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The Mommy Market pt 2 Love Father, Love Son
Welp enough people liked it… So I guess here's part two. (In case you didn't read it, part one can be found one the previous submission.) I mostly cut it in half because I felt it was getting a little long.
The Mommy Market (Shin Shinsetsu) part 2 "Love Father, Love Son" {how's that for a title in part 2}
Dr. Shinsetsu had a long morning and afternoon at the clinic. He’s been feeling so alone, especially the past couple of days. Yeah, he had his son to look forward to, but he would barely have time to cook dinner for the two of them before getting some well needed sleep. He knew he needed some shut eye when he thought that he bumped into a punk werewolf while getting off at his stop. He had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn’t just seeing things.
The good doctor quickly shuffled his way to the front door. He just wanted to get home. Take his load off and relax. He nearly dropped his keys as he entered the apartment building, so he was distracted from looking higher than the door nob. That’s why he didn’t see that a very different Dan was on guard duty tonight.
“Oh hey doc,” Dan waved, “back early tonight, I see.”
“Yeah,” Youta didn’t even turn his head toward the guard as he made a beeline to the elevator, “but not early enough.”
“Oh I think you’re going to be quite surprised when you get home tonight, Doc,” Dan smiled, puffing up his furry chest as he did so, “little Shin-shin brought home a surprise for ya!”
“Is that so,” Youta barely got a glance of Dan before doing a double take, “Um… Dan?”
“Something wrong Doc?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Dr. Shinsetsu stared at Dan, there was something different about the guard, Something almost exotic, “you… Dan you’re a-!”
“Ha, finally you noticed,” Dan laughed patting his belly (or lack there of), “I’m three whole pants sizes smaller with my new diet. It’s great right?”
“No you’re a…,” the doctor barely even acknowledge what was said as the elevator had arrived with a light ding. Youta turned away only for a moment to step into the elevator. By the time he turned back around, he had already forgotten the strange realization he had almost made, “yeah, you’re really looking great! Keep up that new regiment of yours.”
“Sure thing doc,” the tiger guard gave the doctor a thumbs up as the doors separated the two of them for the rest of the night.
“Shin-shin,” Scarlet knocked, “how’s that homework coming along?”
“I’m almost done ma’am,” Shin shouted back.
“You’re still working on it,” Scarlet barged the bedroom. She was quite pleased to see that Shin’s body had shifted quite a bit in the last hour or so since she had last seen him. He was fully naked now, if not for his tan fur and glasses. That homework of his had distracted him long enough for his tail to grow in without him noticing. And even if he had, that wasn’t even his concern at the moment.
“Gah! Please no! No more razzberries,” Shin shrieked, thinking that she was mad about him calling her ‘ma’am’ again, “I’m sorry, mommy!”
“What is there to be sorry about sweetie,” Scarlet looked over his shoulder, “are you having trouble? Want mommy to help?”
“You…,” Shin slowly looked up at her, “you want to help me?”
“Sure, isn’t that what mothers do?”
“I guess…”
“Of course it is,” Scarlet pointed to one of the math problems, “Is this the one that’s giving you so much trouble?”
“Yeah, I can’t remember this combination.”
“Combination,” Scarlet questioned to herself, that was an odd thing to say about a math problem, “Well, what’s your first guess?”
“I can’t just guess,” Shin rubbed out his hair, “what if I get it wrong?”
“How about we find out,” Scarlet swiped the pencil from Shin’s grasp, lightly brushing his hair back down, before writing her answer, “I guess that it’s 89.”
“No! It’s not 89!”
“And why’s that?”
“Because 89 is a prime number,” Shin shouted, “it can’t be the answer to a multiplication problem!”
“That’s right my little Shin-shin,” Scarlet licked her joey’s head, “you’re so smart.”
Shin just blushed at this. He expected her to be mad at him or something. He had almost forgotten that she wasn’t his old mother. Plus, it was embarrassing that she was treating him like such a little baby, even when she put the pencil back into his hand.
“I got it wrong and the world didn’t blow up,” Scarlet joked, “so what do you think twenty-nine times three equals, Shin-shin?”
“Eighty…seven,” Shin asked more than he actually knew as he erased the clearly wrong number, “Is that right?”
“I don’t know,” Scarlet shrugged, “Let’s let your teacher decide. Right now, dinner’s ready and your father will be home soon.”
“Oh, I forgot about dad,” Shin rubbed his head again, “How am I going to explain this to him?”
“Hey now, I just fixed up that hair of yours,” Scarlet complained, patting it down again, “now you go wash up and let me worry about explaining things to your father.”
“But how,” Shin asked as his chair was turned around for him. Scarlet carefully lifted him down to the ground and on his three toed feet. It was then that he could tell that he had a new limb hanging off of him and that his pants had vanished right out of existence.
“You let Mommy worry about that, sweetheart,” Scarlet winked, it was just then that the pair could hear the front door opening, “That must be him. Now, you go wash your cute little hands for dinner, while I go greet Daddy.”
Shin decided not to argue with Scarlet and go do what was asked of him. He was a bit unsteady on his feet at first, but he adjusted just as quickly as Scarlet had earlier that night. He half ran, half leaped to the restroom right outside his door. He shut the door behind him, hoping that his father hadn’t noticed his mutated body at all.
To Shin’s dismay, his father had seen his son slip into the bathroom. Luckily, Youta was distracted with the habitual task of removing his shoes before entering the main part of his home to really catch a full glimpse. He didn’t even think about what he saw by the time he turned to hang his jacket up.
“Shin? Dan said that you had a surprise for me,” Youta asked, smelling something good, “did you order take out or somethi-”
Youta stopped as a pair of slim hands covered his eyes. He was quite surprised at first, but he slowly, very slowly mellowed out. He grew so much calmer when he heard Scarlet’s voice for the first time.
