A/N: First off, let it be known that this entire story was inspired by a wonderful, amazing artist - Lizmun! You can find the art piece in question here: the Elite vs the... well...

Drop her a wonderful comment, ne??

Title: The Hot Chocolate Incident
Author: Yami no Kaiba
Beta: Narshaa20
Fandom: Naruto
Rating: PG
Pairing: Kakashi/Iruka, side of Gai/Anko

Summary: It is a widely unknown fact that, when Iruka and Kakashi were younger, they met in a rather embarrassing fashion.
Disclaimers: Masashi Kishimoto owns all Naruto characters.
Tentative Timeline: A few weeks/months before the events in the Kakashi Gaiden.

*---*---*---*---*

In ten minutes, a bell would ring throughout Konoha, centering from the Ninja Academy. Dozens of little kids in various styles of clothing would rush out of the classrooms, intent to get to the corkboard at the front hallway where the listings had been posted.

Those dozens of children, however, would be beat ten minutes in advance by three rather noteworthy individuals: two boys, one with shoulder-length white hair held out of his face by a headband with a plate of metal centered on it, the other with long dark brown hair pulled into a high ponytail and a rather obvious scar across the bridge of his nose, and one girl with purple hair pulled back in a low ponytail that, with an excessive use of pins, curved up into an interesting fan-like arrangement.

The dark brown-haired boy with equally dark-brown eyes groaned quietly after glancing through the bottom of the list, even as the purple-haired girl squealed happily and jumped on the white-haired boy's back, pointer finger waving enthusiastically at the middle of the lists. "I did it! I passed! See, see! I get to take the Ninjutsu exam!"

Face screwed up in what could only be annoyance, the white-haired boy attempted to pull the girl's arm away from its current choke-hold on his neck. "Yes, yes, I see it, Anko-chan. I'm sure Iruka-kun can see it, too."

Anko clambered up the boy's back enough to arch over that white head and look at the boy's blue eyes upside-down. Sticking out her tongue, she gave the boy a rather loud raspberry. "Just because you reached Genin last semester, doesn’t mean you're *that* cool, Mizuki-cha~n! So stop trying to act all mature, you lout," she finished off, and gave the boy a hard thump over the white bandage tied around one of the white-haired boy's biceps before back-flipping off him.

Blue eyes winced and glared at her momentarily before they were sweeping through the last half of the list and stopping at a particular name. The boy's lips curved into a smirk before quickly settling out into an apathetic look. Blue eyes rested on the dejected form of the other boy, which was leaning rather pathetically against the wall. "Maa... It's only a test, Iruka. You'll get it next time."

Brown eyes met blue momentarily before shifting to look out the open front doors with a pout. "It's already my third go."

"Yeah, but you're also younger than *both* Mizu-baka and me," Anko said cheerfully, ignoring the glare she got from Mizuki for the slight. "And while your Torapujutsu and Fuuinjutsu abilities are spectacular, you have to admit you suck at Genjutsu." The girl smiled seemingly uncaringly through the pouting glare the brown-haired boy gave her.

"And as Genjutsu is a basic, it's only natural they won't let you be Genin until you can at least dispell one," Mizuki added his two-yen as he untied his Konoha symbol-embossed protector from around his forehead to tuck into a side pocket of his pants.

"Yeah! So cheer up, and lets go get us some hot chocolate to celebrate my passing!" Anko ran up to Iruka and pulled rather harshly at his arm, causing Iruka to stumble the first few steps towards the door.

"But--!"

Mizuki snorted lightly and walked apathetically past the two. "Just give it up, Iruka. You know when it comes to hot chocolate Anko-chan will make a tradition out of anything, and we did get a round last semester when I graduated."

"But she hasn't even graduated yet," Iruka whined as he was dragged out the door.

