:: Flying ::
Saiyuki Gaiden
Disclaimer: I don't own Saiyuki Gaiden, which rightfully belongs to Minekura Kazuya.
Rating: PG
Pairings: past Homura/Rinrei, hinted Konzen/Goku and Homura+Goku
Warnings: mention of death, mild angst, mild fluff, some spoilers for the second half of the series
Notes: Idea came from an RP scene me and Nikki did. I ended up really liking it, and then I wanted to turn it into a fic. It's not nearly as cute or amusing as the RP, but I think it came out well. Some things might be inaccurate, since I had to ask people for information I didn't have yet (up to episode 34 now; we're getting there!) so any help with my inaccuracies would be appreciated. So would constructive criticism and feedback.
--
It wasn't as though he didn't understand why he kept coming back. He knew; he understood. It wasn't because of the lovely scenery. That could be found virtually anywhere around here. Neither was it because of the sweet scents wafting in the air. That, too, could be found virtually anywhere around here, though in different sorts of varieties.
No, the reason he always came back was because the scenery, the scents, they reminded him of her. If there was such a thing as wind in heaven he would have probably even heard her voice in it.
But while it was supposedly perfect, heaven had no wind. Actually, what many considered perfect he considered somewhat boring. The air was always perfectly warm; it never rained, but the flowers were always in bloom. The sun was always shining, giving blessed warmth, and at night it would be replaced by the cooler touch of the white moon.
Well, it wasn't really all that bad. After being imprisoned for almost his entire life he could actually appreciate the never-changing sun and the sweet, delicate scent of baby blossoms. It mostly just hurt so constantly to think that she had been taken from him... and for what? Because she'd associated herself with him, and one should never associate with a heretic being.
Not even a half human one.
They had only touched once, that day she'd run into him. He remembered being fascinated yet uncertain, remembered the confusion he felt when she had apologized to him. Being apologized to had felt so... strange. At the time.
One of their early conversations had been about death. Being half human, he knew he was slated to die much earlier than any other god. He actually wasn't afraid. There was a little regret that he couldn't have died with her at his side, but... he'd always accepted that he was going to die sooner than most celestial or heretic beings.
"I want to be wherever Homura is, even if I have to die..."
It was a wonderfully ironic phrasing, considering she had been the first of them to go... all because she'd spoken to him, gotten too close...
It was enough to make him sick.
It was the faintest rustle that alerted him, that told him he was no longer alone. He turned his head slightly, eyes flickering to the small figure tiptoeing through the grass and flowers. A pair of large golden eyes blinked up at him before a sheepish smile touched the boy's lips.
"I was tryin' not to bother you," he explained even when the man said nothing. "Whenever Konzen has that look it means he don't want me to bother him."
Homura remembered this boy. He was the itan being that had been born from a mountain, brought to heaven for unknown purposes... though Homura had a pretty good guess at them. They were probably the same reasons they had bothered to keep him alive. The child's name was Goku; this he only knew because the boy had introduced himself the first time they'd met.
And the second time Homura had seen him, he's also seen that tantalizing display of incredible power...
Surprised to find he couldn't tear his eyes from the boy, and even more surprised to find himself speaking, Homura said quietly, "It's all right. You haven't bothered me at all."
"Ah..." Goku seemed at a loss for a moment before he shrugged and grinned, suddenly and completely at ease with that simple assurance. "Okay then! Hey, hey, mister, can I pick s'more flowers? Is that okay? They're yours, aren't they?"
He shook his head. "They aren't mine... but go ahead."
"Thanks!" The boy happily sat himself down, immediately proceeding to pick out the closest white blossoms. Once he had a good amount the childish fingers went to work, amazingly gentle and cautious as the flowers slowly joined together to become a wreath. Goku kept glancing up from time to time, and after a while he offered a somewhat hesitant smile. "My friend, right, he's sick... an' Ken-nii told me to bring flowers when someone's sick, so I'm makin' him somethin' pretty!"
"That's a good idea," Homura agreed, his voice still quiet.
Goku frowned, looked down at his wreath, then back up at the man. "Hey, mister... you never told me your name. I asked you once, 'member? And you never answered... an' it's only fair! You wanna sit down?" He somehow managed to say it all in one breath. Despite himself, Homura felt the beginnings of a smile make his lips twitch. However, the effort was too much for a face that had forgotten how to give a real smile, so he settled for a nod as he crouched down a few feet from the boy.
