Hey guys, Murayama Tsuru here. Here is the second oneshot of this series, just in time for Valentine's Day ^_^ I actually made it on time…unlike New Year's…well anyway, here it is, I hope y'all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Gintama; it belongs to Sorachi Hideaki-Sensei.

Okita Mitsuba's wide, reddish-brown eyes blinked open to the figure of her younger brother, Okita Sougo, putting flowers down near at her grave. It was an adorably uncharacteristic gesture for him, so the slightly-darker-than-flaxen-haired sister couldn't help but laugh good naturedly at her usually cold, slightly selfish younger brother's act of kindness.

Hearing the noise, Sougo turned toward the source and his eyes widened almost imperceptibly. Probably no one other than his sister would know that he'd been surprised by the sudden appearance of his dead sister (which wouldn't be unexpected).

After another light chuckle, Sougo asked, a hint of suspicion in his voice, as if he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, "Aneue, what are you doing here?"

Mitsuba smiled at her at her brother, and with a shrug said, "Not sure. I just woke up a few minutes ago. How long has it been?"

With an even more uncharacteristic (to Mitsuba) frown, Sougo paused as a look of pure pain washed over his features. Once he seemed to get control of his emotions, he answered, his voice barely above a whisper, "Too long Aneue. It's good to see you…even though you are a ghost."

With a sad smile, Mitsuba floated over to her brother, and said soothingly, "It's good to see you too Sou-chan." Then, changing the subject, the brown-haired woman said happily, "I never imagined I'd see you bring flowers to anyone. Even though, you're just bringing them to your long dead sister."

Scratching the back of his head, Sougo averted his eyes from his sister's translucent face. After a moment he said, "Today's valentine's day. I didn't really feel like dealing with all those masochistic women vying for my attention at the moment so I decided to bring you flowers to pass the time."

Mitsuba laughed softly at this, "Sou-chan, you're so popular! I'm sure at many of the 'women vying for your attention' aren't actually masochists. I would think you'd have fun competing with the rest of the Shinsengumi to see who gets the most chocolate."

"Yeah, but I won't get any from the person I want it from the most, so it's not any fun."

"Yeah," Mitsuba said with a smile, "And who's that?"

Sougo gave Mitsuba a look that seemed to say she should already know perfectly well that it was her, and said petulantly, "A stupid little red-headed Yato who reminds me nothing of you."

"Oh?" Mitsuba said with a sisterly smile, "I'm amazed Sou-chan; someone's replaced me as your favorite. And she's an Amanto at that; you're full of surprises today aren't you?"

With a sigh Sougo said, "No, she isn't your replacement…but there's someone you'd rather give chocolate to, isn't there Aneue? So, I have no choice but to accept crappy gifts from that noisy little Yato."

At that, Mitsuba blushed deeply and shook her head, but said nothing to deny what Sougo had said. With another sigh, Sougo said, "Fine, Aneue, I'll let him have you for one day. Come on; let's go get him some of that spicy chocolate you used to send us. I'll even try not to lace his mayonnaise with laxative like I did last year."

Sougo then turned and stated to walk out of the graveyard. With a small smile, Mitsuba floated after her younger brother, reveling in the fact that he was doing something for someone else. Mitsuba would have been more than happy to spend the day with her younger brother, but somehow it made her even happier that she'd be able to see him one last time.


Hijikata sighed deeply and turned his eyes upwards to watch the smoke he'd just exhaled swirl lazily about his room before disappearing into who knows where. He sighed again, reflecting on just how bad today was probably going to be.

Today was the day Hijikata hated more than any other say. It was, in his mind, the worst holiday every created in the history of holidays ever. Yes, today, Valentine's day, was one the only times that his mood was worse than if Sakata Gintoki had decided to make his annoying presence known to the vice-captain of the Shinsengumi.

He didn't used to hate this holiday of chocolates and couples, though. But that was back when she was still alive. Sure he'd made sure to make himself scarce the day her package of spicy chocolate and super-spicy Sembei arrived for the whole Shinsengumi (it was the one time he did not want to deal with Sougo at all). But, he probably ate more of the chocolate than anyone else that day as well.