“Guess who?”
“Hm… let’s see,” Youta was really drawn for a blank here, his lack of memories were quickly filling up again with simi-false ones, “is it my beautiful mistress Suzumi?”
“Suzumi,” Scarlet sexily snapped at him, “so that’s the name of the woman you were cheating on while I was gone.”
“Oh no,” Youta raised his hands in the air, “I’ve been caught by my much more beautiful bride of ten years…”
“Silly Youta,” Scarlet twirled him around to see his face for the first time, “it’s only been six years, you tease.”
The moment that Youta saw Scarlet, he just knew who she was. His memories of his true bride were quickly replaced with that of this anthropomorphic creature. Her hair was quickly growing out so that she was a perfect red head. He longed to just stare deeply into her equally crimson eyes. He knew that she had been gone for a trip or something, but the details didn’t matter. He wasn’t alone anymore now. Any inconsistencies with those facts just vanished from his mind.
Similarly, Scarlet was gaining the much more tame memories of her entire life in this new world that her joey accidentally created. It was now as if she had been just as “human” as the rest of the world. Of course, she also knew the real truth behind all this as well. She looked at Youta with a small bit of disgust. She was certain that the “fantasy other her” found him quite attractive, but the her that came from the Mommy Market wanted someone with, shall we say… less need for clothing. She also knew just how to help rectify this.
“Really? Only six years,” the doctor asked, he knew that wasn’t even close to true ten minutes ago. Now it didn’t really matter. It would be how ever long Scarlet decided it to have been.
“Yes, six,” she said as she drew him in closer, “Now just kiss me Doctor Shinsetsu!”
“You sure are a bit more playful today, Scarlet,” Youta replied before abiding her simple request. He was so deep into the kiss, that he couldn’t feel the changes it was physically doing to him. The most notable of which, being that his asian black hair was turning a ghostly natural white.
Meanwhile, in the bathroom. Shin had been listening by the door for any signs of his father panicking at the monster that was in their home. When none came, Shin calmed down a bit. Maybe the magic was stronger than he thought. He looked down at his legs… much stronger than he thought.
While Shin couldn’t look himself in the mirror, he could see plenty of what had already happened to him. Almost his entire body was rooified in one way or another. As far as he could tell, the only thing left untouched was his face, hands, and his apparent need for glasses. He was especially shocked to find that even his hair had changed color. Now he’d be less upset if it changed from black to brown or maybe even red. It was not red, but it was pink. Bright, baby girl smack’n on bubble gum pink!
As if that weren’t weird enough, no part of his body felt the least bit unnatural. He knew that it was all wrong, but none of it felt off. Well, nothing except his shortness. He hadn’t been this short since he was being potty trained. Speaking of which…
“Shin-shin,” Scarlet knocked on the bathroom door, “do you need any help in there?”
“No mommy,” Shin was snapped back into reality. He moved quickly to pull the stepladder to the front of the sink. He certainly didn’t need it before all this happened, but it wasn’t that hard to figure out that he would now… at least for the rest of the week.
“Are you sure sweetie,” Scarlet asked again by the time Shin finally reached the sink and turned on the water.
“Yes mommy,” Shin said again, it becoming all the more habitual than Ma’am was before. Shin stopped washing his hands and just stared at them. They were all furry now too. He then gulped out a lie, “Everything’s fine…”
“Oh stop pestering him, sugarplum,” his dad’s voice slipped it’s way through the door along with muffled kissing noises, “let him be a big kid if he wants.”
“Our little joey is growing up,” Shin heard Scarlet reply as if she were about to start crying or something. Which Shin was certain was all part of her act. He just couldn’t believe that his father was taking this so easily. Well, that’s magic for you.
By the time Shin was finished drying off his new hands, Scarlet felt like she had waited long enough for him. She opened the door for Shin, which caused him to scream from fright. It wasn’t even the fact that her appearance had changed even more. Shin quickly tried to cover himself in shame.
“Get out! I’m naked!”
“Oh it’s nothing, we haven’t seen before,” Scarlet teased, “now hurry up ‘cause dinner’s getting cold.”
Shin didn’t have to be told twice. He was out of that bathroom faster than if it were on fire. He was still embarrassed about being in the nude (despite you really couldn’t see anything), so he was focused on getting to the dinner table as quickly as possible. His father had other plans for him though.
“Now hold on,” Youta caught Shin by the shoulder, “aren’t you going to say welcome home to me too?”
Shin now got a good look at his father. He barely recognized him. For starters, his jet black hair was now fully white and not just grey on the edges either. White as a bed sheet white. On top of that, instead of his usual bowl cut, it reached down to his shoulders now as if he were some kind of hippie. He had tan fur growing all over himself. His face was still practically the same (despite the fur), but the long rabbit like ears were very hard to miss. Shin looked lower down. It appeared that only his top part was effected by whatever this was. At least for now.
“Come on Shin,” Youta smiled, “I know you’re excited about dinner, but I haven’t seen you all day today.”
“Oh, erm… sorry dad,” Shin said as he moved in for a quick hug.
Or at least that was Shin’s intention as it wasn’t Youta’s. Dr. Shinsetsu held on tightly to his son like he never had before in his entire life. They both knew this. Youta was just so overjoyed at the moment. Shin knew this and he liked it. He returned the very jester with all of his own strength.
“Whoo boy,” Youta said as he finally loosened his grip on Shin, “Okay then, let’s go eat.”
