Chapters 2&3 are combined now. Enjoy!

Waking up the next morning, I realized a huge problem; Aurora was close to being crushed by me. Luckily she was still fast asleep so I didn't scare her. I really should get her crib, and her own room. My apartment wasn't really made for a family, but then again I hadn't been planning on starting one any time soon. I was still only twenty-four and still in the ANBU. This was an insane idea, taking in a child I only had for a little over a day.

I sighed as I lay on my back, trying to decide what to do. I could move, but that was a hassle and possibly too expensive. I already had a two story apartment. It was small but manageable. The living room and kitchen were down stairs and I had a large room and a bathroom upstairs.

"What to do…" I thought out loud. That's when I remembered the spare room across the hall. I used it mostly for storage at the moment since it was small, but it'd be perfect for a nursery. I looked over at the sleeping angel and smiled.

"Better get started then…" First thing first, tell the Hokage I was quitting the ANBU.

I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding in…Why am I so damn nervous!? I sighed and ran my free hand through my hair. I looked at Aurora who was currently chewing on the sleeve of my flak jacket and blissfully unaware of the dilemma I was facing. I shook my head deciding that I was, in fact, being stupid and knocked on the Hokage's door.

"Come in." came the gruff voice of our Lord. This is it. I thought As I pushed the door open. "Ah, Kakashi. I see you brought the little one. Oh my, I see the clothes I gave you must have been the wrong size, my apologies." he chuckled, looking up from the stack of scrolls that were on his desk.

"Ma, I…wanted to talk to you." I didn't even recognize my voice right then and I could tell Sandaime thought I was being out of character.

"Is something wrong?" He asked, motioning for me to take a seat. I cleared my throat and reached back, taking a hold of my ANBU mask. I walked forward to place it on his desk, making the mistake of looking into the dark eye holes of the mask, forcing me to remember all of the things I had done in the past. No! Now is not the time for this. "My Lord, I wish to resign from the ANBU." There, I said it. That wasn't so hard now was it? I told myself.

To my surprise, he chuckled. "Kakashi, I'm surprised," and here comes the story of why I can't..."That you didn't do this sooner." Wait what?

"Huh?"

"You seem surprised about this?" He stood and walked around the desk towards me. "Let me guess, she changed your mind?" He smiled at Aurora and she smiled back, cooing softly. "My, my, you're much older than I thought, little one. You must have been tired was all." He got her to laugh when he tickled under her chin. "I'd say at least six months, but you are still quite small. You'll have quite a handful with her."

Of course he knew this would happen, which meant he planned on me taking her home. There had been someone to watch her, but he wanted it to be me. It had to be my choice to quit the ANBU and this was his way of pushing it.

"T-thank you my Lord." I bowed my head. Sneaky, old man…

"However Kakashi." He turned away and walked towards the window, putting his hands behind his back as he talked. "This means you have to take on a genin team." Crap. I know I had another option, but I really didn't want to retire completely from being a ninja.

"That's fine." Came spilling out of my mouth before I could stop it. Oh well, how hard could the genin brats be? No worse than a baby right?

"Good, good. Your first team will be assigned to you tomorrow. You'll get their names and where you are to meet them in the morning. As for the adoption paperwork, I'll have it sent as soon as possible. You're dismissed."

I blinked in surprise of how curt he suddenly became, but nodded and walked out. "Tomorrow, huh? Eh, that doesn't give me a lot of time…" I still had to find things for Aurora and now I have to find someone to watch her tomorrow.

"Wonder where you'd find baby things...?" I wondered, looking at Aurora who was currently playing with my button on my vest. First stop was a clothing store for sure. She couldn't stay in my oversized shirt forever. Kurenai just happened to bump into us in the Hokage building, and she gave me all kinds of advice. She also helped me get a list of baby supplies before heading off to her mission. Who knew babies needed so much stuff. Now I just had to find the store she mentioned…

While looking at the list, I walked numbly through the village, contemplating on who to ask to watch her. How in the world was I going to find someone to watch her on such short…

"Dynamic Entry!" I heard the cry and looked up to see the green clad man about to dive bomb me, from only Kami knows where. I rolled my eyes and moved out of the way. Of course the annoying man's loud call had startled Aurora and she started fussing. He landed on his feet and turned to me giving me a blinding smile.

"Kakashi! My hip and cool rival I…" Gai stopped his talking and pointed at the fussing bundle in my arms. "What in the world is that?!" he yelled, finally pushing Aurora over the edge and causing her to cry. I might add he was the first to make her cry.

