The fallout from Shikamaru's reveal could be viewed as entertaining if you weren't Ino, Choji, Kakashi, Ran, or Sakura. Ino had first rounded on her best friend as to why she hadn't shared this information sooner. Ran was her second victim, and the older girl searched the poor child for similarities. Choji stared at Kakashi with his mouth agape while Asuma and Shikamaru watched from a ways back.

"I guess I kind of see it… but it's hard to tell when you hide most of your face, Kakashi-sensei!" Ino huffed after she had finished her search. "And Forehead! Don't think you're off the hook! I expect a full story later!" It seemed Choji had snapped out of his shock and promptly turned to Shikamaru to ask him how he was able to figure it out so quickly.

"There really isn't much more to tell," Sakura tried to calm her friend, "Ran only arrived here yesterday."

"Still, I want to hear everything you know!" Ino demanded as she poked Sakura in the chest.

Kakashi groaned internally as he listened to the girls' conversation. The whole village knew how much of a gossip Yamanaka Ino was, and if she knew, the whole village was going to know he had a child by tomorrow. Ninja were notorious gossips and the civilians were even worse, and Kakashi was certain they would their own speculations to the mix. It wouldn't be long before Ran was the illegitimate child of the Fire Daimyo's daughter that he had bedded on a top secret mission. He would just have to wait for a few weeks or so before they latched on to some new tall tail, and he had Ran would be forgotten.

"So, what exactly happened here?" Kakashi asked his fellow jonin over his book.

"Seemed as though she thought I was someone else," Asuma explained as he puffed on a new cigarette, "said I smelled like her jii-chan."

Kakashi groaned at that, he had really hoped her enhanced sense of smell would take longer to develop.

"You having a kid, huh? Seems like there's a story there," Asuma said as he elbowed him in the ribs slightly harder than was necessary.

"And you won't be getting it," Kakashi shot back. "This was nice, but I have a team practice to attend to. Naruto, Sakura, Ran, time to go." He started towards the training grounds without waiting for confirmation from the others. Naruto was quick to say his goodbyes before tugging Ran along behind him.

"Later, Pig!" Sakura called as she ran to catch up with the rest of her team.

"I expect to see you at my house tonight, Forehead!" Ino called back before turning to her team, "looks like I'll have to skip on lunch. I'll see you guys tomorrow!" And like that, the girl was gone.

"How long do you think until the whole village knows?" Choji asked Shikamaru.

"Knowing Ino, the end of the day."

"Man, Kakashi-sensei having a kid is pretty weird. Like if you had a kid, Asuma-sensei," Choji said around his chips.

"That would be pretty weird," Asuma laughed.


The group found Yamato and Sai waiting for them at their training ground. "Looks like you found them," the former commented.

"With no thanks to you!" Naruto yelled back.

"Someone had to be here incase they came here before you found them," Sai added, earning himself a glare from Naruto.

"Mah, mah, I'm here now," Kakashi started, but cut himself off when Ran tottered over to a tree and all but collapsed under its shade. He supposed it made sense that she would need a nap. She had been up since five and had been going pretty much non-stop since then.

"Moving on," Kakashi continued, "make sure all of your attacks are facing away from that tree, and don't do anything crazy. Naruto, spar with Sai; Sakura, Yamato."

"What about you, sensei?" Naruto asked.

"I'm going to keep an eye on Ran and make sure none of you accidently kill her," the jonin explained. His students seemed to contemplating whether to call him out on his excuse or not, but it was legitimate.

"You know, senpai, a training field really isn't a place for children…" Yamato sighed.

"I know, but where do you suggest she go?"

"A day care, maybe?" He suggested.

"I've even seen some that cater to active shinobi," Sakura added, "some of the kids in our academy class talked about staying at one during the day while their parents were busy with missions and training."

"You remember back that far, Sakura-chan?"

"Of course, you don't?"

"Not really…"

Sakura sighed as Kakashi butted in, "I'll think about it. Now, get to sparring. We don't have all day."

"We would have had more time if you showed up on time for once…" Naruto muttered as he turned to Sai.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"


It was mid-afternoon by the time Ran woke. Kakashi had been lounging against the tree's trunk with Icha Icha in hand while his teammates and students attempted to beat the shit out of one another. How Ran managed to sleep through that was beyond the jonin. The little girl let out a big yawn as she stretched and rubbed at her eyes. A few leaves had gotten stuck in her locks, and she set to work removing them as she looked around the clearing.

"Wha-" Ran choked out when she saw several dozen Naruto's fighting a handful of ink animals. On the other side of the field, Sakura punched through the wood clones Yamato kept sending her way. "Wha-whaaa?" Was the only noise she seemed to be able to get out of her hanging jaw.

