Disclaimer: If I owned Saiyuki, I wouldn't be trying to figure out how to build myself a magic portal... incidentally anyone that knows where to find magic instruction books on 'How to Build a Magic Portal to the Fictional World of Your Choice' let me know.

translation notes: Tentei is the Emperor of Heaven. I'm not exactly sure if that's what it's translated as, but that's what everyone calls him, so Tentei he will stay.

warnings: None really, except Jiroushin may seem OOC. mleh. I hope not, but he hardly ever shows up in the manga OR the anime, and even then we never get to see his thoughts, so I had to improvise. mleh.

I am not sure how pleased I am with this chapter. mleh. It was originally supposed to be much longer, and start the explaining of what the hell is going on, but... mleh. Kanzeon was supposed to make hir appearance here too. mleh. Next chapter. Let's see how fast I can write it...

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In which a fanfic author tries to pass the time while camping by doing something productive (to her), and teases all those people who are wondering about Gojyo's predicament by switching POVs. And then runs out of time if the fanfic author wants to keep to her updating schedule, so shortens the chapter by leaving it in the one POV

Also known as

In which Jiroushin goes searching, finds some things he wasn't looking for, and gets a remarkably pleasant surprise

It was a peaceful morning in Heaven. But then again, it always was. Running on 500 years now. (If one's calculations are correct, and assuming there wasn't years of inner turmoil after those four left) The sun was shining, birds were singing, those still sleeping were having peaceful dreams, and those awake were going about their peaceful lives. (This starting to sound familiar?) Except possibly for Nataku. But since no one can say for sure if Nataku is awake, sleeping, or thinking at all, we'll just say that it was peaceful with no exceptions. So. Heaven. Peaceful. Same 'ole, same 'ole. Poster child for boredom and apathy. You can't get much more peaceful than that. But since this little branch of the story would go nowhere if it stayed peaceful (which would be bad as the fanfic author needs some things to happen before we can return to Gojyo's little predicament), right on cue comes our first disturbance.

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Where is se? Se isn't usually THIS difficult to find when there's paperwork that needs signing.

Jiroushin was annoyed. He was having NO luck whatsoever finding Kanzeon Bosatsu-sama, even less than usual when he needed her signature. Se seemed to have a deep-set dislike of all things paperwork, and made it difficult for anyone who wanted to bother hir with it. Especially for Jiroushin, since to hir mind he should know better by now.

So as he was searching through the halls, he spied a dazed-looking bureaucrat-type slumped against a wall.

This is odd, that man isn't just dazed, he looks like he's in shock, combined with… is that TERROR I see? I could have sworn that there was hardly anything left in Heaven to BE afraid of. Well, if you get on Tentei's bad side I guess.

Jiroushin was tempted to go over to the bureaucrat-type and ask the man what had frightened him so, but at last he decided not to. After all, he already had a task to perform, and besides, for all he knew, the man was an insectaphobe, and had been scared by a passing butterfly that had found it's way inside. (Hey it could happen)

So he continued on his search, if more reluctantly than before. To console his unsatisfied curiosity, he added this grievance to the quickly growing mental list he had of every confusing, misleading, outright mystifying thing Kanzeon Bosatsu-sama had ever said to him, and everything se did, intentionally or otherwise, that made his life more difficult. He had only started it this morning, when he had failed to find hir where se was supposed to be, but he kept remembering previous offences that merited a place on the list. The whole point of the list was to either fuel some distant revenge, or be the revenge, he just wasn't quite sure how yet. Or just so that if he actually got One Free Hour in which Kanzeon Bosatsu-sama would answer anything Straight Out, he'd be ready.

Now because Jiroushin was busy reviewing his mental list, his mind didn't quite register the presence of the several scared/shocked people he passed in the hallway. They hadn't gone and slumped themselves against the wall like that one fellow, so weren't quite as obvious, yet people NOT reviewing mental lists concerning various injustices could plainly see how shocked they all looked.

And Jiroushin finally noticed too, when he saw a sight he never thought he'd see.

What the!… Is that… TENTEI?

Yes it was Tentei. Acting with none of his usual pomp and splendor. Shaking like a leaf. Oh there had been times before when he could tell Tentei was scared, but he hid it with bluster and indignation. Or a sentencing or two. Or four. Never had he openly shown fear.

Being faced with this very unusual sight, Jiroushin's mind took the opportunity to finally register all the other shocked and scared people he had seen. And his curiosity was growing again. But not too much, as he was starting to have some niggling suspicions that could explain what was going on.

To try and test how sound his suspicions were, he decided to follow the Route of Shocked People, and see where it led. And the further he went, the more his suspicions grew. He knew where this route led, and if the Shocked People were at the next turn… Aha! There they were. He knew who was at the end of this route.

What is se doing NOW? Somehow I have a feeling I'm going to have to add this to the List…

And on that thought he broke into a run, virtually whipping around the last corner-

Where he stopped in shock. And stared. And stared some more, while somehow managing to suppress the delighted grin that kept trying to bubble up.

Oh somebody must REALLY like me. No need for the List now. Even if I'm not the one who planned it and carried it out, revenge is SO sweet…

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Author's notes

Yeah it's a cliffhanger. There was supposed to be Kanzeon's POV after this, but I just ended up saying "the hell with it" and posted it as it is. Maybe it will hook some people into reading it. Unless it drives away those who loathe cliffhangers. mleh. Review please!