A/N: Hey all! Sorry for taking so long with this update! I've been pretty sick lately, and it turns out, I have kidney stones. Wish me luck cause it legit feels like dying and they still haven't passed. Hope you all enjoy this update! I'll try to be more timely with the rest, but life is in a major transitional stage for me right now, and is a bit hectic.

Slinking around the hallways, Gintoki had seen it for himself. Takasugi was a disease Kinu had tried to cut from herself, and he had led the man straight to her. They had been taking too long. Anybody else would have done the same, and he told himself that when he crept from the room. Driven by curiosity and sheer willpower to observe and understand, he tiptoed through the shadowy hallway. Natural order demanded he figure out exactly what was going on.

Not only for Kinu.

If anybody ever asked him, he would deny it to his dying breath, but his sister wasn't his only concern. Something was off and he had been vaguely aware of it since he'd first confronted Takasugi retreating into the night. It happened every time they were in the same room, and it hadn't sat right with Gintoki since he pinpointed what that strangeness was. Kinu wasn't normal when Takasugi was around, but she was as close to it as he had seen her get in years.

That made Gintoki the bad guy. At least, that's what he was treated like when he touched anything to do with them or let his opinion be known.

He found them in front of the onsen. Huddled together. Whispering and holding on to one another as if they had been torn apart by forces beyond themselves. Takasugi had kissed her, plain and simple. Right in front of Gintoki. When he went to leave, Kinu had followed, holding a box of pocky against the one eyed man's chest and beckoning him to take it. A token of their good will. Since when had Kinu started handing out pocky?

Takasugi worked fast. Gintoki had to give him that.

It was strange, thinking of how awkwardly imposing and silent he was around women but maybe Kinu liked that sort of thing. Gintoki could see how that could work. They'd sit in silence for months. However long it took. He didn't know when this had started, but maybe they already had.

Most women would find that creepy; rightfully so. Kinu, though? If given the chance, she'd befriend a lost sock she found on the road. That wasn't what made it click for Gintoki, though. It was the words. He could just hear them, the murmurs that were too low to pick out, then the next. Takasugi's brazen declaration.

You have my sword.

He returned to the room stinking of sex. Eyes closed, Gintoki grit his teeth as the man slipped into the futon beside him, thoughts surging. What did it mean? He sat up. Though he had laid down only seconds before, Takasugi showed no sign of knowing. He remained on his side, back to Gintoki. Listening, perhaps, but offering nothing of his attention.

It had only been a few years. Five, ten? They went by so quickly. After all that time, Gintoki still saw the man the same.

His friend. They had been through so much together, and more in the years they had been apart. What was one more thing? One more disagreement? Argument? They had fought so many times but they had been on the same page for this after the first encounter. This wasn't the place for swords.

Gintoki had a stricter view of the definition of such, in that scenario, but the real thing would do.

He started to ask then, wondering what Takasugi would say if given the opportunity to explain. Before the words could form, the one eyed man's hand crept towards the palm-sized box beside him.

"Got something to say to me?" Takasugi's voice came as a surprise. He pulled out a pocky stick, and as it snapped, Gintoki decided better.

Did it matter?

Gintoki pushed himself to his feet. How could anybody sleep like this? He didn't know what the plan was, or what they were doing, but they couldn't stay here.

He wasn't sure exactly where he was going but he needed air. The night was still, and the hallways stretched farther than it seemed in the day. The chill of autumn was cut with the humid warmth of the underground springs, giving the illusion of heat until he was out of the front door, stepping down from the porch.

Gravel crunched under his sandals, and in the corner of blackened yard, just out of the light, a blinking green dot caught his eye. He squinted, trying to make out shapes in the blackness, but the longer he stared the less certain he was. Like everything else. It was a solid mass, no larger than a space heater, but a meter off the ground.

For a while, he stared, guessing at what it could be. His first thought was a security camera, but when it moved to the opposite side of the yard, he went back to wondering. It wasn't until the form drifted towards him, and subsequently into the light of the porch that it registered.

Mister Snaps was carrying a toolbox in one of its clamps, and headed somewhere with a mission. He stopped at the steps of the porch, registering Gintoki's face and a low vibrating hum erupted from within the bot. It bobbed back and forth mid air as green hearts scrolled across his display, framing "onii-chan".

