Chapter Text
It wasn't often that Zanka Nijiku was taken aback.
That was the only way to describe how he was feeling with the current situation, a child clinging to the front of his shirt, small shoulders hitching as they tried to contain their sobs.
Wide, panicked eyes shot up to send a look that screamed, "Help me!" to someone, anyone, to take this crying child off of his hands, but no one in the street paused for more than a moment before deeming the kid in safe hands and moving on.
Despite being an omega, Zanka would tell anyone who had the balls to ask that he doesn't have a nurturing bone in his body. So he has nothing to work on but his own assumptions on comforting another while he stuttered through reassurences, his hands hesitantly pat pat pat'ting the child's head.
With a groan barely held back when he felt a wet patch form on the fabric of his shirt, Zanka brought the kid up to hold in his arms.
"C'mon kid, ain't no reason to cry anymore," solid arms moved without problem to settle the sniffling kid onto his hip, "I'm sure your ma is around somewhere!"
And so Zanka spent what should have been his day off looking for a lost kids guardian, getting a whiff of the kids scent to aid him. Luckily once she had calmed down he was able to get a general description and a direction to begin his search, trying his best to keep her from crying again.
"Hey, does any of this look familiar? Y'gotta work with me here, please kid." Zanka looked down with what he refused to admit was desperation. He doesn't want to give the impression that he was giving up or anything, but even his nose was losing the faint scent trail he'd been following.
Imperceptibly his shoulders slumped when the kid shook her head, his eyes looking near frantically through the thinning crowd. The day was nearing its end, and Zanka was just about ready to shout at the top of his lungs to find the one irresponsible enough to lose a whole kid when someone ran up to him.
"Wryn! Oh my baby, my sweet girl! I'm so sorry I lost you!" Hands shaking with relief reached out for the kid in his arms and despite himself Zanka tightened his hold and leaned back, his eyes narrowing.
Anger that was simmering beneath the surface bubbled up, now that he was able to put a face to the one who lost a kid in the middle of a street. Unaware of how his scent sharpened Zanka began scolding this stranger, his eyes glaring daggers as his lip curled to reveal gleaming canines.
His hands stroked the kids back soothingly, and briefly he wished that he had more hands to cover her ears with as the person in front of him shrank back with shame. Good, he thought, vicious satisfaction building up in his chest.
At the back of his mind, a voice that sounded suspiciously like his sister whispered about being too harsh, too aggressive, too angry. Words that were spoken to him during his developmental years, from the mouths of his family to instructors in the academy, his temper well known and only becoming a shock when they found out his secondary gender.
"-and maybe, if you can't keep one eye on one measly kid you should look into buying a leash to keep her attached to you!" Zanka huffed as he finished his tirade, bending over slightly to set down said kid, who ran over to tackle her mother.
Still angry yet knowing there wasn't anything more he could do he turned away with a low frustrated grumble, a hand reaching up to wave away the kids wobbily thank-you. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, doing his best to calm down as he made his way down the street.
His eyes were open yet unseeing as he got lost in thought. Too angry pah! Some people in this world deserved to get yelled at, and like hell was he going to keep his mouth shut just because it "wasn't omega-like".