Saiyuki Reload Fan Fiction ❯ You Were Meant To Be Mine ❯ Close Harmony ( Chapter 16 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Sanzo manages to corner Layla in her room. They have the heart to heart talk that leaves the way open for them to spend the night together as lovers. Warning: adult content.

Anime/Manga: Saiyuki Reload Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Psychological / Hentai / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 09.17.2006 | Updated On: 10.02.2006 | Pages: 7 | Words: 8.0K | Visits: 245 | Status: Completed

CHAPTER SIXTEEN Close Harmony

Layla followed the path back to the inn's door. Gojyo would be sitting there waiting for her, restless and fidgety. It would be so easy to let herself be overwhelmed by his charm and his forceful personality. He'd carry her off to the marketplace to buy her more clothes and anything else she so much as looked at twice. Layla turned and took the branching path around the corner of the building to the kitchen. Steam billowed out into the night air, rich with the smells of cooking, of grease, of bodies working hard in the heat of the hearth and oven. She waited in the doorway until one of the cooks noticed her. The short, plump, gray-haired woman walked over, wiping wet hands on her apron.

"Yes, dear? Did you need something?"

"I wonder if you'd be kind enough to let me come back inside this way. You see, there's a man waiting for me, and--"

"And you don't want him to see you." The old cook nodded, smiling with the few teeth she had left. "Come in then, dear. Keep to the wall as you go out and you can slip right up the stairs."

"Thank you."

Layla did as she was told. Sure enough, Gojyo was busy watching the door that led to the garden, pacing back and forth while he smoked. He never even looked toward the stairs as Layla hurried up them, trying to keep her footfalls soft. Her room was at the end of the hallway. She had a sudden fierce desire to run and hide, to lock herself away from Sanzo and whatever he wanted to say to her. Better to let him think she'd misunderstood his instructions. She'd have to weather his temper, but at least she could buy herself a few moments alone to gather her thoughts and try to get a grip on her composure.

Layla was two doors away from her room when the door she was just passing opened. An arm shot out, a hand gripped her arm and dragged her inside, then the door slammed behind her. Before Layla could draw breath to scream, rough hands pushed her up against the door and a hot, eager mouth covered hers. Just as she was about to bring her knee up hard, her hands touched the black leather covering her attacker's lean, muscular torso. Beneath the scents of tobacco and beer, she caught that faint breath of white flowers. Sanzo.

Relief made her relax within Sanzo's grip. He'd taken off his robes, leaving him dressed in the black leather undershirt, the arm warmers, his jeans, tabi and sandals. She slid her hands up his chest to his shoulders, then up his neck into his hair. Tangling her fingers in the heavy golden silk, she jerked his head back.

"That wasn't very nice, Sanzo-sama. You scared me half to death."

Sanzo grimaced, reaching up to wrap those iron fingers around her wrists and squeeze until she let go of his hair.

"You walked right past my door, Layla. Where were you going? Back to your own room?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because then you'd come looking for me there, and our chances of being interrupted would be smaller. Goku knows where your room is. So do Hakkai and Gojyo."

Sanzo stared hard into her eyes. His fingers loosened slightly around her wrists, reading the pounding of her pulse. "Why didn't you just knock and then make that suggestion to me?"

"Because I didn't expect you to be up here yet!" Layla jerked her wrists free of his grasp. "How did you get up here ahead of me?"

"I can move fast when I need to."

"It amazes me, what determines whether or not you 'need' to."

"You should be flattered."

"What I am is upset and angry and not at all in the mood for this kind of domination!"

Those amethyst eyes flashed. A half-smile pulled at Sanzo's lips. "Fine. Let me put you back in the right mood."

He bent to kiss her. She turned her head. The kiss landed on her cheek. Sanzo moved down along her jawline, then pressed a burning ring of kisses around her throat. Layla just stood there, leaning on the door, holding it shut. Sanzo raised his head and shot her a glare.

"You're making me work way too hard for this."

Layla's patient expression changed to one of pure fury. She slapped Sanzo across the face.

"God damn it!" Sanzo touched one hand to his stinging cheek. "What the hell was that for?"

"I challenge you to think very hard about what you just said to me."

Sanzo looked blank, then cursed again. "Do you really think all I'm talking about is sex?" He spun around and stormed a few feet away, then turned back again. "Haven't you been listening at all? I have things to say to you, Layla. Important things." He scowled, tried to speak, faltered. "Things I've never wanted to say to anyone else before now."

