"So this is where you hang out most days Takasugi-kun...no wonder you take forever to get to class on time."

"Hey quit pushing! We can all see the window!"

"I wanna see Shinpachi-kun! You know I'm tiny!"

"You don't deserve to have a view China. You can have a view of my-"

"Kondo-san! Get out of the way, we can't see!"

"Oi shut up, all of you. Unless you want them to find out we're snooping on them."

The students arrived at the doors that led to the balcony roof after their exhausting climb plodding up the staircases. Were it not for Takasugi and his guidance in where to go (and the number of times he used the roof to hang out with his small circle of friends), they would have missed out on the scoop of the year, or worse, got lost in the school grounds. Naturally as the person who remained at the front of the pack, Takasugi had the best view, followed by Sarutobi, who had stuck close to the front during the trip up the stairs and got a space next to him. It also meant that the rest of the group behind them were on the verge of a mini riot as they pushed and squirmed to try and move forward.

For Kondo however, he slipped from the front to the back as he was swept away in the mini crush, desperately trying to move forward. Strangely enough, he had more than enough height to get a clear view as one of the tallest students, so it was anyone's guess as to why he wanted to move closer to the door. Nonetheless, a not so stealthy fist to his ketsuno ana by Tae allowed both her and Kyubei as well as the others to push forward while he clutched his backside in pain. Thankfully and miraculously, they managed to minimise the noise and get themselves a little more comfortable.

Beyond the circular windows it was difficult to see what was behind the doors if you were not at the very front. What laid beyond it was a blanket of snow covering the ground as it softly descended down at a slow pace. Based on how slowly it moved, there was no sign of wind. Around them were two people, clearly in lab coats with their backs to the door, leaning over the barrier. Takasugi and Sarutobi could make out one of them being their home room teacher from his trademark wavy hair, but they couldn't quite make out the woman next to him. They had strong ideas as to who it was, but needed solid confirmation that it really was Tsukuyo.

The minutes went by as the students waited for something big to happen, but all that happened was that they watched their teacher pull out a pack of cigarettes, taking two of them and handing one of them off to the woman before turning their heads as he lit them up with a lighter making them all click their tongues in frustration. Minutes went by as the pair seemingly stood still, almost no sign they were actually talking aside from the odd puff of smoke. It didn't help matters that they couldn't hear what was being said, and it was freezing in the corridor the students were packed in, which didn't help their patience either.

"Is Sensei gonna move or what?" Sougo asked before being shut down by a hard pinch to his wrist by his sister.

"Let's be patient and watch, Sou-chan."

"Sorry Aneue..."

Some of the group were almost on the verge of dozing off or leaving outright as they continued to wait for a sign from Ginpachi and his mystery partner. A few head turns from their teacher managed to recapture their attention, but it wasn't until his partner held his hand and finally his waist that their patience paid off, watching them turn their bodies to face each other. Sarutobi and Takasugi could see the scar that ran down her cheek. It was a dead giveaway, and confirmed the latter's suspicions. The reactions ranged from slight amusement, to shock and awe.

"So they really are dating..." Takasugi smirked, very satisfied with what he saw.

"Tsukuyo Sensei...?"

"Sa-chan? Are you alright?"

The students were already well aware of Sarutobi's affections for their teacher, so it was no surprise that her reaction was undeniably one of shock, yet the colour in her face wasn't completely drained. At the same time, tears quietly streamed down her cheeks as she put on a brave smile.

"I'm fine...I'm fine. It's for the best. Tsukuyo Sensei is a nice lady to begin with. It was obvious that he wouldn't notice me anyway..." She sniffed, trying not to let the devastation overwhelm her. Her bottom lip quivered as she tried to keep herself calm. Mitsuba brought out a packet of tissues from her pocket and gave her a tissue as well as a comforting pat on her shoulder.

"I'm sure you'll find someone who'll return your affections, it is still early days after all, isn't it Sa-chan?" Mitsuba chirped sympathetically.

"Mmhmm, Tsukuyo Sensei is a nice person too, so don't beat yourself up too much. Sensei will be fine, so don't worry." Tae reassured her.

Sarutobi merely hummed in response as she quietly blew her nose. "I guess it's not the end of the world..." She mumbled.

