Chapter 6: Moving On

That night, after dinner, Kakashi insisted on sending Iruka home. Iruka had rolled his eyes, but knew that there was no way he could stop the jounin from doing what he wants.

"Well, Kakashi-sensei. I'm home. Thanks for walking me." Iruka smiled as he stood at his door. Kakashi nodded.

"Well, Iruka-sensei, since you asked me out today, I should return the gesture. Say, will you be free tomorrow evening?"

Iruka blinked. "That's a bit too fast for a second date, isn't it?"

Then it was Kakashi's turn to blink, before a wide grin spread under his mask. "Ah…… Sensei, I was just going to ask you for dinner. But since you want to take it as a date, I will have to prepare for something more."

Iruka blushed as he tried to clear his mind to produce an answer. "I…… I mean……"

"Don't worry about that, sensei. I will take care of everything. Just be ready by 7pm tomorrow. I will be here to pick you up." Kakashi smiled as he lifted his hand in a half-wave. Before the chunin could protest, he was gone in a whirl of smoke.

Kakashi turned up at the chunin's apartment twenty minutes late. He knocked and waited. A while later, he heard the shuffling of feet and the door opened.

"Iruka-sensei, good evening." Kakashi smiled. Iruka stared at him for a moment before he return the smile. Kakashi reached out and handed a bouquet to him. "For you."

"Flowers? Again?" Iruka gaped.

"Yes, sensei. You mentioned it's a date, so I will definitely need to have flowers for you." The jounin's eye crinkled up into a smile. Iruka groaned as he took the flowers.

"Thank you."

"Anytime. Are we ready to go?" Kakashi cocked his head to one side. Iruka sighed.

"Yes. Just let me get my jacket."

Kakashi watched as Iruka walked back into his apartment and placed the flowers on the coffee table. He smiled. He will put step two into action tonight.

Iruka was enjoying himself. He hadn't felt so relaxed in a long time. Surprisingly, Kakashi wasn't as hard to get along as he thought. He laughed at another joke that Kakashi was telling him about the last mission he was on.

"And Naruto was literally convinced that the fish swallowed that pearl that we were supposed to guard. We almost had sashimi. Thank goodness the pearl was found in time." Kakashi rolled his eye. Iruka chuckled.

"That's just like Naruto, isn't it?" Iruka took a sip of the tea. Kakashi nodded.

"So, Iruka-sensei, tell me about your class."

Iruka sighed. "That's a torture, Kakashi-sensei. As if I haven't got enough of them during the day, I've still got to recount everything over dinner to you."

"So are you saying that teaching those brats is a torture?" Kakashi chuckled. "Actually, I can identify with you. Just thinking of that three I'm teaching is already a headache for me."

Iruka laughed. "It's not that bad." He took another sip of his tea. "Actually, I kind of like teaching them. It's tedious, especially when they just won't listen. But, at the end of the day, when you have taught them all you know and send them out to be full-fledged ninjas, there's always that sense of achievement."

Kakashi listened as the chunin began to narrate all the interesting and at times, ridiculous things that his students had done. As much as Iruka had said that it was a torture to relate every single thing, Kakashi could see that the chunin is still enjoying it. He smiled at the pride in the chunin's lively, brown eyes.

It brought on another new perspective to the copy nin and he found himself knowing another aspect of Iruka on a deeper level – the loving and caring side of the chunin teacher.

And at the same time, he found himself falling a little deeper for this wonderful person before him.

Kakashi walked Iruka home again that night. But the chunin wasn't protesting as much as the night before. In fact, he was beginning to feel comfortable around the older man.

Over dinner that night, he had learnt more things about the jounin than he had ever in his life. He had heard some stories about Team Minato and he caught a glimpse of how Kakashi had actually grown to like Team Seven.

He was amazed with this jounin beside him. Kakashi had always appeared to be so mysterious to others, but yet, he had been open with Iruka. He had shared things with the chunin that only possibly Kakashi's close friends knew.

As they approached Iruka's apartment, the younger man realized that he doesn't want to break this magic string that is holding them together. He did not know why. But he just had a twinge of feeling that if he let go, he would live to regret it. He would sort out his own feelings later. Right now, he had to keep the invisible string intact. As he unlocked his door, he turned to smile at the jounin.

"Kakashi-sensei, if you are free tomorrow evening, would you like to come over for dinner?"

Kakashi's eye widened a little. He had definitely not anticipate that. He was thinking that the dinner at home will only come after a few more dinners out and when the chunin had grown more comfortable with him.

But he recovered quickly and gave Iruka a quick nod. "I would love to."

Iruka nodded as he stepped into his apartment. "Be here at 7pm then. Good night, Kakashi-sensei." With a last smile and a polite bow, Iruka closed the door.

Kakashi stood outside the door, a little dazed. He hadn't expected his plan to go so well. Three dates on a consecutive three days. Step two was a perfect flow and it had even gone in a little to his step three. He grinned under his mask.

Step two – Finding a common topic.

Perfectly executed.