"Kenren are you really slacking again?" I yelled up at the general. He was skipping duties again, sipping sake in his favorite Sakura tree. Over the past few months we'd grown close which was strange because his habits disgusted me...sort of. His personality was much more complex than I'd originally assessed which is what led to this friendship. Sadly he had become rather predictable anymore. He was lazy, kind, flirty, and an all around ass sometimes. It kept things interesting at least.

"Ah Kaguya my love! Why don't you join me up here? The experience would be much more refreshing with you." He teased. This happened a good deal too but I could never tell if he was being serious.

"Why don't you come down here or I'll sick Tenpou on you again!" He visibly flinched at my threat. Tenpou too had become a close friend. We had bonded over a love for books and knowledge. He'd even taught me about military strategies so we played games against one another with this intellect. He was also pretty much everyone's worst fear as well as their best scenario. Tenpou was a man of a sort of merciless kindness. By that I mean that he didn't allow those he cared for do stupid things, it's how he showed he cared.

"Alright fine." Kenren grumbled, pushing himself off the branch and landing at my feet. He still had the small sake cup clasped in his hand. The bottle in question hung from a string around his fingers. He wasn't frowning though, he was smiling.

"How did you find me?" He asked, shamelessly taking my side. He took my arm, keeping me close.

"You have become predictable Kenren, besides I always find you." I giggled. He smirked.

"Of course you do sweetheart. Since you know me so well why don't you just marry me? I've been dying to see what you really look like anyway. I bet you're hideous." He joked, blowing on the blue fabric covering my face.

"Well you'll never know if you don't start being a bit more serious will you?" I threw back. He shook his head.

"If you want a serious guy you're barking up the wrong tree. You take me for who I am."

"How selfish, everyone has to change eventually Kenren, even you." I flicked the end of his nose before getting away from him. He'd at least go to work now or I'd really get Tenpou to come over here and give him what for. I walked back up to the palace. For the past three months I had worked as an attendant to Kanzeon Bosatsu. The job gave me access to the royal court so my father readily approved. I was happy because it meant more time with my mentor and my newest friends. This did mean a few sacrifices on my part but I was at least happy for the time being.

I hadn't given up on my search for love but under my duties it felt so small. Besides, they say you don't find love if you keep looking for it, it comes to you. So I stayed patient and spread my roots. I walked into Kanzeon's chambers. She was sitting at her desk with paperwork. Heaven was a bureaucracy and not a fun one either. It was worse than the ones the mortals ran. When I made my presence known the goddess smiled.

"Ah there you are Kaguya. Did you find Kenren?" She asked. I nodded.

"He should be going about his duties for the rest of the day." I bowed. She let out a breath.

"Thank goodness. I don't like having to deal with military matters but his subordinates know how close you are to him and they annoy me until I do something." Her annoyance was obvious in her tone. If she could, I'm sure that Kanzeon would do nothing but watch the mortals all day. Of course this usually ended up happening since her paperwork was shoved on me and Konzen. The hair on the back of my neck prickled as I thought of said man.

He was the only person I saw on a daily basis of whom I hadn't become close with. He was a really tough nut to crack. The first month I'd ignored him completely since it was obvious that he wanted nothing to do with me. Then Kanzeon shoved me on him so we spent a few weeks seeing each other all the time which annoyed him to no end. So now we were on another cycle of staying away from one another. To be honest the man fascinated me. He was far different than Kenren or Tenpou, so hard to reach. I'd always been told I was charismatic but he was perfectly immune. It was intriguing. Call me selfish if you like but I wanted to crack that shell and see what lay beneath.

"Now, I need you to take these to Konzen and help him out. I know you've never done any of this official stuff but I trust you and my nephew won't let you screw up." She pushed a large stack of papers towards me which brought me out of my thoughts.

"So I'm not the maid this time?" I asked. She laughed.

"Well I had to try the sexy maid thing once didn't I? Maybe he'll like the more intelligent side of you." I felt myself blush at her words. It became evident rather quickly that Kanzeon was trying to push us together. In truth that day she'd introduced me to the three I'd always assumed she wanted me to choose. Sadly this was a bad assumption. Instead I'd pretty much been forced at Konzen's feet. Not that I was really complaining. I'm sure my interest in him was obvious. I sighed, taking the papers with a rather small amount of effort Despite my slight frame I was rather strong. I could thank my caution for that.

"I doubt it." I muttered, walking out of the room and towards Konzen's separate office. I think she caught my words though because as I left I heard her trying to keep from laughing again. This struggle was amusing to her and for the millionth time I questioned my choice of friends. I rounded the corner and managed to make it to the closed door I was looking for. Instead of knocking I kicked the door open. Konzen was seated behind his golden desk and the noise made him jump.

