RedWeaselChan - I apologize for the long wait. Stuff happened and then I got into another anime and went on a serious binge watch/read on it and then Kenpachi drama in Bleach.

It was AWESOME!

Didn't help any that DarkLullaby was also everywhere on her favorite shows and such.

We apologize deeply.

But here is the next chapter~!

I hope you enjoy :3

Chapter 8 – The Revealing

"So, what happened this time?" Konzen asked, looking at the four figures in front of him. Yuki, who was standing next to her boss holding a small stack of papers, was slightly confused at what she was looking at.

Two military officers covered in bandages, her sister standing between them with an annoyed expression, and Chao Li standing behind them with his usual glower.

This did not look good.

"Nothing much," Tenpou smiled. "We just had a few childish wrestling matches."

"Did we become manlier?" Kenren chimed in, his own goofy smile in place.

Konzen looked between the two men and narrowed his eyes. There was no way it was just them being stupid and wrestling. "Lies. You guys did something again, didn't you?"

The military officers tensed at the question but didn't let it show on their faces. They didn't want to tell the two what happened because of obvious reasons. Kenren and Tenpou don't want to worry their two new friends. Amaya didn't want to worry her sister. Chao Li just didn't want too much drama so he kept his mouth shut so they all agreed to keep it between them four and Goku.

The tense air was broken by the short woman by Konzen. "Did Amaya start it?"

"What?!" the accused woman screeched as the two men beside her chuckled. "I didn't do any-!"

"Yeah, she started it," Kenren instigated. "She did this to us."

"I did not!" Amaya denied, a bit flustered that she was being accused of such actions.

Yuki just shook her head at her sibling. "Aya, how many times have I told you to stop starting fights?" she scolded.

"But I didn't do it Yuki!" Amaya continued to preach her innocence but things weren't going her way.

"She did it," Chao Li spoke up. He had to hide his smirk as he saw his ward turn around and gape at him. "She started the whole thing. Punched Kenren first because he touched her ass when they were cleaning Tenpou's office."

Amaya felt her face flush at the story. She peeked a glance at her superior to her left and saw him smirking away. She wanted to smack it off his face but felt she couldn't do any damage because of her embarrassment.

"Then punched Tenpou because he kept on leaving ashes everywhere when he was done smoking," Chao Li finished as he walked towards the other bodyguard, feeling like a hit to the stomach was coming from the Admiral.

"And you did not get hit?" Yuki questioned, confused as to how the bodyguard managed to avoid her sister's wrath.

"I was taking a nap far away from little princess over there," Chao Li threw an evil smirk towards the blushing woman who grabbed the nearby desk ornament to throw his way.

Luckily the General stopped her before she could chunk it. Konzen sighed out, irritated at the argument going on. He just wanted to know what happened! "Enough!" he growled out, slamming his hands on his desk and stood up. "Stop playing games!"

"We aren't playing games," Kenren said with a straight face.

"We are telling the truth," Tenpou smiled innocently.

Konzen figured he wouldn't get anything out of the military officers. He looked to the child next to Yuki who was surprisingly quiet during the whole thing. "Goku. Do you know what happened?"

Goku put a finger to his lips and thought about it. Was this what Tenpou was talking about?

"We'll keep this a secret from Konzen and Yuki because it's going to worry them," Tenpou said as they left the room of Li Touten's.

"I don't know because it's a secret!" Goku said in his innocent way that the military officers couldn't help but laugh at his answer. Konzen glared at the child, hoping he wasn't influenced by his old acquaintance so he could get some answers but apparently not. He heard light laughter next to the boy and shot his glare at the woman.

Yuki put a hand up to her mouth in an attempt to hide her laughter but it was futile. Between Goku's response and Konzen's reaction, she couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Well, at least you know he is loyal," she managed to say between giggles.

