Lately, Asuka has been giving trouble to her parents. What will they do?

My story for the Fairy Tail Novice Writing Challenge #1 (fluff), launched by OrbitingArbiter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy tail.

That said, enjoy!

Bath time

"We need help."

Alzack had just arrived at the guild, followed by his wife who was holding their sleeping daughter in her arms.

"What's wrong?" Mirajane asked.

Alzack sighed.

"It's her", he answered, showing Asuka.

Everybody came to them, worrying about the little girl who had somehow become the mascot of the guild.

"The poor girl seems exhausted, what happened?"

"We just had a fight."

"And she won", continued Bisca, a distraught look on her face.

Two hours ago

It was a beautiful day. Alzack was lying in the bed next to Bisca, still half asleep, wanting to make the most of their first day off since the Grand Magic Games. Bisca, who was sleeping, looked serene.

Alzack always wondered if the gorgeous green-haired woman who was his wife could dream, since she never moved in her sleep. Even now, she was in the exact same position as the night before – he knew that because as usual, he had fallen asleep watching her. He, on the contrary, was obviously more nervous, always throwing away the blanket in the middle of the night. He liked to think her calm nights were the reason she never seemed tired despite the pace they both had to keep everyday, especially since Asuka's birth, because that was the only excuse that explained why he could not keep up with his wife.

Asuka was the best thing that happened to him, along with Bisca. But she was also the best thing that happened to the guild during those dreadful seven years, when their friends were left for dead. A true ray of sunshine, when everything was hopeless. That was why, whenever they had the opportunity, they brought her along to the guild, and they were more than happy to give her a big family to grow up with.

However, that family would never truly know how difficult the girl was.

She was cute, of course. Adorable. But boy, the real moment's rest they had were probably when she was sound asleep. The rest of the time, they had to be extra careful since she lately seemed to be experiencing all kinds of things.

Asuka was still a child, so she would have been excused if she sometimes did silly things. But she had always been one of those children whose parents could brag about. Yes, Alzack and Bisca Connell could say that their daughter never caused any trouble. Until very lately. And now, their biggest fear were for her to suddenly start using magic without them around to look after her and avoid a possible catastrophe.

The first time, they didn't really take it seriously. It was a few months before Tenrou Team came back, the day Asuka turned five. For the occasion, Bisca had decided to prepare a delicious chocolate cake with strawberries while Alzack was at the guild, taking care of the decorations for the birthday. Even if it was a crumbling old building, everybody was eager to celebrate together one of the rare moments of joy they could share lately, and they had to make the guild look decent for that special day, so everybody was helping out, even Romeo who was not in the mood for a party. After everything was ready, Alzack came back home to tell his little family.

He didn't expect to see his wife lying on the floor, unconscious.

Or Asuka next to her, laughing hysterically.

The little girl was tracing big circles with her hands in a brown substance that was spread on the floor – and that, thank god, smelled like chocolate and not something else – as if she was swimming in it.

When Bisca regained consciousness, she told him Asuka absolutely wanted to taste the cake pastry before she baked it. Bisca, of course, wouldn't let her, despite her claims. But apparently, as soon as the mother bent down to open the door of the oven, the daughter took the opportunity to reach out to the kitchen table, plunged her little hands in the mix, avidly taking as much of it as she could, and made the bowl fall while she was at it. The bowl landed on Bisca's head, Bisca landed on the floor, the floor was soiled by the bowl's content. And Asuka was happily swimming in the middle of it all when Alzack arrived.

The birthday cake was ruined, but thanks to Kinana's cooking skills, who prepared another one, the party was not. And the incident was soon forgotten.

Until the second time.

It happened two weeks after that. That day, they were at the guild and Asuka wouldn't stop saying she was bored, so Alzack decided to introduce her to children her age so that she could play with them. Macao asked him to bring Romeo along with them, hoping he would find a reason to smile, and the three of them headed for the orphanage while Bisca was away for a mission.

When they arrived, they were greeted by Father Block, who took care of the place and the children. Romeo, as expected, kept silent the whole time, even though Asuka was dragging him around and trying to make him play hide and seek with the others. After a little while, Romeo decided to sit and practice his magic, which made most of the children observe him in awe. Since Asuka was already used to that kind of vision, she quickly went to see Father Block.

Apparently, she thought giving the priest a big cockroach as a present was a good idea, But Alzack only found out about that later. At that moment, he just saw Father Block suddenly step backwards. His headdress tilted on his head but didn't fall. Still, it was more than enough to attract Asuka's attention, who only had to jump to the still bending priest's head to steal the hat.

A few seconds later, she was running around the place, the headdress in her hands, with Father Block chasing after her. She approached Romeo and what was bound to happen did happen: she tripped and fell right in front on him, and the hat jumped from her hands to Romeo's.

Problem was, he already had his hands full, with the flame he had just created.

The hat was soon replaced by a pile of ashes and Alzack apologized profusely, while Romeo's lips were trembling, as if he was having a hard time trying not to laugh.

The third time, Alzack and Bisca were more cautious. But they could not imagine, even in their wildest dreams, that Asuka would take part in a dog race. Especially if taking part meant riding one of the dogs.

The fourth time was the week following the return of their friends from Tenrou Island. Fortunately, Pantherlily didn't take it to heart when she forced him to wear one of Carla's dresses and some make-up before going for a walk. But Gajeel was quite pissed.

The other times followed but did not resemble each other, and there Alzack was, lying on the bed next to Bisca, trying to imagine what his daughter would come up with the next time.

"Hmm..."

Alzack looked at Bisca. Her eyes were closed but her breathing was less regular, which meant she was about to wake up. He gave her a soft kiss on the forehead.

"Hello."

Still dizzy from the sleep, she looked for his hand and squeezed it instead of answering.

