"She would look good with this too!" Heisuke exclaimed as he revealed a pink furisode to his friends.
"Oh, man," Sano said nervously.
"Fuyumi would look good in that, but I think she looks better in warm colors," Shinpachi said rubbing his chin, "Like orange or something."
"It's kind of funny how she was born in the winter, but she wears fall colors," Heisuke mentioned.
"You're right," Shinpachi said, "Only you would notice that."
"I know what I'm getting her!" Sano said.
"What?" The two asked.
"A sake bottle set," He said with a smile, "She's one Hell of a drinker!"
"You got that right," Shinpachi agreed, "There are so many things here, I don't know what to get her…"
"What about this kanzashi? Ooh! Or maybe this obi," Heisuke suggested.
"You can get that for her," Sano said purchasing the sake set.
"Maybe I should, ooh! This is cute too," Heisuke pointed out a small, wooden raccoon, "It reminds me of you, Shinpachi."
"Raccoon, eh?" The small man said crossed, "Well you guys go get whatever, I probably have the best gift for her," He said with confidence.
"Ooh! Tell me! Tell me," Sano begged.
"Why should I tell you? That's a secret and I think you guys should respect that," Shinpachi said walking away.
"W-WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" The two men asked.
"Away from you guys…"
"OH SNAP! AHHHHH!" Fuyumi screamed.
"Oh no, haha-san!" Tetsu exclaimed and ran towards Fuyumi had her back turned, "What happened?"
"M-my nail broke!!!" Fuyumi answered and revealed the broken nail of her index finger, "It's going to take forever to grow back…" She whined.
"Oh… Geez, haha-san, you scared me," Tetsu said releasing a sigh.
"I'm sorry for being such a weirdo, Tetsu," Fuyumi apologized, "Anyway; I need to finish dusting… So many chores!!!"
"I know! This is one part I hate about being a page…" Tetsu said crossing his arms.
Fuyumi giggled and patted Tetsu's fiery red hair, "You're too cute."
Shinpachi picked up one kushi comb after another, but none of them really didn't look right, "Damn, this is difficult…" He told himself, "What should I get?"
"Do you need any help, sir?" The shop owner asked.
"No, I'm just looking for a gift," He answered, "Thank you though…"
"Very well then," The shop owner walked back to the counter.
"Okay Shinpachi, calm down…" He thought to himself, "If I were Fuyumi, what would I get? No wait! I got the perfect gift…"
"I wonder what Shinpachi got for Fuyumi," Sano started.
"Yeah, I hope she likes my gift!" Heisuke squealed, "Fuyumi-chan looks good in anything."
"I hope Fuyumi won't be mad at us when we come back…" Sano mentioned nervously.
"Yeah," Heisuke agreed, "She'd probably be like: 'Damn you!' or 'Maybe if you helped, then we would've gone shopping together…'" He said pretending to be Fuyumi.
"Who knows, I hope she doesn't yell at us…"
"I don't know, we have gifts," Heisuke reminded with a wide smile.
"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU THREE BEEN?!" Fuyumi exclaimed.
"F-FUYUMI!?" The two screamed and quickly hid their gifts behind their backs, "W-we went out remember?"
"Oh… Well find anything?" She asked.
"Nope," Heisuke lied, "We just wanted to get fresh air…"
"Yeah, it's a nice day today and the three of us wanted to go out," Sano falsely explained.
"Is that so? Then where's Shinpachi?" She asked.
"He… Went… To… Get more…" Heisuke paused there for a second.
"Get more underwear!" Sano shouted, "You can never have too much."
"Oh… That's very nice to know, Sano…" Fuyumi said and slowly turned away.
"Yeah, nothing like clean underwear!" Sano exclaimed and walked inside dragging Heisuke.
"Good, she didn't suspect anything," Heisuke whispered to the large man.
"Those guys are acting weird," Fuyumi said to herself and walked towards the well to wash her face, "Well I'm glad the chores are done… Time to train… Then make dinner? Oh Hell no!" Fuyumi shouted.
"Is there something wrong, haha-san?" Soji asked.
"No, I'm just a little exhausted…" Fuyumi said with a sigh.
"Don't worry, we- I mean, you'll probably be fine," Soji said patting the young woman's back, "I have to rub Hijikata-san's feet, it's icky…"
"That's okay, Okita-san," Fuyumi said trying to comfort Soji, "I'm gonna go to the training hall."
"Alright, you be careful," He said watching Fuyumi walk away.
"I'm back!" Shinpachi announced while walking into the training hall.
"S-Shinpachi!!!" Heisuke cried out, "We missed you."
"'Miss you' my ass," Shinpachi said trying to pull Heisuke off of him.
"Shinpachi!" Fuyumi called out and held on to Shinpachi's other arm, "How was underwear shopping?"
"U-underwear shopping?" Shinpachi repeated then gave Sano and Heisuke a stern look.
The two looked at exchanged frightened expressions then looked at Shinpachi.
"I-it was pleasant…" The small man lied.
"Ooh! That's good," Fuyumi said letting go of Shinpachi's arm, "Todou-san, want to spar?"
"Sounds good," Heisuke agreed, "If I hurt you too much, you can always-"
"HYAA!" Fuyumi screamed out and whacked Heisuke's shoulder and quickly moved to the right.
"OW!" He exclaimed and glanced at Shinpachi and Sano who were laughing. Heisuke looked at Fuyumi, and then dropped his wooden sword, "My shoulder! My shoulder!" He cried, "It's painful."
Fuyumi rolled her eyes and hit Heisuke's head, "I'll never let my guard down, now fight like a man!"
Todou sighed and picked up his wooden sword, "I thought you would…" He said and ran towards Fuyumi with a sly smile on his face.
The young woman quickly moved left and twirled around staring at his back. Seeing that was an opening, Fuyumi grasped the wooden sword and thrusts it, but clumsily, Fuyumi tripped on her own feet and fell on her face.
"FUYUMI!" The other men in the training hall exclaimed and rushed over. Some ran out to grab wet towels or a medical kit.
Blood suddenly flowed under Fuyumi. It was soon a puddle of rouge. Shinpachi rushed over and helped Fuyumi up.
"Don't worry, it's just my nose," Fuyumi said with her bloody nose.
"Geez, you scared us," Shinpachi said, "You need to be more careful."
"Here Nagakura-san," A member handed over a wet towel.
"Thanks," Shinpachi said cleaning up Fuyumi's bloody face, "Is your nose broken?"
"No," Fuyumi answered, "It's just bleeding," She said laughing and placed her hands on Shinpachi's, "Don't worry, I'll be fine… Even though I lost a lot of blood."
"I think you need a drink!" Sano suggested.
"Hell yeah!" Fuyumi agreed and looked at her blood-stained clothing, "I think I'm done, thank you for sparring with me, Todou-san. And I'm sorry about the mess! I'll come back and clean it."
"Don't worry, we can have 'Puppy boy,' clean it up," Heisuke said nervously.
"It was my mess and my fault for being clumsy, so don't even think about it," Fuyumi said and walked to her room to change.
"Man, that gave me a scare," Shinpachi sighed.
"I'm glad she didn't break her nose," Sano said stretching, "So what did you get her?"
"Ooh! Heisuke wants to know!" Todou said jumping around.
"Want to know what?" Fuyumi asked in her orange kimono.
"F-FUYUMI!" The "Comedic Trio" exclaimed.
"I told you I was gonna come back and clean, didn't I?" She said cleaning up the blood.
"You shouldn't overwork yourself," Heisuke reminded Fuyumi.