Meanwhile back inside the Mommy Market…
The heads of the Parental Exchange: Returns and Processing Division (they’ve yet to change the name since they worked with both the Mommy Market and the Daddy Department Store), were busy with their first returns of the week. How this worked was by each “fired” parent would come through a doorway that was only blocked up by a veil of endless smoke. The each parent would walk through one at a time. Of course, the new arrivals would start by saying the exact same thing.
“Where am I,” a very confused mother stepped out from the smoke, “who are you kids? What am I doing here? Where’s my family? Who’s my family? Why can’t I remember my Family!”
“It’s okay miss,” one of the preteen workers would start off, followed by all the questions that they needed to help the parent either cope with their new situation or to get their basic profile. You know things like names, profession, luggage, age, weight. (The last two were usually excluded), is this your first time to be fired as a parent? Stuff like that. Once all this was done, the recorder would tear off a ticket for the parent to take.
“There you go Ma’am,” they’d say as they handed it to them, and pointed further into the storage building, “just follow the signs that say “Orientation” while we get your room ready for you. Your room number’s on the ticket.”
The next one was a doctor no less. Or at least that was her designated profession. Right now she didn’t look much like one covered from head to toe with trash, silly string and… was that a misspelled kick me sign?
“Ah, Suzumi,” one of the twelve year old workers recognized her despite the running make-up, “back already? I think that’s a record.”
“Those brats were little monsters,” she shouted, “Obviously, they weren’t my real family.”
“Well, just follow the signs that say “Returns”, get yourself…,” another worker (this one ten) paused as she pulled off a banana peel, “all washed up and try again at the next market. You new room will be ready when you are.”
“Thank you,” Suzumi faux grinned at the workers before stomping off, mumbling something in Japanese that shouldn’t be repeated.
“Gee, I’m getting too old for this,” the twelve year old rubbed his eyes.
“Just keep telling yourself only four more years ‘til retirement, Ed.”
“Eight months for me, Sammy”
“Whatever,” the other pat him on the back, “Here comes the next one-woah! Woah-woh! Woah!”
“What’s wrong Sammy,” the elder turned to see what his co-worker was freaking out about, “in all my years…”
“Where am I,” a big old dog man (a doberman…man, if you want to be specific) looked around himself, “who are you kids? What am I doing here? Where’s my family? Who’s my family? Why can’t I remember my family!”
“What do we do Ed,” Sammy asked his elder.
“Call management,” Ed whispered back.
During dinner Shin actually lightened up about the whole turning into a kangaroo thing. His dad was happy. Scarlet was equally happy. Why couldn’t he be too? It was during dinner that Shin and his dad’s muzzles started to grow in. And Shin actually welcomed the rest of his own physical changes. It just made everything taste a bit better than before. Especially the veggies.
“Shin-shin, you’re barely even touched your macaroni and cheese,” Scarlet took a quick glance under the table, “and you didn’t even try to dump your veggies on the floor.”
“Haha! First you complain that he’s not eating enough vegetables,” Youta laughed with his new muzzle, “and now you’re complaining that he can’t get enough of them?”
“Oh you’re not much better. You haven’t even touched your brussels sprouts,” Scarlet pointed out before teasingly putting a paw to Shin’s forehead, “Oh he must be sick or something, Youta.”
“I’m fine mommy,” Shin smiled. He never remembered dinner being quite this fun before.
“Well, if you say so Shin-shin,” Scarlet ruffled up Shin’s pink hair, “now hurry up and finish up your dinner. It’s getting late. You’ve still got homework to finish.”
“Okay,” Shin took a look at Scarlet, “will you help me some more? I’ve got Biology next.”
“I thought science was your best subject, Shin-shin,” Youta mentioned as he picked at his brussels sprouts.
“It was,” Shin tried to hint carefully by twirling his hair, “you know before I got my new… book.”
“Oh… right,” Scarlet smiled, fixing his hair again, “sure, I’ll help you sweetheart.”
“Thanks mommy,” Shin said as he quickly finished off his dinner, “let’s go!”
“Yeah, let’s all go work on homework together,” Youta cheered by smacking his fork down.
“Oh no you don’t mister,” Scarlet lightly tapped her mate on the nose, “you’re staying right here”
“Why do I have to stay? I’m the one with two Doctorates,” Youta leaped to his feet.
“And a whole plate of veggies to finish off,” Scarlet pushed the good doctor back into his chair, “now eat up so that you can grow up big and strong.”
“But I’m already big and strong,” Youta pouted.
“Sure you are dear,” Scarlet kissed him on the cheek, “now set a good example for our little joey.”
“Yes dear,” Youta frowned as he stabbed his fork into one of the nasty vegetables.
“So what’s going on,” Shin asked the moment Scarlet shut the door, “did you do this to me and dad?”
“Not exactly Shin-shin,” Scarlet lifted him into her arms, “technically, you did when you went through the gate with me. It makes it as if we always were a family to start with.”
“Yeah, that would explain why you’re changing,” Shin frowned, “but why us?”
“Well, it’s like you said before. I’m a kangaroo,” Scarlet settled her joey at his desk, “and you’re not… or weren’t as the case may be. The magic just thought that this was the best way to make us all compatible is all.”
“And what about my hair,” Shin tugged at it a bit, “I don’t see why this had to happen.”
“Daw, but you look so cute with pink hair.”
“I don’t care about that,” Shin blushed, “why did it happen?”
“I dunno,” Scarlet shrugged, “something in your genetics. I guess, you take after your mother, and I’ve got a lot of red in me.”
“So if I don’t decide to keep you as my *yawn*my mother… will it,” Shin yawned as he tried to ask further, but Scarlet wouldn’t let him. Not only was it way past Shin’s (new) bedtime, she honestly didn’t want to think about it.
