Chapter 7: Never Let Your Emotions Consume You


Chapter summary :Showdown versus the enemies. Will they survive?


Midnight, Yorozuya Gin-chan

Gintoki decided that the night would not going to be peaceful as he had planned. A few minutes after Kagura called Shinpachi and hastily explained the situation, he came hurriedly to the Yorozuya apartment.

"Our daughter," tears began to well on the woman's eyes. "Have been missing for almost a week."

Shinpachi and Gintoki looked at each other, uneasy.

"I'll go make some tea." said Kagura, walking to the kitchen.

"Please tell us from the beginning." said Shinpachi with a concerned look.

"My name is Ishino Juro, and this is my wife, Matsu," said the man, wiping the sweat on his temple with a silk handkerchief. "Our daughter, Chiyo, is 18. She went to the shopping mall near Kabuki-cho and was supposed to come home before 6 PM five days ago, but she didn't come home. We tried to locate her phone, but it was found inside the restroom of a café inside the mall. Only Chiyo's fingerprints were found." He showed a photograph of a fair-skinned girl with long blonde hair and dark green eyes, and a pink smartphone.

"Have you reported this to the police, Ishino-san?" queried Gintoki.

"We have!" cried Matsu. "But they didn't have much help! Well, they did, soon after they received our reports… but after a few days when we followed up, they were just sitting there, on their chairs in their office, so I believe they didn't do anything to investigate this case! We pushed them but the answer was always the same… 'we're trying our best right now, ma'am'… we are already desperate… so we hired a private investigator."

"And? Did the private investigator do his job better than the police?" asked Gintoki.

"Yes and no," she replied, half-sobbing. "He obtained same camera footage and information from the same witnesses like the police did, but he assumed that this is a carefully-planned kidnapping, that there is… a criminal syndicate behind this. He found out about several other girls that went missing around the same time, but he's met with dead-end afterwards." The husband showed more photographs of three other girls.

"Did someone call for ransom? Were there any suspicious witnesses?"

"The mall was packed that day, as it was the end of summer sale, so it was hard to determine," said Juro. "The only two persons who had seen her that day were the store clerk where she bought two kimonos, and a barista in the café where she ordered two iced coffees."

"Two iced coffees?" repeated Gintoki. "Was she coming with a friend?"

"That's the most mysterious thing," Juro pulled out another packs of photo that seemed to be taken from the camera footage. "She didn't tell us who she was going with, but the footage shown he was with a man. The barista described the man as someone around Chiyo's age, wearing ponytail and glasses, and a black spade tattoo on the nape of his neck."

Gintoki hummed. "Are these store clerk and barista cleared from suspicion?"

"Yes. They both have perfect alibi."

"Then I'm afraid I shall suggest you to be patient, Sir and Madame," said Gintoki, his eyes didn't budge from the various photographs of Chiyo on the coffee table. "If the police doesn't seem to be working on this case, and if the private investigator's assumption was right… then I believe has been involved to a case inside Shinsengumi's jurisdiction."

"Are you serious, Gin-san?" asked Shinpachi nervously as Kagura approached the coffee table to serve tea to the clients before returning the tray to the kitchen.

"What else is the possibility?" Gintoki turned to the young man. "The reason why regular police force doesn't work on this is most likely because the case has been handed to a more superior power, and Shinsengumi is currently the highest ranked police force at this moment."

"Then why are they hiding it from us?" asked Juro, frustrated.

"Maybe because some Amanto is involved or whatever, I dunno." Gintoki shrugged.

"Listen, Yorozuya-san. I will pay you in any amount of money of your desire. Just please. Bring our Chiyo back," the man pleaded.

Gintoki stood up. "I will try my best to find information about her," he said. "But I can't guarantee you anything—at least for now. Now, I suggest you take your wife home to rest. We will keep you updated."

"Thank you, Yorozuya-san," said Matsu, sobbing heavily. "Good night."

As soon as the couple was gone, Gintoki grabbed his Lake Toya bokuto and put it on his belt. "I suggest you grab your weapon as well, Shinpachi," he said.

"Gin-san, where is Kagura-chan?"

They looked at each other before going to the kitchen and found the only window there was left open.

"Oh, no…"

"Shit," Gintoki said grimly, "this has gotten even worse than I expected."


At the same time, Shinsengumi patrol car

"The crime syndicate that we're investigating is involved in various cases of women and children trafficking, along with illegal prostitution and drug-dealing," said Hijikata. He took a long drag of his cigarette, then he added, "The scariest thing about this syndicate is, they kidnap and sell these women and children to space, making it almost impossible to track the victims after they were sent away. The police force of Nara—where they were located before—have tried to purge them, but some always managed to escape and grow larger."

"How am I just hearing this, Hijikata-san?" asked Sougo, yawning as he took another turn on the patrol car. "Surely if they've been operating for a while, we should've known about this beforehand."

"Because they're not from Japan, originally," replied Hijikata grimly. "They are Amanto, who are recently expanding their business to western Japan nearly two months ago by borrowing a local yakuza's power and influence. Now that the police there have purged them, those bastards ran to Edo."

"We just recently learned that they are involved in several cases of missing persons for the past two weeks, all of them are women around 15 to 20 years old," explained Kondo, who was sitting at the backseat of the car. "One of the missing girls is the daughter of one of the wealthiest merchant in Edo, Ishino Juro." He pulled out a photograph of her.

