Genre: Drama/Mystery
Disclaimer: I do not own Gintama or any of the characters.
Gintama: Sinister Arc
The captain could not help but raise an eyebrow. He knew that the Yato was a humongous eater, yet the sight of her swallowing at least thirty plates of food still elicited a surprised reaction from him. Understandably, the dishes containing dark, rare and burnt charcoal were conspicuously left untouched. It seems that even in the China girl's rabid hunger; those dishes were still unable to gain entry into her demanding stomach.
When she finally finished everything in sight, she let out a huge, unabashed burp right in his face. He stared blankly as his hand subconsciously ruffled his own light-brown hair; an entire fish bone slid off the side of his head. The Yato didn't even look apologetic at the rude gesture, instead glaring at him with an unperturbed gaze that was all too familiar. Sougo could not help but smirk; he actually preferred this rude, offending girl to the submissive, sobbing girl that had been right before him just a few minutes ago.
"Great appetite as usual, China," Sougo said impassively. "But if you don't mind me asking, how many times do you go to the toilet per day? I find it hard to believe that all the food just goes nowhere in your body-"
The redhead picked her nose and flicked a booger at him. Dodging it with ease, he fixed his eyes on her. He could make sarcastic and satirical jokes later; for now, he had to know everything that had transpired. From the tentative looks of it, the girl might finally be able to relate her own harrowing experience.
"Tell me, China," the captain leant forward, his eyes intense and purposeful. "What happened? What occurred in the space of one week that made you so emotional…?"
The Yato was silent; despite himself, Sougo's heart clenched. He had thought that she had somehow recovered from her trauma, but what if it was just a pre-emptive stance? For all he knew, she could revert to that snivelling little girl right after bursting out of her shell for a few minutes. He gritted his teeth; he wasn't going to let that happen before he got all the information he needed.
"China, I need to know-"
"Deaths…" she looked at him right in the eyes. "Heads… Gin-chan and Shinpachi…"
Sougo gazed intently as he registered the hesitancy and fearfulness in her voice. He needn't have worried; she might still be suffering from the after-effects of traumatization, but her mind was definitely her own now. The fact that she was actually meeting his eyes as she uttered those words just served to confirm his crudely-formed hypothesis.
"Explain, China," the captain stated shortly. "What do you mean by deaths? What did you see with those eyes?"
There was a hesitant pause, during which the girl proceeded to bite her lips.
"It might take a while, bastard…" the Yato said softly. "I might even be wasting your time…"
Sougo smirked despite himself. He had already wasted an entire week on fruitless searching; a further furore of nonsensical babbling was hardly going to hurt anyone, was it?
"I have all the time in the world, China," the captain stretched his arms behind his head and gazed at her. "Don't worry about it. Just let everything out."
The Yato looked at him uncertainly. A stoic period of silence erupted where she simply glared at his nonchalant profile with a tentative air. Slowly, she began to open her mouth…
O O O
Sougo sat back in the sofa he was seated on, his impassive outlook slightly diminished. Opposite him, the redhead closed her mouth with a tentative breath and looked uncertainly at him. Narrowing his crimson eyes, he thought about how he was going to go about this. Everything just seemed so… complicated and messed-up…
It had been long; the Yato had practically struggled to relate her entire story, breaking up the flow countless times with unnecessary pauses and hesitation. He knew that it wasn't intentional on her part; that it was just the traumatization playing its last tricks, yet he still felt the tremors of annoyance at the redhead. After all, what she was saying was not the normal fare, and it was too annoying to listen to bits and pieces of it at a time.
The captain furrowed his eyebrows. He might have gotten his story, but he hardly advanced towards the entire origin of the situation. But, he did gain some useful knowledge. The killers… weren't human. Somehow, they are controlling random people with sick and twisted delusions that he will have been proud of himself, and propelling them to their deaths. If he was not wrong… if the Boss had not made his timely intervention, there won't even be a redhead in front of him right at that very moment…
He paused; getting to his feet, he looked at the startled Yato with a pair of intense eyes.
"China, come with me," the captain said firmly. "I need you to verify something for me."
The redhead stared at him. He could not discern the expression on her face, but he thought that he saw a spark of defiance in those blue eyes. He smirked; the Yato was slowly but surely gaining her original personality back.
"Why do I have to come with you?" the redhead demanded softly. "I don't follow you, bastard."
The captain eyed her intently. If his suspicions were not wrong, the verification could lead to an advance in their investigations.
"I need you to verify it for me," Sougo reiterated resolutely. "I need you to ascertain the particular alleyway that you had walked into one week ago."
The Yato looked sceptically at him.
"Why? I'm not going unless you tell me why, bastard. Gin-chan has always told me not to follow sadistic freaks to secluded areas, uh-huh."
