"So you need me to watch your pup," Pakkun reiterated as he scratched an itch.
"That's the jist of it," Kakashi confirmed. The sun had been up for several hours, but Ran had yet to wake from her deep sleep. It made sense going by how how upset she was the previous night, but Kakashi had a team practice to get to. He had already kept them stewing for the past three hours, so it was about time for him to show up. But today was Sunday and the daycare was closed, leaving the jounin with very few options. Luckily for him, Kakashi had a free babysitter who was just a few hand seals away.
"Fine, but I expect some really nice belly rubs when you get back!" The dog grudgingly agreed. It wasn't that he disliked the pup, in fact he rather fancied the girl, but Pakkun couldn't have Kakashi thinking he could just summon him anytime he needed someone to watch his pup. He was a busy dog, after all.
"Sure, sure," Kakashi assured his summon, "there's rice in the rice cooker. She should be able to get some herself for breakfast." He nodded to the dog before slipping into his sandals and heading out the door. Pakkun let out a huff before he settled down next to the little girl, keeping an ear open for when she woke, very little slipped past his ears, even when he was asleep.
As it turned out, Ran woke within the hour. Blearily blinking down at the small dog next to her, "Pakkun?" She asked, her voice hoarse.
"Yo," the dog greeted her. "Kakashi had training to get to so I'll be watching you today," he explained. The little girl just nodded her head before clumsily getting to her feet and making her way to the bathroom.
It didn't take long before Ran was dressed, fed, and ready for the day. "What now?" She asked her temporary guardian of a dog.
"What do you usually do?"
"Practice writing."
"Hop to it then."
Ran sat at the low table for a good hour and a half learning new characters before she started to get antsy. There was only so long a five year could sit still before she started to get stir crazy.
"Why don't you play with some toys? Pups love toys," Pakkun suggested from where he lounged next to the girl.
"Toys? You mean like Kero-chan?" She asked before grabbing the stuffed animal in a flash. The little girl adored her ironically named turtle. The two had been together for as long as Ran could remember. So the girl was more than happy to play with Kero-chan for the time being.
That is, until that became old as well.
"I'm bored," Ran complained before flopping onto her back next to Pakkun. The dog quirked an eyebrow as the girl rolled back in forth.
This isn't good, Pakkun thought. The signs were the same in human and dog pups, if they weren't stimulated enough, they started to get fidgety. The path from fidgety to completely-destroying-your-house-due-to-boredom was a short one, and should be prevented at all costs. "Why don't we take a walk," Pakkun suggested.
Ran instantly perked up, "can we go exploring?"
"Sure."
"Yay!" The little girl exclaimed in delight. Wasting no time, Ran darted out the door, anxiously awaiting Pakkun in the open entryway.
"Wait, don't you need those foot things?" Pakkun asked as he glanced down at her bare feet. What did humans call them again? Socks? No, that wasn't right… Foot covers? No... Shoes! That was it. Humans needed them to protect their inferior foot pads from the course earth.
Ran stared at the dog for a few moments, before saying, "you're not wearing shoes either." People here were really into wearing shoes, much to Ran's bewilderment.
"Fair enough." Couldn't fight with that logic.
The pair made their way down to the street, Pakkun letting Ran wonder about. He made sure to pay just enough attention to make sure she didn't accidentally kill herself. Pakkun wasn't going to stop her if she was about to do something stupid. The dog found that pups learned best through mistakes. Plus, it was always good for some laughs.
Unfortunately for Pakkun, Ran was too excited to be out and exploring her new village to experiment too much. The pair had already made their way out of the densely populated part of the village and into the more rural and wooded parts that lead to the training grounds before Ran even said anything."Look at this, Pakkun!" The little girl exclaimed as she triumphantly held up a stick in the vague shape of a sword. Normally, such a find would demand a very realistic sword fight full of passion and over dramatic deaths. Unfortunately, Ran's current companion didn't have hands.
"It is a very nice stick," Pakkun agreed with a serious head nod.
Deciding on the other use of sticks, Ran shouted, "fetch!" Before throwing the stick with all of her might. Normally Pakkun would be insulted by the action, he was a highly trained ninja summon, not some civilian pet. But just after the stick left the girl's hand, it ricocheted off of a nearby tree and smacked her in the face.
"Ok, not going to do that again," Ran muttered as she held her face in her hands.
Yes, watching pups learn truly was a fantastic thing.
With some subtle herding, Pakkun managed to get Ran heading away from the training grounds. The dog was pretty sure that Kakashi wouldn't be happy if his spawn was fried by some overzealous genin who had just learned their first fire jutsu.
That would be pretty bad.
The kid didn't even notice that they were changing directions until they were nearly back in the heart of Konoha. But Pakkun quickly reassured her that they were just heading to another wooded area. One that wouldn't possibly kill her. Ran merely shrugged and let the dog lead the way, and it wasn't long before she was stopping every few feet to look at a bug or rock again. Pakkun was pretty sure it was the same bug, but Ran was adamant that they were in fact different.
"The one before only had two spots on its back. This one has three," the girl said seriously as she pointed to the bug's back.
"That's just a bit of dirt," Pakkun argued before swatting it off. The bug started to frantically scurry away, but Ran managed to snatch it before it managed to get away. "See? Third spot's gone now." The little girl examined the bug closely, but her face fell when she came to the same conclusion.
The next few hours progressed much in the same way. As they traveled farther into the many wooded areas that resided within Konoha's wall, Ran wasted no time spotting bugs and other animal life that made their homes in the forest.
