Chapter 6: It's Normal to Celebrate a New Relationship Even if it's Not Yours

Walking closely together, side by side, Tsukuyo carried her parcel of clothes and Gintoki carried the large bento, lazily holding the handle with his left hand. She smugly turned to him when they could finally see her and Hinowa's house down the street, without any banners hanging from it.

"Hah," she gloated, nudging his chest with her elbow.

"Okay, no banners, but that doesn't mean there wasn't a party," he said, nudging her right back. "Maybe she just couldn't find any. I mean, what would it even say? 'Congratulations, you just had sex'? Do they even make those?" he pondered and she glared at him.

"Tsukuyo, Gin-san," Hinowa waved at them happily when they walked into her the front of her little cafe. "Good afternoon. How nice of you to join us," she beamed at them, "At two o'clock in the afternoon..." she added, pointedly.

"Erm..." Tsukuyo blinked at her. "We err...I...err...slept in," she admitted, sheepishly.

"That's good," her friend said, "You deserve a nice relaxing lie in. I hope you had a nice time. You work too hard, I've told you."

"Err...yeah."

"Where's the kids at?" Gintoki asked.

"I let them sleep in," Hinowa replied.

"Great, now they'll expect that every day," he grumbled.

"It'll be okay for just one day," she insisted.

"I'm err...gonna put these away..." Tsukuyo mumbled, holding her wrapped up kimono. She also took the bento from Gintoki's hand, her fingers brushing his gently as she did and then she shuffled quickly away, avoiding Hinowa's gaze.

Once Tsukuyo left the room and they were alone, Hinowa turned to the samurai.

"So...does she know?" she asked.

"What?"

"That we were there...outside the room."

"Before or after?" he asked, shrewdly.

"Both."

"Before; no. After; yes. She woke up just after you left us the bento, got herself all worked up about it. I had to tell her."

"That was just me then. Will you tell her that all four of us were there...before?"

"Noooope," he drawled. "She'll find out eventually...probably," he shrugged.

"The Hyakka won't tell her, they were there guarding the building all night to make sure that you weren't disturbed and then some of them were here celebrating with us. So, I certainly won't tell her," she replied.

"Oi...they were in on it too? And you actually had a party?" he asked, his eye twitching, "I knew it."

"Just a little one."

"What kind of party was that?" he asked, but once again he only got her enigmatic smile as a response. He dragged his hand through his hair with a sigh. "Well, if she find out, she finds out, if she doesn't, she doesn't," Gintoki sighed. "She was embarrassed enough about it all anyway. Besides, if she finds out that I knew and didn't tell her, you'll have to start planning my funeral. Oi...when exactly did you guys leave? You did leave, right?" he stared at her.

"Of course we did," Hinowa answered, not looking at all ashamed. "There's some things children don't need to see completely until they're adults," she added.

"Then why'd you bring them at all?" he grumbled, "I'm not a guy who wants an audience, y'know."

"Didn't stop you," she smiled.

"Can you blame me? I'm not a monk! And I tried to get her to use another room but she wouldn't listen. Anyway, she started it! I'm the innocent victim here! I was seduced! You've been plotting with her! So, it's your fault! You planned it all, didn't you? The whole 'date' thing, the room, the dress! You gave her that dress, right?" he said, pointing at her. "You even gave her condoms!"

"Better safe than sorry, right? Beaides that, it was all Tsukuyo's idea," she gave a bright smile. "When she told me she was finally going to do something I might've mentioned that that place is the best we've got, but that's it. And the dress...I got it for her birthday...the birthday after we met you. This was the first time she's worn it," Hinowa gave a bright smile.

"Guess I should give you points for effort, huh?" he scoffed, shaking his head. "You're a total matchmaker. And you're not even ashamed of it, are you?" She didn't answer but she continued to smile at him. "Can't even be mad at you for it, either. Ahhhhh...you're a sneaky woman, y'know that?" Gintoki mumbled.

"I take that as a compliment," she said.

"What compliment?" Tsukuyo asked, walking back into the room.

"That you liked your breakfast this morning," Hinowa replied, smoothly. "I couldn't sleep last night so I decided to do some late night cooking. I made so much I decided to leave you both some," she lied.

