Hey guys, Murayama Tsuru here. Here's the 25th chapter, sorry it's a little late. But, I had a math final today so as a reward for me, I decided to finish this chapter. Hope you guys enjoy ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't own Gintama; it belongs to Sorachi Hideaki-Sensei.

When Katsura and Hijikata returned to the flower shop hideout, something felt a little off to Hijikata. Usually the place was practically glowing with light; it made Hijikata wonder how they paid their electric bill as he didn't think being a part of a Joui organization was a very lucrative job. But now, there were kno lights on at all and Hijikata wondered if something was wrong.

Trying to put his mind at ease, Hijikata asked, "Why aren't there any lights on?"

Katsura shrugged, "I don't know." He said, "Maybe everyone is playing a mass game of no-lights hide-and-seek."

Hijikata shook his head, pretty sure that was not the answer at all, but said nothing, there didn't really seem to be any point of arguing with Katsura at the moment (arguments with people like him and Sakata Gintoki usually went nowhere after all). So, Hijikata responded with a noncommittal murmur of assent.

As the two entered the building, Hijikata was more sure than ever that there was not 'no-lights hide-and-seek' game going on, whatever the hell that was. The reason he was so sure of this was because all the other members of Katsura's group were huddled around a bunch of candles in the next room over. Hijikata, feeling cynical, said, "Still so convinced that your group mates are playing a game?"

Katsura shrugged again, "I guess Elizabeth forgot to pay the electric bill. It was due a few days ago, but I've been a little too busy to pay it. So, I left the task to Elizabeth, I guess she was too busy as well."

"Too busy to—" Hijikata felt like banging his head against the nearest wall in exasperation, who the hell could be too busy to pay their electric bill? Hijikata was once again reminded of how foolish these Joui people were.

Sighing in annoyance, the black-haired vice-captain of the Shinsengumi found his voice again, "If this were the Shi…place where I worked before this kind of thing would never have happened...damn—" Hijikata trailed off with a curse then, realizing that of course this thing would happen at the Shinsengumi. Kondo-san was so scatterbrained that he would never have remembered to pay the electric bill. And so, that particular duty was relegated to Hijikata.

But, of course, Hijikata wasn't at the Shinsengumi at the moment, but here, in a flower shop hideout belonging to the person he wanted to arrest. And, to make matters worse, the Shinsengumi's electric bill had also been due a few days ago. Hijikata was absolutely sure that Kondo-san had forgotten to pay it, and no one else in the Shinsengumi probably thought of paying it either. So Hijikata was wrong, in fact, something like this could happen in the Shinsengumi as well…

With a knowing smile, Katsura said, "So, what were you saying, Douhou-kun? Something along the lines of 'this would never happen at the place I work'? I wonder about that."

Hijikata sighed once again, "You know what? Forget about it, I was wrong. Something like this is bound to happen anywhere. What are we going to do until tomorrow? Hanging around in the dark isn't exactly very relaxing you know. And, as I'm guessing tomorrow isn't going to be a calm sort of day, I'm pretty sure we don't want to do anything stressful tonight."

"Well," Katsura said with a third shrug, frustrating Hijikata more than a little but, "we're not in the dark, are we? There are lots of candles around, so you won't have to worry. Also, we can sit around and tell ghost stories and play UNO. I can't think of anything more relaxing, can you?"

'Yes!' Hijikata wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, ghost stories and UNO were not his ideas of relaxing pass-times. The black-haired vice-captain restrained himself from saying that aloud, though, and went to join Katsura with his circle of other Joui group members.

They started, for some reason, with ghost stories. Although, again, this wasn't something he would admit out loud and in public, he had been dreading this because he was (more than a little) afraid of scary stories. But, to his immense relief, none of the stories were actually that scary…to him at least, the other Joui members seemed scared stiff for some reason.

But then, came the UNO game. Once again, Hijikata seemed to be winning for some reason (for all of Katsura's boasting, he really wasn't very good at playing). Annoyed, Katsura groaned, "Hijikata, don't you know you're supposed to let me win here on my home turf?"

Hijikata's jaw dropped slightly, had Katsura really just said his actual name? As he had just won a fame of UNO, he was hoping that his luck would continue (some luck that was anyway) and no one would have heard Katsura's accidental slip of the tongue.