Konoha had seemed so different from Ran's home when she first arrived. It was huge, buildings here were several stories tall and everywhere. The houses in her village looked nothing like these brightly colored and cramped buildings. And there were so many people. There was no way these people knew everyone like how they did back with her mother. But what saddened the little girl the most was the lack of forests. Streams, bugs, and all sorts of animals used to only be a few minutes away, but everything here was so cramped and crowded. There was simply no way it could have the forests Ran grew up playing in.
Konoha had seemed so different, so foreign to the girl, but the more she explored it, the more familiar it became. Instead of one big forest, Konoha had a bunch of little ones, and much of the same animals and bugs she grew up around lived here as well. Sure, everyone didn't know everyone, but they treated each other kindly. Ran still definitely prefered the village she was born in, but maybe living Konoha would be alright.
"What are you doing?" A deep voice asked. Ran nearly jumped out of her skin while Pakkun merely turned to look at the source of the voice. He had sensed the man earlier, and had deemed him to not be a threat. This wasn't his first encounter with the young man."I'll ask again, what are you doing?" The young man asked as he stepped out of the bushes surrounding the small clearing that Pakkun and Ran were currently in. Most of his face was obscured by a hood, a high collar, and dark sunglasses. Ran briefly wondered what was with these people and hiding their faces.
"Lookin' for bugs," Ran explained, holding up her most recent catch, a large Fire Beetle.
"You shouldn't be here. Why? Because this forest is owned by my family," the young man answered his own question.
"You can't own a forest," the little girl scoffed.
"Actually," Pakkun butt in, "you can."
"What? No way!"
"Yes way."
"But no one own the forests back home! They belonged to everyone!"
"Well-" the young man tried to start again, but he was cut off by the summon.
"They technically don't own the forest itself, just the land the forest is on. Kinda like owning a house."
"It-"
"Ooh, that makes some sense… Still, forests should be open to everyone!" Ran huffed, paying no attention to the poor young man they kept cutting off.
Pakkun shrugged, "it's one of those weird things you humans do. Isn't that right, Shino?" Not that dogs could talk. Pakkun's words brought the little girl's attention back to the third person in the clearing.
"Oh, you're still here," Ran said.
"Yes, that I am. As I was saying, the land, and the forests on said land, is owned by family. Only those given permission are allowed here. All I will ask of you today is that you leave. Why? Because you obviously didn't know that you were trespassing, due to your ignorance of this village."
"You talk funny," Ran said, squinting up at Shino.
Pakkun had to disguise his laugh as a cough, but Shino seemed unfazed by the little girl's words. "If you would follow me, then." He said before turning away from the pair. Ran sent Pakkun a confused look, but the dog just shrugged his shoulders.
Once Ran and Pakkun were out of the Aburame forests, Shino disappeared without a word. This wasn't the first time this had happened to Ran since she had arrived in Konoha, and at this point, it was barely affecting her anymore. This place is weird… Ran thought as she glanced up at the sky. "Time to go back," she said when she saw that the blue of the sky was slowly being dyed orange and red.
"Alright," Pakkun nodded before turning in the direction of Kakashi's apartment. "But why now? We've still got some sunlight left, and I would've thought you would've wanted to take advantage of it."
"The sun's starting to set," Ran explained, slightly shocked Pakkun was even asking her this. "You have to head home when the sun sets, everyone knows that!"
"Of course."
Naruto was growing impatient. He hadn't been bugging Kakashi for training as much since Ran showed up, instead working with his teammates and Yamato while the pair adjusted to their new lives. But there was only so long he could wait before the anticipation of a jutsu that could help bring back Sasuke made the young man explode.
Kakashi was really starting to regret bringing the idea up in the first place. Naruto may be understanding, but he only had one setting - full speed ahead. It wasn't like Kakashi didn't know that he hadn't been the best teacher or team leader since he found out he had a daughter, but they would only be so understanding for so long. They were going to be expecting him to back to full speed soon, and he would have to be. What with rumors of movement from Akatsuki. Kakashi was going to have to figure something out, and soon.
"I'm ho-" Kakashi started as he unlocked the front door, but stopped when he found the apartment empty. Ran's sandals were still in the entryway, but it looked as though neither Pakkun nor Ran had been home in quiet a while. "Ehh, they're probably fine," Kakashi said to himself; he wasn't worried. Pakkun had probably just taken the girl on a walk to get her energy out, and there was no way the dog would allow any serious harm to come to Ran. Seating himself at the low table, Kakashi moved Ran's kanji work to the side and pulled out Icha Icha, intending to read until the pair returned.
He just wasn't expecting to be waiting for a good hour and a half before he felt two familiar chakra signatures making their way across the landing. "I dunno, pup," Kakashi heard his summon say, "I think he'd be considered naked."
Kakashi decided that he didn't want to know.
A/N: Sorry this took so long to come out. My local con was coming up and I was spending the time I usually dedicate to writing to working on my cosplay. But now that it has passed, I should be returning to my normal update schedule.
Hope you guys enjoyed this fun little chapter! It was a nice to write Ran acting like a kid for a whole chapter for once. Just goes to show how comfortable she is around Pakkun (and other animals), compared to everyone else…
Alternate Chapter Titles:
Adventures of the Shoeless Squad
Makin' My Way Downtown
Pakkun, Three Time Failure of the Babysitter Exam
Learnin' the Hard Way
Shino Doesn't Deserve This
Is a Turtle Without a Shell Homeless or Naked?
