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

Here it is

Kyuuketsuki-san: You've been so sweet to me by reviewing over and over again, and you've been keeping in touch with me and I love it! You're such a talented artist and such a wonderful writer and I can't wait for you to update on everything! Whenever I read one of your reviews, I want to go and work on this story instead of just letting it sit here like this. You're such a sweetie!

Buffalocatz : Your reviews have been sweet as well and always manage to make me smile! I can't wait for your review whenever I update so I hope you review on this as well! I don't know you as well as I know my other reivewer, but I hope to learn more about you!

Enjoy!

When the misty sun touched Din the next morning, she looked to her side to see that her bed was empty. She sighed, and pushed her face down into her pillow, looking for Ryoma's scent only to find nothing.

"Ryoma," she whispered.

A knocking came to her door. She called out that it was all right to enter, and Souji opened the door with an unusual look of disappointment on his face. Worried, Din sat up and patted the floor next to her as Souji closed the door.

"Din-nee…" Souji lowered his head and stood beside the door. "I know who your fiancée was."

Din lowered her head as well, and balled her fists up. Silence came between them for a moment, and Din looked towards the right side of the wall. This was something she had been fearing ever since Ryoma began running around and spreading westernized ideas.

"Who told you?" she asked.

"Ryoma-san did," Souji answered. "When I found you, he helped me to carry you back here. Din-nee…if he is arrested he will be jailed and possibly executed. What are you going to do then?"

"If he is jailed," Din began, "then I will be jailed with him. If he is executed, I will go with him."

"Din-nee, I'm asking you not to get too involved with him." Souji tucked his arms together. "I don't want to put you in jail."

Din looked back up towards Souji. "It's too late for that Souji-kun. I've chosen what I'm going to do. I'm sorry."

"But Din-nee!" Souji moved his head back up to look at her. "I don't want to do anything like that to you! Please Din-nee—"

"Souji-kun," Din smiled, "it won't. Please don't worry about it right now. If it does happen, I won't do anything against you. Now please, I have shopping to do."

"Even with your sore arm?"

"I'll be fine." Din stood up. "I just have to pick up a few things and make a small stop of my own."

"Alright." Souji sighed. "Call me if you need my help."

"I will."

Souji walked into Hijikata's room to see that he had just woken up. At first he didn't say anything because of what had happened in the other room, and even thought about telling Hijikata everything but then remembered that she could be punished. Trying to get over it, he sat beside Hijikata and sighed loudly.

"What is it?" Hijikata finally asked.

"Could you please go out with Din-nee? She's going shopping and I'm worried she's going to get hurt with her arm like that," Souji fluttered his eyes.

"Fine." Hijikata stood up and stretched his arms upwards. "Where is she?"

"She should be out by the front gate." Souji smiled, he knew he could get Hijikata to do what he wanted if he tried hard enough.

Hijikata stood up and straightened out his kimono. He looked back towards Souji to see him smiling and looked away, trying not to smile himself from seeing Souji so happy. He then walked over to the backdoor and opened it only to see that rain was slowly drizzling downwards.

"I'd better grab a thicker kimono." Hijikata sighed.

Hijikata walked out of his room, through the front door, and over to the gates where he saw Din standing. With a sigh, he walked over to her with an umbrella in his right hand. She heard him walking up to her, so she turned around.

"What are you doing up so early?" Din asked, blinking.

"Souji-kun wants me to help you carry things in," Hijikata answered as he caught up with her.

"Oh." Din looked away from him and sighed. "I'm only going to pick up a few things…and then I have a small personal stop to make."

"I don't care." Hijikata opened the umbrella and brought over his and her head.

"Alright then," she said with another, somewhat annoyed sigh. "Come on."

Hijikata and Din began to walk together underneath the umbrella in silence. The streets they were walking on remained empty, perhaps because of the rain around them, or maybe because of the early time.

"This makes us look like a couple," Din said playfully.

He didn't answer back. Din rolled her eyes, and focused on the upcoming shops instead of what he was thinking.

The couple soon joined up with a large crowd of people who were also carrying umbrellas. They stopped at random shops and picked up the small things Din needed in order to make meals for the next few days. Hijikata held everything Din picked up, and made sure she didn't carry anything too heavy. After picking up all of the food, Din stepped away from Hijikata, leaving him outside of a small store.

