A/N Please read Parts 1 and 2 before this!

Over the next two weeks, two incidents happened involving the Yorozuya and the Shinsengumi that made Kagura realise that her earlier adventures had been out of the norm for Edo, and that while serious things happened, there were more likely to be moments of sheer absurdity. The first incident was when there was an apparent panty thief in Edo who was stealing underwear from attractive women and sending them to desperate men.

Kagura woke up one morning and discovered two pairs of her underwear missing from the clothesline. The irate Yato had then threatened to kill one Shinsengumi member every half hour until the culprit came forward.

"Starting with you, Yamazaki," she said, glaring at the man in question.

"Eh, why me?" he asked, terrified.

"You're a spy, so you should know who did it," she said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Someone, help!" cried out Yamazaki, cowering under her gaze.

"Calm down, China," said Sougo. "It's too damn early in the morning."

Kagura rounded on him and grabbed the front of his shirt. "Was it you, Sadist?" she demanded. "Did your loneliness get so bad that you had to resort to stealing my underwear?"

He gave her an unamused look. "I wouldn't want your underwear if you were the last woman in the universe, China," he said. "Who knows what kind of alien diseases you've got."

Kagura screamed in annoyance and then tossed him across the room, sending Sougo crashing through the tables in the dining hall.

"It wasn't Sougo."

She turned around when she heard Hijikata's voice. He showed her a newspaper, pointing at an article.

"A panty thief?" she asked, taking the newspaper and skimming through the article.

As she was reading, she neatly sidestepped and the projectile from the rocket launcher missed her and went towards Hijikata instead. He barely managed to dodge it but still got caught in a little bit of an explosion, resulting in his usual, V-shaped slick hair turning into an afro.

"Ah, I heard about it," said Sougo, walking up behind Kagura with the rocket launcher slung over his shoulder.

"I nearly lost all my ability to hear, you bastard," shouted Hijikata.

"Sorry, I was aiming for China," said Sougo, reading the article over Kagura's shoulder. "You know, this explains the package you got yesterday, Hijikata-san."

Kagura looked up just to see the furious expression on the Vice Chief's rapidly reddening face. "You got sent panties, Vice Chief?" she asked, torn between her earlier anger and laughter.

"The guy's dead," said Hijikata, a vein popping on his face. "I will slice him to bits. Come on, let's go."

"You know where he is?" asked Kagura, eagerly.

"No, but Kondo-san has called us," he said. "He has a plan to catch the thief."

The actual plan was one devised by Otae, and Kagura was all too happy about that. Between the Yorozuya, Shinsengumi, and Otae and Kagura, the entire Shimura property had been turned into a fortress with Otae's panties as bait for the thief.

In the end, the thief did show but the misplaced mines around the property were nearly their undoing. Of course, neither Otae nor Kagura were happy about having their underwear stolen, and with Otae's precise naginata attacks and Kagura's umbrella firing bullets, they managed to defeat the thief.

Only a week later, half of the Shinsengumi members were taken out of commission by an apparent ghost. Having had no interest in ghost stories herself, Kagura had not heard the story that Inayama-san had been telling everyone, but as everyone began to collapse, muttering feverishly about a woman in a red kimono, even she got a little curious.

"Do you really think it's a ghost?" asked Kagura, wandering around the main hall which had been turned into a makeshift infirmary since the real infirmary was too small for everyone.

The remaining healthy members were out covering for their fallen members, and it was only Kagura, Sougo, Hijikata and Kondo left at the compound to come up with some solutions regarding their situation.

"Who knows?" said Hijikata, exhaling heavily. "It's shameful is what it is. My mighty army wiped out by a ghost of all things."

"Now, now, Yamazaki has gone into town so he'll find some help," said Kondo, trying to be optimistic. "I'm sure once we hold an exorcism, everyone will be better in no time."

"Tch," said Hijikata, clearly not sharing in his optimism.

"Have you seen something like this before, Kagura-san?" asked Kondo.

