Disclaimer: Saiyuki is not mine. The story is fictional and all similarities to people and events in real life are coincidences.
Those Beautiful Green Eyes
Chapter One
I wake up with a start.
I've dreamt about dying before. In the centuries that made up my life, I must have dreamt up a hundred lifetimes in my sleep.
But this time...
I place a hand on my chest. My heart was beating so wildly that I felt like it was about to burst.
...Why was there so much pain in dying?
"Oh...You're awake," Konzen greets me in a disinterested manner.
What the hell is Konzen doing in my room! Contrary to popular belief, my brain works faster than my mouth does; and before I can face Konzen to voice out my question in the loudest way possible, my head is covered with my own clothes. I quickly extricate myself from my uniform. "What the hell are you doing here?" I scream at the blonde I have very little love for.
"Tenpou mentioned that you slept naked so I came to make sure you were awake and dressed before my intrusive aunt came in," Konzen replied matter-of-factly. "Enough of heaven has seen enough of you."
"Sure you didn't come in here to take a peek yourself? You're pretty, but I don't go for guys," I leer at him as I slip on a shirt, which smells newly washed. "Hey, you've been going through my closet!" I accuse Konzen while routinely ignoring his angry shouts of 'I have no interest in you, you arrogant son of a bitch!'
I slide my legs into my pants and easily pull it up to my waist. I notice it's a bit loose as I button it up. Strange... that doesn't make sense.
"Konzen, what are you doing here?" Kanzeon Bosatsu's voice floats up to my ears just as I finish dressing up. I hear the light amusement in the goddess' tone as she said, "I didn't know you were friends with Kenren as well."
"I'm not friends with him," Konzen grunts before stalking off.
Just for fun, I head for the door and call after Konzen, "Don't be so short-tempered. You'll wrinkle that pretty face of yours early."
"Urusai!" Konzen roars back.
For some reason, I almost expect Konzen to pull out a gun and shoot at me. Weird.
I turn to the Goddess of Mercy and see her watching me with the same amusement I heard in her voice when she was talking to Konzen. Her smile was unreadable as she stared at me. "How have you been, Kenren?" she asks pushing herself off the wall she had been leaning on.
Of course, any normal soldier would be bewildered as to why the Goddess of Mercy would be so interested in their affairs, but I'm not a regular soldier even when I had been stripped of my rank (which Tenpou so kindly helped me restore). "Okay, I guess," I shrug, not really knowing how to answer. Life in heaven is boring.
"Don't you find life in heaven a bit boring?"
Whoa! I know she's a goddess and all, but reading minds? "What other life is there? I don't have as much patience with books as Tenpou does and..."
"Oh, Tenpou?" Kanzeon Bosatsu almost laughed. "You speak so casually about your superior officer?" She gestures towards the garden and doesn't give me a chance to answer. "Would you like to take a walk, Kenren?"
I shrug, more as a sign of assent than uncaring, and follow her down the hall. My mind fills with questions as our first few steps are filled with silence.
Why does Kenren sound so unnatural? Why doesn't it feel like my name when it has been my name for centuries? I look around. Why does heaven seem even more lifeless than before? As we pass a mirror, I glance at my reflection. I stare at my own blue eyes in surprise. Why was I expecting to see red?
"You were saying something about reading books," the goddess interrupts my thoughts.
Books? Oh yeah. I was thinking about Tenpou and his books. "I was thinking that maybe if I had a speck of Tenpou's interest in books then maybe I would be as interested in the world below as he is."
"Maybe you don't need books to be interested, Kenren."
And with that, the Goddess of Mercy left me. As I watch her leave, I become aware that she has led me to Tenpou's apartment. "Aw, what the heck?" I decide to pay my supervisor a visit.