Ok, yes, I realize you all must hate me for leaving this sit for so long... um... the only thing I can say is... at least, I am continuing it? Heh... ok, I will go sit in the corner now, and let you enjoy the longest chapter thus far.

Iruka let his hair down.

Then pulled it back up.

Then let it back down.

Then sighed and pulled it back up.

Then huffed aggravatedly and yanked it back down.

He glared at his reflection. "I just don't know – what do you think?" His reflection just glared back at him. "You're all kinds of helpful," he muttered. "Why the hell am I talking to my reflection?" The chuunin pulled his hair back into its traditional ponytail once again and stalked out of the bathroom.

He glanced at the clock. It had been about an hour and a half since his run-in with Jiraiya. Surely, the sannin was almost finished with his book signing. How many people could possibly come to get a perverted book signed?

Iruka sighed. He hadn't wanted to skulk around the bookstore waiting for Jiraiya to be finished. That was more stalkerish than flattering, in his opinion. But if he didn't get there at the precise moment the older man was leaving, he didn't know how he'd "happen upon" him again without being obvious. So, toeing his sandals back on, and grabbing his official signed copy of Ichaicha Nights back up from the kitchen table where he'd thrown it, the teacher strode out the door, portraying confidence he didn't actually feel at the moment.

Kaksahi groaned. He had meant to do it internally, but it had snuck out loudly anyway. Sakura looked slightly taken aback and began to stutter. "Well, I… I… we just…" Kakashi fought back a headache as he was overtaken by guilt. He hadn't meant to groan in Sakura's face when she was obviously so excited to have found him. He had just conveniently forgotten about his team for the day and had been on his way to finishing his conversation with Iruka. Then the pink-haired girl had popped up and rudely brought him back to the reality of his position as an instructor. Damn those three and their teamwork – being the first to actually pass his stupid test. He had been impressed briefly, but right now he wished that they had failed like all the rest and he had sent them on their way, not to be bothered by their loud mouths again. Then again… he gazed at Sakura's hurt face a moment longer. If it weren't for them, he never would've really interacted with Iruka…

He reached out and ruffled the girl's hair slightly in apology. "I'm sorry, Sakura. I didn't mean that. It's just been… a long day… and night."

Sakura blinked but smiled, seeming to accept the apology. "Ok, sorry about your trouble, Kakashi-sensei. We were just worried about you – you're a lot later than usual."

Kakashi ran his fingers through his hair. "Right, right, sorry, Sakura. I got called away on an impromptu mission."

Sakura looked slightly concerned. "Oh… so is practice off for today? Do you need to go home and rest?"

As much as it may have been the perfect excuse to get out of training his team, looking into those big shining eyes full of concern, Kakashi just couldn't dismiss his student with a flick of his hand, like he would have some other annoying kid off the street. "No, Sakura. I'm fine. Let's go catch up to the others, shall we?" He smiled beneath his mask and the young girl smiled back.

Kakashi felt a pang in his chest as he followed her back to the training grounds, realizing that his ability to care about other people hadn't stopped at Iruka.

Iruka spotted the back of Jiraiya's bushy white head turning away from the bookstore just as the building came into sight. He launched into a sprint, hopping up next to the sannin before he got very far. "Master Jiraiya!"

Jiraiya jumped slightly at the unexpected exuberance that had bounded up right next to him. He wasn't used to such… friendly people… at least, not friendly in this sense. "Ah… hello…"

"Master Jiraiya, you remember me, don't you?" Iruka skipped backwards, smiling brightly – a little too brightly for both men's comfort.

Jiraiya blinked.

"Iruka-sensei." He pulled out his book for emphasis. His face was stretched far too wide, and it was starting to hurt.

Jiraiya nodded in vague comprehending. "Right, right, sure. Iruka-sensei. That's right."

Iruka grit his teeth as Jiraiya proceeded to look off into the distance, apparently deciding that Iruka wasn't anything important at the moment. The brunette jumped in front of him, causing a collision. "Oops, oops," he giggled slightly, mentally smacking his forehead at his own corniness. "Say, Master Jiraiya, do you think I could take you up on your earlier offer?"

