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

Thanks for the reviews! This is my weekly update until I catch this thing up with the chapters I have on my computer. More chapters to come later!

Yes, there's an appearance of an OC that I don't own. It is Katsuke from Sleepingelf's PMK story, so check her stuff out while you're here please.

Enjoy!

"A trip?" Din and Hijikata asked as one.

"Yes." Kondo nodded. "I need the two of you to go and visit the West Hogan Temple and pick up a few papers for me."

Two days had passed since all of the fighting, and Hijikata's apology. Din, Hijikata, Kondo, Yamanami, and Souji where all sitting in Kondo's room where he had asked them to join him for tea.

"I'll need you two to leave in a few hours." Kondo nodded his head.

"Isami-kun, that's a three day trip," Din said blinking. "Why do you want the two of us to go?"

"I know you two will get things done that's why," Kondo answered. "Sannan and I are always leaving so I think that you two need to get out for once."

"Have you hired anyone else to do the housework?" Hijikata asked as he lit his pipe.

"I've divided up the chores," Yamanami answered for Kondo. "Everyone will take turns doing certain things until you get back. I can have my page do a lot of the work."

"You have a page?" Din raised her right eyebrow. "Sine when?"

"For awhile now." Yamanami smiled.

"I want the both of you to wear your training clothes, and I want Din-chan to carry her knifes on her hips to let people know that you are the Shinsengumi," Kondo explained. "Once you're there just tell them who you are and you should get the papers."

"Alright." Hijikata nodded. "Din, go get ready."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine."

"You should too Toshi-kun," Kondo said with a slight laugh.

Hijikata stood up, smoothed out his kimono, and walked over towards the door where he stopped and turned around to the three still sitting down.

"I know you're up to something Isami-kun," Hijikata said with a sarcastic grin. "I'll figure it out."

After his little speech, Hijikata left the room and Kondo sighed loudly. Sensing something was up; Souji moved in towards him and glared at him.

"What are you up to?" Souji asked with a sly tone behind his voice.

Kondo sat up and crossed his arms. "I think that those two need to have some private time together outside of this place. I know that the two of them have a lot to talk about so I figured that I'd let them have some alone time."

"Or was it that you didn't want to go to the temple?" Yamanami asked, pushing his glasses up.

Kondo laughed out loud as he twitched. "Well a part of that's true!!" He stopped laughing suddenly and sighed. "I honestly do think that this trip will cheer the two of them up."

"I hope it does," Yamanami added, causing the other two to twitch.

Three hours later Hijikata was standing in front of the Shinsengumi gates, waiting for Din to come and join him so that they could leave. Din was walking in the hallways, saying her goodbyes when she bumped into Tatsunosuke.

"Hey Tatsu-kun, feeling better?" she asked with a smile.

"Yeah." He scratched the back of his head. "Thank you so much for taking care of me."

"It was a pleasure really." Din bowed. "If you don't mind I have to get going, Hijikata is waiting for me."

"Where are you going?" He blinked, not knowing that she had anywhere to go.

"Isami-kun has asked Hijikata and I to run a chore for him," Din explained as she began to step to the side of the dark red head.

Tatsunosuke blushed. "Are you going to come back?" he asked shyly.

Din's eyes softened. "Yeah I'm coming back. This trip will take three, maybe four days that's it."

"Please be careful."

"I will be."

Din smiled, waved, and then continued to walk down the hallway, leaving Tatsunosuke behind. He watched her until she disappeared then sighed. It was strange; he hated to hear that she was leaving or that she was busy because he wanted to talk to her as much as possible. The thought if his previous thought told him that he was being to strange so he ignored his feeling.

"So are you upset?"

Tatsunosuke looked to his right to see the trio standing there, which he had failed to notice come around because he was so deeply involved with his thoughts.

"Upset about what?" Tatsunosuke asked.

"About Din-chan leaving?" Sanosuke answered, moving his face towards the dark red head's.

He turned away. "Why would I be?"

"Because you like her!" Heisuke laughed.

Tatsunosuke blushed and looked away as Souji exited Kondo's room and walked right into the group.

"So do you Tatsu-kun?" Shinpachi teased. "Come on you can tell us if you like her or not! After all we're the ones who tried you together with Din-chan so you can at least tell us what you're feeling!"

"I-I," Tatsunosuke blushed, "I think I've come to terms with my feelings and I do like her."

