One Up

Chapter Five: A plan in motion stays in motion

A/N: I've already explained the update problem in my other ficceh, so if you don't know why it took so long you can find it somewhere. Anyway, I decided to take a chappeh to explain things from Kenren's POV. I've made him out to beh sort of a jerk in this one, but that's not really true. There's two sides to every story, even if you're acting a bit mean. Tho Tenpou's not exactly being transparent here…

And yes, I'm having too much fun with Stalker!Gojun.

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It took a lot to surprise Kenren anymore. He'd spent a timeless existence going out of his way to shock others, and the process had only been reciprocated on a few occasions.

This was one of such occasions.

The scene froze for a few moments, no one knowing exactly what to do. It was Gojun who acted first, responding eagerly to the kiss and wrapping his arms tightly around Tenpou's neck, preventing him from breaking away. The gensui's eyes widened and he began to push against the dragon until he was free.

Kenren stood, frozen in place right after turning the corner. Next to him, Tara didn't seem so important anymore. Whatever he had with her was gone in that instant. Realization set in, like a punch in the gut. And it was all his fault.

Across from them, Tenpou turned to look at Kenren.

The girl was there, but the taisho was gone.

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"Ken-nii-chan?"

Kenren, from his perch in one of his normal sakura blossom trees, didn't move to look at the new intruder. "What's up Goku?"

The boy jumped a little, scrambling onto the lowest branch like the monkey he was supposed to be. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Goku frowned. "You grownups are so weird. Someone comes along trying to help, and you don't want to even say that anything's wrong."

Kenren laughed a little. "You've got a lot to learn about growing up Goku," he shifted, turning to face the boy.

Goku, standing on the branch, took hold of the next one up, swinging back and forth on it. "Are you mad at Ten-chan?"

Kenren's eyes widened. Had someone told him what had happened? Or had he been there when the incident took place? He had a bad habit of sneaking around. "Why do you ask that?"

He shrugged, as if it were the most obvious thing to him. "Because you're out here all by yourself, and Ten-chan's locked in his office again."

"Is it that weird when I'm not bothering him?"

Now Goku laughed, free of the sarcasm Kenren's had dripped with. "Of course! You two are always together!

"Yeah, I guess so…" Kenren muttered, staring into the sky.

"So if you are mad at each other, you'd better make up fast. I wanna play with both of you and I can't do that if you're fighting." Goku crossed his arms, balancing without problem on the small branch.

The taisho smiled a bit. "That's it, huh kid?"

Goku nodded. "All you've got to do is say you're sorry."

Kenren sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the branch. "How come you automatically assume it's my fault?" he asked, with no real malice.

The boy grinned, shrugging. "Isn't it always?"

Kenren blinked, speechless.

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Goku was telling the truth when he said Tenpou had locked himself in his office. What he didn't know was that he wasn't hiding from Kenren.

Well, at least not totally.

The gensui had taken it upon himself to organize his shelves. Kenren, Goku and himself had just done this a few weeks ago, but it was already in need of it once more. And if Tenpou kept himself busy, maybe he wouldn't think so hard about what had happened.

He was literally buried in his work by midday.

It was later toward evening when he started receiving visitors. Normally this would be odd, since he'd locked the door and hadn't come out of hiding all day. But Kenren had many skills, and getting through locks happened to be one of them. The door was opened with almost no resistance, and the taisho walked over to his book pile on the floor, hands on his hips.

"Making a book fort without me?"

Tenpou looked up at him, regarding him curiously. "Taisho?"

Kenren took a seat beside him, cross-legged. He leaned against the base of Tenpou's desk with a sigh, before facing the brunette with an apologetic smile. "Look, I'm sorry about…y'know…"

Tenpou shook his head. "You don't have anything to be sorry for."

Awkwardly, the general rubbed the back of his head. "You're free to do whatever you want. It's what we agreed, right? Nothing formal, nothing to hold us back."

He saw something flash behind the bespectacled eyes, which somehow resembled disappointment. Before he had time to register it, however, it was gone again. Tenpou stood. "That was the agreement, unless you have some objection…"

Something in the back of his mind screamed, but not knowing exactly what it was, he silenced it.

"…then there's nothing further on this we need to discuss."

Kenren sighed, pushing himself to his feet as well. "I guess you've got a lot of work to do then?"

