Of course there was work to be done. There would always be work to be done now that things had taken such a turn. The work was the only thing that could take his mind off of all of the problems going on. But sometimes it wasn't enough to stop the thoughts turning over and over in his head. You can only go so long working before the thoughts simply creep back in and preoccupy your attention.

He watched the darkness fall, just sitting there on the stairs. It didn't really matter much to him. Sensei couldn't sleep, so the time passing didn't really affect anything. His sister was still missing, he was still so distant from Blaze...it just hadn't ended. When he saw the door open, it caught his attention and he looked up to see who it was. Who else was possibly up this late? That question was answered once the person was completely inside. It was Blaze. Sensei couldn't deny that the sight of him made his spirits lift a bit, despite the distance between them.

"Hi..." came his answer, equally as quiet. He watched as Blaze sat down beside him, his eyes matching his gaze. There was no doubt that Sensei had missed Blaze, so, so much. The distance between them was horrible and quite hard to deal with. Being so close to someone you cared about but not feeling the closeness you'd had before...it was hard.

He returned the smile. "No, not really. I've just had too much to think about." He ran a hand through his hair. "What about you? Why were you out so late?"