“Enough about Biology Shin-shin,” Scarlet pointed out, “you’ve got a week to decide, but you still have school tomorrow.”
“Yeah school,” Shin took a look at the homework he had left. He was exhausted. It would be hard to remember what the remaining answers were.
“I’m sure you can do it Shin-shin,” Scarlet rubbed his back, “remember, it’s okay if you don’t get the right answers.”
“What about my future? Going to college and becoming a doctor?”
“Is that really what you want?”
“… kind of,” Shin replied. Honestly, it really wasn’t his dream to be a doctor at all. It was his former mother’s dream for him to be one.
“You’re only in third grade, Shin. You’ve got over a decade to worry about how to become a doctor,” Scarlet assured him, “for now, just worry about how multiplication works.”
“I’ve got cheat sheets that I’m supposed to memorize,” Shin pointed to the blue folder sitting on his bookshelf. Scarlet walked over and took a look inside, “I’m supposed to memorize all of them with the-”
“So this is what you meant by ‘combinations’,” Scarlet quickly saw the main problem that Shin was having right away, “do you even know why they’re called times tables?”
“Um…,” Shin didn’t. He only knew to memorize the hundreds of number combinations.
“That lousy good for nothing,” Scarlet ran a hand through her hair, trying to calm herself down, “Okay then… Let’s start from scratch.”
“What do you mean, Scarlet?”
“Mommy’s going to teach you the right way to do math.”
Youta had picked at his food for almost twenty minutes now. He barely ate one of the brussels sprouts, but couldn’t wash the awful taste from his mouth. The good doctor’s tail was finally grown in, but he still had properly cut work britches on. It was about this time that he realized that he wasn’t a child. He was his own man. If he didn’t want to eat his vegetables, then he doesn’t have to. He was just about to scrape his plate into the garbage bin when Scarlet opened the door to Shin’s room.
“Youta, quick you’ve got to…,” Scarlet yelled in a whispered tone, “what are you doing?”
“What are you? Psychic!”
“Shush,” Scarlet took a quick glance back into the Shin’s room, “Never mind that. Come here quick…and quietly…”
Youta placed his plate down on the counter to see what it was that his wife wanted. She kept motioning for him to be quiet as he walked. It wasn’t until he reached the doorway that he saw what she wanted to show him. Their little Shin-shin was asleep at his desk. His glasses had slipped off and a little bit of drool ran down from his lips.
“Poor guy,” Youta quietly tisk’d, “he's worked himself to death.”
“He barely finished his math,” Scarlet stated as she slowly pulled the sheet out from under her little roo to show Youta, “Not only that. look he finally figured out how multiplication works.”
“He did,” Youta stated a bit too loudly. Luckily, Shin was actually a deep sleeper.
Scarlet still shushed him again, “Yes, look. After I explained it to him, he not only got them all right, but then he started doing Divisions next. He went through them like they were nothing. Our little joey is so smart, isn’t he…?”
“Well, he does have the best teacher in the world,” Youta brought his wife closer to him to reward her with a kiss to the cheek, “the best teacher a five-year old could ask for.”
“Oh stop it you. It’s a little late for that,” Scarlet blushingly pushed Youta away, “Here, help me tuck him into bed.”
“As you wish, sugarplum,” Youta yawned. He was so egger to play with his son and wife, that he had completely forgotten how late it was. Let alone that he had worked a double shift not that long ago. Despite he wanted some more alone time with her, he knew it was for the best to keep his son healthy, “when are we going to get him his own bed?”
“When he’s good and ready, Youta,” Scarlet rubbed at her pouch, “I’m just glad that he doesn’t need training pants anymore. Do you know annoying diaper rash can be?”
“You’re so lucky that you get to be so close to him,” Youta said as he carefully lifted his son up from his desk. He was genuinely jealous, completely unaware that his son used to be an eight year old human boy and not a five year old joey hybrid.
“Yes I am,” Scarlet smiled as she pulled the “covers” from Shin’s “bed” and pulling out a toy that just appeared in there, “but at least he let’s me keep his puppy-bear.”
Youta was very careful at not disturbing his son’s slumber as he slipped his son into the pouch. Once Shin was halfway in, his arms started flailing out at the open air lazily. It looked as if he was about to wake up completely. Youta panicked, but all Scarlet had to do was slip the cotton filled dog into the joey’s arms. As if on instinct, Shin calmed down and hugged his plush toy tight.
The parents then let gravity finish the hassle of putting Shin to bed. He and his puppy disappeared deep into those folds of skin and into a much deeper slumber. Scarlet smiled as she looked down on her son for just a while longer. She had such a smart, adorable and handsome young joey. She had a mate that loved her unconditionally. Life couldn’t be better for her.
One thing still worried her. It was those two mommy market tokens on the desk. What would happen if the week was up and Shin didn’t want her? Shin could still return her if he wanted. Real kangaroos only live to be five or six. She may never have this chance for a family ever again.
“Something wrong, Sugarplum?”
“No, just thinking how great it is to be a mommy,” Scarlet smiled as she sealed up her pouch. She didn’t want to think about it anymore.
*Rusty (the author) here… For now I'm just going to leave it to everybody's imaginations. I've got quite a bit of personal work that I've been neglecting to write this story. So, I think that this would be a great place to stop. I can continue it if I want, but if I don't, well nothing lost. Either way, I'm going to leave it alone for now. Feel free to write your own stories if you want. We've only got nineteen more days of FebROOary left, not to mention Singles Awareness Day…
Part 3 The Sick Day
The Mommy Market (Shin Shinsetsu) part 2 "Love Father, Love Son" {how's that for a title in part 2}
Dr. Shinsetsu had a long morning and afternoon at the clinic. He’s been feeling so alone, especially the past couple of days. Yeah, he had his son to look forward to, but he would barely have time to cook dinner for the two of them before getting some well needed sleep. He knew he needed some shut eye when he thought that he bumped into a punk werewolf while getting off at his stop. He had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn’t just seeing things.
