Oohhoo… this is where the 'drama' bit of this story comes into play. Angsty/complaining Hayate… what more could you want? (Give me some earmuffs! Give me some earmuffs!)

Onto some personal notes: (As though you care, but too bad…) 1. I should be in bed. Arg. 2. I just got wireless internet! WOO HOO! 3. Ninja Gaiden's out and I can't GET IT!!!!! *Sob* I'm so tempted to move to America just to get it and jet back again… 4. Enough from me. On with the chapter! Oh… thanks always to the reviewers and also for the suggestions… I am gonna chuck a bit more Hitomi in regardless but I have some interesting Hayate/… pairings lined up… :)

*

The flush that had been on his cheeks since the start of the tutoring session had only increased in the last hour. Most people wouldn't have been able to discern the slight tinge of impatience that had crept into his friend's voice, but he had known Ryu long enough to notice small things like that. And it only became more obvious the more questions he screwed up.

Soon enough, there was a small pile of scrunched up pieces of paper sitting next to him, containing his mess-ups on various problems.

I'm such an idiot. Why don't I get this? He was ready to pound something in frustration as Ryu patiently enough went over the question for the third time. He does! Why can't I?

"So… you just transpose them over so the 'c' is at the front, right?" he questioned hesitantly. The humiliation of making a mistake was far worse then messing up… that was until he had to face his father.

"Nearly. You have to expand and simplify. The transposing was for the last question,"

He did hit the ground with his fist then. "But aren't we doing the same type of questions?"

Glancing down at the page, he felt the flush deepen ever further. "Why the hell didn't you tell me that we were doing bloody year eleven revision?"

Ryu looked rather apologetic, he had to admit. "You were having trouble with the set questions, so I thought some revision would help-"

"Stuff the revision!" In a flash, books, paper and pens were on the ground as he stood up furiously, tears of frustration burning at his eyes. "I'll just fail math, then! Father can go and get somebody else to follow in his footsteps for all I care! I can't do this!"

"Hayate, wait," The tone was commanding, commanding enough for him to pause in the process of shoving his books back into his bag with all the force he could muster, and turn to look at his friend.

"Forget about your father for a moment. What about you?" Ryu's voice was calm, an ironic contrast compared to his own furious tone.

"What about me? Yeah, I stink at math. What else?"

"No. What about you? Wouldn't it make you feel better if you could do this? Before you say that you can't…" Ryu added swiftly as he opened his mouth to start an angry tirade, "give it time. This is a fairly difficult topic, but you'll get there. Just stay with it. Look, I'll explain it again. Any problem, just tell me to stop and we can go over it,"

"I don't want to go over it," he had dropped the books onto the ground and lowered his head into his hands by this stage. Distantly, he was aware of sounding like a juvenile, whining child, but he didn't care. "I'm trying, Ryu, I just can't do it,"

"Hey," A sudden touch to his shoulder. "You can. If I can, you can, okay? Look. I'll give you an example question, a simple one. Work out what 'y' equals if you use the formula 'y = mx + c', and 'm' equals… 7, and 'x' equals 3. Oh, and 'c' can be 8,"

"Transpose?" Even the word seemed to make the problem more difficult. "I can't do transposition questions,"

"No, it isn't that sort of transposing," Ryu tapped the sheet of paper with the pencil he was holding. "You just put the 7 into the equation as 'm', and so on,"

"What, so y = 7 times 3 plus 8?" his voice was eerily faint. "That's… 21 plus eight… 29?"

"Exactly," Ryu was smiling, faintly, but still smiling. "See? You can do it,"

"And what was that, a year seven question?" he grumbled, but mentally a small light had flamed inside him. Perhaps I can do it… no, must have been a fluke. It won't happen again…

"Could we have a break now?"

He couldn't do it. He was going to fail. And whether or not he improved, he still had to explain this grade to his father…

"Hayate! No! Watch out!"

The tyres screaming along the asphalt… the road leading Irene to her doom…

"No!" He stood up again, grabbing his books. "I didn't do it!"

Crash. Impact.

One look was all it took. She was gone.

"What?" Ryu stood up as well, emerald concern and confusing showing.
"I… love you, Ryu…"

Not him, of course. Never him. He was always outside, looking in.

"Don't you dare! Leave me alone!" Before Ryu could say anything else, he was running, running to try and get away from the voices in his head. Running home. Running to face the angry wrath of his father.

"Hayate?" His father's voice. Ignored, as he shoved past him, and ran up the stairs.

"Hayate? Are you alright?" That was Kasumi, a row with Ayane halted as she saw him come in. He also ignored that, entering his room and slamming the door shut before the tears began flowing like a stream.

Was it really my fault after all? I was driving, after all… who else can the blame be put on? Sure, they ran the light, but I could have gotten out of the way… I could do better on the maths; if I tried… that's my fault too?

"Why can't I be better?" he asked the wall faintly, before leaning against his bed and shutting his eyes against the river of painful tears.

Poor Hayate. I hope he's all right…

He opened the door without a second thought, mind still preoccupied with his friend's unusual outburst, to see a sight which made his thoughts jerk back to the present with a sudden jolt. His father, staring at him with black hatred in his eyes.

"You're back late again. What the hell do you think you're doing? You have study to be doing. You should be doing it. Not wandering in of your own accord whenever you damn well feel like coming in. Who do you think you are?"

He couldn't, wouldn't stand up to his father. Especially after he had been drinking. His father had the strength, height and weight over him and would use it without re-considering.

"Can't you be well behaved just for once? Is that too much to ask of you?" his father rolled eyes up to the ceiling briefly, before angry hazel met his eyes again. "I've had it up to here with your bloody insolence,"

What was it going to be this time? A wooden training stick, previously leaning against the wall. A solid crack echoed through the room as pain flooded through his already sore arm where his father had hit him, which he had thrown up on instinct to block the blow. Don't say anything. Otherwise he's won…

A few more, before his father pushed him into the corridor and told him in less polite terms to push off, which he did happily, nursing his left arm. Ouch. This thing's never going to heal at this rate… he placed his bag in the corner of his room before beginning to work on his physics assignment.

There was a smashing noise downstairs, before a roar which made him start. "Ryu, get your arse down here now before I go up there and drag it down!"

Dropping his pencil on the desk, he did so extremely reluctantly. What have I done now?

"Pick those up now!" His father was pointing at two exercise books which must have fallen out of his bag beforehand. He did so, not being able to stop a small sigh from escaping his lips. A bad move.

The wooden training stick was pulled out of nowhere again, and this time there was nothing he could do to stop the blow from hitting home.

*

Pft… both of them seem to be having to deal with bad luck, hey? Anyway, I haven't forgotten about Ayane here, don't worry… we'll see more of our favourite lavender-haired shinobi next chapter.