Jiraiya blinked.

Iruka felt something in his temper snap as it became apparent that he was not very memorable to the older man. "Remember?" he ground out, his smile (which was actually more of a sneer now) twitching dangerously. "You were going to show me what gets you going in your writing process."

"Ah, right." Jiraiya pat Iruka on the shoulder and stepped around him. "Sorry, kiddo, some other time. I've already made plans for drinks with some of my fans." He laughed pervertedly and started to stride away.

Determined not to give up, especially since he had already humiliated himself a great deal in front of the sannin, Iruka jogged after him. "Drinks? Bu- but it's only three o'clock in the afternoon."

"Well, I plan to be occupied with other things later in the evening." He gave a loud laugh, more perverted than the last one, and Iruka's eye twitched convulsively.

He swallowed, trying to maintain his composure. "But Master Jiraiya – "

"Look, sensei." Jiraiya stopped, laying a hand on Iruka's shoulder. "I understand idol worship, but you gotta give me a break here. I have plans tonight, and I just can't break them."

"But Master Jiraiya," Iruka reached up and grasped the hand on his shoulder, trying to rub it sensuously. "I was really really looking forward to our time together." He tried to muster up a sexy pout, but he didn't think he had ever truly perfected that technique.

Jiraiya seemed oblivious to his coming-on tactics and simply pulled his hand away with a small shiver of discomfort. "Er… well, if it's really all that important to ya… I suppose you could come with us to drinks. I'm sure the ladies wouldn't mind." He smiled widely.

Iruka's demeanor faltered. "Uh… ladies…?"

"Yeah, sure, two for me – one for you!" Jiraiya slapped him on the arm, a little harder than necessary in Iruka's opinion, and resumed walking. Iruka clutched at his throbbing upper arm and grimaced after the old pervert.

'What have I gotten myself into?'

"Ahem, so… Sakura?"

Sakura peered back at her sensei, curiously. Kakashi almost sounded nervous, which was not something she was used to seeing or hearing from the only man she knew who usually hid his true emotions better than Sasuke. "What is it, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Ah… well, I was just wondering about something…"

"Yeeeah…? Go on," Sakura urged, all her nosey teenage girl senses fully alert at this point.

"Ah, well, I was just wondering, how does one go about making someone one's boyfriend?"

Sakura stopped dead in her tracks. Kakashi walked a few steps more before realizing that they had halted, and he slowly came to a stop as well, gazing at Sakura as though he were worried about something. "Boyfriend?" Sakura repeated blinking up at her teacher.

Kakashi laughed nervously, fully regretting his somewhat desperate decision to ask his thirteen-year old, female student for advice. "Never mind. It's not important. Forget I asked." He shoved his hands in his pockets and continued on to the training grounds, hoping Sakura would take the hint and follow silently.

After a few moments of gazing at her sensei's back, Sakura did follow – but she was anything but silent about it. "Wait, wait, wait! Hang on just a minute, Kakashi-sensei! Do you have a crush on someone?" Her wide eyes were locked on his face.

Kakashi chuckled nervously. "Never mind, Sakura. Like I said, it's really not important."

"You have a crush on a guy?" she continued as though Kakashi had actually continued his part of the conversation.

"Sakura, really – "

"Does he like you back?"

"Er… well, I think so… but he's acting very skittish…" Kakashi finally muttered. Then, once again realizing that he really didn't want to be having this conversation, he shook his head and waved his hand in the air. "But it's not important – let's drop it."

"Who is it?"

"Now, let's just forget – "

"Is it Iruka-sensei?" she gasped, several things clicking in her mind at once.

It was Kakashi's turn to stop suddenly as he blinked at her, startled. "How…?" He couldn't even finish his sentence.

Sakura smiled widely. "Wow! I don't believe it! That's so romantic, Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head again. 'Heh… yeah – romantic. Everything's been real romantic so far,' he griped to himself sarcastically. "Well, thank you Sakura, but let's just keep this between us for now, ok?"

