"I believe these are yours" said the unimpressed neighbour from down the street, holding up a pair of tadpoles by the scruffs of their necks, one purple and one red. It was obvious from their ashamed expressions that they had been tumbling about in her front yard again. Big patches of freshly mown grass tended to attract the two playful tadpoles.

Their father heaved a heavy sigh as he collected them from her and placed them on the floor beside him.

"I'm really sorry ma'am, but you know what they say; boys will be boys" He tried, with a badly faked light hearted chuckle. The neighbour huffed and stomped back down towards her house. The father closed the front door before turning to his sons, one twelve and one only three. They had their heads and tails hung low in absolute submission, clearly very sorry for what they had done. Their father stared for a while before smirking slightly and coming down to their level, placing a hand on each of their shoulders.

"I never liked her anyway. Just don't do it again, alright?" he asked softly, for fear of making them jump.

The two boys whipped their heads up to face their father, looks of disbelief being replaced by relieved grins.

"We won't" said the oldest, with a sharp salute, to which the younger promptly imitated, accidentally bopping himself in the forehead with the force. Their father chuckled and patted them on their heads.

"Good lads" he grinned.

…

…

"Gah… right in my face…"

Garoro sat up and rubbed his eyes, annoyed to have been woken from one of the rare good dreams he had. He glared daggers at the offending gap in the curtains, from which a thin beam of light had fallen onto his face, waking him up from the brightness of it. Stretching slowly and yawning widely, the stone faced crimson frog slid off of his mattress and approached the curtains, whipping them open to let in the crisp morning light, wincing as he did so. He stood there, in the daylight, disorientated for a moment, and thought about the dream he'd had, not being able to hold back a small smile.

"Why did I remember that?" he asked no one in particular. He scratched his head and yawned again, before leaving his room and beginning his morning ritual. Eat, wash face, grab towel and water bottle for his morning run, wave at Zarara as he passes her house, once back home have a shower, and finally, flop onto his sofa with big mug of tea.

The difficult part was working out what to do afterwards.

Garoro was getting old, and he was well aware of this. Unfortunately, so was the military, and he hardly ever got called out for any form of work. If he did, it was always something small. He'd be lucky to get a mission as a last resort back up.

Maybe that was the reason he had been thinking about his kids. When he went through a period of having no work, they'd always give him something to do, and on days like this, when he got reflective, he silently missed those days. He sometimes wished there was some way of getting them back.

As the saying goes: be careful what you wish for.

There was a ring at the door bell, and Garoro forced himself out of the seat he'd finally sunken into to answer it. When he opened the door, he wondered if he was still sleeping.

There was an obviously official figure stood at the door. On closer inspection, he was a representative of the Keron armament foundation. The real shock, however, came from the two tadpoles stood beside him. The older one was purple, and the younger one was red.

"Corporal Garoro, sir, I have been ordered to inform you of a certain mishap that took place earlier today" The representative began.

"I can see that…" Garoro said quietly, staring down at the faces looking back at him with confusion.

"Lieutenant Garuru and Corporal Giroro were caught in the blast from a malfunctioning weapon within the facility they were guarding. It was an age ray, which was set to make the target become around thirty seven years younger. Although they were not injured during the battle, they have temporarily lost most of their military knowledge, and are no longer old enough to serve the Keron army. While the weapon receives repairs, it has been decided that the two of them should be entrusted to you, as their father" was the explanation. Not that Garuru caught much of it.

He was only aware of the fact that his fifteen year old son, Garuru, and his six year old son, Giroro, were stood at his door step, wearing youthful, innocent expressions he hadn't seen for nearly thirty years.

"Sir?"

Garoro hadn't even noticed the man was still talking to him. He looked up with a slightly embarrassed expression.

"Would this arrangement be agreeable?" the representative asked again. Looking down at his two boys… there wasn't any way he could possibly say no.

"It is" he managed.

The man nodded and promptly walked away, leaving Garoro with his two confused looking sons. Giroro was the first to turn and look up at his father.

"Daddy… are we in trouble?" He asked timidly.

