Chapter Seven: Epilogue

After the mission, Iruka had gone back to his place to shower. Kakashi and Pakkun sat on the couch waiting until 3am and when Iruka didn't show up he realized the man wasn't coming back. Was he supposed to go to his place? Kakashi frowned. They had never really had 'that talk' to define their relationship and now that the mission was over, maybe Iruka was using this as a way to get out of their…whatever they had.

Kakashi wanted to go over right now and demand an explanation. Besides his toothbrush and favorite extra mask was over there. And Pakkun' second best bowl which was there. And he was pretty sure he'd left a few Icha Icha's over there that he wanted to re-read. And his favorite slippers that he couldn't sleep without. He growled and paced back and for the around the apartment, patenting ignoring Pakkun's eye rolling. If he went over there did it make him look weak? Should he wait for the man to come see him? Why hadn't he come back?

But he couldn't quite make himself go. Too many years of being alone, too many years of not being in a relationship, of not knowing what a relationship was or how to even recognize what to do to prevented him from leaving his apartment. Pakkun called him quite a few names and he probably deserved all of them, except for the eunuch comment, that was definitely below the belt. Stupid mutt. Actually right now his niken were on revolt and refusing work for him. He was very lucky he had not needed their aid on any missions as they were refusing to speak to him and he was pretty sure than unless he was dying, that they would not aide him. Talk about a pack of traitors.

He had even altered his usual schedule so that he gave his mission reports to Izumo or Iwashi. They had looked confused the first time he had handed a report to them, asking if he would rather wait for Iruka-san? He had politely declined, and left the missions office promptly. He had even filled in his report correctly, afraid if he had filled it in wrong he might have to talk to Iruka.

Kakashi had also heard about Iruka's sudden popularity with Konoha's jounin and ANBU. The sexy sensei, indeed. He was happy that Iruka was finally being recognized as the attractive man that he always should've been seen as, but he couldn't help but burn with jealousy. Although, considering they weren't in a relationship, he knew he shouldn't feel this way.

It was a Friday evening, and raining. Raining again and he had always hated the rain, and now he hated it even more so because it reminded him of Iruka. He was sitting in a bar having a drink by himself when two men slid into the booth behind him. He sighed. He really didn't want people even near him. Maybe he should just go home and wallow in his misery alone. He was about to leave when he caught the tail end of their conversation.

"I'm so pissed!" Ebisu said.

"Why?" Daikoku Funeno said, ordering a round of drinks for the two of them.

"Well, I've been trying to get Iruka-san to go out with me for years and now this whole 'sexy sensei' thing is just making it even harder. Everyone keeps asking him out!" Ebisu complained.

Daikoku laughed. "He wasn't going to go out with you anyways, Ebisu."

Ebisu sighed and seemed to take a drink. "Leave me to my delusions."

"You're deluded alright." Daikoku laughed again. "Besides, apparently he likes the civilians."

"What?" Ebisu said with an indignant squawk. "Civilians!"

"Yeah, I hear he's dating a civilian. Some guy called Mr. Ukki. Now, I don't know what sort of name that is, but, from what Iruka's told Suzume…apparently he told he's a fantastic lover."

Ebisu groaned. "Of all the luck!"

Kakashi almost fell off his chair. He looked at his watch; Iruka would probably be on mission desk duty right now. He hated to interrupt, but it had already been weeks and he couldn't wait. He walked into the office, forgetting to try and look casual or nonchalant or bored. He walked straight up to the desk, not realizing that there was a line or that the office was full and people were staring.

"Maa…say, Iruka, can we have a chat?" Kakashi asked him, drinking in the sight of Iruka. The man looked tired. He was sitting behind the desk, surrounded by paperwork, ponytail slightly askew. Izumo on one side of him, Kotetsu on the other. Iruka was blushing. Oh, Kakashi loved it when he did that.

"No, I'm sorry, Kakashi-san. I'm afraid I'm quite busy right now. I'm in the middle of a shift." Iruka paused and gestured towards the line. "And you should really wait your turn in line."

Kakashi leaned in a little closer. "Oh, Iruka…but…should Mr. Ukki really have to wait in line?"

The room suddenly quieted. Izumo was smirking openly but Kotetsu looked a little confused.

Anko walked over and put her arm around Kakashi then peered down at Iruka. "Oi! Iruka-kun! So Kakashi-san was your 'Mr. Ukki'-! You're so funny! But really, he shouldn't get to cut in line; I don't care even if he's your boyfriend."

Iruka blushed and took Anko's report. "Thank you for your work, Anko-san. Konoha thanks you for your service." He stamped it with the appropriate stamps, and then looked up at Kakashi who was still waiting.

"I'll be off at 7pm, Kakashi-san." Iruka said quietly.

Kakashi nodded and left, hearing Izumo laugh behind him and tease Iruka, "Are you that formal with each other in bed?"

