Hey everyone! So I'm back with another chapter, but this took a little longer since I was away for most of this week so sorry for the delay! Just a small heads up (it's really small, I promise!), I decided to play around in this chapter with Hijikata a bit. I wanted to stay in character, and maybe he is still in character, but I decided to take a bit of liberty with how he acted in this scene. Granted, he isn't in Edo period Japan anymore!

Also, thank you to Stickaroo, nakigaoyuu, StariChanx, and the other lovely guest who reviewed! Thank you as well to Nuvola de Demone, kyisafreakk, chichi123, mteagle128, and Kurious Kitsune for favoriting/following! You all are why I have the motivation to continue with this story :)

And for anyone else who comes across this story and chapter, please review, favorite, or follow if you like what you have read! I'm always looking to improve after all, so any suggestions or comments would be appreciated. Thanks again for all the support, and see you soon!

Chapter 3

Upon hearing her desire to be untied, Hijikata paused for a brief moment before nodding, "We'll grant your request. Harada-san, if you could untie her."

Nodding, the maroon-haired samurai gently untied the knots that bound her wrists and ankles, and as his fingers grazed over her rope-marked skin, he murmured, "Sorry for treating you so roughly, Yukimura-san."

"No worries, Harada-san," she shook her head. She couldn't blame them for tying her up. They ended up in a different time period, landed in a cramped room, saw a girl they didn't know, and retained all of their previous memories. Any sane individual who entered a similar situation would try to protect themselves from the unknown, and she belonged to that category.

Once the cloth ropes came undone, she massaged her wrists and sat upright on her bed. Chizuru then took a deep breath, and her eyes met with each of the men's gazes. "I know this might sound crazy, and you might not believe me… but I swear that it's true!" she exclaimed, her voice rising a few pitches due to nervousness.

"The fact that we somehow came to the future and ended up in your room is also crazy, isn't it not?" Okita smirked.

Despite his remarks, Chizuru just shook her head, and the next thing that came out of her mouth shocked everyone, "I'm sorry!"

Each of the men looked confused, but she bowed and continued, "I don't know how you all ended up here, but I'm so sorry! I'm sorry for making figurines of each of you! The symbols on your tabi are my initials in English, C for Chizuru, and Y for Yukimura. I like pottery, and I studied about the Shinsengumi in class, so I wanted to create figurines for myself. So I made figurines of each of you, and wrote my initials on the bottom of your right feet. I just finished them a few hours ago, but I didn't mean for you all to transport into my time! I don't know if this is really the cause. However, if my making figurines caused this, I'm so sorry!"

Each Shinsengumi captain and commander sat in shock. However, the surprise soon wore away as they noticed tears fall from the young lady's face. Her back was bent forward in apology, but the morning sunlight illuminated each drop that fell from her dainty nose. Her fingers were wrapped around each other, and Chizuru's entire body shook with sadness.

Each of the captains hesitated; all had questions for her, but none knew where to start. She learned about them, so clearly they made a mark in history. However, it was difficult to gauge what their contributions in the war were. After all, they lost in the end, and it seemed that they weren't in Japan to the language difference. Also, they haven't had a chance to ask Chizuru about what Japan in the modern day and age was like. Despite this realization, any doubts that the Shinsengumi captains and commanders had for the young woman before them died away with each teardrop, and Harada proceeded to pat her on the back, "Now, now, a beautiful lady shouldn't be crying during the rise of dawn, yeah?"

Chizuru sniffled and wiped her eyes with her pajama sleeve. "I'm sorry…" she mumbled another apology, and bit her lips to try and stop the tears.

The youngest captain then scooted himself forward until he sat right in front of her. "Chizuru, was it? Can I call you that?" he asked. She nodded, and he continued, "Call me Heisuke! You don't look like you're much older than me."

"Really?" she asked meekly.

Heisuke nodded in excitement. Chizuru, despite still feeling scared and apprehensive, attempted to smile. "Thank you, Heisuke-san!"