"Can't say I have, Chief," said Kagura, shaking her head. "If it's really a ghost, then you would all know better than me anyway."

"I think that's true even if it isn't a ghost," said Sougo, and dodged the umbrella that swung towards him.

"Chief! I found help!" Yamazaki's voice came from outside, and they all headed out to see Yamazaki leading two extremely shady-looking individuals towards them.

Kagura's eyebrows shot up, her nose not being fooled even if her eyes were. She didn't say anything, though, wondering how long that farce would last.

"And the answer was not long at all," she said. "What were you thinking?"

"It's summer and we needed work," admitted Shinpachi, his voice a little nasally since both he and Gintoki were currently hanging upside down from a tree in the yard.

"Kagura-chan," said Gintoki, in his nicest voice. "Can't you convince the tax robbers to let us down already?"

Kagura sighed and glanced at the engawa where Hijikata and Kondo were sitting. Hijikata met her gaze and rolled his eyes, but gave a short nod.

"You're lucky he's not in a worse mood," said Kagura, as she cut them both down from the tree.

"Eh? You got them down?" asked Sougo, walking up with a tube of wasabi in one hand and a bottle of tabasco in the other.

"Please keep him away from us," said Shinpachi, scooting away from him.

"Unfortunately, we don't have time for you today," said Hijikata, standing up and approaching them.

"It looks like there's real trouble here," said Shinpachi.

Hijikata exhaled. "If it were an enemy, we could cut it down but how do we deal with a ghost?" he wondered.

"You really think it was a ghost?" asked Kagura, interested despite herself.

"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts," teased Gintoki, with exaggerated acting and all. "Mama, it's that man over there who hurt his head!"

"I want to kill you," glared Hijikata.

"Hijikata-san," said Sougo, evidently hearing something in his tone that Kagura had missed. "Did you happen to see the woman in the red kimono too?"

He looked away briefly. "I don't know what I saw," he said, finally. "But it was something strange."

That led to a round of teasing from the sadistic pair of Gintoki and Sougo, and Hijikata threatening to kill them both.

"I hope it's really a ghost," said Kagura. "I have never seen one before."

"You shouldn't say things like that, Kagura-chan," lectured Shinpachi. "The woman in the red kimono used to be a really famous story at the temple school I went to. Maybe it has something to do with that story."

In the end, it turned out that it wasn't the woman in the story at all, but a mosquito-like Amanto, looking for blood. Having spent the entire night ghostbusting, Kagura said goodbye to Gintoki and Shinpachi, and headed towards her room for a nap.

"Oi, China."

She stopped and looked at Sougo, not in the mood for one of his games. "What?" she asked.

"We have a day off in two days, don't we?" he asked, even though he clearly knew about it.

"Yeah," she said, warily.

"Don't make plans," he said, brushing past her to head to his own room. "We're going out."

"Huh?" she asked, thinking she had misheard.

"What was so hard to understand?" he asked, without turning around. "You and I are going out together."

"We're working on our day off?" she asked, irritated and still confused.

He turned around and gave her a look. "Of course not, stupid," he said. "Who said anything about working?"

"You're asking me to spend time with you...when I don't have to?" she asked.

"That is what I said," he said. "Are you losing brain cells, China?"

"Why?" she asked, too bewildered to even respond to his insult.

"I'll feed you," he said.

She thought about that and shrugged. "Fine. Good enough for me."

Even if it had been his own idea to use it to convince her, Sougo was a little surprised that the promise of food had worked so well. Kagura still spent the rest of the days until their day off asking him about where they were going and why did she have to spend her free time with a sadist like him. He would have given up on the idea, just to get some peace and quiet, but the fact that it was bugging her as much as it was only seemed to fuel his sadistic side more. Maybe Hijikata was not wrong when he called him the prince of the planet of sadists.

Besides, he did need her for this. Her taking out the Harusame ship left no doubts as to her skills. It was one thing to be good when fighting in a dojo, but that incident told him more about her ability than watching her spar with the troops for a month.

