MONKEY IN A BOTTLE
By: Insomnia's Child
AN: Yay! Goku appears in this chappie! (dances like crazy) Oh, and Hakuryuu too! Hehe. Here are the answers to the reviews:
Patto-chan – Haha. Thanks. I just hope you don't think of that narrator in Aladdin when you read this fic! Hehehe! (grins)
End of Grace – Here's Chapter 2…I hope you like it : D
YJ – Hmm…Well, I'm not really sure if I'm going to add some romance here, Goku and Sanzo in particular…But I do hope that doesn't stop you from reading and reviewing this fic…
KotoYuri – Thanks. (grins) I'm glad you like it.
Azamiko – Actually, that song was stuck in my head while I was writing the first chapter. Hahaha. No, scratch that. It's still stuck in my head. Lol. (sings Arabian nights)
Hokai Amplifier – Yeah, it's a lot like Aladdin. It also helped that my little sis was watching that movie while I was writing, so I was a bit inspired. And there is a royal vizier, only, he's not that important in the story, so I didn't bother writing about him.
CHAPTER 2: The Boy Who Screamed Food!
To say that the famous three, Genjo Sanzo, Sha Gojyo and Cho Hakkai arrived at the palace looking very tired is a huge understatement. For this alone, nobody, not even a person who have half a brain, did not dare approach or question them in such conditions, for the fear of being instantly transported to Hell itself. Servants and guards alike scampered in fear once they saw the trio approaching the Prince's quarters. They were seen panting, beads of sweat gracing their faces and they looked like they had just run all the way here from who knows where. Oh, if they only knew…
"I can't believe that stupid girl! How dare she put us in that situation!"
Gojyo was looking like a man whose wife had just left him. He was resting on one of the Prince's taut armchairs, his feet resting on top of several pillows piled on top of each other. His face looked drained of all energy, yet one couldn't help but feel endangered at the murderous glint in his eye.
"Oh? But is Lirin really the one to blame?" Hakkai asked, arching one eyebrow. He was, as usual, smiling, his hands busy holding a cloth with which he used in cleaning his monocle. "As far as I can remember, you and Sanzo were the ones fighting loudly over trivial things."
"You're siding with that brat?" Gojyo said disbelievingly. "Are you forgetting that she made us run for miles under the scorching heat of the sun, only to meet up with that arrogant brother of hers, who didn't even say thank you for all the help we gave them? We almost died of exhaustion!"
"What do you mean, 'we'? I, unlike your weak wimpy self, wasn't in any way that affected by the heat," Prince Sanzo informed them, glaring at his right hand man out of the corner of his eye.
"Oh really? Aren't you the same person who was almost left behind due to your slow legs? At least I'm not some lunatic like you, who kept muttering about 'I heard a voice' over and over again," Gojyo snapped, his anger flaring up at Sanzo's arrogance.
"Lunatic? Do you want me to separate your head from your body?" Sanzo's voice was laced with so much venom, the others could feel the tension rising in the air, and one could slice it easily with a knife. It wasn't really Gojyo's calling him a lunatic that really angered him, for he was far too used to those kinds of insults coming from the redhead's mouth; but instead, the fact that Gojyo mentioned about him hearing voices when no one else could. Try as he might, Sanzo couldn't shake off the feeling of dread creeping inside him like a snake. He just knew that something bad would soon happen.
"Why, don't you know, Sanzo? I'm am known in this city as an honest man!" Gojyo said, smirking at having brought out the very reaction he wanted to see on Sanzo's face.
"Shut up!" Sanzo could feel the last of his self-control slipping away, so instead of continuing this fight (Hakkai, who had suddenly gone silent, was now looking at them warningly), he reached for the bottle he had tucked in under his violet sash, the very bottle that had been the cause of his problems. He, instead of giving it to Lirin along with all the loot they had collected, had pocketed it, for reasons only his crazy instincts could tell.
Gojyo, who was half-way on his rant about old, crazy princes who lived to make his everyday living a complete nightmare, turned his attention to the bottle. His eyes widened, and a grin crept its way to his face. "Whoa! Where on earth did you get wine?" he said as he made a grab for the bottle.
