A/N: Hey all, hope you enjoy, as usual! Marcessitia Thank you for your review! I agree that was probably the most exciting chapter for me to write so far, tbh. I think part of the reason I stopped writing this for so long is because I got bored with where I'd taken it. I wrote 20 chapters that I never posted, and completely trashed to start over and take this story somewhere more fun! Amagi had some wild scenes in them that I hope to dig out and re-purpose before the end of this, hahaha.

Freshly bathed and bandaged, Takasugi wrapped himself in one of the plush white robes the inn staff had left in the onsen changing room. He couldn't think of a better way to end the night. It had been strikingly cold when they ditched the hunk of junk Kinu and her school friends had put together.

Friends, she dubbed them, but he recalled the blonde and black haired ones from the hostess shop, and the looks they gave him claimed the memory was still fresh for them as well. Bullies. He wondered if Kinu knew they had been selling themselves to Amagi, but it was more likely that Takasugi had missed details if Kinu had teamed up with them. The escape had been solid enough for him to doubt the chances of being double crossed, but not to forget it entirely.

The mother had more than a few haori to share, and it had made the walk all the more bearable, but gave him even less reason to work his way back in beside Kinu.

They had flown a few more miles; once she was sure he wasn't bleeding out she had kicked him from her fancy pilot seat and made him strap in with the screaming infant. His only saving grace was that Naomi had kept the baby mostly quiet after their blackout. Every little bump and jerk made Gintoki gawk down the hallway.

He had made it clear he hadn't wanted to get back into the van after they'd combed the exterior for more bots. After finding three, the entourage hightailed it north and dumped the boat in another junkyard. The womenfolk put them to work as the sun was rising, making them cover the bank ship in as much debris as humanly possible. Mostly thin layers of sheet metal stacked around it and old tarps to make it look more like happenstance than planning.

Then they had dragged themselves into the nearest place that looked like it had beds and warm baths.

The baths had been confirmed.

Takasugi hadn't been bad off. He'd slapped an adhesive on himself and soaked for a solid half hour. There had been two rooms. Predictably, Nobody had even thought to put Gintoki with those school girls and give him some much needed privacy with the ghost.

Instead she floated above him. Around him. Every time he saw her she was drifting further away. When they gathered for a meal she didn't speak a single word. Only took one bite of the syrupy pumpkin and sat there staring into her cup of tea.

"Did you see his face?" The mother was asking as her friends exchanged giddy snickers and grins. "I can't believe we're not at the bottom of the canyon somewhere."

"There's still time." Takasugi said, mostly into his miso, but the women looked at him, two with wrinkled noses, and the mother wearing the softest amused half-smile he'd ever seen. Kinu, on the other hand, kept her head down.

"Came close enough." Gintoki muttered into a bite of rice. "And it's not stopping there."

Naomi shrugged.

"Who cares? We've got a better strategist than him. Right, Kinu-chan?"

The ghost across the table glanced towards them. Beside her, Gintoki finally lowered his bowl and gave his sister a full look. He'd been watching Kinu as intensely as Takasugi, and it was the first time the one eyed man had actually seen it from the outside. The silent moving lips, that still earned an understanding nod from Gintoki. Somebody else that could hear her.

He stabbed his chopsticks into his rice.

If that was her first big plan, maybe he needed her on his ship after all. Kawakami would understand that. In a few years, Takechi would lose interest and treat her just as normally as he did Matako.

Would that make Kinu happy? Takasugi hadn't given any real consideration to taking her onto his ship. If she was hell bent on causing trouble, she belonged on his crew. Kinu already was, whether she wanted to admit it or not.

This solidified it.

If anybody had gotten a recording, everybody was going to consider her one of them unless the Yorozuya could sweet talk the Shinsengumi into thinking she just happened to look like she was with a terrorist and happened to be bombing a city plaza full of people.

Worst case, Takasugi could play a woman weaponizing mad man, but he doubted the cops wanted to hear his big confession. How he made Kinu carry out the attack for his own personal gain. That didn't even begin to touch on the Amagi situation.

