This chapter – and the next – are very random in my mind. just thought you should know.

I really shouldn't be posting this - I was planing on trying to finish the whole story before posting more chapters but I felt like I should just put this one out there.

oh, and thank you so much to everyone who left reviews! they really made my day, other than that - if your looking for another great story to read go check out IrukaLover's Perplexed! its awesome like a chocolate dip sundae and he needs the love! and I need some sugar...

XoX

All people have the right to stupidity;
some just abuse the privilege.

XoX

Iruka doubled over with laughter while the dough cover Ibiki glared daggers at him.

"I- I'm sorry – it j- just-"the rest of the words were lost in a new fit of giggles while Ibiki sighed and ginned up at the ceiling, wiping the sticky wet dough from his forehead.

"Somehow I think I did that very wrong"

This only made Iruka laugh harder, struggling to breathe while he answered "Y-yes, well – for s- starters –y- you didn't – catch it"

Ibiki growl playfully at the chuunin as the younger man handed him a wet cloth, still chuckling as he helped wipe off the sticky dough.

"Really, it's not that hard Ibiki"

"Says you"

"Aw come on" Iruka moved back to the counter where the mounds of dough he'd made that morning waited "It's like tossing shurkin just with the plan of catching in once it comes down"

Ibiki blinked then shook his head "If you insist"

"It is!" Iruka huffed, picked up some more dough and started twirling it skillfully on the tips of his fingers. The pale dough slowly began to spread, fanning out farther until he was tossing the whole thing in the air catching it and sending it up again till it reached the right size and could be dropped back on to the counter.

"See? Easy"

Ibiki snorted and shook his head again "No, I'm not falling for that again, you'd just end up wasting dough anyway"

Iruka laughed, grabbing a cutting broad and a knife he handed them to the Jounin "Fair enough, how about you start cutting up topping while I finish this?"

Ibiki nodded as he walked around to the fridge and began pulling out the things Iruka told him to, meat, mushrooms, peppers, broccoli, mangos and onion.

"You put all this on pizza?"

Iruka smiled but didn't look away from the dough he was tossing.

"Not on one pizza no, Anko hates spicy stuff but has a sweet tooth so ranch, chicken, bacon with mangos and onion are hers" the tossed dough was placed down on the counter while a new mound was picked up "Genma loves pumpkin but every attempt to put it on a pizza have been disastrous, so his usually is whatever sauce I have around with broccoli, ground beef and peppers. Gai on the other hand loves spicy stuff but has stopped making it at home for Anko's sake, but since everyone gets their own thing here I make his with hot sauce, pepper jack cheese, spicy sausage and pepperoni, banana peppers and of course jalapenos"

Iruka grinned at the staring Jounin "It's so damn hot it makes him cry - he loves it"

"And still that man passes his physic evaluation every year"

Iruka laughed "Gai's not unstable Biki, he's just weird. And those tests are useless anyway"

The scarred jounin frowned "Why do you say that?"

"Besides the fact they didn't pick up on Orochimaru, Mizuki and a whole ton of others that went off the deep end without anyone noticing till too late?" Iruka shook his head "Never mind that, nothing could have changed them. anyway, the tests, their supposed to pick up on behaviour changes, oddity's and personality disorders right?" the Jounin nodded "Well, last year they told Genma he had an oral fixation; as if anyone who knows him couldn't tell you that! Also, I've been a chuunin – and taking the tests – for over 12 years now and they still haven't picked up on my little night and day spilt personality. Plus, every year they tell me I may be bipolar – I'm not, trust me I've checked, Tsunade tested me herself once to see – I don't have it, I'm just plain weird, that's all, yet every year they tell me I should get myself checked, it's downright irritating. It might just be me or they might not check the chuunin as thrallily as the famous Jounin and clan members but personally I find my examiners to be idiots"

Ibiki's eyes narrowed and hummed thoughtfully as he refocused on the pepperoni he was slicing "I'll have to look into that, why has no one ever said anything about it before?"

