Yes, by all the grace of the gods, I am being fairly good in continuing to update this story! I know it's taking awhile longer than some of my other stories, but I'm being a lot pickier about this one than some of the other stuff I'm writing, since this is kind of my pride and joy fanfic baby. I promise that I do write at least a little bit of the newest chapter for this fic at least every couple of days.

It doesn't help that about every 2-3 days, a new story idea pops into my head. It's madness! I just can't possibly write fast enough to keep up with my brain. Unfair… *sniffle*

Anyway, thank you so much for the reviews and encouragement! I especially like hearing what people really like about the story, and even what they don't like. Thank you to Mizzytron for the constructive criticism on Kakashi's character. I've actually gone back and revised his interactions with Iruka a little in chapter 11 to keep him more in character in this story. I think Kakashi's a little difficult for me since, when I started writing this story, I only had a very basic idea of the Naruto world and Kakashi's character. Now, years later, I have a very different idea of his quirkiness and social awkwardness, but these ideas don't fit with the Kakashi-character I've written previously. But I don't want to go back and change Kakashi's character entirely, since I do like the way I've written him previously. Just, ugh, he's a complicated bastard lol I appreciate it being pointed out when I step out of his character for this story too much, so thank you.

And I have read and taken into consideration all thoughts pertaining to the smut aspect and have decided to just continue with the not-so-smuttiness that I already established. Thanks so much, everybody!

It was close to two in the morning by the time Iruka staggered out of the bar. For all the alcohol that Ibiki had practically forced upon him, he was surprisingly still relatively sober.

He promptly tripped on a blade of grass and landed in the dirt.

Ok, maybe he needed to rethink that statement.

The teacher's head spun wildly as a strong hand gripped his arm and hoisted him back to his feet joltingly. He practically fell back into Ibiki but caught himself at the last moment. "Somebody cast an earth jutsu and made the ground move," he mumbled defensively.

"Yeah, that happens," the jounin retorted, and Iruka couldn't tell if he was drunk enough to be agreeing with him or if he was making fun of him.

He decided it didn't matter and clutched at his head. "I need to go home."

"I'll walk you."

Iruka shook his head. "You have to go the other way."

"How do you know?"

"Daaah…" The chuunin frowned, realizing that he actually had no clue where Ibiki lived.

The interrogation expert slung an arm around his shoulders, starting to walk them both away from the bar. "It's dangerous out here," he slurred. "I can't let you walk home alone."

"But then you'll have to walk home alone," Iruka protested.

"Well, then, we'll just have to walk each other home."

Iruka scrunched up his face. "Wait… what?"

"What?"

The teacher burst into insane giggles. "That doesn't make any sense!"

Ibiki started guffawing too, their drunken laughter cutting through the still night air.

Iruka suddenly skidded to a halt, making them both stumble. "Wait… wait… my house is the other way…"

"Oh…" The jounin turned them around, still clinging to the other man's shoulders, making them both trip over each other. Iruka snorted, and they started laughing again.

The half-drunk chuunin allowed himself to be escorted home by Ibiki, steering them in the right direction whenever the confused jounin would start wandering the wrong way. Never in his life would Iruka have thought that he would not only have a halfway pleasant conversation with the scary, infamous head of T&I, but that the other man would be kind enough to want to walk him home.

Iruka briefly thought that, had he been more sober, he would have been insulted that the jounin apparently didn't think he – a chuunin – could make it through the "dangerous" streets of Hidden Leaf alone. But he placated himself with the thought that had Ibiki been more sober, he probably wouldn't have felt such a protective desire in the first place. So the teacher let it be.

His dazed mind thought back on their little talk. It had been more drinking than talking. The interrogator wasn't particularly chatty. Though he had been more than persistent in trying to get Iruka to open up and tell him his woes. He wondered if Ibiki always did this to someone when he drank or if there was just something about Iruka that inspired him to exhibit such strong curiosity.

