Hey everybody! Sorry it took so long to post this chapter I got a little stumped in some areas! I doesn't help that I've been working on a second Hakuoki story, the one I mentioned in the first chapter. A Sanosuke/OC story. Once I'm done with this one I'll probably start publishing it too! It'd probably be unwise to publish two stories at once, one or the other would get neglected. I hope you all enjoy!


Two Weeks Later

Kaiya and all the captains, with the exception of Souji, crammed into the small room and waited for Hijikata and Kondou to arrive. This was the first time Kaiya had seen them all in one place since she had first arrived and it made her very happy to watch them interact. Things were quite boisterous, not quite as loud as they used to be due to exhaustion and just plain old life but they still laughed and teased each other. Today, interestingly, Sanosuke and Shinpachi were determined to make Hajime blush.

"OI, Saitou! Been getting action in the sack lately? Kaiya-chan's been so busy lately, I don't see how that'd be possible." Sanosuke said as he nudged Hajime in the ribs, after haven been harping on him for several minutes on various other subjects.

"We find the time." Hajime said coolly while he took a sip from his tea, as Kaiya gave Sanosuke a dirty look.

Shinpachi laughed loudly and shoved his way in between Kaiya and Hajime and plopped down, slapping Hajime on the back. "Don't go there Sano unless you want Kaiya-chan to stab you with her knife. I've seen it up her sleeve many times!"

"You mean this?" Kaiya asked as she pulled out the said knife and shoved it under Shinpachi's nose.

Shinpachi laughed as he pushed her hand away from his face. "Yeah that's the one!" He paused and held on to her hand for a moment to stared at the blade. "Hey that's a nice blade! Where'd you get that?" He asked, seeming genuinely intrigued.

Kaiya smiled as put the knife back in it sheath, that was in her sleeve. "Hajime gave it to me a long time ago." She replied.

"Really? Like how long ago?" Shinpachi asked.

"Oi. Enough of the Q and A, you're supposed to be helping me with Saitou!" Sanosuke said complained as he reached across Hajime to push Shinpachi.

"Aww its impossible to get under his skin. Now if it was to harrass the small fry over there." Shinpachi said indicating Heisuke sitting all alone on the other side of the room. "I'd be in."

"Hey!" Heisuke protested.

"Oh I don't think its that hard to get under Hajime's skin, you just need to know where to poke him." Kaiya said innocently as she lifted her food to her lips.

Sanosuke suddenly got up and sat down on the other side of her while Shinpachi leaned in closer. "Alright I'm all ears." Sanosuke said with a huge mischevious grin on his face.

Kaiya looked down at Hajime who still looked like he was eating his food calmly but was glaring at her from the corner of his eye giving her the stink eye.

"I think it's already working." She said cheekily causing to two to turn and look at Hajime. "The trick is being able to see through that calm exterior. He gets more irritated at things than you realize, the trick is to get him to show it."

"That maybe so but she's extremely ticklish." Hajime retorted coolly.

This time it was Kaiya's to turn to give him the stink eye. From the corner of her eye Kaiya saw Shinpachi get a devious look on his face, then saw as he looked passed her at Sanosuke. "Don't you dare!" Kaiya warned shaking her finger at him.

"What? Do this?" She heard Sanosuke say from behind her, then felt him dig his fingers into her side and started tickling her. Kaiya immediately clamped her elbows down on her sides trying to protect herself and tried to kick at Sanosuke but got nothing but air.

Unfortunately, her attempt to kick Sanosuke opened her up for a tickle attack on her neck. In less than five seconds she was a heap of laughing goop on the ground trying to shove and kick Sanosuke and Shinpachi away. She got a few second reprieve as Heisuke got to his feet and shoved Shinpachi.

"Come on guy's stop being so mean! Hajime-kun! Do something!" She heard him say then heard a thump and then Shinpachi resumed helping Sanosuke try and tickle her to death.

"What the hell?! Harada, Shinpachi get off of her!" She heard Hijikata holler. She looked up as the tickling stopped and saw Hijikata staring at Hajime in disbelief. "Other side!" He said as he glared at the other two.

