Monday ended up being yet another snow day as a semi-blizzard passed through the state late Sunday night. Personally, Kakashi thought a 90-minute delay would have been better suited, since the roads were plowed out pretty quickly, but school administrators seemed to think that the roads were still dangerous, even though they were drying out nicely in the bright winter sun. Kakashi didn't complain, however, as he used the day off to start planning ahead. With state testing looming a few weeks away, he was going to have to start pushing his students a little harder than he would have liked.

State tests weren't something he enjoyed (other than the peace and quiet they brought). The purpose behind them, as a data-collecting tool, was good, but with all the added pressure of Adequate Yearly Progress, student graduation depending on scores, was all bullshit as far as Kakashi was concerned. Let the teachers use the data, don't use it for them.

Thus, when Tuesday came, Kakashi came in with a lot of five-paragraph essay assignments to start heaping, as well as comprehensive reading checks, spelling and grammar boosters, and other miscellaneous tidbits from his arsenal to improve his students for the testing doom ahead of them. The ones who would really suffer were students like Naruto, who, despite being classified as special needs, didn't fit the classifications the state set forth for modified testing. No, Naruto would be taking the same state tests as all the other students with the same provisions, and the same limitations. Test anxiety, anyone?

Preparations in place, Tuesday started off fairly well. The first two periods, though grumbling, took his changes without too much complaint, and his prep was spent making copies of various worksheets that he'd be needing over the next few weeks. However, when SSR arrived, he ended up raising an eyebrow.

The students dutifully came in, dutifully took out their books, and dutifully pretended to read. (Really, Kakashi wished he could quiz some of these kids on what they read. To make sure they were actually reading, which he was sure they weren't. You don't spend almost an hour on one page of a book.) Sasuke was sitting in front of his desk, as usual, a big fat fantasy novel in front of him and Kakashi was certain that he'd get a good hundred pages through it. Unfortunately, the dark boy was glancing around, his female teammate missing.

Given that the English teacher had seen Sakura in homeroom, he knew she was there today. Did she go home sick? Doubtful, students would be coming to him to mention it (always ready to share gossip). Sensing something wrong in the air, Kakashi reached over to his phone and was about to pick it up when it rang.

"Yo," he whispered into the phone. "SSR teacher, Kakashi-sensei speaking." That was his subtle jibe to his caller to speak quietly, conversation could always be more easily overheard in the silence of SSR.

"Yes," Shinzune replied over the phone. "We're sending Haruno Sakura back to class now."

Kakashi nodded to himself. "I thought something was missing here," he grinned. "Can you tell me why?"

"Sorry, I don't know all the details. She was called down last period to talk with Ebisu about something."

Warning bells rang loudly. "Ebisu-sensei? Why?"

"I don't know."

"Maah, thanks anyway."

"Of course. Have a good day."

Yeah right. No sooner had his phone been cradled when it rang again.

"Yo, SSR teacher, Kakashi-sensei speaking."

"My Eternal Rival!"

"Hello, Gai-sensei."

"I have called to ask you, since you are a central node of information within this fine institute, if you know why Yamanaka Ino, one of my youthful SSR students, has been called to the office to talk with Ebisu-sensei?"

The Warning Bells rang louder. "No, I haven't checked my usual sources yet. Sakura is just being sent up, she was having a long discussion with him as well."

Sasuke shifted his seat ever so carefully and glanced back at the Scarecrow. Eavesdropper. Not that Kakashi really minded, it warmed a small part of his heart to see the concern. Team 7 had all really grown and he was proud of them.

"This worries me, Kakashi."

"Let's not jump to conclusions, Gai."

"But after what happened between Ino and Sakura last month..."

"I know, but we don't have the information to go there yet. I'll keep my ear to the ground and see if I can dig anything up by team time."

"I will do the same and come with more information than you, my rival!"

"Yeah, yeah."

The phone in its cradle again, Kakashi slouched back to think for a moment before it rang again.

"Yo, SSR teacher, Kakashi-sensei speaking."

"Do you have Chouji with you?"

Kakashi blinked, glanced around his room, and replied, "No, Iruka-sensei, I don't."

"Dammit."

"Tsk, tsk, you have students in your room."

"Shut up. I saw Chouji this morning, I know he's here, but I can't find him."

"Have you checked with Asuma-sensei? He hangs out there from time to time."

