THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO REVIEWED! IT IS MUCH APPRECIATED!

School is really taking up alot of my time - as is work... so all I can get out now are short pieces of stuff.

This one is KakaxIru. G-rated.

For those interested in my Revelation of the Wolf... well... I'll put up two more chapters but that's it for now.

Um... most of the italics are either Genma, Iruka or the Hokage... hope this doesn't confuse you...

Confused

"You 'kay?"

"…………"

"I'm serious."

"…………"

A pause.

"You can tell me, I promise not to say anything to ANYONE."

Another pause.

"You won't tell anybody?"

"Nope. Give. You look – like you lost your Icha Icha. Did you lose it?"

A single eye rose upwards towards the clouds.

"You won't tell any Chuunin at the mission desk?"
"No."

"Or the Hokage?"

"No…"

"Or Raido?"

"….er… what do I look like?"

"Well…"

"What's that supposed to mean? I'm a Jounin. I know what confidential means."

"Yuh-huh."

"So?"

"So…"

"So?"

"Well…. I think I'm sick."

"Sick?"

"Ill. Not feeling up to snuff. Off colour. Not a hundred percent. Under the weather. Ailing."

"Ahhh… A flu bug?"

"Genma…. You know what I mean."

"……. Noooo……."

"I've been feeling dizzy."

"Hmmmm…"

"And my stomach cramps… and feels … fluttery…."

"Yeeeahhh…."

"I get hot."

"Ookaaayyy."

"And lightheaded."

"Interesting."

"And then delirious or something because then I can't stop babbling."

"…………."

"I can't sleep at all either. And I must be delusional or something because…."

"Yeah?"

"Well…"

Genma rolled his eyes. "Kakashi," he sighed. "Just spit it out."

"My thoughts…"

"Your thoughts…?"

"They've been weird lately – and – and I can't help it!"

"Weird as in -?"

A silence.

"Weird as in violent – I want to kill my teammates weird? Or demented as in kill Naruto weird? Which isn't that weird at all – if you think about it. Or bizarre weird like Gai's dress sense?"

Kakashi blinked then mumbled something.

"Eh? What I didn't catch that."

"I mean pervy weird," ground out Kakashi.

Genma's eyes widened.

"…….. Which kunoichi? It better not be Kurenai 'cause Asuma will kill you then."

"….no…."

"Or Anko. 'Cause that would be – just wrong…"

"No."

"Or Shizune or Tsubaki, because they're too innocent."

"I wasn't thinking of them either."

"You're not –"

"Not what?"

"You're not thinking of Suzume are you? Or Koharu? Or Tsunade-sama?"

Shocked silence broken by gagging.

"No!"

"Well…"

"It's hard to explain… it's just that I've gotten used to seeing him around –"

Genma's jaw dropped.

"Shit, Kakashi… It's a guy?"
"……….."

Kakashi pouted.

"I mean, that's fine…. Just great. I mean – you know what I think on that subject…"

"But he's so innocent! And so straightlaced – he'd never think of me that way!" Kakashi blushed.

Not me. Dammit.

"Do I know him?"

"Ye-es… I think so…. Yeah… you'd have seen him around."

"Well… just ask him out."

"Ask - ask him out?"

"Yeah. Just say, wanna have dinner with me?"

"……………."
"What devious plan are you cooking now?"

"I'm not planning anything devious… now."

"Yuh-huh."

"Well…"

"Spit it out. It has to go through the Genma Integrity Test."

"You've got integrity?"

sounds of a death match

"Okay, okay, I take that back."

"You had better – I'm the one sorting out your fricked up love life."

Kakashi pouted.

"My idea was to ask him out without telling him."

Genma blinks.

"Eh? What?"

"Ask him out without telling him."

"Kakashi. That doesn't make much sense."

"ASK HIM OUT WITHOUT TELLING HIM."

"Um… Kakashi. You're not planning on putting a genjutsu on him?"

"No."

"Then…"

"I said…. I would ask him out for dinner without mentioning to him that it's a date."

"You know… Kakashi…it's always good to start a relationship with truthfulness… so…"

"Fine. Fine."

"Just ask him. Who could resist?"
"He could."

