A/N: Still from Gennie's P.O.V. He's become rather addicting to write about. Starting at this point, the plot--(what plot!)--will beign to deviate from the original Naruto storyline ToT I'm sorry.

Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression - no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow - no tomorrow

Mad World---Gary Jules

Cigarettes littered the floor.

Another one joined its spent comrades, spitting out a lask spark of life before being brutally crushed by an indifferent boot. Asuma's.

At the rate he's going, he'll die of lung cancer before we can find out anything for sure, Genma thought tiredly.

The news had came as a shock to all of them.

Asuma paced heavily around the room, his hulking figure more intimidating than normal. His massive shoulders were haunched in agitation as he circled the small conference room, puffs of smoke billowing out of his mouth at regular intervals.

Step. Step. Step--Puff. Step. Step. Turn--Puff. Step. Step. Step--Puff. Step. Step. Turn--Puff.

Genma took it all in with a wary eye, ready to spring to action in case Asuma decided to do something rash, or foolish, or both.

The room seemed lonelier than ever, with only the sound of Asuma's heavy strides reverberating in his ears.

Step. Step. Step--Puff. Step. Step. Turn--Puff. Step. Step. Step--Puff. Step. Step. Turn--Puff.

Anko was off in another room, loosing hell over Hayate and Aoba, who were "supervising" her, much like what Genma was doing with Asuma right now. The female special jounin's frusration over Kurenai's disappearance could be heard clearly over the distance of the two rooms that seperated them; she was angry, very angry--and very, very vocal about her discontent. Genma could hear her shouts, punctuated by a series of loud thumps and crashes, and followed by something that sounded suspiciously like glass breaking. Hayate and Aoba were going to have a hell of a time trying to calm her down.

Step Step. Step--Puff. Step, step...

Genma didn't envy their position. He wouldn't want to be in their shoes right now, that's for sure.

Step. Step. Turn--Puff. Step, step...

On second thought...

Asuma's agitated pacing wasn't much better. Back and forth, back and forth he paced, like some kind of wild animal getting ready to strike.

It was getting on Genma's nerves. He almost wished that Asuma would start screaming and terrorizing like Anko, that he would say something, anything. Anything at all, other than pacing around like this.

Step. Step. Step--Puff. Step. Step. Turn--Puff. Step. Step. Step--Puff. Step. Step. Turn--Puff.

He couldn't stand it anymore. "Asuma. Please. Stop. Pacing."

Asuma stopped, and stared at the blonde for a few unnerving moments. Genma warily returned the stare, knowing that this was a critical moment; that either Asuma would completely lose it at this point and attempt to beat him in a hopeless bloody pulp, or wilt into a despairing hopeless bloody pulp himself.

It was the latter.

The bear-like jounin sunk into a chair, burying his bearded face in his large hands. His whole posture screamed of weariness and defeat, and his shoulders sagged as if from carrying one too many burdens. It was an invisible burden, and one whose weight was not to be taken lightly.

--Grief.

When Asuma finally broke the silence and spoke, his voice was filled with an overwhelming sense of despair that chilled Genma to the bone.

"What are we going to do?" he asked, voice cracking.

"...I don't know." Genma answered. And he meant it.

Oh, he'd thought he'd already seen it all, that after the invasion by Sand, the reappearance of an S-ranked missing-nin, and the sudden and shocking death of the Third...that after all those events, there could be nothing more that could possibly surprise him.

But the Asuma slumped on the couch before him was a completely different man. Genma had never seen this side of his friend before. For all he knew, he could have been sitting in front of a complete stranger. He wasn't even sure if he should call him "Asuma" anymore. The man before him was alien, foreign, unfamiliar. Genma didn't know what he was supposed to do, no more than he knew the name of he girl he'd slept with last night.

At least, the bar he could avoid.

His friend, he couldn't.

It was no secret that Asuma had been crushing on Kurenai forever. They could both deny it as much as they wanted, but the attraction between the two was unmistakable. That was why despite her obvious attractiveness, he had always excluded the pretty, red-eyed kunoichi from his womanizing endeavors.

"Asuma..." Genma started. But what next? What could he possibly say?

Nothing.

It was an unspoken rule that if a ninja got lost on a mission, they were as good as dead. As a ninja, failure meant death. There were no in-betweens; no compromises. If you failed to return from a mission, you were either dead, or dying.

There were no exceptions to that rule.

Silence had descended onto the room again. Asuma remained immobile, his features hidden in shadow.

Two rooms away, the sound of hysterical wailing reached their ears.

Genma suspected that his prescence was the only thing preventing Asuma from breaking down right now. Despite himself, he was secretly glad. If his friend started crying, Genma would be even more at a loss of what to do. There was just too much happening right now, and no time at all to try to sort everything into some kind of sense.

They remained frozen in silence as time lasped by, until a knock on the door made them both raise their heads. A cough outside informed them of who it was.

Hayate stepped in, his eyebags looking much worse than usual. "Anko's calmed down some, and Aoba's escorting her back home," he said, sounding even more tired than he looked--if that was possible. "The village elders are organizing another meeting tomorrow morning. Every jounin in the village must attend."

Genma nodded.

Hayate hesitated a bit, looking like he was going to say something but then decided against it. Instead, he bowed slightly to Asuma and left, closing the door gently behind him.

As the door closed shut with a soft click, Genma felt a door closing inside him as well.

:Footnotes:
The Third--Sandaime, i.e. Sarutobi, the 3rd Hokage of Konoha Village.

A/N: The possible Asuma/Kurenai relationship is an inference from the manga, but is not explicitly stated in the book.
Aoba might actually be a Chuunin instead of a Jounin as I'd surmised here, so I'll try to research on that. I am as fallible as any one of you, so if you find any other inconsistencies/spellinggrammar errors/factual errors and would kindly point it out in a review or email, I'd be much obliged.