A/N: Hi all! Nicole NightLock, your comment really snapped my attention back to this story! I've been trying to get back into writing and continuing my stories, and have only posted for one of them so far, again. So today, I really sat down and wrote more for this one. I'll try to keep pace, but my writing style has changed since i took such a long break. Please be patient with me if I sound repetitive, because these stories mean the world to me, and I really want to get back into the swing of things, but seeing the drastic difference in how I used to write and how I'm writing now is kinda silly and sad, hahahaha. I'll try to keep with this though, and hopefully improve. Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoy! :)

Next time. He would bring it back next time. Idiotic didn't begin to describe how Kinu felt. If she had to pick a word she'd have gone with vapid, or downright vacuous. A lunatic had just been in her shop stabbing people and borrowing her brand new books and all she could do was say that she was a chapter in, and sure, bring it back next time because she did so desire another run in with the murderous anti-cop that could have killed her and was involved with illegal gun shipments.

"Ki, are you sure you're alright?" Gintoki asked for the hundredth time, and Kinu nodded. She could finally breath the air of solitude, and try to calm her pounding heart, which hadn't gotten the memo about her being cold and unfeeling yet. Delivery error. Ironic as it was that botched deliveries had gotten her into this mess, the humor was wasted on her when she found the edge of a new novel dipped in blood; pages in disarray, face down on the floor. It gave a new meaning to the term dog eared page marker, and if it was any other day, she would have mused that the blood was fitting for the contents of the page.

When Gintoki had arrived she'd been trying her best to clean the puddle of blood and completely lost in her head. The sound of the bell over the door ringing sent every nerve in her body on edge and she was positive that the stranger had returned to finish the job because he didn't need any witnesses. Kinu stayed below the counter until Kagura's head popped over and announced her presence.

Shinpachi stirred his tea, and his spoon loudly scraped the bottom of his cup. When paired with his expression, it announced that he wished to say something, but was at a loss for words. Or didn't want to voice it.

"So... the police got him? How'd it happen?"

"They stabbed him." She murmured the words, and kept her eyes on the table.

"That's..." For fear of revealing too much, Gintoki severed the stream of thoughts and kept them to himself. Takasugi taken down by the Shinsengumi. He almost didn't believe it. If Kinu hadn't seen it with her own eyes, He would have written the claim off. But she had been adamant in her recount. They came in and caught him in the cupboard. Dragged him out like the lowly swine he had become, apparently. Kinu had even told that he'd claimed he wasn't going to hurt her.

But Gintoki knew better. What reason did Takasugi have to enter a remote tea shop that was on the edge of going out of business, other than that it was connected to Gintoki himself? To start some sort of backwards war. The man had intruded on his personal life, and while Gintoki wished he could be surprised, the emotion never hit him. Neither did relief. If Takasugi had been caught, the only possible outcome was a ritualistic execution. Seppuku.

The rest of the exchange went dully. Shinpachi had led his familial group back on nothing short of an adrenaline high, only to find the shop as cold and quiet as ever, and Kinu even more so. She didn't look at him across the table, and her usual firm yet gentle goading for attention and time were as if they had never existed. If Kinu felt anything at all, her face gave nothing away. Even Gintoki, beside her, wasn't spared more than a sidelong glance that quickly diminished, never to return again.

They were quickly seen off, departing with a gracious, even bow and Kinu's thanks. It was almost as if the entire ordeal was a figment of Shinpachi's imagination, and it had been a false alarm, but he knew something more was afoot. Reserved was the name of the girl's game, but he felt there was a hidden aspect to it all. As if she had been threatened and silenced, but if she said that Takasugi had been captured and hauled off, who was he to push into the subject?

Whatever had happened could have been so bad that she couldn't speak of it yet. So he would give her time. And as he looked over at Kagura and up at Gintoki on their walk back to the Yorozuya, he knew the man was thinking the same.

Takasugi had the girl's routine down to a tee by the end of a few days. He watched to see if she called the police, and in his stake outs he'd learned a lot. No cops had come by, but for the first day, the store didn't open at all, and the girl made no appearance. An older woman, and the beggar man seemed to live there; returning at all hours of the night, and never wasting too much time on the shop.

