Word got around quickly that Lee and Aceso had kissed, which ended up in two long weeks of being grounded. She was allowed to work, do a couple of solo doctor missions, and train Sakura. She couldn't do anything taijutsu training, no seeing friends (besides Sakura and Naruto, and no staying out late. Kakashi had grounded Aceso and Gai took up the role and grounded Lee. He wasn't allowed anywhere near the hospital unless he had to be, only training and missions. The last day of being grounded was yesterday, and Aceso was ready to go work on more Taijutsu. She opened the door and stepped out to see Ms. Loring and her baby Zero.

"Doctor Matsuba," Ms. Loring began. "I know this is your first day off in two weeks, but I am in a tight crutch and I need someone to watch over Zero for a couple of hours."

"I can totally watch your precious one," Aceso agreed happily.

"You are a lifesaver," Ms. Lorning melted. She looked at her son. "Now be good, my love. Me and daddy are heading over to the hot springs for a little and we will be back before you know it." She kissed her son's head before handing him to Aceso. "Once again, thanks a bunch." She then took off to have some alone time with her husband, the baby looked up at Aceso. He had bright green eyes and black hair.

"You are with me today, little one," Aceso said in a small voice as she tickled his cheeks. Zero started giggling a little. Aceso had always been good with babies, she delivered a lot, and looked after some sometimes. Aceso then went down and grabbed a baby carrier, so she can walk around the village with the baby strapped to her chest as she did a few things, including chores. After a diaper change, Aceso was up on the roof, trying to help the baby walk. She had his hands on hers and on her feet.

"What are you doing?" a voice asked. She looked back, standing against the doorway was Sakura. Aceso went to go cut her off, but she got cut off. "Never mind, can you train with me today?"

"No, I'm busy," Aceso denied as she looked back at the baby.

"By looking like a complete weirdo?" Sakura asked as she crossed her arms.

"No," Aceso laughed as she picked up Zero. "I'm babysitting." She turned around revealing the baby. Sakura had heart eyes pop up and she came close.

"He's so cute," Sakura cooed.

"I was trying to teach him how to walk," Aceso informed.

"Zero is only a few months old," Sakura recalled.

"Nothing wrong with doing early practice," Aceso said. "Would you like to help babysit?"

"Only for a little bit," Sakura agreed right away. "Let's work on crawling." The two girls put a sheet on the ground and sat on opposite ends. Aceso put Zero on her end, she had him face Sakura.

"Go get Sakura," Aceso said. Zero looked back at her, he made a few sounds. "Sakura." He looked back forward and then back at Aceso.

"Come to me," Sakura said with a small voice as she held out her hands. She waved her fingers around, Zero slowly started to crawl forward. "Yes, that's it!" Once the baby reached her, Sakura picked up Zero and spun him around happily. "Good job!" She put him back on the ground gently. "Now, go back to Aceso." She faced Zero to the doctor. He giggled before starting his crawl.

"Sakura," a voice said. They looked over to see Tsunade hovering over the pink-haired girl. "You were supposed to show up for training, what's happened?"

"That's my fault, Lady Tsunade," Aceso spoke up. "She was helping me with babysitting."

"Babysitting?" Tsunade asked, she looked at the ground and saw the baby staring up at her. "Oh, and who is this?" She knelt down to the ground holding out her hands with a smile.

"This is Zero," Aceso answered. "I delivered him right before the third phase of the Chunin exam," Aceso answered as Zero went to Tsunade.

"He's a cutie," Tsunade cooed. "I'm sorry, but I have to take Sakura."

"It's alright," Aceso smiled. "I understand, I'm the one babysitting duty in the first place." Tsunade handed the baby back to Aceso and took Sakura off to train. Now, Aceso was walking down the streets of the village to a gardener to get herbs from her. 

"Red Rose," a voice said softly from a few feet behind her. She glanced back to see Rock Lee peaking around the corner, both of them turned red. He looked a little beat up as if he had just gotten back from a mission.

"How was your mission?" Aceso asked as she put her arms around Zero. The baby happily giggled and grabbed on. 

"Was that a baby?" Lee asked as he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yeah," Aceso smiled softly as she turned around. "I'm babysitting Zero today." She used her fingers to wave the little guy's hands at Lee. 

"A tiny ninja," Lee said as he stepped out. " A very tiny ninja." He walked over, he lowered himself to the baby's level. The baby looked at him questionably and wasn't too happy.

"This Rock Lee," Aceso said as she tapped Lee's head. "He's harmless." Lee held out a hand, and the baby dug himself farther into Aceso. She took him out of the baby carrier and held him up on her hip. The baby then hid himself in Aceso's shoulder. 

