Oh, the fun never stops. Also, I know people are never fond of OC's, but I swear Shiori and Seiji Fujiwara will actually serve a purpose (And a fun one for me at that). For the moment, as you've seen, they aren't likely to appear much except for when I really need them or as simple body fillers to round the group out.

As always, feedback is welcomed and encouraged!

Chapter Five

Boys Will Be Boys

If he were completely honest, Souji would admit he didn't expect for her to be there. When they went on Saturdays for practice, they were usually there at 7am for the early classes and stayed straight through until the last just to help by virtue of being there the longest of any of the current students. In hindsight, however, Chizuru had routinely gotten up long before him and the other captains once upon a time to make the morning meals. It shouldn't have surprised him that she would be there at all.

He scowled, more to himself than anyone else, at the way his own heart jumped just seeing her waiting outside the gates, talking amicably with...someone. Souji had a good memory for faces and he didn't actually recognize the youth standing beside her, smiling all too friendly with her. Souji's brow twitched, but he forced himself to ignore it as he called out in greeting, "Ohayo."

Both turned to face him, startled surprise on the male's face and surprised pleasure on hers. "Okita-sempai," she beamed. To his delight, she was in training gear quite reminiscent to her old clothes she'd worn while dressing like a boy during the Bakumatsu. "Heisuke-kun suggested I wear stuff suitable for training."

Heisuke-KUN huh? Other than a quick grimace, Souji kept his face passive. Looking at her face however, clearly beaming with excitement as it was, it wasn't hard to find a smile on his own face as he said with a grin, "Sempai? Surely you can call me 'Souji' by now." It'd been a month since school started and Isa had made fast friends with Chizuru, meaning she ate her lunch with him and the others pretty regularly. It widened at her embarrassed flush, though his eyes slid over to her companion. "Who're you?"

The boy met his stare head on, to his credit, and bowed politely. "I'm Fujiwara Seiji. I'm a classmate of Chizuru-san. When she mentioned she'd be coming here, I thought it a good opportunity to check out Shieikan myself."

"Fujiwara huh?" Any relation to the chick Heisuke's been sniffing after? On close inspection, he clearly had similarities in appearance to the girl that, for the most part, Souji ignored. Very likely.

As if he'd summoned her, his most recent classmate came around the corner dressed like she was going out to the mall rather than a dojo. She caught sight of him and smiled. "Ah, Okita-san. What a surprise! I see you've met my little brother."

"Hnn..." With a shrug, he stepped around them and continued towards the dojo where he could hear what sounded like everyone else already preparing for the day. The Baka Trio – Shinpachi, Sano, and Heisuke – were always loud whenever they got together in the same room for longer than 10 minutes. Sanan and Hijikata were nowhere to be seen, though that wasn't unusual. Between classes, their duties at the dojo were still largely managerial. Hajime was meditating in a corner, ignoring everyone and everything else, so Souji didn't even bother acknowledging him as he came in with the others following in his wake.

Heisuke, of course, noticed them right away. "Chizuru!" he waved, grinning as he peered around the hulking bulk that was Shinpachi, dressed in…a very good replica of his old yellow and purple gear. It made Souji pause, his mind thrown way back to seeing him in that very getup way back when, though his infamous ponytail was no longer whipping about behind him.

"Ah, she came!" In the blink of an eye, Shinpachi was there and grabbing her up in a hug, completely ignorant to the startled and frankly confused expression on her face.

"Mah, mah, Shin," Sano sighed, his usual placid smile in place. "You're frightening the poor girl." He gave her that smile of his and Chizuru flushed red clear to the roots of her hair and Souji had a sudden urge to hurt something…or someone.

"Can't let you guys have all the fun," he grinned before sauntering off to go change into his own stuff. Like Heisuke, he'd had a replica of his old clothes made, though they didn't feel quite as comfortable as the original stuff did. When he came back out, a few of the morning class kids were drifting in, curious about the new faces they were seeing but staying quiet in the face of Hijikata and Sanan who were also there. Souji didn't actually have anything to do with this class, so he drifted over to where Chizuru, the Fujiwara siblings, and the others were making themselves comfortable. Though they were all technically students still, their duties at Shieikan had largely become instructional for a while now.

"I remember us being in this class once upon a time," Heisuke remembered wistfully, snorting at some far gone memory. "Hajime-kun wiped the floor with me and Souji kept correcting my stance."

"Wouldn't he have been in the same class?" Seiji wondered, confused.

