Shisui didn't know how he ended up in this mess and why he agreed to babysit. First, he wasn't close to Anko at all and didn't even know her son. Then, he only had a few days off from his job as a police officer that he almost had to beg to have considering the chunin exam – now he had no more. At least Anko promised she'd pay, and Shisui hoped the pay would be good or he'd regret agreeing. And last but not least, Shisui was not a babysitter. He never did it before. He had interacted with children – those in the Uchiha compound loved to say hi to him – but he had never taken care of any of them. The exception could be Sasuke, but even then, it was more Itachi that was babysitting, and Shisui was just Itachi's friend hanging out with them. True that when the two brothers started a fight, Shisui was usually the one who stopped it. But neither Fugaku nor Mikoto had ever asked Shisui to look after either one of their sons.

He tried to think of what Sasuke was like at seven years old, and what his needs were then to prepare. He had no clue what he was doing. It was one thing to look after a child for a few hours a day, but Anko would be gone for three full days. That meant Shisui had to cook, to get the child to school - and oh no that meant doing the homework with the kid too - and the bedtime routine. What was even a bedtime routine?

Shisui got to the park that Anko said her son – Tadashi, was it? – would be. He had no clue what the boy looked like, but as soon as he saw purple hair the exact same tone as Anko, he knew it was him.

"Hi, you're Tadashi?" he asked.

The kid turned around and looked at him. He had Orochimaru's eyes, or at least it was what Shisui remembered from old academy textbooks as he had never met the Sannin.

"My mom told me not to say my name to strangers. Who the hell are you?" the child dryly replied.

If Shisui had known the child, he would have reprimanded him for language. But he would not win any point by doing so now, he was only a stranger. So he bit his tongue and talked nicely.

"I'm Uchiha Shisui. Anko asked me to babysit her angel of a son. So would that be you?"

This was a lie. Anko had never said that, but he needed Tadashi to trust him. He hoped he was an angel.

"Yeah. I'm Tadashi. Where's Himari, you know, my usual sitter?"

If Shisui could have screamed, he would have done so. This child would be the death of him. Yet, Shisui remained calm and told Tadashi about the sitter being sick or something.

"Do you want to keep playing at the park or go home?"

"I want to stay here. I'd rather stay with my friends. I don't want to go home with you!"

Wow, that kid was rude! Shisui obliged, and sat on a bench nearby. He observed Tadashi play with his friends. The child was a hurricane in the park. He had so much energy! Still, Shisui enjoyed the high pitch screams of the child when he was being chased in a game of tag and his loud laugh. Children being children, with no wars to worry about. A luxury Shisui himself never had at that age.

Soon enough, it was time to start to make dinner and Shisui called Tadashi. They had to go home. Shisui hoped Anko had left groceries at her house, but the fridge and the pantry were nearly empty.

"Tadashi, do you like ramen? We could go to Ichiraku's and go get groceries at the market on the way back."

"Can we go somewhere else? I'm getting sick of eating ramen."

Sushi deduced that Anko didn't cook much and often ordered to make up for it.

"What about we go to the market, and I cook you a nice dinner, then?"

The child nodded.

Tadashi was not the most behaved child when it came to accompanying an adult to the market. He ran around the aisles, threw whatever he wanted – sweets mostly – into the shopping basket and it was pure chaos. Shisui regretted agreeing to everything or even thinking that bringing this child into a market was a good idea. His initial plan had been to bring Tadashi to the market to know which vegetable he liked or not so he could sauté them in a pan with some rice, sauce and eggs.

"I hope you spent your energy well enough, young man, because you'll be sitting silently in a corner for five minutes when we reach home to reflect on your poor behaviour in the market!"

If Shisui wanted to have the child throw a tantrum, this was the perfect way! Ugh, this would be a long three days…

The second day that Shisui babisat Tadashi, he realized there was no routine in Tadashi's life. Anko didn't leave him a schedule to follow because, for the most part, she didn't have one to begin with. It took a few hours of Shisui asking Tadashi about this and that to counterbalance his lack of knowledge to realize it. Although, no matter if there was a schedule or not, Shisui was almost certain that Tadashi's bedtime was not midnight, which was the answer the child had given him. It had to be a lie.

