Silver Moon – Book 2 Chapter 4

It was early in the morning. The streets were almost entirely empty as most people were currently in their beds sleeping. However, there was one street that was not empty. There was also one person who was sleeping, but not in a bed.

Gintoki was the one walking slowly and quietly through that street. Tsukuyo was resting in his arms, completely asleep.

"Damn it," he suddenly whispered to himself. "Why did I have to fall in love with such a troublesome woman?"

He then started to think back on everything that had happened within the last few hours. Before long, he found himself quietly ranting about the whole situation as he continued walking.

"I'm just enjoying a nice evening alone with my girlfriend and the next thing I know she has a tiny sip of alcohol. It turns out that one sip is all she needs to get completely drunk in one go. Then she starts terrorizing everybody in the club while the manager is trying to kick us out. As soon as I start arguing with him, she goes ahead and runs out the door on her own!"

"So what do I do? I spend the next hour trying to chase her down and prevent her from doing anything stupid. The next thing I know, the Hyakka on patrol see her running wild and start chasing after her too! Eventually, they were able to help me capture her, but the moment we do she falls asleep!"

"So then what? The Hyakka start saying, 'You can take her home, right, Gin-san? She's your girlfriend after all, right, Gin-san?' So then I have no choice but to pick her up and carry her home. Oh, but not her home. My home. You know, the one all the way up on the surface. And why is that? Because Hinowa is having some stupid meeting at her house and I'm not allowed to bring a sleeping drunk into the middle of it."

"And now here we are!" he finished, staring down at Tsukuyo out of annoyance. "I carried you all the way to the elevator and finally all the way here. Do you even know how far that is? It's exhausting! I better get a thank you or something for all of this!"

Once he was done, Gintoki continued to stare at Tsukuyo almost as if he was expecting a response. He then looked away and took a deep breath in order to calm down. It seemed like all of his ranting had helped to relieve some of his stress.

Gintoki then gave a big yawn as his eyes started to feel heavy. He looked back down to Tsukuyo before he started complaining again. "And how's come you're the only who gets to sleep anyway?" he asked. "I'm tired too you know."

In response, Tsukuyo just kept on snoozing. Her mouth was slightly hanging open and it almost looked like she was starting to drool a little bit.

Gintoki could only give a sigh as he looked at her. "Well, I guess you have been feeling tired lately with all of the hard work you've done. Perhaps you do deserve a little rest. I guess I should keep my voice down…"

Gintoki continued to stare at Tsukuyo as he began nearing his home. For some reason, he soon found himself smiling at the unconscious woman in his arms. He almost seemed charmed with her.

She is kind of cute when she's sleeping he thought to himself. She's hardly moving or making a sound. She just looks so peaceful here…

Gintoki decided to gently lean over and give her a kiss on the forehead. "Sweet dreams," he said quietly with a smile.

Upon looking back up, Gintoki finally found himself arriving on the street where he lived. He quickly made his way to his home and started climbing the stairs with Tsukuyo still resting in his arms. He managed to open the front door and quietly shut it behind him before walking down the hall.

As he entered the living room, he could hear Kagura snoring away in her closet. Sadaharu could be seen sleeping just outside her door. Gintoki simply ignored the two of them as he went ahead and carried Tsukuyo to his own room.

Once he was inside, he quietly closed the door behind him. He then walked over to his futon and gently placed Tsukuyo on top of it. He then did his best to make sure that she was comfortable by carefully adjusting her position. Once he was satisfied, he took a moment to recover from carrying her such a long distance.

There, we finally made it. Now you can sleep all you want, and I can finally relax…

Gintoki then gave another yawn as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

Man, I'm exhausted. It sure has been a long night. I think I might just lay here and rest for a moment…

Before he could even realize it, Gintoki was already lying on the futon next to Tsukuyo, completely asleep…

A few hours later, Tsukuyo suddenly found herself waking up in a daze. She slowly raised her head up and tried looking around, only to see everything through her cloudy vision. She then put a hand to her forehead in an effort to help herself wake up. Before long, she was able to realize that she was lying on her side on a futon mat.

