Gintoki wakes up with a splitting headache, sun in his eyes, and Sakamoto snoring in his ear. He doesn't know when the other perm had rolled onto the table exactly, but he wasn't about to sit and question it. Yawning, he gets up and closes the blinds, preventing the sun from waking up Katsura like it'd done to him. Gintoki slips into his room, careful not to make too much noise, and changes his clothes to get ready for the day. It was nearing nine in the morning, a time that was typically taboo for him and once more, he doesn't know why he's awake.

He hears Katsura rustling around, getting up and fixing his sleep disheveled yukata. Buckling his belt in place, he exits his room and has to immediately stifle a laugh. Katsura's hair is poofed at the top, which, he's not quite sure how that happened considering the man typically sleeps like a statue― and there's several knots and tangles around the bottom that make him look like a child's unkempt barbie doll.

Katsura quietly clears his throat, whispering, "May I borrow leader's hairbrush?"

Gintoki gives him a Look, and proceeds to go and rummage through the bathroom's messy drawer that Kagura kept most of her girl stuff in. Nail clippers, ointment of some sort, hair ties, chalk, nail polish, his lip gloss the he uses for Paako which he'd been trying to find for at least a month now, lotion, perfume, Shinpachi's lost right sock, and a comb; that would have to do.

Heading out of the bathroom, he doesn't get but two steps in till there's a knock on the door behind him. Katsura and him exchange a glance, which told Gintoki that he hadn't felt the stranger come up either. Gintoki tosses Katsura the comb, turning around to see who the visitor was.

He slides open the door, peeking his head out, dead fish gleam in his eyes. Mutsu looks up at him, tilting her woven hat back into place. "Oh. It's you."

"I've come to collect my captain." She monotonously states.

"Please, take him." Gintoki moves aside to let her in, shutting the door behind her. Mutsu walks in, acknowledging Katsura's presence with a bow, before going over to her commander. She picks him up, putting him on her back while he continues to snore away.

"Awfully early for you two, isn't it?"

Gintoki shrugs, glancing over to Katsura who's trying to run his fingers through the knots in his hair. "Is what is it."

"Why's Katsura's hair floating?"

"Don't question my drunken masterpiece!"

She smiles, turning to leave and Gintoki follows her back to the door to see her out. "Oi."

"What is it?"

"He told us last night that he'd asked you before. I'm just letting you know that we won't turn him if you don't think he should be." Mutsu looks at him for a moment, Sakamoto drooling onto her back, then gives him a nod in reply. She leaves just as quietly and quickly as she came.

"I got you a comb, bastard. Why're you using your fingers still?"

"Because the ones in the back are hard to get out. I might be immortal, but my hair did not get any easier to maintain."

Gintoki groans, holding his hand out. "Lemme see it." Giving in with a sigh, Katsura handed him the comb. He immediately goes to work on the actual nests intertwined in the other man's hair, taking care not to pull too much on them. Not that it was tremendously hard, Kagura was always making him comb her hair for her when she was too tired or lazy to. Gintoki didn't mind, he wouldn't have his kids forever and that was okay, he was going to cherish them while he could.

"I don't know how you managed to do this."

"Alcohol works wonders." Zura states, examining the ends of his side bangs for split ends. "Not that you have much room to talk with that mop you call hair-" Gintoki yanks on the knot, ripping it free from itself― Katsura shrieks.

It's well after noon when the two finally step out of the house, Katsura leading the way. They both had woven ajirogasa hats on, partially because the sun and partially because they didn't know what they were going to find when they reached their destination. Thankfully, they blended into the crowd well; most of the populous had some sort of cover for their head, be it an umbrella or a hat, because the sun had decided to spew actual rays of fire onto Japan today. Not only that, but he was wearing his black shirt and pants, yukata properly over both shoulders to avoid the light from hitting his arms; and for the first time in fifteen years, he felt like he was sweating.

Surprisingly, even with the blaring heat, the crowds are thick and hard to navigate through. Katsura eventually ends up several yards away from him and although he has no problem keeping up, he doesn't know where he's going at all. Trying to watch for one hat in a crowd of many while not stepping on someone's foot or getting stabbed in the eye with the side of an umbrella was difficult to juggle, even for a vampire.

