"Yes he is."

"And who is this substitute?"

The boddhisvata grinned again as she took a sip from her cup of tea. "A better man, I believe. A better man."

Jiroshin seemed ready to ask for a clarification, but Kanzeon immediately stuck the cup in his face and demanded, "Please change it. The drink is tepid. And boil the water well this time."

"You'll burn your tongue Kanzeon-sama!"

"But I like tea. Those who like tea shouldn't mind the heat, wouldn't you say? And those who do mind it, shouldn't drink it."

***

Life was strange. First you start hearing things while driving. Then you start seeing things. Yes, and then you wake up and you're naked in a room that you are dead sure is not your hotel room.

Kinda makes you want to think things through a bit, but Hakkai wasn't even given that luxury when he heard a bellowing voice he could have sworn was Gojyo's yelling out, "Tenpouuuuu! Rise n' shine!"

Then said voice was proceeded by a sturdy kick to the door and a raven-haired man garbed all in black pranced into the room, throwing a heap of freshly smelling clothes in his face. That's. Not. Gojyo.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? If you were gonna sleep in oh great, almighty, Tenpou Gensui, then you shoulda told me. I would've stayed instead of going to that boring ass military briefing!"

Tenpou...Gensui...

So Hakkai, being the highly self-conscious and highly courteous man that he was, immediately pulled the covers higher around him and asked the question of the millennium, "And you are?"

There was no way in hiding the fact that he sounded completely scandalized.

"Deserving of more compensation in the future, dammit." the man retorted, his anger only half hearted as he pulled a cigarette from his pocket and proceeded to light it. "That is...after your meeting with Kanzeon-sama."

"Kanzeon..." The pieces of the puzzle were slowly...and painstakingly being put together. Kanzeon. was here, which meant that there wasn't any immediate danger. That was a good thing, he hoped. But back to more pressing matters: