Disclaimer: I MEAN NO DISRESPECT TO RELIGION. This story has nothing against religion, be it Judaism, Christianity, or anything else, so please do not complain over it. This is a fanfiction. This is also totally in the fantasy genre, so if you have similar qualms against pretty boys with extra animal anatomy like cat ears or bunny tails, do not angst about it to me. On a side note, I do not own the Prince of Tennis or any of its characters.
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Golden Prayer
By eRemedy
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"Nya, nya!"
Oishi stood up from his stooping position and glared down at the herbs he was supposed to be picking. There it was again, and it was driving him mad! He had stopped about three or four times before this, thinking that maybe some stray cat had gotten lost or hurt, but now he was sure it was just some idiot's prank on the crazy doctor's apprentice.
"Nya, nya, nya…"
That was it. Oishi carefully put the few stems of rosemary and thyme he had already collected on the ground and then took a threatening step closest to where he had heard the catty voice.
"Whoever you are, come out! Please stop this!" Oishi yelled to the forest around him. Nothing answered him, but everything was suddenly quiet.
Oishi was reminded of all the superstitious stories surrounding the woods of Seigaku, and he nervously looked around at the shadows that now seemed to writhe and twist under the leaves. It was getting a bit dark, and he had been picking herbs for long time. It wasn't like he really cared if someone wanted to scare him, but he did care if some supernatural thing was looking for a meal. Maybe it was time to go back…
"Nya!" the voice said again, surprisingly close, breaking into Oishi's thoughts and imbuing him with newfound vigor.
Who cared about ghosts? He was going to pound the misinformed fool who thought he could get away with teasing him this far.
Oishi started running in the direction he had last heard the voice, totally forgetting about his painstakingly collected bunch of herbs.
"Nya nya!" the voice said, egging Oishi on.
Oishi began to sprint in earnest, and whenever he found himself unsure of which direction to turn, the bodiless voice would come back and whisper some nonsensical meowing that would have Oishi dashing as though he had never even thought of stopping.
At last Oishi came to a small clearing lit with the dying colors of the sunset. There was absolutely no sound besides Oishi's harsh panting as he surveyed the clearing with a doomed sort of outlook.
There was nothing, not even a disembodied voice. Oishi felt cheated and ashamed for running all that way for nothing and even thinking that there actually might have been something he was running toward. With a heavy heart, Oishi turned to make his way back—
"Wow, you actually came, nya!"
—And pivoted so quickly he was almost afraid he had sprained his ankle. Right there in front of him, where there had certainly been nothing before, was a boy.
He wore a strange white outfit that was too wide around his arms and legs, and he had bright red hair with blue eyes. While that was certainly strange enough, the boy also had two furry ears on the top of his head and a tail.
Two furry ears on the top of his head and a tail.
If Oishi wasn't so sure that fainting would have irreversibly branded him as a traitor to his sex and nature, he probably would have fallen right then and there. As it was, Oishi was a little out of it and didn't even register the peculiar claw-like hand that waved itself in front of his face. He did, however, register the rough, sand-papery texture of a little pink tongue licking his cheek.
Oishi reacted instantly and turned, punching the body nearest to him. There was a soft thud that sounded even in the suddenly loud forest, and then Oishi flattened himself as best he could against the front of the closet tree.
"Oww, you didn't hafta' hit me, nya!" The little creature said, his face giving a surprisingly childish pout as Oishi's heart thundered in his throat.
"I—you—that was—what was that!?!" Oishi finally said as his entire face glowed with embarrassment. He was blushing very, very badly, but the part that the cat-boy had licked felt like it was on fire.
"What do you mean, nya? You weren't saying anything and you didn't even notice me wave my hand in your face!" the cat child demonstrated by waving his hand around in Oishi's face.
"O-oh, is that so…?" Oishi responded shakily, hoping by all of the gods he had ever prayed to that the hand flashing around his face didn't decide to gouge his eyes out.
"Yep, yep, but besides that, you actually came! I knew you were different, nya!"
Oishi snapped to attention when the boy mentioned "different." "What do you mean by that?" he said aggressively, staring straight at the boy's strangely angular eyes.
"Well," the cat-boy said, nimbly hopping backwards and placing his arms around his head, "You heard me. Hardly anyone does that anymore, nya. The few that do are too scared or superstitious to ever follow me, too, nya. That's why I like you, nya! Let's be friends!" Here the little cat creature affectionately hugged Oishi tightly around the middle, his head resting perfectly in the crook of Oishi's neck and his little ears and fluffy red hair tickling Oishi's skin.