Garoro stared down at the child, slowly taking in the nostalgia of the situation before kneeling down to face him.

"No, you're not. You were just… in the wrong place at the wrong time" He told the red tadpole, choosing his words carefully before smiling and patting his head, causing Giroro to smile widely up at him. Looking up at his eldest son, Garoro noticed that the purple tadpole was frowning in confusion.

"I don't remember what happened" He said, mostly to himself, but loud enough so it was audible to the two red Keronians before him. He let out a poorly hidden yawn.

"You're tired" Garoro pointed out.

"But it's early morning!" Garuru reasoned, not liking the idea of being told to go to bed, especially this early in the day.

Garuru nodded, not wanting to press the matter out in the open. He took Giroro's hand and led him inside, Garuru following close behind. He led them into the living room, noting the disorientated looks from his children. It looked as if all their memories after this point in their childhood had been temporarily wiped.

"What happened to the old lounge?" Garuru asked bluntly. Garoro quickly came up with an excuse.

"Just a bit of rearranging with some new furniture. I've done up the whole house" he said, inwardly congratulating himself for the natural sounding tone he used.

His children seemed to accept this without much fuss, as they both sank into the 'new' sofa and promptly fell asleep. Garuru's face remained in a blank, shocked expression for a couple of minutes before he finally composed himself. He observed the tadpoles properly, before his face blanched. Sure, they were adorable, but what was he supposed to do? He was prepared to take on two children out of the blue. Most of the old toys and furnishings they had had either been stored or thrown away. He wasn't as able as he used to be, he couldn't handle hyperactivity, or If they had fights with each other. He would have to teach himself to be patient again, to be calmer and quieter around them, as he hadn't had to do it in so long. He was inwardly panicking, but one look at the two of them cuddled together on the sofa soothed him somewhat. At least the two of them could go through this together.

Sorting through his thoughts, he quietly made his way over to his landline and picked up the receiver. He was about to dial Yokaka's number, before stopping himself. Yokaka wasn't any better with kids than Garoro was, if not worse. Since he'd been child free, he'd let himself go a little, namely in the form of downing as much alcohol as he could handle. Plus, he'd thrown his maturity out of the window – he'd only make fun of Garoro's predicament. He knew, this, because he would have done exactly the same thing if the roles were switched.

Kerara wouldn't be much better – she'd smother the poor boys and spoil them rotten… and he wasn't having that. What if the treatment they received now ended up reflecting on them when they went back to normal? Garoro allowed a small shudder.

There was only one other person he could think of to call, and even she was a gamble. Zarara. She would either calmly understand and attempt to assist him, or panic and start dithering. Both those chances were better than nothing, so he dialled her number.

"Hello?" Came the quiet voice from the other end.

"Zarara" Garoro said in a way that sounded like he was begging that the answerer would be her.

"Good morning, Garoro. Are you alright?" She asked, her voice slightly louder now she knew who she was talking too.

"I have a bit of a… situation" Garoro spoke quietly, glancing across the room to the two tadpoles, who were thankfully still asleep.

"Oh? What's happened? Are you okay? Do you-"

"Zarara"

"I'm sorry."

Garoro sighed deeply, massaging his forehead with stress.

"I'm gonna cut to the chase" he said finally. There was silence on the other end, and he grinned slightly at the image of her nodding at the other end that had entered his mind.

"Basically… something happened to Garuru and Giroro while they were on a mission together involving an age altering weapon, so now I've got a fifteen year old and a six year old in my living room and I'm not sure what I should do" He said, trying in vain to stop his voice rom speeding up and revealing his inner panic.

"That does sound rather… problematic" was all Zarara thought to say. Now it was Garoro's turn to uselessly nod at his receiver.

"Should I come over?" she suggested.

"I think that might be a good idea" he agreed.

By the time Zarara had made it to Garoro's house, Garuru was already awake, and sat quietly on the sofa, taking in the currently unfamiliar surroundings while his brother continued to sleep soundly beside him. The blue frog, who had only just gotten through the front door, did a slight double take when she glanced into the lounge and caught sight of them, though she should have been expecting it.

