Good news everyone! I decided to take a look at this and oof, so many mistakes. I am very unhappy with it, so I'm gonna fix it. I think I added almost 2 pages of text on top fixing grammar/spelling errors. I don't know if this will annoy or make my long time readers happy but I also have another chapter written...it has been for sometime but I some how forgot it existed. But considering the time when it was last edited, it was about the time my last laptop died and I lost some stuff...so that's my excuse...

Kaiya stared out at the beautiful garden that stretched out before her. It was supposed to soothe one's soul, but with the current chain of event that were unfolding only a few days' ride from her present location, all she felt was unsettled. It had been two months since she had left the Shinsengumi headquarters in Kyoto with an injured Kondou and Souji. From what she had heard from the weekly updates that Kondou received, the war had stagnated; no one was really making any progress; just a bunch of people dying pointlessly.

All out battle had broken out in the weeks after the three of them had left for Osaka Castle. Kaiya couldn't help but wonder if part of the reason for Kondou dramatically quick healing was due to his sheer stubbornness. Mere days after their arrival, Kondou had awakened and Kaiya had to work hard to keep Kondou at Osaka Castle, let alone bedridden, he was insistent that he needed to rejoin the front lines. And while Kaiya too wanted to return to where her friends and family were now located, she couldn't let Kondou nor Souji return to front lines. Souji's injuries had been much more serious than Kondou's and because of his already weakened body due to disease, he was taking longer to heal. In order to help him heal, Kaiya had initially kept him on a sedative to prevent him from getting up to early. She knew Souji well enough to know that she would only be able to control him so far and that she had only been successful in managing him so far because he was mobile and had been still performing his duties like normal.

Ryunosuke suddenly appeared came charging towards her, breaking her away from her mildly depressing thoughts. He had appeared here at the castle a week after they'd arrived and warned them of and impending attack in Kyoto and had decided to stick around and help Kaiya with the wounded, although Kaiya suspected he stuck around out of guilt.

"Kaiya-chan!" He hollered at her as he ran. "You're needed immediately! We've got injured Shinsengumi incoming."

Kaiya quickly got to her feet and followed after him as he led the way. They entered into a room just as a stretcher was carried into the room by men wearing Shinsengumi haori's. When Kaiya saw who was laying on it, her heart nearly stopped. Yamazaki laid on a stretcher looking like death. Kaiya immediately bent over him and started inspecting his wounds.

"What happened to him? How long has he been like this?" She asked as she turned him over when she didn't see any injuries on his torso.

"Hijikata-dono had sent Yukimura-san and Inoue-san to ask for reinforcements from Yodo Castle. On their way back they came across enemy forces who ambushed them. Inoue-san was critically injured as well; he should be here momentarily. Hijikata-dono, got worried and went to check on them when they were delayed, and I think Yamazaki-san got worried about him, so he followed after him. All I know is that he stepped in front of Hijikata-dono to take the blow. Yukimura-san did all he could for them, but this was beyond his skill."

Kaiya inspected the wound on Yamazaki's back. It was deep and infection had set in and who knows how much blood he'd lost since the initial wound. Things weren't looking good for him. "How long?" Kaiya asked sharply as Ryunosuke plunked her surgical kit beside her.

"We got here as quickly as we could, about two days. Inoue-san is worse."

Kaiya pulled out a syringe and the only bottle of penicillin that she owned and inject it into Yamazaki's body. By some miracle, she had happened into it on a visit to the Kyoto docks mere weeks previous to their departure. It had in an area where they had a trading market that had rare and expensive goods, most of which were foreign. Kaiya turned to Ryunosuke as the other stretcher carrying Gen, came in.

"Warm some water for a tea and steep these leaves." Kaiya pulled a bundle of leaves out of her kit. "It should help strengthen his body and help him heal."

"On it!" Ryunosuke exclaimed as he grabbed the leaves from her then took off running for the kitchen to boil the water.

Kaiya moved over to Gen, there was nothing more she could do for Yamazaki at the moment. Unlike Yamazaki who only had one injury, Gen had three bullet wounds in his shoulder, and he had been obviously run through. As she closely inspected Gen's wounds, she couldn't find any exit wounds for the bullet holes but lucky for him, since all the holes where in his shoulders so they were not a nearly as important as the stab wound which had passed through his abdomen. The bullets could be pulled out at a later date, if Gen survived that long, the stab wound needed her immediate attention. Kaiya felt around his abdomen finding a pocket fluid building up.

