So, for real - FO REAL - I have written another chapter!

Only took me 2 and a half years...

I'm a fan of National Novel Writing Month, but decided that instead of attempting to start some new story off in the ether, this year, I would use NaNoWriMo as inspiration to tackle and finish a bunch of my unfinished fanfics.

Alright, I'll just let you get on with it!

"This sucks."

Sakura glared at her blonde teammate, and Sasuke merely rolled his eyes in annoyance without sparing him a glance. "Would you shut up?" the pink-haired kunoichi groused.

"But it's not fair!" Naruto kicked at a rock on the ground. "This dance thing is supposed to be for shinobi! And we're shinobi! We should be in there!"

"We've been over this, Naruto," Sakura ground out through gritted teeth. "It's only for chuunin and above. The genin have to take over guard duties. Somebody has to."

"Well, that's bull!"

"Well, there's nothing you can do about it, so stop your whining!"

"Hmph." The kyuubi-holder crossed his arms defiantly. "They could've at least given us something more interesting. Like gate duty."

Sakura sighed at the stupidity she had to put up with and shook her head. "The antisocial ANBU are on gate duty, you idiot. They wouldn't entrust something like that to a group of genin."

"But this is torture!" The short boy gestured wildly to the brick wall in front of him. "We're suck behind the building where the dance is happening! Why not rub it in our faces some more that we don't get to go!" His teammates rolled their eyes again, and Naruto stomped the ground petulantly. "Who's gonna try to sneak in the back door anyway?"

Sakura sat on a rock, looking weary. "You never know. Having a lot of high-level shinobi in one place at one time, and drinking on top of it - someone might get ideas. We're just here to be on the lookout."

"Well, I say we can be on the lookout from inside!"

"That doesn't make any sense, stupid."

"Why would you want to go to a dance anyway, moron?" Sasuke drawled, finally shooting the blonde a smug look. "It's not like anyone would dance with you anyway."

Naruto's face turned red as his fists clenched by his side. "Shut up, asshole!"

Sakura's body tensed as she prepared herself to separate two squabbling boys. They could be violent idiots all they wanted during training, but she wasn't about to get in trouble because they couldn't keep it together during a mission... even if the mission in question was lame.

But nothing happened.

She blinked stupidly at the calm scene in front of her, wondering if she had passed out during the fighting and it was over. But... no... it didn't seem that way. After his outburst, Naruto had simply turned away and unclenched his fists without taking a swing, and Sasuke had gone back to boredly staring into the distance.

The pink head whipped back and forth between the two silent boys a few more times.

Something strange was going on.

But before she could try to figure it out further, Naruto began walking with purpose around the side of the building. "Where do you think you're going?" she called after him.

Naruto barely glanced back, lest he get sucked into her glare. "I want to see what's going on!"

The kunoichi sighed disgustedly at her teammate's short attention span and shot a look at Sasuke, who merely shrugged in indifference and resumed his disinterested studying of the trees behind the building. So she merely sighed and rested her chin in her hand. It would be a long night indeed if she kept trying to keep Naruto completely in line.

"GUYS! GUYS!"

Sakura's head shot up and Sasuke turned quickly at the loud and frantic whispers as an orange blur came barreling back around the corner. The previously resting girl stood and took on a defensive stance. "What's wrong?"

"Come here, quick!"

Naruto tore back toward the front of the building and his two teammates followed dutifully, coming to a screeching halt as the blonde stopped right around the corner to the entrance. "Naruto, what is it?" Sakura demanded.

"Look!" the panting boy whispered, pointing at an approaching pair. "It's Iruka-sensei!"

Sasuke sighed deeply and leaned back against the wall with an annoyed scowl on his face. Sakura's face began to turn red. "Naruto!" she hissed sharply with a bonk to his spiky head for good measure. "You dragged us up here just to look at Iruka-sensei?"

Naruto clutched his head pitifully and turned back to his teammates with imploring eyes. "But look who he's with!"

Against her better judgment, Sakura couldn't stop herself from peeking around the corner at the teacher to find out who he had come to the dance with. She blinked a second, not recognizing the other man.

"Ebisu-sensei," Sasuke deadpanned from her right as he craned his neck just far enough to see. "So?"

"That closet pervert!? Are you kidding me!?" Naruto looked like he was either about to fly into a rage or be sick. "He must have tricked him or something. No way Iruka-sensei would go out with someone like him!"

"T'ch... it's none of your business, moron. Let's go." The Uchiha finally grabbed the other boy's collar roughly and yanked him away, eliciting an indignant squwak.

Sakrua just barely dodged back in time to avoid Iruka's sharp look into their corner.

Ebisu paused as he realized the teacher beside him had stopped and was staring intently at the side of the building. "Something wrong, Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka blinked at the empty darkness, then shook his head. "No... no. For some reason, I felt like I heard Naruto. I swear, sometimes that kid's voice just gets stuck in your head," he chuckled good-naturedly. "Let's go."

Sakura peered around the corner as carefully as she could as she heard the two men go inside. So this was why Iruka-sensei had rejected Kakashi-sensei? Who the hell was Ebisu-sensei? Was he really a "closet pervert" as Naruto claimed? Why the heck would Iruka-sensei pick someone like that over Kakashi-sensei... not that Kakashi wasn't a pervert but stil...

"Sakura, are you coming?"

The sharp voice snapped the girl out of her thoughts, and she turned back around to her raven-haired teammate who was staring at her curiously, his hand still firmly tightened into Naruto's jacket. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming."