The good doctor quickly shuffled his way to the front door. He just wanted to get home. Take his load off and relax. He nearly dropped his keys as he entered the apartment building, so he was distracted from looking higher than the door nob. That’s why he didn’t see that a very different Dan was on guard duty tonight.
“Oh hey doc,” Dan waved, “back early tonight, I see.”
“Yeah,” Youta didn’t even turn his head toward the guard as he made a beeline to the elevator, “but not early enough.”
“Oh I think you’re going to be quite surprised when you get home tonight, Doc,” Dan smiled, puffing up his furry chest as he did so, “little Shin-shin brought home a surprise for ya!”
“Is that so,” Youta barely got a glance of Dan before doing a double take, “Um… Dan?”
“Something wrong Doc?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Dr. Shinsetsu stared at Dan, there was something different about the guard, Something almost exotic, “you… Dan you’re a-!”
“Ha, finally you noticed,” Dan laughed patting his belly (or lack there of), “I’m three whole pants sizes smaller with my new diet. It’s great right?”
“No you’re a…,” the doctor barely even acknowledge what was said as the elevator had arrived with a light ding. Youta turned away only for a moment to step into the elevator. By the time he turned back around, he had already forgotten the strange realization he had almost made, “yeah, you’re really looking great! Keep up that new regiment of yours.”
“Sure thing doc,” the tiger guard gave the doctor a thumbs up as the doors separated the two of them for the rest of the night.
“Shin-shin,” Scarlet knocked, “how’s that homework coming along?”
“I’m almost done ma’am,” Shin shouted back.
“You’re still working on it,” Scarlet barged the bedroom. She was quite pleased to see that Shin’s body had shifted quite a bit in the last hour or so since she had last seen him. He was fully naked now, if not for his tan fur and glasses. That homework of his had distracted him long enough for his tail to grow in without him noticing. And even if he had, that wasn’t even his concern at the moment.
“Gah! Please no! No more razzberries,” Shin shrieked, thinking that she was mad about him calling her ‘ma’am’ again, “I’m sorry, mommy!”
“What is there to be sorry about sweetie,” Scarlet looked over his shoulder, “are you having trouble? Want mommy to help?”
“You…,” Shin slowly looked up at her, “you want to help me?”
“Sure, isn’t that what mothers do?”
“I guess…”
“Of course it is,” Scarlet pointed to one of the math problems, “Is this the one that’s giving you so much trouble?”
“Yeah, I can’t remember this combination.”
“Combination,” Scarlet questioned to herself, that was an odd thing to say about a math problem, “Well, what’s your first guess?”
“I can’t just guess,” Shin rubbed out his hair, “what if I get it wrong?”
“How about we find out,” Scarlet swiped the pencil from Shin’s grasp, lightly brushing his hair back down, before writing her answer, “I guess that it’s 89.”
“No! It’s not 89!”
“And why’s that?”
“Because 89 is a prime number,” Shin shouted, “it can’t be the answer to a multiplication problem!”
“That’s right my little Shin-shin,” Scarlet licked her joey’s head, “you’re so smart.”
Shin just blushed at this. He expected her to be mad at him or something. He had almost forgotten that she wasn’t his old mother. Plus, it was embarrassing that she was treating him like such a little baby, even when she put the pencil back into his hand.
“I got it wrong and the world didn’t blow up,” Scarlet joked, “so what do you think twenty-nine times three equals, Shin-shin?”
“Eighty…seven,” Shin asked more than he actually knew as he erased the clearly wrong number, “Is that right?”
“I don’t know,” Scarlet shrugged, “Let’s let your teacher decide. Right now, dinner’s ready and your father will be home soon.”
“Oh, I forgot about dad,” Shin rubbed his head again, “How am I going to explain this to him?”
“Hey now, I just fixed up that hair of yours,” Scarlet complained, patting it down again, “now you go wash up and let me worry about explaining things to your father.”
“But how,” Shin asked as his chair was turned around for him. Scarlet carefully lifted him down to the ground and on his three toed feet. It was then that he could tell that he had a new limb hanging off of him and that his pants had vanished right out of existence.
“You let Mommy worry about that, sweetheart,” Scarlet winked, it was just then that the pair could hear the front door opening, “That must be him. Now, you go wash your cute little hands for dinner, while I go greet Daddy.”
Shin decided not to argue with Scarlet and go do what was asked of him. He was a bit unsteady on his feet at first, but he adjusted just as quickly as Scarlet had earlier that night. He half ran, half leaped to the restroom right outside his door. He shut the door behind him, hoping that his father hadn’t noticed his mutated body at all.
To Shin’s dismay, his father had seen his son slip into the bathroom. Luckily, Youta was distracted with the habitual task of removing his shoes before entering the main part of his home to really catch a full glimpse. He didn’t even think about what he saw by the time he turned to hang his jacket up.
“Shin? Dan said that you had a surprise for me,” Youta asked, smelling something good, “did you order take out or somethi-”
Youta stopped as a pair of slim hands covered his eyes. He was quite surprised at first, but he slowly, very slowly mellowed out. He grew so much calmer when he heard Scarlet’s voice for the first time.
“Guess who?”
“Hm… let’s see,” Youta was really drawn for a blank here, his lack of memories were quickly filling up again with simi-false ones, “is it my beautiful mistress Suzumi?”
“Suzumi,” Scarlet sexily snapped at him, “so that’s the name of the woman you were cheating on while I was gone.”
