Thank you all so much for reading my story! Thank you to everyone who reviews, follows, and favorites! You guys are the ones that help carry me through this! It's because of all of you that I feel encouraged to keep writing! So thank you! Now please enjoy the final chapter of Book 2!

Silver Moon – Book 2 Chapter 20

One Month Later…

It was a warm, sunny morning in March. As Tsukuyo walked through the streets of Edo, she couldn't help but notice what a lovely day it was. She had been released from the hospital a couple of weeks ago, and the cast that had covered her arm had just recently been removed. Tsukuyo smiled to herself. She was perfectly healthy once again.

Right now, Tsukuyo was currently heading for Gintoki's place. Just the night before, he had requested that she come he see him the next day, but he had refused to give a reason as to why.

I wonder what the sudden invitation is all about Tsukuyo thought to herself.

"It's a surprise," he had said.

Tsukuyo simply pondered this as she walked. A surprise, huh? Well, knowing Gintoki, that could mean just about anything…

Tsukuyo's thoughts were cut short as she arrived at the street where Gintoki lived. Without hesitating, she walked right up to the building and climbed the stairs leading to the second floor. She then knocked on the front door and awaited a response.

It was not long before the door opened and Gintoki stuck his head out. He stared at Tsukuyo for a second. "Oh, good, you're here," he said casually. "Come on in."

"Thanks," said Tsukuyo as she entered the apartment. Gintoki closed the door behind her before he started walking down the hallway. Tsukuyo followed behind him.

"So, tell me," she said, "what's up with the sudden invitation?"

Gintoki looked back at her. "It wasn't a problem, was it?"

"No," said Tsukuyo, "I was just curious is all."

"Well, we'll get to that in a little bit," he said, facing forward again. "For now, let's just chat."

"You want to talk?" asked Tsukuyo as the both of them arrived in the living room.

"There's just one thing that I wanted to ask about," said Gintoki as he gestured to one of the couches. "Go ahead and sit if you like."

Tsukuyo sat down and Gintoki soon took the seat beside her. "Alright," she said, "what do you want to know?"

Gintoki stared at her for a second before giving her a smile. "I just wanted to ask about how Yoshiwara is doing. Is their new overlord working out for them?"

Tsukuyo smiled back. "You mean Hinowa? Yeah, she's doing great, and so is the city."

Tsukuyo paused for a second as she stared off to the side. "It's funny," she said. "Even though Hinowa is technically the new 'overlord', nobody actually treats her like that. All of the citizens respect her exactly the same as they always have. I guess you could say it's like she's always been the true overlord of the city; it just hasn't been made official until now."

Gintoki continued smiling. "So then, we probably don't have to worry about her taking advantage of the city like everyone else before her?"

"No," said Tsukuyo with a small laugh. "Hinowa is using her power only to help find ways to improve the city. She wants to do as much as she can for Yoshiwara. She truly loves that city…In a way, it's almost like she has been a mother to Yoshiwara and its citizens. She's always been looking out for the welfare of everyone there. I really do think that she'll be a good fit."

Tsukuyo paused for a second before turning back to Gintoki. "And by the way," she said with a smile, "you're wrong about what you said just now. Not everyone before Hinowa has taken advantage of the city."

Gintoki gave her a curious look. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you," she said with a warm smile. "Believe it or not, you held the power to control Yoshiwara in your hands too, even if it was for a short time. I mean, sure, Hosen abused his power and so did Kamui, but you didn't. You put Yoshiwara in the hands of someone who could really take care of it. It was all thanks to you, you know."

Gintoki stared at her for another moment before turning away and scratching the back of his head. "Well, it sounds great and all when you say it like that, but I didn't really do anything that special. I just passed the responsibility on to someone else."

"Yeah, and you chose a damn good person to give it to, now didn't you?" Tsukuyo asked him.

"Well…"

"Face it, Gintoki," Tsukuyo continued. "No matter how you look at it, Yoshiwara owes its life to you. Just think about it, where would the city be without you, oh great savior of Yoshiwara?"

