A/N: So… it's been a while hasn't it?

Recap since even I forgot parts of this story:

A young girl arrives in Konoha after her mother dies, and it turns out she's the daughter of one Hatake Kakashi. Turns out Kakashi is pretty terrible at being a parent (no surprise there) and ends up messing up a lot. Things go kind of alright for him for a while, but then he really messes up when Ran learns that Kakashi killed one of his teammates. Not knowing what to do to fix this, Kakashi kind of stands to the side screaming internally. Until Pakkun shows up and helps to reassure Ran. Things get better from then on, but after running into Hyuuga Hinata Ran starts to have night terrors. It turns out the byakugan looks a lot like the clouded over eyes of the dead, which Ran had gotten a real good look at when her mother died. We left off last time with Pakkun taking Ran exploring through the village.


Ran's nightmares didn't get better with time, in fact, they seemed to be getting worse. A good week later, Kakashi was still woken in the wee hours of the morning by Ran's screams. It had gotten to the point where several of their neighbors, all ninja themselves, started making sure that anything wasn't amiss. Luckily Kakashi was able to send them on their way with brief explanations and apologies.

If only the frequency of the night terrors was the only problem. It seemed to take longer and longer every night to get Ran to go back to sleep. The sun had been peeking over the horizon by the time she fell back asleep the other day. Kakashi wasn't able to drop her off at daycare until nearly noon that day, making him obscenely late for team practice.

Kakashi missed the time when Ran, and by extension himself, had a regular sleeping schedule. That felt like forever ago at this point.

At the very least, Ran's nightmares didn't seem to be affecting her too much during the daytime. Kasumi-sensei was keeping him up to speed on how she was doing while at daycare, and for the most part, she was doing fairly well. She still got into the occasional fight or scuffle, but she wasn't the one provoking them. Ran was even starting to go out of her way to make new friends thanks to Kasumi-sensei. That woman needed to be paid much, much more in Kakashi's opinion. She was a godsend.

Pakkun, upon being asked if he would baby sit again, pointed out a glaring hole in Ran's care routine on Kakashi's part. She only had one toy. It was a miracle she hadn't completely destroyed his apartment out of sheer boredom at this point.

"Would you leave a young pup with only one toy? Can't imagine human pups are that much different," Pakkun oh so eloquently put it. The dog was now refusing to watch Ran until he knew that he wouldn't be dealing with a bored and understimulated kid. Pakkun had dealt with that once before, and never again. His poor tail hadn't been the same since.

Which is what lead Kakashi to his current predicament, standing in the middle of a toy store completely overwhelmed. There was just so much stuff. Wondering just what he had gotten himself into, the jounin tried to figure out what Ran would like. He knew she liked Gekotan, frogs, turtles, dogs, and maybe bugs. There was still a 50/50 chance on that last one. Gekotan should be easy enough, Kakashi was seeing the frog all over the village now that he knew what it was.

"What…?" Was all that managed to come out when he found himself in the midst of an entire aisle worth of Gekotan merchandise. Bright greens and yellows were splattered on the plastic boxes along with the show's characters on every surface.

Kakashi was way out of his depth here.

"Can I help you?" A young man asked him, and Kakashi was on the verge of latching onto him and breaking down into tears.

God bless store workers.

With the help of the young man by the name of Hiroki, Kakashi managed to find some toys that would hopefully keep Ran from blowing anything up out of boredom. A Gekotan playset, building blocks, and art supplies. She hadn't shown a preference for blowing things up or setting them on fire, but he wasn't taking any chances. Kakashi triple checked that all of the new toys were flame resistant and didn't have any exploding tags hidden in them before presenting them to Ran.

A smile about as wide as her head broke out across her face with her eyes widening in wonder; Ran was beyond ecstatic about her new play things. She wasted no time building castles, that were really just trembling stacks of blocks that looked like they would fall over due to a light breeze, and coming up with elaborate adventures for the little figures to partake in. Little Princess Umeko who was the illegitimate child of the daimyo's daughter and a mysterious samurai who was born after a night of passion would often-

Wait… What?

Where…?

Kakashi was rather proud of his parenting success. Look at him, actually not messing up a child for once in his life. Ran was set to come out a fully adjusted adult, or at least as fully adjusted a child of his could be. But that high didn't last for long. A lone Gekotan figure was what did him in. Left out, forgotten by Ran one night, Kakashi's foot stood no chance against it when he stepped on it during a half-asleep shuffle to the bathroom.

Some jounin he was.

Feared across the Elemental Nations; done in by a cartoon frog with a shit-eating grin.

Just what was happening to his life?


Well, isn't this just great, Kakashi grumbled mentally. Apparently, Pakkun was too busy to watch Ran this rather unlucky Sunday. Just what he was busy with was beyond the jounin, dogs certainly weren't known for their busy schedules. What now? Kakashi wondered as he glanced at Ran finishing her breakfast. He had been forced to agree to start Naruto's training the previous night. After the boy had done something exceptionally stupid out of boredom and ended up in the hospital. Just what the boy would do if he were denied training a second time… well Kakashi certainly didn't want to find out.

"Looks like you'll be with me today," Kakashi sighed.

The walk to the hospital took longer than usual, what with Kakashi losing Ran twice. It wasn't like Kakashi wasn't all about taking the less direct path, but for goodness sakes, he had turned his back for one second! By the time he realized Ran wasn't behind anymore, she would four blocks away petting a stray cat. To make matters worse, she just didn't understand what the problem was with her wandering off.

If he didn't already have gray hair…

"Took you long enough!" Naruto complained as soon as Kakashi opened the door to his room, but he was already too worn out to come up with one of his usual excuses. It wasn't even past noon. Why did Ran have so much energy?

Ran wasted no time running up to the young man. "Naruto-nii! Are you hurt?" She frantically looked him over for injuries.

"He was just being more stupid than usual," Sakura supplied.

"Not that it matters! I'm ready to go whenever, Kakashi-sensei, dattebayo!"

"You shouldn't be in such a hurry, Naruto. Make sure you spend enough time here, because once you leave, we'll be starting the most difficult and taxing training of your life."

Naruto shuddered before looking down at the bedsheets in his lap, wondering if spending some more time in them would be so bad. Ran suddenly stiffened. "Something wrong, Ran?" Naruto asked.

