Silver Moon – Book 5 Chapter 9

It wasn't long before Gintoki and Tsukuyo arrived at Katsura's hideout.

"Well, here we are," said Gintoki casually. "I wonder if the fool is home."

Tsukuyo didn't respond, but instead just went and knocked on the door as hard as she could.

Gintoki took the liberty of announcing their presence through speech. "Hey, Zura!" he shouted. "Are you home?"

They could immediately hear the sound of someone running towards the door from the inside. The door then swung open, revealing an out-of-breath Katsura in the doorway.

"Gintoki!" he shouted, noticing him. "Are you mad!? Keep your voice down! You can't just come knocking on my secret hideout's door so loudly like that! The government will discover my location!"

Gintoki just crossed his arms as he looked away, not caring. "Whoops, sorry Zura…"

"It's not Zura, it's Katsura!" the man bellowed.

"Hey, aren't you screaming your name louder than I was…?" Gintoki asked quietly.

Tsukuyo suddenly waved a hand in front of Katsura's face in order to get his attention. He noticed her for the first time and was slightly surprised.

"Ah, Tsukuyo!" he said. "I didn't know you were here! It's nice to see you again. How are you?"

"Cut it short, Katsura," she said bluntly. "We have some business with you."

Katsura was surprised at her seriousness. "Oh…and what would that be?"

"Why don't we head inside?" asked Gintoki. "We have a couple of questions to ask."

Katsura stared at his friend for a moment, but soon nodded. "I see, very well then…"

A little while later, Gintoki and Tsukuyo had managed to explain their situation to Katsura. They revealed that Kyoko had been kidnapped by Takasugi, and that they were going to try to find him and get their daughter back.

Katsura just gave a disturbed frown upon hearing all of this. "This is terrible news. You have my utmost sympathy. I feel so sorry for you two, having to go through that."

Gintoki just gave a small frown in return. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tsukuyo look down and tremble a little. He soon looked back to Katsura.

"Anyway, that's what brings us here. We need to find out Takasugi's location, and we were wondering if you might know anything."

Katsura looked to the floor, and remained silent.

Gintoki just stared at him. "Surely you keep track of his movements alongside your own. Don't you know anything about where he could be hiding?"

This time, Katsura just gave a deep sigh. "I truly regret to inform you of this, but I have nothing to offer you in this regard."

"You don't know anything at all? Not even any clues?"

Katsura sighed again. "Unfortunately, no, I do not." Katsura then took a moment to rise to his feet and pace around the room. "While it is true that I like to keep track of Takasugi's movements and plans, it is not always possible to follow him. He rarely shows up around these parts, and even when he does, he hardly leaves any sort of trail to follow. It is far from easy, trying to keep track of him."

Katsura slowly shook his head. "However, it matters not. Even if he had left a trail recently, I wouldn't have noticed it. You see, I'm afraid I haven't been following any rebel activity lately. I've actually been wrapped up in…personal stuff…"

Gintoki stared at him for a second before shaking his head. "Don't tell me…Is this about how you knocked up Ikumatsu?"

Katsura looked appalled to hear the samurai say that. "Gintoki! Don't be so vulgar! That's hardly any way to talk about Ikumatsu-dono!"

Gintoki just rolled his eyes. "But it's true, isn't it? She's pregnant, right? I'd say it's pretty obvious that the kid is yours…"

Katsura started sweating a bit soon followed by some coughing. "W-Well, what if it is?"

"Oh Zura, you're so predictable. Of course, you figured you had to go and have a kid right after I had one."

"That doesn't mean anything!" Katsura shouted, pointing at him. He then took a deep breath and regained his composure. "In any case, I've been very busy preparing and taking care of her lately, so I'm afraid I don't have the answers you're looking for. My apologies, Tsukuyo."

Tsukuyo just looked at him with a sad frown before sighing. "I understand, Katsura. It's important to take care of your family first. Thanks anyway."

