A/N: Okay... about time I finish writing this chapter. To be honest, I had a lot of thoughts about the many conflicts that had been brewing inside Gintoki's mind as to how he should deal about everything that he felt about Utsuro. Yet, such things... it's really not that easy to just fully describe it into words, right? But hey, at least someone was trying his best to overcome his own demons.

Chapter 15: Perhaps the right choice would be the one you decide on without having to think about it too much.

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Gintoki finally stepped out of the building as he was greeted again by Nobume.

"So... have you decided on what to do? Would you accept my request?" asked the former Vice Chief of the Mimawarigumi as Gintoki just shrugged her off.

"Why did you care so much about what I wanted to do? Besides, that Matako girl already refused to accept my service to find that brat Takasugi."

Nobume just shrugged. "There was still Katsura to consider. Didn't that guy already make his decision?"

Gintoki rolled his eyes at her as they parted ways. He snorted at himself. "What's that got to do with me?"

He had barely taken a few steps away as Nobume spoke again. "You better make up your mind fast. I doubt you'd be able to get off this planet if you hesitate for too long..."

He just brushed those words aside as Gintoki continued to be on his way...

Because seriously, what was it that everyone expected him to do? Just because it seemed as if he was the only one amongst them who knew Shouyou the longest-even when that's probably not really true-did it appear as if he had all of the right answers on hand?

All these times, he had ended up facing a lot of things... a lot of them involving him needing to make some very important decisions which may determine whether or not someone should live or die. Yeah... he had faced a lot of those kinds of situations and overcame it in his own ways.

Did that make people believe that he could always make the right decision all the time? Because right now... right now, he just wanted to hide somewhere and let someone else take the lead instead.

Couldn't he just do that?

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Yet it seemed that fate already had some plans set in store for him as Gintoki heard his name being called. He turned around to see Shinpachi running frantically towards him.

"Gin-san! It's an emergency!" cried Shinpachi as the boy rushed towards him.

"What is it, Shinpachi? Did the patrols find out about where we hid?"

Shinpachi shook his head. "It's Kagura! She said she's going back to the office to get her things, she said she wanted to follow those Kiheitai people to find her brother!"

Gintoki almost swore aloud as he rush back towards Kabuki-cho. Shinpachi followed the man along as they met up with Sadaharu on their way back to the office.

xxx

Gintoki could barely restrain himself as the three of them reached Otose's bar. He motioned for Shinpachi to be quiet—as Sadaharu seemed to also understand his concerns—before carefully walking up the stairs towards his office. He sighed to himself, as he stared at the many police lines that were taped all over his office door before slashing them all down and getting into his office.

Sadaharu and Shinpachi also followed behind him as Gintoki marched straight on towards his desk. His eyes caught a glimpse of an envelope left on it. Upon close watch, he could see the words [Leave Letter] being written on top of the envelope.

"That idiot..." he said softly as he picked up the envelope, "She didn't have to write this crap. The Yorozuya no longer—"

"'The Yorozuya isn't done yet,'" Shinpachi suddenly spoke out as Gintoki continued staring at Kagura's letter. "'I'm definitely coming back here.' That's probably what she wanted to say."

"Gin-san..."

He bit his lips.

"You don't have to say anything. I no longer know what to do anyway." Gintoki thought about the Shouyou he used to know, the things he heard about the man from Nobume and what Zura said to him before leaving. "About what should I do as his disciple, or what should I do as their fellow comrades..."

He pulled out a drawer from his desk and took out an envelope and his writing utensils as Shinpachi followed suit. After writing similar words on his envelope as the one Kagura had left prior—he didn't even bother putting in an actual letter inside them—he placed his envelope beside Kagura's.

"But there's at least one thing that I do know right now... on what we should do as the Yorozuya."

He sighed softly, as he saw Shinpachi leave his own leave letter... and even helped Sadaharu with its own 'letter'.

"This is a special break. You guys can either take a trip to space or wherever you want. But, no matter what it takes, we'll be coming back here. All three of us and one animal."

Gintoki turned around to leave, and that made him notice the mess all around him as everything inside his office had been turned upside down. Cleaning up this place later would've certainly been such a bother.

xxx

Gintoki let out a sigh as they finally reached the port, with the main Kaientai ship already in the middle of boarding its passengers. His eyes were automatically drawn towards Tatsuma as the man seemed to have also noticed his arrival. And he could see Zura about to get in as well, before turning around and giving him a look of horror from afar.

Honestly that idiot...

Thankfully, he managed to find Nobume again and get her to help him catch up to Zura before it was too late. Since the remaining Kiheitai people had already left the port, the only other way for him to get off this planet would be to get on Tatsuma's ship!

Relief washed over him as he saw that the big Kaientai ship in front of him still haven't left yet. Gintoki gave a side glance towards Nobume who had been standing nearby.

"Thank you... for guiding us towards here."

He never thought that he'd be thinking this but Nobume was really such a reliable ally.

"You should hurry up and get going. Nobunobu has already caught wind of our movements. I'll take care of the things here. Go figure what else to do afterwards on your own."

Shinpachi turned around towards her.

"Nobume-san..."

"Can I ask you one thing?" Nobume spoke again, as she ignored Shinpachi's presence. "Did you come here as Shouyou's disciple... or did you come here as Takasugi's comrade?"

Gintoki smirked to himself as an answer immediately appeared in his mind.

"We're only doing what the job had requested from us."

Because Nobume was the one who had come looking for them and made the request. Because the more he thought about it, Nobume's request just made it easier for him to decide on what to do... without having to dwell too much on what was it that he's supposed to do for Shouyou... and Takasugi.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked in return, "Were you helping us out as a disciple of Shouyou... or were you doing this as Takasugi's comrade?"

It just made him wonder... after all. He doesn't usually question the motivations of his clients whenever he accepted any job requests but since the current 'jobs' hit him way too personally at the moment, he needed to have at least some kind of justification or reasoning to solidify his resolve to get on with this thing.

Because it just made him wonder. Whether this matter was just plain business to her or that like them, Nobume had another reason to wanting him to help out in finding that one-eyed brat...

"You just looked the same..." Nobume said plainly to him, "...as how that foolish man used to look to me."

Gintoki turned around as he stared at Nobume's face. The girl smiled.

'That man'? Did she mean to say... that she was doing this because he reminded her of the late Sasaki Isaburou?

The three of them turned around as they parted before Nobume let out another sigh. "Isn't it stupid?"

Gintoki snorted to himself. Stupid? Well... you might as well sum it all like that.

"Yeah... both you and me."

Guess this was his cue to stop running away from the things that have scared him right down to his core. It's time for him to gather his courage back again and fight back.

He has been lost long enough, hasn't he? Time for him to redeem himself.