hohohooo! Merry Christmas you folks! I have no idea whether it's still the 23rd, the 24th of the 25th yet, but it's the 24th at my place and I am putting this fanfic under your Christmas Tree as a present! Enjoy the feeling trip!
Disclaimer: I do not own Gintama. And between you and I, I'm not really Santa either. Sorry.

"The next station is Bushuu. Please remember to take all your luggages with you when alighting from this train."

Okita stretched, Hijikata put a bookmark between the pages of his book, Kondo smiled, and Kagura jumped out of her seat.

They were here, at last. The journey had only lasted two hours by train, and she had chatted with Kondo all along, unable to do anything quiet like the two others, but she was really excited to spend her winter holidays here.

Why in the world would she be excited to spend her holidays with her rival and his fellow Shinsengumi guys, you ask?

It all started the day before. Everyone in the class was pretty hyped up about the holidays and about what they had planned. Everyone but Kagura, who would stay at home, alone. Sakamoto had won two tickets for a stay in Okinawa, and he invited Gin to come with him. Kagura had lied to him and told him she had plans too, so that he would not feel guilty to leave her. However, Otae found out the truth and talked with her classmates to see if anyone could spend time with Kagura – but everyone was already fully booked.

That's when the Discipline Committee, aka the Shinsengumi, stepped in. They were off for a nostalgic trip to the place where they grew up, but Kondo assured there would be no issue to have someone tagging along. Kagura refused at first, but the Prince of Sadists had asked her very seriously, eyes in the eyes, "If you had the opportunity to do something for the holidays, but that would involve seeing my face, would you rather do it or stay at home?".

And that's how she ended up in Bushuu, the place where three of her classmates grew up, along with people she'd never expected to go on holidays with.

"So that's where you guys were born, right?"

Kondo gave her a big smile. "Yeah! We left the town about ten years ago to come to a bigger city where they could receive a proper education... Toshi and I did not go to much school when we were kids, due to complicated childhood, so we joined too."

"So you moved to go to school?" That was hard to believe for Kagura. Kondo looked embarrassed.

"Not only, actually. See," he lowered his voice "Mitsuba, Sougo's older sister, was of a fragile constitution and her sickness worsened, so we moved to a town with a good hospital... So that Sougo could visit her anytime he wanted. He lived under my care because otherwise he would have been left home alone a lot..."

Kagura lowered her eyes. It was no secret that the Sadist's sister passed away a year ago, but he never talked about her.

"Anyway, the house where they lived in Bushuu still technically belongs to him, and that's where we're going to stay! We don't come there often so who knows, maybe his room still looks like when he was a kid?"

"Do you mean it's going to be full of teddy bears and cute things he'll be embarrassed of?"

"Oi, could you guys shut up instead of fantasizing my childhood or whatever? I can still kick you out."

Kagura blew him a very classy raspberry and he sighed. Soon enough, they arrived at the place they'd stay for the next few days.

The Okita family house was built in a Japanese style. Kagura felt mixed feelings towards the place. It somehow gave a "home" feeling, as it was not too big nor too small, but on the same time it gave her the creep. The house looked so empty and inhabited... She knew that technically, it was empty and inhabited, but she still felt slightly uneasy.

The three men stopped to have a look at the house before going in, so Kagura politely stopped as well. But instead of looking at the house, she looked at the three of them. Kondo looked genuinely happy to be here. Hijikata's face was empty of all kind of emotion, but his shoulders collapsed, showing his strong emotion. And Okita... For a second, she was sure she saw some tears in his eyes, but when she looked again, it was gone. He still looked pretty moved, though.

Kagura involuntarily sneezed, bringing them back to reality.

"Ah, sorry! Come in, come in!"

And that's when she got sure something was wrong. For the Sadist to apologize, he must be really shaken up.

"Here is the kitchen... Here is my room, and this was my sister's room. You'll sleep here, China, unless you want to share the room with us. Bathroom, living room..."

The tour ended when they got back to the living room, a kotatsu in the middle of the room, an altar in a corner.

Much to her disappointment, his room had looked pretty normal. No teddy bear, no embarrassing stuff... Actually, the room was almost empty. Every room was empty. Of course, Kagura thought, he hasn't been living here for ten years, but still, the only proof that this was someone's house was the three pictures on the altar. Okita was putting some incense to burn on the incense burner and Kagura came behind him to have a look at the pictures.

