Small Troubles

co-authoressed by:

High Crystal Guardian

and

Wingleader Sora Jade

HCG: ^_^ Whee! Onto chapter 2! More torture for our favorite Blue Eyes!

Kaze: *sweatdrop* Why do you two insist on torturing me so?

WSJ: *glomps Kaze* ^o^ Because it's fuuuuuuun and we looooove you!

HCG: *sweatdrop* Don't look at me Kaze, she only gets this mushy around you...

Kaze: v_v; Somebody help me...

Disclaimer: We do not claim ownership of Yu-Gi-Oh! related characters and themes. The Negative Realm characters belong to High Crystal Guardian; however, Damon and Horus belong to Wingleader Sora Jade.

()()()()()

Kaze blinked with rather dull eyes at the 4-year-old former second to the Opposition, silently praying that he had not heard what he had just heard. "Come again?"

Saguru's eyes had gone wider and looked a little more pleading. "I gotta go potty!"

The Blue Eyes felt his spirits plummet; interestingly enough, they took the fall at the same time that his headache kicked in with full force. Oh goody. The day hadn't even started yet and already he was worn out and in a full-fledged headache.

"Ah," the Negative Seto muttered, more to fill up space than anything else, what with four chibis staring up at him in varying degrees of innocent wide eyes. "Well...er..."

"I gotta go now," Saguru said again; these words were accompanied by what most parents had soon come to dub 'the potty dance,' which consisted of the chibi hopping back and forth from one leg to another and looking increasingly uncomfortable.

"Right," Kaze said, sighing, and knowing there was no getting around the fact. "Come with me, okay Saguru? And the rest of you," he added, staring at Kaeru, Kawari, and Damon with a stern look, "I want you to stay here, okay? And no fighting." This was directed more towards five year old Kaeru than either of the others.

Turning, Kaze headed for the door, keeping an eye on the small blonde, who quickly skipped after him to keep up. The 4 year old grasped hold of the long tail of Kaze's trench coat so that he wouldn't get separated from his current new guardian--not that there was much for him to get separated with in the first place--although Kaze didn't mind. It actually helped him keep track of the little chibi better, when he could feel the tug at his coat.

They walked a few doors down the hallway, until they reached one of the restrooms installed in the Opposition. Grimacing, Kaze pushed open the door and motioned for the chibi to go in before him, which Saguru did (with much banging around, crashing into doors and legs, and getting tangled in Kaze's trench coat). The little blonde skipped forward to one of the stalls, looking distinctly relieved. It was at this point that the Blue Eyes wondered what on earth he should do next. How on earth did he know if Saguru was potty-trained or not?

"Er...Saguru?" Kaze said hesitantly, taking a few steps forward. "Do you need my help or anything?"

"No," the little blonde huffed, looking slightly annoyed. "I kin do it mysewf." This said, he strutted into one of the stalls to...well....do his business. "...Kaze?"

"Yes?" Kaze asked, peeking around the partision between the stall and the area where the sinks were. He noticed the problem immediately and sweatdropped. Little Saguru's head barely came above the edge of the "potty". He just wasn't tall enough.

Quickly, Kaze located the broom closet in the corner of the bathroom, filled mostly with spare paper towel rolls and toilet paper. Selecting an unopened box of the former he set it where Saguru would be able to stand on it and then politely turned away.

He was rather relieved to know that Saguru, at age 4, was potty trained, although the entire experience wasn't perfect. Kaze had decided to save his second's dignity by turning in the opposite direction until the blonde was finished.

"You know, Saguru," the Blue Eyes muttered dryly, rubbing one of his temples to lessen that pounding headache, "You should be glad I'm not my True Self, or there would be one hell's load of blackmail in here."

"What's 'bwack-maiwl?" Saguru asked curiously, still finishing up at the potty.

"Never mind," Kaze muttered, exasperated.

For another thing, the Blue Eyes had been forced the hard way to recall that little kids were not the cleanest of potty-goers in the beginning of their training. While Saguru washed his hands up after he had finished (an act that had to be enforced by Kaze, and eventually happened when the Opposition leader lifted his second onto the sink counter and refused to let him down until he was done) the Negative Kaiba had had to do a bit of cleaning up with some of the paper towels from the dispenser.

Needless to say, he was altogether pleased when the entire business was done with.

