Hey guys, Murayama Tsuru here. Sorry for the late update, I had to take a plane to Japan for semester abroad and jetlag and orientation for the school seem to have taken up quite a bit of time that could have been devoted to writing. But, now I'm back (maybe even regularly) with a chapter. Here it is, I hope you enjoy ^_^
Disclaimer: I don't own Gintama; it belongs to Sorachi Hideaki-Sensei
Takasugi still did not look impressed with Abuto's revelation about how he had switched bodies with Kamui. His eyebrow was raised even higher than it had been before, the one-eyed Samurai said, "You're not trying to trick me are you? If you are, this isn't a very funny joke."
"I wish it was a joke," Abuto sighed, feeling exasperated, even after talking for a long time about the few days Abuto, Takasugi, and Gin were in D.C. this one-eyed bonehead didn't believe him, "it would be much easier if this were some kind of joke. But unfortunately, it's not. I'm Abuto and Kamui is me doing who know what in Edo. I'm sure he didn't even get the taxes done like I asked him to. Probably got distracted by food or a fight. He really can be a pain sometimes, you know."
"And you've never been distracted before?" Takasugi asked suddenly
"Hah?" Abuto intoned, "What does that have to do with anything? Sure I've been distracted before, but not when it comes to important stuff like doing taxes."
"Oh?" Takasugi gave Abuto a look, "And what about when you met the Kujaku Hime? I heard you were pretty distracted then."
"Wha?" Abuto looked incredulously at Takasugi, "Where would you have heard that from? The last time I checked, you and your Kiheitai weren't around when I met Kada."
"But I was when Kamui told me about it. It seems you Yato are bad at keeping secrets. Like your boss probably shouldn't have told me about your infatuation with the Kujaku Hime, you really shouldn't have told me about this."
"What choice did I have?" Abuto growled, "Not tell you anything and have you send a spy to the Harusame? That didn't sound like a good deal to me. Anyways, what benefit does knowing my 'secret' get you? Not much it seems."
"I guess you haven't done much blackmail in your time." Takasugi said with a smile that made Abuto cringe, "I wonder what you would do to ensure that I don't talk?"
"Not much," Abuto said with a shrug, "I wouldn't benefit you all that much if you did tell anyone. Sure, there would be some that think this an opportunity to displace Kamui as admiral of the Harusame. But, I'm sure they don't know how much of that work is actually my doing. He says he wants to be the Pirate King, but it's me who has to get him there. So go ahead, tell someone in the Harusame who's on your side. I doubt it'll change anything."
Takasugi looked annoyed at that, "You're not as much of a pushover as Kamui made you out to be. It seems I may not have as much of a hold over you as I originally thought."
Abuto smirked and was about to respond with something snarky but the door opened before Abuto could get in even a word and headphones appeared again, "Shinsuke-san," he said, "something's come up that needs your attention."
Takasugi nodded at headphones and then turned to Abuto, "I believe this means you're off the hook for now. It seems that I have more pressing matters to attend to than the strange happenings in the Harusame at the moment. So, you are free to go."
"Are you gonna send a spy to the Harusame after all?" Abuto asked, hoping the answer would be 'no' since Abuto had told him what was going on
Takasugi's response was a small smile, "I guess you'll just have to come back for another game of Mahjong to find out. Do you need someone to lead you out or do you know the way?"
"We both know that I can leave perfectly easily. I think I'd rather not have an escort this time."
"Very well," Takasugi said, "Just don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong. You won't like what happens if you do." And Takasugi left, his threat hanging in the air.
Abuto waited until Takasugi's and headphones' footsteps faded away and then he sighed; so much for that. Maybe what he had said about it not being a big deal whether Takasugi told the rest of the Harusame what had happened to him and Kamui. But, it certainly didn't feel like any sort of victory to have told the leader of the Kiheitai this fact in the first place.
Abuto sighed, there really wasn't any use dwelling on this at the moment, it was time to get back to the ship and see how Kamui's day had gone. And whether or not he'd gotten those taxes done. Abuto slowly meandered his way out of the Kiheitai ship and back to his own; Takasugi Shinsuke may have told him not to 'poke his nose where it didn't belong', but that didn't mean Abuto had to leave in any sort of rush (although, he wasn't really sure what advantage being slow gave him).