She saw his sister only once, a year and a half ago at their school festival. She looked so lively on the picture, caught in the middle of a laugh, and Kagura knew right away she would have loved her. The second picture, she guessed, must have been their mother. The picture was a bit more official, but Kagura could find the same softness in her traits than in her daughter's – and sometimes in her son's, when he was peacefully napping. But the siblings inherited most of their features from their father. The same crimson-eyes, flaxen hair, she felt like she was looking at her rival in a decade or two.

"So, who did you inherit your sadistic tendencies from?"

"From his sister who spoiled him too much as a kid, really. She was too kind when all he deserved was a good kick on the back."

"Die, Hijikata. Don't speak badly of her, especially under this roof. Her spirit will get mad at you, you know?"

"I'm not saying anything bad about her, but about you, you brat!"

"If you really want to know, China, I'd say it's because of Hijikata. He's so fun to torture that it must have developed my pleasure in breaking people down!"

"Doesn't that means you were already a Sadist before meeting him then instead?"

Kondo's laugh filled the room as they were all insulting each other, and they somehow all ended up laughing (although while they were laughing Kagura's foot was on Okita's face, Okita's hand around Hijikata's neck and Hijikata's hand reaching for Kondo's help).

"All right all right kids, please play quietly while I'm making you an awesome lunch!"

Of course, the 'kids' did not play quietly. They all forgot what they were fighting for and they did not care much. Hijikata managed to escape at one point and the two youngsters kept fighting without paying any attention to him.

But as soon as Kondo brought some food, they stopped fighting and nicely sat at the kotatsu, starting eating even before Hijikata had time to get at the table.

After lunch, they starting visiting the village, showing her around the places they went a lot to when they were kids.

At one point, they stopped in front of what must had been a dojo. The place obviously had closed down, but Okita ran to the door and forced it open.

"Do you think they still have those old pictures?"

He looked so excited, Kagura almost saw his 8-years-old self instead. He quickly removed his shoes and disappeared inside.

"This is were we practiced Kendo. I trained a lot when I was a kid so I ended up teaching kids... Sougo was by far the cleverest pupil I had, and he started when he was 4. His sister did not want him to feel lonely at home, since their parents' death, and she made him join the dojo. Toshi joined us two years later. It has been quite hard to leave that dojo and the other students when we moved out... I heard they closed down the place two years ago because of financial reasons."

Kagura smiled. Everything in this village had its own story, and Kondo gladly told her about anything, happy to share his beloved memories with someone, but this far, this place's story was her favourite. Hijikata had stepped inside as well, and Kagura was about to join them when they heard a terrible crash from the inside. Hijikata's voice rose.

"Sougo! Can't you be a bit more careful! Oi, are you okay?"

Kagura and Kondo were instantly in, by Hijikata's side, one to make fun of the boy, one to make sure he was fine.

A pile of shinai [note: kendo swords], probably originally leaned against the closet, had crashed loudly on the floor. And under them was a flaxen-haired young man lying very still.

Kagura couldn't help but laugh at him.

"Look at that! How stupid are you? Are you mopping up? Oh this is so kind of you, Sadist, you should keep your head on the floor forever!"

"Sougo! Did you hurt yourself? Are you alright?"

Kondo had run to his side. Okita raised his head with a victorious smile.

"I found them, Kondo-san! They're still there!"

On his hand was a framed picture. Kondo took it, and Hijikata and Kagura came closer to have a look. It looked like a class picture and she guessed it was the kids learning Kendo. She scrutinized ever face.

"It can't be! Is that you, Gorilla?"

"China-girl, could you at least call me by my name...?"

"And that emo face! Mayonnaise freak?!"

"Oi. Take that back. And don't call me Mayo Freak."

"Uh? Sadist, could that little cute boy be you? You were so cute! What happened? Did your face hit a wall and it left permanent damages or something?"

"It will be Your Highness when you're talking to me, China."

"Shut up you mop."

"Want to settle this in a fight?"

"Hell yeah! At the end of the day you'll be calling me Your Excellence!"

They both grabbed a shinai and set themselves in defensive poses. Hijikata sighed.

"Can't they spend a day without trying to kill each other? Can Sougo spend a day without trying to kill anyone?"

