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

Wow, I've gotten far. Not much to say this week but that next week will be the chapter that changes everything. A huge secret is revealed that no one has seen coming and I can't wait to see how you, my reviewers, are going to react to it::giggle:: I can't wait. Meanwhile, something rather large happens in this chapter, so I hope you like it!

Enjoy!

"In May?" Din asked as she blinked.

A few nights later, Ryoma had returned to Din's room once more in the middle of the night. He had come saying that he had news for her, news that couldn't go without hearing it for another day.

"Yup!" Ryoma grinned. "Katsura-san wants to leave in May instead of April because he doesn't want the weather getting to him."

Din rolled her eyes. "That sounds like him."

"So we can finally get everything together before the time comes so we can finally get a small break," Ryoma closed his eyes for a long moment.

When he opened his eyes once more he found that Din had walked further back into the room. He blinked and started to move forward when she leaned against the wall, not facing him.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Being here any longer then I have to be," she answered. "Leaving will be harder then it already is. Maybe I should go with you now."

"Really?" Ryoma asked in a bit of shock.

"I don't know."

The smile Ryoma always wore finally came back to his face and he stepped over towards her, placing his hand on her right shoulder. She turned around and looked at him, but stopped halfway and placed her hand on his.

"Stay until the start of May alright?" he whispered. "After that, I'll come here and get you so that we can go off and clean Japan. We'll come back for Ichimura-san's sons and bring them with us before anything happens."

"Alright," she whispered back. "That's what I'll do."

When Hijikata woke up the next morning, he found Din sitting next to the window of his room with the window slightly open. He sat up and heard the rain pounding away on the roof above him and a slight breeze coming into the room.

"I'll be staying for a bit longer," Din said gently.

"Until?"

"May."

"That long?"

"Yes," she answered. "I'm sorry about that; I'm supposed to be leaving in April."

He looked away from her. "Stay as long as you want I don't care."

"I'll wait a few days. A few days before I say anything to her on those lines."

"Din…,"

"What?" she answered, still not bothering to face him.

He took a deep breath inwards. "I want to marry you."

"What?" she asked, finally looking over towards him.

He looked up towards her, allowing their eyes to meet for the first time in the few short minutes they had been together. She looked at him in amazement before she finally looked away from him, and back out towards the rain.

"I can't do that," she said. "You know that I'm already engaged Hijikata."

Without saying anything else he stood up from his futon, showing that he was sleeping in his underwear only. He walked over to her and moved against her, placing his hands against the wall behind her and beside either side of her head.

"I don't care."

"I do," she said, looking back at him. "Hijikata, you don't understand, I can't be with you anymore."

"Forget the man you're engaged to," Hijikata blurted out, ignoring the sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. "I want to be with you Din…I…"

He couldn't do it. He couldn't allow the words telling her that he loved her passed his lips. No matter how many times he thought about it in his head, he just couldn't push himself enough. But when the thought of her leaving and never coming back came into his head, he found the small push he needed.

"I love you," he admitted.

"I can't be with you."

"W…What?"

Din looked away from Hijikata once more, making the feeling of being rejected oh so much worse. He thought that was the one thing Din had wanted to hear after everything they had been through in the past few months but now that he was saying it, she wasn't interested. He was too late.

"I've already been with the man I'm engaged to." Din closed her eyes.

"Been with?"

"I've slept with him, and that means that I'm going to stay with him Hijikata."

Hijikata moved his hands away from her head as he moved back away from her with a look of shock on his face once more. His arms fell to his sides as his back bent a bit, expressing the feelings inside of him. Everything was gone now, he had been left behind.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking at him, showing the tears falling down her face once more.

Hijikata stepped backwards and finally turned himself around to find that he was standing in front of his sword. He picked up his fist and slammed it downwards onto the wooden structure creating a loud bang.

"Get out," he hissed. "Now."

Din stepped away from the wall and walked out of the room, leaving Hijikata alone once more, just as he had been the night before, only now things seemed so much different then before.

