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

I know I said that I wouldn't update for a while, but I was smacked with a bunny and did five chapters for four more weeks (not coutning this one). Yay! Anyways, thank you fans for sticking with me! We're almost there!

Enjoy!

"..in? Din?" Ryoma's voice said.

Din opened her eyes to see a wooden roof above her head. She blinked her eyes a few times as she felt the medicine that Susumu had given her still lingering through her body. Her eyes blurred for a few minutes but when they cleared, Din moaned.

"What the hell?" she asked. "Where am I?"

"You're at Katsura-san's place!" Ryoma answered as he popped over her head.

"Katsura-san?" Din asked, blinking.

"Are you feeling alright?" the small man, Katsura asked.

Din opened her mouth to answer Katsura's question when pain from her injured side shot through her. Her hands moved down to her side and she grabbed the wound there, bringing her legs up to try to deal with the pain. Ryoma jumped up and held her legs down.

"Don't move around!" Ryoma yelled. "You're going to rip your wounds open!"

"Dammit!" she yelled out in pain. "Shit I thought I was dead!"

"Hold still!" Ryoma pinned her body down and looked at her side to make sure that it wasn't bleeding from her moving around. "Sarah! Come hold her down with me!"

Akesato, now called "Sarah" by Ryoma and Katsura moved over towards Din upper half and held her arms down onto the floor. Din opened her eyes as she felt someone hold her and looked up to see Sarah above her.

"You!" Din growled. "Get off of me!"

"Setsuna-san?" Sarah asked.

"Get her off of me!" Din screamed. "NOW!"

Sarah jumped back, fearing that she was going to be the one who ripped Din's wounds once more. Din finally relaxed and kept her hands on her side as Ryoma left her alone, and took a deep breath inwards.

"You're with us now Din, don't worry about anything," Ryoma said with a gentle tone.

"That's not what I'm concerned about!" Din hissed. "What is she doing here?"

"Who?" Ryoma blinked. "Sarah-chan?"

Din was about to yell out things about Sarah but the memories of what had happened at the Shinsengumi came flooding into her mind. Tears gathered underneath her eyes and she began crying, crying from the pain coming from her side, and crying because of the loss of her sister, and all of her friends back at the Shinsengumi.

"They killed Setsuna-chan," Din whimpered out. "It was them dammit! Them!"

"Din," Ryoma whispered.

Ryoma moved over towards the top of Din's head and placed her head in his lap. She continued to cry while he gently petted her head, trying to keep her still enough so that she wouldn't open her wounds.

"It'll be okay Din," he whispered. "Just wait a little longer, and everything will be okay."

Three days had passed and in those three days, Kondo, Susumu, and Ito had left without saying anything about Din. Ito hadn't been told about what had happened with Din, and Kondo intended to keep it that way as long as he could. Hijikata, on the other hand, intended to make sure that everyone understood that Din was now considered a traitor to the Shinsengumi, and he was going to start with the Ichimura brothers.

"Ichimura!!" Hijikata called.

Soon after he yelled, he could hear the rushed footsteps of the small Ichimura brother running down the hallway. Tetsunosuke slid the backdoor open, and fell down to his knees.

"What is it Hijikata-sama?" he asked, lowering his head.

"I wanted to talk to you about Din," Hijikata said, finding it hard to say her name.

"What about her?" Tetsunosuke looked up towards his master.

"You got in the way of her beheading," Hijikata said as he closed his eyes. "You are never to do something like that again."

Tetsunosuke hung his head, disappointed in his actions. "Yes sir."

"Why did you do it?"

"For Tatsu-nii," Tetsunosuke admitted. "I couldn't just let her die when we have a doctor on the grounds. Hijikata-sama, please, I'm sorry that I did something like that but…"

"But?"

"I couldn't let her die!" Tetsunosuke yelled as he clenched his hands together. "I'm sorry Hijikata-sama but I couldn't let another person in the Shinsengumi die! Please don't kill her Hijikata-sama!"

After everything Tetsunosuke had been through in the Shinsengumi, he didn't want to see another person die. He had lost Ayumu, and Yamanami, two people who had he grown to love. They were gone now, and Tetsunosuke didn't want to lose anyone else, especially someone who meant so much to his brother.

