Phases
Chapter 1: The Next Day
Okita woke up to the chatter and marching footsteps outside of his door.
His body was heavy, but he needed to take a piss, badly.
"What happened last night?" Letting out a sigh.
He rolled over to see it was already 7:40.
"Fuck." He had some difficultly to get up from his futon. Rolling off the mattress, pushing himself off up, only to fall on his butt again.
He still had his uniform on.
That moment he realized he had too much to drink the night before, again.
He smelled his shirt, reeking of mixed alcohols. Okita stripped down to his underwear finding the closest clean clothes to wear before he can go use the restroom and prepare for the day.
He slid the door open with the surprise of his men heading down the hall. They saluted him, "Good morning, Captain Okita!"
"M-Morning." He squinted, slowly adjusting to the lights as he swayed on his way to the bathroom.
It was 7:59.
Toshirou Hijikata slipped into his seat next to Isao Kondo just in time for the daily brief. He cleared his throat, starting the meeting.
"I will make this quick. Read the tasks for today." He held up a piece of paper with an agenda. "Sougo," He caught the man's attention, raising a brow upon hearing his name. "Lead the men out for sortie."
The vice-commander got up from his seat, "Dismissed." shooing the squad to leave. He made his way out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
The men in gold and black began their chatter, "I heard the vice-commander got laid last night!"
"I heard she's still in his room!" Another mentioned.
"That's unlike Hijikata-san to bring women back to headquarters." Okita glanced over to Kondo with tired eyes, fighting his hangover.
"He must really like this woman. Best give him some privacy. You never know, you might end up calling her the Second Lady of the Shinsengumi soon." The older man gave a hearty laugh, patting the young man's back.
Okita winced, covering his ears. Kondo was always cheerful in the morning, but every whisper in the room was giving him a headache. He groaned, using his sword to help him off the ground.
He sluggishly headed out to the main entrance to meet the squads.
Okita caught a glimpse of the vice-commander escorting the woman into the squad car. She had his jacket over her head hiding herself.
Hijikata stepped into the car, quickly driving off.
The men were very curious to who the mystery woman was, and why she was so secretive.
"She must be a big deal if she had to conceal herself."
"Maybe she's a celebrity!"
"No way, why would a celebrity associate with us country samurai?"
"The vice-commander is a good looking fellow."
"You've got some type of crush on the vice-commander?"
"He's better looking than you, ass-chin!"
A fight spurted amongst the Shinsengumi members with some punching of faces.
"So noisy!" Okita shouted pacing in front of the squads as they hastily lined up. "All divisions are to patrol the defined areas on Hijikata-san's agenda, in exception of division six for cleanup duty." He gave a half-assed speech, wanting to get just some shut-eye.
The others marched to their captains' orders as division six sighed in defeat. Okita ordered his own men to patrol the south side of Kabuki district without him.
Okita sat on the step, taking out his infamous eye mask, ready to fall asleep against the pillar.
"Sougo." Kondo stood next to him. "I know it was a wild night, but I need all men out of the compound today, Pops will be coming over as soon as Toshi comes back from his errand."
Okita sighed, "Yeah, yeah, I'm leaving." He headed out to the gate, waving the Commander with his backhand.
Everywhere Okita went was too loud and distracting. He found a quiet bench in front of a snack bar and laid down, just as he put on his mask, he heard his name.
He sat up seeing one of the Odd Jobs members, Shinpachi walk over to him.
"Good morning, Okita-san. Are you here on duty?" He asked.
"Something like that. What's your business here?"
"A client believes her husband has been embezzling their funds with an investor friend. Gin-san is undercover right now."
Okita yawned and flicked his sword away from the sheath, "I can help you deal with it now if ya want."
Shinpachi crossed his arms into an x, "No, no, there's no need for that! Just, listen." He pushed up his glasses. "I think Kagura is really upset for something you did last night."
Okita looked into the distance seeing the China girl. Her hair up in buns, wearing her typical red Chinese top and black ankle pants. One of her many Odd Jobs outfits.
They briefly made eye contact, only to quickly turn her back away from the men, hearing a clear "Hmph".
He smirked.
"She cursed your name in the morning." Shinpachi said.
Okita's smile widened.
"It's nice to know you're thinking about me, China!" He yelled out to her. However, he hasn't had the faintest clue what happened the night before.
