"You're late!"

"Sorry, I found I kept turning around to watch the student body at large bowing and worshiping the ground I walked on; one girl even had a ruler to measure and determine the exact place my feet fell so she could kneel down and kiss it, to say nothing of the kids who were trying touch--"

"Liar! Well, exaggerator!"

Routine taken care of, Kakashi sat down in his chair and pulled out his book. "What's on today's agenda?"

"It's the second week of the month," Kurenai said. "The newsletter. I'd say we had quite a lot to write about."

"Oh?" Kakashi asked, flipping a page.

"We could always interview you on last week's heroics."

The Scarecrow looked up flatly. "No comment."

Asuma grinned. "Told you! You both owe me ten bucks," he said, holding out his hand to Gai and Iruka.

"Oh, come on," Iruka said, scowling as he pulled out his wallet, "we have to address it."

"Address it, yes. Glorify it, no."

"My rival I have never known you to be a spoilsport!" Gai proclaimed, striking a pose. "Perhaps you are despondent that even that heroic display of courage and all the points it garnered has yet to have you catch up to my illustriously elevated position!"

"Hm? Did you say something, Gai?"

While the Green Beast was choking, the English teacher turned to the rest of the team. "We can give a succinct but brief explanation of what happened: an abusive family member of a student violated a restraining order and became violent, the teachers involved defended themselves. Nothing more, nothing less. Most of the adult population is smart enough to know that that kind of violence is not cool - regardless of what the students may pronounce - so let's put the blame on Itachi while we can. If we're lucky, it will add to his sentencing," he added, an evil smile spreading across his face. "We'll also need to talk about the final schedules, which means we actually have to make them, and let the parents know what the kids should be bringing."

"Some of the kids were balking when I told them finals were only three weeks away," Asuma said. "I'll be handing out the review packet next week, I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they realize it's ten pages."

"Mine's fifteen," Kakashi said. "The vocabulary is going to kill them."

"We can see whose is bigger later," Kurenai said lightly, Iruka noting it in the book. "Do we even know the finals schedule?"

"It's pretty standard," Iruka said. "It hasn't changed since I've been here. A week of half days, two hour exams, two a day. Then the last two days are half-days, too. One for the awards ceremony, were the grades go to different corners of the building and we hand out all the certificates, and the last day we give out the grades."

"That reminds me," Asuma said, "I got the okay from the amusement park two weeks ago. We need to start handing out permission slips."

"How much are they paying?"

"Fifteen per kid. The actual ticket price is double that, but I was able to haggle a discount, and it covers not only the tickets but the bus rental and gas."

"Sweet," Kakashi said appreciatively. "We must have had a lucrative year this year."

"We did. Even after this we're going to be on great footing for next year."

"There's also field day," Gai said, finally back to the realm of sanity (however temporarily). "The eighth grade is organizing it, and the rumors I'm getting are pretty good. If the weather is good, they'll convert the sports field into a giant activity center. There's talk of an inflatable castle and slide, a pie eating contest,"

"Chouji will win that hands down," Asuma interjected.

"And, if they can afford it after everything else, a karaoke contest."

Everybody groaned when they heard that. The middle school chorus was quite terrible, and nobody could even imagine what the rest of the grades sounded like.

"We should probably mention all this in the newsletter," Kakashi said finally. "It'll fill up the space quite nicely."

It took two days to crank out the newsletter. They realized very suddenly that the end of the year was upon them; and the devil was in the details, as the saying went. Running off permission slips was one thing, it was another entirely to figure out how to organize the grade into manageable segments and split them off into groups. The general rule of thumb was to have them sign up into their own groups, but last year's excursion had proved disastrous, and they were hesitant to try again. Finally, they decided to have them sign up their own, and then have a final say.

There was also the pain of field day. The eighth grade had a different period for team time, and they were rather notorious for not answering emails. Kakashi had missed the last two student council meetings for various reasons - one being a certain hospital stay - and he kept missing the other teacher who manned it in order to learn what was up (and she'd had problems with her email all year). Kakashi finally gave up and asked Sakura, who more than happily pulled out her notes and explained what they'd had planned. He should have gone to her in the first place, really. The only thing she didn't know was the cost of it all, apparently it was all an idea list, and the English teacher sighed as he scanned the list and realized just how much the 8^th grade wanted to spend.

