In the cloudless, moonless night in Yoshiwara, with only dim street lamps to light the dark, empty streets, a man and a woman walked, arm in arm. The woman was severely drunk. Often, she stumbled over her own feet with only the arm of the man, which she was grasping, to keep her from falling. She would giggled each time, loudly to herself, at her own clumsiness. The man himself didn't show any signs of intoxication and had a grin on his face as he watched the girl make a fool of herself.

The man led her further down the empty street and steered her down an unlit alley. She followed without objection and just giggled again when she bumped into the building on her right because the alley was so narrow. In her drunken haze she wondered where they were going, but she thought that nothing was amiss because he had generously paid for the night. However this was one of the most unusual customers she had ever been with. Most paid by the hour but he had paid, upfront, for the whole night and then took her out drinking and dancing. There were only a few more hours until dawn and, other than when they were on the dance floor, he hadn't even touched her. The sound of his voice brought her out of her drunken musings.

"I hope that you enjoyed yourself tonight my dear," he said to her, stopping abruptly.

"Oh I had a great time lover boy," she answered him in a manner in which she thought was sexy but was nothing more than some stumbling movements and slurred speech. "Maybe now it's your turn for some fun."

Since he had stopped she assumed that this was where he wanted it. This was Yoshiwara and it was hardly the first time that a man had wanted her in an alley. Some didn't have the money for a proper room and others enjoyed the thrill of being out in public. Obviously this man had enough to afford a room so she guessed that he was an exhibitionist. She started to loosen the obi on her kimono as she backed away from him so that she could give him a bit of a show.

"Maybe this is what you want lover?" she asked as the kimono slid from her body. She stood naked in the alley with the only light, coming from a lantern at the alley's mouth, forming a silhouette of her body.

In the dark the man smiled. For a cheap whore she was pretty. "You are truly a beautiful creature." He told her as he walked towards her.

She reached up towards his face as he approached her. A look of surprise flashed on her quickly, sobering face as a dagger stuck in her throat. She tried to let out a scream but the dagger wouldn't let her. He whispered soothing words into her ear and lowered her to the ground, gently, as her arms flailed about uselessly. Soon the world was fading away and finally she laid still with her eyes staring deadly into space.

When the body was found in the morning by the Hyakka she still laid there, naked, with the dagger still lodged in her throat; her open eyes staring up toward the bright blue sky. Her kimono was gone, but her money was scattered on and all around her. Pinned up above her to the wall of the alley with another dagger was an envelope. Written in blood red letters on the envelope was the name GINTOKI.

.X.

The knocking at the door got louder and louder. It was mid morning and Gin was trying his best to stay asleep, but the unrelenting banging forced him to come to the realization that he was very much awake. Cursing under his breath, as he got up, he hoped that it wasn't Otose looking for more rent money and if the offender was a door to door salesman he was pretty sure that he was going to be arrested for murder today. Why did he have to give Kagura the day off today?

"I don't have any money for rent you old hag!" Gin yelled at the wooden sliding door as he approached it still wearing his pajamas.

He reached out and slammed the door open. Standing there was a sight much better than the more than slightly aged landlord, but only a bit less dangerous. Tall, for a woman, and only slightly shorter than Gin, she stood confidently wearing right sleeveless black kimono with an orange leaf pattern with a slit on the right side up to her hip. She smoked on a plain wooden kiseru with iron capped ends and her blond hair was tied up with a small pair of kunai. She was beautiful despite the pair of scars on her face. Gin recognized her immediately as Tsukuyo, the leader of the Hyakka from Yoshiwara.

"I'm sorry I don't want any Girl Scout cookies," Gin told her and promptly tried to close the door.

Tsukuyo reached out and grabbed the door stopping it from closing. "I'm not a Girl Scout," she responded seriously.

Struggling further to close the door he yelled, "I'm not interested in anything else you might be selling."