The captain subconsciously thought that the Boss should have rephrased that sentence; the wavy-haired man was hardly a masochistic angel himself. Nevertheless, he met her eyes with a pair of focused, crimson eyes.
"I need you to confirm whether the area that you last saw… was the one with a certain man's blood stains."
O O O
If any of the Shinsengumi or for that matter, anybody who knew the two who were currently traversing the streets, they will be in for a decent surprise. Who would have thought that those two would ever agree to walk on the same path?
Sougo gritted his teeth. Staring into the distance, he tried to keep his cool as a redhead walked behind him with a distinct unwilling air. It was hard, seeing as the Yato had wasted a huge amount of unnecessary time on his part.
"Where's Sadaharu?" the redhead had exclaimed all of a sudden as they were getting ready to leave. "Where's Sadaharu? Where are you, Sadaharu?"
The captain shook his head resignedly; the china girl had spent at least an hour combing the entire length of the apartment, yelling for that monstrous dog of hers with that thick accent of hers. She actually even had the audacity to rope him into the search... the gall of her. When she had looked ready to start breaking doors in her anxiety, there had been a bark from the floor below. It turns out that the old granny in the Snack shop had taken custody of the huge dog for the time being; the Yato had obviously not been in the correct frame of mind to take care of her own pet. The dog will probably have starved to death in that one week that she had gone AWOL in her own mind.
"Hey," a voice resonated behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a pair of defiant eyes staring at him. Despite himself, he was amazed at how fast the Yato was turning to her former self. Did the world's most powerful race possess legendary mental healing abilities in addition to their physical ones…? Wait, that wasn't logical. If that was the case, she will hardly have converted into a shut-in overnight in the first place, sucking her own thumb in a corner of the sofa.
"What is it?" Sougo inquired impassively. "Spit it out, I don't have time to chat about Barbie dolls with you."
He thought he saw a vein pop at her forehead; he smirked, taunting her was getting fun again.
"I don't play with Barbie dolls, bastard," the redhead said threateningly. "I will kill you if you ever say that again, uh-huh."
"Then, what is it? Don't waste my time, China. You already took up an entire slice of my precious life with that nonsensical dog of yours."
The Yato met his eyes with a defiant gaze.
"You haven't answered me," the redhead asked with an almost hesitant air. "You haven't answered the question I asked you just now."
Sougo raised an eyebrow. Did she ask him a question? Oops, it must have been so insignificantly stupid that it had totally slipped his mind.
"Question…?" the captain repeated nonchalantly as he walked. "What question was it? Sorry, my memory isn't that good."
The redhead actually shook a fist in his direction. Her eyes slowly averted away from him.
"That last question I asked you…" she expressed softly, tentatively. "…who died trying to save who?"
Sougo clenched his fists; the Yato had asked him a particularly sensitive topic right there. Would she revert to her traumatized state if he gave her the most probable answer at that point in time? Will she cry about a bunch of senseless deaths if he told her that the Boss might have died? What should he do? Whatever happens, he did not wish to lug a deadweight emo girl around in his investigation. It will slow down his search by a considerable extent after all. Yet, it might just be the trigger that had restored the china girl's destroyed mind. If he lied and said that it was just a joke, she might hide in her delusional and pathetic shell again. If he told the truth, she might hide in her delusional and pathetic shell again. What was he supposed to do; utter a half-truth that stinks of a half-lie?
He narrowed his eyes; the question can wait. The answers were more vital at the moment. Yet, he will have to approach in a cautious and nonchalant way; the redhead was never one to wait patiently for an answer. She was one to take that answer, regardless of whether it was consensual or forcibly.
"I will tell you once we establish the verification," the captain said casually. "I-"
"Tell me now, Super Sadist," the Yato insisted. "I need to know…"
Sougo looked on impassively as the redhead stared blankly at the floor, a look of confusion spread on those China-esque features of hers.
"I was surrounded by these… blocks…" the Yato mumbled with a slight edge to her voice. The captain's crimson eyes narrowed. Was she trying to relate the entire experience trapped in her own mind? "They were huge and… scary… no matter what I did, I couldn't find my way out of them…"
The redhead shook her head slowly, before slowly inclining her gaze to meet his stoic stare.
"Then, I heard words…" the Yato continued hesitantly. "I don't really remember what they were… but for some reason, they caused me to go all… shocked…"
Sougo contemplated as he looked at the girl's tentative profile. Now that he thought about it, the fact that China did not react to the news that Boss had died but rather, the news that Boss had died trying to save her… what did it mean? Was she simply not used to being protected, what with her headstrong and bullish personality? Or was it simply a coincidence, during which the girl decided to awake from her own nightmare on a whim? Or maybe… it was because he had expressed the words in the wrong way in the first place…
The redhead looked at him searchingly; her ocean blue eyes laced with curiosity and… apprehension. The captain furrowed his eyebrows. There was no mistake about it; the girl had subconsciously registered the words in the first place, but had merely ignored their calls with her willpower alone. The words might have awoken the girl from her nightmare, but they could serve to plunge her into it again. There was no other choice. He will have to stall this out and get his answers first.
