A/N: Hey all! I think my writing style is a bit different now. I spent my time away writing another story that's pretty much the same size as this one, hahahaha.
marcessitia, thank you for the review again! I think it's funny when they bicker, too, it makes me grin reading back over some of their lighter conversations.
I hope everybody enjoys and has a good day. :)
A timer went off, startling Kinu, but only briefly. She pulled three sheet cakes from the oven, and set them to cool. Vanilla, matcha, and a chocolate espresso blend to go with any coffee requests. While it was still hot, Kinu slipped in three more trays. Cakes. Brownies. Little colorful sugar cookie flowers she thought would look good as decorations on parfaits.
Today was the day. She had a fully improved menu, complete with little bear cookies. When they cooled, she would pipe rosy little dots on their cheeks, and give them little brown noses and eyes. If she measured everything properly, she could get seven double layered mini cakes out of one pan. There was nothing fancier than perfect little cakes big enough for two, or one if you were being honest.
As she was setting the icing to mix, the jangle of keys caught her attention. She peered at the glass door of the shop, unable to spot a shadow behind the wooden blinds. Confirmation came when the lock twisted before her eyes, and in stepped an unusual sight. For a moment, Kinu stared at the dark haired man in the doorway. Her own blue eyes looked back. Halted.
She had expected her mother. Not a drunkard. Quickly turning back to her mixing bowl, Kinu dumped in a bag of powdered sugar. A white tuft of powder drifted from the bowl, and a chair on the other side of the bar scraped. She found Riku taking a seat.
The man's hair was freshly washed. He wore a clean yukata, their shared favorite shade of blue, and Kinu realized he'd come from a public bathhouse. He looked directly at her again and she peeked at her cakes, but when she checked again he was still there. Just watching her in silence. Then he spoke.
"How's it goin'?"
Kinu squinted. What was wrong with him? Every nerve in her body ran cold with dread as she closed the oven. Something awful must have happened. Wasn't he gone? He'd been off for over a week; maybe two. Why else would he come back?
What was that question supposed to mean? Did he need money?
Riku suddenly stood, and she watched in horror as he walked towards the stove top. He looked at the three shades of cake on the cooling rack, tan, green, and brown. And when he finished looking at them, he looked at the cookies, and the plates of tea sandwiches waiting to be cut. They were having a sale today. A promotional bit for the new menu. Kinu had already paid Gintoki to print off the flyers and pass them out.
If anything, poor Shinpachi was probably the only one actually helping her.
"Looks like yer doin' a good job 'a stockin' back up." The man walked to the slowly filling display case. Kinu sharply eyed the way he touched the edge. As if he would snag one of the rice balls she'd just finished stacking, but he thought better of it.
noon
Was she supposed to speak? He looked weird. Smelled weird. Like soap, and springwater. A heavy hand landed in the center of Kinu's back and her nerves flared up, but it was only a pat. Had she died? Offed herself in the oven? Maybe there had been a gas leak. Riku slowly rounded the counter again, and reclaimed his seat, head down. "Finish anything yet? I'm starvin'."
Frowning, Kinu glanced over the overcrowded counter. She took a plate from the cabinet, unable to keep from peeking back at the man, but he was staring at the countertop. Tiptoing to the stovetop, she pulled the lid off the still rumbling pot. Curry. Not exactly appropriate, but she scooped a generous portion of rice into the bowl and ladled the steaming hot liquid over it.
"I'm sorry. It's not really breakfast food." Kinu quietly set the bowl in front of her father. He offered his thanks. Riku dug into the dish with his spoon, and she watched as he took the first bite. Then the second. He was being strange, but not in a bad way. After deciding that it was, in fact, safe to ignore him, she went back to her icing. She poured vanilla into the mix before taking a whisk to the blend. "When was the last time you ate a full meal?"
Instead of an answer, an awfully airy, ripping sound filled the air. Shoulders bunched, she glanced over to find the man at the bar cradling his face in his palm. His entire body was jerking, but he was still shoveling curry into himself. Eating and crying at the same time like a fool. Like her curry deserved that kind of response.
