Silver Moon – Book 3 Chapter 6
As Sogo glanced down at the unconscious China girl before him, he just happily started grinning to himself. He had just stumbled upon a grand opportunity.
"Let's see…destruction of public property, loitering in the middle of a path; she's in quite a bit of trouble this time around."
Sogo then paused as he continued staring at the girl. Hmm…but why is she here though? he couldn't help but wonder to himself. I mean, seriously, did she just knock over a tree and then decide to take a nap here? I know that you're crazy, China, but this defies even your logic…
Maybe I should just ask her he thought with another grin. "Hey, China, what are you doing sleeping in the middle of a park?" he asked calmly.
Kagura simply continued snoozing. No doubt she hadn't even caught a word of what the young Shinsengumi officer was mumbling to her.
"No response, huh?" asked Sogo as his grin turned into a wicked smile. "Fine, I guess I'll just have to beat it out of you then."
Without a second thought, Sogo slowly lifted his leg up before bringing it down right on the back of Kagura's head. He cheerfully did this a few more times.
"Hey, China, are you listening to me?" he asked in the same calm tone.
"OUCH!" Kagura screamed as she jerked awake. She immediately curled up before holding a hand to the back of her head. "What the hell is going on?"
"Oh good, you're awake," said Sogo pleasantly.
Kagura just looked up at him, her eyes slowly widening. "Sadist!? What are you-"
Kagura suddenly paused as the memories of the night before came rushing back to her. The last thing that she remembered was that she was in the middle of being attacked…
Kagura shot a glare up at him. "So it was you!?" she screamed. "You're the one who attacked me last night!?"
"Huh?" asked Sogo, a little taken aback. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb!" she yelled as she hopped to her feet, fists raised in anger. "I know it was you!"
Sogo raised an eyebrow out of curiosity. "You were attacked last night?"
"Yes, and I know that it was you that did it! Admit it!"
Sogo just glanced at her with a perfectly straight face. "Man, China, you're even more insane than I thought you were. I think you might have finally gone off the deep end."
"What did you just say!?" asked Kagura, growing angrier by the second.
Sogo just gave a smirk as he looked away. "Heh, I don't know what you're on about, but I didn't attack you last night. I actually found you just now, sleeping away right here in the middle of the park."
"That's a lie!" Kagura barked at him. "I don't believe it!"
Sogo just sighed as he looked back at her. "You're such a simpleton, China. It should be obvious that I'm telling the truth."
"Oh yeah? Then prove it!" she demanded.
Sogo rolled his eyes. "In case you hadn't noticed yet, it's morning. If I had attacked you last night, then why would I be here right now?"
Kagura just looked around. It really is morning she noticed. I guess he has a point. Whoever did attack me would have been here hours ago, and would also be long gone by now. Not to mention, if it had been this Sadist, there's no doubt he would have stomped on my head the first chance he got. He wouldn't have put it off until morning like this…
Kagura lowered her fists as she looked away. "Hmph, your story checks out, I guess…"
Sogo crossed his arms as he looked at her. "Of course it does. Isn't that what I've been telling you? Honestly, if you ask me, I think you've finally gone mental."
"Oh, do you?" asked Kagura casually as she started looking around. She seemed to be scanning the park.
"Yes, I do" Sogo replied proudly. "As a matter of fact, I don't even think that you were attacked last night. I mean, just look at you. You don't even have any injuries."
Kagura just ignored him as she continued scanning the surrounding area. She knew what she had seen and heard the night before. "Say, you haven't seen anybody suspicious around here lately, have you?"
Sogo gave the girl another curious look. "No, I haven't. Why?"
"Never mind," said Kagura, lightly clenching her teeth as she stopped searching. I guess they got away…
Sogo simply continued to curiously stare at the girl. For some reason, he couldn't help but feel like she was acting stranger than usual today. In fact, this entire situation just screamed weird. Something was definitely off…
"Hey China," he began in a surprisingly soft tone, "is everything alright?"
Kagura gave him a glare for a second before turning away. "Everything is fine," she told him as she started walking off. "See ya later…"
Sogo simply pocketed his hands as he started to watch her go. He thought about calling her back, but he didn't really see any point in it. He wanted to know why she was acting so unusual today, but he knew that he probably couldn't get a useful answer out of her.
Sogo watched the girl until she eventually disappeared from sight. His eyes then slowly drifted over to the fallen tree trunk that he had passed by earlier.
