Operation 2: War with the wardrobe
Both vampires froze at the sight of the kids with oversized clothing hanging from their shoulders and waists. Six pairs of large, beady eyes stared back at them and time seemed to stop.
“I don’t suppose you’re thinking what I’m thinking”, Kaname cleared his throat.
“I am so going to kill sensei for this…” Zero replied.
Suddenly one of the kids burst out crying and the two shielded their ears with their hands. Not long after, a few more joined in the horrendous choir and Kaname glared at Zero, although not meaning to do so.
“Do something!” He hissed. The remaining three who were not crying were following suit, not crying but screaming with equally loud voices.
“What am I to do?!” Zero snapped back with levelling annoyance. Kaname could not give a reply and he went to one of the children, picking a supposedly him up. He held the boy at arm’s length and was still clueless as he continued crying.
Zero seemed to have a little bit of luck when he carried a girl. She stopped crying almost immediately and he cradled her with one hand, picking another.
Kaname managed to catch a glimpse of what the ex-human had done and did the same - thankfully it worked.
When all seven kids were either distracted or busy doing something to their carriers, Zero spoke.
“Is it me or…” he asked, trailing off.
“Yes, they are very much who you think they are”, Kaname finished when all the kids have finally stopped their nonsense. Currently, Zero had two in his hands and two more were latched onto his pants. Kaname on the other hand, had one in hand and with another miraculously sitting on his shoulder, legs on either side of his head and clinging to his head with his small hands.
Zero would’ve laughed at the pureblood if they weren’t in such a situation. The two on the floor looked slightly older than the rest but were dangerously pulling his pants down.
“Do you think they can remember anything?” Zero asked, stifling a chuckle when the boy on Kaname’s shoulder covered the purebloods eyes with his hands.
“Why don’t you try asking?” Kaname asked back, a slight hint of annoyance in there.
Zero had not actually seen Kaname with kids… So far the most was with Yuki when they were much younger. But this was different. The pureblood was getting owned by kids in ways he never imagined possible, since Kaname was after all, high and mighty. And one of the kids in his hand pulled his hair.
Zero glanced down at a small blond standing at the height his knee and the boy looked back up with glittering emerald eyes.
“And you are…?” Already knowing the answer, but just asking for confirmation purposes.
“Ichijou Takuma!” He squeaked happily, tugging on Zero’s pants again. The vampire had to lift his leg a little to avoid his pants from falling. “Nii-chan, you?”
Zero tossed a glance to Kaname, who shrugged back.
“Ate least they remembered who they are… I think”, Kaname interrupted a little. He winced again as the boy in his hand pulled his hair even harder. He jerked out of the grip and frowned at him, emitting a dangerous aura.
The boy gave a cringed face of fear before bawling again.
“Kaname!” Zero hissed through grit teeth. He could understand the annoyance but it still was not right to scare a child like that.
“You make Ruka-chan cry!!” The tallest of the kids yelled and tried to run over to the pureblood, but only ended in a heap on the floor as he tripped on the oversized pants. He did not cry though. He picked himself up and braced the few more steps to reaching Kaname, raising his much shorter arms and trying to get the younger kid held captive in Kaname’s arm.
“You can’t possibly mean this… boy here is Ruka?” Kaname blurted slightly.
Kaname had only met these friends of his when they were much older. Needless to say, he had no idea how they looked like, or even acted like in the past. But for Ruka to be looking so boyish even with the long hair… Kaname almost fainted as the thought of Ruka being a little princess then.
“Who’s a boy?! Ruka-chan is the cutest girl in the whoooole world! So stop bullying her you big meanie! In the name of the Akatsuki family, you will pay for making her cry!!!”
And obviously, the kid(s) were clueless they were up against their big boss.
“Kain?!” Zero said in shock. The face was really similar and the voice resembled a squeaky version of the older Kain’s voice, but to actually think that Kain had such an… attitude when he was young was highly shocking.
“Kaname, you did mention to me before that… when you’re young status isn’t that… essential, was it?” Zero asked quietly.
Kaname gave Ruka to Kain willingly and the vampire, despite his small size, held onto Ruka like a gigantic teddy bear, but Ruka did settle down and that was the important bit.