"Oh?" Okita began, "Aren't you getting close quickly, hundred-something-year-old Heisuke? You sure you're her age?"

"Shaddup, Okita-san! I'm trying to be nice! And I look her age, don't I?!" the younger man huffed in frustration.

"I'm just stating what I see, is all," the captain of the first division snickered. "Can't blame you when you have a cute girl sitting in front of you."

Chizuru looked down from Okita to avoid his gaze, and she felt her cheeks heat up. "I'm not cute…" she murmured.

"Yukimura-san," Sannan began, and she quickly turned her attention to him, "I know I'm the only one saying this for now, but I'm sure that no one here blames you for this predicament."

"Really?" Chizuru questioned while sniffling once again.

The older man nodded. "I'm sure we were brought here for a reason. We'll figure out what is happening and what the issue is, and we'll solve it," he answered slowly, each word measured out in steady confidence.

She found herself calming down as his forest-green irises bore into her own. Chizuru didn't really know what was happening, but speaking with Sannan seemed to put her at ease. Therefore, she could think more rationally, and the gears in her head were already turning.

"Little kitten seems to be determined," Okita remarked as he watched Chizuru ball her hands into fists. The men then gawked as she pushed her fists against her cheeks to push her mouth out, shook her head so rapidly that her bed hair fell into an even messier arrangement, and jumped up and off the bed.

Chizuru's own apprehension began to wilt away, and she announced, "I'm going to figure out what is happening and help you out!"

Hijikata raised his eyebrows, "How would you go about that?"

"Well," she responded, "I'm not sure yet, but since we know that somehow you all sprouted from my figurines, at least we have somewhere to start."

Nagakura looked displeased at the word "sprouted," and so he said, "How about 'born' instead of 'sprouted,' eh, Chizuru-chan?"

"Oh, oh, yes," Chizuru put her hand to her mouth in embarrassment, "I'm sorry!"

"Don't worry about him, Yukimura-san," Harada began, "he's blunt like that. Please don't take offense."

"What're you saying, Sano?! I'm just stating what I think!"

The two continued to bicker, and Chizuru sighed. How am I supposed to help them? I could teach them the ropes of this society, but I don't have any other information…

Upon noticing her deep in thought, Hijikata voiced, "Yukimura?"

Chizuru shook out of her reverie, "Yes?"

"I think our first plan should consist of learning everything in this time period. We are not so familiar with… many things in this room," he stated, and Chizuru's cheeks turned pink in embarrassment that she didn't think of that earlier, "and that would help us in the long run as we don't know our length of stay, yes?"

"Yes, yes!" she nodded rapidly in nervousness, and Hijikata's lips turned upwards ever so slightly.

However, right as she was about to state her own addition to Hijikata's plan, Chizuru's bed-shaking alarm clock sprang to life. The loudest non-battlefield shrill that the Shinsengumi had ever heard erupted. Before she could even process what was happening, Hijikata drew his sword and chopped the alarm in half.

Not a single person said a word, and Chizuru didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the spectacle of the humming alarm clock sputtering its last bursts of electricity before releasing of puff of gray smoke. Okita, on the other hand, gleefully laughed aloud, "Hijikata-san, I'm not sure that you were supposed to slice that thing in half. Your reflexes sure haven't changed in the last hundred years."

The man in question grumbled, "It was menacing! The sound grated my ears and seemed dangerous."

Chizuru sighed. Now that her most effective wake-up method was out of commission, getting up in the morning was going to be a pain. That, on top of having to help the Shinsengumi adapt from the immense culture shock that they would soon experience, was giving her a headache.

