The next day Kakashi was called to the Hokage's office. He left the kids with Iruka and made sure his mask was in place—he hadn't been wearing it often the past couple days—and made his way to Minato's office slowly.

The Fourth Hokage was sitting calmly behind his desk, stamping papers and moving them to the side mechanically. He looked up when Kakashi entered the room.

"Ah, Kakashi," he said, stretching. "Just the shinobi I was looking for. I have a mission for you."

Kakashi frowned. "What?"

"You are to take a group of Genin and take them to their sensei in a village near the border," Minato continued, ignoring Kakashi.

Kakashi sighed. "Fine. I'll do it. When do I meet them?"

Minato smirked. "Right now."

Three kids walked in the door then, the brunette girl standing in between her two scowling teammates.

"Kakashi, meet Katsu Uchiha," the raven on the girl's left side nodded. "Michio Iwasaki," the boy with blue hair on the right waved cheerily. "And Miyuki Kasamatsu." The girl smiled.

"Team Daichi, meet Kakashi. He's your temporary sensei," Minato said.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Miyuki said.

"You'll meet at the gates in one hour to start your mission. Pack enough for a couple days." Minato dismissed them with a wave of his hand, and the three Genin bowed then walked out of the room. Kakashi hesitated before leaving.

/\/\

"What did the Hokage need?" Iruka asked when he got home. Itachi was still sitting at the kitchen table drawing, and Sasuke was crawling around the living room. Iruka was alternating between watching the TV and watching Sasuke.

"I have to go on a mission. I'll be gone a couple days." Kakashi answered, moving into his bedroom to find a bag to stuff his provisions in. Iruka followed him.

"Really? I would have thought Minato would wait a couple days, especially seeing as Itachi just got his memory erased," he said, leaning against the door. Kakashi shrugged, dropping to his hands and knees to look under his bed for his bag.

"It's in your closet," Iruka said. He knew the man in front of him so well by now he knew exactly what Kakashi was looking for without him having to say it.

Kakashi moved over to the closet, and sure enough, the backpack was sitting on the floor. "Thanks," he said to Iruka.

"Is it—"

"I just have to take a team of genin to their sensei. It isn't going to be dangerous, I promise," Kakashi said. Just like Iruka, he knew exactly what the brunette needed to know, what he was looking for, and what he was thinking.

"You'll be back in two days?"

"More or less,"

Iruka sighed. "Okay. But you're explaining this to Itachi."

/\/\

Kakashi met the team of Genin at the gates in a little over an hour. Sort of.

"You're late!" Michio screeched, pointing a finger at him.

"Sorry. I got a little distracted."

Truth was, he couldn't get Itachi to let go of his leg. For some reason the raven had decided that he would be a little kid today, not the dignified young Uchiha he sometimes was.

"You're lying," Katsu said from his position leaning against a nearby tree. Kakashi blinked.

"Excuse me?"

Miyuki smiled, her dark hair gathered into a braid that was thrown over her shoulder. "Katsu knows when people are lying. He's got a talent for it."

"But I'm not lying. I really was distracted. My son didn't want me to leave," Kakashi defended himself, vaguely marveling at the fact that he actually could call Itachi his son.

"You're married?" Miyuki asked excitedly.

"No."

"Oh." She pouted.

"Then why do you have a son?" Michio wondered.

"I actually have two."

"And yet you're not married?" Michio said, frowning. This completely went against everything he knew!

"Exactly. Now, let's get moving. I promised my friend that I'd be home in two days." Kakashi disappeared into the trees.

"But—"

"Now!"

The three Genin moved to follow him.

/\/\

Iruka sighed. Kakashi had only been gone a day and he was already going crazy with loneliness.

"Itachi," he called tiredly. "Get away from the dog."

For some reason, Hana had deemed it necessary to bring over a puppy when she came over yesterday to see Itachi. She had said that it was his present for being her friend, and the raven had immediately fallen in love with the tiny puppy.

Iruka had no choice but to let him keep the dog. He struggled not to think about what Kakashi would think about this.

"Daddy," Itachi whined. "His name is Hikaru."

"I'm sorry. Get away from Hikaru; he's busy eating." Iruka corrected himself, forcing himself to concentrate on the TV. Minato had thought that it would be a great idea to take Sasuke for the day and make sure that he and Naruto became best friends. So now all Iruka had to do was watch TV and make sure Itachi didn't hurt himself—or the puppy.

Iruka hadn't realized how close he had gotten to Kakashi until he was gone. He was just now realizing that maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to start helping the older ninja.

If he hadn't, maybe he wouldn't be this depressed without Kakashi around.

A/N: Okay, so now we're finally getting to the Kakashi/Iruka part of this story. Finally! I'm totally congratulating myself right now. I thought I would never get this part of the story!