"Ah" was all she said.

"Indeed" Garoro replied as he closed the front door behind them and led her into the room. Garuru didn't seem to notice their re-entry, as he was still groggy and curious about his surroundings. He was staring up at a beam in the ceiling with a furrowed brow, as if trying to work it out. Zarara was about to greet the purple tadpole, when he suddenly turned around and looked out of the window, his eyes wide.

"Dad…" he asked quietly.

"Yes?" There was a short silence.

"Where are we?"

The question left Garoro befuddled.

"What do you…"

Oh. Oh.

Garoro hadn't bought this house until after Garuru had finished secondary school at sixteen. They had moved very far away, and had left all of Garuru and Giroro's old friends behind. Garuru had been very angry at him for it at the time.

But at this moment in time, Garuru was only fifteen. In his current state, his father hadn't even thought of moving yet. How could Garoro possibly explain this to him?

Next to him, Zarara could sense his panic and acted quickly.

"This is one of my properties… I rented it out to your father when you had the accident and your house was damaged. I'm the landlady" she spoke, looking fairly surprised at the story herself, but masked it well. Garoro stared at her blankly while Garuru turned to face her with a curious expression.

"Oh"

Such a talkative teenager.

Well, at least he seemed to accept it rather well, as he stood from his place on the sofa and bowed to her politely, causing her to smile brightly at him. They didn't notice the groggy red tadpole rubbing his eyes as he sat up from the pillow he was nestled in.

"Daddy, why would you decorate a living room that isn't yours?" he asked curiously.

Crap! His first story didn't fit with Zararas. Think… think…

"I was helping her do the house up for the next tenant" He said, proud of his second smooth delivery. He was on a roll.

The two tadpoles said nothing for a few moments while they curiously eyed Zarara, as they obviously didn't know her at this stage of their life. Garuru resumed his previous sitting position when he was done, but Giroro's eyes widened in wonder.

"Are you our new mummy?" he asked, innocently.

The two frogs he was addressing jolted simultaneously, their faces reddening. Garuru watched on, his interest piqued. Garoro glanced at Zarara, who seemed to be inwardly panicking, before spitting out the first thing that came into her head.

"Yes"

Garoro's face reddened further, a look of disbelief barely held back on his face. Garuru's eye ridges were raised in surprise, and Giroro's eyes had widened even more than they already had done. A painfully awkward silence followed, in which the four Keronians simply stared at each other.

Finally, the younger tadpole smiled widely, an expression he hadn't pulled since before his parent's divorce. The sight relaxed the elder frogs somewhat, and they had regained their composure by the time Giroro had wriggled off of the sofa and stumbled into Zarara, gripping onto her waist in a tight hug. The blue frog hesitated for only a moment before stroking the boys head, laughing softly as she watched his little tail swish from side to side happily. Garoro glanced at his eldest son, who was intently watching the scene, a small, but genuine smile on his face. Garoro felt a smile forming on his own face. Sure, this cover up story was terrible and very embarrassing, but seeing how happy it made his kids… he could live with it for a while.

The two boys had been easily distracted from the subject when Zarara had proposed a game they could play, while Garoro went upstairs to fix up their bedrooms. He smirked as he heard Giroro's excited squeal from downstairs. All he wanted was another playmate other than his 'boring' older brother.

For some reason, rearranging his children's rooms brought back a sense of nostalgia. He remembered to put everything exactly how his children had liked it when they were younger, with some obvious exceptions such as toys – it's not as if he expected young children to randomly appear on his front door step. He made a note to be more prepared.

While he was dusting down the curtains in Garuru's room, he spotted the corner where he would usually keep his school things. No doubt the purple tadpole would fret about that. After Garoro's divorce, Giroro hadn't felt up to going to school much, so Garoro had helped him with work at home. This was one of the main reasons he wanted to move – to give his children a fresh start. Garuru, however – he had still soldiered on with his school. He had many friends there, and even a girl he was crushing on. Before Garoro had announced they were moving, Garuru had taken his organisation of school work very seriously, always keeping a neat stack of text books and other materials next to his steel grey back pack. Of course, none of things existed anymore, that or they were in storage, and had been for thirty four years.

