Monday showed that, yes the kids knew it was a three-day week and, yes, they already knew about Homeroom Challenge on Wednesday. So why work Monday and Tuesday? Still, Kakashi and his team could not be deterred and squished the student body into doing their assignments. During their prep period, Iruka and Kakashi wandered down to the office to do a PPT with Gaara's guardian, his uncle Yashamaru.

"Sorry we're late," Kakashi drawled as he and Iruka came in.

"That's fine," Orochimaru smiled. "It would seem that you're still early."

Kakashi raised an unseen eyebrow behind his hitae-ate. "Someone's later than me? I must be slipping." Iruka chuckled against his will.

Sitting down, Ebisu walked in and took a seat; apparently he'd be part of this PPT as well. While waiting, the Scarecrow and special education teacher chatted about how to go about the week, who would probably be the most trouble Wednesday, etc, as well as going over their concerns about Gaara.

It was almost halfway through C period when a flushed, and rushed, young man with shoulder-length blond hair appeared at the conference room door. "Sorry!" he cried out, "my manager didn't like me leaving early."

"Quite alright," Orochimaru started. "We just want to go over a few things with you, update you on your nephew's progress, and share a few concerns."

"Would you like something to drink?" Ebisu offered, gesturing to the coffee behind him at a small desk.

"I'm fine, thanks," Yashamaru replied, falling into a chair. Glancing at his wrist, he said, "I can't stay long. My boss wants me back in a half hour."

"We'll try to be brief. I'm Gaara's English teacher, Kakashi-sensei, and this is Iruka-sensei, the special education teacher. Iruka-sensei is in almost all of Gaara's classes."

Yashamaru nodded. "So what's up?"

This wasn't starting well. Kakashi knew that Gaara's parents had died a few years ago, leaving Yashamaru, his only relative in the area, to take care of him. But the redhead was SED, and needed a lot of support both at home as well as school. The Scarecrow wasn't sure if Yashamaru was ready for the responsibility of "parenthood", and the uncle in question wasn't doing much to assuage his concerns.

Iruka flipped through his notebook, where he kept all the information ever discussed during team time, as well as any observations that the team mentioned, even in passing. "I'm pleased that Gaara is maintaining his pointsheet, and his grades are remaining steady. However, the is the concern of his frequently leaving--"

"Gaara is found wandering the halls far too frequently," Ebisu interrupted. "He'll get a pass and won't return to class for almost a half-hour. If this keeps up, he'll end up on pass restriction, maybe even escort. In order to avoid this, we think you should start laying down some rules at home."

Kakashi frowned. Ebisu was a good vice principal for the students. He supported teachers with referrals and always did fair punishment with the kids, but he sucked at his people skills involving adults. Yes, Yashamaru was young, but he was an adult. Their bespectacled vice principal was coming down on Gaara's uncle like he was just another student, and that wasn't right. They wanted support not to make an enemy out of Gaara's family.

"What our vice principal means," Kakashi tried to smooth over, "is that while you haven't done anything wrong, we have a few suggestions that might help. Students cooperate best when what goes on in school matches what goes on at home. They know what to expect."

"We don't like to see Gaara missing so much class," Iruka picked up. "He'll miss material he needs for assignments, and looses time to learn how to interact with peers, an essential skill on his IEP that he needs to work on."

"How do you know," Yashamaru drew out, "that he's missing so much class?"

The special education teacher flipped through his notebook. "As early as the third week in September, Kakashi-sensei noticed Gaara's tendency to be late to homeroom, two to three times a week. In October, Asuma-sensei, our math teacher, was going through his sign out sheets like he usually does and noted that Gaara would leave his class last period and never come back. Last week, Kurenai-sensei, science, banned him from leaving her classroom after leaving for over a half-hour for the fifth time, and Gai-sensei, social studies, noticed how long it takes for Gaara to get form Kakashi's room across the hall to his room first period."

Yashamaru's eyebrows rose to his hairline. "I'll speak with him. Call me if he's late or missing again. I'll talk with him again." He glanced at his watch again. "I have to be going."

Kakashi hid a sigh, but got up to shake his hand.

Glancing on his own to the clock on the wall, he noted that they were ten minutes into SSR. Together, Kakashi and Iruka walked back down the hall to their corner of the building, just in time to see a sour Chouji leaving Iruka's room.

"And where are you off to?" Iruka asked.

"To ISS."

"Oh?"

Chouji looked away. "Sensei says I was stealing her food, but I wasn't."

Iruka nodded. "Go on down. I'll talk to her." The special education teacher paused at his door. "It's going to be one of those weeks, isn't it?"

Kakashi shrugged. "It's only three days."

Iruka snorted.

Tuesday was relatively uneventful. Kakashi and Asuma both had tests for their classes, meaning they could start fresh when they came back from vacation. Kurenai had a Thanksgiving-themed lab and Gai was showing a video on the pilgrims and the significance of the uniquely American holiday. The kids noticed the mostly-relaxed day and proved to be remarkably well behaved. Kakashi wasn't certain, but it might have had something to do about all of them telling their homerooms that if they behaved badly, they wouldn't get their precious Homeroom Challenge on Wednesday.

