Disclaimer: I do not own PMK.

Historian-writer Iris Chang commited suicide. She always felt strongly about her subject. Too strongly perhaps. (Moment of silence pls) That's the reason why I prefer writing fiction... like this little gem...

Chapter 8: Secret's Out

So I'm still alive. Saitou rubbed a sore lump on his head as he opened his eyes. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, he saw that he was in the partially collapsed shack. Fujita! A heavy-looking beam had fallen across the man's chest. Saitou crawled over to unconscious Fujita and felt for a pulse. He found one.

Taking a deep breath, he heaved and pulled at the beam. It finally loosened and he was able to drag Fujita out from under it. Better check him for broken ribs... Saitou yanked open the front of Fujita's yutaka and felt for the ribs. What the? Saitou has discovered Fujita's true gender.

"They aren't back yet, Toshi," Okita paced about as he carried Saizou. It was past dinner time and they ought to be back by now. Those meetings never took so long... Saizou was feeling the effects of being carried about in circles. The poor porker barfed, all over Hijitaka's new slippers.

"Sorry, Toshi."

Hijitaka snapped his pipe stem from gripping it too hard. "Stupid pig!" He tried to kick the pig when Okita put him down. The pig dodged and fled squealing in protest. Okita laughed at the antics of both man and pig.

"Saitou seems, well, more alive after he returned. He used to be such a cold fish..." Okita mused.

"It's her. Tell me, Souji, does the ability to liven things up run in your family?"

"Maybe," Okita grinned as he snatched the haiku book out of Hijitaka's hands. Here we go again... Hijitaka chased Souji around the room and finally cornered him by the closet. He had Souji pinned down on the tatami. Their chases got shorter every passing day. Souji was getting slower.

"Guess that's a yes then," he muttered as he pried the book from Souji's fingers. He was helping Okita back onto his feet when Tetsu came in with Okita's medicine and a message for both of them from Kondo-san...

"Tokio, you can stay only if you defeat one of our students..." Kondo-sensei's voice echoed in the girl's mind as she faced Souji-chan. Souji was good, she had to admit that. Within three months of his enrolment, he had attained a level that suppressed many of the older boys.

Her father, Kondo-sensei and several other relatives were watching. Isami, the sensei's son, and his good friend Hijitaka were watching them secretly from behind the shoji. Guys suck at subtlety. Souji-chan held his bamboo sword before him. His face betrayed his awkwardness at being the centre of attention.

Sorry, Souji-chan... She went in like a tigress. Poor Souji was taken aback by the suddenness in her attacks. He stumbled. She brought the bamboo sword down...

"Tokio! Enough!" Her father's voice rang out. She stopped; the sword hung mere inches from Souji's head. Souji-chan was staring at her with a mix of shock and disbelief. The boy he had trained alongside for weeks was his girl cousin. Souji bolted out of the hall and straight into Hijitaka...

Dark. She blinked. Her body was bruised all over. She tried to get up. "Don't move too much. You got two broken ribs," Saitou helped her into a sitting position.

"Takagi Tokio?" She nodded. "I thought so..." Saitou muttered as he returned to his work. His hands were bloodied from trying to dig his way out of the rubble. There was too much debris for one man to move alone. She crawled over to his side to help.

An ominous shifting of mud. More debris rained down. "We better stop," Saitou pulled her away as more rubble fell. It was hopeless. He judged from the tiny glimmer of light poking in that they weren't buried too deeply. However, the ruble was dangerously unstable.

"Tokio, you do realize I have to kill you for deceiving a senior officer..." Surely she must realize the severity of her offence.

"If you wanted to kill me, you wouldn't have saved me in the first place," she replied boldly. She sneezed from the cold and quickly bent over from the pain in her side. "Tokio-san?"

"I'm alright," she smiled. How like her cousin.

"Saitou-san, I guess if we get rescued... I'll have to do some explaining to Kondo-san... Souji-chan had nothing to do with it..."

"I'll help you explain..." Tokio felt Hajime's hand brush over hers in the dark. They were close, so close she could feel the warmth of his breath. "Tokio?" She rested her head against his shoulder...

"Besides kendo, are there any other things that interest you?"

"Well, I like archery, horse-riding and... ikebana. And I'm quite good at them."

"Can you teach me then?"

"Ikebana? I never knew Hajime liked flowers," she teased.

"No, I meant archery."

"It's a promise then," Tokio replied. After that, they waited in silence. They had been gone at least two days. Surely their friends at the HQ will be wondering...

"You knew?!" Hijitaka and Okita both spluttered. They were in Kondo's office. Kondo nodded.

"Okita-san, I also happen to like the egg custards they cook at Shiroya. Their seaweed soup is also quite something. So, shall we set out to look for them?"

Hijitaka nodded solemnly. If anything happened to Takagi's daughter...

Notes:

Sorry for the delay... Site chapter manager problem. Chewed up the OiktaHijitaka fluff for the previous chappie. Hopes it reloaded successfully.

Cat's out of the bag. More HijitakaOkita fluff to make up.Gomen.