"Ah—uh—uhm—" Oishi tried, but he couldn't speak over his choked throat. It wasn't the shock of someone hugging him that had him closemouthed, though that was shocking enough, it was the simple thought of how the little cat-boy could be emanating so much love that Oishi could actually feel it.
Then that loving little body was gone and its face quite a few inches away, laughing and grinning and patting Oishi on the back and acting as though Oishi had not just frozen up while being hugged.
"U-uh, excuse me, but, uh, who are you? What are you? And how do you know me?" Oishi said when he regained his voice and the cat-boy wasn't… touching… him so much.
"Nya?" the cat said, tilting his head to the side. "Sorry, sorry, I can't believe I never introduced myself, nya! I'm Eiji! And you're a really nice person, nya!"
"Huh?" Oishi asked quizzically, although he felt a little flattered. "What do you mean?"
"I see you all the time, nya!" Eiji said heatedly. "And I see those mean things that say mean things to you too, nya! But you're never mean back, you're always just nice! Sometimes it makes me so mad that I do mean things to them back, nya, because they deserve it!"
"'Mean things?' What do you mean, um, Eiji?"
"You know, those things," Eiji said vaguely. "They're all over the place, and it's our job to reward and help the good ones?" Eiji prodded Oishi, who was beginning to feel a little less lost.
"Eiji," Oishi said slowly, "When you say… things… do you mean… humans?"
"Oh, is that what they're called?" Eiji said unconcernedly.
Oishi tried to say something but couldn't really do much more than open and close his mouth. Eiji, who appeared to have really keen eyesight, instantly noticed.
"Nya, nya? Are you okay, nya? What's wrong?" Eiji flitted worriedly around Oishi, who was still in shock and could only point a trembling finger at Eiji's concerned form.
"Y-you…" Oishi managed to get out, his mouth dry, "You are… a… a…"
"A god, nya?" Interrupted Eiji. "Well, right now it's more like god-in-training, but of course, nya! Aren't you?"
Oishi's throat closed up again, but he managed to shake his head emphatically. It got the point across.
"What, nya!? You're not a god!?"
Oishi still couldn't quite speak, so he nodded his head.
"Nya?! But how!? You're so nice and different from those thi— humans. A-and, if you really aren't a god," Eiji paused, as though he still could not quite believe such a thing, but continued, "If you really aren't a god, then how can you see me, nya? And how could you hear me? It takes a really pure kind of power to hear me, nya."
"I-I don't know," Oishi admitted, hanging his head. "I've been able to see strange things ever since I was a kid. That's why— that's why—" Everyone hates me, he wanted to say, but his throat was closed and he was choking, aware that there was still a part of him afraid that if he said it out loud he would have to accept it (and realize that there was nothing he could do about it).
Eiji was silent for a few moments, but then he spoke up again.
"Well, nya, it's not like it really matters or anything. Will you still be my friend?" Eiji looked up hopefully, and Oishi wondered how something that had ruined his life didn't really matter. But Eiji's eyes looked so very sincere that Oishi was loath to say no.
"I… would like that," said Oishi cautiously, and Eiji smiled.
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"Oishi…" the old man croaked, "Gather the peppermint leaves and grind them. Mix them with the dandelion roots and yesterday's poultice."
"Of course, Oji. I'll be by the western stream."
Oishi picked up his straw basket and left the porch of Oji's little hut. It had been almost a week since his encounter with Eiji, and Oishi was beginning to think that he had dreamed it all up.
Oishi had not caught even a glimpse of the elusive god-in-training, but the people in the village seemed to skirt around Oishi strangely these days, especially the ones who used to taunt him so horribly. Sometimes one or two of them would throw pebbles at Oji's hut from a fair distance away, but that was nothing Oishi couldn't handle.
It was, Oishi thought to himself, very strange.
A passing villager tried to trip Oishi as he walked by. Instead the man himself tripped, and all of the coins fell out of the villager's wallet.
Oishi, of course, didn't really notice, and kept walking until he reached the edges of the Seigaku woods and the western stream. He was about to bend down to search for the peppermint plants when his basket was rudely thrown aside.
"Hey, freak," one of the men surrounding him sneered.
Oishi clenched his fists and tried not to panic. Nothing had happened this week, so he had relaxed some of his guard, thinking that perhaps the villagers were growing used to him or had finally begun to like him. He should have known better.
