Never Roses: Volume One: Chapter One
A young man, yet old for his age, looked up at the sky, apprehension written on his face. It was another cold, rainy day he had ahead of him, a cold, rainy, unpleasant day.
He'd retired from any real job he might have had long ago, for, though he was a pleasant man who could focus easily, was calm and rarely lost his temper, he felt he had to "redeem" himself as a monk. So, being what he was, he traveled, attempting to help others as much as he possibly could.
His gaze returned to the stormy sky; there were clouds off in the distance, think, black, looming clouds. They were moving, quickly, too. They'd reach him before long.
It was the end of the season, and already, spring was flushing winter out with all the raucous showers she could muster, creating minor "puddles" the size of small ponds for the wandering monk to step in as she did so.
He sighed. Then the monk prepared to climb up the remaining part of the dormant giant, Mount Reikaku.
...
He'd finally reached the top, about an hour-or-so before it began to rain waterfalls. It went like this: The monk knocked, no answer, knocked, no answer. It took him five tries to get someone to answer, and even when someone opened the door, a young bandit with auburn hair, he had no idea who the monk was and slammed the door in his face. Finally, after waiting in the bone-chilling night, it began to rain and he was no longer just going to stand around and wait to catch a cold.
The young man attempted to open the heavy oak doors. Locked. He raised his hand and, gradually, a red light appeared, surrounding his hand and, gradually, the door. It swung open with a loud "creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeak." He walked in briskly, eager to be out of the cold. The door thudded shut behind him.
The young man who had slammed the door in the monk's face earlier stood there, gawking in disbelief. The monk leaned down next to him and said, "Daijobu ka? I hope I didn't frighten you, no da. Would you please get Tasuki for me, na no da?"
The young man stood up, trying to look fierce, but miserably failing because his legs were shaking enough to shake up the whole mountain. "Th-there's no Tasuki here on this mountain," he said, tough act coming more easily now. "And even if there was, s'not like I'd tell ya; you've got no business on this here mountain."
The monk sighed. "Hai yes, no da... I already know that Tasuki's here, na no da... I just want you to find him for me. Eto Let's see... Now, what was his bandit name? Ara Ah! Genrou, na no da! Find Genrou for me please, will you, no da?"
"Th' hell he will," came a new voice.
The monk looked up, blue hair perking up as he sensed his friend's life fource. "Tasuki, na no da!"
"Yup, th' one an' only." He looked over at the younger bandit. "So, what's this I heard 'bout you not lettin' a member a' th' Suzaku no shichiseishi seven seishi of Suzaku through our Reikaku doors, eh, Kame-kun?"
Kame bowed hurriedly, fearing the worst. "I-it was an accident, Gen-sama! I swear!"
Tasuki laughed and patted Kame's head, ruffling the younger bandit's short, stubby auburn hair. "You haven't been here long; it's okay. Then again, why wouldn't you let in a Buddhist monk?" He laughed. "Afraid he's gonna make ya pray?"
"A... a monk?" He looked over at the blue-haired man again, looking more carefully at his garb. "Ara Ah! Gomen nasai Sorry, Monk-san Mr. Monk!"
The monk sweatdropped. "Aheh, call me Chichiri, na no da."
Kame nodded. Then he stood straight up, eyes wide and turned back to Chichiri. "Y-you mean-?!? You're the Chichiri-sama?!?"
"H-hai Y-yes, na no da..." He sweatdropped. "Does this mean that you didn't know that Tasuki-er Generou- is Tasuki?"
Kame blinked his large purple eyes. "N-nani W-what?!? Y-you mean that our leader, who has bad table manners, yells all the time, is easily provoked, gets into brawls all the time, and drinks too much sake, is one a' the Suzaku no shichiseishi?!?
Tasuki sweatdropped. "I'm not that bad."
Two hours later, the cerulean monk was being treated to dinner, along with all of the bandits. Kame was sitting several seats down from him, and Chichiri could hear him telling his friends about his encounter with "one a' them holiest Suzaku no shichiseishi." Tasuki was doubled over laughing until the humblemonk reminded him that he, too, was a member of the Suzaku seishi with the butt of his staff.
Everyone was enjoying themselves that night; the monk sighed contentedly at the sight of peace: Tasuki arguing with some of the more experienced bandits about what food belonged to whom and who would have to take the new bandits through the rounds, a "tour" of the mountain fortress and a talk about what basically went on.
'Yes,' Chichiri thought, 'one could get used to this.' He sighed and relaxed further into his chair, a wide smile written on his lips. 'It's so nice and peaceful.' He sat up suddenly as one of the bandits accidentally capsized the table in his attempt to make a hurried escape with what was undoubtedly the last of some desired food. Chichiri sweatdropped.
End Chapter One
Author Comments:
Well, wasn't that short? Such a wonderful ending to a chapter, do you not think n.n? banned the whole asterisk and the little arrows so n.n is the closest to a happy face I can make! ;.; Which is a sad face. U.U))
Responses to Reviewers:
To Illusions-chan: I'm glad it cought your attention. Yes, it does say "drama," but, if you've read the review submitted by Shinju-chan, all my normal fics are humors... so... umm... yeah. (sweatdrops) Also, there is a certain reader (who I very much applaud) who has read all my fics so far (except this) and all my others are humors, so I was putting that up mainly for her.
To Kitsuna Angelus: Was this soon enough? I've actually had this written for a while now. I've been writing this fic at every possible time (even during class); I just haven't had time to type it up. (sweatdrops) Actually, I've already started writing (by hand) the second chapter, so it should be up soon enough. Anyway, all of the volumes will be contained in this one fic because that's the way it goes. None of the chapters have names because... well... I'm lazy. There. I said it. U.U
To Shinju-chan: Is this long enough? And yes, it's a nice break for me, too. Oh, and by the way, the whole n.n face was created by Shinju-chan. Applaud her. Now. And yes, she knows a little. But I only told her about my characters, bwahaha! She knows nearly nothing else. Nyuk nyuk nyuk. 1
To anybody: If you know how to create a webpage, please help me!!! I want to be able to post all my art on the web!! Also, I want to be able to put my characters from my fanfics on a webpage so that people can see what they look like n.n . I already tried the tutorial on geocities, and it didn't work. The whole thing was 'sposed to take fifteen minutes... and, thirty minutes later, the first step was still loading. -.-
Also, if I ever forget to provide translations or use something incorrectly, feel free to tell me. I might be toolazy to change it (sweatdrops), but it's always good to know. Go ahead; I know Shinju-chan will. -.-