A/N: Thanks for all the reviews everyone! Chapter 4.. hehehe… XD Well, you just ought to read it. Iruka and Kakashi will get together.. someday… not yet… but they're getting closer! Or maybe they're not… you can find it out if you keep reading and reviewing, kay? XDD


I used the name 'Chuunaru', because I think it means loyal in japanese.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Saturday...

He hadn't seen the Jounin yesterday, which was a good thing, since he was kind of worried that he would go broke if he kept having lunch or dinner with the man. Though he did like Kakashi's company- somehow they always found something to talk about (though Kakashi always tried to talk about his Icha Icha- novels, which Iruka wouldn't allow). They mostly talked about team 7, and when they talked about team 7, they mostly talked about Naruto. Iruka had always liked the young boy, who looked a lot like him when it came to personality. Though Iruka never remembered himself to be so loud… "Alright, here's your mission," he handed a scroll to the Chuunin in front of him. It wasn't a hard one, just a simple D-ranked mission, but since things had started to get rather slow, Iruka mostly had D-ranked, a couple of C-ranked and a few B-ranked missions. No A this week.

He was about to hand the last mission - B - when he suddenly heard a familiar voice. "I'll take this one," Someone took the scroll from Iruka. He looked up and saw the silver-haired man, with the usual mask and only one visible eye, smiling at him. "I need to get out anyway, haven't done any missions lately… and as you saw last Thursday… I really could use the training." Iruka grinned at him, scratching his scar again (which had become a bit of a habit for him). He never actually told the story of Kakashi's fall in the lake to anyone (he let Konohamaru handle that, since the first thing the little boy did was yelling to everyone he had beaten Sharingan Kakashi), though it was a lot of fun thinking about it- it still cracked him up.

"Alright then Kakashi, good luck completing your mission. And don't forget your report!" He yelled to the Jounin, who jumped out of the window behind Iruka's desk. Iruka sighed- why did the man have to show off like that?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Not too long after that

Kakashi was sitting in a tree, reading his mission. He knew Iruka was safe at the mission's office and since he didn't get out until 6 p.m. (yes, he had done his homework), Kakashi still had some time to finish a mission. On Friday Kakashi had been watching Iruka from the tree where he had the best view of Iruka's class. They didn't went out into the forest again, so he had some time to read his book, though he sometimes was eyeing the classroom, only to find himself staring at Iruka.

It really was amazing how the brown-haired man could get angry so easily, but as sudden as his anger came, it vanished and he was nice and happy Iruka again. He had to admit, it was rather funny watching the Chuunin teach. The window had been opened again so the Jounin could hear clearly what was going on inside the classroom and had to chuckle several times (softly of course, or the teacher was going to punish him again) when Iruka gave out threats to the children ("If you hyperactive monkeys keep at it like this I will make sure you won't leave your seat until you have finished a two-thousand word essay about the use of kunai's!", for example). But even when Iruka barked at them like that, the children still seemed to adore him. Kakashi noticed this little fact when a girl walked up to the sensei and gave him a flower, to thank him for protecting them from the missing nin. Several kids also asked how his leg was doing, looking sincerely concerned about him, which was very nice to watch.

Kakashi shrugged, rolled up his mission scroll and jumped off the tree, ready for his mission.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

That afternoon

He was late. Again. Iruka sighed, looking at the clock. Well, he wasn't really late yet- not officially. He had until 6 p.m. so he still had five minutes left- however, something told him that Kakashi wouldn't be walking into the office within the next five minutes.

The minutes went by and still no sign of Kakashi. The man sighed- he had no intention of waiting any longer for him, so he grabbed his bag and filled it up with some papers he needed to sign, before heading towards the door. When he was closing the door and wanted to lock the office, something small and brown ran passed him. Iruka quickly looked, before he could clearly make out what just ran by him (it was moving very fast)- it was a very small dog, running towards the Hokage's office.

Not one minute later, the Godaime stormed out, looked at Iruka and figured he was good enough for the job. "Iruka!" She barked, trying to not sound worried (it kind of failed, she sounded rather panicked). "Go with Chuunaru, he says Kakashi is wounded and unable to get to the village by himself, he'll give you details on the way." The little dog eyed him, before running past his legs.

