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

Thanks to Bonusmosh for reminding me to update ::bows:: Thank you very much!

Anyways, I have a oral surgery to go through later on this week so I'll be updating on Wens to make up for the fact that I won't be able to do it over the weekend like I normally do. Moving away from that, I hope that this chapter makes you smile!

Enjoy!

Tatsunosuke and Din walked down the streets of people, talking about ordinary things just to pass the time. Tatsunosuke's stomach was normal for once, but the blush on his face wouldn't fade, mostly due to the fact that she had her arm wrapped around his so tightly.

"Tatsu-kun," Din began, "I have something I need to talk to you about soon."

"Alright." He gulped. "When?"

"On the way back," she answered looking up at him.

"Sure."

Din changed the subject to something else as they walked but Tatsunosuke soon stopped talking as they arrived in front of the restaurant. It was a small building with a red flag flapping around in the front, telling Tatsunosuke he was at the right place.

"Wow," Din said as she looked over the place. "Nice choice."

"Thank you." He scratched the back of his head. "Let's get inside."

Once inside they were placed in a small area near the kitchen where they heard the dishes hitting one another, and people talking. Tatsunosuke hung his head; feeling like the night had started off badly because of the noise in the background and hung his head.

"What's wrong?" Din asked as she looked over at him.

"Oh nothing." Tatsunosuke looked back up. "I just don't like where we are."

"You want me to ask them to move us?" Din asked gently. "But to tell the truth, I like hearing all of that, reminds me of what I wanted to do."

"What?"

"Cook professionally." Din smiled. "But that's behind me now."

"Sorry." He hung his head once more.

She blinked. "For what? Tatsu-kun relax! Everything's going to be fine!"

"Oh, sorry."

Din reached across the table and gently grabbed his hand that was lying there. He looked up towards her hand touching his, and then up towards her with his blush returning deeply.

"I'm having a good time," she said gently. "I like being alone with you, everything will be fine."

Tatsunosuke looked back up and smiled. "Alright."

Dinner was now finished, and the two were kneeling down at the table talking to one another, and laughing loudly. Once the talking and laughing died down, Din decided that she would tell him now that she was going to leave, and would like him to come with her later on.

"Tatsu-kun," she began, "there's something I have to tell you."

"Uh me too." Tatsunosuke looked down.

He, on the other hand, wanted to tell her how he felt, and wanted to ask her to be with him, and him only. The stinging feeling came back to his stomach and with the food already in there, he began to feel a bit nauseous.

"I—," they both began at the same time.

A loud crashing noise came from the kitchen next to them, causing them to look over towards the kitchen opening. The people inside were yelling and screaming as dishes crashed together, and fell to the floor in pieces.

"Sorry!" a man said in English, catching Din's attention.

Ryoma then came running out of the kitchen and stopped in front of their table as he bent over to catch his breath from running. Din blinked, as Tatsunosuke's nausea grew worse.

"Ryoma!" Din said in surprise.

The dark man looked up towards Din and grinned. "Hey Cowgirl! Happy birthday!"

"This wasn't planned was it?" Din asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nope! Not at all!" Ryoma began laughing loudly.

"Get him!" a man yelled from the kitchen. "Don't let Ryoma Sakamoto get away!"

"See ya Dragon boy! Say hello to Iron boy for me!" Ryoma said as he took one last look at the two. "Bye Din!"

"Bye," Din said, rolling her eyes.

Ryoma then ran out of the kitchen just as quickly as he had come, leaving behind a large mess of plates and food. The chiefs were yelling and cursing as they were left to clean up the mess, and the restaurant was soon shut down after. Din and Tatsunosuke had been forced to leave because of everything that had gone wrong and were now standing outside.

"Damn I wanted all of this to go right." Tatsunosuke thought as he hung his head. "I should have picked a different place."

"It's fine!" Din said, patting him on the back. "We ate and that's all that matters! If you want to go somewhere else, I'd be happy to."

"Maybe."

The nausea Tatsunosuke thought he had defeated was now coming back. He felt his full stomach turn upside down and knot and before he could do anything else, a chuck was coming up. He turned away and moved towards the alleyway next to the restaurant where he threw up.

"Tatsu-kun…," Din said with concern as she gently rubbed his back.

I've totally messed up this night. Tatsunosuke told himself over and over again. I can't believe this.

Tatsunosuke finished throwing up and was now just spitting what was left onto the floor as he caught his breath. After a few moments he stood back up and took in a deep breath, which he let out, in a large sigh.

"Maybe we should just get back home then," Din said, placing her hand against his forehead. "You don't have a fever but you'd be better at home."

"Sorry," he said as he held his forehead. "I ruined everything."

"No you haven't," Din said gently. "Come on, let's get you home, maybe walking will make you feel a bit better."

The two were walking home now, and Tatsunosuke's stomach had finally settled down. Din was holding his arm, but not as tightly as she had been before for fear of making him too warm.

I should do it. Tatsunosuke told himself. If I just bump my hand next to hers, maybe she'll do something.

He moved his hand towards hers, and the back of their hands touched. Din blinked and then looked over at him, and him at her.