Iruka snorted. "There's a sub in the room and he doesn't know any of the student names."

Warning Bells turned to Warning Sirens. Kakashi's voice dropped an octave. "Where is he?"

"Not a clue, I thought you'd know."

"Let me make few calls. Check in with Shizune and start calling in the gossip mill."

"I'm not that well connect--"

But Kakashi had hung up and dialed. "Kurenai-sensei?"

"Kakashi-sensei? What's up?"

"Do you know why Asuma-sensei has a sub right now?" He glanced up when Sakura came into the room. She was pale, but walked over to his desk and handed him her pass. He held up a hand, motioning for her to wait. After all, she was a perfect source of information.

"Hmm, I think something happened B period. When I walked by on my way to see another science teacher, and he was talking to some students after class. Is something wrong?"

"I don't know."

He hung up his phone and turned to the pink-haired girl, Sasuke glancing back behind her. Pausing long enough to call up student schedules and put some pieces together.

Pitching his voice to not carry beyond Sakura, he asked, "What happened during math today?"

"..." Sakura hesitated, just barely glancing at all the students in the room before shaking her head and sitting in her chair next to Sasuke. The girl pulled out her book, a mystery drama, opened it and leaned back in her chair as was customary for her.

Kakashi waited, having a good guess at what she was up to. Sure enough after a full five minutes, she started to whisper. "It didn't happen during math, more like after. Chouji started to ask me when I'd 'offer my services' to him very loudly." There was a distinct snap as the spine of Sasuke's book broke. "Asuma-sensei heard it and came over. Ino started browbeating Chouji, saying that he'd get her in trouble and she'd had enough with her grounding."

Kakashi smiled to himself. Ino may not have bought completely into her team, but she was at least looking out for them, even if it was for selfish purposes.

"Asuma-sensei sent Ino to a corner since there was only a minute left in class, saying he wanted to speak to her after class, but Chouji wouldn't stop asking me about spending the night. I told him to back off, and he said he'd rather see me..." she paused, " 'back down'." Kakashi caught the innuendo and bit back a growl. "Then her turned to Asuma-sensei and started asking if that was enough to get an ISS."

"He wanted an ISS?" Kakashi asked, a hidden eyebrow rising.

"Yes." Sakura turned a page of her book. "He kept saying how he was behind on his work and needed an ISS to catch up on everything. Then things got kinda scary."

This wasn't enough? But that still didn't explain why Asuma was still missing from SSR. Even assuming things needed to be dealt with, it wouldn't take over a period to see Ebisu and talk about what had happened and ensure that Chouji got a Saturday Detention. (Not an ISS. Heaven forbid they give the kid what he asked for, that'd be like saying his behavior was alright...)

"How so?" he whispered.

"Asuma-sensei was just glaring at Chouji, but Chouji wouldn't stop talking. My god, he said Asuma-sensei was raping him with his eyes! He wasn't making any sense! These random sentences just kept dropping out of his mouth. Chouji doesn't say things like that! Then Asuma-sensei told Ino to go to class and he'd talk with her later and he told me to get going as well. Last period, I was called down and asked to tell everything I saw and heard." Sakura shuddered, turning another page. "Something's wrong." She shuddered again.

"Thank you Sakura," Kakashi leaned back. "Get back to your book."

He reached out to his phone to call Iruka, having an inkling on where the special education teacher should start looking when it rang again. Kakashi sighed.

"Grand Central Station," he said to the receiver.

"Sorry to interrupt your SSR period," came the voice of Ebisu over the receiver. "Asuma will be unable to join you during team time."

"This is about the incident earlier today?"

"I can't say."

Kakashi frowned. "I think you can. It involves one of our special needs students and a girl who spent a lot of time in your office last month, and Jiraiya-sensei's. I think a Saturday Detention is in order from what I've heard."

Ebisu sighed over the phone. "No, Kakashi-sensei, it's much worse than that. Asuma-sensei will give you the details. I'll try and get him to you for team time, but don't hold out much hope. The substitute in his room has been prepared for the rest of the day, if it comes to that."

The Warning Sirens went full blast. Something major had either happened after Chouji and Asuma were alone in the classroom (a stupid move, but students got held back a few minutes after class frequently, without witnesses, so not unexpected), or something was discovered about Chouji that was scrambling administration. Not good.

"Would you do me a favor then, Ebisu-sensei?"

