A/N: Games from Steam are so addicting! I went to my friend's house on Sunday to hang out and I ended up playing Rusty Hearts for like three hours!
"What is that?" Kiro asked as a din of clucks and crows could be heard from the window. Zetsu had just finished putting the items back on their shelves when he noticed that the children had all gone.
"Children!" He shouted from the window, seeing them all outside. Hun barked out as he went to chase the birds,
"Zetsu! Your chickens are on the loose!"
"I wonder what caused it…" Ongakuhana asked before Kire announced,
"Come on, let's round them up!"
"Chakra-Mark Musketeer Chicken-Herders!" They all cheered before rushing into action. But Zetsu shook his head,
"Wait, please don't!" He rushed down to the scene, seeing all of the children rushing after the chickens. "Children, stop. Please?" After a few seconds, he shouted, "Children!" They all stopped at that. Then one of the chickens landed on his head, a smile growing on his face, "Come on." He gently escorted all the chickens back to their coop. "In you go." The chickens ignored him, "Go on and – Ah…" He kneeled over a bit, as if he had a stomachache before he stood back up: half of his body white and half black.
"Get in the fucking coop you little feathered bastards! Or else I'm going to have fried chicken by the bucketful tomorrow morning!" The chickens all squawked in fear before they rushed into the coop. Zetsu's body shifted back into white before he looked around and smiled,
"Such good chickens. Now," He turned towards the children, "Isn't it about time you went to bed?"
"But—"
"Please?"
The children all frowned and pouted as Zetsu tucked them in and with a calm 'goodnight' he closed the door to let them rest. As soon as the door was closed, Ongakuhana asked, "What type of journey should we go on next?"
"There isn't much to do in here…" Mizuki observed. Hun bounded over to the window, looking out before he stated,
"Look! One of the chickens got loose!" They looked at each other before Kira got their scarves.
"Chakra-Mark Musketeer Chicken Rescuers are go!" They all whispered.
They gently snuck downstairs, careful to avoid Zetsu's gaze as he rested on the couch. "I kept telling the others that there would be nothing to worry about, nothing gets past Zetsu," He yawned, "Good with animals, good with kids…" When he dozed off, the children rushed out of the front door.
They all rushed out of the front gate, Hun's scarf ripping off a piece on the fence before he rushed after his friends, shouting, "Wait up!", as they all ran into the dark Yonko Forests.
"Mm…" Zetsu murmured in his sleep, "Peace and quiet…" A moment later, he shot up, whispering, "Too quiet." He rushed up the stairs and, sure enough, the children were all gone again! "Children?" He called out, taking a lantern outside as he searched his property for them.
"Children?" He called, looking into the coop. He gasped as he saw that one of the chickens was missing, "Elizabeak II? Oh no!" He looked to the ground and saw the footsteps that led out to the darkness, "They must have gone looking for her… In the Yonko Forests! Gods!" He leaned against the coop, groaning, "They've bitten off more than they can chew! Just like me, I never should have offered to watch them!"
The plant-demon then stood and took a deep breath before rushing into the Yonko Forests, desperately hoping to find the children before anything could happen to them.
"Here chickies-chickie-chickie!" Kire's voice could be heard in the Spring section of the forests as the group of children walked down a shadowy path. Kiro shook his head,
"What are you doing?"
"Calling for the chicken, duh!"
"That's not the right way to call a chicken." Kiro scoffed, Kire huffing back,
"Like you know how?"
"Would you two come on?" Mizuki called back to the arguing siblings, "We're not going to find our chakra-marks or the chicken by arguing." Then the two thought for a moment before Kire offered,
"Maybe one of your guys' special talents can be arguing!" Kiro groaned, performing a face-palm as Mizuki sighed,
"What would the chakra-mark of a demon whose special talent was arguing even look like?"
The others all murmured that that was true and he had a point before they walked on, Hun talking to Mizuki, "You know, the way you handle things, you could wind up a politician or judge someday, Mizuki-kun!" The otter-demon hummed before he nodded,
"I would like that."
"Children..?" Zetsu gently called out as he slowly walked down the pathway, "Oh, why couldn't you guys have gotten lost somewhere nice? Like an ice cream parlor or Tobi's bakery?" A vicious roar in the distance caused Zetsu to run, screaming until he saw a familiar silhouette in the distance.
"Itachi? Is that you?" When he got closer he gave a huge sigh of relief, "Oh thank the gods, it is! I need your help! The children are missing and I have no idea where else to look…" As he was talking, the moonlight broke through the clouds revealing that there was something… off about the weasel-demon. Zetsu gasped in horror as he saw that Itachi had been encased in stone. "Itachi..? Oh no! If you've been turned to stone, then… Children!"
The plant-demon rushed over and asked the trees, "Have you seen a group of small children walk by?" One of the trees leaned over to the right, Zetsu nodding, "Thank you." And rushing in that direction. "Please let them be close by…"
"I have a whole new respect for Soba and Yakisoba now," Kira whispered as she walked behind Ongakuhana, reflecting on how her old siblings always had to watch the chickens. So far, there was no sight of their target. But they stopped walking when there was a call of,
"Children?"
"Daddy?" Ongakuhana asked. Zetsu rushed over, gasping for breath,
"Thank goodness I found you! We have to leave… at once!"
