AN: This is one of the very first Naruto stories I wrote, and I thought I'd update it a bit and post it for fun. It's rather crackish, and was written solely with my sisters amusement in mind. It takes place just after the chunin exams, but before Sasuke leaves.

~Went back through and fixed some typos and mistakes I had missed the first and second go round. And Thank you to the person who pointed out that this story got switched up with a different one!

~xox~

It was a well known fact that Yamanaka Ino had always thrown the best slumber parties. Iruka remembered the chaos it caused in his classroom the day she had handed out invitations to the event as all of the girls scrabbled to see who would and wouldn't be invited. This year, however, the party was going to be taken up a notch because Ino had finally convinced her parents to make the party open to boys as well. Their only stipulation to her doing so was that she would have to find appropriate chaperones, one male and one female, to watch over the teens.

This was how Iruka found himself standing in front of the Yamanaka household, nervously shifting from one foot to the other as he waited for someone to answer the door. It was only natural, he supposed, that she would come to her old academy sensei for help. He had, after all, watched over the group of them for years. He was surprised, however, when the door was opened by Inuzuka Hana.

"Iruka-sensei," she smiled at him, "you must be my counterpart for the evening."

He returned her smile and nodded, not quite trusting his voice to work at the moment. Ino hadn't told him who the other chaperone was going to be, and he certainly hadn't expected it to be Hana. He wondered if Ino knew how much he liked the pretty young women. Maybe this was her idea of payback for the fact he would be keeping her and her friends from forming their own happy little pairs this evening.

The actual party guests began arriving shortly after Iruka himself had, and he amused himself by taking note of who came. The entirety of the rooky nine was there; including, Iruka was surprised to note, Uchiha Sasuke, and Team Gai was also present. A few other girls from Ino's academy days rounded out the number to make an even ratio between boys and girls.

'That can't be a good sign.' Iruka thought to himself. But as the first hour of the party past with nothing happening but innocent conversation over punch and snacks he found himself relaxing, and allowing his eyes to drift with greater frequency towards Hana as she made her way around the room to check over everyone.

"Okay everyone!" Ino's voice suddenly came from a corner of the room where she had erected a small stool to stand on, "We're going to have a scavenger hunt! I have the lists waiting in the kitchen, and we're going to do this in randomly selected teams of one boy and one girl. I have assigned all of the boys a number already," she held up a sheet of paper at this, "and the girls will draw papers with corresponding numbers out of this hat," she held up the hat in her other hand.

"Uh, Ino," Iruka began, "how are we…"

"Oh, don't worry sensei," she cut him off, "the game won't take us outside of the house, so you can still watch us. I also assigned you a number, so you'll have a list and a general idea where you can find all of us if need be," she smiled winningly at him but, knowing her old sensei like she did, could tell he still had doubts, so she switched tactics, "Besides, this is a great game for us. It will help us develop our ninja skills. And my mother made up the lists, and daddy hid the objects, so it's not like my parents are going to have any objections to this."

Iruka found it hard to argue with this logic, so he simply nodded. Though he doubted Inoichi knew Ino was planning on pairing off this way, he had long ago learned it was best to pick your battles where Ino was concerned.

Ino was grinning like a mad woman as she hopped off of her stool and strode across the room to where Hana was watching her, a look of cautious acceptance on her face. Ino held the hat out to the female chaperone and tried to school her features into some semblance of innocence.

"You get to pick first Hana-san," she stated, "as a thank you of sorts for coming."

Hana looked skeptical, but reached into the hat and pulled a number out anyway and casually flipped the folded paper open to read it.

"I have number nine." she answered the girls questioning gaze, "That's not my brother is it?"

Ino laughed at this, the playful look on Hana's face saying that the question was at least partially a joke.

"No, I don't think so," Ino pulled out her paper and pretended to examine it for a moment. "Well! It looks like number nine is Iruka-sensei's number! That works out perfect doesn't it. You can just pretend to play while stalking us if you want," the girl laughed. "Come this way, I'll get you two a list."

The two chaperones, and half the party, followed Ino into the kitchen, where she picked a list up off the table and handed it to Iruka who gave it a quick once over. It was a good list, he had to admit. The Yamanaka's had put a good deal of thought into this.

"I suggest you start through there." Ino remarked, pointing at a door Iruka hadn't noticed before. He looked over to Hana who simply shrugged in response and made her way towards the indicated portal.

"Um, Ino," Iruka said in a confused tone, "This is the pantry."

"Yep!" came Ino's sing song, just as Iruka felt a harsh shove from behind, causing him to over balance and tumble head long into the pantry, something landing on top of him almost immediately after he hit the floor.

"Kiba!" Hana bellowed, and Iruka turned his head to see the woman lying on him, and shouting at her brother as his smiling face disappeared behind the rapidly closing door.

Hana stood up quickly and tried the handle. It was, of course, locked. She then tried the more direct approach of slamming her fist into the door and shouting.

"Open this door right now or I'm gonna break it down!"

"Nope," Ino chirruped from the other side, "Sorry, but we're going to start the real party now."

"Ino," Iruka called, now back on his own feet, having gotten over the shock of having Hana on top of him, "Please let us out. You know your parents would be furious if they found out."

He could hear Ino sigh.

