By: Ami
Beta Reader: kitsune-oni
-- One Day Miracle --Chapter 1 of 5 – An Invisible Pet
My first Humor/Angst. ……Is it really OK to mix these VERY different genres?
Some of you might get freaked out later, so I'll tell you: Happy ending guaranteed.
Anyway, I have uploaded back my 'EYELESS' (since ff.net has banned it away =_=# # #). Please check my bio to get the link, then come and read~!
=_=;; It seems that I'm the only Saiyuki writer there. Friends, would you come to keep me a company? QQ
Dedicated to: All my readers and kind reviewers.
Specially dedicated to: miracle*me for giving me inspiration to write this fic. *Hug* you're so inspiring! ^w^
DISCLAIMER : Who owns what, who borrows what, you know it already.
Here we go…
Valentine's Day was just the worst day of the year for Genjo Sanzou, 17 year old. On that day, everything would turn out worse than all of the bad days in a year put together. Blame his gifted face and perfect figure; even after he moved to an all-boys school, his locker would still be a big disaster on Valentine's Day—the so-called Love Day. Guess what? This morning, he couldn't even have found space for his gym shirt. And so, like last year, he dumped all of the chocolates in to a trash bin. And the next incident had been clearly visible for normal eyes; half of his admirers in the school had fainted and the other half had even tried to commit suicide.
Being scolded was one of the MANY things Sanzou had always hated, since he had been a kid. But still, he couldn't do a thing when his teacher scolded him for the chaos he had caused in the school. So he had just stood there and tried to control his anger. Sanzou sure wasn't someone with everlasting patience. The teacher was very lucky for stopping right at Sanzou's limit.
After school, things weren't much better. Instead, it turned out to be the worst part of the day. All the ex-boyfriends of his admirers had been waiting for him in front of the gate for revenge for stealing their 'ukes'. It hadn't been that he couldn't fight them; but fighting had been forbidden by school rules. So he had escaped from them. It had been REALLY annoying, especially for someone with high pride like Sanzou. But at least it had been better than getting expelled from the school. That would have been even more humiliating. He would have his own time to make them pay. *click*
And so, after that goddamned bad day, Sanzou was now walking home with an extremely bad mood. If only Cho Hakkai, his best friend hadn't fed him with enough aromatherapy, he would have blown and destroyed anything visible around. Now all he wanted was getting home as soon as possible and—
*THUD*
"Ouch! Shit!" Sanzou gasped as gravity sent him down on to the road painfully. Muttering NC-17 rated curses; he looked around and found a small bottle not far from his legs.
"Ch. Even a bloody bottle won't leave me in peace!" he yelled as he stood up and kicked the bottle away. Now he not only had a bad mood, he also had a nasty cramp in his wrist. Today was just SO not his day…
…Not long after the blonde walked away… a thick smoke flowed out of the crack of the bottle… revealing the silhouette of a small boy with long hair…
***
As he entered his house, all he could see was darkness. Sanzou tried to ignore the usual loneliness he always felt when he entered his house. It was always so big, it was always too quiet. Everything was neat and clean. Everything was in order.
Throwing his jacket on to the sofa, he went to the heater and turned it on.
Soon, warmth spread all over the room. Sanzou sighed before getting up on his feet and going to the kitchen to make dinner.
Sanzou was used to eat alone. For these past 10 years after his parents had died in a plane accident, he had been living alone in this big house. Actually at times he had thought of selling the house and moving in to a smaller one. Furthermore, the house kept reminding him about the sweet memories his family once had shared. But then he'd remember that his father had liked the house very much. It had been only 3 months before the accident they had moved in to the house, and he could still remember how his parents had loved their new house.
Though they were gone now, at least he wanted to keep their last wish; to own the house.
Sanzou hadn't been living in poverty. In fact, his parents had left him enough money to live in luxury for his whole life. He had no other family but an aunt he really hated for being as annoying as hell. So when she had offered to live with her, he had strongly refused and had chosen to live alone in his parents' house.
