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

Thanks for the reviews!! Enjoy!!

Tatsunosuke and Din walked back into the empty and now dark kitchen, him behind her. She walked over to the nearby stove and lit it, then lit a nearby candle allowing both of them to see a bit better.

"Anything specific you want?" she asked, turning to him.

"Rice pudding will be fine." He scratched the back of his head. He didn't want her to put herself out just for him so he picked the easiest thing to cook.

Din sighed. "Come on Tatsu-kun! I'm a cook, I can make you anything you want."

"No really, that's all I want."

Din turned back to the stove and sighed once more. "I'm going to reheat some of the boiled fish and side dishes Ayu-chan made the other night for the two of us alright? You don't have to eat it if you don't want to but you can if you want."

Tatsunosuke blushed. "Thank you." He bowed.

"That was your big plan!?" Tetsunosuke asked as he looked up at Heisuke. "I thought it was gonna be better then that!"

"What?" Heisuke laughed. "It was great! They fell into each other and now they're in the kitchen cooking together! What more could you ask for?"

Tetsunosuke puffed up his cheeks and turned away from the group. "I don't think it's working. Tatsu-kun doesn't like her and there's nothing we can do about it so let's just give up!"

Shinpachi and Heisuke looked towards each other, and then towards Sanosuke who grinned and leaned forward towards the small red head.

"I think someone's jealous!"

"I am NOT!" Tetsunosuke yelled, stomping his foot.

He was. He didn't want to lose his only brother, the only thing he had left. He didn't want anything to change between them, things had been the same for years and he didn't want someone coming in and messing everything up.

"But don't ya think that Tatsu-kun needs someone to cuddle with?" Shinpachi teased. "And to…"

Tetsunosuke's face drained of color. "EW! Don't talk about my onii-chan that way!"

"Fine, fine." Sanosuke pulled away from the smaller boy. "Come guys, let's get to bed, we gotta train tomorrow morning."

"Alright." Shinpachi turned away. "Good night Tetsu-kun!"

"Yeah," Heisuke turned also, "night!"

"Good night." Tetsunosuke answered with a heavy sigh.

A few hours had passed and Din and Tatsunosuke were still sitting down outside of the kitchen talking to one another. Their talk had ranged from a number of different things, people they used to know, where they had been, what types of food they had eaten before, and what kind of drinks that they had tasted before. Both of them shared a number of stories about embarrassment, past schoolings and teachers, and where they had been through out their lives. Conversation was good, as well as the food that Tatsunosuke had eaten. He ate more then he had planned to just because he was hungry and wanted to stay and talk to Din about things. They had more in common then he thought they would and found that he really liked having someone to talk too about things he liked for once.

"And that's how we got into the Shinsengumi," Tatsunosuke finished as he began laughing.

Din laughed out loud; Tatsunosuke laughed a bit more as well. She quickly covered her mouth and giggled, trying to be quiet for the people sleeping around her.

She came to a stop and took in a deep breath to recover from laughing. "Damn Tatsu-kun, that's too funny. Tetsu-kun is so cute!"

Din stood up and stretched her arms upwards. She stepped off of the wooden floor and stood in the middle of the grassy yard in front of her, looking upwards towards the night sky.

"What is it?" Tatsunosuke asked, blinking.

"The stars," she answered in a dreamy tone. "They're really bright tonight."

Tatsunosuke stood up, brushed a few crumbs off of his kimono and walked out to where Din stood. Wanting to see what she seemed to like, he looked upwards with her also.

"Stars get really bright around summer," she said. "I guess summer is coming. Time has been going by so fast nowadays."

"It is," Tatsunosuke whispered.

The stars just looked so bright without anything blocking them or without a moon to out shine them. Everything around them was black with only small specks of light shining through the darkness and reaching Earth. It was so breathtaking.

The dark red head heard Din moving and watched her as she sat down on the ground and fell back onto her back, looking upwards. Sitting beside her, he moved his head to look back up towards the stars.

"Ya know, Tetsu-kun reminds me a lot of Setsuna-chan," Din said; Tatsunosuke looked back down to her face. "Tetsu-kun's seen more of his parent's death then she ever did of ours so Tetsu-kun seems to be stronger. It was funny," Her voice cracked, "even though she would try and hide the fact that she was upset I could still tell."

