her. One day she just couldn't stand looking at me anymore, and she tried to kill me."

 

Layla turned to him, eyes wide with horror. Her hand rose, but she jerked it back before her fingers could touch the scars on his face.

 

"These?" Gojyo tapped the scars. "Nah. These are from another time when she was just mad at me."

 

"Gojyo...."

 

He shrugged, then went on smoking in silence for a while. "On the day she came after me with the axe, I knew she meant it that time. I was just a kid, not that tall and not that strong yet, not that I would have hurt her. She hated me, but she was still the only mother I had."

 

"You don't have to tell me this."

 

"Maybe I do." Gojyo crushed out the cigarette and slid down beside Layla again. "I decided the only way I could help her was to let her kill me. Then she'd stop crying so much. Then she could forget about all of it, maybe be happy again. I really wanted her to be happy."

 

"Where was your father? Why didn't he help you?"

 

Gojyo snorted. "Who knows. The only one who ever helped me was my older brother. He was full demon, all hers, and she never passed up a chance to show me he was her favorite."

 

"What a horrible woman."

 

"She was just messed up in the head, like so many people are."

 

"You're a very forgiving man, Gojyo."

 

"Not really, but if anybody needed mercy, it was my stepmother."

 

"What happened?"

 

"She cornered me, lifted up that axe, and I just closed my eyes. Fine, I thought. Do it. Put us both out of our misery. But the axe never came down."

 

"Why not?"

 

"When I opened my eyes again, she was lying on the floor, face down. Behind her my older brother stood there holding a sword."

 

"Oh no. You don't mean-- He didn't--"

 

"He did. He killed her to save me. Then he dropped the sword and ran for it." Gojyo closed those crimson eyes and let his head fall back on the pillow. "So yeah, I know what it's like to lose family. One minute you're all together, whether you're happy or not, and the next minute, it's just you. Everybody else has gone somewhere else, and you're just standing there all by yourself."

 

"How horrible for you! Just a child...." Layla turned over on her side toward him, resting her hand on his chest. "It's true. One day life is the way it's always been, and the next, everything is different. Totally, horribly, eternally different."

 

Her breath hitched. The tears, never far below the surface, rose again, flooding her eyes and making her hide her face against Gojyo's chest.

 

"You hold me and I'll hold you," he said. "Deal?"

 

"Deal."

 

With her arms around his neck and his arms around her waist they held each other. The heat from Gojyo's body made the anxiety and tension slowly drain from Layla's muscles. She relaxed against him, her curves fitting into the hard angles of his body. Her eyelids grew heavy and she was almost ready to doze off again when Gojyo shifted his weight against her. Sudden awareness of him flooded her senses. The way his lips brushed her neck. His long silky hair spilling down the neckline of her nightgown. One long leg thrown over hers. The rigid length prodding her in the belly proved his thoughts had wandered back to more entertaining pursuits.

 

"Layla?" Gojyo breathed against her neck.

 

"Hm?"

 

"Will you let me help you feel better?"

 

"Gojyo, we've talked about this."

 

"Yeah, but not while we've been lying here this close in the same bed."

 

"Gojyo, please."

 

"Layla, honey, I'm an excellent lover. Wouldn't you rather have an expert help you with your first time?"

 

"You selfish, arrogant--" Layla set her hands against his shoulders and tried to push him away. "If I could get my arm into the right position, I'd slap you into next week!"

 

"Sh! You'll wake up Hakkai!"

 

"Maybe I should wake him up. Maybe I should start screaming for help!"

 

"Fine." Gojyo opened his arms and turned over onto his back. "There. You're free."

 

"Thank you." Layla rolled over and put her back to him, scooting as close to the far edge of the mattress as she could get without falling off.

 

"I just want to make you happy." Gojyo sighed. "You're so pretty, and kind, and brave, and life has just been so shitty to you. I just want to do for you the one thing I do really well, the one way I know I could make you happy."

 

Layla could tell Gojyo's frustration went deeper than just his physical need. He wanted to solve her problem, to save her from the living hell her life had now become.

 

"Gojyo."

 

"What?"

 

"If I let you kiss me goodnight, will you please settle down so both of us can get some sleep?"

 

"What do you mean by goodnight kiss? You'd better tell me, so I don't guess wrong."

 

His peevish tone made her smile. She leaned on one elbow above him, then bent forward so her long hair fell down over her shoulder and spilled across his bare chest.

 

"Why don't you give me your idea of a goodnight kiss? Then you can leave me to torture myself with getting just a taste of what I will then know I'm missing."

 

"OK. I can live with that."

 

Layla almost laughed. She'd known her offer would appeal to Gojyo's vanity, which had been stung by her refusals. Sweeping her long hair up out of the way, she lay back on her pillow and looked over at him expectantly. Now it was Gojyo's turn to lean over her.

 

"Ask me," he said.

 

"What?"

 

"I just want to hear you say it."

 

"Please, Gojyo. Kiss me."

 

His long fingers touched her throat, curling around her neck in a loose grip, stroking her skin before tipping her chin up. His lips brushed across hers, feather-light, once, twice, three times. Then he sank down into her mouth, his tongue parting her lips, the heat and wetness and sudden intense contact making her arch up off the bed against him. The fingers on her throat glided downward, trailing across her breasts and down to her waist, slipping around behind her, under the arch of her spine. His arm around her held her even tighter against him and supported her when she began to weaken from the heat of his kiss. Layla's hands slid up his arms, around his shoulders, her fingers tangling themselves in the wealth of his long hair. As her virgin senses were overwhelmed by the sheer erotic power Gojyo unleashed with just one kiss, Layla moaned into his mouth.

 

Gojyo made a noise deep in his chest, part growl, part groan. He swung his leg across hers then centered his weight over her, pressing her into the mattress. Pinned under him, Layla panicked. She beat at his shoulders with her fists, then just managed to tear her mouth from his.

 

"Stop it! Stop it!"

 

"Hush now, honey. I won't hurt you, you know that."

 

"I'm going to hurt you if you don't move!"

 

Layla gave his hair a hard yank. With a sudden yelp Gojyo rolled sideways, almost off the other side of the bed. Layla sprang up and ran for the door. She wrenched it open, stumbled out into the dim light in the hallway, then slammed it behind her.

 

***

 

Gojyo eased himself back into a more comfortable position, then fired up a cigarette and lay there smoking and feeling sorry for himself.

 

"That was smooth," said the voice from the other bed.

 

"Don't you start."

 

"Now you've scared her, upset her, and betrayed her trust. Was one kiss worth all that?"

 

"You heard her. She asked me to kiss her."

 

"You should have refused."

 

"Me? Why?"

 

"She was playing with fire, and she had no idea just how hot it could get. You did, so you should have refused."

 

"Great. So I'm twice as big a bastard, is that it?"

 

"Looks that way to me."

 

"Shut up, Hakkai." Gojyo snatched up Layla's abandoned pillow and flung it at the shadowy form on the other bed. "Just shut up and go back to sleep."

 

"Now that the floor show is over, maybe I can."

 

"You know, if you're having trouble sleeping, I can fix that."

 

The temperature in the room suddenly dropped a good ten degrees.

 

"That's very thoughtful of you, Gojyo." Hakkai's voice was cold, dripping icicles like daggers. "I'd be more inclined to accept your offer if I didn't think you're just looking for help with working off a hard-on you got from somebody else."

 

"Jealous, Hakkai?"

 

"Disappointed, Gojyo. It's a sad day when you prove Sanzo right about you."

 

Gojyo blew out out another cloud of smoke. He wondered how many cigarettes it would take to block out the sight of Hakkai's back turned to him.

 

***