Not answering, the little girl jumped off the hospital bed and furrowed her brow. A few sniffs later, "I know this smell…" she muttered. "Ah!" Ran exclaimed before darting to the door and yanking it open with all her might. "The one who smells like Jii-chan!" She proudly exclaimed, pointing up at a very confused Asuma.

Kakashi repressed the urge to smack his face while Asuma tried to figure out what to do. "Just ignore her," he suggested. Kakashi usually found that worked rather well when dealing with Ran.

"Ah, well, Kakashi, do you have a second?" Asuma asked awkwardly.

"Huh? Yeah, sure," the jounin shrugged before following his friend out of the room.

"So…" Kakashi drew out the word as he leaned back against the window of the hospital. What on earth could Asuma want with him? It wasn't like he had been out of the village recently due to the sudden addition to his home. That excluded just about anything mission related Asuma might want to talk about. Unless he wanted to know about the current state of D-ranks in the village, but he highly doubted that. Thankfully he only had four more of those godforsaken jobs to complete. Kakashi wasn't sure how much longer he could take the weed pulling and errand running before he threw one of the entitled civilians who employed him into the river. Probably wouldn't go over too well with Tsunade or the elders, but it would feel amazing in the moment.

"Here," Asuma said as he tossed a can of coffee at Kakashi. "You look like you need it."

Kakashi caught the can and gave Asuma a flat look. "Thanks," his voice matched his face. "As much as I appreciate your concern and consideration, I take it you didn't ask to talk to me so you could pester me about my sleeping habits." Oh how he missed sleeping … Those really were the days.

Asuma coughed into hand in discomfort before popping the lid of his coffee. "Well, no, not really…" He took a sip of his drink before pausing once again.

Kakashi lifted his chin at the other man and made a 'continue' motion with his hand. Whatever Asuma wanted to talk about made him uncomfortable, that much was obvious, but Kakashi wasn't going to hold his hand through whatever it was that he wanted to ask. Asuma scratched the back of his head and by this point Kakashi was starting to feel irritated. It wasn't like he was running on a nice 16 hours of sleep a night that he had been getting a month ago. Now he had to deal with a kid who was hyperactive one moment and then closed off and distant the next. The flip flopping and night terrors were starting to grate against his nerves, so Asuma would have to excuse him if he wasn't in the most supportive mood currently.

Just when Kakashi was about to stand back up and head back to Naruto's room, Asuma spoke up. "Say, why's your kid here with you today?" His words came out rather rushed and he had to clear his throat after the first one.

An eyebrow rose as Kakashi gave Asuma an unreadable look. "It's Sunday. The daycare she goes to is closed on Sundays."

"O-oh, that's too bad," Asuma took another swig from the can as he glanced away. "If you want, I could watch her for the day…"

Well now Kakashi was curious and a little bit suspicious. Why would Sarutobi-I'm-Not-Great-With-Kids-Asuma offer to watch his daughter unprompted? It was a well known fact that Asuma would dodge his responsibility of watching his nephew like there was no tomorrow. There was also the fact that he had avoided picking up a genin team until the new Ino-Shika-Cho could be formed. He claimed that it was just tradition, but everyone knew that it was bull. There were more than enough Sarutobi clansmen running around that could have taught them, but Asuma was adamant about waiting for them. If it just so happened to give him a good cover for not having to take a genin team for the time being, well, that was just a bonus. So what could Asuma want with his kid?

"Hey, don't look at me like that!" Asuma held up his hands in a nonthreatening manner. Apparently Kakashi's internal musings and distrust had shown on what little of his face was visible. He would have to work on that. "We all know how gung ho Naruto is over that new jutsu you promised to teach him. He ended up in the hospital because he did something stupid trying learn on his own, didn't he? I don't think he's going to wait much longer, and it's dangerous for a kid to be around when a young, overzealous shinobi like Naruto is trying to master something new. I was just going to go to Nara compound to play some shogi with Shikamaru and thought that you would like me to take her off of your hands for a few hours."

Kakashi's posture relaxed just the slightest bit. Truthfully, it would be very helpful if Asuma were to watch Ran for a couple of hours so he could train Naruto without having to worry that he was going to kill himself or her on accident. Still, why was Asuma going out of his way to offer? Well now he was even more curious…

"I suppose it would be helpful," Kakashi shrugged his shoulders. Besides, it wasn't like he suspected Asuma of having some other nefarious plan; he wasn't Jiraya after all. It was just strange to say the least.

"Great," Asuma smiled. That only made Kakashi more curious. Oh he was going to find out what was going on here for sure.

"Ran," Kakashi called when they reentered the hospital room. The little girl was currently wrapped in one the blankets off of the bed and inching across the floor like a caterpillar. Naruto was watching the scene with great concentration and seemed to be taking mental notes. Even Sakura looked interested.

Kakashi decided that he didn't want to know.

The little girl's head popped up when she heard her name and she jumped to her feet. She was still wrapped in the blanket so her feet weren't all that steady as she stood in front of him. "You're going to spend the day with Asuma," he gestured to the man next to him who waved at her.

"The one who smells like Jii-chan?" She asked, causing Asuma to hang his head in defeat.

"Yes, now be good for him while I train Naruto. I'll pick you up at the end of the day," Kakashi explained. Ran nodded seriously, but since she was still wrapped up in the blanket the movement looked almost comical. Sending her spinning when he yanked off the blanket with a hard tug, Kakashi wondered if Asuma knew what he was getting himself into…


Asuma watched the pink haired girl next to him out of the corner of his eye. A Gekotan hair clip was nestled in her dense locks, and he briefly wondered how strong that thing had to be to hold back hair like hers. Kakashi's hair was so wild and untamable hair bands would snap if he tried to pull it back into a ponytail. Just how Sakumo had managed to control his hair to the point where he was able to wear it down his back like he did was a mystery to the village. A blue shirt with a bright yellow duckling, he was pretty sure that it was another character from Gekotan, stamped on the front. The Sarutobi clan currently had several children, and they all adored the show, making it impossible for him to not know what it was. The duckling had a large speech bubble next to its head with "piyo piyo!" written out in bright colors. Why a duckling was making the sound a chick made was beyond him. It was probably explained in the show. A pair of bright red shorts and the thick soled wooden sandals completed the outfit. A few scattered plain bandaids covered cuts and scrapes showed that the kid wasn't one to shy away from playing rough.

She was about average height and weight for a five-year-old by Asuma's guess, but then again, he didn't know squat the growing patterns of children. The thing that interested him far more than what she was wearing, or her size, was the fact that she seemed to figure out how close to stand by him to not get lost. But wasn't close enough for him to touch her. Was Kakashi's paranoia genetic? It sure seemed that way.

