A few weeks ago… (AN: Between Chapter One and Chapter Two)

The black-haired girl panted heavily once she exited the musky tunnels that had surrounded her for the past few hours.

The green trees and shrubbery surrounding her was wild, untamed and untouched. Nature at its finest.

She felt a grin etch itself onto her face, daring to glance up at the towering castle far above her. She was finally free. Free of the walls and free of the sweet, sugar-coated lies she was presented with every day.

She straightened her simple green kimono and carefully pushed through the shrubbery, looking for a way into the city. She flinched quite often, not expecting a branch to snag at her clothes and scratch the surface of her soft, unmarred porcelain skin.

And while it hurt, it was oddly exiting.

She was never allowed to do things like this back at the castle.

The blood that exited her small scratches fascinated her, as did the short stings of pain. She had barely made it through the twisted tunnels under the castle, and now she had seen all sorts of vegetation before stumbling into a more populated area of Edo.

All the new experiences were overwhelming and she couldn't help but take it all in with awe. It was magnificent, past all her imaginations and so different from everything she had ever dreamt up, but it immediately felt real.

The pedestrians'' chatter filled the air like soft background music and her nose picked up the many different scents of the street. Most were pleasant, such as wafting smell from one of the many food stands, but the alleys really really stunk.

Her stomach growled slightly, but she didn't have time to scavenge the castle for small coins, and she was aware that paying in jewels would attract too much attention. Dejectedly, she sighed and turned around another corner, only to be yanked into the adjacent alley by a pair of strong hands.

She instinctively tried screaming, but the foreign hands clasped firmly over her frame and her mouth, not letting a single tone escape.

Her thoughts ran wild, panicking and guilt seeping into her mind. Did this person know her true identity? Would she cause trouble for her hard-working older brother? Would she die? Would something bad happen because of her selfish curiosity?

She squeezed her eyelids shut and squirmed and struggled, trying to break free from her captor's hold, but to no avail. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes as she realized that there was no way she would be getting out of here.

However, once she stopped struggling, she realized that her assailant was panting heavily and shivering. No, not shivering, it was rather warm out here.

He was shaking.

"D-Don't come any closer! I'll kill this innocent girl if you do!" A male voice stuttered, his voice echoing in the empty alleyway. "I swear to God I will kill her!"

"Oh really? I'm pretty sure we both know you're too much of a coward to do that!" A condescending female voice answered calmly, with a hint of smugness. Strangely enough, the female's voice reassured the girl, and she bravely peeked through her eyelids.

After the short while it took for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, she could make out the silhouette of a young woman, roughly her age or a tad older.

"I'll do it! I'll really do it!" The man stuttered, gently taking a few steps backwards.

"No, no you won't." The female said in a demeaning tone.

She heard the man's breath hitch, followed by the clatter of a metallic object and the sound of liquid dripping to the ground.

His grip on her loosened and his body fell backwards with a heavy thud.

Carefully, she glanced to the side, only to see the other girl kneeling next to the motionless body, wiping her hands on a thick cloth.

The other girl, whose bright blue eyes shone in the small streak of light that fell into the alley, looked up at her.

"You should run back home, little girl." She said.

Soyo eyed the red liquid pooling around the man on the floor. She was used to watching executions, but this spontaneous kill lacked the dignity the court executioners held, yet it still had an eerie elegance of its own.

But the other girl didn't seem to be a threat to her.

The black-haired girl gulped. She didn't want to go back home yet. Her one day wasn't over yet.

"Will you be my friend?" She blurted out instead.

Kagura dismissed the black-haired girl, but her response caught her slightly off-guard.

"What? Your friend?" The Yato asked in confusion.

The girl noticeably blushed and nodded. "Please, be my friend for the day!"

Kagura blinked at the strange girl, unsure of what to do next. In all honesty, she's never even had a female friend, yet alone her age. She was used to people being afraid of her and running off once they looked past her pretty face and noticed the darkness that lurked behind it.

Yet, this girl just saw her kill a grown man twice her size and was asking to be her friend.

"Why?" She inquired, still overtasked with the situation.

"Because you're strong, and because you saved me." The girl bowed her head slightly. "I know it's selfish to ask this of you, but I only have this one day. You don't have to be my friend after that anymore, and I can compensate you, but please be my friend for today."

