It had been a month since the other had passed and it was still all the vice-commander could think about. He tried to concentrate on his work but placed the pen down before falling backwards and looking out the door. The papers had started to quickly pile up which got the others to start helping him with the work. He sighed and closed his eyes before turning his head and opening them to stare at the ceiling. Hijikata fiddled slightly with the ring that he still wore on his finger as a reminder of what he almost had. Although he rarely smiled before, unless the young captain was around, since he left his expression never showed anything but sorrow, even when he tried to act normal the sadness still showed clearly in his eyes.
After a while of trying to fall asleep he got up and climbed the ladder onto the roof, sitting down as he smoked his pipe and watched the sunrise, he rarely got much sleep these days and could often be found on the roof, thinking of what he did wrong and if there was any way he could have done more… He skipped breakfast that morning and didn't come down until noon to find that a meal had already been placed in his room. He sat down and ate a little before hearing someone enter, looking over he saw Saizo standing in the doorway, looking as sad as he did. He put his plate on the ground and watched as the piglet came over and ate a little. The two had spent quite a bit of time together lately since Soji was the most precious person in each their lives and now that he was gone both of them felt as if they had no one.
A few more months passed as the seasons changed but not much else did. He still secluded himself most of the time, doing as much work as he could before the image of his lost lover came to mind. It was now winter and a sheet of white lay over the compound. Looking out of his door he saw children building a snowman, the pen dropped from his hand as he remembered the winter they had the previous year when Soji had helped the same children build a snowman. He just turned his head back towards the papers, ignoring the large spot of ink that was on his desk as he watched drops falling on them that made the characters almost illegible.
As spring came so did the cherry blossoms, one morning he woke up to the pink petals scattered on his floor. The demon laid in bed and just looked at them as he recalled every year since he had first met the captain when he was dragged to look at the blossoms. After a couple hours he got up and dressed before leaving, Saizo following behind him. He went to the graveyard where the young man was buried and stood by his marker as he just watched the large tree that had recently bloomed, keeping the promise that he had made all those years ago. He fell to his knees but didn't take his eyes off the tree as his cheeks soon became wet, even though there was no rain in the sky.
The month of June approached slowly, but when it arrived Hijikata knew that he had to be a leader, he visited the grave one last time and soon left to lead what remained of the shinsengumi into battle. On the day of June 20th 1969 Hijikata Toshizo was shot off his horse, as he fell to the ground he smiled for the first time in almost a year, knowing that it wouldn't be long before they met.
"I-I'll see you again." He whispered just as he hit the ground.
He soon died on the battlefield.