Author's Note:

Thank you to Kiki, ImpracticalOni, and Tsuki-chan18 for leaving reviews ^.^

Guest 2: Yeah, when I realized I had a job opening for a slimy politician, Itou just fit the bill too perfectly :P

On a separate note, I think I'm going to move my posts to Wednesday night. I've gotten into a habit of doing my final review on Wednesday, but thanks to work, I can't stay up waiting for midnight to roll around and it feels weird to wait for Thursday evening when the chapter is already done.

Hope you all enjoy the chapter ^.^ (I really need to stop abusing poor Heisuke... ~.~' but he just makes it too entertaining)

Chapter 14 - Coffee, Christmas, and a Creep: Part 2

Friday, December 14th

Chizuru brushed her bangs out of her face as she took the last batch of gingerbread men out of the oven to cool. It was getting near lunch time and since she'd been baking most of the morning, the station's previously unused kitchen was now filled with the cheerful smells of cookies and had ingredients and bowls lovingly spread across its counter tops. Outside the room she could hear the sounds of laughing and playing children, and every once in a while she would catch one or two of them peeking anxiously around the corner. Usually they ran as soon as she caught them spying, but she couldn't help but find their curiosity adorable.

When she'd first offered to bake treats for the kids, Kondou had jumped on the idea, freeing her from any other assignments for the day and giving her free use of the kitchen. That morning, she'd needed several of the guys help in order to bring up all of the ingredients she'd bought for the occasion. Technically she could have baked everything the day before, but she always thought cookies tasted better when they were fresh. All she had left to do before lunch was delivered was decorate the gingerbread men after they cooled. She already had the frosting bagged and set aside.

The logistics of the whole event had seemed complicated at first, but when put into action, it was actually fairly simple. Two detective teams had to remain on call, just in case something came up, but everyone else was split into one of two jobs. The most coveted job was working with the older kids, and Hijikata, Saito, and Nagakura had all ended up in that group. The rest were responsible for watching the younger kids and making sure they didn't, as Hijikata had put it, destroy the place. When Heisuke had found out he would be working with the younger kids, he'd loudly voiced his complaint that he'd worked with the little kids last year and that it wasn't fair. Of course Nagakura had proceeded to trap him in a headlock while teasing that no one any older would take him seriously. Thankfully Hijikata had stepped in before their tussle could turn into a full on wrestling match. The peace didn't last long, because no sooner had Nagakura released Heisuke, then Okita had commented on what a 'sparkling' example of leadership Hijikata was. Kondou hadn't understood why Hijikata had nearly flown off the handle at the seemingly innocuous comment, but she thought it probably had something to do with the fact that even after four days, she could still see the remnants of gold glitter stuck in his hair.

She was pulled from her thoughts when a desperate voice called out from the doorway.

"Chizuruuu! You gotta help me! I can't take it any more! No, I said get off me! Leave me alone!"

"Huh?" She turned around to find Heisuke stumbling into the kitchen as he tried to shake off a girl of about five, who had latched herself onto his leg. If she was honest, it looked like he'd just walked in from a war zone… or at least a warzone where markers and glitter were the main form of ammunition. The same glitter that had been in Hijikata's hair was all over Heisuke, but instead of gold, he was covered in splotches of bright pink and neon blue, and he had marker scribbled all over his face.

Heisuke tried to pull the girl off but she wouldn't budge. "C'mon, pleeease let go!"

"No! My Heiski!"

"Agh! Chizuru, help! This monster won't leave me alone!"

The girl frowned, her lip pouting as she clenched his leg tighter. "No! My Heiski!"

With a frown just as petulant as the girl's, Heisuke put his hands on his hips and retorted, "No! Not your Heiski!"

Finally she couldn't fight the laughter that bubbled up from her chest and forced her to lean breathlessly against the counter as Heisuke unconsciously resorted to arguing in the girl's child-speak.

He shot an exasperated frown at her as he said, "Oh, come on, not you too. I already tried getting help from Sano."

Or at least, she was pretty sure the look he was giving her was supposed to be exasperated, but with the marker all over his face, she just couldn't take him seriously. She wiped her eyes a final time and managed to get her breathing mostly under control before she said, "Sorry, I couldn't help it." Still fighting not to giggle she walked over and knelt down in front of the child. "Hi, my name's Chizuru. What's yours?"