"Why do you say that?"
"He hates my guts – I'm sure of it."

"Hates your guts?"

"Well… maybe I'm exaggerating…"

"You think?"

"But he gets miffed easily."

Short-tempered.

"And he sees through everything…"

Discerning.

"When I show up late with my reports, he gets really angry."

On the Mission Report desk.

"And he's got friends in high – VERY high – places…."

Hangs out with the Hokage….

"Low tolerance for stupidity – which I like. And very practical."

Commonsense.

"But his chocolate brown eyes just seem to make me melt."

Chocolate brown eyes….

"And they get so stormy when he catches me reading my Icha Icha books in front of Naruto – and well… the rest of the team…"

Decent. Prude? Likes Naruto….

Ha! BINGO!

Short-tempered.

Discerning.

On the Mission Report desk.

Hangs out with the Hokage….

Commonsense.

Chocolate brown eyes….

Decent. Prude? Likes Naruto….

"Kakashi… it's probably simpler than you think. I have a feeling that if you just go up to him and say, 'Iruka, would you like to hang out with me one night?' He'd jump at the opportunity. I know him quite well… I'm sure he'd be into you too."

Kakashi glared.

"How did –"

"Oh, come on. Give me credit. Short-tempered. Discerning. On the Mission Report desk. Hangs out with the Hokage…. Commonsense. Chocolate brown eyes…. Decent. Prude? Likes Naruto…."

A pause.

"Isn't he just perfect though?"

"I guess – if you go for the innocent, boring types."

"Eh?" coming out of a trance

"Nothing, nothing."

Hopeless.

"I'm sure you could do it."

Kakashi nodded his head slowly. Then he stood.

"Thanks, Genma. You've been a help, I owe you a pint."

"Not a lay?"

"Nope. Sorry – sharp pointy objects aren't my thing."

"But you're interested in Iruka's pointy – aaaak!"

Genma found his face shoved into the turf of the training ground.

A moment of silence as a light poof sounded.

"Uh… Kakashi-sensei – the – er – uh – kage wished to speak to you…."

Iruka's warm voice trailed away as he caught sight of Kakashi straddling Genma, pinning the honey-haired Jounin down to the ground.

Kakashi and Genma were together?

Kakashi cursed and leapt away. Genma winked at him and jerked his senbon toward Iruka meaningfully. Kakashi looked closer at the Chuunin – the brown chocolate eyes looked sooo sad.

Kakashi scratched his head.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei. It isn't what you thought!"

"No?"

There are many ways to say 'no'.

Iruka's 'no' sounded like a clarion call of hope.

"I was teaching Genma a lesson for being rude."

"Oh!"

Oh!

"Oh! Well – if you could come to –"

"Sure, I'll walk with you."

"See ya round, Kakashi-san."

"You too, Genma-kun."

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"So…."

"So…."

"I was wondering…."

Another pause.

"Yes?"

Iruka tried to damp down his hopes while Kakashi babbled on.

"Well… tonight… I thought… well…. Nobody's around… so…. Well… there's dinner… and uh… I'd like… to… uh… talk to you about Naruto… maybe over dinner?"

"To talk…"

"Well… not just about Naruto… it's not about Naruto at all… no…. that is… you have freedom of speech – right? So…. It's dinner really… just dinner… with talking and… uh… stuff…."

"Dinner…"

"At the… Ichiraku Ramen shop?... um…. My treat?"

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"Well… Kakashi is just fine too, you know. It's okay now – since we know each other a lot, right?"

"Kaka-san!"

Kakashi smiled and blushed red (hidden underneath his mask) – Iruka was looking at his feet then up at the silver-haired ninjas worried eye.

"I'd – I'd really like that! That'd be – I'd love to!"

"Good. That's good. Great."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

They were at the Hokage's door.

Tsunade jerked it open herself.

"Finally – about time."

"I'm sorry I'm late, Hokage-sama!" wailed Iruka, "I must have lost track of time."

"I'm not talking about that."

"Eh?"

both shinobi blink

"Never mind."

Hopeless. Genma, how did you do that?

From afar off, Genma and Raido raised a toast to what would be the talk of the town.