"What," was the growled response. Even their esteemed vice principal was unable to maintain his usual calm, cool, and collected routine right now. It was big.

"Remind Asuma-sensei of the BeeGees."

"What?"

"Trust me. Just remind him of the BeeGees." He hung up the phone.

E Period came and Kakashi skipped his lunch to do some fact finding. The student body, usually his most reliable source of information, wouldn't be much help for this, since they hadn't seen whatever had occurred between Asuma and Chouji. Of course, the rumor mill for that would start working around lunchtime, but then that'd just be speculations. Some of the guesses might be accurate, but without enough knowledge to judge what was correct or not, it would be useless to start listening into the gossip mill. So his first stop was at the office.

Shizune was in a nervous tizzy, running around, answering phones, making copies, and trying to answer questions from the people who came in, all by herself. One look at the other secretary's desk was enough to tell Kakashi that Shizune was flying solo and dealing with everything today. That meant she was extremely busy and unless someone told her something directly, she wouldn't have much in the way of information, since she was too busy just holding down the fort. He was able to glean a few facts, but nothing beyond what he already knew.

Next stop was in the guidance department. Jiraiya was in, Orochimaru, thankfully, was not. Unfortunately, that venue of information was useless as well. Chouji's guidance counselor was Orochimaru, and the snake was knee deep in whatever was going on. (Hopefully he wasn't stupid enough to conceal abuse this time around. Or maybe he was. It would be a perfect chance for Kakashi to work at getting him fired... But Chouji was still his first concern.) The Toad Sage didn't know what was going on other than the police had to be called in. Really, could Kakashi's Warning Sirens get any louder?

With a growing pit in his stomach, Kakashi went to his last regular source of information. Tsunade.

He was quite surprised to see Asuma sitting in one of the chairs behind the front desk, looking tired and exhausted. The Scarecrow walked over, slouched into a chair next to his mathematical colleague, and sighed.

"Long day, I take it?"

Asuma bit out a smoker's laugh. "Thanks for the BeeGees. I needed that laugh earlier. Hell, I need it now."

Kakashi waited.

"How much do you know?"

"Everything Sakura was able to tell me."

"That saves time." The Sudoku master let out a long sigh. "I noticed a strange smell on Chouji and added 1 plus 1 and got 10."

The Scarecrow ignored the reference to binary math. "I can guess where this is going."

"He's tested positive for drugs. Crack, I believe. The parents have been called in, the police will probably send dogs through the school to find anyone else who may have supplied or been supplied by Chouji."

"So the police are doing a round up?" Kakashi clarified.

"Yup."

"We're going to get fried on the news."

"Yup."

"Long day isn't the phrase."

"You think?"

"Ebisu says you won't make team?"

"...Probably not. I need to talk to the cops, the parents, social workers, etc."

"Full report tomorrow?"

"Naturally."

"Stayin' Alive?"

Asuma laughed.

Kakashi skipped team time himself, spending most of it barging in on every classroom, letting the teachers know that police with dogs would be going around in the school and to keep the students busy and out of the halls. Rumors didn't need to be spread around, and there'd be enough gossip with a police car out in front.

When he finally checked in with his team, with almost ten minutes left, he laid it all out for them, naturally providing more information than Gai, to their shock and dismay. They agreed to keep the students busy during the next two periods.

"Wait a minute," Kurenai asked, "Don't police need a search warrant to get into student's lockers?"

"Aah, the finer points of educational law," Gai replied. "As I understand it, police can search without a warrant only if something is in plain sight, like say, seeing a packet of illegal contraband on the front seat of a car is enough for an esteemed officer to search said vehicle. Private property, such as homes and lockers and backpacks for students, do indeed require proper documentation in order search." The Green Beast flashed a thousand-watt smile. "But we educators and guardians of youth have no such restrictions! All we need is proper suspicion and we can search a bag, locker, or have a misguided student empty their pockets! As long as the officers do not tell us directly to search, but rather give us some sort of signal, we can then open the locked doors that officers could not and provide them with valuable evidence! We guardians of youth have many and varied responsibilities!"

"Oh," Kurenai replied. "Forgive my ignorance, but I haven't had to deal with this type of stuff before... So an officer just sort of nods to a teacher and they can search the locker, then the police take over?"

