Disclaimer: Peace Maker Kurogane does not belong to me. If it belongs to me, I'll make Souji and Shinpachi my 'koi's. Muahahaha…
Exchanged Souls
"Ichimura Tetsunosuke" A name could be heard booming through every corner in the headquarters of the Shinsengumi. The vice-commander stormed down the corridors looking for his page. Once more Souji had tricked the kid, making his favorite 'Hijikata san' a demon. (It's his favorite scene) The perky teen giggled at the scene and continued hiding the 'novel'. Toshizou had once found his stuffs in Souji's room and this time it would be different.
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The 'Comedian Trio' ran along with the Chibi. Toshizou were after them too, in case they were in comrades with his page. "Okita san, help!" the four of them yelled at the top of their voices as the demon was catching up with their speed. Even Shinpachi the fastest runner of the four was not able to compete his speed with the vice-commander. Tetsu ran as fast as he could, trying to catch up on the trios. He had a hard time because of his short legs; having to exert twice the energy than the adults.
"E… ew… boom!"
Something fell down out of nowhere from the sky. A blue rock crashed into the man, who fell on the person that was closest to him. Both of them fainted that instant, feeling the strangest feeling that ever happened to them in this lifetime.
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The room was empty when the raven hair man woke up. There were still dizzy spell, making it difficult for him to focus. Shaking his head, he stood up and explored the room. It's obviously not his room and there were paper scripts all around him. Someone must have brought him to this room, but who? He left the room and walked down the corridor and explored the area. It looks really familiar but where had he seen this before?
He continued to analyze the place when he saw Ayumu leaving a room. "Konichiwa, Hijikata san. Are you feeling better?" She greeted the man with great respect. The man stared at the cook and gasped.
Hijikata san? What the…but…The man looked at his hands and realized how big it is. Only finally to realize that he's double his actual size and most importantly, he had black hair instead his rusty orange one. "Oh my god!" he exclaimed and ran as fast as he could to the well in the back yard. He stared at his reflection, when he realized who he saw was he.
He's not in his chibi body; instead, what he saw was absolutely absurd. He was Hijikata Toshizou.
"AhHHhhhhhHhhhh…" he yelled at his reflection. His rough voice could be heard echoing through the headquarters, shocking all the samurais in it. Everyone rushed to see what happened, including Souji as he worries about the man.
"Tetsu, where's Tetsu's body?" he exclaimed as Souji approaches him.
"He's still unconscious in his room." Souji replied in confusion as he stared at the man.
The man ran back to his room immediately after Souji's reply, ignoring the people that surrounded him. He banged the door, destroying it in the process, only to see his body on his futon in the closet. "Wake up!" he yelled at the boy. The boy stirred and woke up, only to stare at his own body before him. "What the hell, who or what the fuck are you?" the boy yelled at the man, hoping that he was dreaming. "Hijikata san?" the man screamed in shock as he as he recognized the cold undertone of the vice-commander of Shinsengumi.
Toshizou stared at his own body, then gasped when he realize what happened. "Tetsunosuke Ichimura? What the hell…" he replied, but his conversation was cut off by the appearance of Saito Hajime.
"Hijikata san? Ichimura?" the man said as he saw the auras of the two, exchanged and stuck in each other's body.
Toshizou gave his best death glare at the man, and then spoke with his cold, freezing tone authoritatively. "Saito, I hope that you will not tell this to the other comrades of Shinsengumi. Especially Souji. And a task for you to find the way to restore our bodies." The man nodded and left the room, leaving the two alone. Toshizou stared at Tetsu and gave him a command too, wanting him to pretend to be him in the mean time.
Tetsu nodded in fear, making the chibi frown at him in disgust.
"Yes Sir."
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"Hijikata san!" the perky bubbly teen appeared behind Tetsu.
Souji allowed his pet pig to climb into Tetsu's arms, making the boy shrink with fear. As usual, the pig frowned at Tetsu, which also means that it knew that the man was Tetsu in Hijikata's body.
All of a sudden, the pig bounced up and knocked into his head, making him fall backwards like he always did. Souji giggled at the scene and picked Saizo up. "Hijikata san, you look like Tetsu when Saizo crashes into him." The man stood up and gave a death glare at Saizo. "Urg…" he growled and left, confusing the teen with his weird attitude against him.
