Kakashi was awake the very instant Iruka moved in his arms. It brought several things to mind in under a second as the chunin shifted and woke. The first and most obvious was that Kakashi had moved in his sleep, wrapping his arms tightly around the warm body in the same bed as him. The second was that Iruka was waking up and would be completely and utterly furious to find this out. Kakashi kept his breath even, his eyes closed, his chakra even. If Iruka woke to find himself in this position and even suspected Kakashi was awake, his reaction would be far worse.

The teacher stiffened suddenly and Kakashi focused on staying still and relaxed. In his arms, Iruka twisted, looking at the older man. His arms came up, pushing against Kakashi’s chest, but the motion had next to no strength. After a moment, the brunette turned again, burying his face in the pillow. He was asleep again in moments.

Kakashi began to inch away from the teacher, moving slowly so he wouldn’t wake the sleeping teacher. He was shocked as the man gripped at his wrists, preventing the retreat. Hesitantly, Kakashi tightened his hold, but Iruka stiffened again, resisting that as well. Kakashi sighed, relaxing his arms again.

The teacher woke three more times, repeating his squirming each time. As nine o’clock drew closer, Iruka woke again. Just as he’d done several times before, Iruka rolled to look at Kakashi. This time he pushed against Kakashi’s arm with more force than his earlier attempts. Kakashi held in his sigh as the teacher climbed out of bed and stumbled to his dresser. He dressed without taking his eyes off the supposedly sleeping man still in bed and moved quickly towards the kitchen.

Kakashi made a show of yawning a few minutes later as he prepared to get out of bed. He sat up, keeping his chakra levels low and even, making the teacher think he was just coming out of sleep. He knew that Iruka was monitoring him, just as he was monitoring the teacher. Outside the tiny apartment, Kakashi could also feel the chakra signature of the shinobi that had been there most of the night as he finally left his post. Kakashi had been right to stay, or at least he’d had more than merely selfish reasons for it. He would remember to ask one of his friends who it had been.

Kakashi let his chakra seep out as if he were waking up. After a moment, Iruka’s voice wafted through the doorway. “If you’re awake, just get up. I don’t need the warning.” Kakashi obediently let his control drop and climbed out of bed. After a moment of searching in the unfamiliar furniture arrangement, he found his shirt as well as his hitai-ate and donned both. Iruka had made a simple breakfast and set out two plates. “And what is the plan for today?” he asked as Kakashi lowered his mask and took his seat.

Iruka turned to the table, bringing the last of breakfast with him and took his seat. He was trying not to stare, Kakashi noticed, but his eyes still traced across his lips and jaw line. His eyes traced a third line and Kakashi wondered what had attracted his attention. He smiled as he realized it had to be the faint tan line that crossed his cheek. “Well, we should go on another public date, I think.”

Iruka sighed, dropping his eyes to his plate. “What about missions?”

“I’m sure they’ll understand. Raidou might complain, but he’ll cover for you again.”

Iruka frowned, his eyes narrowing to glare at his plate now. “What makes you think that, Kakashi?” The jounin realized his mistake, but kept his mouth shut, letting Iruka work through the issue himself. “Have you been following me yourself? Or do you have someone else tailing me?”

“I’ve been asking about you. As such, some of my friends have been checking on you the last day or two. It’s not as if you’ve been very sneaky about looking for me. And, of course, concerned as they are about you, they’ve told me what they know. Including that Raidou now thinks we’re both nuts. I’m sure he’ll draw his own conclusions once he learns our little secret.”

Iruka’s anger dribbled away and he began poking at his food. After several moments of silence (filled with Kakashi’s mumbled praise of how delicious Iruka’s plain white rice was) Iruka set his chopsticks aside. “Public date?” he asked in a defeated tone, not bothering to elaborate.

Kakashi allowed himself a smile. “I have a few ideas, places I’d like to take you.” He set his cleaned plate aside and replaced his mask before standing and going to the door. “I have a few things to do first, though. Can I pick you up for lunch around one?”

Iruka still hadn’t moved from his seat. He barely nodded to acknowledge the man’s exit.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Iruka was having trouble concentrating. Around noon, he’d given up on cleaning his apartment as well as planning lessons for his class. He lay spread out on the couch, staring blankly at the ceiling, trying to recall who he wanted as a partner. If he focused, he could recall his ideal woman, an image he’d developed as a young child. She had looked surprisingly like pictures of his mother, but with a much better body.

