Every limb in his body felt sore as he trudged up to his designated room at the present inn. He could feel the blood welling up from the cuts, gushing into the already soaked make-shift bandages Hakkai had made from scraps of his robe hem. Grimacing, he collapsed on his back onto the bed--it wouldn't do to soak the crisp white sheets with his blood.

Of course, they had been in another fight with the youkai. Even though they had obviously won, the Ikkou were still beaten up pretty badly. Well, they were meaning Sanzo specificallly.

Gojyo and Goku had gotten off with a sprained muscle here, a few scratches there. Nothing big. Hakkai had merely been scratched.

'Lucky bastards,' he thought derisively. He himself had deep cuts around his midesction, sore muscles and limbs, and a mild concussion--all of which he hadn't the faintest idea of how they were acquired. The scratches, of course, were from the youkai. The concussion was from falling head first onto some stray rocks (how did they get there in the first place?!). However, how his muscles and limbs were so sore and tense...the reason eluded him. He scowled and halted his quest for answers--the only conclusions he was coming up with was that he had a damned headache (more like a migraine), and it was probably triggered from his concussion.

Sighing, he covered his eyes with the back of his hand, movement making him wince. (He would wince in private, maybe show a few emotions other than anger in private, but never would he allow himself such luxuries in front of the public. Or his traveling companions. He wasn't that weak.)

= = = =

Ever so quietly, he crept into Sanzo's room to change the monk's bandages. As they had reserved the rooms at the inn, Hakkai had noticed the blood seeping through the bandages. Of course, they needed to be changed. The tempermental blonde probably wouldn't let him change them while concious (seeing as he was in a bad enough mood as it was), so he resolved that he would change them while the other was sleeping.

He set the roll of gauze, tape and ointment on the nightstand. Turning to the sleeping monk, he carefully ran his hands over the other's torso, blindly looking for where the bandage ended. He almost jumped when the monk twitched. Dismissing the movement as something triggered from Sanzo's sleep, he continued looking for the end. Finding it, he gently lifted it up, trying to peel it off of the skin...when Sanzo twitched again. This time, the twitch was accompanied by a slight hitch of breath.

Stopping, Hakkai cautiously peered at Sanzo's face. To his suprise, he saw that the monk was...smiling?! Curious (and smiling himself), he gently poked the other around the same place where the end of the bandage was, and was rewarded with another twitch and a half-laugh.

Hakkai had noticed Sanzo's tense muscles, and the way that the monk always carried himself as if sore everywhere. He had concluded, being the physician to each of the travelers, that it was due to the built up stress from their every day activities. What better way to get rid of such harmful stress than with a reknowned method?

His smile broadened into a smirk.

After changing the bandages (magically, of course, seeing as he didn't wake Sanzo up and he managed to get the gauze rolled around the circumfrence of Sanzo's torso), Hakkai prepared himself for the upcoming adversity.

Managing to tickle Sanzo without dying first (which of course he would accomplish easily). [A/N: Pshaw, it's Hakkai we're talking about. Hakkai can do anything!]

Climbing onto the bed without making it dip under his weight, he slowly straddled Sanzo, making sure not to sit on the other's torso (after all, he had just changed the bandages). Grinning broadly (more like still smirking), he began to poke that one spot where he had effectively elicited a small laugh from Sanzo earlier, results much the same. However, this time, he used both hands, lightly sweeping over the other's side, nails scraping lightly on the skin in such a way...

That Sanzo awoke. Laughing.

He immediately covered his mouth, suprised, and glared up at Hakkai.

"What are you doing?!" he hissed, unable to get the man off of himself--the other having the advantage of leverage and weight.

"It's very therapeutic, Sanzo," Hakkai explained, smirk now an innocent smile.

And before Sanzo could protest to anything, Hakkai mercilessly began his attack on Sanzo's sides.

= = = =

"Fuck," he wheezed, out of breath. Hakkai was presently laying next to him, out of breath as well.

Of course, Sanzo wouldn't passively sit there being tortured. He had retaliated, tickling the other as well--actions that had started an hour's worth of tickling. A vicious cycle, really.

Smiling still (it seemed like he was always smiling), Hakkai turned a little to face Sanzo, resting his cheek on his propped up hand [2].

"Do you feel any better now, Sanzo?" Hakkai asked mildly, feeling much better himself.

"If by better you mean an aching stomach, sore cheeks and reopened wounds, yes, I feel much better," he retored sourly, scowling.

"Ahahaha," Hakkai responded (really, his laughter was more like a response) cheerfully. Looking thoughtful, he regarded the flushed monk a little, and quickly got off the bed, giving the other a peck on the nose.

"Good night," he said sweetly, hurrying out of the room before Sanzo could kill him.

Sanzo laid there, mouth gaping open in suprise. Hakkai did just kiss him on the nose, right?!

...That had been...interesting, to say the least. But really, his stomach did ache and his cheeks did hurt, and his wounds had reopened...

But the rest of his muscles were relaxed and weren't sore, and his headache was gone. And he really hadn't minded that last act. He raised his hand up to touch his nose, where he could still feel the lingering sensation of Hakkai's kiss...

...Maybe that had been therapeutic after all.