"Ran, you have to tell us!" Naruto begged the little girl. Training was ending earlier than he had expected, so Kakashi decided to be a responsible adult for once. After sending Pakkun and Bull to pick her up, the little girl sat off to side and played with them until they wrapped up for the day. The sun was getting ready to set when they finished, and Ran wasted no time bragging to Naruto and Sakura that she now knew what Kakashi looked like, much to the pair's irritation.

"I do not see what the big deal is," Sai shrugged.

"You're pretty weird, so you wouldn't get it," Naruto huffed, "we've known Kakashi-sensei for years and we still don't know what he looks like! So, please, Ran!"

"Stop harassing her," Sakura scolded. She was trying her best to the mature adult in this situation, but was failing to hide just how badly she wanted to know as well. It may have been years since Team Seven had last tried to see under their sensei's mask, but the longing was still there.

Ran seemed to enjoy basking in the attention. Puffing out her chest in satisfaction, the little girl proudly walked next to her father. Said father found his students desperation rather entertaining, and it wasn't like they were actually going to get anything out of her.

"Alright," Ran relented.

She wouldn't.

"Yes!" Naruto cheered while a wide smile broke out on Sakura's face.

Wait, no!

"He's very pretty," she managed to get out before Kakashi had the chance to stop her.

Traitor!

"Pretty?" The two wondered aloud. Two very different images came to them. Sakura imagined Sasuke's face under Kakashi's mask. While Naruto imagined the kind of man that was on those magazine covers girls loved so much. A strong jawline, sharp yet soft features, nice teeth, and a charming smile. Essentially, everything that Kakashi wasn't. It was little terrifying.

"What?" Naruto shuddered slightly at what his mind had conjured up.

"Yeah! And he has a mole right here!" Ran exclaimed while pointing the area of skin off to the side of the corner of her mouth.

"Does he now?" Sakura asked, her face falling in disappointment.

"He does!"

Naruto let out a sigh before Sakura continued, "it's not nice to lie, Ran."

"B-but!"

"I really thought we were going to find out this time, 'ttebayo…" Naruto grumbled to his teammate as they continued on their way.

"Maybe next time," Sakura comforted him.

Ran remained still as tried to figure out a way to make them believe. "B-but…!" She tried again, until she felt a hand on her head. Kakashi was smiling down at her comfortingly, but inside he was cheering, safe!


"Hey, look, it's Team Seven," Kiba noticed from atop Akamaru. "Wonder who that is with them." The members of Team Eight were waiting outside for their final teammate to meet them for a celebratory dinner. Their last mission had been a resounding success and Kurenai wanted to reward them.

"It is most likely a client. Why? Because this is a ninja village and their entire team is together," Shino informed his teammate.

"While Shino is usually right, that's not the case this time," Kurenai added.

"Huh? What do you mean, Kurenai-sensei?" Kiba asked, confused.

"You'll have to find out for yourselves."

Kibe was about to ask his teacher again, when Naruto called out to him. "Yo! What's up, Kiba? Oh, you too, Shino."

"Hey man, who's-" Kiba started to ask, but was cut off by the little girl with them.

"Dog!" The girl exclaimed before turning to Kakashi and pulling on his sleeve, "dogdogdog, there's a dog-mmph!" the kid was promptly cut off by Kakashi putting his hand on her face.

"Calm down," he ordered, and removed his hand once she had suitably calmed. "You mind?" The jounin asked Kiba.

"Huh? I guess not," Kiba said before hopping off his partner. The kid walked up and gave Akamaru a bow before gently reaching out a stroking his fur. It was a little awkward since the dog was actually taller than her.

"So," Kiba whispered while he elbowed Naruto in the side, "what's with the kid?"

"Huh? You haven't heard?"

"Heard what?"

"That Kakashi-sensei had a kid."

"WHAT?!" Kiba shrieked, causing those who were nearby to wince.

"My father did hear rumors-" Shino started, but was cut off by his teammate.

"You've got to be bullshitting me, right? Kakashi-sensei having a kid is just too weird!"

"I'm right here, you know," but no one paid poor Kakashi any mind.

"Did you know about this, Kurenai-sensei?" Kiba demanded.

"Asuma told me."

"Am I the last one to find out about this?!"

"It appears that way. Why? Because-"

"Not now, Shino."