Ugh, where the hell am I? she wondered.

As soon as she started feeling more alert, Tsukuyo quietly took another look around the room in an effort to make sense of her situation. She was soon able to recognize the place as Gintoki's bedroom.

Oh, so I'm in Gintoki's room she thought to herself as she gave a yawn. She then paused as the full realization came to her.

Wait, if I'm in Gintoki's room, that means I'm lying on his futon right now…And if I'm on his futon, then that means…

Tsukuyo quietly looked over her shoulder to find Gintoki's unconscious face right behind her. Tsukuyo's eyes immediately widened out of surprise as she cupped a hand over her mouth.

What the hell!? she almost screamed. I'm…I'm sleeping with Gintoki!?

She quickly slid away from the man before sitting up. She then put her hands to her head as she stared down at the floor. She was starting to freak out over the situation she currently found herself in.

What the hell is going on!? Why am I sleeping with Gintoki? How did this even end up happening? There's no way…we didn't do that together, did we? There's no way that happened, right?

Tsukuyo frantically looked back and forth between herself and Gintoki before eventually realizing something. She then gave a quiet sigh of relief. Both she and Gintoki were fully clothed.

So I guess we didn't do anything…naughty…Well, that's good. I was worried for a second there…

Tsukuyo then yawned before lying back down on the futon. She started to wonder how she had come to end up there. She tried to remember what had happened before she fell asleep, but it was all just a blur.

I can't remember anything right now. I guess I'll just have to ask Gintoki about it in the morning. For now, I should just go back to sleep…

Tsukuyo quietly turned so that she lay on her side again and closed her eyes. She started to drift off to sleep when something suddenly caught her attention.

Tsukuyo's eyes immediately shot open as she realized that something had wrapped itself around her waist. She quickly lifted her head and looked down to see what exactly was going on. To her surprise, she found that it was actually Gintoki's arm that was currently holding her.

"Gintoki?" she whispered quietly, turning around to face her boyfriend.

Once again, Tsukuyo was surprised at what she found. Even though Gintoki was holding her, he was still fast asleep. However, she was soon able to notice that there was something different about him from a moment ago. His face looked worried, and there were even some drops of sweat on it. He appeared to be in some kind of discomfort.

"Unnh," he unconsciously moaned.

To Tsukuyo's surprise, Gintoki immediately tightened his hold on her and pulled her close to his body. He was firmly holding her so that the two of them were right up against each other. He then seemed to settle down a little bit as soon as that was accomplished.

While this was happening, Tsukuyo simply stayed still without fighting his actions. Instead of resisting, she simply stared at Gintoki with concern. Even though he had stopped moving, he still looked kind of upset and he was quietly mumbling to himself.

He must be having a bad dream she thought as she looked at him. Poor guy. I wish there was something I could do to help. Maybe I could try to comfort him…

Tsukuyo looked towards the arm wrapped around her and slowly reached out for it. She managed to find Gintoki's hand and she gently held it with her own.

"It's okay," she whispered to him. "I'm here."

After a while, Gintoki started to relax and quiet down. It seemed like his bad dream was finally coming to a close. He was soon resting peacefully once again.

Tsukuyo, however, still continued to hold onto his hand as she started thinking about the man. I wonder what kind of dream could have had him so worried she thought to herself. He seemed kind of panicked about something. Maybe he was thinking about me? Or maybe Shinpachi or Kagura? Or maybe it has something to do with that war he fought in all those years ago…

Tsukuyo quietly turned to look at Gintoki again. As she stared at him, she suddenly realized something.

There's a lot I don't know about him…

Tsukuyo gave a frown before laying her head back down on the pillow. Now that I think about it, Gintoki is kind of secretive. He's never really told me anything about his past. I'm not even sure if Shinpachi or Kagura know that much about it. In fact, I think everything I know about his background I learned from other people. I wonder why he tries to keep it to himself…

Tsukuyo gave another sigh. That idiot she thought. Now he has me all worried about him over a stupid nightmare. Why does he have to keep secrets that make me concerned anyway?