Kagura did not move from her spot. Her arm started to move, flipping the captain off.
Over the years with their constant fights, Okita grew fond of his rival, in personality and appearance. Of course, he didn't want to rock the boat with the relationship they had. He was content with their fights and petty arguments. To do something out of character such as confessing that he wanted to take it to the next level was something he thought about, but never acted upon it. As if he would be the one to tell Kagura the puberty hit her like a truck and has a really nice set of tits, but no; he would never tell her that. Men are prideful creatures.
Okita craned his head to Shinpachi, "She'll get over it. She always does."
They heard footsteps coming down the staircase. It was Gintoki in a disguise, wearing a black wig and a large scar on his face in a pin striped western suit. He gathered his employees to debrief. The Odd Jobs owner gave the officer a nod, acknowledging his presence before walking off with his colleagues.
Okita settled back to his position about to sleep, feeling the vibration in his pocket. It was Yamazaki on the line asking for back up at his location. The officer had no choice but to put his nap on hold, sighing to head over to the spy's rendezvous point.
When Kagura turned 20, she decided to take a part-time job at bar as a hostess to make certain ends meet when things were slow at Odd Jobs. It just so happened the Shinsengumi frequently love to drink at that bar where she worked.
As the police force grew, celebrations were happening much more, that included new recruits, birthdays, and finished cases. She grown accustomed to the obnoxious customers, but it was always fun to see how much she can rack up the most tips and pay for the most expensive liquor at the bar, especially when it came down to the Shinsengumi. She thought of it as getting back the money that the "tax robbers" stole from its citizens.
Oddly enough, a certain captain of the special police squad never once was her customer. He always watched from the side, glancing occasionally to see what customer was with her, usually taking a shot or a sip of whatever was in his hands after. If it was not Kondo trying to bribe Kagura to put in a good word for him to Tae, it was some man with a fetish, for her red hair or someone with a Chinese outfit fetish. Kagura would have some satisfaction making him jealous.
She never understood why men were such cowards, it was obvious that he liked her, and she knew it. Why can't he just ask her out already or at least give an indication of interest rather than calling her names and instigating a fight? She always took to heart the advice from Tae, that men should take the lead in courting the girl. But, men like assertive woman right? No, no, no, it just meant the man was spineless and the woman wore the pants in the relationship and he would dump her immediately because of that reason. Dammit, being a girl is hard.
She got ready for work, letting her hair down and one of her hair covers on the right side, wearing her long red cap sleeve cheongsam with yellow piping. She left the Odd Jobs in a rush, forgetting her parasol to begin her night shift.
The clouds above her became more dark and gray. Kagura began to regret her decision not bringing her purple parasol, feeling a few drops on her head.
A man rushed to her direction, bumping into her shoulder hard as her hair bun cover fell off. She looked back seeing an injured captain was the one who almost knocked her off her tracks.
"Sadist?" Kagura sneered at him watching him hide in the dark alleyway.
"Ugh, not you, not right now." Okita held his arm. Blood was visibly running off between his fingers.
"You ass, I'm going to be late for work!" Balling her fist at him.
"Are you trying to get me killed?" That was an understatement.
A dozen of men armed with weapons rushed pass her. "Hey, are you looking that stupid Shinsengu—" His hand muffled her mouth, dragging her into the alley.
"You're so damn loud." His voice was slightly raised higher than a whisper.
Kagura pushed his hand off from her mouth.
The blonde captain was disheveled. He leaned his head back against the building, panting.
"What happened to you?" Sounding more pissed than concerned.
"Like it matters to you." Okita peeked into the street, finding signs of the men, "They shot me."
"Too bad they missed. They should have aimed for your chest instead."
He deadpanned, pulling her cheek.
"Ow, ow, ow, what that hell?" She exclaimed. As she finished, a clap of thunder echoed through the sky following a downpour.
"I heard something over there!" A man's voice yelled at their direction.
Okita put his hand over her mouth. Kagura shoved his hands away becoming agitated every minute she was with him.
He pulled her in close to his chest, burying her face into him just to keep her voice low, "Shut up will you."
Okita pulled the side of his coat over her body, "The hell you think you're doing?" She looked up at him, watching the droplets run down his face.
"You're so pale that your skin practically glows in the dark." He spoke down to her. "If they see us, I'll end up doing more work than I want to. I really don't wanna deal with Hijikata right now."