His shyness melted the last of Layla's temper. She took his hand away from his face and kissed the reddened skin. "I'm sorry, Sanzo-sama. My nerves are drawn tighter than bowstrings right now. Please have patience with me."

"Your room," he said. "Now."

***

They slipped out into the hallway and across to her door without being observed. Once inside, Sanzo took the key from Layla's hand and made sure the door was locked. Layla took a seat on her bed, tidied her wine-colored sleeves and skirt, then sat there, hands folded primly in her lap. Sanzo looked at her, then snorted and walked over to the window. He pulled his cigarettes out of one hip pocket and his lighter out of the other, lit one and dragged the bracing smoke deep into his lungs. Not until the glowing end almost scorched his fingers could he find the words to begin.

"Gojyo told you his sob story. Now it's my turn to tell you mine." Sanzo closed his eyes, steeling himself against the pain of forcing the words out. "When I was thirteen, a band of youkai attacked the temple where I lived with my master. These were no wild youkai. They were assassins, with a very specific mission. They'd been sent to steal the two sutras my master guarded."

Memories of that night rushed into mind. The blood, the horror, the agony that had taken root in his heart and poisoned every day of his life since then. Even now, after all the years and all the effort he'd put into hardening his heart, even now the tears stung his eyes.

"I couldn't stop them. They only got away with one of the sutras, but they took something else, something far more precious than either."

He sucked in a deep breath, then another, digging his nails into his palms until he could feel the seeping wetness of blood. Still he couldn't trust his voice to remain steady.

Layla's arms slid around his waist. She held him tight, her cheek pressed against his back.

"They killed him, didn't they." It wasn't a question. Layla understood, the same way she understood so many things. Knowing that eased the tightness in Sanzo's chest, letting him draw enough breath to speak quietly.

"Before my master died, he gave me the name I bear now. Priest Genjo Sanzo. The remaining sutra passed from his hands into mine. I should have received both. And so I spent the next several months searching for those youkai and the sutra that was now mine by right."

Sanzo turned within the circle of Layla's arms and ran his hands back over her hair, tilting her face up to his. "Imagine a thirteen year old boy, out wandering on foot, dressed in the robes of a Buddhist monk. A boy pretty enough to be mistaken for a girl. That's what the first bandit thought. It didn't seem to bother him very much when he discovered that I am in fact male."

Layla gasped. "Sanzo! What did you do?"

"I shot him. Point blank range, through his right eye. Blew off most of his head. That was the first time I used the pistol. From that moment on, it became my best friend." He sighed, rubbing the fingertips of his right hand against his thumb, feeling the calluses and scars and memories of powder burns. "All it asks is to be fed with bullets, to be cleaned and oiled regularly, and to be fired with respect. Other than that, it says nothing, and I can always count on it in a fight."

Layla nodded. "An admirable ally."

"Just like you. You walked up behind that third youkai and pistol whipped him like an expert."

"Coming from you, that's high praise indeed."

"You see?" Sanzo said, smoothing his hands over her long braid, down her back, along her hips. "You and I have a great deal in common. More than just shared tragedies, we have a certain sympathy of mind."

"Are you saying we might consider ourselves 'kindred spirits'?"

"Perhaps." He took her face in his hands and just brushed his lips along hers. "That's why I have one other request."

"Yes?"

"Stay with me tonight. All night."

He kissed her, softly at first, then harder as the fire in his blood ignited and burned away the last of his patience. Layla pulled back.

"But—Sanzo! What if the Henshaws heard about this? You and I, spending the night together in the same room! Do you really want to leave me behind with Mrs. Henshaw watching me day in and day out, waiting to see if my belly gets bigger with the bastard child of High Priest Genjo Sanzo?"

Sanzo licked his lips, distracted by the taste of her. "Would that be so terrible?"

"Yes! You haven't told me exactly what your 'business' in India is, but given the way those youkai attacked us, I think it's safe to assume the business is extremely dangerous." Layla shook her head. "Even if you do survive the journey, you have the rest of a very important, very monastic life to live."

"I know. I wake up every morning to the unbearable knowledge that I have to live through yet another day."

Sanzo peeled off his arm warmers and tossed them on the foot of the bed, then stripped off his black undershirt.