Souji shrugged and left the backyard to look for Tetsu. "Tetsu kun!" he yelled at the name. He crossed many rooms, but the boy was not to be found. He carried on strolling in the headquarters until, he saw a boy with rusty orange hair in the doujou all alone. It was Tetsu alright. But one thing that's weird about him was he was holding on to a thick wooden sword practicing the sword style he shouldn't know,Tennen Rishin Ryu. His eyes were of a demon that he knew, but somehow it seemed strange to him that it came from the boy. Tetsu was supposed to be a double-sword samurai, but he was only holding on to one sword and was perfect in the sword style.
"Tetsu kun?" the teen called the boy to make sure that he was who he is.
"O…Okita s…san?" Toshizou replied, trying to copy how Tetsu would reply the teen, which obviously failed.
Souji walked over to the boy and kneeled down before him. "Are you all right, Tetsu?" He asked as stroked the boy's hair. Toshizou nodded and dropped the sword on the floor. "You wanna go out to play?" Souji asked again. Shockingly, the boy shook his head in the request. Souji stared at Tetsu and pinched himself, making sure he was not dreaming. The teen then frowned and stood up to leave the room.
"Tetsu-kun and Hijikata san are weird today…"
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The Comedian Trio stared at the boy; it had been days since the puppy had conversation with them. The boy either ignored their existence or gave them death glares. It's difficult to find time and effort to try to approach him.
"What's wrong with that puppy?" Heisuke started as the trio walked passed the boy. Hijikata gave them death glares and headed for the doujou as fast as he could, storming all the way there.
"That kid had been like this for days, I've heard that he hasn't been visiting his girlfriend." Shinpachi replied with a frown hanging on his face. He'd had been very upset lately because of that matter. Having not chibi to annoy with really kills him.
"WHAT! HE IGNORED THE GIRL TOO!" Sanosuke exclaimed and his partners nodded. He never thought that the chibi would turn this cold and this is way too awkward.
"Maybe the chibi shouldn't stay with the vice-commander so much, he's turning to be like him." Shinpachi sighed and continued, "Maybe we should find a way to change him back."
The Trios agreed and went after the boy. Toshizou was in the doujou, practicing.
"Yo!" the trio called out.
Toshizou ignored the trio and continued his practice.
Shinpachi frowned at the boy and grabbed onto a wooden sword. "I, Nagakura Shinpachi, 2nd Captain of the Shinsengumi and the shortest member of the Comedian Trio challenge you, Ichimura Tetsunosuke, puppy of Shinsengumi to a duel!"
The boy chuckled and held up his sword, "I accept."
…
Within seconds, Shinpachi was seen being thrown out of the doujou many times. The others stared at the chibi and gasped, when did the boy gain so much power? Souji did happen to walk past to see the scene. He gasped too and dropped the pig. Saizo growled at his owner, who was ignoring it. The teen was so fascinated by the boy's power that he had to stop and see; paying hundred percent attention to it.
The kid isn't himself. He's a demon. Maybe his 'Hijikata san' had been training the puppy, but this is too absurd.
Without notice, Souji charged into the doujou with his sword. (N/A: I mean the real bloody sword!) His tuning from his cute form to demon.
The boy dogged the attack easily and charged back at the teen. Shinpachi stopped charging and went back to his friends; being an audience to the fight now.
Out of nowhere, Toshizou took out one of his most favorite sword of his possession. (He will never allow Tetsu to touch his swords.) Souji was of course shocked, but he did not change his expression.
"Little puppy had been doing some intensive training huh." Souji said with an evil laugh.
"You can say that again, Mr. 1st Unit captain." Toshizou replied the teen and dogged another attack from Souji.
"Hahahaa…you sound like the vice-commander."
"Maybe I am him, ya know." Toshizou replied with a smirk on his face.
Just when the teen was not noticing, the boy sprinted forward and went under Souji's body. Swiftly, he laid a small little cut on his arm (and it bleed) and then braked himself when he was far away enough from the emotionless demon. (Kids are usually more agile than adults.)
As expected Souji turned back into his bubbly self. And unexpectedly, he was crying like a baby. (It shocked not only Toshizou, but the trio too.)
"I HATE YOU TETSU-KUN!" he yelled and left the doujou, crying and running, with tears flowing in the wind. (Souji's favorite move.)