As the two jumped to their feet and tried to quickly retreat to the other side, Kaiya lashed out with her leg, tripping Sanosuke and having him land flat on his face. Heisuke, Shinpachi and even Hijikata burst out laughing. They all watched Sanosuke pick himself up and dust himself off, face red from embarrassment. When Kaiya sat up she glared at Hajime angrily.

When he noticed her glaring at him, he looked at her and smirked. Kaiya frown deepened then shoved him hard, knocking him over which only caused him to chuckle.

"Jerk!" She growled at him.

"All right everybody! Settle down!" Hijikata said trying to hide the smirk on his face as he sat down. "Kondou-san will be here momentarily."

Kaiya crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from Hajime. As if on queue, Kondou walked through the door but stopped just inside the door and looked around and took in the environment. Heisuke and Shinpachi were still ribbing Sanosuke quietly with big goofy smiles on their faces, while Sanosuke chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Hajime had just finished picking himself off of the ground and was straightening himself out still smirking and looking at Kaiya sidelong.

"Well aren't you all lively today!" He said as he sat down beside Hijikata. "As much as I hate to ruin your jolly mood, I'm afraid I have to get straight to business." Everybody sobered up and listened intently as Kondou continued. "It seems we'll be mobilizing in the next few weeks. We've been ordered to take control of Akashi Castle and to hold it at all costs. It should only take a day maybe two with the size of our troop to get to the castle."

"Why Akashi? Why not move in on Kyoto again?" Shinpachi asked.

"We are trying to prevent our enemies from being able to move East and prevent the other small factions, from moving west. Right now the Satsuma/Choshu are our biggest enemy but there several smaller factions popping up all over the country. We have been tasked holding the pass between Kyoto and Osaka, Akashi Castle is the best place to do that." Kondou responded.

"What about Kyoto? Its still a battle ground." Sanosuke inquired.

"Our allies are still fighting for it, they are slowly making progress thanks to the cannons and other more advanced weaponry we were able to acquire from Saitou's successful raid." Hijikata responded this time. "On a different but related note. Our allies are all dressing western clothing, so shall we. I've placed an order for clothing for all of you."

Kaiya quirked an eyebrow. "Even me?" She asked.

"Well…no, not you. I have no idea what that would entail." Hijikata replied somewhat sheepishly.

"Well, I don't like western women's clothing. It's more restrictive then our clothing and can be even heavier…and almost no pockets." She said with a frown. "Men's clothing is lighter and may offer more movement but I'd rather not." Kaiya said firmly.

"You don't need to change, Kaiya-chan." Kondou replied. "You won't be spending much time in the battlefield, anyways. It's much to dangerous out there with those guns and your skills are more needed behind the lines."

Kaiya wasn't particularly happy to hear that but nodded her head regardless, while Hajime let out a quiet sigh of relief.

A week later Kaiya sat at her desk filling in her health ledger with the day's patients when Hajime entered with a pile of clothing and a pair of scissors sitting on top. He set the clothing down then approached her with the scissors in hand and sat down behind her and put the scissors on the desk. He started messaging her back then moved up to her shoulders then slowly worked his way up again to her neck.

"Can I help you?" She asked with a slight bit of irritation in her voice. Even though it had been a week, she was still fuming over his behavior. It didn't help that they hadn't had a lot of time to talk.

"Are you still mad?" He asked as he moved her hair aside and pulled the collar of her kimono down and started kissing her neck.

"Yes." She replied simply as she pushed his head away.

Hajime sighed and resumed messaging her back. "I already apologized, what else can I do?"

"Not saying stupid things like that to those guys! They are going to tormenting me for all of eternity. Souji would have at least defended me from them and Heisuke at least tried." She said angrily swatting his hands away. "Unlike you I wouldn't have actually told them, I was dangling it." She continued peevishly.

"They try to harass me all the time, I was just deflecting them away from me." He said trying to sound innocent.

"So you sicked them on to your wife like pack of rabid dogs, real heroic. Why not deflect them onto Heisuke or turn them against each other? You don't have to sleep with them." Kaiya said irritably. "You're lucky it cold right now."

