I should really be asleep right now, but I had to finish this while the image was still fresh in my mind. Thank you all for the feedback as well; it really helps and encourages me! Though while I know I've been updating every few days, I can't promise I always will. It's mostly if the inspiration stays, which it so far has.

As always, feedback is always welcome and encouraged.

Chapter Four

Space For A Good Man

There was really no point, Souji thought, to school. It befuddled him as to its purpose beyond being a place to shove children during the day for a few hours under the guise of 'learning'. That, he figured, was what a dojo was for though, wasn't it? He'd learned everything he'd needed to survive the world there at Shieikan. Lord knows it'd been more practical learning too. He'd probably just skip the place, honestly, if he didn't have the memory of the chewing out Mitsu AND Kin had given him for trying once. It was before he'd had any awareness, so it sort of felt like it was someone else, but that ear twist seemed like it'd hurt.

At least, he was relieved to note, he only had a year and a half left. Souji had no intention of continuing to college; Kondo had already asked him outright if he'd consider taking over some classes at Shieikan – a role he'd always hoped would go to him anyway even before they'd formed the Shinsengumi back in the day. Children were shockingly soft in this era, and he'd taken it upon himself to try and make men out of some of the younger boys in that dojo.

"Oi, Souji!" Heisuke and Hajime flagged him down in the courtyard of the building, and he smiled genuinely at the familiar ponytail he spied off to Heisuke's right. It was odd, sometimes, remembering that long tail of hair didn't belong to the younger man anymore.

"You look cute as ever, Isa-chan."

Toudou Isa flashed him a mega-watt smile, almost identical to her half-brothers'. Same hair, same green eyes...it was like looking at the Heisuke who'd first stumbled into Shieikan those many years ago, only this one was far prettier and actually had breasts to go with the feminine looks. "I heard I missed quite the party," she noted innocently enough...but then he saw her glance towards Hajime and giggle.

Souji scowled, swiping Heisuke over the back of his head. Even he could put two and two together to make four. "I'm going to kill you."

"Sorry!" Heisuke didn't look all that apologetic though, grinning as he was. "Come on, Souji, it was funny. Hajime-kun thinks so!"

His taciturn friend glanced at Heisuke with a glint in his eyes that made Souji smile. Though Hajime generally never partook in the shenanigans he and the other captains would get up to, he was more than capable of doing so. The rare times he did, he got that look, and Souji looked forward to seeing just what his friend would come up with.

Hajime could be devious too when he wanted to be.

"It would be such a pity," Isa lamented with a mischievous smile and twinkling eyes staring at Hajime. "I know many first year girls who might cry."

He looked away, a definite flush to his face. As usual, watching Hajime interact with a female was like comedy gold.

The bell rang then, signaling the start of their day, and Souji reluctantly followed his friends to their classroom. He was actually rather thankful they were there; it made the dull droning of all the teachers somewhat more bearable. Only Isa went her own way, heading towards the first year rooms with a cheerful wave.

I wonder if Chizuru is having a good first day? He hadn't seen her, though he knew she was here. All anyone could talk about around him was the batch of fresh faces that were actually joining them this year. Speaking of which...he sat up a little as he noticed their homeroom instructor beckon in someone from the hall.

The new girl bowed politely. "Hajimemashite. I'm Fujiwara Shiori."

"Whoa, she's cute," he heard Heisuke say. The girl was a little taller than most; easily Hajime's height. Reddish brown hair was left long and free, but Souji frowned as he caught her gaze from where he was in the back of the room. Her eyes were a little sharper than most females and he went into high alert. His instincts that had saved him countless times during the Bakumatsu told him she screamed trouble.

Not that it's stopping Heisuke one bit. Unlike Sano or Shinpachi, Heisuke lacked a certain…smoothness when it came to his flirting. He was open and quite blatant, though coupled with his youthful features it seemed to work for him. It never failed to mystify Souji whenever he watched him, as he did now once lunch rolled around and Heisuke rounded on the new girl with an enthusiastic grin on his face. That she was sitting at the desk to his right made it all the easier for him.

