Chapter One

Not All Surprises Are Pleasant Surprises, Okay

It was supposed to be her day, not their day, because Shimura Tae turned 19 today, and she had some of her college friends over to celebrate. So why was she in this very compromising situation again?

Tae's senses alerted her that something was amiss when Oryou and Hanako suddenly ran behind her after the group sang her a birthday song. She felt a handkerchief cover her eyes, and felt another cloth circling her wrists as her hands were swiftly placed behind the chair's backrest. 'This is wrong in so many levels,' she cried in her mind, and she actually felt like crying when she heard the group giggling as their fading footsteps indicated their leave. The door closed, and Tae found herself bound and blindfolded in her own unit.

Happy flipping birthday, Shimura Tae, she cursed, as she tried to get herself free.

The knot was too tight, and it was beginning to burn her wrists as she struggled to untagle it. In the middle of struggling, Tae managed to hear the door open and the knob click. Her senses grew even more alert, but whoever that was, she wasn't going to let them know that she was actually fearing for her life.

"This isn't funny, you guys!" she yelled, still freeing herself from the bonds, "I swear, if I manage to escape from being tied up, I'm going to send you all flying to your respective houses, and I mean it."

But there wasn't any sound of giggling, or even a, 'Sorry, Otae-chan, we'll release you.' All she could hear aside from her chair rocking were heavy footfalls coming closer. Tae gulped.

"Oryou-chan? Is that you? Because if it is the—"

She was cut off by the tips of two fingers touching her lips. Tae bristled at the touch. Surely Oryou wouldn't do this to her.

"Unfortunately, Oryou-chan's not here anymore to save you, so until then, you're under my care," came a deep, satin-smooth voice in front of her.

Tae could feel beads of sweat forming at the side of her head, but she pretended she wasn't scared or nervous or anything.

'What on earth did I get myself into this time?' Tae scowled. "The hell are you?"

She felt two hands untangling the knot of her blindfold and with a swift movement, the handkerchief was gone. Before her stood a young man, dressed impeccably in all black—kind of like those police uniforms she saw often—and wearing a smug smirk. Tae's brows furrowed in confusion.

The policeman (or whatever this guy was, really) was handsome—Tae could give him that—but handsome or not, he was clearly trespassing private property, and not only that, the naughty grin plastered on his face spelled trouble with a capital t, italicized, bold, and underlined. Tae's suspicions grew even more when he took his black jacket off and let it fall on the floor. She glared at the stranger, but this didn't intimidate him one bit.

"Names aren't important, young lady, because after this," he paused, hands on the last button of his vest, "even you'll forget your name."

Tae couldn't help but cringe at the corny line. "Are you serious?"

The young man's hands fell on his side, as he shot her a look of disbelief. "What?"

She sighed and shook her head. "What I meant was, are you really serious about stripping in front me, an innocent and naive college girl, bound on a chair with no hope of escape, because if this is your idea of a good time? Because if you're really going to that, I'm going to scream so loud until my neighbours come barging in to save me. I'll even frame you for exhibitionism and have you arrested with a restraining order."

The threat didn't work, she could tell. After all, the young man only scoffed, as if he wasn't buying her statement at all.

"Really? You think you can do that?"

Tae grinned. "Try me."

So the young man did. He moved quickly to straddle her, and his hands immediately flew to the backrest, cornering her. Her head tilted up to meet his searing stare, and she huffed. Tae inhaled sharply, preparing herself for the bloodiest scream she'd ever do in nineteen years, but when she was about to let it out, one of his hands flew to her mouth, and only a muffled whimper escaped her lips.

"Okay, okay! I get it! Jeez!" he whined as he removed himself in front of her. "You're no fun! This isn't fun! And this uniform I borrowed is hot and doesn't even fit me perfectly!" The young man removed his vest completely and threw it on the couch. He slumped unceremoniously and leaned far back until his head reached the top of the couch's backrest. "I'm only doing this because I need to pay my bills, and this is what I get!"