Gintoki crossed his arms as he looked at her. "I couldn't have possibly saved the damn city that many times," he said in disbelief.

"Five," said Tsukuyo bluntly.

"Huh?"

"That's how many major incidents you've saved us from. Five."

Gintoki unfolded his arms. "There's no way it's that many," he said defiantly.

In response, Tsukuyo simply leaned back and started counting each incident with her fingers. "You freed the city from Hosen and the endless night that it was trapped in. You stopped Jiraia from staging an attack on the city. You helped stop that pig Sadasada from going after Yoshiwara and you helped Suzuran reunite with her lover one last time. After that, you helped us deal with that love potion that was causing chaos throughout the city. And finally, there's this last incident with Kamui."

Tsukuyo paused for a second. All five of her fingers were up. "That makes five, Gintoki."

Gintoki gave Tsukuyo a slightly annoyed look upon hearing all of this. "Look," he said, "if you thought that I was doing all of that stuff for anyone but myself then you-"

Gintoki's words were cut short as Tsukuyo suddenly pressed her lips against his. After a moment, she pulled away.

"Would you just shut up and let me say thank you?" she asked, sounding slightly annoyed herself. "I mean, honestly, why do you have to make everything so difficult?"

Gintoki stared at her before eventually turning his head away in frustration. "Whatever," he said, "let's just leave it at that."

Tsukuyo started smiling once again. "Heh, fine with me," she told him.

After that, the room went silent. Gintoki slowly turned his head to glance at Tsukuyo for a second before shifting his gaze to the floor.

"Do you think I did the right thing?" he asked quietly. "You know, letting Kamui get away…"

Tsukuyo stared at him for a moment before giving a sigh. They had already discussed this topic before, but it seemed like Gintoki was still having second thoughts.

"Look," said Tsukuyo, "you said that it felt like the right choice at the time, right? And we all still made it out alive, even if you didn't kill him."

"I suppose…" said Gintoki, still staring at the floor.

"Your choice was perfectly fine, Gintoki. So you decided to show the guy a little mercy, so what? If anything, your good will might have rubbed off on him."

Gintoki looked over to Tsukuyo. "Yeah…but I just can't help but think that maybe we would all be better off if he was gone for good."

Tsukuyo closed her eyes for a moment. "Fine, just kill him next time then," she said simply.

Upon hearing this, Gintoki was surprised to find himself smiling. "Hey, it's not exactly that easy, you know."

"Well, just stop worrying about it," Tsukuyo told him. "We're all safe and Kamui is gone. That should be more than good enough for us."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," agreed Gintoki.

Tsukuyo looked over to him. "Do you feel a little better now?"

"Yes, thank you," Gintoki replied. "I'm glad that we could talk about this. After all, I can't really discuss it with Shinpachi and Kagura…"

Tsukuyo gave a nod to show that she understood. After Gintoki's fight with Kamui, Gintoki had told everyone else that the Yato had managed to escape on his own. He had not told the rest of them that he had intentionally decided to let his opponent live. Tsukuyo was the only person that he had actually shared the truth with. Gintoki had later explained to her that he wanted to keep that detail a secret to Kagura, since his decision to let Kamui live had been partly for her sake. He thought that his decision might have made Kagura feel guilty, so he simply decided to just keep it a secret instead. Tsukuyo had also promised to keep this detail a secret from the others, and it was because of this that she was the only person who could truly discuss the matter with Gintoki.

Once they were done talking, Tsukuyo looked around for a moment before realizing something. "By the way, where are Shinpachi and Kagura?" she asked the samurai curiously.

"Oh, that's right," said Gintoki, sounding surprised. "I just remembered why I asked you to come over in the first place."

"And why is that?" Tsukuyo asked.

Gintoki smiled at her. "I wanted to give you your Valentine's Day gift."

"Valentine's Day?" she repeated out of surprise. "But Gintoki, that was nearly-"

"A month ago, I know," he finished for her. "But it's better late than never right? Besides, I promised everyone that I would get you something, so I kind of have to go through with this."