"They didn't ask for ransom," Kondo continued. "Which is why we are aware that this case might be more dangerous than a kidnapping for money."

"Oh, it is a kidnapping for money," Hijikata muttered. "Just not in an amount payable even from a wealthy merchant's pocket."

"So? What was the tip that we received, then?" asked Sougo.

"We have learned that one of the men is moving around Kabuki-cho. They are moving similarly—they took their victims to restaurant or café, then they drugged their food and drinks that with a weird Amanto-invented sedative that would initially cause something similar to laxative effect, then as the victims are lured to the restroom, they'll lose consciousness and that's where the second person came and kidnap them," explained Hijikata.

He took a long drag of his cigarette before he continued. "The boss is stealing the identity of some man who originated from the rural Kansai area, who is a nephew of a local businessman in Kabuki-cho. His real name is Nakamoto Shotaro. We learned about this upon seeing a footage of two men in the shopping mall; one of them is said to be in his late teens to early twenties, with a black spade tattoo on the nape of his neck."

Sougo violently hit the brake, making the car stopped abruptly. "What?"

"Oi, careful with that, bastard!" yelled Hijikata. "And why the hell are you stopping?! We're on a rush here!"

"Kondo-san, are there photos of the other missing girls?" Sougo ignored his superior and turned his head to the Shinsengumi Commander.

"U-uh, yeah, but why…," he pulled them from inside his jacket, and Sougo snatched them all impatiently.

"They're all the same," he muttered. Suddenly, his palms were sweating. Then he unlatched his safety belt and unlocked the door. "Sorry, Hijikata-san, I think you should drive this instead. Kondo-san, I'll call you later."

"Oi, Sougo! Where the hell do you think you're going?! Oi!"

"There's no time, Hijikata-san," Sougo opened the car door. "Someone else is in danger as we speak." Then he jumped outside and ran.

Kondo looked at the photos, scattered on the dashboard.

"Toshi, don't tell me…,"

"Goddammit, Sougo…," he muttered, then he quickly shifted to the driver's seat and stepped the pedal. "We don't have much time, either, Kondo-san. We'll send backups for him. As for now, the First Division will open the vanguard without him. Let's just finish this quick and we'll get back to that brat."


Sougo stopped running after fifteen minutes doing so in the dead of night, his breath was getting shorter in each step until he found a taxi and hailed it. "Kabuki-cho. Go at maximum speed and don't ask any questions." he said to the taxi driver, showing his police badge. The driver nodded nervously.

Suddenly, he wanted to slap himself in the face.

What was he doing? He pulled his cellphone. How could he not realizing them? He was too blinded by—ugh—jealousy that he didn't even listen to the whole meeting, and overseeing the truth that was lying right under his nose.

Suddenly, Sougo didn't want to slack off on his job anymore.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Women in Edo is in danger, he was well aware of that. But someone else's safety was his priority. Her safety.

Sougo stopped in front of Yorozuya Gin-chan, handing bills to the driver without counting them. He ascended the stairs to Yorozuya Gin-chan, three steps at once. The light at the apartment was off. Please be inside. I beg you. Please be okay, he muttered, his heart began to race.

Sougo realized that the door was locked. He rang the bell with no answer. He then kicked the door off the rails and frantically searched for someone, anyone, to no avail. He saw something on the coffee table, to which he walked closer. Those were strawberry shortcakes. He took a sniff of the cake.

It was a weird Amanto-invented sedative that would initially cause something like a false laxative effect, then as the victims are lured to the restroom, they'll lose consciousness within five minutes and that's where the second person came and kidnap them, Hijikata's voice echoed in his ears.

He knew this cake too well, bought this too often for the girl to add some surprise bites of tabasco to it, to be unaware of any hint of unfamiliar scent that wasn't strawberry or vanilla or buttercream. He furiously swept the fusuma that led to the closet door where the girl was usually sleeping, and the fusuma to the tatami room, the bathroom, the kitchen—nobody was around.

It was as if they had left in a hurry. With his sweating palm, he pulled his cellphone and dialed the unknown number, the one he called this afternoon.

"Please pick up," he muttered. "Please."

"Hello! This is Queen of Kabuki-cho. I am not available for the moment, so please leave me a message."

"China, I'm at your house right now. Don't go home at this moment—your life is in danger," He said, panting. "If you got this message, please tell me that you're okay."

He flipped his phone close with too much force necessary. He left as fast as he arrived, and ran to one place he was certain he'd find answer. He gulped as he saw Ooedo Mart's lightbox came into his sight, then he took steps in.

But the person he wanted to see wasn't there. Instead, a man with ponytail stood before the cashier. Sougo walked straight to him, to which the clerk greeted politely. "Good evening, Sir. May I help you?"

"Where's that guy?"

"Who are you referring to, Sir?"

"Shohei. The one with auburn hair," he said impatiently, pulling his Shinsengumi badge from his jacket. "Where is he? Today is his shift, right? I need to talk to him."

The man paused for a moment, probably surprised. "A-ah, he's on the back. Wait, I'm going to call him…"

He turned to his back, showing his nape of his neck to Sougo. Sougo's eyes went wide, his mouth was agape.

It was a Black Spade tattoo.