(Kanzeon Bosatsu sneezed)
Sanzou put down his chopsticks with an impassive face. He had even forgotten if the food tasted good or bad. He didn't care as long as the food kept him alive.
And so he dumped the plates in to the sink. He'd clean them later… after he regained enough energy.
The loneliness caught him again as he opened his bedroom door. The room was so dark, so large… so… cold.
//Cold?// Sanzou smirked to himself. //Where did that come from? Hell, yeah. It's winter.//
And he threw himself on to the bed. A comfortable bed with a soft pillow was just the thing he needed at the time.
Lying on his side, Sanzou narrowed one eye at the window. The snow started to fall again. No wonder it felt so annoyingly cold like hell—I mean—like the North Pole here.
With the silence as a lullaby, Sanzou slowly drifted to sleep.
***
Morning.
Sanzou opened his eyes slowly.
The very first feeling he felt at the time was…
"Warm…" Sanzou brought a hand to his head. "Is it really winter?" He looked outside to find that snow was covering the rooftops. So… it really was winter. Sanzou narrowed his eyes. Then why the hell did it feel so warm now? Was the spring coming? Oh hell. Why the fuck should he care? Not in the morning when he usually had his fucking headache.
Sanzou sat up and brushed his hair back with one hand. Strange. He wasn't having his usual migraine. It seemed that he had slept very well last night. Sanzou wondered why.
And when he was about to leave the bed, he found one answer for all of his earlier questions.
A boy was clinging on to his waist.
And just before Sanzou went platonic and screamed, a pair of golden eyes blinked at him.
"Huh?" the boy made a sound. "You--"
*WHACK*
Sanzou didn't know where had it come from, but suddenly his hand was holding his thickest English dictionary and the boy had fallen in to his lap with a bump on his head.
Blinking at his brand new attitude, Sanzou quickly drew the dictionary away and pushed the boy off him.
"Who on earth are you?! What the hell are you doing in my bed?!" he snarled.
"Itte~" the boy moaned before getting on his heels. "Sheesh! You don't have to shove me away like that, Master!"
"Mas—ter?!" Sanzou widened his eyes at the phrase. He didn't remember having bought a slave! Furthermore—this boy was definitely still underage for something like that—he was just about 9 or 10! Dear Buddha! What on earth had been eating at him?! Had he turned diabolic?!
While Sanzou was blinking in confusion, the boy grinned mischievously before leaning forward to place a peck on the totally bewildered blonde's lips.
And that was it. Genjo Sanzou, the most composed guy on the earth, had finally lost his mind.
"BAKAZARU!!!! # # # #" His hand reflexively grabbed the dictionary and he starting whacking it on the boy's scalp, ignoring the fact that he was abusing an underage kid/animal.
"Ittetetetetetetetete~!!!!! Stopwhackingmeithurts~!!!!!!" The boy crawled out of the bed, trying to escape from the infamous dictionary. "Gee! You don't have to hit me THAT hard!"
"I don't know what kind of game you are playing but if you dare to touch me again, I'll fucking kill you; if you yell at me again, I'll still fucking kill you and if you don't tell me what's your fucking business NOW, I'll really fucking kill you, damn it!" Sanzou glared at the boy impatiently.
"OK… OK… gee… I thought you were beautiful but you're also so harsh—itte!"
"And if you dare to refer me to that word again, I'll rape you and show you how much of a 'MAN' I am." The dictionary sparkled.
The boy gulped. Though he didn't really understand what 'rape' was about, the dictionary had been intimidating enough. And so he nodded.
"Good." Sanzou exhaled while throwing himself back on to the bed; slightly relaxed now that the boy looked a bit more obedient. "Now tell me who you are and what's your business here."
"I'm a heretic from heaven." The boy folded his legs, sitting on the floor while lifting his head up enough to meet his master's gaze. "I have been sealed inside a bottle for 500 years for a sin… I can't remember. I also can't remember my name. I just remember that you kicked the bottle and broke it so I am free now."
