Authoress: yosh!! Since I've got a streak of inspiration, I'll keep my rants short…thank you guys so much for reading and reviewing…I started this story for Greenislovely-san as a reward for being a 100th reviewer to Underneath the Scars…who would have thought this story would have turned into such a hit!?

Disclaimer:…just shaddup…I know I don't own Naruto…but a girl can still dream, ne?

Chapter Six

Kakashi glared at nothing in particular once he was fully awake. Having been rudely woken up from the best sleep he had in years wasn't what had been aggravating him…it was that high-pitched voice screaming for him to get out of bed. For a moment, he wondered if he was just having another nightmare and, if so, could he kill the blonde without repercussions?

Finally deciding it wasn't a nightmare – it was actually real, no matter how much he wished it to be another bad dream – Kakashi slipped out of his warm bed and shuffled towards the loud noise coming from outside his front door. Kakashi winced at the bright light as he finally opened the door. Once his eyes adjusted to the blinding light, he looked down and saw his three demonic students looking up at him. Something in their expressions told him that he should slam the door in their faces and go back to bed before he dug himself a shallow grave, but he knew better. Naruto would just stand there screeching until he let them in.

"Oi, Kakashi-sensei!! You didn't show up for practice, so we were getting worried," Naruto blatantly lied. The jounin gave him a glare, wondering why the idiot sounded so pleased with himself, and then saw the pug sitting next to Naruto's heels. He didn't…Kakashi thought, twitching when he saw the dog's barely contained smirk.

"Go away…" Kakashi mumbled as he rubbed his temples, his migraine coming back in full force as he realized Pakkun had not only told the three why he had skipped practice, but that the pug had done something that Kakashi knew would come back to bite him, and not the dog, in the ass.

"Iruka-sensei says hi," Naruto chirped, ignoring his teacher's murderous aura, as he and his fellow shinobi slipped into the apartment uninvited. Pakkun followed at their heels, giving Kakashi a snicker that the jounin knew to interpret as a 'serves you right.'

"What did you three do?" Kakashi finally dared to ask as he trailed behind the teens as they made themselves at home in his kitchen. Their eyes traveled over the bloodstains in the small room, but they had yet to notice the scarlet streaks on his couch. Kakashi thanked whatever deity existed for the small, and very few, blessings he had. Who knew what would go through their twisted minds if they saw blood on the couch. Then again, if Pakkun told them what happened, they wouldn't be surprised.

"We helped…" Naruto replied cheerily, smiling happily at Kakashi. He raised an eyebrow, sensing that they had just made his life a thousand times harder in their crusade to somehow 'help' him. He sighed as he reflexively went to put on some water for tea for the brats – maybe he could lace Naruto's cup with some almond flavoring (A/N: arsenic tastes like almonds…). Shaking his head at such a thought, Kakashi turned to look back at his three hell-sent students. Not only did he not have such poison at hand, but Naruto deserved much worse for making his life a living nightmare. That and he was sure Satan would make his minions immune to any and all poisons.

"…I thought dogs were supposed to be loyal…" Kakashi directed his quiet comment at the dog sitting in Naruto's lap, his short tail wagging happily as the blonde rubbed his ears. Pakkun gave him an evil-looking smirk before shifting so Naruto would scratch his head. "And what do you three want?" he asked, his visible eye widening when he saw the pink tinges to his students' cheeks. Whatever they did, he betted it had something to do with ruining his life.

"…you have a date with Iruka-sensei tomorrow night," Sakura finally replied softly, smiling sweetly at him. Kakashi bit back a curse, wondering how the three had conned the poor academy teacher into their diabolical plan. Iruka didn't want another date with him – did he? Anyways, Iruka wouldn't believe he wanted a second attempt at a date if his three students were the ones to bring it up. Ma..te…he glared at the blonde who was blushing the most.

