Wow, this chapter ended up being really long compared to normal. I mean really really long. Oh well, I think you guys will like that though XD Here's chapter 12!

Silver Moon – Book 1 Chapter 12

Tsukuyo was walking through the streets of Edo at a fast pace. She had just received the phone call from Sachan a little while earlier and was now on her way to Odd Jobs Gin. Understandably, she was starting to freak out as she thought about her new and unexpected situation.

What the hell is going on? Why does Sarutobi know that Gintoki is in a relationship? Who else knows? How did they find out? Does anyone know that I'm the one dating him? What will they do to me if they find out!?

As Tsukuyo continued to ask herself question after question, she started to feel extremely confused as to how things had gotten so out of hand. I thought that Gintoki was doing his best to keep our relationship a secret. So why does it feel like everyone knows about it? And why are they so hostile towards his new girlfriend? Can't they just accept it?

Tsukuyo slowed down her pace as she gave a sigh. Maybe Gintoki was right she thought. Maybe he was right to fear telling his friends. After all, it seems like they aren't taking it too well upon first hearing about it. Hell, it sounds like they're going to kill me!

Despite Tsukuyo's uncertainty about what was going on, she had actually decided on a plan of action. At first, she had thought about trying to find Gintoki and discuss the situation with him to see what he thought about it. However, she ended up deciding to go straight to Odd Jobs Gin and simply survey the situation as an onlooker. She wasn't quite sure what to expect, but she figured that no one would suspect her if she was joining in the commotion.

Yes, it's best to just lay low and see how bad things have become. I'll decide what to do next after that she thought as she continued on her way.

"Ah, hello. I'm here to participate in…whatever this is…" said a middle-aged man standing outside of Odd Jobs Gin. He gave a gentle smile as his trademark sunglasses glinted in the sunlight.

"Oh, hey Madao. Come on in," replied Kagura as she stood in the doorway.

The man known formally as Hasegawa went ahead and followed Kagura in to the house. He had just received a phone call briefly describing the situation shortly before he had arrived. However, he was still a little confused when it came to the details of what exactly was going on.

"So Gin-san finally found himself a girlfriend, huh?" he asked Kagura as the two of them walked down the hall. "So is this supposed to be like a welcome party or something?"

"Um, yeah, something like that," Kagura answered without looking back.

"Really? You don't seem too sure of that," he accused her.

"We're basically just finding out who this girl is. Gin-chan is going to personally introduce her, whether he likes it or not."

"That sounds kind of…threatening," Hasegawa replied nervously.

"Whatever," said Kagura as the two of them arrived at the main room. "Hey everyone, Madao showed up," she announced as she pointed back to the man.

"That's great!" shouted Sachan as she looked up from Gintoki's desk. She was happy to hear that her small army was growing. "So, including him, how many new recruits have arrived?" she asked with excitement.

"Um, one," answered Shinpachi, who was standing right next to her. "He's the only new person that showed up."

"Seriously? It felt like more than that."

"Just who else is coming, exactly?" asked Otae as she looked over to Sachan.

"Well, let's see," she said as she looked down at the list of people that were going to participate. "I'm pretty sure that Tsukky is on her way. I tried calling Zenzo, but he said he didn't care about what Gin-san was up to," she said, sounding rather disappointed. "Did anyone go to get Otose downstairs?"

"I asked her if she would like to join us, but she said that she was uninterested and had work to do," answered Tama. "Although, she did allow Catherine-sama and I to stay up here as long as we tell her what we find out."

"Well then, I guess the turnout is a little small," said Sachan as she looked around the room. The current team consisted of herself, Kagura, Shinpachi, Otae, Kyuubei, Kondo, Catherine, Tama, and the newly arrived Hasegawa. "If we're counting Tsukky, then there should be about ten of us. That should be more than enough, right?"

"Yeah, this should be enough to handle Gin-chan," agreed Kagura.

"Well, I guess I don't need to call anyone else then," said Sachan as she got up from Gintoki's desk.

"Hey, hold on a second," said Kyuubei suddenly. "You did say that Gintoki has been calling this girl several times in the last month, right?" she asked as she turned towards Kagura.

"Yeah, what about it?" she replied.

"Is it possible to see where the recent calls have been made to on that phone?" asked Kyuubei.

"I don't know, I don't really use the phone" Kagura replied honestly. "But if it is possible, I'm sure that Tama could do it."

"Yes, that would be a simple task," said Tama.

Kondo started to catch on to what Kyuubei was thinking. "Are you suggesting that we can discover who he's been stalking by finding out the girl's phone number?"

