but he never would have thought

"you knohat?" said kenren as apathetically as he uld anage "i thk i've ouorn y wele with you"

"kenren-"

"i don't care, really no proises i reber"

"kenren"

then he produced fro his pocket a rupled sare of paper- sall enough so to be fit to the ssage vial of a carrier bird-and tossed it at hakkai's feet it read:

/they're ready for kenren taishou and his n at the ounta path surveilnce round thirty cdg the general orders understood they won't return /

hakkai scrutized it "i don't reber" well of urse he didn't "general, what is this?" his answer ca the for of a punch to the jaw and he stubled back before he knew it, kenren was on of hi, seizg the lr of his shirt

"cut the crap" he snarled fiercely, as his eyes lit up with pent up resentnt "you fuckg knohat i' talkg about i've pyed the willful ignorant believed you and bd litouten all the hy the hell i did, i don't know i jt did so shoot for beg so fuckg stupid found this on your desk this orng"

suddenly taken with the realization that he was shoutg, kenren lowered his voice to a re whisper and lowered his head to hakkai's ear as one hand cupped the side of his face as if he were actg like a lover which, god forbid, he wasn't hakkai was alost treblg with shock and the fear that he was gog to face so terrible fate the library of his dreas his d njured up the worst and for once, tenpou's body agreed then the ever-present estion: what did tenpou do? and the ever-present non-nsolg thought: i don't deserve this nevertheless, he allowed kenren to ntue torturg hi hakkai uld take it- with his nfed detachnt- he uld take it

"i should have seen it before you took y n away fro i know that uch, and i won't let you take away anythg else i won't beg for sothg you won't give, now that i know that you gave to soone else"

it still didn't exp anythg to the healer, only reaffird the fact that he had jeopardized tenpou's fe threads of secrets the as lpsg

the hand at his cheek stayed surprisgly gentle hakkai had expected it to e flyg down and pound hi to the floor, but it didn't it cradled his face, though its stiffness he uld sense kenren's rectance "kenren i-" he spoke for tenpou, not for hiself "there's no one else" but when he had uttered those st words, he realized how epty they sounded sothg not even goku would believe kenren t have thought it a btant lie

"i don't care, arshal" the an's voice had grown dispassionate though their faces were only re centiters apart hakkai flched at the srn ibued with the ntion of tenpou's title

then lips descended on his own a soft kiss like the one fro this orng softer even but bitter "i'll reest that gouj reassign the orng i'll be out of your hair fro now on" kenren's outh hovered over his own, their breaths glg as he received one bitter kiss after another

"but tenpouss with or y soldiers aga and i'll ake you knohat hell feels like"

cho gonou siled cruelly up at hi, pied by the ntion of absote isery "i already do"

suddenly, there was a knock at the door, breakg both of the fro their spell of hatred for an eternity, neither oved they stared at each other disbelief- at the words they had exchanged, the threats

kenren phed hiself off the floor and ickly snatched up the cigarette he had dropped before it burned the entire pce down not that he cared, of urse hakkai took advantage of the disruption and tried not to race to the door upon openg it, he was t by an ipassive face /god, doesn't anybody sile heaven?/

"i was sent by gouj to nvey a ssage"

it took hakkai's uddled bra a good ute to register the sight before hi heaven knows he'd seen this an enough

"arshal?" shien propted as he scrutized tenpou's astounded expression

"ah, yes" hakkai apologized sheepishly "five , shien what is it that were you sent to tell ?"

"kenren taishou's issg troops have returned they were caught a stor and had lost their way on earth with all the turbulence, they say, aess to the gate back to heaven was near ipossible they had to wait it out" the an reported verbati fro the written paper his hand which he then gave to hakkai

"i see thank you"

"they will be archg through the streets as soon as they enter the holy city"

at the ntion of his troop, kenren juped and ade his way to the door "see, arshal?" he said, brhg roughly agast hakkai's shoulder as he walked out "this bastard general can sure tra his soldiers, even when he had to keep you check too"