I don't own Peacemaker or any of it's characters, I only own Din Hinto.

Moving on, I'm here making a Peacemaker story which will follow the manga starting with the first one instead of the second PMK. Enjoy!

"Dammit."

Hijikata balled up the small piece of paper he had been writing on and threw it into the corner of his room. Nothing seemed perfect, every word he wrote on paper seemed to be wrong and he couldn't figure out why. Figuring it might be because the room was warm; he stood up, walked over to his sliding doors and opened them only to feel how hot it was outside as well.

Damn. Today's just not my day. He thought as he looked up towards the hot sun, which pounded down its heat onto the world beneath it.

He leaned against the sliding door and looked out towards the backyard. Everything seemed so peaceful even with the heat coming down onto the Earth. He could hear children off playing somewhere. Hearing their screams and yells reminded him of Tetsunosuke and then reminded him of a job he had for the small boy.

"Tetsunosuke!" Hijikata yelled without an answer.

"I thought you would forget," Souji said, causing Hijikata to look to his right to see Souji walking towards him from the pigpen. "You sent Tetsu-kun and Tatsu-kun out to get food remember?"

Hijikata sighed as he remembered. "It's hot today," he said in almost a whisper as he looked back out towards the backyard.

"I know." Souji giggled as he too looked out into the backyard. "Does this heat remind you of something?"

Hijikata didn't answer but instead kept looking up towards the sky. He sighed once more as a content feeling ran over him. "No. It's just a hot day."

Souji watched as Hijikata turned away from him and walked back into his room and sat down in his normal spot. Souji blinked, figuring that the man he always talked too was hiding something from him as always.

Oh well. Souji thought as he sat down on the small wooden ledge right outside of Hijikata's sliding door. Might as well enjoy the day.

"Tatsu…" Tetsunosuke whined as he and his older brother walked through the market looking for food. "When are we gonna be done? It too hot…"

"We're almost done," Tatsunosuke answered as he continued to walk forwards even though his legs wanted to go back towards the Shinsengumi dojo. In both of his arms were bags of food he had collected while out shopping for the Shinsengumi, it wasn't odd for him to do this, he always did it back when him and Tetsunosuke were living on their own.

"What's left on the list?" Tetsunosuke asked as he too dragged his feet.

"Uh…" Tatsunosuke looked down onto the small piece of paper that had been telling them where to go and what to get for the last hour only to see that there was only one thing left, bread.

"Just bread Tetsu then we're done," Tatsunosuke answered. "The store should be around here somewhere."

Tatsunosuke looked around, hoping to find the specific store that had been marked down on the white piece of paper. As he looked he saw Sanosuke, Shinpachi, and Heisuke standing in front of a light brown store talking to a woman.

Wonder what's they're doing here? Tatsunosuke thought as he tried to sneak by them so they wouldn't say anything to him for he wasn't in the mood for talking.

"Hey!" Tetsunosuke called, causing his elder brother to twitch. "Sanosuke-san! Shipachi-san! Heisuke-san!"

"What'da know," Sanosuke said in response as he turned around to the two Ichimura brothers. "We caught Tatsu-kun doing his chores."

"Hey Tatsu-kun why don't you come over here? We've got someone we want you to meet!" Shinpachi said causing Tetsunosuke to walk over towards the group. Tatsunosuke twitched and walked over to join up with his brother only notice a small flag hanging off of the store with the words, "Tarason Bakery" written on it.

That looks familiar. Tatsunosuke thought as he looked down onto the white piece of paper in his hands only to discover that it was the same store where he was instructed to buy bread from. That's weird.

"So are you almost done shopping?" Heisuke asked as he looked over towards the older brother.

"Yeah, Tatsunosuke answered. "I've just got to get once more thing and then we're done."

"What's that?" Sanosuke asked.

"Bread," Tetsunosuke answered for his older brother. "We can't find the place to buy it though."

"Din-chan can take care of that for you," Shinpachi said with a grin. "Tatsu-kun, this is who we wanted you to meet; she's an old friend of ours, Din Hinto."

Tatsunosuke was pointed to the woman standing against the store. Her light blue hair was pulled back into a high ponytail tied back tightly with red ties, and a part of her hair fell over her right eye almost hiding the green color which stood out against the color of her left eye which was blue. A small scar stretched across her face, from the left to the right, and she was wearing a simple blue kimono.

"Hi I'm Din," she said as she stuck her right hand out to Tatsunosuke, allowing him to shake her hand.

"I'm Tatsunosuke, and that's Tetsunosuke, my little brother," Tatsunosuke explained as he shook Din's hand.

"Have…" Din began as she studied Tatsunosuke's features. "We met before? Your face looks awfully familiar."