It hadn't taken much of Iruka's mutterings and stumbling over his explanations for Ibiki to remember that the rumor he had heard was about the schoolteacher and Kakashi. The chuunin had blushed hotly and vehemently denied that the rumors were true. But the jounin hadn't let him off so easily…

Ibiki stared down the teacher. "But did he ask you to the dance?"

Iruka swirled his drink. "Well, yeah, but…"

"Then he likes you." The scarred man took one big swig and waved for another one as he set the empty glass down.

The chuunin shook his head slowly. "No… I'm sure he was just joking around. He likes teasing me…"

Ibiki snorted. "Kakashi likes to pretend he's all about that 'underneath the underneath' crap, but he's really pretty damn straightforward and easy to read." Iruka blinked at him. "If he's acting like he likes you, then he likes you."

The chuunin didn't respond, but he still didn't believe the other man. There was no way… Before he had ever kissed Kakashi, the copy-ninja had shown zero interest in being anything other than a nuisance. You didn't go from annoying jackass to amorous lover for no reason. There was just simply no explanation for the strange behavior besides hormones and the desire to mess with him. He just couldn't believe otherwise…

He heaved a huge sigh, pounding back his own drink. "I hate men," he grumbled as the various males he had had to deal with since getting this mission flashed through his head. Raidou had been the only one who hadn't made his life harder.

Ibiki's booming laughter rang through the air. "Women aren't much better," he groused, a sour look coming over his face.

Iruka wanted to ask but thought better of it. So they had proceeded to spend the rest of the time sporadically ranting generalities about 'bitches' and all that dating nonsense. By the end of it, the chuunin wasn't even sure if Ibiki actually remembered his problem… which was so much the better. He had probably already revealed too much to someone who was also on his mission list. He didn't want to drunkenly get carried away and spill the whole story, effectively ruining his mission secrecy and any chance of getting Ibiki into his kiss.

Said jounin stumbled horrendously as he tried to walk Iruka up his porch steps. The brunette cringed and struggled not to collapse them both as Ibiki's entire weight settled across his shoulders. He frowned and shook the other man as much as he could. "Come on, you still have to move your legs," he grumbled. "We're almost there."

Ibiki grunted in irritation. "This isn't my house," he mumbled as he lifted his head to try to focus on the front door.

Iruka laughed shortly, trying to reign in his drunkenness as it was clear the other man was far more gone than he was. "No, it's my house. You walked me home, remember?"

Ibiki shuffled and managed to stand again – but just barely. Iruka valiantly tried to get his keys out of his pocket while still holding the inebriated jounin up with his other hand. "I need to go home." The scarred man tried to pull away to leave, but tripped again and Iruka grabbed at him.

"No you don't. You can't make it home in this condition. You'll crash here."

Ibiki leaned back against him, head lolling. "Ok."

Iruka raised an eyebrow. He hadn't been expecting it to be that easy. Not that he would have been able to do anything about it if the jounin put up a fight. Even intoxicated, the chuunin was sure that Ibiki would be a formidable opponent, if only because he was so much larger and physically stronger than the teacher. He chuckled inwardly at his relatively good luck and wondered how embarrassed Ibiki would be in the morning if he remembered anything of his drunken compliance.

"Alright, let's go," he coaxed as he finally got the door open.

The duo lurched through the door gracelessly, but Iruka managed to keep them from face-planting in his entryway. He toed off his own sandals, and Ibiki tried to do the same but was having a rather difficult time of it. "Damn shoes," he grumbled, mostly to himself.

Iruka started leading him down the hallway. "Don't worry about it."

Ibiki tripped as he continued trying to get his footwear off even as the chuunin was dragging him along. "But I need to get them off."

"Don't worry about it," Iruka insisted.

"But I don't want to dirty your lovely floor."

Iruka couldn't hold back a snort. "It's really ok."

"I insist you send me a bill for the cleaning."

The teacher continued smiling at the other man's antics as he shifted to drop him onto his bed. "Yeah, I'll do that."