*---*---*---*---*

Hatake Kakashi wanted to stare pleadingly after the back of his fellow Chuunin as she walked briskly away with their Sensei, leaving Kakashi alone with the annoyance that was Uchiha Obito and the equally -- though possibly even worse -- annoyance that was Maito Gai for what she had called 'male bonding'.

One was Kakashi's loud-mouthed, over enthusiastic, crybaby of a teammate. The other was his loud, boisterous, self-proclaimed 'eternal rival'. Both were abrasive pains-in-the-ass, as far as Kakashi was concerned, and the type of person one should attempt to -- in all honesty -- stay far, far away from.

Naturally, the other two hit it off just fine on their first meeting. Kakashi, seeing an opportunity, attempted to edge his way silently enough to their peripheral that he could duck around the corner of the street junction and make a clean break for home and solitude.

A stray waft of something sweet was all the warning he had before he was jarred rather physically from his concentration on the two black-haired Chuunins as a brown-haired boy turned the corner and walked right into Kakashi's side.

When the resulting commotion died down, and the boy had hauled himself off the ground by help from a purple-haired girl that had rounded the same corner with a white-haired boy, Kakashi came to the unnerving realization that certain parts of himself were wet.

"Oi! Watch where the hell you're walking, jackass!" The girl made a hand gesture which Kakashi followed only long enough to know she was giving him the bird before investigating his realization. Looking down, he noticed a take-out paper mug spilling a rich dark brown liquid out onto the pavement. A small sniff of the air, and that sweet smell was so prevalent that he came to the conclusion that it was coming from the spilled beverage.

Raising an eyebrow, he pinched the fabric of his shirt, pulling the damp material away from his body for better inspection. Yes, definitely the same substance. He wondered idly if it would stain. It would most certainly smell sweet for a few good washings, he thought as he wrinkled his nose.

He tried to block out the fact that Obito was now laughing hysterically while seated firmly on the ground and pointing at him. Ignoring the still cursing purple-haired girl and the way Gai was gaping at the liquid mess on Kakashi's shirt and pants, Kakashi looked the source of his problem in the face. He idly noted the mildly interested look the other white-haired boy was giving the entire situation from his position behind the rude girl while sipping daintily at another paper mug.

The brown-haired boy was staring at the puckered fabric Kakashi was holding, an expression of complete horror plastered over his face, stance tense as if he was getting ready to bolt back the way he'd come. Kakashi's eyebrow rose higher, his agile mind wondering if maybe he could change that horror into guilt and get something out of this mess. Like maybe a shirt that didn't smell as if Rin had submerged it in perfume.

"Hey," he muttered, catching the boy's attention. Frightened dark brown eyes looked up at him. "You ruined my shirt."

*---*---*---*---*

Iruka just couldn't help but stare. Which he thought maybe was a good thing, because he'd just spilled cooled hot chocolate all over *Hatake Kakashi*! He was fairly sure that if his throat were not so tight that the only thing he could do was stare, he'd be babbling apologies by now.

"Like fuck it's his fault your shirt is ruined! You walked into him!"

Iruka blinked, just realizing that Anko was talking.

"Innocent Princess, you have the events all wrong," the bowl-cut, black-haired boy rallied in Kakashi's defense. "My eternal rival was standing there at the corner in all his youthful exuberance, contemplating the various thoroughfares of life, when your youthfully charged compatriot rounded the corner and ran into my unsuspecting rival and friend!"

Iruka's head was spinning, and he'd only made it past the 'innocent princess' remark in regards to Anko, when Anko snorted. "Feh, and you're all *Chuunins*? Iruka-kun managed to run right into you, and he's not even a Gennin like Mizuki-kun!"

And that's when things turned ugly, and went by so fast that Iruka didn't have a prayer of keeping up.

*---*---*---*---*

Kakashi felt his lips twitching into a smile as he followed the verbal spar. It was fascinating to listen to, especially as both were talking in vastly different styles.