Ran seemed to get distracted easily, but what fiver-year-old didn't? But she never got separated from him. So how had Kakashi managed to lose her on the day that she had barreled into him? Was he just that absent minded? Going by how he reacted when Asuma offered to watch her it didn't seem like it.

Asuma suspected that Kakashi hadn't even realized how he had responded to Asuma's offer. He had instantly sat up straighter, his usually lazy and disinterested eye sharpened, and his whole demeanor screamed 'combative'. Sure, Kakashi was protective of those close to him, and this was his daughter they were talking about, but he had never been that forward or obvious about his protectiveness. Kakashi was a very hands off teacher who seemed to believe that kids learned best through mistakes, and was not one to protect them from making those mistakes. But then again, Asuma guessed that it did make sense. Ran was a descendant of a all-but-dead incredibly powerful clan that had struck fear into the hearts of shinobi across the continent before their decline. Hell, even today some of those effects could still be felt. Elderly Suna shinobi still had less than positive reactions when The White Fang was mentioned. It would make sense that some less than stellar individuals would have their eye on the kid. She was right at the perfect age for optimal moulding into the ideal shinobi, and Asuma knew of a certain council member who was rather interested in creating such ninja. He would be nervous and skittish if he was in Kakashi's position, that was for sure…

"Looks like we're here," Asuma said to Ran as they walked up to the Nara clan compound. The little girl was currently gaping up at the feat of traditional architecture.

The cluster of houses looked a lot like the homes that made up her old village. Raised porches made out of sturdy lumber, stone steps leading up to the porches with shoes scattered about them, sliding paper doors, and slanted roofs lined with tile. Overall, the homes were of a much higher quality than the ones she was used to. There was no way a bunch of farming houses that stood through several wars and everyday wear and tear could compare to the homes of a rich shinobi clan. Some of the paper doors even seemed to be adorned with paintings of landscapes and deer. The wood of the houses weren't obviously chipped in certain areas and didn't show the signs of aging. The biggest difference of all was probably the power lines that wove above and along the houses like spider webs. Scattered clan members could be seen about lounging on their porches, napping on the rooftops, or making their way from house to another. Despite the high quality of the compound, it had a very laid back feeling to it.

"Oh, Asuma-san," a woman called over when she spotted them. "Shikamaru is waiting for you at the usual place!" Asuma smiled and waved at the woman in thanks before he lead Ran into compound.

"Pretty nice isn't?" He asked Ran with a smirk as he lit a cigarette. Ran continued to look around with her jaw slack in amazement. "Their compound is nice, but they aren't stuck up like a certain Hyuuga clan," he explained. Ran briefly wondered what the Hyuuga clan compound looked like, but it was pushed to the side as something new caught her attention.

Ran remained in quiet amazement as they made their way through the houses and headed to a house that was larger and nicer than the rest. There a certain young man was lazing on his back next to a shogi board. "Took you long enough…" He grumbled when he caught a whiff of the cigarette smoke. The brand Asuma smoked had an especially strong smell when lit.

Hauling himself upright, and somehow making the motion look as tedious as he probably felt it was, Shikamaru let out a long, opened mouthed yawn. He stopped abruptly when he spotted a pink tufted standing next to his teacher. "Why's Kakashi-sensei's kid with you?" He asked.

"Took her off Kakashi's hands for the day so he could focus on training Naruto," Asuma answered nonchalantly, but that made the young man even more curious.

Shikamaru knew far better than most how Asuma tended to avoid watching children. So why was he watching one so willingly? Not letting any of his curiosity show on his face, Shikamaru gave a lazy shrug before sitting in front of the game board.

Asuma knew Shikamaru well enough to know that the kid was probably starting to get suspicious about how he had been acting for the past while, but he also knew that he didn't have enough information to pull together a clear picture of what was going on. He was actually looking forward to the day that the young man figured it out. It was only a matter of time now, going by the fact that Shikamaru was the first of his students and his friends (excluding Kakashi and his heightened sense of smell) to figure out that he and Kurenai were together. Ino was a close second due to her connections around the village and understanding of human behavior thanks to her father's teachings. How she enjoyed lording that bit of information over his head.

Asuma took a drag from his cigarette as he kicked off his sandals and sat opposite Shikamaru, who had gotten started at laying out the pieces.

"Oh! You're playin' shogi!" A voice, that Asuma honestly hadn't expected to hear, exclaimed.

"You know what it is?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep! Me 'n Jii-chan used to play it all the time! I won every time!" Ran puffed out her chest and thumped it in pride.

"Really now?" Asuma sounded a little sceptical but impressed all the same. "Are you sure he wasn't going easy on you?"

"Nuh-uh! I'd whoop his butt every time! He never stood a chance against me! I was the best in the whole entire village!"

A look Asuma knew crossed Shikamaru's face as they listened to the girl's bragging. "Asuma," he said.

"Yep," Asuma said as he shifted away from the board. "Well Shikamaru here is the best player in Konoha, so why don't you see if you can take him on?"

"You got it!" Ran cheered as she slipped out of her sandals and scooted to where Asuma previously was on the porch. "Now I have gotta protect my title, so I won' be goin' easy on ya, ya hear?" Ran stroked an imaginary mustache seriously so the two men assumed she was imitating someone.

"You can go first," Shikamaru gestured to the board. Ran's eyes narrowed and her tongue stuck out in concentration as she stared down at the board.

It was well known the kind of tactical and all around genius Hatake Kakashi was. There were whispers about who was smarter; was it Kakashi or Shikamaru? The latter, who was considered a genius in a clan of geniuses, or the former? While he usually brushed such questions off, he was still only 16 while Kakashi was a seasoned 30 year old jounin. There was no way Shikamaru would be able to outsmart some like that. Yet. While the young man had been very tempted to face off against his senior in a game of shogi, Kakashi had always refused or blown him off.

Yet, here was a young child who according to his father was inheriting Kakashi's abilities. Prominent canines, a hyper aware sense of smell, and probably a sense of hearing to match it in a few years. There were already rumors and theories floating around about what other kinds of things the girl had inherited. It was not a stretch of the imagination for Ran to have inherited his superior intellect. At the age of five, Kakashi had managed to graduate the shinobi academy and went on to be promoted to chuunin at six. If that intellect had passed onto Ran, she would be showing the intelligence of a 12 year-old at the very least. There was also always the option that she would surpass him.

