So, this is a shorter chapter. I've been really busy with school and all, so please bear with me. anyways, enjoy.

OoOoO

Tetsunosuke yawned. it was obviously morning and he should have been awake at least an hour ago. He stretched his arms and placed them behind his head as he walked.

"Maybe I should go to Hijikata and see if he wants any tea," He thought. As he walked past numerous Shinsengumi members on his way to the Vice-Commander's room, he happened to see Heisuke and Shinpachi washing their faces off. He gleefully ran over to them, arms flailing.

"Hey," He exclaimed.

"Oh hi Tetsu," they said back to him. Tetsu could tell that they had dark circles under their eyes and were a little more than sleep deprived. He also noted that they had an air of seriousness about them, something he had never seen before. He failed to notice the blood residue on their uniforms seeing as they were washing up and their uniforms were thrown on the ground in a messy fashion.

"So, uh, what are you guys doing?"

Quickly trying to hide their blood stained garments, they managed to open their mouths

"N-nothing actually," they stuttered in unison. They could not hide the smell of blood from Tetsu as he knew it well. He quickly became serious.

"So, did you guys kill someone on patrol or something," He asked in a low monotone.

"N-no," He could tell that they were telling the truth about that. Something in their voice, sadness maybe, had consumed them. Tetsu waited as he knew they would tell him what happened.

"It was Yamazaki," Heisuke started, "he was bleeding pretty badly and well," He held up his uniform and tried to smile, showing the red and blue mess.

"Is he okay? Is susumu okay," Tetsu inquired with worry.

"Well, he's alive. hijikata was suturing the wound this morning after we found him," once Shinpachi had finished Tetsu ran off to find Susumu.

"Forget Hijikata, Susumu better be okay!"

And the little puppy was gone.