"You better keep an eye on this one, in case she gets into any more trouble." The nurse's eyes narrowed as Nachi tried to look as innocent as possible. Her white button up shirt and her short red skirt helped the attempt, but it still failed miserably.

"I'll keep her under house arrest for the rest of her life." Hijikata threw a smirk at Nachi.

"That not fair, I've been stuck in that boring room for a week! I want a chocolate parfait." She pouted at him.

He shrugged. "It's your own fault for re-opening your wounds when you ran off.'

"But the nurse already punished me for that." Wincing and rubbing her head at the memory. "I bet you've been teaching the nurse bad habits."

The nurse laughed. "It worked though. It stopped you from running off, stealing extra sweets from the cafeteria and from picking at your scabs." She winked at Hijikata, and he gave her the thumbs up.

"You guys are mean. I'm never coming back." She ran off.

"I don't want to see you back here!" The nurse called out to her. She turned to him, wearing a small frown. "Please do look after her though. I don't know if she's as strong as she seems to be, and I would hate to see her change."

"You're worrying about her too much. She's much stronger than she looks, but an attitude change wouldn't hurt." He bowed to her. "Thank you for your hard work."

She waved away his thanks. "I'm just doing my job. Your role will be the one that requires real skill. Good luck."

He stared at Nachi peeking around the corner at them. "I'm going to need all the luck you have to spare."

Nachi hobbled out of the patrol car and stretched her arms out.

"Yay! I'm home!" She ran to the front gate and hugged the column. She rubbed her face against the cool stone. "Oh how I've missed you."

"Yeah, that's nice. Now stop rubbing yourself off on a slab of concrete and let's get you into bed." He grabbed her by the scruff and pulled her away.

"But I wanted to go get some sake." She muttered under her breath.

"The medication you were taking is still in your system, so it'll probably kill you if you drink sake." Her disappointment was pleasing to him as he dragged her inside Headquarters.

The place was empty, as everyone was either sleeping after a night shift or out on patrol. They finally arrived at their room. Nachi opened the door. She stood still for a minute in shock. She turned to Hijikata, tears welling in her eyes.

"You shouldn't have, sensei." Her voice cracked with happiness.

They aren't from me, they are from the silver-perm." She lunged towards the large stack of chocolate boxes, knocking the tower over. He shook his head at her as she tried to gather them all into her arms to hug them.

Nachi's expression changed suddenly, her dopey smile now a frown. She sat up and grabbed a box and shook it. Her eyes widened in rage.

"That bastard." Nachi grabbed one of the boxes and ripped it open.

He walked up to her, about to ask her what was wrong, but she looked up at him, tears dribbling from her eyes and her lip trembling. "He ate them."

They ripped open the boxes together. It was revealed that only one of the boxes still had chocolates remaining, with a little note inside.

'Sorry, the dog and a teenage girl got into them, so I had to stop them by protecting them with my mouth. Get well soon so you can buy me some drinks. Love, your beloved Gin-chan.'

"Hear my words as my witness, Hijikata-sensei. The next time I see Sakata Gintoki, I will rip out his gluttonous stomach and slap him with it.

"I have heard your words. As your sensei and your vice-chief, I will stand by you as you commit the act of revenge to uphold the honour of the Shinsengumi."

"Who does that bastard think he is? I'll arrest the sunovabitch." Nachi muttered under her breath as she stuffed chocolate into her mouth. Hijikata took a step back, the aura of crazy that was currently surrounding her creeping him out, but the dirty look she shot at him stopped in his place.

"Get over here and tell me that I'm right!"

Hijikata lay out her futon, straightening it out with his hands.

He glared at her. "Now get into bed."

Nachi obediently placed herself down, lifting her arms up as he placed her blanket over her. She twisted her head, shooting him a plead with her eyes. He grabbed a chocolate out of the box he now held and put it into her mouth. She closed her eyes and chewed it with a look of pure bliss.

He chuckled. "I should've thought of this weeks ago. Who knew she could be controlled so easily." He sat down next to her head.