"No one's ever asked" Iruka stuck his tongue out when the Jounin gave his an exasperated look "I'm kidding, the truth is there are issues in this village that can only be seen from below and so, they will never be fixed because, who listens to us? It's just how things are. You can't fix everything that's wrong so the things that aren't that bad, well, we can live with them, they give us something to complain about anyway"

The older man was quiet as he watched Iruka slip the crusts into the oven then move to the fridge.

"Beer, wine, or sake?"

Ibiki chuckled as he pulled himself from his musing "You know I think you're the first person in years to offer me wine, normally I'm just handed a bottle of beer or a glass of whiskey, under the assumption that's all I like"

"So wine then"

"Please"

Iruka grinned as he pulled the bottle of white he'd bought so Anko wouldn't bug him out of the fridge and poured a generous helping for the older man. Ibiki nodded in thanks as he took the glass, humming happily around the first sip.

"Hum, its good. Now it I may ask. What was that earlier about rumors and payback?"

Iruka leaned over the counter, pasting on his best 'who, me?' face as he chuckled "Payback? Ibiki, whatever are you talking about?"

XoX

Kakashi panted hard as he pushed off another tree hard. Four hours and he was still running – with no success.

After the whole fiasco with Gai at the house the other Jounin had literally dragged his rival off to their new competition - going right through the middle of town, proclaiming speeches about their flowers of friendship and such while he did so the whole village would know two things.

-Gai was back.

-Kakashi had finally gone off the deep end, and had the suite to prove it.

He could smell the therapists couch already.

Gai had challenged him for five hours straight. Everything from races and push ups to tree climbing, skip rope, extreme ninja hop scotch (which is terrifying by the way) chalk art and sand castle making.

He'd done all of it and more, with only a minimal amount of protests and escape attempts and by early afternoon Kakashi had believed it was finally over and he would be able to crawl home to pretend the day never happened. Maybe shave himself bald and try to cut the spandex off – or set it on fire; that might work too.

But the classic standby off poofing away hadn't worked. Normally – when he'd reached his limit of Gai-ness for the day and had to leave before the others man's weirdness went from funny and strangely lovable to just downright scary – he would just teleport away and hide, reading his book and relax while Gai would spend the rest of the day searching high and low for him, but this time-

Gai had found him.

He wasn't sure how he had, really, how many people searched the Monument Caves for someone?

And it didn't matter how many time's Kakashi got away, Gai was always right behind. It was impossible and extremely annoying just how fast the other man was able to find him.

The chase had been on three hours straight and while Kakashi was starting to flag he could tell so was Gai. If anyone else had been in his position they most likely would have started thinking about a plan along the line of out lasting Gai but Kakashi knew that was futile, Gai would never stop, not for something like this. He'd seen the man continue to run after having his right leg split open – there was no way he'd stop from simply being tired.

This was another challenge, he just knew it. Gai must have discovered a way to track him and was now challenging him to lose him.

Well Kakashi could do that.

Diversionary tactics, smoke bombs, wire traps and som-

"AAAAAHHHHHH!"

Kakashi's plots of escape came smashing to a halt, along with his entire body when something big, black and fuzzy went sailing into his path, knocking into him with the force of furry wrecking ball, sending him earthward and pounding him into the ground hard.

Kakashi curled onto his side, coughing violently as he fought to draw in air. Reaching out a hand he quickly found the furry mass that had hit him and gently grabbed a handful of the soft black fur.

"Bull…" the big dog whimpered and edged closer until the large wet nose was nudging against the Jounin's face. Kakashi smiled and pet the big dog's head as he coughed again "I'm fine, but what were you -?"

"Kakashi!"

Pakkun and the rest of the pack came gliding out of the trees to form a circle around their master while the pug hurried forward and began sniffing the Jounin's body from head to toe.

"Damn! Are you ok? Is anything broken? Pain when you breathe? Look at me, how many ears am I holding up?"

