Finally, some Souji x Chizuru fluffy bits. I know, it's what everyone has been wanting, right? I had to wait until the right time, however, so I hope they're worth the wait. This got REALLY long (my longest chapter yet), and I didn't want to wait another week to put it up, so the drunken part of the shenanigans will have to wait for Part 3! (Because I kind of want Kin and Mitsu there for that fun too. Hehe.)

And as to the mention of Takagi Tokio making an appearance? It is NOT out of the realm of possibilities. I've been debating for quite some time if I should bring her in since, clearly, she was an important part of Saitou's post-war life. It mostly depends on if I can figure out an organic way to do so that doesn't feel contrived. I mean, not everyone is pairing off with who they were married to in the past. (Mitsu is a fine example of that, having married Inoue Rintaro previously).

Anyway, please enjoy Part 2!

Chapter Ten

Holiday Hijinks, Part 2

"Chi-zu-ru."

Souji breathed her name into her ear teasingly, smiling when she grumbled inarticulate noises but otherwise remained sleeping. Waking up early had always been a habit of his – one that had been reinforced during his time in the Shinsengumi. Even after, he'd always taken to waking up before most people would, though he'd spent a good hour just…staring at Chizuru in those days. Part of him was in constant disbelief that she was really his – his to touch, to hold, to kiss…to love. It'd become a game for him to find different ways in which to wake her up.

He'd been holding back these past few weeks to give her time, but Souji couldn't think of a better time than now to take advantage of the next few days. He didn't have to restrain himself in the presence of his sisters or Isa, ever mindful of not saying something that would seem too odd for him to say to a girl he'd barely known and had become his 'girlfriend' for even less of a time thus far.

He could finally treat her the way instinct told him to; like his wife.

Bending over, a hand placed on either side of her small frame to keep from squishing her, Souji nibbled lightly at her ear, pleased by the soft sighs it prompted. Different bodies or not, Chizuru still responded in much the same way as he remembered to certain things.

Souji was only slightly disappointed that she didn't jump or squeal like she used to; the heavy-lidded, sleepy smile she gave him was just as good however. "Souji...?"

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead." He moved to nibble on her ear, chuckling when she wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled close. His eyes closed briefly, savoring the feel of her body flush against his. God, I missed this. "Or we could just stay in. I can go downstairs to tell Hajime-kun we'll catch up." He rolled himself over and onto her bed, wrapping her up in his arms with a playful smile while Chizuru frowned, her brain obviously catching up to her as she digested her surroundings. She ended up straddling him, eyes widening as she remembered and the fog of sleep slowly cleared from her mind.

"Ah! The trip!" She laughed when any attempts to move off of him, however, were soundly prevented. "Souji! I need to get dressed!"

From his vantage point, he'd say she was plenty dressed. Of course, the t-shirt was a very loose fitted one and allowed a slightly indecent view of her chest to him. Souji was all in favor of her continuing to do so, as long as he was the only one around to appreciate the view. With a slight pout, however, he reluctantly opened his arms and allowed her to get up and off of him, though he stayed lounged on her bed in a relaxed position. "Feel free to. I'll help you, if you like."

Her glare at him was half-hearted at best, blushing and laughing as she was. She did take her clothes with her into the bathroom and shut the door on him, ever the shy one. While she showered and changed – an image he happily envisioned for several moments – Souji took the time to look around her room in mild interest.

Much as their old bedroom in that countryside home had, Chizuru's room was filled with odd little bits and trinkets. He had no doubt each little memento had a story to it. Much of it, in fact, he recognized as gifts he and the other guys had been getting for her. He had no idea how it'd started, really. There was the nice pink scarf and glove set Shinpachi had given her in the corner, next to the matching pink winter hat given to her by Sano that were obviously intended to be called into service for their trip to the mountains. The necklace Heisuke had found on a trip to the mall with Isa hung prominently among the other bits of jewelry she owned - her most well worn piece - right beside the expensive looking hairpins Sanan actually had a tendency to get when he "saw one that reminded me of your eyes." If Souji weren't so sure Chizuru loved him, he might be jealous that she was getting such gifts from all his friends. Hell, even Hajime had gotten her a nice looking tea set that she always used to serve them whenever they came over, serving the fancy and outrageous teas that Hijikata seemed to keep her supplied with.

