****

Tenpou woke up. It was cold. Freezing in fact. He opened his eyes and was welcomed back to heaven with a barrel of a gun to his forehead.

"Give me one good fucking reason not to pull the trigger." Sanzo threatened quietly.

"I..."

"Not good enough Hakkai."

They were in a tent, a blazing fire crackling in the middle of it. Night had fallen, but the winds still haven't let up. "What the fuck happened?" Not a question, an order.

"I...I fell through the ice." Sanzo had the right idea though. What the fuck happened? It should have worked. He should have been home. Cho Hakkai should have been dead. Tenpou's hands flew to the earcuffs. He wasn't even able to take them off.

"That was stupid of you." the monk grumbled before falling back and resting the gun on his knee, pointedly keeping it aimed towards Tenpou's heart. "Especially when you know there's one idiot here who would follow you to the ends of the earth."

Gojyo lay sleeping behind them, closer to the fire. He stirred, murmured something inaudible, then fell silent.

"Jumped in after you, dragged your sorry carcass out of the water, over a mile of snow, and brought you here." The blonde pretended to examine the shining silver of the gun, then gave Tenpou a sidelong glance. "Oh yeah, the village burned down while you two were out. Eight people were eaten alive. Thanks for backup."

"Oh will you shut up you phony monk! He didn't know!" Gojyo retorted angrily, pulling himself up into a sitting position on quaking arms.