The blonde sighed out, his anger almost gone at the sight of a happy secretary. "Whatever. Just don't get Yuki or Goku involved in weird things," Konzen said as he grabbed a small pile of papers on his desk. "Although it seems to be unavoidable, it's not welcomed…" he mumbled under his breath to himself. "Speaking of weird things, what did you guys come here for today?"

Kenren's face lit up like he remembered something. "Oh, I almost forgot. There was a meeting for the army just now. Looks like Nataku Taishi is coming back from the Underworld."

"EH?!" Goku exclaimed in excitement. "Nataku is coming back?! I'll go! I'll go!"

"That's what I thought you're going to say," Kenren chuckled out. "Are you coming too, Yuki? Konzen?"

"No," Konzen answered for both of them. "We have to go deliver documents to Kanzeon."

Nearby, Goku didn't hear what one of his caretakers said so he went up to his favorite. "Yuki~!" he nearly yelled out, trying his hardest to keep his excitement down as he tugged on her sleeve. "Yuki! Are you coming with us?"

Yuki kneeled down to face the child at an even level. "I'm sorry sweetheart. I still have a bit of work to be done," she said with a sad smile.

Goku looked down, sad that the woman couldn't come with him to see his friend. "Oh…"

Seeing the sadness in the boy's golden eyes, she felt bad. She wished she could go but her work came first right now. She looked up to her right and saw her sister, a plan formulating in her head. "But I'm sure Amaya would love to go with you and Kenren!"

Hearing her name, the Admiral looked down at her sister with wide eyes. How did she become part of the equation?!

Goku didn't even notice the look of disbelief as he turned around to face Amaya with wide, bright eyes. "Really?!" he asked the woman, his excitement going up once again.

Amaya couldn't say no to those eyes. She couldn't say no with normal eyes from this child. She let out a heavy sigh, feeling herself cave in. "Yeah, I'll go with you."

The Admiral didn't even have time to react when she felt her arm being pulled, the heretic pulling her towards the door. "Let's go! Let's go!" Goku exclaimed, his tugging a bit more persistent now that he had a friend that would come with him.

"Yeah Yeah~," Kenren nonchalantly mumbled for the woman as he followed them. Amaya couldn't help but to smile at how excited the boy was to see his friend. It reminded her of her sister when she first met her bodyguard. They both had that same contagious smile and laughter that could make even the most evil of hearts share in the joy.

As the three most rambunctious of the group left the room, Konzen called out to his old acquaintance with a knowing look. Tenpou knew what the look was meant for. He knew what it said without any words that needed to be spoken.

"I am aware," Tenpou said with a side glance. "Aren't you going to suggest that it'll be dangerous for Goku to get too friendly with Nataku Taishi?"

Konzen didn't say anything. He wanted to say yes, to keep Goku away from Nataku but he didn't want to take away the boy's happiness. Even though Goku was almost always happy but Nataku seemed to bring out a bit more happiness then usual and Konzen didn't want to take that away from the boy.

Tenpou noticed the inner turmoil in his friend and the worried look on the secretary's face. He also didn't want Goku to get into any trouble because of the bad things going around the War God but he also didn't want to take away the boy's happiness. "Indeed, Nataku's father, Li Touten, is a greedy man. Full of ambition and with no worth."

Tenpou then aimed his eyes to the young child who was laughing away with the three troublemaking military officers. He couldn't help himself as his own smile appeared at the sight of the child's smile. "We all have probably already craved for that boy's smile…"

Konzen and Yuki smiled, not noticing that they did as they watched the heretic get his hair ruffled by the General, his laughter increasing.

Yeah, that boy's smile was worth everything.

"Kenren got dismissed as the Army General?!"

Kanzeon didn't even look up from the papers in her hand at the exclamation from her nephew. "Well, it's not official yet," she said in a nonchalant tone like it wasn't a big deal. "Because Tenpou Gensui is one step higher than Li Touten position wise but it's about Li Touten who's slacking off under the protection of Nataku's influence right now. It won't happen by itself."

