Author's Note:

The Genins of Teams Seven and Ten try to figure out the relationships between Yuriko, Iruka, and Kakashi. This chapter is a fun little bit of filler and takes place during Yuriko's two-week avoidance phase in chapter 34 while trying to figure out her emotions regarding each of the men in question. Rated G. No fluff, no smut, just fun genin-antics, and filler. I hope you enjoy, and please don't forget to leave a comment letting me know your thoughts. See you next time!

Thanks and much love,

Nira

"Come on, Sakura-chan! Aren't you even just a little bit curious?" Naruto queried, his grin face-splitting and mischievous.

"Well… now that you mention it," Sakura mused, thinking back on their mission to the Land of Waves.

The air had seemed charged between Yuriko and Kakashi, she noticed, ever since Iruka came to see them all off and talk with Yuriko. Even when they'd first encountered Zabuza and fought him, Yuriko had screamed that she couldn't lose Kakashi, too when he yelled for her to take the team and run. Sakura hadn't thought about it since then, but now that they had a couple of days of free time and Naruto had brought it up, he was determined to figure out what kinds of relationships their sensei had with Yuriko. She couldn't deny that her own curiosity had been rekindled and she honestly didn't have any other plans.

"Kakashi-sensei and Yuriko-san did seem really close during our last mission," she muttered.

Naruto blinked at the thought, bewildered. "Kakashi-sensei? No way! Yuriko nee-chan is definitely dating Iruka-sensei!"

Sasuke huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. What did it matter to him who was dating who? He was slightly curious to learn more about Yuriko, though. She'd been so determined to kill Zabuza but she cried at the end of the mission when he died. Perhaps joining his teammates on their wild goose chase could help him uncover the answers to his own questions. His thoughts were interrupted when Sakura called his name in her annoyingly high, overly sweet voice— the one she used when she was fawning over him.

"What do you think, Sasuke-kun? Yuriko-san is dating Kakashi-sensei, right?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, responding that it didn't matter because there was no way that they'd be able to figure it out either way— the adults were much too smart and secretive to have such a publicly open relationship. In defiance, Naruto stuck his nose in the air and glared at Sasuke, declaring that Sasuke would only be in his way, anyway because he was the only one too dumb to figure it out— Naruto was a genius and had a plan so he could figure it out on his own.

"Now this, I have to see," Sasuke scoffed with a challenging smirk.

"What's that, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura cooed.

"Naruto's plan and how it's going to fail miserably, just like everything else he's ever done."

And so began Operation: Blind Date.

Yuriko had been wandering through the village, deep in thought when she felt eyes on her as if she was being followed. Putting her guard up but remaining calm, she continued walking, now with the goal of drawing her followers out from hiding. She meandered her way through winding streets until she reached the base of the Hokage memorial. She caught movement from her left and right and heard rustling in the bushes directly behind her, so she tapped the toes of her shoes against the ground and crouched into the stance of a runner at the starting line of a track and field event before dashing up the face of the mountain in a blur.

Unbeknownst to her followers, she made clones, the real her sneaking up on the one behind her while the others snuck up on the ones to her left and right and the last landed on her Nimbus high above the small clearing. Before she'd even gotten the chance, the mystery person behind her ran forward into the clearing, blowing their cover and Yuriko suppressed her urge to laugh. There was only one person she knew who was that much without tact or stealth and reckless.

"Darn it! How are we supposed to reach her now?!" came the loud, obnoxious voice of her favorite Genin.

Soon after Naruto made his flamboyant entrance, Sasuke and Sakura also came out of hiding.

"I told you she knew we were following her," Sakura nagged.

"Congratulations on yet another epic failure, Naruto," Sasuke chided.

With a chuckle but not in a mood to entertain or engage the wily group, Yuriko dispelled her clones and turned away to continue her walk. When she heard a splash and the howls of the children as they were drenched from her clone above them, she couldn't hold her laughter back anymore and ran away to avoid detection and reprisal.