The marshal nodded curtly, which Kenren knew to be the final word on the subject. Usually he could get Tenpou to forget his work for awhile, but it didn't look like much chance of that right now. And at this point, he didn't even see much use in trying, even if the outcome would've been positive.

He walked to the door slowly, pausing on his way out to look at Tenpou. The gensui wasn't looking at him, focusing on some random paperwork on his desk.

"I object…" he muttered.

Tenpou looked up. "What?"

"Nothing," he replied and left.

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Konzen glared at the door. On the other side, Kenren was still knocking, interrupting his work. After a minute of this, it became obvious that the taisho wasn't going to give up, the blond kami finally went to the door, swinging it open with a growl.

"What the hell do you want?"

"Well, I was going to the garden to have a moment of self-loathing," Kenren grumbled, walking past Konzen into the room, "but your pet monkey's making it his job to be wherever I want to be, so I'm hiding out here for awhile."

Konzen slammed the door shut, crossing his arms. "This wouldn't have anything to do with the scene in the hall, would it?"

Kenren turned on him. "How the hell do you know about that?"

He laughed, rolling his eyes. "Word travels fast when you've got a nosy goddess floating around."

"Dammit…"

The blond returned to his desk, scooping up and armload of papers. "Look, since I want absolutely no part in this, I'll give you however long the next meeting takes. Then I want you out of here. Never come back, and never whine to me again. Got it?"

Kenren bowed mockingly. "Of course your Holiness…"

Konzen glared daggers at him. "Fuck off."

This was met with a small smirk. "Ah, therein lies the problem."

The blond left before he could hear another word.

Kenren sighed, looking around. Konzen's desk looked uncomfortable, and the thought of sitting on his bed was kind of creepy. Finally he decided to sit at the window, so at least he could stare at the sky.

"We agreed. So what's the problem?"

He had always hated Gojun. The uptight officer was always grinding his nerves in particular. But this was something different. This wasn't just anger toward his enemy, it was also in seeing Gojun and Tenpou together. For some reason, it hurt. It was like seeing his future torn up, right in front of him.

Future? With Tenpou? When had he started assuming that he even HAD a future with Tenpou?

Then he realized that he couldn't imagine life without the brunette. He'd become so accustomed to their friendship, their relationship, everything about him, that the very thought of losing it to anyone, especially Gojun, made his stomach turn. So what was this?

The thought came to him so fast it made him stand up in shock.

"What the hell…? Love?"

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OMAKE THEATER :collective groan:

Karu: Hee, another cliffhanger for you all. You should know by now to expect them from meh.

Kenren: In other words, she's a sadistic nutcase.

Goku: -sticks his tongue out-You're just mad cuz she made you in LOOOOOOVE!

Kenren: -eye twitches-

Karu: So what now? Will Kenren admit his true intentions to Ten-chan?

Konzen: Will Tenpou grow a freaking backbone and get this over with?

Tenpou: Hey!

Gojun -to Kenren- It doesn't matter what you want now, because you've got no chance!

Tenpou -shaking his leg as Gojun clings to it- A little help here?

Goku -pokes-

Konzen: I need a vacation.

Kenren -glares at Gojun- And I need the jaws of life…

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Yep, there's the end for this installment. And now for one of my favourite parts: Review responses!

Madam Maya: Sowwy. TT Like I've said before, I can really only write on this when I get depressed, as well as my summer situation, so this is a sporadic thing. But since everyone seems to beh so into it, I guess I'll have to try harder, ne?

lilly & her kitty: -blinks- No one can track meh down, for I live in limbo. But if you'd like to try, I'd love some company. -grins- Can I play with the kitty?

Thorned Roses: It's not really a miracle so much as a slap in the face by Fate. Violence.

Keruri1222: Well, knowing Kenren, he definately doesn't care about teh higher-up's opinion. It's more like a mix between the second one and the fact that he thinks Tenpou doesn't see it as a long-term thing.

narrizan: How prothetic. Heehee. Now it's Gojun's turn for some fun.

viciouscallisto: Of course, we can't play nice ALL the time, now can we? And triangles are awesome, I agree. Makes the end so much more meaningful, dontcha think?

Attiqah Gensui: A sane review from you? Is the sky falling? -shields self with umbrella- Anyway, Stalker!Gojun is just so fun to mess with. Like a fangirl or something.

Until next time (which is prolly closer than the last one if I'd like to keep my legs...)!