And every time I see a rose, I see her smilin' face

[erogappa]

Who: Gojyo and Sharak
What: Gojyo's got a memory back. He's not happy about this.
When: 5 Aug, 5:47am
Where: Temple of Aditi
Warnings: Descriptions of matricide



[ The rooster hates him. Gojyo is completely convinced of this. He’d thought, when he first came to Sharak’s temple, that it would be a quiet, peaceful place to get a good night’s sleep.

But he forgot to take the damn rooster into account.

Like clockwork, just a few minutes before sunrise the rooster points its megaphone beak straight at Gojyo’s room (okay, this might not actually be happening, but it sure sounds like it is!) and crows the loudest, nasal-est, sleep-disturbing-est crow that ever came out of a walking TV dinner. And then, five to ten minutes later, just when Gojyo thinks he might be able to get back to sleep… it crows again. And again. And again.

With a groan, Gojyo throws his arm over his eyes. There’s no going back to sleep, not anymore, but dammit he can at least pretend. Pretend to sleep, and pretend like he’s going to do something about that damn cock. He could turn it into soup, he thinks, roast rooster soup with green onions and ginger. Or maybe just stick with the roast part, spit it and grill it until the meat’s seared perfectly and the fat is spattering on the fire. Rooster buns. Rooster kebabs. Kentucky Fried Rooster. Garlic stuffed rooster.

He could do it, too. He could absolutely go out there, find a knife, drive it through the little bastard’s...

...Something in his gut twists hard, and Gojyo sits bolt upright, gasping for breath. What the hell was that? His brain churns –- something about a knife blade, right in front of his eyes, bright with blood and…

And the memory hits him like a truck. The woman standing over him – protecting him? -– tears running down her face and blood running down her dress. His face hurts –- Gojyo raises one shaking hand, running his fingertips over the old scars there, memory making them raw and new as his mother crumples dead at his feet. The man behind her, the man with the sword, the man with her blood on his hands... Gojyo can barely see his face, but he knows who it is. It’s his brother. It’s Dokuga-whatever.

He has a brother.

He's going to kill his brother.

Launching himself out of bed, Gojyo storms out into the temple, nearly blind with rage (and guilt, and loss, and fear). ]

Sharak!

Comments

[erogappa]

[ He's not happy about that, but it makes sense. "I killed my mom because she got in the way of me trying to kill my freak taboo little brother" isn't exactly the kind of thing he can imagine coming up in casual conversation, not even with... with whatever their relationship had been. Human priest and youkai? ]

So how did...? [ But his question's cut off with another jolt of blight-ish something, only this time it's the something that twists his guts into tight little painful knots when he tries to remember things he's not allowed to remember. ] ...Fuck!

[ This shit is so unfair. ]

I hate this!

[bussounoshima]

[You'd be amazed at the kind of company some human priests keep, Gojyo. Or maybe not, considering the company Sharak's been keeping lately.]

He- [Ow. Sharak has filled the bucket with cold, holy water by now and started moving back towards Gojyo, but when that sting of fresh blight hits her she stumbles and spills some of it onto him. Whoops. Time to sigh, try to make that look like it was on purpose, and just pour the water directly onto his blighted shoulders and back.]

It's bullshit.

[erogappa]

[ She pretends to stumble, and Gojyo jerks bolt upright as the cold water hits his bare skin. At least let him get his hair out of the way first, dammit! Now it's gonna be cold and dripping... a trickle runs down the middle of his back and he can't help but shudder. ]

Fuck. ...Tell me how you really feel, why don'tcha?

[ It's working, though, the water and the distraction both. He wipes the water out of his eyes, and tries to crane his neck around far enough to see if she's gotten all the blight off. He can't think about how Sharak knows Doku, can't think about how any of this makes sense, and can't think about Doku's motivations. But that's fine, because his motivations don't matter. Only his actions matter.

Anger doesn't cause blight. He'll just be angry, that's fine. ]

How's it look?

[bussounoshima]

[Gojyo should just accept that he's going to be soaked for the time being. Here's where barging into Sharak's room naked actually pays off.]

It's almost gone. [She pours some more water directly onto his lower back to clear up some missed patches.] So long as you don't do anything to make it come back, you'll be fine.

[Well, he'll be fine either way. Until it gets bad enough to need an ablution, she's the only one who feels it.]