The most reluctant of smiles tried to tug at his face but he smothered it as the bot went about its way and through the onsen door. What was it doing outside with Kinu's tools? Gintoki wasn't registered as a threat to the machine. Kinu had told him that once, when he had first seen the thing. Back when Snaps was a terrestrial bot with a single hooked grabber. It would never attack him.

That's what she'd said, but he didn't think it actually attacked.

After seeing what she had done, Gintoki knew somebody would be looking for her. The Shinsengumi would know. Hell, even the Mimawarigumi, if it was deemed high profile enough. Blowing up a town center was the exact kind of thing that label was reserved for.

"I agree." A woman's voice carried from the yard, and Gintoki peered out towards where the bot had come. He'd found a bench by the porch, in perfect view of the winding road to town. Two forms came to the edge of the streetlight, and passed through; Kinu and the Ayumi. The latter's hands were smeared black, and the momentary glimpse Gintoki had gotten of Kinu showed that her face was the same.

Hadn't she just been with Takasugi?

Gintoki thought the girl would want rest, but she was still going.

They saw him when they reached the front gate, and Kinu hung back as the older woman went about her way with a single nod in his direction. He lowered his chin, gracious as he could manage, but Kinu's arched brow challenged his composure. When they were alone, the girl slid onto the bench beside him. She didn't speak at first. Only ripped the tab off a new box of pocky and offered one up to him.

Lips pursed, Gintoki pulled one from the pack. He didn't have a choice.

"Are you mad at me?"

Sucking in a breath, the man looked out across the yard. He couldn't see beyond the dull yellow glow of the porch, and the dotted pockets of lamp posts further down the road, leading all the way to the salty black ocean.

"For what?" He asked, and Kinu shifted beside him.

"I killed all those people."

A dozen maybe. Even more. The number would probably be on the news by tomorrow. Takasugi had to take her. It was the only way. If this didn't blow over, and who was he fooling? Nothing ever did. If anybody knew it was Kinu or had a picture, a video, or something to link her to it, her life was over.

Everything was spiraling out of control.

In the most absurd of ways, Takasugi had gotten the upper hand. Kinu had incriminated herself. Maybe she had known what she was doing the entire time. Forcing his hand. When he didn't respond, the girl let her question hang there, not even offering something new to bridge the gap.

Gintoki didn't know how long they sat there. Silent and waiting. Thinking. Until finally, Kinu let out a little hum beside him. She pushed herself to her feet, smoothing the black fabric of her yukata.

"I see." The girl said, eyes boring a hole in his forehead.

He didn't know what she could think she had discovered. This was exactly what Gintoki hadn't wanted.

"See what, Ki?" The words tumbled out before he could temper them. "Cause all I see is a bucket of shit- did you think of anybody but yourself before you just took off and broke Ma's heart? She's a mess! And what do you think is gonna happen when she sees your face plastered all over the news as a terrorist?" He was shouting before he knew it. Flinging his arms as if wrestling away a cloud. Dead faced, Kinu watched as the man's body went into overdrive. All arms and legs going nowhere in particular as he stomped and kicked in a circle before finally screaming his frustration into the open air.

Wordless, the girl went unnaturally straight, perfecting her posture, but still beyond the slightest crease between her brows.

"And what are we supposed to do now?!" He demanded, regaining himself and stomping back for a second round. "I can't stop the Shinsengumi! Or worse! Why didn't you come to me?" Suddenly, his anger turned pleading. Still searing hot, but pained. "What do you think I'm here for- free food and cheap repairs I can pawn off to pad my pockets, that's stupid! What have I done to make you think you couldn't come to me with anything? First Riku, Takasugi, a whole stalker! You didn't tell me any of it! But it's still Onii-chan this, Onii-chan that, is that just some dumb cutesy thing for you, too? What else is there? There's more isn't there, you're not telling me something, you've been hiding everything!"

Stock still, the girl stared at him. Abruptly turning, Kinu started back towards the onsen, unnaturally quick, but he made no attempt to stop her. Suddenly out of words, Gintoki watched her back disappear behind the onsen door.

Well that was… His thoughts trailed off.

Gintoki hadn't meant to yell. He hadn't meant to put her on the spot, but it had all come boiling out of him in one fell swoop, and he hadn't been able to bottle it back up. Even now, staring at the building, he could feel the shame creeping over him. Maybe that was why she hadn't told him anything.