"Yeah, we'll just check who he's been calling non-stop in the last month," said Kyuubei simply.

"If it would help your investigation," Tama chimed in, "I could search through my database to find out who the phone number belongs to."

"That sounds great!" said Otae in delight. "Nice thinking, Kyu-chan. Now we won't have to worry about waiting for Gin-san to come home. We can just find out on our own."

Before anyone else could say another word, Shinpachi quickly picked up the telephone from the desk and held it over his head. Without a second thought, he threw the phone as hard as he could towards the nearest wall. The group simply stared in awe as the appliance was smashed into several pieces upon making contact.

"Um, it looks like the phone is broken," said Shinpachi with a blank look on his face.

"Um, Shin-chan? Why did you do that?" asked Otae, a little surprised at her brother's sudden actions.

"Do what?"

"Why did you smash Gin-san's telephone?"

"Oh, that? I didn't do that. It's always been like that." Shinpachi seemed to be ignoring the fact the he had just broken the phone himself. He was acting as if it had just happened out of nowhere.

"But we just saw you smash it…"

"No really, Gin-san's phone has always been a pile of scraps. It's always looked like that."

Kagura was currently sifting through what was left of the machine with a confused look on her face. She could hardly believe what had just happened.

"What the hell, Shinpachi!?" she yelled as she looked at the boy. "Why'd you do that? It's like you don't want us to find out about Gin-chan's girlfriend!"

Shinpachi simply stared back at her without saying a word. It turned out that she was right; Shinpachi had broken the phone for that very reason. Up to that point, he had been unable to do anything to stop the group from learning Gintoki's secret. He was starting to feel useless. He felt that if there were something that he could do to help Gintoki out at that point, he would do it. And for that reason, he had destroyed the phone.

At least they won't be able to find out who his girlfriend is just yet he thought to himself. I've managed to keep it a secret for the time being.

"Now that you mention it," said Kondo suddenly, "it does kind of seem like Shinpachi isn't all that interested in this investigation."

"Hey, you're right," said Kyuubei as she started to think about it. "It does kind of seem like Shinpachi has been trying to convince us that Gintoki is not seeing some girl."

"Hey yeah," said Kagura. "He's been doing it all day now that I think about it."

Suddenly, the entire group turned their eyes to Shinpachi as he froze out of fear. What's going on? Why are they becoming suspicious of me? I thought they were after Gin-san, so why is everyone looking at me? Has my act really been that noticeable? I was just trying to keep things from getting out of hand! Don't tell me they're after me now!

"Is that true, Shinpachi? Do you not want us to find out about Gintoki?" asked Kyuubei.

"Why don't you want us to find out, Shinpachi!?" yelled Kagura.

"Shin-chan," said Otae in a gentle voice. "Is it possible…that you know something about Gin-san's girlfriend?"

The room immediately went dead silent. Everyone was staring intensely at the young man with glasses, awaiting his answer. The boy simply stood there in silence for a brief moment. Then it all happened in an instant.

Shinpachi immediately tried to make a run for the door while everyone else tried to stop him. He managed to dodge and weave his way through the small crowd and was able to actually make it to the doorway. However, Sachan was not willing to let the boy escape. She managed to tackle Shinpachi from behind and the boy landed flat on his stomach. It was not long before Sachan had him securely tied up in rope.

"You're going to tell me everything you know," she told the boy with a glare.

A few minutes later, Shinpachi was now confined to the living room couch. He had one set of ropes tied around his body, and another set keeping him tied down to the furniture. No matter how hard he tried, he could barely move. He had officially been captured.

"What are you guys doing?" he cried out to the group in front of him. "Why did you guys tie me to the couch? Was that really necessary?"

"You were trying to escape, what were we supposed to do?" asked Sachan as she crossed her arms.

Otae looked at her brother with a worried expression. "Shin-chan, why didn't you tell us you knew Gin-san's secret?"

"Yeah, why'd you keep it all to yourself, huh?" asked Kagura as she glared at the boy.

Shinpachi looked around the room and started to worry for his safety. "I only hid the truth because Gin-san asked me to!" he shouted. "He was the one that wanted to keep it from all of you. I was just keeping it a secret because he asked me to. That's the truth, now can you please let me go?"

"Like hell we're letting you go," said Sachan as she walked up to the boy. "We have a lot of questions that we need answered."

"What? You can't be serious!" Shinpachi shouted. "You're all just going to keep me tied up here?! There's no way all of you guys are ok with this, right? Sis, tell them you're not ok with this!"