Once Abuto was back in the Harusame ship, he went over to his room and opened the door (it was his room after all), saying, "Abuto, I'm back. Did you get those taxes done?"
Abuto was met the silence an empty room usually brought. It struck the (used to be) sandy haired Yato as odd that Kamui hadn't come back before he did as Abuto didn't imagine that the taxes would take that long (especially if Kamui got someone else to do them for him). Abuto searched around the room for a moment, wondering if Kamui had decided to play a prank on Abuto by hiding in his room.
But no, Kamui was nowhere to be found. This made Abuto wonder where the admiral could be (and, more importantly, how much trouble he was getting Abuto into). Seeing as Kamui wasn't in his room, Abuto left, intent on searching the whole ship to find his boss.
Before his search could get very far, though, someone said, "Admiral, it's time for dinner."
Abuto then felt his stomach rumble and decided that searching for Kamui could wait until after his stomach had been filled; after all, Abuto did deserve something for having to deal with Takasugi Shinsuke all day, didn't he? Without giving Kamui another thought, Abuto headed to the dining room.
The next morning, Kamui woke in unfamiliar surroundings to an incredible pounding in his head and almost no recollection of what he had done after going into that bar with Sakata Gintoki last night. Feeling disoriented and in pain, Kamui sat up and his vision swam before his eyes making him lie back down again.
Once Kamui was lying down again, somebody said, "That's what you get for trying any sudden movements when you have a hangover. I guess, if you were really Abuto, you'd know that wouldn't you?"
Kamui's eyes narrowed as he looked around for the source of the voice, what were they talking about? The only source he could find was a flash of silver and a pair of dead-fish looking red eyes. Eventually, then it hit him, Kamui was in Abuto's body at the moment. And, whoever was talking to him right now (the voice was familiar, but with the pounding in his head, he couldn't quite tell who was talking), knew that he was Kamui and not Abuto.
Groaning, Kamui said, "I guess that's true…I don't really drink, that's more Abuto's thing. Something about too much stress working with me." With an attempt at his usual smile, Kamui continued speaking, "But, if you know who I really am, I guess that means you're not long for this world, doesn't it?"
"Does that apply if you told me who you were yourself? It wasn't my fault you got so drunk. Yatos' lips seem to loosen up a little too much when they drink. Who knows who else you would have told if I hadn't brought you back to the Yorozuya."
"Ah," Kamui said, remembering a little bit of what happened at the bar, "Ginpatsu Osamurai-san, it was kind of you to bring me back here. I take it my annoying little brat of a sister is still asleep?"
"Hah," Gin snorted when he heard Kamui's question, "Of course she's still asleep. Not even a pair of drunken idiots could wake her up. But, she'd think you were her precious 'Abu-chan' anyways, looking the way you do now. So, you gonna tell me how it happened that you and Jiraiya-kun switched bodies?"
It was Kamui's turn to snort, "You know you just called yourself an idiot, right?"
Gin's answer was a pointed look that made Kamui sigh, "Fine, I'll answer your question, I don't know how Abuto and I switched bodies. We were tried to get the psychic chick, or whatever, to find a way to switch us back, but she didn't know what the problem was."
"Ah," Gin said nodding sagely, "magic seems to be a theme with you guys, doesn't it? But, if Mikazuki Tsumi doesn't know what's wrong with you, who will?"
"She said something about her mom knowing more about spells than she did. But, she also said that her mom was at some conference or other. Y'know, as much as I love regaling what's happened, I think I need to get back to the ship now."
"Yeah?" Gin said, "You sure you don't want to stay any longer? Kagura would love to see her."
