Kakashi walked out of Hokage Tower. He had just finished all of his works and was immediately greeted by his three students, plus Hinata in the entrance. Naruto and Sasuke were wearing similar clothes; a black tuxedo with white shirt within. The only difference was their ties; Naruto's were yellow while Sasuke's were blue. Sakura and Hinata were wearing red and purple dresses respectively. He did remember that Naruto said they would pick him up, but seeing them there, looking handsome, beautiful and well-groomed, dressed in tuxes and dresses waiting for him still made him felt weird.

"Oh you're here already."

"I told you that we'll pick you up."

"Yeah, I know."

Hinata bowed at him. "Good evening Kakashi-sama. I hope I'm not intruding your team's reunion."

"No no, that's fine Hinata. The more the merrier, right" he said as he gave the Hyuga heiress his closed-eye-smile. He looked at their clothes and then at his own red and white Hokage's standard uniform. "Well unfortunately, I don't bring any formal clothes right now. I don't think I even have one so..."

"Don't worry sensei. We took care of it" Sakura said as she pulled a tuxedo from behind her. She gave it to Naruto and Sasuke. "They'll help you change."

"What?! Uh, no... I can change myse-Hey!" Naruto and Sasuke wound one of their arms around Kakashi's and pulled him to the man's bathroom.

Elsewhere:

"Where are you going all dressed up?" Ayame turned from her vanity mirror to her father who was standing by the door of her bedroom. Teuchi looked at her daughter in her long orange dress suspiciously. "Are you going on a date with a man that I don't know?"

Ayame rolled her eyes. "You know I don't have a boyfriend Dad. Naruto invited me to dinner with his friends in Ichiraku" she replied as she turned back to the mirror to fix the bun on her head.

At the mention of Naruto's name, Teuchi calmed down. But he's still suspicious. "When are you coming home tonight?"

Ayame sighed. "When the dinner's finished. Can you stop being so suspicious? This is just a normal dinner with friends that's all." After she finished with her make-up, she stood up and walked to the door. "Now just wait here patiently until I get home." Then she walked out of the door.

With Naruto and the others:

Kakashi tugged at the collar of his shirt. Naruto and Sasuke had forced him into a tuxedo similar to theirs, only with green tie. Thankfully, they hadn't taken off his mask. He was not used in wearing formal clothes and wondered why he had to.

"Seriously, why do we have to wear formal clothes? It's just a normal dinner."

"Kakashi-sensei, Ichiraku is a five star restaurant. Surely, you don't want to go in there wearing that Hokage uniform." Kakashi thought about what Sakura said and he had to admit she was right. "Besides, tonight we have a special guest who will join us."

Kakashi frowned. "Special guest? Who? You didn't say anything about another person joining us." He was actually a little miffed that someone was going to intrude his team's reunion. Hinata was fine but he's not sure about this 'special guest'. He hadn't met his students for a long time and wanted to spend time with them without other people intruding.

"You'll see. Don't worry, she's nice."

They walked to Ichiraku and after Naruto talked to the receptionist, a staff came to them. "Welcome to Ichiraku Restaurant. Please follow me. The Lady is waiting at the top floor."

'The Lady?' Kakashi wondered as the five ninjas followed the staff. After arriving at the top floor, he stopped in front of a huge double door, forcing the five people behind him to stop.

"This is where your dinner will take place. I hope you enjoy our service" he said as he opened the door and let them in. The room was big and extravagant. There's a balcony with a table for two at the far end of the room. Near the balcony was a long table with a tower of wine glasses and various kinds of desert. On the corner of the room was a karaoke box. There was a bar table with various kinds of alcohol displayed in the glass case to the right and a billiard table to the left. In the middle of the room was a long big table with chandelier right on top of it where they would dine tonight. Looking at the room, Kakashi knew it was reserved for special guests only. How Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura could afford to book such room was beyond him. It probably had to do with the owner of the restaurant Teuchi and his daughter Ayame. Just as he thought about her, there she was.

Ayame was sitting on one of the chair in their dining table in a long orange dress, looking as beautiful as always, if not more.

"Hi Nee-chan! Sorry for making you wait for us" Naruto greeted her.

"No, it's okay. I haven't been here that long." And then she spotted Kakashi. Her eyes widened and she gaped like a fish out of water.

Kakashi was surprised to see Ayame there. He wanted to ask why she was here but was too polite to do it in her presence. It's obvious that Naruto and the others had invited her here as well. For what reason, he didn't know. From her reaction after seeing him, it seemed that she didn't expect to see him either.

They started to take a seat in the table, the men on one side while the women on the other. Kakashi found himself sitting across Ayame. He smiled at her direction but then she turned away. He frowned. 'What have I done wrong?' Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura silently watched this exchange.

Ayame cleared her throat. "Well... let's start the dinner then." She clapped her hands twice and the staff who had escorted them came in with the waiters, carrying in various dishes. During the dinner, Kakashi had to admit that he enjoyed himself. Despite Hinata and Ayame being there, it still felt like his team's reunion to him. The four members of team 7 chattered with each other, telling stories and reminiscing of the past, with occasional remarks and comments from Ayame and Hinata. The only thing bothering him was that Ayame was acting weird. Whenever their eyes met she'd turned away, whenever their hands touched she pulled hers back like it was on fire, and she kept looking anywhere but his face. Did he look weird? Kakashi admitted that wearing a tuxedo and a mask might be a strange sight, be it couldn't be that bad. Right?

After they finished eating, the two young couples separated to spend some quality time with their significant others in this Valentine night. Naruto and Hinata went to the balcony while Sasuke and Sakura went to the billiard table. That left Kakashi and Ayame at the dining table.