Oh shit he thought. I forgot to write her up for this…
Meanwhile, Matako, Takechi, and Abuto walked into the helm of their ship, which still resided in a forest clearing. Upon entering the room, they all came to a halt next to each other as they faced their comrades. Takasugi sat at the head of the table, calmly smoking his kiseru. Bansai was at the other end of the room, sitting by the window and lightly playing music.
And then there was Kamui, who was the first one to notice their return. He was currently leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed behind his head. His legs were also crossed and were resting on top of the table before him. "Oh, you guys are back," he said as he casually glanced over to them.
This comment caught the attention of Takasugi and Bansai, who also turned to greet their returning comrades.
"Welcome back," said Bansai as he continued strumming his instrument.
Takasugi just gave them a small grin. "Well, how did it go?" he asked them with interest in his tone. "Were you able to find an opportunity?"
"We were," said Matako with a triumphant smile. "We managed to find the girl when she was all by herself in an empty park."
Kamui suddenly leaned forward so that he was sitting up straight. "Did your plan work?" he asked curiously.
"Yep, it went off without a hitch," Abuto replied with a smile. "We knocked her out with ease."
"I see," said Takasugi, taking in every word. "And the Dragon Rage?"
"It now rests within the target," said Takechi confidently.
Takasugi's smile naturally grew larger. "Excellent…and you're sure that nobody saw you?"
"No sir," answered Takechi in a respectful tone.
Takasugi slowly leaned back in his chair as he brought his pipe to his lips. "Just what I wanted to hear. Good work, all of you."
Abuto just shrugged at this. "It was child's play, really."
"So now what?" Kamui asked suddenly. "We wait for her to blow up, or whatever?"
Matako gave a sigh. "She's not going to explode, you idiot. Weren't you listening when all of this was explained?"
"I think he meant 'blow up' figuratively," Bansai chimed in from the back.
"Right, what he said," said Kamui with an innocent smile.
As Matako started glaring at the Yato, Abuto just calmly walked over and took a seat next to his captain. He then leaned over and whispered into his ear. "You really thought that she would explode, didn't you, captain?"
"Shut up, Abuto," he whispered back, still innocently smiling.
"Anyways, he is correct" said Takasugi as he exhaled from his kiseru. "The next step is to wait around for the drug to take its effect. How long did you say that would take, Takechi?"
"It could be ready at any time today," the strategist explained. "At the very least, I think that we will have our results by tonight."
Takasugi continued staring at him. "And you have one of our spies keeping tabs on her at the moment, correct?"
"That's right," he replied. "He will let us know the instant the girl begins going on a rampage."
Takasugi smiled at this. "Perfect, then it looks like we can just sit around and relax while the plan unfolds. After all, it is only a matter of time…"
Takasugi turned around to look out of the window at the end of the room. He stared at it for a moment before he turned back to face the strategist once more. "Takechi, our target, this Yato girl…you know her name, correct?"
Takechi looked a little surprised to hear this. So did everybody else in the room. "I do," he replied truthfully.
"Remind me of what it is again," Takasugi requested.
Takechi gave his superior a weird look, but he still answered him nonetheless. "Kagura. Her name is Kagura."
"Kagura…" Takasugi whispered, as if he were tossing the name around in his head. "I'll be referring to her by that name from now on."
This statement only managed to earn the terrorist even more weird looks from his subordinates. Matako decided to ask the question that was on everyone's mind.
"Why are you bothering to learn her name, Shinsuke-sama?"
Takasugi glanced at her before staring out the window again. "Because," he began calmly, "this girl, Kagura, is more than a target to us now. As of this moment, she is now our precious asset; a tool of destruction to be used for our own benefit."
Takasugi then paused before bringing his kiseru back to his lips. "Whether she realizes it or not, she's actually one of us now. Kagura, our weapon for striking against Gintoki..."
Takasugi then closed his eyes as he gave a small shrug. "At the very least, she deserves a little respect from us. After all, she's the one who is going to be laying the groundwork for our plan. Even if she is basically just a stepping stone, I won't deny that she holds value for us, and I will respect her for that…and it is for that reason that I will call her Kagura…"
As Takasugi brought his words to a close, the others just stared at him in silence. Even if they didn't fully understand his way of thinking, they couldn't deny that he had a really talented and poetic way of explaining it. At the very least, they all respected his decision and his justification for it…
All except for Kamui, that is, who simply shrugged. "I'm just going to keep calling her 'weakling'…"
At some point on Kagura's journey back to the Odd Jobs building, she had started to sprint. Maybe it was because she felt a little uneasy after randomly being attack, or maybe it was because she was worried about what the others were probably thinking, but either way, she felt like she had to get home as soon as possible.
