Chapter 1: The Brown-Haired Lady

Author's note: I do not own anything from Gintama. Please review! This story is unbetaed. You may check out my tumblr (changed the name please take note) / wordpress / livejournal / AO3 for copies of the chapters. Trying to get into the groove of writing so that I can finish the sequel to Mitsuketa - final editing of chapter 1 ongoing. Please pray that I can!

Otae Shimura flipped her glossy brown hair over her shoulder as she admired its glow in the bathroom mirror. She swung her head from side to side, frowning when she noticed a few strands out of place…

"Fifty more brush strokes," she grunted and tightened her grip on the brush as she started to comb her hair once more. Otae felt satisfied as the strands fell back into place with her brushing. "Perfect," she smiled at her hair, marveling at its softness and inwardly threatening the strands lest they attempt to move out of order.

She then took out her pink lipstick and applied a few layers to her lips. Otae rarely wore make-up and she liked how she looked naturally. If anything, it was her hair that she spent most of her money – and time – on. Unlike Sacchan –

"Otae! It's my turn to use the bathroom!" Her lilac-haired, bespectacled friend and roommate yelled from the other side of the door as she pounded on it. "We're running late! What the hell are you doing anyway?"

She hurriedly adjusted her short-sleeved dress and brushed her hair a few more times. "That'll do," she whispered to herself then shouted back, "I have a stomach ache."

Her other friend and roommate, Mutsu – a light-brown haired beauty, huffed disbelievingly. "She's probably fretting over that hair of hers."

"I agree. It's what she always does," another of her friends and yes, roommate, Kyuubei Yagyuu muttered seriously. Her own black hair was confined in a neat ponytail.

"For god's sake, let me use the bathroom, Otae!" Sacchan screamed in frustration, ready to kick down the door. "I need to put my make-up!" Unlike her, Sacchan wore make-up every day and had no plans to go outside looking natural.

Otae sighed and opened the door but stepped out gracefully and asked her friends, "How do I look girls?"

Sacchan nudged her out of the way and scurried into the bathroom. "Great," she offered.

"You look lovely, Otae," Kyuubei added shyly, her cheeks pinkish as she refused to make eye contact.

Within seconds, Sacchan exited the bathroom and dragged Otae to the door. "Yeah, yeah, let's go! I need to buy coffee and some sweetener-"

"But I thought we were going to the park?" Otae did not fix herself up just to go to the store.

"Yes we need coffee!" Mutsu agreed. "Also get some of those cheesy bread sticks…"

"The park…" Otae grit her teeth.

"After," Sacchan promised and they finally left.

"Buy some dinner!" Mutsu yelled before the door shut behind the two girls.

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Mutsu sent Sacchan a flood of messages, each with a single word of whatever she needed or wanted from the supermarket.

Napkins.

Toothpaste.

Conditioner.

And a long list of baking stuff.

"Munemitsu you are annoying as hell," Sacchan growled and texted the same words to their friend.

"Thanks Sarutobi," was the curt reply.

Sacchan and Otae grabbed the items hurriedly, with Sacchan being clumsy and in too much of a rush. She dropped several items thrice.

"What is wrong? It's still early," Otae inquired, notably worried at her friend's expression.

"I…" Sacchan bit her lip as they sailed through the lanes. "Bansai wants to meet up soon. Sorry." Bansai Kawakami is Sacchan's long-term, slightly-demanding on and off boyfriend.

"Ugh," Otae rolled her eyes. "Booty call?"

"No!" Sacchan believed he loved her very much. He always wanted to see her. She had no doubts with their relationship. "He said he misses me."

"Are you sure?" Otae asked but received no reply. "But we still have to go to the park, okay?"

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"Let's grab the sweetener and leave," Hijikata Toshiro, or Toushi as his friends called him, growled as they sped through the store.

"Wait, wait, wait… lemme get some of the strawberry milk. I know those drinks are here somewhere…" His friend, Gintoki Sakata, was a strawberry and sweets addict. He just had to keep drinking that berry flavored dairy. "Hey, we should go get alcohol too!"

Not to mention the guy loved to get drunk.

"Hey! I thought you were weaning off alcohol?" Toushi was annoyed with people who didn't stick to rules or had bad habits. Though he was a chronic smoker himself.

"C'mon, it's just OCCASIONAL-"

"Occasional, my ass! You-" He stopped as he glimpsed the mayonnaise and grabbed a few tubes.

"You were saying?" Gintoki had a smirk that Toushi would have loved to punch.

But there were raffle entries in the bottle label to win more mayonnaise. Toushi mentally started to compute how much he could buy…

"Okay I'm leaving you at your haven Toushi while I get the sweeteners. Be right back!"

And Gintoki fled, leaving him staring at the stacks of mayonnaise waiting to be bought.

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Sacchan gasped, "Only one pack left! How could that be?" And her eager hands almost grabbed the sugar when a pair of faster, masculine hands took it from the virtually empty shelf. "Excuse me Mr. Perm-head… I was getting that."

The man who had taken the sugar was a tall, silver and curly-haired, fishy red-eyed character with a sneer on his face. "Miss Glasses, you don't have your name on it. I got it first so it's mine."

That annoyed her some more. "You immature creature, I've been planning to buy that!"

"Well you were too slow, little mouse, so deal with it." He then turned and started walking away.

Sacchan ran up to him, "How dare you leave with my sugar!"

"It ain't yours!"

Otae, who was stunned and silent for the first few exchanges suddenly regained her composure. "Um, Sacchan…"

"Oi Miss Pretty, tell your wild friend to calm down and lay off my sugar!" He certainly wasn't polite.

"What a gentleman!" Sacchan was suddenly serious. "Don't you dare speak to Otae that way. Don't you dare speak to any woman in that manner. Men like you are a disgrace. You-"

"Hey, I'm the one you attacked. I could have you arrested-" He pocketed the sugar and that intensified Sacchan's anger.

"Give it back!" She made a go for his pocket.

"For a girl, you sure are a pervert!" He tore her hands off his pants. "We could take this elsewhere, but you're really not my type-"

At that point, Sacchan lunged at him and had him on the floor, flat on his back. She attempted to dig the sugar out of his pocket while his hands shielded it from her reach.

"Sacchan!" Otae was screaming frantically, worried that they would draw the crowd's attention. But when she looked around, they apparently already had.

Gintoki had flipped her over so he was now on top, looking menacing. "Sacchan, eh? Try as you may, I won't give this sugar up." Then he paused. "Well, maybe if you were pretty or if you asked nicely but since you're such a bitch… Forget it."

Sacchan was glaring at him and breathing heavily but she did not utter a word. Otae noticed that her lower lip was trembling. Uh-oh. "Get off her!" She screamed and was on her way to pull the silver-haired man off when someone else beat her to it.

"What the hell, Gintoki? I leave you for ten minutes and then I find you harassing a girl." A tall, dark-haired and handsome man had arrived in their vicinity and he apparently knew the other guy.

"I wasn't harassing her, Toushi. It was the other way around."

"You? Harassed?" Toushi had to laugh. He turned to the ladies. "Sorry for the trouble he caused. He'll stop bothering you now."

"No problem, we'll go now." Otae said, noticing the guy's good looks. "See you around."

"Yeah, see you around," Toushi murmured, certainly hoping he'd see the brown-haired lady again soon.