And here's another one for the Day 4 prompt.

Very cheesy, forgive me. I usually don't do this kind of scene for my otp but meh. I don't think it'll hurt if I write one once in a while. (Protip: the Japanese are not very romantic by nature (married couples do not even say 'I love you' to one another), and you'll hardly see the couples kiss in a lot of drama)

Anyway, as usual, Japanese pop culture references throw in. Bear with me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gintama. It belongs to Sorachi Hideaki.

Tabasco

OkiKagu Week 2014, Day 4 Prompt: Candy Apple

"Stop copying me."

Those were the first three words she uttered towards the sadist when they saw one another during the local festival in Edo. She had been with her Yorozuya family (even Sadaharu went with them, despite the sheer panic that it caused among the locals) for most of the evening until they, as always, would somehow manage to cross paths with the tax robbers.

Right now, she was currently eating a candy apple, and seeing the sadist eating one had pissed her off.

She wouldn't consider it a coincidence; the guy was probably doing it to piss her off.

But before that… why was he and the other tax robbers here anyway?!

She wasn't sure if they were using some kind of Yorozuya radar to track them, but every single time they went out, the tax robbers did too.

"Grow up. Just because I'm eating this too doesn't mean I'm 'copying you'." He shot back, finishing the candy apple and throwing the stick away.

Suddenly, the tension thickened.

As always, whenever the two groups would meet up, some kind of disaster would happen; this time around, Gin-chan and Mayora began to bicker with one another. Gorilla, on the other hand, went up to anego and started harassing her. Irritated, Shimura Otae began kicking him repeatedly for sweet talking his way to win her affection. The two plain people in their respective groups (Shinpachi and the Shinsengumi Shinpachi that did not wear glasses) tried to calm everyone down, but failed, as their antics started attracting attention. Feeling the second-hand embarrassment for them (seriously, the adults could learn from the younger ones at times), she began to walk away. Just when she was about to go back to food stalls, with Sadaharu following her, someone called her out.

"China."

She looked back to see Sadist wearing a moss-green yukata, his arms crossed in front of him, while an oni mask, the ones that a lot of children sported during festivals, hung on the side of his head. She snorted softly at how someone like him still had those on.

"What now?" she snapped, suddenly feeling self-conscious of her appearance, as she opted to have her hair tied up in a single bun on top of her head while the yukata she wore, a plain pink yukata that had no design nor pattern on it, made her feel inferior compared to the yukata that the other girls wore, which had flower prints on it.

He shrugged. "Seems like they're preoccupied. Might as well hang out." He gave Sadaharu a soft pat on the side of his face, and she could have sworn that her pet had quite like it, for Sadaharu slightly closed his eyes at the contact.

"Fine. Then it falls on you to treat me! Gin-chan promised to feed me all the food I want!"

He absent-mindedly peeked at his wallet and grinned to himself after seeing a lot of paper bills. "Sorry China, but I'll only feed you candy apples."

"Then you can't hang out with me." She said haughtily.

"Suit yourself then." As soon as he began to walk away from her, her stomach growled loudly, making him snort.

Typical China. He counted to ten, waiting for her to approach him.

On the sixth count, she said, "… Fine, candy apples it is."

He hoped that when she said the word 'apples', she would only take three at most.

Not one, but eight.

With each stick of the candy apple inserted in-between her fingers, Okita Sougo could only stare in disbelief at how greedy China could be when it came to food. Thankfully, he had been able to pay for all of it, as he prepared cash beforehand, but still…

He liked sweets, but not to the extent of ordering eight of the same thing at the same time. Granted, he had one candy apple earlier, but the one he was eating right now did not count.

He preferred to have some kind of variety, mind you.

Sighing, he slowly munched on the single candy apple that he bought for himself for the second time that night as he sat down on one of the empty benches, which were a bit far from the festival grounds. China, on the other hand, sat beside him, already on her third candy apple, while her pet was eating some yakitori, which he had also bought. Sadaharu, at least, had been grateful, for the inugami licked his face over and over again in gratitude as he handed him three sticks of grilled chicken thigh, while his owner had been very demanding with her food order, not even saying 'thank you'.

Well, he'd teach her a lesson soon enough—

"I'm hungry again." She announced, while he himself had barely started eating his candy. "I want more."

"You'll get sick." He told her with a bored tone as he slowly munched on his food.

She ignored him. "Lemme have a bite of that apple." She said, snatching the stick from him before he could protest, making a massive bite on the fruit. Smirking at him triumphantly, she handed back the now half-eaten candy apple and began to chew, looking very proud of herself…

… until her eyes began to water.

"W-w-w-what the hell did you put in this candy app—" she started coughing.