Hours later, Din was in the kitchen preparing dinner when Saitou appeared next to her. She jumped when he suddenly came up beside her but noticed the glare in his eyes, telling her that he knew something.

"What?" she hissed.

"So you're staying until May?" he asked.

Her eyes widened. "Yes. How does someone like you come across that bit of information?"

Saitou lowered his head. "It's easy when you allow visitors into your room at night when not everyone is asleep."

"Dammit!" she hissed. "So what the hell are you planning to do?"

She had been caught and by someone who knew of some of her deeds outside of the dojo. This man was a threat to everything her and Ryoma had been setting up for years, and if she wasn't careful everything would fall apart before her, and it would be her fault.

"Nothing." He shook his head slightly. "I was about to ask you the same question."

"You know I'm leaving so don't worry about anything!" she growled.

"Are you going to take the Ichimura brothers with you?"

"Yes."

"Don't."

"What?" She blinked. "Why not?"

"You know Suzu-san is keeping his eye on Tetsu-kun, and you taking him away may end up with the loss of Tatsu-kun," Saitou answered.

Din fell backwards, only catching herself on a counter. The last few words of that sentence had just ripped through her and made her legs become weak. She had been asked by Ryuunosuke, a man she fell for to take care of his sons and yet here she was, putting them as risk. What was she doing?

"Why would you do something like that?" she asked.

"It's not me." Saitou shook his head once more. "This is nothing but a message from Suzu-san. Excuse me, I don't want to make you burn dinner."

Saitou stepped out of the kitchen leaving Din to cover her mouth with her hand. She felt like she was going to throw up everything from what Saitou had just said to her. Things seemed to be slamming together at once, and she knew that something had to give.

The next few days had been rough on everyone. The move to the West Hogan Temple had been pretty much done but the moving of the final things was what took the group forever to finish. Now that things had been moved to the temple, things began to settle into place, and before anyone had known, the first of May had snuck up on them, and things were about to turn.

Since the time Hijikata had finally confessed, not much had been said between the two. Things had remained quiet, and no one had really talked about what had happened, not even Kondo. Tetsunosuke was rather quiet because of the whole incident with Suzu, while Tatsunosuke spent most of his time working as usual. The trio kept to themselves but noticed the unusual quietness around the place, but dared not to say anything about it.

The trio was standing in front of the temple, messing around with one another and trying to cheer Heisuke up when a large, strange man walked up to them with a boar in his hands. Revealing that he was a doctor, Shinpachi led him back to Kondo and Susumu who were in the middle of a meeting. After a quick run through of the dojo, they retuned to Kondo's room to talk.

The doctor, Ryojun Matsumoto, instructed on going through every person in the Shinsengumi to make sure that they weren't suffering from some kind of illness or wound, starting with the comedy trio. This was, with the assistance of Susumu of course, and after the smaller Ichimura brother's inspection.

"Stop that!! That tickles!!" Tetsunosuke laughed as Ryojun touched his body to make sure he was in good health. "Hahaha!!"

Outside waiting in line was the trio, followed by a worried Tatsunosuke who was listening up against the door to make sure nothing was going wrong.

"What's wrong?" Sanosuke asked. "Is baby brother doing something wrong?"

"No," Tatsunosuke answered quickly. "I'm just making sure that he doesn't do anything wrong."

"Are you nervous?" Shinpachi asked, popping up beside the dark red head. "We have to strip down remember?"

Tatsunosuke's stomach turned. "Yeah I know. But it's for something important so I don't mind."

"Then why do you look nervous?" Sanosuke teased.

The dark red head twitched. "Never mind."

As they spoke, Din walked by carrying a basket of clothing. She started to walk by them without saying anything but Sanosuke grabbed her arm, after waiting for her to say something.

"Hey Din-chan! What's up with not sayin' hi?" Sanosuke asked with a playful tone.

"Oh." She blinked. "I'm sorry, I was just daydreaming."

"Aren't you gonna get in line?" Sanosuke released her arm and pointed his hand backwards towards the door. "We all have to get inspected."

