What Does Heaven Look Like To You-Saiyuki Gaiden AU

"Konzen is probably going to have to pry the poor boy away from her." Tenpou agreed sadly, squeezing her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the back of it sweetly, "Let us make our way back inside."

~
Kenren had to admit that he didn't think he'd see so much water. Every time he turned around, he was crossing a bridge over a river, or he was walking right next to one. He sometimes stopped to watch a fisherman god spear a fish with such practiced ease, he reminded himself time and time again that he should go down and talk to them about letting him try his hand at it. He just knew the regular, patient way of doing it, but that fisherman's method looked more challenging.

He didn't see anyone with fire abilities either. Not like Ran's who was able to create a fucking portal because everyone was too tired to try drowning for the second time. "Do you recognize any places?" He asked, turning to Ran curiously who was walking silently next to him. It was his idea to go wander, after all how else was he going to get acquainted with the area? Ran was good company too, but he was curious to know if anything sparked.

"I've never been this far out before." Ran shook her head, "When jumping from place to place I'd only stay in the villages and never very long. There's many more districts than I'm sure you know about. Some smaller, some bigger. Different cultures, different people. I may have been born here, but there's nothing about it that looks familiar to me. I even feel weird, being a fire element in a water district."

"They have a bunch of it don't think? A lot of greenery too." Kenren looked up and around at the villages. There were stands, much like the ones he'd see in festivals, all of them marketing wears. The trees were filled with different shades of green. He didn't even know that trees could have so many different shapes and sizes. A bunch of the forest nymphs that were attached to their trees were talking to villagers who stopped by for shade. Many of them giggling and happily pointing out places.

He shook his head from side to side. "I think we both stand out a little too much. I mean, I'm used to it since Tenpou's always shoving me into the spotlight, but this feels weird for me. Like I'm an entertainment system. Maybe it's the clothes? Who knows..."

"Mai gave me money, so if we're staying, might as well do what we can and get some new clothes. I still feel strange about that. Yes I moved from your district to this one, but that was out of necessity. I still itch to move." Ran sighed, "Then what do you want to do? I'm not the type to just sit in some pretty garden and stare at the plants. You were eyeballing the fishermen earlier."

"I like to fish, so I was gonna ask if the rivers were his and if there were other people who could do it." Kenren grinned at the thought. "Battling an unseen enemy from underneath the waters, it's a great thing to do. It's a lot of fun and they taste good when they're cooked. But his method's different. He's using a spear. Kinda want to know how many fish someone could catch with that."

"An old, tribal way of fishing. Sounds interesting. I'd probably watch you, but I don't got any interest in fishing. I'll have to find my own hobby or something." Ran ran her hand through her hair. She was going to be so bored for a while until something struck her fancy. She was barely friends with Mai and Riko and Kaede for two weeks. None of them really knew her, but maybe she could still try and ask Mai anyway.

"Something with your fire." Kenren mused as they continued to walk. "Artistic, I see you as someone that could do something like that. I'd say fire dancing, considering how often these people must celebrate, but then again I'm not sure if that's accurate enough. What else is there..."

"Not a lot of fire-related art out there." Ran snorted, "I'll think on it. Probably something really obvious and it's not coming to me right away. When I think art I think painting or stitchery and knitting. It's no doubt one of the weirder off-brand type of art. Mai might know." She spotted a shop that had a mannequin in the front window wearing a pair of blue baggy combat pants with a /crap/ ton of pockets, tucked into brown boots. Then there was a loose yellow tunic-top that looked like it had been a haori, only it's sleeves had been ripped off. "Hey, Kenren, let's try a place like this." She reached and grabbed the sleeve of his jacket to stop him, and pointed, "Maybe you can still get away with a similar all-black style, but just in this districts clothes?"


(ok this is gunna sound weird but while I hated the outfit Gojyou was in in the first season, I see Kenren in that denim jacket. I don't think the brown leather jacket would look good on him while it looks awesome on Gojyou)