A/N: This chapter will be split into two parts since I want to give the special day out its own sort of screen time. Gintoki will finally hit ****base in the next part. As always, feel free to leave a review, it really helps! :D

"Eh? Where are you going this time Gin-san?"

"None of your business Pachi-boy."

"But you came home late again Gin-chan, you're telling me you didn't get your fun with Tsuki? You waste of space. How can you miss your chance? You had the whole day-aru. And why do you smell of strawberries?"

"Shut uppp, it was strictly on business, I got roped into patrolling around with her and it was so dull. Besides I didn't actually do anything with her. I only stayed round for some drinks. Also the shampoo I use is strawberry flavour, got a problem?"

Gintoki had just finished washing and drying his hair which blew up in a fluffy afro from being in a sauna-like bath whilst being interrogated by Shinpachi and Kagura. Even though they were comfortable with him being in a relationship with Tsukuyo it was still rather awkward discussing the matter with them, especially around Kagura since she often took potshots at Gintoki's track record of the number of people he took to bed, which was about the same as Shinpachi's.

"Anyway, you two can have another day off, I finally got enough money to get that crazy granny off my back and I can spare a bit of money for you two." Their jaws dropped to the floor. Wages? Paid On time? Rent paid? Impossible. "Y-you're bluffing. There's no way Gin-chan/ Gin-san made enough money to pay everything he owes." They replied in complete denial.

"You're seriously doubting me at this moment in time?" He drawled with his half open eyes as he continued patting down his hair back to its messy, wavy form. In all fairness, he'd been dry on money since the very beginning so it was fair that an announcement as uncharacteristic as that would cause such outrage amongst his 'employees'. He sighed and got up off the sofa and headed to a drawer in his desk and pulled out two brown envelopes and placed them on the table. The two stared at them like they had never seen it before, a once in a generation artefact.

"Well? You blind or what? Actually one of you doesn't exist without their glasses. Open them already."

Shinpachi completely ignored the glasses jab as he and Kagura carefully examined the envelopes. They squeezed them to feel its thickness. It wasn't just pure paper, there was something in there. They opened the envelopes and found several folded rectangular pieces of paper. Bills. Money. They stared at the money in awe.

"You happy now? Go waste your money on sukonbu and guides to dating a girl. Oh and Kagura, go do something with Soyo-hime." He instructed.

"Oh? Why Gin-chan? Are you bringing Tsuki back home to get ****base?" She innocently asked.

"Kagura-chan! You can't say that!"

"But you hide knockoff To-Lo-"

"AHHHHHH STOP TALKING ABOUT THAT!"

"But it's true Pachi-boy, you can't get anything unless they're 2D!"

As the two continued bickering over Shinpachi's virginity, Gintoki sighed and finished ruffling his hair to its original form.

"Anyway, just ask your princess friend if you can stay round for the night, I doubt she'll reject it." He said in a fatigued tone, just wanting them to leave his house so he can get ready for his little hang out session. He was still in his pyjamas after all.

"Ok Gin-chan! Don't mess this up!" Kagura cheerily said. She swiftly went off to pack her things for her impromptu sleepover. Shinpachi on the other hand left the room, declaring he was going to use his money wisely, to which Gintoki rolled his eyes, highly suspicious of what he'd actually buy. At the very least, it bought him some quiet peace as he went to change into his clothes. He took far longer putting on his black pants and black zip-up shirt as his mind wondered off. He didn't even acknowledge Kagura saying goodbye and giving her blessings as she shut the door, instead focusing on his own appearance strangely enough. He was going on a date with Tsukuyo of all people. It wasn't like the time he did one with Tama, the robot bar worker downstairs who had no idea what a date was. Tsukuyo was more sophisticated, had more refined tastes and more importantly, was liable to having her day ruined. Yet he had never been on a date proper, since their time spent at the summer festival was formed from Hinowa's subtle matchmaking tactics. He had to plan everything to make sure the day went smoothly, and felt an uneasy feeling in his chest as a result. He couldn't afford to screw it up. He put on his yukata and picked up a circular mirror from his office desk, bleakly looking at his reflection. He put up a weak smile before quickly reverting back to his usual stone face, disgusted by his facade. He scratched his head and sighed deeply, resigning himself to his fate. He may as well continue acting as his usual self. He knew that Tsukuyo would probably feel strange if she noticed him acting out of character like not cracking jokes at her expense or having his lazy demeanour.