Otae looked away from Shinpachi and answered him rather quietly. "Actually, Shin-chan, I'd kind of like to find out about Gin-san's girlfriend."

"What? SIS!" he yelled as he struggled against the ropes. It seemed like the ropes would not budge no matter how hard he tried. He was stuck. "So you guys are seriously going through with this? You're really going to make me your prisoner?"

To Shinpachi's dismay, the entire group didn't seem to care that he was tied up in front of them. Sachan and Kagura looked like they were happy that they had successfully captured him. Otae and Kyuubei looked as if they felt a little guilty, but were still willing to go along with it. Kondo and Catherine appeared as if they were simply doing their job in order to discover the secret. Tama and Hasegawa didn't really seem to know what was going on, but they weren't about to put a stop to it.

Shinpachi couldn't help but look at the floor and think about what he had previously told Gintoki. It was back when he had first learned of his secret.

Seriously? You really think that your friends would go crazy upon hearing this?

You think they would keep calm if I told them I was dating a girl?

Well, maybe not that, but they definitely wouldn't go on a rampage or anything like that.

Shinpachi could only sigh as he looked at the situation he was in. If he could have held his palm to his face, he would have. Could I have been any more wrong? I shouldn't have scolded Gin-san for being afraid to tell us. He was right to be afraid. Just look at how they're acting right now. It's unbelievable.

He looked up at the people in front of him. "Fine," he told them, "I'll be your prisoner. "But don't think you're going to get any information out of me. I promised Gin-san that I would keep his secret no matter what. I'm not saying a word!"

"So stubborn," said Sachan as she curiously looked at the boy. "Don't worry, we'll get the information out of you somehow."

Shinpachi rolled his eyes as he listened. "Oh yeah? What are you going to do? Torture me?" he asked her sarcastically.

"Torture? Hey, that's not a bad idea," said Sachan as she produced a kunai in her hand. "Now tell me what you know about that bitch!"

"AH! You're not really going to do that, are you? You can't! The chief of the Shinsengumi is right there! He won't let you get away with this! Right, Kondo-san? You won't let her hurt me, right?"

Kondo crossed his arms and looked at Shinpachi like he was being pathetic. "Oh, come on, Shinpachi. A few cuts and bruises is nothing to complain about, now is it? This experience will make a man out of you," he said, giving the boy a thumbs up.

"What are you giving me a thumbs up for? Can't you see how bad this is? It's going to be worse than a few cuts and bruises! This stalker is about to skin me alive!"

"Hey, if you're not going to talk about that bitch, then shut up. I'm willing to start the process if you have nothing to say," said Sachan as she pointed the kunai towards Shinpachi's chest.

"AH! NO WAIT! SOMEONE HELP ME!"

All of a sudden, the sound of someone knocking on the front door could be heard throughout the room. Sachan stopped what she was doing as she joined everyone in turning towards the hall.

"I'll get it," said Kagura.

Tsukuyo waited patiently outside of the Odd Jobs building as she tried to calm herself. She was scared of what she would find inside, but she was ready to enter. She was ready to find out just what exactly was going on.

Before long, the door slid open to reveal Kagura's smiling face. "Tsukky! You made it! Come on in, we were just getting to the good part."

"Good part? Kagura, just what exactly is going on in here?" she asked nervously as she entered the building. She started to follow the young girl down the hall.

"Well, today's been a pretty busy day," she explained. "We found out that Gin-chan has a girlfriend, and that he and Shinpachi have been hiding it from us this whole time! Can you believe that?"

Yeah, actually, I can thought Tsukuyo as she entered the main living space. To her surprise, there was a small crowd of familiar faces standing throughout the room. Are they all here to find out about Gintoki and me? she wondered as she looked around. I can't believe all of these people are suspicious of us.

It was then that she noticed the young man sitting on the couch. "What the hell is going on over there!?" she shouted out of shock.

It seemed like Sachan had resumed her torture of Shinpachi and was once again holding a kunai to his chest. As he squirmed in his seat, Shinpachi managed to notice that Tsukuyo had finally arrived to the party. Out of desperation, he called out for her in his head. Tsukuyo-san, please, help me!

Kagura noticed what Tsukuyo was gawking at and decided to explain. "I told you that Shinpachi knows about Gin-chan's girlfriend. We're just getting some information out of him," she said innocently.

"Are you serious?" asked Tsukuyo, hardly believing what she was seeing. "This is ridiculous! You seriously tied him up? And now you're torturing him?"

