damned_institute | Day 34: Lunch

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Day 34: Lunch

Yuffie bounced all the way through collecting her lunch, all the way to a good seat- one with a nice view of the whole cafeteria, which was something she'd been missing out on during the past day or so that she'd been stuck in the Institute- and hell, she even bounced into her seat.

A good mood? No, really?

Despite the occasional blip, talking to Sagara had been awesome. He was a fun guy; he wasn't a prude, didn't have a stick shoved so far up his ass it was poking out his eyeballs, and he'd actually had a conversation with her. One that hadn't revolved around doom, gloom or how much life sucked. If she could find other people like that and keep in touch with Sagara, maybe there was a little hope for this place.

After a quick gulp of pink lemonade, Yuffie settled to munching through her food and keeping an eye on the door.

[Waiting for Dean, I think? :x]

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At Kenren's reaction, Homura became nearly certain that the situation would become violent. He doubted he could hold the elder god back if it came to it, but that didn't stop him from putting a hand on Kenren's shoulder, trying to at least dissuade him. He too could see the nurses looming, sensing the same impending events he did. "Kenren, please."

But then Sanzo seemed to consider something. Homura looked at the man almost blankly as his eyes were studied, wondering what he was looking for. Whatever it was, apparently the man found it, as he began to laugh.

Despite whatever had apparently transpired, Homura couldn't help but frown at the man. "I'm glad it's amusing to you." The man may not have been Konzen, but the chakra and the attitude certainly pegged him as a god.

Kenren braced himself, ready to stop Sanzo physically if he had to, to keep him from attacking Homura. He was all for fighting in general, but not attacking someone over something that they couldn't even remember. He paused for a moment, glancing back when he felt Homura's hand on his shoulder. Great, and now Homura was trying to protect him. This place was just getting crazier by the second apparently.

He turned his attention back to Sanzo and blinked in slight surprise when the priest started laughing like this was the world's funniest joke and he'd just been told the punchline. He supposed at least Sanzo wasn't trying to kill Homura now. Didn't look like he was capable of killing Homura while he was laughing like that. Maybe if they were lucky he'd die laughing and then Kenren wouldn't have to put up with him anymore.

It took a few more moments before the unpleasant laughter died down, and Sanzo sobered.

He didn't quite relax and sit down. Instead the priest straightened, folding his arms across his chest. Homura wasn't worth his attention (at the moment), but he'd deal with that asshole later.

Sanzo jerked his head at Homura's hand on Kenren's shoulder . Somehow he wasn't as surprised to find Homura and Kenren all buddy-buddy; Homura had hinted something along those lines earlier.

He just didn't expect Kenren to turn into the fucker's lapdog.

"So when did this happen?" Sanzo sneered. "When did you become Homura's bitch?"

At least the situation was calming, or so it seemed until Sanzo made the remark he did. Homura's eyes went wide at the insult, but only for a moment. It was strange how it worked in that respect. For Homura, being sneered at, called names, and hated for what he was simply amounted to facts of his life. He could accept it on some level, even as he hated it.

But to have that cruelty turned on someone he cared about, who had been the exception to the rule and shown him kindness? That was intolerable.

Homura didn't remember being a Toushin Taishi, but his body still had the same strength it possessed before those memories were lost. So even he was surprised by his own quickness as he removed his hand from Kenren's shoulder to pick up his tray and throw it at the head of the man across from them.

It was that comment that finally snapped the thin tether that Kenren had been holding on his temper for the last few days. Where the fuck did some self-reighteous monk get off on speaking to him like that? He was no-one fucking bitch!

Kenren lunged towards the monk, wanting to get hold of anything, collar, throat would be better, or maybe he should just punch the asshole in the face.

Except that Homura got there first.

The god stopped dead, just managing to avoid the tray which was flung towards Sanzo with ridiculous accuracy and maybe the instincts of a Toushin Taishi would be plenty to keep Homura safe the next few nights.