In a speed of light, a scabbard met the back of the head of the cashier, knocking him out. Sougo pulled his katana as he quickly pivoted to his back; his weapon was shining under the bright light of the convenient market, its edge pointed to the crown of an auburn hair behind him.

Sougo sneered. "Where is she, Shohei? No, wait—it's Shotaro, isn't it?"

Shohei chuckled. "Okita-san, no, Okita-taichou," he grinned. "You have been such a nuisance, you know? I already targeted her and told my higher-ups about her when I learned that she's closely related with the Shinsengumi, of all police force! I tried not to mess with you because you're the Okita Sougo, but then you left me without choice."

Ten men appeared from their hiding from behind the aisles, but Sougo wasn't intimidated any bit with the fact that he was outnumbered.

"Answer me, bastard!" Sougo roared. "Tell me where she is!"

Shohei gripped his own katana and smiled challengingly as the two stood in stance, a black spade tattoo similar to the one on the cashier's neck was visible under his wrist. "She said we could be good friends," he recalled. "You think we will?"

"Sorry, but there are only three people in this world that I consider as friends, and I'm not looking forward to add more on my list," said Sougo, seething. "And especially, not you."

Shohei's henchmen advanced. Sougo deflected them all with minimum effort, and returned all the strikes with his katana. He slashed without mercy. It didn't take long until the squeaky clean convenient store was stained with blood.

"Tsk. Can't you go easy on them?"

"Like hell I will," Sougo gritted his teeth.

Not wasting his chance, Shohei advanced in a blink, managing to slice Sougo's left arm. However, the short proximity made Sougo able to throw Shohei to the ground, his katana pointed to Shohei's neck.

"I'm giving you one last chance before tearing you from limb to limb. Where is Kagura?"

Sougo went aghast upon hearing them. "Oof, your movements are sloppy, Taichou," mocked Shohei. "News flash: she's not here."

That was the moment Sougo felt his consciousness went thin. He looked from his shoulder and saw the long-haired cashier, half-unconscious, with a syringe gun on his hand. He touched the nape of his neck, and that was when he felt a needle had been stuck on there. "You—motherfuck—"

"Save your insults for later," said Shohei when the Captain slumped to the ground. He got up and kicked Sougo's gut with a loud, painful voice to make sure not a drop of consciousness was left from him. "Huh. Now I know why personal interest should be off-limits in your line of work. Good job there, by the way, Satoshi."

"He's scary, Aniki." Satoshi grunted as he tried to get up. He had a bump on the back of his head given by Sougo's scabbard.

"He doesn't even feel the laxative effect of the sedative," Shohei hummed. "He's such a pain in the ass. I really thought I would be dead for real, considering that it took a while for the sedative to work." He lifted his foot and stomped on the back of the unconscious police officer.

"Aniki, may I ask you something?" Satoshi asked carefully. "Why are you so invested with the girl? I mean, we have plenty of pretty women all around Kabuki-cho… and not the ones who are closely related with the police… why this girl?"

"Someone on space saw her photo and bid her on a very high price," Shohei shrugged. "Can't blame them. She truly is beautiful, don't you think?"

The long-haired man nervously nodded. "T-then… what are we gonna do with this guy, Aniki?"

A box truck stopped in front of the store entrance, the driver giving signal to the two men inside the store.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to use him to lure the girl out." the man grinned as he dragged Sougo by his jacket out and threw him to the back of the truck.


At the same time, Downtown Edo

"Yes, yes, Jimmy. I'm counting on you," said Gintoki on his cellphone while he rode his scooter with Shinpachi on his back. "You're a big help. Thanks a lot."

"Gin-san, what do you think is happening to Kagura-chan?" said Shinpachi as Gintoki put his cellphone away.

"Didn't you notice, Pattsuan?" said Gintoki. Then he showed him pictures from his cellphone—the five girls had pale skin, long hair, and light-colored eyes.

"Th—they…," Shinpachi's eyes widened upon his realization. "They have similar features to Kagura-chan!"

"She probably went to enemy's lair as a bait, thinking she's capable of taking them down on her own with that condition." Said Gintoki dryly.

"She knows the person behind all of this,"

"Yeah," unseen from the backseat where Shinpachi was sitting, his dead fish eyes were ablaze with fury. "The tattoo on his wrist. He tried to hide them when I asked him about it."

"Yes, I remember it," said Shinpachi.

"However, I don't think they're aware that Kagura is a Yato. If they do, they wouldn't dare selling a member of the strongest mercenary tribe to the space—the Yato owns the space." He continued.

"So you called Yamazaki-san to ask about where their hideout is?"

"Yeah, with an exchange of Tama's handmade anpan," he shrugged. "Guy's easy to convince."

Then they abruptly stopped. Gintoki hit the brake quickly when two shadows jumped in front of his silver scooter, startling the two.

"Long time no see," said one of the hooded shadows. "I know you guys are in a hurry, but I think we gotta interfere."

"Y—you're—!" Shinpachi pointed at them with surprised look on his face.


Kagura jumped from one rooftop to the other with her umbrella on her shoulder. Earlier, when she made the walk to the kitchen to make tea, she overheard the conversation with the Ishinos. She knew something fishy was happening—and when she saw the victims, she was sure that she had to do something about it.

Black Spade tattoos were familiar, and she had seen two of them.

