Disclaimer : not mine. It will never change. But if it happens, I’ll let you know !!! (AS has a sequel only because I wanted to write this meeting between these two characters. Now that I have a decent idea of the following of the plot, I realize this chapter will delay it more than anything else. Sorry for the inconvenience.)   « The God with the Child in his Eyes »   oOoOoOo   Red eyes shot open. The sensation of ice-cold sweat on the back and the one of the softness of silky sheets on the skin were mingling and suddenly tasted like relief. A relief so deep that the child couldn’t breath for a few seconds. A dream. Of course it was a dream. And any child would call for his mother, by waking up from such a nightmare, wouldn’t they? But this one usually never did. Because his mother (step-mother, half-mother, why should it be a difference for him? He had only one mother… ) wouldn’t care less, most of the times. Or would be angry the other ones…But this time? He let go of a tentative call.   « Ka-san? »   Because even her look of deepest loathe, he would be able to bear if he was about to see her alive.   But no answer came.   « Aniki? »   Because he couldn’t be gone. Jien was the only one he was sure would never abandon him.   And no answer came, once again.   He stood up. Not really worried. Yet. And he almost fell right away from slight dizziness. He thought first it was because of the dim light. He groped for the wall. And suddenly wondered why his little bedroom felt suddenly that…large. Instead of meeting concrete, his hand eventually made contact with some thick soft material. Velvet. He frowned. He couldn’t remember such a curtain in his windowless room. He pulled the fabric hard. And light flew from the outside, blinding him even more... Awestruck, he saw then what never any mortal ever beheld… The endless flower fields of Paradise…   He stepped back. Unsure. Floating in a dull feeling of unreality. A movement caught his attention on the side. One second, he mistook what he saw for another window and he was almost about to speak to this person who wore only tight leather trousers so low on the hips and was gaping at him from afar. But it couldn’t be a stranger. The golden frame indicated the silhouette was a reflection. Gojyo was looking at a mirror. So, how come he couldn’t recognize his own face? How come he wasn’t as alarmed as he ought to be? It made no sense at all. An odd thought crossed his already shaken mind. Life is a dream that’s never ending, his mother sometimes told Jien (because his stepmother never told stories to him …). Like in the tale of the monk and the butterfly. Which was dream? Was he a man dreaming of being a child or a child dreaming he was a grown man?   What could he do, now? He drew a shuddering breath. The truth being, the body knew where to go. In the back of his mind lingered the obscure memory of a man who knew everything…A man well hidden in a place full of books but which was strangely welcoming, he thought that he remembered. It was a strange feeling: knowing perfectly where he was heading while leaving the room whereas he couldn’t at all recognize the places and all the corridors he strode. The whole palace looked almost deserted, except for one person whose path he crossed. He tried not to care about the fact that the pale person didn’t look human at all…   « Kenren taishou! » The white man snapped after him. But the « general » neither waited nor answered.   « You’re not him. I can smell it,  » Goujun muttered under his breath, slightly stunned. But it was impossible. And dragons held rationality for everything. So he forgot the unsettling feeling and only looked at the familiar silhouette vanishing at a corner.   Gojyo skidded to a halt in front of a big red door. He would have been tempted to say it was familiar if he only knew exactly where he was…He pondered knocking whereas an impulse simply urged him to open the door to reach the familiar ground behind, as if it was natural. He knocked nonetheless.   « Outta here ! », he heard, one second before the loud thud of something heavy hitting the red wooden panel of the door.   He cursed. Loudly. For a child, he had a very colorful vocabulary. Enough to shock even Jien most of the times. But this precise time, some of the bad words sounded new to his own ears. He was already leaving, and not knowing really what to do any more…   But behind the door, somebody had recognized the words. The man’s voice. Familiar. So, familiar.   « Chotto matte, taishou! » somebody shouted while jerking the door open.   oOoOoOo   Why the hell is he, of all people, knocking before coming in ? Tenpou had thought in dismay.   « Chotto matte, taishou! I thought you were one of these lads they keep sending because of this meeting I don’t want to attend… » He hoped the taishou wouldn’t ask why…The general was right in thinking dealing with higher-ranked old geezers was boring. But somebody coming their way cut in, calling Tenpou gensui’s name at the top of his lungs…« Ho, noooo, speaking of the devil… » the marshal muttered.   