The entire time, Riku ate like that. In silence. Kinu went back to what she had been doing, assembling cake toppings and icings, and cutting out the shapes that she needed. When Riku finished, he took his own bowl to the sink. Kinu was convinced she had smacked her head somehow, because the man washed everything he'd used.
"Thanks fer the meal…" He started past her and towards the interior entrance. "It was delicious. Just what I needed." His voice was becoming more and more brittle as he spoke, and Kinu was wildly uncomfortable. Even more when the man stopped beside her and outstretched his arm. Only one as if to force an awkward hug. He stood there, red and puffy. Blinking back tears that were still actively spilling down his face and she waited, frozen.
Without warning, Riku continued by, never having completed the motion.
Kinu was still stuck in place after the door shut. She spent time there, mind reeling. Unable to fully understand what she had just witnessed, or why it had happened to her.
It was already starting up. The sun hadn't even fully set, and Takasugi had been ambushed by a video call with Amagi. An email at four in the afternoon kickstarted the entire ordeal. It had been short and sweet. A final desperate plea to negotiate via video, for the sake of their business partnership.
They had known it was coming. By six, they were all set up around the table.
The moment the feed started, a dingy tan wall covered the screen with a brief flash of pavement. Amagi could be heard speaking somewhere in the background.
"Hold it steady Ishii." Amagi addressed them as if he was diving headfirst into a debate, no greeting whatsoever. "Takasugi-san!" He bounded onto camera, dragging a stumbling form along with him. He had hold of another man by the neck. As Amagi settled in the middle of the frame and the camera focused, he raised his free hand, and pressed the barrel of his gun into the blonde head of hair in his chokehold. "Do you recognize this man?"
Takasugi squinted. He could feel Matako, Kawakami, and Takechi looking at him. Wondering if he knew what was going on. It was a lanky man, not older than forty. His hair was short, his face was long, and his eyes were wide.
"Uh, no. No, I don't."
Frowning, Amagi wrestled the man to the side to get a good look at his face.
"Are you sure?" He asked, and Takasugi took another look at the man. He drew another blank.
"I don't think so."
"I could have sworn this was the right guy… Huh." Tossing his prisoner loose, Amagi sighed. The man just stood there, and watched as Amagi stuffed his gun back into the holster under his arm. "Well?" Amagi motioned to the side. "Go. Get off my property."
The kiheitai exchanged glances as the unknown man shuffled in place for a bit, and then shot off camera. Supposedly running for the hills.
"Damn." Amagi tapped his fist against his forehead, and made a face at the man behind the camera. "I guess I should have planned this more thoroughly."
"Amagi-san…" Even Kawakami hesitated. "We stand solid in our previous decisions. No amount of hostages will strong arm us into changing our minds."
"No." The man said. He straightened his back, and looked over the lot. As if expecting their somber expressions to change. "I'm telling you, you don't understand." He turned then, brushing the chestnut hair from his forehead. "You don't understand how important this is at all." For a moment, the camera lowered. Amagi's form was blurred just as he started to palm his face again.
There was a muffled voice. Nothing they could make out, but as the screen jumped around, Matako leaned over the table.
"I say we just hang up." She mouthed the words behind her palm.
"Mm." Takasugi gave a little nod. He tightened his crossed arms, just as the view flashed back to Amagi.
"I've scheduled an event. An in-person meeting."
"Why should we trust you to conduct yourself professionally?" Kawakami fired back, spreading his hands in a spirit of a shrug on the table. "From what you've shown us so far, you have been nothing but unruly and difficult to work with."
"We're not so desperate that we'll let some asshole jerk us around." Takasugi added on, digging his pipe from his sleeve.
Kawakami shot him a look. A little nudge to shut up and let him do his job.
"What we're saying is that there are other opportunities. We are prepared to terminate this contract with no negative impact on the relationship between our organizations."
"Oh," The older man said back, after some time. "Oh, of course…" He held his stomach, frowning off to the side and a certain sense of unease settled over the table as they stared at his unmoving form. "Then to honor our continued good relations." Amagi drew in a breath. "I guess I never should have mixed business and romance, huh?"