But, of course, just as Katsura realized what he had said, so did everyone else. Before Katsura could say anything to negate his recent slip of the tongue and before Hijikata could flee the room, someone said, "I knew it. Katsura-san, why are you letting that Shinsengumi bastard stay here?"

This started a buzz around the room of people questioning what was going on. Eventually, Katsura put up a hand to silence everyone. Once the room was quiet again, Katsura said, "Well, it seems like we have some explaining to do now don't we, Hijikata?" Said vice-captain groaned quietly, he was really hoping that this wouldn't turn out with him being forced to run for cover or start a fight he was pretty sure he wasn't going to win.

When Gin returned to the Yorozuya, his nose was met with a wave of something delicious cooking. As if in a trance, he wandered into the kitchen, sniffing the air like a cat. Once he reached the source of the smell he saw Abe Shizuka, once again, cooking. So, feeling pretty happy that he hadn't had to do any work this time said, "Hey, I didn't even have to ask this time. What're you making?"

Shizuka jumped a little bit, surprised that Gin had managed to sneak up on him somehow. Once the blond-haired brat had regained his composure, he said haughtily, "Of course you didn't need to ask me. Kagura-chan doesn't really know how to cook anything other than cracking an egg over rice. And you've been gone all day, so there didn't seem to be any other alternative, did there? Oh, and I'm making grilled tuna. You guys don't seem to have anything in your refrigerator so I had to go shopping."

Gin gave a surprised gasp and his face twisted in horror. Shizuka rolled his eyes and scowled, "Don't worry," he said, annoyed that Gin didn't seem to trust him, "I went with Kagura so she would make sure I didn't run away."

"It's not that," Gin said after a moment, still looking scandalized, "You bought tuna? Do you know how much that stuff costs? I don't know if you hadn't noticed, but we don't exactly have that kind of money."

"Yeah," Shizuka shrugged, "I figured that out by the state of your fridge. I had some money on me, I didn't really have the occasion to spend any of it when I was with Ninomiya-sama as I was too busy. So, I bought the tuna myself…what's wrong now?" he asked, seeing Gin's face twist further

"Did you not hear what I said?" Gin growled, "we don't have that kind of money around here. That means that I can't pay you back for the food."

Shizuka rolled his eyes, "Don't worry about paying me back. If anything, I'm paying you back."

"Huh?" was all Gin could think to say in response

"Well, you know," Shizuka said, averting his eyes, "you gave me that advice earlier today, so I'm just giving you a return gift so I don't have to owe you anything."

"Ah," Gin said, visibly relaxing now that he didn't have to think about paying Shizuka back anything he paid for the rather delicious looking tuna, "so, where's Shinpachi?"

"He was dragged home after an irate looking woman came and yelled at him for missing dinner. I might have intervened, but she seemed really scary…"

"Good call." Gin said with a smile, "Otae-san can be pretty scary when Shinpachi decided he'd rather not eat the burnt dark matter she calls eggs…" a shudder ran up the silver-haired Samurai's spine, "anyway, shall I call Kagura? I'm sure she's was past hungry now."

Shizuka laughed at that, "I'm sure she is. Earlier, she was bugging me for little bits. But, when I told her she would have to wait, she got huffy and left for her closet."

"Yep," Gin said, "that sounds like her. She's probably fallen asleep. Guess we'll have to eat without her, won't we?"

Shizuka looked confused and was about to ask about what Gin just said. Before he could say anything, though, Gin put a finger to his lips and winked, mouthing, 'Just wait for it.'

Right when the not spoken words left Gin's mouth, the door to Kagura's closet banged open and she hopped out, growling, "What do you mean you'll have to eat without me, Gin-chan? I'm not sleeping, uh-huh! I'm not some little kid anymore, uh-huh!"

"Coulda fooled me," Gin said, sticking a finger in his ear, "I mean from what Shizuka said, you stormed off when he wouldn't give you any food. If that's not the mark of a little kid, I don't know what is."

Kagura glowered at Gin, "Well what would you have done, huh? I bet you would have stormed off to, uh-huh! You're just as much a little kid as I am, reading all that Shonen Jump every week."

"Am not," Gin said petulantly, sticking out his tongue "I know how to wait patiently for my food. Unlike you."

"Oh yeah," Kagura responded, "then what about that one time when Shinpachi was making cookies and you wanted to taste some of the batter, uh-huh? Who was the one storming of then, huh?"

