Signing up for a daycare was a much longer and more strenuous process than Kakashi had first thought. First they wanted to know if Ran had received all of her vaccines, and Kakashi was forced to go get Shizune's medical report just to find out. Thankfully she was up to date. Then they wanted proof of parentage, which was also in the file. Finally, there were dozens of forms to sign and a down payment to make. When they were done, Kakashi was very thankful that Tsunade had ordered that physical and that Shizune was so thorough. At least now he would be able to drop her off tomorrow morning.

Kakashi was ready to trudge back to their apartment and collapse onto its nice, comfortable floor, when Ran reminded him that they needed to pick up their flowers. He let out a groan before turning on his heel and leading them back to the Yamanaka flower shop. Inoichi had stood by his word, and flower box was all set for them. Kakashi sent Ran off to pick out a watering can while he payed for the flowers. She came back with a small orange can made out of plastic in the shape of an elephant.

Ran was put in charge of the watering can on their way back to their apartment while Kakashi carried the delicate flower box. He was so ready for the day to be done. A few good hours of relaxing with Icha Icha before falling into his nice, soft bed. Yes, just a bit farther and the day would be done!

That is, until a stomach growl reminded him of his other responsibility.

"What're we having for dinner?" Ran asked with a tug on his sleeve.

Kakashi could have sworn he had already fed her today. Why did kids have to eat multiple times a day? He really didn't feel like cooking anything, so he decided on the other option. "Looks like we'll be having bentos again," the jounin sighed, but Ran didn't seem too upset.

…

Dinner was a quiet affair. Kakashi again managed to eat his entire meal without allowing his daughter a peek at his face. Much to the child's growing irritation, but Ran was too tired to make much of a fuss. The jounin only gave her an hour at most before she conked out. After dinner, Ran helped Kakashi put their new flower box on one of the front facing windows. Now they would be greeted by flowers every time they left or came home.

"You'll be in charge of watering them every morning," he explained.

"Understood," Ran responded with a salute before plopping down on one of the cushions.

"Go put your pajamas on, Ran," Kakashi called as he cleaned up the little mess their meal had made. The little girl made a noise in confirmation before dragging herself to her feet and making her way to their room.

"AAHH!" Ran roared not ten seconds later, causing Kakashi to nearly drop the mug he was washing.

"What, what is it?" He cried as he ran into the room.

"The fourth face!" Ran proudly exclaimed as she stood in her frog pajamas, the ones Baa-chan made for her, as she pointed to the picture of Team Minato. "I knew it looked familiar! There he is, the fourth face!"

"Ah…" Kakashi breathed out in relief. Her shout had startled him more than he was willing to admit. One of the problems with children: you never knew if the screaming was due to them were having, or if they were being murdered. The jounin had nearly forgotten that he had inadvertently challenged her to figure out who the fourth face on the Hokage Monument was. Kakashi had honestly expected her to have forgotten about it by now.

"So if that's you in that picture with Naruto-nii and Sakura-nee-chan, and you're their teacher… and it's the same kind of picture with the fourth face-Hokage… that would mean… You were taught by a Hokage!" Ran turned to look up at him for confirmation, her eyes wide and seeking praise. Kakashi had seen that look more than once in his students.

"Looks like you figured it out," he praised her with a head pat and an eye smile. Ran gave him a small smile as she shuffled a bit under his praise. Looks like she catches onto things quickly. The jounin thought as he watched her.

Ran glanced back at the photo, and couldn't help wondering if it was a big deal to be trained by the Hokage. Naruto had told her that they were the strongest in the village, but there had to be lots of strong people in a shinobi village. Speaking of Naruto… "But, ya know…" Ran started as she stared at the picture. "He looks kinda familiar…" Maybe it was the hair? She wasn't entirely sure, but something about him felt very familiar.

"AHH!" Kakashi frantically cut off her train of thought off, "time for bed! Yep, bedtime!" Before Ran even knew what was happening, she was sitting on her futon. the covers were pulled back and Kero-chan had somehow appeared in her hand.

She caught onto things way too fast.

Sleep was nice. Sleeping in was even better. Kakashi hadn't been getting to do much of either since Ran moved in, the the last thing he was expecting was for her to get up even earlier. Earlier as in 4 am.

He was this close to committing homicide.

"Gek-o-tan! Gek-o-tan! Gek-o-tan!" Ran chanted as she attempted to shake Kakashi awake. He just groaned and rolled over. The little girl was not ready to give up yet, and only redoubled her efforts. "Gek-o-tan! Gek-o-tan! Gek-o-tan!"

