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

Wow, sorry this chapter is so short...there was a scene I had to cut out...::looks around:: You'll see what I mean. oooo-shows flashback as usual.

Enjoy!

"I want to be with you," Din answered. "Ryoma…"

"Really?" Ryoma blinked.

"Yes." Din smiled. "I want to be with you."

Ryoma began to kiss her once more, and slipped his tongue into her mouth. She wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him, and opened her legs, allowing his waist to fall between them.

When the light came into Din's room the next morning, she woke to find the spot where Ryoma had been empty. His scent was still there, lingering as well as the memory of what the two had done the night before but Din shook her head back and forth when she thought of that.

"Din-chan?" Souji asked as he opened the back door. "Are you up? You're a bit late."

"Oh." Din wrapped her blanket around her naked body. "I'll be there in a few moments alright Souji-kun?"

"Alright," he answered with a smile.

Souji then stepped out of the room and closed the sliding door behind himself. With a deep sigh Din grabbed her kimono and began to great dressed only to feel a small pain coming from her lower abdomen and legs.

Damn. She thought as she closed her eyes. I haven't felt this pain in ten years. I should have stretched.

Tatsunosuke's day had been one of the most exciting days he had been through in a long time. While he was in the town getting supplies as always he bumped in Ryoma and the two had run away from a large group of Mimawarigumi warriors. The two of them were now down at the river, drying their clothes from falling into the river.

"We're lucky we landed in the river!" Ryoma said as he placed his hands up next to the fire.

"I think my heart skipped a beat when we fell," Tatsunosuke added as his face drooped. "Once we get warm, I'm leaving. If I stay with you they might get the wrong idea and try to kill me again."

"Come on man!" Ryoma said, turning to the red head. "You need a little excitement once in a while! It's how you know you're alive!"

"I feel alive enough as it is thank you," Tatsunosuke answered with a sigh.

"Still, I made the right choice by giving you that sword, huh? You can't protect yourself unarmed!"

"I'm better off without it." Tatsunosuke looked towards the fire once more. "They wouldn't have killed an unarmed man."

"Well that was a cold thing to say to the guy who saved your life man!" Ryoma grinned playfully.

Tatsunosuke turned back around to see Ryoma looking around the fire for something. He leaned over towards him to see if he had found it to see him pull up a small sliver ring from the ground.

"Whew! I was worried that this little gem had floated away from me!" Ryoma said with a happy as he slipped it back onto his ring finger. "I can't go around losing my engagement ring now can I?"

"You've got a fiancée?" Tatsunosuke asked in shock.

"Sure do!" Ryoma beamed. "We're gonna get hitched soon!" With a sigh he looked down and picked up his gun. "I'd better clean this baby out, I can't let the water stay in it too long or it'll kill the gunpowder."

Tatsunosuke's eyes landed on the gun and saw the weapon he had seen the night that Din had gotten into a fight with that strange man he had never seen again. Could she have killed him with that weapon, with a gun? Could a small weapon like that really help a small girl like Din kill a man like the one who had been after her? A man with a sword?

"Sakamoto-san? Where can I get a gun like that?" Tatsunosuke asked. "Please tell me where I can get a gun like that. Dejima in Nagasaki? A store for foreigners? Or did you get it on the Black Market?"

"I didn't buy this," Ryoma answered as he picked up shell casings off of the floor. "A guy named Takasugi gave it to me, it's special. They don't sell these things in Japan; your regular guy off of the street can't get his hands on 'em."

"But you just said that you had to get more gunpowder for it so you must know where to get another gun," Tatsunosuke said, looking Ryoma in the face.

Without another word Ryoma stood up and walked over to his clothing sitting on a line he had set up.

"I wonder if it's dry yet?" Ryoma asked out loud.

"To tell you the truth I've been interested in that gun ever since I first saw it. I kept telling myself over and over again that it's not right for me but…," Tatsunosuke sighed, "But I just can't get it out of my head." He fell forward, bowing. "Please!! I'll never use it to do wrong! Please I'm begging you: tell me where to get one!"

Ryoma stopped and looked back towards Tatsunosuke and saw the same thing he had seen years ago in Din. She had done the same thing when he brought out his gun around her for the first time but back then he had given her the gun she still had today but things had been so different back then. Because of him, Din had killed more people then she could before. He had been the one to place blood on her hands for the first time and he didn't want to do that to Tatsunosuke.