Asuma looked between the two in amusement as he smoked. It had been a long time since he had seen that look on Shikamaru's face: excitement. He was excited to see what Ran would do and just how she would grow. Perhaps she could compete at the same level as Shikamaru in a couple of years. That would certainly be something to watch.

Ran stopped her careful consideration of the board and the pieces scattered across it abruptly, and looked up at Shikamaru with a confident smirk. Asuma unconsciously held his breath in anticipation as Shikamaru's face grew more serious as he leaned forward a little. Who knew watching Kakashi's kid for a couple of hours was going to be this interesting?

"THERE!" Ran bellowed. Asuma leaned forward to get a better look at the opening move she was going to make. Only, she didn't pick up one the pieces. No, she held her middle finger back against her thumb before unleashing all of her strength on the piece in front of her. The piece hit skittered across the board and collided with several of Shikamaru's pieces on the other side, sending them off the edge of the board.

She flicked the shoji piece.

The cigarette fell from Asuma's mouth in shock.

"One, two, three, four, five! Five pieces you hafta beat!" Ran cheered as she crossed her arms in pride.

"W-wait?" Shikamaru stuttered out in shock. "What are you talking about?"

Ran's brow furrowed. "I knocked five of your pieces off so you have to try and knock off six," she was very confused.

"That's not how you play shogi! What game are you playing?"

"The one Jii-chan made. He tried to explain the rules to the real game to be but they were too confusin' so we made a new one," she didn't sound impressed. Halfway through Ran's explanation there was a thump as Asuma fell over in shock. Shikamaru's head was quick to follow, only onto the board instead.

She had certainly inherited Kakashi's ability to turn expectations of her on their head.


A bright red mark was smack dab in the middle of Shikamaru's forehead as he disgruntledly moved a shogi piece. Asuma still chuckled to himself every now and again as he made moves in response. It wasn't every day that you got a shock that big. Thinking back on it now, it was really their own fault that their expectations got so high. Ran was obviously a little kid, and nothing she had done so far gave them any reason to think otherwise. For two men who hated being compared and expected to be exactly like their fathers, they sure were quick to do the same to Ran. Asuma started to snicker again while taking a drag from his cigarette, causing him to inhale the smoke wrong. His eyes watered as he tried to not cough up a lung.

"You deserved that," Shikamaru muttered as he moved another piece. "You're not even paying attention to the game."

"Sorry, sorry," Asuma apologized, but he started to snicker again. "It was just so unexpected! Come on, you have to find it even the tiniest bit funny!" Asuma punched Shikamaru's shoulder gently.

Shikamaru just rolled his eyes and sighed. "I win," he said as he made the final move of the game. "I don't wanna play if you're not going to put up a challenge," he grumbled as he flopped onto his back.

Ran seemed to have the right idea in Shikamaru's mind. She was currently spread eagle on her back next to Asuma napping soundly. She had ended up conking out ten or so minutes after their game of not-shogi. Apparently using all the brainpower it took to knock five pieces out at once had taken it out of her. At least, that's what they assumed.

For the next few hours, Shikamaru and Asuma played shogi as Ran napped in peace. Shikamaru won as he always did, but Asuma did manage to get close a few times. Was Shikamaru really that thrown off by Ran's actions? Asuma wondered, or was there something else on his mind? The young man certainly looked to be deep in thought as they played. Perhaps it was a mix of the two.

"Asuma-sensei! Shikamaru!" A loud voice called, snapping the pair out of their thoughts.

"Naruto?" Shikamaru called to him as he ran towards the porch. "What're you doing here?"

"I was training with Kakashi-sensei and he said that I should come and get some tips on my wind nature from Asuma-sensei," Naruto explained.

"Hoo? So you have a wind nature as well?" Asuma asked as he stood up from the porch. "Sure, I can give you some pointers, come on." He lead Naruto away, with Shikamaru trailing after since he really had nothing better to do currently.

As the small group made their way from the porch, Ran started to stir. Naruto's shout from earlier had started to wake her, but she didn't open her eyes until they were around back at the training grounds. Asuma made sure that they were a decent distance away from her so there wouldn't be a risk of her being injured on accident.

Ran sat up and stretched before hopping to her feet and went to find where Asuma and Shikamaru had gone. Doing so wasn't hard due to the strong scent of Asuma's cigarettes clinging to him. It turned out that they weren't all that far away, and since their backs were to her she couldn't see what they were doing. Not all that interested in whatever the boys were doing, Ran decided that exploring would be the best bet for now. The houses that made up the Nara compound were nice, but what interested the girl far more was the forest that was just beyond them. Pakkun must have not had the time to show her this forest the other day. "No time to waste then," Ran said as she hopped off of the porch and started walking into the unknown forest.

The grass and ferns were soft underneath her bare feet, and the dirt path that lead through the forest wasn't all that rough. The smell of plants and earth was strong as she made her way down the path. Little sun beams broke through the canopy of leaves and made almost a kaleidoscope pattern of light across the ground and foliage below. A bird called off in the distance and Ran returned the sound to the best of the ability. It must have been able to tell that she wasn't one of them since it took off soon after that.

Ran hummed and swung her arms as she walked. It had only been a couple of days since her walk with Pakkun, but it felt like much longer. When taking walks and playing in the forest was a daily activity for so long, it became a shock to only do it every week or so. If that. Ran found that she had missed the way the patchwork of sunlight felt on her skin, how moss and earth felt under her feet and their scent filled her nostrils. The the sounds animals would make as they scurried around and called out to one another.

Just for a moment, Ran closed her eyes and pretended that this forest was the one that she would spend all day playing in with the other children on the village. That when she was done here she would go home and Mama would be waiting for her. Her hair would be pulled back by a handkerchief, ink staining her clothes and skin a dark black, papers would be scattered about and weighed down with little rocks or anything that was within reaching distance. All of the doors would be open to try and fend off the blazing summer heat, and a warm breeze made its way through the open house. The papers would rustle and shift, along with any clothing and loose hair, but they would stay in place thanks to Mama's quick thinking. The air would be so thick with moisture from the ocean that sweating was made ineffective and clung to everyone like a second skin. The only relief from it was to jump into the stream in the forest. Mama would turn when she heard Ran's feet pitter pattering across the wooden floor, and would give her a huge smile before smothering her in a hug. Ink would rub off onto her skin, clothes, and hair, but Ran wouldn't mind. All that mattered was the smell of fresh flowers, ink, rice paper, and the soap that she used to wash their clothes filling her nose. The feeling of her soft cotton yukata under her hands, and her even softer skin against her cheek. How her heartbeat thudded steadily along in her ears, and her laughter, light as a bird's song filled the entire house.