Soon, the building of Ooedo Mart was seen before her eyes. The place, however, was dark and deserted, the sign read Closed despite the 24 Hours neon box. She took a breath before firing bullets with her umbrella-gun and made the automatic door shatter into pieces.

The sight in front of her shocked her. The glints of moonlight gave her a good look of blood that stained the floor. She walked further inside with her umbrella gun at ready, and when her boots met shards of glasses that made a crunching sound, she saw the presence of a familiar hilt of a katana.

Kagura had seen them too many times to be unaware of whose katana it was. She looked around and found the scabbard from behind the cashier. She pulled her cellphone that she snuck with her when she served the tea to the Ishinos before leaving, and was surprised to see so many notifications on her screen.

10 missed calls from Okita Sougo

1 picture message from Okita Sougo

She furrowed her eyebrows, her heartbeat started to rise. Please tell me you're okay, she thought, before tapping the message icon.

If you want him alive, come to this location at once. Don't tell the police or Yorozuya or I'll kill him.

A photo was attached to the message. She tapped on it—then the view made her gasp. Forget shocked—it was terrifying. Sougo was chained to the ground, beaten up and unconscious.

"NO!" she yelled, dropping her cellphone to the floor.

Sougo felt a sting of pain on his ribs and his ankle when he was awake. He struggled before finding out that both of his hands were stretched out and chained on the wall, his feet were numb from the kneeling position.

"Rise and shine, taichou," Shohei waved his hand. He and Satoshi were sitting in front of him, with 10 or 15 weird-looking boar-like Amanto standing before the door of what seemed to be a deserted port warehouse.

Sougo gritted his teeth. "Why are you chaining me like this, shit-face? You want to sell me to those perverted aliens as well?"

"That's an interesting idea to consider, Okita-taichou, but no," replied Shohei. "I could've killed you on the spot, but I want to make good use of you first."

Shohei had just finished with his sentence when the ceilings shook before crumbling down together with something that fell with a loud noise similar to thunderclaps. Shohei let out a shocked expression; on the ground was Kagura, standing up. She was carrying Sougo's katana and her umbrella on her hand.

"China, why the fuck are you here?!"

"Shut up, Sadist. I'm trying to save your life here," she replied sharply. She turned to Shohei. "What are you waiting for? I did what you asked, now let him go."

"Sorry, but no weapons allowed," Shohei simply said. With a tch, Kagura threw both of the umbrella and katana in front of Sougo's direction. Shohei gave signal to one of the boar Amanto, who approached her with a chain cuff. "Satoshi, give her the sedative." Shohei commanded.

"Sorry, Aniki, but the one we used to the police officer right here is the last one. The rest are in the convenient store…"

"Tch, whatever. Just chain her or something."

"No, you can't chain me unless you remove him first."

"What do you think you're doing, China?!" Sougo yelled, frustration was visible on his face.

"We made a deal," said Shohei, shrugging. "She'll go with our syndicate and get sold in the outer space in exchange of your worthless life."

"You stupid woman!" said Sougo. "I told you to run!"

"Sorry, Sadist," she smiled apologetically, making the pain in his abdomen even greater. Another guard approached him and unlocked his chain before trampling his face to the ground. Then Kagura offered both of her hands and let herself chained on his place.

"Owww," Sougo grunted. "I can't even stand, don't you have mercy?"

"He's already wounded, you ugly pig!" Kagura spat. "Don't hurt him anymore! Just remove him to a ditch somewhere!"

"On second thought, however," Shohei turned to both of them, ignoring Kagura's protests, "I think I have to kill you, too, Okita-taichou."

Kagura's face went red, then her blue orbs were sparkling with fury. "Bastard!" she shook the chain on her hands, struggling to let go. "You lied to me!"

Sougo sighed. "See, China? I told you to listen, now you're falling right into his trap."

"Oh, shut your mouth!" Kagura yelled. "Look who's talking! If you weren't so stupid to go on your own to Ooedo Mart, we wouldn't be in this situation!"

"I swear to God, if you weren't so weak and sissy like this, I wouldn't care for a second about you," said Sougo, even though both he and Kagura knew he was uttering a lie. He was still in kneeling position and his head was pinned to the ground by the boar Amanto's feet. "Oi, pig. Can you let my face go?"

"Seriously, this could be your last conversation and you decided to argue?" Shohei deadpanned as he unsheathed his katana. "This is why you shouldn't let your emotions consume you."

"Eh, arguing is our best forte." Sougo shrugged as the guards held his hand to his back.

"Whatever," Shohei shook his head.

CLINK. A voice of falling chains was heard.

"A-Aniki!" Satoshi whimpered. "Look at her!" he pointed at Kagura, horrified.

Sougo turned to see Kagura was freed from the chains. She leapt to the guard who was pinning him on the ground and landed a kick on his face. The boar Amanto's body hit Satoshi on the process, then the two were sent to the corner of the warehouse.

"What—how—"

"Don't you know?" said Sougo with bored tone as slowly tried to get up. "She's a Yato, dude."

"A what?"

"And not just an ordinary Yato," she grinned. "I can shrink and enlarge my body at will, so nothing will be able to confine me."

