"Papa!" Hana squealed as she ran towards the masked man leaning against the tree near the academy doors.
The girl latched herself on the jonin's legs as the girl is too excited to wait for him to open his arms. He carried the girl in his arms and she placed her tiny hands on his face, giggling.
He can see the other parents looking at them with a look of shock and questions. They know that he, Hatake Kakashi, doesn't date. Ever since Sakura left the village.
"Papa!" Hana patted his cheek to get his attention. "Wanna see your face." the girl pouted. And tried to remove his hitai-ate.
"Don't." Kakashi admonished, in a light voice. He pulled down the cloth that the girl lifted. "later baby, okay?"
"Okay, Papa." Hana nodded.
Kakashi was about to leave when he heard some kids shouting Hana's name.
"Hey, Hana! Did you pay someone to pretend as your papa?" a kid with chestnut-colored hair shouted.
"Yeah. What freak hair, jealous that we have papa and you don't have one?"
Kakashi's gripped on Hana became tighter that the girl yelp. He forced his hand to unclench and placed it on his arm that's supporting her.
"He's my papa!" Hana answered her bullies. "Mama told me he's my papa!"
"No, he can't be your papa. Your hair is a freak, and his are silver. He is one of the greatest people in the village. And you're a freak. "You don't have a papa, because you're mother doesn't know who he is."
"My mama said he is my papa. He is my papa." Hana cried out. Tears started to fill her eyes. She looks at him with tears and uncertainty in her gaze. "You're my papa, right?" she asked him. But before he can ever answer the kids shouted again.
"Your mama is a liar." a kid with dark hair and red inverted triangles shaped like a fang in his cheeks tormented the girl. "That is the legendary Hatake Kakashi, and you're a Haruno." the boy reason out. "Well, my mama said that your mother is a whore." the boy shouted with a teasing grin. Several other children gathered around, curious about the situation.
Hana's cheeks turned as pink as her hair, and she clung to Kakashi, her small fingers gripping his vest. She looked up at him with a mixture of embarrassment and uncertainty.
"Is he really your dad, Hana?" a boy with blond hair and blue eyes asked. He looked so much like Minato, Kakashi noted. Then it clicked, he remembered that Naruto's kid is already starting the academy. So, that is his godson, Boruto.
Kakashi leaned down, his tone gentle as he addressed the group of children. "Yes, I'm Hana's dad. She's my daughter."
The children exchanged surprised glances and then looked back at Hana and Kakashi. It was evident that the concept of Kakashi being a father was a bit hard to believe for them.
"And you, the one with the face paint." Kakashi address the boy who called Sakura a whore. "You're an Inuzuka? Inuzuka Kiba's son?" He watched as the boy in question slowly nodded his head. "I'll have a word with your father. I seem to remember him needing Sakura to heal him during the war. I think he won't appreciate his own son calling his healer a whore."
He gave the other kids his famous eye-crinkle and walked away. Holding his daughter closer to him. Sakura will have his head if he returns Hana crying. He smoothed his daughter's hair to calm her down, and after a while Hana fell asleep in his arms, her head hanging over his shoulder. The same way her mother would if he pushed her too hard in their sparring sessions.