Souji turned his back towards them, eyes rolling. He really didn't have to watch him make a fool of himself, but he couldn't help hearing them. The entire class converged around her like vultures, questions shooting out left and right.

"Where are you from?"

"Do you have siblings, Fujiwara-san?"

"Do you have a boyfriend?" That actually made Souji snort. Subtlety much?

Thankfully, he was saved from having to listen to it much by Isa's arrival…who he immediately noticed was dragging an embarrassed Chizuru behind her. Souji forced himself not to react, and he didn't, but damn it if he didn't feel his mood lighten just a bit.

How could it not? She looked absolutely beautiful even in something simple like a school uniform.

The minute Isa noticed her brother, she rolled her own eyes and snorted. "Ah, Nii-san is at it again. I suppose that means he'll pretty much be ignoring us today." She didn't much seem to care about that, however, and blasted Hajime with a dazzling smile as he actually got up and pulled up a chair for her.

This is what the Shinsengumi has been reduced to. The thought wasn't angry or despairing, surprisingly. Souji actually found it to be…relieved. This was an era that had no need for the Shinsengumi as it once was. Their job really was…done. And whether everyone else realized it or not, the world was dragging them into this new era and making them live. And yet…

He glanced up at Chizuru who kept glancing around the second year classroom like she was worried someone might yell at them for being here. Here was a symbol from his past that actually offered him somewhat of a fresh start. Souji had promised himself he'd stay away from her, but if the powers that be were going to drop her in his proverbial lap like this…

Without really moving, Souji hooked his foot around the chair from the desk in front of him and turned it around so that it faced him, tilted slightly as if in invitation to sit. Her head turned at the sound of the metal legs scraping on the floor, startled. "Might as well sit," he pointed out with a grin, hands behind his head as he leaned back on his own and got comfortable. "We meet again, Chizuru-chan."

He was only slightly disappointed that she actually seemed to struggle in recalling who he was; recognition lit her eyes quickly, however, and she gave him an almost relieved smile. "Ah, Okita-san. It's nice to see a friendly face today."

"Friendly?" Heisuke slid up his own chair between them then, laughing. "That's a first."

"I'm perfectly friendly," he said with an expression that was decidedly not towards the younger boy.

"Maybe to Hajime," he shot right back, Heisuke's own grin being somewhat closer to a mocking sneer and full of innuendo.

Souji's eyes narrowed. "Finished getting friendly with the new girl?" He said it loud enough for said girl to hear too, smirking in triumph when Heisuke flushed and quickly looked back…only to meet said girl's curious stare and start stuttering.

It was small and all too brief, but Chizuru's giggle was like music to his ears. "You must be very close," she noted, shoulders finally relaxing as she brought out her own lunch – homemade, of course – and started to eat.

"Heisuke-nii, Souji-kun, and Hajime-kun have all attend the same dojo since elementary," Isa pointed out, pouting slightly towards her brother as she said, "They see more of my Nii-san than I do."

Heisuke turned around from bumbling in embarrassment at the new girl to catch the end of that and protested, "They do not! You stopped coming with me during junior high to hang out with your own friends."

Isa ignored that, continuing on by saying in feigned indignation, "When he's not there, he's bumming it at Souji-kun's house or in the Den of Delinquents."

Souji gave a bark of laughter and nearly fell backwards off his seat. "Is that what you call their place?" It wasn't that far off the mark, when he really thought about it. Sano and Shinpachi lived in an apartment with two other male roommates who did tend to have that rough way about them. Not that his fellow Shinsengumi captains were any better when they all got together…but he did note Kin had stopped going over to their place as much when they'd moved in with them.

"Sanosuke-san and Shinpachi-san are fine, but their roommates…" Isa's face said more clearly than words what she thought of them. To Heisuke, she said almost as an afterthought, "Mother's convinced they're corrupting you."

If only she knew. One such visit, not long after he'd regained his memories, had proven Heisuke still had a fair tolerance for alcohol despite being younger than he was during their Shinsengumi days. Though he didn't indulge quite so often in the here and now, Souji knew they still managed to sneak him sake whenever he dropped by to see them.

