kinkfest | Wide Awake and Dreaming [Saiyuki, Nataku +] Rated PG (Reply)

Title: Wide Awake and Dreaming
Author: Kubaru Suki
Rating: PG
Word count: 1,449
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Summary: Goku and Nataku; friendship and memories – Nataku wakes up.

Wide Awake and Dreaming

Heaven was perpetually in spring. The cherry blossoms bloomed and fell ceaselessly, endlessly beautiful.

Kannon thought they were quiet tragic. "Nobody notices them," she said to her companion, "because they're never gone." She caught a falling petal on her palm. "Not unless the wind takes them." She dumped the petal and watched it fall to the ground. "It's boring. Aren't you sick of it yet, War Prince Nataku?" she asked.

Five-hundred and some years after Heaven's first surprise awakening, there was another.

"Yes," said Nataku softly.

"About damn time," said Kannon.

The autumn leaves were falling. The persimmons were ripe on the branches. The monks were going to notice soon, but Goku had noticed first and had no compunctions about climbing the tree to get them. He wasn't afraid of the monks and he certainly wasn't afraid of anybody who would willingly kiss Gojyo. Besides, even if he wanted to, he couldn't eat all of them.

He hummed in contentment, happy even as the wind blew in an unexpected gust that shook loose a shower of leaves in rust and gold.

"Is this…" a voice asked hesitantly. "Is this one of the best places?"

Goku furled his brow and leaned around the wide trunk of the tree. Sitting on the other side, one branch up with his long robes trailing was a boy with blond hair and golden eyes. Oh, thought Goku as something raw broke open inside of him. Oh, it's you. I've missed you. "It is," he said, grinning so hard he could barely even feel it, "until the monks figure out we're up here."

Nataku nodded solemnly. "I think I can still outrun a bunch of crotchety old geezers."

Goku tossed him a persimmon. "Yeah. It's dodging Sanzo's bullets that's the trick.

~*~

Heaven was everlasting in its adherence to order and rules, perpetually raveled in its political skeins.

"If you keep on this way, they'll give your title to another," Li Touten said to his son. "You disobeyed me once and it didn't save them." Nataku sat as though enshrined in the Heavenly garden and Li Touten left in disgust.

The sound of footsteps faded.

"But it did," Nataku said into the silence. "And now it will save me."

Sanzo swore as Jeep transformed suddenly into Hakuryuu, dumping him and the other three idiots into the dusty road. Hard. "Give me one good reason," he said, pointed the Smith & Wesson at the little dragon's muzzle.

"He's very clever, Field Marshall," said a young voice and Sanzo swung his gun around to bear on the middle of the road. A blond boy of about Goku's age was standing there, hands serenely folded. The aura coming off of him was incredible.

Goku leapt before Sanzo could do more than pull back the hammer. "Nataku!"

Sanzo glared as Goku and the stranger—who didn't seem to object to being called Nataku—embraced. "Stupid monkey," he grumbled.

"I got kicked out of Heaven," Nataku was saying.

Goku grinned. "Awesome! You wanna come to India?"

"What the hell?" Gojyo said. He planted his hands on his hips. "No way are we picking up another stupid monkey." He glanced at Sanzo. "Right?"

"Hello, General," Nataku greeted Gojyo, giving him a light punch on the shoulder.

Gojyo dropped to his knees, cradling his arm.

"Oh, my," Hakkai murmured, hurrying to his side.

Nataku looked at Goku. Goku grinned at him. "Oops?" he offered.

Nataku turned to Sanzo. "Oops," he said obediently.

Sanzo fired a round into the air. "Everyone get in the damn jeep."

~*~

Heaven was vast and steeped with emptiness. Everything had meaning and it was all meaningless. Formlessness, the Emperor had whispered once, general. He visited the garden with its living statuary and praised Nataku's peace.

"We could learn from the War Prince," he declared at the next festival. "He is a living example of Nirvana. He has found the heart of disinterested wisdom and compassion."

The words of the Emperor reached all corners of Heaven but only those in attendance heard Nataku speak.

"You're a fool."