Takasugi made a skeptical sound in the back of his throat. "It'll only be me and Ishii. All four of you are welcomed to join us, I insist. I'll send you the details." Slowly, the aristocrat started to regain his energy and color. He pulled at his shoulder, swinging it forward as he stretched to one side. "Maybe we can put all of this nonsense behind us like adults. Well, then." The screen flashed dark after that, and again, everybody at the table looked at one another.
"That was a surprisingly mature response." Takechi said, finally breaking the silence.
"I don't buy it for a second." Matako followed him up, and every single person nodded in agreement. Seconds later, an email came through. Takasugi looked at it. He examined the spot on the map and found that it wasn't far from their old safe house. The dot was a street over, on the opposite side of Inoue's Pastries and Tea. He frowned at the point, wondering if the others were seeing the same thing as him. When they looked up from their phones, one by one, he knew it was no mistake. Amagi was planning something.
Kinu was originally surprised when her mother told her that somebody ordered a private tea ceremony. She thought it would be good practice. Kinu had gone through the trouble of preparing the room at a moment's notice, and rushing to get every last detail right. She had never put up decorations, but they were seasonal. Themed. It was a relief that she hadn't set up for the patriot visit.
She ran over the order and form once more in her head. They would sit at the door before entering. Then look around the room. Admire the decorations. There would only be one guest, but she would still have to properly seat them.
Kinu spent the evening rush running through shops to gather the finishing touches for a fully functioning tea room. She grabbed a vague summer scroll about the clouds and clear blue sky. Then it was a vase and some sunflowers. She lit the garden torches, and fed the fish to draw them out before unlocking the gate for her guest. Ai had already gone to the hostess shop for her shift, so Kinu had to sort everything out alone. With a quick but fancy looking meal, she was prepared.
The room, at least. Not her. That led into a frazzled half hour of grooming and toying with her yukata and hair. She wasn't sure what to do to look like a real dignified tea lady, but by the time she decided that a coat of pink lipgloss and some mascara was a respectable amount, her phone alarm was chiming.
She quickly swiped it on, smashed the phone down on the counter to shut it up, and took the stairs two by two before skidding to a halt behind the tea room door. Then Kinu very elegantly dabbed at the swirly bun she'd pulled her hair into and smoothed the front of her dark yukata.
She started slowly. Eased into the room from behind the standing partition and to the garden door. They were already out there, if they were on schedule. No doubt purifying themselves in the fountain.
Kinu rang the bell and called her guest to the door. She steadied her jittering stomach with a solid breath and braced herself against the dark wood as she lowered herself into the genkan to crouch under the doorway. It was such short notice there had been no proper invitations. The guest hadn't even given their name. They had only wanted an hour away from the hassles of the world, so it sounded like a random traditionalist, or a tourist. Maybe an old person. If it was only one guest, why announce them? There was no rank to seat them by, so they could have an intimate seat up front, beside her..
She pulled the door open and eased out, only to find herself looking up a pair of black suit pants. The man was tucking his silver streak behind his ear. Straight faced. She was still on her hands and knees, staring up at him when he let himself in without a formal invitation. The doorway was just low enough that she had to back her way into the tea room while he ducked down to fit. All men bowed, entering and leaving a tea room.
Kinu scooted backwards up the genkan, but the man was already standing. He didn't wait for her announcements, or greetings. He ignored the decorations and room itself. Amagi didn't stop to admire anything she had done, and he bypassed the seating area near the entrance. Instead, he walked directly to the red and white flower print cushion on the tatami.
Heart pounding, Kinu stared at him as he lifted the chopsticks from his tray. She sat there, only half up the genkan step, and the man turned back to her. Amagi motioned to her spot behind the thick iron kettle. Didn't say a word.
Throat suddenly dry, Kinu pushed herself up. She scurried forward a step, pausing only one more time before slipping past him, and into her seat against the wall. That was the guy Takasugi was doing business with, wasn't it? It was the guy they had been asking her about, she was sure of that. Takasugi had been upset when he was at the hostess club, and Kinu had the general idea that being around him was strictly forbidden.
Maybe it was from the vague sense of understanding that if Takasugi was involved it was probably unsavory. At the very least, it was bound to be illegal, and at worst, dangerous. After being told that she had gotten wrapped up in things somehow, she doubted that she should be speaking to this man, let alone serving him tea for an hour.