"Well Ayame, it seems that you'll be stuck with me for a while" Kakashi said, chuckling. Ayame looked down and blushed.

'Naruto planned this! I knew it! He planned this because he knows I like Kakashi-san! I thought he would this me but no, this is even worse. I-it's not that I'm not happy to see Kakashi-san. I do. But my heart wasn't ready. This... this almost feels like a date... a triple date... Wait, no! We're not a couple! Well I want to be one with him but-'

"You look beautiful tonight."

"Huh?" Ayame snapped from her thought. She sat there absent-mindedly until she registered the full extent of Kakashi's words and slowly, her body warmed and a blush spread on her cheeks.

"Th-thank you Kakashi-san. You look good too."

"Really? You think so?"

"Of course. Why do you ask?"

"Because you've been avoiding seeing me in the face. I thought I looked weird." Ayame blushed harder. She never thought he'd realize that she's avoiding him.

She took a deep breath and looked at him. "You look good Kakashi-san really. And thank you for the compliment."

"It's true though." And it was. Ayame did look beautiful tonight. Her long brown hair was put into a high bun. Her long orange dress accentuated her curves. He thought that the colour looked good on her. "How's your father?"

"Oh, he's fine. Because he doesn't work anymore he spends most of his time with his new hobby."

"What is it?"

"Roller-skating. Can you believe it? It's not really appropriate for someone his age to go roller-skating around town. It embarrasses me sometimes." Kakashi laughed at that and Ayame thought that it sounded really nice and melodic.

"By the way, the food was wonderful. I'm not surprised that Ichiraku has become five star restaurant now."

"Thank you. It's my own recipe."

"Oh?"

"Me and my father that is. We tried our best to make many variants of ramen. We never thought that we will be this successful."

"Yeah. I remember it was still a small shop just a year ago. You two have worked really hard."

Ayame smiled. "Yeah... We still have a long way to go thought. What about you Kakashi-san? How does it feel like being a Hokage?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Just the usual stuff. Paper work, meeting, another paper work and so on." Ayame giggled.

"You still have to remember to take some rest. I heard from Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura that you've been working really hard lately. Maybe you should try our Spirit Ramen."

"Yeah, maybe. So... why are you here with us? Not that I don't enjoy your company, but don't you have someone you want to spent tonight with? It is Valentine after all." Ayame blushed and looked away. "You may have someone in mind that you want to give a chocolate to."

Ayame thought back to the chocolate on her office desk. 'I do. In fact, that someone is you.' But she didn't say that and instead, she said "I only give chocolate to my father today. I... I don't have someone like that."

"I see. That's too bad. You are a good cook so your chocolate must taste really good." Ayame felt her heart soared and she smiled widely at his compliment. Oh, how she wished she brought that chocolate at the moment.

"What about you Kakashi-san? Do you receive any chocolate today? Or are you the one who gave it?"

Kakashi laughed nervously. "Ah well... you see... I forgot that today was Valentine's day until one of my subordinates gave me a chocolate."

Ayame raised her eyebrows. "Just one?"

"Yup. Just one. Just like you, I don't have someone I really want to spend today with."

Ayame went silent for a while, which confused Kakashi. She looked so lost in thought. Suddenly she asked slowly "Kakashi-san... what... what do you think about marrying?"

Kakashi widened his eyes in surprise but then his expression turned emotionless as usual. "You are the fourth person who asks me about this" he murmured. Ayame looked at him questioningly while kakashi looked out the window at the night sky. "Truthfully, I think it's a bit too late for me. Now that I become Hokage, works take up most of my time so I don't think I'm ready to start dating, let alone marrying." Ayame looked sadly at him. An awkward silence passed between them. "What about you?" Ayame startled. "Why don't you find someone already? You're beautiful Ayame. Surely, many men out there would like to marry you."

Ayame blushed again and looked down. "I... never thought about that... I guess I want to focus on the restaurant at the moment."

"Well I think you will make good wife if you ever thought of marrying somebody" Kakashi said matter-of-factly. Ayame blushed harder. He had no idea how much his words affected her.

Suddenly, music came out of nowhere. Kakashi looked at the karaoke box to see Naruto and Hinata turning on the music and choosing a song. They chose a slow instrumental music and Naruto pulled Hinata to the middle of the room to dance. Sasuke and Sakura soon joined them. Kakashi watched them, content with just sitting there. He looked at Ayame. She looked at the dancing couples with a dreamy smile and sparkling eyes. It's obvious she wanted to join them. But there was no one to dance with. Except him that is.

It's been a long time since Kakashi danced. The last time he did it was with Sakura, and it was when they were undercover during a mission. He was content to just sit there, but he felt a little bad for Ayame. Kakashi stood up and extended his hand to her. "Do you want to dance?"

Ayame was surprised. She didn't expect him to ask her for a dance. She smiled happily, still blushing and accepted his hand gratefully. "Of course."

"I warn you. It's been a long time since I dance. I may have been rusty. Not really a good dancer."

"That's okay."

They walked to the dance floor and joined the two couples. Kakashi admitted that she was a good dancer and he actually enjoyed the moment. He was so focused that he missed his three students' grin at his direction. Ayame also enjoyed herself. For someone who admitted not to be a good dancer, he was pretty graceful on the dance floor. Ayame lost herself in the moment that she let her head fell on his shoulder. Kakashi stiffened but made no effort to stop her. She closed her eyes and sighed blissfully. The moment was so perfect. When she opened her eyes back, she caught movement from the corner of her eyes. Someone was there other than them...

Ayame straightened herself and searched for the interlopers around the room. She caught movement from behind the bar table and she saw him. Her eyes widened in horror.

It was her father.