"He thinks I asked…doesn't he?" Kakashi asked accusingly, his eyes burning holes into Naruto. The boy gave him a toothy grin as he chuckled nervously. If only the Hokage wouldn't miss them…he thought sadly, wishing the woman hadn't taken such an interest in Naruto and Sakura. Sasuke just happened to be part of the deal when she decided to watch over those two demons. "What possessed you to do something like this?" he asked, wondering if it was possible to die of a migraine as he felt another wave of pain coming on. Leaning against the counter, Kakashi closed his eyes and visibly winced.

"Because you and Iruka-sensei should be together…" Kakashi almost opened his eyes again when he heard none other than his angst-whore of a pupil spout such a romantic notion. He cracked open one eye and caught the glance Sasuke had given Naruto. What did I miss? He wondered, trying to remember if those two had been acting suspicious lately. From the equally unusual expression Naruto gave his teammate, Kakashi figured it was something that had just happened. About frigging time…he decided, wanting to be happy for the two, but couldn't help but hate them at the moment. Why was it everyone thought it was okay to meddle in his life?

"Kill me now…" Kakashi mumbled under his breath as he looked at those three happy faces. He expressly told Pakkun that he wasn't sure if he was going to pursue the chuunin in his attempts to beat Gai, so why would the dog enlist the help of his three students to go against his wishes?

"Iruka-sensei really liked the flowers you got him, too…" Pakkun said calmly, chuckling when Kakashi's bleary gaze landed on him. For a moment, the jounin wondered what the pug was talking about, and then realized he had passed out while the dog was still there. Kakashi's hands flew to his jacket, searching for his wallet. When he finally felt the leather, he cursed as he realized the wallet was much too thin. He stole my money?! "Oh, don't give me that look, Kakashi. You had it coming. Anyways, you have years to save up again…"

Kakashi almost cried when he realized what the pug meant by that latter statement. It had taken him forever to get all that money. My one dream…and that flea-ball takes it away…first I'm going to kill those three, then him, and Gai's going to be tortured slowly for thinking up such a stupid bet… "You better sleep with one eye open…" he growled as he let go of the thin wallet and gave his dog a glare that even Sasuke would be afraid (while simultaneously proud) of.

"That's not going to get you out of your date with Iruka," Pakkun all but sang. The dog grinned at him as Naruto hit a particularly itchy spot on his back. Kakashi bit back another curse, wondering how it was possible for a bunch of brats and a dog to destroy his life in one day. If Kakashi didn't want to kill all of them so much at the moment, he knew he would have been proud at their deviousness. He hadn't even seen it coming, but the proof that his years of training those three finally paid off wouldn't save them now.

"You had Naruto impersonate me…once I tell Iruka that, I'm sure he would rather talk to him than be part of your twisted plot…" Kakashi gave Naruto a glare rivaling the one he had just used on Pakkun. The boy paled as his hand stopped stroking the dog in his lap.

"Y-you wouldn't do that, Kakashi-sensei..." Naruto whined, dropping Pakkun to the floor as he shot across the kitchen to attach himself to the jounin's leg. Kakashi hadn't seen the boy's movement until it registered that his dog was rolling on the floor with a massive lump on his furry head and there was an unusual weight on his thigh. He looked down and wondered how parents somehow raised their children without killing them. If he ever had children, they would be hog-tied in a closet somewhere the first time they started crying. As things were, he couldn't do that to his students without being accused of abuse, so Kakashi had to watch as the teen's big blue eyes filled with tears and Naruto let out a wail, crying about how Iruka would castrate him and beat him to death with his own manhood. Kakashi shivered at such a thought – he never thought Iruka to be so evil, but from what he'd seen of the man's temper thus far, he knew Naruto's imagination wasn't all that far-fetched. Then again, Naruto must have done something other than just ask Iruka out on a date for him if the academy teacher would be that mad at Naruto. He gave the boy a questioning gaze that told Naruto to explain what exactly he did. Naruto quickly let go of the jounin's leg and retreated out of range, in case the jounin thought of strangling him, before recounting his part in all this. "…I gave Iruka a little…" The boy's voice became so quiet that Kakashi hardly caught the next few words. "…kiss for you…"

"YOU WHAT?!" Kakashi, forgetting that he couldn't legally get away with killing his students, shot after the boy as Naruto ran from the room, screaming about how he only did it for the jounin and that Iruka never needed to know.