They were early, Iruka noted as he took in the relatively small mass of people. But... not early enough to see Tsunade sober. Well, who was anybody kidding? Iruka thought to himself as he watched her twirl around the room, completely ignoring the actual beat of the music. She probably started drinking before she even arrived. The teacher snorted quietly to himself as she rammed into a few people then loudly derided their 'poor shinobi skills' for not getting out of the way.

Ebisu relaxed into a chuckle next to him. "That's our hokage," he sighed, but Iruka could hear the slight laughter behind the usually stiff demeanor... as well as a pinch of sadness. The chuunin glanced at his companion as a wave of nostalgia and realization hit him. Ebisu had been Sandaime's number one. His duties usually more or less fell to tracking down Konohamaru, but Iruka had, on more than one occasion, been privy to a private confession from the Third that he didn't know what he'd do without Ebisu's anal organization skills.

Of course, Ebisu had gone on to take his duties just as seriously under Tsunade, but from the little rummblings of gossip Iruka had heard, there was underlying tension between him and Shizune since she had stepped in as the hokage's main assistant. As much as Ebisu loved the kid, Iruka was sure he wasn't quite as fulfilled with that being his number-one, fulltime job nowadays, especially since Konohomaru was rapidly growing up and would soon not need him anymore.

Iruka's eyes tinged with pity. He knew only too well how it felt to have the kids that you used to keep safe outgrow you - and so quickly too. At least in his position at the academy, there was always a new wave waiting to come in and need the same sort of protection. Who really knew what Ebisu would do once Konohamaru was all grown up and didn't have as much work around the tower to keep him occupied? Maybe go back to being in the field more... Not that he was a pushover - obviously, or he wouldn't be a jounin - but somehow, Iruka couldn't imagine him being a fulltime field shinobi...

Ebisu coughed awkwardly as he noticed the intense brown orbs trained on him in deep thought. The chuunin broke his gaze and shifted back a bit, feeling intrusive, if only in his thoughts. The two men shifted uncomfortably in the broken moment, no longer sure how to proceed now that they had arrived at a scene that both didn't know much about.

"Uh... wouldyoulikeadrink?" Ebisu finally got out quickly.

Iruka blinked, trying to process the words, but when he did, he gave a grateful smile. "Yes, please."

The jounin looked just as relieved to have something to do, away from his date, to collect himself. "Be right back."

Iruka's shoulders slumped as the other man hurried away. 'Get a grip,' he scolded himself silently. 'You've already done more embarrassing things than you ever thought possible the past few weeks. Ebisu, of all people, cannot be tripping you up.'

His eyes scanned the rest of the room, recognizing most of the still-scarce crowd - he did work the missions desk on a regular basis after all - but few people that he would actively call 'friends' or people who weren't just parents of his students. No one who had found a babysitter for the night wanted to feel forced into chatting about their little hell-brats with said little brat's teacher just because they had nothing else in common to chat about; he was pretty sure of that, so he may as well spare them both the agony.

However, just as he was starting to feel uncomfortable standing like a fidgety lump in the middle of the room with no one to interact with, his shifting gaze landed on a burly, hunched over figure at a side bar. Asuma.

The teacher paused a second. He certainly knew Asuma, but not terribly well. Which was a shame, considering how close Iruka had been to Sandaime. He briefly wondered why they had never been closer than passing acquaintances, but then he shook himself back to the reality that, close to the hokage or no, he was still just a chuunin and therefore couldn't really be expected to be on super-friendly terms with someone more elite who had probably fast-tracked his ninja studies (rather than dicking around like Iruka had for a long time).

Still, he supposed he knew him well enough, especially since - Iruka's cheeks started to heat minutely - Asuma was also a name on his mission list. Not that that was Iruka's intention that evening. He already had quite enough on his mangled plate for the night - as well as weeks afterward. But, considering the fact that he had no one else to talk to and didn't want to awkwardly cling to Ebisu's side all night like some anti-social leech, he supposed it would be worth his while to at least go say hi. Hell, if he pulled off some smooth, not-molesting-involving chit-chat over the next few weeks, he may even be able to segue into a kiss with the large jounin without it being blazingly off-the-wall and potentially devolving into another Kakashi/Genma/Ibiki/whoever-the-hell-else fustercluck.

So he sauntered over as casually as he could and slid gracefully into the seat next to the jounin with a friendly smile stretched across his face... But it fell when he finally caught the expression on the other shinobi's features. He looked... sad.

Iruka didn't know Asuma as super cheerful or anything, but he seemed pretty stable, especially as far as jounin go. He didn't know if he'd ever seen him legitimately upset. Hell, even when Sandaime had died, he didn't really show much emotion.

The chuunin momentarily considered leaving him alone, as he had no idea how to approach an upset acquaintance that he'd never had to counsel before. But Asuma had already turned to look at him, so it would be even more awkward to just take off without saying anything. So he simply kept grinning his normal, friendly grin, hoping to foster some normalcy.

Asuma nodded politely to him, and the sad expression was quickly schooled from his face - shinobi habit, Iruka knew. "Asuma-sensei... how are you?"

"Iruka-sensei... I'm - ah - good... How are you doing this evening? I didn't really expect to see you here."

The chuunin blinked, the good-natured grin dropping from his face to be replaced with curious confusion. "Oh, I'm... I'm fine - why did you not expect me here?"

The large jounin shrugged dismissively. "Just doesn't seem like your thing."