I glared at him with my visible eye. "This? Ma, Gai, this is a baby? Have you never seen one up close before?" I know was being harsh but he'd made her cry.

"Yeah but…why are you holding her?" he then gasped. "ARE YOU A FATHER?!" at this Aurora wailed, making both of my ears ring.

"Gai, please stop yelling...Er..not yet but I guess you could say I'm in the process? And no, I'm not married, nor is she even my biological child. I'm in a hurry, so if you don't mind..." His jaw dropped and he stayed there with his mouth open like that as I walked past him. Then I had one of the worst thoughts to ever come to mind. I turned around the face the green clad man and sighed. "Crazy question, what are you doing tomorrow morning?"

Gai snapped out of his daze and went back to being his usual self. "Tomorrow morning I'm doing one hundred laps around Konoha! After that a hundred push-ups and then…" I held my hand up to stop him right there.

"Would you like to watch Aurora for a few hours?" The moment the words left my mouth I regretted it. Even Aurora thought it was a bad idea and wailed once more.

"Yosh! I would love to my rival, but alas I can't! I have a genin team to hopefully pass!" I thanked whatever god was watching at the moment and gave him a close eyed smile.

"Ma, that's alright. I do as well. Well, I'm off to find someone who can." I waved and started to walk away. He got that stunned look again when he heard I was leading a team.

"Wait! You still have to choose our next challenge. Our score right now is tied! Let us see who is the most youthful!" I really wanted to just teleport home,, but sadly I couldn't. I had a babysitter to find and I needed supplies.

"Fine. How about rock, paper, scissors." I smiled again though I had my teeth gritted together. I thanked kami for my mask.

"Yosh! If I loose I'll do an extra three hundred laps tomorrow during my morning routine!" He said and gave one of his good guy poses. I sighed and held my free hand out. We then counted to three. I choose rock and he chose scissors. He gulped and looked like he was going to cry his 'manly tears.' "Yosh! It seems you win once more! This brings the score to fifty one to fifty!" He gave me one more good guy pose and another yosh before walking off, albeit a little less chipper. After he left Aurora stopped fussing and became her calm, quiet self.

This store was apparently difficult to find. I had yet to come across it or any store remotely like it.

"Hey Kakashi! Who's little monster?" Asuma smiled as he walked up to me. Apparently today was the day to run into everyone I knew. "She's cute."

"Thanks, hey you know where to get this stuff?" I asked handing him the list while shifting Aurora in my arms. I had to look like an absolute loon walking around with a baby in a giant t-shirt...

Asuma took the list and shrugged. "Beats me." Was all the help he had. I sighed and took the list back. "The grocery stores got baby food and diapers but a crib, sheets and…what else was it? Binkies...sorry wish I knew."

I thanked him anyway, and left him after he pinched Aurora's cheek, making her pout and bury her face into my chest. I already knew he had a mission to go on tomorrow, so I didn't bother to ask if he wanted to watch her. I looked back at the list, deciding to just focus on the basics for now, when I walked into someone.

"Oi, watch where…Kakashi?" I opened my visible eye and saw that I had bumped into Iruka.

"Ma, sorry." I smiled. Iruka looked at me like I had gone mad. He had the right to. I, a jonin, had run straight into Iruka, a chunin. No not just a chunin, but a chunin academy teacher.

"Right…I'll be going." The tan man said, looking me over, pausing for a moment on Aurora, before he walked around me. For the second time today I questioned my sanity and took a lazy hold on Iruka's arm. The look he gave me would make any sane person run, but I wasn't one apparently.

"Ma sensei, I have a question for you. What are you doing tomorrow morning?" He crossed his arms over his chest and glared. Before he could ask why I blurted out, "'Cause I'm in need of someone to watch Aurora." I said and rubbed my hand over her back which caused her to look up at me and then over to the chunin.

"You want me to watch over her?" The unsaid 'you barely know me' was hidden in his tone.

I gave him a close eyed smile. "I'd be very grateful." Aurora added in then and held out her hands to the tan chunin. Even I was surprised by her behavior. Iruka smiled softly and held out his hand to let her grab onto his index finger.

"Fine, I'll do it. What time and where?"

"Eh, my apartment. I'll send you the address later. Second question for you." Iruka sighed, but let me ask. "Do you happen to know where I can find this stuff?"

