Gensomaden Saiyuki Fan Fiction ❯ May It Be ❯ Of Beast Lords and Forgotten Friendships ( Chapter 1 )

~AU story that starts in Gaiden and continues in the normal Saiyuki series. Some weird twists and turns that have absolutely no relevance to the original legend (not that Saiyuki holds true constantly as-is), some events that have absolutely no relevence to the way the storyline actually *transpired*, some oddities. Don't worry about Kai Lin. She's only a little manic.

Kai Lin was inspired by *Kei* Lin from Pet Shop of Horrors, the Kirin Count D sells to the senator and his friend. That's where most of my information on the legend came from. Like Saiyuki, the legend is twisted a little, so, y'know. Reviews tell me if this will be continued.

Many thanks to my beta reader, Chibi! You've been a big help! ^_^~

~Part 1~

::Of Beast Lords and Forgotten Friendships::

"Nataku! Look at you, you're filthy! And *Kai Lin*... how in the world did you two get so messy? Where in the world is Goku?"

The Dragon Prince Nataku and the Kirin Kai Lin looked at each other quietly before turning their eyes back to Tenpou, who was glaring down at them through his glasses with the most scolding glare he could muster. Which was difficult, given the two pairs of wilting golden eyes that stared up at him.

It had been almost a month since the little Kirin had arrived, and Nataku had been hustled over immediately, despite his father's disapproval at being so near Goku. But keeping the two young beast lords together seemed to be the better option and, in the end, won out over his overprotective tendencies.

Unfortunately for Tenpou, it was his day to watch the trio. Not that it was a difficult task. Kai Lin preferred tea parties and cookies to climbing trees with the boys, unless they were teasing her. So she normally stayed with Tenpou, content to read any little book he handed her while he did his work and the boys played outside. Today, however, they had chosen to pick on the poor girl, and the little beast lord, with her hair the color of blue flames, had chosen to pick back. Nataku's normally neatly bunned hair was dispersed about his face, sticking out and making a generally cute mess of him. Kai Lin was trying to be composed, smoothing the dirty floral patterned ceremonial chenogasm she wore, trying to straighten her hair...

Finally, the young general gave in, unable to help but smile. After giving both of the children a gentle pat atop the head, he raised a finger. "Nataku, I'll clean you up. Kai Lin, you should probably see one of the ladies of the court. I don't think it would be prudent for me to be in charge of tidying up the little mess you've made of yourself."

The little girl nodded and darted off as Tenpou set about the task of getting the dragon prince cleaned up before Konzen found out.

*****

It wasn't long after the two children were clean and set back to playing that Goku was found, sitting in a tree and avoiding any punishment he may receive for making the clothes of his higher class friends dirty. As the two looked up at him, he kept a careful eye on them, shifting on his branch and gazing at them through scruffy brown bangs. "...Konzen's mad, isn't he?"

"He doesn't know, Goku!" Nataku reassured, holding out his arms as if to show off his newly cleaned robes.

"That's right!" Kai Lin reassured. She looked strangely overdressed in her floral ceremonial chenogasm and the gold and jeweled tiara that circled her forehead. "We went to Tenpou!"

At those words, the little monkey dropped from the tree, landing neatly on his feet in front of his friends. Both of them were smiling brightly at him, and Goku felt better about having accidentally made them look messy. They both looked much better now, their faces free of the smudge and dirt that had adorned them before. Nataku was smiling just as brightly as ever, his face spry and mischievious, as Kai Lin proceeded to sit herself down, the long, flowing fabric of her chenogasm laying about her in a circle of silk and fine cottons.

Goku had always wondered why his friends had to wear such fancy things. He was happy with his shirt and pants, the little chain and collar around his neck, the diadem on his forehead. Well, maybe not the chain and collar, but Konzen did insist he did not remove them. But his two friends wore fancy things. Nataku dressed in fine imperial robes, his long hair kept in a bun at the back of his head. He always looked clean and he always looked well-kept. The boy was much like Goku, but much neater. The little monkey and the dragon prince seemed a very unlikely pair.