Amid the screams of pain and fear and breaking of numerous different objects, Sasuke calmly got up as the water started to boil and poured himself, Sakura, and Pakkun cups of tea. He brought the mugs over to the table and sat down next to the kunoichi, taking a pair of earplugs she was holding out for him. They had learned long ago to have a few pairs on hand just in case Naruto got too excited – or when Kakashi felt like trying to kill the boy. Sasuke quickly stuffed the foam-like objects into his ears and was gifted with glorious silence as he sipped at his tea. Pakkun watched their composed actions in amazement, wondering how they could be so relaxed when one of their team was about to be killed, but his curiosity didn't stop him from having Sasuke place another pair of earplugs in his own sensitive ears.

The two teens knew that, sooner or later, Naruto would return to use them for shields to hide from their teacher's anger, Kakashi would beat the boy into unconsciousness and be satisfied with the damage he had done, or the jounin would remember that murder of one's own students was wrong and only mildly torture Naruto. One way or another, they were in for quite a show as the two shinobi flew around the apartment, Naruto using every trick he knew of to evade his teacher while Kakashi was bent on killing the almost indestructible teen. If Naruto was anyone else, they might have been a little afraid for their teammate's life, but they knew that today, in his condition, Kakashi would tire out long before he even got close to executing the blonde.

--

Naruto chewed on his lower lip to stop from crying out as Sakura put some alcohol on the deep wound in his thigh. When their teacher had finally caught up with him after what must have been the hundredth lap around the apartment and sliced his thigh open from hip to knee with a kunai, Naruto had been slowed down to the point it was only a matter of minutes before his teammates had to intervene and hold back their teacher before Naruto passed out from blood loss. The boy studied his wound, wondering how his teacher had been able to start at his hip and somehow almost fully circle his leg counterclockwise with the blade before he had gotten away.

He glared over at the unconscious shinobi slumped over in the only other unbroken chair in the apartment and wondered if Kakashi was faking it just so he would feel safe until his teammates/bodyguards were out of the room. Once Sasuke had gotten hold of Kakashi, the jounin had 'passed out' and had yet to wake up again. Naruto shivered at the thought of what Kakashi could have done to him if the jounin wasn't already injured. He looked down at the gaping hole in the top of his thigh and knew that this would have been considered a minor injury compared to what the jounin would have done to him if that were the case.

"He almost severed an artery," Sakura mumbled angrily as she took her aggravation out on Naruto's already pained leg when she tied a bandage around his thigh, making sure to jerk the white gauze hard every time she encircled his leg. Naruto held back his whimpers, but couldn't stop the tears from coming to his eyes. When she wanted to, Sakura could be even worse than Kakashi. I didn't even do anything to her! Naruto inwardly whined as he took a sharp intake of air as the medic nin tied off the bandage with a great deal of unnecessary strength.

"And you're trying to cut off circulation," Sasuke pointed out from the other side of the room where he and Pakkun were sweeping up some broken glass. The vase they were currently cleaning up had been one of the first things to suffer a casualty during the fight and, despite Sakura's best efforts, Naruto wouldn't let them pry the majority of the shards out of his rear. The Uchiha sighed as he picked up the dustpan and quickly disposed of the broken antique. Sasuke personally didn't know his teacher had good (or expensive) taste. That vase alone probably cost more than their organs did on the black market. Sasuke shivered, hoping Kakashi would never think to have them pay him back for everything they'd destroyed over the years. He didn't want to wake up one morning with only one lung and kidney. He had no illusions about Naruto's fate – the boy wouldn't wake up again if Kakashi wanted to sell his organs. Then again, Naruto might actually somehow survive without the generally necessary organs for life…sometimes Sasuke wondered if the blonde could ever die.

