Silver Moon – Book 3 Chapter 9

Takasugi was still sitting in the helm of his ship, patiently waiting for news on his targets. The rest of the Kiheitai had spent the entire day doing the same. At that moment, a messenger suddenly rushed into the meeting room. Everyone's head immediately perked up to look at the young man.

"Takechi-san, Takasugi-san! We finally have an update on the target!"

Kamui lazily rested his head on his hand as he rolled his eyes. "It's about time," he mumbled.

Takasugi just ignored him. "Let's hear it," he told the messenger.

"Yes sir. Apparently, the Dragon Rage took effect about an hour ago. Our scouts reported that the Yato girl went completely insane when it happened. She immediately attacked the woman next to her, the Shiroyasha's bride!"

Upon hearing this, Takasugi's single eye lit up with excitement. "Gintoki's bride?" he repeated. "What happened next?"

"The two of them fought it out, but the Yato girl eventually came out on top. The bride suffered some serious injuries, but she's still alive. After that, the Shiroyasha himself showed up and fought with the girl. After clashing for a few minutes, he knocked the girl out. Our scouts then reported that the Shiroyasha was planning on taking his bride to a hospital before they withdrew."

Upon finishing, the room went silent. Takasugi then gave a small chuckle. "Excellent," he said. "This is just perfect."

His subordinates looked over to him. "Did we get what we needed to continue with the plan, Shinsuke-sama?" asked Matako.

"Yes, we did," he said with a smile. "We needed Kagura to attack somebody close to Gintoki and his bride is an absolutely perfect choice. I couldn't have asked for somebody better."

Takasugi's eye then widened with an insane excitement. How does it feel, Gintoki? How does it feel to watch someone close to you suffer? How does it feel to know that it was somebody else that's close to you who did it? Does it hurt? Does it fill you with hatred?

Well, I hope you're not too angry, because I'm not done with you yet. Give me a little more time. By the time I'm done with you, I'll have you screaming straight from the soul…

"We have just what we needed to continue with the plan," Takasugi suddenly announced. "Now, we are just going to have to wait again. Once things have started to settle, that's when we'll move out to strike."

"Ugh, more waiting," muttered Kamui.

The next day, Tsukuyo suddenly awoke with a start. She immediately tried to sit up, but winced as she did so. "Ow…" she mumbled, looking down at herself. She was laying in a hospital bed, covered in bandages. She slowly turned to her right to see sunlight pouring in through a window. She stared outside for a moment before turning to the left. There sat Gintoki, watching her.

"Hey," he said with a soft smile.

"Gintoki?" she said, feeling a little dazed. "Am I…am I in the hospital?"

"I'm afraid so," he said with a sigh.

"How did I get here?"

"Shinpachi and I brought you here after you lost consciousness last night," Gintoki explained. "You were in pretty bad shape, after all."

All of a sudden, memories from the previous night began flooding into Tsukuyo's mind. She just now remembered the reason for why she was currently injured.

"Kagura…" she whispered.

Upon hearing the girl's name, Gintoki's expression soured. He looked down to the floor with a frown, and didn't say a word.

Tsukuyo just stared at him. "Where is she?" she asked quietly.

Gintoki looked up at her for a second before answering. "She's been...detained for now."

Tsukuyo looked confused. "Huh?"

Gintoki just shook his head. "I found a place to keep her for the time being. I'll explain more later…"

Tsukuyo continued staring at him for a moment before leaning back and resting her head on her pillow. "Hmm," she mumbled.

Gintoki simply watched her. "How do you feel?"

"Sore," she replied.

After that, silence fell between them for a few seconds. It wasn't long before Tsukuyo decided to speak up again. "Gintoki?" she began.

"Yeah?"

"Um, about Kagura, do you think…"

Tsukuyo paused with a frown. She was actually afraid to say what was on her mind. Gintoki noticed this and gently encouraged her. "Go on," he said.

Tsukuyo gulped. "Do…do you think that this whole mess is my fault, since I'm the one that made Kagura so upset?" She looked over to the samurai, waiting for a response.

To her surprise, Gintoki suddenly looked angry. "Of course not!" he said adamantly. "How can you blame what happened on yourself?"