Whether it was his fault or not, Gintoki could be swayed either way at this point. He only knew that something had to be done before Amagi caught up to them.

Sighing, Gintoki started towards the entrance.

"Ki," He didn't know why he expected her to be just behind the door like old times. Arms crossed like a child and waiting for an apology. The girl was gone, though. Not even beyond the genkan. It was impossible for her to disappear so thoroughly.

Gintoki unsuccessfully scanned the halls for his sister. Her door opened and the other women started to pour out as he tucked himself against the wall. They were coming for him. Exacting revenge for his blind fury

"What's the name of this town again?" Naomi was asking, clicking around on her cellphone.

"Why?" Ayumi asked, but Hiromi cut them off.

"Who cares? The stabilizer's been replaced already, right?"

"Thruster's still burnt." Ayumi was saying as they passed the hallway Gintoki was in without so much as a look. He didn't think they noticed him.

"My mom wants to know where we are!" Naomi was still standing in front of the door, face illuminated by the glowing screen of her phone. "It's Yoko-something, right?"

"Tell her we're working tonight." Ayumi suggested as the other two rounded another corner. Out of sight, Hiromi's voice carried down the hallway.

"You're visiting me!"

The girls started to snicker, but Gintoki saw Naomi's frown as the blue light of her cell lit up her face. She jogged behind them and passed with the same unawareness the other's had. They were all useless. If he left Kinu with them, they would get her killed.

"That's not funny! You know I couldn't make my rent last month; she'll kick me out for sure!"

With the group out of sight, Gintoki slipped around the corner to their door. He had assumed Kinu would be there. Watching the baby, maybe. But the baby was asleep in his mother's bed. Alone.

Gintoki didn't know if that was safe or not. He didn't think he should leave the little guy but he was asleep. Yuto's father was unhinged. This was a prime opportunity for him. It had been an exhausting day for all of them. Maybe Yuto most of all, he didn't know what was happening.

Then again, knowing probably made it worse. Yuto would forget it before any of them did.

Quietly easing the door shut behind himself, Gintoki peered down the hallway towards his own room. They wouldn't. Knowing he was here, awake, and roaming free. Couldn't they keep their hands off each other for twenty minutes?

When he found his hallway, his suspicions were confirmed. Golden light poured through the paper door, setting the space across from it to the wall aglow. His pace quickened and his heart set into his ears. He would catch them. Mid act. Red handed, and unable to deny, or play coy, or use their stupid hot/cold games to deny it.

A loud sniffle broke through the room and he froze.

"Shinsuke- he think's I'm a murderer-"

"No," Takasugi was saying. "No, no, he didn't mean it. Is that what he said? Did he say that to you?"

"He didn't have to!"

What had he done?

She'd gone straight to Takasugi. Chills erupted across Gintoki's flesh, shooting down his spine to the tips of his toes.

"It's a misunderstanding," Takasugi cooed, as Gintoki reached the wall beside the door. The bastard was comforting her. Kinu had run to him, and he was reciprocating. Picking her up. When had she become so fragile?

Kinu hadn't made a single face. It didn't look like she was going to cry, and he kicked himself for not realizing sooner. He always noticed things like that; why couldn't he tell with his own sister?

There had been a time he could see it on her face, but Kinu never cried. Even before Takasugi.

He hadn't assumed Kinu was emotional after she'd changed. At first, maybe, but as the years dragged on and her expressions never came back, it became her. When that man had killed himself in the tea shop, she had been. Kinu had been incoherent then, screaming into the phone, and then she'd never screamed again. Rarely smiled or did anything with her face. But she had been emoting more lately.

Gintoki was sure that he had gone a solid two years without seeing a single smile from the girl, and receiving even fewer words.

"You're a murderer, sure. But not that kind, Kitten." Gintoki couldn't hear what she said back, but the answer was clear. "We were cornered. For all you know, you may have saved our lives."

The tiny voice that responded broke Gintoki's heart.

"Really?"

"Would I lie to you?" That received a weak laugh, and once and for all, he thought he understood. That wasn't Takasugi the villain, destroying everything that moved or stood in his way. It wasn't the man with a one track mind, running towards his ever impending demise. "Come here, it's alright. He didn't mean it."

