A/N: Ah I guess the time between the publishing of the first chapter and this one deserves some explanation, huh? I'm genuinely sorry about that. I'll explain myself at the end of the chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gintama or any of its characters, though I would love to


Nightshade: Bitter Truth; Resignation


"So after a check-up on you and an evaluation of yesterday's… incident, we'd come to a diagnosis." The doctor carefully said his next few words, steadying his voice and choosing the delivery of his sentence carefully.

"Okita, tell me. Do you know what tuberculosis is?"


The silence was deafening. Hijikata drew in a sharp breath, the doctor's words echoing through his consciousness. The room stayed quiet, the other members slowly understanding the implication. It was like a cruel joke, stabbing them agonisingly and mocking them as wretchedly as a laughing kookaburra.

Hijikata slowly blinked, then blinked again. He opened his mouth, lips parting, but his voice got caught in his throat. He flashed a glance at Kondou and saw in his face they were thinking the same thing. Mitsuba. His eyes trailed over to Okita, who was biting his lower lip almost painfully, though his blank expression revealed nothing else. Images of a beautiful, chestnut-haired woman danced across his eyes, and he forced them away, locking them back into his subconscious. Yes, he does know what it is, the vice-commander noiselessly pointed out, he knows it too well.

The doctor shuffled through sheets of paper in his hand. "Ah sorry, you're already aware of it, according to your medical records." Hijikata's eyes snapped wide open. "And I presume your…" Hirabayashi glanced over at the two standing men, searching for a right word, "comrades know of your condition as well?"

Okita stared down at the white sheets spread out on top of his legs, shoulders shrugging slightly.

Hijikata glared right at Okita, the intensity of which almost hurting his eyes, "You knew about this beforehand?" The two men made eye contact, and the growing discomfort in the younger one's usually deadpan eyes gave away the answer. Hijikata's voice went ice-cold, chilling everyone in the room as he continued, "And you didn't tell us?"

Okita leaned back further into the pillow propped up behind him. "Yes," he answered, almost challengingly, daring Hijikata to act any further.

A dare which the vice-commander gladly accepted as he lurched forward and grabbed the front of Okita's shirt, lifting the teenager cleanly off the bed almost painfully. The IV needles sticking out of the Okita's arm got pulled out by just a few millimetres, threatening to fall out any second. "Why the fuck didn't you tell us? Do you know how fucking important something like this is?" Hijikata hissed, voice significantly louder, and his anger so pure he didn't notice him pulling back a clenched fist to punch the younger boy before even hearing his response.

He failed to notice Kondou rushing up to them and yelling at Hijikata to stop as the Shinsengumi chief grabbed his subordinate's pulled-back fist.

The ringing in Hijikata's ears grew louder with each passing second, and just as he was about to land a punch square on the teenager's jaw, his body went cold. Okita's face suddenly became rounder, his red eyes kinder. For a quick glimpse, the younger boy's soft, brown hair was longer and brushing against his shoulders. Hijikata felt the hand clenched in the hem of Okita's fabric begin to tremble as he stared face-to-face with the woman he had loved, and then with a blink, the teenager's features went back to normal.

Okita flinched, but avoided eye contact, expression not changing the whole time. Slowly, his crimson eyes, reminiscent of the blood that was dripping down his chin the day before, looked up at the vice-commander. "Well? Weren't you going to hit me?"

Their eyes met, dark red against cool blue. The two onlookers tensed, eyeing the duo carefully. Hijikata's clenched fist buried in Okita's shirt tightened a little, and then he let go, the young captain falling unceremoniously back onto the mattress, their eye contact not breaking for a second.

Kondou let out a relieved breath he didn't realise he was holding as he placed a comforting hand on Hijikata's shoulder, briefly flashing a disappointed at Okita as their eyes met. He led the vice-chief to the steel foldable chairs placed across the foot of the hospital bed.

"When was the diagnosis?" Kondou asked Hirabayashi as Hijikata gingerly pulled another cigarette out of his pocket and lit it with a flick of his thumb against a mayo-lighter.