Kondo laughed. "This could be fun, Toshi! Alright kids, you may fight, but this ought to be a fair match! There's some armors over there. Put them on, and I shall be the referee! This will be a three matches competition, and the winner must not insult the loser for the whole day, otherwise I will give him/her... A kiss!"

They both yelled in horror as they were putting the armors on. None of them wanted such a punishment. The first match was won by Okita, who was used to the equipment, unlike Kagura who always fought in a more freestyle way. However, she got used to it quite quickly, and after an impressive fight and two shinai broken on each side, she managed to score the point.

"This is the decisive match, Sadist. I'm sorry but I don't plan to get kissed by that lolicon, so I must win."

"What, are you saying you won't be able to restraint yourself from insulting me for a day after you lose? How pathetic!"

Kondo made the fight start, and it was obvious how desperate they were not to lose. They actually fought for 15 minutes (the regulatory time was supposed to be five minutes but Kondo did not want to stop them.)

But with a powerful blow, one of them collapsed on the ground, and the other stood, victorious.

"It's okay, China, I don't regard 'Sadist' as an insult, actually, my name in your mouth would be insulting. But I could understand you'd want to insult me, don't you worry, Kondo-san's kiss is not as terrible as you'd expect, I can even give you the bleach you'll have to drink to clean yourself afterwards."

"You piece of..." She stopped, remembering just on time the bet she just lost.

Okita grinned. "This is going to be so fun."

When they left the dojo, the sun was starting to set. Kagura was rubbing the lump on her head and doing the best to ignore Okita, instead listening to more of Kondo's stories, while her rival was talking with Hijikata (and occasionally insulting her).

Hijikata looked at both of them. "How about a race to go home? The winner will be the first to take a bath tonight!"

Of course, the two rivals started running like crazy. Hijikata blew his cigarette smoke, and waited for them to be far enough.

"Kondo-san... Why exactly did you ask her to come? I know you're a nice guy and stuff, but that's not the reason, is it?"

Kondo gave him a sad smile.

"The last time we came here... It was right after Mitsuba's funerals. Let's face it, no matter how happy we are to be back, this is really painful at the same time. So I thought that if she came, she could at least get his dark thoughts out of his head... And maybe out of ours as well. Had she not been there... Do you think we would have seen him smile so much today?"

They walked home in silence, thoughtful. The two kids were waiting at the door, yelling at each other (with not a single insult from Kagura, which sounded weird), but Hijikata saw Kondo was right: there was a sparkle of light in those crimson eyes he'd never have expected to see in this place.

"So? Who won?"

"God, I hate to admit it, but she beat me. But I clearly don't want to bathe in the same water she does, who knows how many diseases I'll get?!"

"I'll take aaaall my time, so that the water will be freezing when it's your turn! Ah, a good warm bath after running so much, how pleasant!"

He started insulting her again while she was taunting him. They stopped when she left to take her bath, started again for five minutes then stopped again when it was Okita's turn, and surprisingly, did not start again when he was out. Instead, Okita made some tea and everyone sat under the kotatsu, Kagura dozing off with her head on the table, exhausted by the day.

Hijikata looked at Okita, concern in his eyes.

"Sougo, are you alright?"

"What? Yeah, you know, those shinai were not heavy, it's not like that could hurt me."

"I'm not talking about that. More about... This. Us being here. Living here without..."

Hijikata could not finish his sentence. Kagura mumbled something in her sleep. She was drooling.

"I'm fine. Really. Sure, it brings back a lot of memories, but... This town is filled with nothing but good ones. These rooms used to be filled with laughter and joy, so this is what comes to my mind when we are here. What about you, though? Would you like to visit her tomorrow?"

Hijikata's eyes widened with surprise. This was actually the first time his junior would acknowledge the fact that Hijikata would miss Mitsuba as much as he did.

"That would be great. Yeah. I'm sure she'd like that."

"We'll buy some spicy crisps on the road, seems a fair offering."

This time, Okita was the one to cook dinner, and Kagura woke up at the smell of rice in front of her.

They asked her about the place where she was born, and she told them with a huge smile, blabbering about how it was raining a lot but everyone was really nice and sharing nice stories of everything she remembered. Then, since everyone was getting tired, they went to sleep.

Kagura chose to sleep in Mitsuba's room. Gin always told her that males were predators, she couldn't decently sleep with them! A warm and comfy futon was waiting for her and she was fast asleep.