Later, he showed up at Iruka's apartment around seven fifteen with bowls of take-out ramen. He smiled at Iruka and held up the take-out. Iruka smiled back at him and took the take out containers and set them up on the coffee table. They sat on the couch and began to eat in an awkward silence. After a few minutes Kakashi broke the silence.

"Why didn't you come back that night? You said you were going to come back." Kakashi heard himself ask and hated the way he sounded. Needy, hurt, accusatory. Human. Emotional. Damnit.

"Honestly? I fell asleep." Iruka's features tinged with pink. "I went to take a shower and I sat down to take off my clothes and woke up about eight hours later. Then I had to go give my mission report and turn in work and then I had shifts at the mission desk the next day. I had a long meeting with Ibiki and then at the prison. Interrogation meetings. It was a long few days after the mission. Not to mention the depositions I had to give for Saburo's trial."

Iruka paused.

"You didn't come over, either." Iruka pointed out, his ire and voice rising. "I mean, why didn't you?"

Kakashi was silent, feeling ashamed. I mean, what if something had happened to Iruka and he had been too prideful to have come over to have checked on the man that night.

"Maa…silly as it may seem, I was worried you didn't like me." Kakashi said quietly.

Iruka's anger suddenly evaporated and he smiled happily at Kakashi. "You really are a crazy jounin, you know that?"

"What?" Kakashi said in confusion.

"Of course I like you." Iruka said as if talking to a small child.

"Oh." Kakashi said then smiled.

Iruka smiled and leaned in to kiss Kakashi lightly. "Mmm…you taste like ramen." Kakashi chuckled in response. Only Iruka would be delighted about kissing him after eating ramen.

"Actually, Kakashi." Iruka took a deep breath and looked at him. "I think I love you."

Kakashi felt at loss for words and for a second he didn't hear anything as he was just staring at the chuunin, but the man was continuing to speak. Wait, what was he saying?

"-realized it when you were willing to let me take command during the mission. I really appreciated that, Kakashi. That trust that you had in me is something that meant a lot to me. And I know I'm probably one of the few who's seen your face. I know that is also a lot of trust and faith you've placed in me. You are my most precious person, Kakashi."

Then before he could react, he had his arms full of a happy and loving Iruka. The chuunin was kissing him intently as if trying to make up for the past few weeks. If he thought the man was a bundle of sexual energy before, he hadn't seen anything yet. Apparently nothing beats a man in love.

There were now a few extra holes in the wall in Iruka's bedroom wall. Kakashi really needed to stop doing that. Or possibly they should figure out a way to reinforce the plaster in the bedroom wall? Hmm…there might be some sort of drywall jutsu…

Afterwards, Kakashi left the bedroom padded into Iruka's kitchen to see about fixing something for a snack. He could hear Iruka talking to Pakkun. They seemed to be discussing various techniques for getting stains out of clothing. Kakashi snorted, shaking his head. Kakashi opened the refrigerator realized there was various Tupperware containers and baggies labeled separately for each of his niken with each of their favorite treats. How had Iruka discovered this information? He didn't remember telling the man? He must have asked Pakkun of course. Kakashi stood staring at the contents of the refrigerator, remarkably touched. He scratched the back of his neck, and picked up a few apples and walked back to the bedroom.

A few minutes later they were eating the apples, the only sound in the room was the crunch of them eating the apples. And Kakashi was frowning.

"Why are you frowning so furiously like that?" Iruka asked Kakashi.

"I love you too, you know." Kakashi said, looking down at the apple, and then at Iruka.

Iruka smiled back. "Good."

A/N: Thank-you for all the lovely reviews. Hope everyone enjoyed this little fiction. I have another one I'm working on posting soon. So if keep your eyes peeled. I've been working on it for a while. First chapter should be up either today or tomorrow. If you're interested it's called "DARK MATTER". It will also be longer, more dramatic, angst, lots of romance, sex, suspense, drama, war, mystery, and adventure! Well, that's the grand plan, at least, if you can read my outline. AND if you're reading my amusing side project "Icha Icha Matchmaker" I'm still working on it. I would never abandon a fic but it's what I write when my main project is giving me writers block. Although I find it amusing that Shikamaru is my writers block cure. Probably because he would find writers block to be a drag, ne?

hieiashke- I love the idea of a sequel "The Sexy Sensei" – And in fact I might just do that one day as a one shot! Thank-you for the idea! ;-) So keep your eyes peeled, because I'm like…100% you'll see me do it!

saint2sinners- Thank-you for the compliment. Hah, I'd love to say that I don't know why it's gotten so few reviews either but that sounds totally like…arrogant or conceited so I won't. Oh, wait, I guess I just did, didn't I? Maa…well, cats out of the bag. I don't know why. I think it's just how it goes sometimes. Sometimes a story just doesn't seem as appealing to some people? I don't know. Why do some stories have like 800 reviews and some only have like 12? I don't know.

yaoi lover14706- Glad you're enjoying it! Thank-you for the wonderful reviews!

KakashiXIrukaLover- Thank-you for the lovely reviews!

Kick-Aft-Thank-you for the review.

24sakura- Thank-you for the review!