"Well, yeah," answered Kagura. "It's the only way to get him to talk. Is that bad?"

Tsukuyo simply stared in horror at the poor kid. I don't believe this. I really don't believe this. They're torturing Shinpachi just to get some information out of him? He's only keeping it a secret because Gintoki asked him to! It's not his fault! He's just keeping his promise! Is that so wrong? Are they that desperate for information?

Tsukuyo decided that she couldn't take another second of what she was seeing. She walked right up to Sachan and snatched the kunai out of her hand. "That's enough," she said.

"Tsukky!?" cried Sachan out of anger. "What the hell? Give me that back! I was in the middle of something!"

"What the hell are you doing to this poor kid? Are you seriously torturing him?"

"Ugh, Tsukky, you just don't understand," said Sachan as she shook her head. "Listen, he's the only person besides Gin-san who-"

"I know all that!" snapped Tsukuyo as she held the kunai out of Sachan's reach. "So what if he knows the secret? Is that any reason to torture him? Are you all so desperate for information that you would hurt one of your friends!?"

Surprisingly enough, some of the group members actually started to show looks of guilt and shame. It seemed that Tsukuyo's words were getting to them. Even Sachan herself looked a little dismayed.

"Well, maybe this isn't the best way of doing things," she admitted, "but we don't have any other choice do we? He won't talk unless we do this."

Tsukuyo crossed her arms and looked at the Shinobi with disappointment. "You said on the phone that you were going to confront Gintoki about this when he came home, right? Just wait for him to get your precious information."

Sachan looked at the rest of the group and gave a sigh. "I guess you're right, we should have just done that instead of losing control. I won't torture him anymore."

Tsukuyo smiled upon hearing this. She was happy that she had finally stopped the group from doing something stupid. She took a quick look at Shinpachi and noticed that he was crying tears of joy. He mouthed the words "thank you" to the courtesan, leading her to wink at him in response.

"However," said Sachan suddenly, "I still think that we need to keep him tied up. We can't have him running around on his own."

A frown came to Tsukuyo's face as she looked at her. "Sarutobi, is that really necessary?"

"Yes, what if he runs off to warn Gin-san? Then we'll never be able find out what we want."

"You're right," agreed Kagura, "we need to make sure that he stays here."

"But-"

"Don't worry Tsukuyo-san," said Shinpachi suddenly from his place on the couch. "It's ok if I have to stay like this. I don't mind. As long as they're not torturing me, I can handle this," he said with a look of confidence.

Tsukuyo sighed and realized that she was not going to get her way. "Well, as long as you're ok with this," she told the boy.

The room fell silent for a moment before small conversations started to pick up between the group members. Sachan turned towards Tsukuyo as she spoke up. "Anyways, I'm glad you could make it Tsukky," she said with a friendly smile.

"Huh? Oh, sure," said Tsukuyo, suddenly remembering why she had come in the first place. It would seem that saving Shinpachi from his captors had distracted her from her fears. She began to once again feel nervous as she looked around the room.

"You're going to be a great help once Gin-san shows up," said Sachan as she patted her friend on the back. "Hey, if he tries to make an escape, do you think you could throw some kunai into his head like you always do?"

"Um, sure, I guess," said Tsukuyo as she looked away. She was attempting to blend in with the group, but her fears were starting to show in her tone.

Sachan gave her friend a confused look. "Is something wrong, Tsukky? You don't seem like you care too much about all of this. Don't you want to find out who this bitch is?"

Tsukuyo immediately jumped back from the woman and held her hands out in front of her. "What? Of course I want to find out! Why wouldn't I want to find out?"

Sachan gave Tsukuyo a weird look as she stared at her. "I don't know. You just seemed like you weren't that into it."

"What? Of course I'm into it! I'm dying to find out who Gintoki is dating! Just like you! I can't wait to find that bitch and end her!"

Kagura suddenly glanced over at the two women with curiosity. "Tsukky, are you ok? You're acting kind of weird."

Tsukuyo was about to defend herself once more when the room suddenly went silent at the sound of the front door sliding open. It seemed like everyone had stopped talking and was now frozen in place. They all had just realized the same thing: someone had just entered the building without knocking.

Before long, the group was able to hear the sound of someone walking down the hallway. It sounded as if they were heading straight for the main room. As if in unison, everyone's mind immediately started wondering the same thing. Was this it? Had Gintoki finally arrived?

A few seconds later, their questions were answered as a person appeared in the doorway. To everyone's surprise, it actually wasn't Gintoki. Instead, it was a young man dressed up in a black uniform with a sword at his side. He took one quick glance around the room before he looked back down the hallway.