As he’d grown older, the woman had changed in two rather significant ways. One, it no longer looked anything like his mother, taking on a much more realistic look. Second, it was no longer female. Instead, he had fantasized about a stronger man, always taller than him by several inches. Iruka sighed, noticing that his ideal partner at the time had borne a distinct resemblance to Mizuki. Trying to forget that little detail, he focused on how the image had changed, gradually becoming a more feminine looking man (or a slightly manly looking woman, depending on how you looked at it) as his preference wavered between men and women. But it had begun to unravel, fading away behind far too much experience. Now Iruka couldn’t even call the image to mind.

His thoughts were interrupted by a quiet knock and Iruka glanced at the clock. Twelve forty. Had Tsunade sent someone to see why he hadn’t been to the missions’ desk in two days? As he opened the door, Hatake Kakashi was the last person he expected to see leaning bored against the door jam. “Kakashi? You’re . . . you’re early.”

The man nodded once. “For you, yes I am. Are you ready?”

Still feeling rather stunned, Iruka nodded, quickly pulling his shoes on and stepping into the hallway with the other man. He’s taller than me, he noticed idly. And dressed in a way the chunin had never seen before. The previous day, Iruka had been in civilian clothes, but Kakashi had still been in his standard shinobi dress, not having gone home to change. Now the man was dressed in a form fitting, sleeveless black top underneath a flowing long sleeve white shirt that he hadn’t bothered buttoning. Real silk, by the look of it. His tight black pants sat low on his hips, practically clinging to the bones. Iruka felt distinctly underdressed in his baggy pants and almost fully buttoned cotton shirt. Kakashi slung one long arm over his shoulders, pulling him along before he could dart back into the apartment to change.

Walking along the road, Iruka’s unease just rose. As they walked, many shinobi looked at the pair as if they were some part of a sideshow. Many gave Iruka smiles and hidden thumbs up while the bolder ones darted forward to pat Kakashi on the back. After ten minutes of this, Iruka’s discomfort was becoming obvious and Kakashi gave his shoulder a squeeze. His hand drifted down behind the teacher and he fully expected a firm squeeze to his backside. Instead, the jounin’s fingers wrapped tightly around his own, giving encouragement and support while allowing him to take a step away, breathing more easily.

Within minutes, Kakashi steered the other man into a beautifully decorated restaurant. The woman at the door smiled as they entered. “Kakashi-san! It’s so good to see you back again. And Iruka-Sensei, the pleasure is all mine.” She turned, gesturing to the man behind an ornate counter. “If you don’t mind waiting a moment, we’ll have your table cleaned and ready.”

“Thank you, Kika.” Kakashi gave the girl a small nod and she promptly turned pink, dashing deeper into the building.

Iruka looked at his escort questioningly. “Do you come here often?”

“There’s a table in the back where I can remove my mask without worrying about prying eyes. I only have a few places I can go to enjoy a leisurely meal.” He released the chunin’s hand as they were led back to their seat. “I also might have called ahead and let them know we’d be here.”

Iruka felt his cheeks heat slightly but quickly dismissed the feeling. Settling down to eat, Iruka just looked at Kakashi for several minutes. The waitress stepped towards the table, waiting several steps away until Kakashi nodded towards her and she stepped flush with the table. “Would you like your usual, Kakashi-san?”

Kakashi shook his head and looked over at Iruka. “Do you know what you’d like?”

“What is your usual?”

Kakashi leaned back a moment in thought. “Usually tempura with a few orders of Takoyaki from down the block.”

Iruka’s eyes widened. “You get food from another restaurant?”

Kakashi shrugged. “I pay price plus five dollars. Another five to the chef here and ten to the runner, plus normal tip, of course.” Iruka continued to stare, incredulous. Kakashi shrugged again. “I’m willing to pay for the convenience of eating here, even if I want something that’s not on the menu.”

Iruka shook his head, quietly ordering his food. “I just can’t believe you sometimes. Why are you so paranoid about people seeing your face anyway?” The teacher regretted the question as soon as it was out of his mouth. No shinobi would offer up a secret like that willingly. Most likely he’d give some stupid answer like ‘it increases my sense of mystery.’