Come to think of it, should I be getting her more things? Souji brought her flowers sometimes, usually from the garden at home when he knew it was one she'd like, but largely didn't buy physical tokens of affection. Chizuru had always seemed to be a simple person to please way back when, largely happy to merely receive little silly things from him like a wreath of flowers for her to wear on her head or a fresh picked apple from the neighbor's tree. From what he could tell, that hadn't much changed, but did she want stuff like that? It wasn't like before, where money was rare to come by and war had been surrounding them on all sides. He had enough to splurge when something struck his fancy without having to worry about how he'd pay for his next meal.

He was still contemplating this when Chizuru came back out, fresh-faced and dressed in nice form-fitting jeans and a shirt. His hands moved without thought to take her brush from her and run it through her hair, straightening the rich brown strands that he'd noticed she was growing out.

"You always were quick with your hands." She spoke fondly, kissing his cheek before tugging at him to get up. "We need to get going, right?"

"Hai, hai." They were, by his estimations, already running a little behind but he wasn't particularly worried. Sanan and Hijikata would've arrived last night and were preparing for their arrivals. The Baka Trio were supposedly picking up 'necessary supplies' before heading up, which probably meant all manner of booze. Souji had actually messaged Heisuke to tell him he better grab some sweets while they were at the store or there would be hell to pay.

"I'm all set!" Sure enough, Chizuru was wrapped up in that pink sweater of Shinpachi's and her gloves were on, hair covered by that matching hat Sano had gotten her. Travel case at her side, she looked ready to brave the cold of winter with that usual smile on her face.

It wouldn't do to let her be cold now, ne? With a grin, he crossed the distance between them and swept her up in his arms, travel case and all. "Let's go then!"

"Souji!" She shrieked, clinging to him as he walked down the steps, unfazed by the questioning look Hajime did indeed send his way once they made it to the bottom. "You can let me down now."

"Iya~!" He kissed her on the lips, silencing her protests, a healthy red blush rising on her face. "Ready, Hajime-kun? Best we not keep our Oni Fukucho waiting!"

"I've been the one waiting on you," he said simply, shaking his head at him. It was small, but he thought there might be a ghost of a smile on his face. "We're going to be late."

"I'm not a sack of rice, Souji!" Chizuru protested, though she shivered and snuggled in closer to him as they stepped outside. Already, a good two inches of snow were covering the ground and it showed no signs of stopping. "I have to lock the...ah." Her protests died as she watched Hajime lock her house up with her keys.

Hajime's smile really did flit across his face as he handed the keys back to her and simply walked on ahead of them. Souji laughed at her expression, amused. When did he even grab those? Still a sneaky bastard, eh, Hajime-kun? They caught each other's gaze briefly, his friend merely shrugging with that faint enigmatic smile of his before sliding into the driver's seat of the car. "You're right; a sack of rice weighs more than you."

"Mou, I give up." Chizuru slackened in his arms, dropping her head so it leaned on his shoulder.

"Fantastic idea." He placed a kiss to her temple, smiling softly. "Just relax and let us take care of you for a change, huh?"

Her snort was decidedly unladylike and made him chuckle. "Like I have a choice?"

Souji shook his head. "Not really." They had a nice surprise for her planned this weekend - him and the guys. They'd talked about it in depth last night and had formulated the plan in record time. So he really hoped the Baka Trio didn't screw up their part of it.

If they do, I'll kill them.

"Anyone else get a bad chill just then?"

Heisuke shivered, rubbing his arms. "Yeah. Wonder what that was about?"

Shinpachi shrugged. "Ah well! So...we just have to get the stuff on the list, right?"

"Ah." Sano stared at the list they'd printed from over his shoulder. "We've handled far worse."

As one, the three men looked out at the large supermarket before them and felt a great swell of trepidation. With the holidays as close as they were, it was very busy - mostly with women preparing to cook for their families. It was nothing like the few times Shinpachi remembered accompanying Chizuru to the various stalls in Kyoto to pick up supplies.

This somehow seemed far more...sinister.

"So...what's on the list first?" Heisuke snatched the print out away from him to look, brow furrowed as he read the list of ingredients Sanan had said they'd need. Getting the ingredients for Chizuru's special dinner was simple enough. Shinpachi was sure the three of them - each former Shinsengumi captains who could break people in half with barely a thought - could handle getting something as simple as groceries.