There had already been a call about it. Sasaki had gotten word and made himself clear in the nicest way he could after hearing Takasugi's spirited defense. He couldn't claim the plan altogether, it wasn't his style, and Sasaki knew. What he could do was claim Kinu. Why else would he be there?

We'd prefer not to stop her. The officer had let out a dramatic sigh. Skepticism. Tell her to demobilize.

Nothing was ever that simple, though. The only thing Takasugi could be certain of was Amagi's location right now.

According to Kawakami, Amagi's fleet had assumed the runner veered southwest to Kobe, with his ship. In reality, they had cut northeast and were only two towns over from Edo on the docks of Yokohama.

When their meal started coming to an end, and the staff came to clear their trays, Takasugi was ready to make his move. Gintoki had sat beside Kinu, making it impossible to do so unless Takasugi wanted to be obvious about it. They didn't need any more sandwiching or pulling, and the last thing he wanted was a sarcastic third to make unneeded remarks while they tried to hash out their issues. He needed a moment alone.

He would catch her before she slipped away again. Before he had to spend a night sleeping in a room with Gintoki. At least Takasugi could expect a reasonable amount of peace. The Yorozuya probably wanted to think about what his precious sister had done.

She was no better than them now and she knew it. Realization was written all over Kinu's face when she looked down at her twisting hands. These women from her school had already been there from the looks of it. Either that or they hadn't fully been there in the plaza and saw it as no spilled blood of their own.

One by one they started to stand, and no sooner than Takasugi had decided to make his move and catch Kinu in the hallway, Naomi looked back at him. She made direct eye contact with a face that said she knew something, then promptly swooped in and took his target by the elbow.

"Kinu-chan, how's your arm? Is it alright?"

Simple as Kinu was, she had no gripes about being stolen. Far beyond his reach again. This time swallowed up by a gaggle of women. One by one they fell in around her, the mother being the last and most obvious among them when she turned back in the doorway, one hand on either side.

All that remained was Takasugi and Gintoki, quietly sipping sake. Not together, mind you. In their own separate corners, where they could see one another. Excessively soft gray brown eyes set in on Takasugi, and she leaned to one side of the doorway, smirking something wicked into existence.

"It's kind of romantic, isn't it?" She said, sighing against the doorframe as she pulled her robe tighter around her waist. "A man breaking down a door just to be with you."

"We don't need any ideas." Gintoki muttered, crossing his arms.

Speak for yourself, Takasugi thought. He needed them.

"It's just as fine with me." The mother said back, twisting a tendril of mahogany waves around her finger. "One more stray in the pack… For me." Because she hadn't been clear enough. Takasugi eyed the woman. She couldn't be serious. Kinu wasn't joining their little clique when he had a perfectly good gang at home. "We're on orders to keep you apart; from the big guy." She gave a mock salute to Gintoki and if looks could kill.

Takasugi should have guessed. He could strangle Gintoki right now, if not for this then for his undoubtedly blackened shoulder and the dark splotch across his jaw. Hiromi made her way back to the table and snagged the bottle of sake from in front of Takasugi, still smiling to herself as she generously looked it over, then down on him. "Do what you will with that information."

"Why'd you go and rat me out if you're still gonna do it?" Across the room, Gintoki stomped his foot against the hardwood, and the woman tiptoed back a step, as graceful and light on her feet as Kinu. They looked like they'd been made in the same pit of hell. The place that made small, venomous things that were deceptively entrancing.

"Dunno. I guess I thought something interesting might happen, but he still didn't say anything."

"Oh, yeah," Gintoki lifted his cup to his chin and made a face. "He's like that."

"Shut up." Takasugi needed another drink.

Long dark shadows stretched across the silent hallways. Takasugi had left the room at the stroke of midnight, certain that Gintoki was only laying awake and had decided not to intervene. When they set out their futons, Gintoki's was frustratingly close to his. Practically on top of it, they may as well have been sharing blankets.

"You got something you wanna tell me?" Takasugi had asked, as the Yorozuya threw a pillow down beside his and sank into the sheets.