Kagura thought back to the order of events, reminding herself that saving the girl hadn't even been part of her plan. She was enjoying earthling dumplings at a food stand when some idiots decided to rob said stand. She hunted the perpetrators down for ruining her eating experience, especially since the woman at the stand had been so kind to her.

But a small part of her mind nudged her, wondering what having an actual friend actually felt like. And getting compensated didn't sound too bad either. This girl spoke more sophisticatedly than the people on the streets, so she probably had something to offer.

As for why she was wandering around alone and why she was wearing servant's clothes, Kagura decided not to ask, her professionalism as a sort-of-mercenary surfacing.

"Alright." She finally answered, not entirely aware of what she was doing.

The girl sighed in relief, giving the redhead a stunning smile in response. "I'm glad! I'm really glad!"

Kagura felt herself returning the smile slightly, after all, when was the last time she had made somebody else smile?

"My name is Soyo." She introduced herself to the other girl, holding out her hand to her.

The other girl finished wiping her hands clean before shaking her hand. "Kagura."

"It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

Neither girl chose to ask why the other was an obvious oddity, and with mutual silence they exited the alleyway, carefully stepping over the corpse.

"So, friend of the day, what do you want to do?" Kagura asked Soyo, glancing at their surroundings. They had somehow wandered into the Kabuki area of Edo.

"I want to have fun and make memories!" The black-haired girl exclaimed energetically. "But I don't have any cash on me." She sighed in addition.

Kagura smirked at her. "That won't be a problem."

"Huh?"

Kagura gave her a mysterious smile and led her to a place she had become familiar with while investigating the… former… Captain of the Fourth Division.

Once she entered the murky place, a large amount of eyes turned towards her and her companion, all belonging to burly, intimidating-looking men.

One let out an irritated gruff, then all went back to their previous occupation.

"Odds or evens?" A rough voice asked, followed by shouts as desperate and drunk men placed their bets.

"Evens!" Kagura declared loudly, dropping a heavy bag of coins in the middle of the betting area.

The man holding the cup glanced at the bag of coins and smirked, flamboyantly taking the cup away, only to find two identical dice faces staring back at him.

Soyo's eyes shined in awe and excitement as the man begrudgingly pushed their prize money towards them.

"It's your turn now." Kagura glanced at her with a small grin.

Soyo nodded excitedly and took the brown bag the redhead held out to her, giving the man juggling the dices a mischievous smile. "Odds!"

The man scowled at the two girls and placed the two dices back in the cup, flipped it and shook it with expertise. Lifting the cup once more, he sighed as the girl's prediction had come true.

Soyo squealed in delight as they accumulated more money and she caught the grin her friend flashed her.

The man glowered at the dices. Looks like he ran out of luck.

Much to her confusion, the black-haired girl infected Kagura with her energy and rich laughter. The Yato knew a bit about the area from her investigations, so she pointed out some small food stands she was familiar with and the two girls would occasionally check out places unknown to both of them.

Soyo was a strange girl, who hardly knew anything about the humans' daily lives, but it somehow made discovering new things together… fun.

She was bright, brimming with happiness and light, much in contrast to Kagura's dark lifestyle and past. She was like a virus, but Kagura didn't mind. Because she had found herself enjoying something that wasn't killing.

"You're an Amanto?!" Soyo asked the redhead in surprise. "But you're much prettier than what I've heard about them in stories!"

Kagura chuckled in self-confidence. "There are many different races out there, but my mother was a beautiful woman, it's only natural that I would take after her. She was like a queen."

Kagura blissfully smiled at the memory of her mother, one of the kindest and greatest women she knew. Involuntarily, her thoughts travelled to her other two family members and her pretty much non-existent relationship with them. Her smile dropped as soon as it came.

"Ooh, so you're like a princess?" Soyo continued in excitement.

Kagura pondered that question, poking around her food absent-mindedly. In a way, she was a princess of the Yato clan.

Her bastard of a father was considered the strongest Yato out there, and she was the apprentice of the great King of the Night (even if he was no more).

"Theoretically… yes." She answered hesitantly, unsure of what she should think about that title. Her aspiration was to become the pirate king and find the One Pie- wait, no, that's the wrong manga. Her aspiration was to become the pirate queen and rule over the Harusame, and put her stupid father in his place for letting their mother die.

Soyo gave her a brimming smile and clasped her hands after taking her food out of her hands. "It is as fate brought us together!" Soyo whispered happily.

"It is?"