Once she was done, Tsukuyo rose to her feet and started heading for the door. Gintoki watched her for a moment before getting up and chasing after her. However, he ended up pausing in the doorway on the way out and turning to Katsura with a grin.

"Just wait, Zura, once you're a father, you'll get to have this kind of fun too!"

Katsura simply smirked at him and crossed his arms. "As if I'd ever let something like this happen. I'll certainly be a better father than you."

Gintoki smirked back. "We'll see about that."

And with that, Gintoki continued chasing after Tsukuyo. By the time he caught up with her, she was already outside the building, standing in the street.

"Well, I guess that didn't get us anywhere," he said as he caught his breath. "So what's our next plan?"

Tsukuyo remained silent. She soon started looking around.

Gintoki just stared at her. "Tsukuyo-? UMPH!"

Tsukuyo had just swiftly placed a hand over his mouth, shutting him up. She then quietly shushed him. She continued to glance back and forth.

Gintoki simply stared at her, confused. What's going on?

Suddenly, Tsukuyo ripped her hand free of Gintoki's mouth and leapt onto a nearby building. She immediately started running along the rooftops.

Gintoki stood there for a second before he began chasing after her once more. Now what's she up to? he wondered. He tried to keep her in sight as he ran along the streets. It wasn't easy though, as Tsukuyo was quickly picking up the pace with each step.

"Where is she going?" Gintoki asked himself as he ran. He then looked ahead of Tsukuyo, and something caught his eye. It was rather dark out, so it was kind of hard to tell what it was. By squinting, Gintoki was eventually able to determine that someone was running away from Tsukuyo across the rooftops. "There's someone else up there? Who is that?"

Meanwhile, Tsukuyo scowled with determination. She continued pursuing the mysterious fleeing man in front of her. It was only a matter of time before she started to close the gap between them. Once she was at a suitable distance, Tsukuyo whipped out a kunai, and threw it at the man.

The weapon hit its mark perfectly, placing itself right in the middle of the man's back. The man immediately cried out in pain before losing his footing. He soon collapsed and roughly fell from the rooftop down to the street below, landing flat on his stomach.

Tsukuyo watched him fall without taking her eyes off of him. She instantly changed her course and jumped down after him. She ended up pouncing on his back, pinning him to the ground.

"Ugh!" the man grunted.

Tsukuyo quickly used one hand to force his head into the dirt, while she used her other to point a kunai in the man's face. "Don't move," she warned, "or I'll kill you…"

The man's eyes widened as he eyed the kunai with fear. He remained silent and did as he was told.

It wasn't long before Gintoki caught up with them. He ran straight to Tsukuyo. "You got him. Nice…Who is he, exactly?"

"Not sure, but that's what I'm about to find out," said Tsukuyo, slowly sticking the kunai into the man's cheek.

"Grr," the man growled as a few drops of blood dripped out of the wound.

Tsukuyo simply glared at him. "Now, I want you to answer some questions…First off, why were you spying on us!?"

The man returned her glare by looking up at her. He frowned as he chose to remain silent.

Tsukuyo's glare intensified a little due to his lack of a response. "Hey," she whispered slowly, "do you think I'm kidding here…?"

The man still chose to remain silent.

Tsukuyo clenched her teeth as she quickly pulled the kunai away from his face and shoved it into his right arm. The man immediately howled in pain as blood spurted out of it.

Gintoki crossed his arms as he watched. "So this guy was spying on us?" he asked nonchalantly.

"That's right," said Tsukuyo. "I could hear him when we came out of Katsura's place."

Gintoki frowned. "He must be one of Takasugi's men."

"Exactly," said Tsukuyo, turning her attention back to her captive. She roughly shoved his head back into the dirt. "I told you I wasn't messing around. Now let's cut to the chase. Where is Takasugi, and what does he want with our daughter!?"

The man continued to stare up at Tsukuyo, and remained silent. However, before Tsukuyo had a chance to drive another kunai into him, Gintoki came up to them. He then crouched down and looked the man in the eye.