It looked like he'd hit some nerves. Kenren, he wasn't surprised at. But Homura's was different. For one, the fucker would've laughed it off or given some smart-ass, smug comment about it, not look like it'd been taken so personally.

Maybe the institute hadn't done as thorough a job, because that reaction speed and accuracy was just like those nights ago. Maybe some glimmer trying to reach the surface.

The monk reacted on instinct. Sanzo barely time to lift his arm to face to block it, and knock the tray away. There was a sharp flash of pain from his forearm.

The tray went clattering to the floor several feet away, the monk settling into a defensive stance.

Sanzo just looked at them with contempt. Homura got it because it was him. It didn't matter if his memory had been toyed with, he'd still pulled that crap. And Kenren... It disgusted him to admit it, but right now, he'd rather have Gojyo at his side. At least the roach didn't pull shit like this. "Hmph, you both just proved me right." Sanzo said. "Pathetic."

Neither of them was more surprised than Homura at his own speed and aim. Thankfully Kenren had gotten out of the way, and although Sanzo had managed to spare his skull, Homura was still quite pleased with the sharp crash of the tray against the monk's arm.

It wasn't much, no. But still strangely satisfying to strike back at someone that way.

"I think the only thing that's been proven is that you're an assumptive bastard." A strange glint came into Homura's eyes then, foreign for this new self, yet perhaps more familiar to the man across the table. It was momentary, however, there and gone as quick as the words from Homura's mouth. "Or maybe a jealous one."

It shouldn't have been satisfying to see the tray hit Sanzo, but at that moment, Kenren couldn't help but take a dark sort of satisfaction from it. On a normal day he might have been able to shrug it off, but after what had happened last night, seeing what had happened to Homura, he wasn't in a particularly charitable mood.

He paused for a moment, hearing that harsher tone come into Homura's voice for a moment, more like he'd been yesterday than Kenren had heard since last night, and then turned to narrow his eyes at Sanzo, bringing a cocky smirk to his lips. "I never thought I'd be saying I preferred Konzen over anyone," he said with a grin. "But you're making that choice very easy."

Homura's jab might have gotten to the monk more if he'd had his memory back. It would've been delivered with that arrogance that Sanzo'd grown to hate, coupled with some darker, silkier undertone that just pressed all his buttons.

This was just a pale shadow of it, clumsy at best. Sanzo snorted.

"Kenren's just delusional, apparently needing to bend over for someone," Sanzo replied. "And you're a sick pervert. There's nothing to be jealous of."

The monk glanced at Kenren, gave a small shrug. "You seem to think I give a shit. But you're right. Then again, it looks like Hakkai just wasn't enough for you, was it?"

Homura had no idea who this Hakkai was, or even what had happened in the past, but his expression darkened with anger despite all that. This Sanzo was no better than any other of the typical gods Homura had known, filled with spite and malice.

"I'm the pervert?" Homura may not have been who he was before, but he could still glare daggers at the man across the table. "You're the one whose mind went straight to such things." Kenren's tray was only moments away from following Homura's, and maybe the demi-god after them both. As it was, he'd unconsciously gripped the table's edge, his knuckles turning white in an effort of self-restraint.

"Apparently you're no better than your petty insults." Homura could only hope that Kenren somehow managed to control himself, but at this point, it wasn't likely, or something he'd blame the elder for.

That was it. Cold fury in his expression, Kenren practically lunged across the table, grabbing for Sanzo's collar to drag him close to the god. How dare he?!

"I don't really care what anyone says about me, priest," he spat, his voice harsh with anger. "When it comes to rumours then you really have nothing on the Heavenly Courts. I'm no-one's lapdog and gods have suffered for saying less." He grinned but it wasn't a happy expression in the slightest. "But if you ever imply that I would betray Hakkai or Tenpou in any way, any way at all, then I'll be glad to gut you with a blunt object and trust me, I can probably make it last a very very long time.

