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Chapter Text

(I don't own any characters etc etc)

Kakashi was rather disappointed when he entered the missions room with Team Seven, expecting to see his favorite chuunin, only to see the regular workers minus one.

Where was his....the...Iruka-sensei? He didn't dare ask, but could feel his mood sour. This was most assuredly a day when Iruka was working all day at the desk, not splitting his time between it and the academy.

Fortunately, he had a loud blonde on his team who seemed to not only feel the same way, but had no qualms with vocalizing his feelings. Loudly.

"Where's Iruka-sensei!" Naruto wailed. "He should be here!"

"Be quiet," Sasuke grimaced. "You're giving me a headache and we haven't even gotten a mission yet."

"But he should be here!" Naruto shouted. "I wanted to talk him into taking me out for ramen later!"

"Don't be so salty, Naruto," Sakura said, and Kakashi's visible eyebrow quirked slightly.

"Salty?" he asked his team, who sighed and rolled their eyes.

"Geez, sensei, you're so old!" Naruto said.

"Kakashi-sensei can't help it if he's old and out of touch," Sakura said, turning to her sensei and smiling sweetly. "It's a way of telling someone they're getting upset over nothing."

"AKA, Naruto," Sasuke agreed, and the line moved up.

"Maa, if Naruto is upset Iruka-sensei isn't here, it seems reasonable to me," Kakashi suggested, recognizing that otherwise it meant he was also salty?

"Big deal," Sakura said, rolling her eyes again. "He'll find him later and still get his ten bowls of ramen."

They were soon at the front of the line, and the desk worker looked through the missions available.

"Where's Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked, and Kakashi was grateful the kid had no shame.

"Hmm?" the worker said. "Oh, we needed to send some people to the library to do some work there, so he volunteered. Better him than me, too much paperwork for me."

Stacks of books and Iruka? Kakashi's heart swooned and his mind started to wander as he caught the rest of the conversation, Naruto informing the worker how sad he was to not see Iruka.

"Actually," the desk worker said, "if you'd like to run into him, we do have a mission for the library. A research assignment."

Team Seven groaned and shook their heads, but Kakashi jumped at it.

"We'll take it!"

_______________

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto and Sakura moaned. "Why did you accept it?"

"It's going to be so boring," Naruto cried.

Kakashi waved a hand at them and continued walking. "I'm surprised you have so much energy when you're quite literally dragging your feet." He wanted to add "that's what you get for inadvertently suggesting I'm out of touch and salty" but didn't.

Instead, he waved the missions scroll at them. "A mission is a mission, and this will be good discipline for you. Not every aspect of being a shinobi is jutsu and fighting."

"But research?" Sasuke sighed.

"Copying things?" Naruto moaned.

"It's fine for you," Sakura grumbled. "You'll be sitting there with your mask not dying on the dust in there."

"Libraries are good for circulation," Kakashi offered, and his team groaned. "What? Everyone loves a good library pun."

They continued to debate this as they entered the library, and reviewed the scroll. Kakashi set up camp, so to speak, at a large table, and pulled out supplies from another scroll, before delegating tasks.

"What will you be doing?" Naruto asked, eyes narrowing.

"Maa, enjoying the fine selection available here."

Team Seven, again, rolled their eyes.

"You took this mission so you could sit and read Icha Icha all day," Sasuke commented, and Kakashi didn't argue.

"Sensei!" Sakura admonished in a loud whisper. "How could you?"

Kakashi gave a closed-eye smile. "That's just a small part of this. Your task is to do the work, mine is to monitor. And as I've proven time and time again, I can monitor while reading. This is still a mission, so take ten minutes to get your first round of books and we'll all meet back here."

They groaned but scampered off, and Kakashi wandered to look for a good book or two, with his hands in his pockets. And while keeping an eye out for a certain sensei...

However, time was up and while he had found a good selection of Icha Icha and other romantic books to read, no brown haired sensei.

He could feel his salty side returning.

As his team was settling down to start researching and writing, a boom shook the library.

"Rival!" was heard, and Kakashi sighed. His team looked around, wide-eyed, and more than one person could be heard loudly shushing.

"Rival!" was repeated, in a lower tone but still too loud to be a whisper.

"Gai," Kakashi said, bored.

"What are you doing with your team? A hip activity, no doubt!"

