Because I've been wanting to do this for a while now, here's version 2 of May It Be Part 1: Of Beast Lords and Forgotten Friendships for your reading enjoyment! I mean, why would a strange little girl be out on her own, anyway...? And before anyone asks, NO, Kai does NOT end up with Gokuu. I have someone else... someone with golden hair and violet eyes and a mean-streak the size of Nebraska... in mind for him...

~=May It Be, Part One=~ =~Of Beast Lords and Forgotten Friendships~= {v.2.0}

"Nataku! Look at you, you're filthy! And *Kai Lin*... how in the world did you two get so messy? Where in the world is Gokuu?"

The Dragon Prince Nataku and the Kirin Kai Lin looked at each other quietly before turning their eyes back to Tenpou, who was glaring down at them through his glasses with the most scolding glare he could muster. Which was difficult, given the two pairs of wilting golden eyes that stared up at him.

It had been almost a month since the little Kirin had arrived, and Nataku had been hustled over immediately, despite his father's disapproval at being so near Gokuu. But keeping the two young beast lords together seemed to be the better option and, in the end, won out over his overprotective tendencies.

Unfortunately for Tenpou, it was his day to watch the trio. Not that it was a difficult task. Kai Lin preferred tea parties and cookies to climbing trees with the boys, unless they were teasing her. So she normally stayed with Tenpou, content to read any little book he handed her while he did his work and the boys played outside. Today, however, they had chosen to pick on the poor girl, and the little beast lord, with her hair the color of blue flames, had chosen to pick back. Nataku's normally neatly bunned hair was dispersed about his face, sticking out and making a generally cute mess of him. Kai Lin was trying to be composed, smoothing the dirty floral patterned ceremonial chenogasm she wore, trying to straighten her hair...

Finally, the young general gave in, unable to help but smile. After giving both of the children a gentle pat atop the head, he raised a finger. "Nataku, I'll clean you up. Kai Lin, you should probably see one of the ladies of the court. I don't think it would be prudent for me to be in charge of tidying up the little mess you've made of yourself."

The little girl nodded and darted off as Tenpou set about the task of getting the dragon prince cleaned up before Konzen found out.

*****

It wasn't long after the two children were clean and set back to playing that Gokuu was found, sitting in a tree and avoiding any punishment he may receive for making the clothes of his higher class friends dirty. As the two looked up at him, he kept a careful eye on them, shifting on his branch and gazing at them through scruffy brown bangs. "...Konzen's mad, isn't he?"

"He doesn't know, Gokuu!" Nataku reassured, holding out his arms as if to show off his newly cleaned robes.

"That's right!" Kai Lin reassured. She looked strangely overdressed in her floral ceremonial chenogasm and the gold and jeweled tiara that circled her forehead. "We went to Tenpou!"

At those words, the little monkey dropped from the tree, landing neatly on his feet in front of his friends. Both of them were smiling brightly at him, and Gokuu felt better about having accidentally made them look messy. They both looked much better now, their faces free of the smudge and dirt that had adorned them before. Nataku was smiling just as brightly as ever, his face spry and mischievious, as Kai Lin proceeded to sit herself down, the long, flowing fabric of her chenogasm laying about her in a circle of silk and fine cottons.

Gokuu had always wondered why his friends had to wear such fancy things. He was happy with his shirt and pants, the little chain and collar around his neck, the diadem on his forehead. Well, maybe not the chain and collar, but Konzen did insist he did not remove them. But his two friends wore fancy things. Nataku dressed in fine imperial robes, his long hair kept in a bun at the back of his head. He always looked clean and he always looked well-kept. The boy was much like Gokuu, but much neater. The little monkey and the dragon prince seemed a very unlikely pair.

But even more unlikely was little Kai Lin. She sat, acutely aware of her surroundings, her little, slightly upturned nose buried in another book Tenpou had given her. The robes were far too much for a little girl like her, such a fine imperial chenogasm with all its layers and folds, and the tiara banded about her forehead. Kenren had said Kai Lin was "betrothed" to Nataku, whatever that meant.