But at least, with a lack of schedule, Shisui could not badly mess it up. He just had to create one that could work for the both of them for the next two days. He was starting to get the hang of taking care of a child. He made sure Tadashi had brushed his teeth after every meal. He verified that homework was done before Tadashi walked to the school he was attending.

While Tadashi was at school, Shisui tidied the apartment and did all the house chores he didn't have the time to do because Tadashi took all his attention when he was there. By the time he was done with his task, he still had time left, so he went to the library to read more about child development and what kind of routine a seven-year-old boy should have, and what they could do by themselves or not.

Shisui was sure school was done for the day by now, but Tadashi had still not arrived yet. The Uchiha tried to remain calm, however. Shisui had found the child at the park the previous day, it was probably where he went. But when he was nowhere to be seen, Shisui allowed himself to panic a little. He turned into ninja mode and searched for the boy. Only to find him getting an ice cream cone with a few children his age.

"There you are, Tadashi! I've been looking for you."

The three children that were with him stared at Shisui as if he had three heads.

"Who are you?" one of them asked.

"Are you Tadashi's dad?" another added.

Shisui almost laughed. He looked nothing like Tadashi, nor Orochimaru who was the child's father. He wondered how the little girl came to that conclusion but didn't ask.

"No I'm not," he simply offered for an answer.

He kept the fact he was taking care of the child while Anko was working. He didn't know if that was something Tadashi told his friend or if he wanted them to know.

"Tadashi, did you have money on you to pay?"

"No, but Hanabi paid, and I'll ask mom to pay back when she gets back home."

Shisui smirked, and found some Ryo in his back pocket to give the child.

"If you want to play with your friends, I don't mind. Just be home for 6 so you can do your school work while I prepare dinner, that's okay with you?"

Tadashi looked surprised, but agreed. Shisui wondered if Anko gave her son a time when she wanted him to be home. Perhaps Tadashi went home when his friend did? Or was it the fact that Shisui cared about Tadashi's homework?

"What are we eating for dinner, Shisui?" Tadashi asked. "Can we invite my friends?"

Tadashi was for sure full of surprises. Shisui didn't know if he should accept or not. He was not living in his house right now. He was in Anko's and he had no idea if Anko would be okay with having guests over while she wasn't there.

"Maybe another time. I don't know if that's alright with your mommy. Dinner's going to be fish."

Tadashi pouted. Shisui didn't stay with them for very long. He reminded Tadashi to be home by 6 and left the children by themselves. Parts of him wondered if he should observe them from afar where they couldn't see him just to make sure Tadashi was alright. Shisui worried something could happen. But then he remembered that his parents weren't following him everywhere he went as a child and let Tadashi be.

The third and last day that Shisui had to stay at Anko's apartment to watch over Tadashi, something happened. He didn't know what it was, but Tadashi's behaviour changed entirely. For a little guy who didn't trust him at first or wasn't sure he liked him, Tadashi was now very cuddly. They were currently watching a TV program for children and Tadashi's head was resting on Shisui's body.

Unsure if this was the right move, but wanting to get more comfortable, Shisui moved his arm over Tadashi's body and brought Tadashi closer to him.

"It's the last day that you're here, right?" Tadashi asked.

Shisui nodded.

"Next time mom has to work, can you come here instead of Himari? I like Himari, but it was really nice to spend time with you."

Shisui wondered what he did that his usual babysitter didn't. Was he more permissive?

"I don't know if I'll be able to take care of you very often. I'm a police officer. I agreed this week because I had a few days off."

The boy was obviously disappointed by the answer, and Shisui felt bad about it. But he was not the kid's dad. He couldn't request to leave work early to get the kid from school or any other privileges. So either he babysat on his days off, or he did not at all.

Shisui surprised himself thinking he would want to look after the kid again. Two days before, it would have been his nightmare. He had found that taking care of this child was pure chaos. Plus, it came with a lot of responsibilities. But now that he had gotten the hang of it, he actually liked it. He didn't know what it meant, whether he was getting attached to the little guy, or if it just meant he had a paternal side generally speaking. But if Anko asked again and he was available, he wouldn't say no. Tadashi was cute, and he would for sure miss him. Perhaps he could visit once in a while if he wasn't able to babysit. But he didn't say that out loud to Tadashi, since he didn't know if that was a promise he could keep. For now, he found the boy cute and almost didn't want to leave, but once Shisui got his freedom back, there was a chance he'd forget about Tadashi.