Tatsunosuke's eyes moved away from her face and down towards her left hand, the closest hand to him, and saw it gripping the grass tightly. He moved his right hand towards hers to try and comfort her and her hand released the grass and grabbed his hand tightly.

"When she'd come out of her room with her eyes all puffed up and when I could hear her crying before she slept." Din squeezed his hand. "I hated it and there was nothing I could do."

"Din-chan," Tatsunosuke said gently.

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

Is this what she meant? Was he stronger then her because he never talked about how he felt until his feelings exploded and then someone had to ask him about it? Thinking about everything she was saying, he squeezed Din's hand back, catching her attention.

"Am I really that strong?" he asked out loud. "Am I strong enough for Tetsu-kun?"

Din took a deep breath in and tightened her grip once, then again, catching Tatsunosuke's attention.

"You're in the Shinsengumi where Tetsu-kun will have protection, and friends. And you've got a steady job that feeds him every night, and more importantly, you're there for him whenever he needs you," Din said with a heavy sigh. "You're the older sibling I wish I could have been."

Tatsunosuke's eyes widened and then relaxed. Her words hit him and sunk deeply into his mind but were quickly thrown out as he thought of something that clouded the rest of his thoughts.

"No I'm not," he spoke. "If anything I'm a failure. If I remember correctly it was Tetsu-kun that was in the closet not to long ago. I've never done anything to help him."

"Tatsu-kun." Din sighed. Her grip on his hand stopped being so hard and became gentle. "Do me a favor, tomorrow watch Tetsu-kun when he's out doing laundry with me. Just watch him and tell me that you've never done anything to help him."

The two of them grew quit, their hands still locked together. The grip of their hands was gentler now, the both of them just holding hands now because they didn't know what to do or say next.

"Anyway," Din said suddenly, "let's get off of this subject. Can you cook? I'm assuming you can after all you had to cook for Tetsu-kun right?"

"Yes I can." Tatsunosuke laid down beside Din, looking back up towards the sky. "Why?"

"Well I figured that I made you dinner and perhaps you could make me something tomorrow night," she confessed. "Just something small."

He blushed. "I guess I could."

"Thanks." Din giggled a bit.

Silence surrounded them once more only this time they weren't quiet out of fear or lack of knowledge, this time the silence was just welcomed for some reason. Tatsunosuke then realized just how tired he was from his day and began to close his eyes, feeling like he deserved it.

"Tatsu-kun?" Din asked with a sleepy tone. "Wake me up if I fall asleep."

"Sure," he answered, keeping his eyes closed.

The crickets chirping slowly drifted Tatsunosuke into sleep as he forgot his promise and fell into a deep sleep. He could still his hand tied to Din's, too tired to take it back and not wanting to have his hand leave hers, he left it where it was and hoped it would be the same when he woke up.

Hijikata woke up the next morning to heat. He hissed to himself and sat up, and pulled his hair back into its normal position.

"Hijikata-sama!" Souji called from outside the door.

"Enter." Hijikata sighed.

Souji walked into the room and closed the door behind himself. "Hijikata-sama, Din-nee didn't come to bed last night. She's not in the kitchen either, I thought she might be in here with you."

"No." Hijikata stood up. "I'll go find her."

Hijikata walked over to his back door and opened it, seeing Din and Tatsunosuke still laying down outside, facing one another. His eyebrow twitched as he saw the two, catching Souji's attention.

"What is it?" Souji walked up to Hijikata and saw what he was seeing. "Oh, I guess that's where she's been."

Hijikata stepped outside, leaving Souji, and walked over towards the two. He bent down to Din and grabbed her shoulder.

"Din, wake up," he said in a firm voice. "Wake up, you're behind in all of your duties."

Din opened her eyes, blinked a few times, and looked up at him. Remembering, she sat up, releasing Tatsunosuke's hand, and stood up.

"I'm sorry Hijikata." She rubbed her head. "Dammit."

She turned away from him and quickly walked towards the kitchen. Hijikata watched her leave, somewhat angry that she didn't say anything else and turned back to Tatsunosuke who was starting to stir.