Another man drew closer, and Oishi vaguely recognized him as the person who had tripped and lost his money earlier.
"I know what you did, freak," the man said angrily. "You tripped me and stole my money!"
"What!" Oishi exclaimed, starting to feel incensed because he knew for a fact that he had done no such thing.
"That's right, that's right!" Another man shouted. "You broke into my house yesterday and stole my candles!"
Suddenly the whole area was alive with shouting and yelling, and Oishi was shoved into the stream.
The water was like ice and cut into Oishi's skin. The current wasn't very strong, but the sudden shock caused him to swallow a mouthful of the river water and Oishi tried vainly to somehow breathe while being dragged along the river floor. He clawed desperately, but he was choking and breathing in more water as he tried to swim away.
His blurry vision began to grow dark, and Oishi began to think of how he had never reached his dream, but then he was coughing and breathing and vomiting globs of water while a steady hand rubbed his back.
He took great gulping, gasping breaths of air when he was done, and then looked up into the dark, worried eyes of his mind's latest obsession—only this time, Eiji looked a bit different.
Eiji still had his cat ears, tail, and strange blue eyes, but that was where the similarities ended. His face was more angular, and his entire body seemed sharper, as though everything except Eiji existed behind clouded glass, and he was taller. Even his bright red hair twisted out a little more, giving him a wild, animalistic look.
"Are you alright?" Eiji asked anxiously, and there was desperate, scared kind of look in his eyes that half scared Oishi himself, but he nodded to try and comfort Eiji's fear.
Eiji's features softened for an instant, and then he was all sharp angles again as Oishi moaned, holding his head.
"A-ah, it's all right, Eiji," Oishi said, noticing the way Eiji tensed up. "My head just, ah, hurts, from nodding."
Eiji didn't say anything, but he did seem to calm down a bit.
By the time Oishi stopped feeling dizzy, Eiji had all but completely transformed back into how he used to look, smaller and cuter than ever.
"Huh? Eiji…" Oishi said slowly, as he looked around, "What happened to these people?"
The five or six men who had earlier ambushed Oishi lied scattered across the ground like broken, vandalized statues. Every once in a while someone would groan or tremble a little, but besides that they all seemed to be in a permanently abused and knocked-out state. Oishi looked closely at the now-innocent, child-like face of Eiji, who looked as though he would be flattened or killed in any type of violent conflict.
"I don't know what you mean," Eiji said innocently, but there was a hint of fang in his usually smiling mouth.
"R-right…" Oishi looked around again and shook his head at the chaos. "Well, I have to thank you, Eiji. You… you saved my life. If it weren't for you, I…" Oishi trailed off, remembering the horrible feeling of choking and needing, wanting, praying for air…
"It's all right, nya! I'll always save you with everything I have!" Eiji declared confidently, while Oishi remembered the wild, terrified face Eiji had worn earlier and his heart skipped a little.
It was… nice. To know you had someone looking out for you, and someone who genuinely cared for you and wasn't your eighty year-old master.
"Oh!" Oishi exclaimed suddenly. "Eiji, your cheek! What happened?! Are you all right?!"
A thin line of blood had begun to trickle down Eiji's flawless face, and Oishi watched as Eiji touched his cheek and looked momentarily surprised.
"Here, Eiji, just stay still for a moment," Oishi said, and then he ripped some cloth from his still-soaked shirt and dabbed it gently around Eiji's cut. Eiji stood so still Oishi wasn't sure he was breathing.
Luckily, Oishi's basket wasn't far away and he always kept a fresh roll of bandages inside incase something like this ever happened. Deftly tearing off a piece, Oishi carefully placed it over the cut and stepped back to survey his handiwork.
The little bandage looked good on Eiji, Oishi decided. It made Eiji look playful and kittenish, which perfectly fit his nature, and he seemed to like it by the way he kept lightly touching it with a kind of amazed and awe-struck expression. It made Oishi feel a little bashful.
"J-just keep it on for at least a day or so," Oishi said a little awkwardly, feeling self-conscious.
Eiji looked up at him, his liquid blue eyes huge and his fingers still touching his bandaged cheek. He was silent for a moment, apparently lost in thought, but then he nodded vigorously and stepped closer to Oishi.
"I accept."
Then Eiji grabbed both of Oishi's hands and kissed him full on the mouth.
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"Ugh…" Oishi groaned as he stood up and stretched. His back was breaking. It was times like these that he wondered if studying to become a healer was worth it.