It crossed her racing mind to run. Maybe to say something had come up, and that they should reschedule. Kinu would have to run past him, or risk tripping over the water cauldron. She had left her phone on the bathroom counter, and couldn't fake a call. She would have to get up to bring in her equipment, piece by piece, but it was only behind the folding screen. If she went out of the door, he'd know. He'd hear it.
He was watching her. Light brown eyes gleaming over the edge of his bowl of miso.
Kinu managed to gather some shred of composure. She bowed, but the man didn't acknowledge the motion. He started to break his meal apart with his chopsticks. It was a simple thing. The full ten courses in the two to three bite rule. He ate as Kinu sat in silence. Wondering if she should start. Wondering what had happened, and why he had scheduled a tea ceremony to sit alone with her for an hour.
"Kinu-chan," Her name snapped her out of her worrisome thoughts. Amagi placed a flake of salmon in his mouth, still eying her. "Tell me something." She frowned. Pressed her palms into her lap to discharge the strain overtaking her. Something like what?
Kinu hummed, thinking for a moment on what could be entertaining for a guest.
"There's a new brand of synthetic skin that claims to be fully self healing." She stated, deciding that she would, in fact, start. She stood, and went behind the screen, appreciating the moment of peace she found free of his prying gaze.
Kinu began arranging her equipment. Placing her water container, and giving him his opportunity to see her tea bowl, or ladle. His interests did not lie with her tools. Even when he took hold of the ceramic tea jar, his eyes stayed on her. He turned it in his hands, as if he was studying it, and when Kinu finally decided not to look at him altogether, he did look at the ornate gold and green jar.
Then he handed it back to her, and continued with his meal.
Kinu retreated to place it in it's designated position. She lit the coal in the brazier. Beyond her set up the renewed garden swayed in the wind in lush greens and purples under the torchlight. Even the koi Shinpachi had set up were doing well in their tunnel under the walkway. The open sliding doors let in a breeze that cut through the summer heat. Just enough to let on that the seasons were coming to a change.
"Tell me something else." The man demanded, around a bite of steamed yam.
"The hamster from the news yesterday got adopted." Takasugi was probably going to be angry. She had to tell him. Now that he had been promoted to boyfriend, not telling him seemed like it would be keeping secrets.
"Not like that." Amagi said, wagging a finger at her as he slouched forward. He nudged his tray forward, and the empty bowls and plates clattered. Brown hair puffed through his fingers as he rested his jaw on his open palm. The man couldn't even sit properly. His legs were crossed, like a heathen. "Tell me something about you."
He wasn't wearing a jacket. The top half of his suit was missing, and the leather strap of his holster dug into the linen of his button up. The fabric puffed at the edges, rippling as the man moved to light a cigarette and resumed his position. Staring, with a gun just hanging under his arm.
Something about Kinu? She wasn't sure what to say. Did anybody ever know what to say about themselves in that position?
"Hm?" Kinu was pouring hot water into the bowl already to wash it out. Amagi turned to his wagashi. He lifted the sugary confection from the paper beside himself and popped it into his mouth, in preparation of the tea. A simple bite sized tea candy. Nothing fancy.
"Do you enjoy your school?" Amagi asked, and she offered a curt nod. The man drew in a breath, mirroring the motion. "Do you like working in the tea shop?" He continued, and again, Kinu gave a little affirmative motion. Nothing much. Not even a full out look.
Voice significantly lower, the man murmured over to her, as quietly as the bushes rustling beyond the open door. "Do you love your mother?"
She paused, listening to the silence. Listening to the sound of her own heart spike, and start thrumming into overdrive again.
"Girls your age often do." He said, taking a long, lazy drag of his cigarette. He'd been ashing in his miso bowl. The good china. "They consider their families when they make big decisions. Pretty girls like you, though…"
Chills ran over Kinu's arms and spine. "I'd say that you all have a price, but I know you feel it too."
He moved, and Kinu instinctively turned towards the man. "I know what's happening here." He said, slamming his hand onto the tatami. She jumped, nearly dropping her ladle. "They won't do this to us!"