"Come on kid, we don't have that much time!" Iruka didn't hesitate, and followed the dog. He once had seen one of Kakashi's nin dogs, a pug named Pakkun, but he never knew Kakashi could summon others as well. "I can't tell you much," the dog said, while they went through the forest, jumping from tree to tree. "But Kakashi is near the village, so it shouldn't take us long to get there. He was able to summon me before he passed out and he looked pretty bad." Iruka nodded, though Chuunaru couldn't really see that.

After five minutes, the nin dog stopped and sniffed for the scent of his master. "Over there," he said, pointing to a nearby tree. Iruka saw the branch he was lying on- it was covered with blood. So were his clothes and face- he seemed to be unconscious. Iruka jumped to the tree and kneeled next to him, grabbing Kakashi's wrist and trying to feel his pulse. He saw Kakashi was holding a scroll. Iruka quickly took it and put it in his bag, which he still had on his back, while feeling for the pulse with his other hand.

"He's alive," he muttered under his breath, his voice faint and schocked, while lifting him up carefully (which was a lot harder than he had imagined), and gently holding him. He didn't want to see Kakashi this way, though he couldn't keep his eyes away from the Jounin's closed eye and the wound quite close to it. Iruka felt his heart pounding in his throat- over the last couple of days he had been starting to like the Jounin. Sure, he had his annoying moments, but nobody is perfect (and Kakashi sure as hell wasn't, Iruka thought) "Do you happen to know if Kakashi has any pursuers?" The Chuunin asked the little dog, who was watching him while he prepared himself for the trip home. Chuunaru shook his head.

"No, right after he summoned me, he passed out so I immediately went to the village to warn the Hokage. He hasn't said anything to me." Iruka nodded.

"Alright, I think I can manage it from here, or would you like to stay?" Chuunaru shook his head and giving him a "I'll Let You Handle It From Here"-look, before disappearing with a small 'poof', leaving Iruka and Kakashi alone. Kakashi moaned slightly, giving Iruka some hope that he was regaining bits of his strength. He didn't waste anymore time and started running, jumping and using any other possible way of getting to the village faster.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Five minutes later

When Iruka entered the hospital- out of breath, sweaty and covered in Kakashi's blood - nearby doctors and nurses pulled Kakashi off of him as quickly as they could. Tsunade-sama must have warned them, Iruka thought. They took Kakashi into a room, leaving Iruka standing alone near the entrance of the hospital. He didn't really know what to do, so he decided he should wait. After a while, a nurse came out of the room where they had taken Kakashi. She started examining him, looking if he had been hurt too. He mostly felt tired though. "Is this yours or is it Hatake-san's blood?" She asked him, pointing to his vest which was covered in blood.

"Hatake-san's," Iruka replied, still a bit out of breath from running. He couldn't even remember the last time he had to run so fast, though his speed hadn't failed him. He always was very fast, which came in handy today. After that, the nurse asked some questions about how he found him, if he had said anything, and a lot of other things Iruka thought were pointless (though as polite as he was, he did reply them). "Will he be alright?" Iruka asked her, sounding more worried than he had planned. The nurse nodded reassuring.

"Yes, as far as the doctors can see and by what you're telling me, he only had lost a lot of blood, but we can fix that with a transfusion, which the doctors are doing right now. He probably hadn't survived if you hadn't been so fast." Iruka sighed relieved. Good, he was going to be alright. "If you want to visit him, drop by tomorrow afternoon, he'll be awake then." Iruka nodded again, giving a quick "thank you" to the nurse before quickly looking at the room where they had taken Kakashi and walking out of the hospital.

He never really did like hospitals.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

His head hurt. No, it was pounding. His head hurt and was pounding. For a moment, he didn't want to think of anything, because it hurt a lot, but after one minute he started to think about what had happened before he had passed out. He was on a mission- he remembered this because he could see Iruka flashing through his head, handing him a mission scroll- he needed to steal a secret scroll. Still with his eyes closed, Kakashi tried to recall what happened after he left the village. He remembered guards- a lot of them - he remembered an alarm went off - a very loud alarm-, he remembered shinobi chasing after him - a lot of them - and he remembered getting hit. He remembered fighting them and winning and he also remembered that he was hurt- very badly. After that, he couldn't really recall anything else (though he was still trying).

