Author's note: This scene takes place before the pet cat mission.
Iruka waited in the mission room even after everyone else had left, he was still hoping Kakashi would bring in Team Seven's last report. He knew they were done, he'd seen them hours earlier. An hour before his shift ended, Kakashi finally made his way in and sat down his report.
"Do you have anything else for Team Seven?"
"Kakashi-sensei," Iruka smiled. "Hokage-sama had business to attend to, so I picked a mission for you in the meantime."
"Oh?" Kakashi's eyebrow rose slightly. "And what might that be?"
"Teuchi needs to close down shop to take Ayame on a trip. They asked if Naruto and his group would be available to be temporary help so the shop could stay open, they know how crushed Naruto would be to go a week without their ramen."
"Naruto will love that, Iruka-sensei."
"Yes, well," Iruka blushed faintly and scratched his nose. "Make sure Naruto doesn't eat up the profits."
Kakashi left after accepting the mission, almost blindsiding someone standing there and murmured a half-hearted apology. Anko grumbled and walked to the desk, slamming her elbows down to get Iruka's attention.
"Hey, you awake?"
"Huh? Oh, yes, Anko-chan," Iruka laughed, unconsciously slipping into familiarity. Anko looked at the open door, then back to Iruka's smiling—far too cheerful, even for him—face and smirked.
"You were checking him out, weren't you?"
"What?! No. No! I'm not gay, Anko."
"Iruka, I snuck into the boys' bath on your 16th birthday and showed you my boobs. And your only response was, and I quote, 'Anko-chan, that armor really chafes your skin. Why don't you try a good moisturizer?'"
"Maybe I'm just not interested in you, Anko," Iruka said through his teeth as his cheeks burned. Anko had him right where she wanted him.
"Right, you're interested in Kakashi-sensei."
"Anko, I swear I'm not gay. Why would I be interested in Kakashi?"
"Aha! You left the honorific off of his name."
"I do that with you too, Anko."
"But you've known me for years; you've just recently started having conversations with Kakashi."
"I don't like Kakashi-sensei, like that I mean." Iruka tried to ignore her and go back to his work, but it wasn't meant to be.
"Then why did I come in and see you high as a kite as Kakashi's ass sauntered away from your view?" Anko smirked. "As far as I'm concerned, your shift is over." Anko grabbed Iruka's arm and lifted him over her back.
"Hey!" Anko carried him out and called for a random chuunin to take over watching Iruka's spot and started running. "Anko, let me down, I've got more work to do!"
"Nonsense, this is more important." Anko stopped by Ichiraku where she knew from eavesdropping Kakashi and Team Seven were. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei!"
Kakashi blinked as Anko dragged Iruka towards him and sat him down. Oh, I see. She was the one standing by the doorway.
"Can you let Iruka have a look at that book of yours? He needs to be proven a point."
"What?!" Iruka had heard rumors of Kakashi's prized Icha Icha Paradise. Kakashi shrugged and flipped his book over the counter into Iruka's view. "Ack!" Iruka quickly shut his eyes and looked away after catching glimpses of certain phrases.
"See? You are so gay," Anko giggled. Kakashi's eyebrow rose at Anko's declaration. So that's what she was trying to prove? Interesting…
"That proves nothing! And don't say things like that in public."
"Now now, Anko," Kakashi started as he brought the book back to read it himself. "Just because Iruka-sensei doesn't like it, that doesn't make him gay."
"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei."
"It makes him prudish." Iruka growled low, now sorry he had thanked him. Kakashi tried hard to keep a straight face. "Well just because you read heterosexual porn, that doesn't necessarily mean you have to be straight either to enjoy it, it goes both ways."
"Kakashi! Stop discussing this in front of the children!" Iruka's face was red, but more from frustration than embarrassment.
"Well, he makes a good point, Iruka-kun. Damn. We'll just have to test you another way."
"I don't need to be tested," Iruka was exasperated.
"Maybe something psychological. Lets go see if Ibiki is willing to help." Iruka groaned as he was once again dragged away against his will. It wasn't that he had a problem with hitting girls; he just didn't think it would be a wise idea to try and hit this particular one. Kakashi stared at them as they left.
"That was interesting…" Kakashi murmured. Meanwhile, the three students stood in the back quietly discussing their teachers.
"He acts weirder than normal when Iruka-sensei is around," Naruto whispered. "Look, he's still staring at them."
"I know that look," Sakura whispered. "I just never thought Kakashi-sensei would…" She blushed and shook her head. "We shouldn't talk about it here, I'm sure he can hear us." Sasuke looked uninterested with the conversation but nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile, Iruka was under Ibiki's interrogation tactics, despite his heated protests.
"I want you to say the first thing that comes into your head when I start. You don't have to answer since I'm not actually interrogating you, but if you don't, Anko will hound you forever about it." Iruka shuddered, that thought was almost worse than a real interrogation. "Okay, let's begin."
"Right," Iruka nodded.
"Ninja."
"Konoha."
"Yellow."
"Naruto."
"Chocolate." Ibiki smirked, knowing from Anko that Iruka had a thing for sweets.
"Sundae." Iruka echoed, unaware of where Ibiki was going with this.
"Caramel."
"Filling."
"Kakashi."
"Vanilla." Iruka blinked and then shook his head. "Wait, wait! You set me up for that!" Ibiki laughed and shook his head.
"No, that's where your mind went when you thought of Kakashi. That's no fault of mine. Hey, you should tell Kakashi you want to make a sundae out of him. I bet he'd get a kick out of that."
"Anko's never going to let me live this down." Iruka rubbed his head.
"Who cares what she thinks?" Ibiki stood and walked to the door. "It's your life. I suggest you start living it. If you like Kakashi, it's up to you what to do, not Anko."
"But what if Kakashi doesn't like me that way? I don't want to embarrass myself."
"You're a ninja. Pay attention to him when he's around you. He'll let you know, even if he is the mysterious Kakashi Hatake."
"Okay…I guess you're right."
"I'll distract Anko and let you escape. Now hurry up and get out of here." Iruka nodded and fled the scene.
"Ah, so I was right," Anko smirked from the shadows.
"Yeah. Leave him alone for awhile now, it's his business."
"Oh okay, but you know as well as I do he never would have admitted it on his own." Anko sighed. Iruka left the building unaware of their conspiracy and ran to his apartment to process just what had happened that day.