A/N: my favorite country bumpkin at it again :')

…

Chizuru couldn't put her finger on it, but things were different somehow. Her daily routine had not changed…and that was a problem.

Chizuru had long since accepted her title as model student for the 1st year class at Hakuo Gakuen. She had to be-the only female in a male-dominated student body had eyes on her no matter where she went, or what she did. So she had to be sure that her uniform was immaculate. That her eyes didn't linger too long on any face. That she kept her desk, supplies, and bag clean at all times, in case Souji or someone else decided to go snooping and tease her somehow. She left school early, she went to bed early, and she woke up early to make sure that Heisuke was on time.

Until she and Harada-sensei decided to pursue their feelings for each other and agree to be in a relationship. Sanosuke was the one who kept her up late as she re-read the clumsily written love notes he slipped in her locker. Sanosuke was the one who kept her at school pretending to get tutoring to stay closer to him when he wasn't at the dojo. Sanosuke was the reason her clothes were at times wrinkled by the end of the day. He was the one that kept her routine altered ever-so-slightly, just enough to spark her excitement and yet keep up cordial appearances on the outside.

And then suddenly, it was gone.

Sanosuke had just suddenly taken a big step back out of her life. He didn't entertain her wishes for 'tutoring' anymore- he always had staff meetings now. He didn't follow her around for chances to pull her into empty spaces so that they could whisper and kiss until she was breathless. He didn't smile cheekily when he spoke her name aloud during roll call. He kept a visible distance from her, and her initial confusion was now giving way to sadness. No, utter hopelessness! Or maybe frustration? Why was he behaving this way towards her?

And there was another oddity in her life now too. Heisuke was suddenly making a great effort to get up when she went knocking at his door so they could take their time walking and making conversations in the morning. Souji too, when he would catch them together made sure to tag along with them and find a way to wedge his way in-between. They were visiting her during every class recess, and she found herself making them lunches more times than not. All the while, Harada-sensei didn't come and break up the trio like he usually would; he stayed out of sight.

He didn't confront her or tell her that he wanted to break up with her. She had always respected the fact that Harada-sensei was someone who didn't like to lie-so he would've just come out and tell her if that's what he intended. She didn't see him hanging around any other women, either. So he wasn't cheating on her. He was just…ignoring her for some reason.

She hadn't realized that the sudden absence of having him in her life would make the ordinary so boring. He brought the color in her life: he took the reins for her and introduced her to sides of herself she didn't even know that existed the closer they got to sharing each other's bodies. Did he simply tire of her?

The thought made her incredibly sad. It must've shown up on her face: Heisuke suddenly cut himself off mid-sentence and tilted his head at her, concerned. "Chizuru? You don't look so good all of a sudden. Do you want me to take you to the nurse's office?" His face was drifting gradually closer to hers, making her blush awkwardly.

It was harder to be so freely familiar with Heisuke these days: the time she had spent touching and being intimate with Harada has made her more aware of men, and especially their bodies.

She was sitting on her knees in a circle around Heisuke, Souji, and Hajime for lunch on the rooftop today, and Heisuke's sudden invasion of personal space had her reeling backwards ungracefully on her back. Chizuru yelped out in pain when her head lightly bounced against the hard pavement, and before she realized it she was suddenly being cradled in Hajime's secure embrace, lifted up by her arms to set her upright again.

"Shit-Chizuru, are you okay?! I didn't mean to scare you! I didn't know you were already spaced out-ow!" Heisuke's voice was raised towards the end as Souji gave him a healthy knock against Heisuke's forehead with his knuckles. Heisuke's skin reddened instantly as he rubbed at it, pouting.

"You really need to learn to read the room, Heisuke." Souji ended in an exasperated sigh, crossing his arms over his chest. He stubbornly closed his eyes to ignore Heisuke's whining protest.

Hajime-still half-encircling Chizuru's arm and back to support her again if needed, and the two awkwardly blushed at each other as perfuse apologies came out of them at the same time. Chizuru suddenly jumped in her skin again as a sinking realization hit her.

"M-My skirt-!"

Souji's sharp green eyes suddenly snapped open as he brushed Heisuke aside to give her an audacious smile. "Ah, you finally realized it then?"

Chizuru closed her eyes as they gathered with tears in the corner. When she tilted all the way on her back she kicked out her legs from out under her, one at a time. There was no way that the boys did not overlook that small period of her legs spreading themselves ever so slightly in that moment. And by the way each boy became suddenly sheepish, she could tell that her assumptions were probably spot on.

Heisuke's face turned red immediately at Souji's sudden confession and he tugged at Souji's sweater harshly, hissing out. "Don't tell her that, stupid!" His bright turquoise eyes were apologetic. "It's okay C-Chizuru….it happens, and we-we won't tell, promise!"

