Isa clapped her hands together. "Eeep! Okita-kun, your so cool!"

"Would you shut up already!" yelled Hijikata. "You're ruining our scene!"

"Oops.." she quickly covered her mouth.

Once when it was silent and all dramatic again, the Shinsengumi smirked. "Goodbye, Ramen Substitute."

And the last thing that was heard was the giant explosion that hit the temple.

Attempt Eight: When Someone Tells You To Stay Put, Stay Put!

If Isa could describe her night in one word, it would be dreadful. She hasn't been able to get a lot of sleep in the last couple of days. Maybe it was because Hijikata had volunteered her to help clean up the temple that had been destroyed just a few days before. Probably. But, according to Kondo, it was also her punishment for running off into danger. Isa groaned. She spent her whole day at the temple again and all she wanted now was just some sleep. She deserved at least some sleep, right?

Apparently, she was wrong.

Everytime she was close to drifting off to sleep, no, everytime she closed her eyes, that stupid annoying cricket would chirp for the umpteenth time. She even spent an hour looking for the damn thing. But in the end, she was unable to find it. So Isa just got back in her futon and stared at the ceiling for a few hours. And during that time, she got to think about a few things.

At first, she thought about how she was going to get revenge on Hijikata... man was he in for a treat later. Then she thought about the Shinsengumi as a whole. Isa really liked it here. It was never boring at HQ and there was always something to do. The only problem was that this was a house full of men.

When was the last time she even talked to a girl? Well... there was Otsuu. But after the Commander-for-a-day thing, she had to get back to her career. And now that Isa thought more about it, she didn't even have any friends back at her home planet that were girls.

At least now she had something to do tomorrow.

"Please?"

Twitch. "No."

"Please?"

"No!"

"Please!"

Thwack. "No!"

Isa rubbed her now-swollen head. "Aw, come on. Was it really neccessary to hit me again? What have I ever done to you?"

Hijikata gritted his teeth. "This morning you put everything that was in my room, on the roof! Even myself when I was still sleeping in my bed!"

"...It was an accident?"

"Do you honestly think I would believe that?"

"...no..."

"Uh-huh! And that's not the only thing you've done..."

Isa rolled her eyes. Ugh, this was getting off topic. Then again, maybe she shouldn't have asked Hijikata, of all people, to let her visit the town for a while. She looked back at the raven-haired man, who was now currently stomping around the room, ranting on and on about the other things she 'supposedly' did to him. Yeah, not the best idea.

This went on for about another five minutes, until Isa ended up leaving the room in search for another Shinsengumi member. Hijikata didn't even notice her leave and continued pacing around the room like a mad man. And anyways, as long as she takes someone with her its fine, right? Yeah, but last time she did that... eh, whatever.

"What are you doing?"

The demon girl snapped her head up at the voice. "Okita-kun! Perfect timing!" She latched herself onto his left arm.

Okita looked down at what she was wearing. She almost looked like Dora The Explorer. "... Why are you wearing that?"

"Because, you and I are about to go on an exploration!" Isa pulled out a piece of paper from her khaki shorts. "I even have my Map-Map!"

"Pass," was his only reply as he tried to gently shake her hands off his arm.

Isa pushed up the middle of her black-rimmed glasses. "It's important!"

The brunette stopped shaking his arm and looked down at her through his reddish-brown orbs. "What is it?"

Isa let go of his arm and gave him a thumbs up. "I'm on a mission to find a best friend." Then she quickly added, "That must be a girl!"

Okita blinked. "I'm pretty busy right now." He glanced down at his pockets to make sure his eye mask wasn't showing.

"Please? I promise i'll do anything you ask of me later."

Okita thought for a minute and was actually considering her deal. But then he remembered that she might end up running off into potential danger again, and he really didn't want anymore trouble. Plus, this was kinda cutting into his nap time.

"No," he finally said.

"..."

"Okita-kun! Let's go look over there!" Isa dragged him towards the park.

Okita was too tired to argue with her, so he just grunted in acknowledgement. Is this what it was like for Yamazaki when they snuck out to the mall (reference to ch3)? Geez, its only been an hour and he was already worn out. They went everywhere and back more than once. He didn't even care that he was now being dragged by a girl and that people were staring at them.

Okita glanced up at the girl who was pulling on his arm in a tight grip. She was smiling brightly and her tail was wagging happily too. Seeing her like this kind of made him smile a little. But when she looked back down at him the smile was gone as quick as it appeared.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I'm hungry." Isa dragged them both down onto a bench. "We should get something to eat." She looked at some of the shops around her.