In the end, the purple-haired girl -- who was introduced as Anko -- and Gai worked out a contest, the losing team of which would have to buy Kakashi a new shirt. Which was great, as far as Kakashi was concerned. Either way the bet went, he won.

The rules were simple enough; each Chuunin was assigned one person from the other group -- Gai after Anko, Obito after the Mizuki person, and Kakashi after Iruka -- and had to capture the person and bring them back to the starting point in an hour after giving the runners a five minute head start. At any point during the capture and chase, the other kids could attempt to get away.

Kakashi smiled and leaned against the wall as Anko pulled the dazed looking Iruka after her. He could just go home, and have Obito and Gai buy him a new shirt, but... Really, he didn't have anything better to do but practice at home, and this sounded like a more interesting practice session than he could do on his own.

And it wouldn't take long, either. It was only two Academy students and a Genin, after all. How much trouble could they give three experienced Chuunins?

Obito looked up from his watch with a grin. "Time's up."

Gai threw a punch into the air. "Alright!" And the green spandex boy was off, leaping to the rooftops for a better vantage point.

"I bet I can get my kid before you get yours," Obito boasted, a confident smirk on his face as he adjusted his goggles.

Kakashi shrugged and pushed off the wall. "As long as the mission gets done, it doesn't matter which team member finishes their part first."

Kakashi took off after his target, ignoring Obito's grumbling behind him.

*---*---*---*---*

For the first minute of his head start, Iruka was lamenting about how the entire world was out to get him today. First he'd bombed the Genjutsu test, then he'd spilled his finally cool hot chocolate all over the genius Hatake Kakashi, and now he was going to be hunted down by that very silver-haired prodigy. A silver-haired prodigy who more than likely wanted to kick his ass for messing up the other boy's clothes and having a friend that had insulted the other boy's skills.

Then he spent the next two minutes freaking and running like hell, because *the* Hatake Kakashi was after him.

It wasn't until the fourth minute that Iruka's devious mind came up with the rather brilliant idea that, if he could show that his own skills were good enough to elude the famous Chuunin for an hour, that maybe his Sensei at the Academy might overlook his dreadful lack of Genjutsu ability and let him take the Ninjutsu test to become Genin.

At the beginning of the last minute, Iruka made a sharp turn and started zig-zagging towards the store he normally bought his supplies from. If he was to do this, he'd need a lot more ink and paper, and a proper brush than he currently had in his pockets.

*---*---*---*---*

Kakashi paused in his run, head tilting to the side as he took in the store front the kid's scent had led him to. Odd... What would Iruka have needed from an Art Supply store?

Shrugging, Kakashi sniffed the air again, and started chasing after the scent that led farther into the northwest section of the village, towards the sparser populated and more thickly forested area that held the trail that wound up the cliff face towards the top of the Hokage monument. The area had quite a few waterfalls and creeks, and wasn't used much except to train those that showed a preference towards water-based Ninjutsu. But it was a well-known fact that Konoha's ninja only had one proficient user in water-based Ninjutsu for the past two-decades, as after the Nidaime's death fewer and fewer Konoha ninja's showed such a preference.

Was that the boy's supposed ace, then? A preference towards water-based Ninjutsu? Kakashi still didn't understand what that had to do with an Art Supply --

The smallest sound of an off-crackle under his leading foot, and Kakashi leapt away as water gushed up out of the ground he'd been standing on. Eyes narrowed, Kakashi used a precise amount of chakra to adhere to the underside of a tree branch as he watched the waterspout taper off and leave a mud puddle where Kakashi had just been.

Excellent. The kid was in the area, and unlike some people Kakashi knew appeared to have no problems posing an offensive challenge. Grinning, Kakashi let go of the tree branch and flipped around to land on the ground.

The minute his feet touched the forest floor, there was that off-sounding crackle once more. Kakashi wobbled and crouched down as a pillar of earth shot up into the air with himself on top of it, before he was balanced enough to jump off.