"Don't you want to come in?" Din asked, popping her head back out of the store. "I don't want you to freeze out here, come on. We can find something to carry the food in."

Sighing, Hijikata came into the small shop and out of the rain. He stepped into an open area with small boxes all around, and a woman sitting down in front of a set of stairs. Din was over near the woman, with a smile on her face.

The woman had black hair that was tied back into a small bun with a few strands hanging in front of her face. Her plain brown eyes were looking at Din as she talked, and she was wearing a plain purple kimono with a pink ribbon around her waist. Sitting on the right side of her head was a bright red butterfly clip that stood out against her hair color. She looked younger then Din, and stood a bit awkwardly with her chest poked out.

"So did you get it?" Din asked towards the woman.

"Yes," she answered as she moved towards her right side and grabbed a brown box. "It came in rather quickly after you ordered it."

Din reached down and took the box. "Thank you so much! I really needed this."

"Well you know," the woman, said with a grin, "I do owe you. If you ever want a reading come on by."

"Maybe Hijikata would want one," Din said, looking back towards the other man. "Hijikata, this is Seimura-chan, she's a medium or so she says."

"Din…you know I don't believe in that," Hijikata twitched.

"Oh you will." Seimura said, lifting her arms above her head as she stretched, and showing off of her chest a bit.

"Can we go?" Hijikata sighed and looked away. "I've got duties to take care of."

"Alright, alright." Din moved her right hand back and forth. "Thanks a lot Seimura-chan, I'll come by and see you in a few nights too."

"I look forward to it," she answered with a grin crossing her face. "I'll be waiting!"

As Din walked towards Hijikata to leave, she grabbed a wooden crate and placed everything they had into it. Hijikata took the box, and walked out with it, Din following behind him with her own box.

The two were now walking down the street that would take them to the Shinsengumi only to notice that they were alone. The rain around them had picked up, and was pounding away on the top of their umbrella.

"You're acting strange," Hijikata said, breaking the silence. "I haven't you seen you this flamboyant in a while."

"It's nothing," she said, showing Hijikata another smile.

"Your birthday is in five days, are you planning anything?" Hijikata asked, trying to keep the conversation from becoming stale.

"I'm going out with Tatsu-kun," she answered, a slight jump in her step. "He's taking me out somewhere."

"What?" Hijikata twitched. "He's taking you somewhere?"

"Yes," she said, looking over at him strangely. "Is there something wrong with that?"

Hijikata growled. "I used to do that."

"Well I didn't think you would do it this year. Besides, he asked first," Din said with a teasing tone behind her voice. "We always did something else anyway."

Hijikata blushed. "What are you implying?"

"Nothing." She grinned and closed her eyes. "But Hijikata," she said in a more serious tone, catching his attention, "I want to make something of this birthday. Something tells me that this will be one of my last with you."

"Why?" he asked, blinking.

"It's just something I know of."

"You're not leaving are you?" Hijikata stopped walking; she stopped as well.

Din lowered her head and felt pain from her stitches on the back of her neck. "I'll be leaving soon to be where I'm supposed to be."

"You're supposed to be here!" Hijikata yelled over the rain.

Instead of yelling back at him like he thought she would, she surprised him by simply shaking her head back and forth. Irritated now by such a sudden change, Hijikata looked away.

"Even though where I am now makes me feel so warm, there's somewhere else I have to be," she said gently. "Going somewhere where my skills are needed, and where I'll miss your face."

He blinked. Those words ran through him but he couldn't remember where they had come from. Figuring it was for the best, he sighed and started to walk forward with Din following and now talking of something lighter.

Four days had passed and the weather outside had become much better. The sun was shining down, allowing Din to go out to find a certain something she was looking for. Because Tetsunosuke was bored out of his mind, he went with her to the nearby market.

"Din-chan!" Tetsunosuke yelled as he ran over to her. "Hey Din-chan, can I get some of these?"

"Get whatever you want!" Din said, moving her right hand. "It's not my money!"

Tetsunosuke grabbed a bag of his and Souji's favorite candy and ran back over to Din. She had bought what she wanted so the two left the market, and walked down along the pier, talking about things that had been going on in the dojo.

