Disgusting, putrid water, not water, the god thought to himself, gritting his teeth and fighting the urge to spit again. It was fine fifteen minutes ago, cool and caressing in his throat when he was still at his desk. Then came an arctic cold chill that threw all the papers on his desk into disarray. He sipped again and it was salty-sour, looked into the cup and it was a crimson red.

"Goku!" It didn't work. Where was he?

Something wasn't right. And if something wasn't right...

Then perhaps, "Tenpou!"

As if he hadn't practiced futility enough. So then there was...but he wouldn't, just wouldn't, by the grace of all things right, he wasn't going to say...

"Kenren-taishou!" Konzen snapped is head up. It was Nataku. Suddenly a wail arose in the crowd. And then another, and another. And then there was frenetic chaos to the tune of a death march. The blonde fought his way against the tide of rushing gods; through confetti and streamers.

"Somebody find a healer!" someone shouted...roared. Goujin was shouting orders. "Surround the premises and find out where this came from!" Konzen followed the voice then pushed through a final ring of people.

He felt the taste of blood in his mouth again which was even stronger this time now that he was looking at it spewing from a real person. Kenren knelt, gaping, his mouth dropping into a horrific 'o'. He was clutching Tenpou's arms, holding him dumbly as he stared at the arrow that had impaled the marshal of the Western army, which, had it not met the flesh of another being, would have taken him straight through the chest.

But Hakkai still smiled. It made the others nervous and they backed away from the pair. He opened his mouth to speak, seemingly unaware of the blood that trickled down his lips.

"Kanzeon...Kanzeon...does this qualify...as..." he coughed; caughed and smiled even as Kenren seemed to be on the verge of...the world blurred. "...as anything too stupid?"

******

Chapter 8: Crossed Nights

The ground sunk beneath him, soft, cold, and invitingly supple. He was hot. But that heat, in turn was driven away from something rough, cold, and gentle above him and all around. A cold cloth, driven by a cold hand worked his face; on his forehead, down his nose, above his eyelids, beneath his chin, under his lips. Hakkai's mind and closed eyes traced the path dumbly as he felt his skin liberated from suffocation little by little. The healer finally got it into his head to speak and even he himself was surprised at the astounding clarity with which he was thinking.

"I do recall you saying that you would 'do no more for me.' A change of heart?"

The hand stopped, if not in surprise, then in amusement, and lifted. Hakkai could hear the water stream down as the cloth was soaked and wrung, the sound echoing off the walls of the bedroom. The freshness was pressed again to his face, traveling down to his neck.

"I took pity on your stupidity." Shien replied, his words as swift and gliding as a paper cut. Hakkai opened his eyes and found that the world had transformed into a dim watercolor; which was made clear again once the other man took the time to replace Tenpou's glasses. "You seem to take your immortality too lightly, allowing your trite display of affection to be transformed into a political statement." he paused thoughtfully. "A dangerous man who does not fear death is a very strong threat."

"I fear death."

"Then you must act like it." the other nearly snapped. There was something behind what Tenpou did that unnerved him and stuck something hollow in the depths of his bones. Unthinking devotion. How he had always struggled to understand why it had more strength behind it than a thousand of Heaven's armies. Why not even a thousand of Heaven's armies could free a mere boy from his imposed and bloody adulthood while a simple paper crane had accomplished the task in a heartbeat. "You truly don't know how much power you wield."

Hakkai kept his eyes fixed to the ceiling, so that Shien was only a voice. The pain in his chest throbbed gently and he had enough sense not to move the injury. It would have killed him, he knew that, but somehow he felt that Mercy was smiling upon him once again. Shien was a voice, nothing else, a comforting un-presence as if he were merely a specter floating beside him- and the gods knew that his ghost has haunted him before.

"Will you not get in trouble for being here?" he asked aimlessly. His body was craving nicotine, but Hakkai sternly told it to shut up.

Shien shook his head slowly and shifted himself slightly, calling to notice that he was now sitting on the bed- or probably had been there the entire time only Hakkai failed to pay attention. "Apparently there is a rumor that I am your new lover, Marshal. Nobody finds it unusual that I have headed towards your quarters. How do you feel?"