"Our stupid sensei accepted a library mission," Naruto said, giving Kakashi an ugly look. "Want to join us, bushybrows?"

Lee nodded vigorously, but Gai stopped him.

"No, Lee, we need to leave them to our mission, but we can have our own library mission!"

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted, leading to another round of "shhhh."

"Gai," Kakashi drawled, "let's have a challenge."

Gai nodded fast.

"Let's see who can avoid getting kicked out of the library, hmm?"

"I see your game," Gai said. "We must utilize our stealth skills to avoid detection." He dropped his voice down. "Come, Lee, let us embark on our own mission!"

“I bet Tenten and Neji are glad to be out of the village today,” Sakura mumbled as they left. She sighed and returned to her books.

All in all, things were going fairly well. Sasuke and Sakura seemed to have accepted that this was, in fact, a real mission, and that they needed to just buckle down and do the work.

Naruto seemed to struggle with it, unsurprisingly, and started to squirm, fidget, and whisper to himself and his team.

“Naruto!” Sakura hissed. “Stop being so…Naruto. Just do your part of the work, the sooner we finish the sooner we can leave.”

“I can’t help it! I’m so bored!”

“What will you do on a mission where you have to sit quietly and do surveillance for hours?” Sasuke grunted, and Kakashi had to admit he was impressed by the Uchiha’s question.

“Uh….” Naruto said. “Who cares about then, that’s different! This isn’t even a real mission!”

Kakashi reached for the scroll and threw it at the blond’s head without looking. Naturally, it hit him square in the face.

“Yow!” Naruto wailed, and was shushed immediately by half the library. “Kakashi-sensei! That hurt!”

“Open it and see if it isn’t a real mission, if the Hokage hasn’t stamped it for a C-rank,” Kakashi suggested, and Naruto obliged, sighing when he couldn’t argue that point anymore.

He sighed and thought about it for a few minutes, deciding to change tactics to avoid dying from boredom. “Sensei,” Naruto said, trying to sound as sweet as possible. “Aren’t you having a hard time breathing in here, with it being so stuffy, and you wearing a mask?” He paused. “We’re all alone in the corner here, no one’s around. You could just take it off for a moment, give yourself some fresh air.”

Naruto paused, waiting for a response.

Sasuke and Sakura also paused, pens hovering above their papers, eyes gliding to Kakashi’s masked face, waiting.

Kakashi put his book down and gave a closed-eyed smile. “That’s very observant and considerate of you, Naruto. I think that’s actually a rather good suggestion!”

Three pairs of eyes widened at his response, and grew even wider as his right hand slowly reached up towards his face.

His fingers danced along his chin, moving up towards his nose, then to his right cheek, his fingertips barely dipping beneath it.

He slowly began to pull his mask down, and three pairs of eyes bugged out as they followed his movements.

Naruto sat with his arms folded behind his head, looking shocked. Sakura and Sasuke held their pens perfectly poised but unmoving, ink starting to drip.

Kakashi’s fingers nimble grasped the fabric of his mask, and he began to slowly peel it down….

To reveal another mask.

He sighed happily, while his team groaned.

“You’re right, Naruto! One mask is better than two!”

“I give up!” Naruto moaned, hitting his head on the table. “Oww!” He sat up, rubbing his nose. “Hey! My face hurts from you throwing the scroll at me, Kakashi-sensei!”

“What are you going to do about it?” Kakashi asked sarcastically, picking his book up again.

“Uh….I’m going to find Iruka-sensei and tell on you!” Naruto said, triumphantly pointing a finger at his sensei. “Then he’ll definitely buy me ramen later!”

While it was not ideal for Iruka to learn Kakashi had semi-abused Naruto, this could work to his advantage.

“Maa, fine. Go get the next two books we need, and look for him while you’re up.”

Naruto jumped up while Sakura and Sasuke threw death glares at Kakashi.

“But,” he said, catching Naruto by the collar before he ran off. “You only have ten minutes.”

“Big whoop,” Naruto said, crossing his arms defiantly. “It’s a big library, I’m sure it will take me longer. What are you going to do, come after me?”

“Exactly that,” Kakashi said. “And drag you kicking and screaming back here. I’m sure Iruka-sensei will appreciate my dedication to helping us accomplish our mission. And he won’t like you making a loud fuss in the library. Off you go, or I will Dewey decimate you,” he said, before Naruto could retort.