He was coming towards her. Amagi was clawing his way past his tray, but Kinu was frozen. She sat there, eyes wide, and clutching her bamboo ladle to her chest. Even when Amagi was right in front of her, reaching for her, she had no idea what was going on. Something was wrong with him. "People are always getting in the way!" He was still going. When he grabbed Kinu she threw herself backwards.
Warm water splashed across the floor and formed a puddle around her fingers as she caught herself on the mat. The waste bucket rolled away as instinct finally kicked in, and every cell in Kinu's body surged.
"Kinu-chan!" He was calling her, but her body was already moving. She tripped over the cauldron, and the fabric of her yukata ground against her knee and the tatami. Kinu could hear the man's footsteps behind her. He grabbed her while she was on her feet and spun her around. "Don't- don't listen to them! They're lying to you! don't go-"
Cringing, Kinu shoved away. She struggled to free herself, pushing and gritting her teeth to fight against the man's grip on her sleeves until she was finally able to get some semblance of balance. With the dirtiest move she could think of, half doubled over, she stomped on the man's foot. He cried out, and his grip on her vanished long enough for Kinu to hurl herself backwards and into the darkened hallway. With one lunge she had the lock on it.
The house went silent, save for Kinu's panting. Her neckband had nearly been stretched open. With one hand in front of her mouth, so to muffle the sound of her own erratic breaths, she stepped closer to the door, listening for the man. Hoping to hear him duck under the doorway, or walk out into the garden beyond.
A loud slam echoed through the house, and the door shook.
"Kinu-chan!"
Slamming into the wall behind her, the girl covered her mouth and nose.
"Kinu-chan open the door! Please!"
She had to do something. She knew that she had to move, and do something, or call somebody, but she didn't know what or who. Gintoki? Her mother? Takasugi? "Kinu-chan! It's them! I know it's them!" The door shook again, and the man's shadow darkened against it. "I'm not mad at you! They've poisoned your mind with their lies, but I can help you. Let me help you!"
Squeezed against the wall, Kinu forced her body to turn. He wasn't going away. She darted up the stairs and to the bathroom.
Snatching her phone from the countertop, Kinu snapped it open. She thumbed through her contacts, trying to quell the shaking of her hands but nothing solidified her. Instead, she could hear that man downstairs. Screaming for her.
Kinu started to run back down the stairs, but just as she made it to the railing a crack sent a wave of dread through her stomach.
"God damn it, Kinu!" His voice was louder. Echoing. "Why are you running away?! From me! Of all people!" She heard his footsteps, he was walking now, just out of sight. Kinu hoped that he would think she had gone into the teashop, but part of her knew that he would bypass the door. He was coming for the stairs. "Kinu!"
A silver streaked brown tuft came into sight over the railing, and Kinu made a run for her bedroom. He started to run, too.
"Get back here! God damn it, when I get my hands on you-" She slammed and locked her door. Her heart was pounding in her ears. She could barely hear his screaming over the buzz of her own blood in her eardrums. "Kinu! Come back out here! Why the fuck are you running from me? What have they said?!"
Throat dry, Kinu paced her room and listened to the slowest, loudest dial tone she had heard in her entire life.
"Yo." As lax as ever, Takasugi's voice came through the speaker and Kinu gasped. Usually, she would have told him that was no way to greet his official girlfriend and that he had to say something cuter. Now, it was all she could do to not scream an unintelligible mess at him.
"Shinsuke-"
"What?" Concern touched his voice,and Kinu turned back towards her door as Amagi ran past and through the kitchen. Towards her parent's room. Ai was out.
"Shinsuke he's in the house-" She could barely get the words out. Kinu couldn't think, she couldn't breathe, how could she possibly speak? There was a fully grown man running around inside of her house, screaming for her! She hardly knew him! She could count the number of times she'd spoken to him on both of her hands, and he was trying to get her! "That guy, the Amagi-"
"He's in your house?" There was movement on the other side of the line. A scrape. Something broke.
"Yes!" Pressed against her closet, Kinu cried the word into her phone. She tried to muffle the sound with her hand, but the footsteps were getting closer. Louder. "Yes- yes-"
"Is he alone?"
