Weasel-Chan: So, this has been sitting in my computer for awhile...Done...And ready for posting but I never got around to it :/ I apologize.
Go grab the pitchforks and torches to chase me with. It won't be a very long chase. I'm lazy and old. My old bones won't get me far.
Anyways, after a long wait, here it is~! :D I hope you enjoy! If not, you know where to find me. Crippled with my old bones :P
Disclaimer: We don't own Saiyuki.
OH! Before you start the story, I have news. I'm also posting this on WattPad. If you happen to have the app and all and want to read it on there, go for it~! :3 It's under the same name and my name is the same on there as well~. Just Saiyan.
There. Daily advertising of the day done.
Bye.
Chapter 4: The Start
"Oi Tenpou!" Kenren called out as he knocked on his friend's door. He found out some interesting information yesterday and he needs to tell the lazy man. After a few seconds of nothing, the tall male was getting suspicious of the silence. "Did he get lost in his world of books again?" He sighed and slowly opened the door, "I'm coming in Ten-ACK!"
The General was almost knocked down by a pile of books rushing out at the open door with an irritated woman on top of the mess. "What the hell Kenren?! I told you not to open the door!" Amaya yelled at her superior.
"I didn't hear anything! I thought Tenpou was taking a nap or something!" Kenren argued. He was honestly surprised to see the Admiral but her outburst killed his joy.
"It is common courtesy to leave if nobody answers idiot!" the violent woman retorted as she tried to move all the books back in the room.
"This is my office to midget. I can enter as much as I want to!" the General reminded with a smirk since he knew he won the battle.
Amaya growled, "And yet you know of the dangers while opening that door since this guy," she pointed to the back of the head poking above a surprisingly clean desk, "keeps on bringing more books with him each time he leaves this office."
He was caught at that point. Both of them knew their friend always brings back books about war and occasionally stuff from the World Below. He claimed he needed the materials but both red eyed Gods think he is a hoarder.
Seeing as she won the Admiral scoffed, "Now, please stay out of my way like Chao Li." She jabbed a thumb to the right where her bodyguard was lying on a small stack of books reading a random book he found with a bored face.
Kenren threw up his hands in surrender so the annoyed woman wouldn't punch him. He slowly tip-toed around random stack of books to get to the Field Marshall behind the clean desk. "Oi, how did it get this bad?" the black haired man asked.
Tenpou looked up at his old friend with a confused look, "Oh, Kenren. When did you get here?"
Kenren let his head drop at the obliviousness of the lazy man, "You didn't hear Amaya and I fighting just now?"
"Ah, sorry! I never noticed," the Field Marshall chuckled but was serious about not hearing the argument. He was too into his book to even hear anything besides his light breathing.
"Never noticed," the General grumbled under his breath, clearly not believing his friend.
"Amaya came by about two hours ago but suddenly yelled at me about the condition my office was in. So, she started cleaning but I found a book and noticed it was about the history of war from the World Below," Tenpou explained his situation. "But once I started reading it, I couldn't stop."
Kenren noticed his friend was about to quote something from the book and stopped him, "Look, I didn't come here to join your book club." His serious tone made the Admiral, who was still sweeping the books in the hallway, stop and listen. Even her bodyguard glanced at the man. "Nataku Taishi has come back from subduing Gyumao."
That seemed to grab everyone's attention. "Isn't that a bit too quick?" Tenpou asked. "Even though the Upper Levels are taking cautious steps, it shouldn't be that quick."
"Even though Nataku won, he was seriously injured. He's still unconscious," Kenren said as he leaned against the bookshelf behind him. He crossed his arms across his chest and glared at nothing in particular, "But one thing is bothering me. The other soldiers who went along came back injury free."
The Field Marshall looked down with a frown, "So, they did rely on the 'killing puppet' for everything."
"Those bastards," Amaya growled out. Even though she never knew the Fighting God, it still didn't sit well with her that a group of soldiers were there and did nothing to help the kid. It made her sick.