Snap!

The sound of a twig breaking snapped Ran out of her memories and she whipped her head around to find herself face to face with a large buck. A doe was standing a ways behind him. It felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest. Why was her face wet? Wiping away the tears, Ran quietly said, "umm..." Before looking around her. As she looked closer she saw that there weren't only two deer, but a good dozen or so standing in between the trees. She had a strong feeling that there were even more around that she couldn't see.

"You're the guards of this forest, aren't you?" She asked a bit nervously. The buck in front of her said nothing, opting to stare into her eyes. Ran looked away, made uncomfortable by the black eyes boring into hers. "I'm not supposed to be in here, am I?" The Once again, the buck didn't respond. These must have been different animals from Pakkun and the other big talking dog she met the other day.

Animals not talking was normal, and Ran smacked her forehead for thinking otherwise, no matter how briefly. This stupid, weird, place was getting to her.

"I'll go then," Ran said as she looked around for the exit. "Uhhh..." Well that was just great, she had no idea where she was and the path was nowhere in sight. She must have wandered too far while lost in her memories. "Do you guys know the way out?" She asked the deer. They may have not been able to talk, but maybe they could understand speech. These deer were different from any others she had seen before. The ones back home would run as soon as they saw a person, not stand around them all intimidatingly.

This place was so weird.

The buck snorted before shaking its head in the direction behind it. "That way?" Ran asked him, but he didn't respond. Opting to stare into her soul with those dark blank eyes. Needless to say they were giving her the heebie jeebies. Ran held her hands out in front of her non threateningly as she slowly stepped around the buck. "I'm going, alright?"

The buck took a step back to give her some more space to move past him, but he didn't take his eyes off of her.

"I'm sorry that I barged into your house like that," Ran apologized. "It probably wasn' very nice to find a stranger in your home." It didn't take Ran long to find the path again, and once she did, she high tailed it out of the forest as quickly as her legs could carry her.

"That was scary," Ran wheezed as she bent over with her hands on her knees trying to catch her breath. She risked a glance back at the woods and was relieved to find that the deer hadn't chased her. "Not gonna do that again."

Unknownst to the little girl, there were several pairs of eyes peeking through the foliage. Satisfied that the intruder had been properly scared off, the deer went their separate ways.


Asuma waved to Naruto's retreating back as Shikamaru lazed against one of the training dummies. Asuma didn't know how much of his advice Naruto ended up understanding, but he had faith that the boy would figure it out with time.

"You finally done?" Shikamaru asked. He wasn't happy that his shoji game had been interrupted by the blond.

"Yeah, we should be able to head back then." Asuma had to hide a smile at Shikamaru's disgruntled expression. Shikamaru sighed as she hauled himself to his feet, making sure to show just how much it effort it required. Before stuffing his hands in his pockets and heading back to the main house with Asuma.

"Well, that's odd," Asuma mused when they returned to find that Ran wasn't where they had left her. "That's where Ran was napping earlier, right?" Asuma asked Shikamaru while pointing to the spot on the porch.

"She probably just woke up and wandered off," Shikamaru didn't seem all that concerned over the little girl's whereabouts. "She probably just went to find a bathroom." Her shoes were still where she had kicked them off earlier so it wasn't like she had left or anything.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Asuma agreed. Still, he looked a little uneasy.

"She'll probably be back in a few minutes," Shikamaru shrugged. Despite his laid back demeanor, it didn't slip past him that Asuma was not reassured by his words. Kids wandered off all the time, and if their first encounter with Ran had told them anything, she was prone to doing just that.

Despite his unease, Asuma sat down across next to Shikamaru and waited for Ran. Shikamaru was most likely right, she would be back in a few minutes.

Except she wasn't.

It had been a good ten minutes and they still hadn't seen hide or hair of the girl, and that probably wasn't a good thing.

"She probably just got lost looking for the bathroom," Shikamaru sighed. "Why are you freaking out so much? Kids wonder all the time." Asuma was overreacting in his opinion.

Asuma was not freaking out, thank you very much. He was nervous and a little uneasy. He was not freaking out and panicking like some child, he was a fully grown man! But it would be a lie to say that he wasn't just the tiniest, miniscule amount, barely visible under even the strongest microscope, intimidated by Kakashi.

"It's not like Kakashi-sensei is all that good at keeping an eye on her," Shikamaru said. The fact that he had lost her the first time they had met the girl was a good example of that. "And he's pretty relaxed about everything. I highly doubt he's going to freak out over his kid probably getting distracted by a dog on her way back."

"That's where you're wrong, Shikamaru," Asuma said as he looked under the raised porch for a pink head of hair. "Kakashi is beyond paranoid." Nothing. Damnit! Asuma had hoped that she was just hiding from them in order to play a prank on them, but that didn't seem to be the case.

"Everyone knows that." Shikamaru didn't sound convinced.

"You hear about Ueda Daisuke? How he got thrown out of a window?"

"That's just a rumor."

"No, it actually happened. The reason why is being kept hush hush, but Kakashi threw him out of the Hokage tower after something happened between his kid and Ran. Apparently there was a fight and the kid said something that made Kakashi so angry he attacked the guy."

"What?" Shikamaru actually sat up.

"And Genma said that Kakashi nearly skewered him after he came home to find him in his house and Ran screaming. Said he nearly shit himself." The fact that Genma tended to over exaggerate wasn't mentioned. No one would really question if Kakashi had actually done that or not.

"It's not like we lost her, more just… displaced her." He had a feeling that this was going to be very troublesome.

"You wanna be the one to explain that we lost his kid, the last of a very powerful bloodline I might remind you, to Hatake-My-Middle-Name-is-Paranoia-Kakashi?"

OK, they have messed up. Just the teeniest tiniest bit.

It wasn't like Kakashi was going to throw them out of a window, they were his friends, right?

Who were they kidding, of course he would.

Damn troublesome girl.

"Ran?" Asuma called from his place on top of one the Nara houses. "Ran!" He drew out her name in hopes that she would hear him. There was no response, only the Nara lazing on the house across from him giving him a look, and Asuma jumped down.