"O...oh," she stammered.

"Next time you have a party, how 'bout you invite us, huh?" Gintoki mumbled and Tsukuyo glanced at him in confusion.

"You were busy," Hinowa replied and he scoffed.

"Oi, what're ya talkin' about?" Tsukuyo demanded, naturally though she didn't get an answer.

"GIN-CHAAAAAAAN! Heave! Heave me!" Kagura suddenly burst into the room, wearing her 'patchwork pyjamas'. They were an odd mix of fabrics and patches sewn together which had once originated as her usual red shirt and black trousers but were now almost unrecognisable. The young girl ran at the samurai, clutching his arm and knocked him to the floor as she shrieked loudly.

"How many times?" Gintoki grumbled. "It's 'help me'," he said, seemingly uncaring that he'd just been tackled to the ground by a girl with strength enough to smash boulders with her bare hands.

"Beef up, beef up now!" Kagura continued.

"Beef? Idiot, we can't afford beef," he said, sitting up and dragging her with him.

"Ah, Gin-san," Shinpachi said as he too came into the room with a sleepy eyes Seita both of them were least dressed for the day. The young samurai couldn't help but blush when he looked from Gintoki to Tsukuyo and he didn't know what to say exactly. "Err...hi...you're back late...I err...I didn't mean...erm..." he stammered.

"Yeah, slept in...and will you cut that out, you're gonna rip my arm off! My arms are weapons y'know, I need them!" Gintoki mumbled to Kagura when she continued to pull at his arm. He then looked up at the still flushed Shinpachi. "Oi, Shinpachi, what's that look for?" he asked.

"Eh? Err...w...what look?" Shinpachi stammered again.

"Che...you pervert," Gintoki smirked at him and Seita giggled.

"EEEEHHHHHHH?!"

"That's what I told him, Gin-chan, uh-huh," Kagura remarked and he patted her head.

"Good girl" the samurai said. "A young girl needs to be able to tell a pervert from a mile away these days, y'know."

"Uh-huh," she agreed.

"Wh...w..." Shinpachi stammered.

"But, Gin-chan!" Kagura continued, "Gin-chan...Gin-chan...Gin-chan..."

"WHAAAAT?!"

"Cockroaches!" the girl yelled, "So many cockroaches, uh-huh!"

"Cockroaches again?" he sighed, "Is that all? You're gonna have to get used to them already."

"But, but, but, but, but...they're HUUUUGGGGEEEEEE!" she insisted. She raised her hand as high as she could lift it, "Thiiiiiiis big...no even bigger!" she said.

"Eh? You mean those alien ones? Where?" he said, leaping to his feet, pulling her with him and holding one arm around her while she tugged at the front of his yukata. He pulled his wooden sword from his sash and held it up ready to attack. "Bring it on you gross, giant bugs!" he yelled, "Shinpachi, get the bug spray!"

"Calm down, Gin-san," Shinpachi sighed. "She had a bad dream. We watched a horror movie last night," he explained.

"Oi, just a dream?" the samurai relaxed. "Pastuan! Why're you letting her watch horror movies with bugs in it?" the samurai said and glared at him. He pointed his sword at the boy accusingly.

"We turned it off when we saw it had cockroaches in it," Seita said, sympathetically.

"And we wouldn't have put it on if we'd known but we didn't," Shinpachi defended and swatted his hand at Gintoki's sword, knocking it away.

"Geez. How can you still get this worked up over cockroaches, anyway? You could chop down a cliff with one hand if you wanted too. Little bugs are easy to squish," Gintoki told Kagura.

"But they're scary, uh-huh!" she insisted.

"Just squash them, it's easy!"

"But..."

"Bugs go squish, how many times..."

"Gin-san, you can't judge her. You act just like that when someone says 'ghosts'," Shinpachi drawled.

"Eh? G...g...ghosts? Where?!" he exclaimed, ducking behind Kagura and using her as a shield and shaking from head to toe.

"Giant ghost cockroaches!" Shinpachi exclaimed, suddenly.

"WHHHAAAAAA?!" Kagura yelled, absolutely terrified.

"BYAAAAAAHHHHH!" Gintoki cried.