Still, Kakashi came into work smiling on the day before Thanksgiving. He enjoyed Homeroom Challenge because he always did locker clean-out and it gave him a wonderful chance to listen to the local gossip. Students were abuzz during homeroom, speculating what the challenges would be, sharing what siblings of previous years had done and theorizing on tricks to cheat through each challenge, whatever they may be, mainly by talking to friends in the halls. Some students may gain that advantage, but Kakashi knew from past experience that the thrill of the moment and the competition to prove your homeroom best, especially with a grade like this one, would drown out most cheaters.

There was the occasional asking of what movie they'd signed up for, but friends seeking to be together had already been discussed in-depth over Monday and Tuesday when they were signing up for movies. However, Kakashi was pleased to note that some students were chagrined over what movie to chose. He couldn't help but smile.

He'd already told his homeroom that their time with him would be locker clean out, so when the bell rang for "class" to begin, they all filed out into the halls, where Kakashi had a large garbage can there for the students use, thanks to his long standing deal with the janitorial staff. So, Kakashi leaned back near the fountain in the hall and let his ears wander amongst the students. Gaara was there and in a sour mood, taking just about everything from his locker and dumping it without even looking. The English teacher had to pull the redhead three times for him to fish books out of the trashcan since they were texts he needed for various classes. Kakashi noted, not for the first time, that Gaara had dark circles under his eyes.

"Not sleeping?" he asked nonchalantly.

Gaara glared at him, his green eyes flashing. "None of your business. Leave me alone. Things were fine until you butted in."

So Yashamaru did speak to Gaara. Good.

"Come now, what makes you say that?"

Grasping his head to forestall a headache, Gaara ignored him and went back to his locker.

Kiba and Hinata were side by side, discussing the homework that they had over vacation.

"Ummm, you and Shino could come over to my house this weekend. We-ah-we could get some extra work done, try to get ahead..."

Kiba was shaking his head. "I'm working all vacation." Concerns raised up a notch. It was law that once students were of age to work (at sixteen), that they could only work a limited number of hours while in school and up to ten-o'clock on a school night. Kiba was only twelve. What kind of place outside a paper-route, would hire a child for such a grueling schedule? Or was Kiba lining up job after job without letting his employers know his working time? In either case it was illegal, unless Kiba was going around doing chores for neighbors and the like. Those kind of off-the-books work, like lawn-mowing or yardwork was always being done and the laws never took those kind of jobs to court yet, at least as far as Kakashi knew.

He made a mental note to get in touch with Kiba's father after vacation. Kiba's work ethic was good, but at this age, he should be having some level of fun. Especially over a holiday weekend.

Sakura, he noted, was unusually quiet. Kakashi had been trying to pry open Team 7's silence with a sledgehammer all of last week and this week, ranging from subtle probes to more direct hammering. Still he came up with nothing. It was starting to gnaw at the back of his brain. Something was up, something bad, but Kakashi just couldn't figure out what and it was driving him back to insanity.

Taking another glance around, the Scarecrow noted that kids were settling more into talking than cleaning, so he ushered them back into his room, letting the janitor he had on standby switch out garbage bags, and letting the students just talk. Sakura kept glancing at him, so he let his presence be approachable, offering a friendly smile, but the student council secretary never came over. Grr.

The next homeroom for Kakashi to observe in the halls was Iruka's. Nothing overly noteworthy happened, save for Hanamaru and Takashi getting into a tug-of-war over a jacket of some kind. They were both sent to Ebisu when they wouldn't stop, and Kakashi locked both their lockers. Iruka would deal with them later.

Gai's students were next, as Kakashi once more took his place by their lockers, listening. Shikamaru was complaining constantly through the entire cleanout how "troublesome" this task was, and, given that his locker didn't even need cleaning and met Kakashi's inspection at first glance, he was entirely justified.

"So, Shikamaru, how's eighth grade math treating you?"

"The eight graders are so troublesome."

Kakashi smiled. "I understand that you've been spending your Resource with Asuma-sensei."

"Ah. He's the only one who lets me play shogi."

The smile grew as the two just leaned against the wall, watching students clean out their lockers. Until, however, Kakashi saw Kankuro take Manami's purse and put it in the garbage can. When she noticed it was gone, almost immediately, she started what Asuma had aptly called a "bitch fight" with Yuzuhi before Kakashi could get there. All three were sent to Ebisu's office. Kankuro, it seemed, thought everyone was a puppet for him to pull the strings of. They were going to have to figure out how to put a stop to that after break.

"How troublesome," Shikamaru commented.

The Scarecrow agreed, and once most of the kids were done, he shoo-ed them back into his room and let them have their few minutes of chatter. So far, nothing of major importance had come up, just students talking about where they'd be going or who'd be coming over for Thanksgiving. Shikamaru, after some prodding, mentioned that he and Chouji would be over to Ino's house on Sunday to do some of Kurenai's homework and how troublesome Ino was.

