The rustling sounds of the paper reverberated softly against the walls of his laboratory as he continued writing some equations and diagrams for the next experiment and research that he'll do with Chrome and Kaseki. The stone wars were finally over. Everything was back to normal. Another busy day of preparations in the Kingdom of Science.
Now that he temporarily formed a truce with Tsukasa, he can finally continue his goal of saving the lives of petrified people and pushed forward the civilization towards the era of modernization with the help of science.
So, for the next few days he can see everyone greeting him amid their busy work. Except for one.
The cryptic, viridian eyed archer: Ukyo Saionji. He was quiet, observant and polite. But his thoughts and goals were mostly shrouded by his inscrutable smile. He can never quite figure him out unlike the other people that he observed and studied previously. Despite Ukyo's peaceful reticence and congenial attitude with the others, he was always controlled and his seraphic features were always obscured by his closed off smile and mystifying gaze.
Senkuu now realized how Ukyo could survive a year in the empire of Tsukasa.
His presence intrigued him.
Senkuu finally found him one day sitting at the top of one the oldest and tallest trees in the world. His hat was down on his face while his hands were clasped gently in front of him. He wasn't deceived of his soporific stature as he knew that the sonar man possessed a sharp sense in hearing.
"There you are." He stared up nonchalantly at his direction.
"Do you need something from me Senkuu?" Ukyo's voice is tranquil and unruffled like a wave less water around the sea.
"Do you always relax in strange places?" Senkuu asked instead as he stared up at the male who was sitting comfortably in one of trunks of the tree with an arched brow and curious gaze.
"They're more quiet and peaceful. Unlike in some places that has too much noise and distraction." Ukyo finally took off his hat from his face and smiled serenely at him.
There's that smile again that Senkuu couldn't decipher the meaning behind. Senkuu prided on himself on being able to observe and study the people around him to decipher the true nature of their characters. That's one of the reasons why he could see through Tsukasa's hidden nature and radical but dangerous beliefs early on their meeting in the past. But with Ukyo, he couldn't quite get a thorough read on him. That damn smile and pleasant voice seemed to be plaster on his face regardless if he's upset or not. No wonder he ended up as one of the right-hand man of Tsukasa alongside with Hyoga. That kind of characteristics would work well for him as a double agent in the future. And he was certainly toying with that kind of idea at the back of his mind.
"Sensory overload." He replied simply.
"Hmm?" Ukyo gave him a quizzical look.
"Because of your insane hearing sonar man. You need something to prevent that and it might affect your performance in the future if we just leave it be. And that's why I'm looking for you. C'mon." Senkuu turned around and began walking away, not waiting to see his reaction.
He almost blurted out an inconceivable mistake of admitting that he just wanted to see him out of curiosity and nothing else. He had a reputation to uphold and he didn't want him to give any weird ideas to the cryptic archer about himself.
Ukyo seemed surprised for a few seconds, blinking at his words before a small but sincere smile hovered around his lips as he jumped down the tree and followed him.
"Thank you Senkuu."
"Don't thank me yet since it's not done." He scoffed lightly to which it earned an amuse chuckle from the other male.
He decided that Ukyo was still an enigmatic conundrum to him but he was still a man of science after all. And there were no mysteries that science can't unravel.
The next time Senkuu saw Ukyo was when he was inside his laboratory and giving him a brief report about the progress of their ship building. He was wearing the earmuffs that he made for him the other day. It was coated in the same shade of his clothes and he surmised that it fits him very well. Not that he was ogling of course. It was a simple observation and conclusion from his scientific mind.
He would've created a noise cancelling headphones for him but he theorized that it would take a very long time due to the limited resources that they've had in the stone world and not to mention he still had other necessary projects that he needed to finish such as the ship that they're planning to build on.
"We may need 12" x 12" lumber or larger pieces of timbers for the keel of the ship and numerous pairs of straight and curved timbers for its frames. Also—."
"That earmuffs look good on you Ukyo-chan." Gen sang and Ukyo stopped midway upon hearing the mentalist's silky voice.
Senkuu immediately recognized that his mischievous undertones as bad news.
'What the hell does this mentalist wants now?' Senkuu inwardly grumbled as he kept his nonchalant expression on his face while he continued checking the contents of his flask for the experiment he was working on.
"Ah, thank you Gen." Ukyo smiled amiably at him.
"Have you requested it from Senku-chan?" He asked innocently.
"No. He gave it to me willingly."
"Oh." Gen's mouth formed an "o" expression and Senkuu wanted to smack off the smug expression on his face.
"Oi. Maybe if you focus on your assigned task instead of wasting your time here with idle chat that would've been more productive of you." Senkuu deadpanned.