By noon, the girl would come out and feed a stray cat or two with what he assumed was left overs, and then she would lock the shop and head out. She returned around three and either kept the shop open until six or stayed in the building until morning.

He didn't know where she went, or what she was doing when she decided not to open shop.

As Takasugi reached the end of his borrowed book, he glanced at the storefront and watched the girl kneel down. Three cats had come to visit her today, and she set pinches of food on the ground in front of them and watched as they ate. Never dared to touch them fully, but her hand hovered over the smallest of the bunch momentarily before being retracted. He didn't know why, but it irked him. Just pet it, he thought, but the girl's hand remained on her knee. He tried to will her with his mind, but she didn't move.

An excruciating moment passed as his mind echoed to pet the cats, simultaneously wondering what decent person would just sit there watching when the strays clearly needed more than food. Just as he thought he could will her no more, a calico placed its paw on the girl's knee and poked its head up towards her. The girl's head cocked to the side and she looked as though she spoke. For a second Takasugi wondered if it was as softly as he'd remembered, but the girl's hand returned to petting position. Hovering just near the cat's delightful little ear. Then the group scattered.

The girl jerked up and her neck stretched out towards the man Takasugi had considered a charity project. Before he realized what was happening, the girl fell back onto her hip, then glided to her feet to dart after the dark haired tyrant back into the storefront.

That couldn't be good.

The man could be a customer, but it looked serious, and for the first time, he had seen a clear expression on the girl's face. Big eyes and a slack jaw. Panic, or surprise, he wasn't sure. He wasn't close enough to tell.

It wasn't the time to stroll over and find out for himself though. Takasugi had to wait. Uncomfortable as the sight had made him, he wasn't inclined to take the fall for a shipment gone awry. He had already cleaned everything up on his end. Keeping the goods until he returned was the girl's responsibility, and if she couldn't do that, he didn't want to risk it.

"Bansai," His voice came as controlled and cool as he expected from himself. Years of training hadn't gone to waste, and he eased himself back to a comfortable position against the wood frame.

"Yes?" Kawakami wasn't even four yards away. His feet were up on the writing desk, and he idly dug his chopsticks into his rice to scoop out the next contender.

"Let's reschedule the exchange for two days from now. The sooner this is over the better." His friend didn't object, or put much thought into the request from the sound of it. He gave an affirmative hum, and set back to focusing on his food. As if nothing was important. There was still an uneasy note trying to coax its way into Takasugi's mind though. He'd have to reestablish his bearings on the situation.

By nightfall, Takasugi had the time to reign in his anxiousness. He went to the storefront, but the shop was closed for the night. The sign gleamed back at him, almost taunting in the way it denied access to the girl. But Takasugi knew which window was hers. she often opened it, and leaned out in the middle of the night to smoke and stare at the street below, like one of the alley cats she so often fed.

He considered climbing up to enter the room himself, but quickly ruled against it. Years of being a criminal had not diminished his morals in that sense, and he wanted no part of midnight rendezvous with the girl in her room. Instead he went more practical. The number on the store window was his best bet, and he punched the sequence into his cellphone.

After a short delay, an audible chirp sent his gaze to the stoop beside the door. Blue light greeted Takasugi, and his face dropped as he stared at the device. The number went directly to the girl. She must have dropped her phone. Snapping his phone shut, Takasugi stooped to pick the device up. It was no surprise that the girl wasn't exactly a social butterfly, but it put him in an odd position.

Forced him to resort to cliches. The man wandered to the side of the house and peered up at the black square of glass she so often perched out of. Took a stone in his hand and threw a pebble at the abyss of her window. The first impact rang out through the street, and echoed off the buildings around him, and after a few seconds, Takasugi found another to throw. The second managed to draw the attention of a solitary drunken form, stumbling by, and he heard a knowing, warm chuckle that tightened his mouth into a hard line.

Then, as if he had laid out a circle and opened the portal to hell itself, a ghostly pale form took to the window and parted the drapes. In the porthole, the girl was barely decent, the lower half of her hidden below the frame. She peered out, and after a second of deliberation, raised the frame.