"Homura," he finally said.
"Ho... mu... ra." Goku tested the new name on his tongue, looking a little worried. "Ah... I think I can remember that... hey, Homura, do you live here?"
Homura caught his meaning; the boy seemed very straightforward and simple. He wasn't talking about heaven in general, but the flower garden. "No."
"Ah..." The boy concentrated on the flower wreath again, but his attention span seemed to be too short because he looked up again quickly. "Where do you live, then?"
He hadn't had a real conversation since Rinrei had been taken away from him... Homura tried to ignore the swelling pain in his chest and was only partially successful. He did manage to keep his voice steady, and that was something. "I was given a small living space a little ways from here."
Goku nodded as though he understood perfectly, hands working on the wreath again. "I see I see..." A small tongue poked out between his lips as his eyebrows drew down a bit in a look of childish concentration. "Do ya got any family?"
That question made Homura cringe. He was thankful Goku was too immersed in his work to see. "No."
The boy nodded a bit, glancing up and grinning. "Konzen says I don't got family, either, but Ten-chan says Konzen's kinda like my family. Then Ken-nii said it was in... insectus... or something like that. Whatever that means." Incestuous, was what Homura believed the boy wanted to say. He delicately decided to avoid that train of thought for the moment. Goku was about to save him from having to think any further upon it anyway. "Why d'you got two different eyes?"
"Because I'm half human, half heretic," he replied promptly; his voice was still quiet, but the more he relaxed and got used to the barrage of questions, the stronger his voice grew.
Seeming satisfied with the finished project, Goku finally set the wreath aside before looking back up at the man curiously. "What's a heretic?"
He didn't know? Homura set that information aside for later use; it might do good to ponder on it. Something about this boy intrigued him, and part of that something was the immense strength he could practically feel lurking within him. As to what the other part was... Homura hadn't quite placed what it was yet. "It's what you are; an unnatural being born of the earth with golden eyes."
Goku blinked, seeming taken aback. "... oh." His voice sounded mildly uneasy, as though he could sense it wasn't a good thing. He shook his head and immediately went on with the questioning. "Is what why you got those chains?"
"Yes."
The boy lifted on his arms, staring at the shackles on his own wrists. He jiggled them a little, the sound of chains clinking in the air. Homura watched the flickers of emotions in the boy's easy-to-read eyes; uncertainty, curiosity, unease, and perhaps that was even a glimpse of fear.
Now he was intrigued.
Goku looked up, his hands dropping back to the ground as he smiled. "You got a favourite food? I like everything, but I really like meat buns a lot! So what d'you like?" he asked eagerly, as though he'd already forgotten about the chains.
The man hesitated to reply; despite its simplicity, the answer was a little difficult to find. He'd never really thought about which foods tasted better than the other. It had never occurred to him, really. "I don't know," he answered honestly.
The boy gave him a strange look, as though he couldn't comprehend one not knowing what one's favourite food was. "What about flowers?" Homura settled for a simple shrug. "Colour?" He was starting to sound desperate, almost like he was afraid to lose Homura's interest.
Thinking quickly, Homura just grasped the first pleasant colour that came to mind. "Red, I guess."
Goku grinned, a hint of relief in his eyes. "I like all kindsa colours, but I really, really like yellow! It reminds me of the sun. It's really warm... d'you like the sun? Oh! Do you know Konzen?" he asked, suddenly bouncing as the name came up.
Choosing his words delicately, Homura just said, "Not exactly, but I have seen him around." That should have been obvious enough, if Goku had even absently noticed him when he had walked past with Konzen and his friends the other day. At the boy's disappointed expression, he dared a simple question of his own. "Why?"
"Ah..." Goku smiled sheepishly. "I was hoping you could tell me more about him... but that's okay!" he said quickly. "Um... how old are you?"
"Old enough," was all Homura wanted to say.
"Where'd ya get the cape?"
The question shouldn't have been too surprising; the boy's questions hadn't really had a sense of order. Even so, Homura found himself too startled to reply right away. He used that moment to think, trying to remember where he had gotten it. It seemed he'd had it for as long as he could remember... who knew its origins? "I don't know," he finally said. "I've always had it, from what I can remember."
The boy nodded as though he understood perfectly. "It's really neat! What's it do?"
This time it was Homura's turn to shoot the boy a bit of an odd look, one eyebrow slightly arched in question. "What do you mean?"