Both the samurai and the young girl held onto each other tightly and jumped to hide behind one of the benches in the front of Hinowa's little cafe, trembling and clenching their eyes shut.

"You two..." Shinpachi sighed. "They're two of the strongest people on the planet...I swear...and they're both idiots," he said to Hinowa, Tsukuyo and a laughing Seita.

"That's why we love them though, isn't it?" Hinowa replied.

"Sometimes I wonder," he mumbled.

"G...G...Gin-chan...w...w...what do we d...do?" Kagura stammered, petrified.

"C...c...calm d...d...down...a...and f...find...s..some g...g...ghost...b...bug spray," he said.

"We're gonna die! Uh-huh! I'm t...too young and cute to die! Take S...Shinpachi instead!"

"OIIIII!" Shinpachi yelled.

"K...Kagura...go buy some bug spray...I'll g...give you 300 yen."

"The g...ghost cockroaches'll kill me if I g...go out there, no way, n...nu-huh!"

"Well, I c...can't g...go..."

"Why?"

"I'm...busy..."

"D...doing w...what?"

"L...looking for the l...lost kingdom of...Mu..." he replied, "I...it's r...round here somewhere."

"W...well I'm busy too..."

"Doing w...what?"

"L...looking for...Shangrill, uh-huh."

"It...it's Shangri-La, idiot!"

"No way, not t...that. I m...mean Shangrill...it...it's a new b...barbecue p...place..."

"W...why would that be d...down here?"

"All...g..great..restaurants s...start small before they m...make it big, uh-huh!"

"Shut it! That's not what that means! ! J...just go buy t...the bug spray, already! It's the kids' job to do chores!"

"Well, it's the adults' job to keep the house stocked with stuff we need! Like ghost bug spray!" she retorted, both of them now yelling at each other and forgetting that they'd been scared for their lives just a moment ago.

"You lazy kid!" Gintoki yelled.

"Useless adult!" she restored.

The bench shot across the room as Kagura kicked it when they started fighting, pulling each other's hair and snarling.

"Geez, calm down," Shinpachi sighed.

"Fine, go let the giant bugs eat you, I don't care!" Gintoki cried.

"Child abuse!" Kagura yelled back.

"Adult abuse!" he countered.

"Really, you two, calm down. There's no ghost cockroaches anywhere," Shinpachi said.

"Huh?" Kagura blinked, pausing while she bent Gintoki' leg back at an unnatural angle in their fight.

"It's gonna break, my leg's gonna break!" the samurai exclaimed, hitting the floor with his fist.

"You lied?" Kagura inferred, staring over at Shinpachi.

"My leg!"

"Well..." the young samurai rubbed the back of his neck, sheepishly.

"So, you did," Kagura looked at Gintoki and let go of his leg. They shared an unimpressed glance and Gintoki handed her his bokuto without a word. She took it and stormed over to Shinpachi, whacked him over the head with it then handed it back to Gintoki.

"OOOWWWWWWW!" the young samurai cried, clutching at his head in agony.

"He deserved that, huh," Kagura said.

"Damn right, lieutenant chihuahua," he replied and they shared a smug high five.

"Victory is ours, general!" she said, seriously.

"Well, that's that," Gintoki shrugged and kicked the bench back into place, then lounged down on it.

"Gin- chan..."

"What now?"

"What about my dream? In the movie...the cockroaches took over the world just like my dream from before uh-huh. Then I couldn't stop thinking about them. What if they're invading us right now but they're so small we can't see them? What if they've already taken over and we just don't know it? What if...oooooooow!" she broke off with a yell as he lightly slapped her across her top of her head.

"You ate wasabi before bed, didn't you?" Gintoki sighed.

"Wasabi again?" Tsukuyo mumbled, staring at him, "Y'got a cravin' for wasabi, d'ya?"

"Shut it," he grumbled.

"...Maybe..." Kagura admitted.

"Stupid brat, she didn't mean you," Gintoki said to Kagura, exasperated. "And I've told you so many times, that stuff'all give you nightmares! Don't pig out on it before bedtime!"

"But...but...but...but..."