"Did you dream and sleep well?"

"Hm."

"Did you dream of me?"

"I stopped dreaming of you when reality became more appealing", she mumbled.

He bent down to give her another kiss, on the lips, this time. She smiled.

"Not awake yet?" she asked.

As if to answer her question, they heard quick and loud footsteps. A moment later, Asuka jumped to the bed and made her way through between her father and her mother.

"Good morning papa, good morning mama!"

"Good morning, sweetheart."

"Good morning Usagi-chan!" she told her plush rabbit she had brought with her.

Alzack couldn't take it anymore. He suddenly took her in his arms, squeezing her.

"Haha, papa, you're hurting me!"

"Papa loves you very much", Bisca laughed.

"It's your fault for being so cute!"

"Papa has to hug Usagi-chan too, because Asuka loves Usagi-chan!" Asuka said when he let go of her.

Bisca laughed and Alzack looked at the rabbit his daughter was holding out to him. Hesitating, he finally took it and burried his head in the rabbit's neck to make his daughter happy. But he quickly moved away from the plush, a disgusted look on his face.

"Eww, Usagi-chan needs to take a bath", he said.

"What about taking a bath with her, Asuka-chan?" Bisca asked.

"Okay, but don't say "her", Usagi-chan is a boy", she answered rolling her eyes, as if it were obvious.

"See, Usagi-chan is all soaked and he's not complaining", Bisca said a few moments later in the bathroom. "Why don't you follow her- I mean, him?"

"No! No water, don't put water on me!" Asuka answered, on the verge of crying.

"Asuka-chan, be a good girl", Alzack said, desperate.

"No!"

She was struggling, refusing to enter the bathtub. Even four hands couldn't seem to force her and her parents wondered when she started being to physically strong. She probably didn't want to hurt them but whenever she moved her hands and feet, they risked being punched, so they were already busy avoiding the many kicks. Finally, Alzack decided to grab her hands, and Bisca her feet, before making her dive by force.

Victory.

Oh. No.

"Alzack!"

"And that's what happened."

"You mean, she refused to take a bath?" Mirajane asked, trying not to laugh.

"Yes."

"And you, two very powerful grown up mages – pufff –, couldn't force a little girl to take a bath? And moreover, she even managed to throw a soap right into Alzack's mouth, making him swallow it, thus ending the struggle?"

Everybody was now laughing. Alzack had a hiccup and a little pink soap bubble popped at one of his nostrils.

"Don't think it's easy", he said, annoyed.

"But why do you think she refused?" Romeo asked.

"Must be a whim", someone answered.

"No", he insisted, "there must be a reason, right?"

He took the girl in his arms.

"Let's try again", he said.

They all headed for the public bath, concerned as if it were a matter of national safety.

"The water is too cold", Natsu said once they were there.

"No, it's too hot, flame brain", Gray answered.

"No, the temperature is perfect", Juvia finally said after dipping her finger in the water. "Juvia would know, since her own body is made of water."

"Then, maybe she wants some more toys?" Lucy tried.

"But we already took her Usagi-chan with us..." Bisca said.

"I think she wants us to bathe with her," Erza said, starting to take her clothes off.

"Don't strip!"

"The problem is obviously that there are too many people here."

"It doesn't make sense, she already refused when only her parents were there."

"Maybe we should add some bubbles to the water?" Wakaba said. "Alzack only has to sneeze in it, since he's become a soap dispenser."

"No."

It was Romeo. He was kneeling right next to her.

"She doesn't want to take a bath with her rabbit plush, she wants to give him a bath."

"Huh?"

Alzack looked at his daughter and started to understand. He smiled.

"She wants to mimic the adults", he told his wife.

The little girl blushed, plunging her stuffed animal in the water, averting the others' eyes.

"How did you know about that?" Macao asked while Asuka decided to hide her face in Romeo's jacket. He blushed as well.

"I think she always wanted to be helpful. She grew up being the one who brought smiles to the guild whenever she was around, even if the mood was dreary most of the time. She may not know it, but I'm sure she could feel it, even when she was younger. Maybe she thought of it as a responsibility? I don't know, but what I know for sure is that when I couldn't smile, she had that confused look on her face, as if she were trying to understand why. I remember when we went to visit the orphanage, she probably wanted to have fun with the children but she wouldn't let go of me."

"Yeah, I remember," Alzack chuckled.

"I guess she's been trying to take care of us, in her own way", Romeo continued. "Even if they are naïve, children are not totally oblivious, and assuming that role probably didn't bother her, so she's been trying to do the same with her plush."

It was a simple explanation, but it made sense, Alzack thought.

"So, shall we let her bathe her Usagi-chan and then make her take a bath in her turn?"

"Guess that's the best solution."

Bisca shared a look with her husband and knew he was thinking the same thing: it settled the problem for the bath, but not the rest.

Moreover, if they had to supervise both her daughter's and the plush's bath time, they were far from getting the rest they needed to recover from the future problems she would cause.

And after all, who would let their children soak their plush made of fabric and foam? They would have to buy her a new toy very soon, something made of plastic, at least.

And make her accept that new toy as Usagi-chan's replacement.

Oh, boy.

Hello again!

I had quite a hard time writing this fanfic, since I'm not used to fluff when it doesn't include romance, but I absolutely wanted to try. I'm not sure it fits the category, and I didn't really know where it was going when I started writing, hope it still makes sense!

Note: Father Block is a character from the latest Special Chapter "The Fairy's Punishment Game". He's the keeper of the orphanage where Cana grew up.

Anyway, hope you liked it!

OrbitingArbiter: I don't know if it's too late to submit my text, guess it depends on the place you live since it's still 07/31 in the US. If it is, it's okay, and I'll go read the others' stories anyway :)

As usual, reviews are welcome ^^