"I think so. Something's wrong with him, he's crazy-" Just as she got the word out her door jerked. Kinu's stomach did a somersault.
"Kinu-chan." He'd found her. Phone to her ear, Kinu backed towards her window. "Open the door, Kinu-chan. Let's just talk. I just want to talk to you."
"Shinsuke-" Whispering into the phone, Kinu pushed her window open. She'd rather break a leg and be found by a pedestrian than be caught by that lunatic.
"I didn't mean to scare you." The door rattled again, and a slow, soft tap rang against it. "Just let me in. Hey, I've been scared before, too. I'm not going to hurt you." Something dragged up the door. It made Kinu's skin crawl. "Just let me in!" The door strained forward with a loud smack..
Takasugi was saying something. Kinu didn't know what, but he was talking. Amagi was going to come in there. She had to get out. There wasn't much of a ledge outside of her window. It was plenty of space for Momo, but not so much for her.
"You never listen to me!" Amagi was saying. Now pounding on the door, the man was starting to shake it as well. It was rattling in it's frame. Ready to pop off at any second. "Can't we just stop fighting already!? I love you, and I know you love me too! You've kept every gift I've left you- except the butterfly!"
She could have screamed. He kept going, spouting the rantings of a mad man, as Kinu hoisted herself up onto her window. She twisted around to grip her window frame to stabilize herself as she inched along the ridge. Takasugi had hung up. It wasn't like she could hold her phone while she did this anyway. There was a crash in her room, just as she fully got up, and she saw him.
Amagi lunged forward, arms outstretched, and Kinu cried out, stumbling forward as much as she could. The man nearly threw himself out of the window behind her. He hung half out of it as she pushed herself up and tried to force her balance to adjust as she made the short jump to the roof.
"Kinu!"
She caught herself on her elbows and forearms, kicking at the air to force some momentum into pulling herself up. "I'll kill them! If you don't get back here right now, I'll kill them all! Anybody that's scaring you like they are!"
He was scaring her! It was him! Dragging her way onto the rooftop, Kinu crawled up the slope. Amagi was already trying to balance on the window ledge.
Running across the roof, Kinu scanned the buildings around her. Most of them were taller, like the one she was on, but few had balconies or fire escapes. They were her only chance though. She flung herself at the nearest ladder and hung onto it for dear life. Metal scraped, and suddenly, air was rushing past Kinu. She was dropping, but still hanging onto the metal for all that she was worth. There was an abrupt stop and snap as the ladder slipped out to completion and Kinu hit the ground with a running start.
She didn't know where she was going. Just that she had to go. She ran past the garden fence, exhaustion finally starting to crest in her. As Kinu rounded the corner and ran to the front of the shop, she was met with a sight for sore eyes. Three people. A red headed Yato girl, a glasses wearing boy, and a sturdy big brother with curly silver hair. His nose was buried in a JUMP book, but as Kinu slammed into him, shrieking and vaguely gesturing behind herself, the book dropped and the group sprung into high alert.
"Kinu-chan, what's wrong? What are you doing?" Kagura was the first to ask.
"Are you okay?" Shinpachi followed, and Kinu tried to get the words out. She didn't know what to tell him.
"Man- there's a man-" She was saying, and Gintoki craned down towards her.
"What?! What's happening?! I can't understand you Ki!" If that hadn't been clear enough that they were in danger, she didn't know what would be. "Geeze, breathe, Ki! People need oxygen!"
All she wanted him to do was get in front of her and get his sword out, and while Gintoki was reaching for his bokken, he was doing it far too slowly. They were partially backing up. As if they were deciding whether they needed to run, too. Gintoki's crimson eyes were fixed on her, and not the mouth of the alley where the man that definitely wanted to wear her skin was going to come from.
Then it happened.
He appeared. Amagi popped out from behind the edge of the building and ran straight at her. She was still pushing against Gintoki. Kagura and Shinpachi cried out. Gintoki, realizing all too late that she was being pursued, was starting to pass her when something shot past them. Kinu was yanked back.
She stumbled behind Gintoki but just beyond his shoulder she saw the familiar black handled blade jutting out of the wall, slicked red.