"Hey buddy," he said with a grin. "Listen, I know what you're trying to do, but trust me man, you're better off talking. Unless, of course, you want to deal with the wrath of an angry mother. A ferocious, desperate mother that would do anything to get her baby back…You do realize that that's what you're up against, right?"

The man gave Gintoki a somewhat worried look before glancing up at Tsukuyo again. She glared at him coldly, basically confirming everything that Gintoki had just said. Starting to sweat a little, the man looked towards the ground, and spoke up. "Fine, I'll talk…"

Gintoki grinned a bit more. "Good choice." He then nodded to Tsukuyo, who pulled the man up to his knees. She kept a tight grasp on him though, along with a kunai pointed at his neck.

"Tell us everything," she demanded.

The man gave a small sigh. "Honestly, I don't really know all that much. I have no idea what Takasugi is planning, or why he insisted on taking the kid."

"You don't know anything?" asked Tsukuyo, pushing the kunai a little closer to him.

"They are keeping their true objective a secret," the man explained. "Only the higher-ranked members of the Kiheitai know what's really going on. Soldiers like me were simply tasked with grunt work."

"What does that mean?" asked Gintoki, crossing his arms.

"I was ordered to keep an eye on you two and try to gain information. Obviously, the boss wants to stay away from you two."

"Of course," said Gintoki. "He surely knows that he'll have hell to pay if we find him. What else?"

The man was silent for a moment. "Sorry, but that's all I know about this mission."

"Don't give us that crap," said Tsukuyo, tightening her grasp on him. "You have to know more than that."

The man grunted a bit as his wounds ached in pain. "It's true, I know nothing else!"

Gintoki frowned. "I'm not so sure I believe that."

"Yeah, this bastard is definitely holding out on us," said Tsukuyo, glaring at the captive. "We don't give a crap about your mission! Just tell us where Takasugi's location is!"

The man stared at her for a second, and then grinned. "It's about time…"

Gintoki suddenly heard rapid footsteps approaching from above. He glanced behind him for a moment before jumping towards Tsukuyo. "Look out!" he warned as grabbed her and pulled her away.

Several arrows flew past them, narrowly missing the captive. Gintoki and Tsukuyo managed to take cover in a nearby alleyway.

"It's an attack," said Gintoki, drawing his wooden sword. "They must have known that their friend got captured."

Tsukuyo drew her own weapons. "Damn it, how many are there?"

Gintoki scanned the area as best he could. "More than 30 I think. Takasugi really isn't messing around."

"Kill them!" someone suddenly bellowed.

Without warning, four men jumped down on Gintoki and Tsukuyo from the rooftops. The two of them managed to jump out of the way at the last second. Gintoki quickly swung his sword while Tsukuyo threw her kunai. All four enemies quickly fell to their strikes.

Gintoki and Tsukuyo barely had a moment to relax though, as two archers appeared on the rooftop above them. They quickly drew their strings and released their arrows.

"Tch, I really want to question them," said Tsukuyo as she jumped away.

"There will be time for that later!" Gintoki shouted. "For now, we have to fight!"

"Of course," said Tsukuyo, immediately dispatching two kunai to deal with the archers. One hit its mark, but the other archer was able to dodge.

They ran back out into the street, only to find themselves surrounded by Kiheitai terrorists. The captive they had originally left there had since disappeared.

"Looks like it won't be easy," said Gintoki raising his sword.

"We don't have all night," said Tsukuyo quietly. "Let's make this quick."

Meanwhile, Sogo was leisurely walking through the streets of Kabukicho, having just left the Yorozuya office a little while ago. He had his hands in his pockets and a frown on his face. He leaned back a little so he could look up at the night sky.

"Hmm," he mumbled thoughtlessly.

Sogo soon pulled his hands out of his pockets as he continued walking. He rested one hand on the sword on his side. He had the other grab his radio communicator that he always carried on patrol. He brought the radio up to his mouth and pressed the button.

"Hijikata-san!" he called casually into the device.

