So I did my part.

2006-03-30T17:25:53Z

So, Yamanaka was actually right about this tutoring thing...it's not half bad. I mean, how often is it that I get homemade cookies---I'll tell you flat out: not often. I used to get homemade meals pretty often back when I was tight with the Akimichis, but...I've sort of fallen out of contact with old Chouza. Eh. Just as well, I guess.

Anyway, anyway...my first official tutoring session was with Hyuuga Hinata, a girl from one of my third-period history classes. Honest to God, I don't think I'd paid any attention to the girl before---she's not an smart-asswipe like Nara, and she doesn't get in trouble like Uzumaki, so I guess she never pinged my radar before. ~~I didn't even remember her name at first...~~ Good kid, though. Bright. A little too straight-laced, and those eyes---is it just me, or do those eyes make her look like a little ghost?

Asuma leaned back in his chair, ignoring the chorus of metallic shrieks the mechanical bits made in displeasure. Either the chair was getting old, or he'd put on some weight...he honestly didn't care either way, so the noise was ignored. Just like the homework nagging to be graded.

Hinata nervously walked up to the classroom door, a basket of cookies in her hands. Knocking, she called out softly. "Um...hi. I...I'm here for tutoring?" She waited in the doorway to be acknowledged.

Asuma straightened in his chair, arching an eyebrow at the girl lingering in the door. Hina...Hinamo...Hisa......he was notoriously bad at names, so he stuck with the tried-and-true---"Hyuuga, right?". It's all he remembered from her report card---and that wasn't entirely his fault. The girl was like a little ghost with a rack.

Nodding, she walked forward a few steps. "Hai sensei, Hyuuga Hinata, sir." She smiled slightly, holding out the cookies. "Um, I made you these, they're chocolate chip."

...Okay. Chalk one up to Yamanaka---maybe this tutoring business would be halfway decent if he got free food. "Take a seat, then. Do you know what chapter you need work on, or is this going to be a general catchup session?"

Hinata's eyes widened as she took a seat and pulled out her book. "Oh...I think this is a general catchup session. I kind of missed a lot. I'm sorry." She made sure to put the cookies on his desk, her hand on her book as she looked up at him hopefully. "Um, I had a lot kind of happen, but I really, really want to get caught up."

"Crack it open to chapter fifteen," he said with a negligent shrug, teasing a cookie out of the basket and examining its craggy surface. "Start skimming, and tell me if there's anything large you want to go over. You did miss most of the Bakufu..."

Quickly flipping the book to the chapter that he mentioned, Hinata began scanning. She realized just how lost she was after a few pages. "Um...I don't recognize all that much. I'm sorry." She couldn't help but watch to see what he thought of the cookies, call it professional curiosity. "Um, are the cookies okay? I tried a new recipe..."

Asuma took a hesitant bite, his eyes widening at the rich flavor. Shit, the ghost could cook. The ghost could cook well. He quickly managed to cap down his surprise at this, taking another---larger---bite of the cookie. "Decent," he surmised. "Better than store-bought."

An actual smile crossed Hinata's face for a moment as she nodded, pulling out a small notebook and making a check mark. "Good, I'll have to tell my manager that I was right about the butter over shortening. Um anyway, you were saying I missed most of the something...?"

"The Seii Taishogun Feudal period," Asuma said shortly, fishing out another cookie and squinting at the text. "From the Minamoto princes to the Muromach and Edo Shogunates. Quite the chunk of history..."

"Oh...fudgicles. Well um...do you have a study guide? Please?" She felt like she was about to cry listening to Asuma. It all seemed like so much, and she felt incredibly overwhelmed. She realized then that she just might kill Shino and Sasuke next time she saw both of them. "I swear, I'll work my little butt off to get caught up..."

Asuma blinked, caught with a mouthful of cookie. "...did you just say fudgicles?"

"...yes." Hinata blushed a nearly scarlet hue, staring down at her book as she poked her fingers together. "D...do you not like fudgicles?"

"If you want to say fuck," Asuma said firmly, wiping a smudge of chocolate from the corner of his mouth. "Then say fuck. I'm not the kind of teacher who will get his panties in a twist over it. All I care about is whether or not you get this material in the end..."

Hinata openly flinched when he swore, knowing she only used that language when drunk. "Um...my father doesn't like me to swear, it isn't ladylike, sir." She wanted to ask why he was wearing panties, but realized that was possibly sarcasm.

"Ladylike-smadylike," he drawled, leaning back in his chair. "Find elsewhere to be a lady---a public school is barely the place. So. Say it with me, and I'll give you your study sheet."

