It had to be raining right now, just my luck. Not to say rain wasn't a good thing, I loved it when I was cozy inside, but right now, I wished it would stop. It obscured my pursuit of an enemy ninja, who had been seen scouting around the village. The rain turned the trees and grass around me into nothing but a green blur as I ran after the man. Unfortunately, with rain came another obstacle, slick surfaces. That combined with a timely smoke bomb from the enemy made me slip up. I was completely blinded and missed my next step, forcing me out of the trees.

"Damn it…" I cursed as I landed in a deep mud puddle. Great, just what I needed. I looked around as I pulled my foot out of the mud hole, but saw no sign of the man. He'd gotten away, again! This was the second attempt to get him, the first time Anko's team had been assigned to catch him. He was proving to be quite a crafty bastard.

I sighed deeply, closing my eyes for a second to think of a new plan, when a sharp cry sounded through the forest. At first I thought it was a wounded animal, but when I heard it again it sounded more like a baby. Wait...that couldn't be right. Why would a baby be out here? Everything in me told me it was a trap, but I had to be sure. I followed the sound cautiously, the pitiful sound getting clearer the closer I got.

The cries were coming from a tree a few hundred meters away, but I couldn't find anything in the tree branches. I didn't want to give up, but the rain was getting harder and the area was starting to flood. I worried that whatever it was would be swept up in the storm. It was dumbluck that I happened to land in a bush next to the tree, coming face to face with a wicker basket. Inside was a flurry of movement underneath a thin blanket.

I pulled the blanket back to find a small child, who was maybe only a month old. I couldn't tell if they were injured, but I knew I had to take them with me. I held the whimpering child close, trying to hush their cries. I noticed there were no signs of anyone else around; no footprints in the mud to lead me to whoever left the child here. A child this small, you would think there would be signs of their mother or father being nearby, but there was nothing but muddy puddles around us.

"Where in the world did you come from?" I asked the child as they cuddled closer, shivering in the cold. I tucked them into my arms, making sure they were secure under my cloak before taking off back towards the village. I could get chewed out for abandoning my mission later, right now there was a more pressing matter to attend to.

The ANBU outside the Hokage office were surprised to see me back so soon and quickly opened the doors for me. I felt their eyes on me, probably wondering why I didn't have a fugitive in tow, as they closed the doors behind me.

"Kakashi, what a surprise to see you back so soon." The Third Hokage said as he stood up from his desk. "What do you have there?" He nodded towards the lump under my cloak. I pulled it back, showing him the sleeping baby in my arms.

I quickly handed him the small bundle, hoping he'd be able to do something about the child. The old man's face softened as he took the child from me, shushing them when they started to fuss. It was like they didn't want to be away from me, and strangely I wanted the child back as well.

"Kakashi, where did you find her?" He asked, trying to hush them. Girl, it was a girl…

"I found her in the forest sir. There wasn't any sign of her parents and I couldn't leave her out there in this rain. I didn't know what else…" The Sandaime held his hand up to silence me.

"It's alright; I would have done the same. You did the right thing Kakashi." He said handing her back to me since he couldn't seem to calm her. As soon as she was back in my arms, she quieted down. Her eyes opened for the first time, revealing their purple coloring. She was the cutest thing I had ever seen. It dawned on me that I was beginning to become attached to her. Why was I feeling this way? I couldn't take her in even if I wanted to. I'd never be home with my job and she'd be in constant danger…

"Kakashi, could you take care of her tonight? We don't have anyone else available for her care." I was shocked by the offer, but answered before my brain even caught up to what was going on.

"Of course." Why did I say that? If I got too attached…I didn't know what I would do.

Once home, I set the bag of supplies the Hokage gave me on the table. Everything she would need was apparently in here, but it was only enough for one night. Hopefully by then someone would offer to take her in. I wasn't really the parenting type.

I dug through the bag and found a bottle and the baby formula to feed her. She'd gotten fussy on the way home and I thought maybe she was hungry. The second I brought it to her mouth, she started to drink like she hadn't eaten in days.

"Goodness, you're hungry." I chuckled, gently rocking her as she fed. "You eat like my ninken..." She just looked at me with a dazed expression. The bottle was empty within five minutes, which I think may have been a record.

"You know, I can't just call you kid all night. What should I call you?" I asked her as I patted her back to burp her. It was quite a burp from someone so small, but thankfully nothing came up with it. "How about…Aurora?" I smiled at her from behind my mask as I put her back into the crook of my arm. At this she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep. "I assume that's a yes."

I carefully got up, not wanting to wake her, to take her upstairs to lay her down. Problem was, the only bed in the house was mine and I was afraid if I put her there with me, I'd squish her. Without even realizing what I was doing, I had made a pillow barrier in the middle of my bed and laid Aurora down on it.

"Well, that was easy." I yawned and laid down on the other side of the barrier. I watched her sleep for a while, slowly falling in love with how her nose twitched as she slept. Before I knew it, I was asleep as well.

An hour or so had passed by when a small noise awoke me. Aurora was fussing, near tears, with her little hands balled into fists.

"Maa, what's…" I didn't finish as the smell hit me. "Ugh...really?" I was not looking forward to this part. I picked her up, holding her away from me and looked for the bag; Only then realizing I didn't bring it with us. Why didn't I bring the damn bag with me? I thought as we quickly made our way down.

I grabbed a diaper and wipes and started undressing her. The smell alone could have made any ninja run, and with my sensitive nose it was killing me! Gagging on the smell, I quickly started to change her, to find her only outfit was now ruined. I hadn't thought about checking her before, poor thing might have already had a full load and this...was the braking point. I got the idea that maybe a bath was the next step. After doing all I could, I picked up the stink ball, and the damn bag, and headed back up stairs with her. I kind of needed to wash up too now that I think of it. I'm sure I didn't smell all that great either.

"Maa, how does a bath sound?" I asked Aurora. Why was I talking to a baby? I asked myself. She couldn't answer me. Maybe I really was losing my mind. I pondered this as the tub filled and came to the conclusion that if this was the descent into madness, I was oddly fine with it.

Once the water was at the right temperature, I got undressed and got into the tub with her. I laid back, keeping her safely against my chest as I poured a handful of water on her back. The cooing she made had my heart melting.

"Oh Aurora, what am I going to do? I can't keep you." I thought out loud as I washed her with a washcloth. "I want to. I'm not sure why, but I feel a connection to you. Hell, I already named you." I felt myself getting too emotional and stopped before I went too far. This feeling was new and brought up a number of different questions. The biggest one, was I really ready to commit to this child and care for her the way I should?

Once clean and dried off, we headed back to my room to find her something to wear. The clothes in the bag I was given were too small for her, so I dug out one of my summer shirts to wrap her in. Why the Third had given me newborn clothing was anyone's guess. Of course, putting her in one of my shirts made me think of her as my own now...

I laid her back down in her nest of pillows and she immediately went back to sleep. I laid down on the other side, mind racing on what I wanted to do. I wanted to keep her, for reasons I couldn't explain, but I knew it wasn't possible. I covered my face in frustration and held back a groan, not wanting to wake Aurora. She stirred and made a cute little noise again, which broke me completely.

"That's it, I'm keeping you." I smiled as I looked at her. "You're too cute…"