You know, that's what Mister Lupin asked me in our first conversation together. [A nod to where he was. A worn, weary chuckle.] How I haven't gone insane by now.

You know how busy I keep. It helps. A bit. It keeps my mind off things. It's no cure, it's just coping, and sometimes it's not the best thing. [He knows he has been a hypocrite in the note he wrote to Lupin for his 'intervention'.] Sometimes it wears me down terribly and I have to step back for a while.

I'm glad for Itachi. He usually kicks me in the ass before it gets too bad.