Sakura's face fell. "Why? Is something wrong?" She gasped, covering her mouth. "Oh no! Did he turn you down?"

Kakashi's eye twitched slightly. He shouldn't have brought the subject up at all. He had absolutely no desire to discuss his relationship blunders with one of his students. He cleared his throat. "Well, he hasn't exactly rejected me. I haven't really asked him anything yet… not officially."

"Oh…" Sakura's hand fell to her chin, contemplating. "Oh, are you worried because you two haven't been getting along lately?"

"Why do you know so much?" Kakashi squinted at her.

Sakura just laughed and waved her hand in dismissal. "Oh, that's not important. What is important is making sure you win over Iruka-sensei!" She slammed a fist into an open palm in determination.

Kakashi held up his hands, smiling exasperatedly. "Sakura, I appreciate your… enthusiasm… but this is all really unnecessary. I'm sure I can handle it myself."

"Oh, but Kakashi-sensei, I know all about attracting boys! Please, I want to help!" Sakura struck a proud pose, and Kakashi didn't have him it in him to be so rude as to point out that he had watched her fail fantastically at trying to attract Sasuke over and over again. He just sighed and tried to keep away the impending headache that had surfaced again. "Now, tell me everything about this situation."

Kakashi rubbed his exposed eye, tiredly. "Look, let's just say that I feel like I've been scaring him – coming on too strong. How do I make sure I don't threaten him?"

Sakura glared lightly at her teacher. "Kakashi-sensei, you have to realize that Iruka-sensei isn't the pervert you are," she lectured disapprovingly, and Kakashi had to hide his smirk from the irony of her statement.

Iruka tried not to cough too obviously, but the smoke was really starting to irritate his senses. He was currently sandwiched between a blonde and a redhead (both obviously fake) and the redhead was consistently blowing smoke right up his nose every ten seconds. The busty blonde on his right side gave a loud bark at something Jiraiya had said and almost head-butted him as she threw her head back in laughter. He had to shift away quickly to avoid a large bruise, but his shifting left him practically in the redhead's lap. She smirked at him in what he supposed she thought was a flirtatious manner and once again blew smoke into his face, stinging his eyes.

This was not going the way it was supposed to. Not at all. He was supposed to be here to seduce Jiraiya, but he couldn't even see the other man past the blonde's ample breasts. Instead, he was squashed up against the redhead, who Jiraiya had been more than happy to pawn off on him. The other two ladies, currently swooning over Jiraiya, the blonde and a brunette, were both knockouts, but Iruka had been thrown to the "ugly friend" – like bait to the slobbery dog whose saliva you don't want all over you. She was try to grab at Iruka every chance she got, the chuunin's ninja reflexes being the only reason he didn't have cigarette burns all over his clothes.

"So what did you say your name was, handsome?" she crooned, ending her statement with a puff that had Iruka holding his breath so as to not hack right in her face.

"Iruka," he muttered, trying to scrunch away from her again, but Jiraiya seemed to be on a roll with the jokes and he had to dodge the blonde tresses once more.

"Irrrrrrrrru-ka," she attempted to roll off her tongue, but she didn't really seem to have a knack for rolling her Rs so it came out more like she was trying to wheeze a piece of food off the back of her tongue. "Sounds exotic."

"Mm… yeah…" Iruka coughed slightly.

"I'm Kiramaya," the redhead breathed, and made a grab for his inner thigh, her lit cigarette leaving a small mark right in the juncture between thigh and crotch before Iruka yelped and pushed her hand away.

"Hey, hey! Please watch where you're putting that thing!"

The redhead barely seemed to acknowledge his annoyance and merely tossed her bangs out of her face, trying to look seductive. After a few awkward moments of staring him down, she cracked a wicked smile. "You look like a virgin," she giggled.

Iruka's eye spasmed. How the hell do you respond to a statement like that? He didn't know, so he simply didn't answer.

The redhead, taking his silence as a confirmation of her declaration, giggled again, which quickly turned into a cough, and snuffed out her almost dead cigarette. "You wanna change that?"