Kakashi glared at the franticly yammering dog as he pushed at pug away and used Bull's solid form to help himself sit up "None mutt, you can't lift your ears, I'm fine, just winded"

Pakkun sighed, not even rising to Kakashi jib in his relief "Good, we thought Bull had crushed you"

"Just why did you send him after me in the first place?" Kakashi glanced around at the sheepish looking pack and the still nuzzling Bull who was now wagging his tail so hard it was making clouds of dust where it hit the ground.

"Well..."

"You see…"

"We were watching the past few hours and-

"Thought you could use some help so-"

"Pakkun told Bull to take out Gai so you could get away but-"

"We forgot your both wearing the same thing so when Shiba-"

"Oui! I never said nothing! It was Guruko!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"I thought it was Uhei"

"Shut up Bisuke!"

Kakashi and Pakkun watched, annoyed, as the rest of the pack descended into the argument – well, all of them except Bull, who by this point seemed to have decided Kakashi needed a bath and had started licking the Jounin with long strokes of his big tongue.

Kakashi , for his part, managed to ignore the wet slime now covering the side of his face and turned to Pakkun. "Explain, now"

The pug sighed "We were trying to help, honest, and it would have worked, but because of the suite we thought it was Gai – but it was you"

"So you were planning on pounding Gai into the ground?"

"Is that a problem?"

Normally; yes. But Kakashi was finding it hard to think so at the moment, he was too tried so instead of answering his just gave the dog a classic Sasuke "hun" while he absent mindedly pet Bull, still watching the utter chaos that was the rest of the pack.

"THERE HE IS!"

All 8 dogs and their master froze at the sound of Bisuke's yell as, sure enough, there was a bright green and orange blur moving through the trees – heading straight toward them at top speed.

Bull's orders it seemed, were obsolete and –through the wave of panic – Kakashi wondered just what the pack had told the loving and normally gentle dog to make him move like that. It barely took two seconds for the black mass to jump up and sprint for the trees – already going the same speed as Gai.

There was a whistling sound followed by a crash, a shriek, and a thud as something hit the forest floor with wince worthy impact.

"Gai!" flinching slightly at the pain shooting through his already bruising body Kakashi heaved himself up and run toward the place where the loud, green loving man had been squashed by his huge black dog for the second time that day.

The sound of moans were both worrying and relieving, down side; Gai was in pain – though that wasn't surprising, Bull was in no way light – while the up side was; the other man was still alive; so Bull hadn't crushed his ribs or split his spine – both very good things.

A small clearing came into view as Kakashi rounded a tree, showing the still moaning Gai curled up on the grass in a position similar to the one Kakashi had been in a moment ago while a very pleased Bull stood next to him, tail wagging and tongue lolling out as he bound happily toward the masked Jounin.

Kakashi gave the big dog a pat on the head – he had followed and completed his orders after all – before hurrying over to his friend's side.

"Gai? You ok? You only have to nod"

The bowl cut swayed slightly and Kakashi sighed, he was fine, that was good - and that was because Gai was his friend and not because Anko would most likely castrate him if anything happened to her boyfriend.

Ok fine, it partly was about that.

The other man was now struggling to sit up and Kakashi instantly reached out a hand to help him, though once Gai was upright and breathing normal again the man flashed his rival a blindingly white smile and raised a hand to giving him a thumbs up (the entire thing was much slower and less buoyant then it usually would have been but Kakashi figured it was the thought that counted)

"Very clever my rival" Kakashi picked up on the lack of upper case but did say anything, his head hurt and he didn't want Gai to be loud "Using your dogs as a distraction"

Kakashi blinked, was that what Gai thought had happened? Well, if that made him happy-

"But there really was no need"

The grey eye blinked again, in confusion this time; was Gai really saying what he thought-?

"I was about to tell you I must go, Anko and I are going out for dinner to celebrate my safe return"

Gai stood, leaving his shocked rival on the ground, trying to sort out the mixed emotions ranging from happy relief he could now go home to annoyance that he'd just spent four hours running from the man without ever being able to lose him.

That thought had him snapping out of his daze and reaching out to grab the other man before he could take off.

"Not so fast, how were you finding me?"

