Author Notes: This is set when Temari is twelve. She graduated from the academy, but Kankuro and Gaara are not genin yet.

Temari was eating dinner when she was summoned to the Kazekage's office. Temari frowned. Did her father have questions about her last report from this morning's D-rank mission? Her job was to repaint a fence, was the client not satisfied? Did she forget to write something in her report? Baki had told her the reports she gave were always well-written. Her previous life was useful, she knew what to expect from a report scroll, but she wasn't going to tell her sensei that.

"Mother, can you please keep Kankuro from eating the food off my plate? Hopefully, I'll be back soon to eat it," Temari asked before standing up. Kankuro was always hungry, and was looking at her food with a bit too much interest for her liking.

Karura nodded, and Temari left the house. She intended to answer whatever questions they had and return home. She doubted it was another mission. She had spent the week doing D-rank missions, and was supposed to have a day off the next day. Besides, it was getting late for a new mission, they were always assigned early morning or evening.

Baki was waiting for her near the entrance of the building.

"Do you know why I've been summoned?" Temari asked as she approached her sensei.

"Your father thought you were the best one for a D-rank mission."

Temari sighed. She could forget a day relaxing with friends. And she was getting tired of those missions. She couldn't wait for Kankuro to graduate next month. Together, they'd do more D-rank missions, but eventually, they'd move on to harder ones. If it was anything like her previous life, they would be sent on C-ranked earlier than most genins. But this time, Gaara was attending the academy, so they might have to wait for him. Temari hoped not. She'd rather take one of Kankuro's classmates as a temporary teammate instead of waiting longer for Gaara to join.

Baki and Temari made their way to the Kazekage's office. Temari held her head up, trying not to show any disappointment in front of her father. Uncle Yashamaru was next to him, as his usual guard. Though, this time, he was dressed as if he was leaving for a mission rather than just being stationed to stand there for hours. And Temari recalled not having seen him this morning.

Her father cleared his throat. "I have a new D-ranked mission. I think it'll be the most interesting one in the bunch this week, so I preferred you to be assigned to it. Besides, Yashamaru was more at ease with you."

Why was her uncle implied? What was the mission? Temari felt a little nervous.

"My wife is on a mission right now, and my competences are demanded outside of the village as well. So I need someone to look after your cousin for a few days. She knows you better than any genin, besides I trust you with taking care of her. I thought it was best to have it as a mission, so the pay you'd get would be better than if I asked you directly. And I didn't want to risk the chance of you having other missions on top of that."

Her mission was to babysit? Temari was pissed, but she tried to keep her composure. She wished her mother could watch Hikari. But her mother was back to being an active ninja since Gaara started the academy, which meant giving her something considered a D-ranked mission was a waste of talent. Temari didn't have much choice to accept. She was trapped.

She tried seeing the positive side. Hikari was cool to hang out with. She was four years old, but she wasn't a brat. Her temper was better than Kankuro's, so Temari should survive her mission. Besides, Hikari loved her. The child was obsessed with watching her cousin train. Maybe Temari could do that tomorrow with her?

Yashamaru was leaving that night for his mission, so Temari had to rush to his house as soon as possible. A neighbor was watching over Hikari, but he was known to hate children. Temari took the phone, asking her mother to bring her some leftovers. It seemed to make her uncle think of a demand not written on the mission scroll, because as soon as she hung up, he called her up.

"Oh, Temari, I was finishing eating when I was called here. I'm convinced Mr Sato didn't clean the dishes, would you mind taking care of it after you put Hikari to bed? I got groceries yesterday, so you shouldn't miss anything. Feel free to cook whatever you want for you and Hikari. You can sleep in my bed during your stay, I know the couch is not very comfortable."

Temari nodded. Yashamaru's mission was supposed to last three days, so she had to clean up eventually anyway, and cook. She wasn't bad at it, both girls shouldn't starve. And she was grateful for the bed. She had seen much worse accommodation for a mission in her previous life!

Hikari was confused when Temari showed up at her house.

"Where is daddy?"

"He has a mission. I'll be taking care of you."

Hikari showed her disappointment of her father leaving, but her smile came back immediately, realizing she got to spend time with her favorite cousin.