All in all, they were an unlikely little group. Gokuu, the chatterbox of a little monkey; Nataku, the calm and composed young prince; Kai Lin, the rather unwilling Lady of All Animals. None of them knew the great turmoil they would soon be put through...

No one knew the grief.

*****

It was a dark, very stormy night when Kanzeon Bosatsu sat at the bedside of a feverish Kai Lin. The child's tiara was off, revealing a whole new nature. Her hair flowed freely, like flames licking on dry branches, and a horn stood out where the central gem of the tiara normally sat. The legendary Kirin, so young, and about to choose her sovereign.

Kanzeon knew blood would be shed soon.

The goddess did not flinch when Kai Lin sat up, a distant, wise look in otherwise childish eyes. She did not turn away when that ominous gaze fell upon her. "Your Highness. Lord of All Beasts. Have you chosen your sovereign?"

The child did not look so much a child any longer. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap as her fiery hair flowed wildly about her face. "My lord, Nataku. And one other." The words startled Kanzeon. A Kirin chosing two sovereigns...? "Konzen Douji."

The tiara snapped back into place, replacing the horn instantly, and as the child fell back into a peaceful sleep, her fever broken and her hair normal once more, the lightning flashed outside.

*****

"Konzen Douji is dead!"

It was unlike Kanzeon Bosatsu to be surprised by many things... but the thought that someone such as Konzen...

"Who did this?!"

A guard pushed a shackled boy to the feet of the goddess of mercy, beaten and bruised, shaking and weeping. Kai Lin and Nataku recognized the face and tried to run foreward, but another guard caught the two children as the first one spoke. "Son Gokuu."

"No! It has to be a mistake!" Kai Lin was in tears.

"...We can't kill him," Kanzeon whispered quietly, ignoring the children as best she could. "We do not kill as a punishment."

"We'll lock him away, then," another guard suggested.

Kai Lin's sobbing became heavier, louder, terrified that her friend was being taken away. At this point, Nataku had ceased struggling and he pulled the girl from the soldier's grasp, letting her cry into his robes. "Nataku, they can't do this! Gokuu would never hurt Konzen-san! Never!"

"Your prophecy, Kai Lin, remember your prophecy!" He held the girl tightly as she attempted to struggle again.

"Then it's my fault!" She screamed this at the guards. "It's my fault he's dead! Take me instead of Gokuu, please, it wasn't his fault!"

Pitiful cries fell on deaf ears as she attempted to struggle free of Nataku's grasp. "Kai Lin, no..."

"No, stop! It's not Gokuu's fault! Nataku, let me go! It's all a mistake!"

*****

(more than 500 years later)

"Bored, bored, bored, bored, BORING." Son Gokuu was not in the best of moods after a nearly half-day of driving had brought them to a very small little town without a single incident. No youkai, no Kougaiji-ikkou, no nothing. Just empty, empty fields and an unusually quiet drive... that is, until they reached the town. Gokuu was suffering from a sudden case of very severe boredom anxiety and was rocking back and forth where he sat, occasionally hitting Sha Gojyo, whose eyebrow was twitching slightly. "Maa, Hakka~i... when are we gonna do somethin'?"

Cho Hakkai only chuckled slightly, turning a slight glance back from where he was driving. "Soon, Gokuu. We have to stop here for food and supplies. Why don't you wander around for a while and release some of that energy?"

Those words were all that Gokuu needed. In a split second, he jumped out of the jeep and took off like a shot to find something more interesting than an annoyed Gojyo. Genjo Sanzo grumbled and turned his scowl to Hakkai. "We shouldn't let him run off."

"Nonsense!" Hakkai interjected cheerily. "He needs to find someone his age to talk to. He's been lonely in every town, and maybe since we're going to be staying here to rest for a little while, we should let him have some fun."

*****

It took no time at all for Gokuu to find the main square of the village and start darting around to various stands, peering with wide golden eyes at all sorts of confectionaries and treats. He smiled cheerfully at little old ladies that chattered on about such a healthy young man, hardly understanding the interest their granddaughters showed.