Nonsense. Silly. Irrational. Illogical. Stupid. Crazy. Those were exactly what Sanzou thought when he heard the boy's explanation. He would have snorted and kicked the boy out of his house through the window… if only the boy hadn't started floating right in front of him—without any visual trick.
"That's why, to return your favor, I have decided to follow you for 500 years and during the time, I'll make your every dream come true." The boy grinned happily while rolling around in the air. Sanzou could only watch in astonishment as the boy landed back on to the earth, right in front of him. "So, I'll stay with you starting today."
"……WHAT?!" # # #
***
Hakkai looked at the desk beside him with a concerned look. In 2 minutes, the bell would ring and the lessons would have started—and until now his best friend, Genjo Sanzou, the golden student of the high school, the best mathematician in the whole province, and also the hottest bishounen everybody was drooling over, hadn't arrived yet.
It was a rare event because usually Sanzou would always arrive two hours before the lesson because he didn't like being stared at while walking from the front gate to the classroom. So he always came much earlier than the other students—or even the school-keepers.
But this time…
//Where could he be?// Hakkai looked outside the window worriedly. //Masaka…//
Soon Hakkai realized that the whole class had turned silent.
"Sanzou!" He smiled as his friend entered the class and quietly sat in his seat. "Good morning."
"Hn." Sanzou put down his bag and soon sunk limply on to the table.
"Huh? What's happened? You look really tired." Hakkai blinked. Sanzou must have been REALLY tired, since he wasn't a type who would show anyone his weaknesses.
"…nothing," Sanzou replied with a flat tone. "I'm just lacking sleep."
"Ooh… sou ka." Hakkai decided to accept the explanation though he couldn't see any signs of insomnia on the blonde. He didn't even have bags under his eyes! Honestly, Sanzou had never looked so healthy and lively like this before.
And the bell rang.
***
Sanzou sighed heavily. His mind obviously hadn't been concentrating on the lesson. He felt cramps all over his body from having run from his house to school, his throat hurt from have yelled too hard, and his stomach was empty—he hadn't had time for breakfast.
"Shit…" he muttered with another sigh. "Damn the stupid saru…"
Sanzou had needed at least half an hour to convince the heretic that he couldn't live for 500 years and the boy couldn't possibly follow him for his whole life. And he had needed another half an hour to make the boy leave—and it had ended with a deal that the boy would only follow him for one year. He had needed another half an hour to get dressed and tidy his room—and he had used the other half an hour to stop the boy following him to school—and—unfortunately—it had failed.
"Ne, ne, Sanzou. What are you doing here?" The invisible heretic floated around his master while looking around in curiosity.
Sanzou, obviously, didn't want to lose his title as the sanest guy in the school; and so he didn't answer.
"Ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, Sanzoooooo~!!!! Tell me~!!!!!" the boy whined on his ear.
That's it.
Sanzou-SAMA had SNAPPED.
Badly.
"URUSAI!!!!!" # # # # #
And the whole class went silent.
And the old bald teacher in front of the class had a heart attack and now lay unconscious, mouth frothing.
And Hakkai blinked in confusion.
And Sanzou cursed.
"…fuck…"
***
"What has happened, Sanzou?" Hakkai shook his hand in confusion in front of his unusually 'horrible' friend's nose. "Did you hear what I said?"
Sanzou blinked and quickly turned his head to the brunette. "…huh?"
Hakkai chuckled in amusement. "I see. You have been busy with your own thoughts."
"Ch'…" Sanzou turned his eyes back to the grinning boy who floated on his right side. He had no time to listen to Hakkai. He'd to watch over the saru or he'd cause more troubles than the thing that had happened this morning.
"Hey, Sanzou. Your friend is talking to you. Listen to him." The boy looked at him with wide, blank, golden eyes. Though Sanzou hated to admit it, the boy was actually cute.
Sanzou snorted and turned his head away with a disgusted expression.