Iruka felt his cheeks start to heat up in mild embarrassment and a tingle of annoyance. Asuma hadn't explicitly said anything offensive, but the schoolteacher wasn't unaware of how he was perceived by most around the village. The unspoken comment underlying the innocuous statement was that Iruka wasn't exactly a 'party animal' - aka: that he was boring.

He purposely ignored the fact that he actually hadn't planned on attending such a thing as a social dance before being asked on a date to said dance. Not that Iruka had any sort of self-conscious problem with his own personality, but sometimes, being reminded of his 'stiff' reputation really irked him. He briefly wondered if it was the fact that the last few weeks had put him in more of a popular spotlight with elite ninja that it had somehow inflated his ego, but he took issue with Asuma's implication that either he was 'too stuffy' for a party - or, especially, that no one would invite him. He had actually been invited by three people, not that it was anyone's business...

The brunette sniffed softly and somewhat haughtily, his lips pulling just slightly into a terse line. "Well, I could say the same about you," he pointed out, and tried not to feel too bad about the brief wave of shock that flitted over Asuma's face at his tone. Why should he feel guilty about throwing some back? It actually didn't quite seem like Asuma's thing to be skulking around the bar of a social event alone.

The jounin blinked at him a moment longer, before shrugging offhandedly again. "Well... if I didn't show up, Tsunade would have just put me on gate duty all night, and that's boring as hell."

Iruka didn't miss the long pause before the given explanation, and it was then that it finally clicked in his head that the reason it seemed so strange for Asuma to just be sitting there alone was that it was generally subconsciously expected to see him out and about with a certain kunoichi...

Maybe he shouldn't have pried, but before he could stop the curiosity, the chuunin had scanned the area and then, upon not finding said kunoichi, bluntly blurted out, "Where's Kurenai? She's not with you tonight?"

It didn't take a Kakashi-level genius to catch the would-be nonchalant, but obviously uncomfortable, shifting that made Iruka instantly aware that that's what was upsetting the usually composed jounin. But Asuma didn't stall long before simply sighing, "We had a minor disagreement. She's not coming."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Awkward silence descended upon them, though Asuma had gone back to staring at his drink with apparent indifference. If it hadn't been for his finely-tuned ninja senses combined with natural empathy, Iruka might not have been able to tell how disconcerted he actually was about it. However - he could, but he didn't exactly want to push it, especially since the other man didn't appear particularly chatty about the subject... Not that he was ever excessively chatty, as far as Iruka knew.

Feeling as though his plan for casual chit-chat with the other man had been completely shot for the evening, Iruka shifted himself away when he caught sight of Ebisu reapproaching from a distance. "Well, it was... nice catching up with you, Asuma-sensei." Asuma merely nodded once with a small hand wave in his direction, making Iruka feel like he was right that his time was up there.

Well... the night wasn't starting out stupendously, but it had yet to go up in flames...

He had only just slid off his stool and taken a couple steps forward when he found the wind suddenly knocked out of him, his arms pinned to his sides, and his face crushed. His brain instantly triggered into defense mode when he realized he couldn't move or breathe, but just as he was starting to calculate the possibilities for a calm escape, the vice-like grip around him tightened with an enthusiastic "RUKAAAAA!" squealed above his head. And it was in that moment that he realized his head was being suffocated between two things... Two rather squishy, pliable things... covered in a scratchy, fishnet-like material...

He shot his hands up, grabbing the lithe, powerful arms that were encircling his shoulders, and quickly pulled them apart with an angry snap. "Dammit, Anko," he attempted to growl through the air-returning wheeze as his now-flushed face was freed. "Don't do that."

The cat-like grin came into focus quickly before the purple-haired kunoichi leaned closer to him. "Aww, lookit that red color!" she cooed, poking his nose and earning an irritated swat at the offending hand. "I get you every time!"

Iruka backed up a step, attempting to calm his visceral reaction. "Yes, you, as a jounin, somehow manage to sneak up on a chuunin schoolteacher. Glad all that training paid off."

Anko pouted comically at the sarcasm dripping from the brunette's words. "Aww, no need to be so snarky. I'm just playing with you."

Iruka let out a small sigh. And wasn't that the problem with it? She was always playing with people.

"So!" Before he could react, the slippery woman had slithered up against him again, wrapping her arms loosely around his frame. "Do you think I'll be able to get a dance with the most handsome man here tonight?"

The chuunin balled his hands into tight, tan fists and stayed perfectly still and stoic. "I don't know," he deadpanned, staring blankly over her shoulder rather than at her. "Who would that be?"

Anko chuckled (or cackled?) shortly. "You, silly! You clean up gooood." She emphasized the final word by trailing one pointy finger down the length of his silk shirt.

Depsite his general reluctance toward women in genral - and women like Anko in particular - the teacher inadvertently felt goosebumps jump to the surface of his skin at the light touch. Suddenly feeling massively uncomfortable, he engaged his shinboi reflexes to deftly slip through her lax grip and dance behind her out of reach. "Well, thanks!" he sang in a would-be chipper tone, trying to sound normal and friendly, and not at all freaked out, awkward, or 'seduced.' "Maybe later."

But before he could make an official escape, she lunged around and caught him by the wrist, the flash in her pupils displaying an unmistakable jounin glint of 'I've got you now.' She yanked him back closer. "Maybe now."

All the color paled from the poor man's face as it clicked that she was no longer 'playing.'

"Anko!"

The sharp, booming voice startled both adults, but the kunoichi wasn't quite spooked enough to let her grip slacken. Iruka spun his head, and a small wave of panic washed through his stomach. Ibiki strode forward, a sterner than usual expression on his face, though Iruka realized it wasn't directed at him. Thank god - because, depsite his similar Stares of Doom that he was famous for against children and chidish ninja, he would have crumbled beneath Ibiki's current gaze.