"Is she still treating you poorly?" If she was, he would pull her from the group just like he had promised when he'd first created the team.

"No," the bored student snorted. "She's pushy. It's her way or no way, but at least she's not calling us 'speds' anymore, no matter how true it is."

Kakashi leveled a glare.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "She's got it in her head that I'm a genius and is trying to pawn all the work off onto me. Just so she can plot how to get that troublesome Sasuke."

"She's not pulling her weight?"

He shrugged. "She'll do part of it, she just hasn't gotten around to helping us out yet unless we corner her."

Kakashi smiled. Shikamaru and Chouji were forcing Ino to work with them. He couldn't wait to share that during team time. Maybe she'd start to see the worth of her teammates soon. He couldn't question Asuma's prize student anymore, however, since it was time to switch and Kurenai's homeroom headed right for their lockers. Kakashi rounded the corner to where her lockers were to watch over them as they cleaned out.

Shino, like Shikamaru in the previous homeroom, didn't need to clean out his locker. So the quiet, bespectacled boy stood by Kakashi, watching students try and figure out if whatever papers they dug out of their lockers were necessary or not.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hm?"

"Is what you told my dad true?"

"Is it?"

"You think I could... lead them?"

Today was just a day for smiling, Kakashi decided. "That's up to you. You've seen how I lead my classroom, how Asuma-sensei leads his, and Kurenai-sensei, and Gai-sensei. We're all 'leaders', but there are different approaches to leadership. Every president we have may have different goals, but they also have different ways to get their goals. Some might use force, some might bargain, some might just talk. No method is wrong. You just need to find what works for you."

"I see. That's very interesting," Shino echoed his father.

They stood side by side in comfortable silence, watching Chouji eat any food that students found in their lockers, no matter how old. (Kakashi drew a line with moldy and fuzzy foods. He ordered everyone to stop "eating" and get back to cleaning at that point.) The only other occurrence he had to deal with was Temari arguing with another girl over something or other. Kurenai, Kakashi decided, had a very nice, quiet homeroom.

Finally, Asuma's homeroom arrived, which was good because Kakashi was getting just the slightest bit bored watching students throw things away.

The smiles the Scarecrow had been having, however, soon started to dissipate. Sasuke and Naruto were unusually quiet, letting that gnawing concern in Kakashi start to take hold again and begin to grow. Sasuke, for starters, had a slight limp. When asked about it, Naruto laughed in an embarrassed manner.

"That was me, Kakashi-sensei. We were playing soccer in gym and I kinda, tripped over him."

Noting Sasuke's look of almost relief, he queried, "You were playing soccer? With a cast on your wrist?"

"It doesn't affect my legs," was Sasuke's only answer.

Not liking this and checking to see that the period had only begun, Kakashi hurried inside and called the locker room. "Did you let Sasuke play soccer with that cast on his wrist?"

The gym teacher sounded abashed. "I let him play with some of the poor players. They can't even run, let alone kick. He wasn't taking sitting down well."

"And the limp?"

"Naruto, the brat, was chasing a ball and wasn't watching what he was doing. Made a spectacular crash."

"But only Sasuke got out with an injury?"

"No, Naruto ended up getting ice for his elbow." So their story checked out. (Kakashi made a note to talk to Sandaime about a gym teacher letting a kid in a cast play...). Something was still gnawing at him, and Kakashi just knew it was something important.

We wandered back outside and around the corner to Asuma's lockers, a heavy weight on his shoulders. What he saw didn't please him in the slightest. Ino had latched onto Sasuke's arm, squeezing the casted appendage into her ample bosom.

"Sasuke-kuuun! I'm so much better than billboard-brow, why don't we go to Kakashi-sensei and ask him to trade me and her. Then we could work together so much better!"

Sasuke and Naruto were both throwing icy glares at her. Growling, Sasuke ripped his arm away from her, throwing her off balance enough to tumble forward. "Shut up," he hissed.

"Ino," the blond growled, getting between her and his teammate, "stay the hell away from us. You couldn't ever understand how we help each other."

"Sasuke-kun, are you going to let this foster-reject talk to me like that?" Ino threw out Naruto's reputation of constantly switching families out. Her mouth really was too fast for her brain.

"You don't know anything," Sasuke hissed, sounding oddly like Orochimaru. "About him or me. Leave us alone."

While Kakashi applauded the fact that both teammates were backing each other up, he could feel something important under all those words. Something he couldn't grasp, and it made that gnawing feeling all the stronger and frustrating.

"Ino," the Scarecrow materialized behind his prize team. "To Ebisu. Now."

"You always take their side!"

"Now."

Huffing, she gathered her things and left. Once she was gone, Kakashi gave a meaningful glance at the two, before going around to inspect lockers. Once that was done, he brought them all back to his room, leaving only Shinosuke to finish up with his locker, thanking the janitor on his way. Once there, he sat by his two Team 7 members and broadcasted, much as he had with Sakura, approachability. Naruto glanced over, like Sakura had, but did not come.

Kakashi couldn't help but frown as the bell rang for students to head off to their E period specials.