Disclaimer: I don't own Gintama or any of its characters.
Title: Iron, Rust and Blood
Summary: The first of the three murders was only the beginning. The real game of hide and seek began when Hijikata Toshiro was taken.
Characters: Hijikata Toshiro, Sakata Gintoki and Sougo Okita with mentions of others
Rating: T
Warnings: Violence, disturbing imagery, blood
Author's Note: This is probably one of the darker, horror-filled stories I've written before. I was inspired by a Gintama story I've read where there was a monster/killer on the loose and another one where Hijikata gets captured and I thought it would be a lovely idea to combine the two. I also decided to try a different style of writing than what I'm used to, just to switch things around. Hope you enjoy!
It began like this.
A middle aged woman was found dead in an alleyway. There were spots of blood dotting the dirty ground around her, matching the cuts laced over her arms. Strange bruising was found around her neck and blood staining over the front of her shirt. The police are confused. Her purse innocently laid near the body and all the bills remained in her wallet.
A week later, a high school boy was found next. The janitor came in early and discovered the body lying in the school hallway. Like the first victim, he too had cuts, this time on his legs, and bruising around his neck. But unlike the first victim, his body was shrivelled and hunched over as if drained of all bodily fluids, and there was only a tiny blotch of blood on his clothes.
Three days after, before the media could finish making a racket about the boy, a withered body of an elderly woman was found in her apartment after her neighbours complained to the manager about the foul smell coming from her room. Her blood was mysteriously gone from her body and this time, not even a speck of blood decorating her dishevelled nightgown.
The police tried to keep the peace but people were already feeling restless and uneasy. They whispered about serial killers and crazed murderers and they sprouted wild notions that were as unlikely as the next.
~.~.~
The Yorozuya became involved because the son of the first victim came to visit them. Eyes still red and wearing his crumpled funeral suit, he requested for them to help them find his mother's ring.
The police brushed his concerns aside – after all, your mother just died. How could you worry about some ring? But the son insisted his mother would never part willingly from her late husband's ring. The murderer didn't care for money but why take the ring then?
Gintoki had half a mind to decline. He heard from Otose about the murders and he didn't want to get involved in that mess. (didn't people know self-proclaimed detectives more often than not ended up way over their heads and produce stalkers in murderers?) But Shinpachi harassed him, Kagura whined they were low on food and a job was a job nevertheless.
Their investigation started slow and uneventful. The police had blocked off alleyway, school and apartment floor, unintentionally giving them free reign to sniff around. They met with family and friends and endured long hours of tears, frustration and mourning.
They began to notice that the other victims also lost certain little items. A teary-eyed girlfriend spoke how they couldn't find her boyfriend's baseball cap that she had given to him for their anniversary and she saw him wearing it to school that day. A sobbing brother mentioned that his sister's knitting needles, a birthday gift from their father, was missing and his sister always did a little bit of knitting before she went to bed.
Shinpachi had frowned, wondering why the killer would take such nondescript things from their victims. Neither Kagura or Gintoki had an answer to that.
~.~.~
The fourth victim, only one day after the third, eventually sent the entire city in an uproar. Citizens began to panic. If a Shinsengumi officer could be a victim, then what chance did they as the common mass have?
But everyone was soon puzzled by the very marked differences this victim had compared to the other victims.
Firstly, there was evidence of a fight in the quiet warehouse where the scene of the crime was. That was to be expected. No Shinsengumi officer would die without putting up a fight. The officer's blood was smeared against a wall as if his body was thrown against it. An unidentified match of grisly blood was splattered on the floor. It was the first indication that the serial killer was actually a physical being instead of a ghost like people had guessed.
Secondly, there was no body left behind. They searched the warehouse but there was nothing but the officer's sword and cigarettes left behind. They questioned why the killer would shift from their usual motif. Perhaps the officer forced the killer to abruptly change their plans. Or perhaps the killer took the officer to continue to play with its prey before delivering the final, bloody strike. They all shuddered at that thought.
And lastly, said Shinsengumi officer happened to be Hijikata Toshiro.
~.~.~
The Shinsengumi headquarters was frightfully quiet. Kondou's face was pale and he looked like a lost child. Okita had gone out on patrol. He told the others not to bother waiting for him. There was an odd gleam in his eyes and they were wise enough not to comment about it.
The Yorozuya were there too. Someone had notified the Shinsengumi about their little investigation and they were summoned there. Kondou asked, with a slight tremble in his voice, what they had discovered, if anything could help them find Hijikata. Shinpachi shared what they found and they were left in silence and nowhere closer to the truth.
Gintoki sighed for the umpteenth time; he really hated getting involved. He stood up and left, ignoring their questions.
~.~.~
Hijikata was out one evening when he called by a small crying child who begged him to come help his father who apparently collapsed near a warehouse. He sent his partner to call the ambulance while he went to take a look, quietly suspecting the boy's father might be the latest victim. The boy led him to his father and years of experience taught Hijkata the "father" was long dead and cold at the mere touch of his hand. Instinct took over and he pulled out his sword to slash at the monstrous clawed hand that abruptly reached for his face.
The boy, now sporting a malicious grin and crimson eyes, admired how quick Hijikata was and casually waved its bloody stump of a hand. No one had been able to do that to it before. Its smile widened and suddenly, Hijikata felt a shiver of fear through his spine.
His instinct screamed at him to move again and he did, managing to move out of the way before something shot past his shoulder. Nails tore through cloth and he gritted his teeth at the sharp pain and he lashed out his sword to cut down the "father" that floated like a string-less puppet.
He barely had enough time to raise his sword to block the boy-monster who thrust its remaining hand at him to tear off his arm. Hijikata stood his ground for a second before the detached hand sprang towards him. He managed to kick the hand away before the father puppet lunged for his arm, wrenching his sword from his grasp. The boy-monster took advantage of his distraction to slam him to the opposing wall.
It congratulated him for lasting this long. Hijikata could feel his legs tremble under his weight and with cold dread, he realized there was something in those claws that was making his body weaken and crumble against his will. The boy-monster flippantly reconnected its loose hand and remarked it was rare for someone to last this long.
Hijikata's vision blurred and he was dimly aware of warm blood trickling down his arm. The boy-monster gasped devilishly and said what a waste before leaning forward and Hijikata caught a glimpse of pointy teeth before they sunk deep into his shoulder.
His last conscious thought was that Sougo was right about vampires being involved after all.