"Yes," Iruka nodded. "The difficulty will be that even though we assign individual lockers, several kids try and share lockers. I don't think Sachiko has used her locker since the first day. She just keeps all her stuff in Kagura's locker."

"Joy," Kakashi muttered as the bell rang.

Keeping the student's attention and focused was extremely difficult for the remaining two classes. After lunch, word had spread like wildfire that something had happened with Chouji and it didn't take them long to add that with the cops outside to get trouble. F Period went fairly well, but G Period was absolutely horrid. The distractions during F were the occasional bangs of lockers out in the halls, which many teachers kept their doors shut to avoid their students overhearing. But during the last period of the day, students knew that police with dogs were searching the school. Someone had seen a K-9 unit sniffing out lockers during their passing time and the wildfire rumors mounted to an inferno of guesses, speculation, and wild theories. Both Kakashi and Iruka had to stop class to talk about not jumping to conclusions without facts.

After school, there was, of course, an emergency faculty meeting. Sandaime, with a heavy voice and a face that seemed to have aged ten years since Kakashi had last seen it that morning, explained about a student being found high and with drugs on his person, which led to a search of the school and other students being found in possession. Most of the offenders were in the seventh and eight grades, but there was a fifth grader found with cigarettes in his coat in his locker. Then, of course, since searches were being performed, there were other "contraband" items discovered (such as condoms, cigarettes, pen and swiss-army knives, pornographic materials, etc), and a whole mess of disciplinary actions that were being performed. The media was already ringing his office and he was issuing forth many "no comments" until he had all the information.

In short, the day had been a train wreck.

When Kakashi wandered tiredly back to his room to cover the Book Club meeting, he merely sat back, let them go about their business since they knew the routine by now, and started answering the parent emails that were already filling his inbox. As if the lockdown wasn't enough, this week was just going to be looong.

When the Book Club had adjourned, Kakashi stuck around preparing for the worst. He rearranged lesson plans to discuss the drug issue that would no doubt be the mainstay of gossip for a month, prepared information packets to give the students (and the parents), made generic emails for the many questions that would be fired his way so all he had to do was copy and paste, talked to everyone on his team, save Asuma who still hadn't returned, about what the following day would bring and how to handle it.

It was pushing dinner time when he finally called it quits and just spread out on the couch, letting out a long sigh.

Chouji would be on a five-day OSS minimum for possession, assuming his parents didn't pull him out to get proper counseling. Thankfully, what he'd seen of the Akimachi's was very positive, though he had to wonder why they hadn't noticed their son's new habit. Of course, there would also be talk of expulsion for the students caught with drugs. The period of expulsion would be determined, but...

He sighed again. That night would be another sleepless night.

With another sigh, he sank further into the couch. There were still a million things he needed to do in preparation for tomorrow, but he just needed a damn break.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

Break? No, of course not.

He sat up and looked at the head poking through his open door. "Shikamaru? You don't have after-school sports. What brings you here?"

He came in and hesitated for a moment. Kakashi stood and went back to his desk and, to his surprise; Shikamaru sat down on the couch. "Is Asuma-sensei still here? His room's dark."

Kakashi leaned back. "I don't know. I haven't seen him since E Period. He's probably still in the building somewhere, but I don't think I can reach him." He looked down. "I think he's going to have a later night than me today."

"Because of today?"

"Most likely."

This time, Shikamaru sighed, then lay down on the couch, his shorter size fitting easily between armrests. The exhausted English teacher said nothing, however, but leaned back and broadcasted his usual approachability. It appeared to him that Shikamaru had bought into the team more than his teammates. The young Nara boy's face was an open book of concern as he stared up at the ceiling tiles, his jaw trying to find words.

The silence continued.

"You need to talk," Kakashi stated quietly. "You want to talk to Asuma-sensei, but he's not available. My guess is that it can't wait until tomorrow."

"Yeah."

"I'm listening."

"... It's all my fault isn't it?"

"What is?"

"Chouji."

"How?"

Shikamaru snorted. "He's my best friend. I knew something was up but I didn't say anything. I didn't do anything. I just watched. Watched him skip school, switch crowds, get meaner... everything. I saw all this and did nothing. Now he's going to be expelled and I could have stopped this."

