Merry (belated) Christmas and Happy New Year!
For finrod-finwion for Hakuouki Secret Santa. I’m so sorry this is late and that this is kinda short! >w< It’s been very hectic for me this past month so I haven’t had much time to write. Sorry about that. ๑•́ㅿ•̀๑) ᔆᵒʳʳᵞ
On another note, this is my first Hakuouki fanfic, so I hope they’re both in character.
Prompt: Hijikata/Chizuru, something post-canon
A baby’s cry rang out through the house, startling Hijikata out of his thoughts and making him jump up from his seat on the engawa, already halfway through removing his sandals and opening the shoji door before his mind fully registered the source of the sound. He rushed inside and towards the bedroom, only to freeze in the doorway.
There, laying on the futon in the middle of the room, was his wife, looking tired as the midwife placed a small bundle in her arms. A small bundle that was currently sniffling and squirming, with a tiny hand peeking out from between the folds.
Chizuru turned to look at him, giving him a tired smile. “Toshizo-san, come look at our son.”
Shaken out of his stupor, he did as she asked and walked forward, kneeling down next to the futon to peer down at the bundle in her arms. “It’s a boy then, just like you thought?”
She smiled, a twinkle appearing in her eyes as she moved the edges of the blanket to better show him the baby wrapped in it. “Yes. I told you so.”
“Yeah”, Hijikata agreed, a fond smile growing on his face as he gazed at his son, who’d finally fallen quiet and seemed to be asleep. “Yeah, you did.”
“Toshizo-san, dinner is ready.”
An absent hum was all the answer Chizuru got from her husband, who didn’t even turn to look at her from where he was bent over his work. She released a low breath, placing her arms on her hips as she frowned and tried again, this time more insistently. “Toshizo-san.”
She frowned. “Toshizo-san, please come to eat with me. The food will get cold.”
“Toshizo-san, are you listening to me?”
Hijikata grunted in agreement.
Chizuru stared at his hunched back for a moment, waiting to see if he’d actually register her presence for once. When no other answer seemed forthcoming, she huffed indignantly. Well then. It seemed she’d have to take matters into her own hands.
With steps surprisingly fast for a woman 7 months pregnant, she crossed the distance between her and her husband, reached down, and snatched the papers from his desk with easiness that only came with practice. It was with that same easiness that she ignored his glare, instead leveling him with her best frown.
“Toshizo-san, the dinner is ready.”
“I heard you the first time. I’ll come eat in a few minutes”, Hijikata assured her, extending his arm towards her. “Now give those back.”
“If you go back to work now, the food will be long cold before you come to eat. I’m sure you can finish this up later.”
“I told you, it’s just a few minutes. Now give them back.”
Chizuru leveled him with an unimpressed look. “That’s what you said the last ten times. You need to eat, and letting the food get cold would be a waste.”
“Then you go eat already. I’m fine with cold food”, Hijikata replied, only to freeze when he saw his wife narrow her eyes just slightly.
“Toshizo-san, you might be fine with letting the food go cold, but I spent a long time making it, and I’d much rather not see it ruined because you decided working was more important than eating with your wife.”
They stared at each other for a moment, a battle of wills so common in their relationship, before Hijikata sighed in defeat. “Fine. You win. Let’s go eat.”
Five minutes later found them sitting at the table, just about to start eating when Chizuru’s eyes widened. “Oh!”
Hijikata raised a questioning eyebrow. “What?”
“I forgot to bring the tea tray from the kitchen”, she replied as she made a move to get up, before thinking better of it and looking at him. “Could you go get it?”
“Hm? Sure, but why can’t you get it yourself?”
Chizuru gave him a long stare, glancing pointedly down at her extended stomach before looking back at him, making him cough and stand up.
“Right. Point taken. Nevermind”, he assured, and walked out of the room.
Once he’d returned with the tea tray and they’d finally started eating, Chizuru took a moment to look at her husband before asking:
“What should we name our baby?”
Hijikata paused in his eating, raising an eyebrow. “Hell if I know. What brought this up?”
“Well, I think it’s good to have the name ready when the baby is born. Do you have any ideas?”
“Not really. Never been great with stuff like this. You got anything?”
Chizuru tilted her head, unconsciously placing a hand on her stomach as she hummed in thought. “Hmm. Maybe… Kenta? Or Takeshi? Or….” Suddenly, her eyes brightened. “Oh, I know! How about Soutaro?”
Hijikata choked on his tea, coughing as he tried to clear his airways while waving away Chizuru’s worried questions. Once he felt like he could breathe again, he gave her an incredulous look and asked:
“Where the hell did THAT come from?”
Chizuru blinked. “Well, I’ve always liked the sound of a name ending in ‘taro’, and since it’s our first child, it’d be very fitting, wouldn’t it?”
Hijikata was not convinced. “But why that name? That’s just asking for a troublemaker kid, you know.”
She huffed. “Oh, don’t be silly, Toshizo-san. It’s a perfectly normal name. And it’d be fitting to name him after someone from the Shinsengumi, no? And Okita-san was like a younger brother to you, in the end, wasn’t he?”
“...Souji’s never going to let me live this down. Probably laughing his ass off, wherever he is”, he grumbled, ruffling his hair with a sigh, ignoring how his wife giggled at him. Suddenly, he realized something. “Wait, why are you only thinking up boys’ names? It could be either.”
“Hmm, no, it’s a boy”, Chizuru said, voice sure as she rubbed her stomach absentmindedly.
Hijikata stared at her. “How the hell would you know? We won’t know until it’s born.”
She blinked again. “Well, he feels like a boy.”
“Feels-? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Well, you’re not the one with the baby inside her, are you?” she pointed out, before looking at his still mostly-full plate. “Toshizo-san, your food is getting cold.”
With that, she went back to eating, and after a moment of staring at her, Hijikata followed her example, deciding that there was no point in arguing about it. There was no use arguing against her, after all.