As the men continued to bicker about the broken state of the alarm clock and tease Hijikata about his high-strung reflexes, Chizuru buried her head in her hands. This is going to be a long day…

[薄桜鬼]

Once she stepped out of the apartment complex, Chizuru shivered as a strong gust of frigid wind wrapped around her. She rubbed her hands together, which were still cold despite the gloves, adjusted her bookbag, and walked briskly towards the bus station. She was not sure why her hands were still cold despite the thickness of the glove, as her fingers have felt chilled since a few hours ago. Speaking of that very morning, Chizuru reminded herself to thank again Sen for calling her…

Earlier…

"I apologize for destroying your… clock," Hijikata bowed towards the silent young woman sitting on the bed. Once Chizuru explained to the whole group what an alarm clock was and why she needed it, the vice-comander not only received an earful of teasing from Okita, Nagakura, and Heisuke, but also blushed in embarrassment as he realized the problem resulting from his actions. Needless to say, he was deeply apologetic, and Chizuru couldn't help but chuckle at his facial expressions. "What's so funny?" he murmured, turning his head away to avoid her gaze.

"It's nothing," she replied, "although you could do something for me."

"Yes?"

"So I have to get to school," Chizuru went straight to the point, "and since none of you know much about this time period, I'm going to run a few basics with you and Sannan-san, cool?"

Both commanders perked up at her suggestion, for they wondered what instructions she was about to give them. However, Heisuke whined, "Why not us?"

Chizuru rubbed her temples and turned on her phone's homescreen, a bright "7:20" staring right in her face. "Look, I only have 20 minutes before I have to head to school. Before you ask any questions," she started as she noted the questioning gazes the men gave her, "women in this time period do go to school. Same as men. Also, since I don't have much time to give you enough information about how to live by yourselves for a few hours, I'm going to quickly teach Sannan-san and Hijikata-san a few things so that you all can make sure the house doesn't burn down in your desire to eat food or flood the apartment when you need to relieve yourself. Cool?"

"Yes!" Nagakura cheered, "Food's the best! Speaking of which, I'm super hungry! Who's gonna feed me?"

"You're going to feed yourself," Chizuru retorted as she got off the bed and pulled out a long sweater and thick, black leggings. As she grabbed a hairbrush and started combing her hair out, she continued, "Nowadays, there is much less hierarchy going on, and men, women, and children are all equal. Theoretically. Speaking of which, I'm going to give you only today to keep with the hierarchy you all are used to, hence my giving Hijikata-san and Sannan-san the instructions. By tomorrow, you all are equal as individuals. Understood?"

"Yes, Yukimura-san," Saito nodded in agreement. "I believe that plan is most efficient for all of us."

"Would we get used to it though?" Heisuke wondered aloud. "I mean, we've lived our entire lives with hierarchy."

"Trust me," Chizuru began, "you'll see in the coming few days why we have less hierarchy in modern society. It'll help you in the time that you will stay here."

Hijikata nodded in agreement, "Seems reasonable. We don't know how long we'll be here, after all."

"Eh, I never thought that someone a century younger than us would be the ones to give us commands and instructions," Okita wondered aloud, his eyes twinkling in amusement as he noticed Chizuru give him a quizzical look.
"Got a problem with that?"

"Not at all. Just interesting," the First Division captain winked at her, and she nearly rolled her eyes at his teasing nature.

Just then, Chizuru was about to open her drawer of intimates when she stopped herself. "Can you all close your eyes?"

"Why?" Harada asked?

"I'm about to pull out garments that cover my private parts. Do you all want to witness them?"

At that comment, all the men quickly covered their eyes. "Yukimura-san, if I may ask a question," Sannan-san began while holding his hand over his face.

"Yes?"

"What exactly do you need to cover your private parts as a woman? Surely your clothes would do?"

"Ah," Chizuru walked past all of them to head to the bathroom, but left the door slightly ajar so the men could hear her, "you can open your eyes now. Back in your time, the kimino was thick enough that women didn't need additional clothing to bind the chest in place. However, clothes these days don't have as many layers, nor are they as thick. Therefore, women need additional… intimates, let's say, to do the same job."

"That's so interesting," Harada murmured.

"Eh, sounds complicated to me," Nagakura laughed.

"Of course it sounds complicated to you, doofus. You barely knew how to deal with women's clothes back then too," Heisuke teased.