"Hey, Hijikata sensei. Kondo-san told me you were really worried about me when I disappeared. Is that true?" He didn't like the smirk that she wore so he placed his hand on her face so he didn't have to look at it.

"I was more worried that you were wreaking havoc over innocent people. It was a public service to try and find you."

"I would have never guessed that, because you even paid Gin-san to find information on the Joui for you. You're pretty thorough with your job Vice-chief. I wish I was as dedicated as you." She snickered.

"How about I thoroughly destroy your existence?" He shoved her head into the ground, the floors creaking under the impact. He let her go, allowing her to inhale air.

"You're not very gentle with an injured person are you?"

"You don't act like an injured person, and you piss me off." He started eating the rest of her chocolate, blocking her attempts to stop him with his spare hand.

"That's way too cruel sensei." She pulled the blankets over her head. "I was even going to let you have your way with me!" She yelled, the blankets muffling the noise.

"The nurse told me that you're not allowed to do that either."

"That bitch just ruins anything that would be fun!" Kicking at the blankets as she engaged in a mini-tantrum.

"That's her job, and it's mine to enforce it since you're too much of an idiot to listen to her in the first place." He yanked the blanket off and crawled over her. Her lips were pulled down into a frown and she had a few tears welling in her eyes. "It's also my job to check to see if your wounds are healing up." Nachi gulped.

He leaned back, sitting lightly on her thighs as he started unbuttoning her shirt. He pushed the material aside, revealing her torso. He brushed her heaving breasts lightly from her black lace bra with his fingers, trailing them down her cleavage. He bent over her to follow the path with his mouth. He planted small quick kisses, listening to her giggles as they tickled her. Most of the little bruises had disappeared along her chest, so he moved on. He re-positioned himself so he could have a better view of her stomach. The cuts on her stomach had finally closed up, only leaving a long ridge of scar tissue. He began kissing the area around the cuts. He sat up as he reached her largest wound. Every time he saw it he could feel a surge of rage engulf him. He gently placed his hand along the thick scars in her flesh.

"Does it hurt?" He looked up.

She gave him a reassuring smile. "Not anymore."

He traced the wound with his finger. The surrounding skin was an angry red, but the swelling had finally gone. He finished spelling out the ugly word that she would have to wear forever. Dog.

He crawled back over her, planting a light kiss on her lips. He tried to smile.

"It seems like your wounds are healing well."

She pushed him off her and sat up. He landed on his back, his head missing the pillow and hitting the ground. He rubbed his head and turned to look at her.

"You're such an idiot, Toushirou-sensei." She growled as she glared at him.

He frowned in confusion, surprised that she actually looked genuinely upset. "What's your problem?"

"Do you think I'm that weak that I can't cope with a scar or two, or are you just feeling sorry for yourself that you couldn't swoop in and save the day?" She was fuming, her eyes boring holes into him.

He sat up and sneered. "You think too much of yourself. We stopped looking for you just a few short days after you disappeared. If they hadn't delivered you to our doorstep, we would have just written you off as dead."

"I know you didn't stop searching, sensei." She tried to hold his eyes into her glare, but he refused to oblige.

"You don't know anything Natou. You've only been here for a short time, and if you hadn't been all over me in public, you probably wouldn't have gotten into that mess in the first place. Stop being so presumptuous that the words you say will have any effect on me."

"You know what, I know it was my own fault, you don't need to drive that home. But I also know that you trusted me to hold on until you came, so that's what I did. If I wanted them to kill me, I would've asked them to when they stuck a hot poker into my stomach, because it was a pain that could only be described as something that would make a person beg to die." He winced at her harsh words, not noticing her grabbing his hand and placing against the burn. "This mark is only skin deep. Something like this could never taint my soul." She gave him a beatific smile, only ruined by the tears silently falling onto his hand. "This scar symbolises the place where I want to belong, with you and the Shinsengumi. Instead of loathing it, it's something that I treasure."

She buttoned her shirt as she stood up and left him sitting there, wondering whether he should wipe the wetness off his hands.