Re-edited February 2021


The next morning Kaiya woke to find Hajime propped up on one elbow frowning as he stroked the scar left behind from the injury to her shoulder. When he noticed that she was awake, he bent down and kissed her then resumed staring at her scar in irritation.

"I should have been there for you, protecting you." He sighed and rubbed his face in irritation.

Kaiya sat up and took his face into her hands. "Even if you had been with the Shinsengumi at that point, you still wouldn't have been there. I had synchronized my visit to the market to coincide with a patrol and it worked."

Hajime removed her hands from his face. "You're probably right but still…" He looked away.

"Hajime, there's nothing you could have done."

She kissed him and pulled down as she laid back again. A little while later the two of lay intertwined and breathing heavily. When Hajime finally caught his breath, he rolled out of bed and offered his hand to pull her to her feet as well. She smiled at him coyly and took his hand.

"I really missed you." She said as he pulled her to her feet.

He kissed her then quickly turned away and reached for his clothes that were laying on the ground. Kaiya followed suit and also got dressed. When they were both done, he grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her in the face with a very serious look on his face.

"Kaiya, you can't leave the compound today. Not on rounds, not to do any kind of shopping. Promise me."

"Does this have something to do with Itou-san?" Kaiya asked looking at Hajime confused.

"Just promise me." He demanded.

"I-I promise, just don't do anything stupid." Kaiya was starting to get a sense of foreboding.

Hajime sighed in relief. "I rarely do anything rash. Let's go to breakfast."

111

After breakfast both Hijikata and Kondou said pretty much the same thing, for her to not leave the compound. Kaiya knew what was going on, but she really didn't want to think about it or what its possible consequences might be for both the Shinsengumi and for herself. For the rest of the day Kaiya didn't see Hajime or the rest of the Captains, which Kaiya thought was kind of weird. Kaiya had even gone to look for Souji so she could apply the ointment to his back and chest but couldn't find him anywhere. As dinner approached, Kaiya saw Hijikata and Kondou depart just after talking to Souji, Shinpachi and Sanosuke. After they had departed Kaiya walked up to the three of them.

"Where has everyone been?" Kaiya asked when they noticed her approach.

Shinpachi smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry Kaiya-chan, we weren't trying to ignore you!"

Souji reached up to mess up her hair but she swatted his hand away, causing him to laugh. "We've just been busy, sorry."

"Yeah, we better get going, we still have things to do." Said Sanosuke as he indicated the other two to follow.

Kaiya grabbed Souji's arm. "Can I borrow Souji for a few minutes, it's important."

"Alright but make it quick Kaiya-chan. Souji, you know where we'll be." Said Sanosuke.

Souji just nodded and waited for them to leave before he looked down at her. "So, what's this about?"

"What do you mean 'what's this about'? Come on let's go to the clinic, its closer." She pulled him after her as she walked off.

"Oh that. I feel great, I don't know why you need to do that when I feel good!" He grumbled.

"If I only put that stuff on you when you felt sick or had attacks, you'd be in a lot worse condition now. So just shut up and let me look after you."

Souji laughed as they stepped into the clinic. "You've been hanging around me too long, you're starting to sound like me." Souji obediently sat down, slid out of his shirt than laid back. As Kaiya applied the ointment to his chest as he stared up at the ceiling as he said. "I'd probably be dead by now if it wasn't for you, wouldn't I?"

Kaiya forced a smile on to her face. "Oh, I don't know. You're pretty stubborn, so you might still be alive…just maybe bedridden."

Souji automatically rolled on to his stomach. "Still, you've done a lot for me. I probably wouldn't have been able to beat this thing, now I think I will. Thanks Kai."

Kaiya looked at him sadly, "You're welcome. I'm glad you asked me to stay, when I first arrived. Life's been so much better for me since I came here…so let's call it even."

Souji laughed as he sat up and put on his shirt. "You mean Hajime-kun, right?" Kaiya said nothing instead got up and went to her cabinet that had all her medicinal teas in it. "You knew he was only spying, didn't you? I mean if he'd broken up with you, you'd have been a lot more upset with him leaving."

Kaiya walked back and handed Souji a tea she had quickly made. "He never told me that he was leaving or spying, but I kind of figured it out on my own…well he did drop a few hints the night before. He loves me a lot, you know."

Souji studied her face carefully as he sipped his tea. "Do you love him? Would you marry him?"

Kaiya was shocked by his last question, she thought about it a moment. Then responded confidently, "Yes, I do love him and I would marry him if he asked me…and this time I wouldn't be settling, I really would like that." Kaiya smiled at Souji.

Souji smiled back and hugged her. "Good, I'm glad. He's a good guy, I'd have no problem with it. Now I've already taken too long, I better go." Souji got to his feet, leaving the cup on the ground and walked towards the door and stopped and looked back at her. "Kai, stay in your room tonight unless one of us come and gets you, 'kay?"

Kaiya huffed, "Sheesh, you're the fourth person today to tell me to stay in the compound! I get it already!"