However, due to her nap earlier, she did not sleep much and woke up in the middle of the night. There was a sweet smell that she followed unto the living room.

A new stick of incense was burning on the altar. Okita was kneeling before it and even though all she saw was his back, she knew he was crying.

She did not know what to do. Go back to sleep and leave him alone? Go next to him and comfort him?

"Don't stand stupidly there, China. That's too weird." His voice was steadier than what she'd thought. She came closer and sat by his side.

"It's been a bit more than a year now... I know the pain won't go away, but will it ever go duller?"

"It's not about the pain getting dull. It's about learning to live with it, Sadist."

He lowered his head.

"Are there days when you don't think about your mother? When you forget the pain, even if just for 24h?"

"There is not a single day without me thinking about Mami. Not a single night without her being in my dreams. But I like it this way. I don't want to forget the bad things, because then I would be afraid to forget the good ones as well, you know?"

She gave him a warm smile. They kept silent for a while, staring at the burning incense stick.

He was the one to break the silence.

"You know, I really hate your brother."

She let out a laugh out of surprise.

"So do I, but that was a bit unexpected. Where was that coming from?"

"I've had a sister I loved with everything I had, and she was taken away from me. I would give anything to see her smile even one more time. This bastard has the chance of still having his little sister, and yet... That's how he treats her? I can't stand that. I can't stand him at all."

He lifted his head to see a single tear rolling down her cheek.

"And in the end, I'm always there saying cruel things."

"That was not cruel. That was truth. And you are right. I am the one who's sorry. I'm sorry you had to lose her when she obviously was the most precious thing you had. The only cruel thing here is life."

She put her hand on his.

"For tonight, let's just pray for the ones we love to have a peaceful existence, whether it is in this world or in the afterlife."

When the morning came, Hijikata was the first up, as often. When he got in the living room, he saw the two kids, hand in hand, asleep in front of the altar. Very carefully to not wake them up, he put a blanket on them and smiled. Bringing her was by far Kondo's best idea indeed.

On that day, they visited the Okita family grave, the kids waited to be outside of the graveyard to fight again, they visited some old friends, Kagura almost choked Okita to death, they sat on a park where they used to go a lot, Okita pushed Kagura on a frozen lake, the ice broke, the ice closed above her head, the three of them panicked as they got her out, she was soaking wet so they came home.

And the next day was pretty much the same – visits, fights, kids doing some stupid things that put their life at risk... Kagura had the pretty stupid idea to see who could climb higher on a tree, and, of course, Okita's branch gave under his weight, causing him to fall from 6 meters ; had not Kondo caught him, the boy would be dead for sure.

And at the end of the day, they had to take the train back to their home.

Hijikata forbid the two of them to sit next to each other, but they were both so tired they fell asleep right away anyway.

"The next station is Kabuki. Please remember to take all your luggages with you when alighting from this train."

"This is the end of the feeling trip, then, uh?" Kondo asked as the train was departing from the quay. "But to think we'd do so many things in three days... Quite frankly I almost expected us to stay lazily under the kotatsu for the whole time."

"Um, guys..." Kagura's shy voice made them turn around. She was staring at the ground, playing with the handle of her luggage. She took a deep breath and bowed to them.

"Thanks a lot for taking me with you. I had a lot of fun. I owe you a lot."

Kondo was about to answer but Hijikata nudged his elbow not so subtly in his ribs. Unaware of that, or maybe ignoring them, Okita answered.

"We should be the ones to thank you. There's no doubt this would have been super gloomy if it had been just the three of us. So thank you for having made this house as happy and noisy as it used to be."

Surprised, Kagura blushed a little, but the Sadist then smirked.

"But I'm glad it was only three day. If I heard your snoring one more night I would have killed you in your sleep. Even pigs are quieter!"

Her foot landed on his face, and they were fighting again. Hijikata sighed.

"Some things will never change, I guess..."

The two teenagers eventually stopped trying to kill each other right next to train tracks, and they split up, Kagura going her way, the boys theirs.

On the next day, Kagura texted Okita. "Want to pay you guys back for the trip. How about a KFC* tomorrow night? My treat. Ask Gori and Mayo, I don't have their numbers."