He turned back to his team as the blond ran away. “Don’t glare at me. He has an assignment. You guys have actually been working, you can have twenty minutes off.”

Sakura and Sasuke thanked him and ran off.

Kakashi sat at the desk for a moment in thought before summoning a clone.

“Yo,” it said, stuffing its hands in its pockets.

“Go follow Naruto to see if he leads you to Iruka. Play nice,” Kakashi said, giving his clone a close-eyed smile. The clone nodded and sauntered off.

“Good plan,” Kakashi said softly to himself. This way, he was still at the desk for when his team came back, and he’d rather his clone near Iruka disperse than a clone here, or he’d never hear the end of it. And wouldn’t Iruka be impressed by his dedication to his team?

Or something like that.

____________

While real-Kakashi put his feet up and pulled out a library copy of Icha Icha, clone-Kakashi was walking around.

He saw Anko in the cooking section but hurried away before he got dragged into a conversation about dango.

Next was Ebisu muttering about needing new books for Konohamaru.

As he passed an open window, clone-Kakashi heard Sakura and Sasuke outside enjoying fresh air, and debating if they would get in trouble for stretching their break an extra five minutes when it was done. He decided to ignore it and let them have their fun.

Finally, he saw Naruto down a dusty aisle, talking to the one and only Iruka.

“It’s like you’re not even listening to me!” Naruto was saying.

“Hush, Naruto! You’re being too loud,” Iruka admonished him, while he reshelved books. That was an image Kakashi decided to savor with his sharingan. “And I am listening. You’re complaining about your team, again. Need I remind you, you were placed with them for a reason, and this is a very valuable time in your life.”

“But sensei!” Naruto said. That was clone-Kakashi’s cue, as he stepped up.

“Naruto, time’s up.”

Naruto was a mix of paleness because he was caught, and redness out of frustration.

“You’re the reason we’re on this stupid mission in the first place,” he grumbled. “And he threw a book at me!” he said to Iruka, who paused and raised an eyebrow at Kakashi.

Clone-Kakashi shrugged. “It was a scroll, and I threw it to him. He just didn’t catch it.”

“I caught it alright, with my face. It hurt!”

Iruka snorted. “Sounds about right. But what are you doing throwing scrolls about, Kakashi-sensei?” Iruka had resumed his task while he asked.

“Maa, Naruto seemed to doubt the integrity of our mission here, so I suggested he see the stamp for himself.”

Iruka paused, with a book mid-air. “Oh, a library mission, they’re so rare!” He shook his head. “I know this doesn’t seem fun, Naruto, but this is a good experience, trust me. And at the very least, I’m sure it’s better than chasing a cat out of a tree, or being knee-deep in swamp muck.”

Naruto stuck his tongue out at Kakashi, who flipped him off, to his surprise. Iruka’s back was, naturally, turned and so he missed this exchange.

“Anyway,” clone-Kakashi sighed. “Naruto, you had ten minutes to find the next set of books, you need to head back now. Don’t leave Sakura and Sasuke to do all the work.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Iruka said, nodding approvingly as he worked.

“Now go,” clone-Kakashi said, shooing Naruto away.

Finally left with his…the…Iruka, clone-Kakashi decided to start bringing out his A-game.

“We’re on a mission, but what’s you’re excuse? Did you return your books late? Because you have fine written all over you.”

Iruka paused for a moment, blushing slightly, before shaking his head and continuing. “They’ve been short for a while so they needed some extra help. Filing books here beats filing scrolls.”

Kakashi turned his gaze to the cart of books Iruka was working on.

“Hmm, mind if I check you out?”

“What?” Iruka said, whipping his head around.

Clone-Kakashi shrugged. “Mind if I help you?”

Iruka blinked. “Uh…while that’s appreciated, I don’t want to keep you from your team. Thank you, but I’m fine.”

“Shame,” clone-Kakashi said. “ISBN thinking about you.”

And with that, he dispersed leaving a confused, and blushing, Iruka.

_____________

Fortunately, real-Kakashi was at the team’s table, and so Naruto had actually been quiet when he arrived back, clearly thinking that Kakashi was going to be late arriving after him.

For once, his whole team had their heads down, working hard. Naruto was too surprised to argue, and Sasuke and Sakura seemed reenergized after their (extended) break.