"Ok, look… uh…"

"Kiramaya."

"Yeah – Kiramaya, listen…" Iruka took a deep breath and almost stopped what he was about to say, but one look at the redhead's crooked smile and he decided he didn't really care what she thought of him – he would, by the grace of all the gods, never see this woman again, and he desperately had a mission to complete. If he went home tonight without kissing Jiraiya, he didn't know if he'd have the strength or will to start up his plan again on a fresh day. "You seem very… nice…" He grimaced slightly. "But, I gotta be honest with you – I'm here for Jiraiya."

Kiramaya blinked. "Oooooooh, you're one of those. No wonder you don't know how to act around women."

Several veins throbbed in the chuunin's forehead. 'I know perfectly well how to act around women.' But he bit back the nasty retort on his tongue, determining that he needed this particular woman's help at the moment. "Please, can you help me out?"

Kiramaya laughed shortly. "Honey, as much as I'd like to have my part in a little man-on-man action, you do realize you're going after the straightest man in this entire village?"

"Oh, come on," Iruka hissed, pleadingly. "The man writes porn – porn that involves men and their anatomy – he has to have some sort of interest in it."

The bushy head of red shook side to side in pity. She gazed at Iruka as though he were a slow child wondering why he wasn't allowed to use the scissors like all the other children. "I just think you'd be better off going after some other cute guy, hon." She patted his cheek soothingly.

Iruka tried to turn her sympathy against her, giving her his best puppy eyes. "Please, Kiramaya – you don't know how much this means to me," he whimpered.

Kiramaya sighed and tweaked his nose. Iruka grit his teeth to stop himself from swatting the offending fingers away. "Alright, sweetie – I can't squash a virgin's dreams like that."

As much as he wanted to scream in her face that he was far from a virgin, the schoolteacher decided to reign in his temper and let her think what she wanted as long as she helped him.

She stood clumsily, seeming as though she wasn't used to the heels she was trying to balance in, and lit another cigarette, tapping her blonde, busty friend on the shoulder. Blondie seemed annoyed at being disturbed, but through persistent pointed looks and tugging at her sleeves, Iruka's redhead lured her and the brunette to the bathroom to "powder their noses."

Iruka smiled sheepishly at Jiraiya as the three women sauntered away. Jiraiya raised his glass to Iruka. "Having fun, kid? How's… uh… the redhead treatin' ya?"

"Oh, uh, great," Iruka stammered, then leaned a bit closer on impulse. "I'm just disappointed that I haven't had any time to speak to you." He tried fluttering his eyelashes in imitation of Jiraiya's female companions, but the sannin didn't seem to notice.

"Ah, well, you know how the ladies get. Always want my attention!" He laughed loudly at his own ego while Iruka resisted the urge to beat his head against the table. The redhead seemed to be right – the straightest of the straight in all of Hidden Leaf… and Iruka was supposed to be kissing him.

The women returned to the table, trying to hide their perverted smiles as they glanced not-so-subtly at him. Blondie apologized for having to leave early, and the three skipped out of the restaurant with a perverted "Have fun boys" thrown over their shoulders.

Jiraiya's shoulders slumped. "Well, that was strange."

Iruka laughed lightly. "Well, I guess they had something important come up. Can't really be helped."

Jiraiya sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I guess… Well, see ya, sensei!" The white-haired man jumped up and strode out the doors.

Iruka stared uncomprehendingly at the spot Jiraiya had just vacated. "Ah… er…"

"Your bill, sir," a chipper waitress sang in his ear.

Iruka almost pulled his hair out again.

"Uh, Sakura. Don't you think we ought to be getting back to the boys? Won't they be worried?" Kakashi really didn't want to interrupt Sakura (partly because she seemed so excited and partly because he feared his life might be in jeopardy if he didn't let her finish), but he didn't know how much more of this he could listen to. The girl was on a roll – giving him a laundry list of things he must do to win over Iruka-sensei. Kakashi knew her heart was in the right place but he highly doubted he would ever do half the things she was telling him to do.