"Are you feeling better?" she asked.

"A bit."

"That's good." She sighed with relief and closed her eyes for a moment. "Tatsu-kun… I'm going to be leaving soon, just for awhile."

"How long?" he asked quickly.

"I don't know." She shook her head back and forth. "I'll be back when the snow falls though, and then…"

"What?"

She shook her head once more and then looked up at him with a smile. "Nothing. I'm just happy I'm here with you now."

Their hands met once more, only this time she kept her hand next to his and moved her pinky finger towards his. He moved his back as she placed her head on his shoulder, and kept her eyes closed.

"Tetsu-kun is growing quickly. He'll be an adult soon," she said in almost a whisper.

"I know," Tatsunosuke answered with a sigh.

"He's getting to be very good looking. I hope he doesn't get as good looking as you or he'll end up breaking a lot of girl's hearts."

Tatsunosuke twitched and blushed once more. "Uh…me too," he said, saying the only thing he could think of.

It became quiet between the two as they walked back to the Shinsengumi. The crickets were chirping around them as they passed by houses, and closing stores, and a cool wind blew from behind him, moving her hair forward a bit.

"Will you wait for me?" Din asked suddenly. "When I'm gone Tatsu-kun? Will you wait for me to get back?"

He smiled. "Of course I'll wait."

Din smiled. "I want to take a picture with you before I leave."

"Anytime."

It was late night when Din finally returned to her room to find her futon had been laid out for her, and the candle was still burning, lighting up the room. She walked in and closed the door behind her and as she walked over to her futon, she spotted four pieces of paper.

One of them looking like a drawing of piglets running around, and was signed by Souji at the bottom. She smiled as she looked over it, and remembered how he had drawn a picture like it once when he was younger.

The other two were small letters, folded over three times. She picked up one of them and opened it only to have a few pieces of money fall onto her bed. Ignoring the money, she read the inside letter.

Happy Birthday Din-chan! Thirty-one years young and more to go! Bonzai!!-Kondo, Souji, and Yamanami.

Dorks. She thought to herself as a large smile crossed her face.

She placed the letter down and picked up the last one. Unfolding it, she saw writing she hadn't seen in a while marking the paper.

A fool who laughs a red moon, and a laughing lion without courage, a secret I hide behind my hushing finger, all echoes through the empty blue night-Hijikata

Wow…a poem instead of a Haiku. She thought as she reread the letter. He normally doesn't write like this. He hasn't written me one in years.

Din fell into her bed and moved all of items into a metal box beside her futon. She sat up for a moment and killed the candlelight. Getting undressed, she crawled into bed, and prepared herself for what she would have to the do the next day.

"The recruitment in Edo was a success," Kondo said, holding up a sake cup, "we seem to have found many strong new men this time."

Everyone, minus the Ichimura brothers and Din, were sitting around a table while Kondo introduced the Shinsengumi group to one of its newest members, Ito. Everyone was sitting down, listening and wondering what this man had to offer.

"Ito-san, as one of our newest comrades, why don't you say a few words?" Kondo asked, turning to the new man.

"Perhaps just a greeting," he said, moving his fan to his mouth. "Being accepted into the Shinsengumi makes this the best year of my life. As you may know, the Chinese name for this year is writing with the characters for "armor" and "child" and in celebration of this happy year, I am going to use these same characters and change my name to Kashitaro Ito."

"Alright!!" Heisuke cheered from the group. "Kashitaro-sensei it is!!"

"Heisuke you idiot are you drunk already?!" Sanosuke asked.

"It's alright, it's a party! Hey Yamanami-san, you don't you want to say something too?" Heisuke asked.

Yamanami moved his hand back and forth. "I'm fine thank you."

"Calm down Heisuke!" Shinpachi said, hitting the other man.

Ito looked around the room, towards the three leaders and a smile crossed his face. Soon the rest of the Shinsengumi members left, leaving only those three leaders with Ito alone.

"Sine you brought him in, I got my hopes all up," Sanosuke said as he and the other two walked down a hallway.

"He seems like a pretty smart, decent guy to me," Shinpachi answered back

"Exactly!" Sanosuke shook his head. "And that's no fun at all! There ain't one interesting thing about him!"

"Heh, what are you talking about?" Heisuke said, moving his hand back and forth. "Just because he doesn't look interesting doesn't mean he's not!"

"What are you trying to say?" Sanosuke asked, blinking.

"I can't wait until you guys figure out what makes him so much fun!" Heisuke giggled.

"Heisuke…" Shinpachi twitched. "Don't tell me that's why you brought him here."

"I was just half joking." Heisuke turned away. "Don't worry, there's no problem as long as you don't attract his attention."

"And what if we do?" Sanosuke said in shock.

Back inside of the room with Ito, Hijikata was looking down, thinking to himself while Ito looked over at him with his fan covering his mouth. Hijikata got a strange feeling that someone was looking at him, and found Ito staring at him.

"Fate sure is strange, I'm just the head of a dojo. I never thought I'd be among such important men," Ito said, looking away from Hijikata.