Mr Sato left immediately, visibly more than glad someone was taking over the babysitting duty. Temari rolled her eyes when he left the door. He could at least make an effort for Hikari not to notice how much he hated her.

"I don't like him," the child said as soon as the door closed behind the man.

"Well, it's a good thing I'm here, then. What do you want to do? There's still an hour left before your bedtime. If I consider your bath, we have a bit of time to play."

The kid brought her to the living room, where there were plenty of dolls. They played pretend for half an hour. Temari hadn't played much with toys growing up, because her father was very training focussed and prevented her from acting like a child often. Temari didn't mind because she had been through her childhood once already and her brain usually acted more mature than she was due to the time-traveling. But watching her cousin gave her a reason to play without anyone judging her. If a friend was to see her playing pretend, she would claim she did to please her cousin, not for her own fun.

Soon enough, time flew by. Temari stood up. She was getting bored anyway, not used to playing for this long.

"Okay, time for the bath. Do you want to go get your pajamas while I fill the bathtub with water?" Temari proposed. She had once overheard her mother and aunt talk about how Hikari didn't like bathtime much, so by giving her the choice to pick a change of clothes, she hoped it would help.

"I wanna play!"

"It's late now. Playtime is over. It's bath time. Do you want bubbles?"

Temari was usually the fun cousin, but she needed to keep her grounds. She couldn't let the child run all over her, or the mission would turn into a nightmare.

To Temari's luck, Hikari didn't protest. Temari helped the child bathe. She was getting more independent, but still needed supervision and help for some areas. Then, they went to Hikari's bedroom, and Temari hummed the lullaby her mother always sang when she was a child. Hikari recognized it, so surely it came from their grandparents and Yashamaru had passed it down to Hikari as well.

Temari then went to the kitchen to assess the dishes to clean. It took her a good twenty minutes to get the task done, her uncle seemed to lack some efficiency to use the same utensils when he could. But Temari was used to living in a five-person house, so she had a lot of experience when it came to washing dishes.

Once the plates and everything else was clean, Temari went to the living room, hoping to find something interesting to the young teenager she was. She only found the news station, but it was better than nothing. She found herself bored quite fast, because it soon looped to the same old news, so Temari thought about taking a shower and going to bed when she heard movement on the upper floor. Was Hikari awake?

Temari barely had the time to stand up from the couch when she heard another sound. Her heart started pounding. She prayed silently that she mistook it for something else. She didn't want Hikari to be sick on her watch. Temari rushed upstairs. As she approached the door of the child's bedroom, she heard the sound again. Definitely Hikari throwing up. Temari didn't feel like dealing with it, but she didn't have much choice, supposedly being the grown up here. Why was Hikari sick when both her parents were on a mission? They were never on a mission at the same time, what kind of luck was that?

Hikari was standing up next to her bed, and her clothes, the bed's covers and the floor were covered in vomit.

"Are you ok, are you going to be sick again?" Temari asked. Her cousin's wellbeing was more important than the cleaning at the moment.

"Uh… mm-mmm" Hikari said, seeming hesitant at first but then nodding.

Temari decided to rush her to the bathroom. If Hikari could make it to the toilet and leave less cleaning to Temari, the better it was! The child barely made it, and Temari felt very useless. She held Hikari's hair up, and drew circles on her back, hoping it was comforting. Temari bet her cousin missed her parents right now.

"There you go, are you feeling a bit better at least?"

Hikari didn't look convinced. When she seemed to be done, Temari decided to put water in the bathtub. Hikari definitely needed to get cleaned up.

"I'll try to take your pajamas out without making a mess, ok?"

The last thing she wanted to do was to rub puke into the child's face. But Temari managed, and Hikari sleepily sat in the bathtub. Temari cleaned her and while Hikari played a little with a toy, Temari rushed to the bedroom to grab a change of clothes.

"Do you want to try to sleep on the couch while I clean up your room?"

"Okay," Hikari whispered. At this point, the child was so out of it that Temari thought she could do whatever she wanted with her. Temari was thankful she was the one babysitting and not some random genin who might have taken advantage of the situation to manipulate the child to anything.