The young lass shook her head and clicked her tongue. "Well, why did you even bother?"

The young man leaned over the coffee table to cut himself a slice of cake ('Rude,' Otae thought). "A man's gotta make a living to support himself for the rest of the year, ya know." He paused to eat a small portion of the sliced cake and smiled. "Ooh, it's strawberry! My favourite!"

Tae hissed. "You're welcome. Now, untie me."

But he was too consumed with his sweet treat that he was cutting himself another slice ('Really rude!'). She could only sigh.

"Who are you anyway, and who sent you to ruin my 19th birthday?" the young lass made sure that the word 'ruin' dripped with so much poison.

The young man looked up to face her. "The name's Sakata Gintoki, but you can call me Gin-san, for short. And your friend, Oryou-chan, paid me to," he lifted his free hand to mimic the symbol for quote, "'give you a good time,' on your special day."

Tae snorted and rolled her eyes. "Figures," she mumbled. 'She's going to suffer as soon as I get out of here.'

"But you know what, it's okay that nothing happened. I can't really dance to save my life," he shared nonchalantly. "I can sing, though. I like to think that I'm a pretty decent singer. Wanna hear me sing instead?"

She frowned. "No thanks, really. Just not stripping in front of me is already a gift."

Gintoki shot her a blank look. "You really are no fun."

"Yeah, and you think you're fun?" she scoffed, "anyway, can you please untie me?"

But her request fell on deaf ears.

"Hey, may I have some of the tuna sashimi? I don't really eat that often."

'Is this punk ignoring me on purpose?' her frown deepened. "Sure. But didn't you just finish eating dessert?"

He huffed. "I'm a grown man, now; don't tell me what to do."

"Well, you're in my unit so don't use that tone on me."

Gintoki only frowned and shrugged. Tae shook her head and clicked her tongue.

"Anyway, I've been telling you this since earlier, but please untie me," she quickly searched for his name in her memory, "...Gin-san."

The young man's ears perked up at the sound of his nickname. "Oh, I'm sorry. I must've missed it with all the food crying out for me to eat them." He lamely explained. Gintoki left his plate on the coffee table and stood up from the couch to walk behind Tae. In only a matter of seconds, Tae's hands were released from its bonds, and she could feel blood circulating around the area again.

"There," he said.

Tae opened and closed her hands repeatedly, a relieved look painted on her face. "Thank you, Gin-san."

Gintoki moved in front of her, smiling. "Well, I gotta go now since there's nothing going on anyway, and I'm really tired now."

Her face brightened when an idea struck her. "Hey, you can bring some of the sashimi home. And fine, maybe another slice of my strawberry cake, too."

Gintoki's face lit up at the prospect of free food, making him appear younger than he was, and for a moment there, Tae thought he looked cute.

"Are you sure?" he asked, hope written all over his face.

She giggled and nodded. So the young man helped himself.

She saw him off by the door, holding it open for him like the good hostess that she was. "Thanks for tonight, I guess?"

He shook his head. "No thank you!" He said as he lifted up the bento he was given. "Oh, and since today's your birthday, I guess I have to give you something, too."

"Oh no, Gin-san! You don't really have to!"

Gintoki fished for something inside his police uniform's breast pocket. "Hold out your hand."

The young lass was puzzled, but she did was she was told anyway. He placed a piece of crumpled paper on her open palm.

"Happy birthday!" the young man greeted her, grinning like a child, before he turned to leave.

Tae straightened the paper she was handed, and read the words written on it.

"Gin-chan, the Freelance Man," she mumbled, and her nose crinkled shortly. "What a stupid slogan."

There you go, my first Gintama fanfic (and probably my last, idk) featuring my (secret) OTP in the series (even though I actually have a crap ton of OTPs in Gintama hahaha). Please tell me what you think! :D

I know it's supposed to be Odd Jobs Gin-chan, but I just wanted to make it corny. Hoho.