The girl grinned brightly, showing off a missing tooth. "Hi Chizu, my name is Anna."

"It's nice to meet you Anna." Chizuru gestured at the trays of cookies behind her. "Listen, I need Heisuke's help for a bit, so you're going to need to let him go if you want cookies later."

The girl thought that over for a bit before she asked, "What kinda cookie?"

"Well, I've got gingerbread men, sugar cookies, and even some chocolate chip, but you've got to let Heisuke go if you want to have one later."

Again Anna thought that over before she nodded and slowly unwrapped herself from Heisuke's leg. "Okay, I wanna chocolate chip."

Internally Chizuru gave a sigh of relief. If bribery hadn't worked, she wasn't sure how she would have persuaded Anna to let go. Quick as a flash, Heisuke darted away, putting her between him and Anna's clingy arms. The girl's hands twitched slightly and Chizuru pressed her advantage before Anna could decide she wanted Heisuke more than she wanted a cookie. "I promise you can have one with lunch, now why don't you go play until lunch is ready?"

Anna nodded seriously before she turned and skipped out the door. Behind her, she heard Heisuke sigh in relief. "Thanks. I don't know how much more of those monsters I can take. It's awful out there."

She couldn't help a giggle as she wet a paper towel in the sink and began dabbing at the marker on his face. "Really? I thought she was cute." It wasn't until Heisuke's cheeks flushed and he looked away that she realized just how close she was to him. Instantly her cheeks flamed with embarrassment and she quickly stepped back and held out the paper towel to him. "Sorry… If you want a break, you can decorate the gingerbread men for me and I'll take your place out there."

The blush was still visible on his cheeks, but he grinned brightly as he said, "Really?! You're a lifesaver."

"All right, the gingerbread men still need to cool for a minute or two," she pointed to the bags of frosting on the counter, "but the frosting is over there. Just cut one of the corners a tiny bit to use it."

Heisuke nodded, still scrubbing at the marker on his face, and she turned and headed out of the kitchen.

If she'd been hoping for the type of war zone Heisuke had made it out to be, she would have been sorely disappointed. Sure, it was loud and there were some kids running around, but most everything seemed pretty well in hand. She looked into their room to see Harada sitting on the floor with a bunch of what looked like 2nd and 3rd graders, all of them happily coloring while they chatted. Overall this didn't seem too bad to her, but she could understand why some of the men didn't like getting stuck working with the younger kids. Nagakura might have been fine, but she wasn't sure how well Hijikata and Saito would have handled this many little kids running around. Probably better that they're working with the older kids… especially Hijikata. She had no desire to see how things would have played out if it had been Hijikata's leg Anna had latched onto, instead of Heisuke's. Working with the older kids was certainly a much better fit for their personalities anyway.

The only person she hadn't seen yet was Okita. She'd initially been surprised when he'd been selected as part of the group working with the younger kids, but then again, she really couldn't see him handling an irritable teenager all that well. Hijikata and Saito might be able to deal with that kind of attitude, but Okita would probably just lock the kid in a closet and leave them to think things over for an hour or two. If he even remembered they were there…

She was stopped short by the sound of a familiar laugh from the room just ahead of her. At least, the laugh was mostly familiar… it sounded far too lighthearted to be who she thought it was, but who else could it be? Careful to keep her steps quiet, she walked to the doorway and looked into the room. She froze, completely dumbstruck by the scene playing itself out in front of her.

Just like their room, this one also had six desks lined up in pairs down the center, which left a wide walkway around the edge. Distantly she realized they'd done up their room in rich reds and golds, but that wasn't what held her attention. Darting around the small circuit, Okita laughed again as he kept one step ahead of a group of kids, all of them clambering and trying to grab him. Apparently none of the kids had thought of going the other way and boxing him in, because they followed after him like a group of ducklings. He had a small boy on his shoulders who squealed and giggled every time he took a corner, his hands knotted in Okita's hair. She almost couldn't believe it was the same person. Just like a week ago, he seemed… softer? Well, at least less sharp. His eyes still had that mischievous light, but they were free of the sarcasm and cynicism she normally saw, and his smile was genuine, without a trace of its usual smirk. It made him look younger, almost as if he were no older than the kids around him. It wasn't just his eyes and expression either, everything about him seemed more relaxed and… happy?

