~A Wild Rose~

Zane's Babysitting Adventure!

2

"It all happened so fast..." Zane stated, " It was so sudden. In fact...it was almost out of no where. I had no idea how he got roped into this babysitting gig..." he chuckled as the surrpunding crowd of fellow students seemed to lean in close...eager to listen.

He simply shrugged.

"I just did." he smiled.

xxxxx

"Every so called sitter I have had before you has proven to be nothing short of a disappointment so far." said Seto Kaiba,"See to it that you don't disappoint me like the rest...and I assure you I can really make it worth your while."

"In translation..." said Mokuba, who had a much more gentle bedside manner than his older brother, great as a man Seto Kaiba was, he was surely intimidating if nothing else,"We'll give you a shot, kid." Mokuba would smile sweetly,"Good luck."

xxxxx

There was no way Zane could refuse it now.

Seto Kaiba could offer a top line recommendation to any school of Zane's choice in the future- and even offered to do so if he did this job well. Especially to enhance Zane's title line in his future with Pro Dueling... Not that Zane was really out to seek any of this...

After all, he had enough natural talent on his own, but any highlight never hurt anyone's chances.

Especially when the man himself offered it, on top of a pretty penny of payment.

Besides that, it was summer.

This meant Syrus and him would be bored at home with each other while their parents worked, and his parents insisted that having extra ciricular activities on his resume would certainly work for some bonus points for his future in the long run...

Babysitting could work for that right?

Let alone babysitting a corporate heiress, child to one of the biggest names in the world of Duel Monsters...

That definitely had to count for something.

XXXXX

"Say what? You took on a babysitting gig?" Zane's friend Atticus spoke to him over the other line,"For some Corporate big wig!?"

Zane thought it best not to give out the major details...

The situation alone was unbelievable enough, without that information...

"Well...the girl is the same age as Syrus roughly, so how hard could it be, right?" Zane blinked, "If anything he'll have a playmate."

"Hold on bro...did you say it was a little girl you would be babysitting?"

"Well...yeah." said Zane,"Why did you ask like that? Surely it's not hard to babysit little girl!" he huffed.

"Bro!" Atticus sighed,"Handling little girls is way different from handling boys! Take it from a guy who actually has a little sister?"

You're exaggerating." Zane stated,"According to her dad, she likes Duel Monsters and action heros." he said,"That's not any different from Syrus. Plus her uncle said she was generally a cupcake! So this should be simple enough."

"I'm telling you man..." Atticus laughed," You'll regret underestimting the struggle of babysitting girls." he snickered,"Good thing you know me...I'll be able to help."

"I won't need help!" Zane huffed,"I have to go now... They'll be arriving soon."

CLICK.

Baby sitting girls is hard he says...

Zane thought to himself and scoffed as he shook his head.

He stared down in a long... uncomfortable...and...awkward silence, at the small pink haired child who looked up at him nervously, with the biggest, brightest blue eyes he had ever seen, while she stood in a timid posture.

Not hard...surely...

Zane gulped and thought to himself.

Though I may have underestimated just how awkward having a little girl in my house might be...

After all...it's not exactly like they had any little girl toys that she could be interested in...

"Who's that Zane?" A small blue haired boy who struggled to keep his glasses on right peeked around the stairwell as he noticed his older brother welcoming in a small and rather cute pink haired girl.

She didn't look to be much bigger than he was...

His brother held a bag containing a few of Connar's favorite things, one particular action figure that she reached for shyly when she was met with two new faces.

"It's all right Connar...we're friendly." Zane said softly as he handed her the doll she reached for, "So... you like Kaibaman do you?"

She nodded as she graciously accepted his peace offering, which was handing her the toy version of the character they spoke of.

"You know... I think Kaibaman comes on the tv on Saturdays." he stated and clicked on the telivision,"Here, let's watch ok?" She nodded, drawing her baby blues onto the moving colors.

"Syrus...this is Connar." Zane said softly,"She's going to be our new friend this summer, okay? So be nice!"

"Oh." Syrus blinked and watched the girl with big curious eyes.

He didn't have a lot of experience with girls...

Even at school they tended to stay away from him because they thought he was weird...

