.

CHAPTER III

(***)

The town park was quite lively that late afternoon. Not too crowded, but definitely not too quiet either. There were children playing on the playground. The sounds of their whines and giggles adding to the surrounding ambience could be heard clearly from where Gintoki was sitting on one of the park benches. Looking to his right, he saw a group of teenage boys hanging out a few distance away. Gintoki could hear their cat calls every now and then, every time there were cute girls happened to be jogging past them. There were also some senior citizens, occupying some of the other benches around Gintoki, reading newspapers, or just idly chatting with each other. It was a pleasant and peaceful afternoon.

It's unfortunate that Gintoki didn't have such level of peacefulness on his mind right now. He had been fidgety ever since he arrived there almost half an hour ago. Actually he had been restless all day, he hadn't even been able to concentrate on his work at the factory earlier that day. He couldn't get his mind off the event that had happened yesterday. What kind of explanation would Katsura-san give him about that? The two men who had pursued the man yesterday, they were from the police, right? Why was his childhood friend wanted by the authorities? No matter how hard Gintoki tried to come up with an explanation, he kept coming back to the conclusion that Katsura-san must be some kind of a wanted criminal.

So, the man was a criminal? No, Katsura-san didn't have any sort of bad guy vibe about him. If anything, the man had been really nice to Gintoki. The nicest person he had ever met. Well, the nicest person he had ever met since the day he had lost his memories, at least. And well yeah, okay, his boss was really nice too, for giving him a job and all. But anyway, he couldn't imagine the same man who had happily shared his snack with some random stray cat was capable of doing any major crime worthy of being pursued by some police officers with a bazooka in tow.

Gintoki heaved a long sigh. But then again, Katsura-san had admitted that he had been the one who had caused the second explosion yesterday. But how? Gintoki hadn't seen the man carrying a bazooka like that teenage cop yesterday. Had the man carried bombs around with him? What kind of person would carry bombs around?

Gintoki shook his head fiercely. No, no, no, no, he was just thinking too far... Wasn't he?

What bothered him the most was how Katsura-san had insisted Gintoki should deny any association with him if the police ever ask him about it again. Why didn't his childhood friend want the police to know about their relationship? They had even run away separately because the other man had insisted the two of them should not be seen together.

And there's also a possibility that Katsura-san had lied to him. If he had allowed himself to think clearly, it might not be too difficult to find common sense. The two pursuers from yesterday were police officers, after all. In cases like this, the police officers had to be the good guys, right? Police fight crimes. Police arrest murderers and crooks. Police pursue criminals...

He roughly threaded his fingers through his unruly hair. Damn it, why had he trusted the long-haired man so easily, again? For all Gintoki knew, the man could be a cold-blooded serial killer. And the man would never come to this park to meet Gintoki just like he had promised yesterday. What if the man was out murdering his next victim right at this moment, while Gintoki obediently sat there patiently waiting for him like an idio-...

"Hey, Oniichan..."

Gintoki felt a tug on his kimono sleeve and looked down to see a little girl looking up at him with big round eyes, furrowing her eyebrows slightly. She was probably about five or six years old, Gintoki guessed.

He blinked, mentally clearing his mind from his previous negative thoughts, and smiled down at her, "Yes?"

"Are you okay?" the little girl tilted her head slightly, looking cautious. "You've been acting weird..."

"W-weird...?" Oh, shoot. Gintoki couldn't even remember what exactly he had been doing up until the little girl had come up to him.

"Y-you shook your head over and over, and then you sighed loudly, and then you gripped your hair... Does your head hurt?"

Ah, so that's what he had been doing?

"O-oh... Haha, I'm fine. I was just thinking about something. I'm sorry if I bothered you, little lady." He smiled and patted the little girl's head. "What's your na-... Ack!"

He felt something powdery being thrown at his face, so he immediately withdrew his hands to his eyes. Some of the powdery stuff had got into his mouth, nose, and eyes, resulting in Gintoki sputtering and frantically wiping his eyes.

"Run away, Haruna-chan! This guy is a bad guy!"

Only when his eyes got slightly more accommodating to see did Gintoki finally see the two little boys currently standing on either side of the little girl, looking hostile. One had light-colored hair, while the other one's hair is darker. He looked at his own hands and found sands on them. The kids had to have obtained them from the nearby playground, Gintoki thought.

"W-why are you throwing sands at me?" He sputtered, feeling his eyes sting and burn and get all teary because of the sudden assault.

The dark-haired boy gasped, "See? He even got red eyes! His hair is white and his eyes are red! He's definitely a demon!"

The boy then swung a club and hit Gintoki's arm, making him yelp in pain. Great, so this kid's got a club too, Gintoki thought bitterly. It was just a small club, more like a stick actually, but it can still leave bruises on people if you hit them hard enough.

"He must have been chanting some evil charm when he kept moving his head weirdly just now!" The light-haired boy exclaimed and then threw more sands at Gintoki.

"N-no, I'm-... S-stop it!" Gintoki was trying to block their attacks the best he could.