At this point, Gintoki got to his feet. "Anyways, I figured that now would be the best time to do it since your wounds have healed."

Tsukuyo stared at him warily. "Uh…it is?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said as he started walking towards his desk. "This is also the reason why I made Shinpachi and Kagura leave the house. We're going to want to do this privately, after all."

Tsukuyo felt her heart plummet into the bottom of her stomach. "N-Now wait a second, Gintoki!" she said, also rising to her feet. "A-Are we really going through with this?"

"Of course," he replied casually. "I just explained all of that, didn't I?"

Tsukuyo could feel herself start to sweat as she took a gulp. I…I don't believe this! she screamed in her head. THIS is what Gintoki's gift is? Were Shinpachi's and Kagura's initial suspicions actually correct? Gintoki wants to…do that…with me?

Tsukuyo could feel herself heavily blushing. "Now hold on, Gintoki!" she screamed again as she pointed at him. "I…I hope you've thought this through! I mean…we have to, uh…be responsible and use protection and-"

"What are you talking about?" asked a confused Gintoki as he looked up from his desk.

"I'm talking about-"

Tsukuyo cut herself short as she took a proper look at Gintoki. He was currently searching through one of his desk drawers, clearly looking for something. Tsukuyo quickly realized that he was actually searching for her gift, meaning that it wasn't the thing that she had been lead to believe…

Gintoki was still staring at her, and Tsukuyo could still feel herself blushing.

"I, uh…never mind…" she said awkwardly.

Gintoki just gave her another confused look before shrugging and returning back to searching through his drawer. A minute later, he found what he was looking for.

"Ah, here it is," he said as he pulled something small out of the drawer. He quickly concealed it behind his back before slowly approaching Tsukuyo.

"Well, sorry it's late," he said, "but here it comes."

Gintoki then took a deep breath before surprisingly dropping to one knee…

He pulled a tiny box out from behind his back and slowly opened it to reveal a small silver ring inside.

"This is yours, if you want it…" Gintoki said sweetly. "Tsukuyo, will you marry me?"

W-What…?

Tsukuyo was completely stunned. "I…I, uh…"

Tsukuyo had to force herself to stop uttering nonsense and take a second to wrap her head around the situation. Is this for real? she wondered. Did Gintoki really just…propose? To me!?

Tsukuyo looked down at the man. "G-Gintoki," she stuttered. "Are…are you being serious right now?"

"Of course I am," he replied calmly.

Tsukuyo felt like she was caught off guard. "B-but, how did…why…what?"

Gintoki laughed a little at her confusion. "Listen," he said, "I know that we haven't been together that long, and I know that this isn't necessarily my style, but something about it just seems right…I've never felt like this about anyone before. And I know you haven't either…"

"What are you talking about?" asked Tsukuyo, still confused.

"Remember when I woke you up that one night in the hospital? And I asked you if you really meant what you had said to me? That's when I knew. I knew that it would not be a mistake to spend the rest of my life with you."

Tsukuyo was now starting to feel overwhelmed by all of this. "You…you've been thinking about doing this since way back then?"

Gintoki looked off to the side. "Well, since before then, actually…"

It took a moment for Tsukuyo to realize what he was talking about. "N-no way," she said. "You mean…back on Valentine's Day? This was what you were planning for back then?"

Gintoki gave a sigh and then smiled. "Yes, but I wasn't nearly as confident in that decision as I am now."

Tsukuyo, still feeling overwhelmed, started desperately looking around for something else to discuss. Her eyes eventually fell on the silver ring in front of her.

"And what about that?" she asked, pointing at it. "Where did you get that?"

"I asked the blacksmith Tetsuko to make it for me," Gintoki explained patiently. "She agreed to do it as a favor for me. And here it is, a plain silver ring. It's simple, but it works for me."

Tsukuyo continued staring at the ring. The simplicity of it did seem to hold a certain charm to it…

"Aside from that," Gintoki suddenly continued, "I even took the liberty of purchasing your contractual freedom from Yoshiwara."

