The long awaited chapter is finally here! To all my readers, sorry it went on hiatus for such a long time. Hope you are all still reading.

Chapter 10

The walls of the hospital were suffocating. Too white. Too clean. All Sougo wanted to do was kick them in.

"Here."

A cold drink was pressed against his face. That should have annoyed him. Hijikata's pitying face should have made him want to smash it in. But there was no energy left. The fighting spirit had all been drained out of him.

"Go away," he muttered. "Go away."

The drink was pressed harder against his face. "Drink it before I have to force it down your throat," Hijikata grumbled. "You haven't drunk anything, right? Do you want to die before the doctor gets back?"

"Go away."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Bastard."

Hijikata placed the can on the floor beside him and sat down. "Haven't we been in this situation millions of times? Doesn't it always turn out alright?" he said, more for himself than for the boy next to him.

But the more he said it, the less the convincing it became.

"Hijikata doesn't console people," Sougo mumbled. "What have you done with Hijikata? Did he finally drop dead? Ah, there must be a god after all."

He sighed and wrapped his arm around the other boy's shoulder. "I think someone slipped something into my mayonnaise."

"This is it, isn't it? She is really going to die this time," Sougo said, seemingly unfazed by the offending arm around his shoulders.

"Oi, oi, don't be so depress-"

Hijikata stopped when he realised the boy was crying. "Sougo…"

"Ah." Sougo wiped his eyes and struggled to his feet. "There's something I have to do."

"Hah?" Hijikata stared at him confused.

The boy produced a brown envelope from under his school blazer. "I need to get this to Kondo as soon as possible," he said.

"Is that?"

"All the evidence we need to shut down the Amanto organisation," Sougo replied.

"Wait." Hijikata grabbed his blazer. "I'll take it to Kondo. You stay here with your sister."

Sougo shook his head. "I've been saying goodbye since she was first diagnosed," he said. "You're the one who needs closure, not me. I've said everything that needs to be said, but there's still something you still need to say, isn't there?"

In a less depressing situation Hijikata would have laughed. "Seems like we're both out of character today."

The door to the ward slid open and the doctor appeared. The furrowing lines on his face already told the two boys what they needed to know. "Ah, well, she's stable for now," he said. "I suggest you go say your goodbyes while she's still conscious."

But Sougo simply shrugged. "Tell her I'm sorry. Tell her that her brother is being selfish till the very end."

Hijikata reached out as if to grab him. He wanted to grab him by the neck of his shirt and drag him into his dying sister's room. He wanted to yell at him not to run away. But Sougo was right, the boy had said goodbye way too many times. And there were more important things for him to attend to.

"I'll tell her you'll see her soon," he said, placing his hand soothingly on the other boy's head.

"Touch me again and you won't be having any children," Sougo threatened, but he didn't pull away.

Hijikata watched the boy run off before turning and entering the ward. Mitsuba laid silently, her breathing constant and her eyes shut. Upon hearing his footsteps, her eyes fluttered open and she took the mask off to talk. "Ah, you look so sad," she commented with a small smile. "I like it better when you smile."

"I hardly ever smile," Hijikata remarked, kneeling next to her.

"A rare smile is truly special," she replied. Her eyes darted around the empty room. "Where's Sou-chan?"

"He's coming," he promised. "He'll definitely come."

Mitsuba reached up and touched his cheek gently. "I always worry about that boy. But he has good friends, people at that school that care for him as much as I do. I feel at ease that I can leave him in good hands."

Hijikata could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. "Listen to me, Mitsuba, there's so much I want to tell you, so much I want to show you," he said. "I don't want you to go. You can't go. Not yet."

She smiled again. "Me too," she whispered. "I don't want to go just yet."

He took her hand and pressed it gently against his lips. Tears fell onto her delicate hands. "I love you, Mitsuba."

"Me too, Toushiro. Me too."

Kagura woke to find the morning sun burning on her cheeks. After various protesting and being thrown out of Shinpachi's ward, she'd ended up falling asleep next to Kamui. It was only after she rubbed her eyes to find her hands blackened that she realised her mistake.

"That bastard," she swore, snatching the pen off the side table.

Satisfied with her creative outlet, Kagura left the ward to see if she could sneak past the angry nurse to see Shinpachi. But by the time she got there another visitor had already arrived.

"GIN-CHAN!"

"Oi, oi, since when was there a field trip to the hospital?" Gintoki yawned, taking a puff from his signature 'lollipop'. "You look like a panda, Kagura. Not enough sleep? A new fashion trend? Did you get mauled by a bear? Ah, you forgot to call me sensei."

"Gin-chan, what are you doing here?" Kagura questioned, ignoring his earlier comment.

"Sensei felt something was off. You see, he woke up this morning to find the world was quiet. Then he realised something was missing," Gintoki said, nodding to himself. "Life just isn't the same without glasses-kun yelling in your ears, so I came to visit the 5% of Shinpachi left."

"Ah! We lost Shinpachi's glasses!" she exclaimed after a moment's realisation.

"See? Now we only have 5% of Shinpachi left with us," he replied.

Kagura glanced down at the lifeless boy before her and her face saddened. "Gin-chan, is Shinpachi going to be okay?" she asked, her voice starting to tremble. "He has woken up since yesterday and the nurse said he was in critical condition. He'll be alright, won't he? Gin-chan?"

Before he had a chance to answer, the door burst open and a furious Sougo appeared in the doorway. "They got away," he stated, breathing in short breathes. "Their offices were empty when the police got there. Those bastards got away with all the crap they pulled."

Hijikata emerged behind him. "Three of our students are in hospital with major injuries because of them and they're just going to walk away free," he scowled.

Gintoki took one last puff of his cigarette and snuffed it out in the table. "You kids have done enough," he said. "Let it go, pursing it further will only get you hurt."

"Gin-chan, they hurt Shinpachi," Kagura said with a pleading look in her eyes. "Are you really going to let them get away with it?"

The silver-haired teacher got up to leave. "Sensei's going to go for a walk."

A bit of Yorozuya love at the end :) I am planning to finish it finally, do not stress.