Fon took the call with open dread and exasperation.

"Not again..." he sighed.

Needless to say his behavior was unusual enough to garner the attention of everyone else.

Fon politely listened to the other end, and his exasperation turned to a Stormy fury. You could tell because his eyes were glowing an ominous red.

"I'll be there promptly," said Fon, hanging up with a very angry look on his face.

"What's wrong?" asked Skull.

"I'll explain later. I'm going to be gone for a day or two," said Fon curtly.

When Fon returned, it was with a small child about three or four years old. A little girl who bore a strong resemblance to him, meaning there was a close relation.

"You brought a kid here?" said Lal incredulous. She briefly glanced at Renato and Verde, who noted it but said nothing. They were too busy looking at the brat in Fon's arms.

"Can I hold her?" said Skull at the same time. He loved kids.

Fon allowed Skull to cuddle with the child.

"Who or what is that?" demanded Viper.

"My daughter, Willow," said Fon tiredly. "For some reason I have an inability to find a proper babysitter for her without some form of 'incident' taking place after two or three months."

"What sort of incidents?" asked Renato suspiciously. He barely tolerated kids on a good day.

"Strange occurrences, a few bad habits that only happen around certain people...kidnapping attempts."

"Kidnapping attempts?" repeated Renato.

"I don't know why, but without fail if Willow is left with the same caretaker for at least four months there's always an attempted kidnapping. It doesn't matter who I leave her with or how many precautions are taken, without fail someone tries to grab her. I suspect it's because she has Inactive Flames," said Fon tiredly.

Now that he mentioned it, they could sense she had them. Just currently dormant at the moment.

Luce walked in, took one look at the kid in Skull's arms and squealed.

Fon winced.

"Luce, whatever you do don't get within range of Willow. She has a habit of biting Skies for some reason."

That got the baffled expression of nearly everyone save for Skull.

"I could have sworn you just said that your daughter bites Skies. As in this is a known behavioral problem," said Viper.

Fon sighed, and face-palmed with a tired expression.

"I don't know why, but without fail every time Willow has been within range of a Sky she has tried to bite them the second they come near her. And it doesn't matter what sort of personality they have either...she cannot stand any of them. For some reason her reaction is proportionate to the amount of Sky flames near her... the more is in the air, the deeper her bite tends to be. I swear she must have Cloud flames."

Luce pouted at that, but kept her distance.

"So why did you have to retrieve her this time?" asked Lal changing the subject.

"Someone nearly succeeded in kidnapping her, except she managed to stay hidden until I arrived. However the idiots kidnapped a different child and if I want to retain any of my friendship with the family I will have to retrieve them in between making an example of the fools behind it," said Fon irritated. "The problem is that now I have to find a new babysitter, and I've almost used up all the favors I've made over the years. As if that wasn't bad enough word has apparently spread about the issue."

"Why don't you leave her here then?" said Skull innocently.

"Leave me out of it!" said Renato just as quickly, once Skull said that.

Lal, Verde and Viper all nodded in complete agreement with Renato's statement.

Fon eyed the way Willow was calmly staying in Skull's arms.

"If you could keep an eye on her for a few days, I would appreciate it. Just until I can find someone else to watch her," he said tiredly.

Skull perked up at that. He didn't think Renato would be a big enough bastard to harass him while he was watching Fon's kid. Not without earning the eternal ire of the Storm. Besides, he liked kids.

Before Fon left, he did leave one parting warning.

"Don't bother putting her in front of any 'age-appropriate' educational programming. She has a habit of wandering off and getting into mischief if that's on," said Fon.

"Really?" said Skull.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you know those Godzilla movies you have a habit of watching late at night when you have a reasonable chance of controlling the TV?" said Fon.

Skull nodded...before mentally wincing that Fon had busted his secret addiction.

"She can watch those with you, so long as it's not any later than ten. And she generally takes a nap before lunch. So long as the show isn't too mind-numbingly boring she might stay and watch it, but she absolutely hates most children shows. And she's faster than you think."

Skull nodded, and took actual notes. The list was pretty basic, even if a few items were a tad odd.