"Oh, don't worry about them," she snapped, obviously upset at having to pause in her speech. "They've been occupying themselves with acting weird all day. They probably don't even notice what time it is."

And indeed, they didn't.

Iruka didn't know how he had lost Jiraiya so quickly, but the other man was nowhere in sight when the chuunin had finished hastily paying the bill and sped out into the streets. "Goddammit!" He stomped the ground petulantly. Who knew how he was supposed to find the legendary Jiraiya again. It wasn't like he just ran into him every day. "Wait a minute." A thought struck him. 'He said something earlier about the hot springs!' Figuring he had nothing to lose, he took off in the direction of the village hot springs.

Kakashi had long since stopped listening to Sakura's babbling. Bless her heart, she had good intentions, but this was not what Kakashi had wanted when he decided to ask her advice. He was hoping for just a few pointers on making sure that he didn't frighten Iruka away, maybe some words of encouragement, but that was it. If he wanted a how-to manual, he would've gone to the bookstore and gotten one to read rather than using Sakura as the live audio version.

"Oh, and of course you're gonna ask him to the social, right? So we have to talk all about what your plans are going to be for that night."

Kakashi's ears perked up. "What?" he asked dumbly.

Sakura sighed, annoyed. "The social?" she demanded as if Kakashi would be stupid to not know what she was talking about. Unfortunately, he didn't know and just cocked his head to the side confused. "The shinobi social, Kakashi-sensei. How can you not have heard about it?" Kakashi racked his brain for any sort of recollection about some sort of shinobi social but he only came up with a blank. He shrugged, grinning sheepishly. "There's a shinobi social – kind of like a dance – next week. Supposedly they're having it to make sure the shinobi of the village have something fun and social to do to keep them sane."

'Personally, I think Tsunade just wants an excuse to get smashed,' Kakashi thought, internally rolling his eyes. 'But either way, this is a good opportunity.' Once again tuning out Sakura, Kakashi began devising his own plans for that night.

Iruka had circled the perimeter of the men's hot springs three times and hadn't caught a whiff of Jiraiya. He groaned in aggravation and resigned himself to going home – there was just nothing left for him to do at this point. And as far as he was concerned, he had been through quite enough for the day.

However, he was halted on his way out of the area by a sliver of bright white hair peeking out of the bushes outside the walls of the hot springs. 'Wait a minute… it couldn't – ' He peered closer. It was! Iruka almost jumped in joy before something struck him. 'Wait… this is the women's side of the springs… he's…' Iruka blushed bright red. 'That's what he meant by going to the hot springs for research! He's a bigger pervert than Kakashi! Kakashi…' Iruka momentarily became distracted. 'I wonder how his mission is going. I hope he's ok… it must have been a dangerous mission to have him called away so late at night like that.' The chuunin shook his brown ponytail back and forth. 'I should stop thinking about him – I do that far too much. Alright, Iruka, focus… focus back on the pervert in the bushes…' His face flamed again.

There was no way he could go over there! How do you confront an old pervert spying on half-naked or fully naked girls from the bushes? Iruka shook his head but stopped quickly as he realized that he had developed a very bad headache and really shouldn't be moving it that much. Trying not to think, lest he hurt himself even more or back down after all he'd gone through, he marched up behind Jiraiya and tapped him on the shoulder.

The older man jumped, causing Iruka to jump as he had not expected to be able to sneak up on one of the legendary sannin. Jiraiya ran a hand down his face. "Alright, kid, what is it now?"

Something in Iruka snapped. "Ok, first of all, stop calling me 'kid' – I am not a kid, and it makes you seem… old." 'Which makes it very difficult to imagine doing anything even remotely intimate with you.' "And secondly, I have been trying and trying and trying all damn day – what do I have to do!? Do- do- do you want me to put my hair down?" He yanked the hair tie out and threw it on the ground. "Do I need to show a little leg – a little chest – what!?" he screeched tugging haphazardly at his clothes.

Jiraiya bolted forward. "SHHHHHHH!" he hissed, clamping a hand over Iruka's mouth, but it was too late.