"Oka-san, have you seen a girl about this tall with pink hair?" Shikamaru asked his mom. Hopefully they had run into each other and his wonderful, not at all troublesome, mother knew where the kid was right now.

"What? No I haven't."

Of course.

It was never that easy.

Shikamaru ran out of the house leaving his mother behind yelling, "wait! Isn't that Kakashi-san's daughter?" Great, now he was going to have another thing to deal with once they found the brat.

Fantastic.

It was after Asuma and Shikamaru had searched the compound from top to bottom that the panic really started to set in. Ran wasn't in any of the bathrooms, playing with one of his family's animals, and no one had seen her. How on Earth a five year old girl had managed to sneak away from a shinobi clan without any of them noticing was beyond them. Were the Nara just genetically bad babysitters? Probably, but that was beside the point.

They had no idea when Kakashi would be arriving, and even less of an idea of where his kid was. Maybe Kakashi would take mercy on them and make their deaths quick?

Who were they kidding, of course he wouldn't.

There was just one place that they hadn't looked yet. "You don't think...?" Shikamaru drifted off as they stood in front of the expansive Nara forest. "Everyone knows not to go into our forest without express permission," he thought aloud. There was a brief pause before Shikamaru groaned. "But someone from a backwater farming village in the middle of nowhere would have no idea."

"Just how dangerous would you say the forest is for a non-Nara?" Asuma asked with slight cringe. Even he hadn't been stupid enough in his youth to try and break in.

"Our deer are a lot smarter than your average deer, it's how they know how to run anyone who isn't a Nara out, but they tend to be pretty territorial." Shikamaru rubbed the back of neck.

"There have got to have been some dumb kids who thought it would be a good idea to break in on a dare?"

"They generally run out screaming covered with hoof shaped bruises."

"...Are there any Nara medics we could take care of her to before Kakashi comes to pick her up?"

"I think they're all out on missions." Wasn't that just perfect?

Asuma stared intently at the ground as he tried to figure out what to do while Shikamaru seemed to be doing the same.

"Ran?" A very familiar voice called. Asuma and Shikamaru froze and a cold sweat started to run down their backs.

He was here, and Ran was still missing.

They hadn't even heard him walk up, and no one would probably hear when they left this plane of existence. Or maybe he would make an example of them and string them up for a very public execution.

Either way, it was probably a good idea to make their peace with god.

The pair was doing just that, that is, until they heard the clacking of wooden sandals walking towards them. There, standing in all of her glory, was a very alive and uninjured Ran. There was a twig and a few leaves stuck in her wild hair, and she was dirtier than she had been when they had first gotten her, but she was otherwise fine

Asuma felt about ready to cry out of relief.

Kakashi glanced down at the girl when she all but ran up to him and latched onto his side. His eyes narrowed slightly when he noticed the few leaves and sticks stuck in her hair, and the almost shell shocked expression on her face. "Did she give you any trouble?"

"N-none at all!" Asuma said a little too quickly, his voice cracking on the first word. Shikamaru sighed and hung his head.

Kakashi wasn't exactly buying what they were saying, but nothing bad seemed to have happened so he shrugged it off. "Thanks for watching her for the day," he thanked them flippantly.

"It was no trouble," Asuma tried to assure him, but his words were a bit too forced.

Ran said nothing as they walked out of the Nara compound, and she was still all but clinging to Kakashi's side. If there was one thing that she had learned from this misadventure, it was that she should be more careful about where she explores in this weird, strange, village.

Asuma, on the other hand, learned that he was going to have to get his act together in the coming months if he was going to be able to do a good job in his upcoming role. While Shikamaru decided then and there to scrap his plan of having a son and a daughter. Children were far more trouble than they were worth.


"Ooooh!" Ran exclaimed when she caught sight of the giant waterfall with a wooden beam running horizontally across it and a good few dozen Narutos standing on it. "W-w-what is that?! When did this waterfall get here? Why were there so many Narutos here? What're they tryin' to do?" She shouted once again when she spotted Yamato sitting in the middle of a circle of pillars that had animal heads on the top. She wasted no time attempting to run up to the waterfall, but a gloved hand stopped her.

"S-senpai?!" Yamato exclaimed as he looked back and forth from Naruto and Kakashi several times. "Are you sure that it is a good idea to have her here?"

"Mah, mah, I full confidence in your and Naruto's skills," Kakashi said with an infuriating eye crinkle. Poor Yamato looked to be on the verge of have a stroke. "Now, Ran, what did we agree to?" He asked her.

"Not to bother Yamato or Naruto-nii, and to make sure to not go too far, and to listen to everythin' you say."

"Good," Kakashi said. Ran nodded her head before darting off.

"Senpai..." Yamato trailed off when Kakashi made his way over to him. "I really don't think that this is a good idea..."

"I wasn't lying when I said that I trusted your and Naruto's skills. He hasn't slipped since we first started this training, and I have total faith that you'll be able to control him in the event that he does."

Yamato wasn't going to lie and say that Kakashi's praise didn't make him happy, but he really wasn't comfortable with this set up. There was a reason that they chose the training field that was the farthest away from the village and the most isolated. Even if they did get Naruto under control, Ran would still very likely have seen what had happened. While it was an open secret about who the host of the Kyuubi was, it really wasn't good to have someone witness it. Much less a kid who held no previous bias against Naruto due to her not having been raised in the village. That lack of bias could quickly be rewritten into fear, and it would probably end up hurting Naruto to have Ran afraid of him.

Seemingly knowing what Yamato was thinking, Kakashi asked, "do you really have so little faith in me? Putting a genjutsu on a five year old in the event something does happen is something I could both do in my sleep."

Yamato sputtered. While generally not harmful, it wasn't exactly ethical to put someone who wasn't even in the academy yet in a genjutsu. But Kakashi at least seemed to have everything figured out... "I hope you know I won't be able to keep an eye on her, I already have my hands full with Naruto here."

"I have faith in you," Kakashi pat him on the back before standing up and putting his book in his face.

"Senpai!" Yamato wailed, ready to argue, but then he noticed that Kakashi's eyes weren't actually on the page. While it didn't look like it at first glance, he was actually keeping an eye on the little girl who was currently climbing the tree that the bench he had made Kakashi earlier was under. Yamato didn't say anything as he turned his attention back onto Naruto.