So he believed, anyway.

If there was one thing Shinpachi had always prided himself on, it was knowing people. He didn't necessarily know how to effectively lead them as a superior, like Hijikata had. Shinpachi had inspired his own men easily enough, though it'd been more as their equal than as their superior. He proved he was just as hard-working as they were, practicing until his fingers bled. He'd never asked the men under his command to do anything he himself hadn't been in the process of doing.

He couldn't ask them to put their lives on the line otherwise.

So Shinpachi knew they were in trouble when the three of them finished going around the store and had barely a quarter of what was on the list Sanan had painstakingly made with very detailed instructions.

Obviously, someone was taking pages out of Kin's book about how to cook.

"How can they be out of all this?!" Heisuke was panicking a bit, staring at the oft-times bare spots on the shelves.

At one point, Sano actually said, "Ah! I found some of the mix." He'd taken a step in it's direction and had nearly had his feet rolled over by a cart as an older woman came dashing down the aisle, eyes filled with purpose and grabbed the very mix Sano was aiming for - the last one! - without even looking up, her back disappearing down the next aisle quickly as she continued on her way.

"What the hell?" he sputtered, shocked.

Heisuke was shaking his head, hands on either side of it as he crouched down in a rather hopeless pose. "Oh, I've got a bad feeling about this..."

All three were hanging their heads as they exited the store with what little they'd managed to retrieve before Sano had a positively brilliant idea.

"Surely not all the stores can be sold out of this stuff," he pointed out reasonably. "Maybe we should try the one a couple blocks down."

Shinpachi brightened, slapping his friend on the back enthusiastically. "Of course! Great idea, Sano!"

The idea proved to have merit since they did indeed find a few more of their required ingredients, though it was twice as busy. And at one point, Heisuke did actually get physically knocked out of the way of one woman who snatched the last of the vegetables they were supposed to get from his grasp, dashing away before Heisuke could even think to sputter something at her.

Shinpachi gave him a hand up, eyes narrowing as he processed something of a plan. So once they exited the second store with about half of their remaining items secured, he motioned the other two into a huddle around the car once they finished loading away their goods. "OK! So there's another grocer a few blocks west of here," he said rather conspiratorially, keeping his voice quiet lest any of the women around them got any bright ideas. You never know. "We have to go into this one like it's a battle!"

"Isn't that overdoing it, Shinpachi?" Sano sighed.

Admittedly, he was kind of surprised by the backup he received from Heisuke at that point, though he probably shouldn't have been. "Iya! Shin's right!" From the way he rubbed at his elbow, he was obviously a little sore about being knocked to the floor in his pursuit of vegetables. "This is almost like Ikedaya all over again," he asserted, a fire of purpose in his green eyes as he clenched a determined fist in front of him. "But this is for Chizuru-chan's dinner! We have to get everything on that list."

Shinpachi's eyes watered up in pride, slamming his young friend on the back hard enough to make him lose his balance slightly. "That's the way to be a man, Heisuke! Now here's the plan..."

They attacked the third store much in the way they'd always attacked groups of ronin back in the day. Shinpachi was the muscle, clearing the way; Sano was their shield, keeping the enemies at a distance; and Heisuke was the agile one, ducking in and out doing damage to their stymied opponents. In this case, he was grabbing their needed items while he and Sano prevented anyone from getting within 5 feet of him, allowing them to retrieve all the remaining items on their list.

Well, almost all.

They were just missing on now.

"HOW CAN THEY BE OUT OF BOOZE?!"

The revelation finally prompted that same fire of purpose in Sano's eyes, who said grimly, "It's not a proper party without drinks, Shinpachi! To the next one!"

It actually took three more stores to find a proper amount of sake and beer for the number of people they had; though Chizuru wouldn't drink and Souji didn't tend to have much, Saitou usually drank enough for two men. That didn't even count what the three of them could go through.

