Chapter 9: The Grand Kai Imparts Wisdom; The Supreme Kai Takes Beerus to a Beach

"And once I rehome the souls in Other World, they'll be able to reproduce without any intervention from me?" Shin asked Grand Kai.

"Oh yeah, no troubles there. The reincarnation cycle flows without any one of us needing to do anything, it's just the ones that are stuck that you're rehoming."

"I see. While we're on the subject, I wanted to ask…um…" He had been planning to slip his question in slyly during their discussion on mortal reproduction, but Grand Kai had derailed early. "Do kais…do kais ever…reproduce like mortals?" His face was burning even though he hadn't even asked the right question.

"Eh? Never heard of that before. I'm pretty sure all kais grow on trees, but who knows. Didn't think any kais had the right equipment to be reproducing like any type of mortal I've seen."

Shin nodded. "Then, I suppose I should rephrase it to ask if kais ever…if they ever engage in sex for pleasure?" He was suddenly glad that Grand Kai wore sunglasses so he couldn't tell where exactly Grand Kai was looking.

"My dude, you're many millions of years old and you've only just asked this question?" Grand Kai seemed a bit baffled. "They certainly do if it takes their fancy. But don't ask them about it! Never met a kai who was happy to talk about it – they'd rather just pretend they didn't know what sex was, you know?"

"I see. Then how do you know they do?"

Grand Kai grinned. "Calling it sex implies there's a least one other person involved. Sometimes the other party isn't as tight-lipped."

This information was not at all comforting, but then he considered that Beerus was actually a fairly private person. He may be loud, but there were certain things he was extremely quiet about. After all, he had only recently learned that he and Whis did such things, and had been since before he was born. Not that he was thinking about doing anything more than kissing with Beerus! It was all just a curious question seeing as not even Beerus thought that kais engaged in such activities – or so he made it seem. Maybe he was starting to regret asking the question now, but once he'd thought of it he couldn't let it go. What if there was some crazy universal law about being pure of body that he didn't know about? Again, not that he was thinking about doing anything more, but just in case he had to know! Kais were taught to be pure of mind, but what if teachings about being pure of body had been lost because eventually it became unneeded to be said? Because no kai -

"Did you want some advice?" Grand Kai asked after Shin was quiet for too long.

Shin wanted to scream that he definitely was not thinking about engaging in the act. "Oh, no, thank you, I was just curious. Kibito isn't really the kind of person I could ask after all."

"Well that grand ancestor of yours seems more like the kind."

Shin forced a smile. "Please don't tell him about this conversation. I'm quite aware of his…ways, but I felt I'd get a more straightforward answer from you." Which was saying a lot, Shin thought. Whether Old Kai would consider why Shin was asking was something he couldn't decide on. He felt his ancestor might skip over the 'why' and reach straight for some dirty magazines and try to encourage Shin to follow him in his dirty old man ways. "Thank you for today, you've been a great help."

"No problem, SK, the line's always open to you if you need me."

Shin wanted to ask whom other kais had been having relations with in order for it to travel past the Grand Kai, but he felt he shouldn't probe too much lest his probing be casually dropped into a conversation at some point down the line. He was also aware that Grand Kai might have been involved in something that he didn't want to lay out on the table, and Shin didn't want to dig deep enough to find out.

ooo

"Eh? Shin? What are you doing here?" Beerus asked, in the middle of building a tower made of playing cards. Several discarded packs were littered around seeing as he was quite talented at this.

"I haven't heard from you for over a week, so I thought I'd pop by and see if everything was…" Alright? A ridiculous notion. "How is everything?"

"Just swell. Do you like my tower?"

"It's very impressive." Shin stepped closer.

"Don't touch!" Beerus froze, watching the tower intently, worried it would be disturbed by Shin's movements. "Next time I go to Earth, I'm gonna show those kids what a real card tower looks like."

"So, this is what you've been doing all week?"

"No, I started this a few hours – NO!" Beerus growled as he misplaced a card and it began to collapse. "You distracted me!"

"I apologise. Would you rather I leave you to your tower building?"

Beerus huffed and kicked the base of the tower that hadn't collapsed completely. "No. So, why are you here?"

"To see you."

"See me for what?" Beerus asked.

Shin cocked a brow. "Just to see you? We've been doing random things together for several months now? I thought that maybe we'd visit another random planet today if you felt like it."

"Oh, right, yeah." He was pleased this was why Shin was here, having wondered if Shin has caught on to the current events in the universe – something he was trying his hardest to stay out of.

"We don't have to," Shin said. "I… I feel like I've caught you at a bad time, maybe I should leave."

