Thank you all so much for reading my story. Thank you to all who review, favorite and follow. It is always the stuff like this that encourages me to keep writing. I really appreciate reading everything you guys have to say, so thank you! Now here is the final chapter of Book 1. Enjoy!

Silver Moon – Book 1 Chapter 14

"The truth is…the one that you have been looking for all this time…is me. I am the one who has been going out with Gintoki."

The whole room was staring at the courtesan with their mouths hanging open. They couldn't believe what they had just heard. The culprit that they had been looking for all this time now stood right in front of them. In fact, she had been right in front of them for most of the afternoon and they had not even realized it. They had never thought that the 'bitch' that was going out with Gintoki would actually be one of their friends.

Tsukuyo was simply staring at the floor, afraid to look up and see the reactions of her friends. Her secret was finally out and she was starting to fear the worst. However, she did not regret her actions. She had just managed to save Gintoki and Shinpachi from a horrible fate even though it had come with a high price.

Gintoki and Shinpachi were also shocked to hear Tsukuyo reveal the truth to everyone just like that. They had not expected her to jump in and save them at the last second with that desperate move. Deep down, the both of them were glad that she had intervened, but at the same time, they were also worried for the poor girl's fate.

What was going to happen to her now that the truth was out?

Kagura was the first one to gather her thoughts and speak up. "Tsukky, it…it was you?" she asked as she looked at the courtesan. "But, why?"

Tsukuyo slowly looked up at the young girl in front of her and was surprised to find that she actually looked kind of hurt. Her eyes reflected the light heartbroken emotion that she was feeling inside. Tsukuyo once again felt a sense of guilt for keeping the secret for so long.

"I…I don't understand," said Kagura in an upset voice. "If it's true that you're Gin-chan's new girlfriend, then why…why didn't you tell us?"

"Kagura, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," said Tsukuyo, feeling horrible about the whole situation. "Truly, everyone, I am sorry. This entire thing is all my fault. If anyone should be blamed for this mess, it should be me."

Upon hearing this, Gintoki started to get worried. Wait, what the hell is she saying? Is she trying to take all of the blame by herself? Why is she doing that? Doesn't she realize that I'm partially responsible for all of this? What the hell is she thinking?

Tsukuyo took a deep breath and looked around at everyone in the room. "Here is the truth," she said. "Gintoki and Shinpachi didn't actually cause any of this. It was all me. I was even the one who convinced Gintoki to go out with me. He honestly had nothing to do with it," she lied.

"I was also the one who wanted to keep the relationship a secret. You see, I didn't want anyone else finding out so that I could keep Gintoki all to myself. These two only kept the secret from you because I asked them to. They were simply respecting my wishes."

Tsukuyo then pulled out a kunai and approached the two men who were still tied to the couch. "Both Gintoki and Shinpachi are completely innocent," she said as she cut away the ropes that held them down. "Please, let them go. It's not their fault that all of you were left in the dark. It is my own."

Gintoki could not believe what he was hearing. He slowly lifted his arms up from the limp threads and attempted to intervene. "Tsukuyo, what are you-"

"Please, just be quiet, Gintoki," said Tsukuyo in a rather tired voice. The last thing she wanted right then was for him to interfere. "This has gone on long enough, don't you think? It is time for me to pay for my crimes."

Gintoki simply stared at her, not quite sure what to say. He couldn't believe that she was about to take the responsibility for everything all by herself.

In response, Tsukuyo simply stared back at him with a small smile. I understand how you feel, Gintoki. You don't want me to do this all alone, but it's ok. I really don't mind. To be honest, I'm grateful for the time that the two of us spent together. I know it wasn't a lot, but it was enough to make me happy. And in the end, that's good enough for me. I'm willing to take the fall for the both of us. I know that you probably won't like it, but trust me as I smile at you right now. I'm happy to do this for you. After all, you've already done so much for me. I don't know what they're going to do to me, but I'll be fine. I'll never forget the time we spent together. Thank you for everything, Gintoki.

