*Author's notes: Sorry for the late update. My life started falling apart just as I was trying to write this, so that made for a delayed and poorly written chapter. I actually hate this one, so I'm sorry. And to ZeeCaptein, Genma is one of my favourites and he's been trying to hijack my plot, so I think he'll have his happy ending whether it works with the story or not. Again guys, sorry for the state of this chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to get my head back in the game pretty quick here. Naruto and characters belong to Masashi.


Naruto ordered six bowls of ramen to go, four for him and one for each of his companions, before wandering to the back of the ramen stand to use the restroom. Once the blond was out of sight Kakashi turned to his back haired counterpart. "What's on your mind?"

"Don't make your move until he's back to normal," the teen murmured, staring at the wall in front of him.

Kakashi blinked once, perplexed. "Huh?"

"Don't make your move until he's back to normal," Sasuke repeated slowly, as if talking to a child who didn't understand something. Or Naruto. "Because if his friends think you're taking advantage of him while he's in a weakened state, either physically, emotionally, or mentally, they will find a way to kill you."

"Sasuke, what are you talking about? Make what move? Whose friends?"

The last of the Uchiha stared at his former sensei with a strange cross between pity and annoyance. "Iruka-sensei. I'm talking about Iruka-sensei."

But instead of that statement enlightening the pale Jonin, it just sent him reeling. "What?"

The exasperated sigh that the scarecrow drew from Sasuke's lips was followed by the teen running a hand over his face in a very tired, un-Sasuke-like manner. "You have to be the dumbest 'genius' I've ever met. You like Iruka-sensei."

"Of course I like him. He's a good shinobi."

"No, Kakashi. That's not what I mean. You like Iruka-sensei. And you must be the only one who hasn't noticed. Idiot."

Kakashi sat in silence, thinking about what Sasuke had just said. Could he really like the feisty Chuunin? Is that why he'd been practically stalking the floundering man since Naruto had brought up the idea of him being unwell, is that what brought up the impromptu massages and reluctance to leave him alone for too long? The random stabs of jealousy?

Kakashi could have smacked himself. He really was an idiot. But instead of just agreeing with his former student, he became sort of mopey. "Don't tell me how I feel," he muttered. Kakashi hated being the last to know anything, but when it came to being the last to know something about himself, well that was just plain unacceptable.

Sasuke sighed. "I was exaggerating," he said in his customary monotone. "I don't think Kotetsu-san noticed anything different, Anko-san was too busy fighting off a bloodlust to pay attention to you, and Naruto is Naruto. But if you move too fast, it will be a race between Izumo-san and Shiranui-san to see who can kill you first."

"Genma? Why?"

"You really... Nevermind." Before Sasuke could speak any further on the topic, Naruto had returned.

The blond shot Ayame a smile before grabbing the bags of take-out off the counter and leaving the ramen stand, Kakashi and Sasuke following behind him. His posture was stiff and they could both tell that the teen was thinking. Neither were surprised when his subdued voice broke through the silence. "He never told us how his sensei knew those guys. And the leaves are just starting to turn colour; his nightmares started weeks ago. Something is off here."

Kakashi stared at the back of the blond's head, his visible eye wide. Why hadn't he noticed those details before? You were too distracted by his feet, his brain supplied. He must really like the Chunnin if rubbing his feet was enough to distract him from these two huge pieces of information.

"Hnn," Sasuke muttered. "Nishimura Tamotsu. I know that name."

"He died when the two of you would have been in the academy. He spent most of his time outside the village. I'm surprised you've heard of him," Kakashi said, the cogs in his brain spinning.

"No," Sasuke murmured, the tone of his voice changing to something darker. "I know that name from somewhere else."

Naruto stopped abruptly and spun around, his blue eyes searching Sasuke's face. The implications of what Sasuke was saying hit the blond square in the chest. "I don't understand," he whispered, his fingers curling tighter around the handles of the takeout bags. "None of this makes sense."

"Even if what you're hinting at is true," Kakashi said slowly, "Which would surprise me, but isn't improbable I suppose, what does that have to do with the early occurrence of the nightmares?"

Sasuke 'hnn'ed again but didn't say anything else, and the trio resumed walking back to Iruka's home.

"Should we ask him?" Naruto questioned, glancing at Kakashi.

The scarecrow shrugged. "I'm sure Izumo-san has been thinking along the same lines as us and will ask him himself."

When the three Jonin re-entered Iruka's home, they were all surprised by the scene that was in front of them.

Iruka was curled up on the couch, the quilt wrapped tightly around his chest and legs. His head was in Genma's lap, and a cup of tea was balanced precariously on his chest. The tokujo was popping shrimp crackers into the Chuunin's mouth and they both seemed quite at ease. Kakashi saw a peek at a pink tongue brush against creamy fingers for only a brief moment, and an intense wave of jealousy washed over him. He wondered how he'd never noticed just how he felt about the tanned Chuunin before. Sasuke's words echoed in his head, It would be a race between Izumo-san and Shiranui-san to see who could kill you first. Kakashi's brain recalled once again the fact that Genma had been the first to arrive that evening, and was now watching the scene play out with a critical eye. It didn't seem as if the senbon sucker had left.

Just as he was about to say something, Naruto's loud voice shattered the silence. "Iruka-nii! Why didn't you tell me Genma-sempai was your boyfriend?!"

Iruka's body jerked into an upright position, his cup of tea spilling all over the place. His eyes were wide, his face was pale, and his jaw was open in shock. Genma had shot over the back of the couch and was as far away from Iruka as he could get. Kakashi was surprised to realize that neither of the other two nin had realized the three of them had returned and had been watching them.

"Wha.. we.. it's.. he's.." Iruka sputtered, a blush overtaking his whole face and travelling down beneath the collar of his shirt.

"I'm not," Genma said, his voice flat and a blank look on his face that could rival a stoic Sasuke and bored Kakashi for 'most emotionless expression ever seen'. "We've been good friends for a very long time." The tokujo had his back turned to the Chuunin now and was wandering back into the kitchen, but no one missed the concern that crossed Iruka's face as he tracked the man's movements. Concern and was that.. guilt? Kakashi's mind was reeling once again. What the hell was going on? A heavy awkwardness filled the room, but before anything could escalate Izumo and Kotetsu returned with Anko in tow.

"Ibiki's not here yet?" the kunoichi asked, surprised.

"I would have thought the two of you were together," Genma responded with his usual smirk, but it didn't reach his eyes this time.

But before anything else could be said, Ibiki was there, towering over Iruka, rage emanating from him. Everyone instinctively shrank away and reached for weapons. Kakashi watched, ready to intervene should the T&I specialist intend to harm anyone, but it didn't seem that Genma wanted to wait that long. In an instant he was between the Chuunin and the hulking man, his eyes blazing. "Step back, Morino," the tokujo growled, his senbon twitching.

Everyone was surprised by Genma's boldness, as it was known that Ibiki could literally snap his neck without a second thought before anyone could even move to help him, except, against all reason, the act seemed to bring Ibiki out of his threatening state. He stared long at hard at Genma before taking a deep breath and backing off, his arms crossed over his chest.

"You want to tell me what the fuck that was about?" Genma asked, still on edge and seething.

Ibiki looked over the pale blond's head at Iruka as he replied, "Your nightmares started early. Want to tell them why?"

Iruka sighed heavily, and Kakashi saw the Chuunin reach out and tug on the back of Genma's vest. Genma stared hard at Ibiki for another moment before settling himself back on the couch beside Iruka, his arm over the back behind the tanned man's head. "Just so you all know," Iruka started, his voice solid but tired, "I've always had my reasons for keeping everything to myself. Some of them may be dumb, but this one was valid. About a month ago I started doing some extra work at T&I, filing and running errands and such. A week or so after I started there, I heard bits of an interrogation that I shouldn't have. I didn't want to tell anyone because I didn't want anyone to overreact." There was an almost unbearably long pause before Iruka continued in a whisper, "I would recognize the sound of her laugh anywhere."

Four of the nin in the room were ready and raring to bust into the T&I headquarters and take out a hostage without permission when Ibiki stopped them. "I just took care of it."

"What? Ibiki that's-,"

"She wasn't telling us anything anyway. And she wasn't going to. So I ended her session."

A heavy silence filled the room as everyone glanced around at each other. When Kakashi's eyes once again fell on Iruka, he noticed the Chuunin was shaking. He longed to go over and hold the man, but Sasuke's earlier words and Genma's possessive hold on the tanned man kept him at bay. He watched as Genma whispered something in Iruka's ear, and the brunet nodded. "I think everyone needs to go home," Genma said sternly. "Iruka's tired. I'll stay here and help him through the nightmares tonight, but the rest of you need to go."