"No?" Lee asked sadly as he stood back up, the baby looked back at him and started to tear up.

"It's okay," Aceso said in a soft voice as she rubbed his back. She reached out slowly, the baby watched, Aceso patted Lee's head and ruffled his hair. "You try." Lee bent forward, and the baby started to get fussy again. In the distance, Gai and Kakashi were watching like hawks. Aceso put the baby's hand in hers and started to slowly reach forward, Lee was completely still. With ease, she eased the baby to touching Lee's hair, the smile returned to Zero's face and he started to gently tap Lee's head. Lee slowly looked up as the baby leaned forward and put his mouth on Lee's face. Lee blinked as eyes locked on the baby, Aceso giggled as the baby pulled back. Zero started to grab for Lee and get fussy. Lee held out his hands and Aceso handed the baby to him. "This might conclude your training for today."

"It's youthful," Lee said with tears streaming down his face, in the distance Guy-sensei was crying as well.  "How long are you babysitting for?"

"Till Zero's parents come back," Aceso answered. "We were just on our way to a gardener's house."

"Then let's be on our way," Lee declared as he started to walk ahead of her. Halfway there, the baby wanted Aceso again, so Zero got handed back to her.

"Oh, so how was your mission?" Aceso asked.

"A few problems, but nothing severe," Lee answered with a sparkling smile. Aceso could still see a couple of bruises on his face. She reached into her pack and planted a bandage on his cheek. "Thanks." He turned a little red as he reached up and knocked on the door, the door opened revealing a little old lady.

"Oh, Doctor Matsuba, when did you have a baby?" the lady asked, she looked at Lee." Is this your husband and the baby's father?" Aceso could have sworn Lee almost lost consciousness. 

"No, ma'am," Aceso answered as they both turned completely red. "I am just babysitting today."

"My apologies," the gardener giggled. "So this young man must be your boyfriend then? Right?" Lee fainted at the word boyfriend.

"Just friends," Aceso said as she turned a darker shade of red. The baby was just giggling, while in the distance Kakashi and Gai were both watching again and sweating buckets.

"My apologies," the gardener giggled again. "Oh, dear...I'll be back with your herbs." 

"Thank you, ma'am," Aceso breathed lightly as Zero giggled more at Lee. She left the doorway, Aceso knelt down to Lee, and she tapped his face. "Lee?" His eyes snapped open.

"What happened?" Lee asked as he sat up rubbing his head.

"You mean, you don't remember?" Aceso asked as her cheeks grew pink.

"No, I apologize dearly," Lee teared up.

"It's alright," Aceso smiled closing her eyes.

"Where did Grandma go?" Lee asked.

"To go get the herbs for me," Aceso answered as Lee let Zero grab his finger. 

"Wait..." Lee began. "I thought you were off today, why are doing work for the hospital?"

"It's not really working," Aceso answered. "More like chores." Lee took Zero in his arms as he stood back up, Zero leaned his head against Lee's chest. "Zero seemed to have really taken a liking to you." Happy tears flowed out of Lee's eyes. 

"Here you go dear," the gardener said as she returned with the supply.

"Thank you, ma'am," Aceso said as she happily took the herbs and gave the woman money. Lee started to walk towards the hospital without Aceso.

"Darling," Grandma began. "You may be young...but be honest with yourself...be honest with your heart."

" I apologize, ma'am, but I do not get what you are saying," Aceso apologized.

"You two are in love with each other, it is not hard to see," Grandma said. "You may be able to lie to yourself...but you cannot lie to your heart, no matter how young you are." Aceso seemed lost at words. "Just a thing to think about over tea, have a lovely day."  She closed the door leaving Aceso alone with her thoughts. She looked down the road to see Zero's head popping on top of the fence. He was giggling as he kept popping up and down, he got happier each time he saw Aceso. The baby disappeared for a second, before appearing on the other side of the fence, Lee was making sure he wasn't being seen. Aceso started laughing as Zero's smile got bigger. Lee then popped his head out with a big smile.

"Hurry up, Red Rose," Lee insisted. "I think he's hungry, a hungry baby."

"Oh, his bottle is back in my room," Aceso said as she caught up with him. On the way back, Lee stopped inside a shop and got a small green hat, to keep the sun out of Zero's eyes. Back in Aceso's room, she sat on her bed feeding Zero, Lee, on the other hand, was doing push-ups. "You don't have to stay and babysit with me."

"No, I must stay and embrace the youngest forms of youth," Lee denied as he put a hand behind his back. "Besides, we both have been grounded for two weeks, we must make up for the lost time." He looked up at her, Aceso was staring down at the baby with a smile. His cheeks turned pink, he looked back at the ground and started to do his push-ups faster.