"Oh, I'm sorry Naruto…I didn't realize…" Sakura said in surprise, quickly loosening the bandages and Naruto found himself crying out as she brushed against the deepest portion of the wound. Cursing softly, the blonde tore his leg away from the kunoichi's painful grasp and started rewrapping his own leg.

"…what are we going to do when Kakashi-sensei wakes up?" Naruto asked hesitantly, shivering at the thought of what the jounin would do to him when he was well-rested. He had almost died this time!! Sniffling, the blonde looked to his two teammates and saw their apprehensive expressions. He quickly finished up wrapping leg and took one last look over his job, smiling proudly at how neatly he had been able to bandage his leg. Then again, he wouldn't have had to show off his very limited medical abilities if it hadn't been for his teammates. "I'm never letting you guys suck me into another one of your plans again!" he cried as he got up from the chair and hobbled towards Sasuke, pointing at the shinobi accusingly. "And you! You tricked me into helping you in the first place!! And now I'm handicapped for the rest of my liiiiiife!!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he listened to Naruto's whining. Pakkun hummed to himself, being the only smart one and keeping his earplugs in long after the fight was over. While Sakura screeched over Naruto having to rest while his leg healed, the raven-haired teen kept a careful eye on his teammate and continued his cleaning. Naruto, while trying his best to not move his injured leg, bent down to help pick up the larger pieces scattered across the floor. As the teens made their way across the apartment, they winced when they saw what must have once been Kakashi's couch. It had been reduced to sawdust, a few splinters, and several raggedy strips of cloth. The two shinobi hoped that it wasn't one of their teacher's favorite pieces of furniture.

Within a relatively short period of time, the four had cleaned up the apartment and had, with a great deal of effort, moved the surprisingly heavy man to his room. Once Sakura made sure the jounin hadn't been injured in the fight (while Naruto and Sasuke raced back to the kitchen – they really didn't want to see their female companion strip their teacher down to nothing except what was absolutely necessary), she returned to the other room and sighed in exhaustion.

"Who would have thought Kakashi-sensei would overreact so much?" she asked as she leaned against the counter, feeling a bit of satisfaction in finally being able to wash away the blood from it. If it hadn't been for the fact that the blood was dried, she might have thought it was Naruto's from the sheer amount of it. He must have hit his head quite hard…and Naruto probably just made things worse by making Kakashi-sensei chase him around…

"Overreact?" Naruto squeaked before picking up his heavily bandaged leg and waving it at his teammate. "That sadist nearly killed me!" He sniffled as he pushed himself up and started limping over to pout in Sakura's face, but about halfway across the kitchen, he started feeling dizzy. Sasuke, seeing the blonde's face suddenly go very pale, shot from his seat and was just in time to catch Naruto as he collapsed.

"He lasted much longer than I thought…" Sakura commented unworriedly as she watched the two boys fall to the floor, Sasuke becoming pinned underneath Naruto in what was almost a valiant attempt to hold up the boy's dead weight. The raven-haired teen glared at her from beneath Naruto's heavy frame, but made no attempt to move Naruto's body off of himself. "I gave him some sedatives. With a wound like that, he shouldn't be moving at all…"

"You drugged Naruto…?" Sasuke said quietly, wondering for a moment when Sakura had time to do so, then remembered the alcohol she had produced from a pouch at her side earlier. She's good…he thought to himself, making a mental note never to piss off the girl if he could help it. He laid back on the cool floor, listening to the blonde's soft breathing. Naruto was surprisingly heavy for his stature, but Sasuke had to remind himself that the last time he had ever had to carry Naruto was back in their first year as a genin team and, back then, Naruto was even more of a scrawny runt than he was now. He sighed softly, wrapping his arms around the blonde's midsection, knowing full well that Sakura could see him being gentle with Naruto. He glanced over at her and saw a brilliant pink that rivaled her hair color was covering her cheeks. And, for a brief second, Sasuke swore her nose started bleeding. Sakura turned and flew from the room so quickly, however, he didn't get a good enough look to confirm his suspicions. Just my luck she's a Yaoi fanatic…he sighed inwardly as he tipped his head forwards and rested his nose in Naruto's soft hair. Wait…if she's a Yaoi fanatic…what did she do to Kakashi-sensei?

