Hi everyone, it's been a while, but I'm back with new inspiration. While reading my own story I noticed that I had completely forgotten about one of my own characters. I did introduce her in the first chapter but just forgot about her for the rest of the story. Let's say that Tamiko, Hijikata's biological sister, felt sick after the journey and had been inside her room for a few days. From now on she will be included in the story again.

Chapter 8

"I'm sorry for crying so much and making things difficult for you."

"Chizuru, we've already been over this."

"I know, but I wanted to say it again."

Hijikata stopped stroking her hair and let his hand slide over her cheeks to place his fingers under her chin. He lifted her chin up. "It's okay. These kind of things happen with everyone. It's not just your fault. I was at fault too, but let's leave it behind us for now. We've learned from it and it's bound to happen again, and now we know how to deal with it."

Chizuru nodded slowly and raised her hand to remove his fingers from her chin. "Thank you for having so much patience with me." She smiled at him, but the smiled didn't reach her eyes. She lowered her head again.

"Chizuru." Hijikata wanted to touch her face once more, but she moved backwards. It was just a few inches, yet he still noticed the fear, or better the anxiety in her movement. Hijikata removed his hand from her back and gave her the opportunity to stand up. She did and turned her back to him. He knew she'd just thanked him for being so patient, but that patience had left him right now. He had no clue what he had done wrong. What he had said was to assure her that it was normal and okay for these kind of things happen. And now she's doing the complete opposite of what he had wanted her to do. He wanted her to realize it was alright to do this, as long as they both could talk about it afterwards.

Maybe it was okay to just ask her. He stayed seated, as to not intimidate her. "Did I… No, what did I do wrong?" He didn't look at her so he couldn't see her turning around.

"Nothing," Chizuru whispered.

"Then why-" he stopped as he saw her kneeling down in front of him.

"You did nothing wrong. I… I just needed a moment for myself. I don't deserve all your kind words and patience."

"Don't say that. You deserve them." Hijikata looked up to meet her eyes. She'd gotten closer, almost as close as they were before she stood up. He opened his arms and invited her for another hug. Chizuru settled down between his legs and let the side of her head rest against his shoulder.

"Next time when you need a moment like that, please say so. Since my family is here and things between us weren't going so smoothly, I started to overthink things more than I usual do. And that patience you're taking about, isn't always there to keep me calm and collected." Hijikata brought his hand to her back and started to softly rub it again.

"Okay, I'm-"

"Don't say it." Hijikata's fingers pricked in her side as a warning. A chuckle left her mouth while she tried to squirm away from his fingers. "Don't apologize Chizuru. The more you that, the more it makes me feel uneasy."

"It's difficult."

"I know." His fingers found once more the ticklish spot in her side. "Now I know that you're ticklish I will use it against you." His other hand was on her back, keeping her in place, making sure she couldn't escape from his fingers.

"Hijikata," Chizuru laughed, her eyes closed, "please stop."

"Do you promise not to apologize so much?"

Chizuru's hands flew to his hand, trying to stop the wriggling of his fingers. "I promise."

"Yes?"

"Yes, I mean it."

"Hijikata finally stopped. Chizuru needed a few seconds to catch her breath, before looking up at him. "You're really unfair."

"And why is that?" Hijikata pressed her closer to him. He let his chin rest on her head. He was relieved she was back to her cheerful self.

"Tickling someone and not giving them a chance to escape is just torture."

Hijikata laughed at her remark. "It was just a warning. Next time I'll make sure you can defend yourself."

"I hope there wont be a next time."

"And I'm sure there will be a next time."

"Life's unfair."

"I know." He patted her back and nuzzled with his nose in her hair.

"Hmm, I like this," Chizuru whispered.

"What?"

"This." Chizuru snuggled closer, if that was even possible. "Enjoying each other's company with no one disturbing us."

"Having the chance to… do specific things."

"Specific things?" It took Chizuru a moment to realize what he meant. "I-I didn't refer to that." Her cheeks became red, he was glad he couldn't see her face, or read her mind. The scenes flashing through her head were a little too inappropriate for their relationship right now.

"Chizuru."

"Hm?" Chizuru snapped out of her thoughts and noticed him looking at him.

"What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing." She couldn't look at his piercing eyes and turned her head to the side, away from him.

"Are you sure? The color of your face says otherwise." Hijikata smirked. He liked it so much to see her all nervous and flustered.

Chizuru glanced at him. As she turned her head away again, he caught her chin with his hand.

"What have I said earlier this morning?"

"I don't know."

" You know perfectly well what I have said, something about looking at me, wasn't it?"

"Ah, that."

"Yes." He came closer, their noses almost touching. "You remember?"

Chizuru nodded, not being able to form words with him being so close.

"Okay good." He moved away, not sensing her being slightly disappointed.

Chizuru had expected him to do something, but she guessed it was too soon for those kind of things. She felt him resting his chin again on top of her head.