On the day in question, Sougo woke up early and got dressed. At breakfast, he dodged pointed questions from Kondo as to his plans with Kagura. For some reason, Kondo had grown overly protective of the China beast and clearly thought Sougo was going to put her in harm's way in some manner.

By the time breakfast was over, Kondo had resorted to suggesting Hijikata should accompany them as a chaperone, and Sougo decided to make his escape before he got more ideas. Even the troops were a little curious, with whispers following him around all morning as they heard about him taking China out for the day.

"What is with everyone?" muttered Sougo to himself, going towards Kagura's room. "It's like they all think I'm going to take her out back and kill her."

"It's not that," said Hijikata, apparently materialising out of shadows because Sougo certainly didn't see him coming which was rare. "They just know you very well."

"Still, it's no one's business what I do with China," he said.

Hijikata nodded and turned to leave. "Just...don't do something stupid, Sougo," he said.

"So, I should cancel the band of mercenaries I hired to kidnap her?" asked Sougo, making his eyes wide in a dramatic fashion.

"I'm saying don't go causing an incident," said Hijikata, irritated. "She is still a Yato, and her father is a legend. If she comes to harm while under our care, I'm not sure seppuku will be enough."

"Fine," shrugged Sougo. "I'll definitely cancel the afternoon torture session then. Bye now, Hijikata-san."

Without giving him a chance to respond, he finally got to Kagura's room and knocked. "Come in," she called, and he slid the door open.

"Oh, Sadist, you're early," she said, sitting in front of the mirror, apparently in the middle of brushing her hair.

Sougo sat down in the doorway. "Everyone was annoying me," he said. "I found myself thinking that looking at your face might be a better option, but clearly I was wrong."

He saw her roll her eyes in the mirror since her back was to him. "You say such nice things," she said, sarcasm dripping from her words. "What's everyone worked up about this morning?"

"They think I'm going to kill you and dump your body in the bay," he said.

"I'm offended," said Kagura, tying off a section of her hair into a bun and using the black and gold cover to secure it. "I was going to do that to you."

Sougo almost smiled, but caught himself just in time. He didn't really enjoy her company or her banter in any way, as he reminded himself. "How did they even find out about our plans today in the first place?" he wondered.

"Nothing's a secret around here," said Kagura, standing up. "I'm done. Should we go?"

Sougo nodded and stood as well, noting that she was dressed in the red cheongsam she usually wore when they weren't working.

"So, where to first?" asked Kagura as they left the compound together.

"Breakfast," he said, and her eyes lit up.

He led her into town and into a reasonably priced family restaurant that was open for breakfast. "Table for two," he told the hostess, who nodded and showed them to a booth by the window. "Order whatever you want," he said to Kagura, when they were seated.

She had begun perusing the menu as soon as she had taken a seat, but when he said that, she put it down. "Seriously, what is going on?" she asked.

"What?" he asked, genuinely confused.

Kagura sat back and crossed her arms. "You're being nice, it's making me nervous," she said, bluntly. "What are we doing? I know you don't want to take me out on a date, Sadist."

"How do you know that, exactly?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Because I'm not an idiot," she said. "Did you poison the food? Or did you bribe the people here to poison the food?"

This time, he felt like rolling his eyes. "I didn't poison the food," he said, and then gritted his teeth. "I need your help."

She looked genuinely shocked at that. "Huh?" she asked. "With what?"

"I'll tell you once we get there," he said. "For now, just eat the damn food I promised you."

She gave him a scrutinising look and then shrugged. "Fine, as long as you're paying," she said, and proceeded to order nearly half the items on the menu.

Sougo ordered himself a cup of coffee and tried not to look too revolted at the amount of food she was consuming. It did make sense for her to eat as much as she did, considering how strong she was, but it still baffled him how much she could put away.

Once they were done eating (and Sougo was thankful that he had been saving up for a while in anticipation for this when it came time to pay the bill), the two of them headed back out into Edo.

"Alright, where to next?" she asked, using her umbrella for cover as it was a sunny day outside.

"I'm going to take you to one of my favourite things to do on a day off," he said.