"How good are you…with a sword?" Ryoma asked, causing Tatsunosuke to look up.

"With a sword?" Tatsunosuke repeated. "Not that good actually."

Ryoma turned away from the red head and started to get dressed with the clothes that he had set out to dry. Tatsunosuke looked up to his back to see long cuts that looked as if they had been just made.

"I've been recognized as a master in the Hokushin Itto style, I was a head instructor I have no intention of losing against swordsmen like them. It takes a lot of effort to get good enough to kill people with a sword," Ryoma said, still dressing. "You gotta train hard you hafta get faster then your opponent, and you have to have more guts them him too. Not everyone can do that."

Tatsunosuke blinked. "Um getting back to the pistol—"

"I'm gettin' to it," Ryoma interrupted, moving his hand back and forth. "Now compare what I was just talking about to a pistol. A gun can fire six shots in a row and the bullet can hit you in the blink of an eye and from a distance. It's like getting hit by invisible arrows."

Tatsunosuke looked back to the gun that was sitting behind him, drying and was amazed at the power Ryoma was talking about. This was why he wanted a gun; he wanted to be able to protect people with any means possible.

"If you shoot someone in a vital point, they won't even get a chance to scream," Ryoma continued, "When you wanna kill someone, you just have to move your finger, like this."

Ryoma moved his hand outwards and pretended as if there was a gun in his hands. With his index finger he moved it forward and pulled the imaginary trigger on it to prove his point to Tatsunosuke.

It was so easy. Taking a person's life with a sword required so much training and yet with a gun all he had to do was pull the trigger to send someone to the ground dead. This is what he thought he needed in order to protect Tetsunosuke. This wasn't an option he needed this.

"This kind of lifestyle…just ain't for you," Ryoma finished.

Tatsunosuke clenched his fist together. "You have no idea…no idea how I feel!"

Ryoma looked back towards him and sighed. "You wanna a gun that bad do you?"

"Yes! That's what I've been telling you," Tatsunosuke answered, looking back up towards the darker man.

"Well in that case, why don't you take the gun that's sitting behind you?"

Tatsunosuke turned around to the gun behind him and grabbed it. Before he could stop himself he brought it up to Ryoma only to see that he was raised his gun up as well, surprising Tatsunosuke.

"Always be prepared right?" Ryoma asked with a confident grin. "That's what they say right? I've been in a place like this before Tatsu-kun and I'll tell ya one more time, this kind of thing ain't for you."

"Shut up!" Tatsunosuke hissed as he backed away from the taller, more experienced man.

"Someday that gun," Ryoma stepped closer towards the red head, "will be pointed at the person you care about the most."

A vision of Tetsunosuke flashed before his eyes as he thought about what Ryoma was saying. He never wanted anything bad to happen to Tetsunosuke, and he was doing everything for Tetsunosuke. He couldn't let everything turn around and he wouldn't.

With a quick swipe Ryoma took the gun back away from Tatsunosuke. "I'll be taking that," he said with grace.

"D-Dammit!" Tatsunosuke fell to his knees and hung his head as he thought about what he had just done.

"All this pontification' is makin' my head hurt!" Ryoma said as he held his forehead. "No hard feelings Dragon boy, I'm just tryin' to be like the Peace Maker. And I want his sons to be happy."

Tatsunosuke stood. "I'm going home."

Ryoma walked over to the fire and began putting it out. "I'm callin' it a day too."

Tatsunosuke turned away from the darker man and began walking up the side of the grassy hill when he remembered something he wanted to tell Ryoma.

"Sakamoto-san," Tatsunosuke called, "about your little speech, you got one thing wrong."

"What's that Dragon boy?" Ryoma asked with a grin.

"I would never point a gun at Tetsunosuke."

Ryoma lowered his head. "G'bye Dragon boy."

By the time night had fallen, Ryoma had found himself on the other side of town, leaning against an old house. He didn't have anywhere else to go, and had finally come to the conclusion that he was going to spend the night outside in the night air.

Wish I could see Din. Ryoma thought as he looked up towards the night sky.

Wanting something else think about, Ryoma let his mind wander about what had happened that day. Tatsunosuke wanting a gun reminded of him of the time where Din had pointed the gun he had bought her back at him. It was so long ago but he remembered it as if it were yesterday.

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They had been fighting together for three years now. Ryoma always fought for Din and always managed to take a life so that she wouldn't have to but this cold December night would change things.