"Open every door and window and get me some lanterns." Kaiya ordered. "I need as much light as possible; Gen-san needs surgery immediately; he's bleeding internally."

"Yes sensei!" They all said in unison.

Kaiya pulled out her surgical ten blade, then, after applying a numbing agent, she cut into his abdomen. Immediately blood came pouring out of the incision, forcing Kaiya to grab several cloths that Ryunosuke had stacked beside her and started shoving them into her incision to absorb as much of the blood as possible.

"Is that supposed to happened?" One of the men asked as he set a lit lantern beside her.

"Not exactly but this why in needed to open him up, one of his organs has been sliced which in cause him to slowly bleed to death. Get me a bucket of water and a cup or something I can scoop the water out with."

Kaiya quickly pulled out the soiled rags. The cloth had soaked up enough blood for her to be able to see the extent of the damage inside his abdominal cavity. It didn't take long for Kaiya to find the problem near the initial injury. The man was going to be down to one kidney by the time she was done, it was beyond saving, nearly having been cut in half and was the major source of bleeding.

Halfway through the surgery both Kondou and Souji appeared, both moving gingerly as they entered the room. Kondou immediately went to Gen's side and looked down at him sadly, Gen was one Kondou's closest friends. Souji, on the other hand, just put his back to a post and slowly slid down to the ground and sat back, pain plainly written on his face.

Kaiya looked up briefly enough to glare at the both of them before looking down again to resume her work. "You both should be in bed, resting!" She said tersely.

Kondou ignored her comment, glanced briefly over at Yamazaki then back down at Gen. "Is Gen-kun going to be alright? What about Yamazaki-kun?" He asked as he stared down sadly at Gen.

"At this point it all depends on them." Kaiya said as she finally freed Gen's damaged kidney and plunked it into a dish that Ryunosuke had brought.

Kondou looked down at it in shock. "Kaiya-chan! What are you doing?" He asked exasperated.

Kaiya smirked briefly. "It's just a kidney. We all have two, but we can survive with just one. This one nearly got cut in half and there's no way I'll be able to repair it. If you want to be useful Kondou-san, monitor his breathing, and let me know if it stops."

"I can do that!" Kondou said as he made himself more comfortable.

Kaiya looked over her shoulder at Souji. "You, on the other hand need to return to bed, Souji."

"They're my friends too, Kai!" Souji said sternly.

"And you can't help your friends by reinjuring yourself." Kaiya retorted back.

"I'm just sitting here! I'm not doing anything!" Souji groused.

Kaiya focused again on Gen; she was too busy to bother with arguing with Souji further at that moment. An hour later, Kaiya finally had sewed up all the damage in Gen's abdomen. Cutting the last stitch to close the incision, Kaiya let out a small sigh. She was reasonably certain that he still had bullets in both shoulders since she hadn't found and exit wounds on his back but at the moment, he wasn't strong enough for Kaiya to be able to pull them out. It'd likely be a bit of a fishing expedition since the bullets weren't likely at the end the holes. If he was still alive in a few days, she'd make the attempt to find them.

Kaiya sat back and stretched her arms and back. Kondou looked at her eagerly. "So?" He asked.

"I fixed all the damage created by the stab wound but I can't deal with the bullet wounds right now, he's too weak. I'll have to dig them out later once he's recovered a little. It's up to him whether he survives but I'll do my best to give him a fighting chance." Kaiya responded. "Quite frankly I'm surprised he even made it here alive, let alone through the surgery. That tells me he's fighting, which is good. Now you two need to return to bed and let me do my job, I'll update you two later."

Kondou sighed. "Fine. Let's go Souji." Kondou got up slowly then walked over to Souji and helped him to his feet before helping him limp off to his room.

Kaiya quickly finished cleaning the incisions and bullet wounds, put an antiseptic paste that she'd made on them, then dressed the wounds. When she was done, she moved back over to Yamazaki. She looked up at Ryunosuke.