After rounding another corner, Okita slowed just enough that the fastest of the kids was able to grab and cling to one of his legs, effectively dragging him to a stop. She had to fight a giggle, when within seconds, he was nearly knocked over by the wave of children, each of them calling for their turn.

"Got you Souji!"

"My turn, my turn."

"No, I caught him. It's my turn."

"Alright, alright. Hold on." Okita laughed as he tried to put the child on his shoulders down, but frowned when the boy refused to let go of his hair. "Ouch. Hey, no pulling."

"But I wanna go again."

Okita rolled his eyes and said sarcastically, "And what? You think pulling my hair is going to help?"

"No…" Reluctantly the boy released Okita's hair and allowed himself to be deposited on the ground.

As Okita made to stand, his eyes met hers and she froze, her face flaming with heat at being caught staring. He didn't move from where he knelt among the kids, but the smile instantly dropped from his face and his expression became cautious. If it hadn't been Okita, she might have said it was even a little nervous.

The moment was broken when the young boy who'd been on Okita's shoulders tugged on his sleeve and loudly whispered, "Souji, who's that? And why is she so red?"

Almost as if it had never left, Okita's grin was back in place, but it wasn't the same as before. Once again, it was more smirk than actual smile, and a part of her couldn't help but wish the other one would come back. "Oh~? That's Chizuru. Don't worry, she turns that color a lot."

She clapped her hands to her cheeks to hide the evidence as she said, "I-I do not!" Of course, the heat she could feel spreading up to her ears put the lie to her words and one of the kids was quick to point that out.

"Do to! You're even redder now!"

"Souji's right!"

She wavered, not entirely sure how to deal with the situation, as several other kids nodded and voiced opinions along the line of 'Souji's always right'. The man in question was clearly fighting not to laugh, which wasn't helping matters any. Before she could formulate some kind of logical, non-childish retort, which didn't involve her sticking her tongue out at him, someone called out to her from down the hall. She turned to see Kondou walking toward her, trailed by his own retinue of children.

"Ah, Yukimura! Have you seen-" As soon as Kondou spotted Okita, he gave her a pat on the shoulder and moved past her into the room. "Oh, there you are Souji. I just wanted to stop by and see how things were going up here."

Okita grinned and she realized with a start that it was the same smile he'd had before he'd noticed her. "Don't worry, we're having loads of fun."

Around him a bunch of the kids nodded, with one even piping up to say, "Yeah, Souji's the best!"

Kondou laughed at that, his eyes bright as he beamed at Okita. "That's great. I know I can always count on you when it comes to kids."

To her surprise, Kondou leaned over and casually ruffled Okita's hair, and beside looking slightly embarrassed he didn't seem especially bothered by it. She was pretty sure Hijikata or anyone else would have lost a hand if they'd tried that, but apparently Kondou was different. In fact, the longer she watched them, the more she realized just how different it was. There was clearly more history between them than she knew. If she had to hazard a guess, she would have said it was reminiscent of the way she'd seen Sen and her father interact… or maybe something like brothers? Not that she really had a model for that, since none of her close friends had siblings. Kodo might have only been her uncle, but he'd always treated her like a daughter and with her memories the way they were, well, he was the only father figure she'd known. Still, she'd never had the type of relationship Sen shared with her father, or that Okita seemed to share with Kondou. She didn't blame Kodo for that, he just wasn't someone who tended to be physically affectionate, but a tiny part of her did wish it could've been different.

Carefully and with surprising ease, Kondou unlatched a girl, who she suddenly recognized as Anna, from his leg before he headed for the doorway. "Well, I'll leave you all to your fun. I'm going to go check on some of the tour groups. Apparently one of the kids in Toshi's group was giving him trouble."

Okita's expression was mixed as Kondou smiled brightly and left the room. She'd noticed a flash of a smirk when Kondou had mentioned that Hijikata was having trouble, but it was also clear he would have liked him to stay longer. In the lull left by Kondou's absence, their eyes met again and she chewed on her lip nervously as Okita gave her a wary look.