"Hey we all started as students!" Kondo said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Now that the Shinsengumi, the guardians of the imperial capital have accepted me," Ito blushed, "I shall stand against any who would harm this country and exterminate them! I fully intend to support commander Kondo with every once of patriotism in my body."

"Ito-san!" Kondo said as he blushed. "It's so encouraging to hear you say that! Both of us and the Shogunate need men like you, with good heads on their shoulders!"

Hijikata caught Ito looking at him again.

"By the way," Ito moved back towards Kondo, "the captains are most impressive as well."

"Yes they all got through the Ikeda Inn incident well enough!" Kondo laughed.

"They certainly are an attractive bunch…" Ito smiled.

"Yes it's good to be surrounded by such fine men, I just wish they could keep their hands of one another!!" Kondo threw his head back, laughing, causing the other two captains to lower their heads.

Hijikata looked back up to see Ito looking at him again.

Don't tell me… Hijikata thought.

The sounds of someone approaching the door caught everyone's attention. Hijikata stood up and opened the door to see Din reaching for the door with her right hand as if she were about to open it.

"Hijikata," she began, "I'm leaving now."

"Oh Din-chan!" Kondo called. "Come in for a moment and meet Ito-san!"

Din walked in and saw the man sitting in the corner. She blinked for a moment, and then bowed down.

"Hello Ito-san," she said as she bowed. "I'm happy to finally meet you."

"And who are you?" Ito asked, looking at Din strangely.

"She's a cook and an old time friend," Kondo said as he moved his hand towards Din. "Her name is Hinto Din."

"Nice to meet you." Ito smiled and lowered his head a bit. "I'm sure I'll enjoy your cooking."

"Come on," Hijikata grabbed Din's right arm, "we have to talk."

"Excuse me." Din bowed once more.

The two walked out of the room, and Hijikata closed the door behind himself, leaving Yamanami and Kondo alone with Ito. Ito coughed a bit, bringing attention back to himself.

"Who exactly was she?" Ito asked gently. "She seems very close to Hijikata-san."

"Is it that obvious?" Kondo chuckled. He was about to open his mouth once more when he saw Yamanami moving his hands back and forth, telling him not to.

"Oh." Kondo coughed. "They've known each other since the age of seventeen so they're close friends."

"I see." Ito nodded. She'll be interesting. Yes I think the Shinsengumi shall entertain me! He thought as a smile crossed his face.

"Come on! Don't give me those looks! He likes older guys who have that rugged look to them!" Heisuke explained as he laughed.

"Ew." Shinpachi twitched. "Good thing I'm not older then him." He shuttered. "He creeps me out for some reason."

Sanosuke sighed but then grinned suddenly. "Hey! Let's go bother Tatsunosuke about throwing up on his date with Din-chan!"

"Yeah!" Shinpachi and Heisuke cheered together.

Hijikata led Din back into his room, and made sure that all of the doors were closed as she looked around. Once everything was sealed off, he walked over towards her and crossed his arms.

"I think he likes you!" Din giggled. "The way he was looking at you, I could tell he was taking your kimono off with his eyes."

He twitched. "Don't say things like that, it's creepy. Anyway, where are you going to be?"

Din crossed her arms. "I'm going to go do something at Seimura-chan's place. I'll be back when the first snow of the season comes."

"Snow?" Hijikata blinked. "Snow won't come for at least another month, you're going to be gone for that long?"

She nodded. "Well I can't stay around here forever. What are you going to do when I leave permanently?"

He sighed and turned away from her. "I'd rather not talk about it right now."

"I'd better get going before I'm late." Din turned away also. "I'll be back soon."

"I know."

Din walked out of the room, and Hijikata listened to her footsteps until he couldn't hear them anymore. He gripped his fists together, ignoring the fact that he wanted to run after her and tell her that she couldn't go. He was getting too attached.

As Din walked out, she stopped by Tatsunosuke's work place and walked over to him. She sat down beside him as he worked and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Oh Din-chan!" he said as he twitched. "I'm sorry, I was into what I was doing."

"I'm leaving now," Din said with a sigh. "I just came here to tell you good-bye."

Tatsunosuke blinked. "I'll be waiting for you to come back."

"I'll miss you." Din smiled.

"Me too." Tatsunosuke blushed.

Din stood up and gently patted Tatsunosuke's right shoulder. He gulped as she walked away, telling himself that he would tell her how he felt once she got back. He could hear her close the door and walk away, and it was then he hung his head and sighed.

I've got to tell her soon. He thought. Before anything else happens.

Din left the Shinsengumi dojo without saying anything to anyone else. She walked down to Seimura's place and set up home, while back at the Shinsengumi more interesting and more playful was happening.

"SOUJI-KUN!" Hijikata screamed as he chased him through the dojo. "Give me back that book!!"

Kondo watched as Souji ran by, and then Hijikata followed him with his sword drawn. Seeing such a sight, Kondo started laughing.

He must be trying to cheer Toshi-kun up. Kondo thought as his laugh died down. I haven't seen Toshi-kun this active for a while now. I hope this keeps his mind off of Din-chan. I wonder how much Souji-kun and Tatsu-kun will miss her.

R&R please!