Ibiki plopped onto the mattress, finally letting go of the tan chuunin. He leaned his head back and gazed hazily at Iruka as the other man started setting up the pillows and pulling back the blankets. He figured it was only polite to let the jounin have the bed. The other man was far too tall to fit comfortably on his couch. Iruka could barely sleep on it without back problems. But he could last one night for the sake of being a good host. "You know, sensei…" Iruka paused and looked at him. "You're really ok."

The chuunin smiled softly, figuring that that was probably pretty high praise coming from someone as stoic as Ibiki. "Thanks."

"And you are really cute." Iruka blushed, coughing and turning away. "I'm serious!" the jounin insisted. "You have nothing to worry about on your 'dating' issues."

The teacher turned back to the scarred man, locking gazes with the eyes that managed to hold their owner's intensity even through the alcoholic fog. He swallowed thickly. If he leaned just a little bit closer… It would be easy, right? Ibiki was drunk. He might not even remember the kiss! And then that would be one more name crossed off Iruka's list, and he wouldn't even have to deal with the embarrassing fallout afterward. When would he get this opportunity again?

His lips parted and he craned his neck a little closer… Ibiki wasn't moving out of the way…

He stalled and closed his eyes, his still-not-sober head rushing painfully. Could he really do it? He may have 'stolen' all his other kisses, but something about this situation just didn't seem right… At least the other men had had the opportunity to pull away or fight back if they wanted to. Could he really just take advantage of someone with little to no mental clarity left?

He never got to find out how far his conscience stretched, however, as he suddenly felt a strong tug at his collar and was pitching forward on lost balance before he could register what was happening. His tipsy mind struggled to keep up and process his current predicament.

He was in a lap. There were large arms around him. And he couldn't breathe out of his mouth because there was another mouth attached to his. The strong taste of alcohol seared through the cracks in his lips. Iruka's eyes widened as all things suddenly added up to equal Ibiki kissing him.

The jounin's lips were slightly sloppy against his own, though still firm and demanding, even through the liquor-induced clumsiness. Iruka tried for a second to pull away, but an insistent and solid hand grabbed for the back of his head, making sure the teacher couldn't escape the embrace. Ibiki darted his tongue past the tan man's lips, and Iruka shuddered with embarrassment as he heard himself moan. The man underneath him shifted and ground up into him. Iruka jumped at the sensation, and in that split second, regained his senses and grabbed the hand off his head and pulled away harshly. He didn't have time to get back to his standing position and simply sprawled backward onto his butt at the jounin's feet.

He panted heavily, a bright blush staining his cheeks. He scrambled to his feet again, a little wobbly. "Ibiki… I…" he avoided the intense man's gaze, not sure what to do, but startled as a deep rumbling chuckle came out of the interrogation expert.

Ibiki sighed, not looking at all embarrassed or flustered like Iruka. "Sorry, sensei," He grunted. "Got carried away."

"It… it's ok," Iruka stuttered.

Ibiki let out another low laugh and collapsed onto his side, snuggling into the pillows. "Won't happen again… wouldn't wanna piss off Kakashi, after all…"

Iruka felt his stomach lurch at the mention of the silver-haired jounin. He almost stammered out another denial that the copy-nin was interested in him, but his words got stuck in his throat, and he realized that Ibiki wasn't listening to him anymore anyway. He was out cold.

The chuunin shook his head, pulling out his hair tie and threading a hand through his loose locks in frustration. He sighed as the inevitable headache started to creep up on him and pulled a blanket over the prone jounin. He needed to get to bed himself. He still had mini-ninjas to teach in the morning.

Sakura found herself, for the second day in a row, awoken at an ungodly hour. However, this time was not by a little nin-dog gruffly woofing in her ear, but by an extremely loud, blonde menace bursting through her window, screaming for her to wake up. Which almost instantly turned into screams of horror as Sakura's face appeared from under the covers, slathered in white face cream, her hair up in curlers. "OH MY GOD, SAKURA, YOUR HOUSE IS HAUNTED!" The pink-haired girl was promptly punched directly in the face.

