Chapter 2 - Babysitting
Hello, I'm back! Muakz muakz! That was thanks for all those sweet people who reviewed! Especially Mouse, I always love your reviews best! And sorry for all those story errors I made ;P Yea, I haven't finished reading the manga, I'm up to the 18th book and that's probably why I didn't know Kurei took Kaoru back to 400 years ago! WHY? Oh well, and moreover I didn't know that the madougu I thought was genuinely created by me already had a similar counterpart in the story, if my first reviewer hasn't given me the wrong info ^_^ I'll have you guys know that that was totally unintentional, ok? So do not doubt the originality of my fic because that would be a great insult to all my efforts put in. *Sniff sniff*
Disclaimer: I wonder if all this is really necessary cos OBVIOUSLY I do not own the characters and all (including the mysterious "age" madougu thing) except the plot of the story. Well, enjoy!
Thunders crashed and lightning flashed. It was raining heavily in Tokyo that night.
The three Hokage girls were lounging in the living room after a good home-cooked meal. Ganko was finishing her homework on the table, and Yanagi was watching her progress while peeling oranges. Fuuko was lying sideways on the tatami in front of the TV with Kondo, immersed in a comedy talk-show.
They were just savoring the nice and quiet time at home when there came a knock on the door. Yanagi looked up, "Who could it be at this hour?" She glanced out the window at the unnerving weather outside. "And in this weather too."
"Not the boys that's for sure," Fuuko grunted. "They've got a key."
"I'll get it!" Spotting the chance to slack off, Ganko volunteered to answer the door, and got up.
O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O
The boys were all panting as heavily as the rain was falling when they reached the porch of their home. Soaking wet, they had taken turns in carrying Kaoru's enormous Hokage weapon all the way, and it had taken them more than twice the usual amount of time required to get home. What with their now shorter and stumpier legs, the Kougan Anki, their baggy clothes, the rain, and the rain which soaked their baggy clothes making them even baggier and heavier, it was a miracle they even managed to arrive home that very same day.
Stepping onto the porch, Recca dumped the Kougan Anki roughly onto the floor.
"Hey-!"
"Hey, it was heavy!" Recca countered before Kaoru could continue yelling at him.
"Would you people shut up and just open the damn door?" snapped an extremely ticked off Tokiya. Grumbling, Recca moved towards the door, shoved his hands deep into his pocket and fished out the keys to the front door. Then, he reached up to put the key through the keyhole.
...
After a second or two standing there motionless, Recca glanced back at the others, an anxious look on his face.
"What?" Tokiya asked impatiently.
"I... I can't reach the doorknob."
"WHAT?" cried the rest of them.
"Lemme try!"
Each of them frantically took turns in trying to reach the key to the lock. But no one, including the usually tall Domon, could reach even within one feet of the knob.
"Let's try another way," said Recca commandingly. "Domon, bend down so I can get on your shoulders, then Tokiya can climb on top of me, and Kaoru comes last."
"Excuse me, do I look stupid?" Tokiya sneered.
Recca rolled his eyes, "Fine, Kaoru, you climb on my shoulders."
The next moment, they were all balanced riskily on top of one another, except Tokiya, who was watching silently on the side with his arms crossed. Wobbling dangerously, Domon shuffled closer towards the door, but Recca's face was turning purple. "K- Kaoru, your..."
Kaoru look down to find his legs wrapped all too tightly around Recca's neck, choking off his oxygen supply. The next moment, Recca's hands had grabbed his legs and pried open their vice-like grip.
"Wha!" Kaoru cried and fell backwards, taking all the others below crashing to the floor along with him.
Tokiya rubbed his aching right temple. How he got stuck with this bunch of stupid people he really didn't know, and without further ado, he walked past the pile of fallen humans up to the door. He raised a hand, threw the others a condescending look and a classical "hmph!" before rapping smartly on the door.
The others' jaws hit the cold hard floor.
O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O
Morikawa Ganko opened the door and HER jaw hit the cold hard floor.
"Uh..." Was all she managed to say after a moment's silence.
"Who's that, Ganko?" Fuuko's head popped out from behind Ganko's.
"Uh... chibi Hokage boys?"
Fuuko took one unimpressed look at the dripping kids in front of them.
"You're kidding."
"Damn it woman, let us in!" Tokiya yelled finally, all patience gone.
At that, Fuuko's eyes widened. "Okay, that's definitely Mikagami. Let them in," she said.
O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O
Yanagi clasped her hands together, starry-eyed. "Oh my gosh, don't they just look sooo adorable in these clothes?"
