A/N: Hi everyone, sorry for the wait! Anyway, I've got some new followers! Welcome aboard and I hope you enjoy the story! Everyone, please don't hesitate to let me know what you think, maybe I should make the chapters longer?

The blast that resulted lit up the overwhelming darkness of the night. Whilst some officers scrambled to get Sougo away for medical assistance, the rest watched the flames billow, knowing now that they would have to fight for their lives. But they no longer felt despair; after seeing one of their captains put his life on the line for them, they were more than willing sacrifice their own. It was almost as if the fires in their own souls had been ignited.

Hijikata threw the bazooka in his hands to the ground and turned his cold eyes to the Yato group as they stood from afar, watching the fire and smoke engulf the area. Kondo stood forward to address them.

'Your leader is dead. You'd all do well to leave now while you still have the chance!' He yelled.

As he said this, some officers behind him raised bazookas onto their shoulders and aimed, ready to fire at his command. Abuto laughed, and they wondered at his detachment.

'You guys are truly interesting, Shinsengumi! But...what makes you think something like that can kill our captain?' He asked.

Kondo's eyes widened.

'There's no way he could have-'

'Ah, teteteteh...'

They all returned their attention sharply to the dissipating smoke and gazed in horror as they made out an outspread umbrella. The person behind it stood up slowly and gave a smile.

'Awww, you ruined my fun...that's cheating, you know?'

Hijikata could feel his eyes narrowing.

So...he was able to get his umbrella in the way...although...

He surveyed the Yato Admiral's bruised body. In addition to the wounds Sougo had inflicted, there was now an iron rod sticking in his chest, most likely as a result of being pushed back by the force of the explosion. Kamui could no longer stand upright, and now that the adrenaline of battle had passed, it was obvious that the pain he had previously ignored had caught up to him. At the very least, Hijikata was hopeful that Sougo had succeeded in decommissioning the Yato leader from battle.

Beside him, he could hear Kondo inquiring on Sougo's condition and hoped he would be all right. (Of course, he would never be caught saying that out loud.)

With a sigh, he unsheathed his sword and gazed out at the Yato in front of him. Abuto had now moved to his Captain's side and was standing between him and the Shinsegumi.

'I suppose we might as well get back to business.' The Yato Deputy remarked offhandedly to his Boss, placing his large umbrella on his shoulder. Kamui smiled innocently.

'The fight was pretty much over anyway. Let's hurry up and get back.' He ordered. Abuto nodded and beckoned their men to move forward.

At this, the Yato charged towards the Shinsengumi. Hijikata turned to his men.

'FIRE!'

The sounds of missiles being released immediately followed his order.

'Oi Zura...I want to talk to you.' The young boy had said as he approached his classmate, who was reclining under a tree. Katsura had looked up from the book he had been reading and sighed when he saw that it was Takasugi who had spoken.

'It's not Zura, it's Katsura. What do you want?' He asked, through slightly narrowed eyes, looking up when the other boy finally came to a stop in front of him. It was obvious that he was expecting a confrontation.

Takasugi crossed his arms and smirked.

'I want to know...how did you do it?' He asked, to his classmate's confusion.

'Do what?'

'How did you do so well in that test when the rest of us were average at best? You cheated, didn't you?' He elaborated.

Katsura's eyes lowered even further and, without a word, he returned his attention to his book. Angry that he was being ignored, Takasugi slapped the book out of his hands.

'Hey!' He protested, watching as the book flew into the air and fell a distance away. He got to his feet angrily.

'Answer my question!' Takasugi snapped.

'Maybe if you had actually prepared yourself for the test you could have done better!' He snapped back.

'What was that?' The short haired boy demanded, taking a hold of Katsura's haori and daring him to continue. Not intimidated by this, Katsura continued to speak his mind.

'Every single question we were asked in that test has an answer in that book you tuck away after lessons are over. And yet you don't read and when you end up getting bad marks you want to blame someone else for your own mistakes!'

He received an angry punch that made him take a few steps back. He glared at the boy in front of him as he held his cheek. Takasugi smirked.

'What's the matter? Are you too much of a gentleman to fight back?' He sneered. Katsura shook his head at him.