Hakkai couldn't help but sigh at his friend's strange attitude. True, Sanzou had been a cold, heartless bastard but he had never done anything like this before. No matter how short-tempered he had been, he would never have snarled at teachers—especially the old teachers with weak hearts.
"You won't tell me what's wrong, will you?" Hakkai smiled.
"Why should I?" Sanzou replied in a flat tone, as usual.
"Fine then. But maybe this will help you a bit." Hakkai pointed his finger outside the window. "Look down."
"Huh?" Sanzou narrowed one eye, obviously suspicious.
"Come on." The brunette kept smiling. "Look."
With a grunt, Sanzou stood up and walked to the window.
It wasn't hard to find the figure he had been always looking for; because he had been always the most energetic, stupidest and also the cutest boy among his classmates. Sanzou could spot him clearly; probably because he was the center of attention. It seemed that he had just won a basketball competition. That boy ALWAYS won anyway. He never failed to amaze the community around him. He had a special ability in strength, agility and speed—and also in appetite. Though his body was considered small for his age, he could always defeat his bigger opponents. He had a special charm that drew people to come around him. People always smiled at him. He was simply loveable. Nobody could hate him—and even if someone had, he would have still smiled at him and with the smile, the hatred would have gone.
//Ironic.// Sanzou smiled faintly at the beautiful scene in front of him. //Even someone like me likes him.//
Hakkai watched the serene expression on his best friend's face happily. Though Sanzou would never admit it to him, he knew that Sanzou had a crush on the boy. Oh Buddha! Were pigs flying? Genjo Sanzou-SAMA WAS IN LOVE!
At first he had thought that it might have been just his imagination; but then one day, he had noticed that both of them would always blush when they would accidentally meet in the corridor or stairs. Then he had known that the boy actually liked Sanzou too, but it seemed that he was too shy to confess —and it also seemed that Sanzou would have never make a move! Oh gee… what a complicated love!
Sanzou frowned at Hakkai's suspicious grin. Hakkai smartly closed his mouth and smiled modestly as usual. And Sanzou snorted. Sometimes Hakkai could be such a sly ass.
"Sanzou~! Sanzou~!"
Sanzou turned his head tiredly to the heretic who was never tired of distracting him.
"I'm hungry! I'm hungry~! Give me those~!" The boy pointed to another student's lunchbox.
'Last-night-you-emptied-my-fridge-up-and-you-are-STILL-hungry?!'
That's exactly the meaning of the look Sanzou was giving the little boy.
"Come on, Sanzou! I'm really hungry! When I was sealed inside the bottle, I couldn't eat! Now I'm really hungry and I think I can eat the whole school!" Golden eyes looked into the lavender ones pleadingly. "Sanzooooou~!!!!"
Sanzou was about to yell, but soon he realized that Hakkai was looking at him in confusion. And so he quickly regained his sanity and remained with his impassive face, trying really hard to ignore the sulking and whining boy who was now clutching his legs with wide, large, teary, hungry, puppy eyes.
"Hakkai." He brought one hand to his face helplessly. "Did you bring a lunchbox?"
"Huh?" Hakkai widened his eyes. "You mean—you want to eat lunch?"
"Not me but for this—" Sanzou quickly bit back his almost-sentence and flushed. "OK. It's for me."
"Oh… sure. Here." Hakkai handed him his lunchbox. He didn't mind that Sanzou had taken his lunch, he was just confused that suddenly Sanzou had an appetite for lunch. His best friend didn't eat that much—he once had believed so.
"Thanks." Sanzou took the lunchbox before getting out of the class. And Hakkai became even more confused. When had his friend started to eat outside?
***
"Listen, saru. You ain't give me more trouble than this." Sanzou scolded the monkey boy who seemed very busy stuffing his small mouth with the food. Luckily they were in an old Music Room with an old piano as the only existing thing inside the dusty room; and so Sanzou had a chance to scold the boy without getting an 'insane' title. "Oi! Listen to me when I am talking, BAKAZARU!" The impatient blonde managed to produce his magical dictionary from nowhere and whacked the boy hard.
