Enjoy!

Chapter 35: Trusting someone is always an accomplishment

The next morning…

Inside the guest room, Christine slept in the futon. Sean chose to sleep on the floor the night before, because he already made Christine sleep there. Sean was already up, but he didn't bother waking up his sister, because he needed to take a shower. It was about 6:30 in the morning, anyway. Another reason why Sean didn't wake Christine up then was because Christine wasn't much of a morning person.

As Christine turned her body around, she suddenly began to have a dream…or more likely, a flashback from when she was in middle school, or more specifically, the eighth grade.

(Christine's Flashback/Dream)

Two and a half years ago…

Christine entered her History class, and grumbled inaudible words as she set her textbooks on her desk. Earlier today, she had an argument with Sean, because she didn't do the dishes the day before, when she was clearly told to do so. She managed to clean them before heading to school, but Christine was still pissed, because she HATED doing the dishes.

Anyway, she rested her feet on the chair next to hers'. The seat wasn't used by anyone, but another female student came into a classroom, and saw her feet on the chair.

The student frowned, and ordered Christine, "Hey, Wardenhall. Get your feet off the chair."

Christine quirked a brow up, and stared at the student, "Why? Nobody sits here."

"I don't care. Get your damn feet off."

Christine rolled her eyes, "My feet are in pain." That was only half-true, because Christine accidentally tripped on a cord at her house before leaving for school.

The other girl's frown deepened, "That's no excuse! Get off the chair, or I will tell the teacher!"

"Peh!" Christine spat. "You're overreacting! I'm not putting my feet on the floor, and that's final!"

"Okay, that does it!" Instead of actually leaving the classroom, and telling the teacher, the student slammed her backpack and textbooks onto her desk, and charged towards Christine. Christine wasn't afraid, though she gave her a questionable look. But in a matter of seconds, the girl grabbed her shirt collar, and pulled her up from the chair she was seated in as she yelled, "If you're not going to do it, then I'll MAKE you!"

Without warning, she violently kicked her leg. Christine winced in pain, but tried her best to not show any expression whatsoever. She grabbed the students' arm while punching her in the abdomen.

The angry student gasped, and though she, too, was in pain, she also tried not showing it.

Both girls exchanged multiple punches while grabbing each other's hairs. Christine snarled, "Let go of my hair, lady!"

"Don't call me 'lady'!" The other teenage girl snapped. "I'm in the same grade as you!"

Just then, the History teacher entered the classroom. When he noticed that the girls were fighting, he snapped his eyes wide in shock, and instantly ran towards them. The second he stepped beside them, he grasped Christine's arm, and roughly pulled her away from the other student.

He yelled, "What the hell is going on here?!"

Christine scoffed, "This bitch kicked my leg!"

"You need to watch your language!" Her History teacher ordered.

"You said 'hell'!"

"That's different!"

Christine rolled her eyes, but the other teenager accused, "She had her feet on a chair!"

The teacher let go of Christine's arm, but he glared at her, and began to growl, "How many times do you have to be reminded?! Never put your feet on another chair, even if nobody is using it!"

"But my feet hurt!"

"I DON'T CARE!" Her teacher snapped, causing her to flinch slightly. "IF I CATCH YOU DOING IT AGAIN, I'LL MAKE YOU WRITE A 400-WORD ESSAY ON THEODORE ROOSEVELT, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!"

Christine was kind of shocked at how loud he was. She scoffed once again, but muttered, "Whatever." She went back to her seat, and sat down before stuffing her face in her backpack.

The student suddenly blurted, "Why're you so rude, Wardenhall? Is it because of your mother?"

Christine's eyes widened. She glared daggers at her, and growled, "Do NOT bring up my mom! How do you even know if that's the reason?!"

"One of my female friends overheard you talking to yourself in the bathroom."

Christine hardened her glare, "Tell your friend to not fucking eavesdrop!"

"Hey! What did I say about watching your language?!" The teacher scolded.

The green-eyed teenager rolled her eyes again while the other student snickered, "No wonder you don't have any friends."

"SHUT UP!" Christine practically screamed as she gripped her hair in agitation.

The student smirked, and left the classroom.

(End of Christine's Flashback/Dream)

The girl knitted her light-brown eyebrows, and grasped the blanket as tears started to form in her eyes. She shut her eyelids tightly (Even though they were already closed), preventing the tears from escaping. The girl curled herself into a ball, and gripped the blanket tighter as she whimpered, "Mom…"

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. The hand shook her gently; a gasp escaped her lips, and she quickly opened her eyes. Christine hurriedly wiped her eyes with her palms, and turned around, only to see Sean. She could see that his hair was a bit damp, and a drop of water fell from his hair, to her cheek. She didn't flinch when the drop hit her skin; she also apparently didn't notice.