But even more unlikely was little Kai Lin. She sat, acutely aware of her surroundings, her little, slightly upturned nose buried in another book Tenpou had given her. The robes were far too much for a little girl like her, such a fine imperial chenogasm with all its layers and folds, and the tiara banded about her forehead. Kenren had said Kai Lin was "betrothed" to Nataku, whatever that meant.

All in all, they were an unlikely little group. Goku, the chatterbox of a little monkey; Nataku, the calm and composed young prince; Kai Lin, the rather unwilling Lady of All Animals. None of them knew the great turmoil they would soon be put through...

No one knew the grief.

*****

It was a dark, very stormy night when Kanzeon Bosatsu sat at the bedside of a feverish Kai Lin. The child's tiara was off, revealing a whole new nature. Her hair flowed freely, like flames licking on dry branches, and a horn stood out where the central gem of the tiara normally sat. The legendary Kirin, so young, and about to choose her sovereign.

Kanzeon knew blood would be shed soon.

The goddess did not flinch when Kai Lin sat up, a distant, wise look in otherwise childish eyes. She did not turn away when that ominous gaze fell upon her. "Your Highness. Lord of All Beasts. Have you chosen your sovereign?"

The child did not look so much a child any longer. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap as her fiery hair flowed wildly about her face. "My lord, Nataku. And one other." The words startled Kanzeon. A Kirin chosing two sovereigns...? "Douji Konzen."

The tiara snapped back into place, replacing the horn instantly, and as the child fell back into a peaceful sleep, her fever broken and her hair normal once more, the lightning flashed outside.

*****

"Douji Konzen is dead!"

It was unlike Kanzeon Bosatsu to be surprised by many things... but the thought that someone such as Konzen...

"Who did this?!"

A guard pushed a shackled boy to the feet of the goddess of mercy, beaten and bruised, shaking and weeping. Kai Lin and Nataku recognized the face and tried to run foreward, but another guard caught the two children as the first one spoke. "Son Goku."

"No! It has to be a mistake!" Kai Lin was in tears.

"...We can't kill him," Kanzeon whispered quietly, ignoring the children as best she could. "We do not kill as a punishment."

"We'll lock him away, then," another guard suggested.

Kai Lin's sobbing became heavier, louder, terrified that her friend was being taken away. At this point, Nataku had ceased struggling and he pulled the girl from the soldier's grasp, letting her cry into his robes. "Nataku, they can't do this! Goku would never hurt Konzen-san! Never!"

"Your prophecy, Kai Lin, remember your prophecy!" He held the girl tightly as she attempted to struggle again. "Douji Konzen and myself. The sovereigns you chose!"

"Then it's my fault!" She screamed this at the guards. "It's my fault he's dead! Take me instead of Goku, please, it wasn't his fault!"

Pitiful cries fell on deaf ears as she attempted to struggle free of Nataku's grasp. "Kai Lin, no..."

"No, stop! It's not Goku's fault! Nataku, let me go! It's all a mistake!"

*****

(More than 500 years later...)

A young woman, probably no older than 18, but looking no older than 12, stepped quietly past the lotus gardens where Kanzeon Bosatsu sat for the calm. They had brought her sovereign out here today, to allow him fresh air, despite his lack of noticing the situation. The Kirin's gaze fell viciously on anyone that dared to stare at her, and many, fearful of the Holy Beast, fled the garden. Kanzeon Bosatsu stood waiting for her, as always, at the edge of the water, staring into the endless field of pink flowers that stretched into forever. "On time as always, Kai Lin."

"I am never late to visit my sovereign." The girl's voice was matter of fact, flowing gently from behind a fall of thick bluish hair. A new tiara was on her forehead, this one larger and more ornate, but the gowns she had worn in her childhood had only served to make her look more elegant and much more regal. "Has he shown any sign...?"

"Sadly, Kai Lin, not a one."