"No." She turned her head away. "I'm not going to."

"That doesn't seem fair," Shinpachi said, getting into the conversation. "Is something wrong Din-chan? You've been acting rather quiet lately."

"No." She shook her head. "It's nothing, I'm just not going to go in to see the doctor, no big deal. But Tatsu-kun?"

"Yes?" he answered, turning around to face her.

"Would you mind coming to town with me later today, after you're done with your inspection?" she asked.

"No I'll go with you," he answered without blushing for the fist time.

"Thank you." She smiled.

Din then walked away from the group while Tatsunosuke turned back around to listen in on Tetsunosuke's examination. Sanosuke blinked as he watched the whole thing take place and then did a double take.

"She just asked you out," Sanosuke said, pointing to where Din had walked in. "Don't you care?"

"Yeah," Tatsunosuke answered, looking over towards Sanosuke. "I do but I have to make sure Tetsu-kun makes it through this. Besides," he blushed, "I'm getting used to going out to places with her now."

"Oh." Shinpachi grinned. "Getting comfortable are we?"

Tatsunosuke's blush deepened. "Maybe I am."

"Next!" Susumu called from inside.

"That's you," Shinpachi said, hitting Sanosuke in the side with his elbow.

"Oh yeah huh?" Sanosuke let go of a nervous laugh. "Well I guess I'll be getting in there," he looked around, "yeah…anytime now."

"Are you scared?" Heisuke asked, now coming into the conversation.

"No!" Sanosuke hit his chest. "How could someone like the great Sanosuke be scared of something like a doctor? I'm a fighter! I'm not…yeah I am."

Shinpachi laughed. "Get your ass in there! Come on!!"

As the door opened, Tetsunosuke stepped out of the room. Tatsunosuke grabbed him before he could run off only to see that he was perfectly fine.

"Are you alright?" Tatsunosuke asked.

"Fine," the younger one replied.

"Get in there!" Shinpachi kicked Sanosuke into the room, causing Tetsunosuke to giggle.

"It really wasn't that bad!" Tetsunosuke said through his laugh. "Don't worry about anythin' Harada-kun!"

"Thanks Tetsu-kun!" Sanosuke said as the doors slid shut.

"I'm going to go to the kitchen now," Tatsunosuke said with a slight sigh. "I want to go and talk to Din-chan about something."

Tatsunosuke walked over to the kitchen after seeing his little brother off to find Din standing in front of the fire. As he stepped in, he saw her staring into the fire, clenching her fists together.

"Din-chan?" he asked. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," she answered without facing him. "Do you mind going out with me right now?"

"Well I haven't been checked over but," he scratched the back of his head, "I guess we could go now."

She turned to him. "Alright, let's go then."

Tatsunosuke and Din walked out of the Shinsengumi without saying anything to anyone and as they came closer towards the town and towards the market, he began talking to her one on one for the first time in months.

"Why don't you like doctors?" he asked. "Oh, never mind that's really none of my business, I'm sorry I asked."

"It's alright," she laughed. "When I was younger I always went to the doctor and I always got bad news from it. That's how I found out that I could never have children."

"I'm sorry," he said looking down.

"Don't worry," she said with a small giggle. "I talked to Isami-kun and he said that I didn't have to see the doctor so I'm happy. How are you?"

"Tired from work but other then that I'm fine," Tatsunosuke answered, looking back towards her. "I haven't really seen you around."

"Work's been keeping me really busy," she answered simply.

They walked through the market, picking up small things that Tatsunosuke volunteered to carry through their trip. Once they reached the last shop to pick up something small once more, Din looked out towards the ocean sitting beside the last shop.

"Din-chan?" Tatsunosuke asked as the shopkeeper collected what Din ordered. "Is something wrong?"

She smiled. "Do you have the food Tatsu-kun?"

He paused as he paid and the item was given to him. "Now I do. Why?"

Din reached backwards and managed to grab Tatsunosuke's wrist. She held tightly to it as he blushed from her touch, and looked up towards her.