The clone’s memories hit Kakashi suddenly, and he shook his head.

“Naughty clone,” he thought to himself. “But library pick up lines, that’s a good idea. Glad I came up with it.”

As it approached lunchtime, the library crowd changed a bit, and his team started to fidget.

“Are you guys paying attention? You seem a bit checked out,” Kakashi said. He received a glare from Sasuke in response.

“That was a good one, admit it,” Kakashi said. He pulled out an empty scroll and tossed it on the table so it opened.

"Put everything in there, we'll break for lunch."

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said. "I don't think we're supposed to just leave with the books, we have to check them out."

Kakashi waved her off. "We're not going far. If you want, we can put a jacket in it too. Get it? Books, jacket? Book jacket? So they stay warm?"

His team groaned but put everything in the scroll.

"Come on, let's book it to lunch."

"Sensei!" Sasuke said, crossing his arms. "Stop it, I can't take anymore!"

"Oh Sasuke-kun, we're only halfway done. Still several more chapters to go."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and the team headed to the exit, Kakashi tucking the scrolls in his vest.

As they neared the exit, they greet Iruka, who had moved to a new part of the building.

"We're heading to lunch," Naruto called out, and Iruka smiled and nodded.

"Have a good lunch!" he called out.

"Oh, sensei," Kakashi said, detouring towards him. "Libraries should allow food in the building, because right now I could just eat you up."

Iruka blushed. "Kakashi-sensei!" he hissed. "This is a public place! And your team could hear!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kakashi drawled, poking around the books on Iruka's cart. "But could you give me a good book recommendation?"

Iruka nodded, straightening his uniform. "Of course. What type? Not Icha Icha I hope..."

"Not this time," Kakashi sighed.

"Hmm. Mystery? Suspense? Cooking?"

"I need a book for....helping me to sweep you off your feet," Kakashi said, giving Iruka a closed-eyed smile.

"I don't know what's gotten into you today!" Iruka hissed, blushing and looking around to see if anyone overheard. "When you do this at the missions desk, it's bad enough. But here? You're too much!"

"That's not a refusal," Kakashi said. "I'm just trying to take you out."

Iruka rolled his eyes. "Sure, that's why you're hitting me with all these bad pick up lines?"

"What can I say? That's how I roll," Kakashi said, pushing Iruka's cart.

Iruka sighed. "Get. Out. Now."

Kakashi saluted him and left. "See you tonight, sensei." Iruka argued, saying he hadn't agreed, but was ignored. Kakashi wandered outside, the sounds of Iruka's mutterings of "irritable jounin" playing sweet music in his ears, and joined his team, who had set up lunch in the grass outside the library, glad for fresh air and sunlight.

Kakashi quickly ate his lunch behind his Icha Icha, to the chagrin of his team, and half read as the genin talked amongst themselves.

"Say, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said. "Do you ever throw food into the air and catch it in your mouth?"

"Uh huh," Kakashi said, only half paying attention.

"Oh yeah? Do it, now! I dare you!" Naruto said, grinning.

Kakashi looked up from his book. "Do what?"

"Catch food, in your mouth." Sasuke and Sakura appeared interested in this new exchange but tried not to show it.

"I'm afraid I've eaten all my lunch," Kakashi said. "So sad," he said, sarcastically.

"You can have some of my snacks," Naruto said. "I'll even throw it for you."

Sasuke and Sakura had both turned to their sensei now, clearly waiting for an answer.

"Sure, Naruto. You throw it, I'll take my mask down, and I'll show I can catch it in my mouth."

"Really?" the blond shrieked.

"Sure. Go ahead."

Three pairs of eyes widened in his direction as Naruto sent a snack into a graceful arch towards Kakashi, who tilted his face up towards it.

At the last second, as the snack neared his masked mouth, he whipped Icha Icha in front of his face.

"Sensei!" his team grumbled.

Kakashi put his book down and loudly chewed the snack behind his mask. "What? I caught it in my mouth, and my mask had to come down for it to get in. Aww, are my widdle genin sad?" he asked, sarcastically.

He was met with frowns.

"Ah, you're all no fun today. You clearly put on your grumpy uniforms this morning."

"Because we have a lousy mission," Sakura said. "I like books, but this is a lot!"

"Yeah! Stuck in a stupid library all day! I bet Kiba's team is out doing something fun!" Naruto added.