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

"You don't?" the student asked incredulously. "Then let me make it clear. I'm supposed to be the leader of Team 10. Even if Ino isn't much of a member, Chouji is my best friend. I'm responsible for both of them. I can't do anything with Ino, but Chouji's my best friend. I knew something was wrong. He was hanging out with rougher, older kids that everyone knows are into things. He was skipping school, and he's gotten a lot more angry and mean. I didn't even talk to him about it. I just watched him spiral down into this horrid misshapen jerk that he's become. Of course it's my fault that he's now going to be expelled. That his parents aren't just grounding him but taking him to a rehab center. That I basically don't have a team anymore."

And there was the core of it. Shikamaru hated to be alone. While not the most social of students, it was relatively hard to ever find the cloud-watching boy alone. He usually hung out with Chouji, but if his best friend wasn't available, he could be found hanging out with Kiba or Naruto and even Ino from time to time. Now, the Nara boy was lazy and known for being lazy. He didn't always initiate conversation, nor did he always participate, but he was always there, proving his human need for social contact.

However, now a major aspect of his attempts and human interaction had not only deviated heavily from normal, but was now being taken away for an indeterminate amount of time. Shikamaru was naturally unbalanced by that, because Chouji was going to leave a void in his life that would require actual work to refill, and nothing would replace his best friend.

Kakashi was somewhat surprised to the level that Shikamaru had taken the team idea to heart. Ino and Chouji had become his mini-family, even if Ino wasn't buying into the team idea yet. Shikamaru was working with them to the best of his lazy streak, and given that he'd already been with his pudgy pal for years, he had a good system with him. All he'd needed to do was adjust his system for Ino, but she wasn't just going to be an addition. Ino needed to be a part, not an appendix. He made a mental note to talk to Ino the following day.

The Scarecrow also noted, that even though Shikamaru clearly considered Asuma his go-to teacher, the young Nara seemed to have enough confidence in Kakashi himself to take the English teacher's words to heart and even open up to him, even if he wasn't spilling all like he might with Asuma. Kakashi was oddly touched. But problems needed addressing right now.

"Shikamaru, have you ever seen me make a mistake?"

"Sorry?"

"Have I ever made a mistake in class?"

"NO! Of course not!"

"Hmm, you haven't been paying much attention then."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, I've made some doozies. Especially if a parent rubs me the wrong way." Like the Hyugas. Oh yeah, the meeting with them was for tomorrow. Ergh. Back on topic. "My first year of teaching, I was warned about a set of parents who'd had several children go though the school system. I was told, flat out, by Asuma-sensei and Gai-sensei, that under no circumstances should I irritate the parent, and that no matter what, be gentle whenever giving criticisms."

He paused, leaning back and letting the darker memories of his Horrid First Year show him what he should have done. "Within the first week, the parents had called to discuss their son's failing vocab quiz grade. They met with me after school and proceeded to irritate me. I knew when I went into education that parents are hardly the Brady Bunch, or the Andersons from Father Knows Best or the Cleaver's from Leave it to Beaver." He let out a low chuckle. "My own father was the perfect example of what a parent shouldn't be.

"But, let's just say they gave me a few good sucker punches in my expectations." That was, of course, putting it mildly. It was not a good way to start the year and things just kept going downhill from there. "The meeting ended with them trying to get me fired. Since I didn't have tenure yet, it was a real concern, but that wasn't the worst of the situation. What happened to me was inconsequential. Their son, however, was a different story."

"What happened?"

"The short version? By the end of the year he was struggling so hard to meet his parent's expectations that he started cutting. He was failing because he wasn't turning in work and I wouldn't let him get away with that."

"You never do," Shikamaru snorted, having had his own experience in how not handing in work was equivalent of a death sentence in Kakashi's class.

"Well, I was a bit harsher back then. The parent's kept putting pressure on their son to succeed, but I wouldn't bend any of my rules to accommodate them, because they weren't being good parents in what I saw. The resulting pressure was too much for the boy and he started using a knife on himself to get relief. DCF ruled that nobody involved was really to blame, but really, I look back and know exactly what I should have done every step of the way."

The silence weighed heavily in the room, but Kakashi didn't mind. He never spoke about his first year. There many other similar stories, but that one was probably one of the worst. He knew where Shikamaru was coming from as far as responsibility was concerned, and he knew the boy wouldn't listen to anything he had to say unless he shared just how awful his own blunders had been.

"So... what do you do with it?"

Kakashi sighed as his automatic lights finally flicked off, settling them in darkness.

