I could never forget the original next generation kiddo, right? It's about time I gave her some love, hahaha.

Asuka: 16 (Alzack & Bisca), Titanus: 6 (Elfman & Evergreen), Oberon: 3 (Elfman & Evergreen), Lacey: 7 (Laxus & Lucy), Jean-Luc: 7 (Freed & Mirajane), Lorn: 6 (Minerva & Max)

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Black eyes were becoming something of a problem for Asuka.

It wasn't as if she didn't like babysitting all of her guildmates' offspring – after all, all of them had taken a turn or two looking after her growing up. But some of the kiddos were just… so incredibly rowdy. It was like they had energy enough to power the sun with enough to spare to run her into the ground. Also, they were prone to getting into trouble; trouble the likes of which ordinary babysitters would not be equipped to handle. Like Jean-Luc's tendency to go full-on demon at the drop of a hat. (Though to be fair, she didn't babysit him very often, and when she did it was usually in conjunction with Lacey who proved to be a massively calming influence on the literal demon child.)

Romeo helped a lot, it was true, but he had his own jobs to go on, too. And it was really embarrassing to ask the older boy for help, when he'd been the one to babysit her the most when she was growing up. It was mortifying to ask your own babysitter for babysitting advice. Especially since he was now in his twenties.

Also, for some reason, she was oddly always available whenever someone needed her to watch over their progeny to make sure they didn't kill themselves.

Thankfully some were quiet, like Lorn. But he did have the tendency to watch her, unblinkingly, for hours on end which wore down her nerves something fierce.

She was losing count of the times she'd managed to do just that, honestly. This time it was Titanus and Oberon that were the source of her newest injury. Titanus had shimmied up a tree while she prevented Oberon from swallowing clumps of grass he'd torn out of the ground (rocks and all), culminating in Titanus falling on her and elbowing her in the face.

And now she was staring at the damage in her mirror, calculating how long until her parents came back from their latest job and if she had enough coverup to deal with it. With a heavy sigh, she resigned herself to a heavy coating of coverup for the next few days. It was easier than explaining to her folks just why she had one in the first place. They would understand, of course. But first they'd panic. A lot.

Those little brats.

They'd been really apologetic, though. Titanus had even cried and tried to help her with an ice pack, by dragging a chair to the freezer when they went inside, and throwing the door open… which then smacked her in the face and gave her the other black eye. She looked like a racoon!

Maybe she could ask Wendy for some assistance on the down-low… Yeah, that's what she would do.

And then she'd take a job where she could shoot things to her heart's content.

It was a fantastic plan, all around.

Provided she wasn't ambushed on the way to the job board by another over-stressed parent, that is.