“Oh no,” Youta raised his hands in the air, “I’ve been caught by my much more beautiful bride of ten years…”
“Silly Youta,” Scarlet twirled him around to see his face for the first time, “it’s only been six years, you tease.”
The moment that Youta saw Scarlet, he just knew who she was. His memories of his true bride were quickly replaced with that of this anthropomorphic creature. Her hair was quickly growing out so that she was a perfect red head. He longed to just stare deeply into her equally crimson eyes. He knew that she had been gone for a trip or something, but the details didn’t matter. He wasn’t alone anymore now. Any inconsistencies with those facts just vanished from his mind.
Similarly, Scarlet was gaining the much more tame memories of her entire life in this new world that her joey accidentally created. It was now as if she had been just as “human” as the rest of the world. Of course, she also knew the real truth behind all this as well. She looked at Youta with a small bit of disgust. She was certain that the “fantasy other her” found him quite attractive, but the her that came from the Mommy Market wanted someone with, shall we say… less need for clothing. She also knew just how to help rectify this.
“Really? Only six years,” the doctor asked, he knew that wasn’t even close to true ten minutes ago. Now it didn’t really matter. It would be how ever long Scarlet decided it to have been.
“Yes, six,” she said as she drew him in closer, “Now just kiss me Doctor Shinsetsu!”
“You sure are a bit more playful today, Scarlet,” Youta replied before abiding her simple request. He was so deep into the kiss, that he couldn’t feel the changes it was physically doing to him. The most notable of which, being that his asian black hair was turning a ghostly natural white.
Meanwhile, in the bathroom. Shin had been listening by the door for any signs of his father panicking at the monster that was in their home. When none came, Shin calmed down a bit. Maybe the magic was stronger than he thought. He looked down at his legs… much stronger than he thought.
While Shin couldn’t look himself in the mirror, he could see plenty of what had already happened to him. Almost his entire body was rooified in one way or another. As far as he could tell, the only thing left untouched was his face, hands, and his apparent need for glasses. He was especially shocked to find that even his hair had changed color. Now he’d be less upset if it changed from black to brown or maybe even red. It was not red, but it was pink. Bright, baby girl smack’n on bubble gum pink!
As if that weren’t weird enough, no part of his body felt the least bit unnatural. He knew that it was all wrong, but none of it felt off. Well, nothing except his shortness. He hadn’t been this short since he was being potty trained. Speaking of which…
“Shin-shin,” Scarlet knocked on the bathroom door, “do you need any help in there?”
“No mommy,” Shin was snapped back into reality. He moved quickly to pull the stepladder to the front of the sink. He certainly didn’t need it before all this happened, but it wasn’t that hard to figure out that he would now… at least for the rest of the week.
“Are you sure sweetie,” Scarlet asked again by the time Shin finally reached the sink and turned on the water.
“Yes mommy,” Shin said again, it becoming all the more habitual than Ma’am was before. Shin stopped washing his hands and just stared at them. They were all furry now too. He then gulped out a lie, “Everything’s fine…”
“Oh stop pestering him, sugarplum,” his dad’s voice slipped it’s way through the door along with muffled kissing noises, “let him be a big kid if he wants.”
“Our little joey is growing up,” Shin heard Scarlet reply as if she were about to start crying or something. Which Shin was certain was all part of her act. He just couldn’t believe that his father was taking this so easily. Well, that’s magic for you.
By the time Shin was finished drying off his new hands, Scarlet felt like she had waited long enough for him. She opened the door for Shin, which caused him to scream from fright. It wasn’t even the fact that her appearance had changed even more. Shin quickly tried to cover himself in shame.
“Get out! I’m naked!”
“Oh it’s nothing, we haven’t seen before,” Scarlet teased, “now hurry up ‘cause dinner’s getting cold.”
Shin didn’t have to be told twice. He was out of that bathroom faster than if it were on fire. He was still embarrassed about being in the nude (despite you really couldn’t see anything), so he was focused on getting to the dinner table as quickly as possible. His father had other plans for him though.
“Now hold on,” Youta caught Shin by the shoulder, “aren’t you going to say welcome home to me too?”
Shin now got a good look at his father. He barely recognized him. For starters, his jet black hair was now fully white and not just grey on the edges either. White as a bed sheet white. On top of that, instead of his usual bowl cut, it reached down to his shoulders now as if he were some kind of hippie. He had tan fur growing all over himself. His face was still practically the same (despite the fur), but the long rabbit like ears were very hard to miss. Shin looked lower down. It appeared that only his top part was effected by whatever this was. At least for now.
“Come on Shin,” Youta smiled, “I know you’re excited about dinner, but I haven’t seen you all day today.”
“Oh, erm… sorry dad,” Shin said as he moved in for a quick hug.
Or at least that was Shin’s intention as it wasn’t Youta’s. Dr. Shinsetsu held on tightly to his son like he never had before in his entire life. They both knew this. Youta was just so overjoyed at the moment. Shin knew this and he liked it. He returned the very jester with all of his own strength.
“Whoo boy,” Youta said as he finally loosened his grip on Shin, “Okay then, let’s go eat.”
Meanwhile back inside the Mommy Market…
The heads of the Parental Exchange: Returns and Processing Division (they’ve yet to change the name since they worked with both the Mommy Market and the Daddy Department Store), were busy with their first returns of the week. How this worked was by each “fired” parent would come through a doorway that was only blocked up by a veil of endless smoke. The each parent would walk through one at a time. Of course, the new arrivals would start by saying the exact same thing.
“Where am I,” a very confused mother stepped out from the smoke, “who are you kids? What am I doing here? Where’s my family? Who’s my family? Why can’t I remember my Family!”