Kakashi only made it two steps past his landing point before that noise happened again and he was jumping away from a fire pillar climbing out of the ground.

That's when he started figuring out what was going on, as the stink of wet ink and paper burning filled the air. After managing to trip an earth pillar and two waterspout traps, Kakashi found a safe landing point from where he could study the area at his leisure.

And now that he knew what he was looking for, Kakashi could spot them readily enough. Slips of paper littered the ground randomly, cut in the same shape and size of a standard issue explosive tag, and were half-hidden in the dirt and leaf-litter. Prepared to jump away at a moment's notice in case he unexpectedly landed on a fully hidden tag, Kakashi walked carefully to the closest one and leaned over to study it.

At this range the wet ink smell was easy to differentiate from the surroundings. Eyeing the slip of paper and noting that the breeze lifting and settling the debris around him wasn't tripping any of the other tags, Kakashi blew gently to clear it off.

If his Jounin instructor had been any other person, Kakashi most likely wouldn't have been able to break down the Fuuinjutsu that had been written neatly in a cramped script onto the paper slip.

The typical sealing circle was there in the center, with two branched off triggers on either end to release the sealed item. One he assumed was set to release after a specific weight amount had been reached, and if Kakashi was Iruka, he'd have set the other to be detecting for abnormal chakra movement up to a certain range. And there, inside the sealing circle, was a flowery kanji character for air.

Kakashi's estimation of the kid's skills skyrocketed. Not only had Iruka managed to make multiple tags for the easily accessible elements of Earth, Water, and Air, but the Academy student had had enough wits about him to -- Kakashi hypothesized -- use standard issue explosive tags to create the fire necessary for the specialized Fuuinjutsu tags.

Well, this certainly explained the stop at the Art Supply store. Standing, Kakashi closed his eyes and sniffed the air once more, concentrating past the smoky scent left over by the release of the fire tags. Turning, he caught a whiff of the sweet smell once more.

Opening his eyes had him facing a path towards what Kakashi knew from experience were the less visited water formations in the area. Grinning under his mask, Kakashi took off, increasing his speed to avoid any traps he accidentally tripped while attempting to avoid setting off any more.

He'd tripped two more by the time he passed the area that the traps had been laying in wait for his unsuspecting self to stumble over. The woods he was traveling through turned even sparser, and Kakashi slowed down in an effort to find his prey before Iruka had a chance to run.

Kakashi felt a surge of chakra ahead, and saw the brief flicker of a bolt of lightning through the trees. Jumping up to the branches for a better approach and vantage point, Kakashi jumped a few more trees before he stopped completely just before the treeline appeared on the bank of a waterfall-fed pond.

Wadding in the center with water up to mid-chest, white and mesh shirt discarded on the bank was Iruka, a slip of paper in one hand and a rock in the other.

Kakashi grinned, already understanding what the kid was attempting. Smart idea, and if Kakashi hadn't been so close in following the other he might just have gotten caught in the new trap. And being electrified would have knocked him out of the game, and possibly for the rest of the day or week, depending on the voltage the kid had created with that lightning Ninjutsu.

Smart kid... But it was time for Kakashi to strike back. Raising his hands, Kakashi started the seals.

*---*---*---*---*

Iruka blinked, and raised his head from his crossed arms. His head was fuzzy and... odd. What was he doing sleeping in an empty classroom?

Iruka glanced at the clock, and calculated that class had been over for at least three hours. Scowling and cursing Anko for not waking him under his breath, Iruka bolted up from his seat and out the door.

*---*---*---*---*

Kakashi darted forward into the pond and dragged the limp body of Iruka out onto the bank before the boy could drown, snitching and pocketing the lightning tag to show his Sensei later.

His Genjutsu had been surprisingly effective. Not even a second of resistance before the kid was down, leaving air bubbles in his wake as he started to sink into the water.

