Chapter Text
The winter was always a rough season for Hijikata Toushirou, he hated how his cigarette would go out quicker than ever due to the cold weather and he also hated how the snow would cover up the traces of criminals in an instant.
There was also another reason, the white snow that covered Edo reminded him of a certain man, a man who creeped into THE demon vice commander’s heart.
Despite it being an awful season for him as always, he stepped out of the barracks to take a morning patrol around Edo.
Hijikata opened the front gate of the barracks, his breath was turning into a cloudy fog due to the immense cold weather and he huddled in his scarf as he made his way to the Kabuki district, trying to fight back the cold. The mornings in the Kabuki district was relatively calm, not many people in this wild district got up early to start their day, they all woke up around noon and they party all night.. It’s a place where the night never seems to end. It’s worse around this time of the year as everyone’s preparing for the Christmas season and getting ready for an insane night, which means more work for the Shinsengumi.
The road is covered in a carpet of white snow, and draws Hijikata’s eyes down onto the floor. He can vividly picture it, the perm head and his kids making their way down this carpeted floor.. It makes Hijikata smile. As he smiles he feels his chest start to throb, he drags his hands to his chest to grasp his uniform as the throbbing gets worse, it feels as he’s suffocating and he can’t breathe. His throat feels hoarse as he starts to cough, he clenches his chest harder as he leans down onto the floor, trying to catch a breath. His coughing is rough and it feels as if something is squeezing his lungs to death. He coughs painfully as he vomits out blood all over the floor, staining the white snow with his fresh crimson blood.
Hijikata takes a few moments to take in what just happened, his head feels hazy and he’s a bit breathless, and he squats down onto the floor to catch his breath. As he squats down, he sees the snow painted with his fresh blood and… cherry blossom petals stained red.
Hijikata looks around his surroundings, cherry blossoms in winter? He looks around again, trying to locate any cherry blossom trees near him. There could be none, it was the middle of winter and there was no cherry blossoms near here… He put his hand on his chest again to listen to his heart, it was erratic and he felt as if his heart was going to jump out of his chest. He looks at the bloody snow one last time before he kicks some snow over the stain and makes his way down to the district, he’ll get Yamazaki to schedule a doctor’s appointment for him once he gets back, maybe the smoking was finally getting to him.
Hijikata made his way through the district, peeking in every nook and cranny of the road for any suspicious activity, helping out the elderly and telling children to get off the main road... typical behaviour for him. He was about to light up his cigarette during the patrol when an anxious feeling started to occur about the incident earlier and he thought maybe it was better that he didn’t smoke until he visited the doctor.
The sight of the cherry blossoms with his blood was unnerving since the flowers came from nowhere but he ignored his gut feeling and continued on with his patrol. The snow did not look like it had intentions of stopping as when Hijikata peeked behind him the traces of his footprints along the snowy carpet were gone, like he never even walked through.
He catches the sight of the familiar building ahead as he walks his way through the district, Snack Otose. Hijikata is really craving for a smoke, but he knows he probably shouldn’t.
He peers up from Snack Otose to see the Yorozuya building and he checks his phone for the time.
9:26 am, the glasses kid would probably make it to the office soon, Hijikata thinks.
He catches himself smiling again. Hijikata puts his phone away and slaps his face lightly with his two hands, trying to figure out why he has been thinking about the Yorozuya so much this morning, and why did he keep on smiling at the thought of him?
Then the pain on his chest starts again, he feels very nauseous as he starts to cough again. Hijikata covers his mouth as the coughing continues, the throbbing of his chest is unbelievably painful, it’s like the life is getting ripped out of him. He clutches his chest and covers his mouth with the other, trying to control the pain.
The door of Snack Otose opens and Otose runs outside, she sees Hijikata coughing and she rushes to his side.
He continues to cough, then like before blood flushes through his mouth and covers his hand in the red liquid, the blood starts to seep down onto his chin and cherry blossom petals fall down onto the floor with the blood. Otose’s eyes widen at the sight of blood and flowers coming out of the Vice Commander’s mouth and she guides him inside to the building, he follows her not able to contain his throbbing pain in his chest. Inside Snack Otose was warm, she sits him down on the couches as she grabs a towel and hands it to him to wipe the blood away. He clutches his chest and mutters out a small ‘ Thank you ‘ as he wipes the blood away. Otose goes behind the counter to prepare him some remedy she has and looks over at him worriedly.
‘’ You shouldn’t be out patrolling if you’re that sick.. ‘’
Otose puts the remedy in a cup as she heats up some water to mix it in, Hijikata watches as he clutches his chest, waiting for the pain to disappear.
‘’ I’m fine, I just need to visit the doctor… Maybe the effects of smoking has finally catched up to me… ‘’
Hijikata laughs dryly, Otose gives him a worried look as she pours hot water into the cup.
‘’ I think it may be more than that, I’ve been smoking for longer than you. ‘’
She picks up the cup and hands it to Hijikata, he thanks her as he takes a sip of the remedy.
It’s bitter, but it tastes quite good.
‘’ You should definitely visit the doctor, don’t slack off on your health alright? ‘’
Otose says firmly, Hijikata smiles at the kind lady’s thought.
‘’ I will, thank you for helping me. ‘’
Hijikata finishes the drink as he leaves for his patrol again, she told him she thinks it’s best to go straight to the doctor’s but he reassured her he’d go right after the patrol.
The drink helped the pain in his chest loosen a little, and he closed the door to Snack Otose as he stepped out to the cold district again. He continues to make his way through the snow and keeps a eye out for JOUI patriots or other shady behaviour until he finishes up and he heads back to the barracks.
The barracks are full of life still even in winter, the officers are having snow fights or making snowmen and they greet the vice commander as he walks in. Hijikata greets them briefly before he heads to his office and calls for Yamazaki.
‘’ Vice commander, You called? ‘’
Yamazaki slides through the shoji doors and sits down.
‘’ Ah Yamazaki, can you schedule a doctor’s appointment for me? ‘’
Hijikata looks up from his paper work as he looks at Yamazaki.
‘’ A Doctor’s appointment..? Are you ill vice commander? ‘’
Yamazaki looks at him worriedly.
‘’ Nothing too serious, just a cold. ‘’
Hijikata lies, the Shinsengumi don’t need to know about his situation.
‘’ Alright, I’ll do so right away. ‘’
Yamazaki leaves the room as Hijikata continues to work on the documents.
Yamazaki has a gut feeling that the vice commander is lying. He’s not the type of person to go to a doctor’s for a cold… Yamazaki peers back at the vice commander’s room before sighing, he should really share his troubles.