Just as Gintoki had said, after about ten minutes, he was seated at the counter again, finishing the parfait she'd saved for him. The moment he'd left, she could tell something was off. Her mind swirled with reasons, and possible causes, but no matter how she tried to spin it, she was certain that the problem was Takasugi. Her mother had said it would be a problem. They clearly knew each other, though they had barely spoken. As Kinu locked the shop door, Gintoki looked back at her.

"That guy is no good. You shouldn't be alone with him; he's dangerous."

Frowning, the girl moved back behind the counter.

"Oh…" At a loss for words, Kinu looked down at her hands. Her fingers laced together. Why? Takasugi had never done anything to her, aside from the kidnapping thing. But it was just one time. Sure, he was kind of a murderer, but she liked him. "I see…" She murmured, and Gintoki spooned a scoop of parfait topped with a strawberry slice into his mouth.

Why was he watching her so closely? She felt as if sitting would have made her suspicious, and finding something to clean would have been worse. So she just stood there, awkwardly pushing her pointer fingers together. How was she supposed to know Gintoki had a problem with him? He'd never told her about the guy before.

Gintoki had never told her to stay away from somebody before, either. Nobody had. She wasn't sure how she felt about it.

"But… He's my friend."

"Friend? No." Shaking his head, the silver haired samurai sharply exhaled. As if he'd found some dry humor in her words. "Ki, he doesn't make friends. Just… don't talk to him. If he comes back, call me."

So she wasn't allowed to see him at all? Ever? Gintoki was going to cut her off from everything Takasugi had given her? Panic was already starting to rise in Kinu, and enveloped her in an icy blanket that chilled her shoulders.

"Onii-chan-"

"Don't Onii-chan me, listen. Do you know anything about him? Anything at all? Who is he? Where's he from?" Spoon just inches away from his mouth, Gintoki set his eyes on Kinu. Stared directly into her. She averted her gaze.

"I- I don't-"

"Exactly. You don't know. I do."

All this time, Kinu had thought Gintoki would be proud of her for her newly blooming social life. The fact that she was finding little pleasures in actually having a social life. Now, she was being told that she'd been doing something wrong the entire time, and it hurt in some broad place she couldn't pinpoint in her body.

Kinu wanted to know what Gintoki had said to Takasugi. She knew he'd gone out specifically to talk to him. Had he told him the same thing? To stay away?

How could he?

If he'd said something in front of Takasugi they all could have worked it out. Takasugi could have smoothed it over, with Kinu there to back him up and specifically say that she wanted him there. Why would Gintoki do this to her?

She took his empty glass and set it in the sink. Didn't look up at Gintoki as she grabbed a cloth, and the water ran over her hands. He was treating her like a child. He didn't understand.

Overreacting. If Takasugi was a danger to her, He would have done something already. People that wanted to hurt others didn't hug and say nice things like you're gonna be alright.

He'd been saying something about leaving before, and she hadn't had time to answer him.

"Found a bintendo in the scrapyard with some classics. You wanna take a look at it? See if you can actually beat me now?"

"Yeah, sure…" Setting the glass on the drying rack beside her, Kinu toweled her hands off. Gintoki would be angry if she didn't listen to him. Even so, she didn't think she wanted to turn Takasugi away if he came back. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was convinced that if he kept talking to her, and doing what he had, she'd get another major rush of emotions one day. A volcano, overflowing, and swirling around her; absolutely consuming her until there was nothing left. Not a physical death, but enough to at least feel normal. Or a little less disconnected.

"If I fix it… My mom said I need to clean the garden out back, maybe you could help?"

"With Shinpachi?" Gintoki's mouth curved into a wide grin and Kinu eyed him. She hadn't even said anything about that. Why would he assume she wanted Shinpachi? Still, the look she gave him made his entire face light up. "You trying to come back from knocking him over? From the fake hickey?"

"It was a bee sting."