Kakashi was surprised to find he was disappointed. Ah well, what had he been expecting from an Academy student, anyhow? So the kid could use Fuuinjutsu and had a keen mind, that didn't mean much in the world of Shinobi. If the boy had been really good, he would have been a Genin or Chuunin already like Kakashi.

Sighing, still strangely disappointed, Kakashi went and grabbed the discarded shirts to tuck into the back of his pants before lifting the boy over his shoulder. Time to get back to the gathering point.

*---*---*---*---*

The streets were oddly silent and empty, and it was starting to frighten Iruka. Passing one of the stores on his way home, a quick peek inside the window revealed that no one was in.

Severely unsettled, Iruka put more speed into his step.

*---*---*---*---*

Bored and checking his watch, Kakashi nudged the still Genjutsu trapped kid with the toe of his sandal. There was still thirteen minutes left, but Kakashi had been the first to arrive back at the starting point, and had been waiting now for ten minutes.

This was boring. And not only boring, but wasteful. He had more training to do. Would it be okay to leave the kid here and just go home?

"Put me down, you thick-browed, crazy bastard!"

Turning the corner and noisy as ever, was one soot covered Gai and a kicking and screaming Anko being carried bridal style in his arms. Gai seemed fairly harassed, causing Kakashi to smirk under his mask.

But then Gai spotted his slouched form, and Kakashi didn't feel the slightest bit of joy. "Ah, my eternal rival! You have accomplished the overwhelming and challenging task set before you of catching one of these energetic examples of Konoha's youth?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Yeah. Hardly worth the time. One Genjutsu and the kid was down for the count."

One flailing fist stopped it's descent onto the unsuspecting head of Maito Gai as lavender-gray eyes darted over in concern. "Genjutsu?! You used Genjutsu on Iruka?! How long -- put me down you ass, I need to get to Iruka!" The flailing fist hit its delayed target.

Yelping, Gai did as he was told and the purple-haired girl was over by the brown-haired boy's side in the blink of an eye, tilting Iruka's head up to look him in the glazed eyes. "Shit... You, Greeny! Go get a Jounin from the Mission Room! And you, how long has he been like this?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, glancing at the equally confused Gai. Get a Jounin? There wasn't any need that neither Kakashi nor Gai could see for that. He crouched down, hands making the dispelling seal. "Calm down, it's only been a little over ten minutes."

Troubled lavender-gray eyes took in Kakashi's hands, and one of Anko's own moved to smack them away. "Do--"

"Kai!"

*---*---*---*---*

Iruka had made it to his house, and hesitated at the gates, eyes taking it in. It looked exactly like Iruka knew it would, but the *feeling*...

It felt as if no one was home. It felt exactly as empty as the rest of Konoha did and appeared to be.

Biting his bottom lip in unease, Iruka opened the gates.

*---*---*---*---*

Kakashi blinked languidly, taking in the empty street he found himself on. Not only was it empty, but it was obviously not the one he'd just been on.

"Hmm... The Genjutsu?" Odd. He'd read about this possibility of using Genjutsu, but this particular effect had only been a footnote in one of the oldest and most deteriorated scrolls Kakashi had found on illusion techniques.

Shrugging, Kakashi started walking. Iruka's mind would eventually lead him to the boy. In the meantime, Gai would bring back a Jounin to dispell the Genjutsu from the outside.

*---*---*---*---*

"--n't..." Anko sighed, shaking her head as the glazed look covered Kakashi's eyes, and she had to scramble to hold the boy's body back from slumping right into Iruka's lap.

Gai squawked. "My honorable rival! What foul event has transpired, innocent princess?!"

"Nothing that wasn't expected, Greeny. Now go get that Jounin, would you?"

*---*---*---*---*

Iruka had passed the running frantically from room to room phase, calling out for his mom and dad. Now he was huddled down in a corner of his bedroom, legs drawn up to his chest and arms wrapped around them, with his head ducked down into what comfort being balled-up had to offer.

Everyone was gone. Even the *animals* were gone. And he'd just been...