"Yes! I'll tell you a secret." Soyo giggled, looking at straight into Kagura's eyes. "I'm a princess too!"

"What?!" The Yato asked in shock.

Soyo nodded. "I live in the castle over there." She pointed at the easily largest building in all of Edo, towering over the city.

Kagura didn't know much about the earthling government, but she knew that Hosen had a tight grip on some of them, which is why they turned a blind eye to his selfish actions in Yoshiwara.

She sighed at the memory of what her shining mentor had become, an old geezer who was vying for the affection of a woman he could never have.

"So you see, it must've been fate." Soyo continued contently. "Two princesses meeting, two princesses from kingdoms far across the galaxy, it almost sounds like a cheesy love story." She crooned, jokingly putting her hands on her cheeks and blushing.

Kagura laughed at the display, shaking her head at the image conjured in her mind. It was also a new experience, laughing about something with somebody, and not at their misery.

She brushed a tear out of the corner of her mind, letting Soyo bring just a bit more light into her life.

She suddenly jerked her head to the side, where she could make out frantic men in uniforms in the distance, piecing together the information in her mind.

"Oh Soyo, you naughty girl." She chuckled, taking the other girl's hand. "You ran away from the castle didn't you?"

Soyo followed her gaze and sighed. "Looks like they already sent the Shinsengumi after me, huh? Well, I guess it's time for me to go back."

"Mmmh, no." Kagura smirked. "I'm your friend for the day, remember? And the day is still very young."

Soyo yelped as Kagura yanked her arm as they ran in the opposite direction of the uniform-clad men, laughing as they entered the busy streets of Edo, far from their searching eyes.

The Yato led her to a shop she had begun to frequent quite often since her arrival on earth, and proceeded to introduce her new-found friend to her newest favourite food, pickled seaweed.

"Ooh, it's so sour! But it's so good at the same time!" Soyo gushed at it with sparkling eyes, immediately making a mental note to have it constantly supplied to the castle.

Kagura couldn't help but laugh again as they continued throughout the day, so much that her cheeks hurt. It's been a long time since she's had fun with somebody. It's been a long time since she laughed this much. It's been a long time since she's felt happiness. It's been a long time since she felt like a normal, teenaged girl.

They resorted to leaving small traps and pranks for the police officers that were looking for Soyo, and they giggled together every time somebody fell for them.

Soyo found herself enjoying their misfortune a lot more than she would ever admit, but their common appreciation of seeing others struggle only tightened the bond between her and Kagura.

The sun began setting way too soon, and the two of them waited for the Shinsengumi members on one of the rooftops, watching the sky turn into various hues of red and purple.

"I have one last selfish request." Soyo said.

"Yes?"

"I want you to be my friend forever."

Kagura glanced over at her with a genuine smile. "Do you even need to ask?"

(After Chapter Two)

Takasugi leaned against the open screen door, watching as the messenger pigeon dropped a small scroll into the red-haired Yato's palm.

"I didn't think somebody like you would have an informant here on earth, but then again, what do I know about the Harusame?" He spoke evenly before taking a puff of his pipe.

"Not everything I do needs to be in relation to the Harusame." Kagura replied mysteriously.

"The likelihood of you having friends on earth would appear even lower." The Kiheitai leader replied condescendingly.

"You know nothing, Shinsuke Takasugi, you know nothing." She replied smugly, scribbling something on a new scroll and sending the pigeon off again.

"I do know that that was an imperial pigeon." He remarked calmly.

"So what if it was?"

"It would imply you are in cahoots with the enemy." He answered, voice laced slightly with suspicion.

"You don't need to worry." She chuckled. "This won't have an impact on the plan."

"How can I be sure about that?"

"If it would, you would be dead already." She replied cheerfully with a smile.

A few days ago…

Kamui lost sight of his sister some when along the way as they were overrun by Amanto. He could hear the agonized cries in the distance, but they came from all directions, which led him to assume that the others had interrupted their own battles in order to take out the new arrivals. He pushed through the enemies, staying on the look-out for a head of brilliant vermillion, but with everything covered in blood she was difficult to spot.

A distinct cry of 'Leader!' made him head towards the source, most definitely Zura, and there he was reunited with pretty much everybody else. Mayora and the Sadist were there, fully equipped with bazookas and ammo.

"There is a tunnel leading out of here, we're near the entrance!" The Demon Vice-Chief yelled over the noise as he fended off some Amanto.

