I don't own PMK or any of it's characters. I only own Din and Setsuna.

Aw no new reviews. Please review! Anyways, words in bold and italics are in English thank you!

"And then I ran away with Din-chan beside me and we barely escaped death!" Tetsunosuke said as he stuck his chest out proudly.

"Wow really?" Sanosuke asked.

Morning had come as always and had passed and now the afternoon had set in. The sun was high up in the sky and it would be warm if it weren't for the chilly wind blowing through Japan reminding everyone that winter was on it's way out.

Tetsunosuke was standing outside with Sanosuke, Shinpachi and Heisuke standing around him, listening to the story he had to tell. The trio had no idea what had gone on the night before and seeing how Tetsunosuke was there, they asked him and now he was telling them the story…or so how he thought it went.

"Yup!" Tetsunosuke grinned. "That's exactly what happened!"

"What did Hijikata-sama say?" Shinpachi asked, getting into the story.

Tetsunosuke opened his mouth to answer when a loud roar came from behind them all.

"Ichimura!!"

Tetsunosuke twitched. "Oh man. Hijikata-sama's calling me, I gotta go."

"Tetsu-kun!" Tatsunosuke yelled, running up the to group. "Tetsu-kun!"

"What is it?" he asked once his brother joined in with the group.

"Have you seen Din-chan? I've got a letter I have to give to her," Tatsunosuke answered, taking in a deep breath trying to recover the breath he lost from running over to the group.

"What kind of letter is it?" Sanosuke teased as he grinned at Tatsunosuke. "Is it a koibomi?"

Tatsunosuke blushed. "I don't know I was told to give it to her! I didn't write it!"

"Sure," Heisuke teased, moving closer towards Tatsunosuke.

Tatsunosuke sighed. "Do you know where Din-chan is?"

"She's over by the well," Shinpachi answered, being the only nice one to answer the poor dark red head. "I think she's washing her hair or something."

"Thank you." Tatsunosuke bowed, and then walked off towards the well leaving the trio and Tetsunosuke alone.

"Hey," Sanosuke said once Tatsunosuke was out of earshot, "did you ask him whether he likes Din-chan or not yet?"

Tetsunosuke puffed up his lower lip and looked away. "No, I haven't gotten the chance yet."

"I guess it's up to us then," Shinpachi said looking back up at the group. "Come on, let's go find a way to get those two together."

"ICHIMURA!!!"

Tetsunosuke twitched hearing that voice. "Coming Hijikata-sama!" he yelled as he ran away from the trio to perform his page duties.

Tatsunosuke walked towards the well, holding the letter he had been given in his right hand. He had gotten the letter when he was outside sweeping up leafs and a woman had given him the letter, telling him that the letter was from Din and that she would know who it was from. Not questioning anything and figuring that it would be important, he moved a little quicker then usual.

He rounded the corner and saw Din standing beside the stone well with her hair down in front of her face. Seeing her hair wet, and how she looked caused a quick blush to cross his face. Just seeing her like that, so unaware of his existence and so into what she was doing, just made her look beautiful to him, just for that second.

Din's eye caught Tatsunosuke. "Hi Tatsu-kun," she said gently.

Tatsunosuke coughed and stepped forward. "Din-chan, someone told me to give this to you."

He held the letter out to her, and she took it. She opened it and began to read the writing there and Tatsunosuke watched as the smile on her face disappeared and her gentle mood seemed to dissolve.

She looked away from the letter. "Thank you Tatsu-kun."

"You're welcome," he answered, a part of him wanting to know what was in the letter and why it had ruined her mood so easily.

"Excuse me." Din moved away from Tatsunosuke and ran back into the dojo, leaving him to stand there in wonder.

Din ran down the hallways of the dojo, her heart beating away in her chest. She grabbed the red ties out of her kimono and quickly tied her hair back so it would stay out of way. Coming up towards Hijikata's room she slid next to his door and without warning him, she opened the door and looked inside to see him by himself.

"Hijikata!" she said, walking in.

He twitched, irritated that she didn't ask permission to come in but he figured how well she knew him and how he hated people just walking into his room so she had to have an important reason to come in so quickly.

"I know where Setsuna-chan is." She took a few more steps into his room and closed the sliding door.

"Where?" he asked, perking up a bit.

She walked over to him and handed him the letter with the address of where her sister could be found. He read it over only to twitch as he recognized the address. A graveyard.