"No thanks." Kamui answered immediately, that particular meeting was off the table permanently, it was time to leave before Gin got any other strange ideas, "I really need to get going. Need to know how Abuto's meeting with Takasugi Shinsuke went. If he has any of our current luck, the leader of the Kiheitai knows what's going on too." At that, Kamui got up (despite the wave of nausea that came over him) and headed toward the door
"You're not even going to stay for breakfast?" Gin asked, making Kamui stop in his tracks
The admiral of the Harusame Space Pirates turned around and gave Gin a look, "Fine, I'll stay for breakfast. But only because I'm hungry. If my sister wakes up as I'm eating, I'm going to pretend to be Abuto, got that?"
Gin chuckled at that, "Wouldn't have it any other way, Jiraiya-kun. Now, I have the perfect hangover food, Anko with Mochi and whipped cream."
Kamui wasn't too sure about that, sweet on sweet on sweet didn't sound like it would cure anything, let alone a hangover. But Kamui was never one to turn down a free meal, so he sat down at the small table as Gin got the ingredients out.
A few minutes later, Gin set a bowl down in front of Kamui and said, "Well, there you go. Eat up."
Without thinking too hard about how cloyingly sweet the food Gin had set down smelled, Kamui took a bite. The admiral of the Harusame Space Pirates found it surprisingly good, for his hangover at least. "Wow," Kamui said, "you were right, this is so sweet that I'm aching for a completely different reason. I can see why you called this a hangover cure…"
Gin gave Kamui a small glare at that, "What are you going on about? This isn't so sweet. If I wasn't hungover, I'd go for something sweeter, like a strawberry-chocolate parfait."
Kamui didn't have a response to that, so he went back to eating. Just as Kamui finished eating and was about ready to head to the Harusame ship, he heard the sound of a door slid open and Kagura's sleepy voice drifted out, "Gin-chan, why are you eating that sweet slop again? It stinks, uh-huh…"
"Tch," Gin growled, "what's with you guys, huh? Sweets are good for you, why are you harping on the greatness that is sugar?"
Kamui stopped paying attention to the rest of the conversation as he was attempting to make a hasty get away before Kagura noticed him. But before he could get out the door, he heard Kagura say, "Abu-chan, is that you?"
Kamui didn't want to turn around at all. Despite being in Abuto's body, dealing with Kagura didn't seem very fun at the moment as she would probably figure out who he really was. But, just standing there, not giving an answer was rude (even by Yato standards). So, Kamui turned around and let that be his answer.
Kagura grinned in response, "What are you doing here, Abu-chan?"
Kamui opened his mouth to answer, but Gin did that for him, "Well, Jiraiya and I went out drinking yesterday. He got a little too drunk, so I brought him back here."
"That's what happened alright," Kamui agreed grumpily, "now, I really must be getting back to the ship. I'm sure the admiral has something he wants me to do."
Kagura frowned at that, "I'm sure my idiot Aniki can handle work himself, uh-huh. Stay a little longer, Abu-chan!"
Kamui sighed, he knew that protesting Kagura's request would lead nowhere. With a shrug, Kamui nodded, "Sure, I guess I could stay a little longer." What harm could a little more time at the Yorozuya be? Kamui moved away from the door and sat back down at the table with Gin and Kagura.
Tsumi's eyes opened in what was basically a jail cell. Feeling muzzy-headed and disoriented, she looked around her new surroundings. The room she was in was only large enough for her to pace around if she felt the need. Tsumi also found that she was tied up, which was not something she liked at all.
Anger welled up inside her as she remembered what happened in the library. She didn't know who her captor was, but once she got out of this cage, they would pay. Shifting a little bit in her bonds, Tsumi's lips started moving in a silent spell. The girls started glowing softly at first and then the light grew in intensity.
The light surrounding Tsumi suddenly went out, though, and the psychic girl found herself breathing hard, somehow she couldn't use a spell to get herself out of this room. Either the rope or the room was the cause of this particular predicament. The fact that she couldn't escape only fueled Tsumi's anger more.
Just as the psychic girl was think about what she would do to her captor once she got out, the doorknob to the room started turning. It seemed as if it were time for Tsumi to meet her captor face-to-face instead of just a voice in a dark room.
And that is the end of that chapter. I don't seem to have anything else to say at the moment, so I shall leave you until next chapter. See you then. As always if you'd like please leave a review, I love to know what you guys think.
-村山鶴