"Normally, yeah," Souji grinned, his expression a little predatory, "I started really young, however, so I was part of the older class despite being several years younger than most of them."

"Still cleaned the floor routinely with them too," Shinpachi laughed. "Stung at my pride to get trounced by someone 7 years younger, that's for sure."

"You wouldn't if you weren't so obvious," Sano snorted.

Shinpachi scowled at him, almost pouting in response. "Urusei!"

"You must be very dedicated," Chizuru noted with a smile and Souji couldn't…quite…meet her eyes.

"Kondo-san was a good teacher," he offered with a shrug, relieved when he heard Hijikata call a wrap to the class.

"This would be the class my brother would be in, right?" Shiori asked from the side, motioning to the new students filing in.

Souji shrugged. "Would depend on how bad he is." Glancing out of the corner of his eyes, Seiji seemed unfazed by the jab, but he noticed the flinty-eyed stare Shiori was giving him and let his grin inch just a bit higher. Didn't like that comment, huh?

"Most people who transfer in with some form of training behind them usually enter this one," Heisuke said with a nervous laugh as sparks shot between them. It gave one the unnerving impression of being between a lion and a tiger about to charge at each other, claws first. "We talked with Kondo and you can join in for today, if you wish."

Seiji and Chizuru both looked up in surprise. "You mean now?" The former seemed positively baffled.

Hijikata came up to them then, sharp eyes fixed on them. "You joining us or not?" Impatience laced his tone. "Everyone else is ready." Sure enough, the entire class was there and waiting.

"Go on, little brother," Shiori cheered.

"Kondo's a good teacher," Souji repeated as Chizuru visibly waffled nervously over her decision. At his words she stopped and nodded, her face a vision of grim determination as if she were going to war while she took the extended shinai from Hijikata's hand.

Both of them did get up and join. Souji enjoyed thoroughly watching Chizuru flourish under Kondo's guidance, each stroke of the shinai more decisive and sharper with each repetition. Watching these classes were usually boring, honestly, but he noticed even Sano and Shinpachi were keeping an eye on her, smiling at their own thoughts. Realistically, Chizuru would never need to pick up a sword and defend herself in this era, but just from what he saw by the end of the class she was leagues beyond where she'd been back then.

"Wonderful job, everyone!" Laughing cheerfully as he clapped, Kondo's smile was as bright as it was infectious. "We'll break for lunch and afterwards, we'll have a little fun instead of having our usual advanced classes."

That caught all their attentions – more so upon realizing even Sanan and Hijikata had no idea what he was talking about.

"We're going to have a little tournament style competition among our advanced students," he announced. "While you've all made excellent progress, a little healthy competition never hurt anyone. I've a few nice prizes even for our winners."

Interested murmurs rose up among the crowd, but Souji's grin was directed at his fellow friends who wore matching expressions. They could care less about the prizes (well, Shinpachi probably cared), but it was a rare day they could find themselves able to go all out against each other.

Hijikata actually seemed a bit miffed about it when he joined them during lunch. "He never changes," he sighed. "Souji! Try not to kill anyone."

"No promises," he muttered under his breath. Beside him, Hajime gave a barely audible sigh and shook his head.

He already knew it would be a lost cause anyway.

I don't get it.

For the life of her, Chizuru couldn't turn her eyes away. It wasn't just Okita, who moved like a deadly hunter stalking his prey, but all of them. She hadn't known any of the men from Shieikan very long at all, but she was drawn to every single one of them from Nagakura Shinpachi's boisterous affection to Okita's…well, confusing looks.

She'd been trying to figure it out, she really had, but Chizuru was at a loss. Her visit here to the dojo didn't help – if anything, it made her even more confused. She liked Heisuke, with his easy smile and boyish charm. Hijikata was surprisingly funny in the moments where he lost his temper…usually provoked by Okita. And watching Sanan manage Hijikata made her giggle just a bit every time, as well as made her feel just a little envious of how close they all were.

She'd never had that kind of close friendship with anyone.

She'd never been lonely, of course. Chizuru had many friends in many places thanks to how much her father had traveled…but also meant that she never had enough time to form those close bonds before they were off again to someplace new.

So when she'd met Isa, she'd been prepared for the same. In the back of her mind, she was waiting for when her father decided it was time to move again. But every time she blinked, there were people she was getting attached to. She loved her lunches in the second year room with Saitou, Heisuke, and Okita; a routine Isa had more or less thrust on her from Day 1 that Chizuru really didn't mind. Saitou's quiet calm buoyed her at odd moments whenever she felt overwhelmed, Heisuke's bright attitude was infectious, and Okita's variety of grin's were fascinating.