Kagura huffed, rolling her eyes, reluctantly obeying.
He kept an eye on the men looking for them. As he heard voices from the side streets, he pulled her closer into him.
He was warm.
Okita's shirt made it feel almost it was skin to skin to her. She could hear his heartbeat, feel him respiring against her, it was strangely soothing. This is what it feels like to be close to him. No fighting, no arguing, just comfort and pleasant silence.
"We'll split up, you take this side and we'll go to that street. Find that damn Shinsengumi brat." One of the men ordered. The captain watched as they scattered to different directions, missing the alley.
He sighed in relief, dropping his arm from her head, letting his part of his coat uncover her. He gulped, breathing heavy again, taking a few seconds to rest from the stinging of his arm.
Okita realized she was still on him. "China, you can get off me now."
There was no response.
"Hey, you deaf?" Nudging her from the side, again no response.
The captain felt her breathing heavy against him. He moved her away from his chest as her bangs shadowed her face.
"Hey, China…" Okita reached over her head with his hand, fingers surfacing her hair.
He paused, thinking she hasn't acted viciously yet.
He continued brushing Kagura's bangs aside with his fingers, gliding her hair behind her ear.
Those cerulean eyes of hers, locked into his own crimson eyes. He never seen her so fixated. Her lips were slightly parted as drops ran down her porcelain skin.
The rain continued to fall onto the ground as the sound of the water became louder.
He kept his hand on her face, looking deep into those eyes of hers closely for the first time.
Perhaps it was the blood loss talking. However, the very same girl he has fought for years had the most amazing eyes.
He stroked his thumb against her cheek, feeling the goosebumps rising on her face. Was this the moment he would cross the line of their rivalry?
Kagura opened her mouth to speak, even before a syllable left her mouth…
Okita leaned in to captivate those lips of hers.
He moved in closer to her parting her lips with his for a deeper kiss. Her lips were soft, the taste of her strawberry lip balm made it even more enjoyable.
He pulled apart looking for a reaction. Anything would do.
Her eyes darted from his half-lidded eyes to his mouth to his eyes again. Was…was that not good? As panic filled his head. She arched her feet up his height, closing her eyes, returning the kiss. Wrapping her arms around his neck to keep him close.
His body felt numb as if a bullet wasn't embedded in his arm. He pulled her in with his arms around her back, arching her up, for a more intimate contact.
Lips broke apart, both gasping, nose-to-nose looking at each other with a smitten smile written on their faces.
Kagura blinked, pulling herself back from him. She held onto his forearms, feeling her legs become tingly and unresponsive.
Okita chuckled.
"I-I… late for work." She said, not long after stumbling on her feet, catching her fall. She composed herself, "I-I have to go." Shutting her eyes tightly before running away.
He watched her leave as his mind was calibrating what just happened. His mouth was agape in disbelief.
He crossed that line.
He replayed the events in his mind. She must have enjoyed it too, right? That kiss wasn't an ordinary kiss; to share a mind-blowing kiss enough to fall to her knees was a rarity for anyone.
A vibration came from his pocket snapping him out of thoughts.
He answered the phone.
"Captain Okita, where are you? We've lost track of the rebels!" Yamazaki voice cracked.
"I lost them too." Reality set in as his arm began to sting again. "I'm going to see a medic, I'm injured."
"C-Capta—" He cut him off, flipping down the top of his phone.
Okita rummaged through his coat pocket, finding his flask, removing the cap with his teeth. He spit the cap on the ground, taking a swig of the alcohol before emptying the contents, throwing it onto his wound.
It was going to be a long night. He knew should have just stayed at that bench to sleep.
Author's Notes: "…If you think things are bad now, things are going to get a lot worse." - Gintoki
From the merchandise it looks like Okita is a happy drunk, may be a brash drunk. So how about messy, angry, drunk?
Anyway, this took me a lot longer to write where I sat in front of the screen looking at the document blankly. I wrote this weeks ago hesitating whether I should even publish it, but I made his far so, what the hell.
That it wasn't "The Notebook" type of kiss I wanted, and I thought long and hard how to compose it. (I've never read The Notebook or watched the movie.) I think kissing in the rain romantic and sad at the same time.
This story is surprisingly one of the shorter parts that I have written, and it's not going to be filled with humor and sticking true to the Gintama feel. But at least try to enjoy it as much you can.¯\_(ツ)_/¯