"Hey, Heisuke," Shinpachi broke the silence between them, drawing the younger captain's attention from cleaning his sword to him.

Without turning to look at his comrade, Heisuke spoke, a subtle hint of teasing, and years of thoughtful friendship had him figured out just by hearing his monotonous voice, "What is it Shinpat-san? Don't you think going to Shimabara at this hour may be dangerous for our already thinned pocket? Oni fukuchou might throw us into his own Shimabara if we get caught again." He shuddered just by imagining the consequences if they were caught breaking the curfew again.

Shimabara; a red-light district area in Kyoto.

"I-Idiot! I never said I want to go there!" For some reason, a faint red tinted his ears, before his face turned serious again, "Didn't you noticed Sano was acting a little strange lately? He seemed kinda troubled, though."

Heisuke blinked, trying to discern the deeper meaning of his remark. And when he did, he quickly shake his head in refusal, "No! I'm not going!"

"C'mon now, Heisuke!" Heisuke choked a cough when Shinpachi's large hands slapped his back with a strong force, "Just make sure we don't get caught, though! Like how we usually did! Now let's caught Sano and drink ourselves to oblivion!"

~Later

"What?" Sano said, feigning his surprise, and he continued to tease Shinpachi when he saw his on edge expression.

As though he just learned that the earth is sphere in shape, not the other way around.

"SHIMABARA, you said-"

With a reflex, Shinpachi brought Sano's head to his side, choking him, "Dammit! Keep it low, you dumbass!" He flashed an awkwardly friendly smile to the passerby member who were stealing a suspicious glance to their boisterous exchange.

"Good work today, you guys." Heisuke beamed nervously, trying to backup the obvious failure of their scheme.

"Yeah, have fun for dinner tonight!" Shinpachi added enthusiastically, beaming an artificial grin.

Much to their surprise, one of the member replied with a crooked, lopsided grin, "You too, Nagakura-san! Good luck in finding a woman tonight!" And they left, but not without exchanging a series of snickering and small laughs between them as they strode off.

Shinpachi's mouth hung open by the member's casual jibe of his infamous bad luck with women. His aching hands found themselves around Heisuke's neck as he shook him furiously, his tan face had an unusual faint red shade on them, either by anger or embarrassment, they couldn't tell.

"My reputation-! Where the hell did they know that?!"

"I-I can't breathe, Shinpat-san!" Heisuke struggled to wriggle away from Shinpachi's deadly hold and flopped to the ground as he spun to Sanosuke, who was apparently -though amused- holding his hands out to calm his raging friend down.

"Sano! It's your fault for taking all the women away from me!"

"Haha! Should I introduce one of them to you, then?"

In moment such as this one can tell the unbreakable, forged through years of friendship bond between the three that one could only eye them in jealousy.

And in the moment such as this had Sano forget his growing anxiety for a while.

"...what is Shimabara?" A small, cute voice sounded just few metres away from them.

Tomo.

Three of them immediately spun around, in time to see Kondo's little daughter tilted her head curiously, holding a folded paper in one hand while the other holding a brush.

Now, the question is; how should they explain this Shimabara thing to an innocent two years old girl?

"Well, how should I put this," Sano absently scratched his temple for a moment, working for an answer before he crouched in front of her, brushing her bang aside, a soft smile crossed his feature, "We have some business to take care in that place but it's not a safe place for a girl like you, Tomo-chan." Whatever it is, he found himself trying to reason that a girl is not appropriate to be there, as though this little girl bound to ask them to tag along anytime now.

Her wide hazel eyes contemplating his face, thinking, before she asked innocently, "If it is not safe for Tomo, then is it safe for you, Sano Oji-chan?"

The simple logic from the little girl had rendered them speechless before Sano broke into a hearty laughter.

Lightly tweaking her nose, "You clever little girl." And what do you have here?" Sano pointing to the paper and the brush she was holding, and in return, she thrust them to him.

"Oji-chan, can you write this 'shimabara' for Tomo?"

Though confused, he took them anyway, "Well, sure. And...here you go." And the paper was back into her small hands. She looked at the written characters with awe, her round eyes unblinking.

Just then...

Thump, thump, thump.

A loud thump of footsteps from the hallway had them froze for a moment, and they had this familiar feeling as though they're going to get catch for the criminal they have yet to impose.

"Where do you think you're going, three of you?"

Inoue-san.

Crap! Why does it have to Inoue-san out of all people? The trio cursed inwardly, but their calm face betrayed their true emotion.

"We..we just thinking of going out to train! Right, Shinpat-san? Sano-san?" Heisuke warmed an excuse, followed by Shinpachi. "Y-yes! That's right Heisuke! It'd be a waste to spend this warm, sunny evening without working out our muscle, right?"

Just then a chilly breeze rushed through them, betraying his previous remark. A small sneeze escaped from Tomo as she brushed her nose, prompted Sano to pick her up into his arms while his head formulating a way to escape from the situation, after concluding how this all might end up to.

Inoue, who was honestly pleased by the dedication of his fellows smiled, "My goodness, you're all so diligent! We train together so rarely these days. Care if I join you?"

A series of mute gasps and a few widened eyes decorated the evening. Shinpachi and Heisuke all looked like they had just learned the death of a beloved pet, except for Sanosuke who somehow had predicted this all along.

