Okay, I know this might've been unexpected. But a friend of mine from our LoU forums suggested it and I just couldn't resist! A plot already formed in my mind so you can't help it! By the way, this is set after the battles, after the series and…before The Law of Ueki Plus was even existent. Or something of the sort. Just disregard the Ueki Plus plot for now. This is just a one-shot anyways :P This is dedicated to the members of the EarthShine forums! Especially sleepyforest for suggesting the pairing. Thank you! And DON'T tell anyone who I'm going to pair up with him!

Summary: Inumaru was forced into having a whole week vacation after two months of working non-stop. Whatever can go wrong in this time of relaxation? Inumarux?, non-yaoi.

Disclaimer: Ueki no Housoku and the characters and elements in it are not owned by me. It's by Tsubasa Fukuchi-sama and I am advising those who do not know that they read the latest developments of The Law of Ueki Plus. Very interesting…I wish I can own Haiji (or High G)…-sigh- Erm, anyways, moving on.

Legends:

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Flashback scene

Kiseki
Miracle

By Milky Etoile

Chapter One

Hounen ka?
Relaxation?

To say that the newest god was tired would be the greatest understatement of the century.

No, the blonde wasn't just tired. Inumaru was dead exhausted. He had been forced to cram so much work in just the first week he was given the position right after the power-users' battle had ended. And even when the first week was over, there was still a lot to do.

Of course, he wouldn't complain, not after he had found out that all the members of Team Ueki had agreed that he was best-suited to be the next Kami. He couldn't resist since they had put so much faith in him. He thought he should never throw away the trust his friends had in him so he vowed that he'd do his best in the position.

Then again, he didn't know during that time that doing so much dreaded paperwork was part of the job description. Heck, there wasn't even a job description so he couldn't specifically protest what violation of his labor rights was committed! Not that he could even protest anyway. Besides the fact that there was no one in particular to protest to since his employer was probably practically the whole world even as not all knew that he was the God, there was simply no time to waste with such petty complaints.

There was too much he had to do. He didn't even know how the previous gods before him had managed to do all of the things that were expected of them. But he should be able to do them all, right? He was the god now…why can't he bring himself to finish all of the work?

Well, there was really no end to the work he had to do, actually which is the reason why he had less gusto than he had when he started. But that's beside the point.

He tried to recall what the previous God's advice had been…

"Take some time to relax!" the old man exclaimed before he swallowed another apple slice. It was only days after he had been…thrown up by Anon and he was still confined in the hospital. "Even if you might be the one with the greatest responsibilities everyday, you should give yourself rewards sometimes, you know?" He reached for another slice but his assistant had put it away from his grasp.

"You shouldn't make Inumaru-san to be as lax as you were before!" the short man said in a scolding manner. "A lot depends on him now and he can't afford to waste time!" Turning to the blonde, the plump and short guy said, "You must do whatever is expected of you and do not skip your paperwork! It would be bad if you were behind your sche—"

"Nonsense!" The previous god took the plate of apple slices from his assistant. "Even if you may be God, you'll need to take off some time for yourself too! It's not healthy, especially for a young man like you!" He gulped down another apple slice before he went close to Inumaru and spoke in a low voice.

"You know, there are a lot of cute girls down on Earth. Maybe you might fancy seeing some of them some time!"

"I-I do not care about such things!" The old man only laughed heartily when the younger tenkaijin blushed a beet red. Then, his short assistant started scolding him again for being such a bad influence…

Inumaru sighed. Now he was debating which advice he should take. He could almost imagine the previous God's assistant with angel's wings and a halo above his hat, telling him to do the right thing while the old man…

…he hit his head on his desk. Really, what was he doing now, thinking the previous God would be in the place of a devil in his conscience? For heaven's sake, the man was a heavenly being. That and there was the fact that there were no such things as angels in this heaven. Except maybe those girls that always seem to accompany the previous God before but that wasn't really the point…

He must've really gone out of his mind now. He remembered vaguely a conversation, if that could be considered one, he had with another friend of his…

"You look half-dead, Wanko," the gray-haired tenkaijin commented dryly as he put out his cigarette stick. "You should rest a bit from all that work, honestly. You're being too diligent for your own good!"

"Gomen nasai, Kobayashi-san, but as pleasing as your suggestion may sound like, there is simply too much to do since the battle game has ended." The blonde still looked through some papers as he spoke. "Shouldn't you be busy too? You'll be teaching again soon…" His voice didn't even sound, in the least, curious. The older one could only sigh at that.

"I never thought you'd be so much of a workaholic." Kobayashi scratched the back of his head, thinking of some way he could convince the new God that overworking was bad. Before he could even say another word though, the blonde beat him to it.

"All of these things I am doing are vital and I simply cannot afford to rest except during designated break times." He didn't even look up to the one he was conversing with. He continued to write down some notes in his organizer instead. The soon-to-be-teacher-again sighed exasperatedly again. He was beginning to wonder if he really had his attention even just for a little bit. It seemed like a hopeless case to try and get him to relax for even just a moment.

The blonde sighed again. Kobayashi was right. He had been too absorbed in his work. And it took him two months to notice what he had been doing. He shook his head furiously.

'No, I musn't think too much on it! There is simply too much to do to slack off!' With that thought in mind, he reluctantly grabbed his pen again and took hold of the next piece of paperwork. Before he could even start though, he heard the door to his office open.