"I regret. I will always regret." That and a lot of other things. "But I can't change it. Can you go back and change what happened to Chouji?"

"... No."

"Neither can I go back and stop that student from using a blade as stress relief. I can learn from it. I am much more aware of myself when interacting with parents, colleagues, whomever. I work with whomever it takes to create the safest learning environment that I can. The boy has come back and spoken with me over the years. He's in college now, out of state. He'll have a bright future ahead of himself."

"So what do I do?"

"Continue to support Chouji. Be yourself, be his friend, be his confidant. There are going to be things he won't want to talk about with his parents or the shrinks. Let him be able to talk about it with you. If you see or hear him starting to do something dangerous again, contact me or Asuma-sensei. We'll know the steps to take."

Kakashi stood up, letting the light flood the room again. "But while you're helping Chouji with his burdens, make sure you have someone in your corner to share your burdens."

"But what if he doesn't want me to be his friend any more?"

"Then he wasn't much of a friend to begin with. It will hurt. A lot. And for a while, but you have other people that can be your friends as well."

Shikamaru said nothing. Just nodded and got up and left.

Sinking back into his chair once more, Kakashi went back to preparing for the onslaught.

The following day was another round of listening to parents, talking to parents, and dealing with the mess that the media had made of drugs being found on school grounds. Despite only arriving as the bell rang during homeroom, Kakashi was already answering his phone to "concerned citizens", parents, and offering his own sets of "No Comment"s. He barely had a chance to call Asuma, who sounded more exhausted than Kakashi felt, to send Ino down.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei?" the blond girl intoned, once she was in front of his desk. Behind her, she shot a glance at Sakura who was deep in conversation with Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto had been concerned all morning that he hadn't noticed anything in his fellow student and was trying to take on some of the responsibility that Shikamaru was holding on his own shoulders.

"Ino, what do you think of what happened to your teammate?"

For the briefest moment, there was a flash of something in her eyes. Something very promising for Kakashi, even if he couldn't name what he'd seen.

"It's sad," she replied, her voice sincere. "I know Chouji works hard at school, even if he doesn't get the best grades... He was kinda sweet, actually, though no one can be as sweet as Sasuke-kun."

"You're wandering off topic. And that wasn't the teammate I was referring to."

Ino blinked, looking confused.

"Shikamaru? What happened to him?" The Scarecrow leveled an even look at her, one she cringed under, starting to look defiant. "What?" she demanded.

"Ino, he's just lost his best friend and he thinks it's all his fault."

"What!" she screeched. "That lazy idiot! Doesn't he know anything?! There was nothing he could do!"

"Are you sure you should be saying that to me?"

Ino glared down at him, before turning to stomp off. She paused at Team 7.

"Asuma-sensei wants you in homeroom," she growled, taking each of their wrists and proceeded to drag the two out of his class. The male members of the team did not like this however. Scowling, they pulled their appendages free before sending identical apologetic looks to Sakura, and following Ino back to homeroom.

The English teacher spent the remainder of homeroom, a good chunk of the first two periods, and the entirety of C Period answering phone calls, replying to emails, and discussing things with students. Iruka would wander in from time to time, frazzled, and irritable, to get information or take sample pamphlets that Kakashi had made. Kurenai stopped by once during C Period to get a little support on the sheer heaviness of what they were dealing with, including the idiots who thought that being on drugs was funny, and Gai's voice could be easily heard across the hall as he dealt with similar boneheads.

It was exhausting, answering the same questions over and over again to the same, or different people. When SSR came, he unplugged his phone, shut off his computer screen, and left his desk to sit with the students and just read. Sasuke and Sakura both noted the behavior and whenever a student came over to ask something, Sasuke shot them a glare before they shuddered and sat back down. Kakashi was grateful, even if he could take care of it himself.

The "alone time" was rejuvenating, though he still bore a slight headache when he finally reached team time, bringing up a sandwich from the cafeteria. Inside, as Kakashi had done in the previous period, Asuma had unplugged his phone and shut down his computer. The door was locked and the lights were off.

The math teacher had turned easily fifteen years older over the course of one night. He was slumped forward on his desk, his head in the crook of his arms, his eyes just barely open. Iruka didn't grumble at Kakashi's lateness, but was rubbing his eyes, also looking tired. The English teacher slumped into his chair and looked around.

"Kurenai? How did it go with the Hyuga?"