"Oh no, not more of that shit. The old hag can do it herself." He hissed, standing up and trying to push me back outside. I planted my feet.

"Mistress Kanzeon said you had to and that I was to help." I returned to his disdain.

"Fuck no! I'm not her servant and I sure as hell am not a babysitter." He answered, his deep gruff voice making it seem final. I pushed back until the papers came to rest in his arms.

"Then I can leave but if the paperwork doesn't get done we all get in trouble. There's no way she's going to do any of it even if you beg her." With hands on my hips I made to leave but there was a slight grunt of frustration from before me. Though I couldn't see his face behind the wall of paper he now held I knew he'd given up.

"Fine, just...don't screw anything up." He muttered. I grinned beneath the veil. I rather wished he could see the grin of victory I was giving him but I really didn't want to show him my face just yet. He was indeed different but I didn't want my face to taint the relationship until I knew for sure he wouldn't judge me by looks alone. I had already shown Tenpou though, he had understood why I hid myself and agreed it was best not to show the others until the time was right. I trusted his words and decided the same.

"Just tell me what to do and I'll keep quiet." I muttered. He grunted and placed the stack onto the desk. I pulled my own chair to the opposite side and waited for his instruction. He handed me the top few pages.

"Read it and then summarize it. I'll decide if it provokes approval." I nodded and began to read without a word. People who knew me knew that I was one of the most quiet people you'd come across, especially when people didn't wish me to speak. So I kept my mouth shut while I finished the first document in record time. As he was still reading I placed the papers before him. He blinked before looking up at me in confusion.

"Request for more troops stationed around the castle of Hyakuganmaoh. Apparently his friends are getting antsy and threaten to upset the balance. It's just a few men, from what Tenpou told me we could really use jobs for some of the soldiers who have been on leave too long so it could be fulfilled with little hassle." I wanted to offer my hand at delivering the message but I held my tongue. Konzen was cranky enough as it was, what would he say if I started to gain airs above my position. He blinked again as if he hadn't fully processed what I'd said.

"Did you read the fine print?" He asked.

"They want soldiers who aren't used to slacking off and they want them for a long period." I replied. For a moment he seemed impressed, but the look disappeared as he nodded, taking the document and stamping it with a big red seal before putting it aside. The rest of the paperwork went like that. I ended up doing twice as many as him. He got so annoyed with being interrupted that he let me make judgments that he said he'd go through later. Somehow though I got the notion that he was beginning to trust me. It felt good. I started to notice him giving me confused looks from time to time as well. The gaze was comforting somehow but I didn't respond to it. After a time I stood to stretch a bit only to feel those violet eyes boring into me.

"Why do you wear that veil?" It was such a serious question I was actually thrown off for a moment.

"My supposed beauty is distracting, I thought most people knew that." I spoke. He shook his head.

"A beauty that's distracting? How foolish, people should learn to control themselves a bit more." He muttered. I liked that.

"I agree but even the people of heaven seem to have the mentality of mortals. I keep the veil so as not to be judged by how I look but how I think." He seemed rather intrigued by my response.

"How do you think?" Again I wondered if words alone would explain things well enough for him to understand. I was a master of words since my body language and the expressions of my face were surpressed.

"Alot and very deeply." I finally decided upon. It wasn't an amazing description but it was the closest thing I could think of that expressed the truth. He stood from his desk.

"You can go, I can do the rest myself." He was trying to act uninterested but he'd already slipped just a bit in asking something personal of me. It was a step in the right direction at the very least. I bowed and left without another word though I could feel him watching me leave. It was strange, this feeling I got as he stared. My heart was leaping out of my chest and I knew my face was heating up. Oh god, why him?

!

!

!

The next day we were called into Kanzeon's chambers. I stood on Kanzeon's left with her male attendant on the other side of me. She was sitting looking bored, her legs crossed and her cheek resting against her hand. A man was bowing before us looking pliant. He had brown hair held back in a tight bun and brown eyes. He wore the usual attendants garments consisting of white robes with colored lining. The lining of his was red.

"Lady Bosatsu, I'm sorry for disturbing your busy schedule..."

"Forget the useless words, you brought the boy from the world below right?" Kanzeon asked. Had she been expecting this? I looked down at the man bowing before us.

"Yes. In the state of Toujyoushin Gouraikoku at the top of the mountain "Kakasan", born from a rock was a youkai heretic." The attendant explained. Born from a rock? Now that's something you didn't see every day. Jiroushin, Kanzeon's attendant voiced my thoughts.