"We're not going to go see people tortured, are we?" she asked, warily.

He ignored her as they got near the fighting ring. It appeared that Haruna, the housewife would be facing Edo's former top idol Otsu-chan in the ring today. Sougo glanced at Kagura, and found her looking surprised at their surroundings.

"Were you expecting a dungeon, China?" he asked, almost laughing at her expression.

She glared at him briefly, but then looked around with interest. "This looks like fun," she said, sounding surprised as if she had thought he was incapable of doing fun things. Before he could be too insulted, she looked back at him with raised eyebrows. "You're not entering me in the ring, are you? 'Cos I will break your bones right now."

"Give me some credit," he said, rolling his eyes. "We're just here to watch a fight. Nothing more."

She regarded him suspiciously, but nodded. Sougo was relieved that she seemed to be going along with things for the time being, and went to the ticket booth to pay for the two of them.

"A couple's ticket?" asked the attendant, looking at him and Kagura.

"Sure," said Sougo, noticing it was cheaper than paying individually for the two of them. He missed Kagura's shocked look as he paid for a couple's ticket. "Come on, I know the place with the best view," he said, grabbing her arm and pulling her with him.

"So, you go and see fights on your days off?" asked Kagura, once they had found their seats. It was a standing zone, but it gave them both a good view of the ring.

"I like the looks on people's faces when they fight," he said, honestly.

"You're twisted," said Kagura. "So, do you know the competitors?"

"Haruna is an old hat at these things," he said. "I usually cheer for her. The idol's new, but she's got her fan club cheering for her. See?" He pointed to the other end of the crowd where a group of young men in Otsu-chan fanclub uniform were cheering.

"That is slightly disturbing," said Kagura, looking over at them. "Is it a cult?"

He almost laughed. "Close enough," he said.

The announcer began the usual spiel about the contestants, and Sougo watched Kagura closely, noting her look of wide-eyed interest. When the fight started, he noticed her fists clenching and unclenching as she cheered right along with the crowd. The more intense the fight got, the more her body seemed to lean towards the ring, as if drawn to it by sheer magnetism.

She glanced at him suddenly, and Sougo realised with a start that he hadn't been looking at the fight at all, and had spent the entire time looking at Kagura instead. Fortunately, she hadn't noticed his lack of attention, and only grinned at him briefly before looking right back at the fight. Sougo glanced down at her clenched fists and the way they were twitching, and looked towards the fight, only slightly surprised when he saw that she was coming up with counters to Haruna's hits, probably subconsciously. It drove the point home once more that fighting was literally in her blood.

The match was called in the fourth round after both fighters were too winded to continue. It ended in a draw, and Sougo shared in the crowd's disappointment with Kagura.

"That can't be enough to tire them out," she said, as the crowd began to disperse. "Humans have more stamina than that, right?"

"Sure," he said, but then realised that this gave him the perfect opportunity to bring up the real purpose of their expedition. "Want to go somewhere to see a real fight?"

Kagura's eyes lit up with excitement and she nodded eagerly. "Let's go," she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him out of the arena.

Sougo was glad that she was excited enough to not question him about anything else. It did amuse him how single-minded she could be, but he didn't bring it up. The walk to Rengokukan took them to the shady side of Edo, and he was positive that Kagura had never been there before. The dirty, dingy and dark back alleys of Edo were no place for anyone with good intentions, and Sougo had unfortunately had to venture there a few times while tracking down Jouishishi, which was how he'd learned about Rengokukan in the first place.

He glanced at Kagura when she closed her umbrella, since no sunlight reached the area that they were in, and wondered what she was thinking. She was no longer as excited as before, but she didn't look uncomfortable or worried either. In fact, while Sougo himself was on edge, she appeared completely relaxed, even amused at some of the illicit goods being hawked by entirely too shady looking people. If Sougo had been on duty, he would have his work cut out for him in apprehending them, but Kagura was actually lingering by some of the vendors.