Anko, apparently, was a lot tougher than him, because she simply gave a tired pout in the other jounin's direction without flinching. "Whaaaat?" she whined.

The interrogator planted himself firmly beside the awkward duo. "Would you stop harrassing people? The night's barely begun, and you're already making a spectacle of yourself."

The woman quirked an unimpressed eyebrow. "I'm not harrassing anyone. 'Ruka and I are old friends!"

'Which basically just means she used to harrass me back when we were kids too...' the teacher thought grumpily with a bitter twerk to his lip.

"Besides, you made it very clear that you were not my date tonight, which means I can do whatever I want with whoever I want, and it's really none of your stuffy business, is it?"

Iruka gulped as he felt a very swift panic kick in. Who talked to Ibiki that way!? Insane woman! If he was about to go on a rampage, the chuunin was fully prepared to extract one of the hidden kunai in his pants, and cut off Anko's wrist so he could run away and hide. It would be her own damn fault for trying to hold him in the line of danger like that...

But no outburst came.

"I...! That's not - ! Egh, I mean... !"

The rattled stuttering snapped Iruka's gaze to the other man who was slowly turning an interesting shade of red and looked positively... flustered.

The chuunin was floored.

Here was one of the scariest men in the village - who had given Iruka the shivers even while drunk - who didn't take shit from anybody... losing his composure over one sassy kunoichi.

Iruka might have laughed if he hadn't still had the sense to know that Ibiki could very likely turn back to killer ninja mode on him if he so desired.

The jounin finally cleared his throat and seemed to take a mental step back to compose himself. "That may be true, my dear," he snarled sarcastically. "But you did drag me here, thus making me responsible for your behavior."

"And me for yours!" Anko shot back childishly.

Ibiki snorted. "I don't see that being necessary."

"Well, your interference here isn't necessary either!" Anko's strong arms came to curl possessively around Iruka's bicep, making him look rather funny as he strained back as far as he could, her grip the only thing keeping him from toppling over from the odd angle he was creating with the floor.

This apparently wasn't lost on Ibiki who sighed loudly as he glanced at Iruka pitingly. "If you don't knock it off, Kakashi's gonna have your head," he tried with a calmer, but slightly threatening tone.

Anko scoffed. "Oh, that rumor isn't true. Everyone knows Kakashi is a perv, but why on earth would he go after Iruka?"

Iruka's eyebrow twitched. "Uhhhh..."

She turned her head fully to fix him with an intense stare. "I mean, no offense. Obviously, I think you're all kinds of chocolately goodness." Her eyelids lowered as her mouth stretched into a lecherous grin. Iruka heard more than saw Ibiki groan and shake his head at her antics. "But come on," she continued. "Kakashi's such an anti-social weirdo, it wouldn't make sense for him to pursue someone as normal as you. And if he was, he would be here, instead of leaving you all by yourself in a room full of drunken ninja all grabbing at you inappropriately."

The chuunin only paused a brief second to wonder if Anko realized she was describing herself or if that was part of her weird sense of humor. "Actually, I'm not by myself. I'm here with someone."

He didn't know if her eyes widened in surprise at the fact that he had a date or because he announced it with such angry authority. Seriously, what was with everyone assuming he was some loser who wouldn't or couldn't get a date to some social event? He also felt the bubble of annoyance at Anko's description of him as "normal" still floating at the top of his roiling emotions. He knew it was true, but to have his normalcy compared to someone like Kakashi... It put a bad taste in his mouth - and he didn't know why, but it was irritating.

"Oooh?" Anko blinked. "And who would that be?"

Iruka finally snapped out of his own world. Where the hell was his date anyway? Hadn't he been nearby? "Uh..." He quickly whirled his head around and was quick in spotting Ebisu... who had apparently been waylaid by the Hokage herself. He didn't know what they were talking about, but she seemed very intense, and he seemed to be very much wishing he was anywhere else. "Ebisu," he pointed.

The teacher went crashing to the floor as Anko released him in a shocked instant. "WHAT!?"

Even Ibiki looked surprised, though Iruka missed that as he was trying to peel his sore back and ass off the floor as gracefully as possible.

Anko covered her mouth with one hand, eyes comically wide with disbelief. Her large eyes darted back and forth between the chuunin on the ground and Ebisu, a few yards away, before she snorted... and then chuckled shortly... and then snorted again, until she was practically beside herself with insane giggles. "Holy shit! How much did he pay you?" she choked out between hysterics.

Iruka dusted himself off stiffly while giving her a tired sideways glare. "He didn't pay me - he just asked. Politely. A concept you've never really been familiar with..."

The kunoichi barked out one more laugh. "Oh my god, I can't believe he actually conned someone into going with him. I thought he was lying." She suddenly turned sympathetic eyes on the teacher, though the devlish smirk still ruined the effect. "You poor poor man. You know, I can get you out of it, if you'd like."

"Ebisu is not that bad," Iruka shot defensively, and was a little surprised himself by how harshly it came out. Apparently, so were the other two shinobi in his presence because they both tensed up, though almost imperceptibly.

Anko leaned in slightly, her violet gaze turning sharp and inquiring, as though she was trying to visually extract the truth from Iruka's soul. He glared back at her stoically. Ibiki was one thing, but, regardless of her rank and training, Iruka had dealt with her enough to not shy away from her 'interrogation' tactics. He had no desire to expound upon his statement... mostly because he honestly didn't know what else he would say...

