Hijikata woke to the familiar sound of a flute and the chirping of birds. Just a few days ago, after Ryoko went missing for half a day, Hijikata thought he would never hear the tune of the flute again first thing in the morning. He slowly moved away from the wall he had been leaning against for support while was asleep and felt something slid off his shoulders. He looked down at his lap and saw one of Ryoko's extra blankets. He had fallen asleep in her room to keep her company in case she had anymore nightmares but it appeared more like she had been taking care of him despite being unwell.

His eyes moved to her empty futon and he slowly got up, folding the blanket that he had used before leaving at on her futon. He stepped out of the room to see that the sun had barely came up. As usual, he found Ryoko seated on the porch steps with her flute.

"How're you feeling?" he said, sitting down next to her.

"Better." she gave him a small bow as a greeting, putting down her flute. "Did you sleep all right? I'm sorry all I could give you was a blanket."

"I'm fine." he said, putting his hand on her forehead. He looked down at her and glared. "You've still got a fever, you idiot!"

"Hijikata-san, you'll wake up Kondo-san and the others if you yell." she put her finger over her lips which irked him.

"I don't need a lecture from you!" he snapped, flicking her forehead. "Go back to bed!"

"But it's boring in the room." she replied, rubbing her forehead. "I'm feeling a lot better than yesterday." her face lit up and she smiled at him, grabbing his sleeve. "I didn't have anymore nightmares after you came, Hijikata-san. Thank you for keeping me company."

Hijikata looked at her smile and immediately felt his anger ebb away. How could he continue getting mad at her when she was giving him that rare smile. He reached out and ruffled her hair before a question he had been meaning to ask sooner resurfaced in his head.

"Say, Ryoko."

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you want to leave Bushu? It won't be easy for you being a girl, you know." he said and he watched as her smile slowly disappeared, leaving her with the usual blank look.

"Hijikata-san, do you see me as a woman?" she said and he was taken aback by the absurd question.

"Me? Well ... not really." he said honestly, wondering if the answer would offend her.

"Then there's nothing to worry about."

"How does that link to what I asked you?"

"Nothing. I was just curious." she shrugged and he raised an eyebrow at her. "Hijikata-san, I appreciate your concern but I've thought about this matter for days and I'm not going to change my mind." she grabbed his sleeve tight and turned her head to look up at him, her eyes wide. "You can't get rid of me, Hijikata-san."

He grimaced at her. "Oi. You're creeping me out - stop making that face."

"If you try and make me stay here again then I'll do it again."

"Brat. Are you threatening me?" he said, knocking her lightly on the head. "I wouldn't be able to leave you behind anyway ..." he muttered the last part under his breath.

"Did you say something?"

"Go back to bed, brat." he said bashfully, looking away from her. "Or I'll knock you out."

"I'll tell Kondo-san."

"Brat."

***********************************************************************************************

4 YEARS LATER

"Looks like they've finally shown themselves." Shinsengumi's vice commander - Hijikata Toushiro, scoffed, seeing four people run away from a large group of Amanto from the Amanto embassy that just gotten involved in another bombing. "Yamazaki!" he called, putting aside the binoculars.

The Shinsengumi spy appeared at the door. "Yes, sir?"

"Capture them at all costs."

"Yes, sir." Yamazaki bowed before leaving the building.

Hijikata held out a wanted poster of a long-haired man and stared at it for a moment before crushing the paper with his hands and tossed it at the eighteen year-old policeman (who was the captain of the first division) who laid on the floor, peacefully asleep with a red sleeping mask.

"Oi, Okita. Wake up."

He sat up.

"How could you sleep through that blast there?"

Sougo pulled his sleeping mask off. "You mean that we failed yet again to prevent a bombing? What are you doing, Hijikata-san? You should take this job more seriously."

"Should I put you to sleep one more time?" Hijikata threatened. He unsheathed the sword at his side. "I don't care how powerful the Amanto are. I'll get to the bottom of this and make mincemeat out of whoever is responsible." He slid his hand against his sword, his eyes glinting. "This will be a promising moment for the Shinsengumi. Looks to be a fun fight. Don't you think so, Ryoko?"

He turned to the person who had been sitting on a large crate and staring out of the window with binoculars. The person at first glance - who would appear to be a pretty boy, was actually a boyish-looking girl. With her shoulder-length hair tied in a low ponytail and with the men's police clothing on top of her binded chest was nineteen year-old Fukuoka Ryoko. Her decision to bind her chest started back when the Shinsengumi had first started out and Hijikata and Kondo would constantly be telling her that it was unsafe for a girl to be doing night duties. So in the end, to the public, she would be seen as a male.

"We should get ready, Hijikata-san." she said, putting down her binoculars but her eyes remained on the commotion that was taking place on the streets of Edo. Her eyes were alert and focused as she sat there unblinking.