"Someday you'll look back on this fondly. Who knows," Kakashi said, "when you're out on a mission and needing to write a quick report, or leaving information at a checkpoint for the next team. These are important skills to have."

His team sat in silence, reflecting on this.

"After all," Kakashi said. "Better read than dead. Get it, read?"

His team sighed and flopped down on the grass.

"Ah, I couldn't help my shelf."

"Make it stop, make it stop!" Sasuke said, covering his ears and writhing on the ground.

"Ok, seriously though," Kakashi said. "Ten more minutes, then back to work. If you complete everything today, I'll take you guys out for dinner after we turn in the report. Which I, for one, am not writing."

His team looked at him suspiciously.

"What?"

"We're waiting..." Sasuke said.

"For the catch..." Sakura added.

"Or terrible pun..." Naruto commented.

Kakashi shrugged. "Just motivation. I want you to feel positive about today, so we'll even do barbeque. And I want to hear less grumbling this afternoon. Read between the lines," he said, winking.

The groans from his genin were beautiful.

"I already started to talk to Iruka-sensei about taking me out for dinner," Naruto said, staring up at the sky. "But I guess you're okay too."

"Thanks," Kakashi grumbled.

"Anytime!" Naruto replied.

Kakashi shook his head. "You should take out a book on sarcasm, Naruto, maybe you'll understand life more. If you'd rather go out with Iruka-sensei, that's fine."

"I did talk to him first, but you're my team..." Naruto said, thoughtfully.

"Stop talking, you're ruining my quiet time," Sasuke grumbled.

"Why don't you invite Iruka-sensei to join us, then," Kakashi offered. "My treat."

"You mean it?" Naruto asked, looking at Kakashi, who nodded. "No joking? No sarcasm? No lying?"

"Maa, why would I lie about something like that? That way you don't have to choose," Kakashi said, thinking to himself how he definitely earned the title of genius...

Chapter Text

(I don't own any characters etc etc)

They returned from lunch and settled at the same table as before. Kakashi unrolled and unsealed the scroll with their supplies.

"Baby got stacks!" he said as he set them out, and heard only minor grumbling. His bribery was clearly going to work.

"I still can't believe we basically stole books," Sakura said, shaking her head.

"Maa, not stole, borrowed."

"We're supposed to borrow via a library card," she corrected Kakashi.

"That's a novel idea," he said, and received an eye roll.

"I'm going to get more books," Sasuke said, "if only to have to hear less crappy puns."

"Ah, you wound me!" Kakashi said. "Book it to the new books!"

"Done," Sasuke said, as he left. "I'm so done with this."

Kakashi stepped away for a moment, summoning a clone.

"Yo."

"Go see our favorite chuunin," Kakashi told his clone, who nodded and sauntered off. Real-Kakashi returned to his team's table to oversee their work.

Sasuke nodded to his sensei as they passed each other a few moments later, Sasuke carrying several books back to the table. His eyes narrowed when he saw his sensei at the table before he had arrived back.

"Weren't you..." he began, then shook his head as he sat down. "Not even worth it."

"Hmm?" Kakashi said, looking up from a scroll he was studying, figuring he should set a good example for the rest of the day and not read Icha Icha. "Talk wordy to me, what's on your mind?"

"I hate you so much right now," Sasuke said, scowling.

__________

Clone-Kakashi wandered the library.

"Rival!" Gai boomed, resulting in many hushes. He lowered his voice. "We are still deep into our challenge, I see! This is a worthy one for sure! A true test of our discipline!"

"Yeah, Gai, sure," clone-Kakashi said. "I guess we'll end up tying today."

"Not so fast!" Gai said, striking a pose. "There are still several hours until the library closes. I have time yet to win!" And with that, he strode off.

Clone-Kakashi stared after him for a moment, before shrugging and continuing on.

"Afternoon, sensei," he greeted Iruka, who was working at a desk, a few moments later.

Iruka shot him a side glare. "Kakashi-sensei."

"So, dinner tonight."

Iruka huffed. "I don't think so."

"Why? It would be a crime and punishment if I didn't get to take you out," clone-Kakashi said, winking.

Iruka snorted. "Yeah, sure. I have plans."

"What plans? Buying Naruto a paycheck's worth of ramen?"

Iruka shrugged as he worked. "Most of a paycheck. He's already asked, so I should keep the night open for him."