Kakashi smiled behind the mentioned fabric. “There isn’t really one answer. Part of it is because of my father. After the village turned on him, I used this little cloth to hide behind.” Iruka’s eyes widened in surprise. Kakashi was actually telling him? “I was a child genius, too, you know. I reached jounin before most people graduate from the academy. Back then, the mask protected me on missions and helped me separate from my peers while at home.”

Their food arrived and Kakashi waited for the server to leave before lowering his mask. He smiled at Iruka as the teacher stared at his lips for a minute. “And it does wonders for my personal mystique.” This earned him a glare and Iruka began dishing up his lunch. “How about you, Iru-chan? What made you want to be a teacher?”

For a few moments Iruka didn’t answer. Slowly he nodded, as if deciding something to himself. “When my parents were killed, I felt very alone. I acted out and played a lot of pranks, but in the end I was just really lonely. One of the people that helped me a lot was a teacher of mine. Since then I’d always wanted to help others the way he helped me.”

“That’s why you’re so close with Naruto?” Iruka nodded, falling into silence. Kakashi smiled at him, “He’s a good kid.”

Lunch continued, the two talking about a lot of things, learning about each other. Iruka blushed more than once as he realized he was telling this man things he hadn’t told anyone before and when he realized Kakashi was doing the same. By mutual agreement, they decided to visit the memorial stone after lunch and Iruka once again saw a side of the copy ninja no one else got to see.

He watched in silence as Kakashi stood in front of the stone, eyes tracing the names. Iruka was surprised as the man began speaking. “I know I haven’t been in a couple of days. I hope you’ll understand,” he glanced over his shoulder at Iruka before turning back to the stone, “I had something I had to do.”

As the masked man prattled off several sentences about his life of late, Iruka found the names on the stone that he knew and missed. There were a lot of them, and he said hello to each, much quieter than his companion.

As the afternoon wore on, Kakashi dragged Iruka all over the village, visiting several minor landmarks as well as several shops and a theater. Iruka was still laughing at the funnier bits of the play as he was led up to the top of the memorial mountain. He smiled, looking out over the village below. “You know, Naruto comes up here a lot and, no matter what he says, it’s as much for the view as it is to pull his pranks.”

“Or clean them up,” Kakashi added.

Iruka shifted his view to the shinobi beside him, drinking in his profile just as he had the village scenery. “I’ve enjoyed myself today, Kakashi.”

The man didn’t look at him, still gazing at the scenery. “I’m glad to hear that, I did my best. I know we’ve done this completely backwards, but as third dates go, this is one of my best ever.” Kakashi finally turned to look at the teacher, revealing what he’d snuck into his hand out of his view. Iruka’s eyes widened as he took in the small bouquet of lilies and orchids with a single rose in the center of it. “I really hope you’re not allergic.”

Iruka managed to shake off his shock and took the small cluster of flowers. “They’re beautiful, Kakashi. When did you-“

“I stopped in at Ino’s while you were in the bookstore. I’ll say this about that girl, she knows her plants.” The jounin reached up, pulling his mask down carefully. “May I give you a kiss, Iru-chan?”

Iruka glanced around, wondering at the endearment, but they were still alone. He thought a second about the request, too. Kakashi had all but forced kisses on him yesterday, why would he ask permission now? Except . . . Iruka had kissed him first the previous day. Despite his hailed plans, Kakashi hadn’t kissed him at all at Ichiraku’s or as they left there. A tiny smile crept over his lips and Iruka leaned forward, once again the one to initiate.

It was a chaste kiss and Kakashi pulled away after only a moment. He pulled his mask back up and offered his hand to Iruka, helping him down the cliff and leading him to a restaurant for dinner. Iruka felt about ready to faint. Kakashi had brought him to an extremely fancy establishment. While you didn’t need to make reservations months in advance, you would be lucky not to wait an hour just to be seated. As Kakashi led him straight to the door, completely bypassing the line waiting to get in, Iruka tugged again at his shirt, worried he wouldn’t meet the dress code of such a high-end place. As Kakashi gave his name to the smiling hostess, he also realized that this was what the man had gone to do that morning. “Kakashi, can you afford all this?”

The copy ninja smiled at him, leaning over to place a masked kiss on the end of his nose. “You order anything you want, all right? You shouldn’t worry about anything this evening.”

-o-o-o-o-o-