"Therefore, she will be staying over with us until she has fully recovered from her wounds." Hijikata told Gintoki while pushing the wheelchair-bound Tsubasa to the direction of their patrol car.

"Huh? OI!" Gintoki snaps at the Vice-Commander, blocking his way.

No, he did not want the blonde ninja to leave. He is used to having another person sharing his bedroom. Although he wakes up with feet in his face or to saliva staining his pillow, he is used to waking up to have this blonde demon around. How should he put this?

It is as if people will be weird out if they don't see Ginkaku* with Kinkaku*.

Also, Ginkaku will feel out-of-place without Kinkaku.

And what the hell is wrong with this wheelchair-bound Kinkaku?! This Kinkaku is not even resisting the Demon Commander by letting him kidnap her to his lair!

He has to think up of an excuse. Fast.

"WHAT ABOUT MY PAY?!" Kondo and Hijikata stops to gawk at Gintoki.

Even his Kinkaku looked a little confused.

Hijikata pauses for a while at that comment and before Gintoki could say anything else, Tsubasa manages to grab Sougo's sword to throw it at Gintoki's direction. The action was so fast that it took some time for Sougo to realize that it was his Kiku-Ichimonji RX-78 which was being hauled at Gintoki.

"Don't worry about that, Yorozuya, we'll still pay you." Kondo tells Gintoki.

"WHAT THE FREAK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! I'M JUST YOUR MONEY-MAKING MACHINE?!" for someone who got discharged moments ago, Tsubasa is looking ridiculously energetic.

"Shut up tranny! Nobody wants you around!" a vermillion ahoge twitches on a faraway planet. This time, Tsubasa is reaching for Muramasa but Hijikata had managed to notice this and pries her hands off his sword.

This woman is ridiculously strong for someone who just got discharged from the hospital for injuries that could have killed a normal person.

Also, for reasons unknown to Hijikata, Tsubasa had managed to 'borrow' Sougo's Shinsengumi Bazooka to aim the weapon at Gintoki. Before she could pull the trigger, Kondo and Hijikata had managed to haul and throw the annoyed blonde into the patrol car to get her back to the Headquarters.

"I'm going to miss Sasa-aru." A teary-eyed Kagura told Gintoki.

"Bah, it's not as if she won't be returning any time soon." Gintoki snaps at the Yato. "And she is still close by; you can drop that crazy tranny a visit on any time."

"Gin-san, you sound a little sad."

"Shut up! What do you know about sadness you megane? Can't you tell that I'm looking relieved that I'm going to wake up with my pillow dry?!" he tells Shinpachi.

"Gin-chan, you look like how you were when you learnt that Ketsuno Ana was getting married." Kagura pipes in, pointing at the aura of doom surrounding Gintoki.

"I'm not! This is just BO!" he told them, raising his arms, trying to force them to take a sniff off his armpits.

Back in the patrol car, Tsubasa is trying her best to contain her glee. At last, she is returning to the Shinsengumi Headquarters! At long last! Although her wounds hurt badly, she did not mind bearing the pain to return here. However, she noticed something different in Hijikata and Sougo when Kondo told them that they will be fetching her over to the Headquarters to recover from her injuries.

Well, Hijikata, as usual, was protesting to Kondo about it but she noticed that he was a little unsure of what he was talking about. It was not the same look of 'I've-had-enough-with-the-stunts-this-stupid-blond e-has-been-putting-me-through-and-therefore-I-want -her-out' on Hijikata. There was fear within his eyes which she was unable to comprehend.

The most abnormal of all had been Sougo.

Counting out the last trolling session two chapters ago, Sougo had not really interacted with Tsubasa and it is slightly mind-boggling for her. She had never seen Sougo behaving in this strange manner before. The fact that Sougo failed to notice her act of reaching for his Kiku-Ichimonji RX-78 just now shows it. She might be fast but given her understanding of the strongest warrior in the Shinsengumi, Tsubasa had expected him to be able to catch it when she reached for his katana but no; it was not until he saw his sword flying over to Gintoki that he realized she had taken it off from him.

And the bazooka too.

It was as if the fellow sadist's mind had left him for its the Planet of Sadists.

"Sougo, you ok?"

The young man shifts to look at her for a while before giving her a hesitant 'I'm fine.'

Also, for some odd reasons, Hijikata shifts a little on his seat when he heard Tsubasa.

"Sougo must have been worried sick for you, Tsubasa-san." Kondo laughs from the front seat. "Other than Mitsuba-san, I've not seen Sougo being so attached to anyone!"

At that statement, Tsubasa realized that the temperature surrounding Hijikata and Sougo dropped by several degrees.

"Who's Mitsuba?" this time, she could feel both men by her side tensing up.

"She's Sougo's older sis and Toushi's…"

"Kondo-san, we're reaching soon." Hijikata interrupts the Commander.

This is definitely fishy.

For Hijikata to get this flustered; is she strong or another sadist like Sougo?

She did not manage to find out through the ride and was being hurried into her old room by Hijikata and an overly maternal Gorilla. It was kind of odd to have a group of fully-grown men looking after her; in fact, it is weird in her opinion.

It is not as if she is being crippled for life or she will shatter into a million pieces when she bumps into something but almost the entire Shinsengumi had forbade Tsubasa to leave her room without anyone watching after her. Kondo even wanted to add this rule into the Kyokuchuu Hatto but the idea was shot down by Hijikata instantly and almost literately.

In the end, those closer to her decided to draw lots to choose who should take care of her every day.

'Am I this scary?' she wonders after witnessing Kondo, Hijikata, Harada Unosuke and Yamazaki pushing the duties to one another during the discussion. Oddly enough, Sougo remained pretty subdued during the discussion; given her understanding of her fellow partner-in-crime, he would have taken the opportunity to troll Hijikata.

"Yamazaki."

"Hmmph?" the anpan boy managed to respond with his mouth stuffed full with anpan.

"Why are Toushi and Sougo worked up when I asked about Mitsuba-san?"

Yamazaki checked around to make sure that there is nobody near Tsubasa's room before crouching in front of the confused lady to signal her to lean over.

"Don't let anyone know that I told this to you. Hijikata-san's first love is Okita-taicho's neesan." She was visibly stunned by this piece of information.

So this is why Sougo had been trolling Hijikata?

"But Mitsuba-san had passed away…." Yamazaki continues telling Tsubasa about what had happened between Mitsuba and Hijikata through the arc which the fanfiction character had missed. She came in after Tsukuyo's debut arc.

'What's this? Why am I getting progressively annoyed with a dead person?' she wonders after listening to the whole story.

'What's this? Why am I getting progressively worried over that annoying woman?' he wonders, staring at the wall separating his room from hers.

'What's this? Why do I hate her presence around us progressively?' Sougo wonders, staring at the door opposite his.

'What the hell is happening to me?!' Gintoki snaps within his mind. 'I just wanted something that will be able to comfort me while I sleep!' he clicks his tongue after realizing that he had laid out Tsubasa's futon unknowingly beside his. Also, he had been hugging on her used pillow for the last two hours he had been trying to make himself fall asleep.

And he found himself smelling that damned pillow occasionally.

"Am I becoming another stalker like that Gorilla?" he moans, sinking further into his futon. "Noooooo…."

Her pillow muffles Gintoki's cry of annoyance before he falls asleep.

*Ginkaku and Kinkaku's a pair of demons in the Journey to the West. Referencing to Gintoki's Silver hair (Ginkaku has a silver horn) and Tsubasa's blonde hair (Kinkaku has a gold horn). They are pretty much seen around each other.