"It can't be her," Din insisted as Hijikata looked back up at her. "I refuse to believe that she's there in that place! She can't be!"

"Din." Hijikata sighed.

"Don't!" she yelled gripping her fists together to make a small ball. "I'm going to that grave and I'm going to prove that it isn't her! Are you coming?"

"What?"

"Are you coming?" she hissed. "I'm leaving now so hurry up if you're going to come with me."

Hijikata stood up. "Let me get Kondo-kun, I'm sure he'll want to say good-bye as well."

"No one is saying good-bye," Din muttered under her breath. "We have no reason too, no one is dead."

Hijikata ignored what Din had muttered and walked past her and into the main hallway. He walked over to Kondo's door, slid it open, walked in, and closed it so that no one else would hear what he was about to say.

"Kondo-kun," Hijikata spoke; Kondo looked up at the demon. "She knows."

As Din, Hijikata, and Kondo walked out of the Shinsengumi headquarters, they caught Yamanami walking off with Heisuke and Tetsunosuke. Hijikata looked towards Kondo who laughed gently.

"He's taking the young pup out to Shimabara to have some fun. Don't worry everything will be fine," Kondo said laughing as he spoke.

Now knowing, the group began to move once more in silence. They walked through the streets, people staring at them and wondering why a woman like Din was walking around with men from the Shinsengumi. They all ignored the stares and kept moving until they came to a large graveyard.

"This is it," Hijikata said coldly, breaking the silence.

The trio walked onto the graveyard's grounds once again in silence. They walked past altars and graves; the two men looking for a grave while the one woman looked for another woman standing around or living around the area. She walked forward looking around as her heart picked up once more but when the sounds of the two men walking behind her stopped, she knew.

"Din-chan…" Kondo sighed deeply.

"Onee-chan!! Promise me that we'll always be together!"

Din turned around and walked over towards the grave Hijikata and Kondo stood in front of. The two men stepped away, allowing Din to get a better view of the grave that belonged to her younger sister.

"Setsuna…," Din whispered, falling to her knees.

Hinto, Setsuna

1861

"Three years ago," Din muttered as she let her fingers run over the indention on the grave. She let go of a small laugh, "They don't have the year she was born…they must have lost her papers at the orphanage."

"I love you Din-nee."

Din bent over, burring her arms in her stomach as she fell over them and began to cry. She just couldn't hold it in anymore, and before she knew it, tears cascaded down her face and hit the ground beneath her face.

"I was three years too late," she whimpered as she cried. "I'm so sorry Setsuna."

Everything was lost, her business and now the reason she had been living for the past few years. There was nothing more for her on this Earth, there was no one to look for, no one would always be out there looking and hoping to see her also. She had lost both of her parents and now the only blood family member she had left, the one that mattered the most to her.

Kondo felt a sting of depression hit him and he looked over towards Hijikata only to see him looking down at Din. He just wanted Hijikata to do something for Din besides just stand there and watch her cry as if she were a stranger.

Suddenly, Hijikata moved his right hand out and placed it down on Din as she sat back up. She choked when she felt Hijikata's touch and then felt it grip her shoulder, giving her the message that he was sorry. Her right arm left her lap, crossed her chest and grabbed Hijikata's hand tightly.

Tetsunosuke was hiding in the closet. He didn't want to come out and face the world. The man he had met at Shimabara, he looked too much like the man he had seen the day his mother and father had been murdered. That man that had slain his mother in front of his eyes and smiled the entire time. Seeing it and remembering was just too much for the boy so he hid in the closet as the memories ran through him and triggered his depression.

Din seemed to be going through the same thing, no one had seen her or talked to her ever since the day she had visited the graveyard. She too had fallen into a deep depression and wouldn't leave Souji's room, not even at meal times. She had been in a sleep like state for the past three days and didn't seem to respond when anyone came into talk to her so everyone just left her alone, figuring that she needed time to mourn.

"Has either one of them said anything?" Kondo asked, looking at Hijikata, Yamanami, and Souji who sat in front of him.

"Tetsu-kun won't eat or talk to anyone," Yamanami answered. "He won't even eat the food that's put in front of him, I'm starting to worry."

"Din-nee's the same way," Souji said with a sigh as he petted Saizou. "Whenever I try and talk to her she just lays there and mumbles."

Everyone in the room sighed, wondering what they could do when Hijikata stood up and walked out of the room. The group stared at the door he had existed from, and then looked back towards each other.

