"Mah, Ichida-chan! It's me! Kotetsu!" the man pressed again, his eyes were wide and round. Ichida frowned at him over her papers. Clearly drugged in some way, those pupils were not natural. Her theory was proven when he sipped casually on a bottle of cherry-syrup. He had a bandage across his nose and was a chuunin. "I hate chuunins." Ichida decided to herself, clenching her right fist. Crushing her pen into pieces of metal and bright red ink that exploded across her face.

Kotetsu shrieked and jumped away, a sweat drop sliding down his face as he stared at her. "Ahahahah, not me though?... Ichida-chan, what-no no, don't!" he stammered as he crab-walked away from her as she stalked after him, blank face and hands gripping after him. If he wasn't so terrified it would have been adorable. It really was his own fault, he mused as he jumped away from her lunge, choosing her as the soulmate for Iruka, his former best-friend. He faltered little at that thought and grew glum thinking about his last interaction with the teacher.

"Heeey, look who it is?!" Kotetsu beamed excitedly across the mission room, meeting Iruka's surprised face. He jogged over, eyes closed with the force of his smile, excited to catch up with his friend who he hadn't talked to in a long time- oh, what antics had all the kids gotten up to? Always a laugh talking to Iruka. Good ol' Ir-"URK!" Kotetsu grunted as he opened his eyes to meet the glare of doom.

"Hagane-san. Why aren't you at the gates?" Iruka glared, talking coldly in a respective tone.

"Mah, Iruka- why the formal tone? Man, I thought you weren't mad about the picnic anymore!" Kotetsu whined as he hid behind a genin-team that were waiting in queue for a mission. Iruka grit his teeth in a polite smile to the bewildered teens, before grabbing Kotetsu by his hair and dragging him out of the room.

"What is it, augh, stop already. I apologized didn't I?" Kotetsu grumbled, rubbing his head with a glare. Immediately freezing under Iruka's glare.

"It's not about the picnic." Kotetsu guessed. Iruka shook his head with another creepily tight smile.

"The picnic is nothing- Nothing on what you did!"

Ichida looked in worry as the unknown chuunin was groping himself in public on the streets, wincing with even intervals, and looking like he was in deep mental distress. Her left eye started to twitch when he started to sip on the syrup like it comforted him.

"How can you even THINK of doing that? You know what he's like! I couldn't get out of bed the next three days- the Hokage sent a genin team to my house!" Iruka hissed after he was done pointing his explanation with kicks to Kotetsu's body.

"Naruto's team!" Iruka underlined shrilly.

Kotetsu shuddered as he snapped back from his memories into the streets again. Ichida had abandoned her ideas to murder him and was instead eating her strawberry dango serenely. Kotetsu hadn't noticed her clothes before now- she was wearing a black dress with long sleeves that went to half-way down her calves. It was probably knee-length on a normal person, he thought with a smile.

"Hey, Ichida-chan! Just let me tell you what I came to say, yeah?" he said, sitting down next to her with a grin.

"Fine, do it." She sighed. Just humour the crazy chuunin.

"You're visiting Iruka-kun later right?" he asked, leaning his head on the back of his hand. Ichida nodded, her mouth full of dango.

Even though Kotetsu wanted to squeal and tug her nose for being so cute, he refrained from doing so. "Could you do something from me? Just a small favour?"

Iruka jumped a little at the knock on his door. It was a little past seven and he had just started cooking a pot of soup for dinner after work. He heard three more knocks in a rhythmic succession and went for the door. "Yes?" he said shortly while opening the door, expecting a mission briefing.

Not a cute blue-haired girl with a container of dumplings and a bottle of sake.

"Ichida-chan!" he blurted like a fool, blushing bright red as his elderly neighbor Takashiwa nodded approvingly at him. He hurriedly dragged her in to spare himself for any lewd suggestions from the retired civilian. Trust old pig Takashiwa to see anything untoward in something innocent and set tongues wagging all over town. Iruka shook his head in disgust at the thought.

"Umino-kun, you can let me go now."

Iruka spooked really easily these days, she thought as he flew away from her muttering apologies as he disappeared into the kitchen. A few minutes later, sitting at the traditional low table in the living room with Iruka serving her vegetable soup and cooked rice, Ichida blinked at the familiar scenario. Her, sitting across from Iruka. Iruka, being extremely courteous as he was there while showing several signs of embarrassment and stress. That Kotetsu-chuunin somehow in the background of the event, acting weird.