Now what Din didn't know was that Tetsunosuke had been sent out by the trio to discover what she thought about going out with Tatsunosuke to dinner. Both the trio, and the small red head wanted to know what she thought about Tatsunosuke.

The two found a grassy spot near the pier and sat down to watch the boats come in and out. Tetsunosuke moved the bag of candy out towards Din, only to have her push it back towards him.

"No thanks, I don't like candy that much," she said with a laugh.

Tetsunosuke popped the candy into his mouth. "You're like the demon vice-commander more then I thought."

She twitched. "Don't compare me to him."

"Speaking of the Shinsengumi," Tetsunosuke said, thinking he was being inconspicuous, "what are you doing for your birthday? Aren't you goin' out with Tatsu-nii?"

"Yes." She nodded. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Say," the red head narrowed his eyes, "do you like my brother?"

Din sighed and rested her head on her hands with her elbows on her folded up knees. "Your brother is someone I could marry."

Tetsunosuke found a blush crossing his face. "Really?!"

"Yes," Din said in a dreamy like tone. "Just don't tell him I told you that."

"So you like him?"

Din smiled. "What does it matter to you?" she asked in a playful tone.

Tetsunosuke was about to open his mouth to answer another question when the weird man he had seen before came walking over to them. He watched as he walked over to Din, saw him, and grinned.

"Hey Iron Boy!" he said happily. "How ya been?"

"Fine," Tetsunosuke answered innocently.

"Cowgirl." Ryoma sat down beside her, and Tetsunosuke noticed that Din was now gripping her kimono. "How ya been? I came down here to tell you happy birthday since I won't see you tomorrow."

"Thank you," she said with a smile.

The three sat there and watched the boats move in and out. Tetsunosuke sighed and fell down onto the floor, looking up at the sky.

"One day," Ryoma began, "the three of us will cross that sea. We'll all go to America, and then cross every ocean in the world."

"That'd be nice," Din whispered.

"It would be." Tetsunosuke closed his eyes.

A half an hour later, and the three were still watching the ocean, only now Tetsunosuke had fallen asleep. Ryoma sighed and leaned back onto his hands, causing Din to look back at him.

"When do you want to leave?" Ryoma asked finally.

"I don't know." Din turned away from him.

"Do you want to?"

"Yes."

"I've got a mission for you to do in the meantime." Ryoma let out another sigh. "It involves Seimura-san."

"Great." Din rolled her eyes. "What do you want me to do?"

"Seimura-san's got a client who's comin' in and I need you to get information from him. You have to fake that you're workin' for her and try to get as much as you can from him about the alliance before we leave for it." Ryoma moved closer towards her. "Alright?"

"Fine." Din nodded. "When?"

"The day after your birthday."

"Ito-san will be here at the end of the week."

Din shook her head. "Fine. I'll do my best."

"That's my girl!" Ryoma grinned.

Din closed her eyes. "We'll leave sometime after April, that's when I'll join up with you."

"Why April?"

"No snow, no rain." Din shrugged. "It'll just be a perfect time I think."

"I'll be countin' down the days!" Ryoma grinned.

Days had passed, and Tatsunosuke's stomach had been doing flips all day and night until the day he was going to take Din out. He didn't know how he had made it through his days work, or how he had acted as if nothing were going to happen when in his head he kept going over all of the things that could go wrong.

Tatsunosuke was now in main bedroom, sitting down with Tetsunosuke and trying to pull himself together when the trio walked with Susumu.

"Ready yet?" Sanosuke asked as he placed his hands on his hips.

"No." Tatsunosuke twitched. "What do I have to do?"

"Ya know," Shinpachi stepped up, "get a room ready. Or are you going to go into her room tonight?"

"I told you nothing like that is going to happen!" Tatsunosuke shook his head back and forth.

"Well are you going to tell her?" Tetsunosuke asked, looking up at his older brother.

"Tell her what?" Tatsunosuke blinked.

"That you like her," Susumu said, picking up Tetsunosuke's question.

Tatsunosuke blushed. "Maybe…I haven't really thought about telling her yet. I've been too worried about getting through this part first."

"Hey," Heisuke grabbed Shinpachi's shoulder, "wanna go see what Din-chan's up to?"

"Sure." He shrugged.