However, to the Garuru downstairs, those three decades hadn't happened yet. Just another difficult thing for Garoro to explain.

Sighing deeply, he stood up from Garuru's bed, stretched and made his way down stairs to cook everyone a lunch. Good thing he'd done his food shopping just the other day.

As he reached the bottom, the strong smell of cooking wafted from the kitchen. Zarara… surely she hadn't taken it upon herself to feed the boys?

Speaking of his children, he noticed they had calmed down somewhat and were sat on the sofa, Garuru reading one of the many art books from Garoro's collection, while Giroro perched on the corner of the sofa nearest to the television, watching some anime about a Pokopenian rodent.

Leaving them in peace, he went into the kitchen to find that Zarara really was cooking lunch. She didn't notice him come in, so he simply watched in bewilderment for a while.

"What are you doing?" He asked eventually. Zarara jumped slightly, but turned round with a soft smile.

"I'm making stew" She said, holding up the ladle as if proving it to him.

"You don't have to do that Zarara, you're a guest. Besides, you must be exhausted after entertaining the kids" He said, rubbing the back of his head guiltily while glancing back into the lounge. Giroro was imitating one of the characters on the TV, seemingly without noticing. It was a nostalgic sight, as it had been a peculiar habit that he'd broken out of by the time he was eight.

"At the moment, I'm not a guest, am I?" Zarara suddenly said, drawing Garoro's attention back to her.

"I'm currently the woman of the house, and to keep to the story, I shall be the one to cook meals"

"Isn't that a little bit of a sexist view?" Garoro asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, yes, but I refuse to let you struggle alone. Having to take care of two children popping out of the blue is not going to be easy for you to do by yourself" she pointed out, keeping her gaze locked with Garoro's until he relented and went back into the lounge with his kids to tell them the cover story for the lack of school he'd come up with.

"An inset week?" Garuru asked "I don't remember seeing that in the school planner…"

"The school had it moved up from next time" Garoro tried. He could almost see gears grinding in Garuru's head as he processed this.

"Well, the next one would have only in about two weeks' time, so I guess that makes sense…"

Garoro sighed with relief, shifting the wait of his youngest son, who had rolled onto his lap during a particularly animated description of a dream he'd had the other night, seemingly unaware of the conversation he was being interrupted by.

"Da-ddyyy… are you listening?"

"Of course I am. What happened after you found the train driver?"

After a while of listening to Giroro's rambles, he almost instantly fell asleep. Garuru made some comment about him catching up on the dream before falling into silence again.

"Dad?" he asked quietly.

"Yes?"

"How long have you and Zarara been together?"

Garoro nearly came out and said the correct amount of years, but Garuru would have been very confused if his father was apparently seeing another woman while still in his marriage to their birth mother. Yet again, he had to come up with a story.

"A few months, now. I… wanted to make sure she was the right one before I introduced her to you two. You two are my first priority" He said to the confused face of the tadpole before him.

"How did you meet her?"

Had Garuru always been so curious as a child?

"I… we met at a coffee shop. I was stopping in from food shopping, and Zarara was taking a business call from one of her clients. I was the only one in a packed store to offer her a seat, so we got talking" He said, feeling very awkward about what he was saying, as he'd based the idea on one of Garuru's first part time jobs.

Said tadpole paused again, before nodding slowly. He looked as though he treated everything with suspicion, but then maybe he did when he was younger, wanting to be a great soldier after all. Garoro could barely remember.

Not a moment later, Zarara called from the kitchen brightly, asking the boys to help set the table while she served up the food. Garoro shook his head as his kids scurried into the dining room. How could he possibly thank Zarara for doing what she had to help? He'd think about it when he'd eaten- that tempting smell was rather distracting.