"China," Sougo said calmly, his crimson eyes never leaving those blue ones. "Listen to me."
The Yato did not deviate from her gaze either; on the contrary, she had a fiery look going on in those eyes of hers. The girl was replacing her weirdly soft-spoken demeanour with her usual hot-headed one, probably at the spur of the moment alone. The captain subconsciously smirked; China was going to be in for a pleasant surprise when she finds out that she had actually spoken softly to the guy she hated the most…
"I don't expect you to take my words for it," Sougo continued. "But I stake my honour as a samurai on this…"
He gazed intensely at the redhead. She looked taken aback.
"I will tell you after everything is over…"
O O O
The captain was impassive as he stood before a painfully familiar crime scene. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw a confused redhead gazing ahead. If he was not wrong, he thought that he saw… vague recognition in those blue eyes of hers.
"So, China…" Sougo spoke up, before trailing off. The Yato was still looking at the area ahead with a distinct muddled air. The captain narrowed his eyes and cleared his throat.
"China."
The redhead finally responded to him. Averting her gaze, she landed her eyes on the light-brown haired man in front of her.
"What do you want, Super Sadist?" the Yato asked not-too-gently.
The captain sighed, before pointing a finger at the alleyway in question.
"Is this particular area," Sougo expressed slowly. "The one you saw… stuff in?"
The redhead did not seem to comprehend his question at first glance. She simply looked at him with a bemused air. The captain gritted his teeth and proceeded to reiterate the question, before the Yato cut him off with a biting remark.
"I got your question the first time, asshole," the redhead said cuttingly. Sougo did not flinch at the sudden insult, but he did register the renewed tone that the girl reserved specially for him. Honestly, should he feel honoured or offended…? Nevertheless, it just means that China was more or less back to her original fiery and hot-headed disposition. It worked in the positive in a lot of ways, but the captain did express some 'gloom' at the disappearance of the soft-spoken and subservient girl just a few hours ago. It had been fun… creepily fun watching her grovel at his feet… in a way.
"What are you smirking at, bastard?" the Yato demanded brusquely. "You give me the creeps. Are you…"
The girl's eyes widened. Covering herself exaggeratedly with a pair of milky-white hands, she glared at him so fiercely that a normal man will have winced… cringed even. Sougo did not perform either of the aforementioned reactions, but did consent to raise a sceptical eyebrow. What was she trying to cover exactly?
"You pervert…" the redhead accused. "Were you trying to stare down the unripe fruits of a maiden?
Sougo stared at her blankly for a moment, before breaking into a dry laugh. The redhead looked shocked by his sudden gesture. At least, he thought that she looked shocked. It might have been anger or horrified or some other crude expression that only China could possibly make.
"What are you laughing at, asshole?" the Yato asked irritably. "Do you want me to punch you?"
The captain slowly caught himself, his laughs subsiding into little chuckles that were hardly audible. Looking at the redhead, who looked taken aback yet again by his sudden intensity, he allowed himself a small smile.
"I will never have thought that I will actually say this…" Sougo murmured. "But I actually prefer the old you… amazing…" He trailed off hesitantly.
"What did you say?" the redhead asked with a tint of curiosity in her query. "You're too soft for a guy, Super Sadist. Wait, I forgot you aren't a guy."
The captain hardly took in the implied insult; he was trying to get his act together. Something was evidently wrong with him. Since when did he actually laugh openly in front of others? Shaking his head, he tried to clear all the excessive thoughts running through his mind. There will be time to explore this weird development in the later stages, but it was hardly the time for it now.
"Never mind me, China," Sougo said, his voice restoring its firm and impassive edge. "Just answer my question."
The redhead surprised him; she actually knew how to read situations. After meeting his intensified gaze with an initial puzzled expression, she swiftly glanced at the secluded area right behind the captain.
When the Yato finally spoke, the captain's hackles were practically raised. This was what he had aimed for right from the start; the Yato's own words that might just confirm a significant half of his conjecture… and lead to the recovery of two insignificant figures in his life.
"Yeah… this was where… I saw… their heads… fly off…" the redhead expressed hesitantly. Sougo saw her fists clench at her sides.
"This was where... Gin-chan and Shinpachi... went away from me..."
A/N: Sorry for the wait, guys! I took quite a while to write this chapter, and I apologise for my delay. On another note, I should be churning out chapters at a faster rate soon ;)