Souji smiled. "We care about you and we don't want you involved in this, so just do as we say."

Kaiya grunted and waved him away.

111

An hour after Kaiya had finally gone to sleep, Souji shook her awake. "Kai! Wake up!"

Kaiya rubbed her eyes and looked up at him. "What's going on?"

"Get up! We need you!" He pulled her to her feet and started pulling her towards the door.

"Can't I at least get changed?!" She grumbled as she staggered along behind him.

"No, he might be dead before you get there as it is!" Now that Kaiya was practically awake, Souji started jogging still pulling her a long behind him.

Fear shot through her body. "Who's dying?" Kaiya's body finally kicked into high gear and started running towards the clinic.

"Sakaki-san!" Souji said as he too picked up his pace. "Heisuke got hurt too but not nearly so bad, thanks to Hajime-kun's intervention. Sano-san and Shinpachi-san have minor nicks and bruises I'm sure but they're fine as far as I can tell."

Kaiya felt a little guilty at the relief she felt that it hadn't been someone she had been closer to that had been injured. They ran into the clinic to find Yamazaki working furiously to try and save Sakaki but from the blood on the ground and the extent of injuries that Kaiya could see even from the doorway, she wasn't sure if he was saveable. Kaiya knelt on the other side of Sakaki and looked him over as Yamazaki worked quickly at trying to sew up the multiple bleeders.

Souji helpfully brought over her suture kit, then tied her loose hair back for her and secured her sleeves as she helped Yamazaki sew the man up. A few minutes later the man's heart stopped, Kaiya started pumping his heart and tried kick starting it again but after several minutes of trying to revive him, Kaiya told Yamazaki to stop what he was doing…he was dead.

When Kaiya had first entered the room, her vision had tunneled and only saw Sakaki lying in a pool of his own blood, she hadn't taken notice of the other three sitting there silently watching while she and Yamazaki tried to save Sakaki's life. When she finally took notice of them, she noticed Heisuke clutching his ribs while he watched them soberly. Kaiya got up, cleaned off her hands than sat down again by Heisuke. Sanosuke and Shinpachi got to their feet.

"We better go let Hijikata-san and Kondou-san know what happened before Saitou got there." Said Shinpachi.

Kaiya looked up at them. "Are either of you hurt?"

Sanosuke smiled, bent over and put a hand on her head. "Don't worry about us, Kaiya-chan! We'll be fine. Just look after Heisuke for us, 'kay?"

Kaiya nodded and they both turned and left. Kaiya looked back at Heisuke.

"Why don't we go over here and take a look at you."

Kaiya indicated an area behind a screen that would put them out of view of the now dead Sakaki. They got up and walked over to the area, than Kaiya got Heisuke to lie on his back so she could better inspect his ribs and abdominal area.

"Well, it looks like a couple of broken ribs and a quite a bit of bruising in the abdominal area but I don't think anything has ruptured." Said Kaiya finally.

"I guess considering, it could be worse. How long will I be out of commission?" Heisuke asked as he sat up, which caused him to wince.

"You should take at least three weeks off. In reality, though, it should be more like six to eight weeks, sometimes longer with ribs. I'll wrap your ribs, it'll hurt in the beginning but once it's done it'll be less painful long term." Kaiya got up and went to where Yamazaki was instructing two men where to place the body. "Yamazaki-kun, could you give me a hand wrapping Heisuke-kun's ribs?"

Yamazaki nodded and followed Kaiya back to Heisuke. They wrapped his ribs and Yamazaki escorted Heisuke back to his room to give him the tonic that would help him sleep. Kaiya walked to Hijikata's room and found the light was on and she could see several figure's moving around. Kaiya knocked on the door, no body answered verbally but the door opened to reveal Hijikata.

"Good evening Kaiya-chan. How's Heisuke?" He made no motion to let her in, so she assumed that she was not going to be let in.

"A couple broken ribs but nothing serious. He shouldn't be doing any patrolling or anything too physically strenuous for three weeks, but he can do most of his other duties." She stated.

Hijikata nodded. "Good. From what I've heard it could have been a lot worse. Thank you, Kaiya-chan go back to sleep. Yamazaki can take care of the rest." Hijikata stepped back and closed the door.

111

The following morning Kaiya went about her morning ritual of getting ready and checking on the clinic. She was getting ready to leave and meet everyone for breakfast, when Hijikata met her as she was leaving.

"Kaiya-chan, can I talk to you for a moment in my room?" He asked her.

"Of course!" Kaiya responded. Kaiya followed him back to his room and when they were inside, he indicated for her to take a seat.

"I know the last couple days have been strange, so I thought I should catch you up with what's been going on." Kaiya remained silent but nodded her head, so he continued. "As you heard Kondou-san say a couple days ago; when Itou-san left, we sent Saitou to go and spy on him for us. The night that he returned, he told us that Itou's faction was working on aggressive action towards the Shinsengumi and that they were going to assassinate Kondou-san, as you heard. Last night we took things into our own hands. Kondou-san and I decided to meet with Itou-san to 'hire him' to looking into the Choshu, but that was a ploy to get him out in the open. On his way back to his own headquarters, we assassinated him."

