Disclaimer: I do not own PMK. Do not sue.

Chapter 6: Kojirou

Suzu! Tetsu froze. His white-haired friend stared back with a look of undisguised hatred. Then he was gone. Was it a figment of his imagination? Tetsu navigated his way through the crowd. Things were terrible. It was as if someone had hexed the Shinsengumi. The previous day's raid was a disaster. The Fifth Patrol had walked into an ambush. Two of their men were cut down on their doorstep. And Okita was acting real weird, almost scary...

Was it because of Hijitaka's absence? Or the loss of his pet? Tetsu cursed himself for letting the piglet escape. He had been torn between two duties then: his duty as a Shinsengumi taishi to raise the alarm; and his duty to his friend...What would Okita-san have done?

"Saizou! Where are you?" Tetsu yelled as he peered into another back alley. It's been several days. Hope the porker hasn't wound up as someone's dinner...

"Er, Heisuke-san," Shinpachi flinched as the bird let loose a string of expletives. "Where did you get this foul mouth?" The Comedian Trio had met up after searching for Okita's new pet. Shinpachi had caught a stray kitten earlier but it escaped after leaving him with angry claw-marks as a warning.

"From an acquaintance. Look, he was giving it away," Heisuke retorted. The mynah flapped its wings and cawed out some colorful insults directed at the Shinsengumi. The trio cringed. Now they know why Heisuke's friend was so eager to be rid of it.

"Er, what kind of company do you keep, Heisuke-kun? If Hijitaka-san hears this bird, it's yakitori." The trio stared at the bird. The bird blinked and let out another selection of choice words into Harada's face.

"That's it! The damn thing is yakitori now!" The giant roared. "Sano!" The two men tried to restrain their huge friend.

"Hey, isn't that Tetsu-kun? Tetsu-kun!" Shinpachi waved to the passing redhead. Sanosuke's rage dissipated. "What're you doing in such a hurry, Tetsu-kun?"

"It's Okita's pet, Saizou. He escaped some nights back," Tetsu panted. "I want to find him..."

"Yahoo! I told you guys I didn't kill the pig!" Harada whooped for joy. Heisuke and Shinpachi groaned. So much for their secret... Tetsu's eyes narrowed as he pulled himself onto the giant's chest by Harada's collar. "Care to explain that, Harada-san? If you're in any way responsible..." Harada sweatdropped.

Suzu trudged along the dirt path. This is the slum-quarter of Kyoto, a rough place. He held his swords by his side, ready, alert, untested. The incident at Ikeda-ya still galled him. Seeing Tetsu-kun brought it all back to him. His master's death. What if he had disobeyed? Afterwards, he had been lost...maybe he still is. Drifting along, alone...

Kitsune-dono often found the need to visit patients at night in this dangerous neighborhood. The woman needed an armed escort to fend off unwanted attention, although Suzu secretly suspected she is capable of holding her own in a fight.

Crap! He accidentally bumped into someone. "Watch where you're going, brat!" Several burly men surrounded him. A sword is drawn. Country samurai, out for sport. Suzu smiled grimly as he reached for his own.

Kitsune smiled to herself and watched idly as the children laughed and played with Kojirou. Kojirou. She had given the young stranger the name of the son she had lost. His memories were wiped clean by his nasty head wound. However, that wound and the others he had suffered were healing well. The medicine will keep his illness at bay a while longer. Hijitaka may be a slimy bastard, but at least he knows medicine. Despite herself, she chuckled.

A fight! Kojirou stood up as the clash of swords rang out. His eyes and ears scanned the surroundings as if searching for its source. Kitsune quickly ushered the kids to safety. Damn those samurai, damn them all to hell! The only purpose for those bastards' existence was filling the morgue where she now worked.

If that boy Suzu's in some way involved, let him go to hell as well! At least he'd be meeting his master there...

Author's notes:

Night owl: OK, a double update. I've escaped the angry fangirls.

I'm assuming Suzu has never seen Okita before. I want to write up a bit on what happened to him after the end of the anime.

Sport-killing of peasants by samurai was actually legal to an extent in Tokugawa Japan. Working in a morgue was considered one of the lowest forms of work around, below that of a prostitute. Such work was carried out by outcasts of society. (Kitsu-dono has little respect for the samurai or the social pecking order)