And to see them all together in this dojo? Chizuru's gaze was glued to the floors as Harada and Nagakura crossed weapons currently. Their smiles threatened to break their faces in half, but they fought with a passion that was mesmerizing to watch. They'd be deadly if they had real swords, she couldn't help thinking. Even Heisuke, who she wouldn't have believed it if anyone had told her, had been a constantly moving whirlwind. All that energy came to the fore and he was always moving, just out of reach, and striking his opponent from directions not normally expected.

As if he'd heard her thoughts, he moved over to stand beside her, only half watching the spar. "Fun, isn't it?"

"You're all so amazing," she said in awe. "I can see why they have you mostly teach others now."

"You haven't seen nothing yet," he grinned, hands behind his head as he jerked his head towards Saitou and Okita. "Wait til' they're up."

Both men were standing beside each other, leaning against the walls and looking rather calm, assessing eyes watching the fight between the older two with only vague interest. As if he could feel her eyes on him, Okita turned her way and grinned when their eyes met, offering a tiny little wave but otherwise staying right where he was.

"He's got that whole 'bad-boy' thing going for him, huh?"

Chizuru jumped; she'd never even noticed Seiji's sister move to stand on her other side, arms crossed and staring at Okita with lowered lids. "Ano…uh…I suppose?"

"Che." Heisuke looked off to the side, pouting. "If you go for that sort of thing."

Shiori's look was sly as she looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, a grin pulling at her lips. "Not really, no. I just thought Yukimura might have noticed."

"Iie!" She clamped her hands over her mouth, ducking her head a bit at the stares her loud exclamation had drawn. "I mean…"

"Nee-san…" Seiji shook his head from behind his sister's shoulder as Shiori laughed, giving her an apologetic look. "Forgive my sister, Yukimura. She has no tact and the subtlety of a wrecking ball." Though his tone was derisive, there was clear affection in it as well and his eyes as he looked at her in fond exasperation.

"I-It's alright." She smiled at him, receiving a brief one in turn before his attention went back to the match in front of him. Chizuru liked him a lot – as the new kids in their class, they'd fallen in together almost immediately. And the probing questions were at least dying down now that it'd been a little over a month since school had started up again. She actually liked both Fujiwara siblings a lot, though they did seem to remain a bit…aloof? Or perhaps insular was a better word for it. They didn't seem to really hang out with anyone outside of school, so it'd been rather shocking to see them outside Sheikan's gates today. Wonder what changed their minds to come along?

"Match, Shinpachi!" Kondo clapped as he ended their fight, beaming like a proud father or uncle might. "Well done you two!"

"Cha! Man that was a good workout!" Nagakura stretched, big muscled arms flexing as he worked out the kinks.

"Definitely been awhile." Harada rolled his shoulders, obviously stiff but grinning the entire time.

"Next up, Souji vs Saitou!"

There was a notable hush among the students, all eyes watching as the final two sauntered to the middle of the floor where Kondo was waiting for them. Heisuke had said they were probably the best in Shieikan, but the reaction their presence on the floor garnered seemed a bit much.

Until she saw them move, anyway.

The minute Kondo signaled them to begin, they actually circled each other, sizing up the other before they moved. Okita was a good deal taller than Saitou, but the latter had a speed that didn't even seem real to Chizuru. Saitou's strikes were precise and, coupled with his movement speed, made him a dangerous force to be reckoned with. But Okita's eyes never left him and he made it look simple to dodge, predator eyes lost in watching the movements of the much faster man.

"Are they for real?" Shiori's face was devoid of its usual grin, watching with slightly widened eyes at the display in front of her. "Saitou-san moves like a ghost!" Seiji was no better – if anything, it seemed like his jaw may have been hanging open just a bit.

"Very real." Though he surely had seen the display before, Nagakura's tone was impressed. "They've always sparred together from the very beginning because they're like this. Neither of them can hold back worth a damn."

"Ah." Sano's arms were crossed over his chest as he motioned towards them with his chin though. "Can't say they're not having fun though."