'That's all you ever do. I don't know what your frustrations are, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't take them out on me.'

Takasugi's eyes narrowed and he clenched his fists.

'You always act like you're some perfect student, like you're better than the rest of us.' The long haired boy's eyes widened in surprise at this but before he could respond they heard Gintoki's voice calling.

'Oiiii Takasugi, Zura!'

Both turned sharply to the side and saw him running up to them. Takasugi watched him approach wordlessly so it was Katsura who was the first to speak when he finally came up.

'It's not Zura, it's Katsura!' He reiterated indignantly.

Gintoki only shrugged his shoulders indifferently before pointing in the direction of their school.

'I hear Shouyou-sensei's calling everyone to class for some sweets! Don't you worry, I'll take yours for you!' He had said, and he ran off to do just that.

Katsura's and Takasugi's jaws fell open at the same time and they turned to stare at each other. They both knew what would happen to their sweets once Gintoki got his hands on them...

'Oh no you don't!' Takasugi shouted, running after him.

'Don't touch my sweets, Gintoki!' Katsura added, following closely behind. Luckily for them, by the time they got there Shouyo-sensei had reserved their sweets for them and they were able to eat to their hearts' content. Their earlier fight was now all but forgotten.

Katsura smiled at the memory as he stood out on deck not far from Takasugi and his minions. He looked from the sword in his right hand to his former comrade silently.

Now I have to fight one-handed...this could be a problem

'The city is beautiful at night, isn't it?' A female voice at his side asked.

He was surprised to see that it was Matako who was talking to him.

'Yes...yes, it is.' He said cautiously, knowing she had come to stand next to him for a reason. His suspicions were confirmed when the blonde turned to him with a glint in her eye.

'I'll be as direct as possible; I don't trust you in the least and if I have any reason to believe you will betray Lord Shinsuke's trust, I will make sure my bullet hits you in a more vital spot than the last time.' She threatened. Katsura looked at her with unintimidated eyes even as she removed the safety on one of her guns.

'I will not hesitate.' She added, discretely aiming at his chest so that the others around would not notice.

Katsura sighed, and it irritated her how casually he was taking everything.

'You hear me?!'

Katsura placed his finger on the gun's barrel and turned it down so that it was pointing at the floor.

'You will not be shooting me here, so you might as well put the gun down. And secondly...your lord and I have made it very clear we do not trust it each other. It is therefore very unlikely I can betray his trust.' He finally responded.

'All the same, I'll be keeping my eyes on you.'

'Do what you want.' He replied, moving away from her. She watched him go, wishing she could shoot him then and there with his back turned so he wouldn't dodge.

She noticed Henpeita on another side of the deck and went up to him. When she came beside him he turned to her slightly, acknowledging her presence, before returning to his view.

'Tell me something, senpai. Before Lord Shinsuke was able to convince Katsura to join us how were we intending to deal with him and the Joui if they had wanted to intervene?'

Henpeita shrugged.

'You could say that we were...helping the Shinsengumi out.' He answered, to her shock.

'Helping...the Shinsengumi?!'

Henpeita laughed. It had obviously been his plan with the way he looked so pleased.

'We supplied them with information that gave them an advantage over our fellow...'comrades'.' He answered.

'What kind of information?'

'Whenever there were meetings, plans to commit terrorism...we informed the Bakufu dogs and they were able to intercept and make some arrests. Joui have no problem sharing information on their intentions with fellow Joui after all. Our only issue was that it was hard getting information on Katsura's unit.' As he said this his eyes turned to the person in question. 'And he was the main person who would have been against our plans. He could have also rallied other Joui factions against us.'

'So what did you do about it?'

'What could we do? Let's just say this is a better alternative.'

Matako's hand found her chin as she thought over what she had just been told.

'So then...by providing information to the Shinsengumi, we were making the Joui weaker so that they wouldn't be able to respond properly once we initiated our plan? That's genius.' She commended.

'Isn't it?' Henpeita added, looking pleased at her compliment. They both turned when they heard cannon fire coming from a large building in the distance.

'It looks like we've arrived.' She remarked. Henpeita nodded and turned his head to the men at the cannons.