"Might as well be just another normal day..." He sighed, placing his mirror on the table and fetching his red scarf that hung on one of the pegs. He walked to the door to put on his boots before heading out to his scooter. As he approached his vehicle, he stopped in his tracks for a moment before deciding to leave it where it was and instead walk to Yoshiwara.

"I guess it'll help clear my head..."

As he stepped out the elevator and walked over to Hinowa's tea shop once more, he found the beautiful former courtesan tending to her business. She looked up upon noticing Gintoki's shadow just outside her shop with her trademark smile.

"Oh Gin-san! Are you here to see Tsukuyo?" She asked.

"I might be. Is she here at all? Am I late?" Hinowa shook her head, still smiling at Gintoki. He blinked twice in surprise, not expecting her reaction. She knew he was coming? How? Did Tsukuyo tell her about it? And why did he ask her if he was late even though he only told Tsukuyo about it? He palmed his face and sighed, as he realised he gave himself away yet again in front of Hinowa.

"I think Tsukuyo is still getting ready, she'll be here soon." She confirmed. He looked at Hinowa again as his mind started asked questions again. Whaddya mean she's still getting ready? She's not the sort of person who'd go out of her way to drastically change her appearance just for one guy right? Wait...she changed for the summer festival. Aieee but that was for one night, and it was a special occasion. This is just a normal day, there's no way she'd act like a total girl now!

"Whaddya mean she's still getting ready? Is she toppling from her makeup or something?" He sarcastically asked.

"You'll see." Hinowa chirped, clapping her hands together. Gintoki sighed and sat down on a bench next to Hinowa, anticipating that he might have to wait for a little while. He crossed his leg and looked at the dark haired courtesan with his dead eyes.

"How did you know about this? I didn't even tell you..." He mumbled.

"Well, I couldn't exactly ignore what was going on last night. Based on what I heard, you two were getting quite excited by enjoying each other's company." She giggled. His eyes widened in shock and horror as he felt the colour in his skin being sapped away, his face as pale as a sheet.

"Y-y-you heard us?!" He cried out in terror. He wanted to claw out his eyes. "B-but we didn't even do anything..."

"Oh, you didn't?" She seemed taken aback slightly, which Gintoki realised that she might have heard it, but she didn't see it. Her reaction seemed genuine. It gave him slight reassurance, but not by much as his face turned a slight tinge of red as he looked down.

"N-no...we didn't. Not yet anyway..." He confessed much to his embarrassment.

"Not yet? Dear me, you really are going the distance with this aren't you?" She chirped, subtly noticing his uneasy looking posture and wheeled herself over to pour some tea for him. "You seem rather stressed, it's not healthy to be like that hmm? Try to relax and breathe, I'm sure things will go well today."

"Yeah...it's just the more you want things to go well, the more uptight you get about it. I've never been good with this sort of thing." He confessed.

"Don't worry Gin-san. As long as you're comfortable with being yourself, I'm sure Tsukuyo will be too. It will feel awkward if one of you acts out of character." She reassured. She was right. He needed to loosen up and just be himself. He took a sip and breathed out slowly.

"...I owe you for this. All of this stuff." He said.

"Not at all, you just needed that extra nudge, that's all." She said with her warm smile. It brought some comfort to him knowing that she wholeheartedly endorsed their relationship and did what she could to bring them closer. Just then, they heard some footwear click-clacking coming from inside, and a faint smell of tobacco smoke rolled in. As the shadow that came out of the entryway became more prominent, Gintoki stared in awe with his dead fish eyes.