"You're getting lazier with that ridiculous qigong of yours, China," Sougo muttered. "You could've just use that brute strength of yours and break the chains." Sougo swept his unbroken leg onto bewildered Shohei's feet, sending him to the head first to the ground with a painful thud, leaving him unconscious.

"I can't just use my brute strength, okay?" she replied as she knocked more guards on the ground. "If I just pull my arms, the whole wall will be torn up. It's not convenient to beat up these people with a chunk of concrete wall attached on my body!"

"And you remember that lousy trick your brother taught you but nothing about me, I'm hurt."

Upon his remark, she paused for a split second before proceeding to throw the last guard to a stack of crates on another end of the warehouse, then she grabbed his hand and put it on her shoulder while she held his waist, helping him to stand.

Just when Kagura was about to take a step to escape, Sougo went still. "Oi, Sadist, move. You can save your whining for later."

But Sougo didn't answer. Kagura turned to him to see a horrifying sight from behind his back—a blade was pierced into him. He grunted in pain as blood started to stain his jacket before he collapsed, powerless. Behind the two was Shohei, pulling out his katana that impaled the Shinsengumi Captain.

"Never turn your back to your enemy." he grinned. "And don't move, or my men will attack you."

"You bastaaard!" she shrieked.

The steel door of the warehouse kicked open, and 30 men—all in mohawks—entered the warehouse, each holding a katana.

"Take her," commanded Shohei to his men.

But Kagura was fuming with rage. Five men of the reinforcements walked to her and tried to grip both of her wrists while she struggled to approach Sougo. Her eyes were bloodshot from the fury and she felt her Yato blood was starting to take over her conscience. However, instead of fighting it, she remembered the words of wisdom her brother once told her in a very rare moment of his—to trust the blood of their mother that was flowing through her.

In a second, those who tried to handle her immediately failed in performing their task. They get slammed in many directions; she beat them up with her bare hands, with minimum effort.

"If you can't keep your words, Shohei, then you're not taking me anywhere," Kagura hissed, her hands clenched into fists. "And these Hokuto no Ken knockoffs[1] can't make me."

She shifted her feet quickly to snitch her umbrella, but Shohei was closer to it than she was; he kicked it away from her.

Kagura took glance of Sougo's sheathed sword. "Tch. You think my umbrella is all I need to beat you up?" she scoffed.

In what seemed to be light speed, Kagura rolled to her left side and swiftly took Sougo's katana. She unsheathed it as she stood up, pointing it to Shohei and his men—this was the first time she ever held it, so why did it feel so familiar?

She moved to stand in front of unconscious Sougo, facing Shohei, who stood in front of his men. Shohei was taken aback for a moment, but he smiled. "You're not gonna win with a weapon you've never used."

"You really don't know anything about Yato, don't you?"

"You really are a difficult woman," Shohei sighed.

"That's what everyone told me," she smiled.

"Well, I don't care," he said, "and I don't want to know anything about Yato or whatever your kin is called, but if you fight alone, you'll definitely lose, miss."

But Kagura raised her chin as a surge of memories began to fill her head and her mouth started to speak. "When you fight, it doesn't matter how many enemies you kill," she said. "If you fail to protect what you're meant to protect, you lose."

She stood on guard, unsheathing the scabbard. "I can't get back down or die here, sorry about that," she smirked. "I'll show you what happens when you threaten what I'm protecting. I won't allow any single of you to advance even one footstep past me, no matter what happens."

Kagura didn't know where how she could manage to utter those splendor words—it was as if her mouth spoke on her own.

Sadist, she thought to herself as she took one last quick glance to the unmoving man, let me borrow this and your power.

The forefront line started to advance, all ten of them were struck down with a single blow from Sougo's katana and her immense strength. The blade was heavier than her umbrella, but it was nothing compared to the weight that was Sougo's life on her shoulder.

As memories from three years ago started to rewind, each swing of his sword on her hand brought ease to the pain that was throbbing her head everytime she tried to shake a branch of her memories called Okita Sougo.

"Some things in this world must be protected, even if it means getting your hands dirty."

Now she knew why he said it at that time. He claimed himself to be a sadist, yet he refused to see a girl cry. He would act abrasive towards her, yet in the briefest time she had interacted with him after her memory loss; she learned that he, too, could show some kindness by saving her more than once.

Right now, as the Shohei's minions were startled by her ability, Kagura was determined to return the favor.

"Don't go back down!" Shohei yelled, his voice was firm but nervous sweat was seen on his face. "Keep attacking!"

More men advanced, but Kagura stayed true to her words; she didn't let any of them to take any step past her. She ambushed them all in every swing, until Shohei was the only man left standing.

"I refuse to be a burden to you."

She could hear herself speaking, a voice full of pride; because there was no way she wanted to be saved by a rival of hers. Kagura scoffed upon the flashback.

"I'm not going to give you any mercy, Kagura," Shohei went on guard. "If I couldn't capture you and sell you—then I'm just going to kill you!"

He passed forward, and so did Kagura. Shohei raised his katana to meet with her bare left arm, to which she grunted from the pain elicited from it. She grinned despite her wound, her splitting skin that wasn't covered from her sleeveless qipao didn't stop her from advancing.