Girlish shrieks came from the other side of the wooden partition, and stampeding feet flew inside. Jiraiya growled, going back to his peephole and slamming his palm against the wood when he saw nothing but empty water. "Great…"

"Who's there?" several feminine voices called from around the corner.

"Shit! Run!" Iruka barely had time to register the urgent whispers before he found himself the only man in the area and surrounded by angry, dripping women.

"There you guys are! We've been looking all over for you!"

Kakashi snapped out of his daydreams and locked his gaze on the blonde who was ambling up to them. The jounin didn't think he had ever been so happy to hear that obnoxious voice ringing in his ears.

Sakura put her hands on her hips and glared at the shorter boy as well as Sasuke who was plodding along behind Naruto, a lot slower than his companion and staring at the dirt. "Well, it certainly took you long enough."

Sasuke grumbled something under his breath and Naruto had the decency to look embarrassed. His mouth twitched into a nervous smile. "Well, we figured you had to come back on your own some time… apparently not though," he turned the conversation back to the other two. "What are you two doing just sitting around here?"

"Oh, I was just helping Kakashi-sensei with – "

Kakashi turned his head sharply and pleaded silently with his one eye. The absolute last thing he needed at this point was a protective Naruto coming after his head for going after Iruka-sensei. He could only handle so many issues concerning this relationship at one time…

Sakura bit her lip, catching the hint. "I mean, he was helping me, with a jutsu – obviously, I mean, what could he possibly need my help for?" She smiled innocently.

Naruto's eyebrows shot up. He slowly turned to Sasuke, speaking out of the side of his mouth. "Ok, she's starting to act weird too… it's spreading."

Sasuke sighed. "Naruto… just… shut up."

"Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka paled as he recognized the woman's voice from somewhere inside the angry mob. It was one thing to be confronted outside the women's hot springs by women he didn't actually know – it was another thing to be confronted outside the women's hot springs by – "Kurenai…"

Kurenai stepped forward, awkwardly wrapped only in a small bathrobe, as were most of the women in the group. The female jounin stared at him in disbelief. Iruka wanted to die. He had thought that this mission would cause him enough trouble among the male population – he hadn't really taken into account the female population. Well, he had briefly thought about Kurenai – but any sort of trouble he had expected to get into with her he had expected to be because of Asuma – not because he was caught supposedly spying on her in the women's hot springs. "Iruka-sensei… what…?"

Iruka held up his hands and tried to speak through his dry throat. "Kurenai – this is not what it looks like."

"Liar!"

"Pervert!"

"Well, what is it then?"

"You know this perv, Kurenai?" all sounded from various parts of the pack. Iruka shriveled back, fully expecting to be torn to pieces any second.

Kurenai shushed the other women and turned back to Iruka. "Well…?"

In his attempt to look at anything but the enraged women in front of him, his eyes landed on a shock of white trying to creep away off to the side. Leaping after him, he dragged Jiraiya out of hiding, earning an undignified 'eep' from the other shinobi. "Please, forgive us, ladies – we weren't doing what you think we were doing… in fact, we were just looking for a little privacy." Jiraiya looked confused but seemed to know better than to try to open his mouth in such a delicate situation.

The women still looked skeptical but many also looked curious at this point. Kurenai arched an eyebrow. "What – ?"

Iruka grabbed Jiraiya by the shoulders and spun him so they were facing off. "I'm sorry – this was a silly idea. Can you forgive me?" he simpered. Jiraiya just nodded dumbly, figuring that was what he was supposed to do. Iruka smiled brightly, and, not risking wasting one more second, grabbed the white, bushy head firmly, and tugged it to his lips.

Several women gasped, some squealed, and some just turned away, blushing violently and trying to suppress girlish giggles. Kurenai's eyes widened and a light blush dusted her cheeks. She averted her gaze quickly and started to usher the other women away. "Alright, alright – nothing more to see here – mystery solved – all is well – let's go ladies!" She shooed them away, jogging after them.