She raised her voice in response, "You know I don't sell anything including the thing that your dirty mind seems to think that I would sell and even if I did you couldn't afford me." To stop him from closing the door she got herself in the doorway and used both arms to keep it open.

"You're right. I can't afford to have you in my life. You should just leave. Leave and find someone else to ply your trade to." Gin lifted up his foot and pushed her out of the doorway and slammed the door shut.

"Gintoki," Tsukuyo yelled to be heard through the door. "I've got a letter for you!"

"If that is so then you should leave it in my shoe box like other girls," he answered sarcastically.

"It isn't a love letter. It's a message left by a killer with your name on it."

Gin opened his door again and took the proffered envelope. Sure enough written in red ink was his name. He turned the envelope over and found that it had already been opened. He looked up at her and she just looked back at him unabashed. He opened it and found it empty. It was just an envelope with his name written on it.

"Oi, where is the letter? What is the point of giving me an empty envelope? Are you just trying to mess with me or is this some new way to recruit customers?" He asked her with his voice filled with suspicion and shock.

"There was no letter. An empty envelope with your name on it was found at three different murders over the last three nights. All of them were courtesans, all three were found naked and all three were killed with a dagger shoved to the hilt into their throat," she explained.

"I'm sorry but Yorozuya Gin is closed today." Gin turned around to head back to his office, but left the door open. Tsukuyo took this to be an invitation to enter his apartment and followed him.

"All I have to offer you to drink is some strawberry milk. Shinpatchi usually makes tea but he took a sick day or something and it's too much of a pain." He said all of this with his back turned as he rummaged though his refrigerator.

She sat down on his couch comfortably with her legs stretching out on to the cushions. She refilled her kiseru and lit it. Tobacco smoke soon filled the air. "I don't need anything. I'm fine."

Gin brought a quart of strawberry milk back to his desk and sat down. "So tell me what you came to see me about."

"I thought that you might know the killer since he seems to know you. All I need for you to do is tell me who he is. After that we of the Hyakka will bring him to justice." Tsukuyo blew a ring of smoke into the air. "If you can identify him then I will be out of your hair."

"I can't identify someone from an empty envelope." Gin took a big swig from the carton of milk and then asked, "Are there any other details?"

"All three daggers are identical in design. All three of them have a silver pommel with silver inlay work on the hilt." She got up and walked to Gin's desk. She pulled one of the daggers out and placed it onto the table. "Also, although he took their kimonos, he left their money as if he carelessly threw it on them."

Gin finished the carton and threw it across the room into the trashcan. "None of this rings a bell to me. Sorry I can't help you. Now if you will excuse me I think the latest issue of Jump came out today. You don't have a few hundred yen I could borrow do you?"

"I had hoped that you would have known something. I am sorry to have wasted your time," she apologized. Tsukuyo turned to leave and Gin walked her to the door. "It was good to see you again. You should come down to Yoshiwara more often."

"I don't have that kind of money," he replied while picking the wax from his ears.

"Then keep the dagger. Maybe you'll be able to pawn it off or something. When you do, come and I will give you a good price."

Tsukuyo made her way down the stairs from his porch on the second floor, leaving Yorozuya without a backwards glance. Gin watched her go. After making sure that she was out of site he slid the door shut. He slowly made his way down the hall, back to his desk, deep in thought. He stood there for a moment and sighed as he reached out and picked up the dagger still there. He studied the blade for only a moment before he returned to his bedroom to get changed.

After donning his usual black shirt and pants Gin shrugged on his white kimono with blue wave patterns near the ankles and wrists. He removed his right arm from the sleeve and tied his kimono closed with a black obi and strapped a black belt to hold his bokuto with Lake Toya inscribed in kanji on the hilt. He returned back to his desk and picked up the dagger laying there and tucked it behind his back. It looked like he wasn't going to be able to relax today.