After a silent standoff that only lasted a brief moment, Anko softly snorted once more, seguing back to her devil-may-care, obnoxious kunoichi persona flawlessly. "Whatever!" She did a supposedly girlish twirl that landed her back at Iruka's side, clutching his arm and grinning widely. "You've always been way too nice, 'Ruka! Why don't you dole out some of the niceness to me while your date is busy?"

Before he could respond, Anko was suddenly flat on the floor.

Blinking stupidly, Iruka slowly realized that it wasn't Ibiki who had finally waylaid her, but the inebriated hokage herself who had apparently finally tired of Ebisu.

"Annnnnnnnnnnnnkoooooo!" the buxom woman cooed happily, nuzzling against the other woman who, for once in her life, looked rightly terrified and not in control of the situation.

"Uhhh... Tsunade-sama..." She uncomfortably attempted to wriggle out of the larger woman's grasp, but to no avail. And being that her captor was the hokage and all, she seemed to be having a hard time dealing with the fact that she couldn't very well use violent force against her.

The happily oblivious blonde reached up and started stroking the purple locks appreciatively. "You are sooooooooooo PRETTY!"

The jounin's hands twitched in reflexive defense and Anko looked about to cry over the fact that she had to hold herself back from breaking her ruler's intrusive fingers.

Iruka, who had been frozen with shock for the beginning of the display, could no longer hold back the evil laugh as he watched the tables turned. 'Ha! Serves her perverted little ass right.'

He started stepping back away from the scene and felt a light hand on his elbow. Turning, he realized that Ebisu had finally made his way back to him, an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry about that." He offered Iruka a cup. "Got cornered by Tsunade for a moment who - ah - seems... to have found a new victim..." The teacher couldn't tell if Ebisu was looking at the scene with horror or trying to hold back what he probably thought was an 'inapprorpiate' laugh.

The chuunin smirked at him and rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "And I got cornered by the 'victim.' Trust me - they deserve each other." He felt distinctly good in his belly when he saw the tension relax away from Ebisu's face, and the uptight jounin actually allowed himself a slightly amused smile in return. "Let's go."

He started to lead them away from the cacophonous scene just as he heard Shizune arrive and begin a frantic, and practically useless, struggle to pull her hokage off of the poor subordinate she was almost suffocating with her 'affections.' As the familiar stressed shrieks of the female jounin pierced the air, Iruka caught Ebisu instinctively turning his head back with an uncontrolled, but unreadable, look on his face, the gentle smile wiped clean. He followed the gaze to Shizune, but, before he could say or do anything, Ebisu seemed to catch himself and turned back around, striding a few paces ahead. Iruka panned his eyes back and forth between the two once more, feeling strangely eerie about whatever had just happened. And as he was about to fully turn and keep walking, his eyes landed once more on Ibiki... who was looking right at him. The chuunin froze for only a second, those sharp orbs piercing into his own, and then forcefully turned his head around.

He quickly hopped the few steps to catch up to Ebisu, the both of them now walking quickly and with purpose away from the group. He offered a small smile that didn't quite exude confidence, and his jounin companion attempted to return the look with about as much success. They both coughed awkwardly, looked away, took a sip of their drink for distraction, and marched onward - far far away...

Iruka felt a knot starting to form somewhere in his stomach. 'Why did I just get a very bad feeling about this night?'

The stick made it's way around and about, doing loopty-loops and abstract squiggles in the malleable dirt. The sandeled feet bounced up a bit on the toes and wiggled around as well in a rather youthful gesture.

Kakashi sighed. He sat on the ground, knees pulled up so his arms could rest on top of them; one hand propping up his chin, while his messy head sported a rather lackluster look. He twirled the stick around the dirt near his feet again.

"You guys like my picture?" he mumbled.

The memorial stone stayed silent.

And, for once, the Sharingan-user didn't even hear the mocking laugh or pitying comments from the ghosts in his head.

He was just... alone.

He chucked the stick away with an apathetic flick.

"Yeah, I get it. You're sick of listening to me whine... I am too."

He lithely pushed off the ground and dusted himself off. As he craned his neck down, his eyes gazed over his dirt-doodle and he was mildy shocked to realized he had created a very crude portrait of a smiling Iruka. Not that anyone else would have ever been able to figure out what it was, but it was obvious to him. He gave a defiant 'humph' before sweeping his foot across the ground, effectively wiping away the happy face. "That's quite enough of that."

"I agree. You've been hogging the stone for the past 3 hours."

Kakashi turned at the sudden intrusion to see Genma ambling toward him.

The special jounin flicked his senbon pointedly. "Look, I know you've got your demons and everything, but there are other people who'd like privacy at the stone from time to time."

Kakashi merely eyed him with an indescribable gaze for a few seconds. He still instantly got jealous the second he laid eyes on the other man, but it only took those few seconds for him to remind himself that he was moving on, and it was childish to keep glaring at the other man. So he abruptly turned his visible eye into a friendly 'U' and tilted his head apologetically. "Of course. It's all yours."

Genma seemed taken aback a second, his muscles having already been tensed with irritation and the possibility of a confrontation of sorts. But he recovered quickly and deliberately let the stiffness leave his body. He nodded his head slightly in thanks.

Kakashi turned and stepped away, and Genma strode forward to take his place. "Don't you have somewhere to be anyway?"

Kakashi froze and craned his head back curiously at the bandana-clad jounin. "What was that?"