"Sanzo...." Layla's gaze drifted downward, along the muscles in his chest, his washboard belly, down to the jeans that rode low on his hips.

Sanzo took her face in his hands and kissed her, plunging his tongue into her mouth again and again until she broke free, gasping for breath. Sanzo wrapped both arms around her, pinning her against him.

"Can you look me in the eye and tell me you don't want me?"

"This is wrong."

"To hell with right and wrong! You've seen how I live. On the road all day, no peace thanks to those morons the Sanbutsushin stuck me with, getting attacked by youkai who want to eat me alive so they can live forever...."

Layla broke free, clapping her hands over her ears. Sanzo seized her wrists and jerked her hands away.

"Do you have any idea how many times I've put that pistol to my own temple? How many times I've had to wrack my brain to think up one single good reason not to pull the trigger?"

"Oh Sanzo-sama." Layla bit her lip, her eyes gleaming with unshed tears. "I don't know how you stand the strain."

"Neither do I." Sanzo stared down into those cool blue eyes, wishing he could sink into their depths and drown himself in Layla's beauty. "Please, Layla. Lie down with me and help me find some kind of rest, some kind of mercy before I have to get up again and face the agony of leaving you behind."

Layla pressed her face against his chest. Sanzo relaxed his grip on her wrists, allowing Layla to twine their fingers together.

"The closer we get," she said, "the more it will hurt when we have to say goodbye."

"It's going to hurt no matter what. We can be pious martyrs and die lonely and empty, or we can take this moment and make it our own."

Layla raised her head to look into Sanzo's eyes. She stroked his forehead, brushing back the loose golden strands of his hair. When her fingertips touched the chakra, a tingle shot through Sanzo.

"Do you know what this is?" he asked, reaching up to press her fingertips against the red mark.

"It means you're a Sanzo."

He nodded. "It's the tangible proof of divine approval, Tenkai's seal on my elevation to the rank of Sanzo." He touched her forehead. "Do you know you have a mark of your own?"

"Do I? It can't be like yours!"

"When you shot the second youkai, the recoil from the pistol slammed the hammer into your forehead. Hakkai is very good at making bruises fade. I'm surprised this mark is still visible."

"But—it's just a bruise. It doesn't mean anything." She put her fingertips to the mark. "Does it?"

"I'll tell you what I think." Sanzo moved her hand away and kissed the mark. "I think you were meant to be mine."

"How can that be?"

"I don't know." Sanzo touched her cheek, stroking her soft skin with his fingertips. "I've never met a woman I could stand to be near for more than five minutes. Too much noise, too much empty-headed chatter. But you...you don't speak unless you have something to say. It usually is worth saying, and worth hearing as well, which makes it doubly rare and valuable."

"Sanzo, please. You don't have to say all this."

"Yes I do. It would have come as a big enough surprise to learn I could tolerate your presence, but it's gone far beyond that." Sanzo stared down into her eyes. "Yes, I want you. You're the first woman who has made me see how much there is to want. But that's not what's most important."

"Then tell me what is."

"Do you remember what you said to me in the tent that night? It's not just my body that wants you." Sanzo took a deep breath. He had to say the words. He had to. There was no time to hide, to hold back. "My heart wants you as well."

Those blue eyes widened with hope and fear. "Sanzo-sama...."

"Don't call me that. That's my title, not my name."

"Genjo, then?"

"Nobody has ever called me that, nobody but the Sanbutsushin, and we're not exactly drinking buddies."

"What shall I call you, then?"

"My name. Koryuu."

"Koryuu." Layla smiled. "How beautiful. It suits you."

"You think so? I grew up hearing it as 'river rat' and worse from the monks at the temple. They thought my master must have lost his mind, taking in this foundling somebody else threw away."

"Many great men have been thought to be insane or fools by people who weren't capable of understanding how great such men really were."

Sanzo nodded. "Exactly. My master was a great man. With a great heart, the biggest I've ever known." He stared off into the distance. "I don't have to tell you that. You know how great he was."

"I do. I treasure every moment I spent in his presence."

Sanzo wrapped his arms around her and crushed her against his chest, burying his face in the silky darkness of her hair. "You are the only person on the face of the earth I share that with. Only you, Layla. Only you."

"Koryuu...."