The girl sighed deeply. "Has Konzen been reincarnated to my prophecy?"

A smile finally graced the lips of the goddess and she turned to the girl, still smiling. "He is travelling to the West. A man named Genjo Sanzo. A fine leader indeed, Kai Lin. You chose well."

A smile lit up the dark and frightened face almost instantly. "And Kenren and Tenpou...?!"

"Traveling with him. Goku as well."

Kanzeon Bosatsu smiled again, watching as the girl dropped to her knees with a grin in front of Nataku's silent and comatose visage, resting her head on his knees. "Did you hear that, my Lord? They're back, all of them. Perhaps this is a sign that you will awaken soon... my sovereign..."

*****

(Somewhere in Tengyoukou)

"Maa, Hakkai! How much farther?!"

"We'll get there when we get there! Now, shut your trap, bakasaru, and leave Hakkai alone!"

"Make me, ero gokiburi kappa!"

"I'll shut it for you if I have to! C'mere!"

"Ow! Stop twisting my arm!"

"Naa--ITAI! Biting's against the rules, dumbass!"

"Not anymore it's no--..."

A resounding thwack cut the arguing short. Genjo Sanzo was half-standing in his seat in the front of the jeep, glaring at the two, paper fan held tightly in his hand. A vein stood out in his forehead and his eyebrow was twitching. "Shut the fuck up, both of you, before I kill you both! Damn noisy assholes!"

Cho Hakkai chuckled a little as Sha Gojyo and Son Goku quickly retreated. "Sanzo, you really should sit down. If we stop unexpectedly, you'll fly out and get hurt."

The monk snorted a little, unconvinced, as he started to turn to sit back down. "We never make any sudden stops."

He was proven wrong. A cry from Hakkai was the only warning he had before the brakes were suddenly hit, and out went Sanzo. He managed to force himself into a position that would cause the least amount of damage, hitting the ground and rolling until he was stopped, laying on his back and sore, positive he had broken at least an arm.

"Goddamnit, Hakkai! What did you--..." Sanzo's words trailed off as he realized he was laying on his back at the feet of a very frightened girl with large eyes as golden as Goku's and fiery blue hair, a strange golden band about her forehead similar to Goku's diadem. Come to think of it, she looked around Goku's age. "...Who the Hell...?"

The girl only stared back at him, still in a slight bit of shock from her scare. Hakkai quickly jumped out of Jiipu and up to his comrade as Gojyo and Goku carefully approached the woman. Gojyo held out his hand to her as Hakkai checked Sanzo for injuries. "You okay...?"

The girl blinked at him. Once. Twice. Gojyo started to feel a little unnerved by the interest this girl seemed to have in him, simply because of her strange, foreign features. Then, quite suddenly, the girl's face lit up and she clasped her hands together, moving a little closer, staring right into the brilliant ruby eyes. "Kenren?! Ken-niichan, is that you?!"

Gojyo was thoroughly shocked by the girl's outburst, though he shook his head slightly, taking on the assumption that the "Kenren" she was speaking of must've been her lover or something. "Nah. No Kenren here. I'm Gojyo. Sha Gojyo."

As if someone had struck her, the child's face fell. She then looked to Goku. This time, she knew she wasn't wrong. The question was polite and demure. "...Goku...? Son Goku...?"

Goku tilted his head to one side, then to the other side. "Yeah. That's me. Why ya askin'?"

A smile broke the dark, upset lines of the girl's face as she suddenly glomped him. "Goku! You're free! You *did* get out of your imprisonment!"

A flicker of something flashed through Goku's mind as the girl's arms wrapped around his neck, of something... of trees, dirty clothes... but just as quickly as it was there, it was gone, and instead, he looked at the girl as if she were insane. "Do... I know you...?"

The girl was quiet for a moment before she stood straight, hands resting on Goku's shoulderguards, gold burning into gold. "...You don't remember me...? Goku, it's me... Kai Lin!"