"He's been acting strangely," Kondo said, hoping to give some kind of answer. "I think he's worried about Tetsu-kun and Din-chan."

"I wonder what he's doing." Souji blinked as he looked down at Saizou.

Hijikata walked into the kitchen, breezing past Ayumu who was cooking that night's dinner. He grabbed a bread loaf and looked back towards Ayumu who smiled.

"Is there something I can do for you Hijikata-sama?" she asked kindly.

"Bring some sake and rice to Souji-kun's room for me," Hijikata answered. "Meet me in the back of the room."

"Yes sir. Are you planning on cheering Din-chan up?"

"Not really."

Hijikata stepped out of the kitchen without another word, leaving Ayumu to do what she was told to do.

"Come on Tetsu-kun!" Sanosuke teased as he popped up in front of Tetsunosuke's view of his ceiling. "Wake up!"

"Please leave Tetsu-kun alone." Tatsunosuke asked, walking by the group.

"Fine." Heisuke sighed. "What's up with everybody? I heard that Din-chan's the same way as puppy boy."

"Oh." Shinpachi walked away from the group only to have them follow. "There's a reason for that in case you haven't heard."

"What?" Heisuke perked up, wanting to know what was going on.

"Setsuna," Shinpachi began as Tatsunosuke too began to listen from the doorway, "she's dead. They found her grave and everything."

"What?" Sanosuke asked in disbelief. "She can't be."

The group became still, and silent. Sanosuke stepped away from the group and covered his mouth with his right hand, letting the shock ran through him and everything hit him head on.

"I gotta go, I'll be right back." Sanosuke stepped away and walked out of the room.

"What was that about?" Shinpachi asked, looking t Heisuke.

"I don't know." Heisuke blinked. Then the thought hit him. "You don't think…" He moved his eyes towards Shinpachi.

Shinpachi picked up on what Heisuke was indicating. "That they…were in love?"

"Let's go find out."

The two ran out of the room, and ran towards Sanosuke's room, hoping to get the answer to a question they had just come up with. The question did make sense, after all whenever Din came to see Hijikata, Sanosuke would go out to see this woman and after a few weeks they discovered that "this woman" was Setsuna. Sanosuke had never said anything about liking her; in fact he never really said anything about her except that she was fun to be with. Perhaps this was the reason that why Sanosuke wouldn't give up his search for Setsuna.

Hijikata stood in the back of Souji's room, waiting for Ayumu to arrive. In the meantime he walked over to Din and placed the bread down beside her bed. Din opened her eyes slowly and looked up at him.

"Sit up," he ordered.

She didn't fight; instead she sat up and lowered her head. The demon sighed as he looked at how upset she was. Her arms looked limp, and her face was emotionless and her eyes seemed to show the emptiness inside of her.

"You have to eat something," he hissed. "It's been three days and you and Ichimura haven't eaten anything."

"Then go to him," she mumbled.

"Tatsunosuke-kun is taking care of him," Hijikata answered. "Now start eating something. Ayu-san is bringing you something besides this but I want you to start by eating this."

He moved the bread loaf out towards Din who didn't even bother to look up. Hijikata growled and sat down beside her and crossed his arms. She blinked slowly and looked towards him.

"I really don't want to eat," she said in a low voice, almost if she were on the verge of losing it. "Hijikata…I don't feel…anything."

"Just eat," he hissed once more.

"There's no point."

"What?" He raised his right eyebrow.

"There isn't." She looked away. "There's no point in being here anymore. I don't want to be here." She moved her hand up to her face and rubbed her eyes. "All my life I've just wanted to see Setsuna again and that's been my life mission but…I can't do that now."

Hijikata sighed. "Don't give up on your life because someone you loved has died."

"But she's not the only one!" Din yelled, slamming her fists down onto the floor. "Dammit you don't know how long I waited for you! I waited seven years only to hear that you were dead! But now…" She sniffled. "I know you're okay. But why isn't she okay? I don't understand. If you're alive then she might be right?"

"Din." He shook his head. "Setsuna-chan is gone."

Din's hands came up to her face and hid her eyes as she began to cry. Her breathing became harder, and harder until her crying became a cry Hijikata hadn't seen in a long time. It was the kind of crying that affected the whole body; deep, hard breathes that caused the heart to pound away in her chest. It seemed as if she were trying to be quiet but she couldn't, and small whimpers came out.