'Return fire and let's begin evasive manoeuvres! We don't want to get hit by those cannons.' He directed.

'Yes sir!'

Katsura looked at the Palace in the distance and sighed.

'It has begun.' He murmured. Takasugi turned to him, having heard him, and smirked. 'Let's see who gets the Shogun's head first.' He said.

The Yato had managed to evade the missiles that had been launched at them, forcing Hijikata to order the Shinsengumi to engage them in combat. They fought like monsters, and Hijikata wondered if they would be able to win.

Some of the Shinsengumi officers attempted to attack Kamui, but even with his injuries he was able to defend himself. He impaled one officer in the chest with his hand while using his umbrella in his other hand to shoot at some others that attempted to intervene.

'Humans are so weak.' He muttered.

Abuto was dealing with Kondo, who had to move back to avoid a vicious swipe.

'Show me your skills, Commander of the Shinsengumi!' He shouted as he continued to attack.

Bringing his sword in the way of another hit caused it to bend. He looked at it in dismay. 'My Kotetsu-!'

'Kondo-san!'

Hijikata came up to reinforce his Commander and pointed his sword at the Yato deputy. Abuto smirked.

'The more the merrier!' He mocked, as he charged towards them.

'Tosshi!'

'These guys are too strong for us!' He dodged a kick from the Yato and returned it with a slash that cut into Abuto's hand. Abuto responded by licking at some of the blood on his hand.

'Is that all?' He wondered, as he came forward again with his umbrella.

He attempted to hit Hijikata with a decisive blow, forcing the Vice Commander to parry. As they were in the deadlock, Abuto noticed Kondo about to stab him from behind and moved out of it suddenly, grabbing Hijikata by surprise and throwing him into his Commander. He used his umbrella to shoot mercilessly into some officers that attempted to come to their aid before pointing his umbrella at them.

'The deaths of the Commander and Vice Commander is the death of the Shinsengumi!' He shouted.

'NOOO!'

Abuto barely turned in time before he was pounced on by white fur. Growling in irritation, he threw Sadaharu away from him and stood up. He smirked at the girl who appeared in front of him, with her umbrella on her shoulder.

'Well, well, look who's here.' He remarked. She glared at him, remembering their previous encounter. Sadaharu came up behind her.

'Where's my stupid big brother?' She asked him.

Abuto shrugged.

'He is here somewhere as well, wiping these weaklings into the mud. What? Don't tell me you want to fight him over me? I can't allow that.'

Kagura didn't reply. Instead, she turned to Hijikata and Kondo as they raised themselves up, holding their heads.

'Where's that stupid sadist?' She asked them.

'He was badly injured facing their leader.' Kondo replied. Kagura grit her teeth angrily. 'But he was also able to injure him at least!' Kondo added, hoping it would make her feel better. If anything, it looked like she felt worse.

'Oi, China girl. Was that young man your brother?' Hijikata asked unceremoniously. Kondo turned to him in shock before turning to her.

'Wha-! Now that you mention it there is an alikeness!' He remarked, seeing Kamui in her face.

Abuto laughed, causing them to return their attention to him.

'Yes, they're related by blood. But they're hardly alike in character are they?!' He remarked.

Kagura's eyes were narrowed. She wanted to ask about Gin-chan, but she didn't want her brother or Abuto to know that he was around. Gorilla had said Kamui had been injured, and she felt her hand tightening around her umbrella, conflicted.

'Don't blank out on me now, little girl!' Kagura immediately moved out of the way of Abuto's kick and gave a rebound kick of her own, hitting him in the mouth. Abuto grabbed her leg and threw her into one of the walls. Hijikata and Kondo were shocked to see Kagura getting up like nothing had happened. She charged forward with her umbrella raised. She needed to get to Kamui!

'Out of my way!'

'You aren't getting to the Captain with me around!'

'That's fine! Maybe you will face me instead?' Causing Abuto and Kagura to pause and turn to see who had spoken.

Gintoki came forward with his sword in hand. Hijikata's eyes narrowed as he wondered how he could have gotten out.

'Yamazaki...'

'Oi Mayora!' Hijikata shot an exasperated look at the silver haired samurai.

'What?!'

'This is not the time for pride...this is the time for blood.'