Tsukuyo looked away. "Well…Kagura said that she's had a problem with me for a long time now, and that if it weren't for me-"

"No, that's enough," said Gintoki, cutting her off. "I don't care what her reasons were; Kagura was way out of line. She had no reason to attack you like that. Honestly, she was acting like a complete lunatic."

Tsukuyo silently nodded before she began thinking about something else that had been on her mind since the night before. "You know, the way that Kagura looked back then, and the way that she was acting…it honestly reminded me of Kamui…"

Gintoki's eyes widened upon hearing this. He slowly put a hand up to his face and sighed. "I know what you mean," he mumbled. "I can see the resemblance perfectly…"

He then went silent for a second before he started cursing. "Damn it! Are all of the Yato like this!? Do they just turn into insane killers out of the blue!?"

Tsukuyo just looked up at him in silence. She didn't know what to say.

After a few seconds, Gintoki's rage subsided and he regained his calm demeanor. The couple then sat there quietly in the hospital room without either one speaking. This situation had left them with a lot of questions that didn't really make any sense. It was complicated, to say the least.

Eventually, Tsukuyo decided to speak up again. "Gintoki, I'm worried about her," she said quietly. "I honestly think that something might be wrong with her. Who knows, maybe you're right. Maybe this viciousness was just a natural thing for her…"

Gintoki just glanced at Tsukuyo out of the corner of his eye. "It still doesn't change the fact that she attacked you though."

"I know," said Tsukuyo. "I'm not trying to make excuses for her, but…I don't know...I just feel bad…"

"Don't," Gintoki told her. "This isn't your fault, remember?"

"I know," she repeated. "I'm just worried about her, is all…"

Gintoki silently looked away with a sad frown. Me too he thought…

Meanwhile, Kagura slowly opened her eyes as she lifted her head. She mumbled something uncomprehensive as she began to stir. She blinked a few times, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the dimly lit room she was in. It wasn't long before she noticed something strange and looked down at herself. She was instantly surprised.

For some reason, Kagura's entire body was currently strapped down to a wall. Her arms and legs were confined inside of four large metal spheres, which were also attached to the wall. Kagura instinctively tried to move her arms. She couldn't.

"Hey, she's awake," she heard somebody in front of her say.

Kagura immediately looked up only to find the tip of a sword being shoved in front of her face. Her eyes widened in fear for a moment, afraid of an incoming attack, but the sword remained still. Upon looking past the sword, Kagura spotted five figures standing across from her in the small room. She immediately recognized all of them.

Shinpachi and Otae stood a little off to the side, warily eyeing the girl as if she were about to do something crazy. On the other side of the room, standing in the corner with his arms crossed was the sadist himself, Sogo. And finally, directly in front of her stood Kondo and Hijikata, the two leaders of the Shinsengumi police force.

Hijikata gave a scowl as he stared at the girl. He was the one who was currently pointing his sword at her. "Don't move," he ordered her.

Kagura simply stared at him, her fear slowly dissolving. "Where am I?" she asked quietly.

The room went silent after that, with everybody's eyes on Kagura. Nobody answered her question. Kagura just continued staring at each of them in turn, still awaiting a response.

"Where am I?" she repeated. "What's going on?"

There was more silence for a moment after that, before Kondo eventually gave a sigh and looked at her. "Are you able to move?" he asked.

Kagura looked confused at first but attempted to move her arms once more. Nothing budged. "No," she said bluntly.

"Toshi, put that thing away," Kondo commanded his vice chief. "There's no need to threaten her with it if she can't move."

Hijikata glanced at his superior for a second before doing as he was told. He silently sheathed his sword.

Once that was done, Kondo turned back towards the girl. "You're inside of Shinsengumi headquarters," he finally explained. "We've locked you up here at your boss's request."

Kagura immediately looked confused again. "Huh? Gin-chan told you to lock me up here?"

Kondo slowly nodded his head. "That's right. He brought you here just last night and told us to imprison you as securely as we can so that you can't escape."

Kagura stared at him, trying to make sense out of his words. "But…why?" she asked.

This time, Kondo gave her a confused look. "You mean you don't know?"

Kagura raised an eyebrow at this. "What are you talking about?" she asked as she looked around the room. Her eyes quickly landed on Shinpachi. "Shinpachi, what's going on?"