The shorter doctor pushed up his spectacles, not choosing to comment on Hijikata's breaking of the hospital rules for the second time as he replied, "Around a year or so ago." Hijikata felt his anger begin to rise but he forced it down, placing the cigarette between his lips. He flashed a scowl at Okita but it slid off his face when he saw that the captain's eyes were downcast, staring at the pristine white sheets.

For the first time since the revelation, Kondou spoke up, "How bad is it now?" Fear and panic were reflected in his suddenly-wide eyes, despite him obviously trying to put on a brave face, and immediately Hijikata felt bad for the commander of the Shinsengumi. Okita was like a son to the older man, Kondou having had watched the younger boy grow up to become the person he was now. And most of all, Kondou was an incredibly kind man. More so than either Hijikata or Okita ever probably deserved to have in their life. Hijikata from the corner of his eye noticed the bed-ridden teenager look up at Kondou, and he saw a subtle silent apology for worrying their commander flash across his face.

Letting out a weary sigh, Hirabayashi said, "It's gone into a more advanced stage of tuberculosis now. The disease has become resistant to the drugs which usually should have been enough to begin fighting the tuberculosis. This shouldn't probably be the case if you take the prescribed medications daily for a few months, especially the Rifampicin, unless, of course, you don't do so." The doctor's voice was thick with his intended implication as he looked over at the patient.

Hijikata gritted his teeth. What the hell is Sougo doing, does he want to die? "Well, Sougo?" He asked, voice icily low.

Okita uncaringly shrugged, the drawling and usual laziness in his voice sounding forced as he answered, "I kinda forgot to take the meds. I'll be fine though, Kondou-san, Hijikata-san."

Hirabayashi pinched the bridge of his nose, sternly cutting in, "No Okita-san. It's not fine. We'll continue with your doses of Isoniazid, Rifampicin, and Ethambutol, and we can just pray the tuberculosis had not yet become fully resistant to them. If it is already too late, we may have to move on to more undesirable alternatives."

Hijikata's heart drummed against his chest. Why was he suddenly so worried for the the younger man? Every day the two of them would be spitting death curses at each other… shouldn't he be fine no matter what happened to Okita?

He heard Kondou's breathing become more frantic and unsteady, obviously not in a good state of mind. Hijikata took in a deep breath and spoke up, "Sougo, you utter idiot. What happens now, doc?"

Hirabayashi ran a hand through his unruly black hair, and let out a sigh. "Well, obviously he'll have to stay here for an indefinite amount of time, both to recover from the… incident yesterday, and also so we can keep an eye on him." He narrowed his eyes at the teenager, "We'll also be sure to ensure he actually does take his medication."

The doctor looked at the three men in the room then added on, "If there aren't any more questions for now, I'll leave all of you to have a moment together." And with that, he excused himself out of the room and left, closing the door to the room filled with choking tension.


A/N: I'm really sorry for such a short chapter, as well as for the significant drop in writing quality as compared to the first chapter. The year and a half (Wow, it's been that long?) between the first chapter and this one had been very eventful for me, and a lot of changes in my life had happened in that time period. I hadn't written in that nearly 2-year duration, and I am seriously out of practice when it comes to writing. I'd written about half of this chapter immediately after the first one, so you may notice very obvious drops in quality and maybe even changes in writing style, and again I'm sorry for that. I'll gradually build up my writing repertoire as this story goes along, I promise.

I honestly cannot promise very quick updates, with so much I have to deal with right now, but it definitely would be a lot quicker than teh time it took to put this chapter out oops.

I would also really like to thank everyone for the overwhelmingly positive response, and for those who have still stuck around waiting for updates. Receiving notifications with extremely uplifting reviews really honestly motivated me to put this chapter out as quick as possible, and I feel immensely guilty for making you guys wait so long. Thank you so much!

By the way, the medicines named in this chapter are real and aren't just made up, and don't worry, I've done research to make sure the technical bits of the story are as accurate as possible. If there are any obvious or jarring errors you can notice, please mention them to me, and I'll try to change it ASAP.