That flicker came back. Hiding in a tree... a little girl and a little boy in regal dress, dirty from playing too hard... the fear of getting into trouble with... someone... "Goku, I think she might still be in shock." Hakkai's voice stopped his thoughts before he could remember more. "Miss, you said your name was Kai Lin?"

Kai Lin turned her face to the man who spoke this time. "...Tenpou! But... you... cut your hair, and your glasses are different..." Then, another face caught her eye. Looking at her with a harsh, cold glare... violet eyes, partially shaded by almost god-like blond hair... "K--Kon..."

*****

(past)

The tiny girl stood quiet, and all Konzen could do was stare down at her. She was frightened... no, not frightened. Terrified. He terrified her. Doing his best to soften his expression, and not succeeding very well at all, he knelt and lifted her face to look at him.

What the young Kirin saw in that moment was enough to take anyone's breath away. A young man with long, silky blond hair that hung about his face like a curtain, barely shielding bold, intense violet eyes. That harsh, cold glare that spoke of both safety and danger, a beautiful flower with poisonous thorns...

*****

(present)

Her mouth moved with no sound. He was dead, supposedly reincarnated as another man entirely... but there he sat, watching her quietly, his gaze as fierce and breathtaking as it had been the day she met him...

As it had been the day before she had...

She choked, stepping towards him, placing trembling fingers against his cheek. She barely managed to sob out the name. "Konzen...!"

It was then that she collapsed into his arms.

*****

(past)

"Kanzeon-sama..."

The goddess glanced down at Kai Lin as the child spoke, watching the small hands dip into the water and pick up a lotus. "Yes, Kai Lin?"

"Why did Konzen have to die?"

Kanzeon Bosatsu looked puzzled for a moment, not knowing what to tell the lonesome child. Finally, she sighed, kneeling next to Kai Lin and rustling the soft blue hair. "We know it was Nataku's destiny either way to be a leader. But because of you, his leadership became far greater than anything and it made him a hero. Perhaps... perhaps in the form of the Holy Kirin, you can see things we cannot. Perhaps you knew Douji Konzen's future... and just maybe you knew what he would one day become." A wistful smile crossed her lips as the girl sniffled back a sob. "You'll see them all again someday, Kai Lin. You have my word."

*****

(present)

The room was unfamiliar, and the light above her head was electric. She groaned, turning her head to one side to see a silent figure sitting there, head lowered and expression shielded by silky blond hair.

Had she dreamed the whole thing? Had Konzen's death, Goku's imprisonment, and Nataku's grand battle all been a silly dream? A fantasy?

She reached out her hand gently, placing it against the soft skin, almost as pale as a lily. Those droopy violet eyes turned back to her, giving her that same harsh glare, and Kai Lin smiled. "Konzen... it is you... but Kanzeon said... I would find Genjo Sanzo, not you... was I dreaming, Konzen...?"

"Konzen." He repeated the name more as a statement than a question. "There is no Konzen here. Genjo Sanzo, on the other hand... I am Genjo Sanzo. You're Kai Lin, correct?"

Kai Lin didn't respond at first, still reeling. This was Sanzo. Sanzo who looked so much like Konzen. Finally, she nodded. "H--hai... my name is Kai Lin... I'm sorry, you look so much like..."

Sanzo cut her off. "You called Gojyo and Hakkai strange names as well. Kenren? Tenpou? Are those people your brothers?"

The girl shook her head, still in mild disbelief. "N--no... they were my friends... and... but Goku, Goku is here. You said *you* are Genjo Sanzo...?" Sanzo nodded. "Then I found who I was looking for anyway..."

*****

In Empress Gyukomen's castle, so far away, Gyukomen herself pondered over the events that had transpired. Animals had shrieked and buzzed about, making all sorts of racket, when some sort of being had fallen to earth...

A being that could grant sovereignity to anyone... a being of immense power... the Holy Kirin.

Smiling a devilish smile, she turned to the door, and called for Nii Jyenii to bring Kougaiji to her.

She had a little task for him to perform...

Tsuzukeru...