Sanzo glared at him as he lifted the bottle out of Gojyo's reach. "Get your hands off of it!" he hissed.
"Wine is bad for old men's health, and since we don't want this kingdom without an heir, give it to me instead," Gojyo told him with a grin.
Hakkai, who had finally recovered from whatever stupor he was in, decided this was the best time to step in. Raising his hands in a calming gesture, he politely reprimanded the bickering two, "Please, you two, stop it. You are both acting very childish."
Gojyo snorted. "Childish? Why, almighty Sanzo, you should thank Hakkai. He just gave you a compliment!" he went on, sniggering. "Honestly! Who would call an aged fellow like you childish?"
Sanzo gritted his teeth. If Gojyo had been wise, he might have wisely refrained from saying more insults to aggravate him, for the Prince was often compared to a tiger. If you do something to provoke it, you will find yourself face to face with death itself. And this was the condition that Gojyo was currently in. No words were needed to be said to express Sanzo's immense anger for his right hand man.
"You've gone all silent, Your Highness. Is this lowly servant somehow affecting you?" Gojyo egged on as he continued to wrestle the bottle out of Sanzo's mighty grip.
"Just shut up, you stupid cockroach!" Prince Sanzo exclaimed.
Gojyo, having been mad at being called such a disgusting creature, tugged harder at the bottle. Sanzo did the same, and soon, they were playing a dangerous game of tug of war, despite Hakkai's constant pleas in the background.
But unfortunately, this was a tug of war where no one wins and it was a lose-lose situation. Somehow, Gojyo had finally got a hold of the bottle, but Sanzo, whose pride was on the line, whacked Gojyo's hands, which resulted in him dropping the bottle on the floor before the Prince even had the time to catch it. What resulted was a loud crash, followed by several curses; the credit goes to Sanzo, of course.
But their problems didn't end there. For after accidentally smashing the bottle, what happened next was the appearance of a thick mist that covered the entire room, so much that they couldn't see each other any longer. Then, as if someone lit fireworks or set a bomb on fire, something just came bouncing in. No human or animal alike could have seen it, for it was moving with such intensity and speed than anything else in this world, even a cheetah was no match for it. It came wheezing past the window and past Sanzo's full length mirror; it was a miracle the glass didn't crack. The three room occupants, who had never seen anything quite like this before, watched with a combination of awe and fascination.
"Is that a ball?" Gojyo asked, squinting his eyes to see.
"Ah, well, does a ball reach the ceiling without anyone moving it?" Hakkai told Gojyo.
"No."
Hakkai smiled. "Then does that answer your question, Gojyo?"
Gojyo just shrugged.
They continued to look at it, following its every movement. But as I had said, it was so fast that the only thing that happened was the sudden arrival of a certain painful thing, or more commonly known as the headache. Finally, after several grueling seconds, or what felt like hours, whatever it was stopped and landed right in front of Sanzo.
"Ahhhh! Wonderful! Wonderful! Everything is just soooooooooooooo wonderful!
I've never been so alive in my whole life! After five hundred years of waiting, I've finally been freed! Ohhhhh….And I'm just sooooooooo huuuuuuuuuuuuuuungry!"
This creature proved to be a brown haired boy with wide, captivating golden eyes. He was dressed in an elegant vest made of the finest materials, with matching trousers and gold, pointed slippers. And there was this overwhelming air of innocence that surrounded him, and one couldn't help but feel relaxed by this. Now, as cliché as this may sound, the moment this wonderful creature appeared out of thin air, it seemed as if time itself froze. And what stared at Sanzo, Gojyo and Hakkai in the eye was in fact the one powerful, all-knowing thing – Destiny.
Gojyo rubbed his eyes with his hands several times. He was afraid he might faint, so it took quite a while before he finally found his voice. He stared at the boy in front of him. "Who-who the heck are you? And how did you get here?" he exclaimed.
The boy gave him a heart-warming grin that reached his ears. "I am none other than the great Son Goku, the most powerful of all powerful genies," he declared proudly. His eyes met theirs. "Now who among you is my master?"
