I don't own PMK or any of it's characters. I only own Din and Setsuna.
An update, damn it's been so long. Anyways, I made a mistake in eary chapters by saying that it was the end of summer when this all takes place when in fact it's the start. I'll be going back to fix that mistake soon. Sorry.
Enjoy!
"Toshi-kun,"Kondo said gently as he walked into the demon's room only to see him sitting near his sliding doors, smoking as usual.
"What?" Hijikata answered, not bothering to look towards Kondo.
"Din-chan's here now, just thought I should warn you."
Hijikata glanced over towards Kondo, knowing that he had to either be teasing him or being sarcastic and because sarcasm wasn't a part of Kondo's character, he figured that he was teasing him.
"Thank you," Hijikata answered, now, himself, becoming sarcastic.
"Hey guys it's about time you got back!" Shinpachi greeted as Tatsunosuke brought Din into the main dinning room.
"Yeah!" Sanosuke added as he popped up beside Shinpachi, along with Heisuke. "We thought that you two were out makin' out somewhere!"
"What the hell gave you that idea?" Din hissed as she took her arm away from Tatsunosuke. She looked up at the dark red head and smiled. "Thank you for escorting me over here Tatsu-kun. I like walking with you much better then the three idiots over there."
"Hey!" the three argued.
"Oh no problem really," Tatsunosuke said happily as he smiled back towards Din.
"Then you won't mind walking me back home after?" Din asked with a gentle smile.
"No."
Din sighed, relieved. "Thank you Tatsu-kun."
Tatsunosuke opened his mouth to ask Din if she wanted to sit down next to him at dinner when he heard the sound of someone running towards them, causing Din and Tatsunosuke to turn around.
"ONEE-CHAN!" Souji yelled as he grabbed Din and hugged her tightly, squeezing all the breath out of the older woman. "I didn't think you would come!"
"Why?" Din asked after taking a deep breath. "I said I would."
"Well…because…" Souji let Din go and moved up next to her face so that no one else would hear. "You know, Hijikata-sama."
Din giggled a bit and moved her right hand back and forth, dismissing Souji's idea. "I would never let THAT get in the way of me seeing you Souji-kun."
Souji laughed a bit, then tugged on Din's hand and began to pull her towards a sitting spot. "Come sit over here, next to me."
"Wait Souji-kun." Din pulled back a bit causing Souji to look back towards her. "I wanted to sit next to Tatsu-kun, is that alright?"
Tatsunosuke blushed a bit as he looked at Din who's back was turned towards him as she talked to Souji, all while the trio giggled next to Tatsunosuke, hitting him in his right side playfully.
"Sure." Souji smiled.
Din turned back around to face Tatsunosuke. "Is that alright with you Tatsu-kun?"
"Yeah." Tatsunosuke nodded.
"Damn she's making all of the moves!" Sanosuke whispered to Shinpachi and Heisuke. "I didn't think she would!"
"Maybe she's feeling flirtatious tonight," Shinpachi whispered back, trying to find an answer.
"Either that or…" Heisuke crinkled up his nose, getting ready to say what was on his mind. "She's horny."
"Don't say stuff like that!" Sanosuke yelled as he hit Heisuke on the head. "It's too gross to imagine!"
Heisuke grabbed his head, and squeezed it, hoping to get rid of some of the pain from Sanosuke's hit. "Dammit that hurt!" Heisuke looked back up at Sanosuke and hit him on his back. "How the hell do you like it!?"
"Hum." Sanosuke stuck his nose in the air and pushed out his chest. "I barely felt that!"
"You want me to give you one you can feel?" Heisuke yelled as he began to hit Sanosuke, catching Shinpachi in the middle of the fight as well as everyone's eyes.
"Why don't you then!?"
Sanosuke, and Heisuke began fighting, and pushing each other around while Shinpachi was stuck in the middle. Everyone who was watching then looked away, knowing that the small fight wouldn't break out into something big, so they kneeled down in front of the food that had been set out for them and began eating.
"Anyway!" Souji clapped his hands together and kneeled down in the spot next to him. "Come on Din-chan."
Din sat down with Souji on her right and Tatsunosuke. They listened to the trio argue as they ate and after the three were done, Souji, Din, and Tatsunosuke listened to the conversations of others instead of making their own which, for some reason, seemed like the right thing to do.
"So," Souji began, tried of all the stillness, "who is your fiancée?"