"Fine, here's what we're gonna do," he began, sounding exasperated. "You can carry around some super mega cockroach killer spray, 'kay? Just don't spray it on me, spray it on Shinpachi..."

"Why me?!"

"And when it starts snowing we'll build a cockroach army and a ten foot high Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong cannon and blast them all to hell with it. No cockroach invasion happening here, right?" Gintoki continued.

"Really?" she asked, looking at him with big, pleading eyes.

"We'll get taken off the air if you do that," Shinpachi drawled.

"Sure, sure, why not," Gintoki said to Kagura, ignoring Shinpachi, "We'll even build it twenty foot high if you want."

"Then we'll definitely get taken off the air. You'll have the PTA out in force!"

"Yahoooooo!" Kagura exclaimed, happily. "Diiiiiieeeee evil snow cockroaches!" she yelled.

"What's a Neo Armstrong cannon?" Seita asked her, confused.

"I'll show you," the young girl declared. "I'll draw it for you," she said dragging him away.

"Fine, fine, go draw, go play, just don't kill anyone," Gintoki waved a dismissive hand. "And get rid of those stupid pyjamas already!" he added.

"Don't wanna!" she yelled back from the next room.

"Erm...Gin-san," Shinpachi began a moment later, deadly serious.

"Huh?"

"Weren't you listening?"

"What?" he drawled. "I told her not to kill anyone. What more do you want from me?"

"Good advice," Tsukuyo remarked, smoking her pipe and the young samurai stared at her for a moment before turning back to Gintoki.

"Kagura-chan said she was gonna draw the Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong canon for Seita...right? That ridiculously, stupid cannon that looks like..." he trailed off.

Gintoki turned to Shinpachi and blinked for a second, then both of their faces morphed into mirroring looks of abject horror, and they both yelled, "KAGURA-CHAAAAAAAAN!"

"EEEHHHHH?!" they heard Seita scream from the next room. "WHAT KIND OF CANNON IS THAT?!" he bellowed and Kagura burst out laughing.

"Ah...too late," Shinpachi sighed and Gintoki scrubbed a hand through his hair. "This is your fault," he said to Gintoki.

"Well...thinking about it...it's not that bad, right? I mean, the kid sees one very day when he gets dressed anyway, right? It's just an anatomy lesson. Anatomy, hmmm," he nodded, sagely.

"How many times are you gonna use that stupid excuse?" Shinpchi demanded, stunned.

"Really..." Hinowa laughed, delicately, "You really are a good parent, Gin-san."

"Quit saying that, woman," he grumbled at her.

"We're going to be late," Shinpachi declared some time later.

"F'what?" Gintoki mumbled.

"You forgot already, didn't you?" the young samurai sighed. "Aniue is starting her first class at the dojo today and she asked us to help out," he explained.

"What's she learning again?" Gintoki asked.

"She's not learning anything, she's teaching. Teaching!" Shinpachi yelled at him. "It's a keep fit class, she's going to be the instructor. We're trying to keep the dojo running, remember?"

"I thought that plot line was dropped ages ago, besides, I'm already fighting fit," he shrugged.

"You said you'd help!"

"Yeah, 'cause she threatened to feed me those damn fried eggs of hers if I didn't."

"Gin-chan, maybe you should join the class, uh-huh," Kagura said, she'd gotten dressed in her usual red dress and boots. "You're putting on weight, uh-huh," she said, poking his stomach.

"Oi!" he sat up and glared at her, angrily. "No I'm not! If any of us was gonna put on weight, it'd be you, you pig. You eat more than all of us put together even more than Sadaharu. Bedsides, I'm the same weight now as I was when the anime started, it's easier just to keep a character the same through the whole show."

"You eat a lot of sweets, uh-huh," the girl retorted. "Maybe they're gonna go for realism and show your weight gain."

"Not gonna happen. We already did that plot anyway, remember, you got fat, not me! Anyway, I think I worked it all off last night and...oooowwwwwwww!" he stopped when a kunai landed in his forehead. "What was that for?!" he screamed at Tsukuyo.

"What'd ya think, y'bastard?!" she glared back.

"I knew you'd be right back to throwing these at me," he grumbled, taking the weapon out of his forehead. "Oi...is throwing a kunai at me your way of saying you like me? I wish you'd told me that sooner, we could've saved a lot of time," he pondered which just made her even more frustrated.