Ran ignored all of the yelling and just focused on her new four legged friend. There was always a lot of yelling whenever people found out who she was. She didn't understand why there was all of this yelling, just that there was. So, she just focused on the nice dog. He was a lot better than yelling anyday.

That is, until she smelled a very familiar scent. Turning from the dog, Ran followed her nose to a lady with one sleeve and bright red eyes. Another sniff, and the little girl was certain of it. The smell that was Jii-chan yet not.

"You smell like the guy who smells like Jii-chan."

The woman's cheeks turned a light pink. "Y-you can smell that?" Asuma had filled in her on what he referred to as the 'Jii-chan incident'.

"Uh-huh. Why do you smell like him?"

"That means Kakashi knew from the very beginning…!" The woman muttered to herself angrily.

"Why do you smell-?" Ran started to ask again, louder, but was cut off by Kakashi's hand over her mouth. Seemed like he finally realized what the pair was talking about. Too many problems would be caused by her asking that question a little too loudly. He shrunk back slightly when Kurenai glared at him before laughing nervously and rubbing the back of his head.

"It's impolite to ask others why they smell a certain way," he scolded the little girl. Who was struggling against him and making muffled noises from behind his hand. "Sorry about that," Kakashi apologised nervously before pushing the little girl back in the direction of Akamaru. Hopefully the dog would keep her occupied and out of trouble.

The dog worked. That is, until the final member of Team Ten showed up.

"Sorry I'm so late!" Hinata cried as she ran up to the group. "Oh! Why is everyone-Naruto-kun!" The girl turned bright red when she spotted a certain blond. She certainly hadn't been expecting to run into her crush this evening.

But Ran wasn't focusing on the older girl's apparent crush, or the fact of how red she was getting. Both items would have had her full attention, instead, she was focused on the girl's eyes.

White eyes.

Clouded over eyes.

A kind of eyes that she had seen before.

Breath hitching, Ran slowly backed away from Hinata.

"Oh, who's this?" Hinata asked, turning to Ran.

Ran slowly shook her head as those eyes were focused on her. She didn't want to be here. Tears sprung to her eyes and her breathing increased. "N-no…" The little girl managed to get out as she continued to back away. She could hear her blood pumping in her ears.

"Ran?" Someone asked, but she didn't know who.

"NO!" Ran screamed before pushing her way between Naruto and someone else. She didn't care that her foot caught on something and bent at a strange angle. All she knew is that she had to get away. Get away from those eyes.

And so she ran.


"Ran?" Kakashi called when he noticed the little girl's not so much panic, but what she was experiencing was pretty damn close. Sure, the Hyuuga eyes could be unsettling to those who had never seen them before, but this was pushing it.

"NO!" Ok, maybe this was a bit more than just a fear of the byakugan.

"Ran!" He called a second time when she shoved her way between Naruto and Kiba.

"You should go after her," Sakura said, "something obviously upset her."

"You're probably right…"

Trailing a few feet behind the little girl, Kakashi made sure that she didn't get into any trouble before she managed to calm down. Eventually, she tired and plopped down onto the ground with her back resting against the side of a bakery and wasted no time curling into a ball.

"So, you wanna tell me what that was about?" Kakashi asked once he sat down next to the girl. Ran only curled tighter and cried into her arms. "Later then. I can wait," he said as he pulled out Icha Icha and flipped to random page. The setting sun provided more than enough light to read by, and Kakashi was expecting to here for a while.

The sun had long ago set when Ran sniffled for the last time and scrubbed at her face with her hands. Shakily getting to her feet, the girl let out a pained cry when her ankle collapsed under her weight. Luckily, Kakashi managed to catch her before she crashed to the ground.

"Looks like you twisted it," he commented after glancing glancing down at her swollen purple ankle.

"It didn't start hurting until now…" Ran murmured.

"Didn't really have a chance to notice it before now," she didn't say anything in response. Letting out a sigh, Kakashi crouched down in front of her, "climb on." Ran hesitated for a few moments before reluctantly climbing onto his back.

Neither said anything during the walk back to the apartment, but Kakashi was pretty sure she started and stopped crying at one point. "Looks like you twisted it pretty badly," he said again once they got home and he had a better chance to examine it. Her ankle had already swollen to twice its original size and was a mosaic of red, blue, and purple.

A quick summon later, Pakkun was sitting next to Ran while Kakashi got an ice pack. "You think you could go get Sakura?" He asked pug.