Hakkai, who was still coping with recovering with the shock of seeing something that defied all the knowledge, facts and logic that he had acquired over the years, made a short bow at the so-called Son Goku. "Pardon me for my inquisitiveness, but did you just say you're a genie?" he said. Gojyo really admired Hakkai for all he was worth, because despite the fact that he was still shell-shocked, he still managed to speak as courteously as a well-raised gentleman.
Son Goku looked at Hakkai as if mentally debating whether he had taken offense on him or not. "Yes, of course I'm a genie! What else could I be? Didn't you hear me?" he told him. "Who are you?"
"Ah, I'm terribly sorry. I almost forgot my manners. My name is Cho Hakkai. The scowling blonde is Prince Sanzo, and the other man is Sha Gojyo," Hakkai introduced.
Sanzo, on the other hand, was looking at Goku through violet eyes with something that I couldn't quite explain. It could be anything, really – curiosity, disgust, anger, irritation, absolutely anything. It was hard to tell, especially with such a guarded person like our favorite Prince. "So you've been the one calling me all along?"
The genie's eyebrows met in confusion. "I haven't been calling anyone," he denied.
"You lie. I've been hearing your stupid voice all day. It's so annoying."
Gojyo nudged Sanzo in the ribs in order to have a closer look at Goku, to which Sanzo responded with a glare. He stared at Goku up and down before finally saying, "So let me get this straight. Unless Sanzo's lunacy is actually contagious or I might be having eye problems and need glasses like Hakkai, I did see you appear like a bubble, almost causing all of us a heart attack, and then declared yourself as a genie, a real genie who could actually grant wishes?"
"Yes, that's right. Don't I look like a genie?" Goku said as he surveyed the people before him. "So who exactly is my master? And does anyone of you have food? I'm really hungry. Maybe you have some meat? Meat's my favorite, you know. I especially love beef and-"
"Master?" Gojyo interrupted. "Why, I'm your master!"
Hakkai chuckled. "Well, technically speaking, that would be Sanzo. He was the one who found the bottle in the first place and brought it here."
Gojyo shot Hakkai an annoyed look that clearly stated "Shut your mouth and let me handle this."
Prince Sanzo scowled, not enjoying the prospect of having an annoying creature like Goku under his care. "I am not, and will never be, his master. Give him to the water monster, instead. I don't care," he said icily, in a voice that left no room for argument.
The golden eyed genie shook his head. "If what the mister-" he gestured towards Hakkai, "-said was true, then you are my master, whether you or I like or not. You can't refuse it, because to do so would be to go against the rules."
The Prince clenched his fists and resisted the urge to smack the genie into oblivion. The last thing he needed, in additional to the pressure of being an heir to the throne, placed on him by the elders and other people, and the constant nagging of the Queen to find a bride for him; was a stupid brainless genie named Son Goku to ruin his already damaged life. "And what exactly would happen to me if I refuse?" he said indifferently.
Goku widened his eyes for emphasis. "It would be the worst thing and no man could ever survive after dealing with it!" he exclaimed.
The Prince's eyes narrowed. "What could possibly worse than keeping you?" he snarled.
Gojyo laughed as he placed a hand on Sanzo's shoulder. "What a foolish person you are, my beloved prince! No one would ever want to throw away someone as worthy as him! I mean, he's a walking gold mine, for goodness' sake! He can grant you anything! And mark my words, he will be our ticket to success!" He pointed his finger at Goku, who was looking innocently at them.
A red mark appeared on Sanzo's forehead and he clobbered Gojyo's hand away. "Don't ever touch me!" he yelled. "And don't tell me what to do!"
Gojyo pretended he didn't hear anything. His brain was too busy thinking of all the wishes that he could get, ignoring the fact that Sanzo was the only one authorized to make a wish, since he was the new genie's master, after all. "So…Is there any limitations, boundaries and rules about wishing? I mean, you're not that kind of genie who only grants three wishes, are you?" he said, red eyes still fixed on Goku.
The brunette thought for a while. "Well, let's see. I grant as many wishes as my master asks of me. But that doesn't include killing people or getting rid of me," he said.
"That's too bad," Sanzo muttered. "I would've loved to get rid of a certain annoying redhead standing next to me."