A reply soon came back. "What the hell do you want?" asked the demon vice-chief.

"I have a job for you," said Sogo with a blank expression.

"I'm busy," Hijikata grunted.

"No you're not," said Sogo. "You're probably just sitting in your patrol car waiting for something to do."

It took a moment for Hijikata to respond. For Sogo, this only confirmed his suspicions. "I'm not kidding around Sogo, I'm very busy tonight!" There was another pause. "B-But, anyway, why don't you go ahead and tell me about that job. I'll get around to it if I have time."

"You have nothing but time!" someone on the other line shouted. Sogo assumed it was another Shinsengumi officer patrolling with Hijikata.

"Shut up!" Hijikata yelled at his partner.

Sogo just ignored the banter for a second and took a glance behind him. He then continued his stroll, but changed courses. He ended up walking into a dark alleyway.

"I'll keep this brief, Hijikata-san," said Sogo calmly. "I want you to go find the Boss and check on him."

"The Yorozuya Boss!?" Hijikata replied. "What for!?"

"I have a feeling that he's in danger," said Sogo. "If my hunch is correct, it shouldn't be too hard to find him. He's probably causing a commotion wherever he is."

"Wait, Sogo, what's going on? What are you-"

"Gotta go," said Sogo, quickly shutting off the communicator. As soon as he did, he stopped right in the middle of the dark alleyway. He stood absolutely still.

"Come out," he said in a demanding tone.

There was no response. The alleyway was completely silent. No one was there.

Sogo simply frowned before drawing his blade in one swift movement. He then jumped up and leaped off of the walls in order to reach the rooftops above. As soon as he arrived, he pointed his sword straight at the throat of the person hiding up there.

"You're a spy, right?" asked Sogo with a sadistic look in his eyes. "What are you doing, following me around?"

The spy soon started sweating out of fear…

Gintoki and Tsukuyo were currently putting up quite a fight against their assailants. By sticking together and constantly moving, they were able to take down their opponents one by one. The enemies were certainly strong, but Gintoki and Tsukuyo were far stronger.

Gintoki jumped forward and simultaneously struck two assassins in the back of the neck. They both stumbled for a second, but quickly turned on the samurai. Gintoki was too fast for them, however, and swung his sword once more. He hit the first man hard in the side, immediately sending him flying into the second man.

"Gintoki, behind you!" Tsukuyo suddenly shouted.

Gintoki looked back just in time to see a kunai enter the throat of an assassin that had been sneaking up on him. The enemy simply fell to the ground with a thud, and Gintoki turned his attention to the next enemy.

"Tsukuyo, don't tell me to look back if you have the threat taken care of!" Gintoki whined.

"Don't be so picky," said Tsukuyo with a shrug. She quickly proceeded to send kunai flying at the next wave of assassins.

"Fine, fine," said Gintoki, blocking an incoming sword. "Say, do we need to keep these guys alive? How many do we need for questioning?"

"Just one will do," she answered coldly. As if to prove her point, she hit two oncoming enemies right in the forehead. They instantly fell to the ground.

"All right," said Gintoki, striking an enemy right in the gut. "I guess that means we'll have to control ourselves a little. It's going to be hard not killing them all."

Suddenly, an arrow whizzed past Gintoki's head, nearly missing him. A vein appeared on his forehead as he glared at the archer. "Especially when I really want to kill these guys…"

Tsukuyo just sighed. "So much for 'keeping calm'," she mumbled. She soon noticed two more swordsmen running towards her. Wasting no time, Tsukuyo rushed right past them, planting kunai in both of their backs.

She then looked behind her. "Gintoki, remember that this is-"

She soon paused. Gintoki was nowhere to be seen. All she could see in the vicinity were their enemies. Tsukuyo turned around again, starting to get a little worried.

"Gintoki, where are you?"