Gai gave him a long look then pulled something from his pocket "I guess I have no right to keep it"

Slowly the Tijutsu user handed over a smooth, plain grey disk, to the other man who snatched for it quickly, the dark eye widening when it took in the light green numbers flashing across the surface.

"A tracker?" Kakashi glared at his friend "You put a tracker on me? When? How? That's cheating!"

Gai held out his hands and waited for Kakashi to calm down "I didn't; surely the events from this morning are enough to tell you that"

"What?" Kakashi felt the walls of his world crack a little. Gai knew who the avenger was? And he'd helped them? "Why?" it was the only thing he could think to say.

Gai seemed to understand though as he smiled sadly at his friend "I respect you Kakashi and I think of you as my best friend, you know this. But you are rather selfish sometimes and you can hurt others with your attitude– unwittingly I know" Gai stopped him when he tried to protest "But recently you did something without thinking and hurt someone because of it, they asked my help and I agreed, knowing that you would never see unless shown"

A small spike of guilt bubbled in his belly but as quickly pushed aside; he didn't like guilt, not when he couldn't do anything about it. He replaced it with anger, turning to the man as he rose to full height.

"You know then, who did this"

"Yes"

"Who"

"I can't tell you"

Kakashi froze "Why the hell not? Gai, this is jutsued on! Tell me who and-"

"No"

Gai crossed his arms over his chest and stared back at his friend stubbornly. Kakashi reached a hand up to run it through his hair in annoyance only to remember the green hair and that he was wearing a black toque because of it.

"Gai, you said I hurt them right? Well then let me-"

"What good is an apology if it given for selfish reasons? You don't really care that you hurt them, you just want to make yourself feel better, and that is entirely beside the point. You have to figure this out yourself, besides, even if I told you just who is was I highly doubt you would apologize in the right way. Good night"

Kakashi stared after his friend as the man walked from the clearing and jumped into the trees, a little slower than normal but still too fast for Kakashi's shell shocked mind to follow.

He sat there for who knows how long, struggling through the swamp that had become his thoughts and emotions until he gave up and started off for home, hoping very much he could just pass out and wake up the next day and find out it had all been some stress induced dream.

Though some part of him knew there would be no such luck.

XoX

Iruka laughed and applauded loudly as Ibiki finished the last line of his song with a warbling note. It was just after six now and the two glasses of wine had done wonders for getting the other man to relax, Iruka wasn't quite sure exactly when the singing competition had started but he was more than happy to let Ibiki win, the deep bass was strangely calming.

"You can sing?"

Both man whipped around to see a dazed looking Anko frozen in place with one leg and her head through the window with the rest of her still hanging out. Her jaw was slack as she stared at her boss who actually seemed to be blushing – much to Iruka's delight.

"I – sometimes, yes"

The purple hair waved back and forth as Anko shook her head as if trying to clear it. Letting go of the window frame she let herself fall face first into the little living room, rolling to the side just before she hit the ground so she twisted and popped up onto her feet gracefully.

"You can sing…WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU COULD SING!"

"It is important I did?"

Ibiki actually backed up a step as Anko stalked toward him until she was directly in front of him, her dark eyes glaring up at him.

"Yes it's important! All the time's I could have dragged you to karaoke night, missed! Because you DIDN'T TELL ME!"

Ibiki glanced over at Iruka who was trying to hold in his laughter so hard his entire body was shaking with repressed mirth, the big man's look of complete bewilderment didn't help the chuunin's situation much as it sent the sensei it a fit of hysteric laughter, leaving Ibiki to the crazed woman while she ignored her little brother as he gasped for air.

"Two years. TWO YEARS! I've been trying to host a karaoke night for T&I and who shows up every week? WELL NO ONE WHO CAN SING I CAN TELL YOU THAT! JUST THE MORONS FROM FILING AND EQUIPMENT CLEANING WHO JUST COME TO MOOCH OFF MY SAKE STASH!"