"Oy!"
"Well in that case, Sanzo, why don't you make your first wish?" Hakkai said, in an attempt to stop the two from fighting again.
"Tch. I don't need wishes," Sanzo told him, ignoring the sudden crestfallen look on Goku's face.
"Now that may pose as a big problem…"
"Why can't we make a wish instead?" Gojyo suggested, still determined to get his fair share of women and wine.
"I don't think-" Hakkai began, but Goku instantly cut him off, some of his enthusiasm returning to him.
"Yes! That's a very great idea! Come on, make a wish! Make a wish! Make a wish!" Goku chanted, jumping up and down on Sanzo's bed. However, there was a desperate, longing look in his eyes that Sanzo didn't like.
"I thought you said only masters can make the wishes," Sanzo said coldly, and Goku stopped jumping. He stared back at the blonde, his face showing hints of nervousness and uneasiness, which gave Sanzo all the more reason that there was something else behind his sudden eagerness.
"Well, yes, that's true..." Goku said slowly, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "But I can…er, make exceptions! Right, um, exceptions! So any of you three can ask for absolutely anything."
"Don't be such a greedy man, Sanzo. We're like brothers. We share. Now," Gojyo avoided looking at Sanzo, afraid to see the dangerous look in his eyes. "I wish for lots and lots of wine!"
"Okay," Goku said, as he nodded his head excitedly. But instead of some kind of hocus pocus or signs of magic that usually accompanied genies who grant wishes, Gojyo was faced with a different sight. Goku was looking expectantly at him, his hands outstretched, as if begging him.
"Well?"
Gojyo glared at him. "What do you mean, well? I'm the one supposed to say that! Where's my wine?" he demanded.
"Where's my food?" Goku asked in return. "Come on, I'm really hungry."
"What are you talking about? In case you're suffering amnesia or something, you are a genie. You are supposed to ask people 'What do you want?' and with a poof, grant it!" Gojyo told him, as if he was a teacher explaining things to a toddler.
Goku looked impatiently at him. "Yes, I know that! But before I do that, you're supposed to give me food in return," he informed him.
Gojyo's eyes went as wide as saucers. His mouth formed a big O, so much that flies could go in his mouth several times without being swatted away. He was beyond shaken. "EH?"
Hakkai did the talking for Gojyo. "I'm afraid you never mentioned that."
The genie scratched his head. "Oh, didn't I?" The gesture and his words suddenly reminded Hakkai of Lirin. And now that he thought about it, he has the same kind of energy that the red haired girl has. They could easily be mistaken for siblings.
"What kind of genie asks food before granting wishes?" Sanzo said incredulously, raising one thin blonde eyebrow. So that's why the brat was so eager to grant people's wishes. This was turning out to be the weirdest day in his whole life, and that included the time when he met Gojyo and Hakkai. Goku should be by any means flattered.
"That's- that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Gojyo sputtered. Never before in his twenty two years of existence have he heard anything like this and frankly, he wasn't too prepared for this.
Hakkai just laughed, whether out of amusement or apprehension, no one could know. "I admit that was quite a surprise."
"But what if we actually wished for food!" Gojyo exclaimed.
"Food…Just thinking about it makes me so hungry," Goku groaned. "Hurry, up, mister, give me food…"
"I haven't got any food!" Gojyo told him, still irritated at today's newest revelation.
The expression on Goku's face was enough to make even the coldest heart on earth melt. Too bad that Sanzo was an exception to this. "But-but-"
"Ah, how fortunate I must be then," Hakkai began as he fished a banana out of his pocket. The others could only wonder why he kept such things hidden underneath his clothes. "Here." He handed the fruit to the boy, who accepted it so keenly that he could've been mistaken for a boy who had never seen food in his entire life. Well, in Goku's case, that was partly true. Five hundred years without food could certainly make someone hungry enough that every mention of the word 'food' made him drool.
"Yay! Yay! Yay!" Goku cried out, happiness evident in his youthful face. Without a second to spare, he swallowed the banana in one gulp. "Now what's your wish, mister?" he asked Hakkai.
