As if further proof were needed that I have weak will power at times, I am posting this chapter, despite not getting the number of reviews I would have liked. Alas. So if you're reading this, please review! Concrit is very, very much appreciated! Btw, I am looking for a beta, any takers please say so in your review and I'll give you my email addy. Thanks!

(flashback, I can't seem to get the little s to work...)

He fiddled with his toothpick; it gave him something to do while he waited for the classroom door to open. This particular one he had picked up at the restaurant his family had taken him to last night to celebrate his entry into the Academy. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, nervously. Chewing compulsively on his toothpick, he turned around to look at the new students behind him. There was a cute girl with blue eyes and brown hair, a scowling boy with silver hair- a loud fit of coughing from the boy in front of him interrupted his observations. He turned and tried as politely as possible to squeeze backwards. The coughing fit was so bad, the skinny brown haired kid it belonged to had to lean against the wall -- and he still looked like he was going to fall over.

"You 'k?" he asked, still wary of catching what was apparently the mother of all colds. It was August- who was dumb enough to catch a cold in August?

A nod from the kid. The cough slowly died. "I'm fine," he said hoarsely, turning to look at Genma. He had dark circles around his eyes.

"What's wrong with you?" Genma asked.

"I didn't sleep much last night." The kid coughed again. "Why're you eating a stick?"

"Huh?" Genma had forgotten he was still chewing the toothpick. He extracted it from his mouth. It looked soggy and a little splintered. He shrugged. "Do you think the teacher's ever gonna come?"

"I dunno."

Genma fidgeted. "What's your name?" he asked.

"You ask a lot of questions," the kid sighed. "Gekkou Hayate."

Before any further conversation could take place, the door of the classroom opened, and Genma found himself taking an involuntary step back. Their teacher towered over them, even more so than most adults. By and large, he looked fairly normal, with black hair in a ponytail, but it was the look of his strange almost white eyes that made Genma feel even more sick with nervousness than he had been. All conversation up and down the line ceased.

"Good morning, class," he began, not particularly cheerfully, but certainly not threateningly. "I will be your teacher. My name is Mizogutchi Kenji and I'm sure we'll have a very pleasant year together. When I read your name and number, enter the classroom and take the seat you're assigned."

Genma's seating assignment was something of a mixed blessing, he thought. On his right was the cute girl, Katsura Yukari, on his left, still coughing, was Hayate.

The day seemed to fly by until lunch, which he only picked over. Yukari had already made some new friends and was talking to them on the other side of the small yard.

Hayate was calling him. "Genma?"

(Present)

"Genma."

Genma came to with a start, kunai in hand, still not fully awake. The sky was lighter in the east, but it was still dark out. Kakashi was standing over him, slightly to one side, out of range of his arms, legs and kunai. Absently, Genma returned the kunai to its pouch and sat up. From his damp clothes and over all feeling of cold, he guessed that it rained during the night, but he didn't remember it. He stood, a little unsteadily and turned to walk away.

"Not a morning person, are you?" Kakashi said.

Genma stopped. Several answers sprung to mind, but in the end he chose the simplest one. "No," he said at last, and kept walking.

(Maybe these will work now?)

When he returned to his apartment that night, assignment details in hand, he was surprised to find he had a visitor knocking at his door. "Sayoko?"

The purple haired girl whirled to face him, surprised. "Oh, there you are."

'If I had been an enemy...' Genma noticed the dark circles around her eyes. Someone else hadn't had an easy night. "What are you doing here?" he asked bluntly. He hadn't seen her since Hayate's death, she'd been keeping busy and that was good, Anko told him when he asked.

"I came to return these," she said, holding out a small bundle. "I think you lent them to Hayate, at least, they don't have his name in them, and I know they aren't mine..."

Genma took the bundle and opened it. The contents were simply three books, three of his books, two books of tactics and a slim green volume of poetry. He'd forgotten lending them to Hayate, but seeing them, he remembered. "Thanks."

Sayoko nodded.

"Eto... would you like to come in for some tea?" he asked, not sure what impulse drove him to do so, and almost certain that she'd say-

"Thank you, that would be nice," she said.

Genma blinked.

"But I can't stay for long, I have an assignment starting tomorrow."

"Me too," he said and fumbled for his keys, feeling suddenly and inexplicably awkward. He opened the door at last, then remembered the mess his apartment was in. He turned. "Could you give me a minute or two?"

She looked puzzled by this, but nodded.