It was Takasugi Shinsuke. His friend. The one that had started the Kiheitai over a woman that needed protecting. Gintoki hadn't heard Takasugi use a tone like that since they had been sleeping in war camps, and fighting beside men that had already been broken beyond what any one person should bare.

He was using that voice with Kinu. Like she needed it, or had been suffering.

Who went two years without speaking? He had thought popping in to cheer her up would help. It was all he could do. How could he know Riku had gone back to his old ways if nobody was talking to him? Kinu had been suffering and he had been too preoccupied with his own life. Friends that needed him more than she did. Shinpachi had been too terrified to go near her, and Kagura's visits hadn't been enough.

So she found Takasugi and clung to him instead. How could he not know?

"Look at this," Takasugi was saying. "How pretty your skin is. Don't…" Another sniffle. What did that mean? It was like they were speaking in code. She had been miserable.

That was the only way to summon demons like Takasugi; every time Gintoki happened across him in the wild something awful was happening. There wasn't a single doubt in him, hearing the way Takasugi cooed at her. As if he was kind.

She was making him kind again.

Gintoki had been wrong. It hit him like an arrow in the throat. He had been trying to wedge them apart. Make things normal again. But she was in there, showing more emotion than she had in years, and he couldn't bring himself to open the door. Sorrow struck him as his fingers wrapped around the doorhandle. He could kick himself.

How could he go in there like this? There were more important things to focus on.

They needed a plan, and after they sorted everything out, he would tell them.

If the law took the turn Gintoki was expecting, they had his blessing. Hell, maybe even before that. Takasugi would do it. He would take Kinu and hide her. Who cared if they were sleeping together? At least Gintoki knew Takasugi.

He wouldn't cheat on her. He'd never strike her, or harm her unless she betrayed him, and Kinu wasn't the political sort. Was that good enough? Was he holding her right now? Rubbing tears from her eyes, and smoothing her crisis away without even words to aid him anymore?

Did Takasugi still have warmth? Even a shred of it?

Nothing made sense anymore, but somehow, Gintoki understood.

Without warning, the door slapped open.

Gintoki took a step back, arms out at his side, but the one eyed man showed no hint of surprise. Kinu on the other hand dropped her head and sank further into his side. With a look towards the girl, Takasugi pulled her along a step.

A single olive eye narrowed at him. The man shuffled Kinu to the other side of his body, away from Gintoki as if he expected an attack.

"We're getting ice cream." The man said to him in one of the most pointed, hostile tones Gintoki had ever heard.

At midnight? Gintoki refrained from asking. Even when they actually fought, Takasugi sounded as though it was a joke to him. Like it was fun.

This wasn't.

"I want some." Gintoki muttered, falling in line behind them as Takasugi led the girl along. She held onto his sleeve, not even glancing back at her brother, but he didn't think she needed to. Not anymore.

"I think you've had enough sugar for one night." Takasugi turned back, still holding Kinu behind him. Hiding her. The girl was peeking out from beyond his arm with a single puffy blue eye. No doubt holding onto Takasugi's yukata from behind. She always did that. Kinu used to do it to Gintoki when Riku went on his rants.

And he hadn't thought the man was hitting her.

Gintoki had driven her straight into Takasugi's arms. He thought she was angry. She had broken up with Takasugi, hadn't she? Maybe Gintoki had been wrong. Takasugi had been telling the truth when he claimed it was mutual.

It certainly looked that way when the man turned back to Kinu, and without even touching her led her away. He'd shot a single glare at Gintoki before rounding the corner. Pure disgust. A solid warning.

That told Gintoki everything he needed to know. If he pursued, Takasugi wouldn't be above cutting him, and he couldn't blame the man.

He let them go.

Didn't have a choice, when it came down to it, and he wouldn't have done any different if given one. Did they need each other?

In the morning, they sat apart. The opposite from the day before with Gintoki at the head, alone. Takasugi was at the other end of the table with Kinu to his left, quietly sipping her tea. Neither exchanged a word, but Gintoki saw the looks. The way Kinu pursed her lips and glanced at the one eyed man from under her unnaturally dark lashes.

The Naomi girl had attacked her with makeup. Natural brown, she had been saying when she returned from the drugstore. She had volunteered to run out with Ayumi, and they came with bags of goodies. Drinks, snacks, magazines. Makeup things and pocky for Kinu.