Oishi licked his dry and chapped lips. The relative silence of passion-flower leave-picking always made his mind wander and reflect. Oishi found his mind going back to what it had been going back to whenever he had a spare moment.
Eiji.
When Eiji had unexpectedly… kissed him, Oishi had reacted predictably and slugged the poor little god-in-training with his finely honed reflexes. If Eiji didn't have his special god-power of imperviousness (or super fast healing power, Oishi wasn't sure which), he would probably be sporting one heck of a shiner.
Oishi had apologized profusely of course, because although he had wanted Eiji to stop, he hadn't wanted to hurt him; but Eiji had only laughed it off and stared at Oishi with bright, gleaming blue eyes.
Eiji then had to leave, but promised to visit whenever possible. Oishi had thought the parting phrase to be harmless, but recently he had begun to see things out of the corners of his eyes, things like a red tail and bright blue eyes.
In those situations, Oishi would usually turn and call Eiji out and sometimes Eiji came, and sometimes he didn't. But whenever Eiji didn't come, Oishi usually found some kind of practical little bauble, like a blanket or a particularly rare herbal plant, in his place.
In exchange, Oishi tried to give things to Eiji and found out very quickly that Eiji loved shiny, scented, and delicious things. Oishi started to keep extra peppermint leaves on him at all times, as they could persuade a cranky, angry, or sad Eiji faster than almost anything else.
Then there was the strange, unexplained, continuous good luck Oishi had been having. Oishi would find his assigned plants in record time and the weather was always perfect when he was out. Oji was generally more agreeable and no one had yet to try and taunt or torment him or Oji (although Oishi still kept his guard up –he wasn't about to forget that hard earned lesson).
Oishi had also begun to look forward to Eiji's visits. Eiji usually tried to surprise him by appearing close by and jumping on top of him, but sometimes Oishi would hear a softly whispered "Nya" and know to follow.
Eiji was very touchy-feely, and Oishi found himself being hugged or held onto at almost every given moment. Eiji also disregarded personal space like it didn't exist, and Oishi gradually got used to talking to Eiji with only two to six centimeters between them.
Slowly but surely, Oishi began to grow accustomed to touching, and even initiated a hug (once). Eiji was fun to be around and always listened closely to anything Oishi had to say, and before he knew it Oishi had told Eiji his entire life story of growing up without parents, being persecuted for something he had no control over, realizing his dream of helping people, and meeting Oji, the doctor who could make his dream possible by teaching him.
The dream had started to seem less like a dream and more like a wistful fancy to Oishi as the years had gone by, but then Eiji hugged Oishi, really hugged him, with love and so much warmth that Oishi felt like glowing, and then Oishi felt like hoping, if only just a little, once again.
One thing about Eiji that Oishi noticed very quickly was his special way of touching. Eiji had many different types of hugs, and although they all gave off a feeling of love and warmth, Oishi's favorite was when Eiji placed his head under Oishi's or next to his heart and just seemed to melt into him.
Eiji's hugs all seemed to give comfort, but Oishi felt like giving comfort to Eiji whenever Eiji hugged him with that hug. Eiji was always so bright and cheery that Oishi found it very easy to believe that he wasn't human (besides the extra anatomy), and was surprised the first time Eiji hugged him for reassurance.
That first time, it had been unbelievably hard for Oishi to wrap his arms around Eiji in response, because a part of him recognized that if he hugged Eiji back Oishi would finally, totally accept Eiji and lose any and all chances of walking away and turning his back on this amazingly terrifying supernatural world.
Oishi had teetered for a moment, unsure, but then Eiji made this adorable little cooing noise that sounded like a mixture of "Nya" and "Hoi," and Eiji was encircled by Oishi's arms and his decision was set.
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"Nyaaaaaaaa! Oishii!"
Oishi turned around at just the right moment to catch the jumble of red and white that had come careening out of nowhere with the expertise of long practice. He carefully brushed a few leaves and dirt off of Eiji's once-pristinely white and probably enchanted clothing, unconsciously sighing as he did so. How did Eiji always get himself so dirty?
"Nya, nya, Oishi!" Eiji continued, tugging insistently on Oishi's arm. "Look, look! I finally finished it, nya! I made this for you!"
There was a pretty little golden bell that sparkled brilliantly in Eiji's outstretched palm. A thin strip of white cloth, very similar to the bandage that Eiji still kept on his cheek, was connected to it like a bracelet.
