A/N Make sure to read Parts 1 through 5 before reading this one. This chapter will delve into more mature elements, hence the rating change. Enjoy!

The two people hit the floor, breathing laboured as their sweat slicked bodies lay next to one another in the aftermath.

"That...was good," said Sougo, finally.

Kagura turned her head to look at him. "You were surprisingly not awful," she said, a light flush on her pale skin.

"No need to be modest," he smirked, looking a little flushed himself. "Even I'm impressed, trust me. This really was your first time, huh?"

She glanced away, face growing redder. "Yes," she admitted. "But," she added, in a stronger voice. "I was good. Admit it."

"You were," he said, brushing sweaty hair off his own forehead. "I still had to guide you."

"Only in the beginning," protested Kagura. "Once I had the hang of it, I could keep up with you."

"Fine, fine," conceded Sougo. "We should do this more often when we're alone," he said, after they had been quiet for a while. "I don't remember pushing myself physically this way before."

"Yeah," said Kagura. "It really does make a difference when you switch things up. Do you have it in you for another round?"

"We already went three times," he said, closing his eyes. "Have some compassion for the poor police officer's heart and stamina."

"Fine, fine," said Kagura, sitting up and gathering her sweaty hair to pile into a messy bun on top of her head. "I need a bath and food. I think you actually managed to tire me out too."

Sougo opened one eye and smirked smugly. "What a difference it makes when we switch weapons, huh?" he asked.

Kagura rolled her eyes as she stood up and picked up the sword she had been sparring with. "It's an interesting weapon, yes," she said, sheathing it carefully. "Heavier than it looks, but it moves with ease too."

"Yeah, I was surprised by how light your umbrella is," said Sougo, holding up the purple umbrella he had been using to fight Kagura. "The bullets do make things easier, but it's a blunt weapon which uses a lot more strength than a sword does."

"Hmm," agreed Kagura, as they swapped weapons back. "Still, you actually won a round this time. Even though it was only because this was my first time using a sword."

"I still managed to push you more than I usually do," said Sougo, sitting up. "Besides, you hesitated a little when landing your hits."

Kagura went red, apparently not having counted on him realising. "It was my first time using a sharp weapon," she said. "You've seen what I can do with a blunt weapon, I didn't want to accidentally cut you too deeply, especially before I had a full handle on how much strength was needed to wield the sword."

Though he appreciated her not going all out without being prepared, her embarrassment was fun to watch. He started to stand up and then abruptly sat back down.

"Oi, what's wrong?" he heard Kagura ask. "Did I break your leg or something?"

"No," he answered. "Weren't you leaving to take a bath? You should hurry, you're starting to smell."

"Look who's talking, stinky," she said, but thankfully rolled her eyes at him and left.

Once she had gone, Sougo let out a half-sigh as he glanced down at himself. "What the hell is this about now?" he muttered, his ears turning red. He was a healthy young man, but this was the first time in his life that he'd actually gotten aroused after fighting. Bloodlust was usually the only kind of lust evoked by fighting as far as he was concerned. "I guess it really has been a while if this is happening now of all times," he mumbled, starting to take a few deep breaths to calm down.

While he waited for his body to settle down, he began thinking back to the last time he'd actually had sex. It surprised him to know it had been close to six months already. "No wonder," he muttered. Unlike most people his age, sex wasn't much of a priority for Sougo, but he was no saint either. Apparently, his body had had enough of his abstinence and told him quite bluntly that he needed to do something about it if he was actually getting hard after a fight, of all things.

Thankfully, tomorrow was his day off, so he could go to Yoshiwara and then he wouldn't have to worry about it for the next six months, since that was the schedule his body was apparently following. Still, it was odd to become aroused after a fight. It had been a more intense fight than usual, but he'd expected to be exhausted instead. Oh, well, he would be fine after tomorrow.

The next day, he woke up, did his morning exercises alone, ate breakfast in his room, got dressed in casual clothes and left the compound after making sure he had his wallet with him. It was still mid-morning, but since he was going to Yoshiwara, it wasn't as if it would matter. The underground city lived in a never-ending night, and the shops operated around the clock.