Someone he passes by complains about a smell and it doesn't take him but a few steps to figure out what they're talking about. It's putrid, and all too familiar. Gintoki sees Katsura walk off to the side to allow him to catch up, which he's thankful for. The stench is beginning to lodge itself in the back of his throat it's so thick, and it only gets worse when Katsura finally stops in front of the warehouse. There's no denying it, the source of whatever was contaminating the streets was inside of this building.

Katsura motions for Gintoki to follow him, and they turn into the alleys behind it, not wanting to enter from the front and cause a commotion about whatever they were about to find. Katsura motions upward to the rooftop, and in a blink, disappears with only a vague black smoke trail to follow. Gintoki's right behind him, and it takes only a second to scale the side of the building and float through the open window at the top of the roof. He's not quite sure where humans got vampires transforming into bats from, but the sight before him doesn't leave much time to question it.

There's bodies on top of bodies, at least a hundred, and Gintoki regrets teaching himself how to breathe again. The stench of corpses decaying in a sizzling hot and damp warehouse immediately brought him back to summer days on the battlefield. Except this time, it wasn't only men littered across the ground. Women, children, elderly... whole families killed in a single instant. No one was spared from whatever created the scene before them.

"This is…" Katsura trails off, not knowing where to begin. "I would imagine that our man is not breathing anymore."

"Well, we might as well check and see." He says, pushing over the body of a older man to look under him. There's blood everywhere― open, nasty slices. They were quick and easy kills. Gintoki groans as he turns over a particularly gruesome corpse. Although the people are not alive, the beast is beginning to grow impatient, needy, restless; clawing at him once more. He was planning on eating tonight, following his three day schedule like normal; but this was quickly deteriorating his tolerance. He can feel his fangs digging into his tongue, begging.

If Katsura's struggling too he can't tell, the other is too focused on finding Yushiro than anything. Meanwhile, Gintoki's just hoping he doesn't stumble upon any of his missing women in here. He's never had to tell a client before that the person they were looking for had been killed, and he certainly doesn't want to start now.

There's trampled on beds all scattered around the floor, along with various common living items like blankets, drinking bottles, silverware, plates, children's toys, and what looks like rations. These people were living here, hiding maybe, but from what? This was certainly no criminal organization like Katsura had suspected, possibly a cult of some sort, but very clearly not where gangsters and terrorists sat to discuss their next evil deeds.

"Gintoki, I found him." Katsura calls from the other side of the warehouse and Gintoki blinks over to his side. Sure enough, at his feet lay the body of Kawahara Yushiro, one of the two men that had been given to him by Otose. His face was definitely familiar, he'd seen him around the bar multiple times. "What're you thinking?"

"That there's something bigger going on in this town that we might suspect." Katsura hums in reply, agreeing. They're still missing something though, and he can't quite pinpoint what it is. There's… an echo, it's faint but most definitely not his ears playing tricks on him. It was almost as if water was gently running somewhere near them. "Oi, Zura, you hear that?"

"Indeed. I've been wondering about it, but I was too concentrated at the task at hand to look into it. I believe it's coming from below the building, look for a trapdoor or something on the ground." Katsura states, pointing in the direction he wanted Gintoki to take. "It's not uncommon for shady areas such as these to have hidden passageways in case of emergency."

Gintoki flips over a futon, dust flying up from the ground. "Well it sure did these people a bunch of good, didn't it?"

"This was most likely done by another kindred, Gintoki. That would explain why the bodies are so clustered and why the front door is still locked up tight. They probably came in from the same window we did." Katsura pauses, examining the wounds on one of the female corpses. "I'm not saying it's not possible for a human to inflict such wounds because we know it is, I just have the sense that's not what happened here."

Gintoki doesn't say anything back, opting to instead roll over bodies in search of where ever the echo was coming from. There's a cluster of supplies and boxes in one of the corners of the warehouse and tired of flipping over the dead, he blinks over to it. The obvious aroma of food from inside the wooden crates had blocked the smell of dirty water but, once he moved them out of the way, he was greeted with the lovely scent of the city's sewers. He calls Katsura over and lifts the door's cover up so the terrorist could hop down and check the inside of the tunnel.

At the same moment, there's the snap of metal on the other side of the door, and all he can do before it's slid open is kick Katsura down the hole and cover the entrance backup with boxes. "Go! I'll meet you back at my apartment!" He whispers, and the Shinsengumi burst through the door, sunlight pouring into the warehouse behind them.