Glancing at Chizuru, he saw the question on her face before she even opened her mouth and said, "Sano and Shinpachi also train at Shieikan, our dojo." As an afterthought, he added, "Hijikata, the stiff medicine guy, and Sanan with the creepy smile from the party? Also members. We've pretty much grown up together." Longer than you'd realize.

She nodded, processing that. "Do Kin-san and Mitsu-san train there too? I thought I heard them say something about training more when they had time at the party."

Souji smiled, nodding. "Not as often, but yeah. Shieikan has a few female students, but they tend to have a fast turn-around." Most didn't stick with it very seriously and quit after a few years, he'd noticed, though they did have a few dedicated ones who still came to this day. That had taken the most to get used to – women weren't fighters back then. Souji had never been good at holding back when he practiced – as in he couldn't – and had to avoid sparring with any of the females who did train there simply so he didn't break them. He tended to rotate among the old captains, just because he knew anyone else he'd break in half.

"I wonder if I could join?" she mused out loud thoughtfully. "Tou-san taught me some basic forms to humor me, but he always said I had no need to learn such things as I got older."

"Absolutely!" Isa jumped in before any of them could even say a word. "Even I trained there. A girl has to know how to protect herself in this day and age! And Kondo-san is an awesome teacher. Souji-kun too."

That drew Chizuru's gaze to him, intrigued. "You teach there?"

"Going to," he conceded. "Kondo-san wants me to start teaching the more serious students – mostly competition circuit ones. Hijikata or Sanan are better with beginners." In reality, Souji just had so little patience teaching what should've been plain old common sense; Sanan usually had to point out that not everyone had a natural way of picking up kendo and needed to have things explained to them. It was a move to protect the beginners from his ire as much as to benefit the more experienced students who could keep up with him.

"Could I…maybe come watch some time?" Chizuru's face colored slightly, and Souji had no idea why the idea of her coming to watch them at the dojo affected him…but it did, like a bolt of lightning. He really, really wanted her to see him where he was most at home – where he was at his best.

Before he could say anything though, Heisuke jumped on the notion with enthusiasm. "Heck yeah! You can come watch our next practice!"

Chizuru flashed Heisuke that brilliant smile, eyes sparkling with happiness, and Souji ground his teeth and barely repressed the urge to kick him. He'd promised himself, but damn if it wasn't difficult.

It'd never occurred to him, though it should've…would he stand aside and let Heisuke pursue her? He'd always been very obvious in his feelings for Chizuru – he couldn't lie for the life of him – and obviously the attraction was still there from the flush that crawled over the boy's face and to the tips of his ears at her smile. Souji had promised to stand aside to see if Chizuru would still find her way to him without his interference, but when he'd thought of her possibly dating other guys, it'd been a nameless, faceless stranger. If it was Heisuke? Sano? Hell, Hijikata?

Souji's teeth ground harder and he stared holes into the top of his desk. Fuck.

He hadn't ever considered it and the thought hurt in ways he really didn't like.

Something was wrong.

It wasn't hard to determine when something was wrong with Souji – he had all the subtlety of an enraged bull. Hijikata had always left managing his moods to Kondo, however, who was far more adept at curbing his temper than anyone. But in this era where Kondo didn't have quite the same depth of relationship to them, he was not available to talk to Souji – or any of the younger captains – about some of the things that came up.

Perhaps, he lamented, it was because he'd been first. Hijikata didn't know why he'd been first to remember, only that he'd woken up one morning in his apartment and had remembered everything. Fortunately, it'd only been a month before Sanan had "awoken" and he'd had someone to share his thoughts and frustrations with, easily falling into their old patterns from their early days to keep from going absolutely crazy. They'd both kept closer tabs on the others from that point, waiting to see if they too would "awaken"…and had helped each and every one of them adjust as best they could when it became apparent that they did. Though he wasn't a commander of warriors anymore, nor Sanan his "right hand man", Hijikata still felt responsible for the men who'd been under his command once upon a time.