"Kami-sama, what are you still doing here?"

Inumaru looked up to see his assistant, Yodogawa, the now-former second kami kohou of Ueki Kousuke, not dressed in his usual black business attire. Instead, he wore a blue top that was designed with flowers and a pair of white shorts. To complete his outfit, he wore a pair of straw sandals and a rubber duck inflatable was slung on his left shoulder. The God blinked at the other tenkaijin's look.

Was he going somewhere or what? Doesn't he also have work to do?

"Yodogawa-san, why are you—" His question was cut off by his spectacled assistant.

"Here? Oh, I forgot to bring the goggles I recently got for our beach trip! You know, the one I told you about?" The dark-haired male started looking into one of the cabinets. Inumaru was baffled.

"Beach trip?" He tried to shuffle his brain for information. He hit his fist on his palm when he remembered. "Ah! The one you were going to with your friends!" He paused for a moment then he knit his eyebrows together. "That's today?" The other Heavenly Being abruptly turned to look at his superior with an incredulous expression.

"Kami-sama," Inumaru almost flinched at the title, "today is our day off! Don't tell me you have forgotten?!"

"Uh…" The blonde tried to think of something to say. In the end, he only managed to utter, "…huh?"

Yodogawa, more widely-known as Yocchan, let out a horrified scream at that. Now the blonde couldn't help but flinch.

"Kami-sama! You have been working almost non-stop for the past months," Yocchan pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "and as much as I am glad that you are such a diligent person, so much that we are already weeks ahead of scheduled paperwork and meetings, I am very much disappointed that you do not seem to think that to rest during holidays is just as important as work!"

"Ano…Yodogawa-san…"

"That's it!" The dark-haired tenkaijin took a hat from the newly-placed rack and made his way to the blonde, not even dropping his inflatable. Surprised, the other didn't make a move as Yocchan pulled a drawer of his desk and took out a pair of goggles. He pocketed it and proceeded to put the hat on the Kami's head.

"Eh?" He blinked as his assistant pulled him from his seat and effortlessly dragged him outside the door. Once outside the room, Yocchan locked it with his keys and faced Inumaru.

"No one is to enter that room except for me and you will not come back here until you've had a week-long vacation!" He almost resembled an adult scolding his son who was taller but cowering in his gaze.

"Ha-hai!" Inumaru didn't dare protest, even as he was of a higher position than that of the retreating dark-haired tenkaijin.

He had never seen anyone that infuriated before after all. Even Ueki's anger at Robert Haydn's cruelty before at Dogura Mansion would pale in comparison to Yocchan's at just the thought of him forgetting about their day-off—which just turned into a week-off. Now he had no choice but to follow what his assistant said. He couldn't do anything else.

Yodogawa was the only one who had a key to his office doors. He couldn't get in unless he destroyed the doors and that was certainly not an option.

Ah, well. At least now he can relax even if only for a week…

…but then, he had no idea what to do, neither did he have a clue where he could go for relaxation, as much as Heaven was full of wonderful places.

Briefly, the previous God's suggestion crossed his mind but he shook it off in a moment with a light blush.

'W-why would I want to find cute girls anyway?!'

Then again, the thought of going down to Earth didn't seem so bad. Maybe he could see his human friends. Who knows? Maybe they had some idea as to what he could do to relax.

'Then I'll go down there for my week-off. I'm sure Yodogawa-san wouldn't mind…'

Little did he know that he might experience almost the same thing that the previous God did more than a decade ago…

Little did he know that he would only get more stress than he already had…

Little did he know that his life would change by just a simple meeting with a worrying teen.

And all that just because of a forced vacation. Shouldn't it be the God who decides what is supposed happen in the lives of everyone?

Honestly, he didn't feel very much like he was the same God who was in charge.

How could he when he couldn't even control his own life?

He really needed a break…

To be continued…
Translation Notes:

Tenkaijin-heavenly being

Kami-god

Ano-literally means 'that' but in this case, it can translate into 'Well…'

(name)-chan-It is a honorific that is usually used between close people. Although it can also be used to show cuteness and fondness. In Yodogawa's case, it is attached directly after the first syllable of his name, making it 'Yocchan'. The letter 'c' is doubled but I will not explain that further as that is something more related to the Japanese characters. Another example of this is 'Occhan' which is fondly used for Orochimaru in another anime. As to why use that for him, that is an entirely different matter. It's complicated—sort of.

(name)-san-It is a honorific that can be translated into 'miss' or 'mister'.

(name)-sama-It is a honorific usually translated into 'lord' or 'lady' though not quite specifically so. It shows high respect and is ranked higher than –san but lower than –dono, which could mean also 'lord', 'lady', or even 'your highness'.

Author's notes: I originally intended this to be only a one-shot but my mind changed when I thought up of more things that could happen so I extended it. I apologize in advance if I will not be able to include much of the other characters here. This is not going to be something revolved around serious works. This is mostly light and the plot is quite simple.

Well, I'll be updating soon, as much as I don't seem to be updating much of my other stories. I only ask for your patience and your helpful comments and encouragements.

So, please review! Knowing that someone reads my stories can always inspire me. Take care then and see you all in the next chapter! Ja ne!

Milky signing out!

This chapter was done, edited and posted on May 3, 2007.