"Hijikata-sama?"

Hijikata turned around and saw Ayumu standing in the doorway with a tray of food in her hands. He stood up and was walking over to her but she walked in instead and set the food down by Hijikata and walked over to Din.

"Din-chan," Ayumu whispered as she pulled Din forward and placed her head on her shoulder. "It'll be alright." She looked towards Hijikata. "Excuse me Hijikata-sama but I think we need to be alone."

"Fine."

He stood up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind himself. He gripped his fists together and grinded his teeth together, a part of himself hating the fact that he still hated to see her cry. He pushed the thoughts away, and walked back to his room.

"I'm sorry I had to give you that note," Ayumu whispered as she held Din.

"No." Din pulled away and sniffled as she began to calm down. "Thank you, you did just what I asked you to do."

"What are you going to do now?" Ayumu asked, sitting down beside the older woman.

"I'm going to Yoshida," she answered firmly. "I want to know who killed her and what she had to do with them. What about you?"

Ayumu sighed. "I'm going to keep spying so I have to ask you to keep cooking for me once you get better. Tonight will be the last time I cook here for a week or so."

"I will." Din wiped her eyes.

"Now if you don't mind," Ayumu stood, "I do have to get back into the kitchen to keep cooking."

"Thank you." Din stood also. "I'm in debt to you."

Tatsunosuke couldn't take it anymore. He was rubbing his head, thinking about how both of his parents died and how Tetsunosuke had seen the whole thing. He couldn't stand it; everything was coming back to the smaller boy now and Tatsunosuke felt as if he had to make it so that Tetsunosuke didn't remember what happened that day at all. That, Tatsunosuke felt, would be the only way that the both of them could get over it.

He blinked, and saw Souji sitting down in front of him. "Yes Okita-san?"

"That doesn't look like a Tatsu-kun face," Souji said cutely as he studied the other man's face. "What's wrong?"

"It's Tetsu-kun," Tatsunosuke admitted as he looked away. "I can't let him remember what happened that day. He's remembering it now. I've been trying to make him forget but he just can't."

"Why do you want him to forget?"

"So that we can both get over this." Tatsunosuke sighed. "I know it's coldhearted but I would rather him not remember it at all." Tatsunosuke sighed and moved outside and sat down. "When our parents died…all Tetsu-kun could think about was our parents while I worried about money. What an ungrateful son I am."

"Din-chan," Souji said in surprise causing Tatsunosuke to turn around and see her standing near the door. She stepped in and walked over to the red head.

"Tatsu-kun," she began, "when parents die, it's the older sibling's responsibility to care for the younger ones. That is how your parents would want you to act, so you're not ungrateful or doing anything wrong. You were forced to grown up before your time…I know how that is."

"Thank you but—"

Tatsunosuke was cut off by Din quickly moving down towards him, and wrapping her arms around his neck. He stood there, not knowing what to do, to blush, wrap his arms around her, or simply push her away. He couldn't think so he left his arms where they were.

"Please," she whispered into his ear, "take care of Tetsunosuke-kun the best you can. The person Tetsu-kun will need the most in the world will be you so be as strong as you can. I know it's hard but I believe that you're strong enough to do this. Stronger then I ever was."

She pulled away and stepped away from the two men without saying another word. Souji watched her walk out of the room, and back into the hallway and wondered why she didn't bother to look back at him. He sighed and looked towards Tatsunosuke who was looking down.

"What was…that about?" he asked, trying to figure out the strange feelings running through him.

Souji got up and stood beside Tatsunosuke. "Her smaller sister, Setsuna-chan…they found her grave."

Tatsunosuke gulped. She had lost someone, the only person left to her, and he still had Tetsunosuke. He wondered how he would be able to handle Tetsunosuke death if anything ever happened to him but he just couldn't process the thought through his head.

"Setsuna-chan and Tetsu-kun are very much alike," Souji spoke, breaking Tatsunosuke thoughts. "They were both small when they lost their parents, both involved in things too old for their age, and both close to their older siblings."

"I know it's hard but I believe that you're strong enough to do this."

Tatsunosuke sighed. This thing with Tetsunosuke, he hoped, would be over soon. He looked up towards the sky, and wondered just how he was doing as he raised his smaller brother on his own. He wondered if his parents were happy with the way he was handling things and if they would be proud.

Am I really…that strong? He wondered.

R&R please!!