Sasuke, who had been woken up earlier and followed along behind his stupidest acquaintance, appeared in the window right as the kunoichi of the team was being pitched back into her dresser. His eyes widened in horror, and he instantly turned back around and jumped away. No way in hell was he going to stick around to witness Naruto being violently killed by the "angry spirit" – aka: Sakura…

"NARUTO – YOU IDIOT!"

Approximately five minutes later, the Uchiha reappeared tentatively to find Naruto only semi-conscious on the floor of the bedroom and Sakura pulling out her last curler, looking like her usual, beautiful self, as though one of her comrades wasn't half-dead at her feet. She whirled on her raven-haired teammate. Even her longtime crush couldn't snap her out of her early morning funk entirely, and she narrowed her gaze on him. "Now, what is this about, Sasuke?"

Sasuke sighed lowly. "This moron wants to go talk to Kakashi-sensei."

Sakura put her hands on her hips. "Why?" she shot crossly.

Naruto was finally starting to peel himself off the floor. "Because…" he coughed weakly, trying to gain his senses back. "When was the last time we had real training?"

Sakura blinked, slightly taken aback, and Sasuke crossed his arms. "He's right, you know," he uttered lowly. "This is getting ridiculous."

The kunoichi lowered her head, suddenly looking shy and nervous. "Guys… I really don't think we should bother Kakashi-sensei right now…"

Both boys peered at her owlishly. Since when was their spit-fire female teammate so concerned about taking it easy on people? "Why not?" Naruto queried.

Sakura blushed lightly. "I just… he obviously has a lot going on right now…"

Naruto crossed his arms and huffed, annoyed. "Whatever! We're his students! We're supposed to be his number one priority! I say we go over to his place and remind him of that and make him get up and train us now!"

The pink-haired girl snapped an irate gaze back to him. "No!" she shouted, gaining her vitality back.

The kyuubi-holder squinted at her suspiciously. "What do you know about what's going on?"

"Nothing!"

"Bullshit!"

"Don't swear at me, you asshole!"

"Tell us what you know!"

"NO!" Both boys stared at her. She gaped a second, then blushed hotly. "I mean, I don't know anything!"

"Tell us!"

"Shut up! And get out of my room!"

The blonde got right up in her face, studying her with an eerie amount of intensity for the usually daft boy. She glared back defiantly, but her features were starting to waver. "Is this still about Iruka-sensei?" he demanded with a creepy calmness.

Sasuke blinked. "Iruka-sensei?"

Sakura's mouth fell open and Naruto pointed accusingly in her face. "A-ha! I knew it! Damn Kakashi-sensei!"

The girl pushed the hand out of her face. "What do you know about it!?"

Naruto crossed his arms. "I told that bastard yesterday to fix things!"

"What things?" Sakura asked carefully, not sure how much the other two knew.

Naruto huffed, looking thoroughly agitated. "I don't know!" he cried, frustrated. "But something is going on with them, and I told that jerk to fix it!"

Sakura felt herself suddenly get very defensive on their teacher's behalf. "Don't call him a jerk, Naruto! Maybe he's trying. Maybe it's Iruka-sensei who isn't listening!"

Naruto gaped at her. "Whatever! There's no way this is Iruka-sensei's fault!"

"You don't know that!"

"Are you serious!?"

Sakura turned away. "I'm not saying it's his fault, just that maybe he's being more difficult than you think he is."

Naruto growled. "Arrrgh! What do you think, Sasuke!?"

Both of the gregarious teammates whirled on the dark-haired boy who had been quiet the whole time. His face retained its usual stoic mask. He glanced between his two irate friends. Neither were prepared for what was about to come out of his mouth.

"I think we should go talk to Iruka-sensei."

Iruka blinked his tired and dry eyes open as the first rays of morning sunlight streamed through his living room window. He hadn't remembered to set an alarm, but he didn't really need one when he was twisted into an uncomfortable pretzel on the couch and his head was still pounding. He was surprised he had gotten any sleep at all.

