By YumeNeko
Disclaimer: Saiyuki belongs to Minekura-sensei. Amida Toki and Uesugi Yuriko belong to Uesugi Yuriko (Murasaki_Honou). Quietus (a.k.a. Cho Hiro), Hoshizora Hibiemi and the Classico Eterno bar belong to yours truly, YumeNeko (more commonly known as the darker side of Hibi-chan…)
Warning: This is just an intro. Nothing here to affect the rest of the plot. Actually, this intro is just here to remind everyone of the Immortal Saga timeline and to tell everyone that there's a new bar in town… Hehehe.
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Prologue: Sbarra Di L'Immortals
"Do you ever get tired of this?" Sanzo sighed as he watched the immortal elders rob the killed demons of money and valuables. Hakkai was watching their backs in case anything unfortunate would happen.
This was the twenty-third year of darkness. Demons, vampires and all sorts of creatures roamed along the streets freely, enjoying the banquet put before them. Mortals reduced to little food for any race of darkness, crime became a lifestyle. Fortunately, the task of the Council Of Immortals was to destroy the race of darkness and bring forth the light. But for the meantime, they laid low and played the role of common demon hunters.
The immortal elders Sanzo questioned weren't exactly elders if you'd look at their faces. But according to how long they've been immortal, it was reasonable that they were the immortal elders. On Sanzo's right was Hakkai's twin, Quietus. That wasn't his actual name, of course. His real name was Cho Hiro before he descended into the underworld to become a reaper. He was a twisted fellow who had two minds in one body. One was the Cho Hiro (which indeed, resembled Hakkai. The only difference was that Hiro was a lot more sentimental compared to his brother.) before being tainted and the other was Quietus, the grim reaper who has a considerably large ego (and a large amount of self-confidence it was…). The second elder was beside Quietus. A little girl about the age of thirteen with cheery brown eyes and plump cheeks, Hibiemi Hoshizora was incredibly underestimated. Fortunately, she wasn't as screwed up as her brother was. But on the other hand, she was death-obsessed and childish in a sense that she was far too cheery for her real age (which was surprisingly, twenty-four). And yes, surprisingly, both of the elders were Hakkai's siblings in different lives.
Anyway, going back to the story, Quietus sighed as he fished out all the money from the wallet of a demon he had just killed, "Ho-hum… I guess we are getting tired, are we, Hibi-chan?"
Hibiemi looked up when her older brother questioned her. She was in the middle of counting all the money inside the wallet of the demon she had killed, "Hm? I guess so… Ah! Three thousand yen… We are wonderfully lucky tonight, aren't we minna?"
Sanzo sighed and looked at Hakkai who was dozing off. Tapping his lover on the shoulder, Hakkai woke up without a sound and faced the two elders.
"Why don't we think of an alternate way to reap some money?" Hakkai suggested. The younger elder tapped her chin and smiled.
"An alternate way… Sounds interesting… Wai! Let's call for a council meeting…" Hibiemi disappeared into the night wind. The rest of the immortals followed suit, not forgetting their spoils from the kill.
"So… Would you like to open a bar or a coffee house?" The young immortal grinned as everyone settled down into the peach plush seats of the dining room. The room was a sweet shade of peach and forest green. Of course, this being Hoshizora Manor, a richly done chandelier hung from the ceiling.
"A bar sounds interesting…" Hakkai smiled.
"Hmm… But I don't think getting people drunk would be a good job…" Quietus sighed.
Sanzo didn't say or do anything except listen to the discussion between the three brunette siblings debate on whether to make a bar or a coffee house.
"Then let's mix everything!" Hibiemi snapped her fingers together as she finally captured an idea, "We can serve all sorts of drink and sophisticated food, give the audience entertainment and keep it as classy as we are! All we need to do is just create a five-star classy art bar!"
Everyone gave the elder strange glances.
"What I mean is that we can create a five-star bar, set up a stage and
entertain the people with our arts!" Hibiemi explained, "I'm a pianist and
soprano, Qui-niichan's a violinist and actor, Hakkai-niichan's another actor
and so is Sanzo-san. And I do believe Sanzo-san does have a good voice, does he
not?"
Quietus laughed as he imagined Sanzo belting out in tenor in front of a whole crowd of sophisticated people. His laughter was matched with the whap of the harisen.
"Well… I do know how to play the flute…" Hakkai smiled, "Would you like me to do away with a sample?"
Quietus smiled and looked at his younger sister. Enthusiastic with the prospect of another talent, she giddily asked Hakkai to play a sample. Hakkai dashed off into his room and came back soon after with his old flute. After a bit of tuning, he softly played a sunny tune. After his performance, the three immortals applauded and cheered.
"Ah! It's fantastic!" Quietus smiled as he reminisced his days as a mortal. His original family were all musicians with the same instruments so it meant so much to him that Hibiemi learnt the piano and Hakkai was found to have known how to play the flute.
"Well then, is that all settled?" Hibiemi asked the rest of the council, her brown eyes glittering with rapture.
"What do we name the damn bar anyway?" Sanzo finally spoke.
"Hmm… We do classic art…" Quietus tapped his chin.
"And I'm sure our bar will last eternity!" Hibiemi nodded cheerfully.
"Classic and Eternal… Classico Eterno in Italian…" Hakkai tried to stitch the two words together.
"EXACTLY!!" Both Quietus and Hibiemi reacted with obvious cheer.
"Classico Eterno!" Hibiemi slipped into her dream world full of nice shiny gold, gold, gold, "What a wonderful name!"
Think of all the pretty gold…