I apologize for being late and thanks for the review! I managed to get both Hijikata and Katsura in this one :)

Fourteen hours

A slow, reluctant cr—a-ackk came from the door as in a flash, Gin had moved from holding the sword in a hand to tearing at the thick vault door with a single swing. The hinges groaned and shuddered, an aborted high pitch whine of steel on steel, a trail of dust and metal shrapnel and then silence. Gin stared the offending door down. His score across the metal reaching from one end to the other. Hijikata bit back a huff of surprise.

He hadn't expected progress, especially in the state the kids' leader was in. But results didn't lie, his single blow had cut all the way through, eight inches into steel where he started, losing strength to the other side of the door where the gouge only made it halfway.

"Dammit, I thought I had gotten through…" Gin started to say, before his knees crumpled as his mind went blank. He was going straight for the floor, limp as a doll. Hijikata gave a shout of surprise and just managed to catch him. His arm caught Gintoki at the chest, under the arm and caught a fold of fabric on his back right before Gin's knees cracked against the floor.

"What—"

"Gin-san, you idiot!" Shinpachi cried out. Kagura turned and started hitting the door harder as Hijikata adjusted the samurai's dead weight against the side of the room again.

"That was a dumb move, Dead-eyes," Hijikata told him, shaking his shoulder slightly, seeing if he could elicit a response. "Hey wake up, only a dumbass could follow that up with something so lame."

Gin grabbed Hijikata's wrist, startling him. He could hear his own pulse in his wrists moving so fast, too fast. Too fast. So fast and with every beat he felt hotter and his vision blacker. Darker. "Take care of them." He rasped, his eyes fluttering closed.

"Gin—dammnit." He said as Gin's head fell forward. Shinpachi clung to his shoulder like squirrel to a tree. Only Sougo could be heartless enough to see any humor in it though. Hijikata evaluated the situation. His breathing was shallow, and if he had been sweating when he had first found them, Gin's skin was dry now. Probably a sign of dehydration, or worse. He tried his pulse. Erratic. Beating fast enough it was hard to tell, even though the man was at rest. All this kick-back for only one mighty sword swing. What had the man been thinking?

They had been fighting or ducking behind trees to rest for almost fourteen hours but Gin and Katsura had been ambushed and separated on their way back to safety. They looked at each other, squinting to see past the dust and sweat dripping in their eyes from the trench they were taking shelter in. Gin clutched his chest, willing the thin cuts across his body from an Amanto's rapier to staunch.

"We have to get back," Katsura said. "We're hours late to the rendezvous at camp. And we're in need of medical attention too."

"Quiet, Zura," Gin hissed.

"It—" A large explosion just a few feet above their heads sounded off. Katsura and Gin tensed, hands over their heads for several seconds. Pieces of shrapnel that had lost their momentum toppled into the ditch they were hidden in, dropping ominously at their feet. These types of explosions where uncommon and incredibly jarring.

"Gintoki, are you alright to move to the next ditch?" The Bakufu army had been firing from their own cover, and they would be too scared to approach. As long as they could make the run, they would have temporary respite farther from the battleground. Perhaps the Amanto would be distracted again by other groups of rebels.

"Of course I am. Are you?" Gin replied, hoisting himself up into a crouch and fixing his eyes on their next run for shelter sixty feet away.

"Me? I'm fine." Katsura's hand touched his shoulder, making Gin turn around to look at his black-haired friend's sharp eyes. "But you're pretty shaky."

Gin's dull eyes meet his with surprising intensity. "Three, two, one, GO!" Without any more warning, Gin was charging to their next cover.

No good, Gin thought. The Amanto might not have known exactly where they'd be but their desperate dash for more cover disclosed their location easily enough. Within three seconds of their charge, they were dodging bullets. Shiroyasha, for all the fear and intimidation he inadvertently caused, his white hair and clothes also attracted a lot of attention from the enemy. Two bullets scraped past his legs as he lurched to the side to avoid one puncturing his ribs. Something moving by his shins were enough to take him off balance and Gin felt all his weight re-distribute to his front foot as he fell forward, brain too foggy to right itself.

A bloody hand flashed out, grabbing his collar and dragging him forward while he continued moving. It was all Gin could do to follow its trajectory and run, still doubled over. Gin couldn't even focus on their destination, couldn't see through the blood in his eyes, just ran and trusted his friend to lead him.

He felt something impact the tree in front of him, sending a spray of splinters in his face. He heard Katsura in front of him curse and he felt the hand on his collar tug him in closer as a second and a third bullet hit a few inches behind him.

In seconds, they were sliding down into the second trench. Everything tumbled around Gin as he felt the rough dirt on his cheek and stomach. It took several seconds before he could make sense of where they were, several feet below ground, Katsura sparing just a second to peek over cover before ducking back down. Strange, Gin thought, moving his hand out in front of him to grab his sword which had somehow come out of his sheathe. His hand reached out and hit dirt instead. How strange, he thought.

