Chapter 2

Kagura swung her feet idly as she sat perched on a wooden bench inside Hinowa's shop, waiting for Tsukuyo to find what she was looking for. Beside her, Seita sat quietly munching on a piece of candy. She had just finished explaining to the Yoshiwara courtesans what had happened in Kabuki-cho that morning.

Hinowa had her wrists in her hands and was examining the anti-Yato handcuffs with obvious admiration. "To think he was carrying around something like this," she remarked in her pretty, feminine lilt. "I can only imagine how much he paid for these. He's obviously been thinking about cuffing you for a long time."

Kagura's face blanched and a shiver shot up her spine. "Eugh! Don't say things like that." Her cheeks puffed out as bile rose up her throat. Just thinking about that sadist going out of his way to buy a special tool to bind her made her want to puke. "You're grossing me out."

Hinowa released one of her wrists to stifle a giggle. When she'd composed herself again, she lowered her hand and said, "Well, I think it's sort of sweet. You must be very special to him."

Kagura's cheeks ballooned out another few inches. She wished Hinowa would stop talking like Okita Sougo was capable of genuine fondness for anyone.

Hinowa placed a hand on her cheek and sighed forlornly. "Our little Kagura is growing up. I'd love to meet the boy whose heart she's captured."

Hinowa…please…I'm seriously going to hurl here, Kagura beseeched the older woman in her head.

It was at that moment that Tsukuyo finally returned, a folded cloth in her hands. She took Hinowa's place in front of Kagura and unfolded the cloth to reveal a set of lockpicks. "Okita Sougo…" she muttered as she eyed the keyhole critically. "He's the well-groomed, blond one, yeah?"

Kagura hesitantly nodded. She supposed that was an apt description of the iron maiden in human form that was the sole bane of her existence, though it was misleadingly positive-sounding.

Tsukuyo hummed thoughtfully as she inserted two of the picks into the lock and began fiddling with them. "Well," she said after a moment, "Getting your hands cuffed together isn't the worst sort of boy problem to have. We've been having our own share of troubles down here in Yoshiwara."

At this statement, Hinowa's pretty smile faltered and even Seita looked up from his lollipop. Their sober reactions caused Kagura to blink in confusion. "Problems?" she repeated. "Did something happen?"

Hinowa's smile fell away completely and she nodded. "A whole string of somethings," she answered. Her eyes fell to the ground and Seita took it upon himself to explain on her behalf.

"Somebody's been taking out courtesans," he said around his lollipop. His large green eyes were serious.

Kagura's eyes widened in surprise. There was a click as the cuffs around her wrists unlatched and a clank when they fell to the ground. Tsukuyo stood to her full height, her job now done, and carefully replaced the picks with the others. Her violet eyes traveled to Kagura. "It started about a week ago," she chimed in in her low, smooth voice. "Apparently, some sick bastard out there has developed a taste for the blood of prostitutes. We've already lost four girls."

Kagura's eyebrows furrowed in outrage. Someone was really killing the Yoshiwara girls? She could only imagine what sort of sicko a person had to be to come back to Yoshiwara night after night just to murder women. "That's awful! You haven't caught the guy yet?"

Tsukuyo closed her eyes and shook her head. From the folds of her kimono, she produced her favorite pipe and a small pot of tobacco. As she scooped tobacco into the pipe, she elaborated. "I've had my Hyakka investigating, of course, but whoever our murderer is, he's been covering his tracks well." She stowed the pot back in her clothes and lit the pipe with a match before bringing it to her lips for a short drag. A swirl of gray smoke rose into the air when she exhaled. "At this rate, we may need to get the police involved, and that's something I'd really prefer to avoid. Yoshiwara is only able to operate because the government chooses to turn a blind eye to what we do here. If we enlist the help of the authorities they won't be in a position to pretend they don't see us anymore."

Kagura frowned and looked down at her now free wrists. Tsukuyo had a point. Even the Shinsengumi had a threshold past which they had no choice but to report to their superiors in the government. (Not that she'd ever go to them for help.) "Surely there's something we can do." She looked back up at Tsukuyo with an expression of determination. "I'll help however I can!"

Tsukuyo breathed out a chuckle. "I appreciate the offer. Certainly, I don't doubt that a Yato's strength would be more than a match for…"

At once, Tsukuyo's eyes widened as if an idea had just occurred to her. Kagura watched her swiftly turn her head to look at Hinowa. The blue-eyed courtesan looked back at her with a similar expression of realization. Kagura blinked back and forth between them. "What's wrong?" she questioned, confused.

"You don't think…" Hinowa started, still looking at Tsukuyo.

Tsukuyo nodded. "Kagura does possess all the right attributes."

Kagura continued to look back and forth between the two women, entirely lost. "Attributes? Did you think of a way for me to help?"

