Babysitting

Pai smacked himself in the forehead for about the fifth time in two minutes. WHY did I think this was a good idea? he asked himself. They're monsters!

Pai's latest plan had obviously backfired, and he wasn't happy about it. His idea had been to capture Ichigo, Lettuce and Pudding, and take them to the ship. Then his plan had been to turn them into little kids, to study them.

This didn't go the way he had hoped. For one thing, Lettuce was out of town, so she couldn't get captured. For another, though he managed to get Ichigo and Pudding, turning them into children was the worst mistake he'd ever made. Pudding was now two years old, and more hyper than Taruto on sugar high. Ichigo was six years old, but she was an energetic six-year-old. And now they were running around the ship, completely out of control.

Just when Pai thought his day couldn't get any worse, he heard a voice say, "Pai-oniichan?"

Pai turned, and saw Kisshu and Taruto. One difference: Kisshu was seven years old, and Taruto was two. Kisshu was holding Taruto's hand, and Taruto was looking scared.

"Yes, Kisshu?" Pai sighed, figuring Kisshu had somehow activated his machine.

"Taruto claims there's a little yellow monster running around his room," Kisshu said. "I didn't see anything, though. Can you come look?"

"Fine…." Pai said. "You two stay here." He teleported off, landing in Taruto's room. Looking around, he didn't see anything. Then he looked under the bed, and heard a giggle. "What are you doing?" he asked Pudding wearily.

"Hide and seek!" Pudding squeaked happily. "Now it's your turn!"

Pai groaned. "I'm not playing," he said flatly.

Meanwhile, with Kisshu and Taruto: "Kisshu, do you think Pai-oniichan's found the yellow monster?" Taruto asked.

"I don't know," Kisshu said. "I hear something coming, let's hide."

"Where?" Taruto asked. Kisshu looked around, but then heard a girl's voice call out, "Pudding-chan? Where are you?"

Before Kisshu could take Taruto and run, the girl came around the corner, and saw them. She squeaked and hid behind the wall, shyly poking her face out. "Is that what you saw, Taruto?" Kisshu asked.

"No, that one's pink," Taruto said. "The one I saw was yellow."

At that the girl hesitantly came out and asked, "Have you seen my friend? She's small and yellow, and she got excited and ran off. Now I can't find her."

Kisshu looked at Taruto, and said, "I TOLD you it wasn't a monster." Then he turned to the girl and said, "I think your friend is in Taruto's room. Who are you, anyways?"

"I'm Ichigo," Ichigo said. "Where's Taruto's room?"

"I'll show you," Kisshu said.

"K," Ichigo said. "What's your name?"

"I'm Kisshu," Kisshu said. Ichigo happily came over and took his hand. "Let's go find Pudding!" she said. "Taruto should come too."

Kisshu was about to agree when they heard Pai shout, "OW!"

"Better go see what happened," Ichigo sighed. "My guess is Pudding bit him."

Kisshu picked up Taruto and ran down the hall, followed by Ichigo. They reached Taruto's room to find Pai holding his hand up, with Pudding hanging from it by her little monkey fangs. "GET. OFF. MY. HAND!" Pai yelled. He shook his hand, but Pudding didn't let go. Kisshu snickered, and Pai glared at him.

Ichigo sighed and said, "Pudding-chan, please get off Pai-oniichan's hand now. Doesn't he taste bad?"

Pudding sighed, and Pai let her down. Before she let go, Pai shouted, "NO LICKING!"

"Ichigo-oneechan was right, Pai-oniichan tastes AWFUL," Pudding said. Kisshu and Ichigo burst out laughing as Taruto hesitantly walked over to Pudding. Pudding looked at him curiously. "Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Taruto," Taruto said. "I'm two years old."

"Pudding is two years old too!" Pudding said happily. "Taru-Taru and Pudding can be friends!"

Pai groaned. "Taruto's going to learn bad habits…." he moaned.

"No he isn't," Pudding said. "Pudding will only teach Taru-Taru good things. Besides, Pai-oniichan tastes awful. Pudding won't bite him again."

"Good," Pai said. "But I think I've had enough babysitting, so I'm going to turn you all back to your normal ages. All of you wait here."

He waited till they nodded, and then teleported to his lab and got the machine thing he had used to change them into little kids. Then he teleported back, to find Kisshu and Ichigo waiting patiently, while Taruto and Pudding zoomed around in circles. "Taruto, Pudding, I need you to come over here and stay still for a minute," Pai said. "I'm going to change you all back."

Pudding and Taruto zoomed over, and Pudding said, "How long do we have to stay still?"

"Five minutes," Pai said. The two hyperactive kids sighed and stood still as Pai pushed a button on the machine, then aimed it at them. A golden light enveloped the four kids, and they started to grow.

The light flashed, then faded, revealing that the four had gone back to their normal ages. "Um, what are we doing here?" Ichigo asked.

"And why are we in Taruto's room?" Kisshu asked.

"My plan to study human children by turning Ichigo and Pudding into little kids backfired," Pai said gloomily. "I don't think I EVER want to see another human child. And then you and Taruto somehow turned yourselves into children, and I had to turn you back as well."

"Why is your hand bleeding?" Kisshu asked.

"Pudding bit me, and then she licked my hand, and claimed that I taste awful," Pai said gloomily.

"PUDDING!" the others shouted.

"Pudding's mouth tastes funny," Pudding said. "Pai-oniichan must taste like spinach."

Kisshu, Ichigo, and Taruto fell over laughing as smoke came out of Pai's ears. Pudding snickered and said, "Pai-oniichan, I bet you can't catch me."

Pai lunged at Pudding, who sidestepped and ran for it, Pai in hot pursuit.

Kisshu calmed down after a while, and asked, "Koneko-chan, can I have a kiss?"

"Maybe when I catch my breath," Ichigo gasped.

"Do you love me?" Kisshu asked hopefully.

"You didn't notice I broke up with Aoyama for you?" Ichigo asked. "You must be slacking off on the stalking."

"So you do love me?" Kisshu asked.

"Yep," Ichigo said. "And I caught my breath."

Kisshu smiled and teleported them to his room, landing on the bed. He was surprised when Ichigo pulled him over and kissed him passionately, but responded with equal passion.

They broke apart some time later, mainly because Pai was shouting, "COME BACK HERE, YOU EVIL LITTLE MONKEY GIRL!"

Then they heard Pudding laughing, and Kisshu said, "We should just let them be."

"K," Ichigo said. "I'm tired, can we go to sleep?"

"Sure," Kisshu said.

They curled up together under the blankets, and fell fast asleep.

Horrendous ending, I know. And it's short, but ookamiamaterasuluver wanted this, so I decided to make it. Plz Review!