She stared into Sean's eyes; the older Wardenhall sibling whispered, "Are you alright, Christine? You looked like you were about you cry."

"Really?" She spoke a bit weakly.

The girl slowly sat up as Sean nodded his head. Christine noticed that Sean held a concerned expression, and when she realized that she didn't answer his question yet, she responded, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Did you have a nightmare?"

Christine snorted, "Please, Sean. You know I don't get nightmares very often. Though…I was having a flashback from high school."

"From high school?" Sean cocked his brow up curiously.

"Yeah. I was remembering a time where I nearly got in a fight with some girl."

He frowned, "I think you told me that when you came home from school."

Christine shook her head, "Anyway, you're done with your shower already?"

"Yes. My showers last for about ten minutes. Didn't I tell you that before, Christine?"

"You did," She admitted, "I just forgot." She shrugged her shoulders as she slipped out of the comfy futon. Christine then folded the futon up, and headed over to the closet.

Sean quickly walked over to the closet, and opened it, letting Christine put the futon in. After putting it in the closet, Sean closed the door, and sighed, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Huh?"

"You have water in your eyes," He pointed out.

Christine frowned, but wiped her eyes again by using the back of her hands.

The siblings spotted Tatsuma, who had stepped out of the cafeteria. Tatsuma also noticed them, and smiled, "Good morning!"

"Morning," They greeted the Kaientai leader.

Christine puffed her cheeks up, and asked the man without thinking, "Do you have another meeting to go to, Sakamoto-san?"

Sean stared at the teenager, and muttered, "Well, that was random."

Tatsuma scratched the back of his hair, and answered, "Yes, but it won't start until about six o'clock. Ahahahahaha!"

"Hm," She hummed. Christine then chewed on her lower lip, and added, "Sakamoto-san, you haven't told anyone our…secret, have you?"

"Of course not," Tatsuma replied. "I promised you, remember? Ahahahahaha!"

"Well, yeah, but…I was just wondering…" She shifted her shoulder up.

"I won't tell anybody…I swear," Tatsuma insisted.

Christine smiled, "Good."

"Anyway, I'm going to take a shower. See you two later! Ahahahahaha!"

With that, he walked past Sean and Christine, heading for the bathroom.

Christine sighed, "I'm so glad he didn't tell anybody."

"But what if he decides to tell Mutsu-san?" Sean questioned. "Do you think he's going to tell her later, since she's his merchant?"

"Um…" Christine paused, not really sure how to answer that question.

Just then, they heard Mutsu's voice, "What're you two talking about?"

Both siblings jumped, and they glared at the woman before shouting, "Will you stop scaring us like that?!"

Mutsu rolled her eyes. Sean heavily sighed, "It's nothing."

"I'm fairly certain it wasn't nothing. What were you talking about?" Mutsu asked calmly.

Christine quickly answered, "We were talking about Sakamoto-san."

Mutsu raised a brow up, "Sakamoto-san?"

"Yes."

Once again, the woman rolled her eyes. She went past the duo, and headed for the cafeteria.

Sean sighed with relief, but murmured, "We need to be more careful."

"Yeah," Christine agreed. She suddenly heard her own stomach growl. Christine added, "I think we better eat."

Without letting Sean reply, she dashed towards the cafeteria. Sean gasped as he widened his eyes, "Hey! Wait for me!" He ran after his younger sister.

Inside a bathroom…

Tatsuma put his clothes into the basket, and stepped into the shower stall. He also had his goofy sunglasses beside the basket.

He turned the shower on by twisting the hot and cold knobs. Water came out of the showerhead, and it hit the top of Tatsuma's head…er, hair…his adorable poofy hair.

Tatsuma let the water rinse his hair before he reached for the shampoo bottle. He opened up the bottle, and squirted some shampoo into his palm. Tatsuma then put the bottle back on the floor, and began to scrub the soapy liquid in his curly hair.

The man hummed a cheerful tune while running his fingers through his hair. Tatsuma had his eyes shut tightly, so that the shampoo or water wouldn't accidentally get into his eyes.

As he stopped scrubbing his hair, he started thinking about yesterday, when Christine and Sean told him their secret.

Tatsuma wiped his eyes with his hands, and barely opened them. He narrowed his sapphire eyes, and decided, "I think I'll tell Mutsu about Sean and Christine later today."

Though Sean and Christine didn't want him to tell anybody, Tatsuma didn't really want to not tell Mutsu. In fact, he didn't like keeping these kinds of secrets from her. So Tatsuma figured he was going to have to ask the siblings after he was done showering.

The curly-haired man ducked his head under the showerhead, letting the shampoo get all rinsed out by the warm water. He shut his eyes once more, and although he wasn't sure whether or not all the shampoo was out, Tatsuma wiped his eyes yet again before opening them a second time.