"Oh, and Connar!" Zane blinked and the pink haired child turned and looked up at him as he spoke, " This is my little brother Syrus." he said to her, " He has lots of games and toys too, and I'm sure he'd love to play with you."

"Hi..." She squeaked it out softly and gave a small smile that made the young boy's heart pound as he blushed and waved back shyly which made her giggle.

"See look at that?" Zane smiled,"They're already friends...Ha!" he grinned feeling a sense of accomplishment, "This will be a piece of cake! Take that, Atticus!"

Eventually little Syrus warmed up to the girl's company and sat next to her while they watched her favorite tv show together.

She told him all about Kaibaman, as it seemed he didn't know much about him at all.

"Hm." Zane smiled feeling rather pleased as he sat on the couch and read through some of his studies for preparation of the up coming school term.

He could hear the Kaibaman show playing in the background, must have been a marathon.

However, the eyes that were meant to be on the tv... he could now feel feel were burning a hole through him.

He glanced up to be met by a staring pair of baby blues and gave a light chuckle as he closed his textbook and leaned in closer to her level.

"Is everything okay. Connar?" he would ask,"Do you have a question perhaps?"

"You're a lot different from my other babysitters." she said softly.

"Oh?" he blinked,"Well...I hope that's a good thing..."

She nodded.

"You're littler than them too..." she said.

She seemed to be pondering this curiously.

"Littler?" he chuckled,"Well... that's because I'm a kid too, Connar, just like you." he poked her playfully in the tummy and made her giggle while he smiled.

" I'm just a little bigger, that's all." he smiled,"Because I'm older than you."

"Oh." she blinked,"You're prettier than them too~" she smiled sweetly up at him and he let out a startled cry of surprise while he could hear his little brother snickering.

Guess he also heard that-

"Ah...!?" he blushed as he could hear his little brother snickeringeven more, "I uhm...thank you?" he blinked.

Prettier? What an odd thing to say...

He laughed lightly.

Still...that was pretty cute~! She really is a cupcake!

"Do me a favor, would you Connar?"

"Uh-huh?" she blinked curiously.

He smiled softly and leaned a little closer to her-

"...Don't go telling that to any other boys okay?"

"Pff okay~" she giggled sweetly, the way her little cheeks turned red looked really adorable on her. And her smile was very bright and warm...it was hard not to melt a little bit...

In a short time spent, Connar and Syrus were getting along swimmingly which brought relief to Zane.

They played with each other which kept from him having to do much intervening and awkward conversation...

After all...he wasn't used to talking to small children other than his little brother.

Let alone little girls.

He lost count of how many times he pondered the question on if she was comfortable and felt okay. Though back at her home it was usually just her with her dad and uncle right?

So maybe being with two boys wasn't as uncomfortable for her as he was initially wondering...

Perhaps she was used to it, and he was just over thinking things. He sighed as he clicked on the oven.

"Now to let them bake for about 15 minutes and-"

"ZANE!" Syrus cried out as he burst in the kitchen in a panic.

"Syrus!? What is it!?"

"I can't find Connar!" he cried.

"What!?" Zane gasped,"What do you mean you can't find her!?"

"We were playing hide and seek, it was her turn to hide so I seeked and-and-" he hiccuped between his sobs,"I can't find her anywhere Zane! She's all gone!"

"Surely she's not gone!" Zane stated,"It's hide and seek Syrus she's supposed to hide well so as not to be found..." He blinked and sighed, "Come on, let's go look for her together okay?"

"Okay..." the boy sniffed as he took his brother's hand and they started their search.

As time passed, Zane too, began to feel rather panicked.

They checked every room and cabinet and closet door...

Connar was just no where to be found...

They left off in Syrus's room...where it started- and even went so far as to check his toy chest.

Zane gulped.

"...I...can't find her anywhere..." he mumbled to himself nervously.

"Zane?"

"Uh-It's nothing Syrus!" said Zane,"N-Now uh...don't panic uh..." he gulped.

Who was he telling that to exactly?

His little brother?

Or himself?

"J-Just...stay in here okay..I'll be right back!" he dashed out quickly and fumbled about stumbling over the numbers on his phone-

"Hello?"

"Atticus!"

"Zane! HaHa, what's up man?" Atticus asked,"How's the babysitting going?"

"I uh...I...need your help."

To Be Continued