Tsukuyo then turned around and faced the group that had unknowingly been hunting her down all day. She bowed her head and closed her eyes. "I'll accept the punishment for my crimes now," she told them sincerely.

In response, the group was completely silent. No one knew what to say. It felt like Tsukuyo's revelation had just come out of nowhere. No one had been expecting it, and it had caught them all off-guard.

The first person to eventually speak was once again Kagura. All she was able to say was, "G-Gin-chan, is what Tsukky said true?"

Gintoki simply sighed as he got up from the couch and slowly made his way towards Tsukuyo. He stood in front of her and faced the crowd. "It's true," he said. "Tsukuyo is the one I have been seeing all this time."

He gave a slight pause as he let the truth sink in. "However," he continued, "she is lying about the details. She never made me go out with her. I was actually the one who made her go out with me. I was the one who talked her into it. I was also the one who told her to keep it a secret. I even made Shinpachi keep it a secret too. All of this took place because of me. Tsukuyo had hardly anything to do with it. She only went along with whatever I asked her to do."

Gintoki then gave the crowd a small grin as he got to the point. "What she said just now, it's all lies. She's only trying to cover for me. Tsukuyo is actually the one who is completely innocent. After all, I was the one who started this mess. So if you're going to punish someone for this, it should be me," he said, pointing to himself with his thumb.

Before anyone could even say anything to this, Tsukuyo immediately spoke up. "Now hold on a second, Gintoki. What do you think you're doing taking all the blame by yourself? I just told everyone that it was actually me who caused all of this. Not you!"

"Stop lying already," said Gintoki, shaking his head. "Everyone knows the truth. It's obvious that I'm really the one at fault here. I mean, just look at everyone's faces. They look like they're about to beat the crap out of me. You know, since it's my fault and all."

"Like hell! If they're going to beat anybody up, it's clearly going to be me! After all, it's really all my fault!"

"Shut up, you damn woman! I already told you it's all my fault!"

"No, it's my fault!"

"No, it's mine!"

"Shut up!"

"You shut up!"

Eventually, Tsukuyo let out a sigh and shook her head. "You're just not going to let me get away with this, are you? Well, fine. I guess we'll both just have to take the blame for this then."

Gintoki also let out a sigh. "Only because I know you're not going to me get away with it either. But if that's the way it has to be…"

"Very well then," said Tsukuyo, continuing to shake her head. She wasn't exactly happy that Gintoki was interfering like this, but deep down she was actually glad that she didn't have to do this alone. She then gave the samurai a small smile and held out her hand to him. "I'm willing to take responsibility for my feelings if you are," she said sincerely.

Gintoki smiled as he recognized his own words from the past. It was the exact same thing he had told Tsukuyo right before he had asked her out. He slowly reached out and held her hand in his own. "It's a deal," he said.

The couple, now willing to share the responsibility between them, turned to face the group. "All right, we're ready. Do whatever you want with us," challenged Gintoki.

The group was silent for a moment. They no longer had faces of shock or confusion. If anything, it almost seemed like most of them had faces of understanding.

"Gin-san, we're not going to do anything to you," said Otae, giving him a small smile.

"Huh? You're not?"

Sachan let out a disappointed sigh and quietly answered the man. "No, we're not going to punish you two."

"What? But, why?" asked Tsukuyo, a little confused. "I mean, I thought that you guys were really upset with me."

"Originally, we were," said Otae.

"But then, we found it was actually you," said Kyuubei.

"We didn't realize we were about to attack one our closest friends," said Sachan, looking a little guilty.

"We just didn't want to be left in the dark. We just wanted to know what was going on," said Kagura.

Tsukuyo stared at all of them, hardly believing what she was hearing. "Wait a minute. So you guys are all okay with this? You're really not going to kill us?"

"Of course not, we would never do anything like that to you guys," said Otae.