Kakashi sighed as he sat down on the bench his wonderful kouhai had made him. He could hear the leaves of the tree above him rustling as Ran scrambled across the branches. Truth be told, it was not his idea to have Ran hanging around while they completed dangerous training like this. He was actually quite against it when a certain Inuzuka woman suggested the idea to him.

Why did Tsume have to have good points and arguments at times? It was like with Gai earlier when he said that Ran was a lot like him in the way that she didn't open up to people easily. What was with the seemingly dumb and simple people in his life being surprising insightful at times? "Bonding's important, Kakashi! Ya gotta get close to your kid before they'll open up to you! Kids love playin' in big open fields, and I happen to know that you're currently spending time in one. Bring her along and let her run 'round. It'll be good for her!" Did Tsume actually have some of that mother's intuition, or did he have a mole that he needed to snuff out? Besides that, he now needed to replace his front window on top of everything else he had to take care of. Why people felt the need to use the window when he had a perfectly fine door was beyond him.

Either way, Ran was now spending her afternoons playing the training ground after spending her mornings at the daycare. Kakashi would fill that time with guidance, as much as he could give on this subject, before sending Pakkun and Bull to pick Ran up. She seemed to enjoy riding on Bull's back at least.

The first day that Ran spent time hanging out at the training ground she was careful not to wander too far away from Kakashi. She spent her time climbing the tree that he was under and romping around in the field around it. But as time passed she grew more and more confident. It wasn't like Naruto was doing anything big or dangerous. He just pressed his hands against the waterfall and shouting. There was more going on during the spar she witnessed between team seven on one of the first days she spent in Konoha. Just why Yamato was sitting in the middle of those wooden pillars and why she wasn't supposed to disturb him was a mystery to her. Everyone seemed really serious about something that was pretty boring.

By the second day, her courage had grown to the point where she was playing in the water basin that had formed at the bottom of the waterfall. Only at the edge, though, Kakashi made sure she didn't wander into anything deeper than her knees. Ran seemed to be elated to be playing in the water and the byproduct of mud. She made mudballs that she claimed to be medicine pills, like the ones Sakura was dropping off for Naruto. Kakashi was pretty sure that the ones Ran made tasted about the same, if not better, than Sakura's. If the way Naruto would grimace before choking one down was anything to go by.

And so they feel into a routine. Kakashi would drop Ran off at daycare before heading over to the training ground to watch over Naruto's training. Around mid afternoon he would send Pakkun and Bull to pick her up, and she would spend the rest of the day playing around the field. At the end of day Kakashi would use a weak d-rank water jutsu to wash off the mud that she ended up getting covered in and wearing like second skin. Ran would squeal loudly when the water hit her before shaking it off like a dog. They would then go home for a proper bath and dinner before Kakashi sent her off to bed.

Naruto's shouts of concentration and Ran's laughter as she played filled the training ground. The laughter of a child created a more relaxed atmosphere rather than the generally tense air that clung to the group when they had first started their training. Yamato didn't look nearly as stiff as he sat monitoring the Kyuubi's chakra, and Naruto didn't seem to have it in him to get frustrated with his lack of progress when Ran would proudly show him the cool rocks she had found during his breaks.

Speaking of rocks, Ran was building quite the collection by Kakashi's wooden coach. It was common for this training ground to be the place where shinobi would practice and develop experimental jutsu since it was located the farthest away from the village. There was evidence of the unstable chakra all over the training field. From almost spiderweb like pieces glass from where lightning jutsu had come in contact with sand, rocks that were actually only balls of super compressed earth, ones that were made perfectly smooth due to the force of water jutsu, and other rocks that were split so perfectly and cleanly by wind jutsu that it looked like a hot knife had gone through butter than a piece of stone. Ran's favorites were perhaps the stones and bits of earth that had melded together due to extreme heat. Making them into dark, twisting, melted together rock that were full of different colors and textures. Sometimes even the effect that other chakra natures had within these kinds of rocks, and would make a dazzling collection of colors. Ran had only found one of these, but it was by far her favorite, going by the fact that she carried it everywhere with her.

It wasn't long before Ran had explored every inch of her allowed area of the training ground and started to wonder into the forests that surrounded it. Kakashi knew it that it would be safe for her to explore and play in it since it was pretty much normal forest at that point. Still, he kept an eye on her chakra signature out of the metaphorical corner of his eye.

Kakashi had been beyond relieved when he had done an in depth reading on her chakra and found it to be completely normal for a clan child her age. Clan children tended to be naturally bigger and stronger than civilian born children, and had a larger pool of chakra to start out with. Ran was right around where she should be, and by far the best part was that she was nowhere close to where his chakra was at her age. That should help keep some prying eyes off of her for the time being, at least.

Kakashi did a double take when on the fourth day Ran came out of the forest and into the training field proper with bulging cheeks. Was she pretending to be a chipmunk? "Ran," he called, "what is in your mouth?" Part of him really didn't want to know.

She trotted over, dumping her most recent haul of rocks from the forest next to his coach, before she spat out even more rocks. Only this time, it was litteral. She had been carrying rocks on her mouth.

"Look! Look!" Ran exclaimed as she shoved the drool covered rocks into his face. Kakashi had force back a grimace and not lean away. "Aren't they pretty?" She asked him, her eyes beaming.

"They're fine," Kakashi said, "but why were you carrying them in your mouth?" That was just plain disgusting. He wasn't like this when he was younger, right?

"I ran out of room in my pockets," Ran said like it was obvious before pulling out even more rocks from her shorts.

Kakashi's eye twitched...Were all kids like this...? Or was he being punished for some terrible crime he had committed in his previous life?

Having Ran was like having a tiny drunk person he constantly had to keep an eye on or they would do something so stupid that it would probably result in their or someone else's death. He had warned her not to get too close to the edge, but she ended up not listening to him and nearly fell to her death. Or the time she bit into an entire raw onion, and when he asked why she had done that she had said, through many tears and snot, that she really like onions and wanted to eat it like an apple. She learned an important lesson that day.

"Ran," he sighed, "the only thing you put in your mouth is food. Rocks are all dirty and you might get sick from putting them in your mouth."

Ran looked genuinely shocked by this news and asked, "but what if I run out of room in my pockets again?"

"Then you put some of them back or make two trips."

"Whaddabout water and juice? They're not food, but they go in your mouth."

"Drinks are ok to put in your mouth, but only if an adult you trust give them to you." He had a feeling that she would going to try and drink something gross like pond water and then claim that he said that it was ok when he tried to scold her.