He remembered his first time in Yoshiwara. It had been after their first successful mission as Shinsengumi. As a reward, Totsan had taken all of them down to Yoshiwara to celebrate and paid for all of them. There hadn't been many of them back then, only twenty or so people, and Totsan had spent his own money on it.

It had been Sougo's first time with a woman. She had been a year or two older than him, beautiful, and very much of a professional, especially once she realised that it was his first time. He was a natural sadist, sure, so she had given enough leeway for him to feel in control while leading him through the whole thing. It was only as he got older that he realised how much control she'd actually had and the lengths she had gone to in order to make him feel comfortable. That's why Sougo had a healthy respect for the women in Yoshiwara, and would never tolerate disrespect towards them from any of the Shinsengumi members.

Sougo did not frequent Yoshiwara as much as he knew some of the other people in the Shinsengumi did, mostly because sex was only one of many outlets he had. In fact, sex rarely played a part in his enjoyment of his more sadistic side. There were so many more interesting activities involving S&M that didn't involve sex, and he usually did not find it hard to attract an interested woman to be his plaything. While Yoshiwara had plenty of places to satisfy someone like him, his reason for visit was almost exclusively to just have sex. The whole thing was a lot more transactional than anything, he realised as he stepped inside Yoshiwara.

The scent of heavy incense permeated his senses immediately, and he knew his clothes would smell of it for the next week. It was a very telling scent and everyone in the Shinsengumi knew what it meant when one of them came back smelling like that, but it was an unspoken rule that no one addressed it any way. Sougo was well aware of it and used to it, yet he felt himself cringe a little at the thought of smelling like Yoshiwara incense, especially since….well, it wasn't as if China would know what it was.

Shaking his head at himself, wondering why he was thinking of her in a place like this, Sougo squared his shoulders to get this over with. The streets of Yoshiwara had a lot to do with what kind of shops one would find there. The main street housed the more expensive places, with parallel streets catering to varying clientele. Sougo ventured down a street that was much more within his budget and the women were still pretty enough.

His boyish good looks caught a lot of attention as many women called out to him flirtatiously through the cages. Sougo didn't have much of a type, though he did prefer women with a bit of pride because the conquest was a lot more fun that way. Not someone who didn't want him, of course. He would never approach an unwilling woman.

Keeping an eye on the women as he walked down the street, he looked for those with just that hint of stubborness past the initial interest. There were a few of them sprinkled throughout the more openly flirtatious ones, though none held his attention yet.

That one over there was too tall, the one next to her was not tall enough. The one in the shop next doors was the right height but she wasn't pale enough. Breasts too small, breasts too big, hair too long, hair too short...Sougo crossed them off the list dismissively and as he neared the end of the street, he stopped suddenly and his eyes grew wide. What the hell was he doing? The looks had never mattered to him, not ever, so what was wrong with him now? Why was he getting picky about looks now suddenly? What was he looking for exactly?

Still confused, he passed a shop where the women were dressed differently than others, and Sougo felt his throat go dry when he saw the women in cheongsams instead of kimono. His stomach tightened in response, and his eyes grew wider with realisation.

No fucking way.

He approached the shop window cautiously but he got only a step or two towards it before his body confirmed it. Cursing internally, Sougo turned his back and began walking towards the exit. He had to get out of Yoshiwara immediately, because clearly, he was going insane. His entire face was turning red as the implications sunk in.

By the time he was in the elevator to go back to the surface, Sougo's face had returned to normal, though he could feel his heart pounding madly in his chest. It was because of China that his body had reacted that way yesterday, not his six months of abstinence.

"Huh, who would've thought," he muttered to himself, as he stepped out into Edo's sunshine once more. He was attracted to China.

As soon as he had that thought, he contemplated hitting his head on the nearest telephone pole until he knocked himself out. Clearly, the part of his brain that dealt with arousal had decided to forget everything else about China, except for the fact that she was attractive in appearance. The gluttonous habits, the cursing, the monstrous strength had apparently been ignored in favour of the porcelain skin, long vermillion hair, big blue eyes, and the body with the really, really good curv-stop stop stop stop. He had to stop.

"Oi, Sadist, what's wrong?"

It was the first time in his life he'd come so close to squeaking in fear when he heard her voice. Thankfully, he was the master of keeping a cool appearance, no matter how he felt on the inside, and this time was no exception. He turned around to greet her and almost lost his carefully kept composure.

