Chapter 14
Waiting at the park entrance, Okita leaned against the sign in his civilian clothes: a medium gray kimono, red underneath and simple sandals.
He waved when he saw Kagura but stuttered a bit at her outfit, "China, make-up? What the-?"
She approached him and explained, "Anego-chan helped me, she said I should look nice for my first date."
"Ah," the sadist replied simply.
The young Yato woman wore a cheongsam much like her red one, only it was light pink and shiny. She wore shoes of the same color as her dress along with lipstick that matched the rest of her outfit.
Kagura looked from side to side quickly before asking, "Can I tell you something personal Sadist?"
"What, China, period time?" Okita asked, chuckling.
She scowled darkly as she warned, "Don't joke about that. No, it's not that. What would you say if I told you I liked someone else?"
He was slightly shocked before he asked, "Then why go on a date with me?"
"Well, as hard as it is to admit, even for a sadist you're not too horrible. I don't want to lead you on but I like someone else. The problem is that he has the intent to ignore that I'm a girl, that I'm growing up and my feelings," Kagura said as she tried to explain herself.
Okita smirked as he guessed, "Danna huh?"
"What, why would you even think of that natural perm-head?" Kagura exclaimed as her face grew red in color.
He rolled his eyes as he answered, "Duh, he fits the bill. Danna is stubborn about romantic relationships and you've always had something about him, well what I inferred anyhow. You kind of gave yourself away too, you blushed like a tomato when I mentioned him."
The young woman glared at him as she responded, "Damn Sadist, are you going to help me or not?"
He chuckled before saying, "Sure, I asked you out but you want to make Danna jealous."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. Are you sure you don't have an ulterior motive though?" Kagura insinuated teasingly.
Putting his hands up in surrender, Okita joked, "Don't worry, I got plenty of enjoyment from seeing that ridiculous tomato face of yours just now to make up for that China."
Before she could do more but fume at that, he pointed out, "Well China, we better start the plan. We have an audience."
There was a small group of people hanging out near the park entrance. Sadly, the two young people could point them out easily as they looked normal except for sunglasses and scarves wrapped around their heads like thieves would.
Kagura face-palmed as she noticed Gin, Shinpachi and Otae while Okita rolled his eyes when he saw Kondou.
"Okay, let's get this show on the road," the young Yato woman decided as she gave him a thumbs up.
He reciprocated with a thumbs up of his own as they began their date.
Once the noisy group hid where they thought they were inconspicuous, they watched the couple.
She linked arms as she said, "Isn't it a nice day today Sadist?"
"Yeah, nobody is bugging us for a change. Are you hungry China?" the sadist suggested.
Kagura lit up at the suggestion of food and replied, "Yeah, let's get a sundae, we can share!"
In the bushes, Gin scowled to himself. He was equally jealous of them having a sundae as he was at the thought of them sharing it, it just fanned his jealousy further.
Shinpachi looked over at his friend and inquired, "Gin-san, is something wrong?"
In answer, Gin shook his head no and pointed that the couple was leaving the park.
"Oh crap, let's go minna!" Kondou whispered loudly as he motioned for the rest to follow along.
As they began following them out of the park, the former Shinsengumi commander radioed someone.
"Toshi! Come in! Where are you?" he asked in a rush.
Giving him a strange look, the man in question responded, "Kondou-san, I'm right here. Why aren't you at work?"
"Ah! You scared me! Oh, I-um...was excited about Sougo's date so...I kind of forgot," the older man attempted to respond.
Sighing, the smoker replied, "You should get back, what did you want then?"
"Can you help us tail them?" the gorilla pleaded with his friend.
He rolled his eyes as he informed the group, "You do realize that people are watching you? You're still in your old uniform Kondou-san, the one you refused to let us get rid of."
Realizing that his friend was right, Kondou sweat-dropped and exclaimed, "Oh crap!"
"Kondou-san, I guess I could help. I heard about him bragging about this and I should have figured that you'd go and stalk him," Hijikata said in a defeated tone, "You dragged Nee-san and the others into this too?"
"Guilty, I guess. Sorry," the leader admitted as he hung his head.
The mayo addict's face softened as he placed a hand on his old friend's shoulder and told him, "Don't feel so bad, you're just looking out for him. I know how you feel about Sougo, since...Mitsuba died you and I have both looked out for him even more than before."
Smiling, Kondou wordlessly hugged Hijikata who didn't even protest. He just let his friend embrace him, he knew he needed this right now.
"Hijikata-san makes a point, we're all kind of obvious with these scarves. Let's lose these at least, okay?" Shinpachi spoke up and they all nodded in agreement.
They all felt so silly at how obvious their scheme was since Hijikata figured it out.
It was then that Gin smirked at the fuss that Hijikata seemed to be making over Okita's date, he noticed some odd tension about all of this that he'd never seen with the smoker before.
"Hijikata-kun, why are you so worried over Okita-kun then? Do you have a crush?" the sweets addict insinuated with a sadistic smirk on his face.
While his face started to turn red, the mayo addict growled, "I'm looking out for a comrade like I just said, Shiroyasha-dono!"