Overall, the week was generally quiet, and Kakashi was beginning to think that they just might squeak by without some kind of catastrophe. As soon as he had the thought, however, he knew he had just doomed himself. No sooner had he thought that that his premonition came true.

It was after school; he was helping Hinata, Kiba, and Chouji on the project they were working on (the last of the year, though they didn't know that) when he heard raised voices in the hall.

Kakashi was curious, especially since one of the voices sounded suspiciously like Sasuke, but he had three students in his room that needed his help.

Ah, whom was he kidding?

"Could you three excuse me for a brief moment?" he told his students, getting up. After receiving various grunts and nods of affirmatives he wandered over to his door and stuck his head out. There was nothing immediate in the hall, so he stepped out and peek around the corner.

"You do not have what it takes to maker her happy!"

"It's not my job to make her happy; she does that completely on her own."

"Such selfishness and arrogance can only do her harm!"

"She doesn't see it that way."

"How dare you make such presumptions about her feelings?"

"Look, what the hell do you want from me?"

It was actually very funny to watch, Kakashi decided, as the eighth grader Rock Lee continued to try to fight with Sasuke. He leaned his shoulder against the wall, amused, as Lee continued to make wilder and wilder accusations and Sasuke, flat faced, turned them all down. It took a while to understand what, exactly, this was all about; until he heard a heartfelt proclamation of "Sakura-san!" from Lee, and then it all made sense.

He's heard from the eighth grade that Lee had a crush on a seventh grader; he'd no idea it was Sakura and, thinking back over the year and how Team 7 in general must have looked to outsiders, it was pretty easy to understand why Lee thought Sasuke might not be the best beau for the Student Council Secretary, especially if one looked at the beginning of the year when Sakura was crushing on the boy. Kakashi grinned as he watched the display: Lee, a carbon copy of Gai, defending a girl's honor while Sasuke, a copy of a much younger Kakashi, was annoyed by it all.

His mellow attitude towards it all disappeared instantaneously, however, when Lee grabbed Sasuke's shirt. "Why will you not listen to reason?" The look on Sasuke's face indicated that the two were about to come to blows.

"Okay, that's enough," Kakashi said, announcing his presence. "It's not really worth a week's suspension is it?"

The two stared at him, Lee starting to ask, "How did you...?"

"My eternal rival has been watching the two of you go at it for some time now!"

Aw, no. Kakashi internally groaned.

"He of course has not been watching as long as I, but we need not quibble over details." Gai stepped out from Asuma's room, an annoyingly bright grin on his face and a downright saunter in his step. "Now then, why are two youths such as yourselves overworking your vocal chords?"

"They're fighting over a girl," Kakashi said lightly. Perturbed though he may be at Gai's arrival (he had such good plans for how to handle this), he could roll with the best of them and turn this into a wonderfully embarrassing experience.

"Oho!" Gai said, sparkles appearing in his eyes as well as his teeth. Sasuke looked distinctly annoyed, an embarrassed flush appearing on his face as he tried to look away. "Nothing ignites the fires of youth such as the embers of love! Isn't that right, Lee?"

"Yes! Gai-sensei!" Tears were streaming down Lee's face, already moved by the flowery words that were falling out of Gai's mouth.

"The motivations of the heart are truly the strongest sources of inspiration, skipping a beat is the cause of celebration, blushes are flowers of passion! Behold, Sasuke is experiencing such feelings even as we speak!"

Said boy, embarrassed and trying to escape, now had all eyes on him. Kakashi watched as the boy actually tried to shrink. "I'm not sure if it's passion or humiliation," the Scarecrow said lightly.

"It's true!" Gai shouted, now plowing full steam ahead. "Love really does beget the strongest of all actions and reactions! But Lee!" he said, tears now also streaming down his face. "You must not let it affect intelligent decisions! Love is powerful, no doubt all-consuming, but at this tender age of youth you must think of your education first! All the wonderful futures possible for you are laid at your feet! You cannot risk eliminating the best of those possible futures by spending all your time chasing after the opposite sex! Indeed! That word should be the last word on your mind until you are at least eighteen, an age of youth where you can perform such a marvelous act!!"

"Gai-sensei, I think you've lost them," Kakashi replied lightly.

The Green Beast paused, seeing the utterly clueless faces of the two boys. "Ah! I have gone woefully over their heads; but perhaps that is for the best - it means that the minds of these youths have not been corrupted. Now, to explain the hazards of love!"