"I'm sorry." He said actually sound apologetic for the first time. "You're right that was very stupid and inconsiderate of me." He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. "I apologize." He murmured softly.

Kaiya sighed and put down the brush she'd been writing with. "Okay fine." She put her hands on his arms and leaned her head against his. "Apology accepted." She lifted her head again and looked at the scissors that he had set on her desk. "What's with these?" She asked picking them up.

"So you can cut my hair." He said simply.

She twisted herself around to look back at him. "You're going to cut your hair?" She asked astonished.

Hajime shrugged. "The others will be and it will go better with the western clothing. I figured you'd do a better job of cutting it than me."

Hajime scooted back as she turned around to look at him fully. "But I like your hair like it is."

"If you don't like it, I can grow it back later. Its just hair." He said indifferently.

Kaiya sighed and looked down at the scissors in her hand. "Fine. Let's do it outside though, I don't want to get hair all over the room." Kaiya grabbed the lamp on her desk as Hajime grabbed a second lamp from off of the floor and they walked outside. Hajime sat at the edge of the walkway and set the lamp down beside him while Kaiya knelt down behind him and pulled his hair over his shoulder so that it cascaded down his back. She then untied it and ran her fingers through his hair to straighten it then tied it together again further up.

Grabbing the scissors once more and then grabbed his hair with the other hand just behind the tie. Then after staring at it for a few seconds, she snipped the vast majority of his hair off. Kaiya stared in shock at the bundle of hair in her hand having a hard time believing she cut his beautiful hair, then with another sigh reached around Hajime and dropped it in his lap and continued cutting the rest of his hair to something she found satisfactory. The only thing she left somewhat long, was his bang which covered his face like it always did leave the rest with only a couple inches of length.

She then got up and went to their room, retrieved her mirror and walked back outside where Hajime was touching the back of his head. Dusting away the hair on the walkway she sat down beside him and handed him her mirror. While he stared at his reflection, she dusted the hair from his shoulders.

"What do you think?" He asked her.

She turned his chin to that she could look at him head on. She tousled and played with it a bit. "I have to admit; it does look good on you but I'll still miss your long hair." She picked up the bundle of hair which still lay in his lap and stared at it sadly.

"It certainly feels cooler, which will be nice during the summer but maybe annoying in the winter." Hajime said then got to his feet and extended his hand to her. "Come, let's go to bed."

Kaiya grabbed his hand and pulled herself up. "You're so not getting laid, mister. I'm still annoyed at you." She picked up her lamp and walked back into their room.

Hajime smiled as he picked up his lamp, the scissors and mirror and followed her in. He closed the door and set everything down on the desk, then approached Kaiya from behind as she started to remove her kimono. "Are you sure about that?" He asked as he kissed her neck.

She picked up his yukata and threw it over her shoulder at him. "Absolutely." She said as she slid her kimono off her shoulders and slipped into her own yukata and laid down in the futon she had already set out before Hajime had arrived.

Hajime sighed then he too got changed and laid down next to her. "Good night." He said.

She kissed him and said "Good night." Then turned away from him.

With another sigh he sidled up behind her and wrapped his arms around her and settled on going to sleep.

The next morning Kaiya helped Hajime into his western clothes. He grumbled a couple of times about all the buttons his clothes had. Once he was done she stepped back and looked him up and down.

"Well? Do I look ridiculous in these clothes?" He asked almost sounding self-conscious.

Kaiya smiled. "Are you kidding me, you look amazing!" She stepped forward again and wrapped her arms around him and kissed him passionately as she pressed herself up against him.

When she pulled back again he had a mischievous smile on his face. "Well I can already think of one draw back. It's much more difficult to remove my clothes easily." He replied then pulled her back in for another kiss.

A little while later the two of them entered into the main meeting room. Shinpachi was already in the room moving his arms and torso like he was trying to get a feel for the clothing. When he saw them enter, he smiled. While he already had short hair, the clothes made him look completely different.