"So you have no problem with me corrupting her with Godzilla movies?" he asked.

"I've caught her enjoying Doctor Who and I've seen her watch the first Lord of the Rings movie without falling asleep. She doesn't really get nightmares from it," said Fon. "She tolerates Disney, but she prefers Miyazaki."

"I got a few of those movies in my trunk," said Skull. He was sure letting her watch Spirited Away or even Nausica wouldn't be too terrible.

Fon left, and Skull put Willow somewhere safe where she wouldn't get into too much trouble with the others before he went to dig out some of his movie collection. Some were a bit too graphic, but from the sound of things she could handle PG-13 at least.

However while he was busy doing that, he had no idea that Luce hadn't quite taken Fon's warning as seriously as she should have.

"OW!"

Renato looked up from his book when he heard that, and blinked when he registered a rather deep bite mark on Luce's hand.

"Didn't Fon say his brat has a biting habit around Skies?" he commented. He got up and took a closer look at the wound. "You're lucky you pulled back so quickly. Any deeper and this would need stitches."

Renato took extra care healing over the wound... human mouths were a hotbed of bacteria and other unpleasant things, and being bitten could easily lead to infection.

Skull walked in and blinked at what Renato was doing.

"I thought Fon said to keep clear of Willow because she has a biting habit?"

"What do you have there?" asked Renato, changing the subject on Luce's stupidity. The kid had been staying put while Skull went to get a movie, so full blame could be placed on Luce's shoulders for getting so close.

"My Neighbor Totoro," said Skull.

Renato had never heard of it, but it looked like an animated movie so he promptly went to ignore it.

"I didn't know you watched children's movies," he snarked.

"It's a Miyazaki. They're like the Japanese version of Disney, except it's not so cutesy and the characters have actual depth to them."

Renato made a noise of disinterest. Skull ignored him and checked over Willow before turning on the TV and putting in the movie.

Renato ignored it for the most part until he started to register what was actually happening in the movie.

Without even realizing it, he started to get drawn into the storyline which made Skull grin in victory.

"What the hell are you two watching?" asked Lal baffled.

"My Neighbor Totoro," said Skull. "It's a Miyazaki, since I don't really have any Disney ones."

Willow clapped happily when the movie ended, and cheered when Skull brought out a different one.

"Howl's Moving Castle?" said Renato. The last one had been better than he thought, so he was willing to give it a chance.

"Trust me you'll like it. Or at least identify with Howl," said Skull. He would be surprised if Renato didn't identify with the wizard.

Renato was hooked just as quickly and almost disappointed with the fact it ended. The storyline appealed to him without being too 'cutesy' and ridiculous about it, and the animation was rather good overall.

It took him several moments to realize Willow had fallen asleep sometime during the end credits and was curled up on his lap. Strangely, Renato didn't overly mind the fact the kid was sleeping on him. She was rather cute all sleepy and snoozing peacefully on his lap like this.

"...Got any more of these?" asked Renato.

"I have at least two more, and all the current Godzilla movies," said Skull. "I also have a ton of horror movies."

Renato glanced at the little girl sound asleep on his lap, then at Skull.

"Bring out some horror movies. Odds are we're going to be stuck watching the kid-friendly ones often enough while Fon's gone, so we might as well enjoy an uninterrupted slash fest while she's sleeping," ordered Renato.

Skull blinked, before a wide grin appeared on his face.

"What level of horror do you want?"

"So long as it's not overly ridiculous I don't care."

Skull went to his room and brought out several horror movies. He handed them over to Renato, who picked one out and he put it on. Who knew all he needed to properly bond with the prickly asshole of a Sun was a movie night?

Some time later...

Viper wasn't the only one to stare at the scene on the couch. They were sure everyone else was too.

It was shortly after lunch and Renato had decided to take a nap on the couch. Except he wasn't alone...at some point Fon's daughter had managed to crawl on top of him and was happily snoozing on his chest, her head curled into his neck contentedly.

"Am I the only one seeing this?" asked Lal.

"It's not just you," said Verde.

Viper was already taking blackmail pictures.

