AN: This is a one-shot! Just occurred to me in a random flash of inspiration, so I wrote it. Enjoy. BTW, I have a poll up on my profile for what you want to see in the edited version of "The Past and the Present". What you want and what you think matters to me. Please check it out and vote, even if you haven't read the original (unfinished) version of "TPATP". Anyway, on to the story!

Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine! Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

The apartment was a mess. There were dirty dishes in the sink and there were things thrown all over the place. It had definitely seen better days.

'Alright, it's about time I got some cleaning done. It's been a while.' Kakashi thought to himself. He had been buried in missions lately and never got a chance to clean. He decided to start off with the kitchen first. He was pretty sure those dishes might start giving shelter to who knows what pretty soon. He was about to start when someone started knocking on his door.

"Hatake-san, I'm sorry to disturb you, but you've been summoned to Lady Tsunade's office immediately." It was one of the chuunin from the mission room, obviously out doing the Hokage's bidding.

"Sure, I'll be right there." Kakashi said before he closed the door.

Great. Just what he needed, another mission. He just got back from one the day before. Oh well, it couldn't be helped. He got dressed in his Jounin uniform and headed out towards the Hokage tower. He wondered how long he'd be gone this time.

Three weeks. THREE WEEKS! It was the most mind-numbing escort mission he'd been on in years. It shouldn't have been more than a C or maybe even a B-ranked mission, but the client was absolutely paranoid and demanded a high-level ninja for protection.

It was late afternoon, early evening and he dragged his tired butt home. It felt good to be back in the village. He stood in front of his apartment door, but something felt a little off. He warily unlocked his door and opened it, but was greeted with the foulest scent known to man. It made his visible eye water and he quickly shut his door. Damn his heightened sense of smell.

'Where am I going to go now? There is no way I'm staying here tonight. Let's see, who can I bunk with tonight?' Struck by a genius idea, a satisfied smirk planted itself on his masked face.

Umino Iruka trudged home after one of the worst days of his life. First, his class thought it'd be hilarious to try and kill him every time he'd turned his back, then two of the boys got into a fight during recess, followed by the confiscation of kunai brought from the boys' homes which they knew were not allowed. The day ended with Naruto bursting into his classroom and exciting the children even more to a point where there just wasn't even a point in teaching anymore because nobody was paying attention, so he was forced to dismiss the children early. Normally, this was a good thing for him because he got to get a little work done before his shift at the mission room, but not today, because he had to treat Naruto to ramen, hence Naruto's intrusion of his class. Now that his day was over and the most boring shift at the mission room in the history of boring shifts in the mission room was over, he just wanted to soak in a hot bath, go to sleep and never wake up.

He walked up the stairs to his apartment, but froze when he sensed another presence in his home. Kunai at the ready, he slowly opened his door, but froze when he saw who it was.

"Kakashi. What are you doing on my couch?" Iruka asked. He didn't put the kunai away yet, just in case he needed it later.

"I just got back from a three week long mission and this is how you greet your best friend?"

"If you just got back, shouldn't you be at your own house, not lounging around mine?" Iruka asked, annoyed.

"You see, I would, but there seems to be something mysterious living there with really bad B.O. and it kicked me out of my own apartment, so I thought, why not come here for the time being?"

Iruka could only stare at his friend while he tried to figure out the meaning behind the unbelievable excuse. "So, you forgot to clean your apartment before you left and now it smells so bad, you can't bare it?"

"…Something like that…"

"…"

"It wasn't my fault. I was going to clean it, but right before I got started, I was summoned away. Tragic really."

"I'm not helping you clean it this time, just so you know."

"Oh, I know alright. I got the message when you threw that petrified piece of whatever it was at me and said 'I'm not helping you next time.' I remember that just fine. I was just hoping you'd let me stay the night."

"Go right ahead and get re-acquainted with the couch then."

"Will do. Oh, and I hope you don't mind, but I got hungry and there really wasn't much to eat around, so I kind of cleaned out your kitchen. But its okay, I found enough to fill up on."

"Oh, that's great." Iruka said, his voice rich with sarcasm. "I wasn't planning on eating at all tonight anyway."

"Oh, then it all worked out." Kakashi teased, his eye curving up into a too-happy arch.

"Anyway, how do plan on cleaning your apartment this time?"

"Oh, that won't be a problem. I'll just find Gai tomorrow and make it a challenge. It'll be done in no time."

"Unless the smell kills him first."

"Either way, it's a win-win."

Iruka sighed. "Whatever."

The next day proved to be an interesting one. Luckily it was a Saturday, so Iruka got to bear witness to the day's events, from Kakashi "challenging" Gai to a competition of who can clean his apartment faster to witnessing the great Maito Gai get attacked by a raging squirrel. It really was a pleasant day.

"See, I told you it would all work out." Kakashi said.

"I guess you were right after all, although I still don't know how that squirrel got in there."

"Oh, that's Patches. He comes by every now and then."

"Really?"

"No. He was just a random squirrel."

"Poor Gai though. I don't think anyone's ever seen him cry before."

"Yeah, but if it scared him enough to stop coming over for a while, this really was a win-win. I got my apartment clean, and Gai'll leave me alone for a while. This truly is a happy day."

"Yeah, but you better be more careful. From now on, he'll know better than to accept that kind of challenge again."

"He's Gai. He never learns and he'll never turn down a challenge. It's in his nature to just say yes before he hears the details when it comes to a challenge."

"Oh well. What now?"

"I'm hungry, but I don't want to mess up Gai's hard work already, so I think I'll just go grab a bowl of ramen or something."

"Well, lucky you. I have to go grocery shopping because somebody ate all my food."

"Well you have fun with that." Kakashi said, and he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Iruka sighed and walked towards the market in town. He'll never understand how his friend's mind works, but he'll save himself the trouble of trying.

AN: That was it. Hope you liked it. Kind of ended totally off topic, but it was fun. Don't forget, visit my poll and vote! さよなら！^^