I thought that it would be good to see Iruka and Shizune in a het pairing for once - why not?

Many thanks to my beta buddy, Waiting4Morning, for getting me unstuck on this one.

Naruto's not mine!

Shizune looked worried, but then, she always looked worried. That didn't necessarily mean this was a bad time to approach her. She was discussing something in nervous tones with an apathetic-looking Shikamaru, but Iruka figured, the sooner this issue was resolved, the better. Iruka therefore steeled his grip on the shoulder of the boy squirming beneath his hand and steered him through the halls of Hokage Tower toward their target.

"Apologize." Iruka placed Konohamaru under the nose of the bemused medical-nin.

"What for?" Shizune looked alarmed. "What happened? Did Tsunade-sama send you?"

"Guh – not you!" Iruka gestured toward the small boy with a thumb. "Him."

"Who, me?" Shikamaru planted his lazy gaze on Iruka for the first time.

"No, not you! Konohamaru-kun!"

"Oh," Shizune glanced down at the spiky-haired student that stood, pouting, between them. "Wait – apologize to him?"

"What--? No! He needs to apologize."

Ton-Ton the pig trotted up behind her human and gave an "oink?" that mirrored Shizune's confused expression.

"To you," Iruka clarified. "Konohamaru-kun needs to apologize to you."

"Oh – okay… what for?" Shizune flipped her gaze between Iruka and his charge.

The teacher sighed. "This," he shook Konohamaru's shoulder a little, "is the reason my class was so disrespectful earlier today when you came to speak. While you were lecturing on medical ninjutsu, he was entertaining his classmates with... certain illustrations of… ahem... female, ah..." Iruka paused, uncertain how to phrase what he wanted to say.

"Should I leave?" Shikamaru glanced between his old sensei and the Hokage's apprentice but neither adult acknowledged him.

"Illustrations?" Shizune glanced between the two newcomers again. "Oh… illustrations!" Her eyes got wide and a faint blush colored her cheeks. "You mean that he was drawing…?"

"No, no, not like that..." Iruka was quick to correct that assumption. "No, he drew you and--" He paused, grinding his teeth, and wondered when a simple apology had turned into something so complicated.

"Wait – it was an illustration of… me?" Shizune's eyes flashed dangerously at the boy between them, and she turned a still deeper shade of red. A couple of chuunin down the hall, Izumo and Kotetsu, glanced in their direction at the raised voices, eyebrows perked with interest.

"No! It wasn't anything --" Iruka fumbled for the correct word, fighting down competing urges to clobber the young artist and run away from the medical kunoichi and the growing audience. "It wasn't… explicit or anything." Shizune's eyes narrowed at Iruka and he gulped. "It was just…"

"She wasn't the only one I drew!" Konohamaru was sullen: arms crossed, pout activated. "I don't see why I have to apologize! I also drew pictures of Lady Tsunade and then there was the picture of you and--"

"What?!" Shizune's face went pallid, and Iruka wondered, beneath his horrified rage, how it was possible for the woman's face to change colors so quickly. "You drew a picture of me and Lady Tsunade!? Doing what exactly?"

At this, the chuunin down the hall abandoned all pretense of having their own conversation and began to snicker. Ton-Ton let out a distressed oink. Shikamaru shoved his hands into his pockets and backed off a bit, clearing his throat. Iruka felt a little lightheaded, and Konohamaru just looked confused.

"NO!" Iruka shook his head to clear it of the images that were now flooding in – all in Konohamaru's crude kid-style cartoon format. "That was a different picture! I mean – wait, that's not it at all. We're here because of a different… aargh!" Iruka groaned in frustration.

"What's going on out here?" Godaime herself strode out of her office, drawn, apparently by the ruckus that was developing just outside her door. She looked annoyed, arms crossed over her ample chest. She glared, first at Iruka, then at Shizune.

"L-Lady Tsunade!" Shizune stammered and her hands fluttered. "W-we didn't mean to disturb you. I'm sorry, we just – well, they were just…" She seemed unable to say just what they were doing in the hallway.

"We were just – exacting an apology," Iruka supplied, spine straightening, trying to regain his teacherly authority, "for a picture that Konohamaru drew--" He moved the boy in front of him like a shield. "—which disrupted the lecture that Shizune-san was giving yesterday."

"A picture – of me?" The Hokage raised an eyebrow, her hazel eyes sparking with a dangerous glint.

"Ah, no… It was a picture of Shizune-san and…" By all that was noble, why did the hall have to be full of spectators just then? Iruka tried to clear his throat, but there seemed to be a lump of something sticky lodged in his vocal cords. His mouth worked in silence a few times – like a fish trying to breathe air.

"Here it is, Hokage-sama," Konohamaru announced, digging through his pockets and coming up with a crumpled piece of loose-leaf paper. "This is what I drew!"

Iruka felt his jaw drop. He thought he had confiscated that drawing. Apparently the little cretin made multiple copies. He made as if to snatch the paper from Tsunade's hands, but he thought better of it – one doesn't just take things from Godaime Hokage. The chuunin down the hall, Shizune and her pig, even Shikamaru seemed to lean in to try and catch a glimpse of the paper in question. Iruka just closed his eyes and felt a bead of sweat drip down his forehead. He heard Tsunade unfold the paper and shake out the creases. There was a heavy silence in the air.

Then Tsunade laughed – a great blat of hilarity. "This is great! Shizune, take a look at this!" Iruka risked opening an eye. The paper was in Shizune's hands, the Izumo and Kotetsu had come from down the hall to peer over her shoulder, and Shikamaru had leaned over, a smirk on his face.

"Wait, is this… is this me and, um, is this one here…?" Shizune glanced up at Iruka, an unreadable look on her face.

"It's ME!" Iruka let it out in an explosive blurt. "Okay, it's a picture of you and me."

Kotetsu spoke up, mirth crinkling his bandaged nose. "You're in a tree…"

"Kissing!" Izumo finished his buddy's sentence, grinning.

"I love the title, by the way, Konohamaru." Tsunade looked like a pleased feline. "Kissy-Face – just perfect."

"Hm – good job on the facial expressions." Shikamaru's smirk twitched a little.

"Can I keep this, Konohamaru?" Tsunade asked the little boy who was now looked completely insolent in his self-satisfaction.

"Sure – I can always make more!"

Tsunade plucked the paper from her apprentice's hands, folded it and tucked it safely away into a pocket. "You can come in now, Shikamaru." The Hokage turned and exited the scene; Iruka's former student followed her, smirk cemented. Once the Hokage's office door closed, the chuunin audience turned to go, sensing that the show was over. Iruka averted his eyes from Shizune's face as long as he felt he could manage. He glanced up at her once he realized that they were well and truly alone – well, with the exception of Ton-Ton. Iruka had lost his grip on Konohamaru at some point during the escapade, because the kid was nowhere in sight.

"So – um…" he began, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah, so…" Shizune didn't seem to have much to say either, her face was a little pink, and she was eyeing him oddly.

"Damn – the kid got away before he apologized!" The words were out of Iruka's mouth as soon as the realization hit him. That punk was going to get it later!

"Hm, well, that's okay." Shizune shifted her weight and glanced down at her pig as if she was looking for Ton-Ton's opinion on something.

"Oink!" was the answer supplied.

Shizune met his eyes again, once again nervous. "Maybe we'll just have to – discuss the issue later – over lunch at Dango?"

Something seemed to pop in Iruka's chest, and he let out a nervous chuckle. "Um – yeah." He took a deep breath and plunged ahead, allowing himself a small smile. "Yes, good idea."

Maybe Konohamaru's punishment wouldn't have to be too severe after all.