It was spring and the Sakura were in full bloom, the ground covered in pretty pale pink petals.

Gintoki was in one of the higher branches of the Sakura tree, half asleep. His eyes were on the flowers blooming around him and he was slowly welcoming sleep. It was peaceful and quiet.

Their temple school was surrounded by these trees and the atmosphere was soothing.

He was really starting to like this place; it was the perfect hiding spot for him. A place where no one disturbs him and no idiot besides him would climb to such a high place. It was beautiful and he was mostly covered with the flowers which were surrounding him- hiding him.

People wouldn't know if he was there if they didn't know where to look for.

"Gintoki," A small child's voice came from beneath and Gintoki didn't bother looking down because he already recognized that righteous and honorable voice of his friend. He hoped that if he pretended that he didn't hear him, the boy would quietly go away but his ponytail friend was quite persistent.

"Gintoki!" This friend shouted louder, but with no irritation in his voice.

"What do ya want Zura? Can't you see I'm sleeping?" Gintoki said, his arm tightening around his sword and the other careful picking his nose.

"Sensei got some dango and asked me to call you there so we could all share, hurry up and get down here, I'm hungry and I made some rice balls too," Gintoki could already Zura jumping right where he was standing in excitement "Also it's not Zura, it's Katsura."

"Yeah, whatever," Gintoki said, taking his finger out of his noise and flicking it towards Zura.

"It's not Whatever, it's Katsura." See? Persistent.

Gintoki jumped down from the tree and landed on the soft petal covered ground, his mind filled with thoughts of sweets; started running towards the room where they usually ate, overlooking the garden. He, as usual, completely ignored what the other boy had said.

Katsura's heart always skipped a beat whenever he saw Gintoki jump from a high branch like that but he had stopped shouting at him after the 10th time he saw him doing it. Gintoki never listened to him anyway. So he just sighed and ran after Gintoki towards where their beloved sensei was.

Come to think of it, Gintoki never listened to anyone besides Shouyou-sensei.

When they arrived, Takasugi was already munching on a piece of dango and looked at them with a bored expression.

"I didn't want to wait for the idiotic perm," was all he said, before continuing eating his sweet.

Gintoki didn't pay him any attention and instead dug into the pile of sweets that were set out. Katsura joined him.

They all were silent while they ate which was strange, usually they all would be fighting over who gets to eat first and how much. The silence was welcomed but felt a bit strange.

Shouyou-sensei entered a few minutes later, telling the three of them to chew properly and to save some for him.

They all looked at him before their gaze shifted to the plate of rice balls he was holding.

Their hungry gaze stayed on the plate until Shouyou sighed - a fond sigh- and set the plate on the mat and the children attacked the plate, grabbing one for themselves.

Things settled after that and all were enjoying the cherry blossoms and there was faint murmuring of senseless talk going on. Gintoki looked out at the clear skies and the petals floating around, slowly dropping on the floor.

He wasn't used to scenery like this. The only thing he used to see was bloody skies and bloody grounds, broken trees and cries of crows. He heard battle cries and sad sobs.

But that changed when Shouyou found him. He took him away from that scene and brought him into a scene filled with the warmth of the sun, clear blue skies and green grass. Gintoki found a place where there were no war cries –except when he and Takasugi fought but that was quite different.

Gintoki looked at the three people besides him. One with long black hair pulled into a ponytail, who was happily eating the rice balls that he himself had made, the other with dark purplish hair who was talking with sensei, his face all bright and his eyes filled with happiness and cheerfulness, with a big smile on his face.

Gintoki's gaze shifted to the man with the warm smile and genuinely fond eyes and Gin could swear his own eyes light up like Takasugi's when Gin thought about his sensei. The man whose smile and who himself meant everything to him.

Shouyou's face turned towards him and their eyes met. Shouyou looked at him with his always present smile and Gintoki could feel his own lips lift upwards and he returned the affectionate smile with his own - a bit crooked, as if he wasn't used to smiling, which he wasn't even after all this time.

He turned back towards the pleasant scenery and his hands tightened around his sword.

The sword he was given by Shouyou when they first met and which he always kept near him. The one he was given to protect his soul and so he would, he will protect his soul and his friends and his sensei because they were a part of his soul –always will be.

His lips formed into a smile. This one was more comfortable than the previous one and everything felt like it was in its place.

Until, both Gintoki and Takasugi reached for the last piece of dango at the same time, and their eyes met with a silent challenge in their eyes. And suddenly they were on the ground outside running after each other before running towards the dojo for their practice swords. Katsura was running after them trying to calm those two bad-boys down and telling them that they could always share the last piece.

As always, those two ignored him before they all ran back to where their sensei was sitting, a smile on his face and telling them not to hurt each other. Gintoki and Takasugi both took their stance with their practice swords held high and then began their usual match.

Both of them went at it for a while, trying to one-up each other; with Katsura getting more and more annoyed whenever they both ignored him, and just kept on fighting.

The match kept on going with both of them being stubborn and not giving up but after a while they both stopped, thoroughly tired and Katsura went to where the two were lying next to each other, their backs on the ground and their face looking at the blue sky above.

"You should have just listened to me and shared it when I told you two to," Zura chided them for their fighting, always the one trying to stop them.

.

"Aah I'm so tired. I guess I'll listen to Zura this time," Gintoki said after a while with a groan.

"Zura janai, Katsura da," he said, his voice calm and sophisticated.

"Man, Zura, stop babbling and get us up." Takasugi had his hand stretched out in front of him, pointing towards Zura.

"Zura janai, Katsura da," he shouted it this time but grabbed both of their hands and lifted them up.

"Now let's go eat the dango. I'm hungry again," Gintoki said rubbing his stomach. Takasugi opened his mouth to offer a retort before deciding that it was too much trouble and he was too tired to fight with Gintoki again.

But when they all reached towards where the plate was kept, next to sensei, they could do nothing but stare with wide eyes at the now empty plate and then at Shouyou who was happily eating the Dango they had shed so much pain and tears for -not really- but they had wasted a lot of energy and time for it.

"Hmm… is something wrong?" Shouyou asked with a sweet smile on his face before his three precious students fell to the ground and shouted his name.

"SHOUYOU-SENSEI."