"Oh, that." Din coughed into her right hand and placed her chopsticks down near her bowl. "Well you'll have to respect my wishes when I say that I can't tell you his name because of his job but other then that I can answer any other questions."
"Are you together right now?" Shinpachi asked as he too put his chopsticks down.
Din shook her head. "No, I broke off the engagement. We still talk now and everything but as for right now I'm single."
"I thought you were going to get married anyway," Heisuke thought out loud.
"No." Din sighed. "We're not going to go any further again. That's my fault and because he's a young guy and he's got a long life ahead of him, we talked about it, and we both consider each other friends."
"What about you?" Tatsunosuke asked as Din looked at him. "I mean what are you going to do now?"
"I don't know." Din shrugged. "With everything that's happened in my love life I think that I wasn't meant to love someone so I'll just sit back and do my best with my life."
"I think you'll find someone," Souji said, causing Din to look over towards him with the look of surprise on her face. "You're too nice to be left alone for forever."
Din let go of a gentle smile. "Thank you Souji-kun."
So that's Hinto-san. Tetsunosuke thought as he listened to the older people talk. He leaned in and looked at her as she spoke to Souji. She doesn't look at all like someone who would like Hijikata-sama she looks too nice.
"So how is your search going?" Souji asked as he looked towards Din, breaking Tetsunosuke's thoughts.
"Yeah I've been meaning to ask you the same question," Sanosuke interjected, causing the other two of the trio to look at him strangely for they didn't have any idea about what was going on.
"Search?" Shinpachi asked, looking at Sanosuke, hoping he would fill him in.
"For Setsuna-chan," Din answered as she sighed. "I wish I could look more for anything about her but I've been so busy lately that I haven't been able to do anything. I don't know what else I could do, I mean I've been searching for eleven years now and I haven't turned anything up…I'm almost ready to give up."
"Well I'm not going to let you," Sanosuke announced as he stuck his chest out proudly. "I promised to help you find Setsuna-chan and I'm not going to give up my search for her."
"Yeah we promised!" Shinpachi and Heisuke said together as they grinned back towards Din, now remembering what just exactly Din and Sanosuke had been talking about.
Din sighed once more, her sigh sounding like she had relaxed a bit. "Thanks."
"Excuse me," Tatsunosuke cut in, "but who is Setsuna-san if you don't mind me asking."
"It's alright." Din cleared her throat. "Setsuna-chan is my little sister. She falls behind me by three years so the last time I saw her she was fifteen."
"Last time?" Tetsunosuke asked, coming into the conversation. "What do you mean 'last time'?"
"Tetsu-kun!" Tatsunosuke grabbed his brother's head and covered his mouth. "I'm sorry Din-chan, Tetsu-kun didn't mean to be so nosy."
"It's fine." Din nodded.
Tatsunosuke released Tetsunosuke's head allowing the smaller one to speak, "What happened?"
Din took a breath in. "She and I were placed in an orphanage when I turned thirteen and she was ten," she began to explain. "We were there for the same reason hundreds of children were, our parents having been murdered by a gang of Ronin samurai. For the next six years I worked around the orphanage doing normal household chores and working out in the fields, things like that but when I got adopted at the age of seventeen, my new parents refused to take my sister. So I began to work at the orphanage just so that I could be near my sister and I was getting ready to adopt her myself but I had to wait until I turned eighteen so I waited. At eighteen I was ready to adopt her but this was the time when my new family was asking me for help in the business and if I didn't help, they threatened to kick me out and the orphanage wouldn't let me take Setsuna-chan without a place to live. So I worked until it was too late and she was adopted by someone else."
Souji sat there, listening, and knowing that Din had left so much out about everything. She hadn't mentioned anything about the Shinsengumi and how she spent so much time with them. Souji figured that she left a lot out because most of it was about how she met Hijikata and fell in love with him. But hearing this made Souji wonder, if she had left out so much about the Shinsengumi, something he knew about, could there be something she wasn't telling them that he didn't know about?
"Din-chan! Souji-kun!" Kondo called as he walked into the main dining room. "I think it's time you come and join us for sake."
"Sake?" Din asked.
"Yes!" Souji clapped his hands together. "I want you to stay for sake with me, Kondo-sama, Hijikata-sama, and Yamanami-sama."
"Oh." Din coughed. "I don't know if that's such a good idea Souji-kun, you know how Yamanami-san and I are."
