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

Update. Yay! My mangas from Japan finally came so now I can finally finish this thing! I need to try to update once a week or something because on my comp I'm on chapter like thirty-three and I'm so behind on this. Oh well. Thanks for the reviews!

Enjoy.

When Tatsunosuke opened his eyes his vision was blurred, and slowly began to straighten out. He blinked over and over again until his vision completely came back to him.

"Where am I?" he asked randomly.

"Hey Tatsu-kun."

Tatsunosuke moved his throbbing head to his right side to see Din kneeling beside him. She moved towards a small bowl of water, pulled out a white cloth she wrung out, and then placed the cloth on his forehead causing a cool feeling over his hot forehead.

"I've been told to stay by your side until your fever breaks," she said gently once she sat back down. "I also came here to tell you that I'm sorry."

"For what?" he said in almost a whisper.

"Talking to you like I did." She lowered her head. "I shouldn't have talked to you like that, all you were asking was a simple question. I'm sorry."

"It's alright." He managed a small laugh. "I shouldn't have been bothering you that much. I'm sorry."

"It doesn't matter." Din shook her head back and forth. "I was waiting for you to wake up to tell you something."

"What?"

"I remembered something. Something that I shared with you a long time ago. I was looking for Setsuna-chan back when I was twenty and I was lead to your father who I was told could help me in my search. I remember when I came to his house you were there. I think you were twelve, and Tetsu-kun was around five or six." She sighed.

"If I was twelve Tetsu-kun would be five," Tatsunosuke said after quickly doing the math.

"Oh." Din leaned against the wall. "I forgot that I had met you once I figured out that you two had survived your parents. I just thought that it was a bit strange."

"I don't even remember that." Tatsunosuke sighed as he looked towards the ceiling, searching his mind for that memory.

"It was at least ten years ago." Din laughed a bit. "Anyway, I'm sorry I got you sick."

"How do you know you did this?"

"Well," Din sat up, "when I went to the Gion Festival with you I was ill. I guess when we kissed you got too close to me. I'm sorry."

"If you were sick why did you go?" He looked over towards her from the corner of his eyes.

"Because you asked me too." She smiled.

He looked away. There again she was going out of her because he asked her to do something. The strange feeling came to Tatsunosuke's stomach once more as he thought about it over and over again. Trying to distract himself, he brought his hands up to his face and rubbed his eyes.

"Something wrong?" Din asked.

"No." Tatsunosuke pulled his hands down and smiled.

"Are you hungry? You haven't eaten anything since last night." Din moved closer towards him.

"Yeah."

"Okay, let me change the bandage on your hand and then I'll make you whatever you want."

"Bandage?" Tatsunosuke looked down towards his left wrist and saw that it had been wrapped up in white bandages. He lifted his hand back up and didn't feel anything, but the minute he moved it inwards, he felt a stinging pain.

"When you fell last night, you sprang your wrist. The swelling has gone down but it needs to be held still just to make sure you don't spring it again." Din reached out and gently touched his hand, then moved it towards her. "So what do you want to eat? I can make you anything."

"Just rice." Tatsunosuke said.

As soon as Din moved his arm, he gritted his teeth down onto themselves and hissed. His right hand gripped the futon underneath him, trying to take some of the pressure off of his teeth.

"I'm sorry, I'll be done in a moment."

Din wrapped the bandage tightly around Tatsunosuke's arm to hold it in place. She let his arm go, and gently placed it down beside him once again, causing all of the pain to stop. She then stood up, and straightened out her kimono.

"Wait." Tatsunosuke grabbed her kimono as she walked by on her other side. "Did my father help you at all in finding your little sister?"

Din smiled and closed her eyes. "Yes Tatsu-kun. Your father helped me a great deal when I needed him to."

"Good."

"Toshi-kun," Kondo said with a sigh.

"What?"

The two were in Hijikata's room as always, and Hijikata was working on something while Kondo sat across from him but today there was something odd by the way he was acting. He was kneeling down and moving around a lot as if something was bothering him. Hijikata figured it was best to ignore it.