She narrowed her eyes at the window. Did he really think she couldn't feel the genjutsu? Iruka distracted her by offering her sake, like a proper host would. He was very cute today, blushing and seemed mortified to have her in his apartment, serving her soup. It was a delicious soup. Trying not to smile at him as he awkwardly proposed a toast to Konoha. He started laughing nervously, sweating and rubbing the back of his neck when she doesn't respond immediately.

Something thunks against the window and they both look towards it. A rose in the flowerbed waves casually as if nothing happened and Ichida feels almost inclined to believe it. She looks at her host, who looks like a confused puppy, almost pouting at the window for not being quiet. Ichida felt her heart give a sound thump at the sight.

Iruka sweat drops as his unexpected guest starts choking on her drink, before she tries to chug the rest of the soup down in record speed. "Ah, Ichida-chan, are you alright there?"

"Ah~!" she croaks, tears in her eyes as she starts coughing and her face turns red. She looks vaguely ill, and he looks from his soup to the sake bottle with suspicious eyes. "Where did you get the bottle?" he is mentally going through a list of symptoms of poisoning in his head. When she stops coughing and instead just looks vaguely annoyed, he stops sniffing the bottle.

She's removing the foil from the package of dango, carefully picking one out and bringing it up to her mouth.

"Hagane-kun gave it." she waves towards the window, and the rose stiffens in it's soothing wave. Iruka looks at it suspiciously, scenting the air.

"Did he now?"

"Mmmh~." Ichida hummed around a glutinous rice cake. Iruka vows to not look away from his window.

"Really."

"He was groping himself in public and having a mental breakdown, I felt sorry for him."

"Is that so- Wait, what?" Iruka snaps out of his stare-down to gape at her like a fool.

"He said he owed you an apology and he needed a cute girl to deliver you snacks and alcohol." she blinked at him serenely.

"What."

"Apparantly this is a pity-date."

"..."

"Umino-kun, won't you have some dango?" she pushes one against his mouth, staring at him. "They are quite soft and... delicious." she brushes her thumb against his bottom lip and Iruka feels like he's going to explode. As he swims in her chocolate eyes and feels his mouth open to accept the food she is offering him, a sweet scent envelopes his senses and he feels a little drunk.

"THAT'S PERFECT!"

Kotetsu jumps through the window, breaking it. «I totally knew you liked syrup!» he exclaims happily.

Iruka is so confused he doesn't really know what he's doing anymore. Apparently his mouth is chewing his dango. There is no fingers pressed against his lips.

Kotetsu is grinning like a maniac. «Izumo told me to leave you alone. Claimed that lying to Gai and forcing you to train with him was cruel enough. But I was right!» he pointed at his own chest, looking extremely pleased.

"What." Iruka repeats, swallowing the dango hastily. Syrup?

"I just needed Ichida-chan to distract you and feed you syrup covered dango lovingly. It was a brilliant plan." he admitted proudly.

Iruka threw an aghast glance at his female guest. She shrugged apologetically. "Umino-kun, whatever you did, you traumatised him badly." she smiles at him as she says it. "But, what.. pity-date?" he forces out before she makes him stammer again. "This is a pretty mild prank, to be honest." she smiles at him in a cute way, "Nothing on your pranks in the academy.". Iruka blushes at the reminder that she is only two years younger than him and she surely had been pranked by him at some point. "Besides.." Ichida smiles at him serenely, "We're not like that, are we Umino-kun?".

Kotetsu and Iruka both freeze as Ichida thanks politely for the meal and they wave robotically as she bows farewell and leaves through the window. Kotetsu can't help but flinch at the glare Iruka gives him. Offering him a bottle of syrup probably wasn't his smartest idea.

The next day Kotetsu is found manning the gates, his face is bright blue and stinking of sake, a pair of underpants glued to his hitai-ate.

"You failed again didn't you?" Izumo sighed as yet another chuunin messenger goggled at his partner. "You should just leave them alone- things like this takes time- and you're too hyped up on syrup to let things happen as they should." he snapped, looking at Kotetsu with narrow eyes.

"He's going to be 26 in two months! He's been single since he was 16! Ten years I've waited- I am done!" Kotetsu smacked his hand dramatically on the table in front of him, scattering papers that Izumo caught with a long-suffering look on his face. "They are perfect for eachother! If I can't make them see it, then I will make sure others do!"

Izumo sweatdropped, clutching forms to his chest. "What?" he said. Kotetsu grinned maniacally at him.

"You wait. Wait and see, my friend!" he giggled, relaxing back into his chair sipping from his syrup bottle.