Hakkai carefully placed his hand under the running water to check the temperature, smiling briefly when the comfortable warm water caressed his skin. With a quick glance around, he untied the towel around his waist and let it hit the cold tile floor. He pushed the fluffy towel away from the splattering water and finally climbed under the warm spray of the shower. Almost by instinct, his eyes closed as he stepped further into the spray, bringing his hand up to aid the water in cleansing. His fingers, calloused and rough, ran through the dried mud caked on his chest.

"Oh, gods..."

Opening his eyes, he looked down and assessed the immediate damage the water was causing to the mud. Swirls of light brown danced around his feet, but a good majority of the dirt and grime was still all over his skin. The cut on his left shoulder was continuously being cleaned, and he watched in quiet fascination as blood appeared and disappeared before his eyes. Using the nail of his right ring finger, he slowly started to pick at the mud dried on his chest, smirking in satisfaction as the mud broke off like shattering glass and fell towards the shower floor.

Curiously looking around the shower stall, he realized he had forgotten his things. Sighing in frustration, he peeked around the shower curtain and saw his shampoo sitting on top of the closed toilet lid. Regretfully climbing out of the warm water, he carefully made his way over to where he had placed his shampoo.

"So forgetful..."

Almost to his destination, he felt the world suddenly start to spin around him as his foot slid on the floor and he went crashing forward. He lifted his hands in a wild attempt to catch hold of something, but there was nothing that would keep him standing. Instead, he brought his hands forward as he fell towards the toilet, choosing to try and save his head in the descent. His hands, slick from water, slid on the toilet, sending his shampoo flying off in the direction of the door. A gasp flew from his lips as his knees collided with the tile, his body following the motion and hitting the ceramic toilet hard.

The blood coming from his shoulder was more noticeable without the water washing it away, and the horrid liquid danced down his arm in a quick stream. As he tried to fight back the sudden pain that had erupted in his knees, his eyes watched the blood's journey, the red creeping to his bent arm before falling to grace the floor with color.

"Damn it."

Staying curled around the toilet, Hakkai closed his eyes and placed his head on the cool ceramic. The sound of the water hitting the floor dulled and his hearing abandoned him momentarily as he waited for his knees to calm down. Too absorbed in his own thoughts, he didn't hear the quiet knock on the door or the question that a low voice slowly asked.

"Hakkai? Are you alright?"

He didn't notice the voice talking to him, but his consciousness came back really fast when he heard the door start to open. Lifting his head, blood pounding in his ears, he watched the door slide open to reveal his roommate standing on the carpet in the other room. Sanzo froze for nothing more than a second, his mouth open almost like he wanted to say something but couldn't. If Hakkai were feeling a little better, he would have laughed at the confused look on his friend's face. As it was, he wasn't feeling up to laughing when his whole body was sore from before and after his little shower. Even he had to admit that it must have been pretty shocking to come into the bathroom to see your friend curled around the toilet, hair plastered to their face and dripping blood, water, and mud onto the floor.

"Hakkai...?"

Sanzo took a step into the bathroom, his foot connecting with the shampoo bottle and sending it lightly rolling across the floor. Hakkai glared at the bottle like it was the Devil himself, but decided that glaring put too much strain on his aching head and stopped. He let his eyes drift close again as the rolling shampoo finally came to a slow stop across the room. His exhaustion finally started to creep up on him from their prior encounter, and Hakkai probably would have fallen asleep if he hadn't suddenly felt warm arms grab his shoulders.

"Fool."

Sanzo carefully lifted Hakkai off the wet floor and made his way back into their bedroom. Hesitating for just a moment as he looked at the white sheets on the bed, he finally gave in and carefully placed Hakkai on top of the cool sheets. Hakkai opened his eyes and watched his friend, his pain dulling down to a soft throb. Bringing one hand up to touch his still-grimy chest, Hakkai suddenly flushed brightly and sat up, grabbing the blanket and covering his naked body.

"I forgot my shampoo..."

Lifting an eyebrow at the quiet statement, Sanzo nodded as soon as his friend glanced over at him. For a moment, they just watched each other until the room fell into uncomfortable silence. Sanzo quickly turned and went back to the bathroom, disappearing into the other room without another word. A moment later, Hakkai heard the water shut off but Sanzo didn't come back out into the bedroom.

Silence.

"You need to take care of yourself better."

Hakkai started at the voice and looked over to the bathroom, watching Sanzo slowly walk back towards him. It took him a second to figure out that his friend was holding a wet rag in his hand.

"... my shampoo..."

"I'm not talking about that, Hakkai."

Sanzo sat beside him on the bed and carefully put the wet rag on his bleeding shoulder. With gentle strokes, he wiped away the blood and started to climb to his feet again to go get some bandages for the wound. Sanzo was abruptly stopped when Hakkai lifted a hand and snagged his wrist, keeping him firmly rooted to his spot beside the bed.

He could have easily removed Hakkai's hand from his wrist, but he decided that he liked the warmth. Hakkai's tired eyes remained fixated on him like he was the only thing and the room, and for a moment, he was almost uncomfortable. Sitting back down beside his friend, he grabbed the rag with his free hand and carefully placed it on Hakkai's chest, carefully brushing away some of the dirt that decorated his skin.

Sanzo realized, abruptly, that seeing his composed friend in such a state was really getting to him.

Those tired eyes slowly closed as Hakkai relaxed beneath his cleansing.

The hand curled around his wrist fell to the soft mattress.

Hakkai's breathing evened out.

Even after Hakkai had fallen asleep, Sanzo slowly moved the rag across the chest, cleansing.

Long after Hakkai had fallen asleep, Sanzo realized that he couldn't keep his eyes off the small smile on Hakkai's lips.