"I have a few things I've been wanting to talk to you about." Kondo confessed. "As you know Din-chan comes in my room every morning to talk to me after she's prepared breakfast and that's how I found out about her feelings for you but this isn't about her feelings with you. This…," he sighed, "Toshi-kun, I think Tatsu-kun is falling for Din-chan."

"What?" Hijikata blinked.

"I think he's falling for her," Kondo repeated.

Before Hijikata could stop himself he started laughing out loud. He thought about it and laughed once more and stopped when he saw Kondo looking towards him as if he wanted some kind of answer.

"You know as well as I do that he could never handle her," he said once his laugh finished.

"Regardless of that fact, I'm worried about what kind of trouble they could get into together."

"You act like she's returned his feelings." Hijikata chuckled a bit at that thought.

Kondo looked away and moved around once more. "She's been spending a lot of time with him and Sannan pointed that out. She dropped out of her duties today to take care of him, she went to the festival with him, she's often seen talking to him, and one night made a special dish for him." He shook his head back and forth. "I don't want her hurting him."

"She can't have any feeling for him," Hijikata said with confidence. "She told me that she still loves me."

"But she…" Kondo look in a large breath, "she loves you because of what you had. I honestly think that she could fall in love with him, after all she fell in love with someone else even though she was looking for you."

"Damn." Hijikata looked away.

"If they fall for one another, Tatsu-kun is at great risk. We don't know everything about her, she still does many things that I don't understand."

"Like?"

"She always goes down to the docks," Kondo answered. "She just goes down there and waits for a bit, then leaves. Other then that she's been getting a few packages she's never talked to me about."

Hijikata shook his head. "I'll talk to her about things."

"Please don't hurt her."

Hijikata rolled his eyes. "I won't."

Hijikata was now training in the training hall he had closed off to everyone else so that he could train in secret like he wished. He had been training for a half an hour now, and was going to take a break when Din stepped in from the back door.

"Sorry." She sighed. "I didn't know you were in here."

"It's fine." He stopped. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to clean." She stepped into the room, and closed the door. "Isami-kun told me there was something you wanted to talk to me about. What is it if you don't mind me asking."

Hijikata began to swing his wooden sword once more. "Do you like Tatsu-kun?"

"Like how?"

"Are you falling in love with him?" he hissed, rephrasing his question.

Din blinked. "Why are you asking me something like that?"

"I need to know."

Din turned away and crossed her arms. "I don't think that's any of your business."

Hijikata threw his wooden sword down onto the floor and turned towards her. He didn't know why he was so angry with her. Hearing those words just angered him and forced things to come to his head before he could slow himself down.

"Because if he falls for you, you're putting him in danger!" Hijikata yelled. "You're not to fall in love with him!"

Din twitched. "Will you listen to yourself? Calm down before you go around jumping to conclusions!"

"Conclusions? Yamanami, I didn't notice what he was saying so stay away from Tatsu-kun."

Din stepped back a bit. "You're siding with him? After…"

"Because he's right."

Hijikata watched as Din's hands came to her mouth in shock and for the first time in ten years, Hijikata saw the face Din made when something someone said cut her deeply. Immediately he knew the damage he had done even though he didn't mean calling her a whore, just that she was hanging around Tatsunosuke too much.

He moved towards her, pushing her against the wall as she lowered her head. He moved until her back hit the wall.

"Din…I—"

Hijikata was cut off by Din's right hand slapping him against the face. The hit caused his head to turn to the right where he watched as she walked out of the room, not bothering to close the door behind herself.

"Please don't hurt her."

Shit.

"Stay away from Tatsu-kun."

Why the hell should I? Din thought as she walked through the hallways. What the hell is his problem? Talking to me like that, who the hell does he think he is?