"Sorry I'm late...is he here yet?" Tsukuyo asked just as she spotted Gintoki staring at her on the bench, she turned her head to the side, slightly flushed. She looked almost like a different person, way more different from the summer festival. Her kimono was a mixture of navy blue and turquoise with ornate yellow star patterns dotted around it, and in the middle was a red sash with lighter red circle patterns with a red obi wrapped around it. Her hair had also changed, now being a high ponytail with a kanzashi inserted in instead of her trademark kunai, and she once again wore the wooden geta from the festival. To top it off, she wore a lilac haori with several purple flower patterns on top. Gintoki maintained his endless gaze, completely lost for words.

"S-stop staring! Are we going or not?" She exclaimed with a flush. Hinowa tilted her head at Gintoki and smiled.

"Well, time for you to get going Gin-san. Enjoy yourselves!" She happily cheered. Gintoki sighed and stood up to take Tsukuyo's hand, slowly walking out of the tea shop with her and put his hand up as his way of saying goodbye to Hinowa.

As the couple took their first steps out of the lift, Gintoki glanced at Tsukuyo's attire once more before looking at Tsukuyo herself. She quickly noticed and shyly smiled at him before turning her head away slightly. He still couldn't wrap around his head that Tsukuyo had made such a transformation just for this day. She looked stellar in her attire, even more so than the one she wore at the festival, but it still made him uneasy, even slightly guilty for not putting in the effort to look good in front of her. As his mind returned to his senses for the time being, he noticed that they had been walking pretty slowly for the last few minutes, and Tsukuyo's face looked rather uncomfortable. It might be because they were getting a few glances from passerby's as their mouths dropped in amazement, particularly at Tsukuyo's ornate attire, but Gintoki had other suspicions.

"This is so bulky..." She quietly remarked, blowing out some smoke from her kiseru and readjusting her kimono slightly.

"Then why did you wear it if it's not your type of style?" He asked whilst flicking a bogie from his nose with his pinky finger.

"H-Hinowa insisted on getting me to wear this and...well I wanted to make a decent impression for ya on something like this." She replied timidly. Gintoki glanced at patterns on her kimono again and narrowed his eyes as he hummed in suspicion. The shapes and colours were striking, he'd seen this before but couldn't remember where.

"Is it me or have I seen that somewhere before? I feel like I've seen those colours..." He said. Tsukuyo glanced down at her attire before turning to Gintoki.

"Hm? It's from that time you and I were in that room together for a night." She responded with the kiseru in her mouth before taking it out briefly to exhale some smoke. Gintoki's eyes didn't change. In fact he looked slightly unimpressed.

"Hoho, very funny. The convenience of it all! Same outfit that was used on your day off and it's playing out exactly the same...Sneaky woman she is." He bitterly remarked before running a hand through his hair in slight irritation. "Sheesh, you didn't have to go out of your way to do something like this. You're gonna make me feel guilty for not dressing up." He remarked as he ruffled his hair. "But you definitely made an impression on me alright. I think you look great." He said with a small smile before giving her a quick peck on the cheek. Tsukuyo turned beet red and her hand that was holding Gintoki's now tugged his arm quite tightly in a moment of irrationality.

"Gintoki...! We're in public!" She hissed.

"Eh? I thought you were comfortable being like this." He replied nonchalantly.

"Not when there are people around!" She argued. "See? They're staring at us..."

She wasn't wrong either as a couple of other people walking around briefly stopped to glance and gossip about the duo to their friends. Gintoki sighed almost with a hint of apathy.

"Oi, what are you all staring at? This so out of place that you have to stop whatever you're doing? We're only just walking around." He called out lazily. The passerby's quickly resumed their daily business as if nothing happened and the two continued walking.

"Still, I can't actually believe you'd go out of your way to dress up on a normal day like this. You're such a girl." He smirked, which garnered him a rather rough pinch to his cheek by Tsukuyo as she dragged him along. "Ow-ow-ow-ow-"

"And I can't believe ya didn't bother to dress yourself up for something like this. Then again I suppose it's pretty normal for you to be lazy when it comes to something like this." She said in a resigned tone, relinquishing her vice grip on Gintoki's cheek, leaving a red mark as he nursed it with his hand.

