There are no words to describe how much I appreciate the feedback I've been getting. Hopefully, you'll appreciate this chapter as much as I did as I wrote it.

As always, feedback is always welcome and encouraged.

Chapter Three

Meetings and Misunderstandings

Souji doubted he'd ever get used to western clothes. If given a choice, he'd opt for a gi and hakama any day. In this day and age, however, such clothing was more suited to working out or training in a dojo, so when pressed he usually opted for comfortable stuff.

Dinner wear was neither his style nor comfortable; Souji tugged restlessly at the tie Mitsu had threatened him into wearing every few moments, feeling stifled. Clothes like these were better suited for Sanan or Hijikata, both of whom were in their element at this sort of gathering. Both men smiled effortlessly as they charmed their peers, though Hijikata's vaulted patience did crack a few times that Souji noticed. His home was crawling with medical professionals and researchers of every flavor; thankfully, while the house itself was a modest one, the garden was a large one and easily accommodated the large amount of people trying to chat up tonight's guest of the hour.

Yukimura Kodo looked…much the same as Souji remembered him. Bald, almost frail-looking, but with a smile that wasn't warped by the ochimizu. For the most part, he kept a slightly uncomfortable distance from him. Souji had far too many memories of the man and wasn't sure he'd be able to keep his mouth shut. Besides which, he was a bit preoccupied looking for the man's daughter.

Chizuru was definitely here – Mitsu had unknowingly confirmed it for him the minute the good doctor had arrived by reminding him and the Baka Trio to behave themselves. He'd been looking for her since, as conflicted about approaching her as ever, but thus far she'd somehow managed to remain elusive. It was actually starting to get a bit frustrating; there were only so many places she could be.

Annoyed, he finally ducked into the kitchen for a moment, almost stumbling on Heisuke who was sitting on the floor and stretching his legs, complaining, "Man, why do we have to serve guests?" Like Sano, Hajime, and Shinpachi, he'd been turned into a server for the night.

"Ahou." Hijikata was obviously escaping the madness of the guests for the moment; he certainly didn't hide…even though it certainly looked like he did. "It would be too odd if you came as guests; none of you are even in the medical field. This isn't the type of gathering you just invite friends to."

"I don't know, might be more fun that way." Souji grinned in the face of the exasperated stare he shot his way. Were it the commander's gathering, he might've called a hooker to drop in just to liven things up, but for his sister…he sighed forlornly, disappointed. He rather valued having all ten of his fingers, thank you. "How the hell do you stand it?"

"Focus on a point just beyond their head and nod a lot." Hijikata looked pained as he rubbed at his temple. "Give me stupid ronin any day," he muttered under his breath before steeling his shoulders and walking back outside.

Heisuke and Souji both laughed as the door shut behind him. "I don't know," the younger boy finally said, "Kinda nice not having to be so alert all the time." Of them all, Heisuke had adjusted to the changes the easiest. He was still a little cock in a fight and trained just as hard as the rest of them, but he wasn't nearly as stuck in his old habits as the rest of them were. "Any luck?"

Souji shook his head. "She must be hiding because I swear I've done two laps among these people and I haven't even gotten a glimpse of her." It'd occurred to him she might very well be dodging him; maybe she really did have her memories and…didn't want to see him?

The thought annoyed him far more than it should have.

Heisuke sighed. "Me neither. Sano and Shin haven't had luck either, though I don't know how much they're actually looking so much as flirting." He rolled his eyes and Souji snorted. Heisuke flirted just as much as the other two, but in this crowd the women were generally much older and not quite what he was going for.

Souji opened his mouth to respond to that when the door behind him slid open again and he felt someone knock right into him. Instinctively, he held a hand out to steady whoever it was, figuring it was probably Kin to check up on the desserts…

And just about stood there gaping like a fool for a good minute. It's just that easy?

After the whole evening spent searching…her big, brown eyes blinked up at him in surprise. His mouth went dry and he simply scanned Chizuru over, at a loss as to what, exactly, he should even say. Something? Anything? Come on you idiot; SPEAK!

"Watch where you're going, huh?" His grin felt…a little off…and out of the corner of his eye, he caught Heisuke smack his head with a grimace. Yeah, that could've come out a little better. "You might hurt yourself."

"Ah, I'm so sorry!" She bowed, hands clutching together in front of her. "I was just, uh…looking for some place to freshen up."