"Not that I know of," he answered, knowing that he had never met someone like Din before. Someone whose characteristics would be the characteristics of someone he would remember

"Din-chan owns this bakery," Shinpachi explained, breaking Din and Tatsunosuke's conversation. "I don't know why but someone in the Shinsengumi wants bread from this place once in awhile. I wonder why though this bread isn't that good."

"Hey." Din glared towards Shinpachi, causing him to put his hands up in defense.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding don't worry!" Shinpachi protested.

"Anyways," Din looked away from the red head and back towards Tatsunosuke, "what can I get you?"

"Uh…" Tatsunosuke looked down on the list and read what the fine writing said. "Mliwheat."

"Okay." Din walked away from the group and inside the store. She emerged a few minutes later with a long sigh. "Sorry Tatsunosuke-san but it looks like we're out right now. I'll have some later, I'll just stop by later and give it to you okay? You live at the Shinsengumi dojo right?"

"Yes." Tatsunosuke smiled.

"Are you a member?" Din asked only to head Sanosuke and his little trio giggle. "What?" She hissed.

"He's the bookkeeper," Sanosuke answered as he tried to cover his giggle, which made Tatsunosuke blush with embarrassment.

"I'm glad he's doing it," Din said, causing Tatsunosuke to look up at her and a new kind of blush to cross his face. "We all know if you did it Japan would fall apart!"

"Hey!"

"You know it's the truth!" Heisuke laughed as he covered his mouth, trying to hide it.

"Anyway, what do you do?" Din asked as he looked towards Tetsunosuke and flicked his nose playfully. "You look to small to be a full member."

Tetsunosuke opened his mouth to answer Din's questions but his brother interjected with his own answer.

"He's a page." Tatsunosuke tugged gently on the younger Ichimura's arm, telling him to get ready to go. "Now come on Tetsu we'd better get going, Okita-san is expecting us back."

"Tatsu can't I stay here?" Tetsunosuke asked as he looked up at his brother.

"We're headin' back too Tetsu-kun," Sanosuke said as he looked down and saw that the small red head was falling asleep were he stood.

"Damn." Tetsunosuke rubbed his eyes with one of his balled up fists as a small yawn took over his mouth.

"Why are you so tired anyway?" Tatsunosuke asked as he bent down to Tetsunosuke's level. The nearby trio twitched as Tetsunosuke opened his mouth to answer, hoping that the small red head wouldn't give out the reason for why he was so tried.

"No reason," Tetsunosuke lied as he yawned once more.

Shinpachi leaned over towards Heisuke. "I guess he's not ready to hang with the big boys."

"Come on we'd better go," Sanosuke said as he looked at the group around him. "We don't want the demon vice commander to bite our heads off when he finds out that our break lasted a little longer then usual."

"Oh." Tatsunosuke reached down into his pocket, searching. His fingers found what he was looking for, he took it out, and handed it towards Din. "Here."

"I'll just put it on your tab for now," Din said with a small laugh as she pushed Tatsunosuke's hand back towards his body. "Don't worry about it right now."

"Okay…" Tatsunosuke blinked. "Thank you." He bowed.

"No big deal. I'll see you guys in two hours okay?" Din said as she turned away from the group and slipped into the store once more. "Tell Souji-kun I said hi too!"

"Will do!" Shinpachi answered with a small laugh.

The small group of men walked on back towards Shinsengumi dojo, talking amongst each other. Tatsunosuke wasn't talking among the others, he was more in his own world, looking ahead and planning what he had to do when he got home.

"So Tatsu-kun what do you think?" Shinpachi asked, pulling Tatsunosuke out of his train of thought.

"About what?" He sighed.

"Din-chan."

"You two would be pretty cute together!" Sanosuke added as he hit Tatsunosuke on the top of his head playfully. "Even though she is ten years your senior."

"That means…" Tetsunosuke thought out loud as he added up the numbers in his head. "That Hinto-san's thirty. She's old."

"Tetsu!" Tatsunosuke hit his brother on the head. "Don't say things like that, it's rude!"

"I don't think you two would work," Heisuke said, causing everyone to look over towards him. "No offence or anything but Din-chan's difficult, I don't know if you could handle her."

Tatsunosuke twitched, but figured that it wasn't worth auguring over. He wasn't going to debate over something that didn't have a meaning. He figured that he would only see Din when he went on grocery runs and that was it so there was no sense in arguing over whether they would get along or not.

"Anyway, you think Hijikata-sama's gonna freak when Din-chan comes over tonight?" Sanosuke asked as he looked towards his follow jokers.

"Why would he freak out?" Tetsunosuke asked as he looked up towards the taller man.

"Well," Shinpachi began, "whenever Hijikata-sama finds out about Din-chan coming over he finds a reason to leave. He's done it for the past year now, now that I think about it."

