A Special Day for Pope Shion Chapter 2: Sand, Ink and Water, a saint seiya fanfic

Title: A Special Day for Pope Shion - Chapter 2

Author: Lune Kuruta

Fandom: Saint Seiya

Rating: G

Word Count: 1588 (this chapter)

Characters: Aries Mu, Pope Shion, Gemini Saga, Sagittarius Aiolos, and others.

Genres: Gen, fluff, light humor

Summary: Mu finds out that his teacher's birthday is coming soon. The future Gold Saints want to give the Pope good gifts, but they don't have any money. What are they going to do?

Warnings: Author chooses not to warn.

Notes: Story written for the Secret Coconut, a fic exchange promoted by the community Saint Seiya Super Fics Journal (chapter originally published on September 23, 2014).

* This fic is set before the beginning of the series, and the Gold Saints are still apprentices (therefore, they're not Saints yet). Aiolos and Saga are 13 years old; Deathmask, Shura and Aphrodite are 9; and Mu, Aldebaran, Aiolia, Shaka, Milo and Camus are 6. The younger ones might act a little more "mature" than typical 6 years-olds, but well… they're prodigies, anyway x.x

* Because of the time the story is set in, I've decided to give different names to some characters. Deathmask will be called "Angelo" (because I think that he would only change his name after getting his cloth, since it would be an inappropriate nickname for a child). Aldebaran will be called "Antonio" (because he would only become "Aldebaran" after getting the Taurus Cloth, thus honoring the previous Taurus Saints-I've borrowed this tradition from "The Lost Canvas". I hope you don't mind).

* By the way, any mentions to the past (Holy War, previous Saints and the such) come from LC!canon (therefore disregarding "Next Dimension").

* Revised by Vane. Thank you very much! =3

CHAPTER 2 - SAND, INK AND WATER

The next morning, the apprentices only had a light physical training session before finally getting to make their gifts.

"Have you decided what to do?" Saga asked them. After the positive answers, he continued his instructions. "Great! So, let's try not to mess the lodge up, okay? After using anything, put it back in the right place so your mates will be able to find it and use it too. No need to hurry; today it's Wednesday and we have plenty of time until Friday."

"And remember, the most important thing here is to give something that reflects our feelings and our nature," Aiolos added. "Pope Shion will acknowledge our efforts, no matter what. So, let's have fun!"

"Yaaaaay!" The children celebrated and started working on their gifts.

Aiolia was curious. "What are you doing, 'Tonio?"

"I'm going to build a statue," the Taurean answered him while manipulating the argil with wet hands, slowly giving it a recognizable shape. "I'm not sure yet, but I think I'll make an ox, so he'll remember me!"

"Ooh, sounds good! I'll draw a lion, then! A great, shiny and powerful lion!"

"Don't tell me." Aphrodite sneered beside them. He was gluing leaves and petals in a sheet. "I'm making a collage, you know. And maybe I'll also give him abouquet..."

"ARE YOU INSANE?!"

"... that will obviously be made of normal roses, not poisoning ones!" Aphrodite added, somewhat offended.

"I don't know what to give to the old ram." Angelo scribbled randomly on the sheet in front of him. "Hm… Maybe I could hunt a deer or something, and he could decorate his bedroom with its head!"

"That's gross!"

"What can I do if you can't understand my unique artistic sense?"

Shura was methodically drawing on his sheet, creating a pencil sketch first. He seemed to be too focused to participate in the conversation. Camus was also concentrated, painting something the other children were not capable of understand by that time. Once in a while, all he would say was something like, "Saga, are you using the azure ink yet?"

"No, I've already finished that part. Here, take it."

"Thank you."

That made Aiolos curious. "Oh, are you painting, Saga?"

"Not really, but when I'm done here, you'll see it." Saga looked at what his friend was doing. "Are you writing?"

"Yeah!" Aiolos sounded excited. "I'll give Pope Shion a book!"

"A book? So we'll finally have some extra room on the bookshelf! Great news!" Aphrodite couldn't miss that opportunity.

Even Shaka, who usually disapproved Aphrodite's venomous words, seemed to pay some attention to that topic and looked up from his beads. "Uhn, are you getting rid of some of your books?"

"No, I won't give him a book of mine. I'll create one!" Aiolos explained his idea. "I'll fold these sheets… like this… and there! This will be the cover! And then I'll write something for him."

"That's a good idea, 'Los!" Aiolia smiled at his older brother. "Can you make me one later? But with a lot of pictures!"

"Sure!"

"And the pure love of the 'Ai-Ai brothers' strikes again." Angelo looked up from his sheet. "Hey, Milo, won't you say anything about this?"

Although his original intention had been to stir up a fight, Angelo's words had a different effect: the apprentices finally noticed Milo's absence.

"Wait, where is Milo?" Saga scanned the lodge, searching for the Scorpio pupil.

"That's why everything was so quiet until now," Antonio said as he looked around. "But Milo was right here just minutes ago!"

"He left some minutes ago." Camus didn't even look up from his own painting. "He was carrying a bag and said that he would make his gift outside."

"A bag?" Aiolia frowned. "But I thought he was going to draw something."

"No, he won't."

"So what is he going to do?"

"None of our business."

"Gee, Camus!"

"Okay, kids, that's enough!" Saga tried to avoid even more confusion. "Let's keep working on our gifts. I am sure that Milo is fine."

"Maybe he just wanted some inspiration," Mu said quietly. He was putting portions of his white sand in bottles.