Sighing in exasperation, Kaze led his former second back to the recreation room, where he had left the three other chibis. He strained his ears for sounds of crying, whining, or other chaotic noises, but he heard none (at least, nothing too loud) and so entered without too much worry.

The three remaining former agents had not wrecked too much havoc while he had left, although they did seem to be getting hyper in a way that only little kids could get. Kaeru was chasing Damon around the room in what seemed to be a game of tag, knocking over various things in the room (though there was nothing of any particularly high expense in there) while Kawari was poking one of the pillows on the couch with Gin Hebi and was watching intently as the fuzz came out.

Kaze frowned at Gin Hebi slightly as he felt Saguru leave his side to join in the rowdy game of tag. He hadn't thought about the blade originally, when he'd first seen Kawari the 3 year old toting it around--he'd been too shocked about the fact that his best agents were kids--but the more he thought about it, now, he realized that he probably shouldn't let the little chibi have such a sharp, dangerous weapon.

Okay, so he'd have to confiscate it--for now, anyway.

Hoh boy. This was gonna be hard.

Striding over to the little white-haired child on the couch, Kaze bent down to eye-level with his former Council member and said slowly, "Kawari?"

"Hiya Kaze!" the little hikari said cheerfully, staring at him with wide--really wide--innocent brown eyes. "Lookit! Gin Hewwi's all shiny and coowl!" He demonstrated by poking the pillow again.

"Er...yeah, about Gin Hebi," Kaze muttered. "I don't think you should be playing with it right now."

Kawari's eyes, if possible, widened even further, this time in surprise. "Why?"

"Well," Kaze explained patiently, "I really don't think a three year old--"

"Three and a half," Kawari interrupted stubbornly.

"A three and a half year old," Kaze amended, "should be playing with a blade almost as big as he is."

"Why?" Kawari asked again, still looking rather stubborn. Damon, Saguru, and Kaeru had heard the conversation by now and had toddled over, looking interested.

"Because," the Blue Eyes said again, still looking patient--if a little less than before--"it could hurt you."

"Why?" Saguru asked, joining in on the game.

"Because it's dangerous." Kaze said this a bit quicker, with a lot less patience.

"Why?" Damon asked, also joining in on the game.

"Because it's sharp and pointy, so it could cut you."

"Why?" Kawari, Kaeru, Saguru, and Damon asked together, all at the same time.

"Because that's just how it is!" Kaze hissed, now looking annoyed.

The four chibis giggled at his expression, and as one asked--you guessed it--"Why?"

"Okay," the Blue Eyes growled, "That's enough questions for now." He threw up his hands in exasperation. The four former agents giggled again, this time louder, quite pleased at having successfully annoyed their current guardian.

The giggling came to an abrupt halt, however, as Kaze sighed, turned back to Kawari, and held out his hand, saying calmly, "Give me Gin Hebi."

Kawari's eyes went wide once more with shock, and the other three chibis looked just as startled. Clutching the now overly-large dirk's hilt possessively, the 3 year old Negative Ryou shook his head and yelled loudly, "No! Mine!"

Kaze sighed, tried to ignore his headache for the moment, and repeated sternly, "Kawari. Give me Gin Hebi."

"No!"

The Blue Eyes gave himself a mental reminder to yell at Kawari for his stubborn attitude later, once he'd been changed back. "Kawari, I'll say it one more time. Give me Gin Hebi, or I'll take it from you. I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"Mine!" Kawari insisted firmly, clinging harder to the dirk hilt.

Rolling his eyes in exasperation, Kaze acted upon his threat. He grasped hold of the dirk's hilt, calmly unwrapped Kawari's fingers from it (with no lack of surprise at how annoyingly determined the chibi was to keep his fingers on it) and removed Gin Hebi from it's owner's hands, lifting it high over the chibi's head so that he could not retrieve it.

Kawari looked positively horrified. He stared up at Kaze with those extremely big chibi eyes, which quickly began to fill up with equally big tears by the second. It wasn't hard to guess what was coming next...

Oh, great, Kaze thought to himself moodily, as the former Council member burst into tears and loud, squeaky crying. Perfect. Wonderful.

Sighing, the Blue Eyes exited the room quickly, running to his own room with Gin Hebi still in hand. He placed the dirk inside one of the many cabinets in his room--gently, so Kawari wouldn't murder him with it later for nicking it or something--and then locked it, ensuring that no chibi would be getting in to the weapon any time soon. This finished, he returned at a quick pace back to the recreation room, wanting to get back to his four new charges.

