Disclaimers: I don't own anything, sadly. Not even the plot, though I did twist it here and there to try and fit the Saiyuki characters.
Warning: Yaoi. May be at a higher rating in later chapters. OOC
Pairings: GoujunxTenpou, GojyoXHakkai. Other pairings to come.
Comments to reviewers at the bottom.
Chapter 2: Six years Later
Tenpou smiled at her husband as they walked off the gangplank. It was the third time this month that they had left the Island; Goujun was only doing so on the encouragement of his wife – she kept mentioning his pale complexion.
Tenpou had long since retired from the Army; Goujun had made no effort to make her do so. In fact, he had made many comments about how inefficient how all his Generals were – how none of them had the potential to make it any higher. Tenpou had merely smiled enigmatically and presented more documents and reports to Goujun, continuing to think secret thoughts of her own.
Goujun was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he was father to an active five-year-old; it certainly had not seemed that long ago when Tenpou had, when they were going through some documents one night, smiled at him. His heart had stood still for an eternity.
Commander Guo was nothing if not a practical pragmatic man. He had given the incident little thought and continued to go through the papers with his Marshal.
But he found himself noticing the kinds of smiles his Marshal bestowed on her subordinates, and counting the number of different smiles she directed him. He found that her smiles were sweetest when she smiled at him; her dark green eyes would lighten to vibrancy and she dropped her absentminded face more around him, seemingly more comfortable to be her astute witty self in Goujun's presence.
It was around then when he started contemplating presenting his Field Marshal to the Emperor. The Emperor had already known, of course, though unofficially, and had been impressed by Tenpou's effectiveness and professionalism in the execution of her duties. No, the problem was not the Emperor's objection; it was after the official recognition of his Marshal's true gender that gnawed at him, for Goujun actually wanted to…
Goujun snapped out of his recollections when he felt the affectionate brush of fingers against his hand. Tenpou's lips turned up a little at her husband's faintly glazed look. She leant towards him and placed a sweetly chaste kiss at the corner of his mouth and cheerfully tugged him towards the vendors, wishing to indulge her sweet tooth.
She had smiled somewhat like that, Goujun recalled, when he had hinted at his idea. It had been meltingly dazzling, sweet and surprised, both her smile and eyes, when she had caught the gist of what Goujun intended.
Things had moved quickly after that; Goujun's presentation of Tenpou to the Emperor and the royal court, Tenpou's first public appearance in public wearing military gear adjusted to hint enough at feminity without compromising protection and her hair worn loose about her shoulders, the Emperor's commendation in the integral role she had played in the Hyakugan Maoh affair, and the royal permission for Field Marshal Tenpou and Western Army Commander Guo Goujun to marry as a reward. In his shock at the proclamation, Goujun had almost missed the Emperor's wink and Tenpou's answering nod.
He had not known that Tenpou was on such terms with the Emperor.
And then there was no time for thinking, for officials congregated around to congratulate them both, as one would have to be incredibly dense as to not approve what the Emperor approved. Goujun had only managed to exchange one glance with Tenpou before she was blocked form sight.
It augered well and was a sign of the gods' good will that the Mongolians had agreed to a treaty soon after their marriage. It silenced the wagging tongues that predicted calamity the unorthodox commendation of a female officer would have on the kingdom. Goujun allowed himself a hint of contentment as he watched Tenpou cheerfully selecting sweets. Senior officers had been allowed to retire from active duty, though keeping their ranks, and the foot soldiers were allowed leave to go home and only had to return occasionally for drilling. That left the Commanders to keep the Army running on a low key.
He had been pleased with the situation; it meant that Tenpou was no longer in danger - not that Goulun doubted her well-known ability to protect herself. Then Tenpou had dropped another bombshell into Goujun's structured and ordered life. She had announced placidly that she was going to retire.
His first response was, "What?"
Then she had gone on to suggest that they move to Peach Blossom Island, her father's home, so they could meet. Before he could stutter out an intelligent response, she had blithely continued on to inquire what he thought would be best to name their child.
His infuriating Marshal and wife then had had the gall to say, ever so innocently, "Why, Sir, whatever is the matter? Tea went down the wrong pipe?"
Tenpou was hiding a smile at his expense, Goujun could tell, from the way her face turned extremely absentminded and fuzzy and her eyes were burning with an intense light. It got more blank and intense when her eyes caught his.
Goujun found it harder to keep the irritated look off his face.