"Please?" Souji looked up at Din cutely. "It's just for a little while and when's the last time we drank together?"
"Fine but only on one condition," Din agreed. "Only if Tatsu-kun joins us."
"What?" Tatsunosuke and Tetsunosuke asked as they blinked.
"Hell she's really going after him isn't she?" Sanosuke whispered to the two smaller of the trio. "I wonder what's up with her."
"Will you?" Din asked as she turned around to Tatsunosuke.
"S-Sure," Tatsunosuke answered as Tetsunosuke looked up at his older brother. Tatsunosuke caught him looking up at him and coughed a bit. "I don't usually drink though."
As Souji, Din, and Tatsunosuke got up to join Kondo near the door Din moved slowly until she was walking beside Tatsunosuke and moved over towards him giving him the signal that she wanted to tell him something.
"Thanks for coming," she whispered. "I need something who will talk to me to be in there."
"Uh, you're welcome," Tatsunosuke answered as he scratched the back of his head, not entirely sure about what she was talking about.
"Not to mention I want to get you know you better." Din pulled away and kept walking as Tatsunosuke found himself blushing a bit for some reason.
The three men and the one woman walked into Hijikata's room only to find the demon vice commander up against the right wall, smoking. Yamanami was sitting across from him, looking around as if he had never seen the place. Kondo walked into the middle of the room with a bottle in his hands while Souji took a seat next to Hijikata, and Din across the room, sitting some distance away from Yamanami. Tatsunosuke sat down next to Din and watched Kondo pour the sake into six small cups.
"It's been awhile since we've been in a room together, " Souji pointed out, breaking the eerie silence.
"Yes it has," Kondo answered as he took the spot between Din and Yamanami. "Come now let's let things that happened in the past stay there!"
It was a silent toast, people drinking the sake in their hands without raising their cups or saying anything in return. Poor Tatsunosuke didn't have any idea what they were saying but he went along with it anyway.
That was when Tatsunosuke caught the eye of the demon commander. "What's he doing here?" He asked.
Tatsunosuke twitched, scared almost until Din spoke for him.
"I invited him," Din answered. "Why is there something wrong with it Hijikata?"
She was challenging him. She could see it in the way she was looking over towards him, waiting for a response to her comment. He fought the urge to say anything back to her and took another sip from his sake cup.
"Tatsu-kun?" Yamanami asked as he leaned forward to see if it was who he really thought it was. "Tatsu-kun, I didn't see you there."
"Hi to you too Yamanami-san," Din said as she took a drink from her sake cup also.
Yamanami ignored the comment and looked over towards Hijikata. Before he knew it, Hijikata was glaring over towards him, causing Yamanami to find comfort only looking at Souji who smiled back at him.
Hijikata looked towards Din only to see the bandages wrapped around her chest. "What's the for?" He asked.
"What?" Din looked towards him in response.
"The bandages," Hijikata continued. Everyone looked back at Din to see what she would say because there were just too many answers to the question or rather ways for her to answer him and they were all dying to hear what the two had to say to each other.
"Oh…it's just a broken butterfly," Din answered, taking another sip of her sake. "It's not as well wrapped as my bandages always were when you did them though."
Broken butterfly? Hijikata thought as he tried to remember what that meant for he had heard that before somewhere. But what does that have to do with wrappings?
"So do you think she likes him?" Sanosuke asked as he looked towards the other two of the trio.
"She's going everywhere with him," Heisuke added. "So maybe they're getting the feel of each other or something like that."
"Who?" Tetsunosuke asked as he walked into the conversation unnoticed.
"Our plan is working better then I thought it would," Shinpachi said as he placed his hand under his chin. "I just wonder how long it will take for them to notice their love for each other."
"Who?" Tetsunosuke asked once more only to once again be ignored.
"Okay so we've established Din-chan's interest in Tatsu-kun, but is there an interest coming from Tatsu-kun's side?" Sanosuke asked.
"Who do you think we could ask?" Shinpachi wondered out loud. "We can't go straight over to him and ask."
"Ask Tatsu-nii what?" Tetsunosuke asked this time getting everyone's attention. The trio looked down at him, and grins crossed their faces as they began to giggle.
"We need you to ask Tatsu-kun if he likes Din-chan." Heisuke asked sweetly as he bent down to the small red head's level.