They were fairly proud of themselves really as they pulled up to the large home, car laden with the entire list of items Sanan had detailed for them. She's going to love this. He could imagine the expression on Chizuru's face when she saw the elaborate dinner they'd planned. Each of them was contributing a dish to it, be it a traditional Japanese style dish or a foreign favorite. Hijikata had actually been the one to suggest the idea, since in all the time Chizuru had prepared their meals, done their laundry, and kept their headquarters clean...they'd never properly thanked her for it. She was up as early as they were and asleep not much earlier then they were. She'd been taking care of them, as much as a woman dressing as a man could take care of almost a dozen warriors, and not even getting paid for it really. They'd been so busy doing their jobs protecting Kyoto that it'd been a blessed relief to have someone taking care of the day to day chores who'd wanted the job.

It was also a lively way to welcome her back among them...the last of their little family. Whether the others would admit to it or not, they'd been waiting for her. For Shinpachi, she was like the little sister he'd never had. Chizuru had become one of the Shinsengumi without ever needing to raise a blade by becoming someone special to each of them, in her own way. It was just incredibly late that they could finally properly show her that.

"It seems like everything is here..." Sanan sounded cautiously pleased as he rummaged through the bags they lugged into the kitchen. Shinpachi remembered that tone all too well; it was the same one Sanan used whenever he'd do something nice for him and expected it to be a way to butter him up before breaking some sort of bad news.

"Of course!" Heisuke's enthusiasm, as always, fairly bubbled out of him. Shinpachi had always liked that about Heisuke, though. He was an upfront, honest guy, with almost no capability of lying because he was so bad at it. And while he was as lethal as the rest of them in the old days, he'd always retained his idealism somehow. He wasn't jaded, like he and Sano had become after slowly compromising themselves over the years. "It's for Chizuru-chan!"

"Ah." Hijikata nodded with a smile, arms crossed over his chest. "Good job. Now we just have to make it all."

How many times had Hijikata assumed that very pose before them, Shinpachi wondered? It reminded him of their 'Golden Days', as he'd come to think of them; those fun days in Shieikan way back when before the Shinsengumi came to be when it was just a poor dojo with a ragtag group of misfits that had big dreams and even bigger personalities.

Before the ochimizu, the war, and all that crap had entered their lives and screwed everything up.

He'd outlived most of them by a long time; only Saitou probably had any idea as to how much it sucked to outlive all the people who'd really understood you by five decades. As he'd gotten older, Shinpachi had thought a lot about them and about what they'd have thought to some of the changes he'd actually lived to see. What would Hijikata and Kondo have thought of this odd foreign movie? Would Heisuke have liked this imported type of alcohol? Or how Souji and Saitou would've despaired at what passed as 'acceptable' kenjutsu in the Meiji Era. Shinpachi still had no idea how Saitou had managed to swing government approval to continue carrying his blades into the new era, but he had. They'd gotten together for drinks once every few years and usually just...reminisced over old times.

And drank copious amounts of alcohol.

"Oi, Shin, looking kind of serious there." Sano slapped him on the back, breaking him from his nostalgia and grinning at him. "We should go get the place ready. Souji messaged Heisuke and said they're about an hour away."

He laughed the heaviness of his thoughts away easily, leaning companionably against Sano's shoulder. It was a familiar position for them and he appreciated his renewed presence and relaxed demeanor every time Shinpachi found himself lost in his thoughts. Sano always had offset him in many ways; the subtle to his blunt. That, he hoped, would never change. "Ah! Let's go make sure Chizuru-chan's surprise is all ready for her arrival!"

Souji was up to something.

Chizuru had no idea what, exactly, but the grin on his face had more than his usual wicked edge to it. She'd spent a lot of time deciphering the meaning of many of his grins over the years – and he had numerous variations of that single expression – so she knew the wicked-tinged I'm-plotting-something-you-don't-know-about look when she saw it.

She spent most of the drive trying to figure out why he kept giving her that look when she caught his gaze periodically in the rear view mirror; if she didn't she kept wondering how Saitou could possibly have a license to drive when he was only seventeen like them and that made her anxious. It was Saitou, after all. He was at least the responsible one.

At some point, she'd fallen asleep in the back seat because Souji was shaking her awake and saying, "We're here, Chizuru."

The house was beautiful, of course. It was a multi-story western styled house with all the modern upgrades one would expect. The entire rear wall of the living room was glass, offering a breathtaking view of the snow covered mountains and the main town itself down below. Chizuru thought it a bit odd, though, that the main house itself was dark and she couldn't hear anyone.

"I thought everyone was already here?"