"His breathing seems to be better, and his fever is down slightly also. Thank you for watching over him and everything else you've done for us; you didn't need to help us." Kaiya bowed her head politely. "Thank you and I'm sorry for Souji pushing you into the river. It was his strange way of showing you mercy while still following his orders."

"From what Okita-san said I really owe you an apology." Ryunosuke said sadly, looking ashamed of himself.

Kaiya frowned as she studied him. "What do you mean?"

"He told me that Serizawa-san-forced himself on you that night…I stuck up for him," Ryunosuke bowed his head in shame. "I felt pity for him. He was sick…but nothing can excuse what he did to you. I'm sorry."

Kaiya shook her head. "No, don't be. It's not your fault, you didn't know. It's not a bad thing to try and find the good qualities in a person. And besides, it would have happened sooner if you hadn't rescued me that night." Kaiya said softly.

Ryunosuke shook his head. "All I did was get Saitou-san." He suddenly brightened up, smiling at her broadly. "Speaking of which, I heard that you married him!"

Kaiya smiled. "Yes, I did but unfortunately, we only had about a month together as a married couple before Kondou-san and Souji got shot. I haven't seen him since I left Kyoto."

Ryunosuke was about to respond but was interrupted by Yamazaki groaning. Kaiya touched his shoulder and bent over him. "Yamazaki-kun?" She said softly as she watched his face carefully.

His eyes fluttered open and then smiled weakly when they rested on Kaiya. "Kaiya-chan." He breathed weakly. "Aren't I lucky to be seen to by such a skillful surgeon."

"That's right, so you can't ruin my reputation by dying on me! You have to fight!" Kaiya said as she gently stroked his head.

He smiled again then winced. "We can't have that, so I'll do my best." His voice was barely more than a whisper.

"Do you think you can drink some tea?" She asked him.

"I'll try."

Ryunosuke brought over the pot of tea he had made earlier; it had now cooled but it would still do its job. He poured a cup then handed it to Kaiya who gently lifted Yamazaki's head and put the cup to his lips and tipped it back slowly. After a sip, Yamazaki coughed once and made a disgusted face but dutifully continued to drink. When he was finished his cup, Kaiya gently set his head back down.

Yamazaki made a breathing sound that Kaiya assumed was his attempt at laughing. "Now I know what Saitou-san and Okita-san were complaining about. That stuff is truly awful. If I didn't know better, I'd think it was poison, but I've seen it work miracles, so I'll keep drinking it when you tell me too."

Kaiya laughed as she put a hand on his head once again and watched as Yamazaki slowly drifted back into unconsciousness.

111

Three days later, Kaiya decided that Gen had gained enough strength that she could remove the bullets from his shoulder. Worse case scenario could have had the bullets migrating to different parts of the body, but Gen was lucky Gen the surgery had gone successfully with her finding all the bullets with a minimal amount of fuss. Whether he survived or not was still on the fence and he could die any day, but Kaiya was fighting tooth and nail to keep him alive. While he wasn't as close to her as Souji or even one of the captains, he was still her friend too, he'd been so kind to her since she'd first arrived. Kaiya also couldn't bare to see the sadness that would be on Kondou's face if he lost a close friend. As it was, she was having a hard time keeping him in Osaka; he was desperate to return to the front lines and if he lost a close friend now, he'd be even more compelled to leave before he'd healed properly. The most recent news they'd gotten out of Kyoto also didn't help, they had received word that Hijikata had resorted to taking the Water of Life in order to fight Kazama by himself in order to save Chizuru from being kidnapped by the Oni.

Things had started to go their way some what, though. The Shinsengumi had led an attack on the Choshu-Satsuma headquarters and managed to secure their cannons and a cache of higher quality guns then what the Shinsengumi had been able to secure months before. The attack had been led by her own husband, Hajime, and would not have been successful if they hadn't acquired their own guns before all out war had broken out. That wasn't only bit of positive information that they'd received, apparently Shinpachi had led an attack on the enemy's front gate and while he didn't get through, he and his men had dealt a heavy blow to the enemy's numbers while casualties on their side had been minimal.