Again, Sanzo ignored Homura's babbling. It was the truth. It didn't matter if his memory had been tampered with (and that hadn't even been a good job): that didn't erase all the groping, the taunting, his mouth against him--

Trust him to get that reading off it: Sanzo'd been talking about Kenren degenerating into his servant, not anything sexual. Then again, it was Homura

The monk shot Homura a scathing look of disgust, right as there was a flash of movement. The monk was suddenly dragged close to Kenren, close enough to get a good look at those eyes.

Gods, they even had matching, mixed eyes. For fuck's sake.

Sanzo stared at Kenren, unimpressed, and just let him bitch. When he was done, the monk gripped one of Kenren's wrists, fingers clenching, grinding the bones together.

"I'd like to see you try, asshole," the monk said coldly. "But you did betray him. Homura might speak fair, but he's rotten to the core. Hakkai would never work with this filth."

And there it was. Kenren had reached across the table, and Homura for one had no intention of stopping the man. Even if he was wrong about the intentions of Sanzo's words, there was no disputing the cruelty they contained.

But the talking sparked more than anger. In the back of Homura's mind, he couldn't help but wonder how much of what Sanzo said might have been true. Filth. Had something Homura done earned him the title?

It didn't matter, however. Homura could say nothing to prevent the harm happening now. He could only hope to ease the damage. "Kenren's choices are his own. And if this Hakkai person understood him, he'd understand the reasons." Whatever they were, and whatever Homura had become.

Kenren thankfully, had had a lot of experience dealing with getting beaten down recently enough before he'd come here and gave Sanzo's hand squeezing his wrist nothing more than a cursory scornful glance before looking back at the priest with eyes narrowed.

He forced down the wash of anger and disgust at himself from that irritating bit that wasn't himself because he knew that whoever Gojyo was, he wouldn't have liked Homura, but then again, Kenren didn't really like Gojyo all that much.

"At least Homura had the guts to fight against a corrupt Heaven," he said harshly, "rather than following blindly like the rest of the foolish world. Hakkai, the person Hakkai was when I knew him best, would have agreed with me." And then quite probably disliked Homura anyway and the clash of personalities would have been terrifying to see. "Funny, the four of us did the same thing once, but I guess Konzen had more spine than you do."

Sanzo gave a snort of disdain at Homura. Even now, the god couldn't stay out of other people's business. "Fuck off. Stop acting like you know any of us. Last I checked, you can't even remember being here the past few weeks, so just shut the hell up."

The monk went on. "Kenren, I don't give a flying fuck if you or Homura thought Heaven was corrupt. I don't care what Konzen did."

Part lie. If that was supposedly a past life, a tiny part of him was dying to know.

"And Homura, you are a lying piece of shit. For going against a corrupt heaven, you're pretty damn corrupt yourself. I believe one of your tenets was to take what you want, and it was just someone's choice how they got fucked over."

The monk cut himself off on that subject before that went further, and he gave anything anyway. As far as he knew, Kenren didn't know anything about what Homura'd done to Sanzo so far, other than that one hicky. And even that, he didn't know who'd put that on him.

If the monk had it his way, he'd never find out.

If Kenren didn't remove his hands soon, Sanzo was going to have to hit him in a few choice pressure points. Not that he was going to be too sore about having to do it.

It was just Solitary he was trying to avoid. He'd gotten lucky that one time with Qui-Gon opening the door, but if the Jedi hadn't appeared...

He'd have started out on the second floor with no weapons, and blind as a bat. Sanzo wanted to avoid disadvantages like that, if he could.

Sanzo's eyes flared at the mention of Hakkai.

"Hakkai and Tenpou aren't one and the same. I've said this before, you aren't Gojyo. Hakkai wouldn't have done it, if it meant signing his ass away to him." Maybe here, Homura was a bit more harmless, but who knew what it'd been like when the dipshit wasn't on that leash. Just how much damage could he do?