"And shouldn't you be doing your duties?" Hijikata asked with an even firmer voice.

"Oh." Tatsunosuke stood up. "I'm so sorry," he bowed, "I'll get right to them."

Hijikata watched Tatsunosuke walk away as well and heard someone walking towards him. He turned around to see Souji with a smile on his face.

"You were quick to jump him," Souji said with a hint of teasing in his voice. "You wouldn't happen to be getting jealous would you?"

"Jealous of what?"

"The fact that she's hanging out with Tatsunosuke now." Souji giggled.

"No." Hijikata turned away.

Hijikata figured that his conversation with the unit captain was over, so he stepped away from him and walked back to his room. Somewhere, deep inside of his heart he was somewhat jealous. Just the thought of Din with another man angered him but then he remembered that she didn't belong to him so it didn't matter.

Noon had settled in, and Tatsunosuke was taking his lunch break. He was sitting down where he would be able to watch his younger half do the laundry just as Din had told him to do and was waiting to see what she had been talking about.

"Hey puppy-kun!" Heisuke called out as Tetsunosuke threw a kimono up on the laundry line.

"What?" he yelled back.

The trio ran passed the small red head and Shinpachi smacked him on the back of his head to irate him, then ran away.

"Hey!!" Tetsunosuke yelled. "Get back here!"

"Ya gotta catch us puppy-kun!" Shinpachi yelled.

"Get back here!!"

Tatsunosuke smiled. Tetsunosuke was running around, chasing the three but he could tell that he was having fun. He had someone to talk to, and people to run around with and keep him occupied.

"See what I mean?"

Tatsunosuke looked to his right to see Din with a collection of laundry underneath her arm.

"You gave that to him Tatsu-kun. You got in here because you're a hard worker and if you hadn't applied yourself, who knows where Tetsu-kun would be." Din said with a smile.

"Maybe you're right," Tatsunosuke answered back, feeling a bit more confident.

"By the way, I'm looking forward to that dinner you're making me."

"Oh." He blushed. "It might not be too good."

"We'll see."

Din stepped off of the wooden planks and walked out towards the well while Tetsunosuke ran around her, screaming and yelling.

"I see you're getting to know Hinto-san very well," Yamanami said as he walked up to the blushing man.

"Oh we're just friends sir." He scratched the back of his head.

Yamanami sighed. "Hinto-san has a lot of untapped issues she's dealing with right now I hope she hasn't expressed any of them with you."

"No." Tatsunosuke shook his head back and forth. "She's never mentioned anything like that."

"Well I hope you two get along well." Yamanami smiled. "Have a nice day Tatsu-kun."

"I will Yamanami-sama." Tatsunosuke lowered his head.

Yamanami stepped away from the dark red head and began walking back towards his own room. She's getting close to Tatsu-kun. I wonder why?

Din was now in the backyard with Tetsunosuke only. He had chased off the trio and had begun to do his duties once more.

Din picked up a kimono to wash only to realize that it belonged to Hijikata. She looked at it and blinked a few times, wondering if it smelled just like it used to. Wanting to know now, she brought it up to her nose and gently smelled it.

Memories of Hijikata filled her mind as the scent ran through her. She remembered the times where she would lay against him and smell him, or when she would fall asleep with that smell singing her to sleep. It was a smell she had missed and couldn't be replaced but there was another smell almost as good.

"What are you doing?"

Din looked to her right and saw Tetsunosuke standing there with a look of wonder on his face.

"Nothing." She pulled Hijikata's kimono away. "Come on, let's get back to cleaning."

Tetsunosuke's blinked. He didn't understand why Din was sniffing Hijikata's kimono so he quickly moved away from it. He would just leave it alone for now, and ask someone about it later.

Night had fallen quickly. Din had cooked for the household as usual, and now Tatsunosuke was waiting for his chance to cook for her just as she had done for him the night before.

"Heeeey Tatsu-kun!" Sanosuke said as he and the other three walked over to Tatsunosuke. "We saw you outside last night with Din-chan! What were you two doin' out there?"

"Nothing." Tatsunosuke looked away and went back to his work. "We were just talking and we fell asleep."

"Holding hands?" Heisuke teased.