After a frantic three minutes, he opened the door again. "I think it's safe now," he said and went over to put some water on to boil. Sayoko looked around his front room, then decided to sit down on the chair by the table that wasn't buried under a stack of books. "I don't think I've had you over before," he commented, clearing the books off the other chair.

"No, you haven't," Sayoko said allowing herself a small smile. "But you came over to our house frequently."

Genma felt obscurely guilty about not returning the hospitality, though he was fairly certain Sayoko hadn't meant that as a reproach, just a comment. "I liked your house," he said. "It was different from this. Better lit for one thing and it looked nicer. A woman's touch I guess," he shrugged.

"It isn't much," she said quietly. "You could do something with this room, with just one more lamp. In fact, I may end up giving you one or making you buy it from me, I'm going to sell our house."

"What?" Genma frowned.

Sayoko looked down. "It's too big for just one person," she said quietly. "It's a house that's meant for a family to live in. It was really too big for Hayate and me, after our parents died, but he wouldn't consider moving," she smiled. "He had too many fond memories." Her smile vanished, as though it had never been.

The kettle whistled and Genma took it off the burner and set about making tea. "What do you take in it?" he asked

"Lemon and sugar."

Genma spilt a little hot water on his hands, but managed to contain his annoyance in that regard to a wince. "No milk?"

"With lemon?" Sayoko laughed. "No, only-" she stopped suddenly.

Genma didn't dare turn to see if she was crying. If she was, she certainly wouldn't want him to see.

"No," she said at last. "It's all right, Genma, you can look," she said tiredly. "I'm fine."

"Like hell," he said, walking back over to the table and handing her the mug of tea. He sat down and took a sip of the tea. Maybe it was a little too strong... There was a long silence. "Sayoko, if you want to talk to me, about anything, please feel free," he said after a while.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "But I don't know what I'd say."

"You don't have to say anything, you can rant, or yell, or just be," Genma tried to elaborate, feeling more awkward as he did so.

Sayoko said nothing for a long moment, then spoke. "What do you do to get by- besides sleeping out in the rain?"

"Huh? How did you-"

"I overheard Kakashi tell Iruka."

'I never knew Kakashi was such a gossip...' Aloud, he only said: "What were you doing at the Academy?"

"Applying for a job."

Genma stared at Sayoko. "You're leaving the ANBU?"

"No, I thought I'd teach morning classes at the Academy, leaving my afternoons, nights and weekends free for at least part time real work." She sighed at the look of confusion on Genma's face. "Yes, I'm considering leaving. It's starting to get to me, and I'm... not what I was." She smiled bleakly. "Even though now, it would supposedly be ideal for me to continue since I don't have anyone left to leave behind."

'What am I, cup ramen?' Genma thought. "If they offer you the job, you should take it," he said after a long moment.

"Can you see me teaching screaming little kids?" she smiled. "Watch, they'd fire me on my first day!" She put down her half-empty mug of tea. "I should leave, I'm sure we both have things we ought to be doing."

"I guess so," Genma said. They stood and walked to the door.

Sayoko was halfway out of it when a thought occurred to her and she turned, almost bumping into Genma- but neither one pulled back. Only years of training kept Genma's face from going bright red. They were...close. Not indecently close, but the closest he could ever recall them being. "I almost forgot to warn you," she smiled. "I think Iruka-sensei is going to try to have a little chat with you."

"What about?"

"How you're doing, that kind of thing. He's good at that, and polite enough to take a hint if you don't want to talk."

"Oh."

"You should talk to someone," she said, again turning to leave, but looking back over her shoulder. "I know how much you hate hospitals, so I won't even suggest you talk to a doctor, but you should talk to someone. Iruka, me, my cat..."

"The cat counts as a 'someone'?" Genma almost smiled, a strange feeling, he thought.

"Of course," Sayoko smiled. "Get some sleep, Genma."

Genma stood in the doorway of his apartment and watched until Sayoko disappeared from sight. At last he closed the door and looked at the clock on the far wall. He groaned. How did time fly by so quickly? It was late and he still needed to pack and get in a few hours of sleep before the insanely early departure hour. But recently he hadn't slept so well, when he slept at all. In fact, despite the aches and pains that followed, the night out in the rain by the memorial had been the most peaceful one he'd had in a while. He decided against some sake to help him sleep or to chase away dreams. He couldn't afford to oversleep and didn't have much time for sleep anyway. He unrolled his futon and lay down.

(Flashback)

"This is a bad idea..." Hayate said, looking slightly worried.

"But it's fun!"

(TBC… grins )