"Don't worry, they're just training," Kakashi said as he turned to the next page in his book. Ran flinched slightly before quickly turning to look up at him with wide eyes. Seems she hadn't noticed him, but there were far more interesting things to look at he supposed.

"B-b-but there are like a million Naruto-nii's! And Sakura-nee-chan just punched through Yamato! Who was made of wood! And-and-and there are real life paintings!" Ran exclaimed as she waved her hands around wildly.

"Those are all shinobi skills," Kakashi explained, "but I suppose those could be considered pretty unique skills."

Ran stared wide eyed as Sakura missed one of the clones and smashed a decent sized crater into the ground. "Can you do that?" She asked.

"Ehh, monstrous strength is more Tsunade-sama and Sakura's thing."

"So you can't?"
"No, I can't."

"What about that?" She asked, pointing Yamato's wood-release.

"Nope."

"That?" Sai's animals.

"Not that either."

"Can you at least do that?" She asked while pointing at the Naruto clones.

"That I can do." Ran gave him a blank, almost disgruntled, look before turning back to the action. Why does it feel like her opinion of me just fell? Kakashi wondered. "Hey, making physical copies of yourself isn't easy!"

"Naruto-nii and Yamato don't seem to be having any trouble with it," Ran muttered back, "being super strong or being able to make pictures real would be cooler. But I guess being able to make copies of yourself is alright…"

Was I just snubbed?! "I can do a lot more than that, you know."

"But you can't smash the ground into a million pieces, can you?"

"There's more to being a shinobi than being able to smash things."

"Like being able to make pictures real."

"Yes, like being able to make pictures real."

"Which you can't do."

Kakashi was about to respond, when he heard a few snickers. He turned to see the members of his team in various stages of laughter. The four of them must have stopped their sparring at some point during the argument, and Naruto was currently trying unsuccessfully to hide his snickers behind his hands. Sakura looked rather smug, Yamato was grinning, and Sai had donned his fake smile.

"One of my books said that fathers will often want to be seen in a 'cool' sort of light by their daughters, and will do more and more outrageous things in an attempt to earn that admiration if they do not currently have it. Is that what is going on right now?" Sai asked, and Kakashi was this close to decking him into next week.

"Did you go out and read a bunch of parent-child relationship books last night?" Naruto asked his teammate suspiciously.

"It was only one, but it was rather informative."

"Figures, 'ttebayo."

Kakashi watched the scene while not necessarily fuming, more disgruntled than fumed. He was most certainly not acting like a certain Yamanaka he knew. He didn't, and still doesn't, care what his genin/chuunin think of him. What some pipsqueak thought of his shinobi skills didn't matter at all. Not. At. All.

It wasn't the fight that was about to break out between Naruto and Sai, the latter had said something about an inability to conceive children due to a lack of hardwear, but sudden flare of chakra on the edge of Kakashi senses that snapped him out of his musings. It was a signature that Kakashi had made sure to memorize a very long time ago, and was ready to flee from at a moment's notice. Lest he be dragged into some ridiculous challenge. The current cause for worry though was the fact that the signature had halved the distance between them in the time it took Kakashi to identify it.

"KAKASSHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" A voice boomed ominously in the distance.

"Uh-oh," Naruto groaned, "incoming Bushier-Brows-sensei…"

"Damn, Ino works fast…" Sakura muttered to herself.

Several crashes could be heard from within the treeline that surrounded the training ground before an avid Gai broke through the foliage. "My Most Youthful Rival! I have heard a most concerning rumor about you!" He shouted as he ran up to a poor Kakashi and gripped him by the shoulders. "Although my source says this information is authentic, I can just not bring myself to believe it! There is just no way my Eternal Rival could have committed such a folly while engaged in a night of passion! To have fathered a child…!" Tears started to trail down Gai's face as he reached the pinnacle of his speech, and it wasn't long before he was shaking Kakashi dramatically by the shoulders.

Kakashi tried to cut in several times, but Gai was having none of it. There were several comments of "ewww" at 'night of passion', but those were ignored as well as Gai continued on.

"I think we should stay out of this one, 'ttebayo…" Naruto whispered to Sakura.

"Agreed." The girl replied, and the two slowly backed away from the scene.

The thing that made the seemingly rabid man cease his actions was the small child recoiled in terror and trying unsuccessfully to sneak away. Gai stopped mid-shake when his eyes fell on her, and just stared at the poor girl. Gai still hadn't moved by the time his students broke through the tree line a few moments later.

"Geez…! Gai-sensei…! Don't run off like that!" Tenten yelled at her teacher between gasps for air. The other members of her team, much to the girl's displeasure, seemed completely fine after their mad dash through half of the village.

"It really wasn't necessary to run off just because of a rumor," Neji grumbled, but in that dignified way all Hyuuga possesse.