Tsukuyo then went back to thinking about Gintoki and his mysterious past. Truthfully, she really didn't know that much about him. She knew that he had fought in the Joi War when he was younger and that he had also lost his master, but even then she didn't really know the details.

Tsukuyo gave Gintoki's hand a gentle squeeze. I wish you felt comfortable enough to tell me about all of this.

In response, Gintoki suddenly let out a quiet snore. The abrupt noise actually surprised Tsukuyo, who had not been expecting a reply from him. At the very least, she had not been expecting him to respond with that kind of sound.

Tsukuyo then let out a quiet snicker as she started to close her eyes. Well, I guess he can tell me about it when he's ready. And when he is, I'll be right there waiting to listen.

She then readjusted herself so that she was comfortable in Gintoki's embrace before once again drifting off to sleep…

A little while later, morning had arrived. The sun could be seen rising into the sky, showering light on a new day. It was not long before people were soon walking throughout the streets, going about their usual business.

Gintoki and Tsukuyo, however, were still fast asleep on the samurai's futon. It seemed like the both of them were still tired from the previous night's events and didn't plan on waking up anytime soon.

The couple could be found sleeping peacefully in the same positions as before. Gintoki still held Tsukuyo up against his body with his arm wrapped around her. Tsukuyo was still holding his hand with her own.

Surprisingly, the both of them could be seen softly smiling, almost as if they could somehow tell what the other was doing. Despite the fact that they were both asleep, they still looked happy to be with each other.

As the couple continued snoozing, footsteps could quietly be heard from outside the bedroom door. It seemed like somebody was slowly approaching the room.

Suddenly, the door slid wide open and sunlight began pouring in. In the doorway stood Kagura, smiling with her arms outstretched.

"Time to wake up, Gin-chan!" she shouted into the room. "It's morning!"

The sudden introduction of light along with the young girl's shouting immediately forced the couple to wake up. Their eyes quickly shot open as they started to realize what exactly was going on.

"What the hell?" said Gintoki, rubbing his eyes as he looked straight into the light.

"K-Kagura?" Tsukuyo stuttered, staring at the young girl in disbelief.

"Huh?" said Kagura, immediately noticing that something was out of the ordinary. "Tsukky? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, um, I…I was just-"

"Why are you sleeping with Gin-chan?"

Tsukuyo immediately jumped to her feet as she frantically waved her hands back and forth. "Kagura, it's not what it looks like!" she yelled as her face started to turn red.

Kagura gave the woman a look of confusion. She then turned towards Gintoki as she tried to figure out what was going on. "Really? Because it looked like you guys were sleeping together."

Gintoki also jumped to his feet in an effort to defend himself. "Hold on a second Kagura, we were not sleeping together. We were just…uh, resting near each other."

"I don't get it," she said with a blank face.

"It's like this," said Tsukuyo, trying to get the young girl to understand. "We kind of just happened to fall asleep next to each other."

"Yeah, that's it," said Gintoki, nodding his head in agreement. "We were just sleeping, that's all."

"We didn't do anything else," said Tsukuyo. "Not a thing."

"We definitely didn't do anything with each other. Nope, not at all."

"We were just sleeping."

"There's no way we did anything like that."

"Of course not! We would never do something like that."

"Yeah, so basically, we didn't do anything. So don't bother telling anyone about what you saw here," Gintoki told her.

"Do you understand, Kagura?" asked Tsukuyo with a pleading tone in her voice.

In response, Kagura simply continued to stare at them out of confusion. "What are you guys talking about?"

Gintoki and Tsukuyo both looked at each other before giving a sigh of relief. It seemed like Kagura was actually completely clueless about the whole situation.

"Um, don't worry about it," said Gintoki.

"Yeah, it was nothing," said Tsukuyo.