They're probably worried sick, wondering where I am right now she thought with a frown. I need to hurry up and get there already!
Kagura then tried to take a deep breath in order to calm herself down. Despite this, she still continued running. I should probably tell them that I was attacked too. It's possible that we have enemies out there right now. Gin-chan and Shinpachi might also be targets for an upcoming attack.
Eventually, Kagura turned onto the street where she lived before she breathed a quick sigh of relief. "Finally!" she exclaimed as she dashed straight to her home. She didn't stop scurrying until she was up the steps and in front of the door. She then took a few seconds to catch her breath.
"I made it," she said, before slowly sliding open the door. She walked inside and immediately went down the hallway that lead to the main room. She just slid the door open before entering.
"Gin-chan, I'm back," she said quietly as she looked around. She soon stopped; what she had found surprised her. Across the room, sitting at his desk, awaited an angry Gintoki. He silently glared at her as she walked in.
"Gin-chan?" asked Kagura, giving him a weird look.
"Where the hell have you been?" he muttered.
"Huh?" asked Kagura, a little confused.
"I said where the hell have you been!?" Gintoki repeated, rising up out of his seat a little. "I've been worried sick wondering where you went!"
His attitude took Kagura by surprise. She had not expected him to be angry like this. In fact, she had mostly expected him to be concerned. I mean, sure, he seemed a little worried for her wellbeing, but he mostly appeared to be angry.
"What's your deal?" Kagura blurted out without thinking.
"My deal?" repeated Gintoki in a heated tone. "My deal is that you were gone all night long! What the hell happened? Where were you!?"
Kagura gave him an upset look, but answered anyway. "I just went for a walk for a little bit when-"
"A little bit!?" Gintoki interrupted her. "Since when is all night just a little bit!? You've always come home at night before! Why didn't you do that this time!?"
Kagura was slowly losing her patience with this guy. It seemed like he was overreacting and getting angry at her for no reason at all. Not to mention, none of this had been within her control.
"I wanted to come back last night!" she said in a slightly raised voice. "I-"
Gintoki cut her off again. "Then why didn't you? Didn't you know that we would be worried about you!? Didn't you think about anyone other than yourself!?"
Kagura paused before furrowing her brow at him. "Are you saying that I'm being selfish?" she asked quietly.
Gintoki stared back at her, still bitter. "Yes, I am."
Upon hearing this, Kagura gave the samurai a full-on glare as she clenched her fists. He won't even let me explain myself before he starts criticizing me. I've had enough. Gin-chan is way out of line...
"You don't even care…" she muttered through clenched teeth.
Gintoki's eyes widened out of surprise. "What did you just say?" he whispered.
"You don't even care about me," Kagura repeated, this time a little louder.
Gintoki continued glaring at her. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "That's not true and you know it," he told her.
"No, it is true," Kagura spitefully insisted. She then crossed her arms as she turned away. "Honestly, I don't even know why you're so angry at me right now. I didn't even do anything wrong. I stayed out late, so what? I'm practically an adult, right? After all, I'll be living on my own once you're gone, so why should I even listen to you?"
Gintoki could feel himself becoming more and more irritated as he listened to the girl. Eventually, he stood up as he slammed his hands down on his desk. "You don't know what you're talking about! I'm only angry because I was worried about you! Even if you are growing up, I'm still going to care about you! I'm still going to get concerned when you go missing like that! Don't talk like you know everything, you brat!"
Kagura just glared at him once more before turning away again. It was too late; she didn't care about what he had to say anymore…
"Whatever," she muttered as she walked back towards the door. "I'm done listening to you."
Gintoki watched her start to leave. "Hey, where do you think you're going!? We're not done talking yet!"
"Well I am," Kagura said in a matter-of-fact tone. "See ya."
Gintoki continued shouting after her. "Hey, get back here! Kagura! KAGURA!"
It was no use; the girl had already walked all the way out to the front and through the door. She was gone.
Gintoki just fell back into his seat. He then tightly gripped the arms of his chair. "That damn teenage bitch," he cursed. "What the hell was that all about!?"
Gintoki took a deep breath in an effort to calm himself down. There was no point in being angry now; she had already left.