"Well... like..." The boy stood up, spreading his arms widely and flapping them, imitating a bird as he grinned down at the man. "Like, can it make you fly? That'd be so cool!" he went on, nearly bursting with childlike eagerness. "It'd be so much fun to fly!" He frowned. "But... whenever I try, I fall. Then Konzen yells at me..."
Homura stared at the boy for a few moments, a brief memory passing him by before he, too, got to his feet and started walking off.
Goku's voice was surprised. "Ah... Homura?" he called uncertainly. "Where're you goin'? I didn't mean to make you mad!"
The god paused, contemplating briefly. The memory was one of his treasured ones; he hadn't spent much time with Rinrei, and ever precious moment was sacred to him. It made him feel he'd be tainting the memory, but...
He turned to face the boy. "You want to fly?"
"Yeah!" Goku darted forward, his golden eyes wide and excited. "Can you teach me? Huh? Huh?"
"Follow me," was all he said before turning and walking off again. He walked out of the garden, toward the cluster of peach trees nearby.
Homura had once heard that the peach trees on earth were fairly weak, with thin branches barely strong enough to hold the fruits that grew on them, their lowest branches not even reaching that high off the ground. Whatever they looked like, the ones in heaven were huge and the branches long, thick, twisting mazes that, when in bloom, would hold peaches that had the potential to grow to the size of one's head. Thus, the branches were very sturdy even when not bearing fruit... just as they were now.
"Ohhh," he heard Goku breathe. Rather than comment he simply led the boy further into the orchard. He wound around wide trunks, pricking his ears to make sure the boy was still following. Just from observing him once, he doubted Konzen was the type to be too forgiving if his property was lost.
The further he went the stronger the memories seemed to grow; now he could have sworn he heard faint, almost girlish laughter. The strong smell of peach blossoms filled the air; the ghosts of a gentle touch or two on his arm made his skin tingle faintly and his heart swell to the point it felt he would choke on it. Homura had to swallow, a bit too loudly for his comfort, but the boy didn't seem to notice at all.
So he wasn't too observant. Good.
"You've never been on one?"
Homura closed his eyes briefly; the voice was stronger now, a gentle murmur in his ears, ricocheting in his mind...
"It's the greatest sensation..."
It... hurt.
At last they came to a tiny clearing in the trees. To the right was what Homura had been searching for: an old but still strong board with thick rope suspending it a few bare inches in the air.
"... What is it?" Goku didn't sound too impressed.
"A swing," Homura said quietly, staring over at it. She had lead him here one day to show where she had played as a child. He could remember her sitting on it, barely able to fit on the wide board. He walked over to it, tugging the rope to make sure it was secure and brushing a hand over the board to check for splinters. The rope didn't give and the board left no injuries; as he should have expected from anything in heaven. He finally looked back over at the boy, continuing. "It will help you fly."
"Really?!" Now he had Goku's attention; the child scampered up to him. "How does it work?"
If he remembered correctly... "Sit down." Goku obeyed, but not how Homura meant him to; the boy plopped himself down to the ground and the god found himself almost smiling. "No, on the swing." Giving him a sheepish look, Goku scrambled up and sat down on the swing, both hands grasping the rope.
Then Goku looked up at him curiously. "Now what? I ain't flyin'..." He gave the ropes a good shake to prove his point. With a blank look Homura just moved behind the boy, placed a hand on his back, and gave him a firm, hard push.
"Uwah!" Goku yelped. Homura quickly stepped to the side before Goku could kick him in the head. With those shackles and chains that would have been especially painful. It was impossible to see Goku's expression from this point of view, at least for the moment, but Homura imagined it was shocked, if not at least a little frightened. Indeed, when the boy swung back it looked as though the surprise was just starting to seep away, only to be replaced with awe, wonder, and delight.
"Hey, wow!" Goku cried, swinging his legs in what was probably an unconscious movement. "It's just like flying!"
"It's almost like flying!"
The phrasing made his breath catch. It was momentary and passed quickly, but the effect left him a bit dazed. He shook his head, trying to get rid of the feeling as the boy's laughter reached his ears. The sound was so raw and real that it distracted him long enough, made him look up and be captivated by the sheer exhilaration the boy was displaying.
Something so simple could make him so happy... it made Homura think of his childhood, how he could have been just like that.
It would have been wonderful.