"Do you want to tell the other about… this, us?" Hijikata asked.

Not yet, I think its better to wait a little. Quite a few things have happened these past few days, I don't want to overwhelm them with more."

"I understand. Although I don't think I can lie to my mother about this."

"You're going to tell her?"

"I don't really have a choice, I already told her everything there is to know about my feelings. And she's the one who helped me understand this all. She will definitely ask how our conversation went. And once she knows, Kondou-san will know too. Those two are way to interested in my, our love life."

Chizuru let out a small giggle.

"What?"

"Nothing." She brought a hand to her mouth to not let herself talk.

"That didn't sound like nothing."

Chizuru shook her head. "It's really nothing," she muffled from behind her hand.

Hijikata lifted up his head and wrapped his long strong fingers around her middle. Chizuru knew very well what was going to happen, but she didn't move away. She liked it when he touched her.

"You're not going to defend yourself?" Hijikata askes, raising his eyebrows.

Chizuru's laugh filled the room as his fingers dug into her clothes.

"You're really not going to tell me?"

"It would only make you embarrassed."

Hijikata stopped. "And why would that be?"

There was no escaping his piercing eyes. That's why she couldn't hold in her feelings any longer. Especially after his mother came, he has been more openly towards her. "It's cute, you are cute when you talk about your mother," Chizuru whispered.

"Cute?" Hijikata tilted his head a little to the side. "Haven't heard that one before."

"Then this will be your first and last time."

"Last time? Why? I didn't say I don't like it."

"But I'm having a hard time not being too embarrassed."

Hijikata blinked a few times and started laughing. The sound of his laugh was quickly followed by hers.

A few minutes passed in silence before Chizuru spoke up. "Do you remember the girl I sometimes talk about?"

"Aiko-san was her name right?"

"Yes, I was wondering if I… if I, or we-"

"Could invite her to dinner?"

Chizuru nodded. "If it's not okay now that your family is here, we can invite her some other time."

"No, it's okay. And I'm sure someone else will like it too."

Chizuru suddenly went to sit up straight. "Have you noticed it too?"

"Well, I didn't notice it, but I heard them talking about it. Harada really wanted to make a better impression on her."

"He was indeed a bit clumsy."

"You can invite her for this evening if she's free."

"That soon?"

"Yeah, why not."

Chizuru nodded slowly, she also couldn't think of a reason to not do it. "Okay. Oh I completely forgot because of all the other people, but how is your sister doing? Your mother brought her all her meals, so I didn't have a chance to see how she is."

"I heard from my mother yesterday that she's feeling much better. I think the long journey with all the kids made her more exhausted than she could handle. She has always been the weakest of us all."

"I'm glad to hear that. Do you think that I could pay her a visit soon?"

"I'll have to ask my mother, but I'm sure she would appreciate it."

Chizuru nodded again. She'd talked to most of his family members and didn't want his biological sister to feel left out.

"Will you take someone with you to the market?"

"Yes, Okimi wanted to come along."

"I will give you some money later, so buy something nice for her, from me."

"Hijikata-san…"

"I did the same for Tamiko. Okimi has been through a lot, so this is the least I can do to make up for all the year I wasn't there for her."

"That's really sweet of you."

"I'm not always the stern stoic vice-commander."

Chizuru moved a bit closer to his face. "I have already noticed that," she whispered in his ear and then moved her lips to his cheeks. There she placed a soft kiss. Even though her lips touched him for only a second, it had a huge impact on Hijikata. His ears turned a deep red shade and with big eyes he slowly turned his head to look at her.

"Chi… zuru…" He swallowed and debated with himself about what to do next. But before he could do anything Chizuru stood up. Hijikata followed her silently with his eyes. "What?"

"I think it's time."

"Time for what?"

Chizuru giggled at his surprised face. "Time for you to go back to work."

"Ah." Hijikata stood up too and looked almost sheepishly at her. "What you did just now…" His voice trailed off, not sure what to say.

"I know that we should take it slow, but I couldn't help myself."

"Ah."

"I know there could be more sides of you which I have yet to see, but this isn't like you at all." Chizuru put her hand on his arm. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes I'm alright, just slightly surprised." He couldn't look at her. He had never guessed he would feel so embarrassed with her giving him a kiss.

"Will you be able to focus on your work?" Chizuru asked worried.

"Don't think so, but I'll have to, it needs to be finished tomorrow."

"Then this will be the end of your distraction."

Hijikata let out a deep sigh. "Okay, I'm back again." He brought his hands to the back of his neck and stretched his head out to all sides. "when my work is done, this wont be called a distraction anymore."

Chizuru giggled again and walked to the door. She opened it, a sign for him to get back to work. Hijikata followed her and outside her room he turned around.

"I'll be back."

Chizuru only gave him a smile and waved at him as he walked back to his own room.