An Assassin's Choice
By Kryscylla
Disclaimer: Seiobo, Queen Mother of the West and Goddess of Immortality, patron goddess of all feline creatures is mine (mostly) but she's a bitch so you can have her. Saiyuki and all its characters belong to Kazuya Minekura and not me. I have no money so don't sue.
Rating: T
Pairings: none
Chapter 1: Plan "B"
..…Two weeks after Sanzo freed Goku from his stone prison.
Tenki - the land of the gods- was supposed to be the ideal place to live. Both the people and weather were always perfect and since those troublemakers had been dealt with 500 years ago, Tenki's peace was completely undisturbed. Everything was entirely predictable; nothing ever changed. That was just how Seiobo, Queen Mother of the West and Goddess of Immortality, patron goddess of all feline creatures liked it, predictable. Predictable conditions meant that no interference with her plans and schemes would arise. Also with no one to create unnecessary chaos she could enjoy the calm peace she had attained since her father, Tentei had released her from the perpetual feral feline state he'd put her in to make her appreciate the peace of Tenki. Well it worked and now she could not stand for chaos of any kind outside of playing with her multitude of cats (everything from house cats and bobcats to tigers and panthers), which wandered freely all throughout her house and grounds.
Even though her father had forgiven her for causing chaos up in heaven she had not forgiven him and had refused to move back into his palace and had built her own a goodly distance away from everyone else's. Also as if to try and show up her father she built it to be very grand and flashy. Her palace proper was made of solid jade and nine stories high and an extremely long wall of solid gold encompassed the whole of her territory.
On this particular day Seiobo and her former teacher –long time friend and co-conspirator Li Touten were in the field near her palace going over the latest news from the world below. Suddenly she stopped and whirled on him, her bright green eyes blazing dangerously.
"HE'S BEEN WHAT? HOW THE HELL COULD THEY ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN?"
"Now, now Seiobo calm down and speak quietly unless you want the whole of Tenki to know what we are talking about." Li Touten tried to calm his friend who had a violent temper and could be a little impulsive when upset. She had a tendency to go off and do something rash and that was dangerous for him which, especially now, was completely unacceptable. If it weren't for her brilliant mind, normally level head and ruthless attitude he'd have disposed of her a long time ago. She was too much like himself and that could be dangerous.
Seiobo took a deep breath to school her features and continued in a calm but still seething voice, "When did that thing get out?"
"About two weeks ago and Tentei already decreed that he's to be left alone for now…"
"Why? He can't be trusted! He's a murdering bastard and should have been killed 500 years ago not to mention a ratty little thief!" the furious goddess hissed.
She'd caught him red-handed, once stealing one of her peaches and he didn't even need their benefits and on numerous occasions caught him stealing flowers from her garden. While she had not been witness to the murder thing personally if Tentei and the rest of high court decided it then it was fact.
"It's because of the fact that Konzen achieved enough enlightenment to hear the beast and as a result his current incarnation is being allowed to take charge of him for the time being. Also, other than Konzen's aunt, Kanzeon Bosatsu, no one is to be allowed to interfere in their lives now."
Li Touten, the current War God, studied the face and posture of his friend and waited for her reaction. He didn't have to wait long and surprisingly enough she seemed to calm down further and her mood even seemed to brighten.
"Well," she smiled sweetly. "If he wants to let a beast out then I say let him and any thing that happens as a result will be on his own head. Now if you will excuse me, I have some work to do. You understand do you not Li Dear?"
Li Touten always enjoyed a good show of forcing submission to further one's own ambition. He'd taught Seiobo well the ways of plotting scheming and knew full well whenever she dismissed herself by calling him "dear" she wanted to be alone to scheme something up, or put a scheme she had been working on into action. Li Touten bowed his farewell and left the goddess to work on whatever she had planned. Whatever it was it was sure to be entertaining.
Seiobo briefly watched him depart until she was satisfied that he was truly leaving. Then she turned to check her trees before retuning to her palace proper, as everything inside her walls was her palace in her mind. As she checked the precious trees she reflected on her options.
She wanted the little monster to suffer for all eternity. Plan A was to let Tentei deal with punishing the brat. He opted for sealing all his memories and locking him up in a stone cage for an indiscriminate amount of time. His favorite form of punishment seemed to be locking you up in some way or another till he decided that you had learned your lesson Seiobo thought bitterly. In this case however, that was fine with her. To learn a lesson you had to know what you did wrong first and that itan brat could spend all eternity locked in there and never figure out why he was there in the first place. Seiobo had so much fun in the winter as she watched as Goku cringed as far to the back of his cage as he could as he tried in vain to escape the snow that terrified him so.
