Sorry for the delay! I've been out of town for the past few days. Happy holidays to all of those that celebrate! We did Christmas early since I'll be working on the actual day XD

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Hakuouki.

Blackmail

"I still don't see why you needed me to come with you for this chore." Hijikata griped. Somehow, he had gotten roped into helping Souji pick up the tofu for tonight's dinner. According to Gen-san, they were having guests at the dojo which necessitated the extra trip to the tofu vendor. Normally this job fell to Souji, but Gen-san worried that the additional amount was more than the boy could carry on his own, which is how Hijikata found himself walking to the tofu vender with Souji.

Rolling his eyes at Hijikata's complaining, Souji retorted, "It wasn't my idea to have you tagging along! You think I wanted to spend the afternoon with you? Gen-san doesn't realize that I do this by myself all the time." Honestly, it had hurt that Gen-san wouldn't believe that Souji could complete this errand on his own. Kondou had asked him to get the tofu. He most certainly did not need Hijikata's help!

Looking moodily at the tofu buckets in his hands, Hijikata sighed irritably but continued walking next to an equally sullen looking Souji. The brat was right; Hijikata could well imagine the boy making several trips to the tofu stand by himself before accepting help from his rival. Hijikata had honestly been surprised when Souji had only put up a token argument before relenting to Gen-san's suggestion to take Hijikata with him to pick up the tofu. It had been a rare glimpse of the polite, cooperative child that almost everyone besides Hijikata knew.

The two walked in silence for several blocks. The lull in conversation wasn't exactly uncomfortable, but neither was overly friendly. During this time, Hijikata took a few moments to study his younger companion. While he often spent time with Souji, it was rarely alone. Usually Kondou and Gen-san were present, or the other students. From what little Kondou had told him of Souji's past, Hijikata had gathered that so far fate had not been especially kind to the boy. Both of his parents were dead and his relationship with his sisters was a bit strained at best. Souji was also small for his age, which didn't help when the other students teased and bullied him.

He had often wondered why there was so much animosity between himself and Souji. They had only met a few months ago after all. Maybe, when he considered everything he knew, he could understand the boy a little bit better than when they had first met. Souji adored Kondou and perhaps he perceived Hijikata's friendship with his mentor as a threat. Hijikata looked down towards the boy again, this time with a softer look on his face. Maybe he should try being a little more patient with him. Before he could muse any further on this revelation, a soft question from the object of his thoughts reached his ears.

"Ne, Hijikata-san?"

With his newfound resolution firmly in mind, Hijikata smiled at Souji, "Yes?"

Souji looked up at Hijikata and paused, seeming to reconsider what he had been about to ask. "What's wrong with your face?"

Hijikata looked curiously at the boy. He couldn't have heard him correctly. "What do you mean?"

"I've just never seen that expression on your face before. You look like Shuusuke-sensei when he's drank too much sake."

Hijikata counted to ten. Remember your resolution… Only Souji could make him forget a promise made two minutes previously. Taking a deep breath, Hijikata struggled to keep his voice level and friendly. "You're saying I look intoxicated?"

Placing his hand on his chin, Souji made a show of examining Hijikata closely. "Maybe. Your eyes are really narrow and your cheeks are kind of flushed."

Hijikata counted to fifty this time. Right now he couldn't even refute Souji's observations. His eyes were narrowed and his cheeks flushed. Not with drink as Souji apparently assumed, but with mounting ire.

Evidently taking Hijikata's silence as a cue to continue, Souji added, "You're also stomping around very ungracefully. Is this what you do in the hanamachi as well?"

Hijikata stopped in the middle of the street. There was no way Souji had just asked him that question. How did a child even know about such things?

Seeming to realize Hijikata was no longer walking with him, Souji turned around and called out to him as if nothing were amiss. "Hijikata-san? Why are you just standing in the middle of the road? You're in the way, you know. There's a cart coming up that won't be able to get around you." Souji pointed out helpfully.

Shaking his head, Hijikata noticed that he was indeed causing a traffic jam of sorts and quickly started walking to catch up with Souji. Glaring at the boy, he asked tersely, "Why do you think I go the hanamachi anyway?"

Souji's bright green eyes widened, making his face appear even more innocent and childlike. "It's just something I heard." He replied simply, shrugging his shoulders.

Hijikata was not fooled for a moment. Souji was up to something. Kondou and Gen-san might be taken in by that expression but Hijikata was certainly not. "When we first met, what did I tell you about being able to tell the difference between stupid rumors and the truth?"