Layla took hold of his wrists and lifted his hands away from her body, planting a kiss on each palm. Then she let go of him and stepped back. For one hideous, gut-wrenching moment, Sanzo was sure Layla was about to walk out. Instead, she began to unplait her long braid. Sanzo stood transfixed, watching all her long hair spill down around her shoulders, down her back to her waist and hips. She knelt in the middle of the bed, then swept her arm up beneath her hair to lift it all out of the way when she lay back against the pillows.

Sanzo set one knee on the foot of the bed, then planted both hands on the mattress, moving up the length of Layla's body until he could stare down into her eyes, his body hovering just above hers. He let his weight down onto her, pressing her into the mattress. Layla's eyes fluttered closed. She made a soft sound of pleasure, her arms rising to hold him as her hands settled on his bare back. Sanzo kissed her throat, lingering on that spot where her pulse throbbed against his lips. He soothed it with his tongue, painting little circles over it, drawing swirling lines down her throat.

"Koryuu," she breathed against his ear. Her hands slid down his back. She slipped her fingers into the back pockets of his jeans and pulled him tighter against her, lifting her hips to press herself against his hardness. Sanzo growled, capturing Layla's mouth in a kiss meant to set her soul on fire. His right hand glided around her ribs to her breast, tracing the full curve before covering it with the heat of his palm. His fingertips toyed with the stiff bud of her nipple, making Layla gasp.

"This comes off," Sanzo murmured against her lips, tugging at her dress where it covered her breasts. "Now."

He moved to one side, allowing Layla to slide out from underneath him. She pulled the dress off over her head and laid it aside, then stood there, her long hair silky dark curtain hanging past her hips, highlighting the fairness of her skin. Sanzo needed to see all of her, every naked inch. He knelt to strip off her panties.

Layla stroked his hair. "I never thought to see you on your knees before me."

"This is the correct position for worship."

He kissed her hipbone then moved across her smooth belly, leaving a line of fire with kiss after kiss. Layla put her hands on his shoulders to steady herself. Sanzo glanced up to see the full weight of her breasts rising and falling with her ragged breath. She met his gaze, the blue of her eyes stormy with need.

"Koryuu," she whispered. "Please. My heart is beating so hard. I feel like I might faint...."

Sanzo stood up and caught her, lifting her up in his arms and laying her down on the bed. A sudden thumping rhythm shook the floor beneath his bare feet. Someone was walking down the hallway. Sanzo knew that stride. Gojyo. He was coming to find Layla so he could take her out on their little shopping trip. Wicked temptation erupted in Sanzo's heart. Moving again to the foot of the bed, Sanzo knelt at Layla's feet. He trailed kisses up the inside of her calf, one ear tuned to the sound of footsteps drawing closer. Moving up the inside of Layla's thigh, Sanzo planted hot, wet kisses on the tender skin. Layla's breathing turned harsh with the sudden sharp rise in her arousal. Sanzo gently pushed Layla's thighs farther apart, then pressed a deep, wet kiss to the very center of her desire.

"Aaaaaah! Koryuu!"

Sanzo held tight to her hips, keeping Layla right where he wanted her. His tongue probed her softest places, moving in and out of her, making her moan and thrash and cry out. She tasted good, salty and sweet. The more Sanzo kissed her, the more Layla shrieked his name, and the more he wanted to drown in the heat and the honey pouring from her. Sanzo strained to sense the presence out in the hallway. Gojyo stood right outside Layla's door.

The sudden knock at her door confirmed Sanzo's perceptions. Layla jerked in his grip, then froze. Sanzo's tongue glided up through her wetness, seeking out that tiny pink pearl. He licked and sucked at it until she thrashed so hard against his hands it was all he could do to keep her on the bed. The squeaking and creaking of the bed was pure music to his ears, so loud it had to be audible out in the hallway. Again Layla tensed up all over, her breath catching as she neared the peak. Her fingers sank into Sanzo's hair, pressing his face even deeper into her moist heat. The sudden glory of it struck her, making her arch up as his name burst from her in a scream.

"Sanzo!"

Layla cried out again and again. At last her shuddering slowed down and her breathing evened out. Sanzo rested his head on her thigh, struggling with the fierce need to bury his throbbing cock inside her. He kept expecting to hear Gojyo's footsteps retreat back toward the stairs. It would be just like the perverted hanyo if he stood out there listening to Sanzo make love to Layla. Such a thing would feed the erokappa's sick little fantasies for months. Sudden anger seized Sanzo. Before he realized what he was doing, he was up and moving toward the door, yanking it open. Gojyo stood there, his face the perfect picture of misery.