"I've got an idea," Sanosuke said as he brought his right hand up and cupped his chin with it. "Let's not tell Hijikata-sama about this, just to see what happens if the two meet face to face."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Shinpachi interjected, somewhat worried about what would happen if Hijikata found out that they Din was coming and didn't warn him at all.

"What's the worst that can happen?" Heisuke added wanting to see what would happen also. "It's not like they're going to kill each other, Din-chan doesn't have any skills when it comes to wielding a sword."

"How do you know?" Shinpachi asked as he looked at Heisuke.

"Her wrists are way too small to hold a sword up against a man," Heisuke answered as he waved his right hand up and down.

"Let's get off of this subject." Sanosuke sighed as he moved his arms behind his head. "Let's think of the excuse we're gonna use when the demon vice commander finds out how long we were gone."

"Dammit." Shinpachi sighed. "I forgot about that."

The group walked back to the dojo, and Tatsunosuke parted from the group and walked over towards the kitchen where he gave Ayumu the things he had bought. She thanked him, and then went on with her cooking which would be that night's dinner. He then walked back to the bookkeeping room, and went back to organizing things just as if nothing had happened.

"Tatsu-kun?" Souji's voice called from behind the closed doors. "Tatsu-kun?"

"In here Okita-san!" Tatsunosuke answered. He turned around to see the sliding doors open, and Souji walk in with the usual smile on his face.

"I just wanted to make sure that you got back aright," Souji said sweetly. "Did you enjoy your day out?"

"Yeah," Tatsunosuke answered as he smiled back to Souji. "It was nice to stench my legs a bit. Oh yes, Hinto-san says hi."

Souji blinked for a minute, trying to figure out the face that went with the name. It popped into his head. "Oh you mean Din Hinto?"

"Yeah."

"Oh okay thank you." Souji began to step out of the room but he stopped, turned around, and looked at the bookkeeper. "I'll see you at dinner okay?"

"Okay." Tatsunosuke answered as he began to get back into the books lying down in front of him. Souji stepped out and gently closed the door behind him, leaving Tatsunosuke to deal with his work.

"Damn."

Sanosuke fell down onto the dojo floor as sweat fell down his body. He had been training for the past hour and a half as punishment for taking his extended break. Shinpachi had gotten the punishment as well but he didn't show any signs of being tired, and Heisuke's punishment was to wash dishes so he was simply just watching the two of them train from the corner of the room.

"Come on Sanosuke-kun!" Heisuke cheered from the corner of the room. "You can't be tried already!"

"Hey I'd like to see your ass out here!" Sanosuke yelled back as he tried to catch his breath.

"Excuse me?" Souji said as his head popped in. "I just thought I might come in here and give you some water."

Souji walked into the room with a small brown tray, which had three cups of water. He walked into the middle of the room and set them down so that everyone could get to them when and if they wanted water.

"Water!" Sanosuke yelled as he crawled over towards the tray, grabbed the cup and chugged the water down.

"Damn," Shinpachi said in surprise as he watched the tall man drink the water as if someone were going to steal it from him. He blinked a few times and then a thought came to him. "Hey Souji-kun how long have we been home?"

"Almost two hours," Souji answered as he looked towards the red head. "Why?"

Sanosuke took the cup away from his mouth and wiped it with the back of his hand. "Din-chan's comin' over to bring us bread."

Souji's facial expression changed from a simple smile to a look of concern. "Did you tell Hijikata yet?"

"No," Heisuke said as he joined the conversation. "We figured that we shouldn't this time around. Besides she's not going to be here that long. She's just gong to drop off the bread and leave knowing her."

Shinpachi looked towards the first unit captain. "You're not going to tell Hijikata-sama are you?"

"Nope," Souji answered as his smile returned. "I just want to see something that's all. Don't worry I won't tell Hijikata-sama anything."

Souji stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him once more. He looked down the hallway to make sure no one was there and giggled a bit to himself for he was forming a plan in his mind. He then straightened up his face and walked towards Hijikata's room, putting the first step of his plan in motion.

"Hijikata-sama!" Souji yelled before he walked into the vice commander's room knowing that it was best to give Hijikata a warning before he walked into his room.

"Come in," Hijikata grunted in answer.

Souji slid his door open only to see Kondo sitting in front of Hijikata with his normal smile on his face.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Souji said politely only to receive a small laugh from Kondo.

"Not at all Souji-kun!" Kondo said cheerfully. "What can we help you with?"

"I was hoping that Hijikata would accompany me on a small walk in about twenty minutes or so," Souji said gently as he looked at Hijikata. "So will you?"

"Fine." Hijikata grunted as his eyes glanced up towards the mauve haired boy. "Be at the entrance gates in twenty minutes."