The three former Joi patriots stood together with Kondo, clothes and blades covered in blood. Abuto and Shinpachi were also there, the glasses stand looking worse for the wear and visibly exhausted from his straight man duties.

They all signalled a silent truce, agreeing to follow the walking smoke factory.

Even Madao had joined them, covered in carton armour.

They pushed through together, finally reaching a small trapdoor after tricking the Amanto into going the other way.

"We don't have much time, we'll have to hurry." Hijikata ordered them gruffly, smoking his last cigarette before entering the tunnel.

"You won't have to tell me twice!" Shinpachi exclaimed, clambering down the ladder into the tunnel, getting away from the bunch of idiots, not realizing that he was condemning himself to confinement with them for the next two days.

"Wait!" Katsura shouted. "Leader isn't here!"

Kamui frantically looked around, realizing that indeed, his sister wasn't there. A flash of panic washed over him, wondering if he had failed her once again, but, as if on cue, Kagura appeared out of the smoke and rubble, whispering something to her second-in-command before throwing her umbrella towards him. He caught it thanks to his reflexes, but he didn't know what to do with it, even if it seemed as if she had mouthed 'Take care of it.'

Then she disappeared again.

"She said we should go on without her." Abuto relayed to the rest of the group.

Takasugi nodded silently, then climbed down the ladder, followed by an obviously upset Katsura. Kondo followed as well, but missed the footing of the ladder and landed on the ground with a thud, rendered unconscious.

"I don't trust her." Okita said, shouldering a rocket launcher before heading out after her. The scene of her questioning the Shinsengumi's affiliations replayed in his head, and he wouldn't leave without answers. If there was a threat to Kondo somewhere out there… He will eliminate it.

"Sougo, you've got to be kidding me!" Hijikata growled at his subordinate, but the sandy-haired man resolutely began striding after the female Amanto.

"Go on ahead, I'll destroy the entrance once all of you are inside." He turned back to Hijikata with an evil smirk. "If you don't hurry, I might just kill you as well."

The Demon Vice-Chief scowled at him. "That's not funny, Sougo. We can destroy the entrance from the inside."

"Well, you guys can jolly-well continue arguing, but we're going." Gintoki announced, packing Kamui's collar and dragging them down the ladder.

Hijikata redirected his angry expression to the two Yorozuya idiots, about to reprimand them, giving Okita the opportunity to push him down into the hole. He screamed as he landed on Gintoki and Kamui, forcing both of them into the fall with him and they all landed on the gorilla's unconscious body.

"SOUGOOOO!" Hijikata shouted up the entry hole angrily, but he got no response.

On the surface, Okita flicked a grenade he had stolen from Katsura at some point on to the entrance, just in time as the Amanto arrived at the scene.

He grinned at them. "You're just a little too late, bitches."

The explosion blinded him momentarily, but he could hide himself behind a conveniently-placed concrete wall in time to escape the explosion.

Still grinning triumphantly, he peeked over his shield and nodded to himself contently as all the Amanto in the vicinity lied on the ground, roasted to a crisp.

Then blackness took over his vision as a heavy object collided with the back of his head, accompanied by searing pain.

Present…

Kagura didn't hesitate to let go of the butter knife and grab onto the abandoned steak knife instead, jamming it right through the admiral's aorta. She yanked it out again, a spray of blood staining the table cloth as she leapt over the surface and forced the small blade into the other Amanto's head.

Both bodies fell forward, breaking the plates in front of them with a sharp clatter.

"Get up!" She shouted at Okita, running over the table and grabbing another sharp knife on the way, taking hold of his arm and pulling him after her after somehow slicing through his chains with the small knife. They fell to the ground with a metallic clang, but he didn't have time to register what was going on as she forced him through the doors and down the corridor.

"What's going on?!" He shouted at her in confusion, but she had already begun panting in exhaustion as she pushed the both of them into an adjacent, smaller room.

It was tight and dark, but he could still make out her form as she leaned forward, supporting herself on her knees.

She gulped audibly. "We need to get to the control room, from there we can take over the ship." She rasped out.

"That was kind of obvious, I meant what's going on with you!" He whisper-yelled back to her as he heard footsteps pass them in the hallway.

She gave him a smirk. "Your idea worked, I deserve an Oscar but I'm still suffering from the tranquilizer, so I don't have my strength back yet. Unfortunately, getting to the control room won't be as easy as I planned it to be, but I must say that you getting rid of those two idiots was most definitely a major help."

