You Were Meant To Be Mine -- Chapter Nine

[talebearer]

All right! Response over at FF.Net has been very encouraging once that first flame expired. The first chunk of the story contained Chapters One through Eight. Here then is Chapter Nine:



CHAPTER NINE Private Agendas

The last of the chores had been seen to. The four young men and their unexpected guest sat around the fire, each of them occupied with their own thoughts. Sanzo was pleased to discover Layla's talent for cooking was almost as strong as Hakkai's. For some reason the stew and dumplings she made tasted better to him than Hakkai's usual excellent fare. Sanzo told himself it couldn't be anything as ridiculous as the fact that Layla smiled while she worked, and that her smile grew even brighter when she brought Sanzo his meal. She made good on her promise to Goku, feeding him rice pudding sprinkled with nutmeg and some pink and yellow petals from wildflowers growing near their campsite.

"C'mon, Layla," Gojyo said. "I'm beat. Let's go see if we both fit in that tent."

Layla looked at him, then looked away. With a sigh, she stared down at her hands. Sanzo watched her. He could see the tension in her hands, the white knuckles and straining tendons.

"Layla?" Gojyo came around the fire toward her. "Come on, honey. You must be tired too. You worked really hard today."

"Perhaps Layla would prefer arrangements similar to last night." Sanzo stood, keeping his hands fisted inside his sleeves so he wouldn't give in to the need to draw his pistol or put his arm around Layla's shoulders. "Layla can stay in the big tent. Goku will sleep in the middle, and I'll take the other side."

Gojyo looked from Layla to Sanzo and back again. A scowl gathered between his crimson brows. "Y'know, Sanzo, this is getting to be a bad habit with you."

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"Hey monkey," Gojyo said. "Don't you have a problem with this? Isn't it weird for High Priest Genjo Sanzo to have this slave girl crashing in his private sleeping area?"

Goku looked from Sanzo to Gojyo and back again. He shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me. Not as long as--" Goku caught himself.

"Say it," Gojyo said. "Whatever it is, just spit it out."

"Well, as long as she doesn't try to cuddle up to him or anything like that. You know how women are always looking at Sanzo. He hates that."

Hakkai turned away, hiding his laughter in another coughing fit. The look of disbelief on Gojyo's face was almost enough to wring a laugh out of Sanzo. Just as Gojyo opened his mouth, Sanzo cut him off.

"Hakkai. You won't mind sharing a tent with Gojyo, will you?"

Sanzo skewered Hakkai with a glare that made the converted youkai blush. Sanzo didn't want to know about it, didn't want it out in the open, but whatever perverted arrangement Goyjo and Hakkai had agreed upon would come in very handy for settling the matter of where Layla slept.

"Fine with me," Hakkai said with his customary cheer. "Gojyo?"

Sanzo watched Gojyo struggle between his desire for Layla, his need to defy Sanzo, and his growing awareness that he was being offered another option for gratifying his kinky needs. Inside his sleeve, Sanzo's fingers curled around the cold steel of his pistol. Sanzo forced himself to relax. Brandishing his gun just to impose his will on the sleeping arrangements would rouse Hakkai's suspicions at the very least. Worse, it would frighten Layla.

Gojyo shrugged and nodded. "Sure. No problem."

"That's settled." Sanzo flicked the end of his cigarette into the fire. As his hand dropped back to his side, he let his fingers brush against Layla's shoulder. "Why don't you go get your bedroll laid out and do whatever else you need to do?"

Layla stood up and walked over to Gojyo. She put her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. Gojyo's arms came around her even as he looked down at her with surprise.

"Thank you, Gojyo." Layla hugged him. "Thank you for understanding."

Gojyo smiled. He stroked her hair and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. "Sweet dreams, honey."

Layla ducked in through the flaps in the big tent. Sanzo held himself still, controlling the desperate need to follow her and take full advantage of what little privacy the tent provided.

"Goku!" he said. "You've got first watch." He glanced at Hakkai and Gojyo. "Damp the fire. The wind is picking up and we don't want embers blowing around and igniting the entire forest."

Gojyo heaved an exaggerated sigh. "Sheesh. You burn down one lousy inn and you never hear the end of it."

"Just get on with it!"

"Hey, Sanzo," Goku said. "Should I sit up in a tree, maybe? I could see better up there."

"Baka. You might see better, but your hearing will be thrown off by all the noise the leaves make when they rattle in the wind."

"Oh. Right." Goku's face scrunched up in thought. "So if I hear something, you want me to go chase it down?"