The Comedian Trio watched the scene and clapped their hands.
"It's the first time I saw Okita san like this," Shinpachi said with a cheer then a laugh. Heisuke burst out into laughing and Sanosuke follow suit too.
Toshizou growled at the trio, making them shriek in fear.
"We should be leaving now Tetsu, have fun training." Heisuke said and quickly ran away in lightning speed, grabbing his friends with him. (Toshizou would have killed the three of them if he didn't.)
Toshizou looked at his sword and sighed. How much longer must he stay in this body?
(N/A: Back to the Comedian Trio…)
"Phew, that was close." Sanosuke concluded when they finally stop.
"Yup." Heisuke replied and dropped onto the ground, gasping for air. Running was not always his thing and he had a hard time. The vice-commander he followed, Yamanami Keisuke hardly runs at al, and of course Heisuke was always with him (other than the trio) all the time, so he hardly runs too.
"When did the puppy get so strong? Hijikata san must be giving him hell treatment training by doing all the chores and extreme training." Shinpachi added on and rubbed the bruise on his arm. "Man, that hurts."
"I've heard that the vice-commander is weird like the puppy too. Yamanami san told me that he had been acting really strange and he's not really making up his mind on very important decision. Like for example, when we talked about the Choshu, Hijikata san would always had that weird look on his face." Heisuke stopped for a while and added, "It isn't like him at all."
"I've noticed that too." Sanosuke interrupted, "And he hasn't been doing any patrolling, adding on, he hasn't been carrying his swords at all. Then…the sword on Tetsunosuke's hands…"
"BELONGS TO THE VICE-COMMANDER!" the trio said in union.
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The night falls and covered Kyoto with darkness. On a night of the full moon, three dark figures hid themselves in the dark shadow and waited for their chance to strike.
"Are you sure about this? What if we get the wrong person? What if we misunderstand the whole situation?" One of them said.
"I'm sure. The vice-commander and the puppy must be fakes!" said another.
"I agree. Even if we had to risk seppuku, we had to get rid of them. The real Hijikata and puppy might be in danger." Said the third person.
The three of them crept down the corridors as silently as they could and stopped by the room of Hijikata Toshizou.
"Okay, this is it."
"What's it?"
"Stop joking this time, shorty."
"Okay, okay."
"It's either seppuku or being rewarded with Ayumu's cooking now."
"Yum."
"On the count of three we'll all barge in, is that okay?"
The other two nodded.
"One…Two…Three"
"Hi." A voice appeared behind them in a monotone.
"AhHHhhhhhHhhhh………" the trio screamed at the third commander that was behind them.
"Saito Hajime! How long had you been here?" Shinpachi exclaimed as soon as he regained his proper self.
"Since Toudou said 'okay, this is it.'" The man replied with his monotone, "What are you people doing anyway? There's no night duty for you guys anyway."
"We're erm…erm…"
"Trying to save Ichimura and the vice-commander from the fakes?"
"!"
"They're fakes!" Sanosuke interrupted.
"No. They are real." Hajime replied, "Flesh and blood."
"What!" the trio dropped their jaws, mouth open, looking like a goldfish in a bowl. "Oh my god!"
Hajime smirked a little (very little) and left the trio, leaving them in the blowing cold wind.
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A week had past since Tetsu and Toshizou had been staying in each other's body. Their personality and problems hadn't changed much. There's suspicion and rumors in the headquarters and outside (anyway, the whole of Kyoto thinks so), saying that they're either mad or being cursed. Souji still hates the boy and the trio continued to investigate the matter of the 'fake puppy and vice-commander' (N/A: why don't they just give up already).
Meanwhile, some bandit association (not Choshu) was starting to build power and growing in numbers. Many little groups had joined forces calling themselves the Anti-Shinsengumi (N/A: Weird name, these people had absolutely no creativity at all), hoping to destroy the Shinsengumi, especially the Wolves of Mibu. The Anti-Shinsengumi had been creating chaos all over Kyoto, attracting large attention from Shinsengumi. Shinsengumi had been capturing those people, but those being caught never gave in to their tortures. Answers were never attained, the only thing they would say was, "Curse the Wolves of Mibu!"