"… Tabasco." If there was one thing China did not know about him, it was his obsession with tabasco, a trait he got from his older sister, god bless her soul. [1]

"You… you…! You did that on purpose!" she yelled at him as her lips began to look quite puffy, and he resisted the urge to laugh out loud.

"I happen to like putting spicy condiments on my sweets." He informed her. "Your fault for being greedy. Serves you right."

"Damn you…!" she knew it was her fault, but damn him for doing this to her. "You stupid sadi—" Kagura had been unable to form the words as she began to cough violently.

"… You need a drink. Stay put." Without waiting for her response, he stood up and walked away.

Despite wanting to leave because she knew that there was a chance that he would walk off and leave her coughing for hours, Kagura did what he told her to do. She knew it really was her fault, but there was no way in hell she would let him know that he was right. Honestly, she was hungry, and Gin-chan did promise her all the food she could eat, but damn him for getting distracted…!

Minutes later, Sadist was back, and was holding a bottle.

"Here." He handed her a bottle of some white liquid as he sat down beside her again on the bench.

"What the heck is this?" she managed to ask before coughing once more. "Milk?"

"They don't sell milk during festivals, China." He informed her, his tone sarcastic. "But that's still a good substitute… even if it's watered down." Sougo told her, referring to the bottle of Calpis Water [2] that he handed her.

She gave him a suspicious look.

"You can always give me that if you're not gonna drink—" immediately after he said those words, she twisted the bottle cap open and chugged the contents.

"Leave some for me."

She stopped drinking just to say, "HAH! NO." Seconds later, the female Yato managed to empty the bottle of its contents, making his left eye twitch in anger. "Serve you right, you stupid—" before she could yell at him for sitting way too close at her, he had grabbed her shoulders, leaned forward, and kissed her on the lips.

For once, she had been too shocked to move, and just before she felt her hands move towards the sleeve of his yukata, he pulled back, his eyes filled with… some kind of emotion that she couldn't pinpoint. "… That was the last bottle of Calpis Water they were selling at a cheap price, and you just had to be greedy again."

She didn't bother telling him that he had essentially given it to her, which meant it was hers the moment he handed it to her. Instead, she glared at him as best as she could, trying to fight the blush that was making its way to her face. "What the hell was that all about?!"

"Obviously, I wanted some Calpis Water, but since you're greedy, I had to help myself with whatever was left of it." He told her nonchalantly. "Thanks to you, I have to suffer through the night with nothing to counter the spiciness of my candy." With the candy apple still in his hand, he finished the whole thing after a few bites, threw the stick at the nearby bin, which was already overflowing with trash, and was making his way towards the place where one could clearly see the fireworks without any obstruction.

She was just about to tell him to drink water, but knew that it did nothing to ease the burning sensation of the tabasco sauce, as the same thing happened to her before, when he played that tabasco trick on her by lacing the cakes be brought to the Yorozuya with the spicy condiment.

… Guess I have no choice. Why did the burden fall on me anyway?!

With that, she made a decision. Clutching the sleeves of her pink yukata, she followed right after him, Sadaharu just right behind her.

"Sadist." She called out.

Before Okita even had the chance to look back at her, she grabbed his face and pressed her lips against his, tilting her head to the side, forcing his mouth open with her tongue. Immediately, she felt an arm circle around her waist, and he pulled her closer, deepening the kiss. They only parted after several minutes, their foreheads touching one another, breathing heavily.

"… Remind me to feed you a tabasco-coated candy apple next year too."

Notes:

This whole thing was inspired by a commercial (type in カルピス CM over at Youtube; click the one with the title '能年玲奈 ＣＭ集 カルピスウォーター 全6Ver. 2014', and watch the video from 1:29). I've been watching the CM since it came out last July (the train I ride going to my part time shows this every single time), and it never fails to amuse me that they used the sempai trope for it.

The song being played during the commercial is entitled 'Love Song wa Tomaranai yo' by Ikimonogakari.

[1] If there was one thing China did not know about him, it was his obsession with tabasco, a trait he got from his older sister, god bless her soul. - Official art had been depicting Okita Sougo loving the tabasco condiment since 2010, and it has been consistent (the latest one, a handkerchief, did not show him holding a bottle of tabasco, but looked like he was enjoying a local spicy cuisine, while Hijikata and Kondo were breathing out fire like dragons).

I do think this guy loves spicy things, just like his older sister.

[2] Calpis Water - rather popular drink in Japan. It's called 'Calpis Water' because it has been diluted. The pure Calpis drink needs to be diluted, which involves a glass and a lot of ice cubes, so for the people on the go, they have Calpis Water. Another variety of Calpis is 'Calpis Soda'.

Thanks for reading!