Kakashi groaned again before he rolled back over to look at her, "you know, he's probably not going to be on for a few more hours."

"But you don't for sure know that!" Ran pressed.

"No kid's show would be on at 4 am, go back to sleep." Ran made a noise, but did as she was told.

"What about now?" She asked an hour later.

"Still not going to be on!"

"Now?" Six.

"No!"

"Wha-"

"No!"

This continued to happen every hour, on the hour, until nine o'clock.

"Now?" Ran whispered as she peaked over the edge of his bed.

"N-actually… it may be on now…"

Ran let out a big gasp before darting out of the room and turning on the tv. Kakashi followed at more subdued pace, letting out a yawn he stretched. His daughter sat in front of the t.v. seriously flipping through the channels. Bright colors and a catchy tune halted her search, and her face absolutely lit up when a certain frog appeared on screen. Ran quickly ran and got Kero-chan before settling in.

"Just in time," Kakashi sighed to himself as the opening finished and the show got started. He could imagine how upset Ran would be if she missed it, and she would no doubt blame him. "Do you want rice again?" He called since Kakashi still hadn't found the chance to go grocery shopping. He supposed he do it while Ran was at daycare…

"Sure," she responded absently, totally enamored with the program.

The jounin couldn't help the chuckle that escaped as he watched her, but quickly set to work preparing breakfast. It was when Ran held a clump of rice in her chopsticks for a good five minutes, and by the time she tried to eat it it had already fallen, that Kakashi decided to make plain onigiri. The onigiri was a success, and the little girl managed to munch on them as she watched her show. A full hour was dedicated to Gekotan and his adventures, and by the time it was done, it was time for Ran to be dropped off.

"Go get dressed," Kakashi told her, but sighed when she came out wearing the same clothes that she had been wearing for the past couple of days. "You have to promise to wear your new clothes tomorrow if I let you wear those today." There couldn't be too much harm in letting her wear them another day. It wasn't like they were excessively dirty, or smelled. Just to be safe, Kakashi sprayed her twice with air freshener.

"I promise," Ran smiled before the strong smell cause to make a face.

"It'll fade," Kakashi reassured her, before he slipped on his scandals and opened the door.

"Wait! Before we go… can you put my hair clip in?" she asked as she held out her Gekotan hairclip.

"I can try," he said nervously, and he really did try his best. His best just wasn't enough. The clip sat awkwardly on a lock and looked like it was going to fall out any second, but Ran seemed content with it. The daycare people would probably be able to fix it.

…

Kakashi expected the front of the daycare to be overrun by children, but was surprised when they found it disserted. The inside was a very different story, though. A small welcome desk with an attached gate was all that held back a small army of children from the entranceway. A young frazzled looking woman was behind the desk, and she nearly let out a groan when she saw that Kakashi had brought another one.

"Welcome," she quickly corrected herself, giving them a strained smile.

"Ah, I'd like to drop her off," Kakashi explained a tad nervously.

"Then please sign in here," her smile becoming even more strained. "Kasumi! There's another one here!"

Another young woman appeared behind her coworker looking significantly less frazzled. "Hello," she greeted, "I don't think I've seen you guys before, is this your first time here?"

"Yeah…"

"Well you have nothing to worry about! We'll take care of her until you're able to come get her later. Just sign in over there," Kasumi gestured to the front desk.

Kakashi filled in the necessary information, until he got to the part where he was supposed to fill in when he expected to pick her up. "What if I don't know exactly when I'll be back?"

"You can leave that blank if you need to. As long as you're here before we close at 8:30." The other woman explained as Kasumi spoke with Ran.

"That's fair," Kakashi said before turning to face his daughter, "I'll be going now, be good."

Ran didn't seem very comforted by his trademark eye crinkle, and looked up at him anxiously. One of her hands clutched the hem of her yukata with a white knuckle grip while the other held tightly onto his shirt sleeve. She gave him a pained expression before looking away and kicking at the floor. Kakashi stared down at her in confusion. Was she upset about something?

"I have to get going," he urged, trying to remove her hand, but she only held on tighter.

"You have to let go, Ran-chan," Kasumi crouched down and placed her hand over Ran's. "I know it's scary, but you'll be alright. You'll be having so much fun you won't even realize he's gone!"

The little girl looked from Kasumi back to Kakashi. There was a brief stabbing pain in his chest when she looked up at him with one of the strongest kicked puppy expressions he had ever seen. Ran looked down as she released his sleeve and clutched the hem of her yukata.

