It was a calm morning in the mountains where Zamasu and Black were staying in their hideaway, far away from the destruction they'd been inflicting upon the mortals that lived elsewhere. They'd both been taking it easy for just a little while; a short break wouldn't hurt their plans, after all. Even gods needed a little respite now and then.
Zamasu had taken it upon himself to prepare some tea for the two of them, something he now somewhat enjoyed since he was doing it for Black. The two often liked to spend a bit of time together and discuss how things were going over a cup of tea, so Zamasu was preparing for that occasion while Black was in another room getting dressed for the day.
At this point, Black had adjusted to his new body fairly well. Or...so he thought. There were still a few bumps here and there, but he had no problem brushing them off. Nothing significant enough to warrant concern had come up, at least. So far.
The smell of freshly-brewed tea wafted through to where Black was finishing his morning routine, which was his cue to go out and meet with his counterpart. He began to leave the room, but a sudden feeling in his gut caused him to hesitate. He'd felt this before, of course—it was hunger, one of the many side effects this saiyan body had begun to plague him with. Usually, he could just ignore it and go about his business, but lately it had grown more and more frequent, and the intensity kept growing as well. It was starting to get bothersome.
Nevertheless, he continued out to the kitchenette where Zamasu was pouring the tea. The kai glanced over at him with a small, warm smile. "I was wondering when you would be joining me this morning."
Black returned the smile, which would likely look very unnerving to anyone but Zamasu. "I apologize if I took longer than you'd hoped."
"It's not a problem," Zamasu replied as he placed the filled cups on a tray. "Though, I have noticed you've been sleeping progressively longer as time goes on. Should we be concerned about that?"
Black shook his head once. "No. I believe that may just be how this body works right now. I will get it under control soon enough."
"I trust you, then." Zamasu lifted the tray once he'd gotten everything ready. "Shall we sit outside today?"
Black nodded and turned to head out to the balcony. "That would be splendid."
Before he could make it to the door, he suddenly stopped and rested a hand on the wall as he placed his other hand on his stomach. The feeling from before had returned with a vengeance, the strength of it causing him to halt in his tracks. This was a serious pang of hunger, without a doubt. He thought he had been eating a healthy amount to keep his body in good shape, but he supposed he had underestimated exactly how much it would take to keep a saiyan's stomach satisfied. What a pain .
Zamasu also came to a stop when he noticed Black's discomfort. "... Is something wrong?"
Black sighed in annoyance and removed his hand from the wall. "It's nothing to worry about."
A pause.
"... It's the body, isn't it?"
Black glanced over his shoulder, a disgruntled look on his face. "... I will admit, it is being quite... unruly , as of late." He turned away again. "However, it is nothing I cannot overcome."
Zamasu seemed concerned, then. "Are you perhaps sick? You've been around those filthy mortals rather frequently. You may have picked up something from them."
"Don't be absurd; I would never allow such a thing to happen to me. It's...something else."
Before the other could question him, Black made his way to the door. "I need to take care of something. Go ahead and have your tea without me; I will only be a moment." And with that, he exited out to the balcony before flying away from the chalet, leaving Zamasu to have his tea alone.
He flew over the forest for a little while, mulling over how he was going to solve his hunger problem. There was little food on this planet now that they'd laid waste to most of it, so that was out of the question. Plus, he wasn't about to touch whatever nasty foods the mortals had created with their limited resources. It wasn't as if he could go to the realm of the gods for food, either, since they had all been wiped out as well. He was running out of ideas.
He landed gently in a small clearing to think. If he couldn't keep this body healthy, that would make things a bit more difficult in the long run… He didn't want to concern Zamasu, either, since he'd been very adamant about how he had the body under control. He promised it wouldn't become a problem, and yet…
As he stood there silently, a noise from the woods snapped him out of his thoughts. He wasn't really concerned; he couldn't sense any significant energy, so he had to assume it was just an animal. He was in a forest, after all. Upon closer inspection, he was able to make out that it was a fairly good-sized deer, and it hadn't seemed to notice his presence yet. As he suspected, nothing to worry about.
However...something else began to stir within him, then. The hunger made its presence known again, to his dismay, but with it also came a sort of urge. To do what , he wasn't exactly sure at first, but it felt similar to the feeling he got when he wanted to attack an opponent, just...different. Before he could think about it too hard, he realized his mouth was actually... watering ? What in the—?
The deer stopped moving all of a sudden, looking directly at him. He hadn't even registered that he'd taken a step forward, but he'd apparently stepped on a dead leaf and alerted the deer. The two stared at each other for a moment before the deer took off, bounding into the woods. The sight of this animal fleeing from him seemed to activate some instinct that he had previously not been using.
Without thinking, Black bolted after it.
It had been quite a while since Black had left. Zamasu had long since finished his tea, and the other cup was surely cold by now. What was taking him so long? Had he run into trouble with the saiyan again? He couldn't sense the boy's energy anywhere. If not that, then what was the holdup?
With a sigh, he stood from his chair and took the tray inside to clean up. He supposed whatever was keeping Black from coming back was important, so he wouldn't hold it against him. He'd surely be back before nightfall.
As if summoned by his thoughts, he heard Black entering through the door behind him as he placed the tray on the counter. He then turned around to greet him. "There you are. I was starting to—Oh, my word!"
The sight of nearly all of Black's front covered in blood caught Zamasu off-guard. It wasn't the first time he'd seen him covered in blood; that wasn't the issue. The issue was that the blood looked like it was coming from his mouth. In fact, his face was covered in it. Zamasu seemed wary. "That...isn't yours, is it?"
Black looked as though he had just woken up from a daze. "No. It isn't mine."
There was a rather long pause as the two stood there awkwardly. Eventually, though, Black began to walk past his counterpart towards the bedroom. "I need to bathe. When I return, we can discuss our next plan of action."
Zamasu watched him pass, obvious concern in his expression at how the other acted like nothing had happened. "Right…"
As Black disappeared into the next room, Zamasu was left to wonder what exactly went on with him while he was away. Perhaps that body of his was more of an issue than they'd previously thought?
Either way...Zamasu was definitely going to keep a closer eye on him from then on.