"Hey, Hijikata-san, I found the chief. It turns out he was here after all."

Suddenly, another person appeared in the doorway, and he was dressed up just like the first. "I should have known that he would be here," he said with a sigh.

Everyone in the room immediately recognized the two men as the Shinsengumi officers, Okita Sogo and Hijikata Toshiro. They were completely surprised to see the duo show up as no one had been expecting them. The most interesting part was that they appeared to be staring straight at Kondo as if he had done something wrong.

"Toshi! Sogo! What are you guys doing here?" asked Kondo as he greeted his two men with a smile. He appeared to be happy to see them.

"We've been looking for you," said Hijikata in a dead-serious tone. "We figured you'd be at Otae's house like usual, but we were surprised to find that there was no one there. So we decided to come and see if you were here instead."

"What are you doing here, Kondo-san?" asked Sogo in an innocent yet curious voice.

"Well, you see," said Kondo, "we found out that guy Gintoki is stalking a girl! We're all going to find out who it is! Do you want to join us?"

Both of Kondo's officers could only give him blank stares as they listened. "That's what you're doing here?" asked Sogo, sounding a little disappointed.

Hijikata shook his head as he walked up to his chief. "Maybe you've forgotten, but today isn't a day off! We have a lot of work to do! We can't just let you go and goof off with stuff like this!" The vice-chief then went ahead and grabbed Kondo by the arm as he started pulling him out of the room.

"Huh? Wait, Toshi! Hold on a second! Don't you want to find out who he's seeing? Aren't you interested?"

"What do I care what that idiot does?" And with that, Hijikata dragged Kondo down the hall and made his way to the door.

Sogo followed behind and decided to comment on the situation. "So the boss found a girlfriend, huh? That's nice. Isn't that nice Hijikata-san?"

"Who cares?" grunted the vice-chief.

"At least he fell in love with a real woman instead of falling in love with mayonnaise like you."

"SHUT UP!"

And before anyone else could say another word, the trio was already out the door and on their way. The rest of the group could only stare after them in confusion at what they had just seen.

"What just happened?" asked Kagura.

"I guess the Gorilla is done for the day and isn't coming back," said Otae as she stared at the door.

"I guess so," said Sachan, slowly realizing that one of her soldiers had been taken away.

The group continued to stare at he door in silence for a couple more seconds when another sound grabbed their attention. They all turned around and looked at the window across from them just as someone new was climbing in through it. The person fell to the floor with a soft thud.

Kagura stared in disbelief at the sudden new arrival. "What the hell?" she said, recognizing the man. "Zura!?"

The man looked up at the group in front of him and said in the most serious expression, "It's not Zura, it's Katsura."

Author: Once again, let's invite two characters to join with me for a chat! This time around it will be Sogo and Hijikata. Say hello guys!

Hijikata: Like hell I'm saying hello! What the hell is this?

Author: What? What's the problem?

Sogo: Hijikata is upset with the small amount of screen time we got in the story.

Author: Seriously? Come on, that's nothing to complain about.

Hijikata: We were only in the story for a couple of paragraphs and then you made us leave! And we're probably not going to be back for the rest of Book 1, are we!?

Author: Hey give me a break! I already have to deal with a ton of characters at the moment! I can't have you two thrown in too!

Hijikata: How is it our fault that you threw in too many characters? Is that our problem?

Sogo: You could probably just take some of the characters out. Some of them don't even seem to serve a purpose in this story.

Author: What? Don't say that! Every character serves a purpose in this story (I think).

Sogo: Some of the characters in this chapter didn't even have lines. They're just…there.

Author: So what? There's a lot going on right now. The story's priority is having the important characters say their lines first.

Hijikata: Important characters? So now you're saying that there's a division between important characters and unimportant characters?

Sogo: The author must really not care about us since we only got a few lines. We're unimportant characters.

Author: Now that's not true! The two of you need to calm down. You guys will get more screen time in the future.

Hijikata: Will we come back again before the end of Book 1?

Author: Um, probably not.

Sogo: Then will we get bigger roles in Book 2?

Author: Oh, Book 2? Um…well you see, it's not really looking like you guys are going to-

Hijikata: We're not going to be in Book 2 either!?

Sogo: What the hell, Author-san?

Author: …Hey look at that! It's time for me to go!

Hijikata: You can't just keep running away from this segment! It will get old!

Author: Leave a review, I'll see you all next chapter!