Kakashi leaned over the desk. "That's not exactly a no, again." He leaned closer. "Dewey belong together or what?"

"You're terrible," Iruka said. Clone-Kakashi noted he didn't blush that time, and pouted. "Shouldn't you be with your team?"

"I am?"

Iruka shot him a look as he worked. "You are." Kakashi nodded. "And you're here also." Another nod. Iruka smiled. "I have to hand it to you, Naruto hasn't even figured out that he'd get through the library faster if he used clones. Of all the times, too!"

Clone-Kakashi laughed. "Agreed. Say, we could swap Naruto stories over dinner..."

His eye widened as Iruka stopped working and looked up at him.

"We could..." Iruka said. "Or..."

Clone-Kakashi's eye widened more, only for him to disperse.

Back at the table, Kakashi's years of being a top shinobi helped him maintain his self-control and not flinch as the clone's memories came back to him.

"He threw a book at me!" he muttered, and his team just shook their heads.

___________

Later, Kakashi straightened up from the sealing scroll he was reading and reviewed his team's work.

"Good job. I think we just need one more book and another hour or so and we'll be done, in addition to the report," Kakashi said.

Naruto jumped up. "I'll get it!"

"If it's okay with your team," Kakashi said, looking at Sakura and Sasuke, who shrugged. "May the source be with you!"

His team huffed.

"Just don't take forever, Naruto," Sakura said. "Don't make us be here late because you messed around."

"Agreed," Sasuke said.

"Fine, fine, I'll be back soon. If I see Iruka-sensei I'll invite him to dinner!" And with a flash of orange, he left.

"I'm going to get a new scroll to look at, and a blank report," Kakashi said, standing.

He did wander and get a new sealing scroll, but decided to take a detour to the desk that had blank mission reports.

"We're almost done!" he heard Naruto say.

"Good," he could hear Iruka say, and so Kakashi stayed out of sight and minimized his chakra.

"And then it's dinnertime!"

Iruka laughed. "I suppose so, after your team is done turning in your report. Ichiraku's?"

"Actually," Naruto said. "Kakashi-sensei is taking us out for dinner!"

"Oh?" Iruka sounded surprised. "That's....nice of him."

Kakashi allowed himself to think that he detected a note of disappointment in the younger man's voice, but wasn't sure if it would be due to Kakashi having plans, or Naruto having plans. He hoped it was the former...

"He invited you too!" Naruto said.

"What?"

"Yeah, after he said he'd take the team out, I told him I'd already started to make plans with you, and he said he didn't want me to have to choose between you or my team. So he invited you out and even said he'd pay!"

Iruka snorted. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, believe it! He's getting us barbeque!"

Kakashi stepped towards them. "Only if you guys finish on time, which means you'd best head back with our last book," he said to Naruto.

To everyone's surprise, the blond didn't argue for once.

"Right! I gotta go, but see you tonight, Iruka-sensei!" he said, running off.

Iruka smiled fondly as he picked up some books off the table he was at. "That kid."

"So, dinner?" Kakashi said. "After all, you look booked."

"Not this story again," Iruka said, smirking. Kakashi was stunned.

"Finally! Someone gets me!" he said.

"Are you here to just get after Naruto and annoy me again?" Iruka asked, heading back to the large main library desk.

"Maa, is that a hardcover or are you just happy to see me?"

"Kakashi-sensei!" Iruka hissed. "So help me, I will throw you out of this library right now!"

Kakashi pursed his lips, recognizing that would mean Gai would win their challenge. "Fine, sorry. Actually, I need a blank mission report so we can fill it out and turn it in after we finish up here."

Iruka brightened. "Well, good, that's good."

Kakashi followed Iruka, staying on the public side of the desk while Iruka went behind it, set his books down, and pulled out a scroll from a drawer, passing it to Kakashi.

"Thanks. Should we pick you up on our way out? Hit the missions room together, then dinner?" Kakashi asked, and Iruka frowned. "Iruka-sensei, you wouldn't want to disappoint Naruto, now would you? You'd have to file him under S for sad."

Iruka rolled his eyes. "Sure, sure. Say, shouldn't you be getting back to your team?"

Kakashi shrugged. "All in due time, they have to finish up before we can fill this out," he said, shaking the blank scroll.

"Ah, well, tell the real Kakashi-sensei that we'll see about dinner," Iruka said.