Faced with her, Takasugi peered into her exposed eye and silence enveloped the street. He didn't know if he was waiting for her to speak, or if he had words of his own, but stood there, expectantly. Almost like a deer in headlights, glaring at an approaching car. He didn't know what to say.

"Are you just going to stand there?" Words tumbled out before his mind had processed his tone, or the approach he was taking. Instead of moving, the girl peered back at him and leaned onto the frame.

"Maybe I'll jump."

"Would it get you here faster?"

The girl above stared back, completely blank. Studied Takasugi. Her face betrayed no hint of a response and it felt as though every passing second was a year. Then, she turned away, and Takasugi could have sworn he heard a snort. An airy laugh that was surprisingly good natured.

So she was human.

She disappeared from the window, and in the moments it took for the light in the store to turn on, Takasugi took a breath, hoping to regain in every shred of diplomacy before facing her.

Watching her be so unceremoniously pulled into the shop, then finding it closed had convinced him that there was a problem. His stomach had lurched at the dark store front, and relief had graced his entire body when she greeted him, though wordlessly. Takasugi let himself by the girl when she unlocked the door, casually clothed, and she made no attempt at retreating behind the counter, but sat a few seats away from him when he took a bar stool.

His eye danced over her, almost taking stock as she sat there. Her dignified stance seemed unnatural to him, and he wished that he could keep his back so straight and be comfortable. If he stayed like that for too long, his middle back started to ache. A sign of old age, maybe, but he would never admit it. The girl wasn't looking at him directly, but he could see glimmers of dark skin across her neck. He face hadn't been spared but she had been cleaned up.

But now that he was face to face with her, he still hadn't come up with anything.

"Thursday, I'll be back with an associate. Around midnight."

Kinu didn't move, and Takasugi kept his gaze on her. Waited for a verbal response that never came. Her cheek was darkened but he could only see the edge under the shadow of her hair. Nothing too alarming. She could have fallen for all he knew. Maybe.

"When we arrive, I'd like you to serve some tea. That's it. You don't need to speak, or even bother with him."

"Hm."

What was that supposed to mean? The girl tilted her head down, and glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. Barely turned her head towards him. Hiding it maybe.

"I tried to call you, but-"

"Creepy." The girl cut him off and finally faced him. Her brows creased, and her lips pulled into suspicious grimace. "How?"

Frowning back, the man felt his mouth open, then shut.

"It's on the window!" Flinging a hand towards the store front, Takasugi met Kinu's icy gaze with a look of equal irritation.

"Oh..."

The man dug into his sleeve and shoved her phone into her hands, rolling his eye as she examined it, still frowning to herself.

"It was outside."

Kinu dipped her head again. Sat motionless, unbothered by Takasugi's prying gaze. Then she gingerly placed the phone on the counter and took to her feet.

"Tea?" As if they had never been engaged in conversation, she rounded the counter, and pushed up her sleeves. Almost immediately, she pulled them back down, though Takasugi hadn't gotten a good look.

"Save it for Thursday." He murmured, suddenly uncomfortable again. If there was something going on, he didn't want to know. Just wanted to get the job done and forget meeting the girl. Get both of the jobs done. If she was being abused, she'd probably throw herself at any chance of getting away. The girl was an easy target. As he raised from his chair, a low voice came from behind the counter, and he paused to meet the girl's cerulean eyes.

"Are you going to kill me?"

"Let me check the schedule."

As if realizing how ridiculous the question sounded, she tilted her head to one side. Stared off into some distant land that danced along the counter top and carried her away somewhere that Takasugi could only assume was pleasant, because the corners of her lips slid up in the faintest way. It would have been easy to miss if he hadn't already been studying her, and he was glad he had turned around when she'd spoken.

"Am I going to jail?"

"Only if you call the cops. I won't testify on your behalf."

"You're not a cop?"

Now it was Takasugi's turn to laugh. The sheer ridiculousness of the conversation struck him in the wrong place, and he found himself appalled but grinning at the girl.

"Are you stupid?"

She hummed once, then shifted her weight. "Sometimes."

"Everybody is." This time, the man didn't stick around to see her expression. He let himself out of the shop, and the pleasant jingle of the bell bid his farewell for him. As he left, he could feel the eyes on his back, but expended every ounce of his strength on facing forward.