But now that she was gone, the only gifts he (…and the rest of the Shinsengumi…) ever got on Valentine's day stopped coming. And soon, the holiday became a stupid, painful day for him. It only made him think of Okita Mitsuba and how she'd never grace him with her presence again.

Getting presents from his men or Kondo-san just wasn't the same as getting something from a living, breathing female. And while he could easily reject or attack any of his men for even thinking about giving him chocolate, he couldn't that to Kondo-san. So, every year since Mitsuba's death, Hijikata would get a heart shaped box of chocolates, a card, and the occasional bouquet of flowers from his over-exuberant, stalker of a boss.

Hijikata suspected that these gifts were actually meant for the ever fiery Shimura Tae (somehow the fact that her name was usually scratched out and replaced with his gave it away). But, he could never bring himself to say anything because the look of immense sincerity and tears streaming down his boss's face had him accepting the gifts with an awkward 'thank you' every time. It was a little depressing to Hijikata that Kondo-san didn't seem to know that on Valentine's Day it was the girls who gave the guys presents, not the other way around. But again, Hijikata could not bring himself to say anything in contrast.

With another sigh, Hijikata waited for the inevitable knock at his door that would signify his "gifts" from Kondo-san, meaning that Shimura Tae had once again rejected the moor man. It was a time that he both expected and dreaded every time this year. It had him in the foulest of moods he was ever in for the entire year.

And after a long morning of biting people's heads off for trying to give him chocolate and being in a generally bad mood, this particular interaction was not something Hijikata was looking forward to at all. Even Sakata Gintoki would be preferable to the pathetic Kondo-san today. And that was saying a lot.

But at noon, right on time, the knock came at his door. With another smoke-filled sigh, Hijikata stood up and walked over to the door with a noticeable slump in his step. Once he was at the door, though, his back was straight and the look of resignation that adorned his face was gone.

But, when he opened the door he saw not a crying Kondo-san, but a small box of those super-spicy chili chocolates that Mitsuba used to send them. Bending down, hi picked up the small box and went back into his room.

Thinking that this was some kind of hoax that Sougo was playing on him, Hijikata inspected the box carefully. Sensing no initial prank, he opened the box and popped one of the chocolates in his mouth. Like all the times he'd had this particular brand of chocolate before, he needed something to cool the fire that engulfed his mouth almost immediately after biting into the small candy.

So, bolted over to his dresser and got out a bottle of mayonnaise and chugged almost the whole thing down in one large gulp. Once his mouth almost felt like normal again, he heard a light chuckle. Whirling around to where the sound came from, his mouth was ready to form words of chastisement if Sougo had somehow managed to enter his room without his noticing.

But all words died on his lips when he saw not Sougo, but Mitsuba, standing in his room, looking like she belonged there. Hijikata blinked dumbly, his mouth unhinging slightly, this couldn't be real, could it? Sougo must have put something in those chocolates that was making him see hallucinations of someone that couldn't be there.

But even after he rubbed his eyes vigorously, the hallucination was still there. After another moment of silence, the hallucination began speaking to him, "Toshiro-san, if they were too spicy for you, you shouldn't have eaten any."

Almost at a loss for words, Hijikata blurted the first thing that came to his mind, "You're not a Sougo-induced hallucination are you?"

Mitsuba's ensuing laughter sent tingles down Hijikata's spine, "No, he promised me that he wouldn't play any tricks on you today."

"Wha?" Hijikata said incredulously, "He actually promised you that? What brought on that change?"

Mitsuba smiled shyly, "Well it is Valentine's day, isn't it? So-chan's just being considerate of his older sister is all."

Hijikata, eyes wide in surprise found himself unable to say anything. Seeing this, Mitsuba floated over to him and took his hand, and started dragging him out of the room "C'mon, We don't have all day. Let's go have some fun."

