Iruka yawned as he shuffled the last of the paperwork from his to-do pile into its proper location. It was almost time to go home; he was looking forward to a fairly calm night. I finally finished grading all those student essays yesterday, we don't have another test for a week, and I don't have to be anywhere. I can finally get started on that novel I've had for the last month…

Feeling virtuous, Iruka rose and stretched. Then he headed out into the main office to check on what was going on.

Namida, Izumo and Kotetsu were huddled together, sniggering about something. Raising his eyebrow, Iruka coughed lightly and saw them jump apart. Namida started blushing, Izumo gave Iruka an odd, thoughtful look, and Kotetsu's grin could have split his head.

"Uh…what's going on?" Iruka crossed his arms over his chest, feeling rather defensive. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing." Namida gave her fellow chuunin a quelling glance and hastily picked up some reports. "I've got to go file these."

"I'll help you." Kotetsu picked up the rest and they ducked into the filing room. Izumo shook his head and started sorting through his own pile.

"Izumo…" Iruka frowned. "Tell me what you guys were talking about."

Izumo gave him a sideways glance and then sighed. He could see the rising anger in Iruka's eyes. It was not really safe to have Iruka pissed at you. Iruka was the master pranker, and his revenges were legendary. "Uh…it's nothing. Just some gossip. Stupid really."

"Really? Then it shouldn't be too bad to pass it along. After all, if it's so funny…"

Izumo's eyes darted to the door. Damn. He was trapped. "Ahh…."

Iruka lowered his chin and glared at Izumo. Finally, Izumo rubbed his chin uneasily and sighed. "Alright, but you have to promise not to get pissed at me."

Iruka sighed in exasperation. "Just tell me already!"

"Look, I don't know where it started, or who started it, but…there's a rumor that…uhm…you and…that you're dating…." Izumo hesitated, and then blurted "That you're dating Hatake Kakashi!"

"WHAT?" Iruka gaped at Izumo, his arms falling to his side in shock. "WHAT???"

"Yeah….uhm. That's the rumor."

"That's….that's…."

"Uh…so you're not?"

"WHAT! I'M NOT GAY!" Iruka screamed. Izumo blanched and pressed himself against the wall, one hand coming up to fend off Iruka.

"I didn't believe it! I don't think you're gay! I didn't even want to tell you about the rumor, but you insisted! Iruka, don't kill me!"

Iruka forced himself to calm down. Taking several long, deep breaths, he took a few steps backward and re-crossed his arms over his chest. After a long moment of fuming silence, he hissed one word.

"Hatake."