He felt his damp hair, and when Tatsuma didn't see anymore soap on his hand, he noticed that all of it was free from his hair.

A small smile crept up his face, and he turned off the shower. Tatsuma exited out of the stall, and grabbed a towel. He placed the towel over his head, and dried himself off.

After he was finished with that, he walked back to the basket, and picked up his clothes as he said to no one in particular, "That was a nice shower. Ahahahahaha!"

Inside the cafeteria…

The chef from the kitchen stomped towards the table Christine and Sean were sitting. Sean frowned while taking a bite of his cereal, "Why is that man heading towards us?"

Christine almost immediately realized, "I think he's pissed at me for stealing his steak."

"Wait, didn't you do that two days ago?"

"Yeah…I wonder why he's coming over here now," She snorted in dry humor.

The chef stepped in front of the table, and slammed his hands on it before yelling, "You!"

Sean flinched, but Christine remained still. She said with a bored expression, "Dude, I took your steak the day before yesterday. Can't you just let it go?"

The chef snapped, "I'm not going to let it go, because you barged into the kitchen, and stole a piece of meat! And I would've given you a piece of my mind yesterday, but I didn't have any time."

"Oh, so you're going to give me a piece of your mind? Gross. I don't want a piece of your brain."

"That's not what I mean!"

"I know," Christine snickered.

The chef's face reddened in irritation. Without warning, he grasped the collar of Christine's green kimono, and pulled her up before growling, "I'm being dead serious here! If you ever try to steal meat from the kitchen again, I won't hesitate to smack your ass with a spatula!"

Christine widened her eyes in disgust, and hollered, "Okay, that's sexual harassment!" She grabbed his wrists, and forcefully pulled his hands off of her kimono as she snarled, "I'll sue you if you dare use a spatula to smack my butt!"

"Do you even have a lawyer?"

"No, but I'll make my brother be my lawyer!"

"Hey!" Sean glared at the teenager. "I don't want to be a lawyer!"

The chef rolled his eyes before heading back to the kitchen.

Christine sat back down, and huffed, "God, did you see that guy, Sean?!"

"Oh, I saw him, alright," Sean replied. "But it was your own fault for going into the kitchen."

"Oi!" She knitted her brows. "You're supposed to be on my side, not his!"

Sean frowned, "I never said I was on the chef's side."

Christine rolled her eyes, "So you're not on his side or mine?"

"No."

She scoffed, but picked up her bowl (Which was now empty) and got out of her seat. The angry girl walked over to a plastic bin, and put her dishes in it.

Christine suddenly saw Mutsu walking out of the cafeteria. Apparently, she had already finished her breakfast.

Christine wondered, I wonder where she's going. Maybe she's going to work…or something like that.

Sean also stepped beside the plastic bin, and gently put his dishes in the bin. Christine chose to ask when she finally calmed down, "Hey, bro. Do you want to go to the control room?"

Sean peered at her curiously, "Why? Do you want to go there?"

"Yeah. I'm curious to see what's there."

"Christine, it's the control room. That room is obviously filled with controls and switches."

"I know, but I'm still curious." Without another word, the girl stormed off, heading for the control room.

Sean cried, "What is it with you and not waiting for me?!" He dashed after her.

A moment or two later, they entered the control room. Christine swung the door open, and spotted Mutsu and Tatsuma. They were standing behind a few crew members; the members were busy switching controls, and pressing buttons.

The siblings walked towards the duo, and when they got closer, they said their names, "Sakamoto-san, Mutsu-san."

Tatsuma and Mutsu turned around, and the moment they saw Sean and Christine, Mutsu questioned with a raised brow, "What're you two doing here?"

Sean sighed, "My sister wanted to see this room."

"Hm," Mutsu hummed.

Christine glanced around the room, and widened her eyes in amazement, "So this is the control room?"

"It is," Mutsu answered. "It's nothing special, though."

"Nothing special?!" Christine gasped. "This room looks amazing!"

Her voice became so loud, that the people who were in the room stared at her. One of the crewmembers asked, "Uh, are you two supposed to be here?"

Tatsuma waved his hand up and down as he insisted, "Let them look around. I'm sure these kids are curious about this area of the ship."

"Sakamoto-san, I'm 19, so I'm not exactly a kid," Sean pointed out with a furrowed brow.

"Bro, you still look like a teenager," Christine said.

"You're not helping," He glared at her.

Christine paid no mind to him, and asked the taller man, "Anyway, what exactly do these controls do?"

Tatsuma explained, "Well, the people who're behind the controls are actually controlling the ship. Ahahahahaha!"

Sean blinked, "Do these people control the ship 24/7?" It was a pretty silly question, but Sean couldn't help asking the man. Sean was curious, after all.

"Actually, one of the crewmembers switches the ship to automatic flight when they go to bed. Ahahahahaha!"