Kasumi rubbed the girl's back as Kakashi gave a final wave before heading off, feeling slightly guilty. That feeling only doubled when he heard Ran ask, "he's coming back, right?" Too many people had left the girl for her to trust that he really was going to come back for her, and that this daycare wasn't going to become her new home. Kakashi sighed and resolved to pick her up as soon as he was able, but he needed to visit the Memorial Stone before anything else. It had been too long since he was last there, and Kakashi found he was able to sort through his thoughts best there. Rin and Sensei would probably like to hear about the kid as well.

After his trip to the Memorial Stone, Kakashi completed his assigned D-rank, had a productive training session with his team, and managed to pick up some groceries. It was early evening by the time Kakashi started to head over to the Ran's daycare. He took his time getting there, strolling through the streets of Konoha as he read one of his dirty novels.

"Oh, Kakashi-san," a chuunin greeted him as he entered the daycare. "It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, it has…" The chuunin apparently knew him, but for the life of him, Kakashi couldn't remember who he was. Hopefully he would be able to play it cool and the poor guy wouldn't realize that he had no idea who he was. They were probably on a mission together at some point, but Kakashi had been on hundreds of those. Was he really expected to remember everyone he was ever put on a team with? That was a good quarter of the village, at the very least.

"You here to pick someone up?" The chuunin asked, but Kakashi was saved from having to answer by a toddler barreling into the man.

"Tou-chan!" The little boy cried.

"Hey there, kiddo," the chuunin picked up his son before turning back to Kakashi, "well, I'll see you around, Kakashi-san."

Safe! He thought as he gave the man a wave and called, "see ya."

"So how was your day?" Kakashi heard the chuunin asking his son as they made their way out of the daycare.

"There was a new girl! She was pretty weird, though," the boy replied eagerly, "she didn't talk! And just sat reading all day!"

Uh oh… Kakashi thought as he focused a little harder on their conversation.

"Maybe she was just shy?"

"No! When Rin-chan tried talking to her, she just stared at her all weird until she went away!"

Kakashi was unable to hear the chuunin's response to his son's story, but he was willing to bet money that the weird girl was Ran. "Um, excuse me," he called to the lady at the front desk. She was a different woman from earlier, and hadn't seemed to notice him.

"Hmm? Oh! I'm so sorry!" The woman apologised profusely, "What can I do for you?"

"I'm here to pick up Koizumi Ran," he explained.

"Harumi!" The woman called back into the daycare, "Ran's father's here to pick her up!" There was a loud thump before the rapid thumping of footsteps could be heard. Kakashi caught a flash of pink before Ran jumped up and hauled her upper body over the ledge of the childproof gate. "Ran-chan!" The woman yelled in surprise and anger, before turning on her co-worker for not catching the child earlier earlier.

"Yo," Kakashi greeted her.

"You came back…?" Ran breathed in disbelief. She stared at him in amazement… disbelief…? He wasn't sure which it was, but she didn't break eye contact with him until the daycare workers removed her from the top of the gate. The little girl wasted no time running through the now open gate and up to Kakashi. She didn't barrel into him, like how the child had from earlier had, but she did stand closer to him than normal. Her small hand clutching tight to his shirt sleeve as she slipped her sandals on.

"Thanks," Kakashi said to the workers with a lazy salute.

"Come back anytime," one of them called chipperly as the pair made their way out of the building.

Sunday was nice relaxing day. Kakashi had given his team the day off, and actually got to sleep in slightly later than usual. The sun had fully risen by the time Ran woke. If that had to with how long she had spent crying the night before, Kakashi made no mention of it. At first he was worried he was going to have to figure out how to keep the little girl entertained for the day, but then she made a request. She wanted to start working on her writing again, and Kakashi was more than happy to oblige. She wouldn't make requests of people she wasn't comfortable around, right?

A quick trip to a bookstore, and they had everything they needed. Ran wasted no time and set right to work learning new characters. Kakashi had asked her several times if there was anything else she wanted to, but the little girl was content with her studies. And it wasn't like the jounin was going to turn down an opportunity to spend the day relaxing. Before either of them knew what had happened, it was late and time for Ran to head off to bed.

The next morning, Kakashi managed to get her into some of her new clothes again, and dropped her off at daycare after breakfast. The jounin was able happy with how their relationship was progressing. Ran was beginning to talk to him without any prodding, she was letting him learn new things about her (she hated bananas, as he found out that morning), and she was willing to ask for things from him. Sure he still sprayed her with air freshener instead of baths, but it was a start.