Left behind. Discarded baggage, not even worth the time to tell that it *was* worthless.

Was it because he had failed the test? Because he didn't have the strength to be a protector of himself, let alone the rest of Konoha?

He wanted his mom. He wanted his dad. He wanted them to tell him why they'd left him behind, but they'd *left* him and he didn't know where they were and he didn't have anyone to tell him where they'd gone because *everyone* was gone!

Sniffing, Iruka hugged his legs harder as his mind kept circling around and around with those thoughts.

*---*---*---*---*

"Hahahaha~! I did it, I beat Kaka-- What the hell happened to Kakashi?!"

Anko looked up at the black-haired, goggle-totting boy whom had just jumped off the rooftops with a lead rope in hand, which trailed off to wrap around the wrists of a disgruntled Mizuki.

"The fluffy haired idiot got caught in his own Genjutsu," Anko said with a shrug, before going back to drawing designs on Iruka's exposed chest with an inked calligraphy brush. "Iruka's caught in it, too. But Greeny ran off to get a Jounin, so everything will be fine."

Obito blinked at the girl's lack of concern. "...And drawing on your friend is supposed to help that?"

Anko shrugged. "Nah, it's just fun." She turned around to offer the brush to Obito with one hand, and waved at Kakashi with the other. "You wan'na try?"

Obito took exactly point three seconds to debate over his continued good health vs. messing with his teammate.

"Sure!" he chirped happily, letting go of the now useless lead line to swipe the brush from the girl.

Mizuki sighed and shook his head. "Children. I'm surrounded by children." He sniffed haughtily, and then went about gnawing at the rope around his wrists.

Anko gave him the finger before tracing a possible pattern on Kakashi's exposed arm for Obito to try.

*---*---*---*---*

Kakashi looked suspiciously at the opened gates of the two-story house. This was the third time he'd come past it, and he was fairly sure he'd taken different routes each time.

Silent, empty routes that unnerved Kakashi just a little, but different routes none-the-less.

Well. At least he knew where the kid's mind wanted him to go. Slipping past the metal constructions, Kakashi moved towards the entrance to the building in front of him.

*---*---*---*---*

Iruka sniffled some more, rubbing his tears against the knees of his pants. Gods, this was so pathetic... No wonder everyone had left!

"Sheesh, that's pathetic. What is it about Konoha and cry-baby ninjas?"

Iruka squeaked, startled by another sound after so much dead silence. In his sudden fright, he cracked the back of his head against the wall, and found a totally new reason for the tears in his eyes.

Rubbing the back of his head, Iruka looked up hesitantly towards the bed. There, sprawled over the width with his head propped up on his own arms, Kakashi was looking down at Iruka from his higher vantage point with bored, apathetic eyes.

"I..."

"You? You, what? You're a cry-baby, wan'na-be ninja that doesn't understand Shinobi Code #25? Or, you're a cry-baby, wan'na-be ninja that can't spot a Genjutsu even when he's in the middle of it?"

Iruka blinked, flushing at the other boy's words and getting caught in such an embarrassing crying fit, and attempted to ignore the first question entirely. "Genjutsu? What's that got to do with anything?"

The silver-haired boy blinked lazily at him. "Wrong question. What you should be asking is, what *doesn't* it have to do with anything?"

Iruka blinked some more, and dragged a sleeve across his eyes to get rid of the rest of his tears.

*---*---*---*---*

Kakashi sighed, and rolled over to stare at the ceiling of the little bedroom. He knew it was part of the Genjutsu, to make the kid keep believing in it, but seeing a person he knew to be a clever person not see what was right in front of him was more frustrating than he thought it would be.

"Genjutsu are really odd, don't you think? How they create not-real walls that can hurt you?"

The kid made a funny hiccup-like noise. "You mean... this isn't real? Nobody left me alone?"

Kakashi snorted, understanding now why the streets and buildings were all eerily empty here. "Stupid. Like people that don't even know you would up and leave their homes, just because of you."