After finding a couple of old toys and board games for the boys to play with, Garoro joined Zarara in the kitchen, trying to do as much of the work as possible while thanking her every so often.

"Garoro, you're beginning to sound like me" Zarara chuckled as she waved off yet another thankful comment. Garoro's face reddened in embarrassment.

"Sorry… I just feel bad that you have to do all this for a problem that you shouldn't need to worry about… I didn't expect you to get as involved as you have done" he apologised, gently nudging Zarara to the side so he could finish the washing himself. Zarara simply raised an eye ridge at him and sighed, drying her hands on a clean tea towel.

"I'll take care of the rest" Garoro stated in a bid to get her to relax a little.

"Alright. I'll go see to the kids."

Well, that backfired terribly. Garoro said nothing however, and simply finished the cleaning before rearranging the cupboards back to the way they were before Zarara used them, for memory's sake. As he rolled up and stashed away the table mats, he caught ear of a quiet conversation in the living room. Peeping round into the room for a second, he noticed that Zarara was sat on the sofa next to Garuru; Giroro curled up, nearly asleep, half on her lap. He whipped his head away before he was spotted so he could get the rest of the conversation as he worked.

"So you aren't staying" Garuru said blankly.

"No, dear. I'm not living with your father just yet. Besides, I have my own house, it wouldn't look good if I was staying in one of the properties I'm supposed to be renting out!" she chuckled in reply, Garuru letting out an embarrassed breath of air.

"I was just… curious" he mumbled. He wasn't very good at hiding his disappointment.

"I'll be visiting you often, Garuru, you needn't worry about that" She reassured him, the sound of her gently patting his back following soon after.

"Because you love father?" He asked. Garoro couldn't help but smile. That boy…

"Well, yes, of course"

Even though it was all just an act, and Zarara was only saying what she said to keep with the story, Garoro couldn't help the blush that crept onto his face. Silence reigned after that, and assuming the conversation was over, he got back to rearranging his spice rack.

"Do you really love father?" came Garuru's voice again, abruptly, shocking Garoro into nearly smacking his head on the cabinet above him. It didn't stop him from shamelessly listening in again.

"Yes, Garuru" Zarara said, only just masking the nerves in her voice. There was a drawn out pause.

"Do you… is…" Garuru seemed to be struggling to word his next question, which was a phenomenal first. There was a quiet rustling sound and a little yawn, which Garoro assumed was Giroro waking himself up. There was another pause.

"Is daddy happy?" Giroro asked innocently. Had he heard the conversation? Or was it simply his childish curiosity? Either way, Garoro felt sort of... touched. He didn't remember his children having any concern for him. Or maybe he was so focussed on making sure that they were happy that he never noticed.

"Yes… is father… happy with you?" came the approval of the question from Garuru.

"I… hope so. Yes, I think maybe he is" Zarara said, unsurely, simply going for the safe option that would make the two boys happy.

"Yay!" Came the muted squeal from Giroro. He had probably just clung onto her in a hug again. Her light, tinkling laugh seemed to confirm this. Garoro smiled to himself, he'd forgotten how great it felt to hear his children laughing.

"If that is true… then promise you'll stay with him? Promise you'll keep it this way?" Garuru asked suddenly, in such an uncharacteristic way that even Giroro stopped laughing. The silence was deafening, and Garoro thought of simply entering the room to end it, before Zarara spoke again.

"I promise you, Garuru" She said, and a very quiet, relieved sort of sigh could be heard in response.

To play it safe, Garoro waited another couple of minutes before re-entering the room, purposely looking at the clock in suggestion.

"Getting late, isn't it?" He asked, shooting looks to his children, who both appeared to slump slightly in unison. The sight was so comical that Garoro failed to hold back a light chuckle.

"He's right, boys. Staying up to late isn't good for you" Zarara pointed out, causing the boys to relent reluctantly. They really seemed to respect her already. Garoro found himself wishing that he had met Zarara earlier on, and that this could have been their real childhood. Quickly noticing what these thoughts implied, he shook them out of his head with a thin blush.