"Wasn't it something about a certain someone who still lives with their sister and doesn't have a proper job?" Souji answered cheekily. Looking towards Hijikata, Souji let a satisfied smirk creep across his face. Hijikata had taken the bait. "But are you saying that you're not extremely popular with all the oiran in Yoshiwara?"

Narrowing his eyes further at the boy, Hijikata admitted he was confused. What was Souji's game here? The first part had most definitely been an insult, but the other had sounded almost like… a compliment? A rather backhanded one to be sure, but a compliment nonetheless. However, that devious smile of his clearly implied otherwise. Even though he knew that he was going to regret this lapse in judgment, he decided to see where this conversation would lead. Generously deciding to ignore the first insult, Hijikata cleared his throat and replied neutrally, "I'll admit I've been to Yoshiwara before. There are many teahouses there where one can enjoy the company of a oiran or two."

Souji nodded in what seemed like agreement, "Kondou-san was telling me about what happens in the teahouses just the other day."

"Kondou-san told you what?!" Hijikata exploded. Before he could say anything else though, Souji interrupted him.

"Oh, look. We're here." Ignoring Hijikata's shocked expression, Souji handed his buckets over to the tofu vendor to be filled. When Hijikata didn't hand his over, Souji sighed impatiently, grabbing them from the man's slackened grip and gave them to the merchant. "Come on Hijikata-san, we should head back." Souji prodded his still stunned companion. "You'll catch flies if you leave your mouth open like that much longer. I doubt your oiran would like you very much then."

Quickly snapping out of his daze, Hijikata picked up his two tofu buckets and once again was faced with catching up with Souji's quickly retreating form. "I can't believe Kondou-san would tell you about that. You're just a kid after all."

This time it was Souji's turn to glare at Hijikata. And if looks could kill… well, Kondou would be down a student. "Kondou-san wouldn't lie. I asked him about it and he told me."

Hijikata realized his mistake immediately. One just did not question Kondou's judgment (or Kondou in general) in front of Souji. The boy's knuckles were turning white from his tightened grip on the handle of his tofu buckets and an angry flush was taking over his face. Hijikata attempted to reverse the damage caused by his earlier statement. "Calm down Souji. I just meant that I was surprised he had talked to you about it, not that I thought he had lied to you."

Glancing Hijikata's way in order to assess his sincerity, Souji made a vague sound indicating that he had heard Hijikata's words. Silence once again reined between the two; but unlike before, this one was tense. However, it was Souji who again ended up breaking the silence. "It just bothered me when I heard about it. I didn't understand." He said quietly.

"Didn't understand what?" For the third time since this conversation began, Hijikata was confused by Souji's words.

Smiling in a way that made Hijikata extremely nervous, Souji replied, "I didn't understand why they said you were so popular with the oiran."

Hijikata's eye began to twitch. "And what exactly is so hard to understand about that?" He ground out. He knew he would regret continuing this conversation, but he hadn't been able to help himself from becoming defensive. Souji wouldn't just agree with him without some other purpose in mind.

Looking at Hijikata almost pityingly, Souji answered, "You mean you don't understand either?" Souji shook his head in commiseration. "I'm just saying that I finally understand why you kept your popularity a secret."

"A secret?" Hijikata replied warily.

Souji continued grinning, all the time acting as though he were imparting some sage advice. "Well, it's not really that big of a secret is it? Your rough personality that is." He said, managing to look properly concerned. Since Hijikata appeared shocked into silence, Souji continued, "It must be hard to find girls around town willing to put up with it. That's why you kept your popularity in the hanamachi quiet. And while I know that you like spending time with all those oiran, I can't imagine Kondou-san would approve of you spending so much time and money on women of questionable morals." Souji patted Hijikata's arm consolingly, "How about this, I won't tell Kondou-san about your… activities if you'll buy me some dango."

Hijikata's fingers itched to grab his katana from his hip. You cannot kill the brat. Kondou-san would be devastated if you killed him. Maybe it could look like an accident… NO! You have to bring him home in one piece. "Dango? You're blackmailing me because you want dango?" Hijikata asked incredulously. He truly could not believe what he was hearing.

"Blackmailing you?" Souji asked, a shocked expression on his face. "I'm just trying to help you Hijikata-san. Kondou-san made it very clear that he does not approve of visiting the hanamachi as often as you do when we talked the other day. I know you want him to have a good opinion of you so that's why I'm offering my help."

"Your help?!" Hijikata practically shouted. "There is no situation where your 'solution' could be called help! Where did you even hear about this anyway?"

