This chapter I gave everyone a glimpse back to how Iruka is seeing things. I don't think I took away much of the mystery.

I also apologize for a three-paragraph description of drinking from a beer bottle. The devil is in the details after all.

Thanks to everyone reviewing. For continuity purposes the Manga conversation if you can call it that between Kakashi and Iruka happened between Kakashi realizing he was spotted and the party, so it kind of explains some of the blushing but since it doesn't advance the plot and I know I'd over write it I'm just letting that have happened off screen so there isn't a 2 chapter filler thing just to wrap a stupid conversation about Naruto. The whole he broke in and does he know or what thing does help explain some blushing though evil giggles

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Iruka POV

Iruka got up and left the table, a smile on his lips. He had surprised the infamous copy-nin. The guy deserved it, who did he think he was spying on him? Jônin were always underestimating those of lower ranks -- especially underestimating him. The thing that made Iruka frustrated about being spied on was that he hadn't noticed right away. He still wasn't sure when it started.

He knew the man was watching his apartment, and he knew Kakashi had broken in. Iruka wasn't sure how much Kakashi found in his apartment, the things he wanted hidden were well hidden, but he wouldn't underestimate the copy-nin.

As he writhed his way through the crowd over towards the speaker where his stuff was, he tried to get his mind off Kakashi. With a quick check to the CD player and queuing up the rest of the music so he wouldn't have to check the thing again until Ibiki came to break up the party, he grabbed a bottle of water out of his bag before slamming it down. It was warm, but he didn't care, he was thirsty. He sat in the relative quiet behind the speakers where Izumo had cast a noise dampening jutsu, he could still hear the party, but it was dampened to being heard instead of felt.

He was breathing hard still; he'd been out on the dance floor almost non-stop now for four hours. It was getting hot in the building and he noticed he was completely soaked through. He checked his watch he had thrown in the bag, after midnight. Half the men out on the dance floor had lost their shirts already. This year was being warmer than usual and school break fell later than normal, normally the break was in May, this year it was late June, so the party was much warmer than average.

He was too sweaty for modesty about the shuriken scar his former friend had left on his back. He shrugged and pulled off the dripping wet T-shirt he had on and shoved it into his bag. He paused for a moment as he pulled a bottle of beer out of his bag. He sipped the bottle as he thought; letting the chocolaty amber ale coat his taste buds. Izumo and Kotetsu were probably in a back room somewhere so they wouldn't be around harassing him about his 'prissy expensive beer'.

Why wasn't he enjoying the party? Damn it Kakashi was making him not enjoy the party, making him think too much. Why was he so tense? This wasn't good. He couldn't stop his mind from racing back to that mission.

It had been a simple mission; Kotetsu and Izumo were only there as backup. Ibiki didn't like sending him on solo missions, never saying it was because Iruka would need backup if things got out of hand, but it was obvious. He had found the mark in the club without any problem. It had been easy to get the man to follow him out of the club. The alley way hadn't been planned, Iruka's backup was waiting for him in a park another three blocks up, so he'd be without any backup if things went wrong. Things didn't go wrong, they went perfect, the information was recovered, and the mark was dead. What Iruka hadn't planned on was a brief sensation of familiar chakra as he killed the man. He wasn't sure where it came from, but it wasn't one of his teammates.

Iruka tried to relax and let the music penetrate his body. He was on edge, he was hiding it well, but he was on edge. He needed to relax, to let off some steam before it got to be too much. His mind just kept returning to that sense of a familiar chakra and how it felt the same as the one that had been watching his apartment. Why was Kakashi watching him? He'd never had a conversation with the man before Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were assigned to him. What did he do to draw the attention of a jônin like him? Fooling most people to ignore him wasn't hard, but the copy nin was infamous for being able to see through deception.

He shouldn't be thinking, thinking meant work and he wasn't here to work, he was here to have fun. He either could drink until he couldn't think, or take care of what he was thinking about. With Anko off after someone and the other two off with each other, he was the only 'responsible' party left of the group. He muttered to himself, "I think I'm getting too old for this." He took another sip of his beer. He had former students almost old enough to be at these parties now. He had former students old enough that he was getting wedding invitations. How did he end up playing the role of responsible?

Iruka shook his head, why was he always the responsible party these days. OK a partially drunk, half dressed, and sweaty responsible party, but still. He couldn't drink until he forgot the silver-haired man, the only thing he could do was go and find Kakashi. He briefly wondered why he was letting his stalker get to him. This was nowhere near the first time he had been followed and watched by someone. The only thing different this time was the suspicion he had been seen on a mission. Even if he had been, the mission was no big deal, a simple assassination. He couldn't imagine a Jônin and former ANBU would even think twice at that. It had to be something else making him wonder about why he was being stalked.

He stood up and shook out his hair, it felt so good to have it down, but when he wore the forehead protector, up was so much more practical. He started to make his way through the crowd; letting the music guide him and his body just flow through the press of bodies. It felt good, his heartbeat matching the music as the bass throbbed through him. Half-opened eyes kept a look out for the sight of the copy-nin.

Kakashi wasn't still with Asuma when Iruka caught sight of the table they had all been at. Asuma and Kurenai seemed to be enjoying the alcohol and each other, so Iruka slipped back into the crowd. As he danced, the sweat covering his now bare chest, he stretched out his senses, feeling for the copy-nin's presence. It was draining on him to stretch like that, but no one noticed. Some days Iruka thought he would still be able to dance if he was unconscious. Other days Iruka wished he could just dance forever.