"Hurry up!" Din yelled as she looked behind her to see Ryoma.

"Hey! I'm injured!" he yelled back. "Give me a break!"

Hearing that, Din suddenly took a sharp turn and pulled Ryoma into a small, dark alleyway. They both stood against the right wall as a large group of men ran by without even noticing them.

"Where'd you get hit?" Din whispered, looking up and down Ryoma's body.

"My leg," Ryoma answered as he bit his lower lip from the pain.

Din moved down towards Ryoma's right leg to see blood dripping down from the calf muscle. She knew that she had to apply some kind of pressure to his leg in order to stop the bleeding. Looking down, she noticed the cloth she always kept wrapped around her mouth so that no one would be able to place out a warrant for her.

"I've got something just hold on," she whispered.

With a tug the cloth undid itself and fell into Din's open hand. She moved the cloth around Ryoma's leg and pulled tightly and then tied it, trying to stop the bleeding but at the same time trying not to make a tourniquet.

"Shit," he hissed as pain shot up his leg.

"Sorry," she whispered back.

As soon as she was done, Din stood back up and let out a small sigh. She was about to open her mouth once more when one of the men from the group that was chasing them arrived at the opening of the alleyway and spotted them.

"There they are!" the man called out.

They began running once more but as they came to the other side of the alleyway Ryoma was punched in the face as he came out, and fell down to the floor. Din turned back around and ran over to Ryoma's fallen body and placed his head in her lap as she looked back up at the man who had been chasing them.

The side of Ryoma's face had been pushed in from what Din could see, telling her that the bones on that side of his face had broken. The muscles around his eyes began to swell from the impact and broken bones, and Din could see a trail of blood coming from the side of his mouth.

"Bastard," she hissed.

"We've been looking for you two!" the man said with a smile. "Did you really think that fighting the Shogunate would get you far?"

"Din-san," Ryoma whispered. "Hurry up and get outta here, I'll be fine on my own."

"I'm not leaving you here by yourself!" Din yelled as she closed her eyes. "I'm not going to lose anyone else!"

"Din-san…"

Din quickly moved her hand down into the small kimono she was wearing and pulled out her gun. The man who had been following them stopped as he saw the gun, not knowing what it was and looked at it as she pulled the hammer back.

"Din-san!" Ryoma yelled as he opened his eyes. "Don't Din-san!"

Ryoma's warning fell on deaf ears. Din pulled the trigger back, and a loud bang noise echoed through the cold, snowy night. The man who had been chasing them fell backwards into the white snow, staining it with his dark red blood that fell from his stomach.

"Get up!" Din yelled as she tugged on Ryoma. "Come on, we've got to get out of here!"

Without waiting another second, Ryoma stood and began running away even though he found himself limping more then he had been before. He couldn't remember how far they had ran when he thought about it now, but the next thing he remembered was being under a large tree with Din while they caught their breath.

"Din-san," Ryoma managed to say. "Are you…alright?"

"What the hell do you think!?" she screamed back at him while she raised her gun to him.

Ryoma looked back up towards her and found that he could only really see out of his left eye. He moved his head so that his left eye could see her better, and in reaction to what she was doing, he raised his gun up as well.

"I've just killed someone dammit!" she yelled, tears falling from her eyes. "I'm not okay!! Why couldn't you be watching where the hell you were going?! If I die or get caught I'll never find Setsuna-chan! Do you understand that!?"

"Din-san," Ryoma stumbled a bit from the pain in his face, "calm down, everything will be okay. We're fine we're not gonna get caught."

"But that was too close dammit!" Din looked away as the gun in her hand began to shake. "Do you understand!?"

"I'm…sorry,"

"What?" She looked back over towards him.

Ryoma opened his mouth to answer when the pain in the side of his head finally got the better of him. He dropped his gun and fell down to the floor as his eyes rolled to the back of his head, unconscious.

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It was strange, after that little incident Din had started to trust Ryoma and from then on Ryoma called her Din-chan. Even though she had taken the life of a man who knew her identity and risked her losing Setsuna, she never talked to Ryoma about it again. She had changed after that, she feared death highly and would do anything she could to prevent it, even allowing a man to get away who had hurt her badly.

A lot has happened. Ryoma thought as his breath became white against the cold air around him. And once I make this world better, a lot more will happen Din. I'll make sure of that.

R&R please!