|Prologue|

It was a frosty January evening in Kyoto. The cold winter wind slipped under the tattered windows and doors of Shiei Hall, forcing the inhabitants to huddle around the only source of warmth in the rather ancient dojo.

"Ugh, Kondou-San needs to get a new building…" The smallest of the young men grumbled while rubbing his arms in an attempt to keep them warm. "I can't tell the difference between the inside and the outside."

A taller man with crimson hair chuckled at the complaint. "We'd better start off by being able to afford three meals per day first, huh Heisuke?" He answered playfully, "Then we can start thinking about a new building."

"Speaking about meals, I'm starving…" A man with wild brown hair who sat across the red-head groaned. "I could do with a nice ball of steaming hot rice and some roasted mackerel..."

"No…! No talking about food, Shinpachi-San!" The smallest of the group, Heisuke, groaned loudly. "It's worse enough as it is! Cold and hungry is triple the misery!"

"Hmm... I wonder what's worse: Freezing to death or starving to death?" A light brown haired man who was leaning against one of the wooden pillars piqued into the conversation with a smile, his light tone in complete contrast to his morbid words.

"A real man would kill himself honorably before dying like that!" The crimson haired youth, Harada, exclaimed with a triumphant grin. He loosened his Yukata and straightened up to reveal an ugly red scar across his toned stomach - The injury looked quite recent. "The prime example, being something like this!"

The five other young men sitting around the large *danro at the centre of the hall looked completely uninterested by the sudden outburst, as if they were used it.

The man with the wild brown hair, Shinpachi, sighed. "Yes yes, you and your amazing stomach. Now put it away before you catch a cold.''

Harada's eyes narrowed. ''Oi, Shinpachi, I'm not hearing sarcasm am I?''

As the two started to bicker, hurling insults of greater magnitudes, a navy-haired man who sat closest to the door suddenly spoke up.

"... Kondou-san and Hijikata-san is here." he stated quietly, his eyes darting towards the window.

"Yup, they're almost home." The man leaning against the pillar said with another smile. He pushed himself off the pillar with a light oomph. "... and they're not alone."

"Huh? They've brought someone else, Souji? " Heisuke asked, curiosity getting better of him and standing up to get a good view of the inner courtyard.

"What, they picked another newbie up?" Shin asked with a grin on his face. "Kondou-san and Hijikata-san are way too soft hearted for their own good."

Even though the words suggested scorn, the men knew there wasn't a hint of malice in Shinpachi's words.

Harada snorted and picked himself up. "And without that soft-heart, I bet my bottle of sake that half of us would be dead already..."

In three quick strides, Harada stood next to Heisuke by the window.

"Right, so what poor kid has our two senseis picked off the street this time?" Harada said with mirth, leaning against the window frame and gazing into the small inner courtyard.

"I can hear them turn the corner!" Heisuke said, his brow furrowed in concentration. "Yup, that's three pairs of feet alright."

Curiosity winning over warmth, the remaining two men reluctantly shuffled away from the danro and gathered around the window to see who the third set of light footsteps belonged to.

''It's obviously someone small.'' Shinpachi remarked with interest.

"About a third the body-weight of Kondou-san, I would think." The navy-haired man, Saito, analysed the sound with closed eyes.

The other men nodded, their eyes fixed on the dojo gates and waiting for their two senseis and the 'newbie' to walk through.

"Hmm, someone smaller than our little Heisuke, huh?" Harada teased, "We're going to have to take turns babysitting."

"Sano-san! I thought I told you not to call me little!" Heisuke growled, "I'm only a little younger than all of you, that's all!"

"They're here."

With Okita's amused words, three figures walked through the dojo gates and were making their way to the entrance. One, a medium-height man with short unruly black hair who walked with an air of absolute happy confidence, and another with jet-black hair of similar height walking with equal confidence but with a sharper edge and steel in his eyes. The pair made a strange contrast, but were obviously at complete confidence at each others presence as they strode with purpose and ease.

But it wasn't the two men that was causing a stir in Shiei Hall though, it was the tiny figure that was half walking and half being held by the thinner of the two men. The frail limbs, the long sleek midnight hair, and what appeared to be large, frightened eyes, it almost seemed as if...

"... She's a girl." Okita said what all the men in the hall were thinking, his elegant eyebrows raised in surprise. "And a small girl at that."

"... " Shinpachi seemed speechless, his eyes wide and face almost comically pressed against the window pane to get a clearer view.

"Huh... Is she going to live with us?" Harada said with a frown, his eyes fixed on the approaching figures. "This is hardly a place for a girl to live in."

"Kondou-san and Hijikata-san would have a plan if they brought her here." Saito said in a calm voice, although some of the older youths detected the hint of surprise in his usually unshakable tone.

"Whoa... A girl, huh?" Heisuke said with wide eyes, "She looks so... Weak." He added, almost as an afterthought, looking at the thin white limbs.

"She's not the usual sort that Kondou-san brings along in his little trip, I guess." Okita agreed with a sigh. "Right... Well girl or boy, we should greet our guest, hm?"

*Danro: Heater

The Shinsengumi captains here all should be around negative 5 years from the men we see in the games. I'm not entirely sure about pairings, but if there is going to be something, it's going to be one of: OC X Okita/ Harada/ Toudou/ Saito. Romantic pairings may never happen :)

Reviews are appreciated but if you have nothing nice to say, please don't comment! Thanks!

PS: The actual chapters themselves will be a little longer than the prologue, obviously :D