"Hey Kaiya-chan, what do you think?" He said as he stretched his arms out.

"Still don't know how to cover up I see." She said laughing. "But it looks good on you."

Shinpachi looked at Hajime and smiled. "It's strange seeing you with so little hair Hajime-kun."

"How do you think I feel? My hair was longer than his!" Heisuke said as he entered the room. Kaiya covered her mouth trying to hide her laugh. "What?" He asked when he noticed her. "Did I put something on wrong?"

Kaiya cleared her throat. "No, you look fine. It's your hair, it makes you look some much younger!"

"Does it look bad?" He asked feeling self-conscious.

"No I think I actually prefer it that way. Girls won't be able to keep their hands off of you!" Kaiya responded.

"Then why were you laughing?" He asked somewhat irritably.

"Don't get mad because guys usually get mad when I say this." Heisuke indicated for her to continue. "You just looked so adorable!"

Heisuke flushed and Shinpachi burst out laughing. Suddenly Sanosuke popped in the doorway. "What's going on in here? You all sound awfully lively. What'd I miss?" He asked as he leaned up against the door way.

Sanosuke suddenly straightened up as he looked to his left. "Why are you dressed like that?" Kaiya heard Chizuru asked.

"Hijikata-san's orders." Sanosuke replied.

Heisuke made a quick escape and started talking to Chizuru. Kaiya leaned against Hajime and looked at the three guys in their new clothes as Heisuke, Sanosuke and Chizuru eventually walked into the room. Chizuru looked all of the guys in wonder then looked at Kaiya. "Are you not going to wear western clothes?" She asked Kaiya.

"Apparently they are too inconvenient." Hijikata said from his chair.

Kaiya nearly jumped out of her skin, having not previously noticed him. Kaiya put a hand to her heart. "Hijikata-kun, I hadn't noticed you there."

He smirked. "You should take in your environment a little more carefully."

Chizuru stopped in front of Hijikata and stared at him. He tipped his head to the side. "Is something wrong?" He asked her.

"N-no." Chizuru stammered. "You cut your hair."

Kaiya smiled at the two of them, pleased with the subtle progress they had made. "She's right you had really nice hair." Kaiya said.

"I-I didn't say that!" Chizuru said blushing.

"But you were implying it. Hajime had nice hair too." She said reaching up to run her hands through his hair, while he blushed and looked away, as Shinpachi and Sanosuke laughed. "It's weird seeing you all with short hair but you all look great!"

"Y-yes, you all look good!" Chizuru stuttered.

Suddenly the interior door slid open and Kondou appeared, looking the same as he always did. "Guys, are you all set?" He asked then smiled as he looked at them all.

"Kondou-san, aren't you going to wear western clothes?" Chizuru asked, sounding bewildered.

"Nah, that western clothing looks stifling." Kondou replied with a weird smile.

Kaiya chuckled. "I totally agree Kondou-san."

"It just doesn't feel right for a warrior to not bear his sword with hakama." Kondou continued.

Hijikata smiled at him. "You're fine the way you are. You just have to stand proud amidst our troops. Your very presence there will support the troops." He said proudly.

"You think?" He asked somewhat embarrassed.

Chizuru suddenly looked down at something and Hijikata followed her gaze. "It's Souji's. I had it made for him so that he can enter the war upon his return." He explained

Upon hearing her cousins name, Kaiya went to see what they were looking at. In a wooden box lay a set of clothing. Kaiya picked up the vest and looked at it. Kaiya looked over at Kondou.

"Do you think Souji would wear this?" Kaiya asked him. "Especially with you wearing your normal clothes. He really looks up to you, you know."

Kondou shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know why not, especially since Toshi's made it an order. Souji's not a little kid anymore, he doesn't see me the same as he used to."

"You don't see it, do you?" Kaiya asked as she shook her head in dismay.

Kondou looked at her confused. "See what?"

Kaiya smiled at him kindly. "Nothing, never mind."

He stared at her a moment longer then turned to everyone. "Alright, everybody. Prepare your units. We leave in a few days."


So? I hope it was worth the wait! R&R!

-Shockra