Takasugi had found a sizable bag of tobacco to refresh his stores, and Gintoki was given his pick of the bag; a little cake with long curls of chocolate stuck into the icing. They were leaving today, but the details of the plan were still being hammered out. Hiromi was gently bobbing Yuto back and forth as she took a bite of omelet.

"It's gotta be bigger next." The young mother grinned at Takasugi and he arched his brow. Hadn't gotten to the full morning process, from the look of it, and how could he? He'd spent three more hours sneaking around with Kinu.

Seducing her.

"That's suicide." The one eyed man said, but Hiromi shrugged.

"Maybe."

Quick to defend her, Naomi placed her empty fruit bowl on the table.

"He was over prepared with only two hours of planning. We have to keep the shock factor up."

"That only means his men were already waiting for a signal. Besting him is enough shock factor for me, and if you're smart it will be for you, too." Takasugi said back, so the third popped in to try her hand at swaying him.

"We've already done enough to be branded criminals, who cares?"

Takasugi laughed at that, and the muscles in Gintoki's jaw tightened.

Kinu had done enough to be considered a criminal. Maybe Hiromi, if there was video footage. The other two hadn't been seen, except maybe through the windshield. Of course they wanted to continue if Kinu's face was leading the endeavor; they had nothing to lose. Across the table, Takasugi was just eating it up. Probably egging her on to further tarnish her reputation.

Then she'd be exiled to the dark abyss right along with him. On the run.

"Don't be stupid." Gintoki had to be the voice of reason, as much as he hated the position. "This isn't a team; we all got lives to go back to."

The brunette narrowed her eyes at him, and he stared back, unfazed. "People to protect." He said directly to her, and she averted her gaze. Surprisingly, Takasugi gave him a single nod. It was slight. Maybe unintentional.

"We should move cautiously." He agreed, but the women turned to Kinu.

Naomi took her hand, the traces of warmth returning once she was away from the man across the table.

"Kinu-chan, you agree with us, don't you? Let's vote. Everybody in favor of getting bigger, raise your hand and say aye, okay?"

Gintoki watched as his sister patted at her mouth with a napkin and turned towards the girl. Kinu laid her chopsticks down, still chewing, but getting faster as the girl raised both of their hands, and the two across the table did the same.

They shouted in unison, the three of them. But as they made a show of their victory, Kinu gently pulled her hand back down, and shifted away. Towards Takasugi.

He knew she'd been falling in with the wrong crowd, but this was expert level peer pressure. She was crumbling before his eyes, and calling for help. Gintoki wasn't above rolling her in a carpet and delivering her back to her mother with a full rendition of her joyride through the waters of revolutionism.

Kinu sipped her tea, and he thought she may forgo an actual vote altogether, but when she set her cup on the table, her voice was calm and steady.

"No." She said, and the carefree charge in the air fizzled as the women let out a collective sigh "Fuck that. We wanted his attention and we have it. He knows our terms. Shinsuke and I…"She started to say something, but after looking at the one eyed man, seemed to think better of it. Taking her bowl of miso, the girl set it in front of Takasugi. As smoothly as she had, he slid his fruit bowl towards her.

One by one, every slice of kiwi came out of her bowl and into Takasugi's. She took his blueberries in exchange and placed the bowl back in front of him the same way she had taken it.

Boldly.

Then she looked to Gintoki. Both of them did. Big blue doe eyes, scanning for judgment, and the single green eye across the table. Smirking. Takasugi was getting punched later. He hadn't done anything this time, but it was close enough.

Picking up a piece of his broiled salmon, Gintoki pushed it into his mouth. What was one more strain on their relationship?

"Then what do you propose we do, Kinu-chan?"

Frowning, Gintoki glanced at Hiromi. There had been an obvious tone, but Kinu didn't react to it if she heard.

"I think we should ask Takechi-san."

"I thought my plans weren't good enough for you." Takasugi was making eyes at Kinu again, but this time the girl made a face at him.

"Nobody said you."

"His plans are my plans."

Gintoki rolled his eyes.

"We don't need a big plan, we need to worry about keeping our heads. After that little pop star stunt we're lucky they're still here." An abrupt cackle rang out across the table. Takasugi. Of course he thought it was funny. All around the noise started to pick up. The women added their little chuckles to the mix, regarding Kinu with their own approving looks and devilish grins.

