Disclaimer

The family members of Hijikata Toshizou are my original characters, their names resembles their personality or appearance. The events that happened to Hijikata and his family are also made up.

"Hijikata-san!" Nagakura yelled as he ran toward the room of the vice-commander.

Hijikata opened the door. What is it?" he asked irritated.

Okita came up from behind Nagakura and looked playful at Hijikata's face. "You look really bad, Hijikata-san."

"Don't Souji, I'm not in the mood for your jokes today."

"It wasn't a joke though," Okita whispered.

Hijikata sighed deeply and turned around, ready to close the door.

"Wait, Hijikata-san," Nagakura said. "There is someone who wants to see you."

"Who?"

"I don't know her name, but she looks like you."

"What do you mean?" Hijikata had turned around and was serious now.

"It's just as he said. There is a woman who resembles you and who wants to talk to you," Okita said.

"Come on Hijikata-san, I'm sure she will lift your mood for today."

Hijikata sighed again and gave in.

As Hijikata came closer to the room he could hear a woman's laughter. It reminded him of his own mother's voice. It has been a long time since he had seen her. But they agreed to that, for her own safety.

Nagakura opened the door and let in Hijikata first.

Hijikata stood still as he saw the woman. She'd aged, but she had still the same long black hair as in the past.

There were more people in the room, but he could only recognize the two oldest visitors. The four pair of eyes who hadn't seen him before followed him as he walked toward the woman next to Kondou.

"Toshizou …" the woman said and stood up. She brought a hand to his face and touched his cheek. Her fingers were long and her skin soft. It was an indescribable feeling.

Hijikata felt his body heat up. He began to feel shy from the men watching him. After Okita and Nagakura came in, Heisuke and Harada walked by and joined them. But seeing this wonderful person after so many years made him soon forget that they were in the room too.

"Ok a-san." He took her hand in his and leaned forward. A soft kiss was placed on her forehead.

"Oka-chan, who's that?" a small voice asked from behind Hijikata.

"My brother," a young woman answered in stead of her mother.

"Tamiko …" Hijikata turned around and looked at his sister.

"Don't be so emotional, nii-san, that's nothing like you."

"I'm not the only one being emotional, nee-chan."

"Shut up." She took a few steps toward him. "I missed you."

"I missed you and oka-san too." He brought his lips to her ear and whispered "You look gorgeous."

Tamiko blushed. "Arigatou," she said barely hard enough for Hijikata to hear.

Hijikata smiled and pulled her into a hug. Tamiko started to cry, not being able to hold back the tears from all those years.

"Nee-chan, ish that the person we're looking fohr?"

Tamiko stepped away from her brother and looked at the boy. "Yes, Natsu. This is the person we had missed for many years."

Natsu stood up and bowed for Hijikata. "It'sh nice to meet you, my name ish Natsu and I'm seven years young."

Hijikata bent down. "Welcome to the family, Natsu," he said and ruffled the boy's hair.

"Can I call you nii-chan?"

Hijikata nodded after a moment thinking. He didn't want to disappoint Natsu.

Natsu gave him a big smile, giving Hijikata again that special feeling.

"Uhm Hijikata-san," Heisuke began, "I don't understand how your family works."

"Yeah, same here," Harada said.

Hijikata sat down with his legs crossed in the middle of the room. Before he could say anything, Natsu placed himself in Hijikata's lap.

"Nii-chan." The boy looked up and met the two purple eyes. The look in the vice-commander's eyes was way softer than normal. The men from the Shinsengumi were surprised to see that.

"You like it to say that?"

Natsu nodded.

"Uhm, can I … call you that too?" Hijikata looked up at the girl standing in front of him. "What's your name?"

"… R-Rini."

"Of course you can, Rini." Hijikata smiled at her, which brought a little sparkle in her eyes.

"Hijikata-san," Nagakura said.

"Oh yeah, I'll tell you when the others are also here. Otherwise I'll have to explain it multiple times."

"I'll go search for them," Kondou said and stood up. Only then the other men, except Hijikata, realized he was holding a baby. Kondou gave back the baby to her mother and walked out of the room.

Toshiko kneeled down next to Rini in front of her sons. "This is our youngest family member. His name is Hoshi and he is five months old."

"Where is his real mother?" Hijikata asked and tenderly brushed Hoshi's cheek.

"I don't know. Tamiko found him in a basket near a river."

"I'm glad you picked him up Tamiko."

"He would have died if we didn't save him, because no one else would've done that."

"Is it so terrible there?"

"Yes, that's why we decided to come here," Toshiko said.

"And because we wanted to meet our older brother," another girl said. She bowed in her sitting position and introduced herself. "I am Okimi, sixteen years old. My father didn't want me anymore, so he sold me. But I ran away from the man who bought me."

The Shinsengumi members were silenced by the way she spoke. Her voice was soft but toneless. Just like the look in her eyes. Dead inside, but beautiful on the outside.

"She'd had a hard life, so it's the best not to ask her anything," Toshiko said.

Hijikata nodded slowly while observing the sixteen year old girl. She was beautiful. Really enchanting. Probably one of the most beautiful girls he'd ever seen, save for those in geiko houses.

And Chizuru.

Just as he was thinking about not having seen her all day, the door opened. Saito and Sannan came in, bowed for his mother and sat down.

Chizuru had walked behind them, but did not enter the room.

"Chizuru, where were you?" Hijikata asked.

She didn't answer his question and sat down next to the door.

"Chizuru-chan, how many time do we need to tell you?" Harada asked. You're part of the Shinsengumi now, so you may sit next to us."

"I'm good here."

"Chizuru-"

"Toshi, don't push her."

Hijikata sighed and focused again on Okimi, who was watching Chizuru now. She reminded him of himself. Stern, talking in a commanding way, making everyone listen to you, but not listening to them.

Hijikata realized everyone was waiting for him to tell his and his family's story. He cleared hos throat as Rini and his mother sat down beside Tamiko.

"While I was in training by Kondou-san I heard that my father died. I journeyed alone to my old home to go to the funeral. My mother, Toshiko, said that she was going to take in children who didn't have a home, to make them happy. Tamiko is my only biological sister. I've never seen the others before now."

"But … did you never visit your mother and sister?" Heisuke asked.

Hijikata shook his head. "That was too dangerous. If one of our enemies came to know where my family lived, they would have taken advantage of it. Especially because I am the vice-commander of the Shinsengumi."

"That's … true."

"Don't think too much about it, Heisuke," Nagakura said and slapped him on his back.

"Ah!. That hurts Shinpat-san." Heisuke had bent over and tried to reach the spot where Nagakura had hit him.

A small giggle was heard and Heisuke looked to his right. As he made eye contact with Rini, she hesitantly smiled at him. Which made Heisuke forget about the pain.

"So," Kondou said. "I think we need to save the questions for later. Right now Toshi will show you your rooms and after that you can rest till dinner."

Hijikata nodded while lifting Natsu from his lap and stood up. "Let's go."