"Oh, okay. That makes sense, then," Sean replied.

Tatsuma peered at Christine, who looked like she was about to touch a switch. He exclaimed, "Oh! Please don't touch any of the controls! Ahahahahaha!"

"I won't," Christine insisted. "I'm just looking. Though…" She pointed at a lever, and inquired, "What does this lever do?"

"That lever is broken," Mutsu informed her.

"Really?" Christine stared at the lever while quirking her brow up. She grabbed the handle of the lever, and pulled it down.

It did nothing.

She pushed it up; then pulled it downwards again.

Still nothing.

Mutsu told her, "Don't bother. As I said, it's broken."

Christine let go of the lever, and shrugged her shoulders before walking back to Sean.

Mutsu suddenly said, "Oh, by the way, are you two really from another dimension?"

"Eh?" Both siblings gawked at her. Did Mutsu really ask that question? Or had their ears gone deaf? No…these two definitely heard her.

Sean slowly questioned, "Why…why're you asking this so suddenly?"

"Sakamoto-san told me that you two are from another world, is that correct?"

That's when their jaws dropped to the floor. They stared at Tatsuma, who had scratched his scalp as he said, "Oops! I forgot to ask you two! Ahahahahaha!"

"Did you seriously tell her?!" Christine cried.

Mutsu interjected, "So you are from another world."

Sean sighed heavily, "There's no point in lying. Yes, we are from another dimension."

"So Sakamoto-san wasn't joking, after all. Also, your names aren't 'Christiko' and 'Shojaro', are they?"

"No," He confessed.

"Didn't think so."

Christine frowned at Tatsuma, "Sakamoto, why did you tell Mutsu-san?"

"I was going to ask you, but I forgot, as I said already. Ahahahahaha!" Tatsuma laughed.

A vein throbbed in Christine's cheek. She charged towards the leader, and the second she stood in front of him, she grabbed the scarf that was around his neck; the girl pulled him until his face was inches in front of Christine's.

Tatsuma raised his brows in slight surprise as Christine snarled, "This isn't funny. You promised not to tell anybody!"

Although Sean was mad at Tatsuma as well, he walked towards his sister, and rested his hands on her shoulders as he muttered, "Christine, you need to calm down."

He pulled her away from the man. Tatsuma adjusted his scarf, and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to break my promise. But I swear to not tell anybody else – outside of the Kaientai – your secret."

Christine glared at him skeptically, "You promise…for real?"

"Yes," He nodded.

The girl wasn't convinced. She lifted up her pinkie, and murmured, "Pinkie swear?"

A soft chuckle escaped Tatsuma's lips; he also lifted up his pinkie, and wrapped it around Christine's as he muttered back, "Pinkie swear."

Christine smirked, "Good."

Mutsu asked, "So you haven't told anybody else?"

They shook their heads. Sean responded, "You two are the only ones that know." He was aware that there were other people in the room, but the crewmembers looked so busy, that they were apparently oblivious as to what the group of four was talking about. Even if the Kaientai members were listening to their conversation, they probably wouldn't really care.

"I see," Mutsu muttered.

Sean chewed on his lower lip, and then decided to leave the control room. Christine noticed, so she followed his league. She waved at Tatsuma and Mutsu before exiting out.

Christine walked behind her older brother, and asked, "Sean, why'd you leave all of a sudden?"

He shrugged, "I was just thinking."

"About what?"

Sean rubbed the back of his neck a bit awkwardly, but managed to answer, "About our secret…"

Christine raised a brow up, clearly not understanding what he was trying to say.

Sean heaved a sigh, "How long have we been into the Gintama world?"

Christine tapped her chin with her forefinger as she replied, "Almost two months."

"Two months…" He repeated. "…the Yorozuya still don't know our real names."

"Wait, hold on a sec, bro!" She halted him. "Are you trying to say we should tell them the truth about our names, and where we're from, when we get back?!"

"That's not what I'm saying!" Sean replied. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not ready to tell the Yorozuya that, but I realized that the longer we keep this a secret from them…the worse the problem will be when they find out."

The corners of Christine's lips tugged down to the floor. She tilted her head down as she whispered, "You have a point…" Her hands formed into fists; Christine finished her sentence after a few seconds of dead silence, "…but Sean, we could've told them when we first met them!"

Sean rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I know, and honestly, I regret not telling them." He glanced up at the ceiling, and whispered, "When will we ever tell them?"

Christine snorted humorlessly as she eventually unclenched her fists, "Don't ask me. I don't have the answer."

After that, the Wardenhall siblings continued their way down the hall.

Okay, this chapter was shorter than I had attended it to be, but I didn't know what else to add. ^^;

My answer from the previous question: I don't really have a favorite number. XD

Question of the update: What're your pet peeves in general?

Hope you enjoyed chapter 35! :)