To his eyes, she looked perfectly fine; her dark green dress was modest, but form fitting, and his eyes followed the familiar curve of her hips and waist without even thinking. The most distracting thing was her hair; it fell loose in gentle waves past her shoulders, unadorned except for a small little cherry blossom clip to keep her bangs out of her eyes. Chizuru had never worn it down very much, but the few times he'd glimpse it he'd always just stared because it'd made her look so….different.

He stared into her eyes for several moments, drinking in every ounce of her. Finally. He wanted to hug her, kiss her; feel the smoothness of her skin again. But the eyes staring back at him were…confused, maybe a little weary, but most importantly showed no recognition once so ever.

He'd known it – prepared himself for the possibility – but the disappointment was like a hard blow to the gut and it stole his breath away.

She doesn't remember.

He must've been quiet for too long because he heard Heisuke move and suddenly he was in front of him, catching her attention and giving him a moment to…recollect himself. "Forgive my friend; he's had a bit too much if you know what I mean." The joke prompted a small awkward giggle, but he held out his hand with his usual smile. "I'm Heisuke; the fool behind me is Okita Soujiro, but we just call him Souji."

"Pleasure to meet you." She bowed a bit, slightly less guarded seeming before turning to face him. "You must be Mitsu-san and Kin-san's brother? They mentioned you were among the guests tonight."

"The one and only." The grin he gave her was real, as was the slap on the back that nearly sent Heisuke tumbling to the floor face first. Fool, huh? Brat. "Mitsu-neesan mentioned Yukimura-sensei had a daughter he'd be bringing. Didn't say anything about her being cute."

Ah, there it is. The flush was quick to rise and painted her entire face red as she looked down with that same shy little smile. "I-uh…well…"

Almost reluctantly, he took pity on her. "Two doors down to the right." When she stared at him blankly, he laughed despite himself. "Restroom, right?"

"Oh…right. Thank you." And as quick as she came, she left. He was half tempted to go after her, but his feet stayed rooted to the floor despite part of him demanding otherwise.

Grumbling, Heisuke stood beside him and gave him a long look. "What do you think?"

"What do I think?" Souji leaned against the wall, arms crossed and a wry smile on his lips. "I think I'm screwed."

Even if he'd wanted to, it was impossible to ignore her after that.

She was everywhere. Whenever he turned around, she was right there talking to someone just within eyesight; so much so that part of him started wondering if it was a conspiracy. Souji didn't approach her, but he watched her smile and chat easily, smiling gently whenever she laughed or her smile genuinely reached her eyes. It didn't do that much, he was intrigued to note. But he saw her stumble upon the other captains, all of whom reacted to her with varying degrees of his own reaction as they realized she didn't remember them. Surprise. Disappointment. Sadness. Watching Hijikata actually verbally trip over himself was worth the mild annoyance it had provoked. But only they prompted those rare true smiles and laughs from her.

It made Souji feel smugly happy.

"Are you going to stalk the poor girl all night?" Kin's voice behind him startled Souji enough that he almost tripped over his own feet as he turned around to face her, scowling at the cat-who-got-the-cream grin on her face. "She is rather cute, huh?" She nudged him with her elbow pointedly.

Souji gave an off-handed shrug, playing indifferent. Hell would freeze over before he'd admit anything to Kin. Explaining why he felt so…strongly about Chizuru without actually telling her the truth would be a nightmare. "She's cute, I guess."

Kin actually looked vaguely disappointed by his response. Confusion crossed her face as she pondered over her thoughts, obviously figuring out how to phrase something she wanted to say. Souji was very good at reading her looks, not that she ever bothered to hide what she thought in the first place. Why would she be disappointed that he might not like her, though…?

"Do you like boys?" The question was blurted out so suddenly and matter-of-factly that Souji actually choked on his own spit. "I know you've never shown any interest in girls, even as a little boy, but I chalked that up to your dedication at the dojo." Kin didn't look bothered by the thought – just worried. "I'm concerned about you, Sou-chan. You spend all your spare time with your friends but I've never seen you even interested…and you're already 16…"

Of course they just all had to be in hearing range when Kin dropped this bomb on him. No amount of threats would've prevented the boisterously loud laughter of the Baka trio as they all clutched their stomachs and nearly keeled over in laughter. Even Hajime's stoicism only went so far, though he tried to mask his chuckling behind the sleeve of his shirt.

Though even Hajime froze, almost dropping the tray of drinks he was holding, as her next grenade imploded in his face. "Is it Saitou-kun? I know you two have always been close, though you've been damn near inseparable lately…"

The Baka Trio were on the ground at this point, causing a scene that had attracted mostly everyone's attention, and even Chizuru was looking his way as she took it all in…and his brain absolutely skidded to a halt. He didn't give two shits what anyone really thought about him but if she really ever thought he…

…with Hajime…!