Tenpou suddenly remembered his conversation with the violent woman's sister, "Hey, how come you never told us?"
"Huh?" the red eyed woman looked to her superior in confusion.
"About the requests going to war with Nataku."
"What?!" Chao Li screeched, throwing the book in his hand down as he jumped up.
"Why didn't you tell us?!" Kenren yelled, feeling a bit hurt he wasn't informed about the situation. Normally the Admiral would always come to him if something came up about something new going on.
"And where was I when they asked?!" the bodyguard questioned, still in shock he didn't know about this. He was usually the first one to hear about news going on around concerning his ward.
"I didn't tell you guys because it wasn't a big deal!" Amaya growled out, glaring at the three men bombing her with questions. "And you never heard about it because they sent letters to the house."
The men calmed down but still gave her looks that wanted more answers. The Upper Levels were getting gutsier inviting the black haired woman to join the squad they formed.
"Who requested you to join?" Tenpou asked, already having a feeling who it was.
The Admiral scratched the back of her head, "Uh…I don't really remember honestly. I only read one of the letters."
Chao Li grabbed the woman's shoulders and shook her back and forth, "You dumbass! How could you not read the letters?!"
Amaya head-butted her bodyguard, causing him to stumble back and let go of her. "I didn't feel like reading the rest jackass!"
"You didn't tell me?!" the gray eyed male asked again, rubbing his forehead to stop the pain from the surprisingly powerful head-butt.
Red eyes narrowed, "I already told you it's because it wasn't a big deal! The only person who knew is Yuki and the reason she knew is because she was the one who opened the letter."
Chao Li finally calmed down but scoffed out, "Probably thought it was from her boyfriend Konzen."
Kenren heard the aggressive bodyguard and remembered his adventure yesterday. "Ah, I've remembered," he looked to his friend who was still sitting on the floor. "I've met the child that Kanzeon was entrusted with."
"Is it Goku you're talking about?" Tenpou asks, ignoring the confused looks he saw on the woman's and bodyguard's faces.
"Yeah, that was my first time meeting someone with golden eyes," the General said as he looked back to his interaction with the child. "Isn't that too harsh on him? Just because he is a heretic he has to wear those shackles that weigh over 80 kg."
"Wait a damn minute!" Amaya interrupted the serious moment. All three men looked at her like she grew a second head. "Is this the kid I heard about being my illegitimate child with you?"
Kenren chuckled, "You heard about that?"
"Bastard!" the woman threw a nearby book at the man's head. "Why did you go around saying that?!"
"I didn't think it would go around that quick," Kenren shrugged as he dodged another book aimed for his head. "Or that you would hear about it," he added.
Chao Li was in the background, trying to figure out how his ward could become pregnant without him noticing. Didn't a woman's stomach distend during the nine months? At least, that's what he read in one of Tenpou's books.
"How did you hear about it anyways?" the Field Marshall asked innocently, quite curious how his oblivious Admiral heard the rumor.
Amaya stopped throwing the books at the idiot General to tell the lazy man her story, "Yuki and I met up when I went to turn in those overdue papers I found…"
-An Hour Ago-
Amaya was walking down the hallway, holding the stack of overdue papers she found in her superior's office when she was cleaning. She knew she was going to get an earful from the person who deals with these kinds of things but they should know better to give it to the Field Marshall. The only thing he cares about is his books and his collection from the World Below.
The Admiral looked up when she saw a familiar person in the hall and smirked. "Yuki!"
The woman who was called looked behind her and smiled brightly when she saw who it was. "Aya~! What are you doing here?" the eldest sister asked as she walked up to her sibling.
"Tenpou didn't turn in these papers on time and I just found them a while ago when I was cleaning his office," Amaya said with an annoyed look. "I swear he's hopeless."
"Don't say that! He seems really nice," Yuki defended the hoarder even though she only just recently met him.
"Yeah, you say that until you have to do all the work for both him and the General!" the Admiral growled out.
