A/N: This is a side story connected to my story Copy Cat's Shadow. The original story does not need to be read to fully enjoy this – it's also a work in progress – but at least the first two chapters of the other story help to set this one up. If you skip that, just know that this story is about Kakashi and Shikamaru in a sensei-student relationship after Shikamaru, two years younger than the rest of the original class in the show, graduates from the Academy after only a year.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. There are soooo many things I would change if I did.

Hmmmm…I wonder what wonderful D ranks we have today…

Kakashi figured there was something slightly insane about being sarcastic in your own head. Considering who he was though, it wasn't really something he should worry about. Insane was practically his middle name at this point. Just ask Inoichi. Or Ibiki. Or honestly anyone on the street. It really didn't take a psych evaluation to figure that one out…

Shikamaru on the other hand… Now, he might kill him in his sleep at some point soon if he made him go after Tora again.

Kakashi sighed. He really had not missed doing such mundane tasks. Honestly, the last time he had done a D rank until he got a student was when he was six years old, and that had been with Minato. They had managed to skip out on D ranks when Rin and Obito were added to the team, as there were much more important missions on hand and a shortage of shinobi to take care of them.

Kakashi shook his head as though to dispel such thoughts. He didn't need to go down that particular memory lane right now. Graduating early for war was not great at all.

He kept telling himself that since it wasn't wartime, that Shikamaru was not like him and wouldn't have to deal with the same types of losses as him. But deep down, Kakashi knew that even without war, innocence as a shinobi didn't exist. Turning his head and peeking down at said seven-year-old, Kakashi was struck with the ever-abiding feeling of how utterly cute and tiny Shikamaru was.

"Stop it."

Kakashi blinked. "Stop what?"

He didn't have a view of Shikamaru's face, but he could almost hear the eyeroll.

"You're gushing."

Kakashi felt his face heat up under his mask.

He must really be slipping if Shikamaru was able to tell that about him without looking. And kami, even if he was, when in the world had he become so readable?

"I am not!" he managed to splutter.

This time Shikamaru tilted his head up and back to look at him. His face was the definition of deadpan as he said, "You always have these certain…vibes…when you think I'm cute. Which is…all the time. And really annoying."

Kakashi mulled over that and gave an eye smile. "But you are cute."

Shikamaru growled in frustration and shoved his hands into his pant pockets "You're incorrigible."

Kakashi chuckled. "Such a big word for such a small cute student."

Shikamaru shrugged, giving up, and then hooked a thumb back at himself. "Genius."

Kakashi sighed. "Yes you are. And a genius that needs to have something besides more cat hunting to do."

Shikamaru blanched. "Oh Kami, no!"

At this point in the trek they were taking, they had made it to the mission desk, and Kakashi glanced around the room at who was on duty.

"Shikamaru-kun!"

Kakashi turned as his student's face lit up. "Iruka-sensei!"

Kakashi had never really talked to the Academy sensei after picking up Shikamaru that first day, but he remembered feeling mildly intrigued. The Hokage had told him that Iruka was the one who had had the sense of mind to keep Shikamaru passing the test quiet and going straight to him.

Iruka looked like he was in his late teens, and from where he'd seen the chunin the few times they had crossed paths, it looked like that's all Iruka would be. A career chunin. Which wasn't all bad…

Someone had to teach the snot nosed kids at the academy now not to kill themselves with kunai.

And of course, there was this paperwork that Iruka seemed to be diligently working at.

That was, until they walked in. Kakashi watched with interest as Shikamaru bounded up to the desk where his previous teacher sat. As far as the silver haired jounin was aware, Shikamaru hadn't really interacted with the sensei outside of the Academy.

He should know. He dragged his student with him everywhere and by the time he was finished with the kid at the end of the day Shikamaru was normally too tired to do anything but collapse in bed.

And then there was that one time that he'd actually collapsed after training and just gone to sleep. That was an interesting problem, and Kakashi had sheepishly carried the boy back to the Nara compound, pointedly ignoring the camera that Yoshino pulled out when he showed up at the front door with her sleeping son on his shoulder. Shikaku had offered no help and just chuckled as he motioned in the direction of his son's room.

See, there was a reason Kakashi thought Shikamaru was cute. It was because he was!

And there he was getting lost in thought again. Kakashi sighed, and followed Shikamaru to the desk where Iruka sat, where the teacher was listening as Shikamaru made comments about his training and how boring D ranks were, and how they made him want to nap more than normal.

Kakashi cleared his throat as he walked up behind Shikamaru. "Maa, we gotta start from the bottom-up kiddo."

Shikamaru looked at Kakashi suspiciously. Kakashi blinked. "What?"

"You have never ever called me kiddo before."

Kakashi thought about that as Iruka watched, seemingly very enamored by their interactions. "Huh. I guess I haven't. Do you prefer that over 'cute student'?"

Kakashi was watching Iruka out of the corner of his eye and felt a modicum of amusement as the chunnin choked on the water he had just decided to take a sip of.

"Maa, you're so mean."

"I am not!" Kakashi protested. He then shifted his gaze up to the bemused Iruka. "I really am not mean. He just gets…wild ideas." He finished his sentence with another eye smile as he patted the pineapple style ponytail on the back of Shikamaru's head. Shikamaru swatted at his hand and then proceeded to cross his arms when he realized he could not make his sensei pull his hand away.

"Uh. Well." Iruka cleared his throat. "You're tired of D ranks then?"

Shikamaru, normally quite mild mannered, put his foot down in an almost tantrum like stamp and said "yes!" and then proceeded to look startled at himself. Then, more composed, he continued, "I normally do all the work anyways while this guy reads his god awful book."

"Language," Iruka commented, but his heart didn't seem to be in it as he gave Kakashi the disapproving side eye.

Kakashi sighed, and honestly, he really didn't want a D rank either, even if all he was doing was reading his book.

"Ah well, there aren't a lot of C ranks that are mild enough for just the two of us, especially with you still getting the hang of being a genin," Kakashi commented.

Iruka got a strange look on his face. "Actually…"

Kakashi watched as the chunin leaned forward, suddenly very intent as he rifled through a few papers on his desk.

"There's this one mission. It came in this morning from the pharmacy. They need some special herbs for a new outbreak of the measles in the western district, and the only place they grow nearby is about a few hours outside the village if you're just walking. Honestly, the only reason it's labeled as C ranked is because it's not inside the village walls – ah ha! Found you!"

Iruka triumphantly brandished the piece of paper he was looking for, and held it out to Kakashi. Kakashi took it from him, and scanned over the details. It really wasn't that hard, and Iruka was right. It was only labeled above a D rank because it was outside.

"Kashi-sensei?"

This time Iruka snorted, and Kakashi glared at Shikamaru. The boy realized his mistake, and smiled in embarrassment. He typically used 'Kashi-sensei' to get what he wanted from the man, but in front of someone else, that was not typically something that would win him brownie points.

But Kakashi really really wanted to do something besides a D rank.

"Well, how hard can a herb gathering mission be? We'll take it! Congratulations Shikamaru, you're about to go on your first C ranked mission!"

First chapter is short and sweet. The rest will be longer, but I decided to give you all the cuteness and fluff all at once.

Please leave a review! 'Tis food for a poor author's soul!