"Whaddabout chopsticks? They're not food but they go in your mouth."

Was she purposely being difficult? "You can put them in your mouth, but only if they're clean."

"Whaddabout toothbrushes?"

His eye twitched. "Only if it's yours."

"Whaddabout gum? You put it in your mouth but you don't eat it."

"Only if it's a new piece, don't put someone else's in your mouth."

"Whaddabout, whaddabout, whaddabout," Ran repeated quickly. Had she gotten stuck on the word? Was she having a stroke? "Whaddabout animals?"

Wait, what?

"What… do you mean?" She didn't carry animals around in her mouth, did she?

"Whaddabout how animals carry stuff in their mouths? Why can they do it, but I can't" Oh thank god, that's what she was asking about.

"They don't have hands so they have to carry things in their mouths."

"But I use my mouth cause my hands are full, isn't that the same?"

"Then you use your pockets."

"But my pockets are full too! That's why I'm usin' my mouth!"

Was he really having an argument about what should and shouldn't go in people's mouths? The great Sharingan no Kakashi, currently arguing about whether or not rocks should be carried in your mouth with a fiver year old. What had his life come to...?


Ran squealed in delight when she came across something absolutely wonderful in the forest. Oh, this was the best, coolest, most amazing thing she had found yet! Nothing before this could even compare! Not even the toad she had found, he had escaped too quickly for her to be able to show him off, much to her disappointment. She just had to show this to Kakashi!

Reclining on his wooden coach that Tenzo had been so kind to make him with very little complaint, Kakashi flipped through Icha Icha at a leisurely pace. The wood was actually more comfortable than would generally be expected. Truly an example of Tenzo's master craftsmanship. It was definitely more comfortable than the hard ground that Tenzo had to sit on for hours on end. Kakashi was not envious of his kohai's position at all.

He could hear giggling from Ran as she was attempting to be sneaky by creeping up behind him. Was this one of those special situations where he was supposed to act as though he didn't know that she was there? He knew that cats would often act as though they were startled and had been caught off guard by their young in order to help them build confidence in their hunting skills. But were human parents supposed to do that? He knew that he certainly hadn't done that with his little genin back when they were still cute. The way they would scream and practically jump out of their own skins when he ended up sneaking up on them instead had just been to amusing not to do.

But would doing the same to Ran have negative consequences? She had become much more relaxed around him since he had started bringing her to the training ground. It was normal for her to tell him all about the things she did and saw while exploring in the forest as they ate dinner. There was also the pile of miscellaneous items that sat next to him. Kakashi wasn't sure if they were gifts to him or if she was just storing them for later. Like a squirrel storing nuts for winter. But what a kid could want with a few dozen rocks, sticks that looked like swords, acorns and other nuts, dead bugs, and more cicada shells that really had no business being that many in number?

What confused him more than the few dozen cicada shells that he had no idea what Ran needed for, was the fact that she was still being incredibly secretive. She still held everything close to her chest and the only things that Kakashi had been able to to gleem about her had been through things that she had accidentally let slip. Like the time that he had learned that she didn't like bananas since she made a face when he offered her one for breakfast one morning, or the fact that she liked onions. Thanks to the whole onion debacle of a few days ago. Ran had no problem rattling on and on about the things that she had seen and done that day, but she said nothing about herself or the village she had grown up in. It wasn't exactly as though he was asking about these things, it really wasn't any of his business, so he never broached the subject.

Although, at the very least Ran's night terrors seemed to reducing in severity and frequency. Sure she still cried at night, but she was no longer waking up screaming and needed to be sung back to sleep. (If anyone found out that he sang to her he would staunchly deny it.) Apparently Tsume had been at least partially right about bringing Ran to play in the training fields. Wait, could that last part really be credited to Tsume? She said that it would be good for his and Ran's bonding if she were to join them, but she hadn't said anything about her night terrors. No way, there was no way that she could have suggested something that could help with both of Ran's current problems. He was willing to give her credit where it was due, but he wasn't going to give her any more than that. It was probably just time healing all wounds. It had a way of doing that.

In the time he considered his options and ended up getting a little side tracked, the decision was taken out of his hands when Ran pounced from behind the coach. "WAAH!" She yelled as she waved her arm in front of his face. It wasn't her arm itself that was the interesting part, but the little Green Tree Snake wrapped around it. "Lookit! Lookit!" Ran exclaimed as she waved it in front of his face. "Isn't he cute?" She stopped waving the snake and brought it close to her face before gently petting it on the head. The snake, probably relieved to no longer be waved around, flicked its tongue out at her.

"Ah, that's cool, Ran," Kakashi said not all that convincingly before he flopped back onto his back and brought his book to his face. What was a Green Tree Snake doing hanging around one of the training grounds? They tended to be rather timid and hid away from people. Shinobi training grounds and the areas around them tended to be pretty barren when it came animal life since they were usually scared off pretty early on. Going by that snake's size it was still pretty young and probably just wandered a little too far away from its home.

Ran did not seem at all impressed by his lack of a reaction to her find and started muttering to the snake dejectedly. "I think you're cool…" The snake flicked its tongue at her again and Ran did the same back.

"You know," Kakashi mused, "I bet Yamato would think that your find is really cool." That got the little girl's attention, but she tried to make it not too obvious. She was still upset with him for brushing her super cool amazing discovery off. "You should sneak up on him and surprise him with it."

Ran looked back at him and gave him a nod that was far too serious for the situation before she started creeping over to where Tenzo sat. It wasn't like Kakashi was worried that Naruto would lose control of the fox during the few seconds that Tenzo was distracted by Ran and her friend, he had more faith in Naruto than that.

With his cute little genin no longer being cute nor little anymore, Kakashi was forced to find someone new to torment. It just so happened that poor Tenzo had come around at just the right time to fill that role. The shrill screech that came from him when he came face to face with a tiny Green Tree Snake was more than enough to satisfy that almost sadistic need deep within him. Kakashi got comfortable on his back as he started to lazily read Icha Icha to the sounds of Tenzo trying to cover up the fact that he had screamed like a little girl.

Today was a good day.


A/N: 11,000 words, hopefully that's a good apology for not updating in over a year… Sorry 'bout that… But enough of that! I would like to take a moment to thank all of the people who supported me during my leave of absence by following, favoriting, and reviewing this story! Your continued support really help to motivate me to continue this story! You're all wonderful and I love you all!