"Um..." Ganko and Fuuko stared at the display in front of them, not quite knowing what to say.
The boys stood in a straight line -Recca in a small white Ultraman T-shirt and shorts, Tokiya in a little green sweater and jeans, Kaoru had on a yellow pullover and dungarees, and Domon wore white pajamas with black stripes.
"But these are Ganko's old clothes," said Kaoru, he looked down at his dungarees, pulling them further out.
"If you have anything to say about my clothes you can walk around naked," Ganko snapped.
They had found out what happened to the boys, and finally decided that the best thing to do for now was to make do with the situation before they could contact Kagerou and try to find out about the mysterious madougu, and a way to locate the old man and find a way to change the boys back.
"That's just great. Besides a pile of homework, now I have to babysit demon spawns," groaned Ganko.
O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O
"Why do I have to come along?" grumbled little-Tokiya, arms crossed as he shuffled along beside Kirisawa Fuuko.
"Because unfortunately for you and me, it's my turn to be in charge of you today so you're not allowed out of my sight," Fuuko snapped irritably, not too happy with the prospect of being stuck with this impudent little smartass the entire day herself. She hurried towards her locker to get ready for her first lecture, and sighed inwardly as she opened her locker door. She entertained herself with the thought of possibly shoving Tokiya face first into the locker and keeping him there until classes are over. But to be perfectly honest, she would have been worse off coming to school with Recca, Domon or Kaoru tagging along. Though an irritating puny little know-it-all, at least Tokiya wasn't a bundle of trouble like the other three. If anything, he was the best amongst all of them at keeping himself out of trouble.
"Hey, Fuuko-chan, who's that adorable-looking little boy? Your brother?" A female course mate came over and interrupted her thoughts.
God forbid that!
"No! Uh... he's my cousin who's come to stay!"
"I see~ My gosh, doesn't he look charming?"
Fuuko looked down at the little boy in front of her, with his arms crossed and gazing at the her course mate in an unimpressed way. Unwillingly, she had to admit that even as a kid, Tokiya made an incredibly cute one. The girl bent down and was about to pat his head when Tokiya smoothly dodged the descending hand and slid a few feet away.
"See no touch, sister."
"Manners, Tokiya!" Fuuko's warning came out almost by reflex, even though secretly inside, she was strangely glad that the girl didn't succeed in her attempt.
"Tokiya? His name is Tokiya? He has the same name as Mikagami-senpai?" squealed the surprised girl.
"Yea, whatever, just coincidence," said Fuuko hastily. It was really dumb of her to call him Tokiya in front of others, even if she had been distracted. "Come along, cousin Tokiya," she stressed her last words and dragged Tokiya off to class.
O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O
Tokiya yawned, and rested his head in his right palm. "This is such an insult to my intelligence, instead of attending one of my useful law lectures, I'm degraded and stuck in an arts one listening to a retarded lecturer rambling on about how wallpaper colors compliment floor tiles while sitting around equally retarded students who are trying to take notes and steal continuous glances at me at the same time, thinking I wouldn't notice their pedophilic behavior."
The next second, he got a resounding whack in the back of his head.
"Shut up, smart boy. Unlike you, I have to concentrate," Fuuko muttered irritably, resisting the urge to pull out her Fujin and blast Tokiya off to some planet far far away. However, what Tokiya had said was true. Already, quite a few times, Fuuko had noticed her course mates, especially the girls, throw occasional glances of curiosity at the little boy sitting next to her.
"Hmph," she grunted crossly, and tried again to concentrate on taking notes with Tokiya suppressing another cute little yawn beside her.
O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O
"I'm home," Ganko called as she took off her shoes at the doorstep. She could hear Yanagi in the kitchen, preparing dinner and Recca squabbling with Domon in the living room. She glanced at her watch.
5.30pm.
Fuuko had late classes that day so she must not be home yet. Avoiding the noisy crowd, Ganko slipped into her own room, lightly kicked the door shut, took off her uniform and pulled a loose white t-shirt over her undergarments, falling back heavily onto her soft comfy bed.
School was hell today.
Everyone at school was bugging her about Kaoru's uncharacteristic absence. He skipped classes occasionally, yes, but not school. And it was already two days in a row.
"Why is Koganei-kun absent again today?"
"Is Koganei-kun sick?"
"Oh dear, I'm so worried!"
Ganko sighed. And worst of all, fed up with all the attention, she had just went along with the "Koganei-kun is sick" theory.
Big mistake.
"Oh no, how's he doing?"
"Uh.. still quite well, I think."
"I know! Why don't we pop over his place and visit him tomorrow?"