A blush covered Tatsunosuke's face once more. He coughed and stood up, placing his writing tools down.

"Please excuse me, I have to meet Din-chan in the kitchen," he said, not bothering to face the three.

"Have fun!" Shinpachi called as he began to walk away.

The three watched Tatsunosuke walk away and turn towards the kitchen. Sanosuke sighed, causing the other two to turn around and look at him.

"What?" Shinpachi asked.

"I was just thinking," Sanosuke began, "what if Tatsu-kun does end up liking Din-chan and she likes him and they start bein' together? I mean, what will the demon commander think?"

"Who cares?" Shinpachi laughed. "Remember he's the one said that he didn't have anymore attachments to her."

"I guess you're right." Sanosuke moved his hands behind his head and sighed. "It'll still be weird that's all."

Tatsunosuke stood outside of the kitchen and took a deep breath in. He was nervous that something would go wrong and that he would mess everything up for her and him. Then it hit him, why should he care if he messed things up? Would it be because he would embarrass himself? Or was it something else? He thought of a thousand reasons why messing up would be bad for him but none of the reasons sounded like the right thing.

She's a friend; if I messed up something I'm sure that'd she'd forgive me for it. He thought, taking breath after breath.

Making fully sure that he was ready, he stepped into the kitchen where Din was putting away that night's dinner leftovers. He stepped walked her and coughed a bit, catching her attention.

"Hey Tatsu-kun, are you ready?"

"Yes." Tatsunosuke nodded.

"Alright then." She smiled and stepped out of his way. "Sorry if I get in your way, I'm cleaning up for tomorrow."

"It's alright." Tatsunosuke walked over to the counter and looked at everything that had been placed out. He figured that he was going to make rice pudding, it was easy and quick enough for him and he was sure he could make it without messing up.

Taking another large breath in, he grabbed a nearby utensil and began to piece everything together carefully to make sure everything would turn out all right.

Moments flew by Tatsunosuke as he stood cooking for the woman who had requested it to pay his earlier debt. He cooked and made sure that everything that went into the pudding was the right ingredient and the right amount.

Everything is going good so far. Tatsunosuke thought.

He placed the pot down and poured the small amount of food into one bowl. Hoping everything was fine; he called Din in and prayed.

"I'm looking forward to it." Din smiled, taking the bowl. "Thanks Tatsu-kun. Aren't you going to eat some of it?"

"No." Tatsunosuke shook his head. "I'm not that hungry."

"At least try the food you made." Din laughed playfully. She grabbed a nearby pair of chopsticks and handed them to him. "Come on."

Giving in, he grabbed the chopsticks and carefully grabbed some of the food, Din doing the same. They brought the food back to their mouths and began eating only to taste that there was something wrong with the food.

Tatsunosuke took the chopsticks out of his mouth and cringed. Remembering that someone else was now eating the food, he looked over towards her to see her eating it as if nothing was wrong.

"Din-chan…" He blinked and then bowed. "I'm so sorry! The food is a disgrace!"

Din looked back at him and blinked. "What are you talking about? This food tastes perfectly fine!"

"What?"

"It's fine." She smiled and then continued eating.

Tatsunosuke stood there in disbelief as he watched her finished the entire meal. When she finished, she placed the bowl down onto the counter and smiled once more back towards the dark red head.

"Thanks a lot Tatsu-kun, I really enjoyed the meal," she said.

"Really?!"

"Really." She bowed. "Now please excuse me for the night, I have a meeting to attend in Hijikata's room."

"Oh, good night." Tatsunosuke stepped out of her way.

He stood there and watched her walk away, wondering if she did think his cooking was good. Granted that something had gone wrong this time, he was usually such a good cook and wanted her to see that for some reason but she seemed to even like his bad cooking.

Maybe, He began to think, she just didn't want to hurt my feelings but…

A blush crossed his face. He knew the food was bad so she had to know that the food was bad but she had eaten it regardless. She must have cared enough not to hurt his feelings so she ate it, causing herself bad taste just to make him happy.

Tatsunosuke felt something inside of him that he had never felt before coming from the center of his chest. Not knowing what to do, he quickly stepped out of the kitchen and slipped into his nemaki and tried to fall asleep, the blush still on his face.

R&R please!