--

Kakashi woke up for the third time that day, discovering it was evening when he looked out his bedroom window. Damn it…what happened now? He wondered for a moment, and then remembered the race around his apartment as he tried to kill his blonde student. Sighing, Kakashi pulled himself out of the warm bed and shuffled towards the door. He peeked out and saw those three demons out of the corner of his eye. He took a step out of the room, noticing that not one of them moved as he slipped out into the hallway. Looking more closely at the three, he saw that they were actually asleep. If he wasn't so pissed at them at the moment, he might have even thought they were cute when curled up the mound they were currently in.

Naruto had his head resting on one of Sasuke's thighs and the raven-haired teen was leaning against the wall where Kakashi's couch once sat. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the missing furniture and then sighed when he recalled how he had destroyed the couch in his attempts to kill Naruto. Sakura was sprawled across the two boys, sitting between Sasuke's spread legs, her head on the tallest teen's chest and her legs curled around Naruto's chest. If he didn't know the three better, Kakashi would have wondered what the three had done while he was asleep, but then froze in mid-thought when he saw their modes of dress. Naruto was, oddly, missing his pants and his orange jacket, leaving a blank tank top that was so tight and tattered that it left nothing to the imagination and boxers that Kakashi guessed to be covered in frogs. He didn't look close enough to make sure of that assessment. Sasuke only had on his customary white shorts, revealing an almost sickeningly pale, yet very well-defined, chest that rose and fell in time with his teammates'. Sakura, unlike her two male comrades, had most of her clothes on, but was down to the final layers and Kakashi didn't have to look very hard to see down her tight shirt.

Kakashi sighed, wondering what exactly they had been up to, and then caught sight of his dog laying across Naruto's exposed stomach. He took a few steps towards the canine and punted the pug into the wall. Somehow, the three teens didn't wake up even as their co-conspirator slid down the wall, cursing loud enough to get the jounin's ears to ring.

"What the hell was that for?!" Pakkun cried as he slowly got up from the ball he had crumpled into as soon as he hit the floor. He gave Kakashi a glare that both knew he had to have learned from his master, but that glare quickly turned into mirth as he let out a snicker. "Go put something on before the kids wake up. I'm sure no one wants to see you in the buff…"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the dog's comment and found his mind going blank as he realized that the room was a little too breezy… He looked down at himself and audibly eeped when he saw he was as bare as the day he was born. Where the hell are my clothes?! Kakashi had to stop himself from screaming that when he recalled the three teens only about a foot away from him. If any of them woke up to see him in such a state, Kakashi knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself, let alone go to practices and have their knowing, mocking eyes on him. He gave the dog a questioning look that got Pakkun to laugh all the more.

"Oi…Kakashi-sensei's well endowed…" Kakashi felt a shiver go up his back when he heard that comment come from his side, slightly amazed that particular teen knew the meaning of 'endowed.' He barely turned and found three pairs of eyes on him and a small part of the man died right then and there. With the speed the jounin community were known for, he grabbed the closest thing to cover himself with. Too bad for his pug, Pakkun happened to be that closest thing.

"THIS GOES FAR BEYOND A MAN'S BEST FRIEND!! LET ME GOOO!!" Pakkun cried, his voice muffled as Kakashi unconsciously pressed the dog's face closer to his otherwise exposed groin. The three teens couldn't stop their giggling as Kakashi took a few sidesteps back towards his room, trying his best to keep his lower body hidden. He pulled one hand away from Pakkun and felt for his mask and let out a small sigh of relief when he felt that the black material was still in its proper place. He quickly returned his hand to his tight grip on the pug before Pakkun started to squirm too much. Kakashi really didn't want to give the three demons a full frontal view of himself.