"Do you want to go back? It's probably upsetting for you to stay here any longer." Mitsuba asked, tilting her head slightly out of concern for Sarutobi's emotional well-being, but she shook her head, adamant that she wanted to stay and see how things would play out.

The group avidly studied the lip movements from the two teachers as well as scanning their faces for any notable expressions or change in their mood. As it turned out, they were treated to some rather interesting revelations about their Sensei's demeanour. He almost acted like his usual self with his significant other, where it not for the fact that his face softened up and his eyes looked a little more alive and gentle than the usual dreary facade he put up in class. And his smile was the most notable expression he put up. It looked rather attractive to the girls.

"Looks like Sensei does have a heart after all..." Takasugi remarked as he watched the cigarette in his teacher's hand drop to the floor and get snubbed out with his shoe, all the while having a devious smirk on his face the entire time. Despite his intentions, he couldn't help but have a slightly more heartwarming smile as the couple embraced.

The class also had a similar impression as they watched the teachers' small but affectionate touches, whether it was a nuzzle on the nose to watching them simply smile at each other, or even an affectionate puff of smoke blown in Ginpachi's face by Tsukuyo. It felt like watching a private spectacle rather than an investigation into the identity of their sensei's mystery lover. And it was quite amusing for Takasugi and most of the class to watch, not to mention somewhat nail biting for the girls (and Shinpachi oddly enough) seeing their sensei on the verge of kissing Tsukuyo. Their eyes began to widen at the next action the teachers made, followed by a mixture of collective aw's and gasps.

"They're...they're actually doing it..." Shinpachi quietly remarked, stunned at what he was seeing, completely oblivious to the thick trail of blood trickling down his nose.

"Where?! I wanna see!" Kagura hissed, trying to stand on her toes to see through the window. Naturally, Sougo pushed her head down as she squirmed around to free herself.

"You're not allowed to see grown up activity China. You're not old enough for that." He coldly rebuffed. Sougo's provocation caused Kagura to start shoving him (and rocking the group backwards slightly as a result, whining out of frustration from the sudden escalation in contact), but it was quickly cut short by a light tap on their heads by Mitsuba before their antics could blow their cover.

"Now now, we're going to get into a lot of trouble if you keep that up. We'll all be spotted you know? Isn't that right, Sou-chan? Kagura-chan?" She politely said. The slight menace in her tone forced the duo to back off as they looked back to the window with a sulk.

Takasugi was unfazed by the small commotion as his smirk quickly returned, watching the two teachers continuing to slowly chew each other's bottom lips.

"Dear me, they're really enjoying this." He chuckled, thoroughly entertained by the intimate displays of affection. "Sensei is gonna have a tough time explaining thi-hm? Is that what I think it is?"

He along with the others near the front squinted their eyes as they tried to make out any small details in the teachers' make out session. Takasugi let out a high pitched chuckle once he figured out what it was, watching the activity become more intimate.

"They're actually got their tongues inside their mouths...well then."

Kagura stood on her tip toes to get a better look whilst Shinpachi's nose continued to trickle blood. She took notice, looking very unamused as he looked on as if he was in a trance.

"Patsuan. You've got a nose bleed." She flatly stated as he maintained his never ending gaze, too engrossed to listen. "Mitsu-chan? Can he borrow your tissues?"

Mitsuba happily gave a packet of tissues to Kagura as she slapped the back of Shinpachi's head, bringing him back to earth and handed off the tissue packet to him as he wiped his nose.

"Sensei is really going for it..." Sarutobi whispered, almost shocked by her crush's intimacy. Takasugi huffed in amusement. "On a scale of 1 to 10 how well do you think that looks? I mean for a loser like him he seems to be doing pretty well."

"I'd give Sensei 100 points." Kondo bluntly stated, much to Hijikata's embarrassment as he stared at him, very much unsurprised by his older friend's blunt metaphor.

"You're clearly horny from this Kondo-san. There's no denying that." He flatly muttered as he put a palm to his forehead.

Kondo turned to him with a innocent, oblivious look on his face as if he had no idea what Hijikata was referring to. "What? I'm just saying it as it is Toshi."