Kakashi assumed it wouldn't take too long before Ran really started to trust him. That is, until he somehow managed to undo all the progress he had made.

It all started with his D-rank. Kakashi could have sworn more people were whispering behind his back at the mission's office, but he paid them no more mind than he usually did. Then, everything that could go wrong with the mission itself did. He was stuck strapping filth off of himself as he made his way back to his apartment for a quick shower before practice. It was already early afternoon by the time he made it to his team, and needless to say they weren't pleased with him. Then, of course, Naruto had to go and show off and end up hurting his ankle because Kakashi had told him he wasn't ready for that yet. But nooooooo, The Great Uzumaki Naruto doesn't have to listen to his teachers, they obviously don't know as much as he does. That was how they ended up spending the remainder of their time watching Sakura treat a crying Naruto's messed up ankle.

By the time Kakashi made his way to pick up Ran, the sun was already setting. He had promised that he would pick her up in the early afternoon, but hopefully she would understand. He could always promise her something she liked if she were upset. With his thoughts preoccupied with what he could promise Ran, Kakashi hadn't realized he was at the daycare until he was opening the front door.

Strange… The jounin has he heard nothing. The previous times he had been here the daycare had been filled with noise. There were kids laughing, crying, screaming, and everything in between. Footfalls from both the children and the workers could be heard throughout the building. There wasn't even the whisper of picture book pages turning.

"Oh, Kakashi-san!" one of the workers, Kasumi, exclaimed as she poked her head out into the entryway. "We've been trying to reach you for a while."

"Did something happen?" Kakashi said, slightly worried.

"Yes and no… There was an electrical outage, some genin apparently knocked out a power line a ways up, so we had to send the kids home early. Everyone's left, Ran is only one still here." Kasumi explained.

"Oh, sorry that you had to stay with her…"

"It was no trouble, but there is something else you should know…"

"What is it?"

"Something happened today, there was a fight, and Ran was involved."

Ran sat with her knees to her chest underneath one of the lower hanging parts of the jungle gym. Tear tracks had long ago dried on her cheeks. The crunching of sandals caught her attention, and the little girl was forced to squish down the relief and happiness she felt when she recognized the person's scent. She was not happy that Kakashi had finally come to get her.

"I heard you got in a fight," Kakashi said as he crouched down next to her. He didn't fit very well, and was forced to bend himself into an awkward position in order to sit next to her.

Ran flinched and then shuffled around until her back was facing him.

"Kasumi-sensei didn't tell me how it started, but she said you threw the first punch."

"He deserved it!" Ran exclaimed, still not looking at him.

"Why? Did he say something mean?"

Ran curled into a tighter ball and didn't say anything.

"Did he make fun of you?" A twitch from Ran told him yes. "Was it about your hair? Your teeth?" Nothing. Kakashi didn't want to play 20 questions, but it didn't seem like Ran was going to open up on her own. "Was it about your clothes?" That one didn't make much sense, but you never knew with kids these days. "Uhhh, your shoes…? I'm running out of things here, Ran."

She said something, but it was too quiet for him to hear.

"You're going to need to say it a little louder."

"It was about you and Mama!" Ran screamed, turning to face Kakashi. His eye widened when he saw her split lip, the bruise forming at the corner of her mouth, and a rapidly blackening eye. Part of her shirt collar was torn from where someone had pulled too hard on it. "He called me a mission baby and said that mission babies are never wanted!" She cried, "and that you didn't care at all about me! That you were only keeping me because the council wanted another you!" She curled back into a ball and sobbed into her knees.

Kakashi stared at his daughter in shock. Just where had this kid heard all of that? Could he have overheard his parents talking? Sure kids could be cruel, but this seemed to be a bit much, even by schoolyard bully standards. No wonder Ran threw the first punch, very food kids probably wouldn't. If she started it, and she looked that beat up, Kakashi figured the other kid must look even worse. "Ran…" Kakashi tried to sound comforting as he brought a hand to her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" She screeched before darting out from under the jungle gym. The setting sun shined on her hair, making it look as though it were on fire. "He said you killed your teammate!" Kakashi's blood ran cold at that, "And that I was next!" She squeezed her eyes shut as more tears leaked out of them as she trembled. Whether it was in anger or fear, Kakashi couldn't tell.

"Ran…" He desperately tried again.

"No! I hate this place! I hate you! You're a murderer! You should have died instead of Mama!" Ran screamed at him "I-I wish… I wish that-" her voice broke before she was able to finish. With one last look at him, Kakashi watched his daughter run away from the playground, through the open gate, and onto the streets of Konoha. Unable to stop her.