"Actually it isn't a human or demon but a creature born of nature alone." Kanzeon explained. A rare occurrence indeed. My attention was turned to the sound of chains clinking and the struggles of two new men dragging in what looked to be a young boy.

"Let me go! Ouch! Don't grab so hard!" He was fighting his captors but to me he looked no different than one of us in his own way. The men holding him tried to silence him but the boy continued to fight until he was placed in a sitting position before us. He was short of course with long unruly brown hair and wide golden eyes. He wore a sleeveless black shirt and a pair of khaki pants fastened around his waist by a belt. His feet were bare and a good deal of his skin looked scratched up. Around his neck, ankles, and wrists were a set of heavy looking black shackles that had a few links of chain hanging from each one. A golden diadem was fastened around his forehead and I felt the thrum of power from it. This was his limiter, the thing that kept his power in check and his appearance so much more human. The boy was complaining about something pertaining to food when I decided to step forward.

The child innocently blinked at me. He didn't look dangerous at first glance nor did I really think of him as a creature. The kid scrambled forward and pulled the veil up to see my face. The attendants covered their eyes in shame but this child was just looking upon me with curiousity.

"You're really pretty lady, I thought you'd be ugly if you wore this thing." The kid still had the veil lifted so he could see my expression of surprise. I didn't know what to say. He was so unaware of boundaries that he had simply done what he wanted to do. How strange and yet how intriguing.

"He is an animal." Konzen grunted from behind me. The men were beginning to discuss the boys punishment when he raised himself from the ground, forgetting about me and walking straight up to golden haired man. My veil fell back into place and everyone relaxed. I ignored the discussion of immediate punishment and watched rather interested as the child got close enough to make Konzen notice his presence. The sour look on his face didn't change. He didn't like children or women so his reaction wasn't a surprise.

"What do you want?" He huffed. The child looked so amazed as he took a piece of the mans golden hair into his grasp. He contemplated for only a moment before he seemed to go starry eyed.

"You're shining! Like the sun!" He ran his fingers through the now stunned Konzen's hair.

"Ah! Forgive his rudeness Master Konzen! He doesn't..." There was a tearing sound as the child pulled too hard, yanking out a few strands of the golden locks. I placed a hand beneath my veil to cover my mouth as I was afraid I'd die laughing otherwise. It seems that Kanzeon too was trying quite unsuccessfully to hold in her laughter. Jiroushin and the men that brought Goku were looking on in surprise.

"Oops, sorry." The child rubbed the back of his head looking as sweet as could be with a big smile on his face. The main attendant looked mortified.

"What do you think you were doing Baka-Saru!" Konzen screamed, his temper getting the best of him as he grabbed for his wrists. He'd never hit the child hard enough to warrant worry so I just giggled and returned to Kanzeon's side. Her eyes were sparkling as she looked up at me and winked. Of course she had plans for the little chimp who was still trying to reason with Konzen in vain.

"You want us to take care of him right? Well we'll look after him." Konzen had frozen. Jiroushin protested immediately.

"But Kanzeon Bosatsu-sama! Surely you jest! You've never grown a flower let alone taken care of a child!" His words only made the goddess clean out her ear.

"Calm down Jiroushin, who said I would be the one looking after him?" Uh-oh, here it comes. Her coy gaze turned to her nephew. A rather wicked smile had curled onto her lips.

"I'll leave everything to my darling nephew and perhaps my lovely apprentice." Oh she just had to add me to the mix didn't she? Another way to push me and Konzen together, a child. I bet she thought we'd play house. I didn't say anything but Konzen wasn't about to let this one go.

"What the hell are you talking about you damn hag?!" He screamed in her face. She was unfazed, simply continuing that triumphant face of hers.

"It's the order of the Merciful Goddess. Be grateful and accept. Kaguya hasn't said a word, I'm sure she appreciates the honor." I bit my tongue, not wanting to get in the middle of this. Konzen's eye twitched.

"Oh and don't forget to name him, he is your pet after all." Kanzeon added with a finality that even the blond couldn't dispute. It was decided. The child born of nature was to be in our charge for as long as my beloved mentor saw fit. The boy blinked, his golden eyes showing his obvious confusion. I walked around the throne to the two and bowed in the goddess' direction, thanking her before taking the boys hand and leading him away. He went willingly but kept his gaze on Konzen until he was out of sight. He frowned. What was I to say to him? Should I be sorry that he was taken from his home? Should I tell him not to be too troublesome? I wasn't exactly sure so I settled on something I thought was safe.

"Let's get you some food alright? I bet you're really hungry."