"Don't lie! You pinched yourself to make him jealous and it didn't work! Admit it!" The man burst into laughter, and Kinu tried to gape at him. To force some sort of facial response that fit what he was saying but she was wounded, and dry. Exhausted. From the way he'd sounded, Kinu was wholly convinced that nothing would sway his stance on Takasugi.

She didn't even care anymore. Kinu could go back to normal. If Gintoki was telling her to do something, it was probably for a good reason. Kinu had to believe that it was, lest she immediately go to the ship and try to crawl back in bed with Takasugi to forget everything Gintoki had said. He was supposed to stay later tonight.

Gintoki had known it wasn't exactly a hickey (partially, yes, but more of a pinch). He'd still called her out and embarrassed her. Kinu smacked his arm across the counter. Wanted to hit him more, but for no reasons that regarded Shinpachi.

He turned to the side as she smacked at him again.

"Stop laughing! Shinpachi-kun has bowing seizures every time I talk to him!"

"You- you think that's gonna get better cleaning stuff together?!" The words exploded out of Gintoki, and Kinu slapped her palms against his shoulder again. This time he waved his hands back. She hadn't said that! He said it!

"Stop laughing at me! You're the meanest brother ever!"

If he thought she'd made the spot on her neck herself as some desperate attempt at getting Shinpachi, so be it. Kinu would never tell him the truth. Not in a million years. If just seeing her talk to Takasugi had tipped the dominoes in the wrong position, he could never know about anything else they'd done. She was better off resuming normalcy, because her real life would always return to beat her over the head until she opted back into reality and accepted what she actually could have. None of those options were Takasugi. She could continue. As if none of it had ever happened. Takasugi was going to leave, anyway.

Remembering the oven, Kinu rushed to turn it off and pull the tray from within. What she found was a darkened mass of what should have been cream puffs, but was long past it's cooking prime. Not like there was anybody to eat them with, now.

The rest of the night, Gintoki didn't mention the man again. Put the subject behind them to poke fun at Kinu over her supposed crush, and how she was going to lose the moment she fixed the bintendo. As if they hadn't missed a beat, and she guessed she preferred it that way.

The next day, Kinu stayed in bed. She didn't want to give herself the opportunity to wander back to Takasugi's ship, and she knew she would if she went outside. Kinu feigned a cold when her mother came to her room to see why she hadn't opened the shop, and because she had the best mother in the world, Ai didn't ask any questions. She only sat by her bed and ran a hand down the side of her head, sighing.

"It's alright. One day won't kill us." That's what she'd said, but Kinu still felt guilty. She checked her phone, even though it hadn't made a sound, until she couldn't take it anymore and turned it off. Because it couldn't be good to be so obsessive. There was no better word for it. She may as well have been a stalker.

The day after that she applied for her usual summer job. Her father had to have been on some random rampage the previous night, because a portion of her personal items were missing from the bathroom when she'd woken up. Riku had a history of selling small odds and ends at times, but Kinu didn't think he'd be able to get anything for a toothbrush, or her cheap citrusy body spray.

At least he'd cleaned her brushes to make up for it.

Afterwards, she started collecting her daily points for her game. Stared down at the message icon of her phone. Nothing. Of course.

Kinu wandered into a convenience store, in search of mint pocky. As she walked down the aisle, a familiar form came into view and turned towards her. He was holding a mop, and dressed in the red and blue store uniform. He grinned as he tucked the silver streak of hair behind his ear.

"Oh, Kinu-chan! I didn't expect to see you here!"

Staring up at Adachi, or Amgiri, whoever he was, the girl turned the pocky box in her hands. His mop was dry. Even so, he started to rub it across the floor, still smiling at her. She wasn't sure if he realized that he was accomplishing nothing, but he looked proud, and she didn't have the heart to tell him. Wasn't he loaded?