"Why would it mean..." she began but Kagura sauntered over to Gintoki and dramatically sniffed him.

"Gin-chan, why do you smell like flowers?" she asked, very effectively silencing the now blushing Tsukuyo.

"Where'd that weird question come from? Who cares? Maybe I like flowers," the samurai shrugged.

"Tsukki smells like flowers today, too," the girl noted and Shinpachi choked on his drink and it ended up spurting out of nose. Both Kagura and Seita laughed at him as he yelped in shock and coughed and Hinowa smiled, her eyes sparkling.

"Maybe she likes flowers," Gintoki replied.

"The same ones?" Kagura tiled her head.

"All flowers smell the same. It's only stingy flower shops on special occasions that'll tell you otherwise."

"Oooooohhh," the girl nodded in understanding, "Gotcha."

"Now quit using your freaky alien nose to smell people, it's weird."

"I can't just turn off my nose like you can turn off your brain, nuh-uh" she protested.

"Oi!" he growled at her.

"You said my nose is useful."

"In a fight, dummy, not in peace time," he scolded her.

"And my nose is cute, uh-huh," she added.

"Well, if you keep going around smelling people and telling them what they smell like just because you can smell them, eventually you're gonna smell one smelly smell too many and someone'll cut your nose off so you can't smell any smelly smells anymore," Gintoki said.

"How many times are you gonna say the word 'smell'?" Shinpachi muttered.

"Eeehhhh" Kagura exclaimed, covering her nose with her hands, "No way! Not my nose!"

"Then stop smelling people, lieutenant chihuahua."

"Aye aye, general smelly flowers, sir," she saluted, seriously.

"Don't call me that," he snapped, his eye twitching.

"Yes, sir, general stinky butt, sir."

"Oi, that's worse!"

"Cut it out you two," Shinpachi sighed, still flushed. "We really have to get to the dojo or aniue is gonna feed us all fried eggs and then we'll end up in hospital...or dead," he said.

"I have an iron stomach, uh-huh, I'll survive," Kagura insisted.

"Oiiii...Remember what happened the last time you said that?" Gintoki drawled, "You got constipation for a week. You barely left the bathroom and you blew up the toilet. The fumes almost killed us and the entire street. I'm not dealing with that again. You're on your own this time."

"...Oh...right..."

"And we can't afford a big hospital bill this month," Shinpachi reminded them. "Or a new toilet," he added.

"No choice then," Gintoki sighed, dramatically.

"No conversation explosions for us, nu-huh," Kagura sang as she grabbed Gintoki hand and pulled him up. "Get up, Gin-chan...tiiiiiiime to goooo," she sang.

"Constipation not conversation," he corrected her, sounding exasperated.

"Ah, really?" she asked.

"I really wish you wouldn't talk about stuff like that with her, she just copies you, y'know," Shinpachi said to the samurai.

"She started it by getting all bunged up in the first place. I told her not to eat that thing," he retorted.

"But anego said it was good!" Kagura exclaimed.

"And it's your fault for believing her," Gintoki said, "I've told you over and over and over till my feet turned blue, don't eat food that looks like it's been cremated to hell and back...or food that looks like it's been barfed on...or plastic food, don't eat fake plastic food either."

"Mmm, I won't," she shook her head, eagerly.

"Like I believe that," he scoffed. "Fine, quit try'na pull my arm off, we'll go," he said, pulling his arm from her grasp and standing up.

"Yahoooo!" Kagura exclaimed.

"Good, we'll make it in time if we hurry and then we won't have to eat aniue's cooking and we'll all survive," Shinpachi let out a relieved sigh.

"If you ask me, she should be taking a cooking class before teaching anyone anything," Gintoki grumbled.

"She tried," the young samurai replied. "She disagreed with the teacher so much she threw him across the room and gave him concussion. She's banned for life."

"And people call me a demon," Gintoki snorted, picking up his wooden sword and lazily resting it in his sash.

"At least you can cook, uh-huh," Kagura replied.

"When you can be bothered," Shinpachi added.

"Which isn't very often," she said.