Those words ran through the hallways and hit everyone in a different manner. The trio began laughing with one another while Souji twitched and his eyes widened.

"Way to go Tatsu-kun!" Sanosuke hit Tatsunosuke on the back. "Now we just gotta get her to admit her feelings for you and we're set!"

"Please," Tatsunosuke stepped passed them all, "I have something to do. Please excuse me."

The trio watched as Tatsunosuke stepped by them and began to giggle amongst themselves. They began talking, congratulating one another for the job they had done so far and didn't even notice Souji walking towards them.

"What are you three trying to accomplish?" Souji asked, stopping their conversation.

"What?" they asked at once.

"Why are you trying to get Tatsu-kun with Din-chan?"

"Don't you think that they'd be cute together?" Heisuke asked playfully.

"No," Souji said suddenly causing everyone to look at him strangely. "I don't think that. Do you understand what would happen if the two of them got together?"

The trio shook their heads back and forth.

"You know about Hijikata-sama's past with her and don't you understand how he would react if they were together?" Souji narrowed his eyes.

The trio shook their heads back and forth once more.

"There would be an unleashing of drama and awkward situations!" Souji said turning away from them. "Stares and glares, everything would be so strange! Would you want to do that to the people in the Shinsengumi? Besides what if Tatsu-kun found out about Hijikata-sama's past with Din-chan? What would happen there?"

"Is that it?" Sanosuke asked.

"What if Hijikata-sama's constant stares at Tatsu-kun might cause him to leave and what if Din-chan leave with him?" Souji sighed. "I couldn't bear it if she left again."

The trio looked at one another and blinked. Shinpachi took a gulp and opened his mouth to say something when he spotted Tetsunosuke standing behind Souji with his eyes wide open.

"Tetsu-kun?" Shinpachi asked as he pointed.

Everyone turned around to Tetsunosuke as he stepped into the group and looked directly up at Souji.

"Tatsu-nii is going to leave with Din-san?" he asked with a low tone.

Souji blinked. "No Tetsu-kun I was just saying that Tatsu-kun really likes Din-chan and—"

Tetsunosuke's eyes widened and he then lowered his head, causing the older man to stop talking. Souji stopped talking and bent down to talk to him only to have him pull away, then run behind him. Souji looked away from him, and back towards the trio.

"I shouldn't have said anything." He sighed.

Din was just about to walk out of the Shinsengumi when she spotted someone she had never seen before. She stopped and looked at the young man, when he saw her looking back at him.

He was slightly shorter then her, with purple hair that had been tied back into a bun with a few strands hanging in front of his face. He was wearing a yellow kimono that fit loosely off of his body, hiding any sort of muscle. Din blinked, trying to remember if she had ever seen him when she walked over to him.

"Are you Yamanami-san's page?" Din asked raising an eyebrow.

He turned her to and looked around. "Yeah. Who are you?"

"Din. You?"

"Katsuke," he answered, and then turned away to finish the work he was doing.

Din twitched. "You're supposed to bow to your elders."

"Yeah, yeah." He moved his right hand back and forth.

Din covered her mouth and laughed. Wondering what was so funny, Katsuke turned around to her and blinked.

"What's so funny?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"You're cute!" Din answered through a laugh. "I'll have to keep an eye on you. Have fun doing laundry and cooking while I'm gone!"

"Cooking?" Katsuke groaned. "This is gonna be harder then I thought."

"Tatsu-nii!!" Tetsunosuke yelled, running through the hallways. "Tatsu-nii!! Where are you?!"

"In here!" Tatsunosuke answered.

Tetsunosuke ran into the nearest open door to find his brother working on papers as usual. He ran in and stood in front of Tatsunosuke as he stopped working and looked up at him.

"What is it?" he asked with a small smile.

"Are you leaving with Din-chan?" Tetsunosuke asked with a harsh tone behind his voice.

"No. Why would I?"

Tetsunosuke gripped his fists. "Because you like her!"

Tatsunosuke blushed. "Tetsu-kun it's alright. I'm not going to leave."

"Yes you are!" Tetsunosuke took a step forward. "She's going to take you away from me just like she has been! She's always with you! You're never with me anymore Tatsu-nii! It's not fair! I know she's going to take you away from me!"

He was so jealous and he just couldn't stand it anymore. Just hearing Souji say something like that caused feelings he couldn't figure out to rise up in him. He didn't want to do this, he just wanted Tatsunosuke to be his brother and he didn't want anything to change. Forever Tatsunosuke had been his older brother and he didn't want anything different, he was so scared that Tatsunosuke would leave just like his parents.