"You know what, it seems Kondo-san is quite busy today, I guess I have to accompany Tomo-chan this evening. Don't you think so too, Tomo-chan?" Sanosuke winked mischievously to the girl, where she all but ensued by his suggestion. Thus, she nodded fervently to the fellow men, which they want nothing but to pinch her dimpled cheeks for teaming up with Sano. She later almost made their heart stopped thumping when she looked to Inoue with a questioning face.

"Shimabar-"

Sano just barely closed her mouth with his hand, stopping anymore curious questions slipped from those cute lips. Turning to his heels, he waved them almost cheerfully, "So, good luck with the training, guys!"

A series of yelling echoed from behind as he practically ran from the place, looking for a safe place to skip from the unfortunate evening training.

He inhaled deeply, leaning both his hands backward against the hallway, taking in the view of the pink, velvet petals of cherry blossom as they flapped endlessly before end up on the green mat of grass.

On his side, Tomo was busy scribbling on the paper with the brush, occasionally brushing her bangs from her forehead, tainting her face with the ink as she did. Somehow the sight of the little girl made him smiled.

Lately, something has been bothering him, conflicting inside him. He had tried to ignore it, but the more he ignored it, the more it weighed inside his head.

He was considering to stop being a samurai. And live a life as a normal people.

If someone were to ask what his truly dream is, he'd say that it definitely had nothing to do with the way of the sword. Just an ordinary life; living somewhere quiet with the one he loves. Or to put it simply, he still didn't find the real reason for him to stay in this path.

"Tomo," he spoke, his eyes still ghosting in the view, "What are you doing?"

The girl didn't answer him then, only a gentle thump-thump of the hallway sounded as she palmed the paper with her both palms. A satisfied look crossed on her small feature, and she picked up the paper to show it to the depressed Captain.

"Ji-chan! Look!"

A troubled look still plastered on his face as he turned, but a surprise features immediately took over.

There were a few hardly readable characters written on the paper, and several cherry blossom petals glued at the empty spots, and he recalled helping her picking the petals this morning. His eyes narrowed, trying to read the words, but when it finally downs to him, he gasped in amazement.

Kondō Tomōe

"Tomo-chan! Did you just write your own name there?" He took the paper, reading it again then ruffling her hair, complimenting the little girl's work.

Tomo nodded proudly, her eyes glinting in delight, "Tomo want to give this to Otou-san." Small fingers brushed her hair out of her face, a few strands of ink stained her cheeks and forehead. Shortly after, she stepped closer to him.

"Oji-chan," the previous bright tone had disappeared, the eyes reflected something that he couldn't discern. He reached out to pull her into his laps, not knowing what had changed her mood so fast, but the little girl politely refused.

"This writing," Tomo fidgeted with the end of her sleeves, "Will Otou-san like it?"

He blinked, dazzled, "Of course your father would like it."

"Really?" Her face brightened a bit, "Then, if Tomo give this to Otou-san, he would not forget about Tomo and Kaa-san, right?"

Something about the innocent and the hopeful question from the little girl had caught him off-guard, stirring something deep within his manly emotion.

The girl was too young to notice, so she continued, "Tomo don't want Otou-san to forget about Tomo and Kaa-san. Because Otou-san rarely come home, Tomo thought he is forgetting us. So with this, Otou-san will remember Tomo and Kaa-san so he'll come back home someday."

The girl stopped then, staring into his face. The hazel eyes, one that resembled her father's, reflecting something that able to put adult to shame.

"Oji-chan, Otou-san will come back home, right?"

At that instant, Sano pulled the girl into his arms, embracing her like a precious jewel that she is, burying his face into her small shoulder.

"Of course, sweetheart. Of course." He whispered assuringly, knowing at the very moment he had said his pledge to his Commander's little daughter, knowing the very reason why he should stay in this path.

To preserve the peace of the land. And to ensure the hopes for the warrior to return home will become a reality.

"He'll come back home. Someday. I promise."

"Promise?" She pulled back, holding her small pinky in air.

With a smile, he twined his pinky with her smaller ones; a sign that a promise between them just established.

"Promise."

That night...

"And just who had taught her such crude word?" Hijikata's voice boomed throughout the hall, holding a piece of paper high for them to see.

A single letter with a child handwriting consumed their views.

"Sh-shimabara?"

Shinpachi deliberately clearing his throat couple of times, drawing all eyes to him, "Come to think of it, Heisuke, do you remember who watched over Tomo yesterday? You know, the one who skip the training with Inoue-san? Ahem. Ahhemmm. Oh my throat."

While Shinpachi took a sip of his drink, Heisuke brought his arms over his head, trying his hardest to muffle his laugh. "Beats me. Wasn't it you, Saito-san? No? What about you Okita-san? Not you too?"

"O-oi, you guys-"

"Shinpat-san and I went for training yesterday, though. Then the only left is..."

And all eyes darted to one person.

Sanosuke.

And he let out a laugh. A small, defeated laugh.

End of day 2

AN: I know I've left this story about a year and I'm reflecting on it, really. *sigh* So for the next chapter, I'm not sure for now. Maybe Hijikata. Or Souji? You choose! Any how, stay tuned for the next update!

~toshimi-senpai