Chapter 4: Asking

Iruka half listened and smiled awkwardly as Naruto narrated the last mission to him. He stole a glance at Kakashi sitting beside him and wondered when the man had finished his ramen. He hadn't even seen him pull down his mask.

His mind began to wander off to the jounin as Naruto rambled on, with the occasional sarcastic remark from Sasuke and scolding from Sakura.

He hadn't noticed before. But as he watched the jounin now sitting beside him, listening to Naruto with a bored expression, he somehow found him intriguing. He vaguely wondered if he had ever spoken so much to Kakashi before the dare came into place. Perhaps not, and maybe never will, if his friends had not come up with the dare, or what he labeled now as, the most humiliating incident in his life.

He bit his own lips as he remembered what the jounin had mentioned earlier. He owed Kakashi a date. The older man was apparently waiting for him to fulfill it. He wondered if he would be able to pull it off and ask the copy nin out without the embarrassment and stuttering like the last time.

He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he did not realized that Kakashi was looking at him with amusement in his eye.

"Saw something you like, Iruka-sensei?"

And it was then that Iruka realized that he had been staring at the older man. His face flushed and he immediately turned away.

"Sorry."

Naruto, by now, had finished his story-telling. The three genin looked at their two teachers strangely. Iruka felt himself blushed even more under the intense gazes.

Kakashi watched the chunin fidget under the stares of his three genin and felt sorry for him. He decided to spare Iruka the agony.

"Alright, now that all of you have finished your ramen, we are done for the day. I will see you tomorrow."

The three genin nodded and bade their two teachers goodbye as they headed out of the ramen stand.

Iruka sighed and stood from his seat as he walked out of the ramen stand with Kakashi. He turned to the older man. "Thanks for the ramen, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi smiled. "Maa…. Don't worry about it. But you owe me a second date though."

Iruka gaped. "Huh?"

"Well, it's only fair, isn't it? Since this is the second time I asked you out."

"But……"

"Well, Iruka-sensei, if you are going to keep putting it off, then you will only be chalking up the number of dates that you owe me." Kakashi grinned. "Because it seems like I'm the one who's asking you out every time."

Iruka glowered as he blushed. He gritted his teeth and glared at the smug jounin. But Kakashi was hardly put off by the stare, as he looked at Iruka expectantly.

Finally, the tanned chunin sighed in resignation. "Fine. I will buy you dinner tomorrow night." He snapped.

Kakashi quirked an eyebrow. "Ah….. Sensei, that's not the way to ask someone out for a date. You don't even know if I'm free tomorrow night." The copy nin couldn't resist teasing the chunin.

At that moment, all forms of embarrassment and awkwardness at seeing the jounin had disappeared. Iruka only felt like strangling the man in front of him. But considering the fact that said man is the copy nin, and could easily kill him in a thousand different ways, he could only clench his fist and take in deep breaths to calm himself.

"Well, Kakashi-sensei, are you free tomorrow night then?"

Kakashi smiled. "Of course. Anything for you, sensei."

Iruka glared again before he spoke. "Well, I will see you tomorrow night."

Kakashi nodded. "So what time are you coming to pick me up?"

"What?!"

"Well, you asked me out for a date, didn't you? As a form of courtesy, you should be picking me up." Kakashi explained slowly, as if talking to a teenager asking for advice on going out for a first date.

Iruka shook his head in exasperation. "Fine. 7pm. Is that good for you?"

"Sure, of course. I will be waiting for you then, Iruka-sensei. I hope you know the way to my apartment."

"Um…… Yeah, sure I do." Iruka said hesitantly. Actually he doesn't. But he wasn't going to let the jounin know and give him another hell of a teasing. He was just going to have to ask Naruto.

"I will see you tomorrow then." Kakashi lift his hand in a half wave.

"Uh….. Yeah sure." Iruka muttered and quickly walk away before he succeeded in embarrassing himself further.

Kakashi watched as the chunin walked down the streets. Ever since that incident about Genma's dare, he had found himself attracted to Iruka. Something about the chunin caught his attention and he found himself wanting to know about the other man more.

He grinned. He hadn't expected things to turn out so well. He turned the other direction and walked towards his apartment.

He had some planning to do for the date the next day.