Disclaimer: Saiyuki is still not mine. A magic pencil is still not mine. But I do own CDs of the first 2 seasons of the Saiyuki anime, and as of today, the entire season of Saiyuki Reload. -huggles pirated CDs-
Translation notes: Onii-chan is what Lirin refers to Kougaiji as. Basically means 'brother', but I think it's also used just as a way to refer to young men. Same with onii-san. Or maybe it's onii-san that's used as the way to refer to young men… mleh. Anyways, onii-san won't be in here so it doesn't really matter.
Warnings: o.o Wow this part actually has a purpose again. OK first of all, everyone here knows Lirin's opinion of her mother, right? Then most of you should know Lirin's pet term for her. Those of you who don't, it's not polite. Next up, Dr. Hwan. Does everyone here know what she thinks of Gyokumen? If you do, and don't like it, leave now. There is no actual GyokumenxHwan stuff, not even implied, but I'm making some assumptions based on that, and my conscience is demanding that I at least put a warning. Though I guess her reactions could just be from a large sense of modesty… mleh. Last of all, the usual warnings about possible OOCness. I think I kept them all in character, but my opinion is kind of biased, as I'm the one writing the fic.
Notes to Reviewers: (Awww there's only one this time.)
Psycho-CJ: Yay for reviewers! To me it seemed like the chapter wasn't as funny as some of my earlier ones, but your review made my day! It's always nice to come back from a stressful weekend's camping to reviews.
And now for this chappie's blab! This chappie almost didn't make it to you today. It took a case of writer's block to make me go 'Ah f--- this' and post it and try again next chapter. mleh. The not-so-original-fairy is getting a reprieve. It won't have to deal with annoyed Saiyuki characters for at least one more chappie. Chappie 6 though…
Not-so-original-fairy: mleep.
And I have noticed that I seem to be picking on Dokugaku a lot. mleh. Oh well. He's tough, he can take it. It should only be one more chappie anyway. For now at least. Unless the stupid thing splits into FOUR parts now, instead of three. mleh. This was supposed to be only one chapter. But it has split into no less than 3 parts. As of now, part 3 only exists in my head. Let's see, what else was I gonna blab about… oh yeah, just a little note, if something is in between dashes like this -boo- it's the equivalent of those little star thingies that ffnet keeps editing out.
… I can't think of anything else. mleh. On to the chappie!
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In which a fanfic author is finally spurred out of her procrastination by the warm-fuzzy-feeling caused by a nice review, but due to not seeing the review till late in the week, the fanfic author runs out of time and inspiration, and posts the chapter before it was finished to the point she wanted
Also known as
In which everyone is still Confused As Hell, and the not-so-original-fairy's appearance is put off yet again
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Now since such a big deal was made in the previous chapter about how generally peaceful it was in Houtou Castle, the fanfic author will refrain from restating it. However, she will divert your attention to the one room in the entire castle where there SHOULD be the I-don't-like-you-yaddayaddayadda-tension, but ISN'T.
Why should this room be full of the aforementioned tension? Because of the people currently in this room of course. Not only do we have Ni Jyeni and Dr. Hwan, we have the illustrious Gyokumen Koushu, and our own dear, bad-guy-but-Not, Kougaiji-sama. Not only is there no tension, but there is also an actual half-way-decent conversation going on. Or it will be when Gyokumen leaves. She can't carry on a decent conversation with anybody besides Ni it seems. She should leave soon though. She's less curious now and more annoyed, so- Aha! There she goes! NOW this chapter can really get started.
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Yaone had finally caught up with Lirin-sama. Dokugakuji, however, had somehow taken a wrong turn about three corridors back, so Yaone didn't have to elaborate on what she had meant by 'different' yet.
Lirin was having fun chanting 'food, food, food!' and skipping beside Yaone, while they finally made their way down the hallway that led to Onii-chan's mother's room. HE would feed her!
Lirin's happy thoughts of her onii-chan and food were interrupted when she saw who was exiting Rasetsunyo's room in a huff. It was never a good sign when the Bitch was in a bad mood.
Yaone noticed Gyokumen Koushu's less-than-dignified exit as well. It was kind of hard not to. The woman was absolutely radiating Annoyed-As-Hell waves.
Oh dear, I hope that she hasn't been giving Kougaiji-sama a hard time again. He's always in such a bad mood after.