"Itte~!!!" The brunette yelled. "OK! OK! I'm listening!" The boy folded his legs and sat there with wide curious eyes. He still had some rice around his pouty mouth—which Sanzou thought was really a cute sight on behold. Not that he's going to say it out loud anyway.
"Now listen, I'm going to buy you some food. Until after-school, you stay here and eat as much as you want. I'll come to pick you up. Don't wander alone anywhere and hide when someone comes. You understand?" Sanzou tried to explain it as simply as he could; knowing that the heretic didn't have enough brain-cells for difficult vocabulary.
"Unh!" The boy smiled. He seemed happy with the promise of more food.
"Good. Now stay still. I'll be right back."
And with a relieved sigh, Sanzou left the room, thinking that the boy would be just all right... because nobody could see him.
Just a few seconds after he had gone away, someone entered the room and nearly gasped.
"Who the hell are you?"
***
Hakkai blinked at the rare scene in front of him—and so did other passing-by students. If only you were also there, I bet you'd do the very same thing—or maybe you'd even stare.
There he was, the Almighty Genjo Sanzou-sama, the coldest guy in the century—carrying a sack of yakisoba to some who-knows-where place.
Sanzou was trying his best to stick with his color, but imagine if you're in his position… could you?
//Damn saru damn you fucking bakazaru how dare you put me in this kind of situation I swear I'll kill you as soon as I arrive there just wait I'll really kill you saru!!!!!!!!//
And Sanzou kept repeating his chant to keep his head sane.
Hakkai watched his friend curiously. That's it. He had got enough. He'd see if something was wrong with his best friend.
And with the thought, he followed the blonde.
***
"Who the fuck are you?!" the redheaded guy almost shrieked at the boy in front of him. "What are you doing here, gaki?!"
"What?! I'm not a gaki, you cockroach!" the boy replied with a glare. Phew. One day with Sanzou seemed enough to get those grumpy attitudes rubbed on him.
"I'm NOT a cockroach you monkey boy!" Red eyes glared back.
"Then why do you keep those silly antennas on your head?!" The heretic giggled. "Cockroach, cockroach, you're a cockroach~!"
The guy lost his temper and grabbed the boy by collar "Damn you—"
"Saru, I'm back. Here's your---" Sanzou stopped at his track as he realized the presence of a stranger there. He gaped as he noticed that the strange NOT only could see the boy. He HAD even touched him! "What---"
"What's going on here?" Hakkai continued Sanzou's almost-sentence. "Sanzou? Who is the redheaded guy?"
And Sanzou struck dumb.
And he thought he had told the saru to avoid making more troubles…
***
"Ah… now I have got the whole problem…" Hakkai smiled happily. "So… Sanzou has adopted an invisible pet and---"
"He's NOT my pet!" Sanzou snarled at the smiling brunette.
"Yeah… I didn't mean it… and…" Hakkai grinned. "And you… Mister…"
"Gojyo. Sha Gojyo." The red-eyed guy replied while lighting up his cigarette. "I just moved in to this school 2 weeks ago."
"Oh, sou ka. That's why I never saw you before." Hakkai muttered.
"So did I." Suddenly Gojyo had got an arm around Hakkai's waist. "I would never forget a beautiful guy like you. How about a date in this weekend?"
*WHACK*
"Is it time for that?" Sanzou glared at them—including the flushing Hakkai.
"Yeah… I mean…" Hakkai coughed, trying to get back his composed mind. "And Gojyo can see it. But… this place is pretty hidden. What were you doing here?"
"I just came to have a smoke. Teachers won't find me here. You know how fucking strict our rules here." Gojyo shrugged. "And when I saw the kid, I thought he was a runaway or somewhat like that."
"What did you say, baka cockroach?!" the boy protested.
"Urusai, saru!" Gojyo and Sanzou yelled almost at the same time.
"Whaaaaaaaaaaa~!!!!! Both of you think that I'm a monkey~!!!!!!" The heretic whined. "Fine! You two are just the same! Meanie! I'll just stay with Hakkai!"