"Um...you aren't giving me the study sheet unless I swear at you?" Hinata looked up, her eyes going wide. "B...but I only cuss when I'm drunk, if that." She sighed, and finally, very softly, mumbled. "Um...fuck?"

"Good girl," Asuma said, the corner of his mouth turning up into a reflexive smirk. He patted her glossy dark head distractedly, looking through the thick stacks of paper sprawled over his desk. "Ahhhh, here we go. Enjoy."

Hinata blinked, smiling brightly when he patted her head. She liked pleasing her teachers, and if swearing every so often pleased this guy then she'd practice like crazy. "Arigatou."

"No problem. This is what I get paid godawfully little to do, and damn if I don't try to do it well," he said, scratching idly at his bristly cheek. "So look over those highlighted bits---all of that constitutes what the next test will cover."

"I'm sorry you don't get paid well, um, but do you at least enjoy your job?" Hinata had no idea what compelled her to ask that, but she blushed hotly as she realized she was staring. Lowering her eyes to the study packet, she nodded. "Highlighted bits, okay..."

"It's got its perks," he admitted, cupping his chin in his hand as he searched for his reading glasses. Damn Nara wrote small just to taunt him. "Gets worse as I become an old man, though..."

"You're not old, sensei!" Hinata found herself exclaiming before quickly covering her mouth. Students shouldn't say things like that to their teachers. She sighed as she felt the familiar heat on her cheeks.

"Twenty-eight," Asuma said flatly, sliding his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "That's fucking ancient, little ghost."

Hinata blinked rapidly, staring up at Asuma. "Um, no it isn't. You aren't as old as my father, and I'm not a ghost, sir."

"Er---" Realizing he'd added that little tag aloud, he looked away. Wait. What. Sarutobi Asuma...Sarutobi Asuma was embarrassed? Good lord, call the newspapers. "Old enough to not have a bedtime," he said gruffly.

Hinata giggled, still rosy-cheeks. "Um, I'm only sixteen, and I don't have a designated bedtime, so that's no judge. Anyway, you aren't old. You don't even have greys yet." She nodded as if that was final.

Sixteen. Asuma looked her up and down, trying to wrap his mind around that again. Sixteen. With a definite rack. ---but SIXTEEN. And that made all the difference, didn't it. He turned back to the homework he was correcting with a sigh. "Back to your work, Hinata-kun," he said, though he was speaking mostly to himself at this point.

"Oh, sorry sensei." Hinata was rather confused, wondering why he suddenly didn't seem as friendly as before. Remembering the stack of papers, she realized she must have been interrupting. "I…I didn't mean to bother you."

He rolled his shoulder in a slight, nonchalant shrug, looking over his papers with a frown that only deepened as the moments passed. "I just would hate to see you not pass the exam, is all."

"Oh, good point. Um, then it would have been a waste coming here." She smiled slightly, already having decided that this wasn't a waste, and went back to her reading.

Lone...Monkey.

2006-03-20T19:34:56Z

Ended up not being able to pin all that sprinkler shit on Uzumaki. No one would 'fess up, though I got pretty close to getting Akimichi to say something...but eh, I have to give you kids props for sticking up for each other. Teamwork, or some shit like that. I have to wonder why it is we adults lose that ability to stick up for our own, somewhere between our teens and twenties. Turns into every man for himself, like it or not.

...I’ll admit it---I’m something of a lone wolf, anyway, so shit like this makes me...pensive. I don’t get out much anymore, ‘cept for school functions and classes themselves…and that isn’t exactly ‘out’, is it? I usually end up watching TV with a pack of cigarettes, a stack of homework, and half a bottle of Calpis. Anymore, adding some alcohol to the mix is all that constitutes a wild and crazy evening.

I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve entertained the thought of starting a relationship with a student. It really sucks ass to be as young as I am and already so cynical and…and…give me a cat and a sex change and I’d be an old cat lady, y’know?

not worth the time

2006-02-17T20:13:20Z

Some days, it's not worth teaching you brats. It really isn't.

Take Nara, for example. That kid's got brains---I should know; I was the one who brought it to his parents' attention that he was a genius. Now I just have to deal with him slapping on that 'genius' label every chance he can, saying that he's 'above' doing homework.

Listen to me, you little shit, and listen good. You're not above homework. You're not above hard work. You're not above being accountable to people.

~~Shut up. I'm trying to teach you a life lesson.~~

I need more sake. Stat.

Monkey with a Lighter

So I did my part.

Lone...Monkey.

not worth the time