Konzen looked down, his mind piecing together everything that has happened. The conversation that just went on in his office, the guy's injuries…

All of that because of Li Touten?

Konzen looked to his right at his secretary and saw her eyes wide with worry. Yuki was also processing everything she was given. Her first thought was to her sister and how she was dealing with the dismissal. She knew her sibling wouldn't allow anything to happen to the General because of her feelings to the womanizer.

Her second thought went to the woman's bodyguard. If her sibling went off on a rampage and tried anything reckless, he would be in the line of fire and both of them would be punished. Everything would just be turned upside down if Kenren would be dismissed.

And nobody has told them anything.

"No one has told us anything," Konzen voiced out their thoughts to his aunt.

Kanzeon looked up with bored eyes, "It probably wasn't worth talking about."

Konzen clenched his fists at the answer. "We are the only ones who doesn't know anything. I don't know about what the higher ranking officers are doing or inside pieces of information about the army. Yuki does not as well. We are like outsiders."

Yuki looked at her boss and saw his clenched fists. She became worried at how his brows knitted together but knew if she said anything, it would turn worse.

"Makes my blood boil," Konzen finished his rant, glaring at nothing in particular. He was just so angry that his new friends kept something as serious as this from him and Yuki. Didn't they trust them?

Kanzeon looked at her nephew with a raised eyebrow, never seeing him this upset over something. She then let out a half chuckle, tossing the papers on her desk, as she said, "Brat."

The blonde and the woman was surprised by the name.

"There are things you'll never find out if you don't look around, Konzen," Kanzeon lectured as she stood up from her chair. She walked over to the secretary and grabbed her shoulders, "You can also look around in secret. Ask your beloved secretary to snoop around as well." She then walked up to her relative and patted his shoulder, "You're not a kid who can't even read and write without someone telling you to. How many years have you lived?"

Both looked at the Merciful Goddess with calculating eyes. She was right on many levels. They had all the right things to use to look around and gain information. So why didn't they look around sooner? Maybe they were caught up in the boring everyday schedule Heaven offered them? Or they were oblivious to what was going on around the higher ups?

Their thoughts were interrupted by Kanzeon grabbing Konzen's hair like Goku did when the heretic first met him. Her next words struck both of them in shock.

"Can you stay like that chibi sun?"

In another building, lots of people could be heard gasping in awe at the return of the War God. Nataku and Li Touten were seen bowing in front of God, people surrounding them to welcome the heretic back. Nataku didn't like it one bit. He just kept to himself, hoping this would go by quickly.

"Good job Nataku Taishi. I hear you have again worked unbelievably hard," God complimented the boy with a small smile.

Nataku didn't even have time to answer before the man next to him opened his mouth. "I'll graciously accept those comments I do not deserve," Li Touten smirked as he bowed his head in respect to the elder.

Nataku narrowed his eyes a bit but caught himself. He was upset that his father answered and made him look like he did what he did. His father did nothing but he couldn't do anything about it. Nobody even spoke up for him like that one man before he left. It left him feeling empty and alone again.

"Hmmm," God nodded his head, "You can be excused now. Rest well."

"As you wish," Li Touten answered once again, standing up with his son and turning to leave. As the duo walked to the door, a child's voice could be heard above the crowd. "Nataku!" the voice called out. "Nataku! Over here!"

The War God looked to where the voice was coming from and he was surprised to see the boy he met a few days ago waving at him. His face lit up in a smile and said, "You!"

"Welcome back!" Goku said, still waving away so that his friend could see him.

Nataku was about to wave back but a hand on his shoulder brought his attention next to him. He looked up and saw his father with questioning eyes, intentionally looking right at him and not the child trying to get his son's attention. "Father?" he asked, confused with how he's acting right now.

"That child," Li Touten glanced at the child still waving, "He's the 'heretic child' born in the Underworld, is he not?"

Nataku finally understood what was going on. His eyes widened at the next words Li Touten said.

"Kill him."