"Din-chan," he began, "is there something wro—"

She pulled him forward as she began to run, dragging him along with her. Instead of fighting her, he began to run along with her while he clung onto the collection of items he had in his hands.

"What are we doing!?" Tatsunosuke yelled.

"Just come on!" she yelled back to him. "There's something I want to do!"

Tatsunosuke picked up his running and found himself running closely behind her. As he ran behind her, a smile crossed his face. Soon the smile became wider and as he ran he began laughing. He was having a wonderful time and all he was doing was running with the woman he had come to love. This was the most fun he had had in a long while and he wasn't doing anything unusual, he was just with the woman he loved.

Din suddenly stopped running, causing Tatsunosuke to stop as well. He moved up next to her to find that he was standing on a large hill overlooking the ocean as the sun began to set. The way the sun hit the water created a gentle, calming mood that allowed Tatsunosuke to relax for once.

"It's beautiful," Tatsunosuke said through catching his breath.

"Isn't it?" Din asked with a small laugh. "I want to go across that ocean!" She pointed her right hand outwards with her index finger pointing out. "I want to cross it in a boat and see the world one day and…Tatsu-kun, I want you to come with me."

"What?" he asked, turning to her as he blushed.

She focused on the ocean. "I want to take you across the ocean with me. Will you, one day?"

He looked back out towards the ocean as well, looking at the water moving up and down in small waves. He looked at how the sun bounced off of the top of the water, and how large boats floated over the dazzling water without fear or hesitation. Would he want to be in one of those boats? Would he ever walk on a boat while it crossed the ocean? But more importantly to him, would he be with Din?

"I think I will," he answered.

"Good." She smiled. "I think I'll be waiting for that day."

"I think I will be too."

The two stood there watching what looked like the sun sinking into the ocean. They didn't say anything more as they watched everything happen around them, and the gentle spring wind blew over them, bringing the smell of flowers with it. Right after the sun had disappeared, Din turned to Tatsunosuke.

"Let's go back, I don't want everyone to worry too much," she said with a sigh.

"I guess you're right," he answered with his own small sigh.

As they began to walk down the small hill they had run up, Tatsunosuke spotted a man with a camera that he had heard about. He paused for a moment as he tired to remember why that man was important when it came back to him.

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

"Din," he said, grabbing her kimono sleeve. "Didn't you want to take a picture?"

"Oh." She blinked as she looked at the man. "Yes, do you want to do it now?"

Tatsunosuke nodded. "Yes. Let's do it now before the man leaves town or something."

Tatsunosuke and Din walked over to the man who was using the camera that Tatsunosuke had only been behind in pictures when he was younger. Din paid the man and gave him the Shinsengumi's address so that he would be able to drop off the picture once it was done developing and the two moved in front of the camera.

"You didn't have to pay for it Din-chan," Tatsunosuke said as he placed the items they had bought on the floor.

"It's alright." She moved beside Tatsunosuke and grabbed his left arm. "But because I paid for it, I get to do whatever I want in it."

He blushed and gulped. "Alright."

"Move in a bit more," the camera man said as he moved his hand to the right.

The two did as told until the camera man held up his hand, telling them to stay. As he began to count down to when he was going to take the picture, Din clung onto Tatsunosuke's arm and he managed a smile as did she. The flash went off and dust flew around the camera man as he looked away from the small box.

"Done," he said looking at the couple.

"I can't wait for it," Din said with a large smile.

"Come on," Tatsunosuke said as he tugged on Din's arm. "We'd better start to get home before they worry."

"Right."

"Thanks!" the camera man said as the two walked away. "I'll be there to give it to you once it's done developing!"

"Thanks!" Din yelled, moving her hand in the air.

This was more then Tatsunosuke could ask for. He was out with the woman he cared so much about, and he had finally gotten his picture taken with her. Things were going wonderfully and he couldn't wait to see what else would be waiting for him and her. Everything was perfect.

R&R please!