"Sure, but whether or not she's willing to come is up to her," everyone knew how Sakura felt about making house calls.

"Tell her it's Ran. She would never say no to an injured child."

"On it," Pakkun raised a paw in farewell before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

"What is it? How bad is it?!" A flustered Sakura cried as she barrelled through their door not five minutes later. Gasping for breath, Pakkun hanging off one of her shoulders while the other was occupied by a medic bag.

"It's rude to barge in without knocking first," Kakashi scolded blandly, but Sakura was paying him no mind. Frantically looking around the apartment, the older girl found Ran sitting at the low table with an ice pack on her ankle. He spoke up a second time before Sakura had a chance to ask, "it looks like a bad sprain."

"Eh…?" Blinking twice before her anger reached its boiling point, Sakura turned to Pakkun. "You said she was injured!" She yelled at him as she held him up by his scruff.

"You were running off before I could tell you everything…" the dog cringed away.

Sakura's eye twitched a few times before letting out an angered huff. She had grabbed her bag and taken off as soon as Pakkun had said Ran was hurt. This may have been a tiny bit her fault. "Alright, I'll take a look," she relented before making her way over to the little girl.

Ran didn't even look up from her lap when Sakura sat down next to her. Kero-chan was tucked protectively under her arm. The older girl made a hissing noise when she lifted the ice pack from the little girl's ankle. "Yep, that's a bad sprain. Luckily for you I can this fixed up in no time!" She tried to cheer up Ran, but the girl only glanced up briefly. Ran winced when Sakura put her hands on her ankle, but that turned into a sound of wonder when the older girl's hands started to glow green.

"W-what?"

"Pretty cool huh?" Sakura smiled, "medical ninjutsu is pretty nifty."

"It kinda tickles…"

"It does, doesn't it?"

Ran turned to Kakashi and asked, "can you do this?"

"Medical ninjutsu isn't in my skills reportar."

"Can't do anything…" Ran muttered to herself, causing Sakura to have to stifle a snort. Kakashi narrowed his eye in warning.

"There we go," Sakura announced, trying to hide her shit eating grin, "all better!"

Ran hesitantly got her feet before giving a ankle a test hop. "It doesn't hurt anymore!" She exclaimed in wonder before plopping back down to get a closer look at her now healed ankle. "So cool!"

"Yes, yes, now that we have established how amazing Sakura is," Kakashi huffed, "you're free to go." Honestly, medical ninjutsu may be a massive asset on and off the battlefield, but insinuating that he was useless just because he couldn't make his hands glow green with chakra…!

"Alright, alright,"Sakura shouted as she slammed the front door. "And you're welcome!"

"Now that's taken care of, what do you want for dinner, Ran? … Ran?" Kakashi asked again, only to find the girl nodding off. "You were just jumping around…" Children certainly were a mystery. "Alright, come on. Time for bed," Kakashi tried to lift her to her feet by picking the girl up under her arms, but Ran just went limp. "You've gotta work with me here," he tried again, but she just crumpled to the floor a second time.

Letting out a sigh, Kakashi heaved his daughter into his arms before making his way into their room and helping her to change into her pajamas. Either Ran was beginning to really trust him or she was just that damn tired. It was more likely that she was that tired. Not that it mattered that much to Kakashi, he was just glad she wasn't crying or being frighteningly quiet anymore. Sakura's visit had seemed to have briefly cheered the kid up, but it was hard to say how long that would have lasted. With a final glance at the girl, Kakashi made his way to the kitchenette and made himself a quick dinner. A few hours, and several chapters of Icha Icha, later the jounin was getting ready for bed himself. Kakashi couldn't remember a time when he had a more regular sleeping schedule than he did now. Ran was influencing him in more ways than one.

Screaming.

Before he was even fully awake, Kakashi was on his feet, sharingan open, and a kunai in hand. Very few things could wake a shinobi faster than screaming. A quick scan with his left eye revealed the source, and Kakashi relaxed slightly when he found it was only Ran. At the very least she wasn't being murdered. Not that apparent night terrors were much better. And now there was no way to slip back into their nightly routine now that he was obviously awake.

"Ran?" He called in what he truly hoped was a soothing voice. The last thing Kakashi wanted was to upset her even further. The little girl didn't respond, but she didn't start crying harder. At least a partial success. "Ran?" He tried again, crouching down next to her.