About then, Dokugaku finally caught up. That one wrong turn had really set him back, as he had continued down it for at least three more turns before he realized that the route he was on did NOT go to Rasetsunyo's room. He was huffing and puffing nearly as much as the Big Bad Wolf when he finally found Yaone and Lirin. (Keep in mind, those were looooooong corridors, and as Doku really wanted to catch up to Yaone to get her to give him a straight answer, he had been all-out sprinting most of the way.)
Dokugaku got enough of his breath back in time to look up and see Annoyed Gyokumen bearing down on him. Now since he didn't have a Death wish, or at the very least he didn't have a Want To Have An Evil Empress Lady Take Out All Her Anger On Me wish, he straightened himself up and Got The Hell Out Of The Way by flattening himself against the wall.
Of course, he probably could have just moved to the other side of the hall, and saved himself the trouble of trying to imitate a pancake. It would have saved some of his dignity at least. But the oxygen-starved brain is much more easily panic-stricken, and the combination of the two does not make for the clearest of thinking.
Yaone and Lirin had turned around to watch Gyokumen's progress down the hall. After watching her storm around the corner, their eyes turned to Doku, and his Marvelous Pancake Imitation.
Lirin, being blunt and to the point, asked, "Dokugakuji, why are you pretending to be a pancake?"
Dokugaku, finally realizing Gyokumen was gone, and that his pancake imitation was not the best for the image he wanted to project, (due to a bit more oxygen finally making its way to his brain), pushed away from the wall, unsuccessfully trying to stop the fiery blush that made its way across his face. To try and cover his slip, he said gruffly, "I'm NOT imitating anything, much less a pancake. You must be imagining things."
And before Lirin could make a reply to that, Doku turned to Yaone and asked her, "Any idea about why she's in such a bad mood?"
"Not really…" replied Yaone, "she was like that before we got here." She blinked and snapped her fingers. "Unless something changed for her too!"
"But she didn't look any different," Lirin pointed out, "why would she be annoyed if nothing happened to her?"
Yaone took a moment to ponder that. "Well… maybe something happened to somebody else, and she's annoyed because she can't figure out Why or How."
"That makes sense," Doku said slowly, "she's the type who wouldn't like to admit to not being able to figure something out."
Lirin, who was now just the teensiest bit bored with the conversation now that there was a plausible explanation for the Bitch's behaviour, interrupted it before it could go any further by saying, "Well let's go see who else had things change then. If she was in Onii-chan's mother's room, maybe Onii-chan is the one something happened to!"
Yaone blinked. That's right. It would make sense for it to be Kougaiji-sama who had something change. I wonder what could have happened… Pink hair perhaps?
Suppressing the giggle that threatened to bubble up from the image of Kougaiji with bubble-gum-pink hair, Yaone agreed, "Yes, let's go see! Then we can know for sure what happened to Gyokumen Koushu-sama, and we might even find out what could have caused the other changes. Besides, we were going there already anyways."
Dokugakuji, eager to find an explanation for his new hairstyle, said impatiently, "Well let's go then! It's only another 30 feet, so there's not much point to standing here dawdling."
And with that, the trio quickly made their way to the end of the hall, and through the giant doors which were the entrance to Rasetsunyo's room.
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The fanfic author will now divert your attention again to the Room of No Tension, to show you the conversation that was going on before and after Gyokumen left. Let's see how good the fanfic author is at showing who says what with just pure dialogue!
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"… How the hell is she doing that?"
"Well, well, isn't this interesting, one of the basic laws of reality is seemingly being tampered with."
-insert strangled noises here-
"… This shouldn't even be possible. Right? I mean, I think it shouldn't be possible…"
"… How the hell is she doing that?"
"It can't be the seal, if it was that weak she'd be down here by now, not still up on that wall…"
"Well…ah…-ahem- Maybe a modest person decided to give her a present?"
"And it looks like she's changing positions too. See! I blinked and it happened again!"
"… How the HELL is she doing that! -utter silence- … Whatever, this is a waste of time. I'm leaving. Ni, don't waste too much time here, unless this phenomenon is going to interfere with the revival experiments, I don't care about it."
-quietly- "My my, did they get…?"
"I'd be a bit more careful with my words if I were you, otherwise our prince might take you down a peg."
" 'Take him down a peg' would be one of the biggest understatements you could ever make."
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Author's Notes:
Cyber-cookies for whoever can tell me the order of Who Says What. And if people really can't tell Who Says What, I'll post it at the beginning of next chapter. mleh. Hopefully I won't procrastinate, and finish chappie 6 quickly. mleh. August 31st is the latest the post will be. I WILL stick to at LEAST one chapter a week goddamnit.