（最游记同人）镜里镜外(4)

The message was never delivered to Tentei.

He felt like a petty detective instead of a high military man. One disappearance. No witnesses. Two contradicting reports. Needless to say, Kenren's version was the more reliable one.

Strange times indeed.

Tenpou squinted harder at the lettering, comparing one note with another, then with another and yet another, until...

"Dammit Tenpou!" Lately, 'dammit' seemed to be his first name.

"Yes General?"

Kenren stood with his arms crossed at the study's entrance, puffing angrily at a newly lit cigarette. "I thought told you to stay put."

"I'm staying put." replied Tenpou matter-of-factly.

"I meant in bed."

The marshal smiled as sweetly as he could manage at that point. "I thought you didn't like frigid partners." But this time Kenren wasn't amused.

"I don't. I just don't want to take you while you're injured. So until you're better..."

"I'm not injured. Meandering in dank, dark castles is just a cold waiting to happen."

"Sick? Gods shouldn't get sick."

"Kenren," Tenpou interrupted softly, his smile slowly dying. "We're immortal, not invincible."

That statement seemed to take all the air out of Kenren's lungs and he slouched against the door, uncertain about how to respond. So he just resorted to smoking. The marshal chuckled softly and put the papers back in his drawer, taking care to lock it.

"What the hell are you laughing at? I'm just pissed that you ain't thinking about what happened. The most dangerous man in heaven, and you're knocked unconscious for two days by a fucking piece of furniture!"

"That was quality furniture, General, and you shouldn't have destroyed..." He stopped. The humming in the back of his mind was back again. It doesn't mean that you didn't lover her enough...But Kenren never said... "What in the world are talking about Kenren? Didn't love who enough?" His eyesight grew hazy and he stumbled, only to be caught by a pair of strong arms.

"Hey, hey. Easy now. You just woke up," Kenren soothed, bringing Tenpou back onto his feet and leading him to the bedroom. "What happened in there anyway? Must have been some freaky stuff that messed with your ears because now you're hearing things."

Tenpou shrugged and sat on the soft mattress, shedding the lab coat and fiddling uselessly with the buttons of his shirt. His hands were shaking and for a while, he thought that his eyes were playing tricks on him as well. Was that his lifeline shrinking?

"You weren't too far from the truth," he admitted, then looked grudgingly at his own hands. They just couldn't keep still, as if the ground were shaking. "General, could you do me a fav-"

But he was cut off with a kiss as Kenren gently pushed him flat on the bed and started undoing his shirt buttons, pushing past the fabric and grazing his mouth against the skin underneath. "Did you just admit I was right, Tenpou?"

"Part of your compensation, General. If you want the rest, I advise you to stop talking," Tenpou answered, slipping his cold hands against Kenren's cheeks and guiding him up until the general's shadow hovered over his face. Tenpou knew this wasn't fair, but he needed this, and it was right here, warm and close and offering.

Kenren understood well enough that this probably the worst way to solve the problem, but it was the quickest and most agreeable way for both of them. Tenpou would never tell him anything, he knew that. You can sleep with a man carrying a thousand hidden secrets for a thousand nights and not learn a thing, but for Kenren it was enough that he could slip around these secrets, nestle into the cracks and wait for the walls to fall.

It wasn't as if he loved him or anything like that. Kenren wasn't stupid. He knew his...their...limits.

They were sharing a room again and as Hakkai slid blissfully under the soft bed sheets, he stretched contentedly and looked over to Sanzo who was cursing by the window.

"Sanzo, it's only snow. Be thankful it isn't rain." He tried to be comforting, but it was hard when you were already half asleep.

"Let the damn rain come. At least it doesn't stick," the priest replied bitterly.

"Ah."

And so the silence reigned between them, not that either minded. Waiting for the sleep to come, Hakkai stared at the dark ceiling. They sat in the dark, the two of them, pierced only by the whitish glow of a street lamp reflecting off a two foot bed of snow. The harsh winds ratted the window pane.

"Sanzo."

"I thought you were asleep." He was more subdued this time, his irritation minutely soothed by a cigarette whose pale smoke seemed ghostlike from Sanzo's position near the window.

"I'm not."

"I can fucking see that. What do you want? That flame headed idiot of yours is skirt-chasing downstairs. I ain't getting him and I ain't switching rooms either. If I hear that bakasaru's voice one more time tonight..."