"Sou-chan! Stop that!" Mitsuba yelled, running down towards the riverbank through knee-high grass. Her legs tripped over each other as she blindly dashed forward.

It didn't look good. Sougo had gotten into another fight, with another bunch of dojo members who more than doubled him in size. She was running as fast as she could but it still wasn't fast enough. Mitsuba forced another breath into her burning lungs.

"Sou-chan!" She yelled desperately, her head was already spinning and now so was the world around her. One of the men picked her little brother up by the collar. Mitsuba stumbled again.

"Let go you stupid bastard!" Sougo yelled, his delicate features suddenly twisting into one of unkempt fury as he swung his legs wildly, landing a hard kick right into the man's stomach. The man froze from the impact and Sougo quickly tore himself from his grip. If there was one thing Sougo didn't like, it was being pushed around.

He dropped back onto the side of the muddy river bank, sending mud flying through the air like tiny projectile missiles, temporarily drawing attention away from him. He scrambled quickly over to a nearby piece of driftwood, a large tree branch. Sougo grabbed the branch and, much to Mitsuba's dismay, proceeded to running right at the thugs that were already angry at Sougo (and that was putting it very lightly).

"I'll kill you!" Sougo growled, his wine coloured eyes burned red with a rage that could make anyone forget that those eyes belonged to a small boy.

"You little-" One of the men yelled loudly, taken back by the little brown haired boy's advance. The man pulled out his own wooden sword and the other thugs beside him followed suit. Sougo didn't stop running towards them though, arm still lifted high with that damn tree branch clenched tight in his small balled fist.

"Wait," Mitsuba yelled breathlessy, frantically grabbing Sougo by the sleeve. Just in time.

"Sou-chan, stop it!" She rasped.

She yanked Sougo out of the way of the onslaught of angry thugs and yells of profanities that little boys aren't supposed to hear, and struggled him onto the grassy riverside along with herself.

The running thugs stopped abruptly at the sudden disappearance of their target.

"Oi! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Shouted one of the men, his drawl was uncouth and his eyes were locked set on Mitsuba now. He had just found his new prey.

She turned back to the men, keeping Sougo behind her, almost using him to steady herself.

She had seen these thugs before, they were from one of the dojos in their village, all of them were strong, rowdy and known for causing trouble. They all looked the part too, with messy hair and worn, untidy yukutas. And now they were staring at her, swords still in hand; all of them just itching to fight, and it clearly didn't matter with who.

A sudden wave of fear swept over Mitsuba as she realized the situation she had found herself in. It was followed by another wave of dizziness that made Mitsuba wish Kondo was with her, only to remember that he had left to search for Sougo on the opposite side of the village.

"Sorry," Mitsuba said as loudly as she could manage, still holding on tight to her small, mud covered brother. The thugs' snarling faces remained unchanged. She was walking a very thin wire and with very little energy to spare.

"I'll make sure it doesn't happen again," she said bowing low and ignoring the stabbing pain in her chest,"I'm sorry if he caused you any trouble. If there is anything I can do to make up for it-"

"Do you think that we're just going to let you leave?!"
"We're going to teach that little kid a lesson he won't forget."
"This is our honor!"

The blur of angry shouts and threats failed to register with her though. The mass of angry faces came in and out of focus as her vision began to fail her. Her lungs felt like they were going to cave in and she felt light-headed from the lack of oxygen. This wasn't the right time for this. But what was she going to do anyway? She had no idea how to calm down a group of sword-weilding hooligans.

All she knew was that the thugs were coming closer, and their swords were still drawn, and that they didn't look like they had forgiven Sougo, and that she really didn't know what to do now. And then, before she knows it, one of the thugs is bringing his sword down on her and-

And then there's him. Raven black hair and steely gunmetal blue eyes. And the blow Mitsuba was expecting, never arrives.

Instead there's a whirl wind of a fight that sees the thugs drop like flies. And when it's done, she stares at the silhouette of the person who has just saved her. His yukuta moves gently in the afternoon breeze with his own sword still clutched firmly in hand, the moment perfectly framed by the setting sun behind him.

"You should look after that brat better," he says in a low voice. And then he's gone.

There was no mistaking it though, it was him, the infamous Baragaki, Hijikata Toushirou. She'd heard a lot of things about him but honestly- she's starting to think that maybe he's not so bad after all.

Somewhere Mitsuba hears Kondo yell her name in his overdramatic fashion.

"Mitsuubbaaa-donooo!"

...

Hijikata walked away silently, staring distantly ahead. He hadn't wanted to help her or anything, it's just that all the noise they'd been making had been ruining his walk.

Gosh, Hijikata ur such a Vegeta. XD

If you made it this far then thank you for reading the whole thing :D (I suck at writing action scenes but I tried) T_T

If you hated this fanfic please review it, and if you liked this fanfic please review it! Both ways, I appreciate any advise or constructive criticism you can give me cause I'm still new at this stuff. Also I'm pretty sure I messed up the tenses in this story so please tell me if I did so I can edit it.

HIJIMITSU FOR LYFE and once again thank you for reading :) YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST