Title: Finding the Sun
Author: AznSage
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.
Archived at:
Pairings: Goku+Konzen/Konzen+Goku
Rating: PG
Note: It's a Goku POV fic. Gaiden, but events screwed around with a lot to fit my plot ideas. More notes at the end.
Racing back through the halls as quickly as I could, I realized that I had lost my way again. But I had to hurry or Konzen would try to kill me later and that would be...painful. People got out of my way when they saw me sprinting madly down the halls, screaming obscenities after me about how I should watch where I was going and that there was no need to try and run them over. But they didn't understand. They were all empty masses who were puppets of the rulers of Tenkai. I finally recognized this hallway and realized that our room was not far, just around the bend at most. But as my luck would have it...
"Ah! Itai!" I rubbed my head in pain. In front of me was a very tall man, adorned in the uniform of the army, with a skull figure on his chest and a wine jug on his belt. "Uh...sumimasen!" He stared at me oddly and didn't look like he was going to say anything, and I was in a rush, so best to leave now. I picked up the two violets that had dropped and was about to run off again but the man grabbed my hair to stop me.
"Let me go! I have to go back to Konzen!"
"So you're the kid that Tenpou was talking about that had been brought to Kannon's place. You're with Konzen now huh?"
"You know Konzen, ojii-san?"
He visibly twitched at that thought. "Not ojii-san, onii-san!"
"Kenren-dono." He looked up at who had called him, two soldiers, obviously of low statures and were merely guards. They were probably looking for me again. "That child has been wandering around the palace without permission, he must have snuck in somehow." I shrunk back behind this man. He seemed more open-minded and had not mentioned anything about me being a 'shitty itan' the whole time, not insulted me in any way, and he knew Konzen. Somehow, I just knew he was on my side.
"Ah...this kid? He's okay."
"Is he an acquaintance of yours, Kenren-dono?"
"As a matter of fact..." He smirked slyly at the soldiers. "He's my love child." Whatever that was the soldiers were definitely confused. Me? I just kept that confused, cute look on my face in hopes of not causing any more trouble.
The soldiers sputtered at this. "Love...child...?"
Before they could recover, the man had put an arm around me, resting precariously on my shoulder, and we walked off with him laughing loudly.
"Kenren-dono?!" He ignored the call and we continue to make our way back to Konzen's room, my hands grasping the flowers tightly. He seemed to be in deep thought and didn't say a word, which seemed odd from the boisterous mannerisms I had just witnessed.
"We're here. Come on kid, let's get you back to your proper guardian."
He opened the door and I was ready to scream apologies at Konzen before he could kill me or hit me with that fan. Except, there was a man here already, wearing a lab coat with hair that was shoulder length, and a gentle smile adorning his face. "Oh, I see we have a visitor."
"Kenren!" The man seemed surprised to see me with the onii-san from before.
"Tenpou!" He yelled back at him.
"What are you doing here? Don't you have duties in court right now?"
"If you mean taking your place in the presence of Tentei while you run off doing your research, it's done." He looked back at me, still clinging onto the violets. "Oh, and look who I found running around."
"Goku! Where have you been?!" Konzen smacked me soundly on the head. "You can't just run around the palace or the guards will catch you and punish you!"
"Itai! Matte, Konzen!" I presented the violets to him. "I was just getting some fresh air and I found a field of flowers, so I thought that maybe I should get some for your office, you know, to brighten up the place." His anger lifted from his body and he roughly grabbed the violets from my grasp.
"You need to put that in water soon or it's going to die. I'll just leave 'em here for now, but you better remember to get them later, got it?" I nodded rapidly. "Baka saru." He ruffled my hair roughly and returned to his spot in the chair.
"It seems that we haven't been properly introduced." The man in the lab coat smiled at me and extended his hand. "I'm Tenpou."
I shook his hand and smiled back at him. "I'm Goku. Nice to meet you."
"You can call me Ten-chan. And this is Kenren. You can call him whatever you want, as long as it's not ojii-san." Kenren kept quiet and just twitched while leaning against the now closed door.
"Tenpou...since when were you so fond of kids?" Konzen reclined lazily on his chair, with me still standing in the middle of the room. "And...what the hell's with 'Ten-chan?'"
He laughed good-naturedly at Konzen. "Well, what's wrong with being friendly? Or does it impose on your reputation?"
I watched the two trade insults, with Ten-chan always laughing back at Konzen and Konzen having more veins popping on his temples at every passing minute. It was good to be here. Amongst friends. Amongst what felt like family. Amongst what is family. And in the glow of my sun.
Eventually, Kenren did move. He got up off his spot on the door and grabbed Ten-chan with a hand on his collar. "Alright, enough of the chit chat. You may not have work to do, but we do. See ya, Konzen. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"Ten-chan! Ken nii-chan! Going so soon?"