He started to head off towards where he knew the copy-nin was. As he got closer, he saw Kakashi turn to face him. Iruka kept pretending he wasn't looking for anything and just slowly made his way towards Kakashi, never stopping dancing; even sipping from his bottle of beer was in time to the music. He found the copy-nin next to him.

Kakashi wasn't near as good at dancing as Iruka, then again most people weren't. Iruka smiled at the copy-nin. The man looked good though. The black T-shirt he was wearing was getting damp from sweat and started to cling to the other man's chest. The jeans, not so hot, but somehow slouchy worked on the Jônin. The mask and the cloth over the eye -- who would expect anything else from him.

Iruka looked him over, if Kakashi wasn't a deadly former ANBU member, he might think he looked seduction worthy. As it was, he didn't miss the look Kakashi gave him as he noticed Iruka's state of undress. Iruka smiled at the other man and slid his way through the crowd to be in front of him. A detached part of his mind realized he was in mission mode – Phase 1 find Kakashi – success, initiating next phase. Unfortunately, for Iruka, Phase 2 normally was 'seduce target', not something Iruka had plans to do.

Part of his mind started to wonder, was Kakashi seduction worthy? He'd seen the copy-nin once fighting Gai in a hand-to-hand match. While Kakashi might be known for his ability with jutsu, the man had serious hand-to-hand skills. Flexibility, strength, and stamina. There had been one move where the jônin had almost bent over backwards to dodge a punch. Iruka briefly wondered why he was thinking like that. The man had lived in the same village as him for years and never noticed him before last week. If he obviously thought so little of a chuunin at the academy to never even speak to him, why bother putting in the thought of how skilled the man seemed.

Iruka didn't miss a beat of the music, his body never stopping its motion. "I was looking for you." He said, just loud enough for Kakashi to hear him. Iruka put the bottle of beer to his lips, letting himself taste the chocolaty ale for a moment, just long enough for the other man to glance at his lips, not long enough for it to be suspicious. Then he tilted his head back, to take a short sip from the bottle, purposefully bending his neck a bit more than needed.

Kakashi was nearly unreadable when Iruka looked at him again. Iruka smiled and moved closer so he was only and inch or two away from Kakashi. Before the man could react to how close the chuunin had moved, Iruka started speaking in a quieter tone, one that with the music could not be heard farther away then a foot at the most. "We need to talk."

Kakashi's POV

He had been looking for nearly half an hour for the chuunin. Kakashi was about to use his Sharingan to find the man when he suddenly saw him. If at all possible, the man looked even wetter than before. Iruka had removed his shirt and his entire upper torso was shining from sweat. He had wet hair brushed back behind his ears, with a few stray strands plastered to the sides of his face.

It was hot in here, and Kakashi was sweating, but Kakashi wasn't moving as energetically as Iruka was. The man's body movements matched the tone of the music perfectly. When it was sexual, so was the chuunin. When it was intense, so was the chuunin, but the sexual never seemed to leave. Kakashi didn't think he could move like Iruka. For a second, he was tempted to analyze the chuunin's movements like he would watch some battle technique. Then it occurred to him that he would love to see if the man could fight with the same intensity.

When Iruka spotted him, he started to make his way to Kakashi. He may have been a few inches shorter, but the teacher probably outweighed Kakashi by a few pounds. Where Kakashi's build was lithe, Iruka was more muscular. A lifetime of being a ninja caused analyzing Iruka's movements second nature. If it were a fight, the confidence the younger man moved with would have been more than enough reason to not under estimate him, and perhaps would be something very interesting to see.

Iruka stopped two inches from Kakashi, the chuunin's body still writhing with the beat of the music as Kakashi found himself forgetting why he had been tracking the man down for a second. Iruka leaned into Kakashi, a husky voice saying, "I was looking for you."

Kakashi was unable to say anything before the chuunin took a sip of the beer he was holding. Normally a fellow leaf nin drinking a beer would not be distracting. However, everything Iruka was doing screamed sex. Even without the Sharingan activated, Kakashi saw every move as deliberate. He didn't know if Iruka meant to be doing what he was doing or if that was just how this Iruka drank beer. This Iruka who was at home on a dance floor instead of the one at home in a classroom. He would have never thought an academy teacher could make sipping a bottle more full of innuendo than any of his orange covered books.

The bottle came up to the brunette's lips, glass brushing against soft flesh for a second before making firm contact. Iruka's mouth opened and his lips softly tasted the glass top of the bottle. The analytical part of Kakashi's mind registered it was a bottle of some micro brew he had never heard of. How Iruka tilted his head back to actually drink the beer though, that shut off the analytical part of the Jônin's mind. Those soft lips were firmly on the glass opening of the bottle, and Kakashi could clearly see the younger man's tongue tracing along the inside of the opening.

Kakashi was taken aback by how the chuunin was exposing his throat; Ninja did not make motions like that. He was so taken aback by Iruka dropping his guard that he almost missed him moving forward to say something quietly in his ear. The younger man was so close to him that he could feel the breath on his ear.

In a voice that was low and soft, just barely able to be heard over the music, Iruka said, "We need to talk."

Kakashi could just nod as he followed the Chuunin's lead over towards the source of all the noise. Why they were headed to the loudest portion of the room in order to talk was a good question.

------------------ Notes -------------------

Really this side of Iruka and the Iruka we all see in the Manga will come together, trust me.

Reviews are loved! I am stunned by the number of views this is getting. Please tell me what you think!