Wandering into the bathroom, he passed his still closed bedroom door on the way. Apparently Ibiki hadn't risen yet. As he went about his morning routine, he debated silently as to whether he should wake the other man or just let him sleep it off and extract himself on his own whenever he woke up and pieced things together. He was a jounin and an ally after all. Even though he had been thoroughly out of it last night, he should be able to remember enough to figure out his whereabouts quickly, and it's not like Iruka couldn't trust him to be in his house alone. The chuunin was a schoolteacher… it's not like he had sensitive information lying around… except maybe his most recent mission scroll.

The sensei blushed hotly as he recalled the previous evening. Would Ibiki remember? Would he blame him? His skin prickled as he remembered moaning into the interrogation expert's demanding mouth.

The brunette shook his head harshly, turning on the faucet and dousing his face. It was the alcohol. It heightened his senses, that was all. 'Didn't need alcohol to heighten your senses with Kakashi,' a little voice sang teasingly in his head.

The tan hands hid his face and tightened painfully, almost cutting off his breath. Ibiki's words floated back to him. 'If he's acting like he likes you, he likes you.'

'Baah!' With one final shake of his head, Iruka strode out of the bathroom. His head already hurt too much to deal with this at this hour of the morning.

He made his way to the bedroom, determining that he needed fresh clothes from there anyway. He was currently wandering around shirtless and in his boxers, having been unable to stand the sweaty, drunken smell of his old uniform enough to sleep in it. He decided to try to sneak in and out without disturbing the jounin, but if Ibiki woke up, so be it. He would just play it cool.

The teacher made it in to find the other man still snoozing, wrapped up in the blankets. He had to smile at the fact that he never before would have imagined the scary scarred man could look kinda cute when he was sleeping.

He managed to gather clean clothes without the jounin rousing and was just about to slip back out and congratulate himself on being able to sneak around such a high-level shinobi when his Teacher Senses went off and he felt a very distinct chakra approaching his bedroom window - fast.

The scene seemed to play out in slow-motion as the blonde threw open the window and burst through, screaming for Iruka-sensei… The jounin in the bed instantly sprang to life… A barrage of shuriken pinned the orange jumpsuit to the wall… Naruto shrieked in panic… Iruka's eyes widened as Ibiki, on reflex turned to the other "target" in the room – him, and he barely dodged the next wave of shuriken meant for him, falling on his butt spectacularly in the process…

The world went still for a moment. The two older ninja stared at each other, Ibiki slowly coming back to reality. He half-kneeled on the chuunin's bed still, and blinked down at the mostly-naked sensei. Iruka's hand was frozen in a placating manner to stop any more attacks. Naruto stopped struggling against his shuriken bonds to focus on what was happening.

"Uh…"

Squeak!

Iruka's head shot to the open window where Sasuke and Sakura had just appeared as well. The Uchiha looked as mortified as an Uchiha possibly can, and Sakura's face was almost the color of a tomato.

The brunette felt his own face heat up to give hers a run for the money.

Iruka. Wanted. To. Die.

Tenten narrowed her eyes at her sensei and she could feel her other teammate checking things out with his Byakugan. So they had a same suspicions… something was wrong with their teacher.

Well, ok, something was inherently wrong with Gai-sensei. They all knew that. The guy fluttered around in green spandex all the time and was way too interested in youth. Not that they didn't trust him or anything… it was just creepy. Despite getting used to his oddness over the past couple years, the students could still tell when something was up with their jounin instructor.

Normally, Gai-sensei would have given them all a speech about how a week-long mission was a fabulous opportunity and test of endurance, before racing off into the sunset, Lee following closely behind. But he had seemed rather… put-out when his team had tracked him down to inform him that they were needed for a mission. In fact, he had been difficult to track down in the first place.

He had tried to stall a few times, and even attempted to sneak away once as they were making their way to the gates. Only Lee starting to cry because he was convinced that Gai-sensei clearly hated him made Gai start to cry as well and hug Lee tightly and proclaim that he would never leave him.

As disturbing as that scene had been, at least it had been "normal" in terms of Gai. But their teacher had almost been… sulking since they started this mission. Tenten had briefly worried that Gai knew something about the danger associated with their mission that they didn't. But that wasn't likely. He never kept things from them before, and he knew they were more than capable. Even if he had been somewhat worried, he would have used it as a chance to try to inspire his students to grow their Youthful Strength.

