𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ 𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐤𝐢 [ON HOLD]

⇛ 𝐂𝐇. 𝟏𝟑

a cream coloured blur zoomed into the shinsengumi.

the boy who was sat on the steps immediately stood up, taking out his weapon. the blur was so fast he didn't even know what it was. a person? an animal? a ghost?

his vision was blurry as the blur stopped in front of him. his eyes cleared as he scanned the person in front of him, with his eyes wide and mouth open.

the sight was beautiful. the girl he had grown to have feelings for, in a long cream kimono with flowers in her hair. her face had light makeup on it, enhancing her features.

he was mesmerised.

"heisuke!" she yelled, throwing her arms around the boy she hadn't seen in more than a month.

"keiko." he returned the hug.

"you're back." she whispered into his clothes, tightening the hug.

"i'm back?! what about you? you're finally back! did you escape?" he asked, pulling away to hold onto her shoulders and get a better view of her face. she looked unharmed so he was glad, but he didn't even bother to question why she was dressed like that.

"i did! i did! i did!" she yelled jumping up and down.

"you did! you did! you did!" he also yelled jumping around.

the two kept jumping around the place, screaming, yelling, not caring who heard them. they had found each other once more and were too happy.

happy... yet heisuke knew inside the things he had done. that he had became a monster and didn't know how to tell her. he never knew how to tell her anything. she was so perfect to him. he didn't want to ruin anything.

"what is all this noise?!" a voice shouted, from the top of the steps. keiko recognised it as hijikata. chizuru and saito were just behind him. chizuru was rubbing her eyes having been woken up by saito, thinking it was someone coming to invade.

"keiko is back!" heisuke exclaimed, pointing to the girl.

"did someone say keiko?!" shinpachi could be heard from a distance away, running down to where the girl was. sanosuke was following and so was okita in a slower pace. his illness was taking a toll on him and was preventing him from doing things he could've easily done before.

the group all stared at the girl who stood in a beautiful kimono, looking graceful and like she was about to be married off, which she was.

"keiko!" chizuru after fully waking up, ran up to the girl, and hugged her tightly. tears were in her eyes as she was incredibly glad to see her safe.

"i missed you." keiko said, rubbing the girls back.

"let me in." shinpachi said, throwing his arms around the two girls, sanosuke joining in. after the hug, they all let go of each other, grinning.

"we're glad to have you back." okita said, placing a hand on her head, squishing some of the flowers. she was slightly shocked by this soft side.

"welcome back." saito said. they hadn't spoken much, but he knew how important she was to everyone else and was glad to have her back. he was hoping she'd be back soon since he had seen her in town.

"why on earth are you dressed like that?" hijikata asked the question they were all wondering.

"let's just say i'm a runaway bride." she told them, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head.

"you got married?!" heisuke burst out. "please tell me you didn't!"

"no, heisuke, i didn't." she laughed, an idea popping into her head. "well, i was going to run away, but then i decided to go find the groom."

"who?"

"you." she said, linking her arm with his. "so who's going to marry us?"

"i will." okita offered. he jumped in on the joke as well.

"wait! keiko, don't you think this is all a bit too sudden! i mean—"

"so do you want to wait till next week?"

"what! we can't!"

"heisuke! i'm just playing with you." she let go of him and smacked his arm.

"i hate you." he crossed his arms.

she let out a loud laugh and he watched the way she laughed with her eyes closed and dimples showing. he adored her.

the others joined in laughing, their sounds of joy filled the air letting everyone know of their happiness.

❀

later that night, a knock on keiko's door woke her from her sleep. "who is it? come in." she called out, fixing her clothes and hair to look more presentable. she expected it to be chizuru, but was not at all expecting okita.

"did i wake you?" he asked, closing the shoji.

"yes. it's fine though. is something the matter?" she watched him sit down on the floor, making himself comfortable in her room.

"i assume i owe you an apology." he hesitated in speaking and almost cringed at his own words.

keiko stared at him amused. "an apology? why?"

"the way i've been treating you...it wasn't fair. after seeing how you gave yourself up to protect everyone else, i've come to realise you have no bad intentions and purely want the best." he explained. he definitely had to swallow his pride to be able to say this. he looked up, confused by the silence he got in response. "keiko?"

"awww!" she threw her arms around him, squishing him in a hug. "i knew you couldn't hate me forever."

"this doesn't mean i trust you! we can't be acting all buddy buddy now." he let out a tut and pushed her away, a ghost of a smile on his face.

"well, i'm happy you've come to realise i'm a good person. i will continue to work hard for the shinsengumi. please treat me like a comrade and friend!" she said then bowed to him.

"good night, keiko." she heard him say after giving her a slight nod then leaving the room.

"good night, okita."