She was desperately searching for something, or really anything, to say, when she was startled by a loud crash from what sounded like the kitchen. With the moment broken, she turned away and hurried to the kitchen as fast as she could without actually running. When she reached the doorway, she slid to a stop, trying to take in the disaster Heisuke had somehow managed to create in only a few minutes. The bowls that had been next to the bags of frosting were scattered across the floor, their paths marked by streaks of flour. On top of that, Heisuke had somehow caused the bag of red frosting to explode, spraying him and a number of the cabinets with the sticky substance. In the epicenter stood Heisuke, clearly at a loss as to how to deal with any of it. Thankfully, at least as far as she could tell, the cookies were all safe. She heard a snicker behind her, and realized that Okita had followed, along with a number of the children.

Before Chizuru could stop her, Anna darted past the two of them and latched herself back on to Heisuke's leg. "Heski's red as Chizu! Can I have my cookie now?"

Anna's collision was enough to jolt Heisuke out of his dazed state and behind her, Okita's snicker turned into a full on laugh as he said, "Looks like you've finally got yourself a girlfriend, Heisuke."

Unfortunately for Heisuke, Anna ran in completely the wrong direction with that comment. "Heski my girlfriend!"

"Wha-?! NO! Souji you idiot, now look what you did!"

"Oh~? I think you'd make a cute girlfriend." Okita's cheshire grin widened and a bunch of the kids who'd followed him nodded in agreement.

"Dude! Not helping!"

As Heisuke vainly tried to remove Anna, she couldn't help but feel a little bit sorry for him. Okita probably wasn't going to let him forget it anytime soon…

Tuesday, January 1st

"Why me? This totally isn't fair."

Okita sighed and fought down the urge to throw something at Heisuke. It had been almost a month since he and Heisuke had been injured, and in that whole time Hijikata hadn't let either of them away from their desks. If either of them so much as made a move toward the elevator he'd appear with a glare and a string of threats. Normally that wouldn't have fazed him, but when the threats had involved Kondou, he'd had no choice but to back down. The last thing he wanted to do was make Kondou worry about him and damn it if Hijikata didn't know that.

Besides being frustrating, the lack of activity was giving him far too much time to think. Within a couple of days of the warehouse raid, Saito had come back with his report confirming Chizuru's story. Not that he'd really thought it would be otherwise. As crazy as it sounded, it had been pretty obvious she was telling the truth. Unfortunately not everything could be wrapped up so easily, since he still hadn't figured out how he felt about their encounter on Tour Day. His first reaction had been that she'd been sticking her nose where it didn't belong again, but at the same time she hadn't started asking nosy questions either… She'd just seemed to accept it without question and he wasn't quite sure how to deal with that.

Thankfully, he'd discovered an excellent source of distraction from his boredom in teasing Chizuru. Her over the top reactions easily kept him entertained and kept his thoughts from running in useless circles. She had this irrepressible innocent streak and bright outlook that most people lost quickly in their line of work, and it made her reactions all the more interesting. The most entertaining were the times she'd push back or snap off a response without thinking and then rush to apologize. It still made him grin when he remembered just how shocked she'd been when he'd shown her the storeroom they used to keep the cases related to the Syndicate.

Of course entering those cases into her program had been just as boring and monotonous as he'd feared it would be. Unlike him, Chizuru actually got a break from the awful task when she went to do whatever she did with Sannan or Hajime. He'd spent hours doing nothing but filling out form after form and it was severely testing his patience. Once again Chizuru had proved herself to be the perfect distraction, if not in a way he'd initially anticipated. When he wasn't teasing her, which admittedly wasn't often, she'd started asking him questions. She'd been hesitant at first, but with growing confidence, she'd asked him questions about the cases she was entering. Not about the details of the cases themselves, but about the people. Did he remember them? What were they like? When he'd finally straight up asked her why she was so curious, she'd said it was because she wanted to understand. She may think what they'd done was wrong, but she still wanted to try and understand why they'd done it. It was just weird, the way she didn't seem to judge people. And what did it say about the fact that she hadn't asked him any questions about Kondou or the kids? He was used to keeping people at arm's length, and the way she kept unintentionally working around his barriers made him uneasy.