“It’s okay miss,” one of the preteen workers would start off, followed by all the questions that they needed to help the parent either cope with their new situation or to get their basic profile. You know things like names, profession, luggage, age, weight. (The last two were usually excluded), is this your first time to be fired as a parent? Stuff like that. Once all this was done, the recorder would tear off a ticket for the parent to take.
“There you go Ma’am,” they’d say as they handed it to them, and pointed further into the storage building, “just follow the signs that say “Orientation” while we get your room ready for you. Your room number’s on the ticket.”
The next one was a doctor no less. Or at least that was her designated profession. Right now she didn’t look much like one covered from head to toe with trash, silly string and… was that a misspelled kick me sign?
“Ah, Suzumi,” one of the twelve year old workers recognized her despite the running make-up, “back already? I think that’s a record.”
“Those brats were little monsters,” she shouted, “Obviously, they weren’t my real family.”
“Well, just follow the signs that say “Returns”, get yourself…,” another worker (this one ten) paused as she pulled off a banana peel, “all washed up and try again at the next market. You new room will be ready when you are.”
“Thank you,” Suzumi faux grinned at the workers before stomping off, mumbling something in Japanese that shouldn’t be repeated.
“Gee, I’m getting too old for this,” the twelve year old rubbed his eyes.
“Just keep telling yourself only four more years ‘til retirement, Ed.”
“Eight months for me, Sammy”
“Whatever,” the other pat him on the back, “Here comes the next one-woah! Woah-woh! Woah!”
“What’s wrong Sammy,” the elder turned to see what his co-worker was freaking out about, “in all my years…”
“Where am I,” a big old dog man (a doberman…man, if you want to be specific) looked around himself, “who are you kids? What am I doing here? Where’s my family? Who’s my family? Why can’t I remember my family!”
“What do we do Ed,” Sammy asked his elder.
“Call management,” Ed whispered back.
During dinner Shin actually lightened up about the whole turning into a kangaroo thing. His dad was happy. Scarlet was equally happy. Why couldn’t he be too? It was during dinner that Shin and his dad’s muzzles started to grow in. And Shin actually welcomed the rest of his own physical changes. It just made everything taste a bit better than before. Especially the veggies.
“Shin-shin, you’re barely even touched your macaroni and cheese,” Scarlet took a quick glance under the table, “and you didn’t even try to dump your veggies on the floor.”
“Haha! First you complain that he’s not eating enough vegetables,” Youta laughed with his new muzzle, “and now you’re complaining that he can’t get enough of them?”
“Oh you’re not much better. You haven’t even touched your brussels sprouts,” Scarlet pointed out before teasingly putting a paw to Shin’s forehead, “Oh he must be sick or something, Youta.”
“I’m fine mommy,” Shin smiled. He never remembered dinner being quite this fun before.
“Well, if you say so Shin-shin,” Scarlet ruffled up Shin’s pink hair, “now hurry up and finish up your dinner. It’s getting late. You’ve still got homework to finish.”
“Okay,” Shin took a look at Scarlet, “will you help me some more? I’ve got Biology next.”
“I thought science was your best subject, Shin-shin,” Youta mentioned as he picked at his brussels sprouts.
“It was,” Shin tried to hint carefully by twirling his hair, “you know before I got my new… book.”
“Oh… right,” Scarlet smiled, fixing his hair again, “sure, I’ll help you sweetheart.”
“Thanks mommy,” Shin said as he quickly finished off his dinner, “let’s go!”
“Yeah, let’s all go work on homework together,” Youta cheered by smacking his fork down.
“Oh no you don’t mister,” Scarlet lightly tapped her mate on the nose, “you’re staying right here”
“Why do I have to stay? I’m the one with two Doctorates,” Youta leaped to his feet.
“And a whole plate of veggies to finish off,” Scarlet pushed the good doctor back into his chair, “now eat up so that you can grow up big and strong.”
“But I’m already big and strong,” Youta pouted.
“Sure you are dear,” Scarlet kissed him on the cheek, “now set a good example for our little joey.”
“Yes dear,” Youta frowned as he stabbed his fork into one of the nasty vegetables.
“So what’s going on,” Shin asked the moment Scarlet shut the door, “did you do this to me and dad?”
“Not exactly Shin-shin,” Scarlet lifted him into her arms, “technically, you did when you went through the gate with me. It makes it as if we always were a family to start with.”
“Yeah, that would explain why you’re changing,” Shin frowned, “but why us?”
“Well, it’s like you said before. I’m a kangaroo,” Scarlet settled her joey at his desk, “and you’re not… or weren’t as the case may be. The magic just thought that this was the best way to make us all compatible is all.”
“And what about my hair,” Shin tugged at it a bit, “I don’t see why this had to happen.”
“Daw, but you look so cute with pink hair.”
“I don’t care about that,” Shin blushed, “why did it happen?”
“I dunno,” Scarlet shrugged, “something in your genetics. I guess, you take after your mother, and I’ve got a lot of red in me.”
“So if I don’t decide to keep you as my *yawn*my mother… will it,” Shin yawned as he tried to ask further, but Scarlet wouldn’t let him. Not only was it way past Shin’s (new) bedtime, she honestly didn’t want to think about it.
“Enough about Biology Shin-shin,” Scarlet pointed out, “you’ve got a week to decide, but you still have school tomorrow.”
“Yeah school,” Shin took a look at the homework he had left. He was exhausted. It would be hard to remember what the remaining answers were.
“I’m sure you can do it Shin-shin,” Scarlet rubbed his back, “remember, it’s okay if you don’t get the right answers.”
“What about my future? Going to college and becoming a doctor?”
“Is that really what you want?”