Iruka pulled away as soon as they were gone, breathing somewhat heavily from what he had just accomplished.

Jiraiya looked slightly disturbed, but almost too surprised to be anything else. Iruka cleared his throat, not quite sure what he was supposed to do now. The sannin finally blinked, seeming to come back to reality, and surveyed the area where the women had been gathered radiating murderous intent only moments before. He nodded appreciatively. "Well, I gotta hand it to you, sensei, good cover." He slapped Iruka on the arm again.

The brunette clutched the spot that must have been bruised at that point. "Uh… yeah… cover… figured it would work…" he muttered, thankful that this might be one situation he could come away from where the misunderstanding would actually work out better for him.

Jiraiya nodded sagely. "Yes, and you know – chicks dig the whole man-on-man thing… this could actually be very good publicity."

Iruka half rolled his eyes, thinking back to the redhead. "Yeah… so I've noticed."

Jiraiya glanced back at Iruka and paused a moment, surveying the chuunin's features. "You know… you do look kinda good with your hair down," he murmured thoughtfully.

Iruka stared at him in disbelief.

Jiraiya winked.

A vein throbbed in Iruka's forehead. "Oh, don't even!" he snapped, and stormed away, leaving Jiraiya blinking after him in bewilderment.

After sending his students home, finally resolving that there wouldn't be any training after all today, Kakashi began his trudge home in the waning sunlight. He was tired… boy oh boy, was he tired. First Gai, then Sakura – all while he was dealing with this stupid emotional roller coaster he wasn't used to at all. Even though he hadn't actually gone on a real mission that day, he couldn't help but feel as if he had just completed an A-rank.

He was just thinking the day couldn't possibly get any worse when he froze in front of the bookstore.

NEW Special Edition Ichaicha Nights Release – Book Signing By The Author TODAY ONLY.

Kakashi couldn't even move.

DAMN GAI! How he could do this to him!? The jounin was dangerously close to murder… or crying if he couldn't find Gai (or Genma – mustn't forget about him) in time.

"Kakashi-sensei."

Only one sweet voice could snap the silver-haired jounin from murderous thoughts like that. Kakashi's heart sped up and he whirled to see a very concerned, very tired-looking, but very sexy Iruka peering back at him through unrestrained hair. "Uh… yo," was all he managed to choke out, and he suddenly felt like a foolish teenager.

"You're back from your mission," Iruka commented, his eyes raking Kakashi's body up and down. Kakashi felt his whole being heat up, hoping that Iruka was surveying him for certain reasons, but the look on the chuunin's face told him otherwise. "Are you alright?"

It took a moment for Kakashi's brain to catch up. Then he remembered that he had been supposedly called away to an important mission when he was with Iruka last night. 'Iruka… last night…' The jounin's mind had a temporary meltdown, but with Iruka staring right at him, he couldn't dawdle in his fantasy land for too long. He couldn't tell Iruka that the "mission" wasn't really a mission, just Gai acting insane – about him. Iruka thought Kakashi was strange enough as it was. And as much as me may have tuned out Sakura's rantings earlier in the day, some things had subconsciously filtered into his mind about how to not scare Iruka off – and one of them was acting as normal as possible. "Yes, I'm fine, Iruka, don't worry about it." Kakashi's eye arched reassuringly.

The brunette smiled, relieved, but not one hundred percent sure why he was so much. "Well, good... I'm glad."

Everything in Kakashi leaped with joy. Iruka was glad he was ok! Iruka had been worried, somewhat – at least. Ok, so he hadn't specifically stated that he had been worried, or that he had thought about him while he was "away on mission" at all, but he was glad that he was ok! Kakashi smiled brightly. At the very least, Iruka was starting to become more used to expressing his feelings openly. That was progress! "Thank you, Iruka."

Iruka fought back a blush at the gentle tone. Silence surrounded the area, and Kakashi couldn't keep his eyes off the way the rising moonlight played around Iruka's loose chocolate locks. The chuunin shifted uncomfortably under his intense gaze, remembering Kakashi's threat to finish their earlier conversation. He didn't know if he could handle it, especially after the day he'd just had.

