thenearshore | 008

[Hakkai shifts, dragging in a painful breath, and coughs. There's blood in his mouth; he'd bitten his tongue when he hit the tree. He turns his head to the side and spits it out, taking inventory of his body. He'd felt some sort of magic already, from the second goddess -- Suijin, he thought he had heard Fuujin say, though it had been hard to be sure of the name through the howl of the wind.

He's certainly not nearly as injured as he would have expected, even if coughing feels like being stabbed in the side. He opens his eyes and tries, slowly, to sit up.]

Hello -- Genjo.

[Ow. Sitting up is going more slowly than he'd planned.]

I'm all right.

This is not all right! [WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS. She presses her hands lightly against his shoulders]

Lay down a little while longer, you shouldn't move so much! [No, no, this isn't the time to sound panicked. Sanzang forces a little smile and a soft, 'ehehe' sort of laugh] You sure are trouble, you know!

What on earth happened?

[She puts her hands on his shoulders, and he flinches, just slightly. Ah -- the tree had hit him rather hard there too, hadn't it. His expression is quite blank for a moment before he summons another smile.]

I think it's mostly my ribs. Nothing cracked through.

[His voice is a little breathy despite his attempt to sound normal, and despite her request he's still stubbornly trying to sit up. His arms are only bruised and scraped; he carefully sets his elbows against the ground to brace himself half-sitting.]

It seems I struck a nerve with Fuujin.

Hakkai! [Her tone is sharp and disapproving-- stop moving what is wrong with you. If they're not cracked, probably just bruised? That's good then, as long as nothing's broken, everything's fine. Superficial wounds.]

Stop smiling when you're in pain, I can't help you if I don't know it's hurting. [Says the other one who never stops smiling, though the smile she's forced on has slipped away again in her concerned examination.] Nothing's broken, right? If it's nothing life threatening, I can take the pain away..

[Of course he doesn't know that Hakkai knows just what using her power entails, so. This is perfectly logical.

Fuujin, Fuujin...] One of Amaterasu's advisers? [Despite herself, she sounds shocked.]

Ha ha, the very one.

[He manages to push himself up the rest of the way, leaning forward and catching his breath against the pain for a few seconds. He's not going to stop smiling, though. Really, Genjo. Who do you think he is?

Well, for one thing, he's someone who's going to need help wrapping his ribs to brace them. He may actually have to ask her help for that.]

Please don't waste that power on something like this. If you could just get me back to Gojyo's temple, I'll be all right.

[If he wasn't already in pain she'd hit him for continuing to move like this.]

But-- [A noise of protest and she debates, watching him.] ...You're impossibly stubborn. [She's irritated, but also kind of impressed? Considering her version tended to cry when he got an empty stomach, this is... new. completely new.

She'll make the teleportation as gentle as possible, but since she's not sure where anything in Gojyo's temple is, they just sort of end up in whatever counts as a living room. And probably on the floor. Whoops!!] Oops. This is as far as I could get to, sorry... I never really saw the rest of Gojyo's temple.

[Ow ow ow well, all right, he should have expected that, but the jolt as they'd teleported in and to the floor of Gojyo's sitting room went right up his spine. Ah... for thick carpets. Mattresses, perhaps. He steels himself, considering the prospect of standing up unaided.

... Well, she might hit him if he tries it and goes to one knee. He glances at her with a wry twist at the corner of his stubborn smile.]

It's more than enough! Ah, I don't suppose... could you give me a hand up?

Why can't you just sit still for a while? [She's so exasperated, but she moves next to him to slide an arm around his waist for support and helps him to his feet.]

Where are we going? It better not be far, and when we get there you're staying there, even if I have to force you! I will sit on you! [Or something, okay? She's trying her best to be threatening, but it's hard when she doesn't actually want to hurt him]

Just to the washroom. I may need a little help wrapping my ribs, too...

[Which is slightly embarrassing, but he'd rather keep an eye on what's happening at the party than rest quietly here. And if he needs to do anything more active than sit well away from the cherry trees and wait until people start going home, the extra support will help quite a bit.

Of course, she doesn't have to know that (although, possibly, she does, if he's going to avoid having to walk back. He'll worry about that later.)]