"No, no, stay. Or not - let's go somewhere. You can pick."

Shin was torn between staying here to figure out what was really going on, and leaving because he thought that the card tower was the real problem. He thought of somewhere calm, and they appeared on a beach dotted with palm trees, the waves gently lapping at the shore.

"Where's this?"

"My favourite planet I've made."

Beerus looked at it with a different expression once he was told that.

"Lord Beerus, did something happen? Or –"

"Nothing happened."

"Are you bored of me?"

Beerus looked at him. "What makes you think that?"

"When I didn't hear from you, I thought, maybe… Maybe it was the start of things beginning to go back to how they used to be." He'd had a lot more thoughts, like about how he thought Beerus would tire of him if the furthest he would go was a kiss, but he wasn't going to bring that up just yet.

Beerus sat down and let the sand sift between his fingers. "Maybe they would have done, but you turned up to see me for once. Look, this past week I've paid a bit more attention to Whis – just like you suggested."

"Oh, I'm glad to hear it!"

"And, you know, we talk about you sometimes. Well, I talk about you," Beerus corrected himself. "Whis pointed out that in my… Um…" It suddenly occurred to him that he'd never told Shin that this all started because he was out to prove a point to Whis. "He said I always make the plans, go to you, invite you over, and so on. You never come to me. Essentially he suggested that maybe you wouldn't come to me if I just left you alone. But he was wrong, I win!"

"Did you really think I wouldn't want to see you again?"

"Of course I thought you did," Beerus said, "but I love a good bet against Whis, so I had to play it out, however long it took." He pulled Shin into his lap and kissed him. "Thanks for helping me win. Shame I forgot to leave Whis a note telling him who'd come to whisk me away."

"He's a smart person, I'm sure he'll figure it out."

"So, what's there to do around here?"

"Not much. I just wanted to go somewhere relaxing. Or were you hoping for somewhere a little more inhabited?"

Beerus leaned back on his elbows, enjoying the warmth of the sun on his skin. "I don't mind. We can just chat, seeing as I now have something to talk about. You seemed worried I was tiring of you, but surely you're looking forward to that day, right? I mean, the more I get to know you, the more it seems like you're the type to just admire from afar. To me it seems like you just want to be around me, and maybe have me show you a little affection from time to time – but definitely not a lot and not too often!"

It was an all too accurate assessment, Shin thought. "Doesn't that suit you too? I thought you didn't want to develop any serious feelings, so…"

"No. I don't think it does." Beerus sat up. "All I'm getting out of this is a slow descent into feelings I'm trying to avoid. I realised it last week when I had you right there in my bathroom and all I did was be extremely nice and keep the boundaries intact. I teased you a bit, yeah, but the only time I touched you was when I pulled you under the water. And it was only your ankle. Which was very good of me in my opinion."

"And I thank you for that."

"Maybe I should have been a bit more of an asshole so you'd stop liking me at all." He pushed Shin down into the sand. "I've been too nice, and now you think I won't do horrible things to – OW!"

Beerus sat back and pulled his tail close, finding a crab pinching the end. "What the fuck?! I thought you didn't have wildlife on any of your planets?"

"I do now!" Shin smiled, glad to move on from wherever the conversation had been going. "I've been busy rehoming those souls."

Beerus sneered at the crab, giving a strong flick of his tail to send the creature flying towards the sea. "Yes, and those kinds of trapped souls probably belong to bastards who'd snip at someone's tail!"

"It's just a little crab, they probably don't even remember their previous life."

While Beerus believed him, it didn't excuse such uncalled for behaviour. He massaged his tail, looking for the sympathy vote.

"I know you're made of stronger stuff," Shin said. "I thought you'd be glad to see something walking about."

"Yeah, I am. Glad that Grand Kai is good for something, but have you got anything nicer?"

Shin laughed. "Of course - did you want to see? Or did you want to continue being horrible to me?" For some reason he was feeling daring by posing that question, feeling a rush as he waited for Beerus to answer.

"That crab was karma for the thoughts I was having, so no, I'm not going to chance it again." Beerus began to get up, but paused. "Or were you hoping I'd continue?"

"No, not at all. I'm just glad to see you're still you." He was not ready for the next level of teasing, not when he'd only just started truly considering what that would entail.

Beerus laughed as he followed the kai towards the greenery where the beach ended. "Of course I'm still me, you're just getting to see the facets of me I reserve for the chosen few."

A/N: 'Fun' fact: the beach scene had 3 rewrites – a new personal record! A short chapter because the next one is the longest of the fic.