Okita nearly blushed for multiple reasons.

One, his idea worked. She was obviously referring to a certain event he really didn't want to have to think about while they were supposed to be concentrating on escaping.

Two, she was acknowledging him. Actually acknowledging him, not just looking down on him, actually speaking to him as if he weren't just dirt on the ground she walked on. She said he was a major help, and he couldn't detect any sarcasm in that sentence, no, it was very genuine. Pride filled his heart and he was about to make a smug comment, but something else needed to be prioritized.

"What do you mean, your strength isn't back yet?" He asked her incredulously.

"It's exactly like as it sounds." She replied unhappily, having finally caught her breath again.

"Then where'd all that strength just now come from?" He pressed on sceptically.

"You humans have saying that goes something along the line of 'A cornered animal will bite the fox', right? Same principle."

A smirk grew on his face. "So you admit that you're a cornered animal?" He didn't bother correcting her in regards to the phrase.

"Well, I'm no human and I was quite literally cornered by two assholes, but perhaps your fur was covering your eyes and you were blinded, Chihuahua." She sneered, running her fingers up his bangs and holding them away from his face. "Has light returned to your dark world yet? Should I put a laundry clip in your hair to keep it out of your face? Huh?!"

He clasped his hand over her mouth when her volume began to rise.

"Don't worry, I can see everything clear as daylight." He grinned down at her, waiting for the frantic footsteps outside the door to disappear. "And are you sure you should be talking to the person who will save your sorry ass in such a tone?" He cooed, revelling in her upset expression.

"I'm not such a sore loser that I won't abandon my pride in a situation such as this one." She grunted, visibly unhappy.

"Then I want you to be honest with me. What artefact was he talking about in there? And where is it?"

Her blue eyes stayed locked with his red ones, but her demeanour changed from unhappy to determined. "It doesn't really have anything to do with you."

"It does now."

"You won't like the truth." She sighed, breaking eye-contact.

"The truth is the ugliest of all. Nobody likes the truth." He reasoned.

"You won't understand its nature, it's an alien artefact." She was obviously choosing her words carefully, speaking around the topic.

"I figured that much, just tell me what it is." He insisted forcefully. His patience was kind of wearing thin.

"It's kind of a secret item. I shouldn't even have known about its existence."

"What the hell is it? The fucking Hougyoku? Do we have to find Aizen in Hueco Mundo?" He snapped at her, uncaring whether there were Amanto outside or not.

"No, it's an Altana Crystal from Kouan!" She replied in a similarly snarky tone.

"A what from what?"

"I told you that you wouldn't understand!" She glared at him in exasperation.

"Okay, so does your brother have it?" He pressed out calmly, remembering that they had a goal somewhere in between all this.

"No." She answered curtly, still refusing to recreate eye-contact.

"Then who does? He mentioned somebody on earth has it!" He nearly shouted at her, but caught himself before actually doing so, Seriously, this woman…

"That's the part you won't like…" She said, glancing towards him and taking a deep breath.

"Stop talking around the bush and just fucking tell me already!"

Elsewhere…

The black-haired girl hummed to herself happily as she carried the cup of tea to her elder brother's room. Her ornaments jingled softly as she shook her head gracefully to the tune.

"Big brother! I brought you some tea! Make sure to drink it while it's still hot!" She cheerfully greeted him, elegantly setting the cup on the corner of his workspace.

He chuckled. "Still trying to convince me that it doesn't taste horrible?"

"You're such a meanie." She pouted as she left the room, the bright blue pendant on her necklace swaying with her movements.

Elsewhere elsewhere…

The cloaked man stepped into the bustling streets of Edo. He had a serious mission.

He spotted a Renho across the street, holding up a sign. He approached it, taking off his goggles and cap in the process, revealing a shiningly bald head.

"Excuse me?" He asked the Renho, who was searching for a long-haired samurai. "I couldn't help but notice that we are both looking for certain people…"

AN: Maybe I should just scrap the OkiKagu and make this SoyoKagu... I swear, that was the fluffiest thing I have ever written in my life...

Was it believable though? I'm not too sure about it yet...

I wanted to thank all the reviewers from last time! It was seriously amazing to get back so much positive feedback!

Anyway... the plot thickens!

Reviews are most appreciated!

~Emi