Chapter 6

After an hour Kondou, Sicilia and Saito had told the others about the letter. There were a lot of questions, like: "What are we going to do with her?" "Who are her parents?" "How are we going to know if her parents are alive?" And what are we going to do if her parents die?" Those were all questions without an answer. They only knew an answer for the first question. "She is under my protection, so she stays here," Saito said. "And what are we going to do about her mysterious parents?" was another question. "We can go to her house every day, to look if there are new letters" They all agreed with Saito's idea.

The rest of the day was just a normal day. Lulu and Heisuke were still playing with the other children. Hijikata was doing something with Chizuru. And the others were training or sitting in the sun. Sicilia was walking in the garden, thinking about her life. Thinking about Lulu and her family. Thinking about Saito. She has loved him since she met him. For some time they were just friend, but she wanted to be more than just friends. The problem was that didn't know if he loved as much as he loved him. She was going to ask him in the evening. She had been thinking about it since she talked to Lulu, when they first met. Lulu had asked what kind of relationship she had with Saito. She said that they were just friends, but her eyes and heart told her and that she had stronger feelings for him.

It was almost six o'clock, thus dinner time. She was looking for Chizuru but couldn't find her. 'She is probably with Hijikata,' she thought. 'Then I'm going to look for Lulu.' Once she arrived at Chizuru and Lulu's room, she heard someone calling her name. she turned around to see Saito, who was walking towards her.

"Hey Sicilia, are you looking for Lulu?"

"Yes, I'm going to make dinner and I thought, maybe she wants to help."

"Lulu is still out with Heisuke, playing with the other children of the village."

"Ooh. Then I'm going to make it myself," she said. She walked away, disappointed. She didn't want to make it on her own.

"Wait."

She felt that Saito grabbed her arm and turned her around.

"I want to talk to you. Can I?" he asked.

They sat under a cherry blossom tree and Sicilia looked nervous to her hands.

"Sicilia," he began. "I don't know how to say this for I have never had such feelings before, but…" He looked at the ground and was getting slightly nervous.

Sicilia took his hand and turned to him. He didn't look at her, so she placed her other hand under his chin. "Hajime-kun, I want you to look at me," she whispered in his ear.

"I think I know what you want to say. I love you too Hajime-kun." She looked in his eyes and moved closer to his face.

"How did you know what I wanted to say?"

"I was hoping you wanted to say that."

He gave her a soft kiss on the lips. "I love you." He wanted to kiss her again, but she stood up.

"I have to go to the kitchen, to make dinner."

"Sicilia, someone else can make it."

"Are you sure?"

Saito stood up and walked over to Sicilia. He took both of her hands in his and looked deep in her eyes. "Sicilia, I want some time with you, alone."

"I … I don't know, Hajime-kun."

"You know I won't do anything without your permission."

"Alright." She gave him a kiss on his cheek. He let go of her hands and they walked to Saito's room.

Heisuke and Lulu came home at half past six. Heisuke was hungry, so they went directly to the kitchen. Hijikata and Chizuru were making dinner. Hijikata was cutting the vegetables and Chizuru was sitting on the countertop, playing with her fingers.

"Hijikata-san, I thought that it was Sicilia's turn to make dinner?" Heisuke asked while he took two tomatoes.

"Yes it is. But she is with Saito," Chizuru answered.

"In his room?"

"Yes, but I think it is better for you if you stay here, Lulu-chan," Hijikata said.

"Why?"

"Because they are doing some stuff you don't want to see," Harada said teasingly and walked into the kitchen.

"No, Saito-san is not a person who would do that." Chizuru said, louder than she intended to do.

"And it's not nice and wise to say that."

Harada turned to Heisuke. "And why is that?"

"Because there is a little girl here, and Saito is like a father to her. So don't say dirty things about Saito and Sicilia," Hijikata said. He picked up Lulu and put her down next to Chizuru.

"Harada-san, will you get everyone for dinner?"

"Okay," Harada said after a long sigh and walked out of the room.

After dinner, Harada wanted to ask Saito what had happened between him and Sicilia. But before he even could ask his question, Chizuru began coughing.

"What?" Harada said, who sat across her.

"You're not going to bring up that subject again," she said while she crossed her arms.

"Which subject?" Saito asked.

"Well, uhm … nothing. After thinking about it, Chizuru might be right about it. You're not such a person who would do that."

"Who would do what?" Saito asked again.

"You were alone with Sicilia. And some of us have dirty thoughts about being alone with a girl." Heisuke looked to Okita and Shinpachi.

"N-No, you're wrong. We haven't done anything like that," Sicilia said, trying to keep her voice and face as normal as possible.

"Yeah well, I could guess what you've done, but I'm not going to say it, because of the little girl here," Okita said.

"Good way of thinking, Souji," Kondou said.

"I'm going." Saito stood up.

"Where are you going?" Lulu asked.

"To the garden, to get some rest." Saito slid the door open and walked to the garden.

"Wait, I'm going with you!" Lulu said. "And Sicilia." She grabbed Sicilia's hand and ran after Saito.

"H-Hey Lulu-chan!" Sicilia shouted as she ran with lulu to Saito.

"Okay, so what are we gonna to do tomorrow?" Harada asked.

"We are going to check Lulu's house and the normal stuff we do as always," Hijikata said. He stood up and picked up the empty bowls and walked to the kitchen, followed by Chizuru with her hands full of cups.