She shifted her feet while forcing her weight forward, lifting the katana and quickly sent a slash to Shohei's left shoulder. Shohei wasn't an easy opponent, but each time he managed to send blows to her, Kagura would return the damage as well. Her Yato strength wasn't the only reason she was still standing without bothering her wounds—it was because she knew that soon, his human body that wasn't a match of hers would be at limit. Each failed attempt would drive him into frustration, and both knew each swings would send him closer to exhaustion.

"Huh, you're good," Shohei commented as he took more steps backwards. "If you're this good, why are you asking that police officer behind you to train you?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out," she replied. "But I think he was right, I've always carried the muscle memories within me all along."

She closed the proximity between the two, rushing at him. Shohei lifted his katana and marched to her direction as well. She swung Sougo's Kiku-Ichimonji RX-78 and so did Shohei with his; before the two blades met, however, a series of machine gun bullets went through to the space between their clashing swords.

"I refuse to be indebted to you."

A man stood in front of her, telling her to run. Even when they've declared their hatred towards each other, there is no way one will let the other to die.

Kagura backed away as she watched him dropping to his knees, vomiting blood from his mouth before slumping down face-first to the ground and stained the concrete floor.

Behind her was Sougo, panting, with her umbrella on his hand to deliver the killing blow. Kagura looked at him in surprise, his reddish brown eyes were flashing with murderous look.

You're always protecting me, are you, Sadist?

"If you lunge at him like that, my katana will be split in two, idiot." he muttered to her. Both threw the two weapons back to their owners.

"How—how do you—"

"How do I cheat death?" he asked casually as if it was the most normal thing in the world. He pulled a tabasco bottle from inside his jacket. "I was just playing dead back then. He missed. I can't believe pulling this stunt would save me twice."

They heard a grunt, and both turned to Shohei.

"I—lost…," he grunted while the two of them walked to his direction. "S-so… this is why… I sh-should not underestimate Y—Yato…."

Shohei slowly raised his hand and tugged the end of her qipao dress. "H-however, K-Kagura-s-san…," he whispered. "I-I genuinely th-think th-that… y-you're… beautiful. I-if only I was b-brave enough… t-to escape from t-the s-syndicate… I-I—would l-like to w-win you over... O-okita—t-taichou…."

He coughed up more blood, and he took his one last breath.

Sougo watched in silence, and so did Kagura. "I'm sorry, Shohei-san. But even so, I can't return your feelings." She whispered, sheathing the katana back to its scabbard. She then turned to him, who was barely able to stand.

He recalled the horrifying view in front of him a minute ago. Once she saw that the girl was battling Shohei by herself, he had been calculating again and again on his head about how he could jump in and help her without bringing danger to her life. Pain was throbbing in all over his body, but when he saw Shohei's katana slashing towards her, he forgot them all and snatched her umbrella and barged in.

He had one dark eye and he was bleeding on his forehead, but none of it mattered when he saw bloods dripping from her left arm, her left temple, and her right cheek, and her qipao is tattered on her waist and hip.

"Huh, so he really is in love with you," he commented. "Seems like he has a twisted idea about loving someone, doesn't he?"

"That's rich, coming from you."

"Huh? What did you say?"

"Nothing," she said. "H-hey, are you okay?"

"I think I broke my ribs and my left ankle," he replied, gritting his teeth. "How about you?"

She brushed her wounded cheek without flinching. "My wounds are starting to heal."

Sougo hummed, then the two went into silence.

"Don't impulsively take matters into your hands and think that you can save the day by yourself like this anymore, you hear me?" He said. She then turned to him, looking annoyed, but paused when she saw anger in his eyes. He maintained his usual emotionless tone, but a small twitch on his facial expression made his distress visible that she pursed her lips and turned her face down.

"I hear you," she muttered. "I won't do it again, I'm sorry."

"You think 'sorry' is enough?" he snapped.

"Don't treat me like I'm a damsel in distress!" she fumed. "Who do you think I'm coming all by myself and wound myself like this for? And why are you hogging all the glory by giving the final attack like that?"

Sougo pulled her arm. Kagura yelped when his arms draped her tiny frame, hugging her tightly. She shivered when she felt his breath on her as he burrowed his face to her shoulder.

"Shut up, China."

"S-Sadist?" whispered Kagura. "Hey, you'll hurt your ribs if you're squeezing me like this."

"Don't care," he muttered, "This doesn't feel like anything, anyway." Nothing when your life is in danger, he added in his mind, words that he'd rather cut his tongue than saying it out loud.

He didn't know what was possessing him, but he wanted to touch her more—he brought his hand up to her hair. She twitched a little by the contact, but went still nonetheless. He brushed her hair, and he lifted his face from her shoulder to plant a chaste kiss on the top of her head.

"Promise me you'll never do dangerous things without my knowledge anymore."

"Even if it's to save your life?"

"Yeah," he said, resting his chin on her tangerine head. "I told you before, I don't want to be indebted to you. Every time you try to save me, I will return the favor immediately."

"Why can't we protect each other?" she softly mumbled. "What if I want to protect you too?"

Unable to register her innocent words, Sougo didn't reply. His heart was suddenly pounding really, really fast. As if wanting him to calm down, he felt slender arms raising to return his embrace slowly and carefully. Her arms on his back were small, but warm enough. He squeezed her even tighter, completely ignoring the protests from his broken bones.

She buried her face into his chest. "Hey, Sadist, why does your heart suddenly goes doki-doki?"