"No. I want you to stay right here and make sure nothing tries to attack us while we're sleeping."

"If we get any sleep," Gojyo said. "With the monkey boy on watch I'll be too nervous to close my eyes!"

"Shut up, you stupid kappa! If you're so smart, you take first watch!"

"Like hell," Gojyo replied. "Once you're asleep, the end of the world wouldn't wake you up! We'll never get you to take your turn if you don't take first watch!"

"Shut up, you idiots!" Sanzo pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "If anything was after us, all it would have to do is follow the noise!" He stalked over to the big tent. "Layla? Are you settled in yet?"

"Yes, Sanzo-sama. You can come in now."

Sanzo started to push his way in through the tent flaps, the paused to kick off his sandals. He heard Gojyo make some comment to Hakkai in a voice that for Gojyo was far too quiet. Hakkai laughed, nodding. Sanzo looked back. Both of them were apparently good-looking enough to draw the attention of plenty of women wherever they stopped for the night. That they found each other attractive was one of the great mysteries of the cosmos, as far as Sanzo was concerned. Why would any man want another man, a big gangly hanyo or a human with enough youkai blood on his hands to turn youkai himself, when a girl like Layla was there to be desired?

Inside the tent the only illumination came from the firelight shining through the gaps in the tent flaps. Sanzo could see Layla's shadowy form lying on the far side of the tent, bundled up inside her sleeping bag and the blankets Gojyo had purchased for her. Sanzo untied his obi and let his kimono slide off his shoulders and down his arms. The sensation of taking his clothes off while Layla watched added fuel to the fire building inside him. He folded up the ivory silk and laid it aside, knowing he was a fool to create this situation, to deliberately expose himself to such intense temptation. He had to protect Layla from Gojyo. Sanzo knew only too well how easy it could be to fall for Gojyo's erotic powers. Gojyo could make a statue moan if he really put his mind to it. Layla was better off staying in Sanzo's tent.

As Sanzo laid out his own sleeping bag and blankets, Layla spoke, her voice soft and drowsy.

"Sanzo-sama? I thought you said Goku would sleep in the middle."

"The monkey tends to roll around when he sleeps. This way he'll bump into me and not you."

"Oh."

"And...." Sanzo punched his pillow, trying to make it comfortable. "If you need anything, I'll make a lot less noise getting it for you."

"If I need anything?" Layla yawned.

Sanzo shrugged, glad for the cover of darkness that hid the blush staining his cheeks. "Bad dreams, help finding the latrine, whatever."

"You're so kind, Sanzo-sama."

Sanzo held back a derisive snort. Like hell he was. He wanted to be close to Layla. He wanted Layla, period. He slipped into his bedroll and lay there, listening to the sounds of the forest at night, to the occasional movement from Goku outside as he kept watch, and to the regular rhythm of Layla's breathing. Less than an hour had passed when the other noises started, the sounds from Gojyo's tent that made Sanzo wish he had cotton wool or soft beeswax or something he could stuff into his ears. That way he could block out the moans and wet sounds and then the steady thumping of one hard-muscled body against another.

The night moved on and still Sanzo lay awake. Goku came into the tent and promptly fell over onto his bedroll, wiggling around until he was cocooned in his blankets. By the quiet, careful movements outside, Sanzo knew Hakkai had taken second watch. Good. Gojyo would sleep deeply after sating his lust, which would put him in a better temper in the morning. Sanzo sighed, leaning on one elbow and propping his head on his hand. The almost full moon shone down on their campsite, providing enough light to help his night vision see Layla sleeping. Her long hair lay loose around her face. The hand she'd tucked beneath her cheek had slipped free, resting palm up with her slender fingers slightly curled. Desire flared inside Sanzo. He wanted to kiss her palm, then each fingertip.

Layla stirred, frowning. She turned this way and that, trying to find some comfortable position. At last she made a soft sound of frustration and sat up, holding the blankets around her shoulders while she rubbed at her face.

"Layla," Sanzo murmured.

Her head turned. She squinted at him through the pearly darkness. "Sanzo-sama?"

"Can't sleep?" he asked.

She shook her head, making her hair swish across her shoulders and down her back. "I can't get comfortable."

"Are you warm enough?"

"Not really. I wish I had a decent pillow."

"Come here." Sanzo stretched out flat on his back and lifted up the side of his blankets and sleeping bag that faced Layla.

She stared at him. "Are -- are you sure, Sanzo-sama?"

"Hurry up. The heat will escape."

Layla scooted over, bringing her own bedroll up against the edge of his.