Din was sitting down in her room, in front of a small mirror, putting on a light shade of make-up while Kondo sat behind her with Souji, and Hijikata stood against her back door.

"I want to make something of this birthday. Something tells me that this will be one of my last with you."

And she's spending it with him. Hijikata thought as he watched her get herself ready. Why with him?

"I'll be leaving soon to be where I'm supposed to be."

Din. Hijikata closed his eyes.

"Toshi-kun!" Kondo called, bringing Hijikata back to reality.

"Sorry," he answered. "What were you saying?"

Kondo smiled. "Nothing, I was just wondering if you wanted some sake?"

"Yeah."

Hijikata walked over to Kondo and took a small sake cup with Kondo laughed and gave one to Souji. Wanting to know what they were laughing at, Din turned to them and blinked.

"You want some Din-chan?" Kondo asked.

"No thanks," she said, waving her hand back and forth.

"Come on!" Kondo said as she stood up. "I've already poured you some!"

"Sorry," she said with a slight laugh. "You know me, a few sips of that and I'll be drunk. I'll save that for later tonight."

"Huh." Hijikata sat down beside Kondo and took a quick drink.

Souji coughed. "My Din-nee I haven't seen you wearing make-up in ages! I'd forgotten now nice you looked in it."

"Thank you." Din blushed.

"I don't understand why you have to get so dressed up," Hijikata said, closing his eyes once more.

"It's nice to get dressed up once in awhile," Din answered, turning her back on him.

"Don't stay out too long Din-san, the night air is thick with the scent of blood and rain."

The group looked over towards the corner of the room after a slight jump to see Saitou standing there with his arms crossed. The moment Din's eyes landed on him, they changed to a glare and feeling that she was looking at him, Saitou opened his eyes and looked directly at her.

"I'll be home safely, don't worry." Din turned away. "It's nothing to worry about. Oh, Isami-kun, I'll be gone for the next few nights after Ito-san gets here, I have…an old family matter to attend to."

"It's alright," Kondo answered with a smile. "Just be careful while you're out! We can't lose you now."

Din laughed. April. She thought as her smile grew. I'll be gone…in April.

Din and Tatsunosuke had met up in the dining area and where now heading out towards the front gates when they passed the trio who were on guard that night.

"Have fun," Sanosuke said with a large grin.

"We will," Din teased as she grabbed onto Tatsunosuke's left arm. "Come on, let's go before they say something stupid."

"Alright." Tatsunosuke blushed.

"Don't get too drunk!" Shinpachi called out as they walked down the street. "You don't want to find out what Din-chan's like when she's drunk!"

I don't? Tatsunosuke asked himself as sweat fell down his face. Please let me make it through this night.

Hijikata was in his room now with Kondo and Yamanami, discussing what was going to happen when Ito showed up the next day. They were planning a small party for him, but it soon grew quiet between the three of them.

"Din is leaving soon," Hijikata blurted out. "I don't know when or how long but she's leaving."

"She said she was going somewhere tomorrow, you don't think she's going to leave us then do you?" Kondo asked, shifting his legs around.

"Maybe it would be good for her to leave us," Yamanami said as he lowered his head. "I think she should go back on her own."

Hijikata growled. "I'm so tired of discussing this, I was just telling you that she was leaving. The sooner the better in my opinion. I'm worried about Ito-san coming here."

"I am too Toshi-kun but…" Kondo sighed.

"But?" Yamanami asked, looking towards Kondo.

"If it's about her I don't want to discuss it." Hijikata turned his head to the side.

"Dammit Toshi-kun don't you understand?" Kondo said, raising his voice a bit; Hijikata looked at him. "Her leaving has some to do with you but think about the others! We have no idea where she's going or doing! Not only are you going to miss her but dammit I'm going to also! Tetsunosuke-kun is going to! Tatsu-kun…will."

Hijikata leaned his back against the wall behind him. "If want to know, ask her. I'm sure she'll tell you."

Kondo looked away. "She hadn't told me anything."

"What?" Hijikata and Yamanami asked at the same time.

"She hasn't been talking to me in the morning." Kondo shook his head. "She's been so busy running in and out of the Shinsengumi…I think something's wrong Toshi-kun."

"Fine I'll try to talk to her." Hijikata sighed.

R&R please!