"I decided it wasn't my thing, I just want to treat it as any other day. I wouldn't have minded if you just went in your usual get up you know? As long as I'm close enough to be a secondhand smoker, I'm more than happy." Tsukuyo couldn't help but put up a gentle smile as they kept walking, touched by Gintoki's relaxing if slightly abrasive words. She lightly rested her head against his arm, feeling her face slowly warming up.

"So...where are we going?" She asked. She realised she didn't know where he would take her for their special day out, but they were definitely walking into the city, that was clear.

"Eh, might as well watch a film and then go for a bite afterwards. I have an idea of where we can eat, but you can pick the film. Oh hey we're at the cinema already." He replied lethargically.

The pair had a look at some of the posters of the films available to watch. The premises itself was fairly packed for the middle of the day. An action film, a romance film, comedy... none of them were spectacularly interesting aside. Then Tsukuyo's eyes glossed over a rather dark, broody, even slightly intimidating looking poster.

"Hm, should we try this one?" Gintoki looked over briefly before abruptly shifting his eyes for a poster that he was more interested in like an animated film.

"Uhh...I don't know if we should watch that...it's a little bit scary looking haha..." He nervously replied.

"But you said I can pick the film right? That's what you said." She said bluntly, puffing more smoke.

"Yeah well...horror films aren't really my thing..." He prodded his index fingers together looking rather paranoid. Tsukuyo's face lit up with a devilish grin.

"Oh I get it...well. How's this? I win, we're watching the horror movie. Ya win, we watch what ya wanna watch. Deal?" She proposed. He hurriedly agreed to it. They raised their hands to an equal height, both scrunched up in a fist shape, ready to stand off against each other.

"Jan-ken-pon!"

Tsukuyo drew scissors. Gintoki drew paper. His face dropped as he barely saw a missile of a finger come accelerating towards his cheek with incredible velocity.

"LOOK THATAWAY!"

The finger slammed into his cheek with such force it launched his head into the concrete. His face was completely mushed up against it. Tsukuyo took another long exhale of smoke as she massaged her finger slightly.

"Gintokiii? You awake?" No answer.

"That's disappointing. Thought he woulda learned by now not to make poor decisions." She grinned as she picked up his unconscious body by the arm and put it over her shoulders, dragging him to the front desk.

"Excuse me, two tickets to see that horror film please."

After roughly two hours of watching a horror film in the city centre, the couple walked out of the cinema. One of them looked thoroughly underwhelmed as she took a puff from her pipe. The other looked like he would never sleep again whilst massaging his cheek that slammed against the pavement earlier.

"For a horror film that wasn't very scary..." Tsukuyo remarked.

"W-Whaddya talking about? It's a horror film, it's meant to be scary. Psychological horror, blood, screams, ghosts-oh ghosts... urghhh...!" He whined.

"It was made for a quick buck and for cheap thrills. The acting was pretty decent but that's all I got out of it."

"A-A Bad Dream on Oak Street is a cult classic...don't disrespect its name...!"

"And I couldn't exactly get immersed cos ya were clutching my hand the whole time and reciting Doraemon just to get you through the movie! You even started singing as soon as it went dark, which was BEFORE the movie even started!" She blushed faintly at this, since she admittedly found it quite adorable that a fully grown man who'd put his life on the line for her and her city several times was a complete coward when it came to horror films.

"If I could do this wouldn't it be nice? I've got lots of dreams, but he makes them all come true with his mysterious pocket. I wanna fly freely across the sky...!"

"Hey, are ya even listening?!" She exclaimed to no avail, as Gintoki continued to babble the lyrics surprisingly well, but clearly scarred from watching A Bad Dream on Oak Street. She flicked his ear once and he immediately put a hand on it to massage it, snapping him out of his manic trance.

"A-At this point I don't even know what's the better bit of horror...that or the bit before we watched it." He shuddered.

"I-I couldn't help it! Ya were gonna bail when I won the bet anyway! I know what ya like Gintoki!" She explained.

"Argh...whatever..."