"Tetsu-kun."

Tatsunosuke looked away. He was causing his smaller brother pain, the only person who mattered in the whole world. He was getting upset because he had chosen someone else over his little brother. Tatsunosuke felt so guilty for it. He felt so low, and so stupid that he could only think of one thing to fix everything.

"Don't worry Tetsu-kun." He sighed.

"How can I not worry!?" Tetsunosuke walked over to his brother and grabbed his kimono. "She's going to leave and take you with her! You can't leave me! She's always talking about when she's going to leave and I don't want you to go too!!"

"Don't worry," he smiled only to find that it stung somewhere inside of his gut, "I just won't be around Din-chan as much."

"But you like her." Tetsunosuke stepped away from him.

"It's okay. Everything will be fine Tetsu-kun."

The trio was out walking around the village, talking and buying small things for themselves as they walk around.

"Do you think it was right of us to try and get them together?" Sanosuke asked, breaking the silence between them.

Heisuke sighed. "I don't know. It seemed like such a good idea at the time but now…I don't know about it. I didn't really think about what Tetsu-kun would really think."

Shinpachi shrugged. "What are we worried about? It's not like Tatsu-kun is going to stop liking Din-chan or anything. If he really likes her then he'll talk to Tetsu-kun about everything. Right?"

Sanosuke and Heisuke sighed at once. Shinpachi watched as they looked away from one another, and back towards the path. He knew what they knew, that Tatsunosuke was possibly going to take back what he had said, and he found it rather disappointing.

I hope we haven't done anything too bad. Shinpachi thought.

The three days passed by quickly without much notice. Everyone did their thing while some people did more then that had done before to make up for Din and Hijikata's missing. Tatsunosuke was barely seen except for dinner and lights out when he didn't say anything to anyone and just simply did whatever he was supposed to do. Tetsunosuke acted as if nothing had changed because he was secretly hoping that only a few things would change once Din came back home, and the trio avoided the subject all together.

Din and Hijikata on the other hand had made it all the way to the temple without fighting, hurting one another or someone else. They mainly just talked to one another while traveling about nothing and things they remembered. Nothing too big, and nothing too small.

The two, Din and Hijikata, walked back into the Shinsengumi. Hijikata walked off to is room while Din walked into the kitchen to get something to drink. Unknown to her, Tatsunosuke was standing in the kitchen, looking for something to eat that tasted better then Shinpachi's cooking.

"Tatsu-kun!" Din said happily as she spotted him. "Hi! I've missed you!"

"Oh." Tatsunosuke looked away. "Din-chan, I have to talk to you in private."

Din blinked and relaxed. "Okay."

Tatsunosuke led Din back into his work area where he closed all of the doors, and then turned around to her.

"Din-chan, I don't think I should be hanging around with you as much," Tatsunosuke said, the stinging, sickening feeling coming back to his stomach.

Din blinked, confused and tried to look him in the face only to have him lower his head to hide his eyes.

"Why?" she asked.

"Tetsu-kun…is worried that I'm hanging around with you too much and he's getting jealous," Tatsunosuke answered with a small laugh, trying to make things easier for the both of them.

I was so jealous. So angry that he was trying to take the last thing I had in the world away. You were the only person I had to talk to.

Din's eyes widened as she remembered Setsuna's letter. What if Tetsunosuke started to feel the same way Setsuna had that day she ran away? He could get up and leave, making the same mistake Setsuna had made but later when she was mature enough to understand how she felt. Tetsunosuke didn't act or seem as if he would be able to understand his feelings, and might soon end up like Setsuna.

"Alright." Din looked away. "I can see where you're coming from, I guess I'll cut down on talking to you then."

Tatsunosuke bowed. "Thank you for understanding Din-chan."

Din moved a piece of her hair back behind her ear. "No problem." She turned away. "I'll talk to you later Tatsu-kun."

Before Tatsunosuke could say anything his mind told him not to but his stomach did, Din walked out of the room, and closed the door behind herself. Tatsunosuke looked away, and held his stomach as the feeling of pain came back strongly. He gripped his fists as his mind told himself that he was doing the right thing but his stomach kept bothering him.

Din-chan… Tatsunosuke thought, lowering his head once more. I'm so sorry.

