When Sasuke Met Naruto (SasuNaru)

- Chapter 36 -

AN: Well, here it is. The lemon you've all been waiting for (that was a warning, by the way). Now, without further ado, on with the chapter

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Kakashi sat across from Iruka at Café Portabello, a small, fancy Italian restaurant in downtown Konoha. He had invited the man to dinner on a whim more than anything else. All that week he had been trying to find time to talk to his precious Umino, but with work and the craziness surrounding Gaara, they had only been able to exchange a few words. Thus, it seemed perfectly natural for them to go and have a special night, just the two of them.

Unfortunately, it was also Naruto's birthday, a fact that Kakashi had failed to realize. Iruka had made things work, though – apparently he had talked it over with Naruto, and they had decided it would be best to go out and celebrate his birthday on Saturday. After all, it was much better to have an entire day of birthday fun than just a few hours after school. That had been Iruka's reasoning, at least, and Naruto seemed to buy it, albeit a bit too readily.

Hmm... well, I hope he and Sasuke celebrate safely, at least...

Staring down at the plate of pasta before him, Iruka played around with it using his fork before taking a sip of his red wine. Kakashi, meanwhile, took a drink of his standard lemonade after removing his mask and smiled. "Something on your mind?"

Iruka sighed. "I just hope I didn't let Naruto down. I mean, it's his birthday, right?"

Kakashi chuckled. "I figured as much. Well, look at it this way – if you were still in Mizu, you wouldn't have been able to come for his birthday at all. I hardly think he'll be heartbroken if he has to wait one more day to celebrate."

"That's true... but you only turn sixteen once. It's a big year. Maybe I should give him a call – I can still drop by and give him a present," Iruka said as he pulled out his cell phone.

"Wait!" Kakashi exclaimed a bit too loudly, causing the brunet to look up in surprise. He quickly caught himself, though, with a nervous cough. "I'm sorry... I mean, don't do that. I'm sure he's fine – he's probably celebrating with his friends or something. It'll all work out, trust me."

Iruka reluctantly shoved his phone back into his pocket and looked up at the silver-haired man with a smile. "You're probably right."

"I know I'm right."

Taking a bite of his pasta, Iruka washed it down with another sip of wine before glancing at Kakashi's semi-formal attire, with gray dress shirt and pink tie, a suit jacket resting on the back of the chair. "You look good tonight. I didn't realize you were going to dress up."

"Same goes for you," Kakashi replied, glancing at the other man's similar attire, though with more of a navy shirt and a gold tie.

"Well... I don't know, you said you were taking me to this place. It sounded fancy..."

"... he says, pretending he didn't do any research beforehand," Kakashi interrupted with a wry smile.

"I'm that predictable, huh?" Iruka asked with a sheepish laugh.

"Call it a lucky guess."

With a weak chuckle, Iruka returned to his meal for a moment, savoring the flavors of his meal while Kakashi started on his own pasta. Café Portabello truly knew how to make a good meal – Kakashi savored the various flavors before cleansing his palate with some salad. After washing it all down with some lemonade, the silver-haired man glanced back up to find Iruka watching him intently from across the table.

"Something on my face?" Kakashi asked before patting his face with a napkin.

"No, no... I was just thinking, I guess."