He nodded in reply to the other’s question, and found Takuma bouncing around happily.
“Ne, so what are you twos names?” He asked again, seemingly quite friendly.
Kaname deliberately ignored the question, instead hoping on the second-lasting attention span of most kids to ask: “Do you know all of their names?”
Takuma skipped a few times about the room, laughing as if it was a joke. He stopped beside Kain and Ruka(whose feet were practically being dragged along the floor due to Kain’s height).
“This is Kain-kun and Ruka-chan!” The small blond shifted his gaze to the two kids in Zero’s arms. “Aido-kun and Rima-chan!” Turning to Kaname, he pointed to the last one sitting on his shoulder. “Shiki-kun!”
Kain looked like Kain, just a prefect miniature version of the tall vampire(just waddling about). Ruka’s image was explained. Ruka looked as girl as ever. Takuma had little change but it was Rima, Aido and Shiki who shocked the (older) vampires.
Aido was not blond as he was supposed to be. His hair was in a soft shade of brown and the eyes were red, slightly lighter than the colour of their eyes when a bloodlust hit them. The only thing identifiable of the boy being Aido was probably the distinct cheek curve and chin angle. As for Shiki, the small boy was even smaller, looking no more than five. However, his eyes were large and bright and his hair retained its ‘normal’ colour.
“Okay…” Zero put the Aido and Rima down on the couch and took a deep breath. “Before we storm into Cross’s office or hunt down sensei…” he said, clearly sensing the pureblood’s discomfort and intentions with a guess. “We have got to get them in something a little more appropriate to wear.”
Kaname gently pulled away the tiny hands which blocked his vision again and heard Shiki squealing with delight, thinking it was fun and tried to do it again.
Zero coughed away the laughter, waiting for Kaname’s decision.
“That would be a good idea.”
Amazingly, the children followed the two like ducklings. As they were going up the stairs though, a few of them tripped on their clothing and almost rolled down the stairs. If it weren’t for Kaname being a backup the kids would be getting more than just bruises.
Shiki had the pleasure of remaining on Kaname’s shoulder, mainly because he was still really small and could hardly even crawl up a step. Oddly Aido’s hand was latched onto Zero’s. Takuma was happily leading the other kids up, hand in hand with Rima who whined time to time about being tired. Kain was still carrying Ruka and made his life harder.
When they were (finally) on the second floor, they split into two – Kaname took the two girls while Zero took the four boys. Since Kaname was supposedly better with dealing with girls as he did when Yuki was younger, Zero let him.
The hunter took Shiki and somehow Aido became jealous and started squabbling to be carried as well Zero had no choice but to do so.
“When you’re done I think I’d be needing help”, Zero sighed, his head edging away from Shiki’s killer mini-hands. From the corner of his eyes he saw Kain waving to the two girls and saying ‘bye-bye’.
“When I’m done”, Kaname echoed and ushered the two girls to one of the rooms in which the two share.
Zero did the same with the guys, heading into the room Kain shared with Aido.
“Nii-chan, are you our dad?” Takuma suddenly asked.
Zero stifled a cough of surprise, shaking his head. “No.”
“Mom!” Aido sounded and clenched onto Zero’s shirt, tugging and hugging at the same time.
The latter’s face turned red as he stuttered a ‘no’, about to explain how a guy can’t be a mother when Kain interrupted with a firm voice of his.
“If you’re not our father you’ve got to be our mother, right? ‘Cos only family members would help each other change clothes.”
“Look, I’m not your father or mother… but I do have to help you get out of those oversized clothing.” Zero felt like a headache was starting to swarm. His arms were getting stiff from carrying the two kids and Takuma was running back and forth the corners of the room. “Takuma, stop that it’s driving me nuts.”
“Driving you nuts? What drives nuts?”
“Never mind. Just stop running around or you’ll hurt yourself.”
Zero placed the two kids on the bed and headed to one of the wardrobe, pulling out a few tops. He decided that he got to cut them, although sure that either Kain or Aido would kill him for doing so… but that was only possible if they become adults again, right?
“I like blue!” Takuma sang as he jumped on the bed.