It was almost a relief when he'd seen Souji in the dojo that day. He'd been the only hold out – everyone else, by that point, had awoken and mostly adjusted to the new era. He'd always been focused and dedicated to practicing his kenjutsu too, so seeing him in the dojo wasn't even all that strange, nor was the short temper that he had with others. It was the katas he'd started doing that day that had given him away – the moves of the Okita Souji who'd been Shieikan's prodigy student back during their early days – and told Hijikata that the last of his captains had "awoken". His self-imposed job, as it were, was almost done.

Only it wasn't.

There was no Kondo for him to hoist Souji onto, and though Hijikata found Souji to be an annoying pain in his ass on the best of days, their Kondo had loved him like a little brother, or even a son. It'd been achingly obvious every time he'd made some excuse for Souji's bad behavior or rotten attitude, or snuck him extra food when he thought no one was watching. Sanan was always the one to even goad his pestering and pranks on a little, in a backwards way to keep him from getting too bogged down in seriousness, leaving Hijikata to be the obvious choice for "uptight stiff" in Okita Souji's little world.

So perhaps that was why he still felt like he had to make sure he was alright...and watch after him the way he knew Kondo would, if he'd remembered. Hijikata wished he had. On days like these, he dearly wished he could've picked his mentor's brain. Dealing with Souji didn't always make sense to him.

"I wonder what happened," Mitsu murmured from across the table they were sitting at in the kitchen. As usual, they were going over purchasing orders for each of the hospitals, and Hijikata much preferred her home over his own office in his family's corporate building for the tedious work. She'd always been a rather formidable woman, he remembered, but she was absolutely ruthless in this modern age where women had far more of a voice. They'd kept in touch over the years back during the Shinsengumi days, mostly regarding Souji and how he was doing, but they'd generated a small friendship over the course of those letters too. She'd been a smart woman even then, and as the years had gone on his paragraphs about his own frustrations with events had easily outgrown the usual updates on her brother. She'd always proven to be an easy listener.

Too bad she was married at that point. Hijikata shook his head, pushing that thought away. Doesn't matter now. Focus on the mission at hand. "Maybe I should go talk with him." The thought was hardly a pleasant one – he could just see the mocking grin crossing his face – but he pushed on in the face of the soft smile she gave him. The things men will do for a woman's smile.

"You really do take care of him," she said sadly. "I think you and Kin know my brother better than I do."

He set his hand on her shoulder lightly – and was only slightly surprised when she rested her own hand over his in response. "You did what you had to do to keep your family together," he pointed out.

"A consolation that makes it sting only slightly less." She removed her hand and motioned him away. "I'll continue going through the inventories. Perhaps I can figure a way to make the numbers work…"

Better her than me. He left her to it, partially grateful. If he could, he'd quit his family business and take up full time at Shieikan. Unfortunately, money was far more vital in this era than it was during the Bakumatsu. Where they'd gotten by then on very little money and following their own dreams of being samurai despite humble origins, such an option was not realistically viable now. Some people, like Sanan, had found callings they enjoyed that could sustain them. He'd, unfortunately, had no such luck.

Hijikata knocked on the door frame once before sliding the room door open and coming face to face with a very irritable Souji. His hand clutched a shinai and though it wasn't raised, it kept tapping against the floor of his room as if he wanted to hit something – or someone – with it.

"What the hell has you in a mood?"

"Finished flirting with my sister?" he shot back with – yep, there it was – his familiar sneer. It brought back many memories, many of them unpleasant and consisting of that very expression, though on a much younger face.

How could a nine year old's face sport such a look?

Hijikata ignored his comment, with great effort, and pushed on. Kondo would want you to. Do it for him. "Finished pouting like a spoiled brat?" he shot right back, and at the very least it got Souji looking at him…or glaring, at any rate.

"Stick up your ass like always," he grumbled, eyes narrowed. Souji was silent for several minutes, glaring at him, and Hijikata thought he might just let it persist before he saw his glare shift sideways and his shoulders deflate just a little. "I don't know what to do."