[erogappa]

[ Yeah, he's feeling real lucky right about now. ]

I'm workin' on it.

[ No guilt: anger. No guilt at his mother dying to protect him: anger at the brother who made that action necessary. He lets himself imagine slamming a fist right into the middle of Doku's stupid braying face... and then again, for good measure. He has to make sure he's not feeling guilty any more, right?

His towel's beginning to slip with the weight of the water, and he unselfconsciously turns his back to Sharak and wraps it tighter around his hips. He can be embarrassed about his behavior after she's no longer suffering. ]

Lemme help you with yours.

[bussounoshima]

[She can feel the anger, and she's not sure she's glad for it. It's better than guilt, but she's not sure by how much. She supposes Gojyo processing his grief in a healthy way is too much to hope for. Still, she isn't his mother. She can't tell him how to feel.]

I can handle it myself.

[But while the blight has creeped out onto her shoulders and arms, the majority of it is still on her neck and back, hidden under her high-collared shirt. She turns away from Gojyo and crouches down next to the water, pulling her shirt off over her head and revealing her bare, blighted back.]

This isn't the first time I've had to deal with this crap.

[erogappa]

[ Well damn, if she was looking to shame him into silence, she found the trick. Not even the revelation that Sharak goes braless is enough to stop the jolt of guilt as Gojyo turns his back fully to her once more, offering at least the pretense of privacy. ]

If you'd stop pickin' up strays this wouldn't be a problem.

[bussounoshima]

[She wasn't trying to shame hi, but if that's what it takes to shut him up she'll take it. Sharak tenses up at the stab of guilt, but ignores it in favour of splashing holy water onto her shoulders and neck.]

They warn you not to feed stray animals, right? [It's strange, having something that feels like a scar but can be washed off so easily, she thinks. The normal ones are preferable.] I should have listened.

[erogappa]

[ From the other side of the temple comes the raucous caw of that damn rooster, and just like that the tension is dispelled.

Well, no, Not just like that. It's gonna linger for awhile yet, but being mad at the feathered alarm clock makes it easy to pretend, for now, that everything's going to be fine. ]

Feed me that little asshole, and we'll call it good.

[ He dares a glance at her bare back, and frowns at the lingering traces of blight. He never had this problem with Ekko, poor kid, and thank god for that. Maybe being attached to Sharak now, as her shinki, is why his memories are returning? If this is what memories do, then he's seriously grateful that he didn't remember a damn thing when Ekko was still here. ]

You've still got some on your shoulder.

[bussounoshima]

You're a grown man, go kill your own breakfast.

[Sharak continues to be a terrible monk, shocking no one. She splashes some more water onto her back, but that still leaves spots of blight.]

I said I can handle it.

[Just dump a bucket of water on her head, Gojyo, call it payback.]

[erogappa]

[ If he dumps a bucket of water on her head she may kill him. He's still working out boundaries here okay. Naked tantrum = acceptable, apparently, but this is, uh...

Oh, dammit. ]

No, higher up. You've still got some.

[ Dammit. ]

No, here. [ It's not a bucketful of water, just a double palmful, and it dissolves the biggest remaining patch of blight into disgusting rivulets. There's no way that's good for the grass. ]

[bussounoshima]

[If he's hesitating to approach a naked woman because she's a naked woman, that's the more offensive aspect as far as Sharak is concerned. Still, she tenses up when Gojyo comes closer, even as the blight melts away and lessens the pain.]

... Thanks.

[Boundaries are important with shinki, especially on their own end. But Gojyo's been pretty good lately about not treating Sharak any differently for her gender. She forces herself to relax. There's nothing wrong with this.]

[erogappa]

[ Of course he's treating her different because she's a woman. Of course he is. This has nothing to do with strength or intelligence or ability -- this is about naked body parts, and who is allowed to look at them. He's a dude and she's a lady that he's not dating, so the right course of action is pretty obvious.

That course of action? Keeping his back to her for the rest of this conversation. ]

Just hit me or somethin' if this happens again, okay?

[bussounoshima]

[She's not a woman, she's a Sanzo. Still, it's probably a good idea not to look anyway.]

I'll hit you when I feel like hitting you. [Clear of blight, for the moment, Sharak gets to her feet.] Try not to flinch when I do, or I'll be embarrassed for you.

[Okay, she's starting to put her shirt back on, it's probably safe to turn around.]