"You're still bitching about that Anko? Just give it up, karaoke's stupid anyway"

The attention of the room was turned when Genma walked through the door, a jaunty smile on his face as he flipped his seabon to the other side of his mouth, staring coolly back at Anko who was as glaring at him like she wanted him to catch fire.

"Stupid? STUPID? What do you know, you can't sing"

"Neither can you"

Anko growled while Genma's grin turned smug and he reached out for a piece of sliced mango on the kitchen counter, only to have Iruka growl at him and throw the kitchen knife he was using at the blonds hand.

"Hey!" Genma snatched his hand back just in time and stared – brow raised - at the still quivering knife now imbedded halfway into the counter.

"Don't touch the mango Gen or I'll sick Tukoi on you" Iruka glared at his big brother who nodded dumbly, not taking his eyes off of the knife.

"Tukoi?" Ibiki leaned closer to Anko to whisper the question "Who's Tukoi?" the woman giggled.

"One of Ruka's summons, he's a tad bubbly and likes attacking Genma's bandanna"

"Summons? What do you summon?" Ibiki turned his questioning gaze to the chuunin who ginned at him.

"Lots of things, Anko says I have a knack for picking up the strays of the summoning world."

"Such as?"

"Such as bats, a really old snake with a temper, squirrels and a toucan that went off the deep end a few years ago" Genma answered for the chuunin while he watched the younger man move around the kitchen, waiting for the perfect moment when Iruka had his back turned to flitch some meat from the cutting board.

"Toucans? You can summon those?"

"Yup" Genma removed the seabon from his mouth and moved to closer to the counter so it was at a perfect stabbing distance to the food "Ruka found him when he was 20, that bird sure proves that there are some things that should not have the ability to talk"

"Like you?"

Anko smiled sweetly at the blond who turned to glare at her around Ibiki's huge form.

"Ah shut it, like you couldn't use a good gag once in a while An – what are you wearing?"

Ibiki and Iruka instantly turned to see what Genma was talking about and upon doing so both wondered just how their missed it before.

Anko stood, smiling happily, decked out in tight back skinny jeans, black fingerless gloves and a lime green shirt that stated 'CUTEI' in sparkly orange letters, it hugged her body and clashed with her dark purple hair, which she had let down and was now falling in soft curls over her shoulders.

"Wh- what is that?"

Genma was staring at the vibrant shirt with something akin to fear in his eye. Iruka snorted and threw an empty cheese bag at the blonde's head.

"Gai made it for her Gen, what he hasn't given you yours?"

The hazel eyes widened "Mine?"

Iruka grinned at him before turning to Ibiki who was watching the scene in amusement "Gai feels handmade gifts are best. Mine says' Youthful' – I think, the glitter kinda smeared so now it's just this blindly bright orange streak across the front"

Ibiki chuckled while Genma tore his eyes away from Anko's shirt to gaze around the small apartment "Speaking of that, where is Gai anyway? Shouldn't he be with you?"

Anko shrugged "He'll be here soon, I told him to stop tracking Kakashi round 5:30 so that he could go and clean up before coming over"

Ibiki's brows shot up at that comment "Tracking Kakashi? Just what did he do?"

Iruka scowled as he slid the pizzas in the oven "Nothing much, he just suffers from a severe case of idiotitous and is horrendously oblivious"

Genma was sending Ibiki a clear 'don't ask' look while Anko's eyes narrowed and her lips curled into a snarl. Iruka shook his head and shot the bigger man an apologetic look while he tried to clear the darkening atmosphere.

He was saved from doing so though when a loud crash and the sound of snapping wood pulled the room's attention to the door, which burst open off its hinges, clearing the way for the black haired man that came sailing through the now empty frame.

"GAI! WHAT HAVE I SAID ABOUT DYNAMIC ENTRYING INTO MY HOUSE?"

Gai froze, one arm and leg up and mouth open, about to yell the words for his favorite move; at Iruka's voice however he snapped it shut and sealed his lips while lowering all his limbs back to the ground. He grinned and scratched at the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Sorry Iruka, I'll fix that"

Anko rolled her eyes as she moved to help her boyfriend fix the chuunin's door, which was now hanging limply off one hinge.