"Oi," he said, in a hushed voice. "Don't stray too far. It's a dangerous part of town," he added, half-convinced that she was incapable of comprehending the kind of danger a girl could face in a place like this. Even though he knew she could take care of herself, there were plenty of people around who were glancing at her with apparent interest, which she seemed oblivious to.

"I know that," she said, rolling her eyes. "It's a little nostalgic, that's all."

"Huh?" he asked, confused.

"I grew up in a place like this," she said, with a wistful smile at the sky. "If it were raining, it would be exactly like Rakuyo."

"That's your home planet?" he asked, curiously.

Before she could answer, a drunken Amanto stumbled over to them. "Ey, missy, wanna come party with me and my friends?" he slurred.

Without even looking away from the sky, Kagura swung her umbrella, knocking him into a nearby alley wall where he collapsed, knocked out cold. "Yeah," she said, looking at Sougo. "Rakuyo was the planet where I was born."

Sougo glanced around and noticed how everyone in the place was suddenly giving them a wide berth. Kagura seemed unconcerned, walking beside him like she hadn't just knocked out an Amanto twice her size. If she really had grown up in a place like this, it explained a whole lot about her. Realising that he was starting to sound like Kondo and his incessant worrying about Kagura, he hastily focused on their goal.

"Come on," he said. "This way." They finally reached Rengokukan, and he noticed her stiffen a little as they entered the massive arena. "Something wrong?"

She shook her head, but he saw how she gripped her umbrella a little tighter and wondered if she could smell the bloodlust in this place just like he could.

"This is Rengokukan," he said, when they finally had a view of the main fighting pit. "It's a no-holds barred fight. Human, Amanto, it doesn't matter."

Kidomaru was in the pit with his signature demon mask and kanabo, pitted against a human samurai. The man charged at Kidomaru, and Sougo watched Kagura carefully as a single swing of Kidomaru's kanabo shattered the man's skull and chest, killing him instantly. The crowds cheered at the sickening crunch of broken bones and the blood that gushed everywhere, while the attendants ran in to clean up the corpse and remains.

"You better have a good reason for bringing me here," she said, her voice deadly quiet.

An involuntary shiver ran down Sougo's spine as he looked at the expression on her face. Her blue eyes, always sparkling whether from joy or anger, were icy and frozen, as they stared at the blood in the fighting pit.

"You wanted to see a real fight," he said, wanting to provoke her further.

She rounded on him and grabbed the front of his kimono, bringing their faces close together. There was pure, righteous anger on her face, and it was exactly what he was looking for.

He grabbed her hand where she was gripping his kimono, meeting her gaze without flinching. "I was right," he said. "We feel the same way about this place then."

It took her a while to consider his words, but when they did sink in, she slowly released him and stepped back, though her expression was still icy cold. "This is what you really wanted to show me, huh?" she asked, crossing her arms.

Sougo smoothed down the front of his kimono and nodded. "I found this place a while back," he said.

"Why haven't you shut it down then?" she asked.

"It's run by the Tendoshu," he said. Kagura's eyes went wide, and Sougo's interest was piqued. "You know them?"

She looked away and shook her head. "All my father ever told me is that if the Tendoshu are involved, I should turn my back and walk away," she admitted, looking uncomfortable.

"The Tendoshu are the ones who control the Bakufu," said Sougo. "Which means that the Shinsengumi can't go after them."

"And you thought I would be able to do what you can't?" she asked, and then smiled a little. "It wasn't a bad plan, but I don't think I can go rogue like I did with the Harusame. The Chief might not look too favourably on me this time. Besides, if the Tendoshu are involved, there isn't anything I can do either."

Sougo tried not to look disappointed, but he was also not shameless enough to say that she should get involved regardless, especially since he was very much pushing off his guilt and responsibility onto her.

Kagura sighed. "This would have been easier if you just wanted to take me out to eat poisoned food or something, huh?" she asked, attempting a half-hearted smile.

He returned her smile briefly. "We still have time," he said.

"I'm sorry," she said, and Sougo looked at her in surprise. "You brought me all the way here because you thought I would be free to act on my own only to find out that I'm just as shackled as you."