"Um.. I don't-"
"Great! We can bring him some flowers and fill him in on school work!"
"I bet he'll be glad to see us, he must be so lonely at home alone."
Now on her bed with her hands folded behind her head, Ganko rolled her eyes. Sure he'd be lonely!
O+O+O+O+~ B R E A K ~+O+O+O+O
Koganei Kaoru paced anxiously outside Ganko's room, holding her madougu in his hands. He looked over at the doll that used to be Kondo, lying motionless on the floor, stashed behind the stairs. He had ventured into Ganko's room earlier on to get a change of clothing after getting them dirty with mud. Kondo was in her room as usual, but to his enormous surprise, not in his usual yellow fox-form!
~ Flashback ~
Kaoru rubbed his eyes as he stared at a perfect reflection of himself. A chibi-Kaoru form.
"K... Kondo?"
"Nope, wrong answer! For now, I am supposed to be Koganei Kaoru!" said Kondo in an aggravatingly Kaoru-like voice, and flashed the boy in front of him one of Kaoru's infamous Koganei-fanged-grins. He looked exactly like himself! The only difference was that Kondo-Kaoru had Ganko's madougu tied around his neck just like the yellow fox had.
"Stop aping me, you copy-fox!" Kaoru yelled at his counterpart.
"Nyah!" Kondo-Kaoru dragged the sides of his mouth wide open and stuck out his pink tongue at Kaoru before darting out of the room.
Forgetting why he was in Ganko's room in the first place, Kaoru dashed after him, intending to beat him into a pulp. He searched the house for the little impersonator, then heard his own voice coming from the kitchen, humming a merry tune.
"Now I gotta get some fudge for Ganko when she gets home~"
Kondo had climbed onto the kitchen counter and was rummaging through the larder to find the jar that contained the chocolate fudges. Grinning, Kaoru leaned flat against the wall just outside the kitchen door. As Kondo-Kaoru skipped out of the kitchen, holding a tissue full of fudge, Kaoru pounced ferociously on his prey... After a while, he suddenly noticed that Kondo wasn't fighting anymore. Looking more closely, he noticed that it had turned back to its usual form, and lying lifelessly on the floor. Kaoru glanced around and spotted its untied madougu rolling off towards the other end of the living room.
Oops... The madougu must've come off accidentally during their scuffle.
Kaoru got up and went to retrieve the red magical sphere. Kneeling beside the doll, he tried to tie it back onto the doll's neck, but then remembered that it would be useless. He wasn't the master or a wielder of this madougu. He did not have an extremely desperate desire strong enough to induce the Kata Kugutsu to mimic a person's features, like Ganko did by yearning to see her deceased mother and to... him?
Kaoru frowned quizzically. Come to think of it, how did Ganko manage to make Kondo assume his appearance? And why?
Did she somehow...? What was she feeling? Extreme anger? Annoyance?
...love?
Kaoru shook his head vigorously. Anyways, the sure case was that he wouldn't be able to work the madougu no matter what.
~ End of flashback ~
Now, holding the red sphere in his little hands, Kaoru hesitated outside Ganko's room.
Should he tell her the truth? That he had accidentally loosened Kondo's madougu in a fight? Or should he just play dumb and pretend he didn't know anything and had nothing to do with it? Looking at the motionless doll that he had hid behind the stairs, he thought about Ganko. She might get upset if she couldn't find Kondo. He sighed inwardly. Finally making his decision, he raised a hand and was about to knock on the door when it opened abruptly. He took a sharp intake of breath, looked up and saw Ganko standing in front of him, towering above his short stature.
Ganko's eyes brightened when she saw him. "Kondo! I've been looking for you, where've you been? You knew very well you shouldn't be out of my room, what if somebody sees you?"
"Uh..." Kaoru gaped at her, but Ganko suddenly noticed something.
"Oh my gosh, your madougu's come off! It's a good thing you're still holding it, else you would've changed back into a lifeless doll. Come, I'll fasten it back for you."
And to Kaoru's enormous surprise, she picked him up and went back into her room!
Ganko went over to her chair and sat down in it, sitting "Kondo" on her lap. She proceeded to retie the madougu onto his neck. Not noticing that "Kondo" was unusually quiet, she kept on talking. "You really should be more careful next time, Kondo. And next time if you want anything and I'm not here, you have to wait till I'm back, okay?"
Kaoru sat rigidly on Ganko's lap, not daring to move one bit as he felt the girl's hand slid around and brush against his neck while trying to fasten the sphere. His brown eyes moved cautiously downwards and his vision came into contact with a pair of long slender legs. Kaoru gulped as he felt the temperature around his cheeks rise rapidly. Unable to fight curiosity, his eyes traveled upwards...