"...It was pretty funny to see ya like that though. I've never seen ya look so terrified. Holding on my hand like a lifeline..." She chuckled, to which Gintoki pouted and looked away, hiding his face.

"At least someone got some enjoyment...Anyway, you hungry? I got some spare money I could blow that's isn't going to pachinko, and there's a place I know that does pretty decent food." He asked.

"Alright, sure. Lead the way."

"So this is Hokuto Shinken..."

"Oh Gin-san, I see you brought a lady in this time. I'm actually pretty impressed."

"Gintoki! I'm pretty shocked you made a move on someone. Perhaps it's a dinner date?"

"Shut up...I'm only here cos we're hungry Zura. Anyway, two bowls of ramen please Ikumatsu."

"How many times Gintoki, Zura janai, Katsura da."

Gintoki took Tsukuyo over to Ikumatsu's restaurant for the afternoon and coincidentally came across Katsura sitting on his stool with his standard bowl of soba. The feeling was definitely significantly different compared to other food outlets Tsukuyo had seen from the outside. In fact, she'd never been to a restaurant on the surface. From what she observed, chefs (in this case just Ikumatsu) did the cooking from behind the counter, and there were a few tables and chairs dotted around the small restaurant. And there were stools at the front of the counter where people could also eat at. Gintoki guided her to the stools at the front of the counter, letting her sit in the middle whilst he sat between her and Katsura. Gintoki pointed his hand at the two unfamiliar people in the restaurant.

"Oh yeah. You guys have never met each other. Tsukuyo, this is Ikumatsu, the owner of this restaurant."

"Pleased to meet you Tsukuyo." She politely smiled before turning her back to continue preparing her ingredients for Gintoki's orders. Tsukuyo politely bowed her head slightly in acknowledgement.

"And this idiot who eats SOBA in a RAMEN restaurant is Zura." Gintoki enunciated.

"Zura janai, Katsura da!" Katsura mumbled as he finished his mouthful of soba. "Pleased to meet you Tsukuyo-san." Tsukuyo looked rather amused. Based on Gintoki's rude introduction of Katsura, he seemed to know him intimately.

"Do ya two know each other?" She asked.

"Course I do, I've known this egghead for most of my life. But he's more of a hard head with nothing inside him." He scoffed.

"Don't slander me like that Gintoki! I'll have you know I'm part of the Joi-"

"We don't need to hear that here! Argh see what I mean?" He quickly shut down Katsura's sentence, not wanting Tsukuyo to get a bad impression of him and the people he associated with, but also because Ikumatsu was there too, and worried that she continued her resentment against the Joi rebels since they were responsible for the death of her husband Daigo.

"Joi? As in Joi Rebel?" She curiously asked, to which Katsura proudly nodded. "I see...so you're against the bakufu then. I suppose that's not so bad." This piqued both Katsura and Ikumatsu's interest, who had just finished putting the finishing touches on Gintoki and Tsukuyo's ramen and laid it out in front of the two.

"I was with Gintoki when we stormed the former Shogun's castle. Might sound weird but it was mostly for Yoshiwara business. I couldn't ignore it. I'm just as disgusted at the bakufu as you are. I just can't stand what they did to Yoshiwara's citizens. Especially Lady Suzuran..." She said. Katsura looked on in awe, trying to take in the information before returning to eat his soba. She was with Gintoki? Stormed the former Shogun's castle and removed him from power?

"Yoshiwara...? The red light district?" Ikumatsu asked, setting her sieve down on her kitchen equipment. Tsukuyo nodded her head.

"Yeah...we govern ourselves down there. Our own rules. We used to have a...bastard leader of sorts, but he was removed from power. That's how I met Gintoki. Since then, he's done a lot for Yoshiwara...and me as well." She said. Katsura finished another mouthful before speaking, seeming quite intrigued by Tsukuyo's background.

"So Gintoki assisted you in overthrowing your leader and stormed the former Shogun's castle...but why?"