"What are you wearing?" he finally managed to ask, his voice sounding curious despite his best effort.

She raised her eyebrows at him. "It's new," she said, and Sougo's gaze drifted down her body without permission. Instead of her usual white or red cheongsam, she was wearing one that was pale pink with a cherry blossom pattern on it. Even to someone like him who never noticed things like materials and designs on clothes before, it looked more expensive and fancier than what she usually wore.

"It's nice," he managed to say, returning his gaze to her face.

"Are you sick or something?" she asked, leaning towards him which made him recoil.

"No," he said, firmly.

"You smell weird too," she said, frowning lightly.

"I smell normal," he defended, wondering why it felt like he was cheating on her or something.

"Fine, whatever," she shrugged.

He noticed the shopping bags in her hand and decided to change the subject quickly. "What's in there?" he asked.

"Clothes," she said, like it was obvious. "It's late birthday shopping."

"You're shopping for your own birthday?" he asked.

"I do it every year," she said. "I usually don't have a lot to spend, but I buy whatever I can. It's not like I got too many people lining up to give me birthday gifts."

"I gave you a present," he felt compelled to point out.

She glared at him. "You gave me sukonbu drenched in tabasco, you bastard," she snapped.

"Yeah, you're welcome," he said.

"Ugh," she groaned and began stomping away. Sougo almost didn't follow her because he was distracted when he realised that her new cheongsam fit her better than her other clothes as evidenced by the way she looked from the back. Recovering quickly, he ran up to walk next to her to avoid seeing that sight. He was still getting used to the initial realisation, which was now confirmed, thanks to seeing her in person.

God help him, Okita Sougo was attracted to Kagura.

"Why are you walking with me?" asked Kagura, looking at him in confusion. "You do realise that this our day off, right? We don't have to patrol together."

"I know," he said. "I was just going to go back home. You?"

"Yeah, me too," she said. "I need to put these bags away."

"Want me to carry some of those?" he asked before he could stop himself.

Only when she looked at him in shock that he realised his blunder. China was strong enough to carry both him and the bags back to the Shinsengumi compound without breaking a sweat, and definitely didn't need his help to do any of it.

Fortunately for him, she took it to mean that he was mocking her. "How about I throw you into the river instead, you bastard?" she asked, glaring at him.

He decided to go along with it, mostly because he was afraid of her reaction if she even suspected the real reason. "Fine, learn to take a joke, why don't you?" he shrugged.

"Your face is a joke," she shot back.

"Good one," he deadpanned. "So witty."

"Shut up," she snapped.

"You first," he snapped back.

The two of them glared at each other and continued walking in silence. Sougo was still lost in his own thoughts, as he tried to come to terms with the day's revelations.

"Hey," he heard her call out to him. He looked up and saw an expectant smile on her face which set his heart racing again. "Want to spar once we get back? Just the two of us, without the clowns watching?"

Sougo knew the responsible thing to do would be to tell her he had something else to do, go back to Yoshiwara and the shop with the women in cheongsam to find someone who looked close enough to Kagura and get this out of his system before it was too late.

"Sadist?" she asked, clearly waiting for his reply. "You in or not?"

He was so screwed.

"Yeah," he said. "Let's do it."

"Maybe seppuku wouldn't be so bad," Sougo muttered to himself as he soaked in the bath.

He and Kagura had sparred for three hours before Sougo had to excuse himself. He'd figured that since he realised what the cause for his body's reaction was, it would be easier to avoid it. Instead, he had become even more aware of it the longer they kept going, and become distracted to the point of even Kagura noticing and telling him to take a break if he wasn't up for it. Well, he was up for something alright, and it wasn't fighting.

He groaned now and dunked his head under the water. Only when it felt like he would drown, did he come up for air. He knew he had to snap out of it, and couldn't afford to get distracted when they were sparring. It was something he genuinely enjoyed doing with Kagura, and he didn't want the primal idiot part of his brain to ruin it for him. There had to be something he could do, some way where he could either get rid of the stupid attraction he felt towards Kagura, or learn to control it properly.