"Whaddya say, you young'un?!" the older man retorted as he took the younger captain by the back of the shirt and began gently shaking him. "Like you know any better!"

Too much information…Chizuru thought as she emerged from the bathroom. However, once the men noticed her, all covered their eyes again. She looked at them in confusion, "Is something wrong?"

"Well," Hijikata coughed, "we can see your legs…"

"Huh?" Chizuru responded, her eyebrows raised at first as she didn't understand what he meant. However, that quickly changed as she realized that this was just another moment of culture, and generational, shock for the men. "Open your eyes, it's okay," she continued. Once they removed their hands from their faces, she snickered, "Wait until a few months from now. You'll see the skin on my and other women's legs too."

Chizuru almost laughed as she saw the ghastly expressions on each of the Shinsengumi men. But before she could give in to her subconscious amusement, the EDM ringtone on her phone blasted out. To prevent the destruction of another one of her gadgets from the hyperaware captains, she lunged to grab her phone and answer it. "Hello?"

"CHI-CHAN!" her best friend's voice blasted from the speaker. "WHERE ARE YOU? I'M ALREADY AT THE BUS STOP!"

"Oh my God, Sen-chan, I'm so sorry!" Chizuru panicked. As a result of the events that occurred that very morning, she had completely forgotten that she and Sen were supposed to meet at the bus stop at 7:30 am. "I had something come up, you can go ahead without me!"

"You sure?" Sen asked. "You don't sound too good…"

"Positive, I'm just sleep deprived. Don't worry," Chizuru responded as she held her phone with her shoulder and began to shove her laptop and notebooks into her bag. The men were startled not only at the voice coming out of one of the smallest machines they ever encountered, but also at the pens and notebooks that were flying in their direction. Thanks to their reflexes, each of the commanders and captains managed to catch them.

"Alright. Want me to grab you coffee?"

"Latte with two expresso shots, please!"

"You're really going for the caffeine, huh?" Sen remarked, "No problem, I'll get that and save you a seat too."

Chizuru sighed in relief, "Thank you, Sen-chan! I owe you one!"

"Ya sure do. See ya!"

Once Chizuru hung up, she turned to the men in her room. "So, I gave all of you paper and pens, so write down any questions you have for me on those and I'll answer them when I get back. Now, can all of you leave this room and go to the living room? There should be plenty of room to make yourselves comfortable."

The men nodded, and she then laid her attention to the two commanders. "Hijikata-san, Sannan-san, can you come with me? I'm going to show you how to operate a few things. Also," Chizuru emphasized, "none of you leave this apartment under ANY circumstances. Please?"

Back to the present…

The bus arrived just as Chizuru finished recalling the memory of that prior morning. At this point, whether her apartment would still be functional at the end of the day would be entirely up to the two commanders. She sighed again and closed her eyes since the fatigue was catching up to her. Thankfully, the ride to school was not too long, and Chizuru arrived on campus with five minutes left to spare.

Once she settled down in the classroom three minutes later, she leaned back in her chair and took a deep breath. Sen reached over and began to give Chizuru a short neck massage. "Long night yesterday?"

"Don't even mention it," the tired young woman murmured. "Thanks for the coffee and massage, you're the best."

"No problem. You know that I'm always worried about you. You sure you don't want to just skip today's classes? We don't have anything mandatory…"

Chizuru shook her head, "I can't skip. Not when my livelihood depends on school."

Sen nodded in understanding, but her lips were tilted downwards. "I know, but your health is most important. You know that, right? Also, you could always borrow my notes. I take the same classes as you, after all."

"I know, Sen-chan" Chizuru began, "but I already owe you so much. I can't ask you for any more favors…"

Her friend sighed, "You're so stubborn, Chi-chan." But before she could say any more, the bell rang, and their genetics professor walked into the room. "We'll continue this conversation later," Sen reminded.

Chizuru nodded, and turned her attention to the board. Time to focus, I'll worry about other things later. As long as they don't destroy anything else, I'm good. Let's do this.