Shinpachi just frowned as he took a small step forward. "Kagura-chan," he whispered, "don't you remember what happened last night?"

Kagura looked away for a second. "Last night…"

All of a sudden, it came back to her. The effects of the Dragon Rage may have expired, but the memories from that experience remained behind, stronger than ever…

"Ah, Tsukky!" she cried. "She was hurt really bad! And I…"

Kagura paused as her mouth fell open.

And I was the one who did that to her…

Kagura was speechless. She didn't know what to say. She remembered it very clearly now: that feeling she had had the night before. The insane desire to kill Tsukuyo and get rid of her for good. She had wanted that so badly…

Kagura immediately clenched her teeth. What was I thinking? How could I…how could I do something like that!?

Meanwhile, the rest of the room was watching the girl with their full attention. Kondo suddenly decided to speak up. "So, you do remember, then?" he asked curiously.

Hijikata quickly chimed in. "Did you actually attack that woman from Yoshiwara?"

Kagura looked down. She felt like she was about to cry. "Y-yes…"

Otae's hand immediately flew up to cover her mouth. "Kagura-chan, you wouldn't…"

"I…I did," she said, tears starting to fall down her cheeks.

Shinpachi looked as confused as ever. "But why, Kagura-chan? Why would you attack Tsukuyo-san like that?"

Kagura paused as she gave a quiet sniff. "I don't know," she replied honestly. "I was just so angry with her…I feel like I just completely lost control…"

Kagura slowly looked up and found Sogo staring at her. He was just watching the scene from his corner, not saying a word. Kagura decided to ignore him and turned back to the others. "Look, you guys know that I would never attack Tsukuyo like that! I would never want to hurt her!"

"But you did," said Hijikata coldly. "You apparently attacked her for no reason at all."

Kagura clenched her teeth again. "I…I know I did," she admitted. "But this doesn't make any sense…I don't know what came over me…"

"Stop making excuses for yourself!" Hijikata suddenly shouted at her.

"Alright, alright, that's enough!" Kondo yelled. "Leave her alone, Toshi. I know this whole thing is confusing, but it's clearly upsetting her, so let's just leave it alone for now, okay?"

Hijikata just crossed his arms as he turned away. "Fine," he grunted.

Kondo then turned back towards the girl. "Listen up," he said. "Your boss said that he'd be coming by here later. I think he wants to talk with you."

Kagura looked down again as she gulped. Oh no…not Gin-chan…he's going to be pissed with me…

Kondo noticed her gloomy expression but decided to continue anyways. "Until then, we're going to stay in here and keep an eye on you. Do you understand?"

Kagura gave a single nod.

"Good," said Kondo. "We're going to let your boss deal with you once he gets here, so until then we'll just try and give you some peace."

"Okay," she mumbled.

After that, Kagura looked over to Shinpachi and caught his eye. The two of them stared at each other for a second before Shinpachi turned away. Kagura just frowned as she squeezed her eyes shut. If she could, she would have kicked herself.

Damn it, Kagura she thought to herself. I think you've really messed up this time…

"This is ridiculous!"

"Hey, leave her alone!"

"You can't keep doing this to your body!"

"This isn't her fault, you old hag!"

Tsukuyo sighed as she listened. At that moment, an older nurse was attempting to lecture the courtesan about keeping her body in good shape, but Gintoki just wouldn't have it. He was already trying to defend her by consistently yelling back at the nurse. By this point, Tsukuyo didn't really want to butt in to this argument, so she just kept quiet.

"Listen you!" the nurse suddenly barked at Gintoki. "These records state that this is the second time that this woman has been hospitalized in the last few months due to serious injuries!"

Gintoki just groaned. "Ugh, I've already told you this! It's not her fault that she's injured! Do you think that she did this to herself!?"

"I don't know what she's been doing, but whatever it is, it needs to stop! This isn't healthy for her body!"

"She was attacked both times! She didn't even have a choice in the matter!"

"If that's the case, then she needs to stop putting herself in situations where she'll be attacked!"

"I'm about to attack you, you shitty old bat-"

"Gintoki, that's enough," said Tsukuyo sternly. "The nurse is right. I should be more careful from now on. I'm sorry."