Genma snorted. "I mean, I know you're always late, but jeez, you'd think you'd want to get to the social with enough time left to actually enjoy it."

The elite jounin blinked slowly. "Why on earth would I be going to that silly social?" Then it hit him that Genma was the one still standing here - on the night of said social. The men paused briefly before locking eyes in uncertainty. "Wait - "

"Aren't you - ?" both blurted out simultaneously. They eyed each other warily.

Genma sighed, looking perturbed now. "I thought you were taking Iruka."

Kakashi shoved his hands in his pockets, trying not to look petulant. "Not me," he attempted to drone casually. "I was under the impression you were taking him."

"Well, I'm obviously not there, am I?"

"No, I suppose you're not."

"And neither are you..." The honey-haired jounin trailed off as the two men continued to eye each other warily.

Kakashi suddenly sniffed in disinterest. "Not that it's any of our business."

Genma quickly turned away, feigning nonchalance as well. "No, it's not."

The elite jounin stayed in place a moment longer, seeming to comtemplate, then sharply turned on his heels and started trying to slink away casually. But he very quickly noticed rapid footsteps catching up to him. "You going to spy?"

Kakashi attempted to look surprised. "Who? Me...?"

Genma smirked, ignoring the innocent tone. "I'll be your backup."

The other jounin snorted indignantly. "The great Kakashi Hatake doesn't need backup."

"Yeah, sure. Just like you didn't need backup on that last mission we took where you would have ended up with half your spinal cord missing if I hadn't pulled you out of the way at the last second."

Kakashi rolled his eye. "Spying on a drunken gathering hardly compares to an A-rank mission turned S without warning."

"Whatever, man."

Kakashi huffed, but enjoyed for a moment the fact that he and Genma were getting along and joking in a way that they hadn't since this whole mess had started. It felt nice to be on someone's good side for a change.

Iruka and his companion hadn't gotten far across the room, awkwardly sipping on their drinks, before a scarred jounin was in his line of vision. The two stopped, and Raidou nodded his head in both their directions. "Ebisu, Iruka-sensei, how are you tonight?"

The chuunin blushed softly at the unexpected intrusion, but kept his composure fairly calm. "Good evening, Raidou."

Ebisu gave a short nod back. "Namiashi."

Raidou's eyes were suddenly trained directly on Iruka. The teacher flinched imperceptibly as he felt dread start to well up in his stomach. "Iruka-sensei... would you mind if I had a quick word with you?"

Iruka stuttered, shooting his eyes to his date. "Uh... er - well, we're kinda busy..."

But Ebisu apparently didn't notice that the look that the other man was giving him was one of pleading to remove him from the situation, and bowed out politely. "By all means. Take your time." And with that, he stepped off to the side, leaving Iruka sweating, both figuratively and literally.

He tried to smile at the other ninja who, while seeming perfectly calm, hadn't taken his gaze off of him. Raidou certainly wasn't the most intimidating or crazy jounin to have ever come out of Konoha, but he definitely had the sharp, trained eyes of a shinobi. "Is something wrong, Raidou?" he tried to ask cooly.

In all honestly, he didn't have any clue as to what Raidou wanted to confront him about. His mind whirled through the possibilities. He had pulled off the scarred man's kiss very fluidly and with minimal fuss, and it had been a couple weeks since then without any sort of confrontation or weirdness when they crossed paths in the mission room. He and Raidou were on good enough terms, sure, but he wouldn't classify them as 'friends' who should be having anything close to a private conversation that apparently couldn't wait...

The jounin finally shifted his eyes just slightly to where Iruka's date had wandered off a few yards away, engaging in conversation with a woman Iruka vaguely recognized as handling the records in the basement of Hokage tower. "You came with Ebisu?"

It seemed like an obvious enough statement, but since he had phrased it as a question, Iruka answered in kind. "Yes."

"So..." The eyes shot back to him. "Not Genma?"

The teacher balked a bit. Shit! He knew damn well that Genma and Raidou were pretty close. It really shouldn't have been a surprise to him that Genma would tell Raidou about their moment of 'indiscretion.' Had Raidou also revealed his and Iruka's 'moment' as well? Were even more people talking about him now?

"Uhh... no...?" he tried as nonchalantly as he could, even attempting to throw in a curious, adorable head tilt to really sell the innocent chuunin angle.

Raidou just continued staring at him, his expression torn between confusion and frustration. He looked like he wanted to say something but just wasn't quite sure what.

"Why... do you ask?"

The jounin looked decidedly uncomfortable now. But he had to press on. Genma was his best friend. 'I need to know. I mean - Genma needs to know.' "I just had a feeling that he was going to ask you to this thing... that's all."

Iruka fought back a blush at the memory of the senbon-wielding jounin indeed asking him to the shinobi event. And how awkwardly he had had to turn him down and watch him wander off to recover his wounded jounin pride. "Well, I... already had a date," he supplied, deciding that that was enough info for Raidou to draw proper conclusions without actually having to spell out the details.

Raidou nodded slowly. "Right... makes sense..." he paused, and Iruka started looking for an escape route. "But if you hadn't - "

"Raidou, I really need to use the restroom. I'll talk to later, ok?" The chuunin darted toward the bathrooms, effectively blowing off the stunned jounin.

Once inside, he leaned against the door and relished the fact that no one else was in there at the moment.

Just as he had the thought, however, a prickle went up his spine and he spun around to the small window, trying to strain his eyes and chakra into the darkness. Nothing actually trickled into his senses and he tried to calm down, telling himself he was simply paranoid because of what had just happened. 'Give is a rest, Iruka.' The brunette splashed a small amount of water on his face, and got ready to reenter the battlefiel - dance hall...