If Kenren wanted to be an idiot, and act as if he were the authority on them, just because he had some of Gojyo's memories, then Sanzo was going to have to bring that illusion down.

The priest continued. "Tell me, just how certain are you that those implanted memories can be trusted? It figures that you're blind enough to take them that at face value. But you seem like you've been so desperate for something familiar that you've forgotten who implanted them. How can you even tell which is true or false?"

What could Homura possibly interject into this anymore? It had gotten so personal, still about him, but a him he didn't remember. Meeting and remeeting people had been frustrating enough, but this was easily worse. He had rebelled against the Heavens? And potentially worse were Sanzo's words. Was that really how Homura had acted? If it was, he'd certainly become more godlike.

Yet even Sanzo's words implied more choice than Homura had ever had. Didn't they?

The monk was still spitting venom at Kenren, and by this time, even Homura had realized that Hakkai must have been an incarnation of Tenpou Gensui, while Sanzo was that of Konzen. Kenren had mentioned "the four"--though who the fourth was remained unknown--and their own betrayal of the gods. Was that their punishment? Reincarnation?

Much more looming at the moment, however, were nurses who had taken notice of the group. Homura didn't like the glares they were getting, but at the same time, remained unsure of how to draw Kenren away.

"Kenren." Homura kept his voice low, and his eyes on the staff. "This discussion might be better delayed until another time."

In that moment, he wanted to hurt Sanzo, really hurt him for being an insufferable prick who thought he knew everything, who would dare to say that he didn't know his own people as well as he did. Tenpou was his best friend, the one he'd trust at his back no matter what, and Hakkai was the same for Gojyo.

"I've signed my ass away to no-one, priest," he growled, eyes flashing with anger. He was working with Homura out of his own free will and could leave just as easily if things didn't work out. The only loyalty he had was to himself and Tenpou.

But there was that thread of doubt there as Sanzo continued speaking. He didn't trust this place at all and just because some things matched up, didn't mean that they were all true. And the differences still threw him. "Hakkai confirmed what I remembered," he said coolly though, refusing to give Sanzo any kind of satisfaction from having him admit anything.

Slowly he let the priest go, pulling back, expression a disinterested mask. He wasn't worth getting sedated for in the end.

"Yes, because he could confirm every single memory," Sanzo wasn't having any of it.

He'd had enough of this. He had only so much patience left. He'd had enough of Homura, he'd had enough of Kenren. Had enough of Kenren trying to excuse his actions away.

The monk didn't know how long he could stick around and not get sent to solitary at this point.

Sanzo's jaw tightened, and he pinned Homura with a nasty glare.

"This isn't over," he said. "I don't care if you've lost your memory. This doesn't change a thing."

A promise and a threat, rolled into one. Sanzo had a round or two with Homura's name all over it.

And Kenren.....

There was a small, cold pit in his stomach, one he didn't ever expect to feel. It took a moment to identify it, but when Sanzo did, he wasn't happy to find that it was betrayal. Pure and simple. Somehow, in this short of a time, he'd just started to accept having Kenren's dumb ass around.....

And Kenren had turned around and done this.

He honestly shouldn't even be surprised. Sanzo, of all people, knew better than to actually trust anyone. This shouldn't have been any different.

The monk treated that fledgling emotion with the same ruthlessness he'd shown Kougaiji's assassins. The beginning sense of betrayal was stomped down, to nothing, leaving only the same anger, impatience, and the drive to get the sutra back. There wasn't room for anything else.

Sanzo gave Kenren a frigid look.

"So you're willing to overlook the obvious. A voluntary blind man." There was only disgust in Sanzo's voice. "You know, the thing that surprises me the most is that you'd sell yourself off like this."

The monk turned.

"...But then again, maybe it doesn't surprise me that much."

He vanished into the crowded cafeteria, leaving them with only his untouched tray and the toppled chair.

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Day 34: Lunch

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