Gaizen awoke to a pounding at the door to his room. "Gaizen?" A familiar voice called from the other side. "Wake up already." He refused by offering no response, covering his head with one of his pillows, and hoping that he would be left alone. He heard the door to his room opening, and grunted at the thought of having to rise so early in the morning again. "If you don't get out of bed this instance, I'll set it on fire." Gaizen's eyes opened immediately as he considered the sincerity behind the threat. He doubted that Shinzan, Gai's firebending master, would actually do it, but then again the man had chased him around, whipping his back with flames before. Deciding to not take any risks, Gai sat up in his bed, allowing the pillow to fall to his lap. "Smart move." Shinzan confirmed with a smirk. 

 "Why?" Gaizen asked tiredly, but he already knew the answer. Shinzan had told him before that he would be meeting the other apprentices today, and Gai had been dreading waking up since. Shinzan raised an eyebrow, and told Gai to get dressed. Gai nodded in response, but was slightly surprised when Shinzan remained in the room. Gai stared at his master, waiting for him to leave.

"If I leave now, you'll go back to sleep, forcing me to use less... gentle methods to get you to come." Shinzan said in response. Gai cursed him in his thoughts, knowing his masters worries were completely justified.

 Gai moved his head to look at the ceiling with a sigh, and rose up and out of bed, clad only in his underwear before getting dressed in his usual attire. He grabbed his short bow and quiver, setting both over his head and on his back before following Shinzan out the room. They had arrived last, due to Gai's protests. He looked at each of the apprentices carefully as he walked, and decided that they each looked nice enough. When he got to the only other man in the group Gai's eyes widened again, but he said nothing. [i]Could it be him?[/i] he asked himself. Some time ago, before Gai had joined the White Lotus, he had been attacked. The man in question appeared to be the one who had come to his rescue so many years ago, but Gai was not sure. The admittedly handsome man had been in his thoughts ever since, but Gai doubted that he would ever meet him again. If this was him, then Gai could finally... confirm something that he had been wondering about for a while. He felt his face turn red, and turned away from the others so they could not see. When the masters began introducing their apprentices, Gai was described by Shinzan as lazy and boring, but lucky enough to have one asset - fire bending. Gai turned his head to glare at his master, and was met with a toothy grin.

 After the group was introduced to each other, they where then lead to the dining hall for breakfast. Gai saw the waterbender go sit at a corner table, and then smile at them. Gai wanted to go sit with her, but that might lead to small talk, which might to lead to a conversation, and Gai doubted that that would go well. On the other hand, if he decided to sit alone, he might appear to be distant, or rather, a jerk. His eyes dashed from the corner table to the table next to it repeatedly as he began to move towards the two, almost involuntarily. He stood in front of them for a few seconds, before sitting alone, his back facing the girl. He tried to force himself to sit across from her, but simply couldn't. Gai loathed his decision, but was too embarrassed to switch seats now. He hoped that he hadn't offended her.