Chapter 6: First Book
"Tenpou?"
Kenren slowly opened the door to the Field Marshall's room and braced himself. As expected, a literal avalanche of books and scrolls quickly descended upon him, several bouncing out into the corridor and landing at his feet. Sighing as he kicked the items back into the room, the General entered and shut the door behind to prevent the parchments from falling back out again.
"Teeennnppoouuuu…."
He began searching behind and between the stacks and volumes of books spread about the cluttered space until he eventually found his friend sitting cross-legged on the floor. Goku was sitting quietly in the Marshall's lap and both were quite intently staring down at a small book in Tenpou's hands.
"Hellooo?" Kenren drawled out.
Finally hearing the greeting, Tenpou and Goku turned and smiled up at the General.
"Well hello, Kenren. I didn't hear you come in."
The redhead smirked. "Didn't hear the avalanche of books that nearly took me out?"
Tenpou chuckled. "If all it took were a few volumes to be rid of you, you wouldn't be fit to be a General."
"No sympathy?"
"Nice try though."
Goku grinned. "Hi, Kennii! Want to read with us?"
Kenren leaned over to glance at the open book in his friend's hands.
"What cha reading, squirt?"
Tenpou smiled. "We're reading a nice little book about frogs. Ever since his trip to Earth, Goku has been dying to learn about the little creature he found there."
The General grinned. "And what have you learned?"
"Ooo! Frogs are neat Kennii! They start out real itty bitty…" Goku squinted his fingers together. "And some can grow up to be HUGE." He dramatized the words by throwing his hands out wide.
Tenpou chucked. "Not quite that big Goku, but some species of frogs can become rather large in size."
The young itan sighed. "I miss the froggy I found on Earth. I wish I could go play with him again."
The two men were quiet for a bit, neither quite sure how to explain that Konzen would be hard-pressed to make a return trip to the lower worlds anytime soon. An idea suddenly popped into Kenren's head after a minute, and his thoughtful gaze soon turned into a broad grin.
"Well, why don't you write your own book?" he said. "Then you can 'play' with your frog all you want."
Goku beamed up at the General. "Really?"
Tenpou smiled. "That is a good idea. You can write all kinds of adventures for your frog to go on."
The brunet jumped from Tenpou's lap and began to bounce back and forth from foot to foot.
"Can I? Can I really? Will you help me Tenpii? Huh? When can I start? When?"
Both men laughed and the Field Marshall got up to search for some paper.
"Yes, Goku, you can. And as soon as I find you some paper and ink, you can start now. I'll help you any way I can."
Finally locating a few sheets of paper and some spare ink, the Marshall handed the items over to the gleeful boy, who promptly sat down and started to think. After a few minutes of contemplation, Goku hastily began to scribble down a few words before stopping to think again. Tenpou chuckled at the sight of a 'seriously thinking' Goku and sat down with Kenren on the nearby couch to talk.
"It's keeping him quiet anyway." Kenren said.
"Yes." Tenpou grinned. "That will make Konzen happy, provided Goku is still writing when he returns to his guardian."
"Where is the blond grump anyway?"
The Field Marshall shrugged. "Busy I would presume. Goku simply wandered in a bit ago and asked about frogs. We've been reading ever since."
Kenren smiled. "It's getting close to dinner time. I imagine Konzen will be out soon trying to hunt his 'pet' down."
On cue, as the author makes the rules for such occurrences, said blond deity opened the door at that precise moment and stormed in.
"Have you two seen the little trouble maker?"
Tenpou smiled and pointed to the floor where a still quiet Goku was busy thinking about his 'froggy friend's' adventures. Konzen watched for a few minutes, amazed the boy had been quiet for the last few seconds and stared up at the two Gods sitting idly on the couch.
"What the hell did you do to him?" he ground out.
Kenren covered his mouth in a vain attempt to not laugh as Tenpou explained.
"Goku wanted to learn more about frogs so I read a few books to him. He said he missed the little frog he found on Earth and Kenren suggested he write a story about the creature."
Konzen continued to stare.
"The monkey's writing a story?"
Tenpou nodded.
"About a frog?"
Kenren started turning red from the lack of oxygen as Tenpou nodded again. Konzen rolled his eyes and walked up to his pet. He stood there for a few minutes in silence, watching as Goku wrote a few lines then stopped to think before writing again.
"Hey, Goku."
The boy continued to scribble, not noticing his guardian's attempt to reach him.
"Goku…."
He stopped for a few seconds to think again before continuing.
THUD!
"OW! Hey, Konzen, what was that for!"
"You idiotic ape! Answer me when I call your name!"
Goku pouted. "I didn't hear you! You don't hafta hit!"
Konzen sighed. "Just get up and get moving. It's time for dinner."
Goku silently looked down at the papers in front of him and then back up at the blond.
"But I'm not done yet."
Tenpou grinned. "Take them with you and write some more after dinner Goku."
The itan smiled and jumped up, grabbing his papers and ink. "Thank you, Tenpii! Thank you Kennii!"
"You're most welcome Goku. Stop by if you need any help."
Konzen gritted his teeth and grabbed the monkey's collar. "Go. Now."
