-December, 1866-
Y/N walked with Heisuke, Kyo, and Chizuru through the crowded streets, the three managing to stay out of the way of others as they walked around.
"It's pretty jammed, ain't it?" Heisuke questioned, nonchalantly holding his hands behind his head.
"With preparations for New Year's, people always seem to have errands around this time of year." Chizuru informed the foreign female, who was looking a bit annoyed at the crowds. To her, it felt a lot like Christmas time at the mall.
"Aw, man! I wish we could kick back and relax on New Year's Day!" Heisuke exclaimed, causing the two females to laugh and Kyo to roll his eyes.
Chizuru flinched as they heard a crashing sound, and the group's attention was put onto a fight as it began at one of the opened stalls.
"How dare you make a mockery of me!"
"Please unhand me!"
"Oh, there's a fight!" Heisuke exclaimed, a bit too excitedly for Chizuru's and Kyo's taste.
The pink-clad female then watched in shock as both Heisuke and Y/N ran in the direction of the fight, while Kyo groaned. "Y/N! Heisuke-kun!" The blue-eyed male shouted after the two, though they only ignored him.
"Move it!"
"Outta our way!"
The duo shouted as they pushed through the crowd.
"Hey, pardon me real quick." Heisuke squeezed through a group of men, Y/N not too far behind, as they approached where the fight was taking place.
"You better take me more seriously!" One of the men shouted, grasping at the other one.
"Hold it right there! I'm puttin' this fight on hold." Heisuke announced. "Come on. Let's start out by hearing what happened." He urged.
"Th-this man began making false accusations." The more scared man, a shopkeeper dressed in blue, stuttered out.
"Who're you?" The more annoyed man, dressed in orange, questioned as he glowered at the two teens.
"Now, now. Let go of the guy." Heisuke insisted, walking up to the duo.
"This has nothin' to do with you. Scram, shrimp!" The orange clad man sneered, pushing Heisuke away forcefully.
"Sh-shrimp?" Heisuke repeated, surprised, before he gritted his teeth together. "What did you say?!" He then pushed the man back.
Y/N watched both in awe and amusement as Heisuke was able to get the man to have both of his hands behind his back with little to no problem. She grunted as she was suddenly pushed aside by a man who looked to be taller than even Harada.
"If this is the best you've got, I'm way out of your league." Heisuke mocked the man in orange, before he noticed the bigger man with two goons behind him.
"Why are you letting a child give you a run for your money?" The big man questioned.
"Hah? What'd you say?" Heisuke questioned, kicking the orange clad male's back and watching him stumble towards the trio.
"Keep outta this, you damn brat!" the big man remarked.
Y/N covered the smirk that covered her features as she watched the man run at Heisuke, only for the male to knee him in the gut, then kick his back side. Though, she knew that as soon as the ceramics got broken by the man's fall, Heisuke was going to get into serious trouble with Hijikata.
"I'll take you all on at the same time!" Heisuke announced, before taking down the other three goons in quick and swift movements that left Y/N in awe. He didn't even need to use his sword to take them down!
"That's our Mr. Slice-and-dice!"
"Impressive, Master Forerunner!"
Y/N and Heisuke's attention was brought to Harada and Shinpachi, who were standing with Chizuru and Kyo right behind futuristic female.
"Sano-san and Shinpatsu! Why'd ya have to show up just when this was getting' good?" Heisuke complained.
"Sorry to spoil the party. Let's go, Chizuru, Y/N." Harada grinned, wrapping an arm over Chizuru's shoulders while Shinpachi wrapped his own over Y/N's.
"We'll let Heisuke handle things here while we hightail it." Shinpachi added afterwards.
Chizuru looked at Heisuke apologetically as she was being led away from the scene, while Y/N whined for Shinpachi to let her go, which resulted in the man picking her up and putting her on his shoulder.
"W-what? H-hey!" Heisuke shouted after the group, before he noticed the bad guys limping away, and he screamed when noticing the damage the fighting had caused.
___Time Skip___
"I wasn't in the wrong." Heisuke pouted as he and Y/N sat under a Sakura tree, which had yet to have any buds on it, after his scolding with Hijikata that the female had predicted would happen. "Besides, I just know that Hijikata-san would say something and send his fists flyin' if he was in that situation." He insisted.
Though Y/N didn't doubt that, she was sure that Hijikata might have made it a bit more graceful looking. And, she knew that there would be a possibility that he would have not broken anything other than the bad guys's bones.