Din ignored everyone and walked back into Tatsunosuke's room where she sat down at his bedside, and fell against the nearby wall. She sighed as she looked at the dark red head and began to think everything over. She didn't think she was a whore, but everyone else seemed to think she was.

"Tatsu-kun?" she asked.

"What?"

"Do…do you think I'm a whore?"

His eyes widened. "Why would I think you were something like that? You haven't done anything for me to think that of you."

"Maybe I am." Din sighed. "Maybe it's because of the way I act or something I don't know. I've always been around men but that's because I've always been considered "one of them" whenever I'm with them."

"Well," Tatsunosuke blushed, "I don't consider you a man, and I don't think Okita-san does either. I think that because you're a woman you deserve to be treated better."

"Tatsu-kun." Din blushed as her eyes softened. "I-I."

"I don't think you're a whore," he said once more.

Maybe because you're the one I'm being a whore with. Din thought, lowering her head once more. And you don't even realize it.

"Thank you Tatsu-kun." Din raised her head once more and smiled a fake smile. "You've made me feel a lot better."

"She did what?" Yamanami's mouth dropped.

"She slapped me across the face," Hijikata hissed, his face still slightly red from Din's hand.

"Toshi-kun, I told you to be gentle with her!" Kondo shook his head back and forth. "What did you say to her?"

"I said that Yamanami-kun was right."

Kondo covered his mouth with his right hand while Yamanami looked away, secretly regretting that he had said something to her that made her feel such a way.

"You said…that she is a whore?" Kondo asked breathlessly.

"Not that!" Hijikata hissed. "I meant that she was spending too much time with Tatsu-kun. She misunderstood me just like you two just did."

"Then are you going to talk to her?" Yamanami asked, getting back into the conversation.

"I don't know." Hijikata looked away. "I should just leave her the hell alone. If she's going to fall in love with Tatsu-kun then she can go ahead and do it. I don't care as long as he doesn't get hurt while he's living under the Shinsengumi dojo."

"Fall in love with Tatsu-kun?" Yamanami blinked. "What's this all about?"

"I think that Tatsu-kun is falling in love with Din-chan, and maybe the other way around also," Kondo explained.

"I thought so." Yamanami sighed. "Hijikata-kun, are you jealous of what's happening between them?"

"Why the hell would I be?" Hijikata said in a rough tone on the verge of yelling.

"Because she told you that she loved you," Kondo finished for Yamanami. "Toshi-kun, tonight I want you to tell her what you meant and that's an order."

"Yes," Hijikata hissed and turned away.

"We can't have this fighting in the Shinsengumi. Din-chan is part of the Shinsengumi now and has been for as long as anyone else here. I don't want any more bickering among any of you." Kondo stood up while he spoke. "This is an order."

Night had fallen and Din was in the empty training hall, taking her frustrations out by training herself. Her outfit had changed; her kimono was now a pair of black pants that stopped at her knees and allowed her to kick out and high. Her top was a loose, black shirt that cut off at her shoulders and cut low on her chest where laces she had sewn in kept the separated shirt together. Underneath the laces were the bandages she used to keep her chest in place.

The door beside her slid open, causing her to stop and see Hijikata standing there. Not wanting to acknowledge him, she went back into training. He slipped in, and closed the door behind himself.

"What?" she asked as sweat dripped off of her face. "Is this about what Isami-kun ordered you to do?"

"Yes." Hijikata stepped closer towards her.

"Well don't worry about anything. I understand everything now. You can just leave and I'll act like you talked it over with me," she hissed. "Just forget about the whole damn thing."

Hijikata looked away. "I haven't seen you train before," he said, changing the subject.

"I started right after I left for Kyoto. Thanks to Ichimura-san," she answered between breaths.

"He trained you?" Hijikata raised his right eyebrow.

"No. He introduced me to someone who could teach me."

The two became quiet, as Hijikata thought of what he wanted to say to her. He listened to the way she was breathing, and the way her feet hit the floor over and over again as she brought her legs down from kicking and moved forward with her punches.