Anyway, as he grabbed him by the sleeve, Kenren seemed to have another question, his dumbfounded face showed.   « You’re a marshal? »   « It never ceases to amaze you, right, Kenren? » Tenpou good-naturally answered, pulling him into the library and closing decisively the door behind them. But the « general » shook Tenpou’s grip off his arm at once. He couldn’t stand it anymore. He knew perfectly who he was and…   « I am not Kenren! » He vehemently said.   « For Kanzeon’s tits and balls’ sake, that’s not even funny, yunno… » the marshal simply snapped.   But there was something in the voice, in its tone…Tenpou grabbed the general by the shoulders, plunging his emerald gaze in the red eyes, inches close of the other’s face.   First, all that the « general » saw was the bright opacity of the lenses, and then with a slight shift of light, the sudden green. Under the scrutinize of the myopic gaze, Gojyo felt himself quivering, ill at ease. The stare was hard, with nothing of the benign and first-deceiving glimpse of the man he had had so far. That’s why the child felt almost relieved and heaved a shaky breath as he heard the other man ask quietly:   « But, then, who are you? »   « Sha Gojyo desu, » he answered defiantly.   After hearing the  whole story from the child’s mouth the marshal thought it sounded like a sad tale. Well, a fairy tale too, the whole situation sounded impossible. But he tried to lean on the facts only in order to sort things out. Compassion wouldn’t change anything for the child, right? And Kenren was « lost ».    (Lost… Lost… LOST! )   Nothing explained his absence nor this child’s presence.   (Facts and only facts. Think.)   « Do you know why you here ? »   oOoOoOo « Do you know why you here ? »   « I don’t know… Maybe I wanted a place where I would feel safe, » chibi Gojyo reluctantly admitted. He didn’t know really why he felt compelled to be earnest.   « Hn. So, you got awfully lost, » the green-eyed man mirthlessly laughed. And the child wasn’t sure he could agree. IT WAS safe, in here.   Though, Gojyo couldn’t stay put. He was pacing the room like a caged lion.   « His » Kenren had never been so restless in this room, Tenpou suddenly thought. The « general » was turning round and round in the room, not really caring for his surroundings. After almost falling three times by stumbling over discarded books, files, reports and other various objects (even a porcelain cat…) though, he truly had spared a look at the place and:   « This is a real mess… It must be hell to live here, » he suddenly stated with the shameless bluntness of youth (but sounding suddenly very kenrenish to the marshal).   « Hmmm. Most of the people call the place Heaven or Paradise. But the better you know it, the more you can be rightly mistaken, » nodded Tenpou gensui.    The « general » was simply talking about the room’s state. Tenpou was referring at the whole crazy Paradise. The child guessed, somehow. He wisely didn’t try to push the matter further. And Tenpou didn’t care to explain either. Even if their eyes met, that second.   Gojyo averted his look after a moment. He wasn’t used to people looking straight at him. Usually, they did it from the corner of their eyes. Thinking he couldn’t hear what they said behind his back or couldn’t see. He bent slightly his head as if to hide his face with his hair. Old reflex. As far as he could remember, he had always worn his hair long. Perhaps because he thought he could hide his face from his stepmother, since this sight made her everlastingly upset. It was a poor attempt, though. He had never thought that way it displayed even more of its redness under her already very distraught eyes. Later he would be used to think he kept it that way because it hid the scars she gave him. Nothing more. His hand fell on his bare nape. It felt strange. As if he was kinda naked, exposed that way to the gaze of the green-eyed man.   « Er- Miss my hair. Feel weird. Why hasn’t he grown it longer? That short it sucks, » the child said pointing to the general’s head with the general’s thumb.   Tenpou grinned in spite of him at the thought of a long-haired Kenren… He wouldn’t brush the subject of military rules, though. Otherwise the child would ask him why Tenpou himself was still wearing his hair that long…He settled for another explanation:   « Kenren says obsessed people’s hair grows faster. Says he must cut them every morning. Though, he is clearly lying. About cutting his hair, I mean. Because he is for sure the most obsessed person I have ever met. »   « How would you know that? » The question sounded slightly suspicious.   « He’s got quite a reputation in Tenkai, »  he deadpanned.   The child in the general’s lanky body resumed his walking. And tripped over something. Again. The marshal heaved a sigh.   « Sit down. You’re really going to kill my subordinate, if you keep it up… »   Gojyo didn’t much like the idea of being ordered around by the marshal. He, after all, wasn’t Tenpou gensui’s subordinate. He settled just beside the man, however, on the floor, his back straight against the desk. He had first thought of using the chair behind the said desk, but had noticed there were piles of books even on it. Figures. Somewhere, he wasn’t even remotely surprised.   « Why does he spend his whole life in here? » he suddenly asked with a tiny gesture clearly embracing the whole room.   « Kenren? How do you know that, anyway? » Tenpou inquired softly.   « The body knows. It remembers. »   Gojyo wasn’t able to explain the feeling in any other way. It was already quite confusing, if not unsettling. By the way, the body wanted something else that bugged him for a while, too… It made him a little nervous. A growing feeling of unease, of withdrawal. His gaze fell on the floor, and so on a weird green thing topping a tottering pile of books. Frog-ashtray, he knew at once, even if the thing looked quite weird. Cigarettes. His hands moved on their own towards his pocket, feeling the familiar shape of the little packet. His fingers knowing exactly what to do, he was free to throw a quick glance at his « host ». The green-eyed man looked like he was still pondering his last answer. He snapped out of it, however, as he heard the familiar clicking sound of the lighter.   « It’s not for children… »   « Do I look like a child? » pointed the « general ».   « Just right now, making a tantrum? Do you really want an answer? » His « officer » mercilessly taunted. Gojyo managed to throw the man his best glare. It failed miserably to impress the marshal, though. Tenpou held out his hand to reach for the ciggie between the general’s lips. Took it. A thick cloud of smoke escaped his lips at the first drag. His squinted his eye in pleasure at the run of nicotine through his veins…   « Hey! I’m here! » The « general » suddenly said, nudging him.   « I know. And that’s a problem… »   « Yhea. »   Sile nce and memories. Blood as red as his eyes, as his hair. Dead mother. Brother gone. Blood and solitude…   « What if… I don’t want to leave? »   « Look. I like you, gaki. But you’re not Him, » the green-eyed man answered simply, while bending towards the weird frog-ashtray to crush his ciggie.   Well, at least the man was frank, Gojyo thought. Most of the people weren’t around him. I like you. That one too was strange to hear.   « I don’t want love anyway, » the child answered in a hurry. Maybe trying to convince himself you can live without that.   « Liar, » the marshal replied, very softly.    The god with the child in his eyes scowled. And silence held.   « How did you come here? » resumed Tenpou. Doggedly. Mercilessly.   « Dunno. I just woke up. »   « Care to visit my bedroom, then? Maybe I can just…sleep you away? »   «If I go back there, I’ll never see you again, right? »  

Blood and solitude…

  « Who knows? You’ll have to survive, wait and see… »   « I warn you. You’re the first and last man I’ll ever bring to my bed, » Tenpou added after a while.   The « general » snorted.   oOoOoOo   Red eyes shot open. The sensation of ice-cold sweat on the back and the one of the softness of silky sheets on the skin were mingling and suddenly tasted like relief. A relief so deep that the general couldn’t breath for a few seconds. A dream. Of course it was a dream. Kenren taishou stirred. His sharp senses and his toushin god’s instinct told him he wasn’t in his rooms, but the breathing presence nearby was very familiar. He cracked open an eyelid. He beheld a sitting labcoat-wearing silhouette on the mattress, only a few inches away from him, slightly hunchbacked towards a book.   « Have me in a bed, and read. If you were a woman, I would find it very insulting. »   « Care to join the living? » the marshal answered without interrupting his reading.   « What happened? What I am doing here? »   « You don’t remember? »   Tenpou was about to add something but changed his mind. He settled for hiding the truth. Didn’t really knew why…    « I found you here. Maybe you’re a sleepwalker. »   « I think I had a nightmare… » the general said while rubbing his face.   « Really? » The marshal inquired faking only mild interest…   « Long story. »   It was a long story, indeed. With a body which wasn’t his, a place he didn’t know.  And the part about a dead woman sounded awfully familiar to the marshal. It was the second time he heard the tale…As for the story Kanzeon was supposed to have told…The one that made Kenren’s red eyes turn glassy…   « Isn’t that a funny dream? » the taishou eventually asked, laughing feebly. Because after all, Tenpou looked alright, and Konzen and Goku were certainly somewhere peacefully minding their own business…   « Ho, yes… » his friend agreed through greeted teeth, slapping his book shut. But the flat tone and the sudden blazing metallic edge in his green look belied his words…