"N/N, Heisuke!" Shinpachi greeted as Harada and himself walked up to the duo.
"Hey, you pulled an impressive number." Harada told the younger male.
"Man, didn't today drag out?" Shinpachi questioned teasingly.
Heisuke huffed, seeming to pout a bit as he scowled at the older men. "Why didn't you rein me in earlier? If you did, none of this woulda happened." He insisted.
"You're askin' for the impossible." Harada denied.
"Once you start running, you cannot stop. That is what makes you Master Forerunner." Shinpachi explained.
"Um, what is a master forerunner? I don't think I've heard of it before." Y/N said, a look of confusion on her face that forced the others to look away, a pink hue dusting their cheeks.
So cute!
"During battle, the forerunners take the lead in the vanguard. It means that he is a man respected for his courage." Harada informed her after clearing his throat.
Y/N's look of confusion turned into one of admiration, before she smirked. "Is that so~?" She questioned, before tackling the male with her arms wrapped around his shoulders. "Well then, you're a pretty cool guy, Master Forerunner!" She teased.
Heisuke's cheeks darkened, and he laughed awkwardly.
"But, ours gets too worked up and ends things in failure." Harada then stabbed the earlier compliment.
"He's hardly a master of anything when Hijikata-san runs him through the wringer." Shinpachi laughed in agreement.
Y/N watched the two walk away, laughing, before she glanced at Heisuke with a look of sympathy as he pouted. She tightened her hold on him, slightly, and smiled at him assuringly. "Cheer up, Master Forerunner! Tonight Chizuru and I will make our first big feast in ages." She announced, knowing his love for food.
"What?! A feast? For real?!" He questioned, looking excited.
Y/N laughed and let go of him. "Yep! How does duck soup sound to you?" She asked him, standing up and placing her hands on her hips.
"Sounds good!" Heisuke exclaimed as he stood up as well. "All right, I know of an awesome place to grab some ducks, so I'll lead the way." He informed her.
___Quick Time Skip___
Y/N looked around the area in slight satisfaction. She had no clue that there was a marsh so close to the headquarters, let alone that there was one in Japan at all. It reminded her a lot of the hunting grounds her grandpa and uncle would take her to when she was younger and still in contact with her father's side of the family.
Unfortunately, though, she didn't have a hunting gun, which meant she'd have to catch the fowl a different way. Not only that, but the closest thing she had to a hunting dog was the puppy-like Heisuke by her side.
"I'll catch a nice, lively one for you." Heisuke promised the female, a determined expression covering his features, and Y/N felt no need to disrupt his excitement by telling him he couldn't possibly be fast enough to catch a duck. "You wait here." He told her, beginning to crawl away from where they were both crouching in the tall reeds.
Y/N chuckled and shook her head, watching him in pure amusement. The female then began to laugh as she watched him jump into the water, causing all of the birds to fly up at once.
"Hey! Let me catch you!" Heisuke exclaimed.
___Quick Time Skip___
Y/N was quite surprised when Heisuke actually caught not one, but two ducks, and could only once more imagine him as a proud dog as he placed the dead foul into her hands.
As soon as they got home, she had him change out of his wet clothing and she plucked the birds. When he was finished, she got Chizuru to help her cook the soup.
"Yum!" Heisuke's eyes seemed to sparkle as he took a bite of the food they had made.
"This is too good!" Shinpachi joined in on the praise.
"Isn't duck soup a lavish treat?" Okita questioned, taking a bite of the meat.
"Hai!" Chizuru smiled and nodded her head.
"It's all thanks to Master Forerunner's hard work!" Y/N praised the male, who blushed and grinned at her in response.
"Are you really going to keep calling me that?" He asked her, a bit embarrassed.
"Hmm...? But of course!" Y/N grinned at him.
"Are the Commander and Vice Commander still out?" Saito asked.
"I already set some aside for them, so please feel free to help yourself." Chizuru stated, squeaking as Y/N reached over her and went to snatch at some of the meat, which caused the (H/C) to scowl at Heisuke and Shinpachi when they grabbed at the same piece.
"I grabbed it first!" Y/N exclaimed.
"Heisuke, N/N, the extra amount of meat I need is equivalent to our difference in size." Shinpachi stated. "It's your job to relinquish it to me."
"I'm the one who actually went and caught this duck, Shinpatsu." Heisuke retorted, and the three began to pull at the meat in three different directions.