Team Seven had begun bickering amongst themselves while still sopping wet and the noise caught the attention of Team Ten who were walking by in search of a quiet place to nap after their mid-morning snack. Seeing their friends in such an odd predicament, drenched without any water in sight and seemingly in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason, Shikamaru felt the need to ask them what was going on. When Sakura and Naruto explained, their interest was instantaneously piqued.

"You mean to tell me that you think Iruka-sensei has a girlfriend?" Ino asked.

"No, no, no! She has to be dating Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura contested. "It doesn't make sense that she'd be dating Iruka-sensei. They wouldn't have many chances to interact with him being a teacher and her being… Naruto, what rank is she anyway?"

Naruto crossed his arms around his chest. "Higher than Iruka-sensei, that's for sure! She said so herself one time when we were training together."

"The way I see it, there's only one way to find out what's really going on," Shikamaru smirked. "Here's the plan..."

Yuriko was wandering around the village again when she caught a glimpse of Kakashi ahead of her but confusion dominated her expression when she saw herself approach him. Curious, she got close enough to observe and listen in on the interaction and try to figure out who was impersonating her and why. Knowing that Kakashi was well aware of her avoiding him, she wondered how he would handle the situation and whether he would fall for whatever trick was being played on him. Because it was a trick, she suspected instantly that it was Naruto and smirked to herself, wondering what he was up to and why.

"Yuriko-san?" Kakashi inquired, seeing the imposter Yuriko approach him with a wide smile. "You seem awfully cheery today. Have you finally decided to stop avoiding me?"

"Avoiding you? What are you talking about, Kakashi?"

The imposter Yuriko giggled demurely and Yuriko could instantly see that Kakashi wasn't fooled by the way his posture relaxed and deflated. Of course, he was too smart for that, she thought but continued watching anyway, wondering how he would handle the situation.

"Hmmm… I must have imagined it, then. Was there something you wanted from me?"

"I… I was actually wondering if maybe we could… could go on a d-date?" the imposter Yuriko blushed and looked up at Kakashi through her eyelashes, pressing the tips of her index fingers together.

Yuriko stifled a laugh but couldn't keep the smile from her face at the ridiculousness of the entire situation. They were terrible at being her and there was no doubt in her mind that it was most definitely Naruto at that point.

"Why, Yuriko-san, I had no idea you felt that way," Kakashi feigned exaggerated surprise. "But then again…"

Kakashi then leaned closer to the imposter and whispered something in her ear that made her blush and in a puff of smoke, the transformation ended revealing that it was, in fact, Naruto who had been pretending to be her and he yelled in disbelief that he'd been found out.

"How did you know I wasn't Yuriko nee-chan?!" the blond hollered.

Kakashi buried his face in his book as he began walking away, disinterested and almost visibly disappointed, from what Yuriko could tell and she felt a pang at her heart. The feeling was intensified when she heard his response to Naruto's question: Lavender and vanilla. Naruto looked utterly confused and was joined by his teammates and Asuma's team shortly after Kakashi was out of earshot.

"Lavender and vanilla?" Choji inquired, munching on a bag of potato chips. "What does that mean?"

Sakura and Ino both looked as if they had watched a scene from a romance movie, their eyes teary and filled with stars. Like Yuriko, they understood what he meant and sighed dreamily.

"I knew there was something between those two!" Sakura proclaimed, confusing the boys even more.

Ino nodded vigorously, concurring. "Wow… I wasn't sure, but I definitely have to agree after seeing that."

"What are you talking about? What did he mean? What are lavender and vanilla?" Naruto asked.

It was Shikamaru to figure it out- her scent- and it was then that Yuriko decided to spy on the group to figure out what it was exactly that they were trying to figure out. Maybe, she thought, it could help her figure something out for herself. It was such a minute detail about her, and yet Kakashi knew it so readily and well. The Genin huddled together for a moment, undoubtedly to figure out their next plan and Yuriko grinned to herself, wondering what they'd come up with next.