[She could like, trip him, probably. She could probably knock him out and drag him to his bed (or A bed, she's not picky) and make sure he stays there the rest of the night.

She won't, of course, but she's irritated] If you keep moving around so much you'll just injure yourself more and prolong your healing. Then what good are you? For a healer, you're really bad at this 'being a patient' thing!

[Her tone is scolding, but full of concern as she helps him along the way.] I'll help, of course, but it'd be easier if you just let me heal you...

Doesn't your healing power just transfer my pain to you?

[He affects a thoughtfully innocent tone. His injuries aren't that serious! They should have been more serious, in fact.]

In fact... I believe Suijin healed a little bit of it already. What's left is nothing to worry about.

What?! [It's an almost indignant squawk and she has to remind herself not to jostle him around] Who told you something like that? Its not-- Totally true!

[She huffs] I don't have to take the pain on to heal, you know. The taking on the pain too thing is new, but I'm reasonably sure I can turn that off when healing! It's an extra power they gave me when I came here as a god.

[So there. She does, however, acknowledge the benefits of natural healing, reluctantly.] I don't mind taking the pain on anyhow... I can take the pain on without healing too, I could do that much... [Mumble mumble.]

[Laughing turns out to have been a mistake. His breath catches in a tiny gasp, and he pauses just outside the washroom door, catching his breath. One of those ribs really might be broken after all.

Well, he thinks, as long as it's not lodged in anything vital, it'll heal just the same.]

I think I can stand it on my own, thank you.

[There's still a glitter of amusement in his eyes, even if he knows better than to try laughing again. He straightens up, reaching for the door handle.]

H-hey, what are you laughing at!? [What's so funny? She doesn't understand???] Don't laugh if your ribs are bruised, it's going to hurt.

[It's probably a good thing Sanzang isn't an actual doctor or anything. She straightens with him, but doesn't let him go, not sure if she totally trusts him to walk on his own.] And don't push yourself, if you're letting it heal naturally then you have to actually rest and let it heal!

Of course, my apologies.

[He steps into the washroom, and turns his back to her, reaching for the buttons of his shirt.]

-- if you'll excuse me, I'll have to take this off to bandage it properly.

[He doesn't actually know how proper a holy woman she might be! If she has any issues with a shirtless man being in the same room, she's welcome to step back out.]

[Sanzang lets him go, hovering around the doorway in concern, trying to figure out what to do with herself now. Grab the bandages? Help... him?? Uh.]

Huh? Okay. [She doesn't step back out, but now she feels a little awkward because he brought it up in the first place.] ...Are you shy? [She completely thinks he's the one who might have issues here.]

I was in an army right before I came here, I saw plenty of men without their shirts! [And, well, look at what she herself wears. She's grown past being modest for the most part...]

Oh, I won't worry about it, then.

[He is a little shy, actually: not of being seen shirtless by an attractive young woman, although Sanzo might object (and there's an amusing mental image.) The problem is being seen shirtless by anyone he doesn't already know well. He hates showing off scars when he doesn't know their story, and the deep, puckered, years-old cut across his belly is a scar that must have a story.

At least the more recent one across his chest, closed but still a flushed-red remnant of a deep crack in a sword blade, he can explain.

He keeps a straight face as he pulls his hands free of the sleeves and folds the shirt to set on the edge of the sink, despite the twinges and painful stabbing of a probably-broken rib and something that's going to be a truly amazing set of bruises tomorrow.]

The first-aid kit is under the sink.

[She's watches him with an open curiosity and scrutiny, eyeing the scars. The one across hi stomach she doubts he'd be able to tell her much about--it looks old, possibly something he had before he came here and therefore couldn't tell her anything about anyhow. But the other...]

Oh. Right. [Had she been staring at him too much? He was handsome, sure, but aside from the scars it was more interest in just how different he really was from her Hakkai. What dictated these differences across the multiverse?

She grabs the fist-aid kit and sets it on the counter, hesitated a moment before she carefully begins to remove her sleeves. While she could do this just fine with them on, it'd be more practical to do it with them off.] I keep taking these off more often lately with you guys. I guess I should stop wearing them all together soon... [She probably won't just because they've become a part of her, like Sanzo's sutra. They're an extension of her own arms, and without them she always felt strangely naked.