It wasn't, however, the sight of the sweets or the kind words of the village folk that finally caught his attention in the highest. It was the sight of a tiny little girl peering at some meatbuns in a cart nearby. She didn't look as young as her height may have portrayed... she looked fairly close to him in age. Hair of fiery blue was plated in twin braids down her back, and a band of gold with a ruby set was banded over her forehead. But the most noticable thing to him was her eyes... she had beautiful golden eyes, as bright and attentive as his, and something about her seemed distinctly inhuman... she wasn't a youkai, but she possessed some sort of power...

*****

In the meantime, in the Heavenly Realm of Taigai, things were not running quite so smoothly. As a matter of fact, Jiroushin had himself proverbially bent over backwards worrying over how exactly he was going to explain something very serious to Kanzeon Bosatsu. He stood in front of her now, trying to retain his composure, but from the way Kanzeon was looking at him... he wasn't sure how to say what he had to. "Kanzeon Bosatsu-sama... I'm afraid I have some rather, er... bad news..."

For a long moment, Kanzeon said nothing. She simply watched Jiroushin... and then sighed deeply. "Well? Spill it! What's the bad news?"

"The Holy Kirin has run away. We can't find her anywhere."

"Oh, well, that's..." Then reality sank in. "She WHAT?!"

*****

At this point, the little blue-haired girl had not noticed the approach of the other boy with the strange golden eyes. She was talking to the lady at the cart cheerfully, hands behind her back, standing almost tomboyishly. Whisps of hair fell into her face, but she hardly noticed.

Gokuu didn't know what to say to her. But the lady at the cart noticed his interest in the girl and chuckled. "Why, Lin... you have an admirer. And quite the strapping young lad, I'll admit!"

The girl, called Lin by the lady at the cart, blinked a bit with a soft "are?" and turned. She gasped at the sight of the boy, startled a bit, but said nothing, even as her golden eyes grew wide and focused on him. Gokuu just smiled sheepishly and waved a little. "Uh... hi. Your name's Lin?"

The girl blinked again, then smiled a little, turning fully to face him. "Mm. I'm Lin. Who're you?"

"Gokuu ga. Son Gokuu."

At that, the little girl smiled, eyes crinkling shut as she tilted her head to one side. "Nice to meet you, Gokuu. Are you all alone here?"

"Well, kinda," Gokuu responded. "Uhm... can I... y'know, say somethin'?"

For a moment, Lin looked at him in vague confusion, before she shrugged. "Sure, I don't mind."

There was a long pause as the two regarded each other before Gokuu finally spoke again, "Anou... you smell kinda funny."

The little girl suddenly looked very affronted, frowning as she balled her small hands into fists at her sides. "I do not!"

"I didn't mean it that way!" Instantly, Gokuu tried to make better what he had said, holding his hands up in front of him. "What I meant to say was... well..." He frowned. He couldn't say it in front of the lady at the cart, who did seem rather confused at tihs point. Instead, he grabbed Lin's wrist and tugged her along behind him. "Come on... I'll tell you on the way."

The sudden action did startle the girl, but she didn't pull away, breaking into a jog to keep up. "Ch--chotto matte! I don't get it! What are you...?"

"You don't smell human."

Coupled with a sense of shock from him dragging her off in the first place, the sudden statement caused Lin to stop in her tracks, and much to Gokuu's surprise, he nearly pulled his own feet out from under him. He turned to look at the blue-haired girl, watching her expression carefully. People moved around them, but she just kept her own golden eyes focused on him... until she shook her head quickly. "I'm sorry!"

Gokuu was startled. Lin broke into a run in the other direction, obviously upset by something or another, and he had no idea what he had said wrong. He started to follow, of course... until he noticed that the girl had run directly into a rather startled, tall young man with a little white dragon on his shoulder and wide, worried green eyes. Hakkai. "Oh dear... you're not hurt, are you? Here, let me help you up..."