She suddenly noticed someone jumping down towards her from the rooftop nearby. The assailant had a sharp dagger in hand. Tsukuyo instinctively went to reach for a kunai, but before she even could, she watched as a wooden sword was thrust right through the man's chest. The man crashed to the ground right in front of her. She looked up to find Gintoki poised on his back.

He smiled at her. "Miss me?"

"Idiot, take this seriously," she told him with a frown. "Kyoko's life is on the line here."

"I am taking this seriously," said Gintoki as he casually swung his sword and knocked a terrorist away without even looking.

"Whatever," said Tsukuyo, felling another man with her kunai.

Just then, everyone running around the street paused. Gintoki, Tsukuyo, and all of the terrorists present could suddenly hear something. It was the sound of an approaching siren.

It was only a moment later that several Shinsengumi police cars dashed onto the scene. Several of them pulled up at ridiculous speeds before abruptly screeching to a halt. Dozens of Shinsengumi officers immediately climbed out of the vehicles and drew their weapons.

"Shinsengumi police force!" someone called loudly. "You're all under arrest!"

The enemies that Gintoki and Tsukuyo had been fighting up to that point all seemed startled. After standing still for only a few moments, they quickly changed their objectives. They soon began fleeing from the police as fast they could. It seemed like their focus was now on escape instead of combat.

Gintoki and Tsukuyo simply watched as the enemy forces started to scatter. Some disappeared into the nearby alleys while others jumped over the rooftops.

Tsukuyo naturally started to feel a bit frantic when she saw this. "Gintoki, they're getting away! We have to catch one!"

As soon as she started to move, someone pointed a sword at her, halting her momentum. "Not so fast," he warned her. "Stay right where you are."

Tsukuyo angrily glared at him, hardly believing that someone was getting in her way.

Gintoki also frowned when he realized who it was. "What the hell are you doing here, you damn mayo-freak?"

"It's Hijikata!" the vice-chief retorted fiercely. He then took a deep breath in order to calm down before turning to Tsukuyo again. "Listen, Miss, you're not going to want to chase after them."

Tsukuyo clenched her teeth as she quickly snapped at him. "What the hell do you know!? Get out of my way! I need to capture one of them now or it will be too late!"

Hijikata frowned at her remark, but remained where he was.

Tsukuyo, growing agitated, ended up swatting his sword away from her. "Move it! I need to go!" She immediately went to take off after them, but she stopped as soon as she felt Gintoki's hand on her shoulder.

"It's already too late, Tsukuyo," he told her calmly. "Anyone who isn't dead has already escaped."

As Tsukuyo looked around, she could tell it was true. All of the enemies they had been facing up to a minute ago had completely disappeared. Some of the Shinsengumi officers had apparently chased after them, but other than that, there was no way of catching up. She had missed her chance.

Meanwhile, Hijikata calmly sheathed his sword at his side. He then took out a cigarette and lit it before placing it at his lips. "Sogo told me to find you guys," he explained.

Tsukuyo immediately turned on him. "You! You stupid bastard! Look what you've done! They've all gotten away!"

Hijikata just stared at her. "Don't worry, there's no need to chase after those goons."

Tsukuyo nearly lost her temper. "Like hell there's not!" she shouted. "Those guys were our only chance of discovering Kyoko's location! We needed them in order to find our baby!"

By this point, Gintoki had placed two hands on her shoulders, and was almost trying desperately to hold her back from mauling Hijikata to shreds. While one part of him felt like that might be somewhat enjoyable to witness, the other part of him felt like he needed to take responsibility and control his wife's surprisingly ferocious temper.

Hijikata remained calm as he continued to stare at her. "I understand that. Sogo filled me in."

Tsukuyo was nearly dragging Gintoki forward as she shouted. "Then why did you let them get away!?"

Hijikata simply took his cigarette out of his mouth, and gently released a puff of smoke from his lips. "First off, they won't get away. My men will be sure to hunt them down and capture them. Second, you can stop worrying. You don't have to act like those terrorists were your only opportunity to find your missing kid."

