Every now and then on his way home, Kakashi liked to stop by the Yamanaka flower shop. He never did it twice in a row, and he never explained his sudden interest in flowers. But Yamanaka Inoichi was a very nosy man, much like his daughter, and he poked around. He heard things, and decided to narrow down the rumors to discover the truth. And the only way to do that was...

"So, Kakashi..."

...to go straight to the source.

The jounin glanced up from examining some common wildflowers, colorful things that Inoichi had only put into the shop to appease his wife. A single stormy gray eye narrowed in suspicion, but Inoichi was also very persistent. He would get to the bottom of this!

"Who's the lucky lady?" the older man asked slyly, leaning over the counter to nod at the flowers.

There was no reply. Kakashi just stared at him.

"A lot of rumors come through here, you know. In fact, I heard that Anko's been getting some flowers from a secret admirer lately," Inoichi pressed on.

Still nothing.

"But then again, Shizune's the victim of a flower craze, too."

A long, slow blink.

"Come to think of it, Inuzuka Hana's been a regular for mysteriously sent flowers."

The damned Copy-Nin still wasn't rising to the bait. Inoichi resisted the urge to grit his teeth in annoyance, and turned from the younger jounin when a certain chubby genin approached the counter. The Yamanaka smiled at Chouji cheerfully, but as soon as the boy turned his back, Inoichi turned back to the wildflowers, and scowled.

Kakashi had disappeared.

"They're beautiful!"

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "Glad you like them. I had to endure Inoichi's questions again. He brought up Hana, Anko, and Shizune this time."

Iruka laughed, his face turned away to hide the telltale blush on his cheeks as he set the flowers (complete with vase) on the kitchen counter. "Last time it was Kurenai, Yugao, and Tsunade-sama, right?" At Kakashi's grunt of confirmation, the chuunin turned back toward him with a raised brow. "But, Kashi... why? You don't have to keep wasting your money on flowers, really."

The jounin shrugged. "It's not a waste."

"But...!"

In a flash, masked lips met Iruka's, effectively silencing the teacher. It was over far too soon, with Kakashi pulling back just enough to separate their mouths by a few centimeters. Iruka let out a shaky breath, but Kakashi didn't grant him with another kiss, not yet.

"Anybody else would have tried to control me and it would be over," Kakashi said softly, tugging the tie from Iruka's hair. "Just blame it on my going-my-own-way attitude. But you... you're special." He tightened his grip when the chuunin blushed and tried to pull away. "Listen, 'Ru. Every morning when I wake up with your head on my shoulder... I realize something."

"Wh...What?"

"I know I've got to love you, until my life is through," the Copy-Nin said bluntly, his single eye peering into Iruka's as though looking for something. "What else can I do? I love you, Iruka... and you don't tell me to."

A/N: I know, I know, it's not one of the ones that were voted for at the end of 'For Your Entertainment'. My laptop actually broke down, and I can't get any documents off of it, so 'Kidnapped!', 'Spell Magic', 'School Daze', and 'Hallucination' are all pretty much out until I get get to the closest laptop-fixer person.

However, I did make this so that you were all aware that I am, indeed, alive! And RoR is NOT being abandoned; I'm very sorry for the long wait, the next chapter should be up soon.

Thank you for bearing with me!

Characters (C) Masashi Kishimoto

'She Don't Tell Me To' (C) Montgomery Gentry