His plea didn't seem to work as the little boys kept on assaulting him, while the little girl had run away, looking scared. The people around him seemed to be too busy doing their own activities to notice Gintoki's predicament. Well, it probably looked like Gintoki was just playing with the kids to them. His assaulters were just little kids, so Gintoki didn't know what he should do to stop them without hurting them in return.

So they thought he's a demon? But what kind of kids would attack a demon when they see one? Didn't their parents ever tell them to just run away?

"What is happening here?"

Gintoki's heart skipped a beat when he heard the familiar smooth and silky voice. He immediately looked up and was surprised to see, through his teary vision, a man wearing a long dark coat with a pair of trousers, and a pair of equally dark-colored boots. The white, and very neat, cravat around his neck looked like it required a lot of effort with intricate hand work to put on. The elegance of the white cravat was however contrasted by the black eye patch with a skull motif on it, covering the man's left eye. On his right cheek, there was a marker-drawn diagonal line which probably was supposed to look like a scar. Gintoki wiped his eyes in an attempt to confirm what he saw. Overall, the man looked like a.. pirate?

"K-katsura-.. san?" Gintoki hesitated.

The get-up got Gintoki hesitating, but the long silky black hair, the porcelain white skin, the one visible brownish emerald orb, and the silky smooth voice... There's no mistake, the man was definitely Katsura-san.

"It's not Katsura-san," the man deadpanned, "It's Captain Katsura."

Gintoki spent the next couple of seconds blinking and staring dumbly at the man in front of him. The first time Gintoki had seen him, the man had been a cabaret club promoter, and the next time a monk, and now he's a pirate captain? Indeed, Gintoki had been told that Katsura-san did various kinds of job, but did the man really possess such a wide range of skills and qualifications to switch jobs between a promoter, a monk, and a pirate captain whenever necessary? That's really amazing... if not bizarre. But then again, it's also possible that the man had just got back from a cosplay party or something. Just because someone dressed like a pirate didn't necessarily mean that they're a real pirate, after all.

He then realized that the kids had stopped their assaults and was gawking at the newcomer as well.

"You haven't answered my question," The long-haired man finally said, breaking the silence. "What is happening here?"

That seemed to remind the little boys of their on-going task and proceeded to continue their temporarily halted assault on Gintoki.

"Demon! Go away, white-haired demon!"

"I-I'm telling you, I'm not a demon!" Gintoki shielded his eyes from the light-haired kid's sands attack with his left hand and grabbed the dark-haired kid's stick with his right hand. The kid let go of the stick and proceeded to kick his shin and hit his arm with his bare hands instead. "Ack!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, kids." Katsura-san said nonchalantly, but firm and loud enough for them to hear.

The kids stopped upon hearing those words. The light-haired kid had his hand stop midway in the air with a handful of sands in it, while the dark-haired one had somehow managed to climb on the bench and had grabbed a handful of Gintoki's hair in his fist.

Seeing that he had gotten the little boys' attention, Katsura-san continued, "Or you'll end up like me and my friend over here."

Only then did Gintoki notice the enormous white duck-penguin mutant standing behind Katsura-san.

"[ Hello! ]" read the writing on Elizabeth-san's board.

The kids gasped loudly and cowered away from Katsura-san and his so-called pet. The dark-haired kid let go of Gintoki's hair, and Gintoki used the opportunity to massage his scalp and wipe the sands off his face.

"W-what happened t-to you two?" The light-haired kid stuttered.

Katsura-san sighed and his expression turned grim, "A long, long time ago, we were just two normal young boys. But we made a mistake by bullying an innocent man..." He dramatically shook his head and continued, "We also thought that he was a demon, but he actually was not. That made God angry, and He cursed us!"

"C-cursed?" The dark-haired kid had gone down from the bench and stuck close to his light-haired friend.

"Yes." Katsura-san gestured to Elizabeth-san, "He was once a normal human, but he was cursed and turned into this creature. He even lost his ability to speak..."

The white duck-penguin raised his board, "[ It's true! ]"

The boys visibly flinched in horror at Elizabeth-san's every move.

"T-then, what about you?" The dark-haired boy asked Katsura-san.

The long-haired man sighed sadly, "I… Now I have to wear this eye patch all the time, because…" The man purposefully paused in what Gintoki supposed an attempt at creating a dramatic effect. "My left eye will shoot laser beam and destroy everything in front of me if I don't cover it!"

Silence ensued. Gintoki held his breath and waited for the kids' reaction. Would they believe Katsura-san's words?

"What?" The light-haired boy finally questioned, looking incredulous.

"You don't believe me?" Katsura-san looked offended, "If that's so…" The man then walked closer and bowed down, hovering just above the two little boys, touching his eye patch with his fingers teasingly, "Shall I open this eye patch so my laser beam would turn the both of you into smithereens?" He said in a low, threatening voice.

"Aaaarrrgghh…!" The little boys shrieked and promptly fled.