"That's mine, damn it," Gojyo swore, fending off an offending set of chopsticks as they encroached on his shumai.

"I don't see your name on it!" Goku parried, lunging for the dumpling. He hit only empty plate, however and let out a howl. "Nataku! That was mine!"

Nataku chewed at them. "I didn't see your name on it, either," he said around it.

Gojyo reached for his beer only to find his mug in Goku's hands, the bottom already pointed at the ceiling. He slammed his hands on the table. "That's it!" he roared. "I've had it with you brats!" He lifted a hand. "I've spent all day getting poked by bony elbows, bony knees, nyoi-bo, and a spear. I've been fighting for my food, my beer, and I think somebody took my cigarettes," he said, glaring first at Goku and then at Nataku.

Goku had the good graces to not give him a sunny smile. Nataku grinned at him.

Sanzo turned a page in his newspaper. "You're rooming with them tonight," he intoned, the revolver already out and pointed in his direction.

"What?!" Gojyo yelped.

"Why do we have to room with him?" Goku demanded.

"No way!" Nataku chimed in. "Why don't you guys room with the pervert and we have our own room?"

Hakkai laughed and scrubbed at the back of his neck. "It has been a while since we were last attacked, but we can't leave you two to room on your own. You're too young."

"Older than you!" Gojyo, Goku, and Nataku protested in one voice.

Sanzo pulled back the hammer. "I'm running low on bullets, so I'm going to have to stop missing."

Gojyo subsided with a grumbled, glaring at the two golden-eyed boys who were glaring right back at him. "If I wake up with nose-hair drawn on again, nobody is ever going to find your bodies."

~*~

Heaven was never at rest, never at a standstill. People moved, papers moved, petals fell. The lackadaisical pace of it all, the pomp and grandeur of everyday motions, neither stopped nor lessened. Each day was the same.

More or less.

One day, nobody came to the garden at the center of Heaven.

So Nataku got up.

It was late and Hakkai was reading some pulp adventure novel that had caught his eye; Gojyo was at the bar, presumably doing his usual Gojyo-in-a-bar activities. Sanzo and Goku were undoubtedly at Chang'An making the monks there miserable in their own ways.

It was a normal night and, therefore, bit of a shock to look up and see Nataku studying him through the old screen door. Hakkai marked his page. "Tea?"

Nataku came in, his short hair ruffled from the summer breeze and shining in the dim light that reached out from Hakkai's reading lamp. "You—" Nataku said.

Hakkai made tea and waited.

"I remember you," Nataku said. "And Gojyo and Sanzo. I remember when you were Tenpou and Kenren and Konzen. You haven't changed. You don't know that," Nataku said, taking the mug from Hakkai in an automatic movement. "You don't know that," he repeated, "but you haven't changed from that time."

"I see," Hakkai said, studying the young man who had folded himself lotus at the table. "Does it bother you?"

Nataku did not answer directly. "Goku doesn't remember," he said.

"Ah." Hakkai settled beside Nataku. "Envy."

Nataku gave the tea a sour look and drank. "No. One of us needs to remember that I almost killed him."

"Oh," Hakkai said. "That point." He offered Nataku a small smile. "Today you thought of a future that didn't involve wishing the past was different. It takes some getting used to." He tapped his fingers against his own teacup. "And, if I might say, smoking is a filthy habit that I don't indulge."

Nataku snorted into his tea. "You're still a weird guy."

Hakkai lifted a finger. "True, but perhaps that'll change in the next life."

~*~

Heaven was perpetually in spring. The cherry blossoms bloomed and fell ceaselessly, endlessly beautiful.

Kannon thought there was a lesson to be learned there. "Nobody notices them," she said to her still companion, "because they're never gone." She caught a falling flower whole on her palm. "It's like living in a dream world. Nothing is real until you stop." She dropped the flower back on to the breeze. "Don't you agree, War Prince Nataku?"

Five-hundred and some years after Heaven's first surprise awakening, there was another…

~*~

On Earth, the last cherry blossom fell, five petals scattering across the air. Nataku turned his face to the West and smiled into the wind.