"I'm just doing some extra work in my spare time. Call it community service." Kinu didn't think that was how community service worked. Not that she had ever done it, but she thought that implied food banks, or helping homeless people, and cleaning roadways or something. Not mopping floors in a cozy little store. Was that even legal? "It's a passion of mine, actually. Going to less fortunate parts of town. Pitching in what I can. Honest, hard work." Kinu didn't know if cleaning a convenience store was anything like that. Her phone vibrated, and she snatched it out of her pocket.

A review for the tea shop. Four stars; a quaint, darling, little hole in the wall restaurant. Great.

"Actually, I'm just about to finish up here." Finish what? Surprised that he was still there, Kinu returned her attention to him. "If you're free, why don't we go somewhere?"

"What?" It was all she could think to say. Kinu was beyond confused, and still couldn't wrap her head around the dry mop. The man offered a warm grin, and chuckled under his breath.

"After I change, of course." Like that was the issue here! Did he mean like a date, or platonically? Or maybe he needed help with another mechanical booklet and product review? Either way, it wasn't happening.

"No." Technically, she wasn't free. She needed to get home, open shop. Basic chores that would take a good portion of the afternoon.

Kinu paid for her pocky, and left the store, glancing back as the older man exited behind her. He grinned and took a seat on a bench beside the store front, cigarette in hand, and Kinu stared down at him. Had he followed her outside? Or was he just taking a smoke break? The Kiheitai had probably just made her paranoid.

As she stood there, the man held his cigarette tin towards her. Smiled, as she plucked one from the case. He didn't need to prompt her to take a seat beside him, and offered his lighter, a silver butane rectangle with a crest on it. His fingers obscured the image, and deftly tucked the lighter back into his coat with a sigh.

"Days like this make me crave a picnic in the park, you know? Clear, blue sky, not a cloud in sight…"

Peering up at the sky in question, Kinu considered the man's words. She'd never actually done that before. The only thing sunny days made her think was sunburn. When she didn't respond, the man continued.

"I'm afraid, I've fallen madly in love with a woman, but she doesn't seem to have the faintest clue."

Side eying the man, Kinu took a puff of the cigarette he'd given her. His was nowhere near as harsh at Takasugi's tobacco.

"May I call you Ah-kun?" The man's face lit up, and he snickered to himself as he leaned back against the bench, propping his arms across the back of it. Kinu was already sitting up, and though she glanced back at the arm behind her, she didn't move.

"Ah-kun? Like a pet name? I don't recall ever having one of those…"

"If it's weird-"

"It's quite alright." Again, the man grinned and Kinu nearly breathed a sigh of relief. No longer would she fret over his name.

"Ah-kun, I used to think that I liked somebody." Pausing to take a drag of her cigarette, Kinu watched as he did the same. Her next line was carried on a trail of smoke. "But I realized that it was better to have good friends than a good romance." Kinu's fingers prodded at the black wraps over her wrist, and the tender sting that met her sparked another dull surge of life. It wasn't like Takasugi would know. "Maybe your situation won't be the same. You'll tell her and she'll reciprocate, and you'll both be happy. You're a good guy, right?"

Kinu looked over at the man, and he was staring straight ahead, with his cigarette perched in front of his mouth.

"Ah-kun?"

"Oh, yes. I try my hardest to be a good person. Morals are extremely important to me. One of the main pillars of society, as I usually say."

Nodding once, Kinu tilted her head.

"Things always work out, don't they? Not for the best, or how you want them to, but they work out. As long as you have good friends that you can trust and know will be there when you need help, everything is fine… Isn't it?" Kinu wasn't sure if she was even talking about whatever he'd said to her anymore. The topic felt as though it had shifted, and she didn't know what the change was, but the man finally turned to her, grinning.

"Maybe if it doesn't work out, I'll marry you."

Kinu blankly peered back at the man. Well that was great. At least she was someone's second choice, right? Super reassuring.

"I don't think my mom would like that. You're old enough to be my father…" She was positive it was meant to flatter her, but second choice, and the butt of a joke was more than she had the patience for. Amagi's face contorted.