An extremely tiny part of his brain treacherously reminded him that he could always act on said attraction, but Sougo dismissed it immediately. There was a laundry list of reasons why it would be a bad idea for him and Kagura to get involved, which consisted of work reasons, different species reasons, Yato family members reasons, and the most obvious one of all…Kagura thought of him as nothing more than a colleague she sparred with.

And in all honesty, Sougo wasn't sure if his own feelings on the matter weren't completely shallow. Despite all the reasons he'd considered before, it would be stupid to deny that Kagura was a beautiful young woman with a killer figure. Being physically attracted to her was the most normal response anyone could have. If that's all there was to it on his end, he didn't have to make it needlessly complex by thinking of a possible future to it. A shallow attraction would wane in time, and that would probably be the end of it. Sougo was hoping that was it, because the alternative was concerning.

For the time being, he resolved to lock away the dumb part of his brain, until he figured out if he was just attracted to Kagura physically, or if there was more to it than that. His mind made up, Sougo rose from the bath and stepped out, tying a towel around his waist and using another one to dry his hair. A hot bath was always good to clear the mind of errant thoughts, especially now that the weather was growing colder every day.

Sougo went to his room, glad that he had his own space. Of everyone in the compound, only he, Kondo, Hijikata, Saito and Kagura had their own rooms. The rest all shared dorms, and the officers were set up two to each room. His room wasn't too big, but it was his own and he liked having it, especially since it was closer to the baths as well. Sougo was a man who valued privacy, which was a necessity in a crowded compound like this, so he was not prepared for the feminine yelp he heard once he stepped into his room.

"Why are you half naked?" demanded Kagura, covering her eyes with her hand.

Sougo blinked at her in shock and then glared. "Why are you in my room?" he demanded instead.

Still keeping her eyes closed, Kagura glared at him. "The Chief asked me to come get you, and I expected you to at least have some clothes on," she said, as if it was his fault and not hers for waiting inside his room rather than the doorway or the hallway outside.

"I just got out of the bath," said Sougo, walking past her to go behind the screen in his room. "What did Kondo-san want?" he asked. "Oh, and you can open your eyes and leave so I can get dressed."

He heard her get up and go towards the doorway, muttering about lecherous men with no concern for a maiden's purity or some such nonsense that he ignored.

"He didn't say what he wanted, but he's called all the officers," said Kagura. "I'm going to go now and clean out my eyes with bleach."

"Use the extra strength one," snapped Sougo, as she left.

Grumbling about inconsiderate women with no regard for privacy, Sougo got dressed hastily and went to the meeting room. He was the last one to get there, so as soon as he sat down between Hijikata and China, Kondo cleared his throat.

"We have a crisis on our hands," he said, his voice grave. Sougo noticed Hijikata looking uncomfortable and wondered if it really was a crisis or not. "Yesterday, Totsan informed me that I am to be married to strengthen Shinsengumi's relationship with Amanto."

"You're getting married?" asked Sougo, unable to help his shock.

Kondo nodded. "And that's not all," he said, looking like he was on the verge of tears. "This is the prospective bride." He held up a photograph.

It took a split second before the room exploded with outrage.

"Isn't that just a gorilla?" Harada was the first to say.

"Yes," said Kondo, putting away the photograph. "I don't want to marry a gorilla. That's why, Toshi, I need you to go convince Otae-san to stop this."

"Kondo-san," said Hijikata, looking like he was holding back the urge to faceplant. "Asking the woman you're stalking to stop you from marrying someone else won't work. If anything, she'll be happy to be rid of all the stalking."

"But, Vice Chief, we have to do something," said Todo. "We can't let a gorilla become the Chief's wife."

"See!" said Kondo. "You all understand, don't you?"

Hijikata sighed as a vein throbbed at his temple. "Kondo-san…"

"Toshi, this is an order," said Kondo. "Please."

Hijikata sighed. "Fine," he said. "Alright, gather a few men who can spare the time. We will go down to Kabukicho and ask Otae-san for help. If she pretends to be engaged to Kondo-san, this will not go any further."

"Anego won't agree to that," said Kagura, and Sougo privately agreed.

"We have to try, at least," said Harada. "Vice Chief, I'm in."

A few others voiced their agreement, so at Hijikata's behest, they all set out towards Snack Smile in Kabukicho while Kondo remained in the meeting room, holding his phone like a lovestruck teenager waiting to hear back from their crush.

