Pearl-o came up with the brilliant idea of writing five kisses in a favorite fandom. I couldn't resist adding just one more. Eliza betaed, and gave me the title.

Orange

Koumyou is the first, fond kisses to his forehead or cheek when he's small. Even as a child, he grumbles, but he doesn't pull away. Koumyou's kisses are like everything about Koumyou: comforting. And he was born knowing comfort is an illusion, but he takes it anyway.

It's not like Koumyou would stop if he really protested. Koumyou knows it's an illusion too, yet still persists. There's a lesson there; Koumyou might even be trying to teach it, along with how to fold paper airplanes.

Like the airplanes, the kisses are bright, at least in memory. Warm and sweet. Innocent.

Blue

Shuei is the second, arguably by accident. He gives Shuei the string of beads he wore when Koumyou found him. It's the first time he's given anyone anything, the first time he's liked anyone besides Koumyou. He only means it as a gesture of friendship. That's probably how Shuei means the kiss, too.

Shuei's mouth is very hot on his, perhaps because he's still chilled from the rain. He wonders if Shuei's lips are fuller than Koumyou's, or if all lips feel fuller against your own.

Shuei came to tell him Koumyou wants him. He pulls away, walks slow, cold.

Green

Cho Gonou is the third, possibly looking to make him mad enough to kill. It doesn't work, because he just doesn't care enough, and Cho Gonou is the Sanbutsushin's problem. Let them clean him up.

Of course they clean him up by giving him a new name and turning him back over to Sanzo, and Cho Hakkai is a whole different matter from Cho Gonou. Gonou is dead, and Hakkai was born with secrets behind his eye and his smile. When he kisses Sanzo, his purpose isn't to provoke death.

It's possible he's trying to provoke life.

Naturally, life answers.

Red

Gojyo is the fifth, though some would count him fourth. Gojyo flirts and leers and touches, and Sanzo only allows the kiss because he hopes Gojyo will lose interest afterward.

Hope is another illusion.

He expects Gojyo's kiss to be lazy, laidback and leisurely, to match the image Gojyo so carefully cultivates. Almost, it is. Gojyo takes his time and doesn't push, but his mouth is slightly open against Sanzo's, and Sanzo can taste the want without opening his own.

He thought he knew the shape of Gojyo's hunger.

Gojyo doesn't protest when he breaks the kiss. It doesn't matter.

Gold

Goku is the sixth, despite his determination there be no more. Hakkai and Gojyo will go their own way after the journey, and he won't have to think about it.

Except Goku's apparently been thinking about it, as much as Goku ever thinks about anything, and that leads to Goku turning and pressing their mouths together with his usual lack of finesse. They're of a height now, which is why Goku can kiss him without warning.

Goku's kiss is a different comfort from Koumyou's; still illusion, but fiercer. Relentless.

Sanzo grumbles, but he doesn't pull away. He will take this.

~END~