All of a sudden, Okita and Kagura walked by a bit noisily to enter the ice cream parlor not a few feet away from the group.
Otae whispered forcefully, "Come on guys, we don't want to lose them!"
Her brother, husband and friends complied as they snuck into the parlour.
Before the group followed, the two inside continued their conversation from before.
When he noticed Hijikata among the group now, Okita sighed heavily and commented in a low voice, "Why is he here?"
Kagura turned to look over there and, when she saw Hijikata, smirked knowingly.
"Oh, I see. Why are you worried about Mayo samurai being here?" the young woman asked then.
Knowing what she was trying to imply, the sadist deviated by replying, "It's just harder to act when he'll see through it."
"You seem embarrassed, are you sure?" Kagura egged on.
Blushing a bit, he dodged a bit by saying, "I'm just overworked since, before Nee-san's birthday, I've been in charge. Without Kondou-san and Hijikata-san, I've been doing a lot of work. They were in Bushu for a while and only just got back in time for the party yesterday."
"Why did you really ask me out? I know there's something off Sadist," she insisted.
He sighed before saying, "I have no idea what you mean China."
She gave him a pointed look as she stated, "Sadist, they'll be in here soon."
"Fine," the former captain relented, "It's...been weird lately. I've felt lonely...since Kondou-san and Hijikata-san left. I figured I just missed tormenting him but..."
Kagura leaned in and asked curiously, "And?"
"I don't know, I've been missing Hijikata-san...in a different way. He's always on my mind and...ugh, I don't know! Since he got back and the party, I don't know how to act around him," the young former captain confessed as he let his guard down a bit.
She smiled as he thought about something before she decided on something.
Kagura slapped her fist onto her palm as she told him, "I know what to do! We can make Gin-chan and Mayo samurai jealous! It's brilliant!"
At that, they both grinned sadistically while they prepared to put the plan in motion.
Once Gin and the others snuck inside the ice cream parlour where they wouldn't be seen, they witnessed an odd scene.
Kagura and Okita sat across from each other while holding hands and chatting. As they supposedly gazed lovingly at each other, small flames seemed to be coming from the smoker and the sweets addict. Hijikata didn't understand why he was even upset but Gin already knew.
He could deny it all he wanted but the silver samurai had to admit it: Kagura had grown up into a young woman, a beautiful one at that. Although this was finally clear to him, this didn't stop him from imagining the sadistic things he wanted to do to Okita right now.
At the same time, the former vice commander was stewing in his unconscious emotions. While they both were thinking, their fires betrayed them. Both Gin and Hijikata's teeth were clenched in frustration as veins were popping out visibly on their foreheads. The look on their faces resembled how they looked in the Baragaki arc.
Shinpachi was shocked at his friends' faces as he questioned, "Um, Gin-san, Hijikata-san? Are you two alright?"
When Gin and Hijikata noticed how they must look, both men tried to shrug it off.
"Oh, I was just thinking of all those mountains of paperwork on my desk waiting for me," the mayo addict tried to pass off as he nodded nervously.
At the same moment, Gin fibbed too by saying, "And I was just thinking about how the rent's due soon."
Shinpachi gripped the bridge of his nose, he obviously didn't believe them especially as their veins were still throbbing. Otae just ignored them as she went back to observing, as did her husband. Her brother soon followed her lead and joined them as they watched.
"Thanks a lot, now I look crazy," the mayo samurai heatedly whispered at the other man.
"No," the sweets addict countered, "You made me look crazy!"
Glaring at each other, Otae only had to say, "Quiet now," to shut them up.
Obviously Okita and Kagura knew they had an audience, she whispered, "Do you think it's working Sadist?"
"What do you think?" the sadistic young man said smugly with a smirk as he pointed at the very angry men.
Kagura giggled at the sight before laughing more obviously.
"What is she laughing at?" Gin frowned at while Hijikata nodded in agreement.
"Let's order before you eat the table China," Okita suggested as she nodded her head vigorously.
"A banana split maybe?" she suggested as she as she drooled a little as the Yato grew hungrier.
Holding his chin with his hand, he studied the menu before saying, "How about a milkshake? That way we can share."
"Yeah, that sounds good!" Kagura agreed, which set Gin and Hijikata off again.
They both started to grit their teeth again, though Gin was jealous of both the young man and the milkshake. Otae, Kondou and Shinpachi sighed at the bakas with them but continued to see what would happen.
Once the milkshake came, the two shared it while playing the happy couple. After they were done, he asked her what she wanted to do next.
"Ooh, a movie!" Kagura exclaimed cheerfully.
He raised an eyebrow and asked, "What, a chick flick like that?"
Okita had pointed at a movie poster in the shop depicting a girl with a boy in a forest, the boy pale white with bags under his eyes.
She made a face as she inquired, "I'd rather see My Neighbor Pedoro or Alien vs. Yakuza."
"Those aren't really date movies though," he countered.
Kagura gave him a tired look before replying, "Well, I guess we can go see if the gushy one is worth it."
A/N: Okay, the date will conclude in the next chapter. Sorry for it cutting off like this, I hope you're enjoying the craziness that Okita and Kagura are putting Hijikata and Gin in. Ja ne!
