WATCH OVER HIM

“Konzen Konzen Konzen Konzen!”

The blond deity pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. His charge was tugging on his pants, golden eyes wide and shining in an attempt to melt Konzen’s icy heart. And damn it all if it wasn’t working.

With an annoyed sigh, he turned annoyed purple eyes to look at Goku. “What do you want now?” The brat had been trying to get his attention for the past five minutes, probably to ask for food or some other useless thing. Konzen folded his arms across his chest, his scowl powerless in the face of Goku’s happiness at being noticed.

“Konzen, I wanna go down to Earth!” he cried out. “Ten-chan showed me this book full of pictures of flowers on Earth an’ he said that we should try going to Earth now ‘cause it’s spring an’ really pretty now!”

Goku hugged Konzen’s leg and used the full force of his puppy eyes on him. The blond gave an exasperated sigh. If he didn’t give in, the little monkey would pout and whine the whole day. God forbid, he might even cry and that was something that even Konzen couldn’t handle. So he simply gave in.

The force of Goku’s hug was enough to knock them onto the floor.

xxx

Konzen watched as Goku ran across an open field they had found. The itan stopped now and then to pick some flowers. The grasses were almost as tall as the itan himself and almost waist-high to the god. Konzen watched as a butterfly fluttered past the brunet’s nose, effectively distracting Goku and making him chase after it.

The blond allowed himself to let the corners of his lips twitch upwards in a smile. It was one of the rare moments when he felt completely at peace with the world. He didn’t have any important paperwork to do back in Heaven, his damn aunt wasn’t bothering him, and Goku was happily playing in the fields. Aside from Goku’s whining earlier, it was turning out to be a great day. Konzen shifted a little, leaning back more comfortably against the tree behind him.

“Konzen!”

This is not happening, Konzen thought to himself. He opened one eye and frowned at Goku. The brunet was running towards him, stumbling every few steps. He skidded to stop in front of the blond, doubled over and gasping for breath.

“What do you want, brat?” he asked.

“Konzen, there’s a little kid there an’ he’s got pointy ears!” Goku pointed off into the general direction where he had come across the child, practically trembling at the perceived urgency of the situation.

The deity, on the other hand, focused on one phrase. If the child Goku had found had pointy ears, then that meant he was a youkai. He didn’t want to get involved in any sort of trouble on his ‘perfect day’. The plan had been to go down to Earth for a couple of hours, make sure no one saw them, then go back to Heaven. End of story. Besides, he didn’t want to get saddled with taking care of yet another brat.

Konzen was about to tell Goku that they were leaving when the brunet grabbed his hand and began running. The itan was way stronger than Konzen and the blond had no choice except run as well if he didn’t want to fall flat on his face. He almost lost his balance when Goku suddenly stopped and pointed. “See?” he said.

There was a small youkai child curled up on his side on the ground. He seemed younger than Goku—definitely smaller—and the tall grasses would have hidden him from view even if he were standing. At the sound of Goku’s voice, the child looked up at them. Beneath his maroon bangs, his large lilac eyes were swimming with tears.

He stood up and looked up at them. “Who are you?” he asked, obviously trying to sound brave. The youkai child stood up straighter and wiped away his tears. “You better not try an’ do any mean stuff ‘coz I’m the prince an’ I’m not ‘fraid of you.”

“Prince?” Goku echoed. He tugged on Konzen’s arm. “What’s he prince of?”

“I’m Kougaiji an’ I’m the prince of all youkai!” The child tried glaring at them for not knowing who he was but the overall effect was too cute to be menacing.

Konzen just stood there, arms crossed. Great. Not only did they come across a youkai child but he was the prince of all youkai. Or so he said. He looked at Kougaiji.

The redhead had something of a regal air to him even at such a young age. Maybe he was telling the truth. Either way, the blond had made up his mind to leave. Even though he felt kind of bad just abandoning a little child like that. But really, it wasn’t his problem.

Goku looked at Kougaiji and asked, “Why were you cryin’?”

“I was not!” the youkai replied.

“Yes you were!” the itan insisted. “Konzen saw you cryin’ too! Tell ‘im, Konzen!” The brunet looked up at his keeper.

“Actually, you were,” the blond said neutrally.

Sensing his defeat, Kougaiji pouted. “Fine! I’m lost, ‘kay?” He began tearing up again and he lost all semblance of a proud prince. “I was with my mommy an’ I ran off when I saw the field ‘coz I wanted ta pick some flowers for her an’ when I was done, I couldn’ see her ‘nymore an’…an’…an’…” The redhead couldn’t continue speaking since he had started crying.

Goku turned alarmed eyes to look at Konzen. Sighing in defeat, Konzen placed a hand on top of the youkai child’s head. “Stop crying,” he said, completely annoyed that he had to baby-sit some random lost kid he came across.

Kougaiji sniffled a few times and looked up at the blond with impossibly large lilac eyes. “But—”

“No buts. We’ll find your mom, so stop crying. The sound’s annoying.” And that was true; Kougaiji’s sobs were boring into his skull and making his head hurt. Konzen couldn’t even recall the last time he had ever been near a crying child. There was something about the sound of a kid crying that pissed him off.