"What the hell did you say, saru? He can't even see you!" Gojyo chuckled.
"Too bad." The heretic stuck out his tongue to the two bewildered guys before putting a hand on Hakkai's eyes. "Didn't I tell you that I could make people I wanted see me?" And when he retreated the hand, emerald eyes were locked at the golden ones. Sanzou thought he had never seen this kind of expression on Hakkai's face before.
"What…" Hakkai blinked cutely, and soon his face was flushed and two red dots appeared on his cheeks. "S---Sanzou---is he the one?" he asked with an excited tone.
"Yes." Sanzou turned pale at the expression. Somehow he knew what would happen next…
"So… CUTE~!!!!!! *hearts*"
And the usual calm, smart and patient Cho Hakkai, the most reliable student, the finest gentleman in the whole school---had finally lost it.
"Oh~!!!!! He's SO CUTE~! CUTE CUTE CUTE CUTE CUTE CUTE~!!!! OMG HE'S SOOOOOO CUTE~!!!!!" Hakkai gave the boy a tight bear hug. "My Goddess! How could you send this cute boy to Sanzou instead of me? I always want to own a pet like this for myself!!! Sanzou, please lend him to me!!!"
"No." # # # Sanzou protectively snatched the boy away from Hakkai. Somehow he felt a bit uneasy with the way Hakkai had hugged his possession.
"Mou!" Hakkai frowned disappointedly. "You said that he's annoying!"
"It doesn't mean that I'm going to lend him to you." Sanzou glared back.
"Why… why… Hakkai-kun, you can always hug me when you need something to hug." Gojyo put an arm around Hakkai's shoulders.
"Come on! Don't be so stingy!" Hakkai pouted. "But Sanzou… don't you think he looks alike him?"
"Him?" Golden eyes blinked innocently. "Ne, ne, Sanzou, who looks alike me?"
Sanzou quickly realized that he had been hugging the boy. With a flushed face, he quickly pushed the boy off his lap. "N—no one."
"But Hakkai said---"
"I SAID *NO ONE*!" Sanzou snapped. "Now shut up and eat. Wait here until after---"
*TRANG*
Just when Sanzou had almost finished lecturing the saru, a ball collided the glass window behind him. Almost reflexively, Sanzou leaned over to protect the heretic with his own body. A piece of the broken glass window scratched his pale cheek, and the blood started to flow out from the injury.
"I'm sorry! Are you all right?"
Just when Sanzou was about to curse, someone jumped in to the 3rd stairs room and landed in front of the blonde with a flushed face. His boyish face reflected both concern and guilt. Sanzou held his breath as the familiar figure take off his white shirt before brushing it gently on Sanzou's injured cheek.
"I'm really sorry, Genjo-san. I---I didn't do it on purpose…" The boy looked at the blonde with a pair of teary golden eyes. "A—are you feeling OK? Are you injured somewhere else?"
Quickly regained his sense, Sanzou narrowed his lavender eyes and pushed the boy away. "Go away."
The boy just stood there, bowing his head deeply. "I apologize."
"That's no use." Sanzou stubbornly stayed with his usual expression.
"OK. At least, let me take you to the Health Center and---"
"Go away." Sanzou turned his back to the brunette. Actually it's just an excuse to hide his reddening face after recalling the earlier scene---You won't tell anyone about it, right? *click*
The boy kept bowing his head and bit his bottom lip nervously. Cold sweat started to flow on his forehead. Standing in front of a furious Sanzou had been intimidating enough---furthermore after what he had done to the beautiful guy. If only there's a hole nearby, the boy would love to jump inside.
Hakkai, noticing the strange atmosphere around, quickly tried to find a suitable statement to cool down the situation.
"Yare yare, I think he didn't do it on purpose." He smiled at the trembling brunette. "Right, Goku?"
***
~TBC~
It's NOT a love triangle between Gaiden Goku/Sanzou/Goku. ^^ You'll see why… soon.
Next Update: (Probably) December 25th 2003