It was mildly interesting to see them standing side by side as Gai appeared to be wearing a completely –normal - set of cloths, consisting of blue jeans and a black turtle neck. All and all it was rather odd to see the usually bright man looking calm while his lover was the one clashing colours.

Iruka huffed, glaring at the two till he was sure the door could be fixed before turning back to the oven and the cooking pizzas while Genma took advantage of the chuunin's distraction to stab at the sliced pepperoni on the counter, succeeding in grabbing some and transferring it to his mouth with blinding speed.

"I saw that Genma"

The blond froze mid chew as he stared at the younger man who still hadn't turned around.

"ho'd y'u-?"

"12 years as a sensei Genma, you figure it out. Do that again and I will summon Tukoi"

Genma swallowed and raised his hand in defence "No need to be drastic Ru"

Ibiki chuckled, relaxing into the happy feeling that seemed to pulse through the place like a living thing. The sensei and his family were a different group no doubt. His mirth at the blonde's situation, however, was short lived as Anko dragged Gai over and grabbed hold of the bigger man's arm.

Thus descending the entire room into a normal state of insanity.

"Ibiki! Sing something! Please?"

"No"

"Aw! Come on! Just something little"

"No"

"Anko, maybe you should just leave Ibiki-san alo-"

"Quiet Gai, I'm trying to get him to sing. Sing!"

"No"

"Just a limerick! Or the course of something! A few lines!"

"Genma!"

"W'at?"

"I told you no!"

"Anko I think you should stop-"

"Kuchiyose no justu!"

"Ah shit. NO! BAD TUKOI!"

Ibiki, Anko and Gai all stopped in their argument to watch as a rumpled, bed raggeled bird with a very big, very bright beak flew straight at Gemna, squawking loudly something that sounded like 'Gin -Gin'. Upon reaching the blond the big black and yellow bird latched onto the Jounin's shoulder and proceed to peck at the bandannaed head – hard.

"Ow! Shit! Stop that! No! OW! IRUKA CALL HIM OFF!"

The chuunin merely rose a brow, as if mildly interested, as he watched his summon whack the older shinobi repeatedly in the head with its bright green and yellow beak, the small bare foot tapping a rhythm on the wood floor, while the scarred face remained impassive.

Beep, beep, beep.

"Pizzas ready, Tukoi, here boy"

The bird whistled happily and flew back to the little sensei, perching on his head and ruffling the chocolate hair affectionately as Genma collapsed to the floor behind them.

"You're a cruel being Ruka"

"And you're an idiot, the world goes round, get off the floor"

Genma pouted but hauled himself up, using the counter as support and then plunked himself down in his stool. Anko and Gai moved to do the same, though Anko seemed to find it necessary to throw herself at hers, almost knocking the thing over, if it hadn't been for her boyfriend, who grabbed the back of her shirt before the stool could tip and take its passenger to the floor.

Ibiki hesitated a moment, as if he wasn't sure he was allowed to just claim a seat like the others. Genma, however, solved this problem by pushing out the stool to his right giving the bigger male a pointed look until the other man nodded and slid gingerly onto the small chair.

Iruka hid his smile behind his loose hair as he pulled the pizzas from the oven. This was the second time Ibiki had been in his house, and once again he seemed to be having trouble deciding whether or not it should be awkward.

Iruka's family didn't know that meaning of awkward, it was something that didn't exist for them and – on the rare occasions it did – they ignored it. Everyone in the small family was good at ignoring useless things.

The last time Ibiki had been there was the morning after his break down and Iruka had known then the Jounin had expected it to be a tense, painful morning, filled with 'deserved' accuses at how the older man had used him.

Instead, Iruka had snuggled with him then fed him breakfast.

Now the interrogator was back in his tiny little house, once again seated with his more than slightly crazy family and he wasn't running. The Jounin had guts, they could give him that.

The smile softened as he sliced the piping hot pies and slid them onto plates, his thoughts still of the big man currently seated behind him. He liked Ibiki, that much was clear and he was sure the feeling was returned but – Iruka knew that a big part of him, no matter how stupid, still loved Kakashi, still wanted him.