"How can the two of you say such a thing?!" Lee cried, "to hear such a rumor! Of course Gai-sensei is going to find his dear rival as soon as possible in a true act of youthful camaraderie! Right, Gai-sensei? Gai-sensei…?" Lee and the rest of Team Gai finally noticed their sensei's frozen stance and shocked expression.

"You don't think…" Tenten started as she turned her attention to the short pink haired girl.

"That's impossible! Kakashi-sensei is the prime example of youthful asexuality!" Lee exclaimed.

"Oi." No one paid poor Kakashi's objection any mind.

"It may be possible, my youthful student…" Gai mummered as he released his poor rival and approached Ran. The little girl glanced around fearfully for backup, but found Naruto and Sakura on the other side of the training field and Yamato and Sai were nowhere to be found. Ran tried backing away from the strange, loud, green-clad, man, but he only increased his pace until she was within his grasp.

"Uhh… Ahh-!" The girl squeaked when Gai grabbed her shoulders and intently looked at her.

"You really are his child…" He breathed in disbelief and proceeded to fall back on his heels.

"EHH?!" Lee and Tenten shrieked while Neji looked shocked.

Lee and Tenten yelled several things, which were all ignored, as a shocked Neji stood off to the side. Gai made his way back over to Kakashi while his students continued to make unintelligible noises. The former stared seriously at his rival and life-time friend for several minutes before letting out a sigh. "This is quite the situation you have managed to get yourself into, Kakashi," Gai said, far more somber than usual.

"That it is…" Kakashi replied with a far off look.

"But fear not, my youthful rival!" Gai shouted, apparently back to his usual self, "for I will assist you with anything you need, or I will do 100,000 laps around the village on my hands!" The exuberant jonin gave one of his famous Nice Guy poses, tooth shine and all.

"I will assist as well!" Lee shouted before giving one of his own poses.

"I don't know if that will be necessary…" Kakashi attempted to placate the duo, but they were having none of it.

"No need to be so selfless, dear rival! We will happily give up our free time for anything you need!"

"Anything at all! Night or day! We will be there or we will do 100,000 laps around the village on our hands!"

"My Lee has grown so responsible!" Gai exclaimed with tears streaming down his face.

"Only because of your tutelage, Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!" The two let out a manly cry before embracing.

"We can't leave those two alone with that poor child," Tenten whispered to the only other sane member of Team Gai.

"Agreed," Neji muttered back.

"Ah, we'll help too, Kakashi-sensei," Tenten said before bringing her voice down to a whisper, "and keep the two of them in line."

"Thank you…!" Kakashi told them sincerely, seemingly on the verge of tears. The poor man was probably imagining the horrifying influence Gai and Lee could have on his poor child. Said child was currently being comforted by Naruto and Sakura after that terrifying encounter.


Kakashi managed to break free of Gai's clutches long enough to grab Ran and high-tail it out of there. There was only so long he could listen to Gai ramble on about youth before he snapped, and he still had errands to run. Yes, poor Ran needed… stuff. What kind of stuff, he wasn't sure. He'd pretty much been winging it, and it didn't seem as though that would change anytime soon.

The jonin made sure to keep a closer eye on the-prone-to-wandering-child as they made their way back into the heart of Konoha. Kakashi didn't another repeat of this morning. As to which incident the jonin was referring to was anyone's guess. Lucky for him, Ran stuck pretty close to her father as they made their way through the evening crowds.

"Now that I think about it, most stores would be closing right about now…" Kakashi realized a little too late. He looked down to find Ran giving him a blank look. "I'm sure a few are still open, come on."

An hour later, and Kakashi was about to kick himself, Gai, and several shop owners. They had been to five, five, different stores and not one was open. "Guess you'll have to make do with the clothes you brought for another day," Kakashi sighed, "we'll get you some more tomorrow."

"I don't want new clothes…" Ran muttered.

"Why not? Don't girls love getting new clothes?" He asked, genuinely confused.

The little girl promptly clammed up and looked away from her father. Kakashi wasn't going to get an answer today. He let out a sigh as he rubbed the back of his head. "You're still going to need them, you can't wear the same thing everyday." Ran's cheeks puffed out a bit at that, but made no other objections. With that the two made their way back to Kakashi's apartment in silence.

The pair arrived to at least one thing going right. A large plastic wrapped package sat in front of his door. After entering, Kakashi made a clone and sent it off to their room with futon. "Go help my clone set it up while I get dinner started," he told the girl before he turned to the fridge. It would be easiest to just do some grilled fish with pickled vegetables, miso soup, and rice. Kicking the refrigerator door close, he set to work preparing their meal.

Kakashi felt his clone dissipate as he started setting the table and paused to go through its memories. Ran apparently poked and prodded it several times to make sure it was real, pestered it several times to see it was really him, and even went as far as to quiz it on the day's events.