Damn it, did I push her too far or something? I wasn't even really that upset. In fact, I was just trying to teach her a lesson for disappearing on us like that. It was mostly supposed to be an act, like that time when she asked me for a New Year's Envelope. It wasn't anything too serious. But then…
Gintoki couldn't helped it. He could feel rage welling up within him again.
But then she went and said all that shit about me not caring! What was that all about? I mean, I know I was a little hard on her, but she went way too far with those comments! How could she say those things!? Doesn't she understand that I was just worried about her!?
Once again, Gintoki had to go through the process of calming himself down. He knew he wouldn't get anywhere if he just kept ranting like this. He took a few minutes to think over what had happened the last few days.
Hmm…now that I think about it, Kagura has been acting strange lately. She's been oddly quiet around me, which isn't normal for her. Hell, even the fact that she stayed out all night is strange. I asked her about her behavior last night, but she didn't say anything…
Hmm…could all of this possibly explain her sudden outburst? he wondered.
Gintoki then shook his head. This whole situation was causing him too much stress. He just looked over to the latest copy of Shonen Jump, which lay nearby on his desk. He picked it up before flipping through it.
Eh, I'll just get to the bottom of this later…
Later that day, Takasugi lightly drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. He was patiently and anxiously waiting for some information on their mobile weapon.
Just then, Takechi entered the room. A minute earlier, he had left to contact the spy that was responsible for follow the girl.
Takasugi glanced over to him, as did everyone else. "Well, Takechi, any news on our lovely little Kagura?" he asked.
Takechi shook his head. "Nothing yet, Shinsuke-dono."
Takasugi continued staring at him for a second before turning away and giving a smirk.
"Soon," he said. "Very soon…"
That evening, Tsukuyo quietly opened the front door of Odd Jobs Gin before walking inside. As she walked down the hall, she nervously smiled. As it turns out, Tsukuyo was going to be cooking dinner for the Odd Jobs crew that night. This was going to be a way for the courtesan to test her newly acquired cooking skills that she had picked up from Hinowa. In all honesty, Tsukuyo did feel a little apprehensive about what the others would think of her improved cooking ability, but at the same time, she did feel rather confident in her skills. She simply hoped for the best.
Upon entering the main room, Tsukuyo found Gintoki and Shinpachi sitting there waiting for her. "Hey guys, I'm here," she greeted them.
"Good evening, Tsukuyo-san," said Shinpachi with a polite wave.
"Hey there," said Gintoki casually as he looked up from his desk. He gave her a smile. "Are you ready to start making dinner, honey?"
Tsukuyo's eyes narrowed when she heard that. She was almost sure that he had uttered the word "honey" sarcastically. She just gave a sly smile as she responded. "I sure am, Kintoki."
The smile quickly disappeared from Gintoki's face. "That's not funny," he told her seriously.
"Really?" asked Tsukuyo with a snicker. "Because I think it's pretty funny."
Gintoki remained serious as he stared at her. "You wouldn't think it was so funny if that idiot called you 'Scooter' or something like that."
"No, it's really only funny when he calls you Kintoki," she said with a playful smile.
Gintoki just leaned back in his chair as he crossed his arms. "Well great, I'm glad I can help amuse you then."
Tsukuyo gave another small laugh at this before glancing around the room. She suddenly noticed that someone was missing. "Hey, where's Kagura at?" she asked him.
Gintoki remained silent for a second before he pointed a finger skyward. "She's up on the roof, sulking."
"She's sulking?" asked Tsukuyo, confused. "Why?"
Shinpachi suddenly decided to speak up. "Now that you mention it, Tsukuyo-san, I'm not sure what's going on with her either. She was already up there when I got here and Gin-san hasn't explained anything."
The two of them turned to the samurai at the same time, waiting for an explanation. In response, Gintoki just shrugged. "It's nothing really. She's probably just upset about the argument we had earlier."
"You guys had an argument earlier?" asked Shinpachi, surprised.
"What happened?" asked Tsukuyo.
"Well…like I said, it was nothing really," Gintoki persisted. "I basically just scolded her for staying out all night without telling anyone."
"She stayed out all night?" repeated Shinpachi as he looked away. "That's odd, she's never done that before…"
"So you ended up yelling at her?" asked Tsukuyo, who was trying to follow along.
"Yeah," admitted Gintoki, "but it wasn't anything too serious. I was mostly just trying to teach her a lesson for making me worry like that. I mean, I didn't even know where she was…"
"You didn't?" asked Shinpachi. "I thought I told you last night that Kagura had gone out for a walk. Weren't you listening?"