"We have to meet with some important officials about some job the army's gotta pull on this big youkai guy named Gyuumaoh. So we gotta be off now. Take care of the little brat, Konzen Douji."
I waved goodbye to the two and turned my attentions back to Konzen. "Ne...Konzen..."
"Hm?"
"You may be immortal and not to eat, but I'm not. Wanna go grab something to eat?"
He did not move to counter me or rebut. Instead he got up and nodded, silently making his way to the door. I ran after him to catch up. His face was curled up in thought but his eyes were lacking any anger or resentment. Worry was clear in his thoughts though. I just wish people in Tenkai weren't so afraid of their superiors punishing them. I wish they could speak freely. But this was not my world, and I just followed.
From watching Konzen, I wasn't watching my way and bumped into someone again. I rubbed my head in pain, it seems that I was doing that a lot nowadays. Another day, another bump against a belt buckle is what it seems like. And this hallway wasn't even crowded. "Gomen..."
"Watch it kid!" He shouted at me angrily and eyed me warily, his eyes skipping from the diadem, to my golden eyes, then to the shackles. Konzen snapped to attention at the voice and sneered angrily at the newcomer.
"Li Touten." Konzen cursed angrily under his breath. Obviously, they were not on pleasant terms and it wasn't just the casual way that he would speak to Kannon.
The man smirked at Konzen haughtily. "So this is the new kid huh? Goku was it? Golden eyes, dangerous child of the aura of Earth. Heaven doesn't need another itan, Konzen. So you better watch him well. Or else, I'll be sending my soldiers for you."
"Since when did you get the power and position to order me around? Or are you being delusional again?"
"Ch'. I've never been delusional Konzen, only Tentei and all the other gods have."
"Watch what you say. The walls have ears."
"And what have I got to fear? I have the ultimate weapon on my side. Heaven needs me to survive and hold their power." The man turned his attentions to me again. "Don't get too attached kid. That cold bastard Konzen's not interested in women, you know." I could feel the anger and hate emanating off of Konzen from that comment and was not about to let this guy get away with it. So I kicked him. Hard.
"Ow! Shit!" He grabbed my shoulders and found strength in his hate, throwing my body up against the wall, a hand snaking around my throat to choke me . "Don't you *dare* do that again or I will have my son kill your precious Konzen when you're asleep, got me?" The pain from the impact on the wall was getting to me and I was beginning to notice a lack of air. Konzen rushed up from behind him and grabbed his hands off from me to free me from the hold, lifting the man off his feet. The anger from him was so great that if he could he would probably be blowing steam from his ears.
"Get the fuck off him *now* Li Touten! I don't care if your son comes and tries to fucking kill me. You *don't* touch Goku, got it?" The two stared down at each other for a few minutes until Konzen finally let go of him. Konzen helped me off the floor and began to lead me away from the scene.
My sharp ears caught the man's words after we had turned our backs on him. "Konzen Douji, you are a dead man..." My body shivered from the tone that he had taken. A fearful man indeed. Who exactly was he?
"Goku." A low whisper from my keeper's throat caught my attention anew. "Are you alright?"
"Aa, yeah I'm fine. Just a scratch here or there. Nothing that a tree branch couldn't have done as well."
"Good." Another moment of silence. "I want you to stay away from him."
"Who is he, Konzen?"
"Li Touten. He is using his son to manipulate the courts and gain power for himself. He is a conniving bastard and a lot of unrest in the army has been rumored to have been caused by him. Him and his son the killing puppet."
"Killing puppet? Who's that?"
"Nataku."
My eyes went wide. It couldn't be. "But Nataku...Nataku's not a killer! He's my friend! Konzen, you're joking right?"
He shook his head and looked at me seriously. "Be careful of where his loyalties lie." He turned back around to continue walking. "Come on, dinner will probably begin soon. Come with me."
I couldn't believe what I had just heard. Nataku? That kid that I had met? A killing puppet? I couldn't understand how he was capable of these types of things. And no one around here was willing to give me a straight answer. Except maybe Homura. Yes, tomorrow, I will talk to him. That is, if my luck allows me.
-TBC-
This part took so long in part because of the fact that I had exams and a LOT of school work. So I'm taking a little break from studying and posting. Sorry to all for waiting so long for this chapter. *bows* I will update more diligently during the summer. Thanks to chris, Astralkitten, gallatica, Kiarene, Azzie, and bleit for reviews ^_^ I have a good idea of where I'm headed now so the plot will start to pick up little by little since I can't seem to make myself write long chapters. I'm trying to write a whole story without breaks, so I'm trying not to skip around time spans too much here. -.-;;