Kakashi was enjoying himself. He decided it was a good thing that Gai had shown up; the juxtaposition of Lee, lapping up every word and taking notes as he was moved to tears, against Sasuke, who was trying every possible thing under the sun to get away from this horrific source of torture and public humiliation was absolutely priceless. Gai droned on - well, droned meaning he continued to shout and preach with his voice all over the musical spectrum as he dissected his own personal opinions of love and how it should and should not affect youth.

"But as dangerous as love is," he exclaimed, "you must not live in fear of it, for love can be a beautiful garden in the tumultuous lives of youth!" Thus began the list of pros in love's favor, and Kakashi noted that Sasuke was actually starting to look sick.

Satisfied that they would be locked in place for a while, Kakashi virtually skipped back to his room, happily smiling as Sasuke glared at the abandonment. When he reentered his room, he saw the curious looks of his three students, Kiba, Chouji, and Hinata as they heard a particularly loud proclamation from the Green Beast, but Kakashi ignored them and whistled tunelessly as he went back to helping them. The boys would occasionally chuckle as they heard a word or sentence out of context, however, and Kakashi did nothing to dissuade them.

The hallway had only quieted down for a few minutes when the bell for the late bus rang; Kiba and the others having left fifteen minutes ago. Kakashi wandered out to the hall and around the corner. Gai and Lee were both gone, but Sasuke was huddled in front of his locker, pulling books out.

"Oh, come on," Kakashi said lightly. "When the humiliation of it all passes and you look back on this, you have to admit it's pretty funny."

"I'll be dead before that happens," Sasuke replied darkly.

Kakashi openly laughed at that.

"Sasuke-kun? You're still here?"

The pair turned to see Sakura walking down the hall towards them. "Mom and I've been waiting in the car forever."

It was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"Oh, it's nothing serious," Kakashi said in his singsong voice, "Sasuke got into a little bit of trouble, that's all."

Sakura took he bait perfectly. "Trouble?" She looked to the boy with wide green eyes, her face blanketed in worry.

"Oh, yes," Kakashi said, leaning against the lockers. "He came thiiiiiiis close," he held up his thumb and index finger, spacing them millimeters apart, "to getting into a fight."

"A fight?!" Sakura knelt down to Sasuke. "A fight about what? Sasuke-kun, you know you can't afford to get into another fight, they'll expel you!"

"Oh, don't worry Sakura," Kakashi replied. Sasuke was glaring daggers but the Scarecrow was immune to it all. "He had a very good reason. He was defending a girl's honor."

"Sensei," the boy said in a low voice.

"What?" Sakura asked, swinging her head up to the teacher.

"Sensei," he said again, but Kakashi ignored it.

"Oh, yes. A big, bad, eighth grader was up here declaring that he was no good for a particular girl that said eighth grader was crushing on." This made Sakura instantly curious, paying rapt attention. "But the big, bad, eighth grader didn't understand that Sasuke, whatever he may or may not feel," he continued casting a sly and yes, evil glance, "isn't ready for that kind of relationship. I think I said the exact thing to you, didn't I? At the beginning of the year?"

This changed Sasuke's dark glare into one of curiosity as the last sentence hit him. "You what?" he asked.

Placing a surprised look on his face, Kakashi finally turned his head to look the boy full in the face. "Oh? I didn't tell you? I'll let Sakura explain."

Now it was Sakura's turn to blush, her face quickly becoming the same color as her hair. "S-sensei!" she cried out, her hand flying to her cheeks. "I was a different person then," she mumbled.

That made Sasuke really curious, and he looked back and forth between the two.

"Maa, maa," the teacher said. "I could go back and forth between the two of you for days, but Mrs. Haruno has probably waited long enough. I'll walk you to the car. Sakura, lead the way."

The silence was long and, for the two preteens, incredibly awkward. Kakashi was happy as a cloud however, and didn't even try to hide his grin while they piled into Sakura's mother's car. The woman looked at the two, and then at Kakashi curiously, the question hanging on her lips.

"Nothing to worry," he said lightly. "I was just teasing them horribly."

Mrs. Haruno blinked for a moment before she, too, split into a grin. "I can guess as to what about."

"Oh, this and that," he replied, grinning like an idiot.

He was caught whistling randomly for the rest of the week.