The Kabuki district was bustling as Gin made his way through the street. The voices of the venders hawking their wares could barely be heard over cacophony of people going about their business. People from many walks of life walked these streets. In this district a person could find a chance to hide from their past. It was by no means a place for the faint of heart but a person, with enough mettle, could start over with few to no questions asked. The man Gin was looking for was a man who excelled at evading the law and used the Kabuki district to his advantage in doing so. He was the leader of the Joi and went by the name of Katsura Kotaro.

Katsura, or Zura as he's known, stopped by Yorozuya often to attempt to convince Gin to join the Joi, his squad of rebels trying to throw the yoke of Amanto influence off of the necks of Edo and the rest of Japan. Just yesterday Zura paid him a visit. He felt it necessary to keep Gin up to date on his life and mentioned that he started to work at the Kammako Club, a well know tranny bar, to replenish the Joi's funds. Itwas for this reason that Gin knew where to look for the elusive man.

It wasn't long before Gin was standing at the entrance of the Kammako Club. He felt a little apprehension before going in. It wasn't the employees that bothered him per se. It had more to do with his memories of working there. Saigou, the owner of this establishment, forced him to work here to teach him a lesson in respect and while he didn't necessarily respect the tranny lifestyle he did respect Saigou and he doubly made sure to show it to huge tranny whenever they met.

Since it was early afternoon the bar was nearly void of customers. The few there were chatting jovially and drinking with a couple of the hostesses in a corner. One of the hostesses, Ayumi, greeted Gin as he entered.

"Welcome to the Kammako Club, Gin. What will be your pleasure," Ayumi asked him with a bow. Ayumi tried hard to be feminine but his face, especially his chin, had a very masculine look to it.

"Yo, Ayumi, I'm looking for Zura."

"Hmm, Perhaps you mean Zurako?" the hostess asked?

"Yeah, sure, whatever," he answered. "If you could just point me in the right direction..."

"Zurako's shift doesn't start for another twenty, or so, minutes but since it is you, I am sure she wouldn't mind you taking a peek in the dressing room."

"Uh, thanks," Gin said without much enthusiasm. He moved past Ayumi towards the back rooms that were normally off limits to the regular customers.

The locker room looked like most. There were lockers lining the back wall and backless benches formed two rows in the center of the room. However there were notable differences. There were mirrored makeup stations along the side walls and, also, the musky smell that was normally attributed to male locker rooms was mixed with cheap perfumes. It was also very messy with a mix of both male and female clothes and unmentionables sca

ttered on the floor and laying on the benches. Often the job of keeping the locker room clean fell to the new employees as a way of initiation.

Gin easily noticed Katsura at one of the makeup stations to his right. Katsura was dressed in a red lined, blue kimono that had an orange lotus blossom pattern. His yellow obi was tied with a red obijime with a small bow facing the front and his green obiage could clearly be seen from underneath his obi. He seemed to be placing the finishing touches to his glossy, long hair and makeup by applying a purple shade of lipstick to his lips.

"Oi, Zura, you really go all out. Perhaps your taste in clothes is changing. Have you started wearing matching panties and bra too? Huh?" the sarcasm dripped from Gin's voice.

"It is not Zura, it is Katsura," his automatic reply came as he stood up to face his old friend; ignoring everything else Gin had said. "It is rare that you come to see me, Gintoki. Have you changed your mind and come to join the Joi?"

"No no no no no no no no no no no," the siver haired man emphatically denied, "Though I did come here on business."

"Make it fast, Gintoki. My shift starts soon and this place wouldn't hire Elizabeth so I am the only one working. I can't afford to be fired. I told him not to wear so much makeup during the interview. He should have gone with a more natural look like I did."

"There is nothing natural about you," he replied. "I doubt it was just that thing's makeup that cost it the job. Regardless," Gin continued, "there have been some murders in Yoshiwara and the killer left an empty envelope with my name on it and this dagger." Gin pulled the ornate blade from his belt, showed it to Katsura and asked, "You recognize it, don't you?"