The only thing Hijikata registered was Mitsuba's hand covering his. He didn't quite know how this was possible since she'd been dead for quite a long time now. He could tell by her translucence that she was a ghost. And yet, that small, soft hand was doing terrible things for his concentration.

With noticeable effort, Hijikata finally managed to ask, "Mi…Okita-san, how is it exactly that you're here? I thought you were…dead…"

"I am…" Mitsuba said after slowing momentarily, "But Sou-chan decided to help me out. I believe his words were 'I'll just make sure to get Hijikata-san back tenfold is he does anything indecent to her'. And then, somehow, he managed to find me this Haori of the underworld…though, he did say that we'd have to give it back to the Shinigami before the end of the day…I wonder where he got it?"

"Geh," Hijikata groaned, "that boy is always causing trouble…Mi-Mitsuba, if we get chased by any skeletons wearing cloaks, you can blame your brother." With a chuckle, Mitsuba nodded and then began dragging him out the door again.


When Hijikata and Mitsuba arrived at their destination, Hijikata blanched, stopping in his tracks, forcing Mitsuba to stop walking as well. When all Mitsuba's efforts to get Hijikata to keep moving failed, she asked, "Toshiro-san, what's wrong? Don't you want to go into the Oedo Amusement park?"

With a slight grimace, Hijikata answered Mitsuba's question with one of his own, "Did Sougo give you those tickets?"

Mitsuba nodded, slightly perplexed, "Yes, he did, why do you ask?"

He shook his head, "It's nothing, I'm just going to have to try harder is all."

Still looking confused, Mitsuba asked, "Try harder at what? If you're worried that Sou-chan is going to play any pranks on you, you don't have to worry. He promised me that he wouldn't."

With a small eye-roll, Hijikata said, "I hope you're right. Let's hurry in before your brother changes his mind."

Mitsuba laughed aloud at that, and the two continued walking to the entrance of the amusement park. Hijikata breathed a sigh of relief when the tickets weren't rejected; maybe Sougo decided that he'd actually leave him and Mitsuba alone for the day…who was he kidding, he'd have to be even more on his guard than he usually was.

But, for the first few hours of their date nothing seemed to be going wrong. But then, as the two were getting onto their fourth rollercoaster of the day, Hijikata thought he felt a murderous glare at his back. But when he turned around, there was nothing.

And then, as they were getting off the rollercoaster, he thought he saw a flash of silver hair and his heart sank. Of course, that sadist boy would recruit the sadist man to help ruin what would probably be the last chance he ever got to see the girl he loved. But, he didn't really want Mitsuba to worry about anything, so he kept his mouth shut.

But then, strange things started to happen to him. Whenever he'd try to hold hands with Mitsuba, someone would 'mysteriously' bump into them or he'd feel that same glare from before. Always, though, when he tried to see who it was, they would be gone, leaving Hijikata wondering. Of course Mitsuba noticed all this as well, but she didn't say anything in case it would make Hijikata more agitated than he already seemed to be.

No threatening went on, but this all seemed really familiar to Hijikata. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but this heckling that he was being put through reminded of something else. Something that, for some reason, had to do with Kondo's boss, Matsudaira, and his daughter.

And then the memory hit him when he and Mitsuba got onto the carousel. Peering behind him, he saw Sakata Gintoki and Sougo crouching behind them, trying to look sneaky and wearing some extremely dumb looking sunglasses.

By then, Mitsuba, wondering what had taken Hijikata's attention away from her this time, turned around and say her younger brother and Gin. Laughing, she asked them, "What are you two doing here? I thought you said you wouldn't interfere today, Sou-chan."

Sougo seemed to shrink back a little, now that his sister noticed him. So it was Gin who answered, "I'm just here because a friend wanted me to keep an eye on his sister and her new boyfriend. Also, that mayonnaise freak can get a date on Valentine's Day when I can't? It's like the world has turned upside down, so I had to check it out."