"Don't apologise, you'll make me hurl," he said, and she glared at him. "Come on, we should head back. There isn't anything here for us to do."

She opened her mouth, probably to deny it, but then nodded slowly.

They left Rengokukan in silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts. An air of disappointment and helplessness hung over them like a cloud and when they finally got back to the Shinsengumi compound, Sougo turned to Kagura. "Oi, you up for sparring?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, at once.

They went to one of the smaller training rooms rather than the main dojo, and thankfully found it empty. Standing on two ends of the room, they took their stances, Sougo with his sword and Kagura with her umbrella.

"Just so you know, I'm in no mood to hold back today," he said, smirking at her.

"What a coincidence," said Kagura, smirking right back at him. "Neither am I."

A beat of silence, and then they were off, trading blows with their weapons, going shot for shot with each other. Kagura was stronger, but he had been learning her moves and was using that knowledge to keep them in close quarters so she didn't get a chance to use her kicks. It made using weapons harder, but he was skilled enough with the sword even when fighting in close combat while her style was harder to adjust. She realised it too, and tossed aside her umbrella, resorting to fists which gave her an advantage once again.

Sougo backed off a little, assessing the situation. They were both bleeding, him from taking blows to the abdomen and spitting blood, as well as a head wound, while she was bleeding more from cuts to her body from his sword. But Sougo knew that she also healed faster than he did and they were still at a tie for now. His best bet was to strike quick and incapacitate her to the point where she would be slower than him. With that, he flew towards her, his sword poised for his three-strike precision hit.

The first strike hit her in the side, but she grabbed the sword when he went for the second hit, and used it to pull him towards her. He knew she would use this chance to headbutt him, so he quickly swept her legs out from under her, but he was off-balance enough from being pulled with her strength that he also went down with her, his sword slipping from his grip and skittering away.

Sougo barely managed to use his other hand to steady himself, slapping it down on the floor of the dojo to catch himself from falling on top of Kagura. She, on the other hand, had grabbed his other wrist when his sword had slipped, and she fell back with a tight grip on his dominant wrist, her other hand clutching his shoulder to steady herself.

Suddenly realising the compromising position they had ended up in, Sougo tried to reorient himself, but she released his wrist suddenly and he quickly had to catch himself, especially when her grip on his shoulder inadvertently pulled him even more towards her as her back hit the floor and he fell on top of her. The two of them stared at each other in shock, Kagura lying flat on the floor with Sougo having barely managed to hold himself above her.

It was his chance to either deliver a finishing blow or at least move off, but as he was bent over her, a drop of blood fell from his head wound onto her parted lips. Without thinking, Sougo used his thumb to swipe the blood off her bottom lip, inadvertently turning the pink flesh scarlet. Kagura's eyes went wide, and he had no time to brace for the kick that sent him flying off of her and to the other end of the dojo.

Grunting in pain, he got up slowly, noticing Kagura sitting up as well, a hand clutched to her heaving chest while she regarded him with what may very well have been fear. Sougo was suddenly finding it hard to breathe too, when he took in her appearance. Kagura's vermillion hair was dishevelled, the black and gold bun covering having come off at some point, her face flushed with exertion and embarrassment, and her lip still scarlet. Probably realising that he was staring at her, she quickly stood up, which propelled him to move as well, wondering if they were about to finish their fight.

Instead, she put her arms behind her back and looked away, face growing even redder. She turned back at him and opened her mouth as if to say something, but then licked her bottom lip nervously, before her eyes went wide. Sougo could only stare as she turned around and bolted without a backwards glance at him. It took him a moment to realise what had happened and he glanced down at his thumb that he'd used to wipe the blood off her lip and found it red as well. In an almost involuntary move, he brought it to his mouth and licked it, the familiar coppery taste of blood hitting his tongue.

And yet, while that taste usually made his bloodlust sing and drew him back into battle with renewed vigour, at that moment, Okita Sougo could only feel his heart racing madly in his chest.