Kakashi was very rarely surprised, much less shocked. There were very few things left in the world that had the capability to make him so much as lift an eyebrow. But then Ran came barreling into his life, and now Kakashi was finding himself surprised over and over again. First, it was just her existence. Then it was just how much she looked like him. And then there were the things that would come out of her mouth. Now, it was how she was clinging to him for dear life as she cried into his chest. Ran didn't like it when he would stand too close to her, much less actually touch her. Sure, she didn't stand as far away as she used to, but this was a considerable leap.

It was fair to say Kakashi was incredibly out of his element and had no idea what to do.

"R-Ran?" He tried once again before awkwardly patting her back. "What's wrong? Did you have a bad dream?" That was probably the wrong thing to ask, as it only made the girl cry harder. "I'll… take that as a yes…?"

"I-I-I… dreamed a-about M-M-Mama!" Ran managed to get out between sobs. Kakashi had figured that to be the case, but it was good that she had confirmed his assumptions.

"Uh-huh, and what about your mother?" He asked as he continued to rub her back in what he hoped was a soothing motion.

"H-her eyes!" Ran all but screamed before she started crying even harder. Ok, maybe that was the wrong thing to ask… Kakashi thought to himself as he flinched back from her cries, but as Ran continued to cry, "her eyes, her eyes!" He was forced to wrack his mind for anything special about Hitomi's eyes. It was foggy at best, but there wasn't anything remarkable about the woman's eyes. A warm brown color that was common in the Fire Country was all that came to mind.

"What about her eyes?" Kakashi asked, and hoped it wouldn't make her even more upset.

"H-her eyes looked j-just like that girl's!"

Girl? "The girl from earlier? With long hair?" Ran nodded against his chest, and Kakashi wondered just how their eyes looked alike. Hinata has the byakugan while Hitomi's were brown… They don't look anything alike... Unless… no…

There was a reason why so many civilians and shinobi alike were unnerved by the Hyuuga's byakugan, and it went beyond the general discomfort they caused those who weren't used to them. It was more common in shinobi, but there were a few civilians who experienced it as well. Eyes that brought up memories best left buried, memories of those who had died.

The byakugan looked unnervingly like the clouded over eyes of the dead.

"I was sleeping with her…" Ran started, her voice barely above a whisper, occasionally broken by tears, "and-and when I woke up she was cold… and I couldn't move because she was hugging me so tight… but she was hard… It was like she was asleep… but her eyes were open… and-and…"

"You don't have to say anything more," Kakashi cut her off, but he could couldn't help wondering why this hadn't happened every night. Ran cried every night, but this was the first time she had woken up screaming. Had her mind conjured new horrors, or had she simply been forced to relive it? Either way it was cruel.

I'm sorry, Kakashi thought. Ran deserved a loving parent who actually knew what they were doing, not some emotionally stunted shinobi who wasn't anywhere close to being ready for a kid. Someone who could give her the emotional support and care she needed after a traumatic loss. What Ran really needed was her mother.

"Would you sing?" Ran asked in a small voice.

"Huh?"

"Mama would always sing to me when I had a bad dream. So will you sing?"

Kakashi wracked his brain, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember any lullabies. Clans often had unique lullabies that only they specifically knew, and he was about 95% sure the Hatake clan had one, but he couldn't remember it. It was more than likely that his own father had sung them, but it would have been over two decades since Kakashi had last heard it. "I don't know any lullabies…" That may have just been excuse though. He honestly didn't want to sing, never liked it and probably never will.

"It doesn't have to be, anything is good. Please…" But then Ran asked in such a broken voice and part of Kakashi's cold exterior cracked. Just this once.

Kakashi didn't listen to the radio, and he didn't know any children's songs. Not even Gekotan's opening theme. He had just half listened, letting it enter one ear and pass out the other. The only thing that was coming to him was a vague memory of a song he had learned during his brief stint in the academy. A mnemonic device to help the students to learn the different hand signs. Frantically dusting it off, Kakashi tried to remember the tune that went with the rhyme. "First there's the monkey," he started once he had a good idea of the entire song. Kakashi knew he wasn't the best singer to have graced the face of the Earth, but he was surprised when Ran had fallen back asleep before he had even gotten to the snake seal. Maybe Hitomi was on to something.


A/N: Lure you in with shits and giggles and then sucker punch you in the gut with ANGST.

One or two more chapters before we get into Shippuden's plot! Get pumped!