"Is that how Heisuke-kun got hurt?" Kaiya asked.

"Yes and no. The assassination went off how we had planned, but something else occurred that we had not planned for. It would seem the Choshu and Satsuma have now made an alliance. After we assassinated Itou-san, they ambushed us." He said.

"Satsuma? Why?" Kaiya asked confused.

"We have yet to figure that out. But two of the so called 'demons' were amongst their ranks and it was Amagiri who injured Heisuke. If it hadn't been for Saitou arriving when he did, it could have been worse." He said.

"Arrived? Was he not there to begin with?" Kaiya asked.

"No. The Itou faction was not yet aware of his return to our ranks, so we sent him back to keep an eye on things while we talked with Itou-san. He arrived at the ambush just in time."

"So, Itou-san's dead?"

He looked at her somberly. "Yes."

Kaiya sighed. "Good."

"We are far from being out of hot water, but it is one less obstacle for us." Hijikata said. "I'm afraid that with Satsuma allying themselves with the Choshu, full scale war may break out." Hijikata shook his head sadly. "Well, that's all I wanted to say to you, let's go and have some breakfast, shall we?"

111

Over the following week, the Shinsengumi returned to some sense of normalcy. For Kaiya, having Hajime around again was very satisfying. Like before, whenever he had a moment of free time, he generally spent it with her. The guys also wanted to catch up though, so the five of them went out to have a bit of fun.

During the second week, Hajime asked her to meet him in Kondou's room. Kaiya thought it was a bit weird, but she figured that it must have been at Kondou's request. So, she met him just outside Kondou's rooms and they went in together.

Kondou looked at the two of them confused. "What's this about Saitou?"

Hajime looked at her first than looked at Kondou. "I thought it might be appropriate to inform you of something that's been going on for some time. I haven't told Kaiya-chan why we are here, but we agreed a while ago that we should inform you. When the whole thing with Itou-san came up, it put those plans on hold."

"I imagine that you are wanting to tell me the nature of your relationship with Kaiya-chan, am I right?" Kondou smiled at them brightly.

"Yes." Replied Hajime.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you two have been seeing each other for quite some time now. I'm not blind you know." Kondou laughed. "Although the others don't seem to have quite caught on, I'm not sure if even Toshi has caught on. I'm completely for your relationship!"

"Well, Souji knows and he's okay with it too." Kaiya's brain had finally caught up to what was going on and her face was now beet red.

"Oh, I know! Souji and I have talked about the two of you on numerous occasions!" Kondou laughed again.

"Also, Kondou-san, while it may seem strange that I'm telling you this but since Kaiya-chan's father has since passed and you're technically in charge of her care; I find it appropriate to telling you that I intend to marry her…if she'll have me." He finally looked at her the softest of expressions.

Kaiya looked at him shocked and it took her a moment to process what he'd just said. When it finally sank in, she smiled at him as tears started to fill her eyes. "Yes of course I'll marry you!" He smiled in return, relieved that she'd said yes.

Kondou smiled broadly. "Excellent! This is just the pick me up the Shinsengumi needs! Celebrating the happiness of two of its people!" Kondou paused as a thought came to his mind. "Have you talked to Souji? He takes his role in Kaiya-chan's life very seriously."

Hajime looked at Kondou again finally. "Not yet. I wished to speak with you first, I'll have a private conversation with him next. If you could keep this too yourself until I have spoken with him, I'd be grateful."

"Of course!" Kondou replied as he continued to smile at them.

"Thank you for hearing me out, Kondou-san." Hajime said as he got to his feet. He offered Kaiya his hand and helped her to her feet and they walked to the door together.

As they were about to exit, Kondou said "Congratulations, you two."

Hajime just nodded his head, but Kaiya turned and bowed and said thanked him properly. When they were outside, Hajime grabbed her by the hand and lead her off to a quiet part of the mansion. When he was sure they were a lone, he turned to her and kissed her deeply.

"I'm sorry I did not warn you." He said when he pulled back but still pressing his forehead against hers. "But I felt the need to ask you immediately."

"It's okay, I'm just happy you asked!" She smiled at him and stroked his cheek. "You know Souji and I had this conversation the day you came back. He asked me if I'd marry you, if you asked me. I told him yes of course and he said that he'd be okay with it."

"I hope he is because I'll marry you whether he likes it or not but I rather not put you in a difficult spot." Hajime kissed her again but lightly this time.

"I wouldn't say that too him." She said in between kisses. "You know what he's like."

Hajime sighed and pulled away. "Yes, I am aware. Now I better go see if I can have a talk with your cousin. You'd better return to the clinic." He kissed her again and caressed her cheek before walking away.

Kaiya watched him leave and when he was out of sight, she slowly melted to the ground and let out a happy sigh. She sat there on the ground for several minutes trying to contain her excitement and work her face back into a neutral mask. When she had somewhat succeeded, she got back onto her feet and returned to work.