Disclaimer: The characters of Gintama belong to Sorachi Hideaki. :)

Authors Note: Hey! Enjoy chapter 25!

Chap. 25 Acing the Interview is Never Easy

"Huh…?"

Gintoki's hand falls back to his side as he looks down in disbelief. Blood seeps through his clothes, staining his white yukata in a bright red.

"Hm…" The man takes a step back, tilting his head in fascination. "Humans sure do bleed a lot…"

Gintoki grits his teeth, jumping back a good distance away. He drops to one knee, inhaling deeply only to start coughing.

The man smirks. "You're still rather spry, aren't you?"

Gintoki chuckles, glaring up at the man. "Spry? I'll kill you, you old man." Gintoki raises an eyebrow as the man starts laughing.

The man grins, revealing his unnaturally sharp teeth. "Gintoki… I think you have the wrong idea. I have no intention of fighting you."

Gintoki snorts. "No intention? Really? Tell me then, why am I bleeding?"

The man's red eyes brighten. "Oh, it wasn't to kill you. It was to incapacitate you."

Gintoki's eyes narrow. "Incapacitate…?"

The man's eyes shift slightly, the red seeming to move in waves. An ocean of blood. He chuckles. "You see, Gintoki. My willing… imposter, went and defied my orders." He snorts. "To think he thought he could kill you." He smirks. "Well, he gave up in the end, didn't he?"

Gintoki's eyes widen. "Imposter…? You… You're the leader of the Tendoshuu."

The man smirks. "Call me Akatsuki."

"Heh… I don't care about your damn name…" Gintoki mutters, forcing himself to stand up. "I'll kill you, you bastard."

Akatsuki smiles. "You should care, considering that you will be working for me."

Gintoki grits his teeth in anger. "You're just like the first one who called himself the leader. I didn't sign up for a damn job application. And I don't particularly care for the interviews."

Akatsuki chuckles. "Oh believe me… I'll skip all of that." As soon as he says that the ground starts to shake as a ship hovers over. Gintoki's eyes widen as he notices the amanto on the ship deck.

"Gintoki!" Ryouta screams.

Gintoki looks back to see Ryouta, blood dripping from his broken nose.

"G-Gin- chan…" Kagura whispers, looking at the ship in shock. She puts a hand to her bruised neck. Shinpachi runs over to her, his head bleeding.

"Ryouta! Get Shinpachi and Kagura and go!" Gintoki screams.

Ryouta's eyes widen. "Wha-!"

"GO!" Gintoki screams.

As soon as Ryouta nods. Ropes drop down, followed by the amanto.

Tama blinks, as she sets the broom against the bar's wall. She looks down the end of the street, her expression blank.

"What's wrong Tama?" Otose asks, stepping out of the bar. She lifts the cigarette to her lips, looking at Tama expectantly.

"I don't know Otose- sama… Something seems off." Tama says.

"Off? How?" Otose asks, blowing smoke from her cigarette.

"I don't know… Where is Gintoki- sama?" Tama asks.

Otose snorts. "That idiot could be anywhere."

Tama nods slightly. "I feel as if I should look for him."

Otose smiles. "There's no need. He'll be back soon and get drunk off his ass."

Tama's eyes glow a slightly brighter red. "I'll add that to my data banks."

"You don't need to!" Otose screams.

"Hijikata- san…" Sougo calls lazily, sliding the shoji open.

"What do you want?" Hijikata asks, lighting a cigarette.

Sougo holds a file folder out to him. "This just came in. Gorilla wanted you to look at it."

Hijikata raises an eyebrow; taking the file folder he opens it, revealing a picture. He squints reading the name in bold at the top of the first of very few papers. "Oboro… Where have I heard that name before…?"

Sougo raises his eyebrow. "He was the one that was fighting boss. You know the body that disappeared on us." Hijikata's eyes widen. Sougo chuckles. "My, my Hijikata- san, you're not quite with it are you? Could you finally be nearing your end?"

Hijikata sighs. "I forgot all about this guy. Sada's death was surprising enough."

Sougo shrugs. "Maybe Oboro killed Sada."

"Probably…" Hijikata mutters, putting the papers back in the file folder.

"Yeah, he probably got fired, so he killed him…" Sougo suggests.

"What was his job even?" Hijikata asks.

"Assassin." Sougo says bluntly.

Hijikata narrows his eyes. "What?!"

Sougo crosses his arms. "Well, he was fighting boss. Since he was working for someone, I'd say assassin."

Hijikata sighs. "You may be right…"

Sougo cups his ear. "Huh? I didn't hear that very clearly. Did you just say I was right?"

"I said maybe!" Hijikata growls.

"Are you guys fighting already?" Kondo asks, walking into the room. Kondo looks at the file in Hijikata's hands. "Oh, you already looked at it?" Kondo sighs, rubbing the back of his head. "It doesn't add up. Why would Oboro kill Sada? Sada was sent to prison while Oboro was still fighting Yorozuya. So, it makes no sense to have Oboro want to kill Sada, but still try to carry out the order of killing Yorozuya."