"You all saw?!" Chizuru screeched, her legs scrambling to press tightly together as she pulled her short skirt as if it would grow enough inches to fully cover her knees. She was as red as a tomato, throwing weak glares at all three of her friends.

"Heisuke said that we won't tell, so what's the problem?" Souji cocked his head to the side in fake confusion.

"Souji!" Hajime seethed, his tone less effective by the betrayal of redness on his cheeks and only encouraged Souji more. Chizuru's lips quivered in shock.

Souji's smile was sinister. "You saw it too, right? See-we all looked. So it's okay since it's us."

"Noooo..." Chizuru was muttering at his boldness, and Heisuke was trying to figure out if he should apologize or punch Souji.

"What, do you want us to lie to you? We're your friends of course, but we're still men too. And Chizuru-chan is cute." Souji smiled lasciviously at her, eyes twinkling with amusement. "How could we resist seeing such cute bear print panties? It should be your fault for teasing us."

Chizuru's body erupted in heated goosebumps as she clutched her own body in a tight hug, leaning against Hajime as if she could bury herself behind him. He was willing to reach out towards her, his blush betraying him and making him look a little greedy as Chizuru still tried to bury herself in his chest. Heisuke was torn between cackling and smacking at Souji's side weakly in protest to get him to shut up.

Chizuru buried her head in Hajime's chest and refused to look up anymore. "...HATE you…you shouldn't like looking at girls that way…" she mumbled out.

Souji rolled his eyes. "That's impossible. I told you-Chizuru-chan is cute. I think anyone would like to look, especially,,," Souji trailed off, his eyes shifted from Heisuke's stuttering face to Hajime's quietly red one, enjoying each boy's reactions now that Chizuru wasn't looking at them.

"Shut up." Hajime mouthed at hom.

"...waaaahh…..it's all ruined…." Chizuru's voice came out in muffled breaths.

"What is? It can be okay if you promise that only the three of us can see." Chizuru felt Hajime's entire body stiffen in response to Souji's voice and even she was paralyzed with the shameful thought of Souji's teasing. He was being especially awful today!

She shook her head in Hajime's chest in silent protest. Somehow, Souji must've understood by her silent reply what her feelings were on, and he sighed in mock defeat, boldly frowning since Chizuru couldn't see.

"Ah, that's right. You probably have already made that promise to someone else, right?"

She squealed in horror, and this time Heisuke had pounced on her gently trying to pry her out of Hajime's arm to get a look at her face.

"Eh!? What is he talking about? Chizuru? Chizuru! Tell me the truuuuuth…" he bemoaned, tickling the girl's sides as he play-struggled against Hajime for control of Chizuru. The three quickly devolved into childish struggles and giggles, t

he earlier question luckily forgotten in exchange for the moment, although Souji just looked at them with a mix of disgust and interest.

He was honestly surprised by her reaction-it looked awfully guilty in reply to a random teasing remark. That might be something to look into…but he wouldn't ruin their fun for now. Souji would eventually be able to pry the truth out of Chizuru later, for sure. He just needed to wait and get her alone.

In her last two classes, the only thing that Chizuru could think about was Souji's words.

You probably have already made that promise to someone else, right?

Chizuru scrunched her face up at the unwelcome memory. Souji liked to play around with her to the point that it sometimes felt like bullying, but that felt particularly specific. Did he have hints that Chizuru was dating someone? Harada-sensei was always very clear about the rules: no one at school could know about them or he could get into trouble. They were careful around school too. So, what exactly did that little off-putting remark really mean?

Her attention came back just in time to follow the instructions to turn the next page of her textbook. Chizuru did better in some subjects than others, and therefore by being the only female in the school and the only student ever to push for more advanced class placement did she get the opportunity to sit in her senpai's classes-like math with Nagakura-sensei. She liked math, and got along well enough in her literature and language courses, but she struggled with history and her chemistry courses.

She absently began scribbling down the formula and solution that Nagakura-sensei had struck sudden concentrated interest in as he scribbled away while chattering excitedly about the connections being made as the formula unfolded. Chizuru hid a small smile watching his back hunched over as he scribbled in chalk the final answer.

Sbe checked her worksheet: all clear.

Now she was free to wander off in thought again, but no matter what she fantasized about her mind kept drawing herself back to the incident during lunch time. Her face heated up again.

Ughh….how am I to face them again? They all treated it so casually, and yet…

It didn't feel so embarrassing that it was her friends brushing off her awkwardness; they still for the most part treated her more like a sister than a woman, and never looked her way longer than they needed to as far as she could recall. But it was starting to become the same with her boyfriend too, and the thought worried her.