Tsukuyo looked up at him. "What? You…how could you-?"

Gintoki grinned. "Remember the deed to Yoshiwara?"

Tsukuyo's mouth fell open. "You didn't…"

"I did," he replied. "I told Hinowa that she could have the deed if I could buy your freedom in exchange. She happily agreed, only to tell me later that she would have given it to me for free…but, that's not important right now…"

"Tsukuyo," he said firmly, grabbing her attention by staring right into her eyes. "We've spent a lot of time together already, and I'm willing to let it grow. After seeing how much you care about me, and after realizing how much I care about you, this is the only satisfying conclusion that I can come up with. If you agree, then I want to spend the rest of my life with you…"

He paused for a second. "I'll ask this one more time," he said with sincerity in his voice. "Tsukuyo, will you marry me?"

Before Tsukuyo could even wonder what to say, she realized that tears had begun to form in her eyes. This seemed to be a natural occurrence nowadays, ever since she started hanging around Gintoki so much. What was it about this idiot that drove her to tears so often?

This is love Tsukuyo thought to herself with a small smile. Deep down, she already knew the answer that would make her happiest…

"Yes," she finally replied. "Yes, I will marry you, Gintoki."

Gintoki's smile grew wider. "That's what I was hoping to hear," he said as he got to his feet. He carefully pulled the ring out of the box before extending his arm out to Tsukuyo. "Give me your hand," he told her.

Tsukuyo silently obliged as she tried to wipe her tears with her free hand. Gintoki took her hand before gently sliding the silver ring onto her finger.

"This is yours now," he said sweetly.

"Th-thank you, Gintoki" Tsukuyo replied quietly. She glanced at her hand for a second before reaching out and pulling Gintoki closer.

They then embraced each other with a long, passionate kiss, silently signifying the beginning of a new life together for the both of them…

Book 2 End

So that's it! I finally finished up Book 2! It took me forever to get here, but I made it! We all made it! Thank you all so much for constantly encouraging me to continue writing! I couldn't have made it without you guys! SO THANK YOU!

Anyways, let's talk about the chapter. Um…can broken arms heal in a month? XD And how many times has Gintoki saved Yoshiwara? Was it really five? XD That's what I came up with after a little brainstorming.

But who cares about that? What about the big 'proposal'? Did that shock you guys, or were you expecting it? I think some of you were. I have been hinting at it throughout the entire arc, after all. I just hope that it didn't seem like it was too fast/too soon. I think I explained some of the reasoning behind it anyway XD

In other news, lately I've been thinking about what to name my books/arcs. Here's what I've considered: Book 1 could be the "Secret Relationship Arc" and Book 2 could be the "New Overlord Arc"…which means that now, Book 3 will have to be the "Wedding Arc". That's right; Book 3 will focus on the new upcoming wedding. I'll bet you'd all like to get a preview on what to expect. Well, you're in luck :) Here it is:

Gintoki and Tsukuyo are preparing to be wed. Many people are happy for the couple, but Kagura is actually upset with the thought of Gintoki leaving her and Shinpachi. Things get worse once a demon from the past arrives, planning on destroying everything important to Gintoki...

And that's it! This will be the new updated summary for the story once Book 3 comes out. By the way, somebody asked me what genre Book 3 will have. They asked if it will focus on action, drama, or romance. Personally, I think that the answer is that it will have a good mix of all three! So, you can expect all of this to come in the new arc!

So now for the next question: when will Book 3 come out? Well, I'd actually like to get started on it as soon as possible! All I need to do is complete an outline for Book 3 and then I can start writing more chapters! And how long will that take? Um…probably a couple of weeks, if I had to guess. So yeah, you can expect Book 3 in the near future!

And I think that's it! I've covered everything that I need to for now. So…now it's your turn! Please write a review of the story letting me know your thoughts on Book 2! Let me know what you liked and didn't like about this arc! And also tell me your thoughts on the upcoming Book 3!

Once again, thank you all so much for reading! It means a lot to me! The next time I see you will be in Book 3, so look forward to it! That's all for now! Goodbye!