"Ran, it's ready," Kakashi called.

The only response he got was what sounded like a stampede of tiny elephants in the other room. The little girl came barreling in and skidded to a stop in front of the table. Plopping down, she said her thanks so fast that Kakashi could barely make them out, and started to attack the food in front of her like a rabid animal. The jonin could only stare down in amazement and slight disgust as she inhaled the food.

"Slow down before you choke," he warned before sitting down himself.

"Can't… too hungry," Ran replied in between bites. She was clumsy with the far-too-big-for-her chopsticks and bowl, and it seemed every other bite ended up falling out of her grasp.

"You're getting food everywhere," Kakashi scolded, "slow. Down." There was a thinly veiled warning in his words, that Ran caught, and the little girl slowed down enough to actually chew her food. "You didn't act like this at any of your other meals, why now?"

Ran looked at him in surprise for a few seconds before saying, "we didn't eat lunch."

Kakashi blinked in surprise when he realized that they had indeed missed lunch. "Why didn't you say anything?" He could only think back to when he had joked to Tenzo about making sure you fed them three times a day. He had failed at probably the easiest part of being a parent. What a great father he was turning out to be.

"You were busy," Ran said around a clumsy bite.

Kakashi's head fell as he let out a sigh. How was he supposed to handle this situation? Wait, it dawned on him, when was the last time she had something to drink? The last time he could say for sure was the glass of water she had with her breakfast. Not like that was very filling either; just an orange. He sighed again as he stood up to get her a glass of water.

"Drink," Kakashi ordered, and waited until she had finished it to fill it a second time. "I want you tell me if you're hungry, or thirsty, or have to go to the bathroom. Even if I'm busy, I can send you off with a clone. Understood?"

Ran stared for a few seconds before nodding her head. "Then, can I have some more rice?" She asked, holding out her bowl.

"Sure."


A few hours later, all the dishes were clean, Ran was in bed, and there was nothing left for Kakashi to do. Lounging on a few cushions, the jonin flipped through his beloved Icha Icha. The summer night wasn't too hot, all was still and quiet, and he was at his favorite part of Icha Icha Tactics. Nothing could ruin this.

Except a knock at the door.

And the mood was smashed to pieces.

Kakashi made an exaggerated groan as he pulled himself to his feet and made his way to the door. Only to find Gai waiting outside. He tried to close the door, but Gai was too quick. Unfortunately.

"My Most Youthful Rival! Trying to shut the door in my face! I am truly wounded!" Gai cried, but Kakashi only redoubled his efforts in closing the door. "Waitwaitwaitwait! I brought sake!" Kakashi eased off the door enough for Gai to stick his arm through, along with the large bottle of sake.

"Alright, you can come in. But keep it down, Ran's asleep. At least, I hope she is."

"Yosh! Those in the early stages of their springtimes of youth need their rest!" Gai's whispers held the same amount of passion as his yelling. Kakashi sighed.

"So, why are you here? With alcohol no less?"

"Thought you could use some."

It wasn't as though that wasn't true, but that was a lot of alcohol.

"It was the only one the store had left," Gai explained when he saw Kakashi staring at it, "don't worry, Kakashi! We won't be drinking all of it, you have a child to think of!"

Kakashi shook his head before grabbing two sake cups and heading over to the low table. Gai wasted no time in serving them before saying, "drink up, my friend." Kakashi only took a sip while Gai downed the whole glass in one go. "This is quite the situation you've got yourself into, Kakashi," he muttered as he refilled his glass.

"You're not the first person to say that," Kakashi replied dryly.

That shut Gai up, and the two drank in silence for sometime. Until the door to Kakashi's, and now Ran's, room creaked open. A sleepy Ran staggered out and blearily glanced at the two. Gai was up in a flash and before the girl knew what had happened, he was crouched down in front of her.

"What are you doing out of bed, most youthful flower?" Gai proclaimed.

Ran blinked at him a few times before saying, "gotta pee." Then proceeding to stumble into the bathroom. When she came out a few minutes later, she sniffed the air a few times before making a face. "Sake stinks," she grumbled before heading back to bed. Gai blinked a few times before turning to look expectantly at Kakashi.

Who let out a sigh and finished his drink before saying, "earlier today she tracked down what she thought to be her village leader just through scent. Certainly shocked Asuma when she nearly knocked him over with a hug."

"So her sense of smell is starting to develop then? But why Asuma?" Gai asked.

"Seems that way. They probably smoke the same brand. He had one lit when she tracked him down."

"So she tracked down the cigarette, not his actual scent. That's good at least."

"Let's hope."


A/N: Hey, sorry this chapter took so long to come out… I was on vacation and then there were the holidays. The next chapter will definately not take as long as one.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years, and that I'll see all of you in the new year!