Was that fair? For Ibiki, and him? And how did Ibiki feel about the whole thing?

Iruka shook his head, he was thinking about it all too much. He would wait and see where things went – and if they didn't work out well, Ibiki still would be more then welcome to join them as a friend in the future.

Four full plates slid across the table to stop in front of his dinner guests, Genma grinning when he saw Iruka had added more pepperoni to his while Anko and Gai stared at their plates, which he had slid into the wrong spots. grinning he reached over and removed the offending spicy pizza from under the scowling Anko's nose and replaced it with the mango chicken, Gai laughing out loud as his lover cheered instantly and let out a little whoop of delight before digging in, muttering something about Jounin brushing his entire mouth before he could kiss her around the first mouth full.

Ibiki seemed surprised to find that his food too had been prepared just with him in mind, containing three different kinds of mushroom as well as meat. Iruka just smiled, watching the others as the eat, taking bits of his own food occasionally as he fed the very happy Tukoi who was still perched on his head the left over mango one little piece at a time so the idiot bird wouldn't choke itself in his haste to gobble down the juicy sweet fruit.

A light tapping on the window pulled the chuunin from his happy little world, glancing over he spotted one of the village hawks hopping around on his railing, still pausing to peck at the glass every other second.

Tukoi, however, didn't seem to like the idea of a stranger pecking at anything that belonged to him; the black and yellow bird took off before Iruka could stop him and sailed full speed toward the offending hawk – only to slam into the window and fall to the ground.

"You stupid break brain"

Iruka moved to his little living room and scooped the daze summon up before moving to open the window, ignoring Genma's hoots of laughter as he reached out and took the message the hawk offered, watching silently as the bird took off once its task was complete.

Retreating back inside and placing Tukoi up on the back of the couch Iruka opened the note, already knowing what it would say but reading it anyway.

"Gen, it's for you, Hokage's office, ten minutes"

Genma instantly stopped laughing "You still have a bag for me here?"

"Under the bed"

The blond nodded before slipping off of his stool and heading for the bedroom. Only to re-appear a moment later, compact survival bag slung over one shoulder.

"Here" Genma held out a small slip of paper to the chuunin "It's a check, in case I'm not back by Wednesday could you go and give it to my landlord?"

Iruka nodded, carefully tucking the check away into the pages of a book before returning to the Jounin to claim a hug.

"Be safe ok"

Genma nodded as he clung to the smaller male, burying his face into the crook of the mocha neck, as if he was trying to find comfort in the others scent. Then letting go he gave the chuunin a salute and moved back to the kitchen to be embraced by both Anko and Gai, grinning slightly at Anko's customary threat to kill him if he died; a quick bow and a whispered word were given to Ibiki before the blond slipped his seabon back between his lips and disappeared through the door.

Biting at his lip Iruka turned at picked back up the book that held Genma's check and stashed it away on the book case, memorizing which one it was so he could find it later if needed. Glancing back at the kitchen he smiled when he saw Gai attempting to clean up for him, but failing in the fact he didn't know where to put anything.

Anko was packing away the uneaten pizza into boxes - as it was custom for Iruka to send the leftovers home with the others – though she seemed to be unwilling to touch Gai's spicy pizza.

"Ah, come on Anko, just pick it up and put it in the box!"

Iruka walked over to the older woman who gave him a look like he'd just asked her to touch dirty underwear found on the street. Iruka rolled his eyes.

"Honestly" taking the box from her he slipped the left over pieces into the plastic square then sealed it "You worse than Genma with spinach"

Anko stuck her tongue out at him in reply only to get hit on the head with an empty box.

"Ow! Hey!"

"Do that again and I'll grab your tongue"

The kounichi grinned at him – knowing full well he would carry out the threat if need be "leave my appendages alone, I have need of them later" the dark eyes swept over Gai's broad form slowly.