Gintoki let out a sigh of relief once the kids were out of sight. Thank God they're finally gone, pretty much unharmed. Katsura-san straightened up and turned to Gintoki, reaching his hand to grip Gintoki's upper arm, urging him to get up.

"Come, we need to wash the sands off your eyes immediately."

The raven-haired man guided him to the nearest water faucet. He was grateful for it because his eyes were such teary mess and his vision was blurry, so he would be having a hard time trying to locate the faucet on his own.

Gintoki bowed down to wash his eyes and felt the stinging sensations gradually eased up. While he continued washing his face and neck, Gintoki felt Katsura-san's hand on his shoulders, brushing the sands off them. The hand then brushed its way up to his nape, and even further up to his hair. Gintoki felt the slim fingers on his scalp, threading his hair, ruffling it, trying to brush off the sands the best they could.

Gintoki found himself washing his face just a little bit longer.

"I thought we're supposed to throw salts at demons." He heard Katsura-san remarked. "Do sands actually work too?"

Gintoki finally turn the faucet off and straightened up, feeling the other man's hand leaving his hair. "Those kids seemed to think they do." He wiped some of the water droplets on his face with the back of his hand and gave a small smile, "Or probably sands just happened to be the only powdery substance they could find at the playground."

He then watched as the other man untied the cravat around his neck and then handed it to Gintoki, "Here. Use this to wipe the water off your face."

"N-no, no… It's fine." Gintoki refused the offer. How could he use the very white and the very neat cravat which looked so very nice around Katsura-san's neck, to wipe his face?

"Do you have a handkerchief or a towel with you?" His childhood friend asked.

"Well, no, but-…" Gintoki shook his head.

"Then use this." The other man insisted. His tone sounded final.

Gintoki finally accepted the offer, albeit reluctantly. "Okay…"

He carefully wiped his face with the cravat. It had to have been freshly washed, because it smelled really nice. He felt guilty for using such a fine piece of fabric to clean his face.

He then felt the other man's gaze on him and looked up to find Katsura-san observing him.

"Your eyes got so red. As I thought, you've got eye irritation." Katsura-san frowned slightly. "Sit down and wait, I'll go get you some eye drops."

The long-haired man then turned to leave, but Gintoki quickly stopped him.

"No, wait! I'm fine." Gintoki said urgently. "Don't leave. You promised you'll explain about what happened yesterday. So, let's talk."

"We'll talk after we get your eyes properly treated." His childhood friend replied sternly.

"My eyes are fine. The redness is just an aftereffect, it'll go away soon." Gintoki replied just as firmly. "Please, let's just talk."

A few moments passed in silence. And after a few more moments passed without any response from the raven-haired man, Gintoki started to think that maybe he was being too forceful and was about to apologize when Katsura-san finally responded.

The man sighed resignedly, "Fine."

"[ I'll leave the two of you to talk, then. ]" Gintoki almost jumped in surprise reading the writing on Elizabeth-san's board. Up until that moment, he had forgotten that Elizabeth-san had been there with them all along, too. The white duck-penguin raised the board once more, "[ I'll see you later, Katsura-san. ]"

Katsura-san nodded and his pet, but more like his companion in Gintoki's opinion, promptly left, leaving the two of them alone.

The sun was low on the horizon, now. Gintoki noticed that the park had grown quieter. Most people who had been there earlier had gone home, or had gone somewhere else.

Gintoki cleared his throat and started, "So…"

"Gintoki," Katsura-san cut him off. The man was staring at the clear sky. "The weather is so pleasant today, don't you think?"

"Huh?" He was caught off guard by the out-of-the-blue remark about the weather. "Um, yeah, it is…"

"I want to go for a walk around town." Katsura-san then turned his gaze towards Gintoki and gave him a small smile. "Would you care to join me?"

By the time he heard the invitation from the other man, Gintoki had completely forgotten about all the time he had spent mulling over the negative speculations concerning the other man earlier that day. The thought of Katsura-san being a cold-blooded serial killer was definitely the farthest thing from his mind at this moment.

"Sure…"

(***)

Author Notes:

Hello guys!

I just checked this story's stats and was pleasantly surprised to see that this story got a lot of hits. So it makes me think that there are actually a lot of people who are interested in reading a GinZura story, or just a story with Gintoki and Zura in it. At least they're interested enough to take a peek at my story and then:

(1) They liked it and they let me know about it,

or

(2) They liked it but were too shy, just plain unwilling, or didn't know what to say to let me know about it,

or

(3) They didn't like it and immediately fled without saying anything. LOL.

So, if you happen to read this and you're a GinZura shipper like me, tell me about what makes you ship GinZura, when you have the time. We may love the same thing but we may have different reasons for loving it, after all.

I'd love to hear from my fellow GinZura shippers and readers. I'm always under the impression that GinZura ship is such a tiny ship (despite how blatantly obvious Gintoki and Zura's bond is), which is sad…

And as always, to all the people who fit into category (1) who support me by leaving encouraging reviews, following, and/or putting my story to your favorites, thank you!