Goku waved bye to the two men. As soon as the door slid shut, Konzen heard the unmistakable General's laugh echoing out towards them. He had wondered just how long the idiot would go with out breathing just to avoid getting killed. Goku was silent during the walk home and throughout dinner, his mind busy with thoughts of adventures to put his frog through. The boy retreated to his room soon after eating and began to jot down his newly formed ideas. It was well past the earth spirit's bedtime when Konzen checked on him, unsurprised to find Goku still writing away.
"Goku."
The child was smart enough (sometimes it does only take once…) to look up when Konzen called him this time.
"Bed."
He pouted, a borage of excuses ready to roll off his tongue at the demand, but the stern gaze from Konzen caused him to quickly shut his mouth and reluctantly get changed. The blond moved forward and collected the papers, intent on setting them up somewhere to keep the over anxious monkey from getting to them, when Goku suddenly cried out.
"Noooo, Konzen! You can't read it yet! I'm not done!"
He rolled his eyes and lightly whacked the boy on the head. "Idiot. I'm just putting them up so you can't write anymore after I leave."
Goku frowned again and watched as Konzen set the papers on a high shelf. The deity turned, his gaze clearly sending the message 'touch them before morning and die', before he left the room with a mumbled 'good night'. It took several hours for Goku to finally find sleep, his mind a jumble of thoughts and ideas to add to his frog story. Sleep eventually won out, and the boy's dreams were filled with little jumping froggies with bugging eyes.
The next morning Konzen found Goku's room empty, the papers and ink having disappeared as well as the young boy. He sighed and wondered if the boy had gotten up at the crack of dawn to get the story and continue writing. Konzen went back to his study, content to do his work in silence for a while until even his stomach began to complain. Looking up the blond was surprised to find it well past lunch, and still no sign of his hyperactive charge. He stood, resigned to his fate at last, and headed to Tenpou's to reclaim the idiotic monkey.
Just as he suspected, Goku was sprawled across Tenpou's floor, writing away as the Field Marshall looked on in silent amusement. Konzen sighed again and joined the brunet on the couch. He was glad to see, however, that Tenpou had at least made the boy stop long enough to eat. The scattered remains of lunch were still sitting around the boy, long forgotten.
It was nearly an hour later when Goku finally stopped, sat back, and smiled.
"Done!" he exclaimed.
Tenpou smiled. "Very good, Goku. Would you mind if I read your story?"
The young boy grinned before shoving the papers at the God. "Yes! Read, Tenpii!"
Despite his annoyance at the idiocrisy of the entire thing, Konzen couldn't help himself and was soon reading over the Field Marshall's shoulder.
The Adventures of Kerokero
By Son Goku
Kerokero hopped on a lily pad. He was very happy today. Today his friend Goku would come and play with him. He missed Goku and he did not have any other friends to play with. Goku soon came and the two started to have a lot of fun. Kerokero was so happy and his eyes were huge! They decided to explore the woods and soon got lost. Kerokero was scared and so was Goku. They did not know how to get out of the scary woods and it started to get really dark. Just when they were getting really, really scared, the sun came and helped them out of the woods. SO SCARY! But the sun was really, really nice even when he yelled at them. Soon they were back at the pond and Goku had to go home. But he promised Kerokero that he would come and play again. So Kerokero was not too sad. He hopped on his lily pad and fell asleep. Kerokero had fun dreams of the next time Goku and the sun would be back to play.
The next day…
The two men continued to read adventure after adventure of 'kerokero' and Goku, most, if not all, including a mention of 'the sun' that kept saving them. Tenpou was grinning like a madman by the time they'd finally finished, and even Konzen couldn't keep the small smile that crept onto his lips.
"So? So? What do you think Tenpii? Konzen?"
Tenpou smiled. "It's wonderful, Goku, really! I wish I had something half this good in my library!"
The child grinned at the praise and turned to Konzen. The blond sat for a moment, staring at the boy who was staring back with unveiled hope in his golden eyes. Konzen sighed and ruffled the boy's hair.
"Not bad for a monkey."
Goku grinned even wider. "Yah! Konzen likes it too! He…hey, wait a minute! I'm not a monkey!"
Konzen rolled his eyes and stood up. "Come on monkey, it's time to go."
Goku jumped up and grabbed the deity's sleeve. "Hey, Konzen? I'm hungry! Can we get something to eat? Konzen? Konzen?"
The blond sighed. "Idiot. Come on. Shut it and I'll feed you."
"Goku?"
The boy turned to see Tenpou smiling and holding up his story. He smiled.
"You can keep it, Tenpii! I'll write more for your library!"
"Ahh, thank you, Goku. I'll be sure to show it to Kenren when he stops by later."
"Bye, Tenpii!" Goku said, waving to the God before turning back to his guardian. "Konzen? What can we have to eat?"
Konzen grinned as they stepped out and made their way back home. He couldn't resist.
"How about frog's legs?"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
(-End First Book-)
A/N: Eeep. Sorry for the incredibly long update time. Some of you might notice that the Madlib is suppose to be chapter 6. I was afraid, this time around, that it might be a violation of FFN's 'No interactive' rule, so I decided not to include it. The chapter numbers might be messed up if I forget to correct them, so forgive me. Ah, I do love this chapter. heh. The hardest part at the time was trying to come up with a froggy adventures story. (L) I'm short on time now, so I apologize as well for no reviewer responses. I shall catch the ones for next chapter. :D Thank you all for your reviews, and, as always, please let me know what you think! Until next time, Ja!