"Don't make a big deal out of it. This is fine." He had said, after Takasugi had decided that it wasn't fine.

"For who?" He had palmed Gintoki's face to push him back, but the man was persistent. He insisted on fixing his pillow again and sank into the bed with his arms crossed, eyes closed.

"We've got our own futons, this is normal. Just a couple of guys catching some z's." Nobody seemed to understand. Even Kawakami had fallen short where he usually had a grasp of Takasugi's wants and needs. Maybe it wasn't them, but Takasugi, being unable to separate the two.

"Gintoki you could sleep on top of me for all I care I'm still-"

"Great idea, it's pretty cold, isn't it?" And that had been how he'd lost the argument.

In the end, Takasugi had still made it this far. To the wooden hallway with the pale moonlight dully illuminating his path. He could hear the fabric of his robe shifting as he walked, careful on his footing so not to make any noise. Once he made it to their room, he wasn't sure how he would make it inside without setting the bed and breakfast awake with the powerful screams of their pilot.

As Takasugi rounded the corner, a small white form stepped back, having nearly walked into him.

"Shinsuke," She said, low and sweet. Striped hair standing out like a beacon in the darkness, the same as when he'd spotted her the night he'd beheaded Aso. "What are you doing creeping around in the dark?"

"The usual." He felt his mouth curving. Especially when Kinu's hand slipped around his forearm, and he found himself being pulled alongside her as if they had started their walks together, and intended to finish them the same.

"Me too." The girl whispered, and anticipation twisted in his stomach. The onsen doors weren't far off, and he could smell the minerals in the spring water. They had to keep talking. If he could just keep her talking everything would work itself out. Kinu would realize that she had made a mistake.

Rather suddenly, he had the girl by the hand perched in the bend of his elbow. Admittedly, he was acting without fully thinking his course of action through, but he had her now. They didn't have a moment to spare. Who knew when Gintoki would change his mind and come snooping?

"Were you planning on disappearing entirely?"

A prominent frown took the girl, but smoothed into something more devious.

"Not tonight." It was an intentional non-answer. Probably a yes. She had to be toying with him. "He made me do it. Tried to shoot me. We gave those men plenty of warning and they chose to stay."

Good riddance. He thought, but wouldn't say as much. The topic deserved delicacy.

"I'm impressed." Was what he said instead, having to laugh. "But I'm not singing the praises of anybody that treats me so carelessly."

"You started that."

"Beg to differ." Quiet retook the hallway. For a moment it had felt like it had been receding to make way for her warmth. Her favor.

"You gave him my shop." There it was. The anger he'd wanted so desperately to see.

"That wasn't my intention. He tricked us."

"With a gazillion yen?"

"What? No!" His voice jumped as he snapped back at the girl. She took her hand away. Apparently he wasn't fit enough to even hold her by the arm when she thought about it. "I told you everything I knew when I knew what it meant."

"Like how he was stalking me?"

Takasugi's mouth opened, as if he'd had words to make it better, but nothing came out. He shut it. Well, she had him there. He'd had more than enough clues to guess, and knew as much. But he hadn't thought it was something so long standing or preemptive. It had looked like Amagi had found Kinu after them and became inexplicably obsessed, if he had suspected otherwise this wouldn't have happened.

"If I had known everything I do now, things would have been done differently." He finally said. "Forgive me."

Crossing her arms, Kinu shifted uneasily. There was give in her eyes, and he knew he had her. If he'd taken her by the hands then, and played up the apology, Kinu would melt for him like she always did. He started, but she pulled her palm away, frowning. Suspicion had outweighed her mercy. It had only flashed across her before her expression hardened again.

"You put my dad in another program."

She couldn't be angry at him for that! Riku looked good!

"For you!" Hell, even Ai was wearing less makeup the last time he'd seen her. No bruises, cuts, or worries to be seen, apart from the letters and stalker issue. He didn't want to see what a missing daughter did to that woman.