Yuriko had created a clone to track Team Ten while she tailed Team Seven as they all searched the village to carry out the next phase of whatever operation they were running. When Team Ten found Iruka, they sent a signal to Team Seven indicating their location and when they'd reconvened, Yuriko watched as Sakura transformed into her this time. With a few sprays of perfume in the hopes of getting her scent right this time, their plan went into action and Yuriko watched from nearby, transformed into a random villager aimlessly perusing the shelves of a shop across the street. When Sakura approached Iruka as Yuriko, Iruka's shock was just as evident as Kakashi's had been upon her approach as he asked what she was doing there.

"I was actually looking for you," Sakura blushed, playing with the ends of her hair. "Can we go somewhere a little more private? There's something I wanted to ask you."

Yuriko had to admit that Sakura played at being her much better than Naruto had and was thoroughly impressed by her observational skills. Iruka, none the wiser, was definitely falling for this little trick and Yuriko wondered how long it would take him to figure out that he was being duped.

"Uh… sure, I guess. Lead the way."

Sakura smiled in response and Yuriko noticed Iruka stiffen slightly, his expression changing very minutely but it was enough for her to guess that he'd caught on at that point and she wondered how or why he had. Sakura as Yuriko and Iruka walked through the village in awkward silence and Yuriko could see that Iruka's suspicions grew as the silence dragged on. When they came to the top of the Hokage memorial, Iruka spoke up.

"Who are you and what do you want? Why did you drag me here?" Iruka demanded.

Sakura halted in her tracks and turned to face him robotically, obviously nervous. "What are you talking about, Iruka-san?"

"You're not Yuriko-san. Who are you and what do you want? Why did you bring me here?"

His gaze hardened and he reached for a kunai, preparing to fight the imposter and Sakura folded, releasing the jutsu with her hands raised in the air in a show of harmlessness. Seeing his former student, Iruka visibly deflated, his expression a mixture of disappointment, surprise, and disbelief.

"I expected something like this from Naruto-kun, but not you, Sakura-chan," he scolded in his best teacher voice.

"I'm sorry, sensei! It was all baka Naruto's idea!" Sakura tattled and Naruto came out of hiding, yelling that she had a part in it too while Sasuke simply crossed his arms and huffed. Team Ten, intelligently, stayed hidden.

"What were you trying to prove or do by pretending to be Yuriko-san?" Iruka sighed.

"Are you two dating? You and Yuriko nee-chan?" Naruto blurted out and both Iruka's and Yuriko's cheeks flushed. "You are, aren't you? She's not dating Kakashi-sensei?"

Was that what everything was about? They were trying to figure out who between either of their teachers was dating her? Why?

"Yuriko-san and I-?" Iruka muttered. "What on earth would give you that idea? And I hear she and Kakashi-san used to work together so it wouldn't surprise me if they're close but I honestly don't know if they're dating or not."

"I told you, Naruto," Sakura harrumphed and Iruka sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "So what gave me away, sensei? How did you know I wasn't Yuriko-san?"

"Honestly, there's a list," Iruka chuckled. "But it was the smile…"

"The smile? What was wrong with it?" Sakura inquired, obviously confused.

Iruka's smile was sad as he responded that it just wasn't Yuriko's smile and Yuriko could feel her chest tighten. He scolded them for pulling pranks and meddling in other people's business but left the three of them without any other punishment, his demeanor deflated and melancholic as he walked down the path and back toward the main part of the village. When Team Ten rejoined the Genin trio, they were all silent for a while until Naruto blurted out in frustration that he was confused and all of the boys nodded in agreement, even the ever-sullen and seemingly disinterested Sasuke. The girls, on the other hand, rolled their eyes. They'd figured it out.

"She's not dating either of them, you idiots," Ino sighed in exasperation.

Sakura nodded, her expression both dreamy and sad, putting the pieces together. "But she could be if she wanted to… so who do you think she'd choose?"

While the children bickered amongst themselves, Yuriko took her leave. Who to choose, indeed. Through watching the children's antics, Yuriko learned a lot, but she still had so many questions that needed answering, and the day's events had given her a great idea of how to get them answered. She hoped it would help her decide and if it did, she'd have to thank them for the inspiration.