A week later, Tatsunosuke hadn't seen Din at all personally. She of course said hello when she walked by him during the day and whenever she ran into him outside but other then that, she hadn't gone out of her way like she used to. He hadn't really been doing anything of much either besides work. He mostly kept to himself about everything while Din just hung out with Hijikata in her free time.

"Din." Hijikata asked the woman who was sitting in his room, looking outwards towards the backyard.

"What?" She sighed.

"Shouldn't you be doing something?" he asked. "I mean you've been in here with me a lot."

"Yeah I guess." Din stood up and dusted herself off. "I'm going out alright? I'll be home in time to make dinner."

Hijikata didn't say anything as she stepped off of the wooden flooring, walked to her right, and then disappeared. When he heard her footsteps fade away, he sighed and leaned back against his wall.

She's been this way ever since Tatsu-kun opened his mouth to her. He thought, closing his eyes. This whole thing is so stupid.

Susumu walked passed Tatsunosuke's room and stuck his head into the room to see him sitting down, looking out towards the backyard with a deep lingering behind his eyes. Susumu coughed, and Tatsunosuke looked over to him.

"Sorry, can I help you?" Tatsunosuke asked.

"Just wonderin' where Din-chan was." Susumu moved his hand back and forth. "Don't mind me. You have any idea where I could find her?"

"No." Tatsunosuke looked away. "We haven't been talking so I don't know her schedule any more."

Susumu blinked. "Why not?"

"It's a long story."

Susumu stood there for a moment, and began to figure it out from what the others had been telling him. He had heard Hijikata talking to Yamanami and Kondo about it just barely but figuring that Tetsunosuke was always causing issues, he came to the conclusion that he had something to do with it.

"Thanks anyway." Susumu turned away from him and walked away, leaving Tatsunosuke to his work as always.

Wanting to find the smaller Ichimura, he walked through the Shinsengumi until he found him outside by the well, washing clothes. Thinking that no one but Tatsunosuke had talked to him, he walked over and coughed.

"So what's goin' on between your brother'a and Din-chan? I haven't seen them together for a while now." Susumu grinned, knowing that Tetsunosuke was going to get angry.

"I don't know." Tetsunosuke twitched.

"Oh I think you know."

Tetsunosuke shook his head. "What happened was that I asked Tatsu-nii not to talk to Din-chan as much that's all."

"Why?"

"'Cause Okita-san was talking about Din-chan leaving and him going with her because he likes her!" Tetsunosuke yelled as he turned to face Susumu. "I don't want him to leave! He's always talking to her and…"

"And?"

Tetsunosuke looked away. "I don't know."

"Look," Susumu crossed his arms, "why don't you sit back for once and let your brother'a do something for himself for once?"

"What?" Tetsunosuke blinked.

"Tatsu-kun's been taking care of you ever since your parents died and hasn't been doin' something for himself." Susumu began. "Now that you're off fighting against his will and doing something for yourself, don't you think it's time that he did somethin' for himself? Quit holdin' on so much to him and let him do somethin'."

Tetsunosuke shook his head back and forth. "You don't understand!"

"Oh I understand. You want Tatsu-kun to let you go but you're holdin' onto him, doesn't that sound a bit selfish?" Susumu closed his eyes. "All of us little brother'as have to let the older ones go soon but they're always standin' right there when you need 'em so there ain't nothin' to worry about."

Tetsunosuke took in what Susumu was saying, and knew that he knew what he was talking about because all he had been through when Ayumu died and through being her little brother. He thought about what he was doing, and how Tatsunosuke was always working to keep his job here so that they could both live here, and how all he had done was disobey Tatsunosuke and cause him worry.

"Din-chan was someone Tatsu-kun really liked, and liked in a way he hasn't liked someone in years. You like begin' Saya-chan right?"

The small red head blushed. "Yeah."

"Well Tatsu-kun likes being around Din-chan just like you like being around Saya-chan. Tatsu-kun…" Susumu sighed, "might even end up fallin' in love with her."

Tetsunosuke's eyes widened. It was then that he realized how he must have hurt Tatsunosuke, and how his older brother might be feeling. Someone had finally sat him down and told him how Tatsunosuke was feeling when Tatsunosuke feared pushing his smaller brother away, Susumu had finally just spelled it out for him.

"Dammit." Tetsunosuke broke away from Susumu and ran back into the dojo, leaving Susumu with a slight smile on his face.

People in this place sure are slow. He thought.

R&R please!