"WHAT!?" Tetsunosuke jumped back in surprise. "Why?"
"We wanna hook them up." Shinpachi and Sanosuke said with a grin.
Tetsunosuke blinked. He couldn't think of anything to say or yell back at them because he was too stunned at the fact that someone might like his older brother. Not because it was impossible or anything but just because his brother had never really talked about having or wanting a romance life before. Tatsunosuke had always been busy taking care of him and making sure that he was taken care of rather them himself. It was just so weird.
"Hello?" Shinpachi waved his right hand over Tetsunosuke's face, bringing him back to reality.
"Oh." Tetsunosuke shook his head. "You want me to ask him if he likes Hinto-san?"
"Yeah!" Heisuke answered happily. "Won't they be cute together?"
"I guess…" Tetsunosuke blinked, not being able to think of the right answer.
"Just ask him for us okay?" Sanosuke asked as he placed his hand on Tetsunosuke's head and laced his fingers through his hair.
"I will tonight," Tetsunosuke agreed as he pulled away from Sanosuke's grip.
"So Din-chan how has your business been?" Kondo asked as he looked towards the only woman in the room.
"Alright," Din shrugged as she answered. "I wish I could move my business since that ninja has been hanging around my area and scaring away my customers."
"Do you know anything about him?" Yamanami asked as he raised a right eyebrow towards her.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Din asked, taking offence to what Yamanami had asked her. To her, it almost seemed like he was accusing her of knowing something.
"Oh nothing," Yamanami answered with a defensive tone in his voice. "I just thought that you might have heard something since the ninja seems to be only down in your area."
"Trust me Yamanami, I don't know anything." Din laughed a bit, almost sarcastically, and took the last sip of her sake.
The room was quiet for a moment as Yamanami thought over what a bad idea it was of him to come in the first place. He looked over at Hijikata, then Kondo, almost telling them both that he had told them this was going to happen.
"So are you going to get married soon?" Kondo asked, trying to change the subject and make a better conversation.
"No." Din shook her head back and forth. "He and I broke it off and both consider each other single."
"So what are you going to do now?" Kondo asked, taking another sip of his sake.
"Run my business." Din shrugged. "I'm going to try and keep my life as interesting as possible but I don't know how I'm going to do that, maybe just keep searching."
"Onee-chan," Souji began, "I was thinking, would you like me to patrol by your place once in a while to make sure nothing is going on down there?"
"Thanks Souji-kun but maybe you shouldn't," Din answered. "I wouldn't want the Shinsengumi in full uniform to scare away my customers."
"Onee-chan?" Hijikata repeated as he looked at Souji who smiled back at him.
"Yeah Din-chan's like my older sister," Souji explained.
"I could see where you can say that," Kondo said with a gentle smile. "Din-chan has been around ever since you were nine years old."
Tatsunosuke wanted to ask questions about what they were talking about but he figured that it would be better if he kept his mouth shut. He looked down at the sake swirling around in his cup and took a small sip from it.
Din stood up and brushed herself off a bit. "I'd better get going. If I drink anymore I'll get too buzzy. Walk me home will you Tatsu-kun?"
"Oh sure." Tatsunosuke stood up, pacing his sake cup down on the ground. Din walked over to him and laced her right arm through his.
"Thanks for having me over." Din bowed along with Tatsunosuke. "It was nice to sit down with a few of you, even though we didn't talk much. I'll talk to you later Isami-kun, and Souji-kun."
"I'll be back," Tatsunosuke said as he walked out of the room with Din's arm in his. The four men in the room watched as he walked out of the room with Din and closed the door behind him and her.
"That was awkward," Souji said as he looked away from the sliding door.
Hijikata brought his pipe out from underneath his kimono and brought it towards his mouth. "You expected something else?"
"I wasn't expecting Tatsu-kun to come also," Kondo pointed out. "I was going to address something but…"
The room grew silent once more as the men sighed and began to think things, things they were afraid to ask, to say, or questions they had been wondering for years but no one said anything on their minds.
"She hasn't changed at all," Yamanami said, breaking the silence.
"She's a bit more laid back then she was before," Kondo added as he sighed and moved the left over sake in his cup around. "Maybe it is because she's got a stable job now, back when we knew her she was always working for her new parents or for the orphanage."
Souji began to stand up, catching everyone's attention. "Onee-chan still seems so lonely."
R&R please!