Kagura continued to look confused before a realization suddenly struck her. "Wait a minute," she said before giving the couple a weird look. "Is that the thing you were talking about just now? You mean you guys were having…sex?"

"NO THAT'S NOT IT!" Gintoki shouted at the top of his lungs. "You've got it all wrong! We were not doing that last night! Nobody was doing that last night!"

"T-that's right, Kagura," said Tsukuyo, starting to freak out even more than before. "We definitely didn't do that last night!"

"You don't even know what that word means, right? So just go ahead and forget about it. It's nothing to worry about!"

"Yes, forget about it! It's really not important at all!"

"Yeah, so don't go out and tell people about this!"

Kagura just continued to give the couple a weird look as she stood there. "You guys are acting kind of strange," she told them.

"Well of course we are! You're accusing us of something we clearly didn't do!" Gintoki shouted.

"So…you guys didn't do that then?" asked Kagura in an innocent tone.

Gintoki took a deep breath in order to calm down. "No, we really didn't do anything last night, so do us a favor and just drop it, ok?"

"Please Kagura, promise you won't tell anyone about this. Even though we didn't do anything, other people might get the wrong idea…" said Tsukuyo, giving the girl a pleading look.

Kagura continued to stare at them for a moment before finally giving a shrug. "Yeah, sure, I promise," she said, suddenly looking like she no longer cared about the situation in front of her. "If this is going to make you guys so upset, I'll just shut up about it."

"Really?" asked Tsukuyo, sounding relieved. "Thank you, Kagura. We appreciate it."

"Yeah, whatever," replied the young girl, clearly not interested. She then went ahead and turned around before walking out of sight from the doorway.

Gintoki and Tsukuyo soon let their guards down before giving another sigh of relief. They had finally been able to prevent Kagura from having any suspicions or starting any rumors based on what she had seen. For some reason, it was starting to feel like they were hiding secrets all over again, even though they didn't actually have anything to hide. Nevertheless, the couple's 'secret' was safe for the time being.

"By the way," said Kagura, suddenly reappearing in the doorway. "The next time Tsukky comes over for a sleepover, let me know, would ya? We can all have more fun together that way."

Kagura then gave a small smile before once again disappearing from view. Tsukuyo simply stared after the girl before turning to Gintoki with a look of curiosity.

In response, Gintoki just shrugged before giving her a smile. "Well, good morning," he said.

Tsukuyo continued to stare at him for a moment before giving a yawn. She then smiled back to him as she lightly scratched the top of her head.

"Good morning?" she repeated. "Heh, yeah right."

Hello everyone! I really hope you enjoyed this Gintsu heavy chapter, and maybe even gave a laugh or two. What's that? You didn't laugh at all? Oh…well, that's cool…

Anyways, today I'm going to talk about something unrelated to this story or Gintama, so do me a favor and listen anyway! I just recently caught up to the manga known as Berserk. I must say, it's one of the best series I've ever read and I highly recommend it. It really has just about everything you could ever want in a series: amazing story, characters, artwork, it's all great! Be warned though, the content is very mature and often graphic, so keep that in mind. After all, I don't want to give anyone nightmares or anything. But then again, would it really be my fault? (*gives innocent face*)

So yeah, feel free to give Berserk a try if you haven't already. It really is incredible. Hopefully, you won't regret looking into it ;)

In other news, I recently read something that got me very excited! It may not matter much to some of you, but I myself am very happy to hear that One Punch Man will be getting an English print release! Up until this point, this series has only been available digitally, which I'm not the biggest fan of. I personally prefer to read out of a physical book if I can, so this news made me very happy :D

So yeah, I'll probably end up buying those books then XD I just can't help it, One Punch Man is also an amazing series that I recommend checking out. It's even getting an anime this fall, so all of you promise to go watch it!

Well, now that I'm done advertising all of this manga, I'll start wrapping things up XD Please leave a review with your thoughts on the chapter and look forward to the next one! See you all later!