"Why am I here again?" he asked, pinching the bridge of his nose and hoping against hope for a bit of sympathy.
The raucous squeals of the children were giving him a pounding headache and his beautiful hair, now daubed here and there with glitter, paste, and gods only knew what else, would probably never be the same.
Sympathy was not destined to be. He did get a loud, derisive snort from one of his brethren, however.
"You're here, Zoi," Jadeite snarled, wrestling a wriggling three-year old who was shrieking for a horsy ride, "because you decided to take Neph's sports car out for a joyride, a thing he still hasn't forgiven you for, by the way, and while driving it" –he snorted again– "you committed multiple moving violations for which you were sentenced to serve community service. We, on the other hand, are here because you volunteered us just so you could look good to a certain lady doctor."
Cringing, Zoisite noted periodic black looks from the dark haired, dark eyed man on the other side of the Tokyo-Azabu Children's Hospital playroom. He had been roped into a game of Ring Around The Rosie with a handful of young patients and had been glaring Zoisite's way every time they insisted on the need to 'all fall down' hard. The only thing presently saving Zoisite's hide was the intercession of Nephrite's girlfriend, whose natural maternal instincts and sweet smile were charming both the children and somewhat soothing the savage beast she dated. All Zoisite could say was, Terra bless Kino Makoto!
Kunzite, on the other hand was being swarmed by a mob of children who appeared to be using him as a sort of human climbing post, and not being helped at all by a laughing Minako, who was engrossed in some sort of complicated, slightly spastic, hand-clapping and chanting game with a slightly older female patient. Zoisite took another look and almost laughed himself. He'd never seen such a look on the normally stoic man's face before. In any lesser man he might have termed it…panic?
Glancing across the room Jadeite noticed Rei, who had just been smacked in the head by a flying building block, getting ready to blow. He decided to step in before a small, if rambunctious, child was possibly traumatized for life by the fiery priestess. Slinging the wriggling boy onto his shoulders, Jadeite abandoned Zoisite to the remaining small mob of kids who were demanding to be entertained so that they could forget their illnesses for a time.
"We wanna play a game! We wanna play a game! We wanna play a game!"
There were more shrieks.
"Duck, Duck, Goose!"
Zoisite winced. Anything but more of that one! Wasn't it going to be the kids' naptime soon?
"Ewww! Red Light, Green Light!"
"I wanna play Kagome, Kagome!"
"No! Simon Says!"
"Let's play Jan Ken Pon!"
Zoisite stared at the squabbling children, nonplussed. Really, what did he know about children's games? In his time a child's game had been quintain practice, not Duck, Duck, bloody Goose! Plus, the mindless playground game had already wreaked havoc on his flowing locks.
The children turned as the door opened and shrieked joyfully at the sight of their favorite doctor entering the hospital playroom. One little mite in a polka dotted robe and slippers darted over and began tugging on Ami's white lab coat.
"Dr. Mizuno! Make him play Duck, Duck, Goose with us!"
"I think they want to play," Ami murmured softly, trying not to laugh at the pained look that spread across Zoisite's face at the prospect.
He forced a smile, trying to look happy and useful for Ami's sake. A pediatrician specialist in this life, she loved kids, and if he looked like he knew what to do with them it might work to thaw their somewhat chilly relationship.
Unlike the others, he still had not made much progress in wooing the shy woman, much to his intense frustration. She'd insisted on taking things very slowly and somehow always seemed to remain at arms length, both emotionally and physically. Also, she frequently called off dates claiming medical emergencies, which drove him up a wall. His inner caveman was starting to understand the appeal of tossing his woman over his shoulder and carrying her off. He'd never been a patient man, and it had been frustration over one such broken date that had driven him to risk life and limb and the general safety of the Tokyo populace by steal…er, borrowing Neph's car. Hence his current predicament.
Her slowly blooming smile, though, swept such thoughts out of his head and he flashed her his most charming grin. "Of course," he replied. "Anything to entertain the children. Duck, Duck, Goose it is. And I'll even be the Oni to start," he offered himself up magnanimously as the 'it' person, "but Dr. Mizuno has to play too."
"Hai," chorused most of the small ones. A few grumbled, but Zoisite fixed the children with an evil eye which soon had them straggling into a lopsided ring on the rainbow hued rug. Gracefully, Ami seated herself. To Zoisite's everlasting surprise, she seemed truly amused by the simple game and the antics of the children playing it.
She was amused by more than that, he soon realized. Casting another quick glance her way, Zoisite realized that she was smirking ever so slightly each time his hair was further mussed as the kids went round the ring. But as he locked eyes with her, she colored faintly and turned away.
'Oh, the little minx is going to pay for that!' he silently vowed.
The next time it was his turn as the Oni, he went around the ring, a wide smile on his handsome face. "Duck…Duck…Goose!"
A heavy hand landed on the Doctor's cropped blue waves.
Leaping to her feet, Ami gave chase, only to squeak in befuddlement as Zoisite, with an extra burst of speed came up behind HER, entirely bypassing his seat and giving her a cheerful pinch on the nether cheeks. Some things were worth ending up in the mush pot.
Blushing furiously, she shot him a narrow-eyed, 'We are not pleased' look.
"What?" he asked, giving her a thoroughly devilish smile and winking, putting any claims of innocence to shame. "It's gotta be called Duck, Duck GOOSE for a reason, right honey?"