The nurse just crossed her arms as she stared down at Tsukuyo. "Hmph, at least someone listens to me."

Gintoki looked like he was about to start shouting again, but Tsukuyo cut him off. "I appreciate the concern, mam. I'll try to make sure that I won't end up in here anymore."

The nurse just gave her the smallest of smiles. "I'm glad to hear it."

Tsukuyo returned the smile. Gintoki threw the nurse a glare.

"Well, I'll come back later to check up on you then," the nurse said as she turned around. "Try not to rile her up too much while I'm gone," she told Gintoki as she returned his glare.

Gintoki just clenched his teeth as he looked away. He waited until the nurse was gone before he began cursing up a storm.

"That damn shitty old bitch," he muttered as he turned to Tsukuyo. "Can you believe her!?"

Tsukuyo just shrugged. "She was only looking out for me."

"No, she was scolding you for something that wasn't even your fault! How could you possibly agree with her!?"

"Well, I didn't really," said Tsukuyo as she leaned back and closed her eyes. "I kind of just told her what she wanted to hear."

Gintoki paused for a second as his face slowly lit up. "Oh, I see! You were actually just trying to get her to shut up!"

"I was trying to get you both to shut up."

Gintoki's smile faded. "Hmph, very funny…"

Tsukuyo giggled a little bit, charmed by her own remark. She then winced a little as she sat back up. It hurt to move with all of these injuries.

"Gintoki," she said seriously, "what are we going to do about the wedding?"

Gintoki looked somewhat surprised to hear that question. He silently looked at the bandages that covered Tsukuyo's body. "I don't know…we might have to postpone it given the circumstances…"

"Hmm," said Tsukuyo flatly. "I thought you might say that…"

Gintoki just gave her a small smile. "Aw, don't be so bummed. You're not in a rush to get married, are you?"

"No," she replied honestly. "I was just…I don't know…kind of looking forward to it…"

Gintoki smirked. "Well, don't worry. I promise I'll marry you later."

"Later?"

"Yeah, eventually…"

"Hey, don't just push me aside, Gintoki!" Tsukuyo shouted playfully.

Gintoki gave her a grin. "Never," he whispered.

Before they knew it, they were both sharing a soft kiss with each other. They then stared into each other's eyes.

"We can discuss all of that later," Gintoki told her. "For now, I think I should probably go check up on Kagura. I told Shinpachi and the others that I would do that sometime today." Gintoki paused for a moment as he rose to his feet. "Will you be alright if I leave you here by yourself?"

Tsukuyo gave him a confident smile. "I'll be fine," she replied. "Go ahead and check in on Kagura, and see what you can do about her."

"I will," he promised. "Hopefully she's calmed down a little bit since last night. I definitely need to ask her some serious questions."

"Keep your guard up," Tsukuyo advised.

Gintoki just nodded as he turned to leave. "Right, see you later."

Tsukuyo gave a small wave as he left the room. "See ya." She then let her hand drop down to her side as thoughts of the Yato girl flooded her mind once more.

I hope they'll be alright…

Hey guys! So…it's been like almost 12 weeks since I last updated this story…yikes XD But you know what? It's okay! You know why? Because I know that you guys will all forgive me! Heheh, right?

…

Er…anyways…

Yeah, I really am sorry this took so long! I think I developed writer's absence, where the writer just feels like doing other things than writing. For example, reading! I did a whole lot of reading in my spare time. I caught up to Vagabond, Seven Deadly Sins, and I'm even rereading One Piece! Man, I love One Piece…

But enough about that! Here's another chapter of Silver Moon! I finally got around to it, and I'm pretty damn happy that I did XD But yeah, please excuse my hiatus. Before I stopped writing, I had just finished writing a monster of a crossover and I think it took a lot out of me. If you're curious, it was a Crossover Special between Gintama and Hunter x Hunter! I think it turned out pretty good! If you like HxH, I suggest you go give it a read. It's on my profile. And if you don't like HxH…what are you doing with your life!? Go give that amazing series a try right now!

Anyways, that's enough out of a guy who is hardly ever around XD Please feel free to leave a review with your thoughts on the chapter and look forward to the next one! I bet it will only take 11 weeks this time! No promises! :)