She kept her head low and played absently with her mechanical pencil until the bell rang and signaled the end of the class. After mingling for a bit with her senpais, she made her way off of the upperclassman floor and back on the ground level, deciding to use her break time to wander in a particular direction. When she walked by the lockers in the students' entrance hallway, she felt the sudden cool breeze outside, a flowery scent due to the sakura trees lining the school entrance, no doubt. The smell invigorated her, and she put more force into her step as she passed the first few club meeting rooms to get to the teachers' room. She knocked twice against the bamboo , and stood still, waiting.

"Come in." The husky voice called out pleasantly, and immediately every hair on Chizuru's body stood on end. The clarity of his voice was so poorly missed by her, she held a hand over her face to muffle her anxious gasps of air. She gripped her fists so tightly her knuckles turned white. This was now or never she thought, as she slid the door open and revealed herself.

She knew the other teachers would likely be gone-the schedules made it that the class ending times were staggered upon release, and Harada-sensei always made it back first for some reason. Her breath came out in puffs, as her red-haired lover stood up from whatever was occupying his attention and turned around to see her standing there.

She slid the door closed behind her.

"Chizuru!" Sanosuke half-growled, his eyes betraying his disapproving face as they roamed over her figure two, three times over as she stood there with her back straight and her eyes focused. She was beautiful. He could tell she was not acting normally right now and from his experience with women he knew that when she is not acting normally-he ought to be very careful if he planned on living.

Still, being in school he still had an obligation to be an adult here. Plus, he was supposed to be avoiding Chizuru. Sanosuke was surprised that she came to him first; he was also in a sort of melodramatic depression brought on by being separated from her after growing so attached so quickly, but the idea of bringing humiliation to them both by getting caught influenced his decisions more. And as much as he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity they had to be alone to kiss and stroke her hair, he had to hold back. For their sake. So he tugged at his tie and offered her an awkward smile.

"Y-Yukimura-san, is there something that I can help you with? The next bell will be ringing soon." He pointed vaguely at the clock, trying to avoid getting caught staring at her too directly. She was biting her lip in irritation, her eyes wet with unshed tears.

Chizuru took a step forward, ignoring his last question. "Sa..Sanosuke-san…"

"Chizuru, don't," Sanosuke suddenly hissed, holding a hand up as if trying to create more space between them. "Not here. You know the rules, right?"

She nodded, and then her face changed into one of exasperation, and she took another step forward. "I know…but if…if something is causing you illness…."

"I'm not sick."

"T-Then…if you are feeling stressed from your responsibilities lately…"

"My work is fine, Yukimura-san." Sanosuke cleared his throat, finally blushing out of embarrassment when she mentioned his work. He knew where this was headed. "It's none of those things, Chizuru. I can explain it all to you, but it has to be later." His voice ended barely above a whisper, voice caught between protest and begging as Chizuru took the opportunity to close the distance between them with quick steps. She crashed into Sanosuke's chest, nearly throwing the older man off balance as he wobbled slightly and then grasped the smaller girl by her arms. She was shaking.

"Then…if Sanosuke-san is upset with me…?"

"I'm not." Sanosuke's voice suddenly returned to him with decisiveness. She glanced up at him with tears in her eyes, blurring her vision of him as he leaned down, catching her lips in a sweet, chase kiss. "I could never be angry with you, Chizuru."

"Then why…?" she murmured, moving up on her tiptoes in an effort to reach Sanosuke's mouth again. He succumbed easily seeing her effort, and turned a chase kiss into a heated one, and soon he was cradling the girl's head and back so that he could crush their mouths together, tongues swirling against each other with needy friction. Chizuru skillfully managed to push back against Sanosuke, forcing him to move backwards a step and against the bulletin board wall as they continued to stroke their tongues against each other with every kiss, igniting a familiar sensation inside both of their lower bodies.

Sanosuke pulled away first, his hand moved back to the top of Chizuru's head, her smooth brown hair felt plush against his fingertips as he smoothed away her fireflies, staring at her lovingly.

"We can't." He raised his voice a little louder when she whined in protest. "We can't! Not here. You still have my phone number, right?"

Chizuru nodded, lips swollen and wet with saliva she licked at again before speaking. "Yes…"

"Then please answer my call tonight. You are owed a proper explanation." He poked her on the nose affectionately. "Please don't be angry with me until then."

Chizuru giggled, stepping back and stealing glances at her partner lovingly as they smoothed out their uniforms and hair as the bell sounded above them. "Okay. Sorry for the interruption, Harada-sensei. I'll talk to you soon!"