"Don't be such an uptight spoilsport Senku-chan! Besides this is also part of our work since we're getting to know our co-workers better through work socializing!" Gen shot him a Cheshire grin and Senkuu already smelled his bullshit just a million miles away from here. If this is any other day, he would've tolerated it and probably chimed in with his devious plans but since his teasing was even more or less directed towards them, to him specifically, it made him exacerbated.
"Lady luck must be smiling for you Ukyo-chan since Senkuu-chan usually takes in a request with getting something in return but not doing a voluntary philanthropic work." Gen remarked in a sing song voice.
"Ah, it must be for practical purposes since my hearing sensitivity can affect my work in the future if it's leave unattended. I'm sure that's what Senkuu has in mind when he made them for me." Ukyo held an adorable yet awkward smile on his lips, not getting the hint behind Gen's words and teasing.
Ah, what a stark contrast to his usual sharp and complex nature. He can be maladroit towards a simple jive about him sometimes.
"Oi Gen. I'm still here." A tick mark formed on Senkuu's forehead.
Gen chuckled lowly and was about to respond when Kaseki dashed inside his laboratory and tugged on the collar of the mentalist much to his chagrin.
"I'll be needing your assistance again young lad! Help me out on the recent structure that Senkuu has trusted me to work on!" Kaseki was now dragging Gen outside the laboratory.
"But you have Chrome with you now! And I still need to do something else!" Gen cried and sporting a devastated yet comical expression on his face.
"It seems like Kaseki is quite fond of Gen." Ukyo's eyes danced in amusement as he watched Gen was being dragged away by Kaseki outside the lab.
Senkuu scoffed. "More like Gen is being turned into his own assistant now since he doesn't have any heavy workload every day." He placed the flask back to its spot after studying it.
For a moment, silence hung in the air with the only occasional tinkering sounds coming from Senkuu's side since he was experimenting on something.
"Senkuu."
Ukyo's tranquil voice made him glance back at the archer. "What? Do you need—" He stopped midway as he stared at the wide mouth transparent bottle with a miniature display of a moon inside. He was pleasantly surprised at the object that was sitting right in front of him.
"That's for you." Ukyo replied simply.
What? How? Why? These are the three questions that raced inside the scientist's head before he gazed back at the archer who seemed unruffled by his initial reaction and was sporting one of his enigmatic smiles once again.
"What is this?" He found his voice at last.
"It's a scaled down moon inside a transparent bottle." Ukyo answered easily.
"I know what it is." Senkuu deadpanned. "But what I wanted to know is why are you giving this to me? Is there something that you need from me in return?" He arched a brow.
Ukyo laughed, emitting a rich, vibrant and warm tones from his throat. It made Senkuu annoyed and entranced at the same time since it's rare for him to hear him laughed genuinely like that.
"There is no other hidden reason Senkuu except that I just want to." He tilted his head to the side. "I'm not sure of what other uses that you can do with it except for display purposes but I know with your brilliant mind you will utilize it in the future for your scientific endeavors." Ukyo added warmly.
Senkuu just stared at him intently, his vermilion irises boring into his soul as if deciphering the genuineness of his words.
He chortled afterwards. "If this is your way of saying thank you to me because of the earmuffs then you really have a shred of romantic idealist within you. Like I said, I'm not the type of person you should be saying some thank you for."
Ukyo shook his head idly. "Ah, you're mistaking me again as like that. As I've told you previously I'm nothing but a coward. But after witnessing you and achieving your humanistic goals through the help of science, it made me think that it's not quite too late. For me at least."
A soft grin made its way to his face. "You're such a sap sonar man. Get back to the others and help them in building that ship so that we can march on forward."
"Of course." Ukyo beamed at him before he bid him a quick goodbye and left.
A fond exasperation crossed the scientist's features. When he was on the verge of finally figuring him out, another layer of his character was exposed to him that shrouded him in inscrutability. But maybe that's how Ukyo was.
Nevertheless, he won't get tired of peeling them away to know the intriguing truth behind his cryptic smiles and pleasant tones.
He was a man of science after all.
How exhilarating.
(A/N: I don't own any of the characters from this franchise. This was inspired by that negotiation scene of Senkuu & Ukyo in episode 7 of season 2. I was supposed to make a Senhaku oneshot but lo and behold that infamous phone conversation between Ukyo and Senku has sparked some interest and inspiration from my shipping heart. It's filled with a little bit of a tension and intrigue from both parties. Also, Ukyo is one of the most beautiful characters in the show and he has a sexy voice. Usen is a rarepair but I'm still boarding on this ship. I'm a bit late into this fandom but sharing this story anyway. Apologies in advance for any grammatical errors as English is not my native language and if the characters are OOC. I tried my best to capture their characters similarly in the show.)