She snorted. "I tried to be as tactful as I could. They've been having a good relationship with me because Hinata does pretty well in science, but when I broached other subjects, like math and history, they immediately started berating her! And she was right there! Her mother might be supportive, but the father dominates conversation and won't let anyone get a word in edgewise!

"When I suggested possible study habits for Hinata to try and improve her grades, the father told me that there was nothing wrong with her study habits, it was just a lack of motivation. Poor Hinata just sat there! She didn't say a thing, just turned red-faced and looked ready to cry. The mother might be willing to try out my suggestions, but she'll be doing it over the father's dead body!"

She took a long steadying breath before tearing open her lunch bag and angrily pouring salad dressing over the salad she'd prepared the previous night. "I tried to talk to Hinata afterward, but she didn't say anything and went quietly off to class. I could strangle her father!"

Kakashi absorbed it and turned to Asuma. "I told them most of what you told me yesterday. Anything to add?"

Asuma sighed, his eyes closed. "Not much. Parents were dumbfounded. He always came home on time and acted normally. Apparently, Chouji's been making sure he's sober at home. Hence skipping. He usually disappears to the bathroom at some point during the day to snort. They were discussing things with me, Ebisu, Sandaime, and Orochimaru until about five o'clock last night. Then I had to do all my usual shit. Thank God I had a spare set of clothes in the car. I haven't been home yet."

Iruka whistled.

"Such travesties," Gai sighed. "After discovering students who abuse their fellow youth with rumors and lies, we discover other charges of the future who instead poison themselves for reasons that make no sense or are not provided. This school year has been perhaps one of the most trying for we teachers in many years."

"We haven't had a year this fucking bad. Period."

They all sat together in silence, the weight of their student's problems heavy on their shoulders. The five of them cared dammit. A lot. But at that moment, there wasn't much they could do. Be there, offer advice and support, but they couldn't live their student's lives. They couldn't walk in and force the changes necessary to improve their situations. Instead, they were helpless. Only ever able to offer words to the students that needed it. In the end, it was up to the child to use those words or not. It was up to the child to seek them out for guidance.

Kakashi's eye throbbed.

"Okay," he stated, drawing himself up, "we've been covered in shit. Now we clean up, like we always do." He turned to Kurenai. "Try and make some inroads with the mother, especially in regards to letting Hinata stay over at a friend' s house. I'll talk to Shino and push him into having study meetings at his house. Kiba may not make it over, but Hinata should. It will be peaceful for her. Also encourage her to seek other places to study, even here after school if she has to."

"Ah," she looked up, dumbfounded. "Right."

"Asuma, Ino's probably going to start bothering Shikamaru. Encourage it, let Ino join you during SSR and start cementing a little bit of a relationship. Suggest study sessions after school together. Talk about Chouji with them. Make sure they know it's not their fault and that it was beyond their control. Send them to Jiraiya if they don' take the hint.

"Iruka, Naruto, and probably some of your other kids are blaming themselves. Start working on that. If Chouji does come back this year, he's going to have a lot of teasing and bullying to work through. Start making a support system for him in resource if you can or at least let them know you're aren't putting up with anything.

"Gai, I want you talking with administration. Talk with Jiraiya, Ebisu, Sandaime, Tsunade. Keep our lines of communication open. Bring this up at the union meeting and see what their thoughts are. This type of situation isn't covered in union guidelines, but you'll have a bunch of conscientious teachers all in one place. Use it. See where it goes.

"I'll be the go-to for parents. If any of them contact you with questions, forward them to me and I'll take care of it. I'll also see if I can do some damage control from the frying the media did to us. It may be only our team, but it will be something. I'll also be at the board of ed meeting next week and work on them."

His team stared at him.

"Who are you," Iruka asked, "and what have you done to Kakashi?"

"I fought overseas," the Scarecrow replied, a dark look flitting across his eyes. Of course, this was the first time he'd ever had to call on that spine-of-steel in order to deal with his team. Normally, while they'd get disturbed, options were still being discussed, so he didn't need to interfere. The last thing Kakashi ever wanted to do with his team was interfere and make them feel like he was a tyrant or bossy, plus, he had a lazy persona to maintain. This was the first time since he started teaching that his team was being dragged down by the sludge their student's lives had thrown at him. He wouldn't stand for it. They were there for the children, and by God, if the Scarecrow needed to revert to his military training to make them be so, he would.