"He doesn't have a bad butt either," Sakura added to Naruto's previous comment, snuggling closer to Sasuke's collar bone. She never imagined Sasuke's skin could be so soft or warm. The remaining member of the trio, trying to ignore the girl that was far beyond violating his personal space, just gave Kakashi a look that got the jounin to tremble. No one, short of some kind of perverted, horny old guy should be able to give a man shivers like that from one little look.

"Pretty muscular…" Sasuke finally joined in on the appraisal – Kakashi suddenly started feeling like a large piece of meat from the looks his students were giving him. The jounin took a few more steps towards his escape, ignoring his dog's stifled protests as he moved.

"Yea, but his legs are too scrawny," Naruto pointed out and, if the conditions were slightly different, Kakashi would have adamantly argued that comment. He had very strong, shapely legs – Kakashi shook his head as soon as that thought passed through his mind, knowing better than to say such a thing to his students. The three demonic children would probably remind him of such a description for the rest of his miserable life.

Kakashi was only a few steps away from the hallway when Pakkun finally realized that it would be too easy to get away from his master's grasp. Use me as a shield will you? The dog thought to himself as he opened his mouth and took a bite of what lay in front of him. All the jounin felt was a surge of pain that forced him to his knees, bending over himself in agony, as he dropped the dog to the floor. Any train of thought Kakashi had flew far from his mind as he gasped for breath, wondering if he was dying. Pakkun, however, calmly strolled back to the three teens, spitting every few paces, while Kakashi whimpered, unable to make any other sound other than a squeak every now and again.

"Nasty taste…" Pakkun muttered as he smirked slyly and gave Naruto a quick high-five before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Kakashi's three students waited until the man let out a little moan, which proved he hadn't passed out from the pain, before continuing on with their conversation.

"I don't know…Iruka-sensei might break him in two…" Sakura said softly, looking at her two teammates and could see the pink tinge to their cheeks. She then realized she was the only person in the room not blushing up a storm and the kunoichi chuckled at this observation. "Come on, Naruto…you said Iruka-sensei's really well built…"

"Like a body builder…" Naruto agreed quietly as he pulled himself up into a sitting position, ignoring the twinges of pain that went through his bandaged leg and his equally wrapped behind. It had hurt terribly to be in that position with Sakura half-laying on him for so long, but it had been part of their plan. Kakashi wouldn't have had his guard down so much – and probably would have been more observant of his surroundings and lack of clothing – if they hadn't been so snuggly with one another. The fact Sasuke was getting overheated and took off his shirt and his teammates found out he usually wore nothing underneath the shirt was just a bonus in Sakura's mind. She too had stripped off some of her outer layers, wondering how Kakashi dealt with the almost unbearable heat in his apartment. Naruto, unlike his two teammates, however, didn't take anything off as part of their plan or due to the heat. His orange jacket had been diced into tiny pieces by their teacher and his pants had suffered a similar fate – of course, the teen would have kept them on, except for the fact Sakura had been fixing his leg earlier.

"But if he gets so worked up over one kiss, he might not be good for Iruka-sensei…" Sasuke pointed out, getting nods from his two teammates. If they hadn't planned this conversation, he knew he would be sitting there silently, blushing furiously, as Naruto and Sakura took stabs at their incapacitated sensei. As things were, however, he found himself enjoying the verbal attacks on the man. Kakashi had actually hurt Naruto…for that, Sasuke was willing to say things that he would never dare to normally say. The most the man ever did before was pummel Naruto – but that gouge to the blonde's leg was too much in Sasuke's mind. Kakashi needed to be taught a lesson.

"You little bastards…" Kakashi said coldly between wheezes. If he hadn't sounded so pathetic, the three probably would have been running for safety at the moment, but they knew that Kakashi wouldn't be able to do anything to them for some time. Pakkun got a good bite of Kakashi's nether regions, even though the pug had been quite against the whole plan in the first place. The original plan was to have Pakkun attack him, but since Kakashi took the dog as a cover, there was no need for the frontal assault.