Another one of those funny noises, and suddenly the kid was *attacking* him--

No, wait, just hugging. Kakashi put his kunai back in its holder.

*---*---*---*---*

Jiraiya snorted as he followed the bizarrely dressed Chuunin down off the rooftop and onto the scene of the supposed crisis. Sheesh... Just in from a mission, and instead of getting to go straight to the bathhouses for some 'research' time, he was being dragged around to fix the problems of irresponsible children.

And what an odd scene it was. The Hatake-brat was propped up against the wall along with a child from one of the old families that had followed the Nidaime from the coastal villages when the Shodaime had founded Konoha. Both were obviously trapped by a Genjutsu and being drawn on by an Uchiha-brat and a female-brat, while a white-haired-brat was leaning against the wall looking unconcerned.

Kids. He shook his head as he walked forward, pulling the two giggling artists back by the shoulders. "Don't tell me none of you know how to dispell Genjutsu."

"Oh, we do," the female-brat said brightly, rocking back and forth on her heels as she pitched the calligraphy brush. "But none of us want to end up like Kakashi-kun. He tried to dispell it, but at that point Iruka-kun believed in it so strongly that he got sucked into it instead."

Oh. So the dark-skinned kid was *that* kid. The Academy Sensei had been complaining about some kid that couldn't do squat with Genjutsu, whether it was spotting it or applying it, and often drew in the unsuspecting good Samaritan after approximately five-minutes of being under it's influence.

Jiraiya shrugged outwardly and crouched before the two children, hands making the dispelling seal as he fortified his mind against any attack. "Kai."

As expected, the kids blinked away the glazed look of Genjutsu victims and took on the momentary look of one disoriented before even that passed. Nodding at his good work, Jiraiya stood up. "Now that that's fixed, if there's nothing else...?"

The loud and still bizarrely dressed green kid jumped to hug the Hatake-brat while the girl-brat did the same to the dark-skinned kid. Since no one was paying anymore attention to him, Jiraiya took his chance to scat.

It was, after all, that time of day when girl's flocked to the bathhouses, and Jiraiya had plans to make his homecoming a good one. Though he couldn't help the smirk that crossed his face when he heard the bursts of explosive outrage from behind him.

"ANKO! How could you draw on me?!"

"OBITO! I'm going to skin you alive!"

Ah... To be young again...

*---*---*---*---*

Iruka glared after the retreating backs of his and Kakashi's friends as they booked it out of the area. Really... Doodling on the two of them while they were unconscious! What had Anko and Obito been thinking?

Iruka glanced shyly to his side, where the equally meaningless-squiggle-bedecked Kakashi was attempting to rub the ink on one of his arms off with a spit-slicked thumb.

"You're just going to smear the edges like that," Iruka sighed. "It's good quality ink."

The part of the mask over the bridge of Kakashi's nose wrinkled. "How long?"

"Two weeks at least, if you take a shower and scrub every day."

The atmosphere of the mood between them turned heavy, as what Iruka could only describe as barely contained frustration radiated from the Chuunin.

Scuffing the toe of his sandal on the pavement, Iruka looked about uncomfortably. He was still feeling a little insecure from the induced feelings of the Genjutsu, and he didn't exactly want to be alone at the moment. Casting his mind about for a reason to keep Kakashi by his side, he grabbed at the one that had brought them to play this silly game in the first place. "Um... I don't really know which team won, but either way I think I owe you a new shirt."

The mood lifted slightly as the other boy was diverted from brooding over his new appearance for the next couple weeks. "You sure? It's not like it's that big of a deal... I think we're pretty much even after this."

Iruka felt a little, strained smile working its way into being. "Yeah, I'm sure," he said, holding out his hand.

Kakashi took it, and the strained part of Iruka's smile fell away to the dust as the two went off to find the silver-haired boy a new shirt.

--Fin.