Naomi giggled.

"Does Mister Snaps have some kind of photography program? For angles?" She fell back to her palm and popped a berry into her mouth. The wild blonde bun on top of her head swung to the left side and hung there. "That was super cute, Kinu-chan."

The girl nodded, but her moment of glory wasn't up. Takasugi leaned onto the table, jaw cupped on his palm as he smirked at her

"You looked real shiny up there, Kitten."

"Really?" The girl asked, unnaturally taken by the praise. "Naomi-chan bought me this mascara."

"Is that what that is?"

"Natural brown. You want some?" Gin deadpanned. He sipped the last of his miso, annoyed when Takasugi straightened and lifted his second bowl. Kinu had traded it off without even asking if Gintoki had wanted it. That was practically Gintoki's bowl of miso.

"Shinsuke, do you know where his house is?" She wasn't even pretending anymore. Kinu kept dropping his given name with no hesitation, and Takasugi answered the same. At the rate they were going, she would never sit at Gintoki's side again. A table clearly wasn't enough to keep them in their seats.

"Which one?" He snorted behind a piece of kiwi. "I know of a few. He won't be anywhere I could find him." Takasugi was shrugging the girl's inquiry off, but her next made the room hush.

"Where is his father?"

Gintoki's ears pricked.

"Ki!" He gasped her name, offended at the thought of her dipping her hands into any more blood. Kyoto had been enough and he had seen her face. The quick turn after her anger had subsided and she had seen what she had done. The girl set her hardened face towards him, and there was something different in her.

Something else that was new. Takasugi must have already realized it, and was entertaining it, but Gintoki had only expected to find his sister and make sure she was safe. Bring her home if needed.

They were her guests. Kinu had a party without them. One way or another, she was going to do what she wanted. Whether he was there or not. She had given them permission to tag along. Witness whatever she was stirring up and fight for her.

But she wasn't going to ask to keep them. They were free to walk away. Preferred, maybe. Finding the rich man's father was the last thing he expected to be doing.

"Amagi Gaku has a main estate…" Thoughtfully drumming his fingers across his chin, the one eyed man gazed across the room. "You can't kill a man's father as a warning, Kitten." While Gintoki appreciated the restrictions, he cringed nonetheless. What was the world coming to? "He'd be a good bargaining token, though…"

"Hm. Where is it?"

This time Takasugi was far more willing than he should have been. He was grinning when he lit his pipe.

"Edo."

"Guards?"

"Of course." He shrugged and the girl nodded.

"Housemates?"

"Assistants. A loving son. Maybe a tiny dog or two. Nothing we couldn't handle."

Gintoki had to interrupt. Nobody else was stopping them; Ayumi and Naomi were watching in rapt fascination. Hiromi, on the other hand, had taken Yuto up in her arms, and was grimacing at him.

"This is too much." He said, firmly placing a hand on the table. "We find his dad, then what? We can't kidnap an old man to make a point."

A hand slipped over Takasugi's, and squeezed his fingers together as Kinu turned her full attention to Gintoki. Brow scrunched, and upturned. As if what he said had not only brought the sense back to her but hurt. Again.

"Onii-chan…" Her jaw tightened, and so did the hand over Takasugi's. "You don't have to be here."

Stumped, Gintoki stupidly stared back at his sister, mouth hanging open. Even Takasugi looked as though he had been caught off guard by the statement, but when he met Gintoki's eyes, there was no smug satisfaction. There was something sharper. Maybe a reprimand, or a silent plea to shut up and go along with it. He let the girl keep his hand, even as her thumb dug into the back of it like a worry stone, hard enough to make his skin flush pink under her nail.

Silently, Gintoki picked his jaw up and gave a half hearted shrug. He kept putting his foot in his mouth. There were times he loved being a big brother. Little things like video games, and the perks of a family restaurant. This wasn't one of them.

The couple raised to their feet, and Kinu took the man's pipe from his hands. Alarms blared in Gintoki's head as the girl looked down on him then, fingers delicately perched around his friend's kiseru as smoke poured from her lips.

"I won't kill anybody that doesn't try to kill me first, and I won't mourn the ones that did. If you have something to say about it, stop me yourself."

Dumbstruck, Gintoki watched his sister storm from the room, not stomping, but seething.