"I only see this ending badly," Sougo heard Kagura mutter as the two of them left the meeting room together.

They had decided not to go with the others, with Sougo saying it was too much of a bother while Kagura had vehemently refused to go harass Otae at work.

"They're desperate if Kondo-san has resorted to this," said Sougo.

"I'm surprised you didn't go either," she said.

"I still have some pride left than asking for help from a woman that Kondo-san has been stalking all this time," he said, bluntly. "We can always sabotage the wedding if it comes down to it."

She was quiet for a moment. "Does this happen often?" she asked.

"Huh, what?" he asked, confused.

"This sort of marriage, I mean," she said, avoiding his gaze. "Is it common in Edo?"

Sougo shrugged. "It's not uncommon," he said. "Most rich families plan out alliances this way. Someone like Kondo-san or even Hijikata-san are in a position of power and influence, so it wouldn't be unheard of for people like them to have a political marriage."

"And you?" she asked, her voice so low he had to strain to hear it.

"What about me?" asked Sougo, his heart picking up speed. She couldn't possibly be concerned, would she?

"Does that include you too?" she asked, still looking away so he couldn't gauge her expression.

The truth was, the First Division Captain of the Shinsengumi definitely did not warrant a political marriage in any way. "Who knows? It's possible," said Sougo instead, wanting to see how she would react.

She looked at him, her eyes wide. "Oh," she said, her expression slightly odd. "That sounds sad."

Well, that wasn't what he had expected. "How so?" he asked.

"Not like I'm an expert or anything, but I'd want to choose who I'd marry, wouldn't you?" she asked, earnestly.

"You want to get married?" he asked, genuinely shocked that she had given something like this any thought.

"You think just because I'm a killer I shouldn't?" she asked, offended.

"That's not what I meant," he said, calming her ire. "Many people in our line of work forgo personal ties for duty. When we step out of the house every day, there's no guarantee we'll be coming back alive."

"I can see that," she agreed. "But I think that's more reason to have a family, right? To have a reason to fight and come back to them."

It sounded so naive when she spoke, her eyes sparkling earnestly as she did. From what he had learned of her family through their conversations, it had been far from a happy life, so her optimism was surprising to say the least. She seemed to sense where his thoughts were headed and smiled.

"My family now is broken up and scattered all over, but I know I will become strong enough to pull it back together," she said, determination shining in her voice. "I have to make that bald father of mine and that idiot brother of mine reconcile, no matter what, so we can be a family together again." She chuckled lightly. "When it comes time for me to choose someone to marry, I just have to take my Mami's advice. Even if the person I marry is a fool or an idiot, as long as they'll stay with me through the good times and the bad times, it will be enough."

Sougo stared at her, speechless and stunned. She waved goodbye to him with a beautiful smile and left in the direction of her room, leaving him alone. This time it wasn't the dumb hormonal part of his brain that reacted as she walked away.

It was the left side of his chest that was left aching in the wake of her words.

An overcast day. It perfectly reflected Sougo's pensive mood. He hadn't slept the night before, and ended up staring blankly at the walls while his mind raced a thousand miles an hour.

He hadn't noticed, rather he hadn't realised the obvious, despite picking up on all the signs in front of him. His thought process had been flawed from the very beginning. It was easier to think of Kagura in a single dimension. Singularities were simpler than the truth.

The truth was that Kagura was a contradiction. She was beautiful but monstrous, childish but mature, introspective but brash, kind but stubborn, strong but gentle, and most of all, Kagura was full of hope despite her world being largely devoid of it for the most part.

Sougo had learned those things through their many conversations since they had met. Parts of her had been revealed to him slowly over time, each layer more complicated than the last, each story of her childhood painting in a clearer picture, each aspiration she shared with him adding a dimension to her, until she became more than just a rival, more than just the girl he liked to spar with, and after last night, more than just the woman he was attracted to.

Okita Sougo was not known to many as an honest man, the sadistic prince that he was, but the one person Sougo had never lied to was himself, and he didn't feel like starting now.

As was the case with him, his body had realised before his brain even did, and it was only to himself that Sougo finally admitted it.

He was in love with Kagura.