"Here." Sanzo patted his shoulder. "You can use me for a pillow."

Layla's fingertips touched his shoulder, tracing the edge of his black undershirt, moving along the expanse of bare skin, then stopping at the upper edge of his arm warmer. Sanzo curled the fingers of his free hand into a fist in Layla's sleeping bag, straining to keep from letting his arms close around her. She laid her cheek against his skin, but left the rest of her body a good two or three inches away from his.

"Layla," Sanzo growled. "When I said 'Come here,' I meant come here." He pulled her up against his side. "If we're going to keep you warmer, this is how it's done."

"Yes, Sanzo-sama."

Layla didn't resist when Sanzo took her wrist and laid her arm across his waist, nor when he combed his fingers through her silky hair and tucked her head under his chin. Her nightgown was made of thin cotton with long loose sleeves and a few large mother of pearl buttons down the front. Sanzo could feel the curves and angles of her body through the soft fabric. Knowing that only one layer of cloth now separated him from Layla's naked skin left Sanzo so hot and hungry he had to draw a slow, deep breath to cool the raging of his blood. He got her blankets and his layered together, then settled back, surprisingly content despite the nagging ache at his groin.

"Better?" he asked.

"Much. Thank you, Sanzo-sama."

"You make it sound like I'm being so selfless." He stroked her hair. "You're keeping me warm, too."

"Do you always wear so much when you sleep, Sanzo-sama?"

Coming from Layla it was an innocent question. Sanzo reminded himself of that before he answered.

"It's safer this way. If there's any trouble in the night, I don't have to waste time getting dressed."

"I see." Her thigh moved against his. "So this is what you wear under your priest robes. I wondered."

"Did you really."

"Oh! I mean - I thought -- "

The blush stinging Layla's cheeks was so intense Sanzo could feel the heat of it radiating from her skin.

"I'm sorry, Sanzo-sama. Maybe I should go back to sleeping over there."

When she started to move away from him, Sanzo locked his arms around her.

"You're not going anywhere."

"I just -- I can't imagine what you must think of me."

This was the moment to say something safe and wise and neutral, making it clear the circumstances were about sleeping comfortably and nothing else. Sanzo couldn't bring himself to spout such total bullshit. He turned his head to murmur against her hair.

"All I can think of right now is how much I want to kiss you."

Layla kept still and silent for several heartbeats. Then she reached up to stroke his cheek with soft fingertips. "Funny, isn't it, how much we think alike?"

The more Layla touched him, the more Sanzo's body awoke to needing that touch. He wanted to surrender himself to Layla's hands, to let her undress him and stroke every naked inch of his body. Sanzo turned onto his side toward her. Layla cuddled closer to him and nuzzled the skin just below his ear.

"You smell so good, Sanzo-sama. Incense and smoke and something else, a sweetness that makes me think of white flowers...."

Sanzo clenched his teeth against any sudden sound that would startle her. The blood pounded in all of his pulse points as he went from being just hard to being hard enough to drive nails through a plank. Layla's hand slid up his chest, up the other side of his neck and into his hair. Her mouth opened against his neck, the tip of her tongue painting a trail down to his collarbone.

"Mmmm. Your skin.... You taste like silk washed in wine...."

Sanzo's control broke. His mouth captured hers, his tongue plunging between her lips to taste her, to explore her, to ravish her depths. Layla's arm tightened around his waist. The other hand combed through his hair, holding him closer as she did her best to match his passion with her own. The sheer pleasure of kissing her was like nothing Sanzo had known before, better than good tobacco, better than the best sake....

His hands slid down the smooth line of her back to her waist, then down farther to the firm curves of her bottom. Layla tore her mouth from his to gasp for breath. As she panted, Sanzo kissed the velvety column of her throat. Her pulse beat against his lips, a frantic rhythm that proclaimed the racing of her heart. Sanzo gripped her hips and held her tighter against his own body, pressing his hardness into her.

Layla's fingers closed on the first of the buttons on her nightgown. The pale gleaming disk gave way, then the next, and the next. Sanzo's kisses followed. He raised his head in time to see Layla grip the shoulders of her nightgown and pull them down. Sanzo rose up onto his knees and stripped off his arm warmers, then peeled away his undershirt and threw it aside. Naked skin against naked skin, that was what he craved the most. His hands slid up under Layla's shoulders. She brought one knee up along his thigh, making it that much easier for him to lie down against her. He took her mouth in a scorching kiss that left them both gasping. He finally released her and bent his head to the exquisite softness of her breasts. His hands ached to touch them. His lips stung and burned with the need to kiss her hard nipples....