"I'm sorry sensei," she responded, "but you know what a bore it is to have chaperones, and we just want to have some fun. I suggest you try to do the same. I got Shikamaru and Sakura to come up with a way to reinforce that pantry, so you won't be able to get out. Don't wear yourselves out trying."

"She's joking right?" Hana asked, swiveling quickly towards Iruka.

"Depends," he replied, "If she pestered him enough, Shikamaru probably would have decided that it was less troublesome to do what she asked, and Sakura would have been in from the start. If the two of them put their heads together, we probably really are stuck in here."

Hana snorted and turned back to the door, not willing to believe that she could be out smarted by a group of genin.

Outside the closet, Ino was announcing a game of seven minutes in heaven, as she dumped out the hat full of papers with the number nine written on them.

~xox~

A half an hour later, Hana had tried every jutsu she could think of, on every inch of the pantry she could reach. With the exception of some smoldering cans, she hadn't managed to accomplish anything. She was exhausted by this point, and becoming increasingly annoyed at Iruka for sitting in the corner and watching her. She couldn't believe he was acting so resigned to this.

"You could help you know!" she shot at him a bit venomously, causing him to wince.

"I really don't think it's going to do any good." he replied, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Oh really," Hana replied, crossing her arms in front of her chest and arching an eyebrow at him, "So when Ino's parents come home, you want to explain to them that you sat in their pantry, not even trying to get out, while their little princess spent '7 minutes in heaven' with some random party goer?"

Iruka went a little pale at this. He remembered, quite clearly, having to deal with a very angry Inoichi after Ino had gotten kissed on the cheek during lunch one day. The man really didn't like anyone getting to close to his little girl.

"Alright," he responded, standing up and walking towards her, "good point. Lets try the door."

Hana turned and placed her hands on the door, starting to concentrate and gather her chakra. She jumped a little as Iruka's arms appeared on either side of her head as he too placed his palms on the door. She scolded herself for the reaction and went back to focusing, finding the task slightly harder with the knowledge of how close the shinobi's body was to her own.

"Okay," she stated calmly, carefully controlling her voice, "We'll release on the count of three."

Iruka was close enough that she could feel his answering nod.

~xox~

Outside of the pantry, everyone heard a loud bang and looked nervously over to where the two chaperone's were imprisoned.

"I told you they wouldn't be able to get out of there," Shikamaru said, seeing that the door was still standing, "If Sasuke couldn't get out of the closet when we threw him in there with Sakura, there's no way Iruka and Hana will be able to. They don't have his motivation," he smirked, glancing from Sakura's scorched hair and goofy grin, to Sasuke's ripped clothing and indifferent air.

~xox~

Inside the pantry, Hana slumped backwards, having used up way to much of her chakra on escape attempts and feeling completely spent. She felt arms encircle her waist, gently catching her, and remembered suddenly how close she had been to Iruka.

"There really isn't a way out of here, is there?" she asked, glancing up at him and blushing as she realized how close their faces were.

"I don't think so," Iruka replied, lowering himself to the floor and sitting with Hana positioned between his legs. "Is it really so bad to be stuck in here with me?" he asked, now blushing himself.

The question took Hana back, and she felt the sudden overwhelming need to explain that it was the situation she was upset with, not the company. But she seemed to be having difficulty finding the right words, and found herself unable to string together a coherent thought. She gave up and blushed hotly, figuring she had made enough of an idiot of herself as it was.

Iruka smiled sweetly at her inability to speak, and then lowered his lips to hers, brushing over them in a chaste kiss. Hana's eyes went wide as her brain attempted to process what was going on. Before it had a chance to catch up to the situation, however, Iruka was pulling away, discouraged by her lack of response.

"I'm so sorry," he said, using a smile and awkward laugh to cover the pain Hana could tell he was feeling, "It's just, we were so close, and I always used to look forward to days you picked Kiba up and…" He trailed off, blushing hot enough for Hana to feel it. He almost looked like he wanted to pout.

Hana smiled and twisted her body around, snaking her hand up and around Iruka's neck to rest at the back of his head. He looked surprised by her actions, but offered no resistance as she tugged his head down and captured his lips with her own, quickly responding and taking hold of her waist to draw her closer.

'Screw Inoichi,' was Hana's last thought as Iruka deepened the kiss. She had something much more enjoyable to focus on here.

~xox~

Another half an hour passed and the kids were all gathered outside of the pantry, staring at the door. They had been worried when the noises from Hana's escape attempts had ceased, but it had been the new set of sounds that replaced those noises that had really drawn their attention.

"Aw man!" Naruto exclaimed, "Iruka-sensei is getting more action than I did!"

Kiba whimpered from where he was curled in the corner, covering his ears and burying his nose into his knees.

"My sister," he sobbed, "and my sensei!" Ino turned pitying eyes on the boy for a moment before a loud, drawn out moan drew her attention back to the pantry.

"Well," she said, "I guess we don't have to worry about them getting out. So, lets get back to the game." Her eyes scanned the small crowd of genin, "Hinata! You're up next!"

"Eep!"

End.

AN: Yeah, Iruka is the man *hehe* He could use some more love. Sorry for cutting out the good part, I just don't write lemons. Tell me what you think please.