"Oi, oi, cut it out," Gintoki snapped, "I cook plenty. At least I don't keep making the same thing over and over again, miss 'egg over rice every damn day'," he glared at Kagura.

"Egg over rice is the best, uh-huh!"

"It's better than burned fried eggs over and over and over again," Shinpachi shuddered at the thought of his sisters' cooking.

"Fine, yeah, agreed," Gintoki grimaced.

"Yahoooo, I win!"

"Sure, sure, you win," Gintoki mumbled and messed up Kagura's hair with his hand as he patted her on the head, consolingly.

"Heheheheheh," the girl laughed happily.

"If you're hungry later you could come over," Gintoki said turning to Tsukuyo, "Not for cremated eggs, I mean. For ramen."

"Hmmm...ramen, huh? Nothing fancy, y'said, right?" she replied, walking over to stand beside him, chewing on the end of her pipe.

"Hell no."

"Ya payin' this time," she stated.

"Oi, why?!"

"It was ya idea," she shrugged.

"What kinda logic is that?" Gintoki grumbled, "Fiiine. You're lucky the guy who owns the place is the best and I just really wanna go back again. Maybe he'll let me eat for free if I take a hot babe with me."

"What am I?! Ya free meal ticket?!"

"If I'm lucky," he grinned and she growled at him, "What? Food tastes best when it's free..."

"They say hunger is the best spice, hunger, not a free price tag! Ya moron!"

"Not in my book."

"Argh, ya do this on purpose, don't ya?"

"What?"

"Annoy me!"

"It is kinda funny," he admitted, sheepishly.

"We'll see how funny it is if we go there's and he's not the best. Ya can't promise a Yoshiwara woman the best and not deliver. There's consequences y'know."

"What? Is that like the rule about not playing cards with you Yoshiwara women 'cause you'll all just fleece me for everything I've got? Oi, I don't think it's fair to keep those rules to yourselves, you should at least give me a hint."

"Just did."

"Yeah, after the fact."

"And if he's not the best, we'll just have to keep tryin' every ramen stand in Edo until we find the one that is," she said.

"That could take a while. There's a lot of ramen places, y'know," he replied, thoughtfully, "And there's only so much food a person can eat in one night, even I have my limit."

"Then it'll just take more than a second night, won't it?" she shrugged.

"If you're just try'na steal every penny I've got, it won't take you very long."

"That's fine," Tsukuyo said, "I'm not greedy."

"Okashira!" some of the Hyakka waved at her as they made their way over to Hinowa's shop. Tsukuyo took a step towards them but he reached out and grabbed her wrist lightly so she stopped.

"Why's it always just work, work, work with you?" he grumbled to her, "You some kind of robot?"

"I had the day off yesterday, and this morning," she defended, not turning around.

"Yeah, 'cause Hinowa made you take yesterday off. And you were sleeping like the dead earlier. Unless you were gonna be the zombie leader of the Hyakka this morning, that was your own fault."

"Stop callin' me a zombie! Bastard!" he glared at him.

"Zombie Shinigami Tayuu," he taunted.

"Grrr," Tsukuyo flicked a kunai into her hand and he held up his own hands in surrender.

"Geez, for someone who claims she gave up being a woman, you sure can be vain sometimes," he drawled.

"Like ya not vain at all, righ'?"

"Nope...only when it comes to my hair..." he said as though that was perfectly fine.

"Stupid," Tsukuyo rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I ain't all 'work, work, work.' I'm takin' tonight off, ain't I?"

"Dunno, you tell me."

"Told ya. I'm expecting' the best," Tsukuyo said.

"Talk about pressure," he said, sarcastically. "And a day off here and there won't kill you, y'know."

"Ya workin' today, too."

"Under threat of death, that's different. And I'm not getting paid today so it doesn't really count. Damn, I really hate working and not getting paid."

"Well, I hate sittin' round doin' nothin' when I could be doin' somethin' useful," Tsukuyo said. "It's not as bad as it used t'be here, we don't have to do much a lot of the time. Just bein' there's usually enough to stop people from doin' anythin'," she explained.

"You just wanna go beat up some bad guys, don't you?" he sighed, releasing her wrist. "Not fair, not when I have to go help some crazy, cabaret lady with her keep fit class."