The jounin could sense exactly what Iruka was thinking, and as much as he desperately wanted to go back to that conversation and finish what he'd started, he just didn't have it in him at the moment – and for whatever reason, it didn't look as though Iruka did either. Coming down from the adrenaline high of the initial kiss that had been pushing him the past couple of days, Kakashi decided he could wait until tomorrow to pick up where he had left off… oh, but tomorrow, it would be picked up. After he rested – after Iruka rested – they were going to work this out.

"Well, I'm rather tired, Iruka. I think I should get home."

Iruka's head snapped up in surprise. 'He's not going to bring it back up?' A part of him ached in a disappointment he couldn't find a logical reason for. "Oh, right, you must be tired – you should rest. Good night."

Kakashi smiled. "Yes, you look a little tuckered out yourself, Iruka. Sleep well tonight."

Iruka felt something warm inside him and decided the feeling wasn't entirely unwelcome. He was just about to try to slink past the jounin before the other man changed his mind and tried to molest him again, when Kakashi suddenly turned to the side and let out a depressed sigh. The chuunin blinked and followed his gaze. The pieces fell together when he saw the sign that had started all his trouble that morning. His eyes widened slightly in comprehension. Of course. Ichaicha was Kakashi's thing – and he hadn't even been around for a book signing by the author… a horribly perverted author – but he doubted that was news to Kakashi, or that it would bother the jounin at all. After all, he read Jiraiya's books religiously.

"Oh... uh… here…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out the special edition Ichaicha Nights, signed by Jiraiya himself, and held it out awkwardly to the stunned jounin in front of him.

Iruka almost laughed at the expression on Kakashi's face. He was sure that if that mask wasn't in the way, he would be witnessing Kakashi slack-jawed. And he felt his face heat up a bit as he realized that he now had a real image of the ever elusive face to imagine that expression on. Gloved hands reached tentatively for the book, not seeming to believe that he was really receiving what he thought he was receiving. "How did you – did you… get this… for me?" the jounin practically squeaked out.

The little orange book balanced delicately in Kakashi's hands like he thought he might break it if he held it too tightly. Iruka scratched at the back of his head. "Ah, well… it's a long story, and um… well – just take it. I know you want it." He turned and started to walk away, then paused and craned his neck back around to fix Kakashi with a hard stare. "But do not tell anyone who you got that from."

Finally regaining his normal voice back, Kakashi comically saluted Iruka. "Sure thing, Iruka."

Iruka nodded, probably mostly to himself, and then sprinted off.

Kakashi was left standing in the middle of the deserted street, beaming like a madman.

Not just because he had a special edition Ichaicha Nights signed by Jiraiya and given to him by Iruka in his grasp. But because he had just used Iruka's name five times without adding the 'sensei' and he hadn't been corrected.

Ok, so there was no smut... life can't be all about the smut... sometimes... But it is a chapter, is it not? ehehe... ok, yeah, I understand if you're still mad...

First order of business, a fanart challenge I posed over a year ago - Gai-sensei in casual - I will finally post the link to Blanca Martens' (wannaseemymoon) picture of Gai-sensei in casual clothing. So sorry for the horrendous delay on that! wannaseemymoon .deviantart art/Gai-in-casual-44848607 without the spaces, obviously.

Second order of busines... um... I can't really think of anything at the moment. I'm sure there was stuff I was supposed to say here, but all I can come up with right now is a thousand apologies and an assurance that I now have the remaining chapters planned out so they'll be a lot easier to work on so hopefully the wait will be way more reasonable in the future.

Thank you to all the reviewers who consistently kicked my ass into a gear just a little bit more with each new reivew and the faithful people who keep coming back over and over, waiting for me to stop procrastinating. I can't tell you how much the words of encouragement mean to me. This is the best story I've written so far, and I can assure you no matter how long it might sit here without being updated, I will never abandon it... unless I die... let's cross our fingers on that one haha

And, as always, if you enjoyed, or just need to yell at me about my tardiness, please review!

DixieGoddess