But, now he was free and was with Konzen again which meant he wasn't suffering any more witch was entirely unacceptable. Well, plan B is much better. Assassins only had one drawback. You never knew if they would perform their task. No matter. If that chibi tora knows what's good for her she will perform her task, as she is now an itan herself. Ahh… controlling others is a beautiful thing.
o--o--o--o
-500 years ago-
It was a day like any other in Tenki –perfect. The sun was shinning and a cool breeze was blowing. A young woman walks through her peach tree orchard carefully examining each of her peaches. She has straight, shoulder length black hair, bright green eyes; smooth, flawless bronze skin, and a petite frame. She's wearing a white gown with purple trim. At regular intervals whenever she stopped to check a peach the breeze would pick up slightly tugging her hair away from her face to reveal high sharp cheekbones. Her name is Seiobo, Queen Mother of the West and Goddess of Immortality, patron goddess of all feline creatures.
The sudden movement of the branches from a tree in the row nearest the wall caught Seiobo's eye as she prepared to move to check the next tree. None of her animals ever climbed her peach trees for fear of the death that would result. So, that left one conclusion – someone had snuck into her orchard without her permission and was climbing her precious trees. This was completely unacceptable! Seiobo was more than a little confused and extremely annoyed. Everyone knew the penalty for entering her peach orchard and wisely avoided it as result. Apparently someone didn't know enough to stay out of her orchard, but they'd learn soon enough and if there was even one bruise on that peach it'd be the last lesson they'd ever learn.
Suddenly, a child's delighted squeals rang out through the orchard. Seiobo followed the sound to its source, where she received her second shock of the morning. In one of the high bows of the tree a small boy she'd never seen before (about the same age as Nataku by the looks of him) sat eating the one peach the tree would produce for the next six thousand years. He had long wild brown hair and wore shackles on his neck, wrists, and ankles.
As Seiobo watched him she remembered something her teacher Li Touten had told her a couple weeks back. He'd said a creature resembling a small boy had been born from a rock on Mt. Kakasan and had been brought to Tenki. He'd been livid and had raged that such a vile itan creature should not even exist as no one had ordained its birth. It was because of this that Seiobo refused to see the thing. In fact if had been up to her it would have been destroyed at its birth. But the decision hadn't been hers to make. Instead it had been left up to that snob Kanzeon Bosatsu who was even softer than Tentei. She was asked to meet out punishment to the thing lock it up or something. And instead she gave it to her spoiled nephew to keep as a pet. And now here it was sitting in her orchard eating her peaches of immortality. The thing was supposed to be immortal already (and if it wasn't before it was now). Nothing could have pissed her off more.
Seiobo watched in shocked silence as the boy finished off the entire peach even licking the seed clean and then stared at it mournfully as if it had not been enough food. Then he shrugged and tossed the seed to the side (as if it was going to plant itself) and stretched out apparently to take a nap. Suddenly he bolted upright and looked down at her seeming to just notice her presence. The fear and uncertainty she saw on his face would have made her laugh with delight if she hadn't been so pissed.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Seiobo's rage had finally won out. "YOU DIRTY LITTLE THIEF! WHO DO THINK YOU ARE! THE NEXT ONE WON'T BE RIPE FOR ANOTHER 500 YEARS!
Seiobo noticed the creature's huge golden eyes widen with confusion and panic and its posture stiffen just before all but his head disappeared behind a branch while continuing to stare down at her. Fearing he'd bolt before she'd get a chance to hurt him, Seiobo willed her features to soften and stalked closer to the tree. To her delight, he swallowed hard but didn't move to run.
In a soft, almost kind voice asked, "Who are you? Do you have a name?"
"I-I'm Goku." came the barely audible response from the frightened boy as he buried his face into the tree branch as if trying to somehow gain comfort from the tree itself. W-who are you?"
At the sight, a cruel, mirthless smile flashed across Seiobo's face. The creature was scared of her. Perfect. This is going to be so much fun. To keep up appearances she replied in a deceptively sweet sounding voice, "Well, Goku, I am called Seiobo, Queen Mother of the West and Goddess of Immortality, patron goddess of all feline creatures. This is my orchard and that peach you just ate was mine as well. I was planning on serving it to a bunch of guests tonight."