"At least it isn't boring," the slightly shorter woman reminded. She knew her sister didn't hate the two men above her in rank since they keep her occupied and almost out of trouble. It was never a dull moment in the Western Army.
"Yeah. Oh, I need to ask you something. When did those flowers in the back-," Amaya started to ask but was cut off when she saw a group of two slightly older women were looking at her with disgust in their eyes. Yuki saw as well and was confused. Those two women were normally the nicest in the building.
When they continued to glare, Yuki's protective instincts kicked in and she approached the two. "Is there something wrong?" she asked as politely as she could, trying to hold back her anger.
"Yes, where is your child?" one woman directed the question to the youngest sibling.
Both sisters were very confused. "What?" the secretary blurted out.
"I don't have a child or a significant other," the Admiral said, slightly annoyed about this situation.
"We heard you had an illegitimate child with Kenren Taisho," the other woman explained. "So we were wondering where said child was if he was not with you."
Red eyes narrowed at the name given as she lowly snarled out, "Kenren…"
Yuki, however, could not hold back her smile and slight giggle from coming out. She knew about her sister's feelings for the General even though she never met the man but she trusted he was a great man from all the things her sibling told her about him.
Before the eldest could explain that there was no child involved, she was interrupted by the young woman next to her. "Sorry, but I need to go fix that problem," Amaya said as she smiled to the now confused women. "See ya at home Yuki."
The secretary knew what her sister was going to do and ran after her, "Aya! Don't you dare hurt Kenren Taisho!"
"I won't! I'll make sure to rip his tongue out so he won't speak nonsense anymore!"
-Present-
"I don't even know what the child looks like damn it!" Amaya yelled as she continued to throw the books she stacked an hour ago.
Kenren dodged the flying books aimed for him and smirked, "He's cute~!" That only seemed to fuel the fire in the woman attacking him as she threw the books quicker and definitely harder.
As the two 'children' continued to fight, the Field Marshall thought about the little boy he met. True, he is cute but the people in Heaven were never kind to heretics. They never allowed heretics to stay here, even if they were cute. In a sense…
Goku is quite the same as Nataku.
Voices. Hurtful words coming from them. Please stop.
"You're heretical!"
"You're a heretic!"
"I never gave birth to such a monster!"
Stop…
"How could this have happened?!"
A flash of my father's cynical smile.
Stop.
"Monster!"
STOP!
"Nataku!"
The blonde woke up when he heard his name pierce through the nightmare. "Huh?" he looked around to see who screamed his name. He was surprised to see bright golden eyes staring right back at him. "You?"
"Ah, thank god!" Goku exclaimed in relief. "You haven't opened your eyes and I've been thinking what I should do. Are you okay?"
"Ah…yes," the Fighting God meekly replied, still surprised that the boy he met a few days ago was there.
Satisfied with the answer he was given, the brunette looked around the room they were in. "Hey, is this your room?" he asked. "How terrible! You're injured and they put you all alone in this dark room."
Nataku sighed as he slowly moved into a sitting position, "It's okay. It's like this all the time. No one would care anyway to what happens to me."
He was startled when his visitor slammed his hand on his bed and yelled, "What are you talking about?! There's no such thing!"
Nataku stared at the heretic in shock. No one told him anything like that.
"That's why I came over just to meet you, Nataku!" Goku smiled brightly to show his sincerity. "I was so happy when you said I was 'great'! I was much happier when we smiled and said 'see you again'."
The blonde was at a loss of words. "Really?" he stuttered out. "Hey! Once I recover, I'll show you around here in Heaven. I'll take you places that no one knows, a place where tall trees grow. A place where lots of wild berries grow."
"I'm going I'm going I'm absolutely going~!"
"Ouch!" Nataku suddenly hunches over, grabbing his shoulder in pain, clearly not fully recovered.
"Hey, if you don't feel well, I think you should sleep," Goku turns to the door, "I'll go call someone…" but is stopped by a hand grabbing his wrist.
"It's okay," the Fighting God stares into gold eyes, almost pleading, "It's okay. Stay here."
The heretic smiles back and says, "Sure."