Hijikata then paused before reaching down and grabbing his radio communicator. "Lastly, I was told to give you this when I finally found you guys. Someone wants to talk to you."

After listening to him talk, Tsukuyo finally ended up calming down to the point where Gintoki could release his hold on her. When presented with the radio, she stared at it for a moment before slowly picking it up. Gintoki also stared at the device curiously.

"Hello?" Tsukuyo asked.

"Ah, Boss Lady," said the voice on the other end. "Is that you?"

Gintoki and Tsukuyo quickly recognized the voice as Sogo's. "Yeah, it's me," she confirmed. "Gintoki's here too."

"Ah, great," said Sogo in blank tone. "I was just finishing up some business here on my end and I had a question for you guys."

"What is it?" asked Tsukuyo.

"I just captured this annoying spy that's been tailing me for a while now," Sogo explained calmly. "Would you like the opportunity to question him? I figured I'd give you the initiative."

Tsukuyo's eyes widened when she heard this. She paused for a moment before slowly bringing the communicator to her mouth. "Of course," she said seriously.

"Will do, Boss Lady," Sogo confirmed. "I'll bring him back to Shinsengumi Headquarters. You can torture- oops! I mean, question the enemy all you like there."

Tsukuyo grinned a little at this. "Keep him safe for me," she whispered menacingly.

Gintoki thought he felt a shiver when he heard those words. His wife was truly terrifying when she wanted to be.

Tsukuyo then handed the radio back to Hijikata before frowning. "Sorry for misjudging you. I should have been thanking you for the help instead."

"Don't worry about it," said Hijikata, putting his radio away. "It's normal to be a little short-tempered at times like these."

Gintoki just crossed his arms as he listened. He didn't want to admit it, but these Shinsengumi jerks could actually be pretty useful sometimes.

Tsukuyo then turned back to her husband. "We're going to the station. Are you ready?"

He simply nodded. "Of course."

Wasting no time, Tsukuyo walked off to the nearest Shinsengumi car and found the nearest Shinsengumi officer. She quickly approached him. "Hey, you, drive us to your headquarters," she ordered him.

The officer seemed confused. "Huh? Who are you…?"

Tsukuyo frowned. "Doesn't matter. Just drive us."

"Er…I don't know who you are, but I don't think I should-"

Tsukuyo abruptly cut him off by grabbing the front of his uniform. "Drive us to your headquarters," she muttered. "Now…"

The man quickly started sweating, noticing her seriousness. "Er, uh, yes mam…"

Gintoki just watched this as a sweat drop slid down his forehead. Yeah…Tsukuyo can be a little too scary sometimes…Especially when she's angry and determined…

Hey everyone! Sorry for the wait (again)! I felt encouraged to write after seeing Tsukuyo reappear in the manga again…but by this point, that was already a couple weeks ago… XD

Anyway, it's really awesome seeing Tsukuyo back in the manga. She looks great! Honestly though, one of the most pleasant surprises for me was when I saw Hinowa walking around. I was shocked! I was like, "Hinowa! She's…she's walking!" I was honestly really happy about that XD I don't know, it just feels like she and the rest of Yoshiwara have come such a long way and seeing her be able to stand up after all this time was just amazing.

Anyway, there's a few notes on this chapter. First off, Katsura's going to be a father! Yeah…I wanted to keep the reveal subtle, because it's really not a big deal. I tried to set this plotline up back in Book 4, but I think a lot of you just assumed that Katsura was acting weird lol XD Still, congrats for him.

Second, I kind of wanted to talk about Tsukuyo's behavior, but I think I'll just describe it through a comment that someone left for me last chapter. They said that they could see "the power of mom" happening. Yeah, I think that describes it perfectly. I'm definitely trying to show the power of mom here! You can see it right? The power of mom is strong right now! It's always strong! It's going to keep being strong. Expect to see lots more of the power of mom XD

That's all for now. Please feel free to leave a review with your thoughts and please look forward to the next chapter! Next time, we'll see the power of mom! XD See you then.