Gintoki just gave the boy a small glare. "Well I'm sorry, but it's kind of hard to hear you when I have Sakamoto standing over my shoulder laughing his ass off the whole time. Honestly, I think that his 'Ah ha ha ha ha' is still ringing in my ears."
"Uh oh," said Tsukuyo, looking concerned. "So did you two end up having a misunderstanding or something?"
Gintoki nodded. "Yeah, I scolded her a little and I guess she didn't take it well. She said some stuff back which actually made me angry, but then she just blew me off before I could say anything else. Later, I discovered that she had snuck up to the roof, and she's been hanging around up there all day."
Gintoki then paused before looking around. "By the way, is it just me, or does Kagura seem like she's been acting a little strange lately?"
Tsukuyo was silent at first, but she eventually gave a nod. "I have noticed that she seems a lot quieter lately."
"Yeah," agreed Shinpachi, "she hasn't been her usual peppy self."
"That's what I thought too," said Gintoki. "Her behavior is definitely unusual for her character. The fact that she's been so quiet, and the fact that she lashed out at me this morning; it makes me think that there might be something wrong with her…"
"You think something could be bothering her?" suggested Tsukuyo.
"Possibly," answered Gintoki as he turned away. "I honestly have no idea. I've been focusing on the wedding so much recently that I've hardly had any time to even pay attention to the girl."
The room went silent after this. Everyone was preoccupied with concern over the Yato girl and they wondered if she was doing okay. She had never been known to have behaved quite like this before…
Eventually, Tsukuyo looked over to Gintoki. "Hey Gintoki, by any chance, did you notice that there was something wrong with Kagura before today?"
Gintoki gave her a weird look. "Of course, I've actually noticed it over the past few days."
Tsukuyo just shook her head before looking back at the samurai. "So, you thought it would be a good idea to yell at her when you knew that something must be upsetting her?"
Gintoki paused for a second. "Er, well, I-"
Shinpachi jumped in where Tsukuyo left off. "How could you have thought that was a good idea, Gin-san?"
Gintoki just sat there with a dumb look on his face as he heavily began to sweat.
"Did you even consider her feelings, Gintoki?"
"Why didn't you treat her more gently, Gin-san?"
"Were you even thinking rationally?"
"Did you think it would be funny to yell at her like that?"
"Poor Kagura, she must be feeling awful right now."
"I hope she hasn't been too upset with all of this."
"I wonder if she's crying her eyes out-"
"Alright, alright, I get it!" Gintoki suddenly screamed. "So I screwed up, okay? Geez!"
Tsukuyo just crossed her arms. "Yeah, I'll say you did."
Gintoki just held his head in his hands. "Thanks, Tsukuyo, that really helps," he mumbled.
Shinpachi just stared up at the ceiling with a concerned look. "We should probably go do something to try and help her feel better," he suggested.
Gintoki looked up from his hands. "You think I should go talk to her?" he asked.
Tsukuyo quickly held up a hand to stop him. "No, I think you've already done enough damage," she told him with a sigh. "Let me go up there and talk to her. I'm sure I can try to calm her down and get her to come back with me. After that, I can start making us dinner."
"Are you sure?" asked Gintoki.
"Yeah, I think I can handle it," she said with a confident smile.
"Well, alright then. Thank you, sweetheart."
Tsukuyo actually didn't hear any sarcasm in his tone this time, which made her slightly blush. Apparently, married life would bring about a whole assortment of new nicknames. Tsukuyo found this somewhat embarrassing. She just turned away before she stared heading for the hallway.
"Don't take too long!" Gintoki added with a smile. "I'm getting hungry."
Tsukuyo just stopped in the doorway before she looked back with a smile of her own. "I won't," she told him. "After all, I'm just going to talk to her…"
Wow! I had quite a few different scenes to fit into this chapter! I hope the chapter doesn't feel like it's all over the place because of that though. All I want is for the story to flow smoothly. Is that too much to ask? (I guess it's my fault if it doesn't flow well though XD)
Anyways, I wonder if this chapter seemed kind of ominous. Things are definitely about to go down, that's for sure. I'm really excited for the next chapter! I hope you are too!
And I think that's actually about all I have to say for now. It looks like I'm finally learning how to write shorter author notes at the end of each chapter! It's about time I learned to just shut up XD As always, please feel free to leave a review and look forward to the next chapter! Thank you! Goodbye!