"Yeah, we just wanted to know the secret," said Kagura, looking like she felt kind of bad.

"And believe it or not," interrupted Katsura from behind, "some of us were just here to meet the nice young lady. Not everyone came here to kill you, you know?"

"Yeah, I thought this was some kind of welcome party!" shouted Hasegawa from across the room.

"Are you still on about that?" asked Shinpachi, who was still sitting on the couch.

Tsukuyo looked around, still having a hard time believing what was happening. "So you're really all okay with this? Even you, Sarutobi? I mean, I'm really sorry. I know how much you like Gintoki and all."

"Oh, shut up, Tsukky!" shouted Sachan, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Please don't apologize to me. If anything, I should be apologizing to you. I called you all of those horrible names right in front of you. I never even realized that I was talking about you! I'm such a horrible friend! How can you ever forgive me?"

Tsukuyo gave her friend a small smile of sympathy and placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's all right, Sarutobi. No hard feelings. I should have just told you we were going out in the first place. If I had just done that, you wouldn't have gotten so upset."

"Oh, Tsukky, you're such a good friend," said Sachan, fighting back the tears. "And I was so mean too. How could I possibly be mad at you? I'm sorry, I truly am."

"It's okay, Sarutobi, I know you didn't mean what you said earlier."

"Um, no. She definitely meant what she said back there," said Shinpachi, remembering the girl's intense outrage.

"Shut up, glasses!" yelled the ninja.

"Hey, you wear glasses too!"

Upon hearing this, the whole room broke out into light laughter. It seemed like everyone was starting to return to how they normally behaved. They were once again a happy and cheerful group of friends.

"Anyways," said Otae, "it's hard to stay mad at such a cute young couple."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" asked Gintoki, starting to blush a little.

"Oh, you know, Gintoki," said Katsura, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You two were so cute when you were trying to take the punishment for each other."

"Shut up! I was only trying to keep the bloodshed to a minimum!"

'It's funny when he's trying to hide his feelings' said Elizabeth through a signboard.

"Shut up you damn bird!"

"Anyways," said Katsura, turning to Tsukuyo. "Congratulations on becoming Gintoki's new girlfriend. I hope you two are very happy together. By the way, have you heard the story about his old girlfriend, Anise?"

"Um, yeah, I've already heard all about her," said Tsukuyo. "You know, I was actually here when you told the story."

"Wait a minute," said Gintoki, sounding surprised. "You heard about Anise? How the hell did you find out about her?"

"Zura told us," said Kagura.

"Damn it, Zura! Were you telling stories again!?"

"Anyways, Tsukky, I hope you're going to take good care of Gin-chan. He's kind of a handful, you know?"

"Thank you, Kagura, I'll keep that in mind," said the courtesan.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this? You know how much of an idiot this guy is, right?" asked Catherine as she walked up to Tsukuyo.

"Oh, he's not all that bad," she said with a smile. "He has his good points to him."

"Whatever. You really need a better taste in men. Well, anyway, good luck. You're definitely going to need it," said Catherine as she started walking towards the door.

Tama began to follow her out and gave a wave to Gintoki as she walked. "Thank you for having us, Gintoki-sama! I'll be sure to tell Otose-sama everything I learned today!"

Gintoki gave her a small wave goodbye before pausing. "Wait, did she just say she was going to tell Gran?"

Hasegawa then walked up to the samurai and gave him a pat on the back. "Congrats on getting a new girlfriend, Gin-san. Now that you have one, make sure you get a good job and earn a lot of money. Otherwise, she might end up leaving you and you'll end up out on the streets."

"That's not going to happen," said Gintoki, clearly not worried. "Wait a sec, isn't that what happened to you?"

"Be careful, Gin-san. You can never be too sure. You might just end up losing everything before you know it." And with that, Hasegawa also walked out of the room.

"I'm not going to end up like you!" Gintoki shouted after him. "I'm not going to be a Madao!"