“Hey! Don’t do that you might fa-” Even before Zero finished his warning, the blond had slipped off the edge of the bed, falling back and landing on his butt first before the back of his head collided the carpeted ground.
Zero tossed aside the clothing and in a flash was beside Takuma, who started to tear, but not cry out loud.
“Don’t do that ever again!” Zero half-ordered, gently easing away Takuma’s hand from the back of his head and brushing his fingers lightly across. He felt a small bump growing.
“It huuuuurtss”, Takuma sniffed.
“I’m sure it does”, Zero rolled his eyes, although not meaning to be sarcastic. He picked Takuma up and placed him on the bed. After that, he gave a small peck onto the blond’s forehead. “There? I’ve just kissed it better, no?”
Takuma blinked a few times before giving a wide smile, wrapping his tiny arms around Zero’s neck unexpectedly.
The hunter wanted to shift away when he heard Kain speak.
“Are you sure you’re not our mother?”
Zero somehow managed to keep his cool and stood up, carrying Takuma’s slightly heavier form in his arms, since he was latched onto him like a leech.
“No, I’m not. Now give me a moment. I need to do a little something.”
The hunter walked to a table and found a pair of scissors, which was what he needed. Takuma slipped off Zero and ran to sit on the bed.
Zero was thankful he was forced into home economics class by Yuki (for the first time). It took him a lot of trouble, but Zero managed to cut shirt sleeves and long pants to match the sized of the kids. He had to use safety pins for their waist bands, but that was the best he could do.
When he was done, he could not help but stifle a small laughter when the kids looked like Halloween was tomorrow.
Kain had to keep raising his arms so his shirt collar did not fall off his shoulders. Takuma was laughing and sweeping the floor with the end of his pants (Zero under-cut the length). Aido was tugging at the over-size shirt and only Shiki was oblivious, sucking his thumb.
“Don’t do that”, Zero gently scolded, brushing away the small hand. That moment, Shiki decided to latch his tiny fangs onto Zero’s finger, getting a soft yelp from the hunter.
They felt like double pin-pricks and Zero retrieved his hand, nursing his finger. It did not hurt that much, but hell. Shiki’s fangs were sharp as needles(them being really tiny).
Zero heard the door open and Kaname stepped in with the two girls, each of them in fluffy dresses. Zero was amazed how Kaname altered their clothing – they looked like they were meant for kids. And Ruka did look like Ruka now, hair tied up high with a ribbon.
Kaname placed the two girls onto the floor and they scuttled away, Ruka jumping on Kain and Rima went to sit beside Shiki on the bed.
“What happened?” Kaname asked, raising an eyebrow at the sight of Zero with his finger against his mouth.
“Nothing bad… Shiki just bit me”, Zero sighed. The bleeding had stopped and the wound was pretty much closed.
Kaname took the chance when Zero was not looking, to stand before the hunter and take that very same finger into his mouth, licking and caressing it with his own tongue and fangs.
“Kaname!” Zero hissed and pushed the brunette away. He gave a soft yelp when Kaname held him in place with an arm around his waist, mouth still latched onto the finger.
Zero gulped. Kaname had better not be getting funny ideas in his head. There were kids all around them…
“Kiss it better!” Takuma suddenly cheered.
The two older vampires glanced over at the small blond who was clapping with glee.
“Um, no Takuma. That’s not kissing”, Zero corrected a little too quickly. He realised Kaname grinning evilly at him.
“Of course not. This is kissing”, Kaname finished and crashed his lips against Zero’s, earning a muffled protest from the hunter.
When they finally broke away, Zero was strangling the pureblood with a hand while the other was wiping his mouth in embarrassment. Kaname was chuckling and he peered to the side to see the kids with rather enormous eyes.
“Im fwo gohne fil hu”, Zero uttered into his hand, turning his head away to hide the blush on his face.
“Hmm? What did you say?” Kaname asked, amusement in his voice.
“I’m so going to kill you!”
“Surely you do not mean it.”
Zero flicked Kaname’s forehead with his middle finger. He found out by doing that, Kaname usually let him go and once again, this flawless act had Zero free from the pureblood’s arms.
“Let’s go already”, Zero grumbled, choosing to ignore the snaky arms which found him again all so lovingly.