"Hm. A likely story." The girl's voice was taking on an edge. "I bet you did everything for me. To protect me, or-"

"So what if I did?" Sneering back, he found himself on the receiving end of a glare. She couldn't turn this around on him. That was his defense and he was sticking to it. All of it had been for her. Before he could tell her exactly how right he had been, the girl placed a hand on his sore ribs, and pointed towards the joint of the hall they had come from. He stared out into the darkness, straining to hear something in the hushed night.

After a moment there was a creak. It was small enough to be a mouse or some other moon enamored critter, but in this case, Takasugi suspected a person.

Light flooded the hallway as Kinu rolled the women's onsen door open. She motioned him through and he quickly hopped into the room behind her as she closed them into the golden archway.

For a moment their arguing faded to the back of his mind as he took in the carved wooden walls and the greenery fenced in with the rock pool. Where the men's section had been simple and barren, there were vases of flowers perfuming the air near the door.

After listening a while longer, Kinu pulled Takasugi to the changing room. She sat on the counter, legs crossed and pulling a box of pocky from the pocket of her fluffy white robe.

"I don't wanna fight." She could have fooled him. Kinu tore the little bag within the box open and held it out towards him. An olive branch, and green to boot, but he didn't know if he liked it. "I'm sorry for the way things ended. Friends? For now?"

"For now." Was she poisoning him? He'd never guessed Kinu would be one of those types, but now, Takasugi could see it. A woman scorned, offering him the first pick to cover her tracks. Still, he chose one, and as she plucked another from the box to prop against her lips, he accepted his fate and bit the stick in half. The poison was on her tongue, though, and he hadn't seen it until the girl unfolded herself across the counter, perched back on one palm.

"Leave in the morning. You and Onii-chan. You can tell everybody I'm fine, but don't find me again. I'll call."

If Kinu thought she was going to strong arm him into compliance she was mistaken. Nothing good would come of leaving her to her own devices again when her schemes had started off high profile. Somebody would be looking for her after her pop star stunt.

"Don't think I will." He said, glaring at the girl. She was scrutinizing him, and he realized completely in her element. Somehow.

"We can talk about it again when you bring me his head." Full pink lips closed over the pocky stick, breaking it in two. With the tip of her toe, the girl nudged his hip. "You can do that, ne?"

How deliciously wicked. Their plans had converged. The corners of his mouth raised of their own accord, and he caught her foot.

"What are friends for?"

There she was, washed anew. White robe haphazardly draped over her shoulder with no correction on her part. Entropy embodied, from the way her mismatched eyes made her striped hair uncannily fitting. The lights seemed darker with her under them and the devilish curl of her lips convinced him that even angels liked the stench of fresh blood.

A light, chaotic chuckle burst out of the man and he took his chances on venturing nearer. His fingertips skimmed up her calve, and the leg that had been so gently chiding him with her attempt at an ultimatum slid up to meet his waist. Her fingertips hooked under his belt, and his advance was accepted with the same careful intention he craved.

"Is that all you want?"

"I could think of a few things." Kinu said as he found himself against her. When his mouth was just over hers she eased back. Denied him in the most gentle of ways. His stomach knotted when he felt her palm working underneath his robe, then the pain as she found his bandages, and her fingers glided up his ribs.

He was beyond helping himself by the time he had her on the edge of the counter. In the same instant her mouth was against his; teeth raking at his lower lip. Reminding him that she always had a place for him.

His belt unraveled in her hands, but he had never been so desperate to get a woman's clothes off. Hungrily yanking at the edges of her robe, the man found himself wound tighter at the sight of her surprisingly blue negligee. More layers he hadn't anticipated, but when his palm slid up the smooth expanse of her frame, the silken material easily pooled at his wrist.

Then he was stumbling. His back hit a wall beside the changing partition as he shrugged out of the robe and the mouth on his throat gave way to a tongue. Kinu pushed him again, this time to the side, and he found himself on a bench, shoving aside robes, chocolates, and flowers, as the woman straddled him.

She had no sympathy for his plight of removing the slip, but he had no room to complain. Her fist was around him by the time he had managed to get his hands back on her. For only a second Takasugi thought of the unlocked doors on either side of the room. They hadn't checked to make sure the onsen was empty.