Lin stared. How could she not? Before her stood a familiar face, and she couldn't stop the words that spilled out, wishing instantly that she could take them back. "Tenpou...?!"

The only response she received was a rather puzzled expression from Hakkai, who shook his head. "I'm sorry, I don't know anyone by that name. My name is Hakkai. Did I hurt you?"

Finally, Lin shook her head, but she dared not stay there any longer. She took off again, and this time, she was gone before Gokuu could even keep up.

*****

Lin knew where she was going, though... in an alley a few blocks from where she had met the two, she stood shaking, leaning against the wall with a small hand pressed against her forehead. Had it really been them?

The little girl sighed, rubbing her face with her hands. There had been no mistaking Gokuu... he was the same boy she had known so long ago, just a child herself. It was the same hyper little monkey that she, the unsure Holy Kirin, had been the closest of friends with.

The man with him had borne a startling resemblance to Tenpou, which was not startling to her. But did that mean the others were there as well? Their reincarnations? Konzen and Kenren?

Finally, the weight of the situation on the tiny girl took hold. Her thoughts spun, and she pressed her face into her hands as she felt slightly light-headed. She looked up slightly to see the man that looked like Tenpou again, rushing into the alley, this time followed by... Konzen?!

She didn't have time to question the issue further. Blackness overcame her vision and she collapsed to the dusty alley floor.

*****

(past)

"Kanzeon-sama..."

The goddess glanced down at Kai Lin as the child spoke, watching the small hands dip into the water and pick up a lotus. "Yes, Kai Lin?"

"Why did Konzen have to die?"

Kanzeon Bosatsu looked puzzled for a moment, not knowing what to tell the lonesome child. Finally, she sighed, kneeling next to Kai Lin and rustling the soft blue hair. "We know it was Nataku's destiny either way to be a leader. But because of you, his leadership became far greater than anything and it made him a hero. Perhaps... perhaps in the form of the Holy Kirin, you can see things we cannot. Perhaps you knew Konzen Douji's future... and just maybe you knew what he would one day become." A wistful smile crossed her lips as the girl sniffled back a sob. "You'll see them all again someday, Kai Lin. You have my word."

*****

(present)

The room was unfamiliar, and the light above her head was electric. She groaned, turning her head to one side to see a silent figure sitting there, head lowered and expression shielded by silky blond hair.

Had she dreamed the whole thing? Had Konzen's death, Goku's imprisonment, and Nataku's grand battle all been a silly dream? A fantasy?

She reached out her hand gently, placing it against the soft skin, almost as pale as a lily. Those droopy violet eyes turned back to her, giving her that same harsh glare, and Lin smiled. "Konzen... it is you... but Kanzeon said... I would find Genjo Sanzo, not you... was I dreaming, Konzen...?"

"Konzen." He repeated the name more as a statement than a question. "There is no Konzen here. Genjo Sanzo, on the other hand... I am Genjo Sanzo. You're Lin, correct?"

Lin didn't respond at first, still reeling. This was Sanzo. Sanzo who looked so much like Konzen. Finally, she nodded. "H--hai... my name is Lin... I'm sorry, you look so much like..."

Sanzo cut her off. "You called Hakkai a strange name as well. And when you woke up slightly earlier, you did the same to Gojyo when he was here. Tenpou? Kenren? Are those people your brothers?"

The girl shook her head, still in mild disbelief. "N--no... they were my friends... and... but Goku, Goku is here. You said your name is Genjo Sanzo?" The monk nodded, obviously more than just a little suspicious of the girl's behaviour. "...Of course... then... I may have found who I was looking for anyway..."

*****

In Empress Gyukomen's castle, so far away, Gyukomen herself pondered over the events that had transpired. Animals had shrieked and buzzed about, making all sorts of racket, when some sort of being had fallen to earth...

A being that could grant sovereignity to anyone... a being of immense power... the Holy Kirin.

Smiling a devilish smile, she turned to the door, and called for Nii Jyenii to bring Kougaiji to her.

She had a little task for him to perform...

~Tsuzukeru...~