Hijikata gripped his clothing. "Go and bring your brother here."

"Tatsu-nii? Why?"

"Now."

Tetsunosuke stood up and ran off to his brother's office. Hijikata sat there, alone, and began to think of everything Yamanami and Kondo had said about Tatsunosuke and Din. He could feel himself start to get angry about everything that had been going on, and before he knew it, he heard Tatsunosuke calling his name from the backdoor.

"Hijikata-sama?" Tatsunosuke asked.

"Come in and close the door," Hijikata ordered.

Tatsunosuke did as told, and then kneeled down on the floor behind the demon vice-commander. The room fell silent as the two men sat there, Hijikata trying to think of something to say without telling Tatsunosuke how he felt about Din. When he finally thought of what to say, he started with a heavy sigh.

"How do you feel about Din?" Hijikata asked.

"Din-chan…and I…are close," Tatsunosuke said as he thought about what to say.

"How close?"

"Friends."

"Let me ask you one more time, how do you feel about Din?" Hijikata hissed.

Tatsunosuke looked down towards the wooden floor. "Hijikata-sama…I don't know. In all honesty I wish I was sure myself but…I'm not."

"What kind of an answer is that?" Hijikata yelled, forcing Tatsunosuke to flinch. "Do you love her or not?"

"I," Tatsunosuke blushed, "I…do."

Hijikata closed his eyes as those words came into his mind. His first instinct was the feeling of anger and jealously but that was soon replaced by a sense of disgust and hate. He took a deep breath in as he prepared himself for what he was about to say, even though a part of him felt as if he had a right to say it..

"You are never to see her again," Hijikata said.

Tatsunosuke brought his head back up. "What?"

Hijikata turned his head to the right a bit. "Din is a traitor to the Shinsengumi, she was spying for the Choushuu alliance and is one of the leaders."

Before Tatsunosuke could stop himself, tears fell from his eyes. The woman he had fallen for was part of the Choushuu alliance; the men who he thought had killed his parents. She was one of the leaders of the men who killed his family. Because of her men he had been orphaned along with his brother but it was his brother he felt so bad for. Tetsunosuke had gotten along with Din, not knowing that she had to have something to do with his father's death.

But then again Din claimed to have known Tatsunosuke's father, he had even asked her to watch over his boys in case something happened to him. How could his father trust someone who was part of the Choushuu alliance?

Ideas flooded Tatsunosuke's mind, ideas that hit so closely to home. What if Din had known about his father's death but had done nothing at all. But the more Tatsunosuke thought about it, the worse the thoughts became until he finally thought of one that twisted his stomach around and created a feeling of having to throw up. What if Din had been the one to give the orders?

"If you ever see her, you are to bring her here or kill her on the spot do you understand?" Hijikata said, bringing Tatsunosuke out of his thoughts.

"Understood Hijikata-sama," Tatsunosuke agreed. He would have agreed to anything in that moment due to the fact that his thoughts were so far off. When the symptoms of throwing up came back to him, Tatsunosuke stood.

"I have to go Hijikata-sama," Tatsunosuke said as he held his stomach with his right hand. "I'm not feeling so well."

"You are dismissed."

Tatsunosuke slid open the back door, closed it, and then stumbled into the backyard. His feet threatened to trip over one another as he tired to walk over to the outhouse. He looked up as his vision doubled, but he managed to see the well was closer to him then the outhouse.

I'm not going to make it. He told himself.

The horrible feeling within his stomach moved up to his mouth right when Tatsunosuke had made it to the well. He bent over the edge to a place where no one would see or hear him and let everything go. Everything he had picked at that morning and everything he had eaten the night before was coming up as he tired to remain as silent as he could, that was, until he started coughing.

This was disgusting. This war was disgusting. This place was digesting. The taste in his mouth was disgusting. It was sickening how last time he had thrown up he had been stressed out about a date and now he was here, sick to his stomach about something that might not even be true. And yet…Tatsunosuke couldn't help but keep a small glimmer of hope in his mind for Din.

Din-chan. He thought as he fell to his knees, avoiding his vomit. Tetsu-kun.