"Thank you Hijikata-sama!" Souji said as he clapped his hands together. "I'll be waiting!"

The two older men watched as Souji walked out of the room, laughing to himself as usual. Once Souji had closed the door completely and walked away, Hijikata sighed and looked out of his open doors towards the backyard.

Night had fallen which mean the temperature had also. A warm summer wind could still be felt but everything else was cooler. Crickets chirped, and frogs crocked mixing in together creating a comforting and content feeling to be felt. This was the reason Hijikata left his doors open. Hijikata closed his eyes as he listened to everything for nothing was being said in the room between the men to overlap it and before he knew it, he was thinking of the past.

Sitting on a hill as the sun gently touched him, everything was perfect in that moment. He had everything he could want, and yet he had nothing of material value. He looked up towards the blue sky only to see white dandelions floating above his head. He blinked, confused, and moved his head so that he could look upwards and saw a young woman sitting there, picking another full dandelion.

"It's a nice night for a walk," Kondo said breaking the silence between the men and bringing Hijikata back to reality.

"I know…" Hijikata sighed as he looked away from the backyard and towards the man sitting in front of him.

Kondo took a deep breath of summer air in. "It's almost like that summer so many years ago. It even smells the same."

"And that's what I hate about it," Hijikata hissed. "Anyway, what is this about Choshu warriors being killed?"

"Oh that." Kondo straightened up a bit and got ready to talk. "It seems that select Choshu warriors are being killed. They have some kind of connection since every kill seems to have been planned but we haven't been able to figure out the connection yet."

"Are they blaming it on the Shinsengumi?"

"No." Kondo shook his head. "Susumu has found out from spying that it's some kind of ex-bounty hunter. They say that this bounty hunter carries a sword, so he's obviously a Ronin warrior because he also carries small throwing knifes around with him and no one teaches that."

"The men didn't have bounties? Not in the past at all?"

"No. It seems that they were just random hits but they have to have some kind of connection to each other because the warriors had been stripped of everything, money, papers, and such as if the bounty hunter were looking for something," Kondo explained.

"I'll look at the reports and see if I can find a connection but right now I don't care. I just don't want the Shinsengumi blamed for the killings."

Kondo sighed. "What I fear is that the bounty hunter might begin to attack the Shinsengumi if the Choshu don't have what he's looking for."

"We'll worry about when it happens," Hijikata answered as he looked back outside into the backyard.

It's impossible to talk to you when you're like this. Kondo thought as he looked at Hijikata. But I guess you deserve to think about the past once in awhile.

The small room fell quiet once more as the two men looked outside into the back yard and began to think of things that had passed them over and over again. A part of them wanted to go back to the past but they knew that it was better if they stayed here in the present. All the thoughts seemed to be were simple memories that were there to remind them what they were fighting for, so that one day they might be able to relive those days or at least give them to someone else.

Souji stood outside of the Shinsengumi gates, waiting for Din to show up. He looked around, knowing what was about to happen wouldn't go well but he figured it was for the best. He sighed, wondering how much longer Din was going to take.

"Hey Souji-kun."

Souji looked to his left and saw Din walking down the street with a small basket in her arms. He smiled as she walked over to him and stood in front of him.

"Hi Din-chan," Souji said as he looked at the basket in her hands. "What's that?"

"The bread Tatsunosuke came to get earlier. We were out when he came over so I told him that I would bring it to him when I was done making a new batch," Din explained. "So here." She handed the basket out to Souji who took it gently.

"It's still warm." Souji giggled.

"Yeah." Din scratched the back of her head. "I figured that I'd bring it to you while it was still warm so you could have it for dinner."

She sighed and looked up towards the sky as a small warm breeze blew past the both of them, moving their hair towards the left. Souji took a small breath in and let it go, smelling the air around him.

"It's nice," Din whispered.

"So how are you?" Souji asked, ignoring Din's pervious comment.

"Same old, same old," she answered as he looked back down towards Souji. "You?"

"Fine." Souji smiled.

"Souji-kun!" Hijikata called as he walked out of the Shinsengumi dojo. "Souji-kun where are you?"

"Out here!" Souji called. He took a big breath in, knowing what was about to happen, there was no way around it; it was going to be bad.

Hijikata walked up towards the gates only to see Din standing there. They both looked towards each other, and froze. They blinked, wondering if they were really seeing what they though they were seeing, even though their minds didn't want to acknowledge what they were seeing as the real thing. Hijikata's heartbeat picked up as well as Din's but the first thoughts and feelings that came to them were their default one, detachment.

"Huh." Din laughed sarcastically as she folded her arms across her chest and glared towards Hijikata. "And here I thought you were dead."

R&R please!