"Holy shit…" Says one of the men, and it's a voice he recognizes immediately. "It's a fucking slaughterhouse in here… Shut down this area! I want it taped off at least a hundred and fifty meters down, go! Go!" Half of the men with him scurry off to go start taping the area off and Gintoki knows it's only a matter of time before their eyes adjust and he's spotted.

"F-fu-fukucho! There's a man down at the end of the warehouse, standing! He's alive, sir! Shall we go in for the arrest?!" He can see Hijikata staring at him, cigarette smoke blown out of his nose. Gintoki stares back, hoping his dead fish eyes will make him look actually dead.

"No. Not yet." The vice-commander replies, taking slow, deliberate steps towards him. "For now, go tell the shop owners around here that it's closing time. This part of the street is shut off till further notice." The remaining Shinsengumi members salute, jogging hesitantly away to go perform their orders. Hijikata hasn't taken his eyes off of Gintoki and he knows his suspicions are back. He really doesn't want to kill this man, but he will if he has to. "I knew you were a shady bastard the moment I laid eyes on you… what, three days ago? Should've arrested you on the goddamned spot."

"Officer, I believe that's against something called due process."

"It's not against something called probable cause, though." Hijikata snaps back and there's fire in his eyes. Gintoki's sure there's some in his, too, because goddamn it all― he's fucking starving. Thankfully enough, he's got one last ounce of willpower left to keep his fangs hidden to give him an actual fighting chance.

"Ooo, so scary, what are you gonna do? Search me? There's a coupon for dog food in my pocket if you want that, office-" Hijikata slams Gintoki against the metal wall, holding him with a tight grip on his throat. In another life, such brutish treatment would've hurt, but now Gintoki's only worry is playing the game. He winces, pinching his face up with a grimace, and lightly pushing on the other man's arm in a feeble attempt to move it from his neck. Gintoki's had enough practice faking human emotions, he'd been doing it even before he was turned and so far, Hijikata's eating it up.

"I'm only going to ask this once, so listen up." The grip on his neck tightens, and Hijikata spits his cigarette butt onto the ground. "What in the actual hell are you doing here, bastard?!"

"I'm looking for some of the missing women, like I'm sure you are..." Gintoki chokes out his words, deciding that even in this predicament it was better to tell Hijikata the truth. Well, most of the truth. The officer glares, and there's nails now digging into the back of his neck. "I told you, didn't I? I'm the yorozuya around here, people come to me too for their missing loved ones, and often times before you, vice-commander..."

Hijikata's face turns into something sour and he practically throws Gintoki away from the wall by his neck. He stumbles forward, rubbing the place where Hijikata's hold on him had been so the other couldn't see that there was no marks. "Oh, so I'm supposed to fucking buy that?"

"It's the truth." Gintoki retorts blandly, biting on the inside of his cheek to keep his calm while his last few nerves start to fail him.

"How the hell did you even get in here, then?"

"Front door, just like you guys."

"We had to cut the door unlocked."

"Yeah, because I locked it when I came in."

Hijikata glares again, and his hand is resting on his katana's handle anxiously, his pinky finger twitching ever so often. "Why's the window up there open?"

"Hell if I know! It was open when I came in. Why do you think the streets reek so badly, hmm?"

Hijikata's watching him, every move, every reply― all analyzed and rated within mere seconds. He kills kindred for living, he knows how they hide and lie, dancing around the truth with little games. Gintoki also knows he's walking on thin ice, but then again, what's new? He's had fifteen years to craft his masks and assume their roles, and he was confident in his acting skills.

"So you're telling me you walked in here, locked yourself in with a hundred rotting corpses stuffed in a dingy, blazing hot warehouse just so you could freely browse through bodies? Are you fucking kidding me?" Hijikata says with a bite behind it, and Gintoki can feel the tension rise in the air as the vice-commander tightens his grip on his sword. "Sounds like you're either a poor excuse for a thief, or a vampire."

Gintoki genuinely chuckles, not expecting that to be thrown out so freely. He's putting him through quite the test, Gintoki's actually pretty impressed. "Good thing I'm neither one of those."

Hijikata snorts, "So you at least know of them then. Should've seen that coming from a mile away."

"I don't know how many times I'm gonna have to repeat this for you, but I'm a Yorozuya. I have my hands in a little bit of everything."

"That doesn't sound like something you should be telling an officer."