"He had a personal grudge against boss." Sougo says. He rolls his eyes at Hijikata and Kondo's blank stares. "It's obvious. There are a lot of people that want to kill boss."

Kondo nods slowly. "Yeah, maybe. But the question is… Did he kill Sada?"

Hijikata sighs. "I don't think so. By the look of this guy, he's pretty loyal."

"Well, we can't make useless accusations right now." Kondo says.

"Does Yorozuya even know that Sada's dead?" Hijikata asks.

"No…" Kondo mutters. "I don't think he needs to know."

"Boss may be able to help us if he knew." Sougo says.

Hijikata looks at Sougo and Kondo, his face grave. "Or maybe he killed Sada."

"No he didn't." Sougo growls. "I'll freakin kill you if you say that again."

"Sougo, calm down." Kondo orders. "I don't believe Yorozuya did it either."

Hijikata holds the file out to Kondo. "I don't care what the outcome is, but considering Yorozuya knew Oboro, Sada has to fit in there somewhere."

Kondo smirks. "You don't care what the outcome is?"

"No…" Hijikata says firmly, but in his voice is a lie.

"Oh well, we'll figure it out." Kondo says with a smile.

Sougo sighs. "Whatever, Gorilla…" He turns, walking out of the room.

"I'm not a gorilla!" Kondo screams after him.

"Kondo…" Hijikata says quietly. Kondo raises an eyebrow. Hijikata shakes his head. "I don't believe Yorozuya had anything to do with this… or Oboro for that matter, but I just have this feeling the person who did this is associated with Yorozuya."

Kondo raises an eyebrow. "That's one wild assumption."

"Well, at least it's something to go on." Hijikata says.

"Well, I'll have Yamazaki look into Yorozuya more." Kondo says.

"Me?" A voice says from the shoji.

"Oh, Yamazaki!" Kondo says, turning. "I need you to keep a closer eye on Yorozuya, see more of his friends."

"Um, Sougo asked me to do that." Yamazaki says, rubbing the back of his head. "He told me to do that before he gave Hijikata- san the file."

"Sougo did?" Kondo says in surprise. "Well, did you find out anything?"

"Well, you see…" Yamazaki says nervously. "I… couldn't seem to find Boss anywhere…"

"What?" Hijikata and Kondo say together.

"I looked all over, I even went and asked his friends, but they didn't know either." Yamazaki says.

Kondo smiles. "Just go out again and look. It hasn't even been a day, everything's all right."

"I don't know about that…" Hijikata mutters, blowing smoke from his cigarette.

"GO!" Gintoki screams, as the ropes drop down, followed by the amanto.

Ryouta grabs Kagura, picking her up in his arms. "C'mon Shinpachi!" He screams, breaking into a run, Shinpachi close behind.

Gintoki looks around quickly at all the amanto that were dropping down. He grits his teeth in anger at his lack of a weapon. He winces, looking down at his wound, the blood still flowing as if new. Looking down the street he considers the unthinkable.

"Are you really considering running? I didn't think you were like that." Akatsuki says a smirk on his lips.

Gintoki laughs, he looks over his shoulder. Raising his hand, he flips him the finger. "Screw you." With that, he breaks into a run.

Akatsuki laughs after him. "Running won't do any good."

Gintoki smirks. "I just have to make some distance…" Suddenly, something drops in front of Gintoki, something large.

The amanto hits the ground, knocking Gintoki down. The amanto straightens, standing over seven feet tall.

Gintoki's eyes widen. "H-Hedoro…?"

The Dakini looks down at him, his red eyes not Hedoro's. He raises his fist, bringing it down hard.

Gintoki gasps, rolling out of the way. The Dakini's fist missing him by inches.

Gintoki jumps up, starting to run again, but instead drops to his knees with a yell at a sudden flash of pain. Gintoki brings his hand up to his chest, fresh blood squeezing between his fingers. "Shit…" He mumbles as his vision begins to sway.

Gintoki looks up at Akatsuki, who was grinning, his eyes bright. Gintoki's eyes widen as he starts to feel blood rising in his throat. He quickly coughs, the blood spraying out. "Shit… he mutters again, falling forward. Gintoki tries to lift himself up, but falls back down.

"I told you running wouldn't work." Akatsuki says, walking towards him.

Gintoki raises his head slowly, his body shaking from the pain. "Son of a—" Gintoki doesn't get to finish as his head smacks back down onto the dirt path, his vision going black.

Authors Note: Hey! How do you guys like the name Akatsuki? I thought it was pretty cool. It means 'dawn'. I just wanted to name him so I wouldn't have to say elder or leader all the time. Until next chapter! Muwhahahaha!