Not the most helpful of starts, but it's something. He waited, saying nothing as Souji tried to find the words he wanted. Pushing Souji faster would only lead to more sniping and Hijikata didn't actually want to be here all night. Arms folded, he stood there for several more minutes before the younger man continued, his voice barely a mutter. "Maybe she'd be happier…but if it's someone I know…"

Again, not entirely helpful, but Hijikata was a smart man; he knew who he was referring to. Chizuru. He'd been…beyond disappointed when he'd met her at the dinner and realized she hadn't awoken like the rest of them. She'd been a breath of fresh air among the Shinsengumi and, without realizing it, became a visual symbol for everything he and his men had tried fighting for. "Heisuke flirting with her?" he hazarded, smiling when Souji's hard gaze snapped back up towards him, flinty eyed in his annoyance. Bingo. "He's a good kid," he noted. "Real earnest. Can't lie for shit. A good man."

He nodded, more to himself than anyone else, when he saw Souji's face twitch in a slight grimace at the last part. Ah, and there it is. For all his posturing, Souji was surprisingly insecure…and reacted very much like a child sometimes; complete with the occasional tantrums. He was constantly measuring himself up to invisible standards Kondo had never had for him and positively convinced it somehow made him less of a man – more so after his first kill. Though Kondo was disappointed that his "innocence" had more or less been taken away that night, it hadn't made his mentor love the kid any less. If anything, it made him try harder to show him how much he cared for him, leaving Hijikata to crack the proverbial whip when he'd needed to. Always the bad guy, he thought with a sigh.

"She can have better," Souji muttered, sounding almost crestfallen. "She deserves better."

"No one ever gets who or what they deserve," Hijikata sighed. "Besides, ever think she may not want a better man? Maybe she wants what she had."

He still looked troubled, but that wounded expression left his face at least. "Things are different."

"Yeah. So?" Hijikata stared at him pointedly. "Just because some things are different doesn't mean some things can't be the same too."

"Doesn't mean they should be," he shot right back and Hijikata really did throw his hands up in frustration.

"Fine," he snapped and turned to exit.

He was barely a few steps before he heard Souji call out, "Hijikata?"

He glared at him from over his shoulder. "Hnn?"

Souji's face twisted as if he'd bitten something sour. "Thank you."

Well I'll be damned. Grinning, he said, "Huh? I didn't hear you. What was that?"

"I said 'Fuck You'," he scoffed, sneering at him with that expression again before slamming his room's door shut again.

Hijikata actually laughed as he rejoined Mitsu in the kitchen, who looked up in surprise. "Everything alright?"

Snorting, he grinned, pleased when she actually blinked at him and flushed at the face just a little. "He'll be fine."

She huffed, shooting him a flinty-eyed look before clearing her throat and nodding. "Very well. Shall we get back to it?"

For once, he didn't even care as he nodded.

I REALLY love Hijikata and Souji's interactions. They're combative and antagonistic, but Souji always expresses himself in almost childlike ways that obviously grate against Hijikata's every last nerve. It's hilarious to write. And we all know Toshi CARES. Once a commander, always a commander. I can't see him doing anything less than taking care of his people even now. He's just helping them with life rather than fights…and poor Souji really is in need of the most help/guidance.

This is an Okita x Chizuru, but even more than that this is about the family that was the Shinsengumi and how they change their dynamics to fit this modern world. Unfortunately, Sano and Shinpachi don't talk to me nearly as much as the others when I write, else I'd have them in here more. Hopefully as it progresses they will. =/

As a side note, any thoughts on the development of Hijikata and Mitsu's connection? I didn't actually plan it, but as I continue writing, they just kind of…steered me that way. I'm curious to know what others think. Sanan and Kin too, though I haven't written much for them aside from the party preparations, but when I hear them they're fairly pointed too about it.

There is drama to come, I think, so hopefully you'll all stay for the rollercoaster that is FoYL:R. =)

~ Runa Rose

Next Chapter: Chizuru visits Shieikan, Boys will be Boys, and…Heisuke isn't Souji's only rival for Chizuru's attention?!