Tsukuyo took another drag from her pipe and looked back at her. "It will not be without risks," she said by way of confirmation. "We'd been talking about luring the killer into a trap by using bait he couldn't possibly resist. That is to say, debuting a new star courtesan to dangle like a prime steak in front of him. The problem is that while there are plenty of pretty faces in Yoshiwara, none of our current courtesans are fighters. There would be no way for us to guarantee their safety. We need someone with both beauty and strength. Someone such as yourself."

Kagura's mouth fell open in surprise. Hesitantly, she pointed at herself. "Me?" she asked unsurely. "You think I could be a courtesan?"

Just a couple hours ago, Gin-chan had claimed that she was only worth a few thousand yen. Even the sadist had called her gorilla-faced in his insultingly long string of aspersions on both her appearance and character. Hearing Tsukuyo say that she had beauty as well as strength was like a nice big band-aid on her wounded pride.

She knew those assholes had been full of shit! She was a beauty just like her mammy.

Hinowa wheeled her chair back to where Kagura was sitting and took her hand. Lifting it demonstratively, she said, "It's not just your face. You're the whole package to be a magnificent courtesan. Look here. Your wrists are slender and your hands are small. Not to mention your skin is white as porcelain even without paint. A little polish and the right adornments and you'll have men emptying their bank accounts to spend a night with you." She placed Kagura's hand back onto her lap and wheeled back to give her some space. "Of course, we wouldn't expect you to actually sleep with anyone. This would be purely for show."

"Unless you want to, of course," Tsukuyo chimed in with a suggestive wink.

Hinowa turned to the tall blonde and hid a smile poorly behind her hand. "My! I never thought I'd hear our virtuous Tsukuyo make such a joke. Could it be that you've finally accepted a man into your bed?"

Tsukuyo's face turned scarlet and she let out a graceless noise of indignation.

At her telling reaction, Kagura's cheeks puffed out and she snickered. "I'll bet it's Gin-chan! It's him, right?"

"I-I haven't! I mean, it wouldn't be either of your business either way!" She purposefully turned her face away to hide her flaming cheeks.

Seita, who had been listening quietly for the past few minutes, pulled the lollipop from his mouth and gave Tsukuyo an unimpressed look. "I don't get what you're acting so shy for. If you like him, it's only natural that you'd [censored], right? What, are you dim or something?"

Tsukuyo spluttered indignantly and rounded on the child. "I don't want to hear that from a ten-year-old!" she shouted, glaring at Seita with eyes and cheeks ablaze.

Ignoring them, Hinowa turned her attention back to Kagura. "Anyway, that's the long and short of it. So, what do you think? Would you be interested in becoming Yoshiwara's next star courtesan?"

Kagura lifted a hand to her chin as she thought about Hinowa's proposal. She did want to help her friends get to the bottom of these murders, and the prospect of getting to wear expensive clothes and lure men with her feminine wiles sounded like great fun. She got the feeling it would be a full-time commitment, though. She cocked her head to the side and crossed her arms over her chest. "Will I get paid?"

Hinowa's pretty smile widened just slightly into the ghost of a smirk. "Oh, unbelievably."

That was all Kagura needed to hear. She slammed her palm down onto the seat next to her and with fire in her eyes exclaimed, "I'm in!"

oOo

There was a noticeable skip in Kagura's step as she climbed the shadowed stairs up to Odd Jobs Gin-chan and threw open the sliding door. Gintoki and Shinpachi looked up from the couches where they were reading manga and perusing an issue of Otsuu Monthly respectively.

"Well, look who's finally back. I started to think you'd fallen into the ocean and been abducted by pirates," Gintoki greeted her disinterestedly.

Shinpachi frowned at her from the low table. "Where have you been? It's already evening and we were supposed to plan tomorrow's job together."

Kagura smirked haughtily and waved a hand at him. "Oh, that? I won't be joining you," she revealed smugly. "I got my own job. It turns out there are people out there who appreciate my beauty."

Gintoki raised a brow and looked up from his manga, giving her a once-over. "What, did somebody hire you to be a stop sign?"

Kagura glowered at him. "As if!" Reining in her emotions, she turned her nose up and strutted over to her closet-room. "Humph! It's none of your business, anyhow." Giving her Earth dad a good look at her tongue, she slammed the closet door shut.

Gin-chan could think whatever he wanted. She would show everyone soon enough how graceful and feminine she could be. She was going to earn so much money, he'd be the one begging her for a paycheck.

With thoughts of gorgeous kimonos and a rain of cash and jewels in mind, Kagura pulled the covers of her futon up to her neck and fell promptly into a blissful sleep.

A bit on the short side this time, sorry about that. This was originally going to be part of chapter one but I decided to cut the chapter in half to keep a better posting schedule. I'm going to try to update once a week, so stay tuned!