Tatsunosuke had endangered Tetsunosuke. By placing Tetsunosuke with Din, Tatsunosuke had placed his younger brother in extreme danger with the people who had murdered their parents. How could he do such a thing when he was the one who was supposed to be watching Tetsunosuke? How could be become so careless?

Never again. Tatsunosuke moved his right hand to his mouth. I can't ever be that careless with Tetsu-kun again.

There were no words for the pain Sanosuke was feeling at the current moment. The pain of knowing that his leaders had killed the woman he loved was a pain that he couldn't find words for. He knew that Hijikata, Kondo, Souji, and Yamanami had killed Setsuna for a reason, but it still hurt.

"Damn," Sanosuke whispered.

He had placed himself up against the wall of his bedroom with his legs brought up to his chest. The letter that told of Setsuna's murder sat at the bottom of his feet, turned over so that Sanosuke couldn't read Setsuna's name. The back door was open slightly to allow fresh air into the room but Sanosuke didn't much care.

"Setsuna-chan," he whispered.

That name had come up so many times in Din's stay in the Shinsengumi, but now that Din was gone Sanosuke feared that Setsuna would fade away once more. The talk he had with Shinpachi and Heisuke had stirred up so many wonderful memories within Sanosuke that he had forgotten over the long course of time and he didn't want to lose that. It seemed that Setsuna's name had become such a taboo word and Sanosuke now knew why.

"Sanosuke-kun!" Shinpachi called from outside.

Sanosuke didn't answer. He had told Tetsunosuke earlier that he wasn't feeling well and didn't want to be bothered for the rest of the day. This day would be the day where Sanosuke would mourn for the woman he had lost so many years ago.

Rain began to fall from the sky at sunset and was still falling late into the evening. Hijikata had left his back door open so he could watch the rain fall from his futon. His covers were pulled up to his nose to keep him warm. He laid there, watching the rain fall in the dark room. A bowl of largely chopped vegetables sat near the top of Hijikata's head, untouched.

Cold wind blew into Hijikata's room from the outside, and gentle moved a strand of loose hair to the side. When the wind blew, Hijikata opened his eyes and looked out towards the rain.

The door behind him slid open without warning. Hijikata didn't bother to turn around and look at who was coming in, he assumed it was Souji, he was the only one who walked in without permission now that Kondo was gone.

"Hijikata-sama?" Souji asked.

"Hm?" Hijikata mumbled.

Souji closed the door once he had stepped in. "Are you alright? You haven't come out all day."

"I'm fine," Hijikata answered as he closed his eyes. "I'm just not feeling well today."

"Strange, Sanosuke-kun is the same way." Souji laughed a bit. "Perhaps if you closed the back door?"

"No. Leave it open."

Souji kneeled down behind Hijikata. "What's the matter? I can tell something's wrong with you, why don't you tell me?"

Without saying anything, Hijikata stood out of his futon and over to the open back door. He leaned against the right side as his hair fell down past his waist in loose threads. Souji moved his attention away from Hijikata, and over to the uneaten bowl of food he had dropped off earlier.

"Why didn't you eat dinner?" Souji asked. "Shinpachi-kun did a good job tonight."

"It's not the same," Hijikata said in a low tone.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean."

Hijikata's kimono opened up a bit more over his chest as he looked up towards the raining sky. His chest was now exposed down to his waist line and the cold wind slapped against it but he didn't mind.

Souji hung his head. "Hijikata-sama…what are we going to do now?"

"Train," he answered. "Just train until Isami-kun, Yamazaki-kun, and Ito-sama return. We have nothing more to do but patrol this area and train one another until something happens."

"Yes Hijikata-sama." Souji nodded. "But what are we going to do about Din-nee?"

Hijikata paused for a few minutes before he answered. "Nothing. We don't even know if she's alive right now. If she reemerges we'll figure out what to do then."

"But what are we going to do now?" Souji moved forward a bit. "What if she is dying out there? Hiji—"

"She's no longer my concern," Hijikata interrupted with a harsh tone. "She is no longer underneath this roof so you are not to worry about her."

Souji opened his mouth to speak once more when he spotted Hijikata's left hand gripping his kimono tightly in a fist. Souji backed down and looked back towards the door he had entered from.