Slowly he opened his eye, trying to get used to the light that was coming from a nearby window. He knew he was lying in a bed (since he didn't feel any rocks or sticks underneath him- nor did he had an aching back from sleeping on a branch of a tree for the whole night, which had happened to him very often), and could now see that he was actually in the hospital. He then remembered summoning Chuunaru in the forest, but then it all went black.

"Ah, Kakashi-san," he heard a voice coming from the door. He slightly turned his head, feeling a little woozy, and saw Tsunade standing in the doorway, smiling at him. "Finally decided to wake up, eh?" Kakashi sighed and turned his head again. The Godaime walked to his bed and grabbed a chair so she could sit down. "So, how are you feeling?"

"You really wanna know?" He cracked.

"No, actually, I was just being polite. I know you're going to be fine, though you probably feel bad now,-" Kakashi snorted at this and had the slight tendency to say "duh". "- You want me to fill you in on what happened after you passed out? Not that it really matters, though, but I'm sure you'd like to know who rescued you." She grinned at him. He nodded, while raising his eyebrow in curiosity. "Well, after your nin dog arrived here, I sent Iruka-sensei to get you. He was really quick in bringing you back to the village- I don't think anyone would've been faster or even as fast as he was," Tsunade looked thoughtfully. "Thanks to him, you're still alive! I'd thank him if I were you." She gave him a smile. "Well, I'll let you rest up a bit. Remember though, you'll have to stay here for observation for a couple of days! So you stay in bed and don't come out of it until the doctors say you can."

"What about my mission?" Kakashi asked, his voice soft and weak.

"Don't worry about that, I made sure someone would watch over Iruka until you're strong enough then," she walked out of the doorway, muttering something Kakashi could barely hear. It sounded awfully close to: "Let's just hope Iruka can hold on until that time…"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

That same time, only somewhere else

"My esteemed and equal rival lying in the hospital! And after a B-mission as well! Why, if this is the Copy Ninja I know, I wonder why I am still calling him my equal. Of course, I have never been wounded that badly after a mission like that - well, maybe when I was a Chuunin, but that's not the point-, I think I should challenge him now, now that he is weak, and finally become the most fearsome shinobi of the village. Of course, that would not be very honourable… No, I couldn't do that. I tried attacking him in his sleep once and he actually defeated me then, so I don't thi-"

"Gai?"

"-nk he would fall for that. Maybe if I-"

"GAI!"

"Hm? Yes?" He seemed to have finally shut up, after Iruka yelled his name loudly.

"Why are you following me?" Iruka asked him. Gai was nice, but him and Iruka never actually talked to each other, only at the mission's office. And even then Iruka only asked how training was going- that was really it- but now Gai had knocked on his door at 7 a.m. saying he went out for jogging and asking him if he would like to join the Jounin. He had grabbed Iruka by the wrist and dragged him along, before Iruka could even answer, and while he was still rubbing his eyes (it was, after all, his day off and he liked staying in bed). It was only until Iruka grabbed the doorway and holding it tightly, forcing Gai to look back, that the man would start listening, since Iruka only had his boxers on- something Gai hadn't even noticed. Iruka, blushing heavily, started muttering about putting a pants and a shirt on first.

After the very, very, very long run (Iruka thought they must've ran 500 times around the village before Gai finally stopped in front of the village gates), Iruka thought he could finally get rid of Gai (who didn't seem tired at all). Unfortunately for him, Gai took him out for breakfast. Then, when Iruka wanted to go get a shower, Gai actually had the nerve of asking him if he could come with him to keep him company. That really did it for Iruka- he wanted to be mad. Oh, he wanted it so badly- but when he felt his temper rise, and when he felt his blood started to boil… he really couldn't think of anything. I mean, what would you do if somebody asked you a question like that (when you hardly even know him!)? So, Iruka sighed and gave up. Of course, he didn't take a shower that morning… However, he kept wondering about one thing.

Had all the Jounin gone mad?

"Eh?" Gai asked him- he didn't really know what to answer.

"Why are you following me?" He asked again, voice sounding very stern- it was a bit like the voice he used whenever a student of his had done something, but didn't want to admit it. Similar to this situation, and since Gai was kind of like a little kid, Iruka thought it was best to use that voice. Gai looked like he was thinking very hard about it (which was a very funny sight).

"I don't think it's that important!" He replied cheerfully, grabbing Iruka by the arm and walking a bit faster. "What is important, is that we go and see Kakashi-san right now!"