"What's with the change of pace?" Aceso asked as she looked at him.

"To make it more challenging," Lee answered. Aceso smiled, she looked down at Zero as he finished his bottle. Aceso then put the bottle down.

"You are done!" Lee cheered as he stopped, he stood up and took the baby into his arms. He started to dance around with the baby, moving his arms.

"Lee, slow down," Aceso advised. "He's going to puke."

"Nonsense," Lee denied. "He's enjoying it!" He dipped the baby a little and spun a little. Zero was laughing.

"Lee, he still needs to be burped, slow down," Aceso advised.

"Zero seems to be enjoying it," Lee argued. He then held the baby out in front of him. "Zero is fi-" Zero then projected vomited all over Lee, both of ninja had their mouths drop a little as their eyes went wide."Uhh...Re-"

"I'll clean up Zero, you go take a shower," Aceso instructed as she got up. She took the baby from Lee.

"Please, don't make me walk through the village," Lee pleaded. Aceso put Zero in one arm and grabbed the top of Lee's head, spun him around, and pushed him towards her bathroom. Aceso went over to the sink that sat outside the bathroom. She started to fill the sink with warm water and took Zero out of the clothes he vomited on. Aceso heard the water running in the bathroom as she started to wash up Zero. About ten minutes later as Aceso was putting a fresh pair of clothes on Zero, she heard the shower turn off. 

"Red Rose?" Lee's voice echoed. "I don't have any clothes."

"Hold on," Aceso said. She put Zero more in the center, before going over to her draws. She opened a bottom drawer and pulled out a pair of pants, it was an old pair of pants from Kakashi used to spend the night from when she was younger. She always hated that Gai and Kakashi were always leaving her alone at night, so sometimes they would spend the night with her. They would make a giant fort on the laundry rooftop and sleep out there. If it was too cold, they just took mattresses from the supply closet and make a bed on the floor of her room. She then placed the pair of pants and one of the fishnet shirts she puts on underneath at the door. "They are on the floor at the door."  Aceso went back to the baby, she heard the bathroom door quickly open and close. Two minutes later the door opened, Aceso looked back to see Lee walking out with his dirty clothes.

"Thank you, Red Rose," Lee said as he used a hand to keep the pants up.

"You should have said that they were too big," Aceso frowned.

"I don't want to trouble you," Lee panicked. "You've only shown me more than enough kindness." 

"It's no trouble," Aceso denied. She stood up and the baby carrier back on, she then put Zero in it. "I'm going to wash the clothes."

"No," Lee frowned at her. He put his suit on the ground, then waddled over to her drawers, he knelt down to the bottom drawer labeled pants, he opened and pulled a pair of her scrub pants. "They may be small, but it will do." He back into the bathroom changed the pants and came back out. "These will do for now." The two then went and washed the clothes, and dried them, all while keeping Zero entertained. It was now elven at night.

"There you are," a voice said, they looked to see Zero's parents, Zero got really happy at the sight of his mom. "He wasn't too much trouble was her?" They had all the baby's stuff from Aceso's room.

"Not at all," Lee answered.

"Your precious one was absolutely precious," Aceso answered,

"Thank you so much Doctor Matsuba," the dad thanked as he took the baby.

"It was no problem at all," Aceso smiled. They thanked her one more time before leaving.

" I guess this means you are free to go train," Aceso said to Lee.

"What?" Lee asked as he glanced at her. "I'm still waiting for my suit to dry."

"Oh, right," Aceso smiled as she scratched the back of her head. After Lee's suit fully dried, it was almost midnight, they went back to her room so he could change out of the combination he was wearing. Lee walked out of the bathroom to find Aceso sitting on her bed, hugging her knees, and drifting off. She kept swaying to the left, then jolting back to the middle. Aceso then went into a deep sleep and fell fully to the left, Lee dashed to her side let her collide into his arm.

"Come on," Lee insisted as he shook her. "Let's go train." Her eyes opened a little.

"No," Aceso groaned as she moved off of him. "Tomorrow." She went up to the front of her bed, curled, and started to go back to sleep.

"But-" Lee began. 

"Just go to sleep Lee," Aceso requested. "It's almost midnight." Lee couldn't but admit he was too tired to go home, so he grabbed a blanket, and put it over her. He then got on the bed and put his back to her back. He grabbed the alarm and set it for 6 a.m.  Aceso was too young for this kind of bond with someone, but she was too tired to tell Lee to go home. Lee did provide a lot of warmth, she was quite happy about that. "Good night, Lee."

"Good night, Aceso," Lee yawned, the two quickly fell asleep, letting their youthful minds dream.