"Please don't, Nagakura-san, Heisuke-kun, Y/N." Chizuru looked at the three with a look of exhaustion.
"They act like a bunch of children." Kyo huffed, having suspected this from Y/N and Heisuke, but Shinpachi was a grown man. The male couldn't help but to wonder why he idealized them before he met them.
"This always happens whenever Hijikata-san isn't around." Harada pointed out.
"And while they are busy fighting over that piece...I'll take this one!" Okita exclaimed, picking up one of the larger pieces of meat.
"Do they lack the option of merely catching a different prey?" Saito questioned, looking as fed up as the others, though he was certainly intrigued at how Y/N was able to keep a hold of the food and not loose it to the others.
"If I can't have this piece, then no one can!" The female suddenly exclaimed, tugging the meat towards her, before letting it go.
The group watched, almost in slow motion, as the two had let go of the duck meat in surprise, and it went flying into the air and smacked against Hijikata's forehead as soon as he opened the door to the room.
Shinpachi and Heisuke looked frozen in shock, while Y/N clutched at her stomach and began to cackle.
"T-Toshi..." Kondou stuttered, his eyes widened in surprise.
Hijikata glowered at the group, flinging the meat off of his forehead and rubbing at the spot.
"Hijikata-san, this was, well, you could say it kinda slipped outta my chopsticks. The duck kinda went flying on its own..." Heisuke made a pac-man motion with his hand, smiling innocently, before he flinched at the glare Hijikata continued to send to him. "Right, Shinpatsu?! Y/N!?" Heisuke questioned, turning to look at the other two. His eyes then widened as he noticed the duo sitting on the other side of the room, drinking green tea as if nothing had happened.
"Heisuke, real men don't make up excuses." Shinpachi told the younger male in a scolding tone, and Y/N nodded her head in agreement beside him.
"You're both horrible!" Heisuke cried out, his voice a lot squeakier than usual, before he turned to look at Hijikata apologetically. "H-Hijikata-san, I swear we weren't goofing around. It's kinda like we were, well..." Heisuke scratched at his head, before he grinned. "It was a serious battle between men and..." He yelled as he fell backwards when Hijikata took a step into the room. "Anyway, you almost come at the worst possible time!" He exclaimed. "You just had to waltz in right when we were in the middle of things. This wouldn't have happened if you were here from the get go!" He complained, shuddering at the never-changing gaze that Hijikata sent towards him. He then huffed and sat up straight. "Okay, fine. I'll give that piece of duck to you, Hijikata-san." He stated, patting his hands against his cheeks. "Damn, it's just so good that it might make you lay an egg!" He exclaimed, before yowling in pain as he got hit.
-Next Day-
Y/N and Heisuke were participating in their usual sparing lessons before lunch, as that's how it's always been ever since he had gotten back from his trip. They both used wooden swords, much to Y/N's disappointment as she wanted to fight with a real weapon.
"Come at me again!" Heisuke called out to the female, having dodged her attack and took a giant leap backwards.
"That darn Heisuke seems even more pumped than usual, doesn't he?" Shinpachi questioned as himself and Harada stood under the shade on the platform of the headquarters, watching the two teens.
"That's 'cause Hijikata-san chewed him out twice yesterday." Harada pointed out, grinning a bit proudly as he noticed Y/N dodge one of Heisuke's own attacks.
"Maybe he's reflected on the errors of his ways and has decided to turn a new leaf." Shinpachi mused.
"Look!" Harada whispered, and the two glanced to the other side of the platform, where Itou was standing with a few of his men behind him.
The creepy purple-clad man was covering his snickering behind his fan, before he seemed to notice the other two coldly staring at him, and he smirked and walked away.
"Supposedly Itou-san has been doing things behind our backs of late." Shinpachi announced to the other male bitterly.
"I've also heard rumors that he is nabbing skilled men for his own faction." Harada added afterwards.
"I swear, you can't take your eyes off of the guy." Scoffed the bandana wearing male. "I don't like this."
--Meanwhile--
"You've come a long way, Y/N!" Heisuke announced to the female, wrapping an arm over the female's shoulders as they both decided to take a break.
"Does this mean that I might be able to fight with a katana soon?" Y/N questioned, her eyes sparkling in hope.
"Maybe. You've got a bit more to learn before then, though." Heisuke chuckled, ruffling her hair as the female pouted.