She flexes her fingers after carefully folding and setting the sleeves aside, and then rifles through the kit for the bandages.] I know how to do this much, at least. I guess I should really learn more instead of relying on my powers so much, ahaha.

Ha ha, I'm sure Sanzo would worry less if you did!

[It's not an actual laugh, but that's mostly because an actual laugh would be rather painful right now. The teasing glint in his eyes is still genuine.

He leans against the edge of the sink, dampening a clean washrag to blot a few of the little scrapes that splintered wood in the wind had left scattered across his hands.]

Isn't it challenging to use your hands with those sleeves on?

I don't get why he worries so much... [SIGH. It's kind of cute, but really. There's an exasperated sort of fondness there. It's not like he's the one getting the pain or anything! And at least it's just the pain she could be getting the whole wound too! That's better right??

She looks at her own hands, flexing her fingers a bit] I got used to it, I suppose! Truthfully, I never had to take them off to do much before... I just had to fight. Even with healing, I don't need to touch someone for it.

When I was traveling I used a staff and magic, but once my journey was over and I was asked to join the other mystics in the Heavens, the sleeves were gifted to me. [It feels like lifetimes ago and she smiles wistfully] I just got used to wearing them all the time.

Why, I didn't realize this wasn't the first Heaven you'd lived in.

[He raises his eyebrows and wrings the lightly stained rag out firmly over the sink. It'll need bleaching.

And there's something about that line, "joined the other mystics in the Heavens," and the look of fond reminiscence on her face, that makes him very curious. He points out the roll of wide stretchy wrapping in the kit.]

Those, I think. [He's not sure where he picked up what he knows about first aid, but it seems to have steered him well so far.]

It's rude to ask this of a lady, so do forgive me, but exactly how old are you, Genjo?

[Sanzang gives a nervous/sheepish sort of laugh, picking the bandages and beginning to unravel them] Um, well... I suppose this is like... The third? [She gives a cutesy, 'oops?' smile. So far she'd only really told Konzen about that, but...]

I wasn't born in the human world-- I was born in Heaven. There was... an attack. [The smile slips from her face as she begins to get to work welcoming the multitasking and distraction it offers. She can tell her history is much different from whatever they went through, enough so that she doesn't feel anything warning her not to say anything] I was just a baby, but one of the devils had a guilty conscience and sent me down a river and into the human world. When I was 16 I went on a journey, and I was about 18 or so when I got back, I think. A few years later I was asked to join some other important mystics in Senkai, which is... Sort of similar to Heaven, just a different plane.

[Or something. Look this is never properly explained in the game, okay?] So um... I think I'm maybe around 900 now? [Given the time between Journey West was supposed to take place and the time some of the Warriors Orochi historical stuff was happening, anyhow. Something like that.

She smiles sheepishly again] Before I came here, there was a lot of time traveling and dimensions being crashed together, so things got a little confusing.

Ah.

[Well, he'd been looking for something to distract him! That's a story startling enough to do the job. Hakkai blinks at her in open wonder and sets down his washrag. Born in Heaven! Reascended to it after completing her journey... and nine hundred years old.

Also, that bit about time travel and multiple dimensions.]

I see I'm in very august company!

[She laughs despite herself and looks embarrassed]

I'm not that amazing! There were many other people--much more amazing people!-- than me. I'm not nearly as powerful or impressive as even half the other mystics. I just... [She pauses and secures one of the bandages, tilting her head as she tries to figure out how to explain it.] I just want to help people and make them happy. I just want peace.

I don't think it's "just."

[He lifts his arms out of her way, glancing thoughtfully up at the ceiling. I just want to help people and make them happy, says Kanzeon Bosatsu... she's certainly well-cast in her role, isn't she?

He has to admit that he can see why Sanzo's so fond of her (and there's no way to interpret his grumbling other than fondness. He's more obvious than he'd like to be.) It's the sort of modest purity of heart that would sound naive, except that Hakkai's seen her in a fight.]

Trying to make other people happy is hard work! I don't think I'd be suited for it at all.

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