Hakkai smiled. "Now…I can't actually think of anything…" he muttered as he placed a finger on chin and thought for a long time that even Sanzo and Gojyo told him to hurry up. "Well…I've always wanted a pet…"
"If you want a monkey, you can pick him," Gojyo told Hakkai, his index finger pointed at Goku, who, with my immense relief, had not heard him. Just imagining the chaos that might ensue if he did gave everyone the shivers.
"What kind of pet?" Goku asked.
"Hmmm…." Hakkai laughed. "This is actually very embarrassing, but, well, I've always wanted a small pet dragon…"
"A dragon, Hakkai?" Sanzo looked at Hakkai in disbelief. He knew the royal advisor was one weird guy, but he didn't know that his exotic tastes ventured this far.
"Pet dragon coming right up!" Goku said, his fingers at work. After several seconds, there was a loud "Puff!" and a small, white dragon with ruby red eyes came flying towards Hakkai's direction.
"Kyuu!" it said.
Hakkai slowly reached out to pet it. "Now, what shall I call him?" he asked, more to himself that to the others.
"How about Hakkai the Second?" Gojyo suggested, snickering at his own lame joke while Sanzo only rolled his eyes.
"I know! Whitey! Because he's color white!" Goku exclaimed.
Hakkai and the others sweatdropped.
"I think I'd rather like the name Hakuryuu," Hakkai finally said. The dragon gave another "Kyuu!" in agreement. "And I think he likes it, too."
"Wait till you see what it can do!" Goku said, beaming at Hakkai. "It's amazing!"
Hakkai looked at the dragon on his shoulder. "What can you do, Hakuryuu?" he asked. "Can you show it to us?"
"Kyuu!" the dragon screeched and flapped its wings. For the third time that day, smoke filled the air. When it died down, what was left of the dragon was a….
"Magic carpet?" Gojyo said incredulously, not quite believing his eyes. Genies, magic…He had been through so much, he was afraid if he would drop dead if another miracle happened. Even Sanzo was looking at the carpet-slash-dragon with dubious eyes. "That thing can turn into a carpet that flies?"
"Yup, that's Hakuryuu," Goku said, proud of his work.
"That was very…amazing," Hakkai muttered. In all his study about dragons, he never knew they could turn into such useful things. "Can you turn back into a dragon?"
"Hey, wait! I want to ride him first!" Goku exclaimed but it was too late, the carpet vanished and in its place was the dragon Hakuryuu. It took a while before the fact sank in and everyone returned back to normal.
"Now that that's all settled and everything's fine and dandy, let me make my wish," Gojyo said.
"But you said you don't have any food," Goku told him.
"Who cares? Would you reconsider if I threatened to beat you up?"
"No way!"
"Then you don't mind if I do this?" Gojyo smacked the genie in the head, who in turn retaliated by pulling his hair. Gojyo had to admit, for a starved child trapped in a bottle for five hundred years, he sure was strong. He was pretty sure that after training him for a month or so, he would surpass Sanzo and him in strength.
"Stop it now!" Sanzo shouted as he threw two pillows that instantly hit Gojyo and Goku right in the face. He couldn't stand any more of this. Sure, he had stopped hearing Goku's voice in his head for a while now, but seeing him fighting with Gojyo was enough to make anyone's nerves crack. "Why don't you just give him food from the kitchen and be done with it?" he told Gojyo through gritted teeth.
Gojyo's face lit up. "Why, you actually used your brain and made a very nice suggestion, Prince Sanzo! That's a complete miracle! Hakkai, did you wish for this to happen?"
"Shut up!"
"Kitchen? You have a kitchen? Where? Where? Where?" Goku craned his neck and surveyed the room once again.
"Why don't you show him where, Sanzo?" Gojyo said, smiling widely.
Sanzo glared daggers at him. "I am not moving from my spot," he snapped.
Gojyo shrugged. "Oh, well, that's too bad. You know what they say, an old man will always act like an old man," he said. The icy look coming from Sanzo may have at last worked, for Gojyo immediately grabbed Goku by the hand and exited the Prince's quarters in a second, leaving behind a cloud of dust.
"Hahaha. Who knew Gojyo could run so fast?" Hakkai said.