Okita nodded. Running around with her everywhere did make him really hungry. He was almost at his limit too. Any more hiking around the city would've killed him, not that he would ever admit that.

Okita sighed. He would make her go get food for them, but he quickly realized that that probably wasn't such a great idea. "I'll go get us something." He gave her a look.

Isa caught on and waved off what he was thinking. "Don't worry, I won't go anywhere," she giggled.

He still had the look on his face.

The girl sighed. "I'm serious."

"Okay," He put on a stern face. "Stay put."

"I will!"

Okita then stuck his hands in his pockets and walked off to a fast food resturaunt a few feet away.

What the heck? Isa frowned. Its not like he was going that far so why was he worrying? Isa leaned back into the bench and watched his distant form. Its not like she runs away that much... or at least thats what she thinks. And lately, it seems like he's always saving her or watching her back. Well, that was his job.

The brown-haired girl gazed at his back. This feeling she had, what was it? A sibling kind of feeling? Friendly? Infatuation? Isa dropped her gaze down to her hands that were on her lap.

Infatuation...no, that wasn't it. It was something else she hasn't experience before outside of her home, or with her brothers. And she only just came here two weeks ago, so it wasn't like they've known eachother for a really long time. Then...

"Oi! Give me that back, you brat!" a high pitched feminine voice yelled.

Isa's ears perked up. "My potential best friend senses are tingling!" She whipped her head around and pulled out her neat-o explorer spyglass. She looked through the small hole and saw an orange-haired girl wearing a chinese dress, and a young boy fighting over what seemed to be a small package.

"It was mine first, hag!"

The orange-haired girl growled and ripped the small package out of the boy's hands. "This last box of sukonbu was mine from the start!"

The young boy stepped back a little. "This isn't over lady!" The boy then ran off with a couple of other kids, who watched the two argue a few feet away from them.

"Tch, kids." The girl stuck the small box of sukonbu in her pocket and put a strand of wheat in the corner of her mouth.

Isa quickly ran over to the chinese-looking girl and grabbed her hands. "Will you become my best friend?" Her eyes sparkled with hope.

The other girl blinked. "Huh, who are you?"

"Your new best friend?"

The orange-haired girl slapped her hands away and turned her back on Isa. "Not just anyone can be best friends with me."

Isa stared at the girl in awe.

The chinese-looking girl turned her head slightly, and looked at Isa through the corner of her eye. "You have to go through a mind-bending test."

Isa had a determined expression on her face. "I'll do it!"

The china-girl rolled up her imaginary sleeve. "Bring it on!"

When Okita returned to the bench where he originally left Isa, he wasn't exactly surprised to find her missing from said spot. He knew he should've just handcuffed her there. He sighed. "I should've known..." Okita muttered under his breath.

He looked around him a bit to see if he could try to spot her anywhere, and was surprisingly successful. There she was, squating on the ground with the girl he came to know for a while now, Kagura. And they were... playing rock, paper, scissors.

Okita stalked up to them with his usual bored expression. "What are you two doing?"

Both of them looked up from their heated little game.

"Sadist!"

"Okita-kun!"

Okita turned to Isa with a look of slight annoyance on his face. "You ran off... again."

Isa half-smiled and shrugged. "It's what I do best?" Her half-smile dropped when she noticed his expression. "I'm sorry..."

The brunette blinked and handed her the small bag of burgers he got from the fast food resturaunt. "Just don't let it happen again," he said slowly, so the words could sink into her brain.

Isa quickly nodded with enthusiasm. "Of course!"

Okita looked behind Isa. "And I see you've met the China monster."

Kagura twitched. "What did you just call me?"

"Did you become deaf since the last time i've seen you?" he smirked.

"Why you-!" Kagura launched herself at him.

Okita stepped to the side before she could even reach him. "Is that all you got?"

Kagura growled. "I haven't even started yet!"

While the two were fighting, Isa couldn't help but frown. She eyed the two, watching them argue and taunt each other. Her frown deepened even more. It was like they had something. Like... a connection, and somehow, this really bothered the demon girl. She even noticed the small smile on Okita's face whenever the orange-haired girl would try to make a dive for him. Or when he would smirk and tease her and she'd just start arguing with him again. And then she realized it.

That was the first time Isa experienced jealousy first-hand.

Isa grabbed at her chest. She didn't like this. This... heavy feeling. The way they acted around each other was making it harder for her to watch and it had only been a few minutes. Isa stumbled back a little. The other two didn't even notice her presence.

But then, someone suddenly grabbed her from behind and quickly dragged her out of the park. And before she could even see their face, she blacked out.