Timing is everything. Every tenth step Anko blew her whistle to signal the swimmers to change their strokes. She clicked her tongue as she looked at her stopwatch. When they completed their final circuit she gave a long tweet on her whistle signaling the end of practice. Two of her girls had stopped dead in the center of the pool, floating on their backs instead of swimming back.

"If you water lilies don't have the strength to swim back to post, use one of these."

Throwing two life rings into the water made a splash that caused several girls standing poolside to laugh. Already the Club leader was issuing instructions to pack up the lane dividers and clean the area. When cleanup activities were completed the girls lined up in front of Anko for closing remarks.

"I saw some good effort out there, we had a lot of improved times, but we can't slack off if we plan on beating Kiri's team at the regional meet next week. So tomorrow I'll see you all on the track for a five K run before hitting the pool." The collective sighs from her students put a smile on Anko's face. "Dismissed!"

Usually Anko would just leave from there for the day, as taking care of the pool was her morning routine, but she remembered that an important regional announcement was going to be in her inbox that day so she went to the locker room. The majority of her students were in the showers, so Anko's presence went unnoticed. Finding her mail pile, Anko found the twenty or so school letters she hadn't bothered to open before finding the letter she had been waiting for.

'Revision of the schedule, form for compensation of travel costs, last notification of team roster submission… same old, same old.' She thought rifling through the papers. Leaning back in her chair she turned off the light and closed her eyes for a moment to rest as she heard the girls coming out from the showers to change at their lockers. In her seated position she was out of anyone's line of sight. Though mostly uninterested, one conversation caught her ear.

"Gah, I can't stand that Mitarashi. Look at my nose, she hit my nose with that life ring she threw." That was Nekoi, a second year. Always slow in getting out of the water.

"You can't really blame her, you were taking a long time to get out of the pool." That was Ohkawa, Nekoi's rather innocent friend.

"What about those crazy drills of hers? We practice so hard and so late there's barely any time left to have a social life." Igarashi was a top notch swimmer, but a bit of a prima dona.

"That's 'cause the old bitch doesn't have one." Nekoi said cuttingly.

It was the laughter of several other girls in the locker room that set it off. Anko picked up her chair and threw it through the window that separated her office from the locker room. She then kicked the door open and knocked over a trash can. As she locked eyes with Nekoi, she saw the blood drain from her face, which wasn't the only liquid that drained from Nekoi.

Leaving the lockers Anko went back to the pool, and took a seat behind the supply shed. Playing with her stopwatch she turned it on and off every fifty-six seconds exactly. The sun went down and the darkness of evening was just about to set in when the outdoor light towers were turned on. Footsteps came her direction and as she looked up she saw a familiar face.

"Iruka? What are you doing out here?" Anko asked.

"I like to meet with the school janitor Jiraiya everyday before leaving, he's a funny guy. But today he told me a story of how he had to clean up the girl's locker room. He said the floor was covered with glass, and trash, and urine of all things. You wouldn't happen to know about all that, would you?" The way he laid the accusation at her was innocence mingled with awareness.

"I guess I overreacted."

"Anything you can tell an old friend?"

Clicking the stopwatch, Anko looked down to notice that it had stopped on fifty-six point one seconds.

"What am I doing here? Do you have any idea what it's like to be surrounded by girls ten years younger and three seconds faster than I am?" As Anko stood up, Iruka offered the use of his hand. She nodded a thanks to him. "I was in their shoes less than a decade ago, I was competing on the national level, but no matter how hard I tried I was never good enough. I tortured myself to break certain barriers, and now without trying these little pipsqueaks who care more about their stupid boyfriends beat the times I busted my ass over! As time goes by what do I get? My body will bulge and sag, my times will get slower and slower, while I'm in a hell of always being surrounded by girls younger, faster, and better than I am."

Anko raised her arm to throw the stopwatch, but Iruka grabbed her before she could. He walked her over to the edge of the pool where he took of his shoes and put his feet in the water, doing the same Anko looked at the reflection of water on the surface.

"Welcome to the life of a teacher Anko." Iruka said with a gentle smile on his face. "We teach the rising generation. Young minds and bodies who are so open to life it's almost frightening. We don't know whether to be proud or scared of the best of them; we don't know whether to blame them or ourselves for their failures."

"And when they succeed, all the glory goes to them… never us."

"It's the sacrifice we make. We give up a little bit of ourselves to ensure that they make it to the next level."

"But at the end of the day, what are we left with?"

Iruka fiddled with the stopwatch,

"How do you reset this thing?" He asked with a stupid grin on his face.

Resetting the watch for him, she handed it back.

"Would you swim a lap for me?"

"What?"

"I want you to swim for me. Hundred meter freestyle, your event. If you can't beat your time, then I'll make sure you get fired for the stunt you pulled today. I won't stand for you staying in your own personal hell where your past plagues you like this. However, if you beat it… I'll treat you to dango."

By the look on his face, she knew he meant business. Anko got up to do her stretches, then took off her jumpsuit revealing her one-piece swimsuit underneath. Taking position on the diving block she gave a nod to Iruka. He spit as he pulled out his own whistle, when he blew it Anko was greeted with the rush of water. Her muscle memory kicked in full force. Even without the lane buoys she knew she was swimming a straight line in the pool.

All the sensations she missed came back to her, the thrill of competition pumped her heart all the faster. In her younger days she had been compared to an otter in the way she swam, tonight she felt more like a skipping stone across the surface. She barely noticed the turn or even when she touched the end; it had been so long she had forgotten what it was like to be lost in a moment.

Iruka crouched down to the edge of the pool as Anko looked up at him. He handed her the timer, which she threw into the water, she didn't care. Reaching up she grabbed his tied and pulled down sharply. She got out of the pool and looked down at him as he struggled to grab the edge of the pool.

"That was for threatening to have me fired." She yelled down at him. She offered her own hand, and pulled him out of the pool. "That was for offering to get me Dango." She sat him down on the starting block and knelt in front of him as she moved close. "And this is for helping remind me of who I am." Placing her hands on his shoulders she pulled him closer. Their first kiss was gentle, it broke for a moment but when the kiss continued there was a heat to it. Iruka's hands encircled her, pulling her closer. They broke for air and stopped. Anko took a seat on the starting block next to Iruka.

"Anko," Iruka looked straight in her eyes, with that open honest smile, "I just want to let you know… some things get better with age."