Gintoki then looked over to Tsukuyo and noticed that she was talking with Otae, Kyuubei and Sachan.

"I was almost sure that Gintoki was seducing some innocent young girl, but it turned out to just be you. Now I don't have to worry, because I know that you can take care of yourself."

"Um, thank you, Kyuubei," said Tsukuyo, not quite sure how to respond.

"Well, I can't say I'm completely happy about all of this," said Sachan, slowly returning to her normal self. "Personally, I'd rather be the one who's going out with Gin-san. But if I had to choose someone other than me…I guess I'd be okay with you."

"Thank you, Sarutobi. I was hoping you wouldn't be too upset with me."

"It's okay, I'll just have to wait for the two of you to eventually break up! Then I'll have Gin-san all to myself!" said Sachan with an evil grin.

Tsukuyo gave a small laugh upon hearing that. "Fine, when that day comes, he's all yours."

"I look forward to it," she said, looking determined.

Gintoki then interrupted the conversation by walking up to the girls. "I'm glad this is all over," he said, looking around the room. "I had a feeling something like this was going to happen eventually, but it's finally over. I hope this never happens again."

"You know, Gin-san, we wouldn't have freaked out so much if you had just told us the truth in the beginning," said Otae, clearly avoiding the blame.

"I have my doubts about that," said Shinpachi as he rolled his eyes.

A few days later…

Gintoki and Tsukuyo were standing on the front porch of the Odd Jobs building. They were gently leaning against the railing as they stared up to the sky. The sun was slowly making its way towards the horizon, turning the sky into a light shade of orange. The couple quietly conversed with each other as they looked at the beautiful scenery in front of them.

In the past few days, the two of them had made every effort to inform everyone (who didn't already know) about their relationship. They had tried to make sure that no one was left out so that the secret was officially out in the open. They were no longer afraid to hide it. They just wanted to get it over with by letting everyone know the truth.

And in just a few days, they had done it. All of their friends now knew that they were officially going out with each other. They could finally relax and stop worrying about how people would react. It was officially over.

"Anyways," said Gintoki, "Gran wanted me to tell you that she's having a small welcome dinner for you. She said she wants to get to know more about you or something."

"Well that's very nice of her," said Tsukuyo with a small smile.

"She says that we're supposed to be there or else she's raising the rent," he said with a groan. "Honestly, why does she have to interfere in everything? She's just as bad as everyone else."

"Calm down, Gintoki," said Tsukuyo, turning to face him. "Let her do what she wants. After all, she's only trying to be nice. Besides, this dinner sounds kind of fun."

"Whatever you say," said Gintoki, shaking his head. "Anyways, she seems really happy about us for some reason. I have no idea why either. Stupid old hag."

Gintoki paused for a moment before he glanced towards Tsukuyo. "By the way, how did the others react when you told them about us? Did they take it okay?"

Upon hearing this, Tsukuyo let out a small laugh. "Yeah, they took it fine. The Hyakka were surprised, but happy for me. I guess that they weren't really expecting it, but they approved of you, so it's okay. And when I told Seita, he asked me if you're going to be his big brother now."

"Seriously? That stupid brat, what does he want me to do, babysit him?"

"He really looks up to you, you know? I think he just wants to spend more time with you. That's all. You could at least do that much, can't you? For me?"

"Well, I guess I could visit you more now that everyone knows about us…"

"That would be nice," said Tsukuyo, staring at the sky once again. "By the way, I also ended up telling Hinowa about everything that happened the other day. About the commotion the others had caused and all that."

"Really? What did she have to say that about it?"

Tsukuyo just gave another small laugh as she answered. "She claimed that if I had just told her about the whole mess, she would have come right over and told everyone to leave us alone."

"That would have been just perfect," said Gintoki with a smile. "Having your mom show up and scolding all of your friends. That would have been hilarious."

"She's not my mom, Gintoki," said Tsukuyo in a serious tone.