Another pitiful moan from Heisuke snapped him out of his thoughts and this time he didn't bother holding back his flash of irritation. With aim that had gotten considerably better since he'd been forced to do most everything with his left hand, he flicked his pencil and nailed Heisuke in the forehead with the eraser.

"Ow! You jerk, what was that for?"

He smirked as Heisuke rubbed at the red spot forming on his forehead. "To get you to quit whining and shut up."

Maybe it had to do with his concussion, but Heisuke would go from being his normal, hyperactive self, to whining and moaning about headaches and the amount of paperwork Shinpachi and Harada forced on him. Their argument was that since they had to deal with Itou all the time, the least Heisuke could do was do their paperwork for them.

"Oh yeah?" Heisuke picked up a pen of his own and chucked it at him, missing by a mile.

Chizuru squeaked and ducked as the pen flew by her head. "Um, I don't think-"

"Now really, is this any way to behave in an office? You're scaring poor Chizuru."

He frowned at the sound of the pompous voice from the doorway, and beside him, he noticed Chizuru tense. Okay, so it wasn't completely true that she didn't judge. There was one exception that he'd found, but he was pretty sure she'd gotten it right. Whenever Itou was around, she always tensed and turned into a stuttering mess. Sure, Hijikata could intimidate her when he was in one of his oni moods, and his teasing could fluster her, but he could tell Itou genuinely freaked her out. That had surprised him at first, considering she'd handled running into a warehouse full of armed men pretty well, but then he'd noticed just how much Itou was watching her. While Heisuke also paid a lot of attention to Chizuru, and he was pretty sure the kid was also developing a crush, she remained completely oblivious, or at least unbothered by it. Clearly she'd noticed Itou's attention and didn't like it. Since he'd shown up, Itou had continuously tried to insert himself into their work and whenever Hijikata wasn't around, he usually managed to find a 'liason' reason for being at the station instead of out in the field. He had no love of politicians and Itou seemed to be about as slimy as they came.

"I hope they aren't bothering you dear."

Chizuru, who had been studiously looking at a paper she clearly wasn't reading, jumped when Itou sat on the edge of her desk. The sharp movement caused her to get a papercut, and she hissed and shoved her finger in her mouth.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Here, let me see it."

As Itou leaned closer, she hastily slid her chair away and mumbled around her finger, "N-No, it's fine. I can deal with it."

Without looking at any of them, she grabbed her purse and darted out of the room. All with her finger still stuck in her mouth. That's weird...

"Hmm, awfully flighty isn't she… One does have to wonder how she ended up here."

Itou left the statement hanging in the air and of course Heisuke had to answer. He could only hope the idiot wouldn't say anything about her family being connected to their work. He didn't know what Itou would do with the information, but it probably wouldn't be anything good.

"Chizuru? Oh, she's got this really cool program that helps organize our cases." He gave an awkward laugh and rubbed the back of his head. "The problem is she's the only one good at using it. Without her we'd be screwed."

Okita couldn't resist rolling his eyes. Oh yes, let's just tell the slimy, power hungry politician just how useful Chizuru is. Good job Heisuke…

"Hmm." Itou processed that for a second before glancing in the direction Chizuru had gone. "Well I think she'd make a lovely assistant in the Governor's office. I wonder if she could be persuaded to leave..."

Okay, that was as much of Itou as he was willing to put up with in a day. He glared at Heisuke to hopefully get him to shut up and was just about to tell Itou exactly what he could do with his questions and ideas, when a tickle at the back of his throat caused him to start to cough. Itou raised an eyebrow at him and Heisuke asked, "You all right Souji?"

It only lasted a second and he shot a hard look at Itou as he said, "Yeah, fine. Must have been something in the air."

"Oh dear, it appears I've overstayed my welcome." Itou gave his signature fake smile as he pushed off Chizuru's desk and headed for the doorway.

Not that he ever wanted to ask Hijikata for anything, but he'd already tried bringing Itou up to Kondou and had been told to give him a chance. The guy was a world-class flatterer around Kondou and had him completely bewitched. Maybe Hijikata could do something useful for once and convince Kondou to get rid of him… On second thought, he wasn't anywhere near that desperate yet.