Gin choked on his next breath of air and he turned a glare at Kagura. He didn't actually have an answer for that, he had stormed off like a little kid when Shinpachi wouldn't let him have any of that delicious-looking cookie batter. But, then, when Shinpachi hadn't been looking, he'd stolen some of the batter anyway…but, that didn't really help his case this time now did it. If anything, it made him more childish than the little red-haired brat...

Instead, Gin decided to avoid answering Kagura's question by saying, "Well, I guess it's time to eat now isn't it, Shizuka-kun?"

Shizuka rolled his eyes and attempted to contain his smirk, those two really were very similar after all. But, then Shizuka's stomach rumbled and he had to admit that it was, indeed, time for dinner. So with a nod, the blond-haired boy served up the fish on plates and rice that he had also been making into bowls. The three then sat at the table and began to eat.

The next morning, Shizuka woke up, blinking rapidly. He had temporarily forgotten where he was. And as he didn't recognize his surroundings, he began to panic just a little bit. Slowly, as he woke up more, he remembered that he had been captured and essentially put under house arrest by Katsura Kotaro of all people.

Yet, those people didn't seem to be awake at the moment and it was the day of the raid of the sewer system. Shizuka felt conflicted about what to do; should he leave and join Ninomiya-sama or should he stay out of trouble here in the Yorozuya. Despite basically being a prisoner here, Sakata Gintoki had been treating him well and, somehow, it didn't quite feel right to just leave.

But, on the other hand, he felt duty-bound to join Ninomiya-sama on his quest for revenge. So, Shizuka found the clothes he had worn yesterday, dressed himself and started toward the door. Before he could open it, though, Sakata Gintoki's voice said quietly, "Where do you think you're going? Not to the sewers I hope, I've heard that there's something going on there today. Sounds like a place you'd want to avoid to me."

Shizuka sighed and turned around, he hadn't really wanted to have this conversation, "I'm sorry Gintoki-san, I really have to go. Ninomiya-sama needs me there."

Gin raised an eyebrow, "If he really needed you, he probably would have come to find you the minute he learned that that mayo-freak was impersonating you. But he didn't. You're not still hung up on revenge are you? No matter how many people you kill, it won't bring your sister back."

"No, that's not what I want!" Shizuka said fiercely. But then he paused, had he really given up that easily? Could he really say that there was no part of him that wanted revenge still at all? No, he couldn't.

Shizuka sighed and continued speaking, "Well, that's not why I'm going back to Ninomiya-sama. I need to know whether or not…he's the villain you guys make him out to be…Sure, he can be a bit of a tyrant, but I don't think that makes him such a bad person…"

Gin shrugged at that, "I don't believe I've ever called Ninomiya what's-his-name a bad person, that was Katsura for sure. And probably that mayo-freak as well. But hey, why don't I go with you?"

"What?" Shizuka said, not really understanding why Gin would let him go just like that

"That way I won't really be breaking my promise to Katsura and I can make sure you're not gonna just bold back to that Ninomiya dude." Gin said in response

Shizuka blinked, all he could come up with in response was, "But, won't Kagura-chan be mad if you just leave without telling her anything?"

Gin chuckled, "Nope," he said, "because she's coming with us. Aren't you Kagura-chan?"

"Uh-huh," Kagura answered a little bit sleepily, "I couldn't let you have all the fun without me, uh-huh. After all, you got to go to Gibb-chan's hometown without me. So it's only fair that I get to go on an adventure this time, uh-huh!"

Gin sighed at that, "Let me remind you that I didn't really choose to go to D.C. If it were up to me, I wouldn't have gone at all. Besides, didn't you get to see your precious 'Abu-chan' and Onii-chan while I was away? I don't know why you're complaining, all I got was a psychopathic guy with one eye as back up. He wasn't much company…"

Before this conversation could go any further, Shizuka cleared his throat, "Well, if you two are all set, I think it's time that we get going." Both Gin and Kagura nodded in agreement and the three headed for the door.

Whoo, that is the end of that chapter! I have run out of things to say Dattebayo (I guess when that happens, I put in random Naruto references)! So, I'll see you on Friday (maybe) with the next chapter. As always, reviews are greatly as I love to know what you guys think.

-村山鶴