Chizuru followed his line of sight and couldn't help smiling herself. Saitou, who was so stoic usually, had a slight smile on his face as he dodged a powerful swing and parried with a quick one of his own. The expression was rare to see, she had no doubt, as was the expression of absolute child-like glee on Okita's face as he dodged Saitou's thrust and skidded to a stop a few feet away from him, barely even breaking a sweat. It was like a dance, mesmerizing in its own brutal kind of way. Okita did make the first hit in the match, she noticed, but tilted her head in confusion when no one made any move to stop them. "Aren't they…?"

Heisuke snorted at that. "I wouldn't want to try to get in the middle of those two; would you?"

"Point…" So she watched, wincing at some of the hits being made with very audible smacks. Surely they'd both have impressive bruises come later.

From the other side of the dojo, Hijikata suddenly stood and yelled, "Watch out!"

Too late, as Okita sprang back, dodging Saitou's quick move, he slammed into the wall shoulder first, the short distance and force of his jump leading to it taking the brunt of the impact and probably dislocating it, judging by the sudden grimace that crossed his face. Startled out of their own reverie, Saitou was mid-lunge and could only redirect his bokken so much before the tip of the training sword slammed into the wall with enough force that it actually snapped his wrist back, the palm of his right hand having been positioned at the 'hilt' to give an extra burst of force with his thrust.

Without a thought she ran up to them, seconds after Sanan reached Saitou and began checking his wrist. With Saitou being attended, Chizuru moved right to Okita, tugging the sleeve of his red haori and black gi underneath down so she could see his shoulder. Just a quick visual confirmed it was indeed dislocated, though the discomfort of it didn't stop Okita from laughing, "My, my, if you wanted to undress me you should've just said so…"

The flush came hot to her face once she realized she had pretty much accosted and undressed him, though he didn't seem to mind that from the twinkle in his eyes and grin on his face. Averting her eyes, Chizuru said with as much dignity as she could muster, "You'll need to get that set…"

"Yeah…" Okita's grin faltered as he tried to move the offending arm. Across from him, he called out, "How's the wrist, Hajime-kun?"

"Sprained." Someone had brought ice at some point for his wrist, Saitou looking as stoic as ever as he held it to his injured joints.

"Looks like we overdid it again." Despite the injuries, Souji laughed about it, and even Saitou cracked another smile, his eyes crinkling upwards just slightly.

"Only Souji seems able to get Hajime-kun to lighten up," Heisuke sighed with a rueful chuckle. "Too bad it usually leads to one or both of them being injured every time."

The fun atmosphere had all but evaporated after that; everyone started packing their things to leave. Sanan had found a sling for Souji to rest his arm in once he'd popped the shoulder back in place, so he took a little longer before he met everyone outside the dojo gates with his stuff.

"That was…a lot of fun." She smiled widely at Heisuke, who scratched his cheeks and grinned in an almost bashful way. "Thank you for recommending I come. I'm glad I did." She was, too. Chizuru had enjoyed the day thoroughly.

"You should come more often." Okita smiled at her, though there was an expression on his face Chizuru couldn't quite name. Perhaps it was just a trick of the early evening light, as it was gone as quickly as it'd come. But in that second, his face had softened, and there was something almost…gentle…about the way he'd looked at her.

He really is rather…handsome. Chizuru's face warmed just thinking it and she averted her eyes quickly. Okita usually did have that hard-edged bad-boy appearance most of the time, but it was these surprising moments that always rattled something deep down inside of her. The real man under all the armor, as it were, who she suspected was surprisingly soft-hearted.

Don't get attached. There's no point. We'll just leave again. The thought was there in the back of her head, but Chizuru shook her head in an effort to get rid of it. It was actually a relief that Seiji came up to her then, successfully distracting her from her own thoughts.

"My sister and I need to get going, but I'll see you at school on Monday, Yukimura." He placed his hand on her shoulder and smiled at her, leaning down so fast it surprised her and giving her a kiss on her cheek. Behind her, she heard a strangled choke, though she wasn't sure who that was. When he pulled away, he grinned just slightly at her before moving away to rejoin Shiori who she distantly heard laughingly say, "And they say I'm bad…"

Hand on her cheek, she glanced behind her, taking in the sharp-eyed gaze Okita was giving Seiji's back, as well as the glower Heisuke was shooting his way too. Nagakura and Harada were laughing, obviously amused, and Saitou was looking off into the horizon, completely ignoring everything around them.

Chizuru took this all in, glanced down at her feet, and sighed. I…think I might be in trouble after all.

I'm going to KILL HIM.