"W-wow, Eiji." Oishi said, stunned. He had only ever received two presents before in his entire life, and both were from Oji and were meant as tools to help him gather plants and make poultices. To receive something that was so obviously valuable and handmade, from a god… "Is it really for me?"
"Of course, nya," Eiji said, rolling his eyes. He still held out the bell. "Do…" Eiji swallowed, and he suddenly seemed nervous. "Do you accept it?"
Oishi reached out to take the bell, a fervent "Yes!" on the tip of his tongue, when he paused. The same, unnatural instinct that had warned him of Eiji and of Eiji's hug warned now that accepting this present meant much more than what it seemed.
Oishi looked at Eiji, looked at his passionate, slitted blue eyes and his slightly worried face, and Oishi's actions immediately became tender.
"I accept, Eiji," Oishi said fondly, and took the golden bell from Eiji's trembling hand.
Oishi wrapped the little piece of cloth around his wrist so that the bell hung from it, and he shook his wrist experimentally. A beautiful, soothing, tinkling sound came from the trinket, and Eiji immediately snapped out of his stupor to hug Oishi enthusiastically.
"Oishi, you have to wear it always, nya! It'll protect you!" Eiji said from somewhere around Oishi's neck. He moved back a little, so that his eyes were just a few inches away from Oishi's own. He seemed to be waiting for something.
"Thank you, Eiji. I will wear it always," Oishi recited faithfully. He stared at the golden bell, shining merrily in the sun, amazed at the beauty and magic of such a thing.
"Oishi!" Eiji whined.
"What is it, Eiji?" Oishi asked contentedly.
Eiji growled, and grabbing Oishi roughly by the shoulders, pecked him on the cheek.
"Wha…?" Oishi said, a little shocked, and much too used to Eiji to do something like deck him in the eye.
"It's only temporary, nya," Eiji mumbled, a little pink. "Just to hold it until you can take the step."
"Eiji—" Oishi started to say, totally confused but pink as well.
Eiji's ears suddenly perked up, and his pupils contracted into tiny slits.
"Ah, Oishi! I'm sorry, nya, but I have to go! I'll come by later!" Eiji cut Oishi off and bounded into the forest.
Oishi stood there for a little bit, his mind baffled.
"What… was that?" Oishi asked out loud.
"I should be asking that myself."
Startled, Oishi turned around and watched as a person materialized from the edge of the forest. Oishi managed to make out two long, tan rabbit ears and two artic, cobalt eyes before a clawed hand shot out to wrap itself around his neck.
"Who are you and how dare you court Eiji?!"
"W-what?" Oishi managed to wheeze out. He felt a sharp, acute pain as one clawed finger pressed itself into his neck, drawing out a long, thin line of blood.
"Who," the voice spoke again, its tone glittering malice, "Are you?"
"Oishi," Oishi gasped, feeling another finger press threateningly against his jugular. Hopefully his last name sufficed.
"Oishi, Oishi," the stranger said mockingly, still not letting go of Oishi's neck. Oishi wasn't sure if his last name sufficed. "Whatever shall I do with you?"
Then the hand abruptly left Oishi's neck and he fell on his ankle, hard. He groaned, and looked up to see cold, cobalt eyes.
"Who- who are you?" Oishi asked, wincing as he tested his ankle. No good, it was probably sprained. He wouldn't be able to run.
"Fuji," the stranger said, grinning with sharp, sharp incisors. "And the last thing you will ever see."
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A/N: This IS a two-shot, so I will be updating this. Sorry if it's sort of cliffhanger-ish, but I can't do the whole story in Oishi mode! Next chapter everything will be Eiji-centric, as opposed to this Oishi-centric chapter. Oishi's nice, but he's a little too blasé for my tastes. I'm also pretty sure that don't write him that well.
I have found that I really like writing Evil!Fuji. That is probably the only reason he is in this chapter, as he was supposed to make his cameo performance next chapter. Oh, well.
Also, the reason Eiji says "Nya" so much is because he's a cat god (almost).
References:
1. There is a joke in here that can be linked to the phrase "Cleanliness is close to Godliness."
2. Rabbits really do have sharp incisors.
THANK YOU FOR READING THIS!! I really appreciate it. It's not my first work, but it's still something I've worked hard on and I'm glad to know you've liked it enough to finish reading all the way through (the first chapter).
Next chapter: Learn why one of Fuji's best known quotes is "I like to see people suffer more," watch as Oishi strives to Not Die, and wonder where Eiji has gone.