*

FUKUOKA RYOKO

"Stop right there! You're coming with us, bombers!" Hijikata yelled after kicking down a door. Ryoko scanned the room and noticed that the infamous Katsura Kotarou was standing there along with a silver-haired man and what appeared to be a teenage boy and girl. There were several other men in the room which she could tell were Katsura's followers.

"It's the Shinsengumi!" One of Katsura's men warned and all of them scrambled out of the room for their lives.

"Get them before they can get away!" Hijikata commanded.

Ryoko pulled out her sword and immediately broke into a run, ahead of Sougo and Hijikata. She turned around a corner to chase after the two young teenagers when she heard a loud boom sound and two men yelling which recognized of voice to have belonged to Hijikata. She sighed in exasperation, seeing the two kids in front of her run into a room. She pursed her lips and remained at her spot.

"Captain!" the men from the second division called for their captain as soon as they spotted her. "Did you manage to catch them?"

"The two kids are in this room. But there's another way into the room so I'm guessing the silver-haired man managed to get in here as well." she told them. "You guys should go guard at the other door in case they sneak out. I'll be here with the rest of them."

"Understood." they said in unison and they left her side.

She heard several loud footsteps coming from the other end of the corridor and knew at once it was the rest of the Shinsengumi.

"Where are they, Ryoko?" Hijikata said and she noticed the soot on his face and knew at once that Sougo had used his bazooka on him again.

"In this room." she said, pointing. "I've sent my team to the other side in case they try to escape through the other way."

"Good." Hijikata smirked. Ryoko stepped aside for Hijikata as he walked over to the door before banging his fist against it. "OI! Come out here and stop resisting!"

"Come on out. We'll seriously fire here." Sougo drawled, getting his bazooka ready. "Hijikata-san, if we don't hurry, we're going to miss our soap opera reruns."

"Crap. I forgot to to set the VCR." said Hijikata. "We'd better hurry if up here. Prepare to fire!"

The men handling the bazookas got ready to fire when -

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

The silver-haired man along with the two young teenagers had broken down the door with a flying kick, yelling before running past the stunned police force.

"What're you doing? Stop them!"

"If you're going to stop something! Stop this bomb! Don't you have a bomb squad or something?" the silver-haired man (who had somehow gotten an Afro), yelled desperately.

"No. Not really." Ryoko answered him.

"Captain! Why are you being so casual about this? He has a bomb!" said someone from Ryoko's division as he along with several other of the Shinsengumi ran away from the bomb in the man's hand.

She noticed how Sougo and Hijikata were still standing in the same place, stupefied. Not bothering to wait for them, she ran after the silver-haired man and the two young ones.

The three of them were continuously tossing the bomb to one another like it was a toy before the young girl swung her purple umbrella at the man with unbelievable strength, sending the man and the bomb crashing through the window and it was just in time for the bomb to set off with a loud explosion.

Ryoko ran over to the window and looked down, searching for the man but he was nowhere to be seen. Could he have been caught in the explosion?

She turned around to face the children but they were nowhere to be seen. She slowly sheathed her sword and looked out of the window one last time before exiting the building together with the rest of the Shinsengumi.

*

Ryoko redid her ponytail after dinner and straightened her clothes before stepping out of her room. She was going to go on patrol duty up until about 3 in the morning along with the rest of her division. She was sure she'd find the men in her division already at the gates of the Shinsengumi headquarters. She rubbed her eyes and stifled a yawn before slapping her face on both sides to keep herself awake and alert for her night duty.

"Ryoko."

She turned around and managed to catch the can of milk coffee that was tossed to her. She looked up and saw Hijikata walking towards her, a lit cigarette between his lips. He had changed out of the uniform and was now dressed in a dark yukata.

"Sorry. I know coffee isn't good for you at night but you've had a tiring day. I don't want you dozing off if there's a creep lurking in the shadows, spying on you." he reached his hand out and put his hand on her head.

"Thank you, Hijikata-san. But I won't be doing night patrol by myself - I've the rest of my men with me." she said reassuringly. Every time it was her turn for patrol duty at night, Hijikata would remind her to be careful and not forget that she wasn't a man.

"I know. I just want you to be careful." he said, ruffling her hair.

"Understood." she said, moving away from him. "I should get going."

"Yeah." he nodded. "I'll see you in the morning."

Ryoko nodded before turning her back to him and closing her eyes for a while, trying to calm her heart. She had expected her feelings to fade after a couple of years but they only became harder to hide. Hijikata had a habit of patting her head or ruffling her hair and he was completely oblivious to the feelings she'd get after his actions. She didn't know how much longer she'd be able to contain her feelings. She wanted to let him know but she knew that if he knew, things would never be the same between them and that was her biggest fear.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hi guys. Sorry this took so long to update. Anyways, how did you find this chapter? I apologize that Hijikata and Ryoko didn't have much interaction in this chapter. I'll make sure to add in more in the next one (hopefully)

Thanks for reading!