But despite all his senses telling him otherwise, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched...

He practically plowed down Ebisu on his way out of the restroom, the jounin managing to activate his reflexes enough to dodge. He peered at the flustered chuunin worriedly. "Is everything alright, Iruka-sensei?"

The teacher felt his face heat up from the soft inquiry and nodded with a little too much enthusiasm. "Oh yeah! Everything's great!" The chocolate brown eyes shifted past the other man to scan the room. He could still see Raidou about where he left him, looking perturbed. Anko was currently trotting around the dance floor, seemingly harassing anyone who wasn't already partnered with someone (and even some people who did have partners), and her 'chaperone,' Ibiki, was ignoring her for the moment, gaze drifting around the room for something else to focus on. And he found that something when his sharp eyes locked onto the chuunin. Iruka paled as the interrogation specialist shifted toward him as though he was thinking about coming over.

Well, with the dacne floor full of Anko, the front door currently being blockaded by the hokage (who had decided it was time to greet everyone who came through the door with a lecture about being late and a shot of liquor to 'catch them up'), and the sides of the room spotted with Iruka's recent 'victims' wanting to talk to him, Iruka realized that his only hope for salvation at the moment was the bar.

He grabbed his cup out of Ebisu's hand and downed it in one gulp, the jounin's eyes going comically wide at the display. The chuunin quickly threw the empty cup in the nearest trash can and grabbed his companion's sleeve. "I need another drink!" he exclaimed, sounding half-crazed - or maybe desperate...

Ebisu faltered for a second, then made the snap decision to follow suit, downing his own drink, albeit a little more slowly, and following the energetic chuunin somewhat hesitantly. "Uh... ok... sure, let's go to the bar..." He had never known Iruka to be such a drinker...

He plopped down at the opposite end from Asuma, pulling his date into the chair next to him so he was shielded from anyone trying to sit by him. They ordered two more drinks, and Iruka decided to become obsessed with his cup. He didn't really know what else to say.

The two sat in silence for a short while before Ebisu cleared his throat. "Sorry I'm not very good company tonight."

Iruka started, eyes going wide and then softening in guilt. "Er, no!" he tried to reassure the sullen man by his side. "You're fine. I'm being rude. I just... have a lot on my mind." He snuck a glance over his shoulder to track down Raidou and Ibiki, but the two had disappeared from his line of vision. Well... maybe that was for the best.

Ebisu hesitated for a second, then decided to just spit it out. "Kakashi?"

The chuunin's eyes quickly snapped back. "What?"

"Is Kakashi what's on your mind?"

Iruka clutched his drink tightly, trying to reign in all the emotions that had suddenly bubbled up by mention of the copy-ninja's name. "No!" he spat. "Why would he be?"

Ebisu scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, feeling intrustive all of a sudden, but he had already brought it up, and the little cup in his hand was giving him enough of a boost of courage to keep going. "Forgive me for prying, sensei... I've just heard a lot of gossp in the past couple weeks - "

"Well it's just gossip."

The jounin stopped and studied the academy instructor carefully. The chuunin's cheeks were starting to tinge pink, but that could have easily been from the alcohol.

Iruka felt weirdly proud that he was actually keeping his voice so even and face so straight in the wake of Kakashi being brought up in conversation considering the fact that his stomach had immediately started doing weird things. He decided that that was also the alcohol...

Ebisu finally turned away. "Sorry I brought it up."

"S'ok." The muttered response was followed by more gulping from the booze-filled container in front of him and another order for more. The awkward jounin couldn't help but feel like he'd said something wrong...

Iruka didn't notice however, as he watched, with a slightly shaky eye, as the large jounin who had been at the other end of the bar, plodded behind him and out the front doors. The hokage screeched something basically incoherent at him, but he must have understood her enough to placate her with promises that he was only going to smoke, and she let him pass.

Well, there went another one of his mission objectives, off to be perfectly vulnerable and alone. He chuckled to himself as he imagined the absurdity of running after him and cornering him outside to kiss. He wasn't nearly drunk enough for that. And neither was Asuma. He didn't know how he was supposed to pull that one off anyway, considering Kurenai.

Wait...

The chuunin froze and his eye narrowed at Asuma's back as it disappeared out the door. Asuma would kiss Kurenai, right? And Kurenai wasn't here... And Iruka, for his 'mere' chuunin status, was pretty. darn. good at genjutsu.

Was he insane? This was weird and wrong, right? But... the mission... and when else would he get such a perfect opportunity for such a complicated situation?

Making a split-second decision, lest he overthink it and chicken out, he quickly grabbed Ebisu's sleeve, shoving his drink into his hand. "Hey! I need to, uh, check on something. I'll be right back!" Without waiting for an answer, he jumped off his seat and left a dumbfounded Ebisu blinking slowly after him.

Being careful not to make noise and using all of his ninja prowess, he slipped past the far-too-inebriated hokage, and out the same doors as Asuma. The chuunin spotted him not too far away, near the trees, pulling out a cigarette. He darted stealthily to the side so he could emerge from the opposite direction without suspicion and, masking his chakra, quickly pulled a Kurenai-genjutsu.

He briefly hoped it wasn't too bad, though logically he knew it shouldn't be. Genjutsu really was one of his strong points and he had seen Kurenai enough to be confident in his ability to pull off her likeness, even in front of someone like Asuma, who was close to her. But he looked down at himself for a moment and lightly blushed. He didn't impersonate women all that often. Especially not ones he knew. The dark red on his cheeks deepened as he remembered his last enounter with said kunoichi not too long ago, her dripping wet and wrapped only in a towel.