"Too bad," she grinned, finally turning round to look at him. "Have fun. And remember, don't eat any cremated food, or..." she said, mimicking his own words.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know...wait, why are you telling me that?"

"In case ya forget."

"I don't have the memory of a fish, y'know," he rolled his eyes.

"Gin-chan, I saw a program that said fish are really smart. They're so smart they could take over the world, uh-huh," Kagura interrupted.

"Oh, so now it's fish taking over the world, not cockroaches? Like that'll ever happen," he scoffed.

"It's true!"

"Fish live in the water! What about all the land? They can't just grow legs and walk around to kill us all."

"They can too! If they really wanted to they could!"

"Then you go grow a tail and swim with all the fish and tell them to leave us alone before they grow legs and launch their attack," he retorted.

"Okay," Kagura smiled happily, "I'll save the world from the fishes invasion, uh-huh."

"Stupid kid," Gintoki mumbled.

"And I'll go have fun beatin' up jerks," Tsukuyo said.

"Just keep rubbing it in, why don't you?" he grumbled.

"Don't be a sore loser," she told him.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you? I hate losing."

"He really does," Shinpachi mumbled and Kagura nodded.

"Gin-chan's the best sore loser ever," she said.

"Really," the young samurai added.

"Oi!"

"Fine, go be a sore loser 'bout it if ya want," Tsukuyo smirked. "I just hope ya fish memory forgets 'bout it soon," she said.

"I don't have a fish memory," he insisted.

"Sure ya don't," she nodded. "Just don't go forgetting' that you're paying for the ramen," she added.

"Ah, sorry, my five second fish memory doesn't remember agreeing to that," Gintoki shrugged.

"Uh-huh," Tsukuyo rolled her eyes. She took a step closer to him, put her hand gently on his shoulder for a split second as though brushing away some imagined dirt from his yukata and then she turned and walked away. "Ja na," she called over her shoulder and left with the women of the Hyakka who were waiting for her, all of them grinning beneath their masks.

"Soooo..." Shinpachi began, nervously when Tsukuyo was out of sight. "Did you just ask Tsukuyo-san on a date?" he asked the silver haired samurai.

"So what if I did?" Gintoki shrugged. "Now, come on. Didn't you keep saying we'll be late?" he said, walking off.

"Sadaharu!" Kagura called and the huge dog burst into the room with a happy sounding 'yip'. "Bye bye, Seita-kun, bye bye Hinowa-chan!" she waved at them and ran off after Gintoki, grabbing her umbrella from by the door.

"Thanks for letting us stay," Shinpachi said and gave a polite bow before he too ran off.

"Come back again soon," Hinowa called after them.

"See you soon, Gin-nii-sama!" Seita waved.

"Oi...what'd that kid just call me?" Gintoki blinked.

"Plan 'big date night' worked out great, uh-huh?" Kagura said, ignoring his question.

"Admitting you were in on it, huh? I figured you'd deny the hell outta it. Whatever. Just don't expect a raise 'cause your boss got laid...even if it has been a while," Gintoki told them.

"Gin-san...please don't just say things like that," Shinpachi blushed. "And to get a raise we'd need to get a paycheque first," he added.

"Oh, and don't tell Tsukuyo, she'll kill me," the samurai added, ignoring him.

"Maybe a paycheque or two would help," Kagura grinned.

"Oiiiii! Blackmailing is illegal, you little punk!"

"Arpp," Sadaharu yipped happily.

"Gin-chan, look! A cockroach!" Kagura called out and pointed over at a man wearing an odd looking fetish costume being pulled around by a woman on a leash. The young yato brandished her umbrella like a gun and ran off to attack with Sadaharu close behind her.

"OIIIIII! That's not a cockroach, it's just some pervert getting his rocks off!" Gintoki bellowed.

"Who you calling a pervert, you punk?!" the man in question hissed.

A.N. Well, that's it, I'm sorry to say that the story's over. I'm really glad you all seem to have enjoyed the story. I really did enjoy writing it. I hope to try and start some kind of sequel soon. I love these two characters way too much to just stop here I think. Bye for now guys :)