After following the boys upstairs, putting Giroro to bed and wishing Garuru a good night, Garoro made his way back down the stairs to find that Zarara was dressed and ready to go.

"I'm dreadfully sorry for overstaying my welcome" She said, bowing apologetically.

"Are you kidding? I'm sorry that you did all that you did for the boys, but I'm truly thankful for it. I don't think I could have done this alone" Garoro admitted. Zarara smiled, before leaning forward and pulling Garoro into a small hug.

"Call me if they are like this tomorrow and you need some more help alright?" she asked, staring him down until he agreed.

"Good night, Garoro" She said as she left through the door.

"'Night, Zarara" he replied as he closed it behind her. Making his way upstairs, he instantly flopped onto his bed, letting out an exhausted yawn, only just managing to switch off his beside lamp before falling straight to sleep.

It had taken a week to repair the age ray to full working order, and that week was tiring for both Garoro and Zarara, who insisted that she should help every day of the demon corporal's ordeal. Although they were both run ragged, it provided them with a lot of exercise and excitement. Plus, quite noticeably to his delighted sons, Garoro had been much happier than he had been for a very long time. So when the day of the ray gun's completion was upon them, Garoro and Zarara were both equally reluctant to take them to the armoury to be restored.

"Daddy, where are we going?" Giroro asked, toddling alongside his father, his tiny hand clasped protectively in Garoro's.

"We're going to my workplace, I just need to pick up some documents" he said, noting that it was probably the only statement he had made over the last week that was even half true.

"Awesome" Garuru grinned, excited to have a look around the armoury at all the weapons and shooting ranges. Zarara smiled at him from his side, finding his excited expression to be completely adorable.

"Father, when I turn sixteen, I'm allowed to take the test for a firearms license, right?" he asked, failing to suppress his childlike excitement.

"That's right" He nodded, feeling proud of his son all over again. He glanced down to Giroro and watched as he counted the fingers on his free hand with amusement.

"Aww. I still have to wait ten years" Said Giroro, although he didn't seem too bothered about it really. Trains were his main priority, of course.

Finally, the four of them reached the entrance to the armoury, being recognised immediately and allowed to enter.

Thankfully with a minimal amount of questioning, the two boys were led off by the same man who had brought them to Garoro's house in the first place. The adults tried not to look too mournful as they were led away, Giroro waving enthusiastically.

"I must be the only man who had to deal with his kids growing up and moving away TWICE" Garoro joked with a hint of genuine sadness.

"I'm going to miss them too" Zarara agreed, reaching for Garoro's hand and squeezing it slightly as if to reassure him.

About twenty minutes passed before Garuru and Giroro came back into view, back to their normal selves, although they looked sort of dazed. The representative did say it would be as if they had been awoken from a week long sleep, so it wasn't too surprising.

"You two alright?" Garoro asked, smirking slightly as Garuru appeared to support his own head with his hand.

"I feel like death, father" He replied grumpily, Giroro not even responding, simply rubbing his temples and yawning loudly. When he'd rubbed his bleary eyes, he instantly took note of Zarara, and an unexplained happy, almost loving feeling overcame him, glancing to the side he could see that his brother was watching her, too.

"T-thanks for the um…the help, dad" Giroro said, trying to make their stares less obvious.

"It was no problem, Giroro. I had Zarara here to help me" he said, smiling slightly as he patted her back. "Well, I'm going to have to cut this visit short, I've got some things to do back home. I'll catch you two later, alright?" he said, receiving two nods of approval in reply. With a single wave of his hand, he made his way out of the building, Zarara following close behind. The two brothers watched them leave.

"Garuru?"

"Hm?"

"I have this… very strange urge to try and set those two up" Giroro said, looking very confused at his own thoughts. Garuru only watched him silently, before turning back to face the door their father and his friend had left through.

"Oddly enough, I believe I second those thoughts…"

Fin

A random oneshot I wrote bit by bit during the short breaks I had between college work.

Garoro – Giroro and Garuru's father

Zarara – Dororo's mother

Yokaka – Keroro's father

Kerara – Keroro's mother