He slapped his cheeks lightly. 'Bad Iruka! No! You are only impresonating her outward appearance for tactical purposes.' Swallowing the rest of his embarrassment down, he made a point of entering the clearing loudly and paused when Asuma looked up and stiffened at the sight of 'her.'

Iruka in Kurenai form shuffled slightly. He hoped the uncomfortable gesture made him look feminine and added to his character, though he could never really recall Kurenai being that kind of timid female. Perhaps she was more so around romantic partners she was close with.

"Hey," Asuma finally blurted out.

"Hey," Iruka/Kurenai half-whispered.

They stood in awkward silence for what Iruka considered way too long. He felt like he should say something, but he had no idea exactly what had gone wrong. What would he talk about? It was a fight, right? Maybe he could throw out a vague apology.

"So, listen, I'm sorry...?"

"No!" Iruka startled a bit at the outburst. Asuma rushed forward, looking stricken. "No, I'm sorry."

'Well, good... that worked.'

Asuma ran a hand over his face and through his beard. "I'm an idiot. You know I don't care if people see us together. Hell, most everybody thinks we're already together anyway."

Iruka stiffened. This was what they had argued about? Wait... were they not already together? 'Could have fooled the rest of the village...'

"It's just... coming to this thing together... shit, I feel like we're back in school where everyone is watching and observing and... I mean, we haven't even kissed yet. And suddenly we're going to show up to this thing and officially act like a couple in front of everyone right off the bat? I just... I wanted to be private at first... Aw hell, I feel like an awkward teenager..."

The disguised chuunin started sweating. 'What!? They haven't even kissed yet!? Everyone figured they were together together by now.' He was suddenly overcome with guilt. 'Kurenai is the one who should be hearing this. Oh shit. I didn't think it would be this serious! Shitshitshit!'

Asuma stepped forward, looking at his supposed-beloved intently. "Kurenai... I promise I want this. Just... give me another chance to prove it." He took the other's hands tenderly, the intense look never leaving his face.

Iruka felt a knot form in his throat. Asuma was going to kiss him. Asuma was going to kiss him assuming he was Kurenai - which was the plan, right? But... he thought he was kissing Kurenai for the first time. Their first kiss! After months and months of everyone being able to see how obvious they were, and them apparently dancing around it out of fear.

Asuma inched closer. Iruka stared at the approaching face. The larger hands gripped around his tighter and he could feel the desperate desire that their owner held for the 'woman' in front of him.

He squeezed his eyes shut. For the good of the mission... right?

The large jounin was suddenly met with a face full of flying black hair as the object of his affections turned quickly and bolted.

Iruka flung himself into the surrounding trees forcefully, stopping on a high branch where he could still observe the area without being seen, and hoping that Asuma wouldn't bother to come after him. Breathing heavily, he looked down at the empty-handed jounin, a look of surprise, doubt, and then painful resignation coming over his entire body in waves that were just as hard to watch.

The chuunin felt tears prick the corners of his eyes. Dammit, what had he done? His stupid, half-drunk idea no longer felt clever and inspired. It just felt cruel. And he couldn't even imagine how Kurenai would feel when Asuma stopped even trying out of a rejection that she knew nothing about.

He slammed his back against the tree. It was bad enough that he was screwing up his own life with his carelessness surrounding what should have, conceivably, been a really stupid - and thus, easy - mission. Now he was dragging other people's actually-blossoming love lives into it and fucking them up?

'Good job, ninja..'

He reached down and clutched the end of the bandage-dress surrounding his disguised legs. He couldn't leave it like this. He had to go back and say something. Maybe act shy? He was good at acting shy. He could play it off like Kurenai was just not ready but would like to talk about it more in private later. That would certainly help, right?

He looked back at the rejected man's drooped shoulders. He had lit a cigarette and was turning to slink back inside, probably to resume his previous depressing place at the bar. Iruka got ready to jump back into the clearing.

-"Asuma!"

He froze. It was a female voice, but... it hadn't come out of him. The chuunin looked down and then quickly shrunk back into the shadow of the tree as he spotted the real Kurenai rushing out of the woods toward the other jounin.

Asuma turned back, surprise and shame overcoming his features. He pulled the cigarette from his lips and let it hang limp in his hand as his mouth opened and closed a few times, producing nothing but garbled sounds. Finally, as the harried woman approached him, he seemed to snap out of it and began a series of quick apologies.

"Kurenai! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I don't know what I was thinking, please forgive - "

"It doesn't matter." With the breathless words cutting across the apology that she didn't even fully understand, the kunoichi pulled the larger man into a searing kiss. It only took a split second for him to drop the cigarette, pull her closer, and continue it with a mix of desperation and relief.

Iruka smiled. He let his genjutsu drop and shook his head tiredly. Hopefully, the two jounin below were so wrapped up in themselves and their current state that they'd never fully question and talk about the specifics of how this night had played out on either end. The chuunin was never going to be able to claim his kiss from Asuma so he would techincally fail part of his mission.

But it was worth it.

Part 1 complete! I was planning for the "social" thing to just be one chapter, but I got to this point and realized I was already at over 8,000 words, so it shall be a two-parter! Which also means this chapter got out now as opposed to another couple weeks from now, so hopefully ya'll are ok with that!

Thank you to everyone who continues to hang in there and support this fic despite its extremely LONG, drawn-out lifespan.

DixieGoddess