Chapter Text
“You want me to do what?” Kuzan could only stare at his ceiling, cracked with small circular yellow water stains every here and there, in surprise. The person on the other end of the line let out a sigh, a deep and long one, the type of sigh that made your lungs hurt afterward.
“I need your help Kuzan,” Saul repeated, his voice which was normally chipper and loud was quiet and subdued.
“…Never thought I’ll ever hear those words,” it was muttered more to himself than to the other. Raising his voice, he then asked “All right, I’ll bite. What do you need help with?” Kuzan slowly pulled himself from bed, goosebumps already spreading over his skin. Had he forgotten to close all the windows last night or had he forgotten to pay the heating bill again?
“I need you to look after some personal things for me while I’m out of town for the week.” Kuzan raised an eyebrow at that. He hadn’t been aware Saul had taken a week off.
“Kind of last minute don’t you think? Shouldn’t you usually let someone know a few days in advance when you’re going on a vacation?” Kuzan let out a small chuckle but the silence on the other end made him stop.
“I’m not going on vacation; I’m going for a funeral.”
Well, damn.
“Sorry I didn’t know,” The apology was lame but hopefully Saul could pick up on the somber tone his voice had taken on.
“It’s fine, I didn’t know either until yesterday. It was tough to get the time off, even if it was with Vice Admiral Garp. I even offered to do 1 month of unpaid OT to make up for it. Luckily it got approved without that offer attached.” Saul let out a decrepit chuckle and Kuzan let a chuckle of his own.
Garp was a rather easygoing superior even if his training methods were utterly insane but even he had to follow certain protocols. However, he understood that family was complicated, and often enough, did try to help when he could. At least Saul got the nicer Vice Admiral to work under, he had gotten Sengoku and he was positive the man didn’t understand the meaning of ‘rest’.
“Ok, so you’re going out of town for a funeral. What exactly am I taking care of?” Kuzan asked as he slowly made his way from his bedroom to the kitchen. If he was going to be awake for this, he needed caffeine.
“I’m going to send over some documents and personal items I need someone to keep an eye on. There have been a lot of weird activities going on around my apartment and I don’t want to leave sensitive items unsupervised.”
“Why send them? Why don’t I just go and grab them?” The phone was squashed awkwardly into his face as he started up the coffee marker, an ancient thing that gurgled loudly. Saul, no doubt having heard the machine start-up, waited until the sound died down when he replied.
“Do I really need to remind you of the last time you came to my apartment?” Kuzan winced at the memory; he had been sent to grab some files for a meeting but had fallen asleep on Saul’s couch, and as a result, the meeting had gone terribly. By the time he had woken up and made his way back to the office, Saul and the rest of his platoon had been halfway through a fire drill exercise.
Kuzan had never run so fast from a group of angry and ever-sore marines before and ever since.
“Fair enough, I’ll take care of them. When should they arrive?” Kuzan stirred in a good heaping of sugar but went easier on the milk. Taking in a sip, Kuzan let out a sigh. Nothing like a fresh cup of coffee in the morning just before going for another nap.
“Should be there about noonish, please be aware to answer the door.” The two of them shared an amused laugh at that.
“No worries, Saul,” I’ll take care of everything. Not what I was expecting to do on my week off but I’ll take care of it.”
“Thanks, Kuzan, you’re a really good friend. I’m glad I can count on you.”
“What are friends for?”
The doorbell rang and then rang again, loud and unpleasant and sounding like something straight from the pits of utter hell. Kuzan could only blink blearily at this ceiling, silence making his ears ring. He took a look at the time.
7 AM
Way way too early to be up and Saul’s scheduled for the delivery to be at around noon so it wasn’t that. Turning to face the wall, Kuzan burrowed his face into the pillow, already fading off to sleep. The doorbell went off but this time, it was along to the tune of something. Not that Kuzan really cared as he stumbled out of bed, and made a run for his door.
Whoever was doing that better be a super-hot babe with big boobs or a dying man with a prayer.
Opening the door with enough force that it smacked the wall, an angry snarl on his lips only to be greeted with nothing. He blinked once, and then again. No, he wasn’t seeing things, there really wasn’t anything there.
“Down here.” The voice was small and odd, an accent to it he couldn’t place but seemed familiar. Looking down, he was faced with…a child. She or he was assuming it was a ‘she’ anyways, was small and thin with tanned skin. Smooth black hair framed a face with blue serious eyes. She was wearing a simple purple dress, long enough that it covered her shoes.
“Hi,” he rasped. “You don’t have any boobs.”
Kuzan wasn’t the smartest person when he had just woken up and didn’t have his morning coffee so the deadpan expression he got was well deserved. He also wasn’t the most aware as the small child walked right past him and into his apartment.
Left blinking, it took him several long seconds before he moved from that spot. By the time he made his way back in, the coffee marker was already gurgling and the child was rummaging through his fridge.
“Who are you?” he asked, watching as she pulled out a shriveled bag of carrots.
“Robin,” she answered. “Uncle Saul said you would be looking after me for the week.”
“Wah…” he started only for the girl ‘Robin’ to place the carrots on the counter and walk over to a bag he hadn’t noticed earlier, which was covered in enamel pins of monuments, and pull out a phone. Placing it in his hands, she then walked back to the fridge where she continued her inspection.
Kuzan looked at the phone, it was an older model with a touch screen. Turning it on, he saw that it wasn’t even pin protected. It was then he noticed that there was an unread text message. Now curious, he clicked on it as he moved over to the kitchen table to sit down.
Kuzan, it’s Saul. I know this is extremely unexpected and you are probably confused and tired but bear with me. Since we last talked an old friend reached out, asking for help. She was in danger from an abusive ex and needed a place to crash. I had to attend a funeral so she couldn’t stay at my apartment but I lent her some cash so she could rent a hotel.
However, her daughter has to be housed somewhere else. (Don’t ask, I wont answer). So, I sent her to you.
“What?” Kuzan hissed, now more awake than any mug of coffee had ever done
Even as mature as she is, she needs someone to watch over her, a protector. And I have come to trust no one as I do you Kuzan.
And, this is extremely important, don’t mention this to anyone at the base or to any government official. I don’t need to tell you the amount of trouble the both of us will be in if this gets out. I will be sending some money your way, so don’t worry about the extra costs. Best wishes, Jaguar D. Saul
Kuzan read and reread the message. He stared at the phone until it turned off. He looked over to see the girl….to see Robin in the process of cleaning out his fridge, eyeing the spoiled items with the same deadpan expression he had been given.
What had he just gotten himself into?