"Oh, shut up." He muttered. He was certain his face and ears were flushing in shades of red, and she did what he asked for a moment, before she briefly pulled away so she could look at him in the eyes.

"I'm sorry I went on my own," she muttered. "But knowing Gin-chan and Shinpachi, they're probably ambushing the men on the front line right now, not having a single idea that the Final Boss has been defeated."

Sougo snickered, finally letting go of her. "Yeah. Maybe they've bumped with Shinsengumi as well," he said.

The girl hummed in reply.

"By the way, China. Did you just copying my words and fighting style?"

"I dunno," she shrugged. "But if felt relieving, like it's a natural thing."

"It's a lame move to imitate me, you know," he teased. "But… does that mean you've remembered everything?"

Kagura didn't immediately respond, and seeing her expression, Sougo knew she hadn't. "Well, it doesn't matter," he said, "as long as everything is fine." As long as you're fine.

"I guess that'll do," she muttered. "But after our wounds are healed, I want you to train me again."

"Do you even need training anymore? You already have them etched on your head, dummy," he chuckled. "But, you know, if you want to train just so you can spend time with me, you can just say so."

"Who said I want to spend time with you?" she said, sticking her tongue out, but her blushing face was saying otherwise.

"Yeah, yeah, you tsundere." He laughed.

"You're a tsundere too!" she pouted. Then, as if she had just remembered something, her eyes suddenly went wide. "Oh, by the way, did the Shinsengumi find where the other kidnapped girls are?"

As if to answer her question, headlights from black and white patrol cars with a sign that reads Shinsengumi projected the two in blinding white light from the warehouse entrance. Kagura opened her umbrella, her eyes squinted.

Men in gold-trimmed black uniform barged in, with Hijikata and Kondo at the forefront. A bazooka replaced cigarette on Hijikata's hand.

"Yo, Sougo," greeted Hijikata. "If you escape like that again, you'll have to commit seppuku, you hear me?"

Sougo scoffed. "Oi, Hijibaka, instead of seppuku, I deserve a raise. I was the one who give the Final Boss a finishing blow," he said. "Also, can you turn those headlights off? I'm a little dizzy from being trampled over by those stinking Amanto."

"Sorry, but he's not the Final Boss, Sougo," said Hijikata.

Kondo gave a signal to his subordinates and they simultaneously turned off the lights. "We got an information that all the victims and the Amanto higher-ups are inside an aircraft, but we couldn't find the ship in our radar. We've prepared our own aircraft to pursue them in space, though."

"Oh, you wouldn't find it, Kondo-san. We've sunk it."

A familiar voice that was belonged to a human-wearing glasses was heard from behind Hijikata and Kondo. The two turned to their backs to see two figures climbing on top of one of the patrol cars—a pair of dead fish eyes and a glasses stood with bokuto on their shoulders.

"Took you long enough, Yorozuya." Said Kondo, glancing from his shoulder.

"Gin-chan! Shinpachi!" Kagura gasped.

"Kagura, I swear to God, I'm going to ground you for the rest of your life if you're running away like that again," Gintoki threatened. "And I'm not going to allow you to go with random guys anymore. Do you know that dead guy right there is a fake? Oh my God, from now on Gin-san will have to do background check of your friends."

"Danna, how do you know about their location?"

"I thought you were with the Shinsengumi, Gin-chan!"

"Ah, yes. We're planning on doing so, but something happened midway," said Gintoki, jumping off the patrol car, followed by Shinpachi. "So while these Tax-Robbers cleared up the human minions, the four of us snuck to an unguarded airship that was just about to escape to space."

"Who are you calling Tax-Robbers, idiot permhead?!" retorted Hijikata.

"Wait, 'four of us'?" she repeated. "Who are the other two?"

A severed limb fell from the punctured ceilings where Kagura came in. Kagura saw the limb that seemed to be belonged to an Amanto in horror. A second later, a bunch of dead bodies of Amanto fell into the ground. Kagura shrieked, terrified.

A man in cape crashed from the already damaged ceilings, leaving a large crate on the concrete floor as he landed. Kagura parted his lips when the man pulled the cape off his head, showing a braided vermilion hair similar to hers, and a trademark smile of his.

"Yo, long time no see, dear baby sister!" Kamui waved his hand even though his face was bruised, with Abuto squeezing in through the equally bewildered Shinsengumi members, looking at his Admiral with an expression that said "someone please kill this stupid person for me".

"Kamui?! Ossan?!" she shrieked. "Wh—what are the two of you doing here?"

"Are the Harusame the ones who control this syndicate?" asked Sougo warily.

"Chill out, Earth Police," said Kamui. "I was just thinking of visiting and I met the Earth family of your girlfriend on the way—"

"Who are you calling girlfriend?!" Kagura retorted.

"To answer your question, Mr. Policeman, no," Abuto chimed in. "This has nothing to do with the 7th Division. It's only the two of us, and the other victims who are inside the ship are safe and sound right now."


An hour earlier

"Long time no see," said one of the hooded shadows. "I know you guys are in a hurry, but I think we gotta interfere first."

"Y—you're—Kamui-san and Abuto-san!" Shinpachi pointed at them with surprised look on his face.

"Look, I'm shocked, but I don't have time to react," said Gintoki. "Your sister is missing."