He had it for less than a second and pointed the small store behind me. I nearly face palmed. How did I miss that? The name of the damn place was called My little Akachan.* I felt like an idiot.

"Maa, what do you know..." I tried to play it off, but he saw through it. "See ya." Quickly I walked away from him, leaving the chunin in a cloud of questions.

I walked into the store and was overwhelmed by the smell of baby powder; even Aurora was surprised and made a face. The place was packed with cribs, baby clothes, toys and some things I wasn't even sure babies actually needed.

"Why hello there!" an all too chipper voice sounded from somewhere in the mess. I turned to the direction and nearly jumped at the sight of a short woman standing near me. "Can I help you?" she asked. She kind of creeped me out, which wasn't easy to do. She had brown hair, that was starting to grey, up in a messy, scraggly bun. The bright pink kimono and neon yellow obi she wore nearly blinded my good eye. To top it off, her glasses obscured her face and made her eyes look like bug eyes. With her short face, it looked like she only had huge eyes.

Aurora fussed slightly and tried to get away from her.

"What a cute little angel! Oh, I bet you're here for things for her; let me help you!" The bug lady said dashing around the store gathering things that I needed. I still had the list in hand and yet this woman didn't need it. "There, I think that's everything!" She had a large pile of toys, clothes, bottles, blankets, a mattress, diapers and food and all of it was wheeled inside of a white crib. "And here's a little outfit for her now. A baggy shirt is not suitable for a baby. Shall I ring it up?"

I was too stunned to do anything but nod. She gleefully rang everything up as I changed Aurora into the lavender onesie the woman handed me. She looked so adorable in it.

After sealing it all into a scroll to carry it around easier, and me being 5,000 ryo poorer, we headed back towards home. Aurora was fussing softly and kept squirming, making it very hard to keep a hold of her.

"Hush my little caterpillar…" I wasn't sure where the nickname came from, but it kinda fit. "What's wrong?" Luckily there was a bench nearby. I sat down and took out a different scroll which held a pre- made bottle in it. I took it out and she drank nearly all of it as soon as the nipple touched her mouth. "My, you were hungry…" I looked up at the clock tower in the middle of the village square and saw we'd been in that store for much longer than I thought; at least two hours. "No wonder…my apologies. Daddy wasn't thinking." I froze at my own words. Daddy? Was that what I wanted to be called?

Quickly, I stood up and wrapped us home so I could have a crisis there and not in the middle of town.

Once we were safe at home, I sat with Aurora in my lap and had my crisis on the living room floor. I was a dad now...right? I mean of course adopting her would make me one, but why did it just hit me? Can I do this? I haven't finalized anything yet, so I could go back on it all if I wanted to.

I took out the scroll that held everything Aurora needed. Well, I've come this far, so there was no going back now. The task at hand now was to clean out the spare room for her.

"Alright then." I sighed, laying Aurora on a small blanket on the floor. "Daddy needs to do some things caterpillar. Stay here and behave." I teased her., still unsure if I wanted to be called daddy. She responded by kicking her legs and waving her hands. I laughed, letting her take my finger. Maybe I was overthinking everything after all. I mean, how hard could raising a kid be?

I walked into the spare room and sighed at the mess. There were weapons scattered everywhere, broken spears and a mannequin with no head or arms and half a left leg. Most of the stuff in here was broken so it went into the trash. What was usable would go into a box to be stored in my closet. It didn't take long to clean up the mess in the room, but once I opened the closet chaos ensued.

The contents of the closet came tumbling out, spilling onto the floor. It was packed with bags full of medical equipment, kunai and knives. I had wondered where I put all of that stuff and now I knew. I gathered the fallen items and sorted them out across the floor. Now I remember why I started sorting and storing them separately in bags; it was much easier to keep track of. Once that was done, it made it simple to seal it away in a scroll. Why hadn't I done this sooner?

Everything was out and now all I had to do was get the scroll with the baby stuff and set up Aurora's room.

"Oh fuck!" For a moment I panicked when I realized, I'd been up here for an hour! I ran down the stairs only to find her playing with her sock. She was attempting to pull it off but couldn't control her hand or foot and ended up having her hand slip each time. I smiled to myself and shook my head. What did I expect a baby to do? Especially one that couldn't even walk yet.

"You are so cute my caterpillar. And one day my little one, you will blossom into a beautiful butterfly. I can't wait to watch that transformation." I said as I kissed her forehead.

Akachan- means baby