"The only thing I wonder," Hijikata said, catching Souji's attention. "Is what she's doing right now."

That line was a line Souji had heard before in young lovers. It was also something Souji never thought would come from Hijikata's mouth. But the thing that bothered Souji the most, was that he didn't know what to think of it. Was Hijikata worried about Din? Or would he act just as cold her to as he had when she had been living with him?

Din-nee. Souji thought as he looked up towards the ceiling. Come home soon. Please.

"Souji-kun…Din is dead to us," Hijikata said.

Souji nodded his head.

Din opened her eyes to see Ryoma above her once more. He was looking down at her with a smile across his face. Din blinked slowly when her ears picked up on the sound of the rain outside.

"How's your wound?" Ryoma asked.

"Painful," she answered. "I don't care as long as I'm not bleeding anymore. I'm just tired."

"You've been sleeping for a while now," Ryoma said. "We have to meet up with our future in a few weeks."

"Oh." Din sighed and looked at the back door.

She had been placed in a bare room with nothing but a futon and back door. There weren't any windows, Ryoma didn't want anyone to know where Din was after what had happened at the Shinsengumi.

"Ryo?" she asked.

"What?"

"When will we finally be home?"

Ryoma looked back down towards Din to see her looking out towards the back door. He moved his eyes away from Din's face, and down to the side where her wound had been given to her.

"Depends on what you consider home." Ryoma moved his right hand down onto the right side of Din's face.

Din looked back towards Ryoma and smiled. "When we'll finally be with everyone who has fought for the country. That family I grew to love with you…with Shinta-kun."

Ryoma blinked. "Shinta? You miss him too?"

With a nod Din returned her attention to the back door. Admitting that she missed someone only made her realize just how much she missed everyone back at the Shinsengumi. But out of everyone there, Din missed Tatsunosuke the most. She didn't know why, but she missed his smile, laugh and his voice.

"Ryo?"

"What?" he asked with a deep sigh.

"Will you try and save the Ichimura kids after a year?"

Ryoma nodded. "We'll go and check in on them once we get our job done in the capital."

"Good."

The two returned their looks to the back of the room and listened to the rain falling around them outside. Din moved her hand away from her side, and moved it over to Ryoma's hand. Ryoma moved his fingers between hers, and gripped them tightly.

"We'll be home soon," Ryoma whispered.

"Even!!"

Ito had managed to sneak away from Kondo and Susumu for a few hours to himself. Kondo let him go without a fuss, not knowing who Ito was planning to see. He was going to a meeting for Choushuu members that he knew well.

Ito slammed his yellow cup down onto a table with men sitting all around it. He brought the cup back up to reveal two dice, both on two odd sides. The men around the room laughed and booed as Ito shook his head back and forth in disappointment. It was a normal game Ito had always played with the Choushuu men who had no idea that Ito worked with the Shinsengumi, and that's the way he wanted it. Just as Ito began to play again, Suzu entered the room with Hikagami by his side. The room hushed as Suzu entered.

"Don't stop on my behalf!" Suzu said in a playful tone. "I've just come here to speak with Ito-sama. Please, keep playing chou-han."

The group of men returned to playing the dice game as Ito stood and kneeled before Suzu and Hikagami. Suzu smiled and nodded his head.

"I didn't want to reveal your…other alliances to the other men," Suzu said in a whisper. "Sorry for calling you over so rudely."

"It's nothing," Ito said as he shook his head. "You're such a pretty young thing…it's hard to believe that such a pretty thing is so sly! What do you want me for?"

Suzu closed his eyes for a long minute. "When the Shogunate falls we will require weapons and supplies. Deliver them to the Yamatoya and make sure to bring only the highest quality artillery and cannons. Once we have all of that, the blow to the Shogunate will be swift and hard."

"You're going to take down the Shinsengumi?" Ito asked in awe.

"Don't worry!" Suzu smiled. "Everything will be fine; I won't let anything too bad happen. But Ito-sama, I have something else to ask you."

"Anything." Ito bowed once more.

"I want you to remain close to the Shinsengumi. There are two people there I want more then anything," Suzu said. "Remain close…very close."

"Yes." Ito bowed again, a third time. "Anything you want Suzu-san."

R&R please!!