Hijikata was about to make a snide comment about how jealously wasn't becoming on a silver-haired sugar freak, but Mitsuba interjected before the two of them could get into an argument, a dark smile on her face, "Gin-san, I know you're Sou-chan's friend, but if you continue to interfere, I'm afraid that you'll have an evil spirit on your hands that is more than you would be able to deal with."

With a nervous chuckle, Gin turned to Sougo and said quickly, "C'mon Soujiro, let's go. We're clearly not needed here. After all, it isn't a good idea to poke one's nose into the affairs of a man and a woman."

"It's Sougo." The younger brother said, and Hijikata was surprised when he detected what might have been a hint of dejection in the sadist prince's voice. Sure enough, when the merry-go-round came to a stop, Sougo and Gin got off and began walking toward the exit of the amusement park, leaving Hijikata and Mitsuba to continue the rest of their date peacefully.


Too soon, though, the day came to a close, and the two were standing in front of the entrance of the Shinsengumi complex, saying their goodbyes. With a visible frown, Hijikata said gruffly, "I had a good time today, Mitsuba."

She smiled softly and nodded, "Me too Toshiro-san. I had such fun today; it made coming back one more time worth it."

Hijikata's frown grew slightly and he took a cigarette out of his pocket. Looking away from Mitsuba to hide his disappointment that she was leaving him again, he fished his mayonnaise shaped lighter out of his pocket. Before he could light it, though, he felt soft lips press against his.

Eyes widening in utter surprise, Hijikata dropped both cigarette and lighter from nerveless fingers, stiff as a board. In the next moment, though, he was suddenly kissing her back, and the two found themselves wrapped up in a storm of unspoken words and unshared feelings.

When the two finally came up for air, Mitsuba had tears sparkling in her eyes and Hijikata was close to crying himself. With a sniffle, Mitsuba took off the Haori of the underworld that Sougo had stolen. Once it was off her shoulders, it slipped through her now translucent skin.

With the setting sun shining through Mitsuba into Hijikata eyes, he had to squint to make her out as she was fading away. Mitsuba's voice sounding like nothing more that the whisper of the wind, Hijikata almost missed as she said, "Goodbye Toshiro-san, I love you…"

If she said anything else, he missed it, his own emotion at hearing her say those words drowning out any other sounds for a moment. When he looked at the spot she had just been in, he saw nothing but the fallen Haori. A single tear streaked down his face as he choked out a horse, "I love you too Mitsuba…"


When Hijikata trudged back into his room, he saw a sleeping Kondo-san sprawled out on the floor. In his hands were a large bouquet of flowers, a cheesy looking card, and a half eaten box of chocolates. Nudging his boss, though, he didn't wake up right away.

Slightly annoyed, Hijikata said in a voice that was just below a yell, "Kondo-san, get up. You can't sleep here; there isn't enough room for the both of us."

But Kondo-san didn't stir and Hijikata sighed; guess he would be sleeping in a sitting position tonight. With a groan, Hijikata sat down and noticed the box of chocolates that Mitsuba had given him. With a smile, he ate another one of the spicy pieces of candy.

Eyes watering, Hijikata almost missed the note near the box. He picked it up and gaged, it was in Sougo's handwriting, not Mitsuba's: Hijikata-san, I hope you enjoyed your date with my sister. As thanks for treating my sister to such a good time, I added something extra special to the chocolates she gave you. I hope you have a good night. –Sougo

Just as he finished reading the note, his stomach gave a nauseating lurch, giving Hijikata a bad feeling that he knew what Sougo had replaced his chocolate with. Another sickening gurgle of his stomach had him running to the bathroom as fast as he could; it was going to be a long night…

And that is that ^_^ I hope you guys enjoyed. I know I enjoyed writing it. As a note, for those who might not know, on Valentine's Day in Japan, girls give chocolate to guys. The day when guys give a return gift to girls is a month later, that day is called White day. And yes, I know I ripped off the Haori of the Underworld from Kyoukai no Rinne, but I didn't really feel like thinking of my own explanation for how Mitsuba became solid. Well anyway, as always if you'd like please review, I always love to know what you guys think. Until next time then, guys.

-Murayama Tsuru