(They had exchanged numbers for a school trip a couple of months ago, since they had both been designed Group Leaders along with Katsura and Otae)

The answer came quite quickly. "Sure! I will starve myself until tomorrow to make sure you pay a maximum. Prepare your money!"

A bit more than 24h later, she was waiting under the huge Christmas tree the town had put for the holidays. She had curled her hair, was wearing a really pretty outfit, and even gone as far as putting on a bit of makeup. She was looking at all the couples walking around. But it wouldn't be like that in her case, because she invited the three guys, right?

"Yo, China!"

She turned to see her rival walking to her. Alone.

"Are they late?"

"Hijikata caught a severe cold and Kondo-san's staying with him. They sent me to apologize about that."

She gave him a sarcastic smile.

"Is that so? Then perhaps you should go back to take care of him too? Do you want me to come along? I'm good at nursing Gin-chan when he's not feeling well!"

Her answer obviously annoyed him.

"You kidding? You said there would be free food, so give me free food."

She chuckled.

"Fine, fine! But before that..."

She rummaged in the paper bag she was holding, and held out a packet, wrapped in a Christmas-themed paper.

"There! Merry Christmas!"

"You did not..."

"Hurry and open it silly!"

He carefully removed the paper, to end up with an a beige scarf.

"Since there is no feminine presence by your side to remind you to wear a scarf when it's cold like this, be sure that now I know you own one, I'm going to kill you if you ever go out without it when it's freezing! You'll catch a cold!"

"So you'd kill a sick man? Nice of you, China." He wrapped the scarf around his neck. It was warm and really soft – and it smelled of strawberry.

"Thanks. That's cool. Really."

She grinned at him.

"Shall we go and have our feast then?"

"Ah, wait, before that... Show me your hand."

She put her hand next to her face, as if she was waving at him.

"Not like this, stupid. Hold it out."

She did as told, and he put a small box on her palm.

"So you pretend to be shocked I bought you something when you had something for me? Could you possibly have been waiting to be sure I bought something to give it to me?

"Shut up. Open the box."

Of course he had planned all along to give it to her. He just did not expect her to have bought presents as well.

Inside the box was a necklace with a little silver rabbit pendant. It was the cutest thing Kagura ever saw.

"Dogs should always have a collar, you know? There you go, little pet."

She looked absolutely delighted as she attached it around her neck.

"It's a really lovely one. Thanks. Oh, but since you're the one who bought it, surely you don't mean I'm your pet, right?"

He looked away. "Who knows? Isn't it time for food?"

"Sadist."

He looked at her, right when she grabbed him by the collar (excuse me: by his new scarf) and kissed him.

His eyes opened wider.

"Wait, what?"

"Oh, come on. If you want to push me away, you can, but do you really want to?"

Puzzled, he stared at her, but she looked serious. She wasn't fooling him around.

"Hell no." And he closed his arms around her, bringing her closer to give her another kiss.

"Say, China... Would you have done it if Hijikata and Kondo came along?"

"Please, I knew they would not be there."

"How..."

"Well, I met the two of them yesterday on the evening when I was shopping, and I asked them if they minded not showing up tonight... To discover you did not even told them. You never planned them to come along, did you?"

He stared blankly at the Christmas tree, taking her hand in his.

"Oh, shut up, China."

She gave a peck on his cheek.

"Merry Christmas, Sadist."

That didn't look that Christmas-y at first, right? hahaha

First, notes about the fic:

* There is a kind of tradition (well not really a tradition but anyway) in Japan and many people actually eat some KFC on Christmas! Fried Turkey anyone? :p

Also, the scarf I had in mind was one like he owns in the 2nd movie, hehe

And (last note then it'll be random chatter), I know it's a kind of a joke that Kondo who is an old man is in the same class as highschoolers (who are all of different ages), but I wanted to find an actual explanation for that. I think it is pretty to think that Hijikata and Kondo joined the school because they had not had the chance to go to school when they were young. Well, that's how I see it anyway!

Then random chatter

Merry Christmas once again, everyone! I hope you will spend a lovely time. I'm sending you all a huge hug and all my love!

Please leave a review whenever you read this fic, be it now, at Easter, at a random day of the year! Thank you so much for reading.
Also, I will be posting a New Year themed fanfic next week (this time it will only focus on New Year haha), hope you will read it too! (you can follow me to receive a notification when it's out ~ )