Disclaimer: I do not own PMK. Please do not sue me, it's not worth your time and effort.

Here's another update. Senbi's on a roll...

Chapter 9: Suspicions

"I am not a shinobi anymore!" Hotaru snapped. "Lemme go!" Susumu had confronted Hotaru in the kitchen. Hotaru tried to squirm free but Susumu only tightened his grip on her wrist. The kitchen chores were still waiting. She had no time for any nonsense. She kicked his shin. He stepped backwards, tripped over a stool and fell backwards, pulling the lighter girl down on top of him.

"Hotaru-san! Where do you want the..." Shinpachi's eyes bulged at the sight of their new cook sitting astride the moaning shinobi. Heisuke and Sanosuke popped in with the vegetable sacks. Tetsu ran in. "What happened? I heard a loud crash...er, is this a bad time?" The red-faced pair quickly disentangled themselves.

Susumu left the kitchen hurriedly, leaving Hotaru to fend off any jests by the trio. Tetsu ran after the spiky-haired shinobi. He has to talk to someone about Okita-san...Susumu will listen, Tetsu hoped. Tatsu had brushed off his worries when he voiced them and Yamanami was out at Akesato's.

"Don't tell Okita-sama, please!" Hotaru pleaded as the trio guffawed. "Good for you, Hotaru-chan, you landed a real guy," Harada chortled. "Got tired of chasing after Okita-san?"

"Hijitaka-san...did say you're not to stalk Okita-san..." Heisuke gasped for breath. "Who thought you'd land Susumu so soon! Just as well, since Okita prefers Shimabara...Ow!" Shinpachi jabbed his friend in the ribs. You needn't tell her that...

"Shimabara?" Hotaru frowned. "The red-light district? But he isn't that sort!"

"Grow up, girl. All guys go there for fun, even puppy-kun!" Heisuke slapped Shinpachi's shoulder. "With Hijitaka out, Okita can fool around every night! Of course some say he's been moonlighting there since Hijitaka docked his pay." Whatever it is, at least it keeps him from coming after our hides... With a shriek, Hotaru fled for her room.

Dark corridors. Someone is yelling out orders. Fighting. The clash of steel. The screams of the dying. Blood. It was splattered over his blue and white uniform. Did he have a uniform? Sword in hand and comrades by his side... Danger...Death...A surrounding he was well used to.

Suddenly he is gasping for breath. Can't move...can't breathe. A dead weight pressed down on his chest. He flailed wildly. Choking on the blood he coughed out from his lungs. He was having an attack.

"Kitsu-dono!" His roommate cried out. "He's in bad shape..." A woman's indistinct voice. A reassuring voice, a comforting hand...the face he cannot put a name to. Kojirou was fighting for his life against the illness that attacked him from within. He always sat by the bedside when he was ill. Always...Saizou nudged his master worriedly.

Suzu was worried. He hadn't been so worried since Ikeda-ya. Kitsu-dono sat Kojirou up so he will not choke on his own blood. Finally, the attack eased and he fell back into a fitful sleep. A frantic young man called. His pregnant wife had fallen and was bleeding. Kitsune left Suzu to watch Kojirou and left with the man.

Suzu absently patted the pig and got a nip for it. He hoped Kojirou will recover. He was beginning to think of him as a friend. Kojirou is in many ways similar to Tetsu. Maybe not so childish or loud, but they both had the same honest warmth Suzu liked. No! Tetsu was never his friend! He could never be...because...he's Miburou.

"You think something's not right with Okita-san? I think it's just stress. Same as me!" Susumu was not listening.

"You didn't look too stressed with Hotaru-san..." They were in Susumu's room. Susumu was preparing to leave on a mission.

"Spread it about and I'll wring your neck!" Susumu groaned inwardly. With the Comedian Trio as witnesses to his accident, it'd be all over the barracks by morning. He diverted the conversation. "I suspect Hotaru-san's up to something..."

"Like what?" Tetsu looked at him through innocent eyes. "She's been very busy with the kitchen chores. She's about as serious about the kitchen as Ayu-nee..." He froze as the shinobi shot him an angry glare. "Okita-san recommended her. She never denied having being a shinobi or working for the Choushu before...You even said she's the lousiest shinobi in the business! The worst she can get up to is stalking Okita-san again."

Yamazaki Susumu grinned. Hotaru is a poor stalker. Okita knew she was stalking him and chose to ignore it. Hijitaka, however, had enough and set down the "no-stalking" house rule. To her credit, Hotaru re-focused her attentions to cooking her Okita-sama's meals.

"Still, I'd keep an eye on her," Susumu ruffled Tetsu's hair as he gathered up his kunai. And Okita-san too, he thought as they left the room. The kid is not entirely wrong...

Daylight. A figure sat by his bedside. It's not right. The figure was much too slight. The hair color's wrong. The smell of tobacco is absent. Kojirou sat up. Saizou leapt into his lap. Suzu started as his friend awoke. "I'll get you some breakfast!" Kojirou watched as Suzu left. Still too weak to get up, he hugged Saizou and wondered what was missing.

Author's notes:

OK, so the Comedians are making bad jokes about Kichi's night outings. Yamazaki's barking up the wrong tree. Nothing much to say here, but hope you guys & gals out there enjoy this story as much as I enjoy writing it. Cheerio!