"Sometimes all it needs," Sanzo told him, "is a good scare."
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This is the palace kitchens, where every cook and maid is involved in the lengthy process of making food to please the palette of the royal family and its guests. In every corner of the room, something is chopped, cut, minced, boiled and roasted. The aroma of what promised to be good food permeated the air and it was enough to make anyone drool. The people in the kitchens are so absorbed in their daily activities and chores that they failed to see trouble even when it came face to face with them. This, I'm sure, would make the cooks regret ever leaving the door wide open for a certain Son Goku and a pissed off Sha Gojyo.
"Wow!" Goku said, his eyes bulging and his jaw hitting the marble floor as he took in all the sights resting innocently on the long kitchen table, from the apple pie down to the roasted chicken. "This is very awesome! There's so much food!"
"Remember my wishes," Gojyo reminded him, but Goku had long ago given up listening to him. He was too busy staring open-mouthed at the food. So instead, Gojyo busied himself by finding a pretty girl to flirt with. His eyes landed on a black haired beauty standing by the sink. Gojyo wasted no time in walking towards her. He particularly liked the way the apron fitted the girl's body.
"Hey, there, beautiful," he whispered on her ear.
The girl, startled, accidentally dropped the plate she was holding.
"Now, there's no need to be frightened," Gojyo said, smiling as he saw the girl's cheeks pink with what he hoped wasn't embarrassment. He was about to use one of the many effective pick-up lines that he had learned, when a voice interrupted him.
"You!"
One of the cooks, a fat, mean looking man with a mustache who knew Gojyo and his trouble-making ways, glared at him. "What are you doing here? Don't go disturbing the palace maids! You-" he referred to the girl, "Go back to work!" The maid, flushing prettily, complied and she turned away from the two in an instant.
"How dare you do that!" Gojyo exclaimed, angry at having been interrupted from another one of his sessions.
"I said, what brings you here? And who is this…this animal?" he sneered as he looked at Goku with a frightening amount of disgust.
"He's under Prince Sanzo's care, and he had strict orders to feed him. But if you want to throw him out, go ahead," Gojyo said carelessly, emphasizing Sanzo's name. That did the trick. The cook no longer looked at them with disdain; instead, he seemed to be having regretted saying those words. Sometimes, a person like him couldn't help but forget that he was talking to the Prince's trusted man.
"Forgive me for my rudeness, sir," the cook apologized. He wasn't a fool to risk his job on the line. "I shall immediately cater to the, er, boy's needs."
But what he, or anyone, knows is that Goku's needs were beyond average people's needs. When others would have instantly called eating five to six plates of rice a heavy meal, Goku only considered this as nothing but snack. Gojyo and the rest of the occupants of the kitchen could only stare wide-eyed as Goku ate his sixteenth helpings. They couldn't seem to fathom how someone as small as him could eat so many and with an amazing speed to match. And all this time, he kept muttering that he was still hungry he could eat a whole cow. And no one for even one split second believed that he couldn't.
"Oy, are you a superhero or something?" Gojyo asked him as he watched the genie gulp down some water before continuing his half-finished beef. "I can't believe how you can stand to eat that pathetic excuse for a chicken. I mean, that sour looking cook made that. It's bound to be poisonous."
In a flash, Goku stopped eating and he was looking at Gojyo as if he murdered his pet. He looked like he was close to tears. "You…you…" he said disbelievingly.
Gojyo raised his eyebrows. "I what?" he asked, freaked out at the boy's sudden odd behavior.
"You just insulted a chicken! I- I won't forgive you, you perverted scorpion!" Goku bellowed.
"What?"
"That's my food! You had no right to insult it!"
"I can't believe you! You're such a monkey! And…and, did you just call me a scorpion?"
"Well, it's true! You look like a scorpion. Look at those two strands of hair standing on top of your head. They look like a scorpion's pincers!"
"Why you…!"
Gojyo was so angry, no other insult coming from Sanzo could've made him explode like this one. He didn't even stop to think about what he was doing next. All he knew was that somehow, his hands, whom he suspected had a mind of its own, suddenly grabbed the nearby pudding and smashed it right on Goku's face.
