Chapter 6

"Thanks for the help, Iruka!" Yukiko smiled at her friend thankfully as they reached the wounded Jounin's place.

"No problem," Iruka replied, turning to leave. "I better get going now. Naruto's gonna cry if I get there any later."

The girl waved goodbye and helped the exhausted Kakashi into his apartment. "You are lucky that Itachi is still an amateur when it comes to Sharingan, or else you'd be dead by now." The Jounin, who was thrown onto the comfy sofa, remained silent, knowing what she had said was true.

"Yukiko," he stared at the ceiling aimlessly.

"Hmm?" she was looking through the cupboards for cups so that she could pour them a drink.

"Uh...you and Iruka..." he hesitated. He cleared his throat and reconstructed the sentence, "Does Iruka have a girlfriend?"

Yukiko turned to look at him in a funny way, trying to figure out what he was hinting at. "No. Why?"

Kakashi took a deep breath and let it out slowing, "Then...do you like Iruka?"

She stopped with what she was doing and denied immediately, eyes wide. "No! I don't!" She was afraid to discourage him if he thought that he had competitions. Her heart flopped with excitement. The boy sat himself up with efforts, eyes avoiding hers. "I...umm...I think I'm in love."

The girl's expression remained unchanged for several seconds. Then, she made a guess with a smirk on her face, "Long black hair?"

The Jounin slowly nodded, stealing a quick glance of her. He could feel himself sweating nervously.

"Our age?"

He nodded again. A shade of pink began to creep up his face.

A bright smile appeared on her face as she started to jump up and down agitatedly. "I knew it! I knew it! YESSSSSsss~"

Her reaction relieved Kakashi as he blushed joyfully. The Chuunin skipped across the room and kneeled beside the wounded boy.

"A scar across the face?" She continued to guess, staring at the boy with her hopeful eyes. Puzzled, he observed his crush closely, attempting to find the slightest sign of a scar on the white smooth face. "Umm...not one that I can see."

"O-oh," Yukiko's grin faded. Her giggles subsided. Disappointment appeared on her face as she cursed in a small voice. "Damn it. It's not Iruka?"

"What did you say?" The boy heard her mumbled something.

"Huh? Nothing!" She waved her hands in front of her, trying to smile, while her inner self was completely disappointed. She sighed and asked the Jounin, not showing any sign of interest, "So who was it?"

Noticing her change of mood, he asked, "Who did you think it was?"

"I thought it was some guy--" she muttered.

"GUY???" Kakashi shot up with energy from an unknown source.

"I mean, GIRL!" Yukiko explained immediately, surprised by his reaction. She finally realized that Kakashi was not a homosexual and that he would not fall in love with Iruka.

"Who then?" His face calmed as he dropped back down to the couch.

"Ummmmm....me?" she casually named since she couldn't think of anyone else that both of them knew. Kakashi's face reddened again. He avoided looking straight at her and stammered, "But...where's the scar?"

"Scar?" It took the Chuunin a while to realize what he was talking about. She pointed her finger somewhere on her forehead near the hairline, acting as if there really was a tiny scar there. "It's...somewhere here? Ya, you can't really see it."

"Oh, no wonder I couldn't find it," he murmured to himself.

"So who was it?" Yukiko asked monotonically. Clueless, she walked back to the kitchen for the drinks. "Oh ya, do you have any tips for the Jounin exam? I'm taking it this year." She changed the subject without even realizing it.

Kakashi covered his face with his hands, elbows on his hips. He was quite confused of what had just happened. He was about to confess, and the girl guessed herself to be his crush, but then he didn't finish his confession. The boy shook his head tiredly.

"Um, sure. We could do some training together I guess," the Jounin replied disappointedly, but still looked forward to train with the girl.

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. School have started and I'm quite busy. Hope you enjoyed!

Exonerate ~ Itachi did defeat Kakashi easily (and put him in coma for quite a while) in Ch 150ish even when the man himself had a Sharingan. It shouldn't be that hard to believe a 7-year-old Itachi was able to tire out Kakashi (who didn't have Sharingan).