“… kind of,” Shin replied. Honestly, it really wasn’t his dream to be a doctor at all. It was his former mother’s dream for him to be one.
“You’re only in third grade, Shin. You’ve got over a decade to worry about how to become a doctor,” Scarlet assured him, “for now, just worry about how multiplication works.”
“I’ve got cheat sheets that I’m supposed to memorize,” Shin pointed to the blue folder sitting on his bookshelf. Scarlet walked over and took a look inside, “I’m supposed to memorize all of them with the-”
“So this is what you meant by ‘combinations’,” Scarlet quickly saw the main problem that Shin was having right away, “do you even know why they’re called times tables?”
“Um…,” Shin didn’t. He only knew to memorize the hundreds of number combinations.
“That lousy good for nothing,” Scarlet ran a hand through her hair, trying to calm herself down, “Okay then… Let’s start from scratch.”
“What do you mean, Scarlet?”
“Mommy’s going to teach you the right way to do math.”
Youta had picked at his food for almost twenty minutes now. He barely ate one of the brussels sprouts, but couldn’t wash the awful taste from his mouth. The good doctor’s tail was finally grown in, but he still had properly cut work britches on. It was about this time that he realized that he wasn’t a child. He was his own man. If he didn’t want to eat his vegetables, then he doesn’t have to. He was just about to scrape his plate into the garbage bin when Scarlet opened the door to Shin’s room.
“Youta, quick you’ve got to…,” Scarlet yelled in a whispered tone, “what are you doing?”
“What are you? Psychic!”
“Shush,” Scarlet took a quick glance back into the Shin’s room, “Never mind that. Come here quick…and quietly…”
Youta placed his plate down on the counter to see what it was that his wife wanted. She kept motioning for him to be quiet as he walked. It wasn’t until he reached the doorway that he saw what she wanted to show him. Their little Shin-shin was asleep at his desk. His glasses had slipped off and a little bit of drool ran down from his lips.
“Poor guy,” Youta quietly tisk’d, “he's worked himself to death.”
“He barely finished his math,” Scarlet stated as she slowly pulled the sheet out from under her little roo to show Youta, “Not only that. look he finally figured out how multiplication works.”
“He did,” Youta stated a bit too loudly. Luckily, Shin was actually a deep sleeper.
Scarlet still shushed him again, “Yes, look. After I explained it to him, he not only got them all right, but then he started doing Divisions next. He went through them like they were nothing. Our little joey is so smart, isn’t he…?”
“Well, he does have the best teacher in the world,” Youta brought his wife closer to him to reward her with a kiss to the cheek, “the best teacher a five-year old could ask for.”
“Oh stop it you. It’s a little late for that,” Scarlet blushingly pushed Youta away, “Here, help me tuck him into bed.”
“As you wish, sugarplum,” Youta yawned. He was so egger to play with his son and wife, that he had completely forgotten how late it was. Let alone that he had worked a double shift not that long ago. Despite he wanted some more alone time with her, he knew it was for the best to keep his son healthy, “when are we going to get him his own bed?”
“When he’s good and ready, Youta,” Scarlet rubbed at her pouch, “I’m just glad that he doesn’t need training pants anymore. Do you know annoying diaper rash can be?”
“You’re so lucky that you get to be so close to him,” Youta said as he carefully lifted his son up from his desk. He was genuinely jealous, completely unaware that his son used to be an eight year old human boy and not a five year old joey hybrid.
“Yes I am,” Scarlet smiled as she pulled the “covers” from Shin’s “bed” and pulling out a toy that just appeared in there, “but at least he let’s me keep his puppy-bear.”
Youta was very careful at not disturbing his son’s slumber as he slipped his son into the pouch. Once Shin was halfway in, his arms started flailing out at the open air lazily. It looked as if he was about to wake up completely. Youta panicked, but all Scarlet had to do was slip the cotton filled dog into the joey’s arms. As if on instinct, Shin calmed down and hugged his plush toy tight.
The parents then let gravity finish the hassle of putting Shin to bed. He and his puppy disappeared deep into those folds of skin and into a much deeper slumber. Scarlet smiled as she looked down on her son for just a while longer. She had such a smart, adorable and handsome young joey. She had a mate that loved her unconditionally. Life couldn’t be better for her.
One thing still worried her. It was those two mommy market tokens on the desk. What would happen if the week was up and Shin didn’t want her? Shin could still return her if he wanted. Real kangaroos only live to be five or six. She may never have this chance for a family ever again.
“Something wrong, Sugarplum?”
“No, just thinking how great it is to be a mommy,” Scarlet smiled as she sealed up her pouch. She didn’t want to think about it anymore.
*Rusty (the author) here… For now I'm just going to leave it to everybody's imaginations. I've got quite a bit of personal work that I've been neglecting to write this story. So, I think that this would be a great place to stop. I can continue it if I want, but if I don't, well nothing lost. Either way, I'm going to leave it alone for now. Feel free to write your own stories if you want. We've only got nineteen more days of FebROOary left, not to mention Singles Awareness Day…
Part 3 The Sick Day
Category Story / Fantasy
Species Kangaroo
Size 120 x 120px
File Size 66.2 kB
Sadly, I don't think that I can. It's not without lack of trying, it's just…
I know where I wanted to go with it, but how exactly to get from "A to C" has been rough in the past two "Febrooarys". Plus, I do have other projects that I really wanted to focus on a bit more. I'm sorry to disappoint. It really is a cute story.
I know where I wanted to go with it, but how exactly to get from "A to C" has been rough in the past two "Febrooarys". Plus, I do have other projects that I really wanted to focus on a bit more. I'm sorry to disappoint. It really is a cute story.
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