"NO!" His voice probably carried over to the next town, his face a mix between red, purple, and green.

Behind him, he heard Hijikata murmur to Sanan, "That would explain why he'd always have to track him down to spar…"

Really, who could blame him for losing it? It took men with far more willpower then he had not to throw a fist at that point. And it wasn't like Hijikata hadn't thrown one right back, though Mitsu-neesan didn't actually seem to care about that. At the very least, she was glaring at them all rather than just him, a suspicious twitch at her forehead that boded ill if any of them rose their heads from the floor in. The guests had all filed out except for the good doctor and Chizuru at this point – the ones who they were currently being made to apologize to rather excessively, he rather thought. Souji wasn't about to make that argument, however. Out of the corner of his eye, he did glare and promise revenge Kin's way, though.

How had she managed to escape this?

"It's quite alright," Kodo said laughingly. "There is no shame in having such a lively younger brother. Youth is the time for such excitement." Almost absently, he patted Chizuru's shoulder, who merely blushed and huffed in embarrassment. "I'm merely grateful for the inconvenience your hospital must've put you through to host this. I admit, they didn't exaggerate; your gardens are beyond compare to anything I've ever seen."

"You honor me, Kodo-sensei." Mitsu's shoulders unwound a scant amount. "It was no inconvenience at all. We've very little occasion to throw such grand affairs here."

That wasn't a lie, though it was something of a gathering simply whenever all of the guys converged on this place – and that was pretty much several days a week, easy.

"I do hope you will invite us back whenever you do; I'm sure the Cherry Blossom season must be especially beautiful to view here." He smiled as Mitsu's eyes regarded him in cautious optimism. "I'd hate to think you'd go through all this effort without having something to show for it, but if you could perhaps…neglect to mention my decision to your board of directors as of yet? I find letting people stew for a few days puts them in a rather open mind set…"

Souji almost laughed. Apparently, Kodo wasn't nearly so bad when he wasn't absolutely insane.

He imagined Chizuru looked properly scandalized as she said, "Dad! That's a mean thing to say…"

When Mitsu let out a relieved sigh, he took that as his cue to finally look up. As he rubbed the kinks from his neck, he was startled as hell when he felt Chizuru come forward and grab his hand. "What?"

She deftly wrapped a handkerchief around his throbbing hand, a shy smile on her face as she looked up at him from under her hair and made his heart stutter in his chest in response. "You should really ice your hand before it swells." She bowed then, before racing to catch up to her father who was already towards the gate. "Thank you for having us!"

Souji stared at the piece of fabric around his hand blankly for several moments – long after he heard their car drive off. It had a faintly floral scent to it that matched the subtle perfume he'd noticed Chizuru had been wearing. As he stared at it, several things clicked into place for him, as if the fog that had been shrouding his brain suddenly. He was sure he couldn't ignore her – Souji just didn't have the willpower for it. He craved the warmth and kindness she exuded like a drug. But he could try and give her…space. Their situation was different now; would she still come to him, now that she wasn't bound to a complex with only a handful of people for company? If she did, he'd go to her without regret and selfishly keep her all to himself. If she found someone else…

His wrapped hand clenched in a tight fist, straining against the delicate fabric. He wouldn't like it – he just might go crazy, actually – but he'd deal with it. He could try being unselfish for her. She was worth it.

Of to the side, Kin watched her little brother carefully. "Huh, so he isn't gay then."

Beside her, Sanan chuckled under his breath and shook his head. "I'd say not, Kin-san." Subtly, he led her off towards the kitchen before Souji snapped out of his thoughts. Best leave him to his musings. "We should perhaps start on all those dishes? They surely won't clean themselves…" Habit made him glance towards Sano, Heisuke, and Shinpachi who were all trying to slowly sneak away. Under his gaze, they froze, quickly agreeing with only a few grumbles under their breath.

Some things, Sanan was pleased to note, really didn't change.

Words can't express how much fun this entire chapter was for me to write. And while I know Souji might seem perhaps slightly OC, I've always noticed he has a very child-like way of reacting to things. I'm basing this thought solely on the game (I've never watched the anime really, simply because I know they had him die and I just can't accept that!). Anyway, I hope he still remains believable. Between him and Heisuke, I don't know who makes me giggle like a school girl more.

Next Chapter: New semester of school begins and Souji finds out just how quickly his plans to give Chizuru space will get thrown to the wind.