Saga watched his actions with interest. "What are you going to do, Mu?"

"I'm coloring this sand," Mu answered while adding some tempera paint powder to the bottles, each with a different color, and capping them. Then, he shook the bottles carefully, mixing the colored powder with the sand.

After coloring the sand in all the bottles, Mu used a brush to spread glue on a sheet of paper. By that time, most of the apprentices were watching while Mu gently sprinkled maroon sand in that area. After waiting for a little, he carefully dumped off the excess sand and proceeded patiently, spreading more glue on another area of the sheet and picking another bottle.

Minutes later, a beautiful landscape started to take form.

"This is amazing, Mu!" Aiolos smiled. "You're drawing with sand! What are you drawing?"

"My teacher always says that he loves Jamir in early Spring," Mu answered, continuing his work. "I'm trying to draw that."

Saga cheered him up. "I'm sure he'll love this."

Mu smiled back. "I hope so."

000

Thursday morning felt even longer, as the apprentices were eager to resume their work on their gifts. After lunch, they went back to the lodge for the final arrangements.

"Here, Antonio," Mu handed him the sculpture. "It hardened after a few minutes in the forge, but it didn't crack. You can paint it now."

"Thank you, Mu."

"Hey, where's your gift?" Aiolia questioned Milo.

He blushed a little, visibly irritated. "That's none of your business."

"Why so mysterious?!"

"Why so curious?"

Aiolos tried to calm them down. "Okay, okay, stop that. Let's get everything done. Tomorrow is the great day!"

"Yaaay!"

The kids were pretty excited. Would the Pope like their gifts? Would he punish them for not training properly during his absence? Who knew?

If the morning felt like a year, the afternoon seemed to fly away. But, by the evening, all gifts were finally done, arranged side by side in the large bedroom-and Milo's hidden in a bag.

"Okay, let's go sleep now so we can wake up earlier tomorrow," Saga instructed them. "Pope Shion always comes down to the Coliseum to see us after returning from his meditations in Star Hill. So, if he reappears tomorrow, we must be ready. We'll bring our gifts to the arena."

"Let's take a bath before training, this is an important occasion," Aiolos added.

"Why take a bath if we're gonna sweat anyway?" Angelo complained.

"Don't be a piggy!" Aiolos laughed. Angelo was definitely not fond of water. "I'm gonna turn the lights off now!"

The bedroom went into darkness, but Mu couldn't sleep. He was nervous about his teacher's reaction. Would he appreciate his gift? What if he got angry? What if Mu had bought something instead?

He vaguely heard somebody getting up from the bed, leaving the room and coming back into the dark a few minutes later, then bumping into another person.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Aiolia whispered.

"I brought some water," Milo answered. "The jar was empty. What are you doing?"

"I was going to do the same. Give it to me, I'm thirsty!"

"No, I brought it, so I'll drink it first!"

"Give me that!"

"Drop it!"

The distinctive, liquid sound of water being dropped echoed through the room, and Mu's heart skipped a beat. After a few seconds of shocked silence...

"Look at what you did, Aiolia! That was your fault!"

"No, that's yours!"

"By Athena, what's going on here?" Aiolos got up from his bed, a serious tone in his voice. "Go get some sleep!"

When Aiolos turned the lights on, another moment of silence.

"I'm sorry." Aiolia's voice was almost a whisper. "I didn't mean to, I only wanted to drink some water… I'm truly sorry, Mu!"

"Enough! Why can't you get along better? You two are always fighting! You need a punishment, you know."

While Aiolos continued scolding Milo and Aiolia, with Saga's support, Mu finally took a deep breath and looked at the scene.

His sand drawing, such a beautiful landscape, was totally soaked now. It would be impossible to fix it, and he didn't have any colored sand left to make another before the next day.

Aiolia tried to help his colleague. "I'm really sorry, Mu… You can give my gift to him!"

Antonio, who woke up with all that noise, tried to cheer Mu up. "We can help you make another gift tonight!"

"That's… that's okay… You don't need to…" Despite his serene words, Mu's voice trembled. Before anyone could say anything else, he ran away.

"Mu!" Aiolos tried to follow him, but a small voice called him back before he could leave the room.

"Let him go," Shaka said. He was sitting on his bed, perfectly calm, as if nothing had happened around him.

"But Shaka, it's getting late! Mu is sad, nervous, who knows what he's going to do?"

"Mu is almost a Gold Saint by now. He will be fine. He just needs some time to reflect."

Aiolos sighed. Although Shaka's words made sense, he couldn't help being worried about Mu.

Saga put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "Shaka is right. Mu probably needs a moment on his own. Let's trust him."

Hours later, the very first rays of sunlight came in through the windows. But Mu's bed remained empty.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Additional notes:

Hi there, second chapter on! I hope you're liking it so far, Boolafaz!

This chapter was just a transition, and I chose not to reveal all the gifts right now. But you'll learn all about them in the next installment! Why is Milo hiding his gift away? What was Saga actually doing? Will Angelo take a bath? (XD)

Regarding Mu's gift, please don't kill me, people! I promise that there will be no big drama or something like that… x.x Just a little bit of tension XD

Next chapter, Pope Shion will finally get (even) older! =P

Kissus,

Lune Kuruta

NOTE: Next chapter will be published here tomorrow. I would like to thank you for the fav and follow, and I hope that you'll still appreciate this humble story. Thanks for reading! (July 16, 2015)