"Whatever," he said, clearly not caring. "I'm just happy that all of this is over. I feel so relaxed now that everyone knows."

"It does feel really good not to have to hide anything anymore," Tsukuyo agreed. She took in a small breath of fresh air as the wind provided a gentle breeze. The couple was finally relaxing in peace.

Tsukuyo took a quick moment to think back on how much she had changed since she had started dating Gintoki. She was no longer the same nervous girl that she had been on her first date. She now felt free and at ease. She wasn't even worried about anything; she was simply content to be with the idiot standing next to her.

"I'm really happy to be with you, Gintoki."

"I'm happy to be with you too."

The couple stood in silence for a brief moment, staring at the sky and feeling the soft breeze. It was so calm and quiet. In a way, it was almost like the night that they had spent together on Tsukuyo's veranda. It was just a peaceful place where they could simply enjoy each other's company.

"It's such a nice evening," said Gintoki. "It would be a shame to waste it, don't you think?"

"It would," said Tsukuyo. "We should do something to enjoy it while we can."

"I think a quick, smooth ride would help us enjoy it more, don't you?"

"I completely agree."

"Well then," said Gintoki, turning to face her, "let's get going."

Tsukuyo softly smiled and followed him as he walked down the staircase. They eventually arrived at his scooter, which was sitting out in front of the building.

"Don't forget to wear this," said Gintoki, holding his only helmet out to her.

"I know what to do," said Tsukuyo, not even bothering to argue. She took the helmet and quickly put it on her head.

Once the two of them were on the scooter and ready, Gintoki started it up. "All right, let's enjoy the evening together, shall we?"

And with that, the scooter shot off down the street, carrying the young couple as it went on its way.

Book 1 End

Author: For the final chapter of Book 1, let's bring Gintoki back for a conversation just one more time.

Gintoki: What? I'm back?

Author: Yep, you're back, and Book 1 is over.

Gintoki: Oh, you finally got tired of all those other idiots and decided to bring me back, eh?

Author: You mean the other characters? Of course not, they were…um…a pleasure to talk to…

Gintoki: Right…well, anyways, you finally ended the story huh?

Author: Just Book 1, next up is Book 2!

Gintoki: Book 2? You mean this stupid story is continuing?

Author: Yep, it's gonna be good too. (At least I hope so XD)

Gintoki: You seem pretty confident in your writing there. How do you know it's going to be good, huh?

Author: I have a feeling that the readers will like it.

Gintoki: I bet they'd like to know what this 'Book 2' is all about.

Author: Hmm, well I guess I could provide a little summary of what to look forward to in Book 2. You guys would like that, right? Here it is:

A new overlord has come to Yoshiwara. No one knows much about him, but he appears to be a nice, kindhearted young man. However, as Gintoki and Tsukuyo start to learn more about this new overlord, their relationship takes a turn for the worst…

Author: And that's all I can tell you for now! Hopefully this will catch your interest!

Gintoki: …I will admit this has me interested. So, when can we expect this Book 2 to come out?

Author: Well, I need to finish the outline for it first, and then I'll start writing the first chapters for it. Just a head's up, I might take a short break before I get started though…

Gintoki: I should have known. The author is being lazy once again.

Author: Hey! I'm not being lazy! I'll only take a couple of weeks off so I can finish out the semester at school!

Gintoki: So you're not dedicated either?

Author: Shut up! You're one to talk when it comes to being lazy!

Gintoki: Who cares about me? It's not like I'm the one writing this garbage.

Author: That's it! You're fired again! This time for good!

Gintoki: …That is, until Book 2, right?

Author: …Probably.

Gintoki: Well great, I'll see you all then. Goodbye everyone!

Author: Yes, goodbye everyone! Thank you all so much for reading! Do me a favor and please please please leave a review telling me your thoughts about Book 1! I'll try and take the time to respond to everyone who comments, so please do so XD. The next time I see you all, I'll have started Book 2, so please look forward to it! That's it for now. Thanks again! See ya!