"Gojyo..."

Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Tenpou wanted to cry out, but his body wouldn't let him. The body was willing, yet the mind was not. And it was probably the body's urgings that got him in this position in the first place. Self blame got the better of him. He wasn't thinking. The mind didn't want Gojyo; wanted Kenren. The body wanted Gojyo; who the hell was Kenren?

/Of all the idiotic things I have ever done.../

It was merciless torture and Tenpou squeezed his eyes shut, trying to keep at bay the memories retained by this piece of once human flesh. Something about the scar...Gojyo's touch woke it up.

He saw blood; a lot of blood. God how he hated blood. Warm, covering him, biting. Acrid. Heard the cries of the tormented.

Saw demonic eyes flash before his own pair after pair after pair after pair. Bloody eyes. His own bloodied eye. Warmth racing to his hands, the blood this body spilt. The blood of others. The blood of a thousand.

Saw a girl with a knife, crying, whispering a thousand 'I'm sorrys' that were enough to kill a thousand souls whose power was a thousand times that of Tenpou because with just one tear she changed an entire land. Watered it with blood. Made bloody flowers grow. Made the rain turn to hellfire...burn burn burn and scream up to the heavens to those who shall never hear your pitiful cries for mercy...

"Hakkai!" Gojyo shook Tenpou violently as tears streamed from the corners of his closed eyes. The two of them were surrounded by bright green light. Warm, so warm. "You're energy's flooding out. Control it or you'll wear yourself out completely!"

"I can't. Let your body absorb it or it's lost for nothing." His voice was already fading.

/Ah, so this was the hell you wanted me to know. /

Gojyo did as he was told and took it in. He could feel his wounds healing faster. His fever lifting as he broke into a sweat. The surge of ki finally started to ebb as the smaller of the two bordered the abyss of unconsciousness. Hakkai...he was getting colder.

Gojyo's grip around him tightened. "Suicidal idiot." And before Tenpou slipped tiredly into the darkness of sleep, he felt a kiss brush the nape of his neck, then another, and then another- warming his skin with each passing second.

A stab of guilt and then, /Somebody kill me./

Chapter 7: Things too Stupid for Words:

Goujin was easy to spot out among the spectators, standing rigidly away from the crowd, arms crossed, face cross and white braid heavily hanging down his back reminding him of the burden of his position. Kenren walked two paces towards the white dragon. Stopped, then turned around. Walked. Stopped. Turned around and faced the back of his superior once more.

"I request that I be transferred from the command of Field Marshal Tenpou Gensui to..." Well, he wasn't saying it, but the words came out clear in his mind anyway. All it took was just a tap on the shoulder and he was sure that Goujin would be more than pleased - if 'pleased' would do any justice to the inner euphoria the Dragon King would feel- to have Kenren out of his sight.

The drums announcing the entrance of his men started up, slow and steady as a heartbeat, but there was a certain laziness to it that made it sound like some sort of death march. Goujin tipped his head up to the air, sniffed, then returned to being a marble statue. A death march. And the people cheered wildly.

Confetti and streamers rained down upon him from the balconies of the Holy City, but Kenren's mind was far from it all. He absently reached for his wine flask, poured himself a small sip. Something felt utterly wrong about the situation. A breeze swept through the gates of heaven, utterly freezing and utterly unnoticed by the likes of every kami in sight. Poured himself another sip, warmed up and utterly forgot about it.

*****

Litouten was sputtering insanely. Nataku tried not to take notice, his eyes glued to the proudly marching (and proudly smirking, the boy did not fail to note) regiment as if they had just come back from some victory instead of some lousy snowstorm. And then Litouten was cursing, smacking a servant in the face for some "ultimately unacceptable failure, you louse, get someone out there to do it right this time!"

His father came back to the balcony to sit beside him, red in the face and breathing heavily. "Damnable fools," Litouten grumbled behind his teeth as he leaned over the railing to make sure that the bespectacled man in the white coat was really who he seemed to be. "are the hardest to get rid of."

Nataku pretended not to hear. Pretended to be dumb. Pretended to be still, when his eyes were actually scanning the crowd for a certain itan. A shock of brown hair would be the biggest tip off. He saw a white statue...which moved...which then must have been Goujin...a little behind him was Kenren (Nataku frowned) drinking out of turn...