When the door slammed behind her, Takasugi crossed his arms.

"She's uh…"

"Mourning the ones who did." Gintoki finished, bitterly. Of course she was. He kicked himself as Naomi started to push herself up as well.

"Well… as entertaining as that little thing was, we can't stay in an onsen like we're on a vacation, he'll find us here."

She reached down to take hold of Hiromi's arm, and helped her to her feet, all the while grinning down at the baby.

"Let's get moving." Takasugi said as he pulled the door open. Kinu had taken the man's pipe. No doubt he was going to find her. "Pack up. In the meantime," He looked back, and Gintoki was surprisingly unoffended when he mocked him this time. "Have a little faith, Onii-chan."

It didn't sting this time. Gintoki knew exactly what he had to do.

He left the onsen.

Briefly, at the table he had wondered how much Takasugi knew about their company. Hiromi had told him when they left the room. When he was stuffed in the closet with no choice but to listen.

"You're the brother?" She'd asked. Pointed, but bored. Already knowing the answer. "Shiroyasha. The white demon himself, come to defend little old me?" She had chortled. A bitter little noise that was reminiscent of a stuffy nose. "Yuto needs it… She's only doing this for him, I know. I would have killed her. Kinu-chan probably hasn't told you about us, so let me do it before you get any misconceptions."

They had been trying to make her life hell. Telling her to kill herself for months, and she hadn't said a word to him. Hiromi had made it clear that she wasn't Kinu's friend. None of them were. He didn't know if Kyoto had changed any of that. Gintoki didn't like unpredictable alliances, and Kinu needed somebody genuine.

A pillar. Anything to keep her feet on the ground.

The narrow, paved street was surprisingly busy for the early morning, but Gintoki had seen the payphone at the corner. Hands digging into his pockets for change, he slipped into the booth and placed his call, more sure of his decision with every ring of the dial tone.

"Inoue's Snack House!" Riku's chipper voice came back through the phone, and for the second time, Gintoki wondered what universe he was living in. Kinu would have had a fit if she'd known he'd called the shop a snack house. Or that he was answering her phone.

"Hey old man, is Ma there?" She was. Ai was so close that Riku didn't have time to try to bullshit his way through a father act. The moment he heard her, he gave her his report. Everything was okay. They were safe, and no, he hadn't heard about the mystery bombing in Kyoto. That was crazy! Crazy world.

Mothers loved to hear things like that.

Ai had been breathless when he told her he had found Kinu, and he knew the tears were starting again at the silence after her question. When was Kinu coming home? Gintoki couldn't give their mother what he didn't have. He had his hands full in Yokohama.

Pockets ten yen lighter, he drifted back towards the onsen, stopping to skim only one comic from the rack of a cornerstore on the way. He still had it with him when he returned, and from the hallway he could hear muffled voices in his shared room.

They were at the edge of the porch door, the man liberated of the upper half of his yukata and seated on the porch. His ribs and chest had been wrapped in a different pattern, with one side weaving over his right shoulder. Kinu was standing at his side, winding a roll of gauze around his dead eye and forehead. She froze when Gintoki entered, holding the gauze away from herself as if it was slowly catching flame.

So now she was patching him up, too?

"I don't care about your stupid relationship." He rushed the words out, more irritated than he wanted to admit. Arms crossed, Gintoki passed them altogether. Beyond the porch and layers of streets and houses, the sea rolled out across the horizon. Golden white streaks of morning sunlight glittered across the blue expanse, forcing him to squint and shield his brow with a lazily perched hand.

Takasugi was the first to speak.

"What language was that?"

"It was angry." Kinu said, tucking the freshly cut edge of gauze back into itself. As she finished, Takasugi offered his gracious thanks, and she gave a nodding little tilt of her head. Then a look towards Gintoki.

He sighed.

"I said I don't care." It was awkward enough saying it out loud, but they stared at him blankly. He was expecting more. Pleasure at the revelation. Ease. Instead they were deer in headlights. "If you two are… Well, I don't like it, I'm not saying I like it, I don't." Only then did recognition cross them, and when it did, they looked in opposite directions. When he was sure that neither would answer him, Gintoki switched gears.

Maybe they would have wanted to hear it before, but now…

"We got a plan or what?"

"Glad you asked." Takasugi dug his phone from his pocket, and Gintoki believed him.