"Now, Kakashi-sensei…don't you have something to say to Naruto?" Sakura asked sweetly as she dislodged herself from her two teammates and walked over to the bent over jounin. Kakashi glared at her for a moment before looking over at the blonde and, for the first time, noticing the bandages stretching from the teen's knee all the way up under his boxers. The bandages must have originally been white, but Kakashi could see a red trail of blood soaking through the gauze. I cut him? He wondered, trying to remember when he had nicked the idiot's leg. Wincing, he finally recalled that he had stabbed the uppermost part of the teen's thigh. From the looks of it, Naruto must have pulled away while turning to cause such a spiraled injury and that the wound must be very deep to have been bleeding so severely.

"Is he still bleeding?" Kakashi asked, feeling a little sheepish over his earlier uncontrollable rage. Naruto healed faster than anyone else, so he knew he could be a little rougher with the brat, but that cut didn't look like it had stopped bleeding yet. Did I get a vein or artery? Kakashi wondered as he glanced at Naruto's face and saw how pale the boy actually looked. He knew enough medicine to know someone of the blonde's complexion should never turn that color unless they live in some kind of cave for several years, never seeing the light of day. Severe blood loss? He should be in the hospital…Kakashi realized and, with that, started to mentally berate himself for his lack of self-control.

Sakura kneeled down in front of him and sighed at the pitiful sight of her teacher. "Thankfully, no longer from his leg. There're a few other cuts that were pretty deep, though. We knocked him out for a little while, which gave me time to stitch back up a few minor veins you nicked and to remove the glass from his behind. Naruto can hardly sit up, let alone walk for more than a few steps. He lost a lot of blood, but he won't let us take him to the hospital," Sakura replied quietly so that the other two teens couldn't hear her. She saw her teacher wince and her woman's intuition told her it wasn't from his own wounds that got him to cringe. "He'll be fine once the Kyuubi finishes healing him and after a bit of rest."

"I didn't mean to get so…" Kakashi trailed off, unsure what to call his actions. Violent? Crazed? Kakashi could think of many more terms that would fit with his lack of restraint. Even though Naruto had done some unforgivable things, claiming it was all for their teacher, he had no reason to put his student in such a position that it was taking the Kyuubi some time to heal him.

"You can make it up to me, you bastard!" Naruto cried from across the room, having heard every word of the two shinobi's private conversation with his excellent hearing. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the fingered gesture Naruto gave him, but didn't say anything since he knew he, in a way, deserved it. "You can go meet up with Iruka. He's going to be waiting over at Ichiraku's for me to celebrate my birthday…"

Birthday? Shimatta…it's his birthday? Kakashi inwardly cursed, feeling even worse about what he did to the blond idiot. He didn't even realize it was close to Naruto's birthday…not that he paid much attention to such things in the first place. It was one thing to beat Naruto to within an inch of his life, but to hurt him badly enough on his birthday that he couldn't even celebrate it was another thing entirely. Kakashi took a deep breath, knowing that he couldn't possibly deny Naruto that one little demand after what he did to him. Kakashi let the breath out slowly, wondering if it was part of Naruto's plan to get beaten up so that the jounin would have to take his spot tonight.

Kakashi breathed slowly, waiting for the ache in his groin to finally dissipate. Once the last ebbs of pain passed, he slowly got up and made no attempts to cover his nudity up, which sent his three students into fits of blushing (or in Sakura's case, nosebleeds). Serves those hellish brats right…Kakashi thought as he took a deep breath to keep his calm composure and proudly walked out into the hallway. Once he was sure the three demons could no longer see him, Kakashi shot into his room, blushing for all he was worth. Locking his door securely behind himself, Kakashi leaned against the cool wood and asked himself how he could have possibly not noticed he was walking around naked before. He sighed, hoping his students, by some miracle, would forget about that little event. Kakashi pushed himself off the door, knowing that he couldn't keep Iruka waiting forever – not unless he wanted to deal not only with the chuunin's wrath, but that of his three students and all the members of WASABI. Looking around his room, the jounin wondered what he would wear to a date with Iruka, since he knew the three teens wouldn't let him out of his house in his uniform.