"But we haven't found your chicken yet!" Hun insisted, Zetsu shaking his head,
"Forget it, there's no time! I have to get you out of here before the Cockatrice finds us!"
"The what?" Saso asked, Zetsu groaning,
"Ugh… What are they teaching you in school now of days? It's a terrible creature with the head of a rooster and the body of a snake, now come on!" But the children had squirmed away and were all laughing at the thought of such a silly creature.
"If I ever saw one of those," Kire smiled, "I'd laugh at its face!"
"NO!" Zetsu ran over, "In this world, there are three creatures whose eyes you should never meet: Medusas, basilisks, and cockatrices! You are to never look a cockatrice in the eye, do you hear me?" Suddenly, with a cluck, Elizabeak II scurried by, all the children giving chase. "Children!"
They all ran to a bush, the chicken pecking near it. "We've got you know!" Ongakuhana smiled.
There was a rumbling growl, followed by a hiss.
"Um…" Kira gulped, "What was that?" The bushed rustled before the abnormally large head of a rooster rose from the leaves, spines trailing down its back and fangs dripping orange saliva, before the rest of its body, that of a large, green snake, slithered out. Bloodshot eyes shot open as the creature let out a vicious roar and went after the chicken.
Elizabeak II fluttered about in a panic, but when the cockatrice slithered over and stared her down with its bloodshot eyes, the chicken immediately turned to stone. Hun shifted into his hell-dog form and was about to try and scare the monster away, but no sooner had he barked that the cockatrice hissed and glared at him; his body turning to stone as well.
"DADDY!" Ongakuhana screamed, running over to Zetsu. The other children followed suit until they tripped over what they thought was a rock. But upon closer inspection, they saw that it was the tail of Itachi, still trapped in stone. Zetsu rushed over, explaining,
"See why we have to—" He was interrupted when the small demons all began to scream and sob in horror. "What's going – No…" He looked behind them all and saw the cockatrice slithering its way over. This was no time for nonsense, Zetsu covered his eyes and shouted, "All of you! Get behind me this instant!" The children did as they were told, desperately covering their eyes and cowering behind the plant-demon.
And when he felt the rancid breath of the cockatrice on his face, Zetsu was sure that he was about to start hyperventilating in fear. But he couldn't let himself be overtaken by fear now, there were too many lives depending on him.
"Please…" He whispered, "Help me help them… Help me help them…" He winced, feeling as if he was in pain for a second before his body shifted half white, half black again. Then he yelled,
"You! Where the fuck do you get off, you ugly-ass motherfucker?" The cockatrice blinked in shock before intensifying his gaze. But Black Zetsu quickly stopped that with a firm bitch-slap to the face, "Don't you try that shit on me! Trying to turn people into stone, I should make you into a pair of snakeskin stockings and turn your feathers into pillows!" The cockatrice was starting to fall back, so Black Zetsu decided to finish it off, "My gods you are ugly though. What were your parents thinking when they decided to get it on with each other? Now, I could stay here all night burying you into the ground like this, but unless you want to be turned into fertilizer, turn my friend, the dog, and the stupid chicken back to normal. OR ELSE!"
The cockatrice gulped before slithering away and getting to work. Zetsu's body shifted back to normal before he asked, "Are you all okay?" They were all shocked, but when Zetsu spoke, they all whimpered,
"We'll be good." Zetsu smiled and, before he knew it, Itachi and Hun stumbled over, the weasel-demon groaning,
"What happened here?"
The next morning found the children playing in the front yard of Zetsu's cottage while the plant-demon told Itachi all about what had happened the previous evening. "And so, I'm pretty sure that the cockatrice has moved on."
"This will make quite the letter to Rokubi-sama." Itachi hummed as he summarized the events, "And you did an excellent job taking care of the kids."
"Yes, but…" Zetsu sighed, "I think I'll stick to Ongakuhana and my animal friends from now on."
"Hello over there, un!" The two demons looked over to see Sasori and Deidara walking over. Itachi waved them over, Zetsu asking,
"Did you finish your order?"
"We're just coming back from delivering them!" He wrapped an arm around Zetsu's shoulder and sighed, "Thanks so much for taking them, I wasn't sure I would have been able to finish with all that stress."
"No problem at all," Zetsu smiled before holding up his teapot, "Would you like a cup?" Sasori sighed,
"No, I have to get back to the shop." He then walked over to the yard and called out, "Children, it's time for me to get you home. Children?" He frowned as he was ignored, shouting, "Children!"
"Allow me," Zetsu offered, "Children? It's time to go home, go get your things."
"Yes Zetsu!" The children all replied, going into the house to get their bags. Deidara was astonished,
"What do you have them on, un?" Zetsu shook his head,
"I told you that I'm just as good with children as I am with animals." The children were soon packed and ready to go. Deidara started walking them off, but Sasori stayed to ask,
"Speaking of animals, do you think that you could help me with Opal?"
"Oh of course!" Zetsu smiled, "Just bring her by later." Sasori shook his head and reached into his pocket, wincing as he felt a sharp pain enter his hand,
"I was thinking more like…" He pulled out Opal, the scorpion snapping her claws and glaring at her master, "Now?"
A/N: Aw... Aren't children adorable? Thanks for reading! Please read the rest of this week's update and review!
-Tyranno's girl.