Kaiya stared at the tranquil garden around her, she desperately wanted to be out there with them, but Hijikata had left Kondou and Souji in her care, and she couldn't let either one of them leave just yet. Kondou may listen to another doctor's instruction, for the most part, but she highly doubted that any other doctor would have been able to keep him in Osaka for as long as she had. Her brutal honest had served to keep him anchored, so far, but wouldn't likely last much longer. Souji, on the other hand, was much less likely to listen to another doctor and she was afraid that even if he did, the doctor would drop the ball and Souji's tuberculosis would flare up with a vengeance and he'd die before she could do anything.

111

A week later Kaiya sat at her desk late one night, working on her research to find a way to reverse the effects of the Water of Life. Ever since receiving news that Hijikata was now a fury, Kaiya had doubled her efforts. It wasn't just Hijikata that she was concerned about either, she was also very concerned with the effects it was starting to have on Sannan. Usually after so much time passed, most furies went crazy, and she'd started hearing that those who'd been around for a long time and hadn't gone crazy, were being reduced to nothing but dust. Sannan had long since passed that mark of when most furies went crazy and she was scared that any day now, she'd receive news that he too had finally gone crazy or had turned to dust.

Kaiya startled slightly when a knock came at her door. Kaiya looked at the door. "Who is it?"

"It's me, Kaiya-chan." Came Kondou's voice.

Kaiya wiped the shocked expression from her face and composed herself. "Come in. What brings you here at this hour?" She asked once he closed the door behind him.

"Is that the research you've been doing?" He asked indicating the instrumentation in front of her as he sat beside her desk.

"Yes." Kaiya frowned as she looked back at her notes that she'd been writing when Kondou had knocked. "I'm close, very close! I can feel it! But I'm missing something, I just haven't been able to figure out what that is…but that's not why you came here, is it?"

Kaiya studied Kondou carefully. He had his Commander face on like he was about to force her to do something she wasn't going to like. She had a suspicion as to what he was going to say and she was prepared to respectfully argue against it.

"I'm returning to the Shinsengumi tomorrow…" Kondou started.

"I don't think that's…" Kaiya started to interrupt but he looked at her firmly, while he held his hand up to silence her.

"I wasn't asking for your permission nor is there any point in arguing. It is what I am doing, and you cannot persuade me otherwise. In fact, I want to take you with me. The Shinsengumi is now without a doctor and there is no better than you."

Kaiya frown. "I'm flattered but what about Souji? Or Gen-san and Yamazaki-kun?"

"Souji is well on his way; he should be able to join us in a month or two. You said that yourself and you also said that Gen-san and Yamazaki-kun are both out of the woods. Besides, all of our injured are being sent to some allies near Edo the day after tomorrow. Rumour has it that the enemy is planning on attacking Osaka, so we are sending them away for their safety…Souji really isn't going to like that." Kondou let out a tired sigh. "Anyways, its either you come with me, or you go with the others to Osaka, and I want you with me. You would have a better chance at testing your research there anyways, since that's where all the furies are…or at least what's left of them anyways. I don't want to order you Kaiya-chan, but I will make it an order if I have to."

Kaiya sighed. "Well, I can't and won't disobey you but your shoulder isn't ready for you to get in a fight. Please at least promise me that you'll avoid getting into a fight unless absolutely necessary for a little while longer?"

Kondou smiled slightly. "I'll do my best. I still won't be seeing action for a couple weeks at least anyways. We still have to make plans for our own attacks, that's why I have to go. They are waiting for my return, Toshi is going wear himself out soon, from what I hear. If you should be worried about anybody, its him."

Kaiya shook her head. "Why doesn't that surprise me." She let out a sigh. "I can't deny that this is what I want. With all that's going on out there and I'm sitting here practically doing nothing, it's been hard."

"Yes, it has been." Kondou agreed, nodding his head then suddenly smiled slyly. "And I'm sure you're anxious to see your husband as well."

Kaiya chuckled. "Yes, that would be nice too. Although I'm sure he's happy I'm away from the danger. One less thing for him to worry about."

"That almost makes me feel bad for wanting to bring you along, but the needs of the many outweigh the needs of an anxious husband and an overbearing cousin." Kondou finally got to his feet. "Now I suggest you get some sleep; we'll be leaving at first light, which is only a few hours away." Kondou turned and left the room.

So? Better? I hope so. Hopefully I'll be able edit the other chapters quickly then add another chapter or two...what I have is really long so it might get split up.