Hijikata sighed. "I do want to know whether you're falling for Tatsu-kun or not."

Din stopped moving and took a large breath inwards. "Tatsu-kun and I are close because of what's happened between us. He's been there when I really needed someone to talk to, and he's willing to help if I need him to. Maybe…I am falling for him."

Hijikata's eyes widened. He wasn't excepting her to say that, a part of him was hoping that she was just going to tell him that she had no interest in Tatsunosuke at all. He didn't know what to feel, angry, jealous, or even hurt so he just stood there and looked towards her.

"But…I'm waiting for someone," she finished. "That someone will take me away from here just like I promised. I'm just waiting. Waiting again. Waiting for someone else to come and fix everything."

Hijikata walked towards her and carefully wrapped his arms around her neck, not saying a word to her. She waited to see what he was going to do, and gently sighed as he pulled her closer towards him.

"Promise me you'll tell me before you leave," he whispered.

"I will."

"Promise me you'll tell me when you're falling in love with someone else."

"I promise."

Hijikata closed his eyes. "Promise me you'll never leave."

She was quiet. She pushed back against him, forcing him to remove his arms from around her neck. Walking forward a bit, she turned around and looked Hijikata right in the eyes.

"You know I have to leave," she whispered. "I don't have a choice Hijikata, I have a duty to…someone else."

"Are you saying you don't have a duty to me?"

"What duty?"

"The duty you've had since the day we met."

"Hijikata," Din turned away from him, "the time where I have to leave won't come for at least two years, who knows what could happened between now and then. Please don't force me to give you an answer about leaving now."

"Fine." He looked to his right.

Din coughed. "I have to go and wash. Could you do me a favor and bring me a kimono when I'm done? Usually I'd bring it with me but this time I'm going to do a full body wash."

"Yeah." He sighed.

Twenty minutes later, Hijikata grabbed a nearby kimono and walked out into the back where the well was. There he saw Din, pouring a water bucket over her head, causing her hair to stick to her kimono she was wearing so that she wasn't completely naked. He stopped walking as the water fell down her body and made the kimono stick to her body as well, showing off the curves she had.

That body was the one Hijikata loved to be with. It was the body he held for the first time and gave himself to. He hadn't seen it in ten years, and would once in awhile think about it but here was the first time he had seen it in person for those long ten years.

He shook his head; he had to get her the dry clothing before she caught another cold. He walked over towards her and stood there as she reached back towards him. Holding the kimono out, she grabbed it and dropped the kimono she was wearing.

"Don't you care?" he asked as he studied her body.

"About?" She wrapped the new kimono around herself and tied it.

"Me seeing you?"

"What's to care?" She shrugged. "You've seen me naked over and over again and nothing's changed since then so why should I care?"

Din moved towards the well, grabbed her hair, and twisted it over the well so that all of the excess water fell from it. She then moved back, picked the wet kimono off of the floor and looked back up towards Hijikata, stringing it over the well also.

"What?" she asked.

He looked towards her chest, and to the semi-opened kimono. There he noticed a small burn scar near her right breast that the rest of the kimono hid. He moved out his right hand and slightly moved her kimono to see a small burnt scar in the shape of a butterfly.

"Oh nothing just a broken butterfly."

"What?" She pulled the kimono back over the rest of her breast.

Then it came to him; the meaning of the burnt on butterfly. He pulled his hand away and sighed.

"It's in the place where the butterfly was when I first met you," he said through the sigh.

"Yeah." She grabbed her kimono and held it shut as she too looked away. "That's why I got it right after I left you. To remind me that you would come for me." She shook her head. "I'd better get inside, I don't want to get sick again."

"Fine."

Hijikata stepped to the side, allowing Din to walk passed him. She stepped by, said thanks you, and walked back inside to Tatsunosuke's room to make sure he was getting better. Hijikata sighed as the door closed and knew that she was going back to him. Figuring that he had better get back to his room as well, he walked up to the dojo and disappeared into his own room.

R&R please!