Just as he was getting to his elbows, Katsura's hand pulled him up to his knees, this time by his collar. "What was that, Gintoki?" His voice was quiet enough that it wouldn't be heard over the gunfire but just loud enough that Gin winced.

"What's wrong with you? If I hadn't grabbed you…you dropped your sword! You wouldn't drop your sword even if your arm were cut off!"

Gin tried giving Katsura that invasive stare of his but his eyes kept un-focusing and he found himself staring at his cheeks or chin or the blurry brown behind them. His throat felt dry. Which was strange because the rest of him felt wet. Especially his legs.

Katsura held him there, seething for a long time. Long enough that Gin's eyes uncrossed and his breaths became more steady and the lack of movement started to clear his head. He took his hand and gently pushed Katsura's hand off his shirt. He could have sworn he saw a moment's relief on the still-angry face of his fellow patriot.

Gin rubbed his pounding head. "Sorry, Zura. I was out of it for a minute." He could already see the thick bushes only thirty feet away. Once they got there, they would be home-free to retreat to base. "Didn't mean to let that happen." His fists clenched to try and prevent the shaking that had already started to tremor through them, what had probably caused him to drop his sword. And his sword his probably what he tripped over. He sighed, almost wishing he'd just fallen on it. It would have been less embarrassing than this situation.

"Gintoki, are you feeling faint?" The ferocity was fading from Katsura's eyes. He hadn't even tried to correct his name, at least for now. Katsura was never good at being angry anyway, it didn't fit him.

"Not really," Gin mumbled, turning his head away. Katsura, when he wasn't being completely thick, was second only to Master Shoyo in reading his eyes. First now, Gin thought, with a clenching pain in his stomach. "Not anymore."

"Did you lose too much blood?"

Gin moved toward his sword again, sweeping his hand through the dirt to make sure he didn't miss and grab at nothing. "No more than usual."

"What's going on? I need to know what's going on if we're going to do this last run, Gintoki."

Chills were rushing up and down Gin's fingers, the steel of the sword clinked against the scabbard a few times before he could properly sheathe it. He wiped the sweat and blood off his forehead, willing his long-distance vision to clear. In this condition, he doubted he could dodge a bullet. "I haven't eaten in a while."

"You mean since sunrise when we set out?"

"I didn't eat then, that damn stray brat got away with almost all of my rations."

"And you haven't been eating well for how long, Gintoki?" The Rampaging Noble's eyebrows furrowed. If Gin had given the kid his rations…It took more than a day of little food to wear on a seasoned soldier, even as young as they were. How long had Gin been giving up portions of his food? How could he or Takasugi or Sakamoto not noticed?

Gin pulled Katsura from his thoughts. "It was only this time. I'm usually not foolish enough to look away from my rations. This," Gin gestured weakly to his less and less subtly shaking body, "isn't because I've been portioning off food for weeks like some stupid hero."

The silver-haired samurai leaned back against the dirt wall, which felt immensely comfortable against his suffering body and numb limbs. "It's a pain to explain but, if I don't eat sweets or food for too long, I start to feel really shitty."

Katsura's face dropped. "That sounds like a ploy to take my weekly wagashi rations."

"Idiot. Like I would hatch a plan with all this for stale pieces of wagashi." Gin huffed, crossing his arms to hide a shiver. Shit, that isn't a bad idea, if only I had access to flavored ice…

Gin cleared his thoughts. His hunger was already intensifying. "If I expend my energy and don't eat anything with sugar, I'll start feeling really dizzy and collapse."

"What?" Katsura's voice climbed in surprise, then lowered again. "Why have you never mentioned this to us, Gintoki?

"I've never had an episode in the middle of a battle. Usually, when I start to feel it, it's right after we've gotten back and I can sneak some bread and crash before my body crashes for me."

"So you just need sugar?"

"Yeah," Gin laughed sourly, "got any?"

Katsura shook his head. "No, but when we get back, I'll feed you pounds of it. It will be ninety percent of your bloodstream. I'll have your back, even if that means I have to carry it." Katsura stood, helping Gin along with him, and slung Gin's arm around his shoulders, holding him on the opposite side of the enemy army. "Three, two, one, run!"

And Katsura wasn't lying. Months later, when Gin felt hypoglycemic again on the battlefield, Sakamoto blocked an enemy sword Gin couldn't move out of the way for, Takasugi smacked him on the head and Katsura grabbed his arm and pulled him behind a tree. He snapped a small fabric pouch from his uniform and handed it to Gin. Gin's shaking hands struggled for a second before he worked it open. It was a small pouch of sugar.

Loooooong flashback. Let me know what you think :)