"What makes you so sure I'm a clone?"

Iruka snorted. "I wouldn't put it past him to pull that trick three times."

"Do you want to go to the restricted section and see for yourself?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka scowled. "I think you've been in the fantasy section for too long."

"Ah, see? You get me?" Kakashi said. "I should go, I'll see you tonight!"

When Kakashi got back to their table, his team was just about wrapped up.

"Kunai see your work?"

"Ugh, seriously?" Sakura said, shaking her head.

"I'm running out of library and book puns," Kakashi admitted. "Jutsu wait, I'll come up with more."

Sasuke grabbed the scroll out of his hands. "Give me that, the sooner we wrap this up the sooner I can try to forget this day ever happened."

"And the sooner we eat!" Naruto added.

They moved to leave the library a short while later, passing Gai and Lee on their way out.

"Rival! Have you been dismissed from these sacred walls?" Gai exclaimed.

"Not at all, Gai, my team finished their work so we're heading back to the missions office." Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "I guess that definitely makes this a draw?"

"NOOOOO!" Gai yelled. "I see what you are trying to do! Keeping such a calm, hip attitude about this, lulling me into a false sense of security! I WILL NOT TAKE THE BAIT!"

A librarian came up. "What is this fuss about!" she shrieked, and everyone looked at Gai. "You, sir, are to leave right now! No checking out, nothing. Out! Now!"

Gai bowed and allowed himself to be ushered out by the smaller, older woman. As he was leaving, he turned back to Kakashi. "You won this time, but next time you will not be so lucky!"

Kakashi and his team stood there, along with Lee, all semi-shocked.

"Uh..." Lee said. "I should go after him, and review a new strategy for not falling for traps!" And he ran out.

"Huh," Kakashi said, thoughtfully. "Guess I won after all. Good thing Gai's not a doctor, he has no patients."

"Sensei!" his team shouted, and he ushered them out before they were kicked out themselves.

"I didn't see Iruka-sensei," Naruto commented on their way out.

"He headed back to the Hokage tower a little bit ago," another librarian at the desk offered. "He deserves it, doing so much today! Such a big help!"

"Would you say he checked himself out?" Kakashi mused, and casually dodged a shuriken thrown at him. "Now, now, Sasuke-kun, don't overdue it!"

And his team chased him all the way to the missions office.

___________

As they neared the front of their line, Naruto spied Iruka.

"Iruka-sensei!" he shouted, waving, and Iruka waved back.

They turned in their report to another desk-worker, and as it was being reviewed, Naruto talked to Iruka.

"So you're joining us, right? For dinner?"

"I don't want to impose," Iruka said.

"You're not! Kakashi-sensei invited you!" Naruto said loudly, making the room turn towards them. Iruka's eyes widened, Kakashi kept a bored look on what was visible of his face, and his hands in his pockets, as he stood with his team.

"I mean..." Iruka said.

"When is your shift over?" Kakashi asked, as their report was accepted and stamped.

"Um, in about thirty minutes."

"Great. Why don't you three go home and shower off the library dust you've been complaining about all day, and Iruka-sensei and I will meet you for dinner in forty-five minutes?"

His team cheered and left in the blink of an eye.

"You'd have never guessed they had all that energy today," Kakashi commented, and Iruka laughed.

"That's true, just like when they were in my class." Iruka turned to Kakashi. "I suppose I'll meet you for dinner, then?"

"Maa, I'll just wait here until you're done."

"Oh, no, I couldn't ask that of you, I still have some time left," Iruka protested.

"Ru," Kotetsu said, from his desk, "just go. We've got this covered, and it's not that busy. Thirty extra minutes of a life won't kill you."

Iruka blushed but thanked him, and turned to Kakashi. "I guess we can go? But they're not meeting us for a while..."

Kakashi put his arm around Iruka's shoulders as they left the room and walked down the stairs.

"That's true, but it gives us plenty of time to find something I lost."

"What did you lose?"

"My heart, you've stolen it!" Kakashi cackled, and Iruka blushed and rolled his eyes.

"You know what the fastest way to my heart is?" Iruka asked him, and Kakashi looked at him with visible interest.

"Chidori," Iruka smirked, and ducked out from under his arm, running.

Kakashi smiled under his mask as he gave chase. This would be a good night, he thought, a very good night!