Kinu hadn't given him the chance for a power position. His hand tangled in her hair, gathering the mass to steal some semblance of control, and she pressed against him through the shield of her underwear as his mouth found her collar.

"This doesn't mean anything." Her voice lulled him from the aching need but her motions against him continued all the same. "That's alright, isn't it, Shinsuke?"

"Ah," He agreed in voice alone. It meant something.

Maybe she wouldn't admit it when he pulled her down, practically clawing the stone blue fabric from the apex of her thighs. Or when she was over him, tangling herself across his shoulders, teeth scraping at the joint of his jaw and throat.

Even so, he had her. In his grasp, laid out from their joined hips, fingers pressing further and further into the expanse of her alabaster flesh, wringing every breathless noise from her. Moans. Pleas for mercy one moment, and more the next.

Kinu thought it meant nothing, yet she kissed him on the mouth, and sang his name into his ear when his hand slipped down between them and he palmed her clit. He was at her throat when she came, and her legs locked around him, one squeezing towards his waist, and the other pushing down his hip. The hand in his hair bunched and he fought to save some ounce of his soul and not melt into her then.

By the time he was finished with her, they were covered in sweat, desperately panting for air. Kinu only laid over him as needed. A few seconds while the satisfying buzz of release settled across the surface of his skin. Then she was up. So quickly that it should have been criminal.

Clothes were scattered across the hardwood behind the partition, monotonously white save for twisted patches of blue among them.

Rosy faced and smirking at him in the corner of his eye, Kinu plucked her underwear from the floor and shimmied her way back into them. They planned to part ways without a single word, him first, with Kinu waiting before her own exit. When he moved to leave, she leaned towards him. As if she would send him off with a kiss. Takasugi could see the moment she caught herself and turned her head.

Ignoring her restraint, he started to go, but then he thought better. With no warning, Takasugi stooped down, pressing his mouth to hers.

"Let's see if you can get us killed next time." He murmured, and the girl snickered.

"Dunno about you, but I'm gonna live."

"Good to see." Lifting her arm, he ran a single finger down her wrist. Not exactly smooth. It never would be. Solid and pale like the rest of her, though. Her thighs had been the same. The only cut he'd seen on the girl was her wrapped forearm just by her elbow, and it made up for all that she lacked.

She wasn't the most skilled swordsman, but it was better than that box cutter in a sword fight. Kinu had run away for a week and flourished. What did that say about him?

"Stop trying to confuse me." One hand on the doorway, she leaned out into the hall after him, only a breath away the entire time. He wasn't one to retreat.

"Or what?"

"I'll drag you back."

"Careful. You might start to feel something in that cold, dead heart of yours."

Giggling, Kinu nudged him on his way, tipping him back a step. She pressed her box of pocky into his chest, and as his hand came up to cover hers, the girl started in the other direction.

"I'll be vigilant."

Takasugi fished one of the sticks from the box, unsure of what to make of it all. It wasn't the same, but he thought he liked it just as well. What did that mean? If Kinu found him for sex and banter occasionally, wasn't that everything he'd come to expect of her? Everything he wanted?

Bringing a head to her promised a conversation, nothing else. It would slow her down enough to have her a bit longer. Before she actually disappeared.

He slipped into the folds of his futon, his back to the supposedly sleeping man that insisted on laying their beds out bridal style. It couldn't have been more than an hour or two, but Takasugi found himself profoundly tired after the wear of the last day set over him for good. He was faintly aware of Gintoki leaning up behind him. Moving, and possibly looking at him, but he made no indication of knowing. His mind drifted to the lingering scent of her, citrus and white tea. A cheap but pleasing perfume.

Kinu had been waiting for him. He had thought she would make it harder. Twist his arm for good measure. Perhaps being pursued brought out the strategist in her and she'd chosen her battles carefully; waiving his crimes for his alliance.

One way or the other, he could taste the haze of bloodlust anew. Itching for a bureaucrat.