"Ahhhh! I've gone blind! I can't see!" Goku shouted. Acting on instinct, he dumped the contents of the glass he was holding on Gojyo's head, soaking him from head to foot. Goku had just a few seconds to duck a sailing egg, which landed on one of the cooks' head, the very cook whom Gojyo was complaining about.
All manners were forgotten as the cook threw a tomato at Gojyo, but it instead hit another maid in the shoulder. And this, people, was the start of the very first big Tougenkyo War, or in short, the food fight. All kinds of food, together with pans, pots and other utensils were thrown at one another. Others did it for fun, some, like Gojyo and Goku, out of anger. This went on and on for quite a long time, so none were prepared for the heavy consequences that followed.
"STOP IT!"
Every head turned to the kitchen doors, only to be greeted by a sight of a very, very mad Prince Sanzo, escorted by Hakkai and his new pet Hakuryuu. All movement stopped and an awkward silence hung in the air.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" the Prince yelled angrily.
The cook was the first to speak. "Y-your Highness!" he stammered. "We are deeply-"
"Shut up!" Sanzo turned his attention towards a tomato coated Goku, whose hands were still clutching a large piece of apple, and to Gojyo, who looked even worse. His hair was dripping wet with juice, and there were several stains on his shirt. Part of his face was covered in mush and he looked every bit like a walking garbage can. "I leave you alone for a few minutes and look what you've done!"
Goku winced at Sanzo's loud voice. He wondered if shouting caused his stomach pain. "I'm sorry, Master San-" he began.
"Don't call me Master," Sanzo snarled, his anger increasing. "I have enough idiots calling me that."
"You look particularly good covered in food," Hakkai told a scowling Gojyo as he handed him a cloth.
"Stop making fun of me," Gojyo replied as he accepted the cloth that Hakkai gave him and used it to wipe his dirty face.
"All of you," Sanzo ordered to the trembling servants and cooks watching them, "clean this mess. One more incident like this and I will report you to the Queen."
"Y-yes, Your Highness," they chorused as they began scurrying and beginning the tedious task of cleaning the food-covered room. It would take them the whole day to finish that, and some trembled at the thought of this.
Just then, a messenger in a yellow turban came in. He was a small, nervous-looking man who cowered once Sanzo laid his purple eyes on him.
"What do you want?" Sanzo asked, still in no particular good mood to deal with everyone.
"The…the Queen, Your Highness, requests your company in the throne room. There are guests waiting for you," the messenger said in a small voice. After seeing Sanzo's nod of assent, he quickly exited as fast as his legs could carry him.
The Prince curled his lip in anger. He was in no mood to deal with whatever torture his aunt was planning for him. He'd be damned if the Queen Kanzeon wanted him to meet another one of those stupid, brainless girls for a bride. He'd already suffered enough, what with dealing with the sudden appearance of the loud, annoying monkey, Son Goku, and the mess he and Gojyo had created. How shocked he would be if he were to know that this won't be the last trouble the energetic genie would create…
"Is our presence needed too?" Hakkai asked him.
"You're not thinking of leaving me alone with that old woman, are you?" Sanzo said threateningly.
"Just checking."
"Hey, Sanzo! I'm coming too, right?" Goku piped in, pleading golden eyes set on the Prince.
"No," Sanzo said curtly.
"But I want to!"
"I said no. And that's it."
"What's it?"
Sanzo could feel another headache coming. And for a moment, he found himself wishing he had his old, genie-free life back. Too bad that this was one wish made by the Tougenkyo Prince that would never come true.
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Up next on Monkey in A Bottle (title not yet decided):
Sanzo and the gang meets the snake charmer, Nii. Gojyo also makes his wish. (Three guesses as to what it is!) And there seems to be evil lurking about…Hmm...And why is their attention on the Sanzo-ikkou? Find out…
AN: Hmm…That was a long chapter…At least I think so…Unfortunately for me, school's about to start soon and even though I am known for doing homework during recess and lunch time, I may still have trouble updating real soon, but please try to be patient and I will in turn, try to type the next chapter as fast as my lazy fingers could help it. And don't forget to review, ne? Reviews can especially do miracles to lazy authors.