“How are you doing?” Hijikata squeezed the water out of the towel he just washed in a bucket before placing it back in your forehead. You knew Hijikata for a long time even before he met Kondo and watched him grow over time. You had a disease that weakened your body greatly causing you to stay in bed most of the time with the only thing keeping you alive was medicine and special treatment the shinsengumi provided for you (because Hijikata, Kondo, and the rest of the shinsengumi wanted to). You always tried to convince Hijikata to leave you trying to tell him that he should be doing other things instead of taking care of you after work but he always ignored your protests saying things like “Stop stressing out, your temperature is going to spike back up again.” or “I can do whatever I want now go back to sleep.” Hijikata was known to be the demon vice-captain of the shinsengumi, always cold, gruff and crazy strong and even if he showed the same demeanor towards you, you could always tell he was softer and he didn’t care. He loved you and nothing would change that. Even if he used to be a reckless samurai defeating country dojos and causing ruckus, he always found his way back to you and took care of you even if he was aware you had your father and mother to take care of you.

The bond between you and Hijikata was like a strong adhesive wrapped in a dozen of iron knots and he’d never want it anyway.