"I think it's better to fight for what you want. Even if there's no foreseeable positive outcome. How would you know if you didn't give it a good try? People may be standing in the way, but that's a small price to pay when you want something badly enough, don't you agree?"

He was leaning towards her. Thought his voice got carried away on the wind, but Kinu had heard him perfectly well. She stared at the man, expressionless and considering his words. Standing, Kinu dropped her cigarette in the tall ashtray beside her.

"Hm." The man's eyes followed her as she pulled the tab on her pocky, and turned towards the tea shop. "I suppose."

Seated around the rectangular meeting table, the members of the Kiheitai had their best business faces on. Takasugi stared directly at Amagi, as he examined the tiny blonde woman in front of him. She was twenty two, and drop dead gorgeous, by Takasugi's standards. Her hair had been fastened into an elegant bun, and a choice stray strand hung to frame her face; barely grazing the collar of her midnight blue kimono.

He had spent the better portion of the day dictating her appearance, and instructing her on her mannerisms, and speech. After an hour of the speech issue, Takasugi had simply told her to not speak. Ever. Not even a single word.

The rich man had servants place some sort of alien looking food in front of them, and most of the meeting had been spent wincing down at the writhing bits on the plates. They had reached a silent agreement. Not to eat it. Amagi daintily placed bits of his in his mouth during the initial meeting, but they couldn't bring themselves to even try.

Takasugi wasn't sure if he was supposed to put the dry, squirming morsels on the provided crackers before eating them, but he had no intention of finding out. So he popped a gummy bear into his mouth and the actual meat of the meeting commenced.

As soon as she entered the room, Amagi had started glaring daggers at Takasugi. He'd done the same with the last three; all small statured girls in their early twenties, impeccably dressed, and styled by Matako.

"And you're a virgin, right?" Amagi paused in front of the girl, hands in his pockets. She quickly nodded, mouth clamped shut. With a sigh, the older man grabbed her shoulder and dragged her towards the table, looking down at the Kiheitai. His gaze settled on Takechi, and he motioned to the girl.

"You," He started, and the balding man stiffly turned to face him. "would you take this girl, or the last?"

"Both are past their prime."

Raising his pipe, Takasugi sharply glared at Takechi.

"But the last was so small, and cute, you could barely tell."

"Don't listen to him, he's a pervert! A total loli-con, he'll get you thrown in jail." Matako rushed to cover Takechi's infraction as Amagi turned back to the girl. He had barely smiled the entire time, despite being known for the expression. Instead, he pulled a box from under the table and removed the top. As he looked down on the girl, he placed a new coat of hair over her bun and straightened it out. Shoved a green box into her hand, and spritzed her with a green bottle.

Absolute quiet filled Takasugi's head as he squinted at the woman. Black and blonde hair cascaded down her shoulders and back, though the top of the wig didn't meet her hairline of scalp. It rested on her bun, and dented out at an odd angle.

Kawakami slowly turned to look at Takasugi; brows raised and creased in the middle. If not for the wraps over Takasugi's eye and forehead, he was sure his face would be the same. Even Matako had frozen in place. Simply gaped up at Amagi, one hand raised as if to shield herself.

The older man hugged his victim against himself and took a deep breath that was the loudest thing in the room. As the group looked on in horror, the woman turned back to them, face contorted, mouth snarling.

She didn't like it either.

"Hanabe-chan, do you know anything about propulps?" Pulling back, Amagi spritzed her with more of the perfume, and the scent carried over to Takasugi, curiously similar to something he'd smelled before. Stronger, but nearly identical, now that he thought about it.

What the hell was going on here?

Shaking her head, the woman covered her mouth and nose. She squinted as another spray of mist came over her.

Even Amagi's men standing near the door were offput. Their eyes flicked between the wooden floor and the man himself.