"They're here," Souji assured, ushering her down a hallway. Saitou seemed to have disappeared, though she had no doubt he was around. "Come on, we have to get you properly dressed for dinner."

"Huh? But…hey!" He unceremoniously pushed her into the room, smiling.

"I've got to get dressed to, but if you want me to help you first…" His eyebrows wiggled suggestively and her face heated up despite herself.

Damn him and his ability to embarrass her!

"No, thank you." She kept her tone as prim as she could, though her peevish side made her shut the door in his face; not that he cared from the laughter that echoed down the hall in his wake. "Mou…" She was expecting her travel case to be in the room, but instead it was a large box on the bed with her name scrawled on top of it in Hijikata's neat handwriting.

Yukimura,

Wear this to dinner and come out to the lower patio. We're all waiting for you. Commander's orders!

The last bit made Chizuru giggle. "Can't disobey the Commander's orders then." It'd been a long time since Hijikata had ordered her to do anything. She remembered the sheer terror she would feel whenever he would give her a direct order vividly and how she'd rush to do whatever he asked, convinced that they would kill her if she didn't. It seemed so absurd now that she couldn't help laughing at her own memories just a little.

Chizuru tugged open the box and gasped, her heart jumping into her throat. It was a replica of the beautiful kimono Kondo, Nagakura, and Harada had conspired to get for her. The tears welled up in her eyes as they had the first time they'd given it to her, overwhelmed. She really missed Kondo. He'd always been so full of life and endlessly kind to her despite having no real reason to do so. He still was whenever she saw him in the dojo when she went to go observe practices, though she'd made a little bit of a fool of herself the last time she'd seen him. Chizuru couldn't resist just going up and hugging him that first time after awakening, wanting to cry like a child even though he had no idea who she was beyond "Souji's new girlfriend" at the time. Just seeing him made her remember hearing how he'd been killed and how much it'd hurt to realize she'd never gotten to say a proper goodbye and how much she'd appreciated and treasured his kindness. He'd been visibly confused, but had gamely let her hug him for several minutes and pat her back consolingly when she really did start bawling like a baby despite what had to have been truly bizarre behavior.

It made her feel slightly better that Souji admitted to doing the exact same thing after his own awakening when they'd spoke privately, one of his rare genuine smiles on his face. No one had loved and respected Kondo more than Souji did, after all.

It took longer than she'd expected to get her hair up as she wanted to accommodate the lovely hairpin that also accompanied the kimono, smiling in the mirror in satisfaction. It made Chizuru happy when she realized it was actual the first meal she'd get to share with everyone dressed as a female.

She made her way easily enough to the sliding door that led to the top-level deck, surprised to find Hijikata there waiting for her. He smiled gently when he saw her, and she had a disorienting moment when she saw him because he was dressed exactly as she first remembered him.

"Very fitting like we thought, Yukimura." He sounded pleased and offered her his arm as she came closer. "Everyone else is waiting for you downstairs."

The initial burst of cold air as they stepped outside made her shiver, though the clothes themselves kept her quite warm despite the temperatures. They slowly made their way down the steps leading down to the lower deck that was actually completely covered and she could faintly see the flickering of lights, through the windows, though little else. It did, however, seem that everyone else was there from the number of bodies she could see milling about. They had to take the steps slowly, despite having clearly been cleaned of snow earlier, since there was already another thin layer forming, but they made it without issue and she froze in the doorway as it opened. It had nothing to do with the burst of warmth from the well protected indoor deck and everything to do with what was inside.

There was food…everywhere. So much, in fact, that she had a hard time believing it could all be eaten. There was no rhyme or reason to what was made, either – it almost looked like someone had just made whatever they liked best, from traditional Japanese soup to more foreign foods like spaghetti and meatballs.

The food, however, wasn't the most startling.

It wasn't just Hijikata who was dressed in his old gear – everyone was. She'd seen Souji and Heisuke in theirs already since they trained at Shieikan in them, but Saitou, Sanosuke, Shinpachi…it was disorienting and made her freeze as her mind tried to adjust and remember she wasn't back in time at the Yagi house getting ready to eat dinner with them.

"Oi, oi, getting a little cold out here," Hijikata said from behind her and she jumped, quickly stepping to the side so he could come in and shut the door behind him before going to take his place at the table.