"At least it's better than what you can do Hijikata-san." Sougo cheekily remarked with a blank face, who was promptly responded to with a middle finger and a quiet 'fuck you' from his friend.

A few blushes on some of the students' faces started to form as the make out session became more and more intimate, watching the teachers' ministrations starting to come into play as they playfully squeezed each other's butts amidst the tonguing. It was starting to feel a little uncomfortable for them at this point, especially for the girls as they looked at each other a little awkwardly.

"Should we...leave them to it? I mean we got what we wanted, which was to find out who Sensei was dating right? We're kind of just invading their privacy at this point..." Kyubei contemplated.

"Mm, Kyu-chan is right, we found out what we needed to, there's no need to intrude on them further, and we'll get caught if we stay much longer." Tae said, much to the disappointment of some of the students, namely Kondo and Shinpachi.

Takasugi also felt a similar feeling. They achieved their objective. Any longer and they were invading their privacy, and he and the rest of the class could tease their teacher at a later time. It was probably the most pragmatic decision to make.

"I agree. We've done what we needed to do." He said, pushing his way back to the back so that they could begin the return to their classroom.

"It's freezing too..." Kagura chimed in, rubbing her hands to keep them warm in the freezing corridor and turning around to sift through the group. Shinpachi and Kondo had to be dragged by their hands as they were still mesmerised by the whole thing. The class (aside from Sarutobi who's face looked notably blank) spent the majority of the trip back discussing what they had just witnessed, occasionally going off topic with banter amongst themselves.

Takasugi meanwhile didn't say a word, simply maintaining his devilish smirk as he guided the class back to their classroom.

You've got so much to answer Sensei.

"Say Ginpachi? Ya wanna go somewhere tomorrow?"

"Huh? In this god awful cold ass weather?"

"Don't call it that, it's not that bad, it's just part of the season you dolt."

"Freezing my balls off is not part of my season though."

"And you still went outside in the cold..."

"I needed someplace private. I think I still need a little more time for myself actually...and I don't know if we should tell them. I don't want everyone to constantly be on our asses all the time."

Ginpachi was in a bit of a sullen mood, even after his private one on one session with Tsukuyo on the rooftop balcony. But he did feel a little more cheery now as opposed to a few minutes before. He had lost his temper in the staff room earlier and wasn't willing to take it out on his colleagues. But with Tsukuyo's help, he was almost back to his usual self. Almost.

Tsukuyo looked at him with sympathetic eyes, still holding his hands as they stopped near his classroom, only a few steps out of sight from the door.

"In that case, why don't ya just tell them then?" She softly asked. All she got was a simple shake of the head.

"I...can't." He answered quietly.

Tsukuyo huffed slightly, a little irritated by his admittedly safe assumption considering their activities of late. "Ya worried about their reactions?"

Ginpachi uncomfortably massaged the back of his neck and looked away towards the ceiling. He really didn't want to spill the beans. But at the same time, the constant gossip was getting to the both of them.

'Look. Don't worry. If ya really worried, I can come with ya for both of them. The students and the others don't exactly deserve to know considering how nosy they've been but...I don't want this talking to last forever. And they probably already know at this point. It's better to let it out than keep it in." She reassured him, gently redirecting his head to focus on her. His eyes couldn't help but soften slightly and have a faint smile, feeling a little bit of comfort ease back into his body.

"We'll be ok. So don't stress out too much. " She said affirmatively with a smile, just as the all too familiar sound of the bell rang in the school corridor. "I'll see you later ok?"

"Yeah. And thanks Tsuki." He muttered before giving a quick kiss as he let go of her hand, watching her disappear out of sight as she returned to her classroom.

With renewed confidence he walked took the last few steps to his classroom door and opened it, still putting on his professional mode, but this time with a slightly more energetic bounce to his demeanour. The lively hubbub that emanated in the room quickly quietened down as the class stared at him with slight unease, watching him pick up a stack of papers on his desk.

"Alright, you lot are getting your test results back. And you get to find out if you won that bet."

Curiously to Ginpachi, the majority of the class looked completely apathetic. Only Shinpachi seemed somewhat excited. Then again he was one of the few students who actually put a substantial amount of effort into his work.