There was a shriek. Something that didn't sound quite human, but wasn't feral enough to be an animal. There was blood everywhere.
Kinu stepped out from behind Gintoki and Shinpachi, only to find Amagi on the ground, cradling his wrist. The ground beneath him freely flowed red, and his eyes were wide. Under the sword laid a hand.
"You-" Amagi was looking off to the side. Down another alley.
Even the Yorozuya were staring in the same direction and when Kinu looked, she was able to breathe again. Not only Takasugi, but all three of them. Kawakami and Matako were at his sides, all wearing the same straw hats to obscure their faces.
Gintoki swore under his breath as Takasugi approached, but halfway down the road, there was another form rushing towards him. Kawakami caught the blade with his own, allowing Takasugi to duck by. It was a familiar face to Kinu.
The man swinging a sword at Kawakami was her teacher, Ishii. He was knocked back a step, and used the opportunity to back his way towards Amagi, one hand out at his side as if to shield him.
"The hell's going on here?" Gintoki tried, as Takasugi yanked his sword out of the wall. The one eyed man gave the hand on the ground a little kick as he turned towards Amagi.
"What the did I say about this woman?" Kinu was yanked forward. Shinpachi had tried to step in front of her. Tried to protect her from the wrong person. She stumbled beside Takasugi as he pointed to her with his blade.
Amagi glared up at the man. He was paler now, and starting to shake. A thin layer of sweat was starting to coat his skin, and his once white shirt was splattered red. The man between them took a step towards Takasugi. Tried to further block him. "If you fuck with her you're fucking with me." Takasugi's blade lowered as Matako rounded men, guns trained on each of them. "She's not for sale, she's mine."
Didn't he realize Gintoki was watching? Kinu glanced back, eyes wide. Didn't Takasugi realize that everybody was watching? Matako, Kawakami, Shinpachi, strangers that were passing on the street. Kagura was allowed to know. Kinu had already texted her about it.
Somebody had probably called the Shinsengumi. If they hadn't already, they would be. "Give me one reason I shouldn't kill you here?"
"You couldn't if you tried." Ishii said back, pointing his blade at the tip of Takasugi's nose. He pressed a finger into his ear.
"Next time we will." Takasugi said. There was a sound. Crunching gravel, and the hum of an engine. A black van screeched out of the alley and skidded to a halt behind the shivering aristocrat. Before it was fully stopped, the door was sliding open.
A handful of men poured out of the van, and everybody was still as Amagi was ushered up and rushed into the back of the vehicle. As soon as he was inside of it, Ishii started forward. He scooped the hand from the ground and tucked it into a cloth tissue. The man kept his eyes on the immobile group behind him right up until he was safely tucked into the passenger seat. The man carefully lowered himself into the passenger seat, looking back all the while, and as soon as his door was closed they were mobile.
Immediately after the men were gone, Kinu looked over at the small collection of people around her. Half of them had stumbled into this awful scene, but half had also run all the way there for Kinu. Maybe it hadn't been so serious. Takasugi had taken care of him easily. But she panicked.
"It's alright." Takasugi was already at her side. Before Kinu even had a chance to speak he was looking over her. Examining her hands and face for injuries. "Are you okay?
"Un." Nodding, Kinu tried to ignore the sensation of eyes. Too many eyes. Sure, Takasugi had only taken her hand, but they could see that. As soon as he deemed her satisfyingly unscathed, Kinu was allowed to sink into his shoulder. She finally exhaled as an arm snaked around her waist, to guarantee that she was safe.
"You did well."
She was shaking. Just wanted to sit and collect herself but a weight on her shoulder pulled her backwards.
"Oi," Gintoki was dragging Kinu behind himself. She fumbled to keep her footing as she was pushed towards Shinpachi and Kagura. "What the hell was that?"
"I don't have time to babysit you right now."
"You said it yourself, you knew that guy. This has your stink all over it, and it's gonna get her killed."
Gintoki was moving to cut Takasugi off from Kinu but as he was speaking Matako's gun jabbed into his cheek.
"Yeah, well I didn't see you doing anything to protect her. She's your sister, isn't she?" The woman passed him and broke the space between the men up, but their eyes stayed locked together.