"Sorry!" Chizuru tried to find the words, but found she was having real trouble forming them as she stood where she was and stared. They were all smiling at her and she had absolutely no idea what was going on, though something was clearly up. "What is all this?"

It was Sanan who decided to speak first, his smile gentle as he beckoned her over to the seat at the head of the table. Souji was to her right and Heisuke was actually to the left, both wearing almost identical grins from ear to ear. Hijikata was at the opposite end of the table, Saitou to his left and Sanan to his right in a rather fitting echo of how it'd been way back when too. "It occurred to us, Yukimura, that we never truly told you how much we appreciated your contributions to the Shinsengumi way back when."

Saitou spoke next, his almost shy smile clearly visible. "You worked as hard as any to take care of us and ensure we had a welcoming place to come back to, though you didn't have to and never even picked up a blade."

Sanosuke raised his sake cup to her, as did Shinpachi across from him. "We wanted to welcome you back among us," the latter began, reaching over to rustle her hair a bit fondly while Sanosuke finished, "But more than that, we want to sincerely thank you for everything you did for us and never got to properly acknowledge."

Chizuru really did sputter when they all bowed to her then – every single one of them – and chorused, "Arigatou gozaimasu." Her face was red and had nothing to do with the warmth of the enclosed patio, and she actually babbled a little incoherently as she tried to find words. She wanted to say, "Please don't! It's not necessary!" but the care they'd obviously taken to arrange everything, and the intense wave of nostalgia as she saw them all together like this, smiling and happy and with her…

It's all I ever wanted. She loved all of them so much – each stubborn, willful one of them – and had missed them dreadfully in those years after Souji had died. She'd wished every night they could all be together just one more time for just one more meal together because they were all good men despite being rough around the edges and had taken care of her even after they needn't have. Some, like Yamazaki and Kondo, were missing, but they were around and happy too and that was enough.

She was actually managing to hold back her tears until they all stood to their full heights and Hijikata took his glass of wine and raised it towards her, his smile firm as he said, "Welcome home, Yukimura."

Home. With them. And it's not a dream.

There was nothing she could've done to stop the tears. She tried – she really did – but Chizuru plopped down in her seat and cried harder than she had in a very long time, face hiding in her hands as the emotions of 12 years being alone and wishing they were there poured out.

"Hidoi ne, Toshizo-kun," she heard Sanan say in a clearly teasing tone. "You made Yukimura cry."

"Oi, oi! I didn't mean to!"

"…Oni Fukucho."

Hijikata's voice was almost a whine at this point. "Not you too, Saitou!"

"I'm sorry!" she blurted out around her tears, laughing and crying all at once. "Thank you very much. For…" She made herself look up, lip still trembling as she could feel a fresh wave of tears wanting to come, meeting each of their eyes. As much as they meant to her, it was clear she somehow meant just as much to them and this was their way of showing her. The how or why really didn't matter; just the fact that her feelings were returned buoyed her. "…Everything. Now and then and for everything in the future."

"Of course!" Shinpachi and Sanosuke both came over and squashed her in a double hug, making her laugh until the tears dried themselves out. "Now let's eat!"

"Always thinking with your stomach, Shinpatsu-san…" Heisuke snorted, which only got him a roll thrown at his head in response that he summarily caught in his mouth with a grin.

The food wasn't the best she'd ever eaten, but Chizuru didn't care. She laughed and talked with them well into the night, listening to their banter and even joining in a bit. It was absolutely the best meal she'd ever had.

And it's not a dream.

So ends part 2! I will admit wholly I teared up and cried a bit for the last parts of it because I could see it so clearly. The Baka Trio's adventures in the food stores were also inspired by my own trials of trying to find a damn eggplant on Christmas Eve to make eggplant parmigiana only to find the first 4 freaking stores didn't have any! WTH? And people really are crazy around the holidays in stores.

As always, feedback is encouraged and appreciated! And please look forward to Part 3, the final part of the Holiday Hijinks! (Certainly not this story, however. I'm winding up my next grenades as we speak! XD)

Next Chapter: Shinsengumi-tachi have some fun skiing, snowboarding, and figuring out how to ice skate with varying results. Drunken revelry later that night abounds, plus a slightly tipsy Chizuru offers Souji an interesting challenge!