"We've been observing your house for a while, so we know," said Abuto impatiently. "Even more reason for you to listen to us."

Both samurai's eyes went wide. "What's going on here?" Gintoki asked carefully.

"This Black Spade syndicate you're dealing with isn't as big as Harusame, but they're still a pain in the ass," Kamui explained. "A while ago, the baldy was called on a mission. A small planet was being ransacked by a certain gang of thugs, and he went to shoo them out. Turns out, they're tied to Black Spade, and that's when he found out about this." He threw something to Gintoki, which he caught.

"What is this? A gravure idol magazine[2]?"

"No, it's a catalogue on women trafficking."

"What?!"

"Kagura is in there," said Kamui. "And he thought you guys are selling her to pay your debt."

"We know we're poor, but we're not that cruel to sell her out!" Shinpachi protested.

"…so he sent me here while he took the highest bid for her."

"So Umibouzu was the one who tried to buy Kaguraaa?!" yelled Gintoki.

"No, no, listen," Kamui shook his head, "That was his first thought. I disagreed with him; I thought it's impossible for her to be willing to be sold like that unless something was happening. Then the baldy said she might be sent by the government of this country of yours to infiltrate the syndicate or whatever. He tries to buy her to prevent anyone else from doing so."

"This is surprising, Kamui. You can be a little perceptive at times," said Gintoki, blinking his eyes on his ongoing attempt in processing the information to his head.

"Only for his sister." Abuto deadpanned.

"Sheesh, Abuto, don't make me sound like I actually care about this crybaby. I'll kill you for saying nonsense, you know." said Kamui.

"But I'm so touched, Kamui," said Gintoki, picking his nose. "So you're a pirate-turned-vigilante now?"

The Harusame General scoffed. "Things are just getting too peaceful in space and I want to beat someone up."

"No, he literally threatened to wipe out all divisions of Harusame when they refused their General to go by himself, saying that no one could meddle with his personal interest." Abuto whispered to Gintoki and Shinpachi.

"What are you whispering to them, Abuto? You want me to kill you?" Kamui, still smiling as he cracked his fingers and walked closer to them.

"A-ah, it's nothing, Boss. We must hurry up, don't you think?"


"Look at us, defeating a bunch of space criminals with the help of even worse space criminals," Hijikata remarked after listening to Abuto's brief explanation. "How ironic."

"That's because you guys are incompetent." Said Gintoki.

A vein popped on the Vice Commander's face, but he didn't bother to throw some retort. He turned to his subordinates. "Evacuate the victims at once. Call for more paramedics to check if they're okay."

"Even though we're space criminals, Mr. Policeman, Earth is off-limits to Harusame's actions as per this brat's request," Kamui added while he walked to Kagura, who was still visibly bewildered by the fact that is his brother's presence on Earth. "Yo, Kagura. What's with your expression?" he asked, his head tilting to the side.

"Nothing, I'm just surprised you're here."

Kamui pouted. "What? Am I not allowed to save you? Am I really that bad of a brother, huh?" he asked.

"That's not what I meant," she quickly said. "I was saying that I don't expect that you can actually listen to Papi and work with strategies."

"Huh, I guess you guys were right about her losing her memories," said Kamui, who looked at her with fascination before pointing his umbrella gun to Gintoki's face. "Usually, Kagura would just yell on my ears about me being a stupid brother and the likes, now she's complimenting me in a roundabout way. What did you guys do to her?"

"What's wrong with your head? Who's complimenting you?!" she retorted, completely confused with her brother's conclusion.

"If you need someone to blame, then blame him," Gintoki lazily pointed to Sougo.

"Oooh, another reason to kill you then, Mr. Policeman," sang Kamui cheerfully.

Sougo smirked. "Heh, I'm already dying to save your ugly sister, you siscon… dip… shit." he replied weakly.

Now that he was no longer draped in Kagura's arms, the pain and exhaustion on all over his body was back to claim him. Then with one step backwards, he swayed before he felt two hands—hers, she probably caught glance of him losing color from his face—and she caught him and lowered him to the ground.

She crouched beside him, calling his name. Her captivating blue eyes were the last thing he saw before giving in. He tried to reach out his hand to touch her face as a way to tell her that everything would be okay.

"What if I want to protect you too?" her voice echoed in his ears.

Sougo then closed his eyes to oblivion.


[1] Also known as Fist of the North Star, which is parodied several times in Gintama.

[2] Basically men's magazines, with girls known as gravure idol who often poses provocatively on the cover.


A/N:

First of all, thank you thank you for all the kind reviews!3

WOOT! I heard that you guys like the Dadtoki, so I present protective big brother Kamui to you. As for the sword fight in this chapter, I had to borrow terms from several sources, mainly from Star Wars: The Last Jedi novel, lol. Also, thanks a lot to the folks at r/FanFiction on Reddit for generously providing me with tips on describing sword fight and making it less hard than I thought it would be!

This fic has totally shifted from fluff Okikagu to a whole Gintama arc. I'm sorry if this chapter is a mess plot-wise and Kagura-wise (her OOCness has become very difficult for me to write), I've tried my best here lmao.

Lastly: I can't believe that there is only one chapter to go! It's already in the making as I'm posting this. Will Sougo survive? And how will Kagura regain her last bits of forgotten memories? Find out on Chapter 8!

See you later3