"Master Konzen! Lady Yuki! I never knew that you two were the kid's keepers!" a servant, who was expecting someone to pick up the child, exclaimed as he saw the blonde and his secretary with her bodyguard in tow.
"We are not his keepers. We are his caretakers," Konzen corrected the servant with a scowl, clearly annoyed with the man.
Sensing the male's bad mood, the short woman jumped in, "Ah! Sorry for the trouble he caused. We'll take him out of your hands now."
The servant showed the way to where the little boy was and opened the door. The blonde entered first and said, "Oi, monkey! Let's g…" he stopped when he found the child.
Yuki peeked in when her boss stopped speaking and nearly squealed at the sight. Her little monkey was sleeping, his head on the edge of the bed as his body was sitting on the floor and his friend was sleeping on the bed. She so badly wanted to take a picture!
Behind her, Yun Li saw his ward's episode and rolled his eyes. She is too easily entertained.
Konzen scoffs but lets a small smile grace his lips as he mumbles, "Two small animals…"
Somewhere in Heaven
"There's a dangerous factor?"
"Yes. A rumor says someone has doubts about the Upper Level's movement. He must be a small fry, but if he can threaten this plan…"
"So, I think that our actions have gone too far. Should we cancel this plan or should we go on with it?"
"Fine, dispose of this person somehow as soon as you find him."
"Yes."
"Is there any problem with Nataku Taishi? I heard he has gone too far with his mischief."
"No," a deep voice rumbled through the room. "He's an excellent weapon. Looks like he acts a bit arrogantly sometimes but, he will never disobey me…because he is a very obedient son."
"Hey Konzen. There are a lot of people down there. What's happening?"
The blonde looked up from his paper he was reading and behind him to see the heretic looking out the window. He turned back to his paper with a sigh, "There's a party the day after tomorrow and they're doing the preparations. It's Tentei's birthday."
"A festival?" Goku asked with bright eyes.
"No night stalls though. You should stay here quietly…" Konzen looked up to see the boy staring at him with begging eyes, complete with dog ears and a tail. Seeing as he couldn't say no, the male growled out, "Do as you like."
"Yay~! Festival~! Goku exclaimed in joy but stopped when he remembered something. "AH!"
The blonde jumped at the scream and glared at the child, "What is it noisy saru?!"
"I forgot to tell Nataku my name last time! And just when I got a name!"
"Isn't it alright?" Konzen interrupted the heretic's freak-out session. "You can tell him the next time you meet him. You're friends aren't you?"
Realizing his caretaker was right, Goku lightly laughed with a boyish smile, "Yeah, you're right!"
The Next Day
Goku stared at the big group of people as he walked between Konzen and Yuki, Yun Li walking behind the small 'family'. The young child never saw anything like this. He spotted a food stand and tugged the hand holding his, "Yuki! Can I get some food?"
The kind woman looked down at the child with a warm smile, "Of course my dear!"
"Yay~!" the heretic exclaimed.
"Just don't wander off Goku. It's the biggest festival in the Upper World so you'll get lost easily," Yuki said just as she felt the hand in hers let go.
Konzen just so happened to see the child walking off and grabbed his hair before he made it too far. "Don't go wandering off when Yuki just told you not to!" he growled out.
Somewhere at the festival, a beautiful woman yawns in boredom. Her assistant sweat drops at the action, "Kanzeon Bosatsu, you're being too indecently open."
"But I'm bored!" Kanzeon whined. "Why do I have to attend that old buffoon's birthday party? Plus," she looks at the crowd of people attending the festival, "this banquet itself is mainly to check how much the Upper World people are pledging loyalty to him, right? Makes me laugh…"
She then sees a small crowd of black hair enter the crowd, "Ah, but it seems like I'll get to observe an entertaining performance this year."
"Huh?" her assistant looked to where the Goddess was looking. He was very surprised.
In the crowd were Kenren, Tenpou, Amaya, Chao Li, Konzen, Goku, Yuki and Yun Li.