There were a few more sniffles then Kougaiji rubbed his fist against his cheeks, trying to get rid of his tears. “‘Kay,” he said softly.

“Where did you last see your mom?”

“There,” Kougaiji replied, pointing towards the line of tress that marked the beginning of the forest. “Mommy was teachin’ me how ta use my powers when I ran away.”

“It’s okay,” Goku said, trying to cheer up the despondent youkai. “Konzen’s the best! He can do anythin’!” He smiled at Konzen. “Right, Konzen?”

The blond made a random waving motion with his hand while rubbing his temple with the other one. Why me? He closed his eyes for a moment then opened them. “Come on,” he said as he began walking. A resigned sigh escaped him as he felt Goku take his hand. A few seconds later, a smaller tentative hand took hold of his free hand. He led the two children towards the trees.

xxx

Half an hour had passed since they had entered the forest. So far, they had no luck finding Kougaiji’s mom. They were simply walking along the path that the redhead had traveled along while with his mother. Konzen reasoned that they might at least make it to Kougaiji’s house—or castle, as the youkai said—if worse came to worse.

In the mean time, Goku had made friends with Kougaiji. They talked about any topic that they could think of. The brunet kept making Kougaiji laugh and the redhead shared some of the stories that his mom told him when she put him to bed.

“You’ll really be ‘mperor when you grow up?” Goku asked, wide-eyed.

“Yup!” Kougaiji replied. “An’ it’ll be really really cool! I’ll have a castle an’ loads of soldiers an’ mommy says I can have all the candy I want when I’m ‘mpror!”

“Wow!” Goku breathed.

Konzen snorted. He looked down at Kougaiji. “Maybe you should try shouting for your mom. She might hear you.” When the redhead just looked at him, he frowned. “Go on.”

Kougaiji took a deep breath and shouted. “Mommy! Mommy, where are you?”

After a minute, Konzen considered telling Kougaiji to stop; the shouting was beginning to annoy him as well. He had just opened his mouth to tell the redhead when a rustling noise came from the trees to their left.

“Mommy?” Kougaiji said hopefully.

A bear poked its head out of the branches and bushes at the side of the road.

The trio froze. Konzen began cursing under his breath and slowly bent to pick up Kougaiji. He knew Goku’s shackles and body weight combined were too heavy for anyone to carry, so he settled for tightening his grip on the itan’s hand. If they ran, that might provoke the bear. If they just stood there, it might leave them alone. But he tensed, preparing himself to run for it in case the bear decided to attack.

“Put me down,” Kougaiji whispered, squirming in Konzen’s grip. “I can make it go ‘way.”

“Are you crazy?” the blond hissed. “You’ll get killed.” The bear growled as if to emphasize the point.

The redhead ignored him and wiggled out of the god’s hold and landed on the ground. He stood up and held his arms out in front of him. The bear growled again and took a step forwards. Konzen was about to yank the youkai back by his long maroon hair when flames suddenly sprang to life, covering the child’s arms.

The bear gave an alarmed bellow. Kougaiji concentrated harder, scrunching up his face, the tip of his tongue poking out of his mouth. The flames burned hotter and the youkai swiped at the bear with his small claws. Deciding that they weren’t worth the possible burns, it turned around and ran away.

“That was so cool!” Goku shouted. “How’d you do that?”

Kougaiji stuck out his chest and grinned. “It’s a secret. Mommy taught me.”

“Kougaiji!”

Konzen turned around at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. A tall female adult youkai was running towards them, coming from further along the path. Her long maroon hair was in disarray and her white kimono was covered in small rips, probably from running through the trees.

“Mommy!” Kougaiji shouted and was immediately picked up and squashed into a fierce hug. The youkai woman pressed him against her chest, burying her face into his hair.

“Don’t you ever wander off again!” she said vehemently. “How many times do I have to tell you that? You could have been killed by bandits or taken hostage by those rebellious feudal lords!”

“I’m sorry, Mommy,” Kougaiji said softly. “I won’ do it again. Promise.”

The woman raised her head to look at Konzen. “Thank you so much for taking care of him. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”

Before Konzen could speak, Goku bounced up to her. “I’m reaaally hungry,” he said, placing a hand on his stomach.

The blond rolled his eyes and grabbed the itan’s hand. “We’ve got enough food back home. And it’s getting late.”

“But—”

Konzen managed to resist the extreme cuteness Goku aimed at him. He frowned and raised an eyebrow. With a small sigh, the brunet gave up. “‘Kay…” he mumbled glumly.

“Are you sure I can’t do anything for you in return?” the woman asked.

“I’m sure,” Konzen replied. He glanced down at Goku who had begun to fidget, eyes flitting back-and-forth between the two adults.

The youkai woman smiled softly at Konzen, arms still around her son. “Yours?” she asked.

There was a pause. Goku’s hand remained in his. “You could say that,” Konzen answered. He tugged the brunet’s hand. “Come on. Let’s go.” The itan followed without complaint.

“Bye!” Goku called, waving over his shoulder at Kougaiji as they walked away.

“Bye bye!” Kougaiji shouted back. His mother waved as well.

When they were out of sight, Konzen teleported them back to Heaven.