"Would you be willing to go to a mechanical tech school?" Amagi was the only one that didn't see anything wrong. The woman frowned, and slowly nodded. Only once. Even so, Amagi seemed all the more pleased. Maybe this was the one. "Stop making faces. Relax your face, don't make any expression at all. Aren't you going to eat those?"

He motioned to the box in her hand, and she raised it, frowning. Mint pocky.

Takasugi stared on in odd fascination, pipe suspended just centimeters from his lips. He was batshit crazy. How had this happened? Amagi had been completely normal every time he'd seen him in the past. The longer he sat there, the more he felt as though he was being held hostage; forced to watch something unholy.

The older man gripped Hanabe's face in his hands and raised her head as he grinned down at her.

"Got any debt? Family debts you need paid off? Or pets?"

It looked as though he was going to strangle her. At this point, every person at the table was looking directly at Takasugi for some sort of reaction. To make a call. The woman was shaking her head, and Amagi was grinning down at her. Still clutching her neck. He didn't let her go as he backed towards his spot at the table. Apparent fear was written across her face.

"Her eyes are green, not blue. I thought I said blue." Amagi glanced towards Takasugi, and he stared back; as even faced as he could muster.

"No. You said green." The one eyed man took a drag of his pipe, meeting Kawakami's gaze once more, and the table in front of them rattled.

Hanabe doubled over, clutching her foot as the wig fell from her head.

"Gawd dayum it!" Amagi's face fell as he looked down on the woman, and Takasugi squeezed his eye shut, hand against his temple. "Ah cain't do this! He's crazy!"

Matako and Takechi looked away, heads lowered, and pursing their lips.

"Takasugi-san… What is this?"

If it had been any of the other girls, this wouldn't have been a problem! Hanabe was the only one with an accent, why the hell had he been so close to picking her?! Amagi hadn't even asked the others questions like he had Hanabe. Creepy questions that sounded like he was trying to reconstruct Kinu, Takasugi would give him that, but questions nonetheless.

"It's an innocent dialect issue. A few months of speech therapy, and she'll be like a new person." Kawakami, bless him, was quick to take the mic. "It seemed that you liked projects to fix. We assumed you wanted something similar, and more challenging to entertain yourself. Imagine the praise from your father, once she's speaking like a proper lady."

"This isn't a simple problem to fix, it's a country bumpkin!"

"Don'chu caw me a country bumpkin', yew're a psaycopath!"

"Takechi, Matako, please remove Hanabe-san." Still clutching the bridge of his nose, Takasugi kept his eye shut as they agreed and complied. Ushered the woman out with the rest of them. She was the last one. As soon as the door shut behind them, Amagi was back at it. Lashing out. He gripped the marble statue in front of the plum blossom wall and shoved it to the wooden ground. It shattered into a million pieces as he smacked a painting from the wall, and kicked a small end table over. Takasugi and Kawakami exchanged looks.

Bat shit crazy was an understatement.

As Amagi stalked back to the table, he kicked it over, and let out a frustrated growl that only served to solidify Takasugi's opinion of him.

At least the squirming food was gone.

"This was pathetic! You think women like that have a right to enter my family!? Think I want some classless gutter rat by my side?! You wasted her perfume! Understand me?! Wasted! Do you know how hard it was to get?!"

Her? Kinu? It was actually her perfume? The scowl that had set on Takasugi did nothing to actually intimidate him. If anything, he was more interested in exactly what Amagi meant.

Surely he meant he had experts trying to decipher the scent pattern, and looking for it online. Surely.

"Amagi-san… If you were more specific about what you were looking for now, we could produce a woman that better suited your tastes." Kawakami, ever the calm one, spoke first, and Amagi was lucky that he had.

"More specific?! How the fuck do I get more specific than a single person?! Give me that damn girl, and get this over with! I already told you the details! I want the novelty of a samurai's daughter- No I deserve it!"

