CHAPTER IX

(THE MEETING)

"Is this just a dream? I can't feel anything. Wait. What happened? Why is it getting dark and blurry? Oi Kagura, are you grilling inside the house again? Oh yeah, I'm not in my home."

Falling freely up high, hallucinating like a drugged person, and feeling numb, the silver haired samurai can't do anything but to feel these things. He can't remember the final seconds of his battle, he doesn't want to anyway. The only thing that he remembers is that he's dying.

"When I die, I thought I was going to heaven. But I feel like falling into deep darkness. Is Jigoku Shoujo going to meet me on her boat? Maybe because they cursed me for being so useless. Or maybe there's no place in heaven for an old man who took many lives."

Three more seconds has passed and he's gone in sight of the men who risked their lives to defeat him. They all have the same expression in their faces. Shocked. Even the gun man can't believe that he killed that perm guy. No one can move a single limb after that.

Seven seconds has passed. As they thought it was over, they still won't let their guards down thinking he might just make his surprised attack… There was a surprise attack, but the thing is, it's not from him, not from the bomber faction leader, not on the mayo freak, but from her.

Two minutes has passed and all of them are swimming in their own pool of blood. Not a single one breathing. Not a single one that has no slash in their neck. An attack filled with anger, revenge, wrath, and blood thirst. She looked at them with coldly as she was cursing them to go to hell before she jumped off to the cliff to save someone. But, is it too late to do that? Noticing that she's falling very fast, she quickly took out another kunai and stabbed it on the wall beside her. It managed to go deep the concrete wall and now making a long vertical large damage as she continuously fall in a decreasing speed. She thought it was that deep but before she can estimate the depth, she already landed on the almost stagnant river. Yes, the end of the cliff is an underground river that was probably accidentally excavated when the underground is still in construction.

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"What's with this very light feeling?" Gintoki lifted his eyes from long time unconsciousness and tries to know where the hell he is. He found himself lying on the beautiful grass with his normal clean attire and the bokuto strapped in his waist. There's an endless rolling hills beyond and the sky is orange with small thin clouds slowly moving sideways as he gazes around. A small number of trees are everywhere and a huge mountain is beyond the endless rolling hills. Before he gets sucked with beautiful scenario, he stands up and turns around. He tends to see that there's a long dirt path behind him and beside the dirt path was a big bottomless cliff that looks like a crack on the earth. He observed the path and it's like endless on both sides, even the cliff. He to almost forget what happened to him.

"Gintoki. We meet again." Said the guy under the tree behind him. Hearing that familiar voice he quickly turned around and faced him. Finally, he saw that face again;. The man he's been dying to see for years again. His eyes widen and his body just frozen stuck there. "You are…"

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(BOOM!)

A loud explosion from the building shake the whole area as metals, stones and other scraps are raining down on them. The sudden flash blinded the Kuraba from the outside but before he could have recover his eyes, the mayo freak is already standing in front of him with that sadistic smile on his face with a huge cloud of smoke behind him..

"So you really made it this far, woman." Kuraba said.

"Woman, I ain't woman you filthy bastard." Answered Toushiko, puffing another smoke out of his lungs. Kuraba's eyes just widen from that voice. A voice from the guy who made his plans burned down into ashes. "Y-you're… The demon vice commander!" He shouted in terror. "Then that means… You bought those shinsen…" Before he could finish his sentence, the huge clouds of smoke are slowly fading away, revealing the shadows of people standing behind him.

"No… I didn't bring 'em here. This is my own business. " He quickly denied as he raise his sword. "…And these people behind me are not my men, not even your filthy followers. They don't care if we three die or suffer from battle. The only thing they care for…" He paused for a moment and lit another cigarette. But before he could continue his words, hundreds of kunai just suddenly popped out with a lightning speed behind him hitting straightly to Kuraba non-stop until his whole body is drenched in blood and his clothes are entirely filled with holes. He could not react or even scream in pain but only a soft grunt in every kunai that struck him. They're just throwing kunai at him until he already collapse and landed his back on the roof of the cargo trailer.

"…. The only thing they care for is their boss." He muttered at him as he walked closer to the dying Kuraba. "…And the only thing they wanna do is to… kill you." He connected with a dark expression in his face. He stood in front of him and glared at him coldly as he draws his sword form his waist. "However, I won't let that happen." He said. Kuraba's eyes went bright as he heard those words. "Did he show me some mercy so I can suffer in jail and let me live?" He thought.

"Yes. I won't let them kill you because… I will be the one to kill you!" He shouted with all his anger in it as he forcefully stabbed his sword into his brains. Blood squirted from his corpse's head and stained his kimono once more but he didn't give a damn about it. And so it was over. The fight is over. The head leader of it finally meets its death and its remaining comrades were annihilated by the Hyakka.

"I'm sorry ladies but your beloved leader is not here." He spoke out without turning his face on them. "She probably helped that silver haired idiot."

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"Gintoki!" She tries to look around for him as she swims in the dark body of water, hoping that he's still alive. It's very dark that she only sees a bit and the only light source is from the above where she came from. She swam here and there until she saw a piece of white cloth drenched in blood floating freely. She thought that he might be in the same spot where she found that piece of cloth, sinking deeper and deeper. She quickly inhaled deeply and swam deeper towards the direction of the piece of cloth. Even she opens her eyes, the light is not reaching into the water so she stretched out her arm and swings it everywhere until she bumped into someone's arm that is surely Gintoki's. She mindless pulled his arm and quickly raised her head on the surface of the water as she released her breathe and inhaled deeply. She glances over the area until she found a ladder heading directly above. It's a bit rusty and unused for years but it looks like in a good condition.

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"No I will not go back. I just wanna be with you." He demanded to guy. They've have been quite in some good conversation while walking to the dirt path until it came to this.

"It's not your time yet, you still have work to do." Replied the guy calmly, not taking it too serious.

"But, I'm tired of it. This burden is too much of a pain to carry." He replied roughly, but the guy didn't go with the flow emotion, instead of shouting back at the silver haired samurai, he just smiled and pats his shoulder like it's nothing. "Every person has a burden to carry. But you should know. You'll regret if you die now. I know, this the other world for dead people…" He looked at the beautiful sun and tries to hold back his emotion. "… Right after I came to this place, I cried. Not because that I died, but I left everyone behind in a very dangerous times. Dying doesn't mean that you'll be happy all the way."

Before he could spit out a word again, the guy slowly place his palm on the silver haired samurai's chest and gently pushed him off the cliff. He's falling again. He wanted to scream for help but what for? He finally realized and understood what that guy just said. He just stretched out his arms and called him once more to say goodbye

"Master."

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"Okay, I'll do it one more time." She insisted to herself. She sits up straight and inhaled deeply once more and gently pressed her lips to the unconscious samurai lying on the floor. She blew out another air to his mouth to resume his breathing. Her face is red a hell and her heart is thumping very fast. She quickly pulled out and starts placing her hands on his chest pressed it back and forth until she heard him coughed out water. Upon seeing that, her eyes start to water and her lips just smiled secretly.

"YOU COULDN'T DIE YET… UNTIL I HAVE SAID THOSE WORDS ON YOU." She thought.

END

AUTHOR: Reviews are accepted…

KATSURA: … Wait a minute! Why you didn't tell anything about what happened to me? That's just so unfair!

AUTHOR: Not in a mood… Anyways, thanks for reading. I might be unable to update it sooner. Just say if I should and it this way or should I continue it. :D