She gave him another peck on the cheek and a quick wave before she excused herself out of the teachers' room and back into the throng of students filling up the first level hallway. Chizuru was gone so quickly Sanosuke was still blinking and feeling the sensation of her small mouth working against his to realize that he had to wipe his face clean of any past activity.

Itou and Nagakura came in soon after the bell rang and commented on Sanosuke's slightly flushed face. He swore under his breath as he waved them off. This woman was going to be the absolute end of him, and yet the lingering sensation of her touch was leaving a painful reminder of itself in his lower body. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, sighing audibly.

She was getting too clever the more she adjusted to his habits, he realized. It was almost like he had a work wife constantly poking at his side for attention and praise. He was really liking that side of her. He hoped to get to see another little glimpse of it tonight.

"Hello?" The first notes of his voice sounded surprisingly soft, a little dry with drowsiness and not at all as gruff as she had been picturing it in her mind. The relief of this moment made her visibly exhale over the speaker of her phone and into his ear before she realized her mistake.

"Um-!"

"Shh, relax, it's okay." There was some shuffling in the background. "It's late. Where are you right now?"

"H-home…" Chizuru shifted a little too, kicking off her slippers one at a time before curling her legs up to her chest on her bed felt the little notch of happiness blossom in her belly that made her warm all over. "Where...where are you?" She dared to ask.

A short laugh. "I'm home." Then Sanosuke sighed, and Chizuru could hear him walking, like he was pacing one end to the other, only slowly. "I was just taking a shower."

More heat prickled at her cheeks, unwelcome thoughts of her teacher still undressed or only in a towel making her both ashamed and curious. Wait...she checked the time, then laughed. "It's almost ten!"

"Hey! Teachers work late too sometimes, you know." He laughed again. Then they enjoyed a pleasant silence for a minute, and Sanosuke's walking stopped. She couldn't see him from the other side, alone in his high-rise apartment, overlooking the scenery outside the window with a towel still draped over his red locks, rubbing absently, filling the silence with his circular rubbing. And then there was nothing to say but what they really wanted to say, anyway.

But Sanosuke was a man before anything else. So he'd say it first. "I missed you."

Chizuru inhaled sharply, tears immediately swarming her vision in relief...the dissipation of anger and fear in her mind vanishing like smoke. Why did she doubt him? Why did she think he didn't want her anymore? Hadn't he always said this before?

The silence on the other end gave her away, and he debated on whether he should chide her or go easy. Eventually he chose the latter considering she was still in essence, just a high school girl. so he chided her lightly like he was reading her mind. "Tell me what you're thinking right now."

She took in a shaky inhale. "Nothing...I'm just...happy? A little confused, m-maybe...earlier today, when you…"

"I had to." The fabric rustling on his side of the phone stopped abruptly and his voice turned serious. "I won't give you the details or anything, but I had to chat with Hijikata today, is all. It's best...if maybe things change a little."

"A little? What do you mean?" Please don't say he's breaking up with me! her mind raced with these thoughts although she struggled to keep her voice small.

"No Chizuru, it's not that." He laughed again as if reading her mind. "I just mean I need to do a better job at acting like your teacher, and not your lover."

"M-my…?" Chizuru's breathless gasp echoed into the phone and Sanosuke couldn't help but smile into the phone. After all of this he had already gone through for her and she still didn't believe him? He was polite enough to let her catch her own mistake and correct herself, speaking again. "Um...yes. As long as that is the reason, I can understand. I'm sorry I got so caught up in my thoughts like that. I didn't mean to."

Such a good girl. "That's fine. I know women sometimes get emotional over things like that. But don't misunderstand my intentions here, Chizuru…"

He trailed off, wanting his words to sink in with seriousness. He heard her lay back into her bed, the sheets rustling so provocative to Sanosuke's ears he was tempted to change the conversation but swallowed guiltily as she answered breathily,

"What...what...intentions?" The phone was close to her, Sanosuke could tell. So, it was like he was whispering right into her ear.

"I intend to go all the way with this…and make you a part of my future." He closed his eyes in blissful satisfaction. "If you're up for that, someday."

She was blushing, he could hear it in the stumbling of her voice as she begs him not to tease her. He leans his body against the cool glass of the floor-length window panel, the twinkling lights of the city below just a small marvel compared to the voice of the woman he loved on the other line.

"O-Okay…"

He slowly let the towel on the crown of his head fall down to his feet, as he asked her to stay on the phone a little longer. Sanosuke was just not at all ready to let her go just yet.

"Chizuru," he called to her after a beat. She gave a high-pitched, questioning hum in response. "...What are you wearing?"

"Wha-?! Sanosuke-san!"

"Do you still have them on?" He pressed, a cheeky smile hidden on his face.

"Stoooooop…."

i'm on track to finish in 10. i stg. probably.