On this particular day not recorded in the history of Shinsengumi, a large number of bandits surrounded the headquarters of Shinsengumi armed with samurai swords, rods, glaives and many other kinds of weapons. The Shinsengumi was alarmed but prepared; every samurai quickly took positions in the headquarters and prepared for battle.
Toshizou had lent Tetsu two old but good swords of his and brought the inexperience fighter into battle. He had no choice and it was the only way to keep their problem a secret. Tetsu was armored with Toshizou's battle suit with two swords by his side, standing together with all the other commanders as they prepared for battle. The boy was by his side too, first to help give instructions by whispering into Tetsu's ears and second to help protect Tetsu (or mostly just for the sake of his body).
The gate did not hold longer than two hours and the enemies barged in. Fighting and blood scenes could be seen everywhere. The battle was a furious one and the enemies were wiped out very quickly (most of them were not skilled). Thank god that Tetsu had been attentive in Souji's sword playing lessons and had been practicing them, or else he would be killed in seconds. It was tough being tall; it had a disadvantage when it comes to dodging every attack. He had been slightly injured, but he doesn't mind much. Toshizou had been trying to block Tetsu's vision when he kills, preventing him to scream at the sight of blood. Tetsu had been doing well, trying as much as he could to ignore the death and preventing eye contact with his opponents.
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After the long tedious battle, the enemies were wiped out. The battle lasted for forty-eight hours and all the warriors were all tired out. None was lost in the battle although there were injured parties.
After celebration, the warriors went back to rest and left the leaders on the job of guarding and patrolling. There was a slight headache in Tetsu's head and it feels terrible. He went back to rest too (this was a given order by the commander, Kondou Isami).
That night, storm clouds stuffed the sky and it started to rain. Someone could be heard chanting away and his voice echoed through the clouds. The dancing of his monotone flipped the clouds and invisible aura can be felt throughout the creepy headquarters. The clouds responded to the command and went away with ease, exposing a bloody red moon that reflected its red light into the state of Kyoto.
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"Nagakura san, Harada san, Toudou san!" A familiar voice from a familiar boy was heard.
Tetsu was so happy and excited to be back. He woke up that morning and found himself already back into being a chibi. Although he did not know the perfect reason, he was happy he was back into his all so familiar body.
The trio stared at him, shocked. "Puppy?"
Tetsu ran towards the trio and hugged them. The trio returned the hug and smiled. "Glad to have you back, puppy."
The boy nodded and laugh, "Thank you. Have I been acting weird last week?"
Shinpachi nodded and took out his sword, "Let's have another duel!"
"What? I…" Before he could finish the sentence, Tetsu was thrown over the roof by the sword.
Heisuke sat down on the ground and laugh, "That was the real puppy alright." And the other two agreed with a thumbs up.
(N/A: back to Tetsu…)
Tetsu lay on the ground, flat.
"Ow…Nagakura san was too much." Tetsu stood up and rubbed his temples. "Maybe I'll just go and find Okita san and we can go out and get some candies." The chibi ran as fast as he could to the temple to find the teen. As usual, Okita san was there playing with the kids in the neighborhood.
"Okita san! Can I join in?" Tetsu asked politely as he approached the teen.
Souji turned his attention away from the children and diverted his eyes to meet Tetsu's. There was a moment of silence and Souji's eyes were slowly tearing up.
"O…Okita san?"
Before the boy could say anything more, the teen quickly stood up and ran, "I HATE YOU, ICHIMURA TETSUNOSUKE!"
Once more, cold freezing wind blew as Tetsu stayed stunned by the scene.
Unnoticed, two men dressed in black kimono stood behind him chuckled in the scene.
"Thanks for the wonderful job, Saito."
"Thank you, Hijikata san."
End
Meanie, meanie vice-commander.
So, how do you readers like the ending, surprised?
It took me 4 damn days to write this. I'm sick at home and
I thought I should do something in the mean time since
I'm not going to type for the Gravi stories. I love
Peace maker kurogane too and I always wanted to write a
Fanfic about one.
One interesting fact for people who love Sakuma Ryuichi in Gravitation,
Inuyasha in Inuyasha, Kyo Tohma from Fruit Basket.
Yamaguchi Kappei who was the Seiyuu for all these
Characters did the voice for Nagakura Shinpachi in
the animated series of Peace Maker Kurogane too!
This was my longest written story do you like it?
REVIEWS PLEASE…