The bell had rung and Iruka hurried off to Kakashi's room to start preparing for the students while the Scarecrow hung back. He sat at Asuma's desk and watched the math teacher start his lesson. Iruka would no doubt be annoyed since Kakashi was going to be later than usual to class, but the English teacher felt a particular need to know that Asuma wasn't showing his stress to the students. He stayed for about fifteen minutes before the Go Master threw a sample problem on the board for the students to practice and walked over.

"I'm fine. Get going."

Kakashi smiled and wandered around the corner back to his room.

"Your late!" Iruka, Sakura, Naruto, Ino, Temari, and Kiba all proclaimed.

"I'm sorry, I was caught in this strange portal that let me turn into a ghost with a mere thought and fight the sneaky specters that invade our world--"

"Liar!"

"If you insist," he grinned. Iruka continued presenting after letting the students have their chuckles, and Kakashi only added where he thought it was necessary. Mostly, he was wandering around the students. Today's topic of discussion was, of course, about drugs and what they did. Students were taking the opportunity to talk about older siblings who used to get high, or about a friend of a friend who was busted for usage or selling. Sasuke added depth when he brought up the addictions of nicotine and alcohol.

The class discussed how addiction changes a person, what it does to a person's lifestyle, how it forces them into other crimes like stealing, breaking and entering, etc. in order to maintain the habit. Sakura was able to talk about some of the physical effects, since she spent so much time with Tsunade, and Naruto talked a little bit about how anyone he'd seen who was an addict to anything (and he'd seen a lot, it sounded like, during his time in the foster system), always ended up really mean and cold.

Through it all, Kakashi watched the students. Most were curious, thoughtful, or concerned. Teams 2 and 4 thought it was a joke, but didn't display it overtly, and he addressed both teams quietly, telling them to either listen, or leave. Overall, Kakashi was very pleased with how they were all doing. He just hoped they could keep up this sanity when life started getting difficult for them as they got older.

Finally, however, Kakashi noted Team 10. Shikamaru was sitting back, withdrawn and not participating in the conversation and Ino was trying to prod him into talking. With complete nonchalance he sat down in Chouji's normal seat and listened to the discussion, adding various points he thought necessary.

As the class continued to go over the affects on family and friends, Kakashi looked to Ino. "I appreciate you're trying to get him to open up," he said. "But don't force it. He'll open up when he's ready." He looked over to Shikamaru. "I realize that you're missing him right now, but you're going to have to think about the rest of your team. You've lost one, but he'll be back. For now, you need to work with what you have, or you'll end up hurting yourself. Would he want to come back and find you in the state you're in?"

Both looked at Kakashi, then at each other.

"This is so troublesome."

"That's my line."

The English teacher got up, and walked up to the front of the room, standing beside Iruka. There was a pause in discussion that Kakashi used to summarize what they had all been discussing.

"Alright, I'm going to want an journal from you."

The class groaned.

"Well, the state tests are approaching, and you'll be needed some practice with writing."

Hinata paled in the back and trembled.

"The topic should be," he turned to the board. "How do drugs affect your everyday life? Is the affect good or bad? If bad, what will," he underscored this, "you do to stop it? I also want a second journal entry about what you can do to prevent getting hooked on drugs. Both of these entries will be completely confidential."

Already, students were pulling out their journals and starting to scribble.

"I want a lot of thought in these entries, not just you parroting back what you've heard, because I'll be taking one of these journal entries and turning it a graded assignment."

The class groaned again, but Iruka was smiling where he was leaning against the door. With the task given, Kakashi went back to his desk and appeared for all the world to be doing some paperwork.

"Shino, can I see you for a moment?"

The quiet boy came to his desk, his eyes obscured by his dark prescription shades. "Yes, sensei?"

"Keep Hinata out of her house."

"Excuse me?"

"When you do study sessions, find somewhere to do it away from her house. Go to the library, a restaurant, the park, your house, I don't care where, study away from Hinata's house."

Looking down, Shino frowned. "Because of her father?"

Kakashi nodded, pleased that Shino seemed to know his team so well. "Yes. If things keep going this way, she'll break, and I'd much rather avoid that."

Shino nodded. "Kiba hates coming to my house. I'll find somewhere else."

Good. Hopefully the next week would be nice and quiet. Kakashi needed a break.