"I got dragged into both of those things. The first by some scrappy brat who was looking for his mother and the second by the old lady. That one...ended up being more personal than I thought." Gintoki stated. Katsura contemplated pressing further with the matter but sensed Gintoki's mood had darkened slightly and didn't wish to upset him in front of Tsukuyo and Ikumatsu. He could probably ask him in his own time.

"I see...in any case, it sounds like Tsukuyo-san has done a lot with you Gintoki. You two respect each other quite a bit. I like that." Katsura hummed as he nodded his head.

"Hey, you two might want to start eating unless you want to dine on cold food. Just saying." Ikumatsu politely warned. The two quickly put their hands together and thanked Ikumatsu for the meal before tucking in. The ramen tasted exquisite, it was unlike any other ramen Tsukuyo had eaten. The broth, the texture of the noodles, the other food that complemented the ramen, it fused together to form a masterpiece in culinary art.

"Mmm...this is delicious..." She hummed in calm excitement. Gintoki turned to Tsukuyo with a smug grin. "You see? Told ya this place is a good restaurant." Tsukuyo glances up at Ikumatsu briefly after finishing a mouthful of ramen.

"So, ya the owner of this restaurant? Don't ya have anyone else work for ya?" She asked. Ikumatsu blinked twice and looked at Katsura momentarily before returning her eyes on Tsukuyo.

"I did. My husband used to own this place, and I'd work with him. Promised that we'd make it the best ramen restaurant in town. Then he was killed not long after this place got off the ground...since then it's just been me running the place." She said casually as she returned to chopping her ingredients.

"So ya had a tough life yaself...I'm sorry to hear that. Ya a strong woman to run it in his stead." Tsukuyo consoled. Ikumatsu shook her head and smiled. "It's fine, I made a promise to him that I'd continue running it. It's what he would've wanted."

Gintoki meanwhile slowly leaned over to Katsura with a mischevious smirk. He might as well pop the question to him again seeing as he was actually dating someone whereas Katsura wasn't yet.

"So...still haven't made ****base-"

Without blinking Katsura immediately took a chopstick and pointed it at one of Gintoki's eye, but stopped short as he noticed something short and metal also pointing at him. Tsukuyo had risen from her seat and pointed her kunai at him. Gintoki on the other hand was unfazed, staring at Katsura with his deadpan eyes the entire time.

"Come on guys...if you're going to fight you may as well take it outside." Ikumatsu said in a resigned tone, as if she'd seen Gintoki and Katsura's antics on a daily basis. The long haired Joi rebel had a small smile as he kept his chopstick aimed at Gintoki's lazy eye.

"I see Tsukuyo-san will go to any length to protect you Gintoki. I'm genuinely quite happy. She's a good person." Katsura admitted as he lowered his chopstick and placed it on his bowl of soba, almost as if he was testing Tsukuyo's reactions. Gintoki merely scoffed though, knowing the real reason why he reacted so suddenly, but had a slight feeling that he may have genuinely wanted to test Tsukuyo. If she was able to get together with him then she must have been quite special to do so, and Katsura needed proof to see whether the love was legitimate. Case in point, threatening him in her presence, even if it was somewhat justified by his persistent questioning on getting to ****base.

"I hope ya don't do this to him all the time Gintoki..." Tsukuyo said as she lowered her kunai and placed it on the counter to resume eating her ramen.

"Huh? Whaddya mean I do it to him all the time? I barely do that! Besides, he's the one who violently threatened with a chopstick! And the last time I came here, he planted my face in my ramen!" Gintoki exclaimed.

"Perhaps if you didn't say provocative things I would not have done that Gintoki!" Katsura hit back, clearly quite incensed by Gintoki's poor excuses to justify his behaviour. As the two continued bickering between each other, Tsukuyo gazed at her boyfriend's increasingly manic (and rather humorous) face, sighing dreamily at him, the friends he had around him and the situation he was currently in, and beamed gently whilst she peered over the ensuing argument. Ikumatsu also watched the carnage unfold in front of the counter and noticed Tsukuyo's affectionate eyes fixed on Gintoki. She couldn't help but smile in adoration.

"He's quite a handful don't you think?"

"Yeah...he really is."