"Oh, but it is." Gintoki begins to walk over to the body of Yushiro, Hijikata sceptically following behind him. "Kawahara Yushiro, visited the Snack Bar Otose frequently and was involved in Katsura Kotarou's gang before mysteriously going off the grid. I was looking into him as someone who could maybe been the kidnapping women but so far none of the women I've found here were the missing girls."

"You know Katsura?" Hijikata says, narrowing his eyes at him questioningly. Gintoki just holds his hand up, stopping the thought process of the other.

"I know of Katsura." There's another sceptic glare and Gintoki knows that Hijikata's a little interested in him, or at least with the intel he has on the situation. "So far, we've got over ten women kidnapped off of Edo streets and men are being cold bloodedly massacred in alleys. Now―" Gintoki waves an arm to the bodies littered around him. "We've got this whole situation to deal 's no way in hell all of this is not connected, don't you think so, officer?"

Hijikata doesn't say anything, instead he watches Gintoki smirk, stepping over a body to get face to face with the vice-commander. "You need me, Hijikata. Where you can't cross the line, I can." There's a pur in his voice, a enticing smirk on his lips― a charm he mastered to feed was now being used to keep him hidden and possibly, to save his life. He tilts his hat back to look more inviting, whispering, "We'd make a great team, Hijikata-kun..."

Hijikata doesn't say anything, turning away from him and lighting up a cigarette as he walks to the entrance. "If you find something, then come to me. Other than that, leave it to the police."

Gintoki follows after him, a slight skip in his step. "Am I getting paid for the information I give you?"

"If you're not satisfied with staying out of jail, I can handcuff you right now. Let's see, trespassin-"

"No! No, I'm good."

"And just to be clear, this doesn't absolve my suspicion of you being a kindred, Yorozuya..." Hijikata states, walking to one of the patrol cars and pulling some papers for Gintoki to fill out. "Now, I'm just gonna need you to complete these, and we-" The vice-commander turns around, pen in hand, and a perm nowhere to be found.

He's fucking starving and he can't handle being near that warehouse one more goddamn second. He needs to eat soon or else the next person he drinks from he's absolutely going to drink dry. He knows his eyes are glowing, and he's already cut multiple slits down his bottom lip to keep the beast at bay for a while longer. He's killed many, but never with his curse and he's not about to start now.

He's blinking through the alleys, turning corners and watching unsuspecting Shinsengumi officers pass by on the street. All he needs is one person. It shouldn't be that hard, why was it now? Pretty soon he was going to run out of alley and he really didn't want to have to do his normal routine, he didn't have the time nor the patience for it.

He comes to the end of alley and curses, tilting his hat down lower, relying on his senses to guide him across the street without drawing too much attention to himself. He needs to get to the other side of the street, to the other alleyways, and it's a struggle to just not trip over his own feet. However, his hearing is doing a good job at keeping him away from the bustling and fast crowd, and be it the beast's heightened hunger or him actually just paying attention, he makes it through with more ease than expected. He practically sprints further back into the entanglement of businesses and houses, and it's then when he hears the wet flop of a cloth being wrung out and hung to dry.

Gintoki's head shoots up, there's a woman, her door open, there's… only one other person in the top level of the house with her. Glancing quickly to make sure she was the only one who could see him, he blinks up to her, checking before he went in for the meal if the other person was around to see them. She opens her mouth to scream but it's quickly silenced by a hand and the shoot of pain that runs down from her neck to her toes; lingering like an electric shock. He walks her back into the house slowly, before she inevitably goes numb in his embrace.

It feels so good to drink. Like a fireplace, it's warm and inviting.

The beast is so hungry. It's clawing at him, not satisfied with these small snacks. It wants a life, and Gintoki's more than willing to give into the demands. He could kill her... he could kill her. It would be so easy to just let go and―

Suddenly, there's a cry and his head recoils away from the woman's neck like he'd been struck, looking up for its source. It cries again, and right next to the bed laid the source of the sound. His stomach dropped as he watched the baby whimper, squirming in its crib, it's mother unconscious and weak in his arms. Overcome with guilt, he places the woman on the bed and grabs one of the wet rags she was going to hang up, rubbing the blood off the side of her neck before folding it and placing it on her forehead. He cuts his lip again, rubbing his own blood in the marks, and he stays by her side till the wounds heal, hanging up the rest of the clothes to dry before he left.