Ginpachi raised an eyebrow slightly out of confusion. He could've sworn that the class was biting at the nail to win their wager and find out his secret. Yet they didn't seem to react. Tsukuyo's words began to ring in his head.

'They probably already know at this point.'

His eyes fell on Takasugi, the one usually responsible for class wide antics. He seemed unusually smug with his shit eating grin, even more so than normal, like he knew something. He knew something.

He knows something. Oh shit...

Ginpachi's eyes narrowed as he gazed at the room with suspicion. Why weren't they reacting? He could sense his heart palpitating out of anxiety and dread. He had no choice but to swallow his pride as he let out a sigh.

You can't be serious.

"Takasugi...what's with that face?" He drearily mumbled.

"We already know your little secret." He cockily announced, maintaining his smug face as his legs rested nicely on his desk. The lack of change in his expression was already a good way of maintaining a poker face, but the confidence in his tone indicated that he wasn't lying. And judging from the rest of the class' silence, he really wasn't lying.

"Well...how about I tell you the results first? Your studies takes more priority over my private life." He hesitantly proposed, trying to shift the uncomfortable topic away.

He took his time walking around the desks to hand out the papers back to his students. The looks on their faces remained mostly unchanged, with the odd smile here and there as they gazed down at their marks. Their expressions still didn't change by the time he looped back around to the front.

He examined their faces again. He could feel his heart sink, already anxious at what he was going to say next. Then again, what was there to be anxious of? If they already knew, he was going to say it anyway as a way of verification. Or they could be doing it for their own pleasure of seeing their teacher crack at the mention of the personal life that they were so heavily invested in.

He let out a weary exhale to mask his nerves. The truth had to come out.

"The good news is... you all got pretty good marks. The bad news is I gotta share my little secret that you've all been pestering me about."

Ginpachi scratched his neck, still anxious with what he was about to say. The class, while still very much stoic, were taken aback a little by his shyness. It looked somewhat endearing than gratifying seeing their teacher act in such a way.

"So...yes. Tsukuyo Sensei and I are dating." He hesitantly declared, looking towards the window as a faint shade of pink became present on his face. The reaction was very muted. They really did already know, just as Tsukuyo predicted. The awkward silence carried on for a short while before it was abruptly cut short.

"We already know. We already saw you and Tsukuyo Sensei to begin with." Takasugi said. The shade of pink quickly bloomed brighter as Ginpachi's head swivelled around immediately towards his cantankerous student.

"HUH?! You saw us?!"

"Course we did. We all did."

"Whe-"

"Rooftop."

Mrgh...you little...

Ginpachi sighed exasperatedly. The embarrassment was quickly getting to him.

"So you saw that huh...?" He mumbled.

"Duh. And I heard that you were also in the storage room with-"

"Whoa hey that's actually private business! You don't need to know about that!" Ginpachi blurted out. The class looked very puzzled at his sudden outburst as well as Takasugi's supposed hidden fact. He looked at his classmates as if they were dumb and hearing it for the first time.

"What, you didn't know? I was gonna say something about it before I was interrupted..." He casually said. He scanned his teacher's anxious face, pondering whether to reveal his other little fact for the class to hear.

Hmm...nah. He's already worried enough as is.

"But I think I'll spare Sensei's dignity for the time being." He concluded. The class got into a bit of a ruckus after that as he remained in his seat, clamouring for an explanation.

"That's what you get for not letting me finish earlier." He mockingly said, waggling his finger. The sudden rise in noise put the attention away from Ginpachi much to his relief, almost feeling slightly indebted to his student for not revealing that fact.

"Ok! Settle down now!" He yelled out, instantly pacifying the class. The confidence in his voice was starting to return.

"Anyway, you got your wish. I'm dating Tsukuyo Sensei. You happy now?" He bluntly said. He stared at the class for a few more seconds before a hand from the far back went up. It was Sarutobi's.

"Sensei, what were you doing up there aside from..." Her voice trailed off, too embarrassed to speak much further.

Ginpachi scratched and massaged his neck out of habit, unsure of what to say. He took a deep breath as he pursed his lips, finally figuring out his sentence.

"Fine... I suppose I owe you lot an explanation if you've already made it this far."