Temari took the child in her arms, and then the trashcan previously standing next to the toilet, before slowly making her way downstairs to lie Hikari down on the couch. While Temari was pissed of the situation she was in, she also felt very protective of the child. She was family after all, and Temari wanted her to be well – to be healthy.

"I'll be back shortly, okay? Yell my name if there's anything you need. I'll just be upstairs."

She kissed the child on the forehead before rushing to clean the mess. She started by taking the dirty sheets and covers off the bed, and went in the direction of the laundry room. The bathroom was on her way, so she grabbed the soiled pajamas as well. Temari was acting on reflexes alone at this point. She had never done such things, but her brain seemed to be telling her the logical steps to make.

Temari found in the same laundry room a change of sheet made for the size of her cousin's bed. Perfect! She grabbed those, put them in a bucket she found and grabbed the mop before returning to the bedroom to change the bed. If she could avoid trips up and down the stairs, she would.

She had barely done the floor cleaning when she heard footsteps rushing in the stairs. Surely Hikari was coming for the bathroom, and that made Temari worry, so she put the wet mop alongside the dresser to have it stand on its own before walking towards the bathroom, figuring Hikari must be there by now.

But the bathroom was empty.

"Hikari?"

"Here," the child said, sniffing. The voice came from the staircase. Temari felt herself panic. Had the child been sick in the stairs? It would be hell to clean!

When Temari got there, there was no vomit, even in the trash can Hikari was holding. But the child looked embarrassed, which Temari was confused about. "What's wrong?"

Hikari looked down. "I… I think I just pooped my pants."

Oh hell no! Did she have diarrhea on top of that? Temari was hopeful it was something Hikari had eaten, but it seemed to be more of a virus now. While Temari was very upset about the situation, she stayed calm for the child, and with the softest voice she could find, she answered.

"Okay, let's go to the bathroom, then. I'll get you pajama pants and underwear to change into. I made your bed so you'll be able to go back there to sleep. Just leave your dirty pants in the sink, I'll take care of it."

Hikari nodded, before turning pale. She threw up again, projecting vomit into the trash can. Temari decided to stay with her until she was done, and tucked her in her bed afterwards, before finishing the cleaning she had paused. It was late now, approaching midnight, and Temari wanted herself to go to bed. But Hikari kept on being sick, from both sides. It was disgusting, and Temari started to panic. How to make her cousin feel better? How long did it take to get dehydrated? Was it contagious?

So even if it was midnight, Temari took advantage of her cousin falling asleep to take the phone from Uncle Yashamaru's room. And dialed home. Her father answered. He tended to come back from the office late sometimes.

"Father, Hikari got sick hours ago and it doesn't stop. Can you send mom here? I need her."

She felt vulnerable, and feared her father would disapprove, but she was only twelve and taking care of a very sick four year old was a bit much. That was not part of her mission.

She heard Rasa sighing. "I'll wake her up. That means I have to take care of your brothers tomorrow morning, doesn't it?"

He was annoyed. But Kankuro and Gaara were fairly independent. They could make their own breakfast and walk to the academy by themselves. It was not the end of the world. Temari needed her mother much more.

Karura showed up fifteen minutes later, in her pajamas. She immediately checked on the now sleeping Hikari while Temari explained the events.

When Temari finished talking, her mother replied. "You've done a great job. You could have called me when it happened as well, you know I would have rushed here."

Temari blushed. "I didn't think about it, and babysitting is supposed to be my mission. I was afraid Father would be pissed if I gave it to you."

Karura shook her head. "If your father says so, send him to me. Hikari clearly has a nasty virus and that's above a genin's responsibility. Go to bed, you deserve some rest."

Temari bet she had bags under her eyes by now. She was exhausted. She didn't care at this point if her father would consider the mission to have failed or not. It would look bad on her profile to fail a D-ranked mission, but at the same time, what more could she do? So she went to the main bedroom and fell asleep. Her mother joined her as well in Yashamaru's bed, but Temari felt her leaving a few times, probably that Hikari had been sick again. At this point, Temari didn't care. It was not her job, at least for the night. Her mother was on watch duty. Her mother was here.