Saiyuki Fan Fiction ❯ Shades of Time ❯ Throwing Things ( Chapter 22 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Shi was ready to start throwing things. Heavy things. At the heads of certain annoying and confusing males. Who needed to go away. Far away. And just leave her the hell alone. It had been a week and Konzen had been doing his damndest to make her want to eviscerate him and read his entrails. He'd had Goku distract her with a ton of paper and crayons worn down to nubs by that point. Growled and fussed at her if she got out of bed until she finally gave up and went back to sleep. So on and so forth. Overall, he was doing a stellar impression of a mother hen. She had literally been a prisoner in her own home for the past seven days and enough was most certainly enough.

To cap everything off, Tenpou had apparently forgotten his way home. To his home anyway. It seemed as though he never left hers. There was also a strange tension between him and Konzen. It seemed to be all on Tenpou's side and if Konzen had noticed he was ignoring it.

She was startled out of her musings by Konzen's voice, loud and sounding thoroughly pissed off. Followed closely by Tenpou's, taking much the same tone. She slid out of bed and went to the door, listening closely and trying to avoid being caught eavesdropping.

***

In Shi's kitchen Konzen and Tenpou were facing off across her table.

“What did you expect, Tenpou? For her to follow you around like a lost pup forever? It's been over a hundred years and you haven't once acted as though you want her company.”

“You know that isn't what I meant, Konzen,” Tenpou growled, bracing his hands on the table.

“Then enlighten me. You can't suddenly be pissed off because men notice her. Especially since you've never really looked at her.”

“That's ridiculous, Konzen. Of course I've looked at her.”

“Oh really? What color are her eyes?”

Tenpou stared at him for a moment openmouthed. “What the hell kind of question is that?”

“A valid one. Just answer.”

***

Shi didn't get to hear Tenpou's answer, if in fact he bothered to answer at all, because she had slid from her room and out the back door into her garden. This was just getting ridiculous, she thought. She'd been reduced to sneaking out of her own damn house.

“Hey, shouldn't you still be in bed?” a voice said from behind her.

She sighed and turned around to look at Kenren. “I can't very well stay in bed forever.”

“Well, you could but it would probably be really boring alone.”

Shi rolled her eyes and sighed. “If you're going to annoy me at least share the saki,” she said.

Kenren shrugged. “Sure. You want to walk?” he asked, handing her the cup.

“That would be fabulous.”

They ambled first through her garden then around some of the shorter paths, talking about nothing really, idle chatter. Kenren kept glancing at her from the corner of his eye though as if wondering how to breach a certain topic of conversation and finally decided that the direct approach was usually the best when dealing with Shi.

“You know he really does like you, Shi. He's just mind bogglingly bad at showing it.”

“Sure he does. Just talking to me ranks up there with being mauled by rabid wolverines,” Shi scoffed.

Kenren sighed. This was going to be harder than he'd originally thought.

***

“Gods damn it, Konzen, why is it so important?”

“Just answer the question. I don't think you can.”

“Of course I can,” Tenpou snapped. “They're blue.”

One elegant blond eyebrow went up in mild disbelief that Tenpou had answered the question correctly.

“Well, that isn't exactly right,” Tenpou said, seeming to fall into his own musings for a moment. “They're more of an odd blue-grey sort of a color. Like the sky in the lower world when a storm is gathering. At least when she's in a day to day normal mood. When she's pissed they're almost completely grey.”

Konzen was quiet for a few moments, looking hard at his friend. There might be some hope for this situation after all. “Well, I guess you actually have looked at her.”