"Too much info Ang, thanks anyway"

This made Anko crack up laughing while Gai turned a strange shade of red, Ibiki's expression didn't change much but the black eyes glittered with amusement as he watched the little self-made family as they moved around kitchen.

Iruka had to grin to himself as he stopped Gai from putting the cookie sheets away in the oven while kicking Anko back to her chair before she could reach the fridge and find the dango she knew he'd bought for her.

This made way for the sulky little pout that not many people would associate with the purple haired woman who was known for making grown, trained shinobi cry while spilling their guts when she hadn't even touched them yet.

It was kinda ridiculous when you thought about it.

"Rrrrrruuukkyyy" Anko was now trying the 'cute' ploy, meaning she was running out of ideas and was desperate "Dango?"

Iruka sighed, while grinning to himself at the same time. Moving to the fridge he pulled the sweet out held it just out of her reach

"RRuukkkaaa" Anko's pout faded into a grin as she chased him around kitchen island, moving one way then the other, trying to take him by surprise – until she got annoyed and just jumped over the counter to grab at him.

"Cheat!" Iruka took off, the coveted sweet still in his grasp as he fled to the bedroom. Setting the food down on the dresser he grabbed a pillow and waited for Anko to follow.

The instant the door was flung open Iruka threw his weapon, watching as the fluffy missile hit the Kounichi square in the face, sending her toppling backwards into the living room where Gai and Ibiki had moved to talk, their conversation paused as they watched the sibling's dango war, amusement clear on their faces.

Iruka grinned at the glaring Anko who was still sprawled on the living room floor, the pillow seated innocently by her head. Glancing at it she smiled and slowly picked it up, the smile growing bigger and scarier by the second.

It was the point in time where most people would be thinking 'run' Iruka however was simply thinking that he needed a better weapon.

Quickly he glanced around the room; the baseball bat was affective but over kill considering she was his sister, same with the seabon and knun-kchuks so that left –

Trap wire.

Anko was already half way to the room when he grabbed the roll and flicked it toward her with a skillful twist of his hand, causing the end to wrap around her ankle while the other end was tossed around a beam in the ceiling.

One quick pull, a shriek and a good deal of cursing later saw Anko hanging upside down from the roof by one leg, glaring at her innocently grinning brother with enough venom to make the Miskage spill her country's darkest secrets.

"Mean. Mean cruel being of evil. Let me down"

Iruka hummed, as if in thought before shaking his head.

"Ruka. Down. Now."

"You sure?"

"RUKA!"

Iruka's grin grew and he lifted his hands in surrender – and let go of the wire.

There was another shriek, this time followed by a thud before the cursing began again.

Still smiling Iruka picked back up the dango and left the room, returned to the kitchen and pulled out a bright purple plate. Opening the package he carefully slipped the pieces out of it and onto Anko's favorite plate.

Then he grabbed the cake Gai had brought and sliced off three pieces, transferring those onto plates as well before balancing the lot on his head and arms and walking steadily to the living room. Anko had crawled her way out of the bedroom by now and was currently curled up in her boyfriend's lap, she gave the chuunin an amused glare as he moved closer and carefully set down the sweets before handing the purple plate to her, winking at her as he did.

She simply gave him a glare that didn't quite reach her eyes and stuck her tongue out as she took the treat.

Iruka rolled his eyes while he passed the cake slices to the other two before taking his and flopping down to sit on the floor by Ibiki.

The time passed pleasantly as they all talked, Gai telling the bits he could from his mission while Anko and Iruka made them all laugh with tales of their more disastrous pranks, Ibiki sitting quietly on the couch, a small content smile playing on the thin lips.

XoXoXoXoxoXoXoXoXoXOxOx

Ok, horrible spot to stop I know, on the up side, the next chap is done, I was writing this one and it…just kept going…and going….and going till I had two chapters worth with no good place to cut them.

So I just picked a random spot.

and again, sorry its been so long, my summer is freakishly busy with jobs and such, like I said before I'm currently trying to finish the rest of the story before post more, but I couldn't resist putting this one up.

Ja Ne!

XOX