"She's mine," Sanzo hissed. "She was meant to be mine!"

Nodding, Gojyo turned and walked back down the hallway, head down and shoulders sagging. Sanzo watched him go, the taste of victory almost as sweet as the taste of Layla on his lips. He shut the door and walked back to the bed. Layla turned her head. Her eyes fluttered open. To see that lovely sea-blue stare glazed over with sated passion made Sanzo's hunger for her unbearable. He unsnapped his jeans and eased the zipper down, gasping in relief as his erection was finally freed. Layla regarded the rampant proof of his arousal with a mixture of curiosity and fear. She touched one fingertip to the head, making Sanzo's whole body jerk in response.

"So soft," she murmured, stroking him, light feathery touches up and down the entire length. "And yet so hard underneath."

Sanzo groaned. He desperately wanted to pull her thighs up around his waist and get on with this, but what she was doing felt so good.

"San—Koryuu?"

"Hn?"

"May I-- May I--"

"What?"

"I want--" Again Layla couldn't say the words.

Sanzo looked down to see her eying his hard-on, licking her lips while her hand went on stroking him. Understanding struck him, bringing with it a new rush of heat.

"You want to kiss it?"

"Yes. Like you did to me. Is that all right?"

Sanzo didn't trust his voice. He stretched out beside her on the bed. Layla sat up and swung her long hair out of the way, throwing it up across Sanzo's naked chest and belly. The soft fall of it on his skin sent a shiver of pleasure sweeping over him. The sudden kiss she planted on the tip of his erection made Sanzo cry out, his back arching. All rational thought fell apart as Layla ran her tongue along the underside from tip to base. Sanzo groaned, sinking one hand into her hair.

"Open your mouth." The sudden heat of her breath told Sanzo she'd obeyed. "Now suck on it."

Layla took him into her mouth. Her tongue teased him, stroking and caressing and lapping at him. Sanzo's head fell back and he let out a moan of pure lust. His hips took over, thrusting him in and out of Layla's mouth. She held on, moving with him. It was good, so good, too good for him to hold out against the pressure gathering low in his belly.

"Layla," he gasped. "I'm close."

She sucked harder, drawing her nails down the insides of his thighs. Now Sanzo had both hands in her hair, moving her head in the faster rhythm he craved.

"Oh yes.... Oh gods.... Layla, Layla!"

His hips jerked hard, once, twice, three times. The blinding light tore him apart, shredding him with ecstasy, leaving him clean and whole and new. His hands fell away from Layla's hair. He let out a long, slow breath, savoring his new sense of peace and relaxation.

Moments later the silky length of it slid off his chest and belly. The bed creaked as she rose. He heard liquid gurgling out of a bottle. Layla came back and curled up against his side. Sanzo turned his head to nuzzle her hair and plant a weak kiss on her forehead. If the pleasure of having her mouth on him was this intense, he couldn't imagine how good it would feel when he finally pushed his cock deep inside her virgin heat. The thought of that stirred his desire. Another need came upon him, so sudden and so strong it demanded immediate satisfaction.

Sanzo sat up and grabbed his jeans, fishing his cigarettes and lighter out of the hip pocket. He smoked one cigarette down, then another, all the while staring at Layla's naked figure. Just as he'd thought that night in the tent, he was being stupid and he knew it. Already this taste of real sexual pleasure left him knowing it would become an addiction, just as he'd gotten hooked on cigarettes and caffeine. He needed them, and a day without either was a bad day. A day without Layla would be hell itself.

Sanzo was glad the darkness in the room kept Layla from seeing his expression as he savored another kind of satisfaction. Layla wanted him. She'd done for him something she'd never do for Gojyo. And Gojyo knew it. The stupid kappa's impatience had driven him upstairs just in time to hear Layla scream out Sanzo's name from the heights of her pleasure. That should have blasted the arrogant fucking kappa with the kind of payback that would scar him for the rest of his useless life.

Sanzo pulled on his jeans and slipped his feet into his sandals, then pulled the blankets back under Layla and gently eased her under them. "I'm going downstairs for something. I'll be right back."

She nodded sleepily.

Sanzo pulled on his black undershirt and arm warmers, then headed downstairs.