And a look from Neji confirmed that he didn't see anything strange to indicate that the abnormally mellow person in front of them was anyone but Gai-sensei or that Gai was sick in any way.

At least Lee was now too busy being immersed in their mission to notice anything out of the ordinary. The other two didn't know if they could handle their teacher being weird and their exuberant teammate freaking out about it at the same time. No one needed a repeat of the tearful scene in the village while they were in the middle of trying to complete a mission in a foreign land.

Gai could feel the inquiring gazes of his students on his back, but he held back the cries of apology that were bubbling up inside him. After getting his best friend/rival to open up to him in the woods on their feigned "mission," he had been about to rush off to talk to the good academy sensei and get things straightened out with their vests. But he had been foiled by his team appearing and telling him of a real mission they needed to leave on immediately. Apparently they had been searching for him most of the day… oops.

But not wanting to leave his poor friend in the lurch with the misunderstandings with Iruka-sensei brewing between them, he had uncharacteristically tried to postpone their mission for a short while… he just wanted to have five minutes with Iruka-sensei – ten, at most. But Lee – his precious Lee – had started crying over thinking that he hated him and was trying to get away from him. It had only taken that (plus a few terse glares from his other two precious students) for him to abandon his ideas of trying to sneak away.

That didn't stop him from worrying about how poor Kakashi was managing and pouting over the fact that he hadn't been able to make things right before leaving the village for a whole week.

How was his tender, lovesick rival faring with the sweet and gentle Iruka-sensei? How was the sweet and gentle Iruka-sensei faring with the strange mission that Gai had stumbled upon in his vest pocket?

His name was on that mission list… How was Iruka-sensei planning on kissing him? A light blush rose to his cheeks. How could he even go through with such a thing, now knowing how his noble rival felt about the brunette sensei!? How had the innocent and pure teacher of the academy gotten involved in such a scandalous mission in the first place? WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO THE YOUTH AND INNOCENCE OF HIS BEAUTIFUL VILLAGE!?

Manly tears prickled his eyes and he couldn't hold back a sniffle as he thought about all the injustice happening with his great friend and the noble sensei right now.

His students' eyes narrowed on his back at the sound. More sobs started to escape out his nose, and Tenten's eyes became slits and Neji started to slow down and gain distance between him and his sensei.

Even Lee eventually noticed the small noises of distress coming from his idol and gazed at his teacher worriedly. "Gai-sensei…"

Gai froze and tried to collect himself. The rest of his team stilled as well, most looking at him like he was nuts – only one with concern. But the sobs started coming faster and harder. Lee's eyes were starting to brim with tears as well, even though he had no idea what they were supposed to be upset about…

Suddenly the blue beast whirled around to his team, face full of barely-contained emotion. "MY YOUTHFUL STUDENTS!" Lee leaned forward as the others shifted backward minutely. "NEVER ALLOW YOUR INNOCENCE AND PURITY TO BE CORRUPTED! IT IS THE ONLY THING YOU CARRY WITH YOU YOUR WHOLE LIFE!"

Lee burst into sparkling tears. "GAI-SENSEI! SUCH WORDS OF WISDOM!"

The two green-clad men embraced tightly as they cried over the loss of innocence.

Tenten and Neji merely shook their heads.

Alright… wasn't originally planning to end it there, but I'm gonna. The last chapter was sooo much longer than any of the others. I let it slide since it had been so long since I updated and a long chapter seemed overdue and appropriate. But now, I'd like to get back to keeping them approximately 4,000 words or so. I promise next chapter will lead us into the beginning of the pre-climax (is there such a thing as the pre-climax – well, there is now lol) of the story – the crazy Shinobi Social.

I laughed my butt off while writing this chapter, so I hope you laughed a little while reading it too. Made me feel good to write a chapter like this after feeling like I stumbled a bit through chapter 11. Let me know what you think!

DixieGoddess