"Now, now Hijikata-san, there's no need to yell at me. I understand that you lack popularity outside of the hanamachi and Kondou-san is the only one who likes you, but you really shouldn't take that out on me. As to where I heard about it, I found a book of really bad poetry laying around with some letters in it."

"What do you mean I lack popularity… wait, you read my personal letters?!" Hijikata sputtered.

Souji looked affronted. "I didn't know they were yours until I read them. Did the oiran in the letter write the poetry as well? That would explain it's poor quality."

"I can't believe you went through my poetry book!"

"You wrote that poetry?" Souji asked incredulously. "But the handwriting was so girly looking that I was sure your oiran had written them."

Hijikata had been right. He definitely regretted continuing this conversation. He could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on and the only way to head it off was to give in. Souji had bested him. Again. His lack of resistance at Gen-san's suggestion of Hijikata accompanying him on this errand was now abundantly clear, although only Souji's convoluted idea of logic could have thought up a plan this ridiculous. Although it almost killed him, he managed to bite out a response. "Fine. I'll buy you the damned dango."

He was gifted with a large smile from Souji, one he most certainly did not appreciate. "I'm glad we could come to an agreement. I'll make sure your reputation with Kondou-san isn't ruined over something silly like too many visits to the hanamachi."

Hijikata rolled his eyes at Souji's words. Looking at their surroundings, rather conveniently, Too conveniently! Hijikata thought, there was a cart selling dango to his right. Steering his way through the crowd, he looked impatiently at Souji. "Well? Tell him what you want."

Smiling happily at the dango seller, Souji gave him his order. Hijikata knew he shouldn't be surprised anymore where Souji was concerned, but he had honestly expected a much larger bill considering the amount of trouble the brat had gone through. Eyeing the carefully packed sweets in Souji's hands sulkily, Hijikata paid the merchant and began walking back to the dojo, not really caring at this point if Souji was with him or not.

Kondou was waiting for them on the veranda when they returned. "Toshi, Souji! You're back. I was starting to get worried, you were gone for quite awhile."

Souji immediately rushed forward, placing the tofu buckets absently on the steps. "Kondou-san, we stopped on the way for dango." Souji replied cheerfully. He then reached into his yukata, pulling out one of the packets of sweets. "I got this for you."

Kondou looked surprised, but accepted the dango anyway. "Thank you Souji. I had a craving for some dango today, how did you guess?" The older man asked kindly.

Beaming at his mentor's praise, Souji beckoned him to sit on the steps to share the treats. He had just taken his first bite when Kondou asked curiously, "How did you come by this dango Souji? Treats like this can be expensive."

Souji stopped chewing to throw a warning glare in Hijikata's direction. For his part, Hijikata just rolled his eyes. If it made it so he didn't have to deal with Souji for a while, then he would go along with whatever ridiculous charade Souji wanted him to. Therefore he was surprised when Souji grumbled under his breath, "Hijikata-san might have helped."

Kondou looked pleased by Souji's answer. "Toshi did? That was so kind! Join us, there's plenty to share."

But Hijikata had honestly had enough of Souji and his games for one day. "Thanks Kondou-san, but I'm going to take the tofu to the kitchens. After that, I really need to make a few more rounds selling medicine before dinner tonight. Nobu will start to complain again if I don't."

Smiling good naturedly at him, Kondou replied, "Ah yes, it wouldn't do to upset Sato-san again. Just make sure you're back in time to greet our guests tonight."

"Of course Kondou-san."

Souji watched Hijikata walk towards the kitchens, pleased that he would in fact have some time alone with Kondou. "Ne, Kondou-san? Who's visiting tonight that we needed all the extra food?" Souji asked curiously. He had been so wrapped up in his earlier plans that it hadn't occurred to him to ask who the guests tonight would be.

Laughing somewhat nervously, Kondou answered, "Ah, well… the Matsui family will be joining us for dinner tonight."

Souji frowned. Kondou-san looks nervous. "Why?"

Blushing slightly, Kondou answered, "There are some important things about the future we need to discuss with them." Clearing his throat before continuing, "I'll need you to be on your best behavior tonight, especially with Matsui-san's daughter."

Finishing the last dango with a flourish, Souji nodded in agreement. "Of course Kondou-san. What's her name?"

A somewhat dreamy glaze crossed Kondou's face as he replied, "Tsune."

Author's Notes:

1. Hopefully Souji wasn't too mean! I rewrote this more times than I'd like to remember…

2. Also, for the sake of this story I've made Kondou's marriage happen a few years earlier, so please forgive the historical inaccuracy.

3. I've gotten some brilliant suggestions for future chapters, so thank you for those and please let me know if you think of any others!