"What I want to know is why she went to him, rather than Skull," said Lal. Because Skull had crashed on the chair next to the couch after playing with Willow before lunch, and it there wasn't that much of a height difference between it and the couch. Besides, even asleep Renato gave off a sense of 'danger' and 'chaos', which made it very baffling Fon's kid had picked him as her nap partner.

"Too cute!" said Luce.

This time she kept her distance. Her hand still hadn't fully healed over after the rather deep bite Willow had given her for getting too close, despite Fon's warning.

Renato woke up an hour later, and had to blink at the small body on his chest. Willow was in a half-doze, so when he woke up properly so did she. He had to stare at the verdant green eyes not too dissimilar to Verde's own shade looking right into his black ones.

"Why are you on me? Skull's the one who actually likes kids," said Renato baffled.

Willow blinked cutely, before nuzzling into his neck.

"Comfy...you feel like papa does..." she mumbled in English of all things. It was heavily accented but understandable.

Well, Fon had mentioned he caught her watching Doctor Who, so it was possible she picked it up from the show.

Then what she said filtered through his mind, and he stared at her.

"I feel like your papa?"

Willow nodded, clutching his suit without a second thought. Though she was careful not to wrinkle it.

Renato quickly realized if he wanted to get up, he would have to carry her. Sighing, he easily maneuvered his arm under her so that he would support her weight.

"Come on principessa. Let's make sure Skull's idiocy doesn't infect you. If you can learn English from a show there's no reason you can't pick Italian up just as quickly," said Renato.

Willow perked up at that, and beamed brightly when she realized she was being carried.

If the surreal sight of Willow sleeping soundly on the prickly Sun wasn't enough, seeing her pay avid attention to Renato teaching her basic Italian...and managing to stumble through the pronunciation at his gentle prompting...was enough to make everyone wonder if they had stumbled into the Twilight Zone.

Every one of them knew Renato barely tolerated children. He made no bones that he didn't particularly like interacting with them, much less spending any significant amount of time near them.

And yet here he was, teaching a three and a half year old little girl how to speak Italian with more patience than he ever gave Skull on a good day.

Luce pouted, because even she could see the way Willow's eyes narrowed the second she came within five feet of the girl. There was no mistaking the fact Willow would react badly if Luce came too close to her.

Renato noticed the way Willow's eyes discreetly tracked Luce's movements. It was rather familiar in a way.

"Principessa, why do you not like Luce?" he asked.

Willow huffed, looking every inch the child she was.

"She wants to take Papa away."

Renato wasn't the only one to blink at that response.

"Take your papa away?" repeated Viper incredulous.

Willow nodded, and made it clear she was on the verge of a temper tantrum at the mere idea of such a thing happening.

"She keeps trying to take Papa from me," said Willow adamant, in all her three-year-old glory.

Renato mentally ran what limited information he had on Fon's daughter through his head. Viper was the one to come up with it first.

Their eyes widened slightly under their hood. It was a well known fact that Elements could bond with others, even if there was no chance of a Guardian bond happening. Considering how fond Fon was of his daughter, it was entirely possible he had such a bond with Willow.

"Do you believe Luce is trying to replace what you have with Fon?" asked Viper carefully.

Willow looked at them, and there was a too-knowing gaze behind those green eyes.

"Papa is mine, not hers!" huffed Willow, her cheeks pouting.

Seeing the look the others were giving them, Viper snorted.

"Willow likely has a deep bond with Fon and thinks that Luce is trying to usurp it with her Sky. Which would explain her dislike of Skies, if that's the case. You'll have to wait until Fon comes back before we can remotely teach her the difference between them Luce," said Viper.

A three year old wouldn't know the difference between a Sky attempting to court her father, and someone trying to take away the most important person in her life. And considering Fon mentioned it was a well known problem, it was likely he hadn't picked up on this fact himself.

Luce pouted, but at least now she knew it wasn't that the kid hated her. She could wait until Fon returned, even if she felt guilt about the fact she knew exactly what was coming. If Willow disliked her now, she was almost certain to hate Luce later.