An impossible request from an absolute fucking lunatic. What had he done to deserve anything in his life? From everything Takasugi knew, Amagi was only known for petty crimes, not so petty crimes, and outright cruelty. Takasugi didn't have to take this.

"Too bad." He pushed himself to his feet as he blew a cloud of smoke to the side, followed by Kawakami. "That's not on the market. At least, not for you."

Amagi stormed to him, and stopped with only inches between their noses, glaring down at Takasugi. As if he could intimidate him.

"You're the problem here. What is it, you want her for yourself, now? Is that it? You're stealing her from me?"

"Perhaps." Takasugi didn't have to look at Kawakami to know he was on the receiving end of an odd frown. He'd spoken without thinking, but who was he kidding? He didn't want to see Kinu with anybody. Anybody. Not that pen boy, and not the arrogant bastard in front of him.

Shouldn't have said that. That's what the deaf man wanted to say, but given the circumstances, it may have been the best course. Takasugi expected to hear about it later, in the privacy of their own meeting room over a drink. He could already hear Kawakami now; asking him about his newfound teenager fetish.

"Don't make me laugh. She's too pure. She'd never even entertain the likes of you." Pure? Did Amagi have any idea of who he was talking about? Takasugi had a mind to tell him that she already had entertained him. Thoroughly. That just three days ago he'd had her calling his name and begging for more. "I've already made my mind. No amount of women at a mingler will change it."

"You must admit, Amagi-san, we said nothing about that girl to you. That was a private connection of ours, independent of our dealings." Kawakami's point, no matter how good it sounded, didn't even phase him.

"Then pay her off." Rolling his eyes, Amagi stared directly at Takasugi.

"I'm afraid it's not so simple." Takasugi waited to see if he would make a move. Touch him, and give him a reason to break his arm.

Beside him, Kawakami picked up the conversational ball and ran with it.

"As we've said, it's a private connection. No amount of money will buy her out, even behind our backs. If you reevaluate and give us a better list, you're sure to find one that is satisfactory, so long as you keep an open mind."

"You all have some nerve, refusing me. I already chose one, just name a price. Hell, tie her up and deliver her, she'll be happy in no time. The moment she sees this place, she'd be a fool to try to call it off."

Glancing at Kawakami, Takasugi narrowed his eye. The man met his gaze, seemingly calm. He could already read the look behind the glasses. Didn't need to see Kawakami's eyes to know. Even he didn't want to see that.

"Our deepest apologies, that's not possible."

"What do you mean? It's just one girl, how hard could it be? Hell, I could tie her up and bring her here myself. Are you that incompetent? Do you realize the strings I'm willing to pull for you?"

"This is non-negotiable." The one eyed man said, ignoring the deep seated glare hovering over him. "Pick another woman or the deal is off. We have other connections, and if you're going to be problematic, we'll move on."

Amagi's face was turning red. A vein bulged from his temple, just under the silvering streak of his hair.

"You can't be serious."

"Oh, I don't joke about business. You have one week to decide, whereafter, I expect you to pick a bride. Without your wig fetish or any other shenanigans" As soon as Takasugi spoke, Amagi leaned forward.

"I've already-"

"She's eighteen. Girls that age don't know anything about being a wife; she'd be awful. The absolute worst. Times have changed-"

"Old men like us need to let the younger generations be, I dare say. They're not like we were." Kawakami finished, and the older man turned his head.

"My patience is beyond thin right now. Get it together, or we're backing out and the deal is off." Voice low, Takasugi narrowed his eye at the older man. Amagi returned the look with a contemptuous smile that was nothing like his signature grin. Takasugi could see his fingers twitching, but unwilling to make a grab for his gun. At least he was sane enough to know better.

The one eyed man didn't wait for another bout of nonsense from him. He pushed past Amagi, shoulder grazing the older man's as he stepped onto, and over the table. A brittle snap sounded underfoot; likely a plate and the elimination of that odd, wiggling food Amagi had tried to serve them.