Gai…you will be the first to die…he decided as he went into his closet in search of something other than his normal outfit. Once he found something he prayed the hell-sent matchmakers would deem appropriate, he quickly got dressed and tried to leave the apartment as quickly as possible, but froze when he heard the cat calls from the teens as he shot by the kitchen.

Kakashi took a few steps back and walked into the room, looking at his three students as Sakura and Sasuke tried helping Naruto off the floor. The blonde cursed colorfully as he finally got up, rubbing his bandaged leg. Noticing their teacher was watching them, three pairs of eyes landed on him and Kakashi found himself scratching the back of his head. "Oi, Kakashi-sensei…you better be on your best behavior tonight…" Naruto stated sternly as he hobbled over towards the jounin. Kakashi, feeling sorry for the teen when he saw how much those few steps hurt the boy, walked over to Naruto and leaned forwards when Naruto gestured for him to bend down. The next statement that Naruto whispered into his ear got the hair on the back of Kakashi's neck to rise in fear, "Who do you think started WASABI, ne?"

Naruto took a step back and gently patted the jounin on his masked cheek. Kakashi felt his mouth drop open as the seemingly sweet boy hobbled back to his friends. Sasuke and Sakura gave Naruto curious looks over that last quiet portion of his statement. Something that surprised the jounin to the point Kakashi had yet to move since Naruto whispered to him was certainly something that piqued their interest. "Have fun tonight, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura chirped, finally shaking Kakashi out of his stupor.

That little brat created WASABI? Then again, who else would have thought of such a stupid name? Kakashi shook his head, waving once to his students before returning to his escape from the apartment. He knew the three could be trusted with his home – Sasuke actually had a key to the place from years ago when Kakashi gave him one-on-one training for the chuunin exams – so he didn't even look back once as he started down the street to Ichiraku's. He stopped in mid-step, however, when he heard Naruto's voice carrying all the way from his apartment.

"TOUCH A HAIR ON IRUKA'S HEAD AND YOU'LL THINK LAST NIGHT WAS ENJOYABLE!!" The jounin winced when he heard Naruto's scream. Remembering his little visit with WASABI, Kakashi cringed at what the strange association could possibly come up with if, somehow, he did actually do something with the chuunin or, heaven forbid, they ever found out about his bet with Gai. He prayed for a moment that things would never come to that. Returning to his previous thoughts, Kakashi smirked at his students' over protectiveness of the academy teacher. What do they think I'd do to Iruka-sensei? He wondered and got a whole host of ideas that got his visible eye to curve upwards. A body builder's body, huh? Iruka was pretty well built…but I didn't get a good enough look. I probably wouldn't have even tried to take off his clothes if I knew that brat was the ringleader of that damn group…now my life's going to be a living hell because of Gai. Quickly, Kakashi decided that the Green Beast of Konoha, once this bet was over, would be tortured in the most painful ways he could come up with. Already starting the list of what he could do to the spandex-clad man, Kakashi hummed to himself as he continued his stroll through town as though, in the matter of minutes, his students hadn't just stripped away his pride, forced him to feel sorry for beating up Naruto when the brat deserved it, and conned him into a second date with the first person Kakashi was starting to regret ever thinking of pursuing.

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Authoress: I think that was an interesting chapter…poor Kakashi didn't know what he was getting himself into when he decided to pick Iruka as his prey…kukuku…I almost (almost) feel sorry for him sometimes…then remember that he wanted to seduce Iruka in the first place…serves him right, ne? kukuku…so, until next time, thank you so much for reading so far and please remember to review to this chapter! Ja ne!!