He couldn't, which was the frustrating thing, but it made Souji feel better to imagine all the variety of way he could strangle Fujiwara Seiji. As he lay in his room, resting his shoulder and trying in vain to sleep, he tried to find that calmness that he'd promised himself he'd have to give Chizuru a chance at maybe finding someone better than him. Someone who didn't, say, make a habit of being difficult just for the hell of it some days…or didn't get a rush every time he was in a fight...

"So, are you going to tell your Nee-san what's eating at you, or do I have to guess?"

Souji jerked out of his thoughts and turned his head at the sound of Kin's voice, startled to see her kneeling at his bedside with that same patient expression she'd always worn when waiting for him to confess to something he'd done. It was also the same look that never failed to make him feel like a three year old child all over again, a fact that really frustrated him right about now.

"OK, so I guess I can play the guessing game." At his continued silence, she sighed in fond exasperation. "It's about a girl."

His eyebrow twitched. He could feel it and Kin's face brightened in triumph from what he could see of her in the dim moonlight that was filtering in through his window. Leaning on his bedside, she put her head down so she was almost level with his eyes. "Is it Yukimura-sensei's girl?"

Souji let out a long sigh. Why did he bother? "Yes."

Kin patted his cheek twice. "Now was that so hard? I'd say I've been fairly patient in holding my tongue. So what's wrong? You've been on edge ever since that party about her."

"I'm giving her space." He didn't bother hiding his annoyance at that thought. "To see..."

"…if someone else will be better for her?" Kin's tone spoke volumes of what she thought of that idea. "Why? What's so bad about you that you think there's someone better out there for her?"

I spent the first year or so threatening to kill her? He couldn't say that, but it was the first thing that popped to mind.

"I'm going to tell you exactly what I told another stubborn blockhead I know who had this ridiculous idea," she said gently, and reached out to run a hand over his hair in a gentle caress. The simple movement had so much love and care and comfort in it that it stole words from Souji's lips, the response he had instead simply morphing into a relaxed sigh. "Women like who they like. If you put a barrier between you from the get go, how are we to know if we actually like the real you, hmm?" She jabbed him in the cheek pointedly. "I know I didn't raise my little brother to run away from things that scare him. The little brother I know faces the things that terrify him and tells them to 'Fuck Off' until they bend to his will."

"That's a flattering assessment of me, Nee-san." He smiled as he said it though, resting his hand over hers on his face and closing his eyes, savoring the quiet strength of her belief in him. Kin always believed in the best of him; that he was someone good enough and strong enough. Part of it came from being the one who'd seen him through his entire adolescence, but part of it came simply because that was simply who she was. She was his rock and Souji hadn't realized how much he'd really missed having that until now. "So it's OK for me to just be me? Selfishness and all?"

"Do you really want to see her in someone else's arms?" Kin was ruthlessly blunt when she wanted to be.

Just dragging the image of Fujiwara kissing Chizuru on the cheek made his blood boil. "No."

Her smile was prodding. "Then go get her. Everything else always has a way of working itself out. Now sleep, bonehead baby brother." She kissed him on the head and turned to go, though she stopped in the door way as she opened it to leave when he called out to her.

"Tell Sanan-san he should really listen to you," Souji grinned. "You've got good insights when you're not being bossy."

Kin stared at him for a moment, considering, before snorting rather indelicately. "Give me that advice when you follow it yourself, Sou-chan." They shared a grin before she finally left for her own room.

Sleep came much easier this time, smiling as he drifted off thinking pleasant thoughts…

…mostly centered on strangling a certain first year with his own shoe laces.

Have I mentioned how much I love how Souji is so twisted sometimes? I really couldn't imagine him any other way, though he does seem rather dependent on others for his sense of self sometimes.

Chizuru's part wasn't hard to write, but it wasn't easy either. By and large, I think I'll stick with Souji's POV, unless the stories dictates it needs to be someone else's POV like it did for the fight. Boys will be boys. Lol. A lot was inspired while I watched subbed versions of the drama CD's available on youtube and laughed my ASS off the entire time.

As always, stick around, though as the chapters get longer (which they are), it may take me a little longer to kick these out around work and everything else I do. I'm having too much fun with this to really mind though.

Next Chapter: It's October and Yukimura Kodo is holding a very western-styled Halloween party! All the Shinsengumi crew and family are invited and Souji's on the prowl!

As I haven't given much thought yet, please feel free to suggest costumes as well. =) Can't promise I'll use them, but it might give me ideas for everyone.