When he re-entered the room, Kawari was (unbelievably) still crying, and Saguru and Damon were huddled in the corner as far away from the 3 year old as they could manage, hands over their ears. Kaeru was trying, once again, to calm down his hikari, although when he saw that Kaze had returned, he sent the Opposition leader several chibi glares, complete with pouty lip and eyes as narrowed as a 5 year old could possibly make them.

The Blue Eyes noticed the glares, and asked in a partly irritated, partly exasperated manner, "What are you so mad about, Kaeru?"

The little spirit 'hmphed' loudly, decided to wait a few moments before honoring Kaze with an answer, and then proclaimed simply, "Youse a meanie-head."

Kaze raised an eyebrow at this. "I am, am I? How so?"

Kaeru 'hmphed' again. "Youse was mean to Kar'wi. You tooked away Gin Hewwi. 'Dat's why."

Damon, from over in the corner, gave a little gasp of surprise and widened his one remaining eye at Kaeru. "'Dat was even meaner, Kay'u! Youse was mean back to Kaze!"

Kaeru stuck his tongue out at Damon, then at Kaze for good measure, before backing away and going back to Kawari, trying to make the little hikari calm down. After several minutes, the crying reduced to sniffling, which in return gave way to silence.

Kaze plopped down onto the couch in the room and closed his eyes momentarily, feeling very grateful for the few minutes of quiet that he had received. Irritably he rubbed his temples to try and keep that blasted headache at bay, although it didn't really help much. He didn't get much time to himself, however--within the span of only a few minutes, he felt somebody crawl up onto the couch, and from there, his lap. Cracking one eye open, he found Damon sitting cheerfully on his lap, staring up at him with one big, brilliant green eye.

"Whatsa matta, Kaze?" the little falconer asked, grinning widely.

"Nothing much, Damon," the Blue Eyes replied, sighing. "It's just that I'm not used to this whole experience, so it's rather hard to get used to."

The 4 year old nodded his head vigorously in agreement, still smiling widely. "Yeah, its funny! But yous is smart, yous can fix everyting back, wight?" He stared up at his current guardian with completely trusting chibi eyes.

"I'll try, Damon," Kaze replied, nodding down at the child in his lap.

The conversation was brought to as Kaeru toddled up to them, Kawari bouncing only a few steps behind. The 5 year old spirit seemed to have forgiven Kaze for being a "meanie-head," and appeared to be on speaking terms with the Blue Eyes now, for he exclaimed loudly, "I'm hungry, Kaze."

"Me too," Kawari added, staring up at the Opposition leader from his point next to Kaeru.

"'n me," Saguru said, skipping up to them and putting in his own two cents. His stomach growled loudly in agreement with him.

Kaze blinked momentarily, then stared down at the final chibi in his lap. "Are you hungry too, Damon?" The answer was another vigorous nod and a wide, pleading eye that said all too plainly, 'can I have some food?'

Glancing momentarily out the window, the Negative Seto was a little surprised to discover that the sun had already begun to rise, so he guessed it was around six-thirty or so, give or take a few minutes. He grimaced slightly at the time judgement; only three or four hours or so, he had fallen asleep in a relatively normal life, and how here he was suddenly forced to take care of four of his former agents, now kids.

He concluded rather sensibly that his life was extremely odd.

Something had been niggling at the back of his mind, and with slight horror Kaze suddenly realized what it was. They weren't the only five people in the complex. How was he going to explain four chibis to the rest of his Council, let alone the many other grunt men around the base? Worse, what if anyone else, say Malik or Pegasus, or even Yami, had become children as well? Kaze shuddered a little and decided he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

"Okay," he said wearily, removing Damon from his lap so that he could stand up (whereupon the little falconer latched himself to one of Kaze's legs), "let's get you guys some breakfast, if you're as hungry as you claim."

The former Opposition agents grinned up at Kaze with wide, innocent, mischievous eyes, and the Blue Eyes suddenly felt that there was going to be a lot of trouble in a very short span of time.

()()()()()

HCG: Aaah....and so concludes the torture for Kaze, and the entertainment for the rest of us. XD.

WSJ: *wide grin* For now.

Kaze: *sweatdrop* I need aspirin...

WSJ: *hides a bottle of Advil behind her back* What aspirin?



Review!

WSJ: *pops up from behind Kaze, where she had been again glomping him* God bless minna-san!