God, she's wearing black...!
Kaoru grabbed his nose and tore his eyes away from the "dangerous" scene to prevent an unstoppable flow of nose blood.
Heaven forbid that she has to walk around in that! Kaoru cursed inwardly. But this was her room, so OBVIOUSLY she could dress in a bikini in here if she wanted to as long as she didn't walk around the house in those.
But Kondo! Does she strut around dressed like that in front of Kondo? Kaoru shook his head vigorously. What was wrong with him? Kondo's a doll -a lifeless, emotionless dummy for heaven's sake! He wouldn't be reacting like you are now if he were in your position! Kaoru scolded himself. As he felt the little handkerchief tightened slightly around his neck, Kaoru frowned perplexedly. The madougu wouldn't affect him, that's for sure, because he wasn't a lifeless object that could be brought to "life". But it wasn't that he was wondering about, what made him puzzled was the fact that he hadn't bothered earlier on to correct Ganko that he wasn't, in fact, her dummy Kondo, and allowed himself to be carried into her room, from which the real him was usually banned, not to mention being sat on her lap and have the madougu tied to him!
Why? Why had this happened?
The only sensible explanation he could manage to come up with was that he was too much in shock to react. Ganko wasn't usually that nice to him.
Yea, he thought conclusively. That must be it!
Because it couldn't be anything else.
Totally unaware of the raging emotions around her, Ganko finished tying up the madougu and twisted Kaoru around to face her.
"There, all done!" she smiled one of her rare and sweet smiles, which for the briefest of moments, rendered Kaoru speechless as he stared, mesmerized at her enchanting beam.
"You seem unnaturally quiet today, Kondo," Ganko stated gently, head tilted slightly to one side as she regarded him.
Kaoru jerked out of his daydream. He had to tell Ganko he wasn't Kondo! He had to! But... the consequences? Kaoru gulped silently. He was sure his death day was near.
"I uh.. am.. Kaoru.." the "I" came out quite audible, but the last words were totally undecipherable, lost in a series of draggy and mumbly words and sounds.
"Hm? What did you say?" said Ganko and shifted her face sideways and leaned closer towards Kaoru to hear what she didn't manage to catch.
Kaoru sighed, losing his nerve half way. "Nothing, I was just uh.. wondering how you did at school today."
At this Ganko rolled her crystal blue eyes and made an indignant sound. "Fun as hell."
Not catching her cynical tone, Kaoru raised an eyebrow. "Fun?" Was it because he wasn't there?
"Well no of course! D'you think I could possibly have a good time after what that Koganei-kid left at school for me to clean up after him?" said Ganko.
"Uh..."
"And thanks to all his flirting and my stupidity, we're going to have a bunch of Koganei-fans over tomorrow for a visit," groaned Ganko. "What was I thinking when they decided to come over I don't know, I just didn't say anything."
"You sound tired," said Kaoru, trying to sound bland.
He didn't know Ganko thought he was a flirt.
"You would be too if you'd had to deal with all of his well-wishers from the day one he was absent," said Ganko, leaning back in her seat. "And I have to hurry up and figure out what to do tomorrow to clean up this mess I made. We can't have other people coming over and knowing that Kaoru and the others've shrunk back to kids."
"Oh..." Came the reply. "Listen, why-"
"Ganko-chan~ It's dinner time!" Yanagi's voice interrupted him.
Ganko jumped up from her chair. "Coming!" she called out and placed Kaoru on her soft bed. She went over to her drawer and fished out a pair of denim shorts and pulled them on. "I'll talk to you later. Stay here okay?" And giving him a quick squeeze, she darted out of her room and went downstairs, leaving a speechless Kaoru behind.
Was he going to have to miss dinner?
His tummy rumbled in protest. And upon hearing his name being called next, he made his decision and tore off the madougu on his neck, leaving it on the bed and dashing out the door. He could be Koganei Kaoru now and eat his dinner, then rush upstairs later and tie that madougu back in place. No one would notice.
Hm.. how was that? I ought to have put more Tofu stuff in, I know. But unfortunately I'm a bigger Kaoru fan ^_^ But Mouse and a lot of the others like Tofu, up till now, I haven't had anyone tell me that they liked Kaoru yet. So I guess I'll just have to insert more Tofu in the next chap. And you guys, do tell me how I've done with the character personalities and how you find them, I'm afraid I might've made some of them gone waaaaaaay OOC. So, get the hint? Read and review! You can praise and criticize but tell me something useful! Muakz! Have a good day!