"Thinking of six years ago?" Tenpou enquired softly. She chuckled at his surprised start and replied, "When your eyebrows twist like that and look like you've bitten into a lemon, you're thinking of that."
Goujun hmmph'ed at the light teasing and made no reply, allowing his Marshal to drag him across the market place. He felt rather than heard her gasp, and turned to see what had startled her and was himself shocked by the head of bright red hair by the street corner.
"Kenren?"Tenpou faltered, and moved forward, stopped only by Goujun's grasp on her arm.
"It's not Kenren." It wasn't, for on closer inspection, while the red hair may have been the exact same shade as the late and unlamented General's, it was longer and matted with dirt and filth, hanging in the redhead's face. The redhead was also young; about seven, by his stature, and when the child turned his face towards them, Goujun could catch unobstructed glimpses of reddish eyes, the wide and delicately shaped eyes of Kenren's. The child was undoubtedly Kenren's; the red hair could not have possibly belonged to anyone else, and the worldly look in the too-old eyes was uncannily like the much disliked General.
Tenpou was, however, not thinking along the same lines as Goujun. She hurried to the child's side and kneeled beside him, the blank mask falling, an obvious sign of concern. Goujun had to follow, and, in distaste, noted that the child was a beggar.
"Tell me, little boy," Tenpou said gently as fished out a handful of loose change. "Who are your parents?"
The boy stared unflinchingly at Goujun's glaring disinterest and distaste, obvious wondering why the pale figure was acting like that, and answered, "My mother's dead, and my father's a bastard." He smiled winsomely at Tenpou and shook his begging bowl suggestively at her. Tenpou obligingly dropped in the handful of coins she'd found. "Thank you Big Sister."
Goujun half-expected his Marshal to flinch backwards; she was wearing clothing in the men's style, and despite her beauty, people usually brushed it off as Tenpou being young and fresh-faced – besides, the last time a man had found out that she was a man, he had tried to take advantage of her.
Surprisingly, Tenpou merely smiled. She noticed the boy's scars a moment later than Goujun, and the smile faded. She reached out to touch them, only stopping just short of the boy's face, startled by the boy's flinch and sudden wariness.
"Who hurt you?" Tenpou asked, amazed that anyone would try to hurt such a charming child, beggar or not.
"My mother." The child replied guardedly.
Tenpou smiled reassuringly and gave the child several of the sweets she had bought. The boy accepted them with mumbled thanks, but did not eat them.
"What's your name then?"
"Sha Gojyo."
"Then… where is your father?"
"I don't know, and I don't care!" Tenpou did not seem fazed by the boy's heated outburst; Goujun on the other hand was not too impressed by the boy's lack of filial piety. "He'd just disappeared, leaving me and my mother alone – he didn't even marry her!"
That sounded very much like Kenren, Goujun mused, as Tenpou hurriedly tried to stem the steady stream of tears running down the boy's cheeks with more sweets. And the boy certainly sounded like him too.
"Goujun," Tenpou whispered, turning to him and tugging her husband a little to the side. Goujun could see the boy regard them with wary suspicion. "The poor kid doesn't even know his own father, and his mother… let's take him back with us."
At Goujun's answering scowl, Tenpou's face turned the woolliest he had ever seen, and her smiled took on a blankness that meant that she was up to something. Goujun blinked, then sighed. Tenpou wore that look only when she was brewing up some crazy ingenious scheme, and lately they all seemed to involve him – on the receiving end.
Perhaps it would be best if he just gave in; it would result in the same thing either way.
Tenpou's gaze was dazzling when Goujun nodded; one of these days, Goujun thought darkly, he was going to catch Tenpou off-guard the way she always did to him.
The loving kiss Tenpou gave him when they were back in the boat heading home, redheaded kid in tow, dimmed the resolve a little.
Veszelyite: Extremely sorry to disappoint – I quite like Kenren myself, but in the story, he is the only one to fit the part, what with my planning to put Gojyo as the main male protagonist… I thought it'd be nice if Kenren and Gojyo were related somehow. Still, the plot is under continuous tweaking; I think I can manage to paint Kenren in a better light, though it'd be a lot later. This is my first time at doing Saiyuki; I can't match any of the wonderful writers out there, like sf, Bhex and X-Parrot, and I think that all the characters are going to be horribly OOC. Though I did think that Goujun would have been the hardest…
Angel-Gensui: Thanks for all the praise, I feel quite embarrassed… Glad to have found another GoujunxTenpou fan! I've another chapter in the works, so it should be up soon, I hope.