"Hey, hey!" Goku cried as he swung back at forth. "I'm gonna fly, Homura, really fly! Watch!" And with that Homura had barely opened his mouth to utter a warning before the boy swung forward, fingers uncurling from the rope as his body lurched forward. He arced gracefully for a split second, long hair fluttering behind him... and that image was emblazed into Homura's mind, making him stare too long. Gravity and weight took its toll almost immediately, sending Goku crashing to the dirty with a loud thud. Homura actually winced; that had to hurt, especially with all those chains weighing him down.
"Owww," Goku moaned, pushing himself to his hands and knees before he rolled over on his rear, wincing as he rolled his pants up to check for injuries. "That hurt," he whined, rubbing his knees with dirty hands before flinching and jerking them away. "Ow! That hurt even more!"
Emotion swelled in Homura's chest again, but this time it wasn't related to sadness at all. In fact, it was just the opposite. It grew so strong that it finally escaped him in the form of a soft chuckle, making his shoulders shake a bit for the few brief seconds.
When he looked up again, Goku was pouting at him. "That's not funny," he said indignantly. "My knees really got hurt!"
Homura just shook his head, his smile lingering as he walked over to the boy and knelt beside him, dusting off the excess dirt from the boy before using his precious cape to wipe off what he could of the rest. "I'm sorry," he said, the corners of his lips still curved upward. "I'm not laughing because you're hurt."
The boy gave him a skeptical look, though he didn't seem to be done pouting. Homura found the expression sort of endearing. "Okay," Goku said slowly. "If you say so."
Homura just nodded, standing up and offering a hand to the boy. With only a brief moment of hesitation, Goku grasped the offered hand and allowed the man to pull him to his feet. He grinned. "Eh heh... you don't seem like a bad guy," he said with childish innocence, rubbing the back of his head. "At first I thought you were kinda weird... you kinda are still... but that's okay!" he said quickly, as though worried about offending Homura. "I think you're a good guy!"
"I'm glad to hear it," Homura said quietly.
Goku beamed up at him, opening his mouth to say something, but then he paused. Seconds later Homura heard what the boy must have been hearing; a distant voice calling Goku's name in repetition. Must be his keeper...
"I gotta go!" Goku started to hurry away, only pausing to snatch up the wreath he had dropped near one of the trees. He did linger long enough to wave and yell, "I'll see you tomorrow! I wanna play on the swing again, and maybe you can push me!" Then he was gone, and all Homura heard from him after that was a faint, "I'm coming Konzen!"
He is... different, he mused, staring after the boy for a moment before he started to make his own way out of the orchard. And Homura was slowly starting to place a finger on what made that child so interesting. Aside from the raw power that he just knew was thrumming inside him, waiting to be released, Goku's childishness was attractive. He was naive without being completely stupid, even at that age, and intriguing in his innocence and delight of the simple things around him. Homura couldn't remember having ever seen such pure delight in anyone's eyes.
He definitely wanted to know more about that child.
From what the boy had said Homura could assume that Goku wanted to see him back at the swing the next day. He'd give it a night and see if he was still intrigued, and if he was... well the boy was also a heretic. What could they possibly do to them as punishment? Neither would be sent down to earth, as heaven wanted to keep a close eye on all heretics. Besides, the child belonged to a god anyway.
Homura found that he was, indeed, still very much interested. So interested, in fact, that he waited all afternoon and even into late evening. By dark it was obvious the boy wasn't coming. And it wasn't until the next day that Homura learned of the rampage that had killed several of the gods-- and lead Konzen Douji, Kenren Taishou, and Tenpou Gensui to take the Western Army general hostage and run off with Goku.
Goku in his demon form.
His true form.
Homura regretted not being able to get to know Goku better, but he also regretting being able to see him in his natural form. Just imagining the amount of power charging through that small body gave him a sort of thrill he'd never realized before-- excitement. He wanted to witness that power... no. He wanted to go up against that power, wanted to test his strengths against it.
In fact, it gave him an idea: an idea to create the perfect world with no gods. It was actually just a notion he fancied, but the more he thought about it the more he liked it. If there had been a world with no gods perhaps Rinrei would still be alive...
And perhaps he'd have gotten to know Son Goku better.
He was going to have a lot of important things to think about for the next few years, maybe even the next few hundred, possibly thousand. It wouldn't do to miss out a single day of work.
With a slight, self-mocking smirk and a gentle push of the swing, Homura left the orchard.