Seiobo watched with barely contained joy and excitement as Goku peeked out from his hiding place fear and remorse plain on his face and in his voice as he said, "R-r-really? ''M r-really s-sorry. I was r-really hungry. I-I d-didn't know."
This was too easy. Letting her voice sound kind and sympathetic she said, "If that's true then you will not mind coming down and apologizing properly. I may forgive you this time but only come down right now."
"O-ok" Goku responded as he climbed down the tree with the kind speed and skill that only a monkey could have. As soon as both his feet hit the ground Goku cried out in pain as an unseen force yanked on his hair.
"I have you now!" Seiobo cried out in triumph as she grabbed the chibi saru by the hair with all the speed of a tiger and laughed cruelly. At this, he began to panic struggling frantically to get free. After several minutes he stopped struggling and stood there trembling in fear and crying begging her to forgive him and let him go.
Seiobo knew she was enjoying herself too much. Preying on this pathetic creature's fear was way too easy for one who used to hunt wild game as a real tiger in a very savage lower world, but the power was so intoxicating.
Seiobo was about to say something to torment the chibi saru further when a tall man with black hair and eyes ran up to them seeming to be out of breath. Even if she hadn't seen his tasteless black outfit Seiobo knew that it was Kenren Taisho. Suddenly, Kenren stood up straight, examined the situation, before locking eyes with Seiobo as if he were her equal. Holding her gaze he spoke to her prisoner first. "Oy bakasaru! Haven't you learned yet? Stay out of places with walls if you don't live there unless you are invited in."
"Ken-nii chan!" Goku cried as he once again struggled to get free of Seiobo's grasp – unsuccessfully before shooting Kenren a pleading helpless look. "Oww! Please help me?" he begged as large tears continued to flow from his eyes.
Kenren looked at the chibi saru's face, gave him a kind, understanding smile as if to say that he would take care of it. From there he let his gaze travel to Seiobo's left hand before he returned it to her face a fierce anger burning in his eyes. When he spoke though, he sounded polite and deferent. "Now by the look on Goku's face he knows what he did was wrong and is very sorry. Knowing him, he's probably said as much too. Am I right, Seiobo?"
Seiobo simply nodded stunned.
"Good. Goku I'm sure you've learned your lesson and are going stay out of walled places you're not invited into from now on right?"
Goku nodded.
Flashing his most charming smile at Seiobo Kenren said in an equally charming voice, "So, is there any way I can convince the lovely Lady of this fine estate to let this baka chibi saru go? His master sure would appreciate it …so would I."
At some point during that rogue's speech, Seiobo had released Goku's hair and he'd run and hid behind his "big brother". Knowing she was defeated, Seiobo decided to let the matter go for the time being. There was plenty of time to get her revenge later …on both of them.
"Just get that thing out of my orchard" Seiobo sneered.
Obviously Kenren thought she was being funny because he suddenly burst out laughing. When he could contain himself, he placed a protective hand on the saru's shoulder and smiled at him. "Now, if you're done snacking on shit, then lets get you back home. Konzen's really pissed off at you for runnin' off like that."
With that, the two left the orchard unaware that they had made a very dangerous enemy.
o--o--o--o
Safely inside the walls of her palace, Seiobo prepared to initiate "Plan-B". She'd guessed that someone was bound to find the golden eyed beast at some point so, 10 years ago, she secretly had gone to an alternate dimension to put into motion her plan to accomplish what that weakling Tentei was too soft to do- kill it.
A young black male panther nearly knocked her down as she entered her "work room" in an effort to properly great his Lady. Seiobo smiled as she gently eased the cat's paws to the ground.
"Not now, Shaddo" she said in a firm but gentle voice. If anyone ever saw her deal with her cats they would swear that Seiobo must have a twin sister, as she was as tender with them as she was cruel to everyone else. "Mommy has important work to do."
First, she had to go retrieve a certain young girl she'd been watching over the past nine years. Then, it was just a simple matter of making sure that she crossed paths with the creature and all would be right again. The plan was perfect. One itan kills another no one could possibly connect it to her. After all the things could hardly be considered civilized now can they?
o--o--o--o
(end of chapter 1)
(Hope you are enjoying the ride.)