"Sanzo...." Layla's breathless moan was music to his ears.

Sanzo let his tongue curl around her nipple before he suckled at it. His hips worked against hers, rubbing his hardness against her, seeking just the right pressure to bring him relief. Layla's breath matched his movements in a harsh panting rhythm. Sanzo felt heavy denim beneath his fingers and realized he was on the point of freeing his cock and burying it inside Layla. He jerked his hand away. He couldn't do that, no matter how much his flesh screamed at him. She was a virgin. To take her like that, to risk hurting her....

Sanzo raised his head. "Layla, I have to stop."

"I don't want you to stop."

"Believe me, I don't want to either." He pulled the shoulders of her nightgown up and tugged each side closed. "You deserve better than this, little dove. Better than a tent in the woods with the monkey not three feet away."

As if on cue, Goku rolled over and snorted, pawing at his face, then filled the tent with his droning snore. Sanzo cursed under his breath.

"If the idiot wasn't helping me prove my point, I'd think seriously about shooting him."

"But--" Layla's fingertips brushed across the front of Sanzo's jeans, making him clench his teeth against a strangled curse. "We can't leave you like this."

Sanzo caught her wrist and pinned it to the blankets beside her head. "Layla, please. Just be still."

"Sanzo, I know how painful this is for a man. My older brother--" Her breath hitched. She managed to steady it with an effort. "He came home one night in the most awful agony. His lady friend's mother very nearly caught them in a most compromising position."

Grateful for any distraction, Sanzo let himself be drawn into the story. "What did your brother do?"

"Ordered his bath filled with cold water straight from the cistern. He sat in it, drinking whisky and cursing until sunrise."

"Your brother is a wise man."

"He was." Layla shook herself. "Enough of that."

And then, with no word of warning, she slid the flat of her hand down Sanzo's washboard belly, past the waistband of his jeans. Her fingers curled around his throbbing length. Caught offguard by the sudden intense burst of pleasure, Sanzo collapsed on his side. With her free hand Layla settled his head on her shoulder.

"Now you be still and let me finish this."

She caressed him, exploring, stroking, finding her way by observing the rhythm of his breath, his soft moans, and the eager bucking of his hips. All too soon Sanzo turned his face into her neck to smother his cry as he crushed her against him and spilled his release across her palm.

"There now." Layla withdrew her hand and wiped it on the hem of her nightgown.

She held Sanzo while he rested against her, his cheek nestled in the silken valley between her breasts. Sanzo lay there thinking he could spend the rest of his days in that exact spot. The only thing making him even consider moving a single muscle was the growing compulsion for a cigarette. He forced his lazy, sated body to rise, pushing himself up onto his elbows so he could look down into those bewitching blue eyes. He wanted to say something to Layla, to tell her how good she made him feel, to express to her his amazement at finding a woman who suited him so well. Fatigue conquered him, leaving him shy and tongue-tied. He did his best with a slow, deep, thorough kiss.

"I'm sorry, little dove," he murmured. "You deserve your release as well."

Layla stared up at him. Her eyes gleamed brighter for a moment, then a tear spilled over and ran back into her hair.

"It's all right, Sanzo-sama. I understand." She wiped her sleeve across her eyes then buttoned the front of her nightgown. "I just wish.... Never mind."

"Tell me."

"I just wish you weren't a monk. Or a priest. Or anything else that keeps us from doing...more." She looked away. "I know that must be terrible of me, you being a Sanzo."

Sanzo kissed her forehead. "I wish I could give you all the pleasure your body wants."

Layla whispered something so softly Sanzo couldn't catch the words.

"What was that?"

Layla turned her face away. More tears slid down her cheeks. Her shoulders shook with the beginning of harsh sobs.

"Layla." Sanzo touched her chin and made her face him. "Tell me what you just said."

She closed her eyes. "It's not just my body that wants you."

Sanzo stared down at her. Surely she couldn't be saying.... "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean." She opened her eyes, those wild, beautiful, sea-colored eyes. "My heart, Sanzo-sama. My heart wants you as well."

Hearing that made Sanzo forget his nicotine craving, forget Goku and his snoring, forget everything but Layla. Sanzo gathered her to him, rocking her in his arms and pressing gentle kisses to her face and hair. She clung to him, shoulders hitching now and then as she wept against his chest. Finally the lateness of the hour and the warmth of their bodies huddled together let fatigue conquer them and they fell asleep in each other's arms.

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