AN: I am not sure if this is the correct procedure, alright? Just to let you know. I also just realized I've been writing practically one fic a day. Don't expect this pattern to hold. My inspiration comes at odd times. Once again, posting right after I wrote it. Be warned! There are likely errors!

Pairing(s): General Friendship/Comradery, Gintoki x Sougo
Warning(s): No character torture! Sad-fic

It Should be Raining, Damn it!

"Kagura-chan... Who should we invite? Do we invite everyone on this list?" Shinpachi asked with a sigh. A stack of envelopes and blank white cards sat on the desk.

"Don't care," she muttered dejectedly, hugging Sadaharu close to her.

A plain white envelope addressed to "the Shinsengumi" arrived in the Shinsengumi mailbox and was quickly delivered to Kondo Isao's room.

"Commander, your mail has arrived."

The hairy man looked up from his paperwork and accepted the small stack of letters from the nondescript officer. After flipping through the junk which he disposed of, he was tempted to dispose of the innocent white envelope too, but thought better of it and placed it carefully on the desk. After all, he had never received a letter from them before.

Finally done sorting through and reading the important stuff, he picked up the envelope on his desk, tore through the seal, read the contents with his eyes growing wider with each word absorbed, and the card slipped from his fingers.

It was this same position that Hijikata Toushiro and Okita Sougo found their commander in a half hour later.

"Kondo-san?" they both called in unison. When their call went unanswered, they shared a glance. It was an odd position to hold so they walked closer to investigate. Eventually, they found the white card laying at Kondo's feet.

The two read the card quickly. A cigarette soon hit the floor.

Sougo rubbed his eyes with his fist, blinked, re-read the card, and repeated the first two actions again. "Hijikata-san, am I seeing things?"

"..."

Sougo re-read the card for the third time before quietly leaving the room.

It was a deceptively bright morning when the entire cast gathered at a quaint temple in the middle of Edo. The air was still and the trees quiet. The birds were mysteriously absent from their perches. There wasn't even a cloud in the sky. For days like this, wasn't rain more appropriate? However, most of the people gathered on that day were probably too full of thoughts to have noticed.

It really was a strange group of people gathered, the priest noticed. 'This would normally result in a war,' he thought. Jouishishi members were sitting in the same room as Shinsengumi officers. The two main opposing characters Katsura Kotarou and Kondo Isao were even seated next to each other! And why were none of these people dressed appropriately? How colorful could the room get? As if all the multi-colored origami hanging around the room wasn't enough. And what was with all the Shounen Jump posters? These people were dressed in a rainbow of colors! Hell, the Shinsengumi commander was in a hawaiian shirt! Was this a costume party and he wasn't informed?

"Shinpachi-kun, why is it like this?" Katsura whispered fiercely at the brown head of hair sitting in front of him. He himself was dressed in his 'Captain Katsura' costume.

"Blame it on Gin-san!" Shinpachi whispered back just as fiercely. He had come in his fanclub get-up, bandanna and all.

"Gintoki? He isn't even here!"

"These were the seating plans he made."

"Are you serious, Shinpachi-kun?" Kondo asked, disbelief coloring his tone.

"Yes, I'm serious. Does it look like I would make a joke in this situation? I'm not Gin-san!"

"Gin-chan prepared everything ahead of time. Said it would be stupid to leave it to us," Kagura said lowly. She didn't bother dressing up, not having been in the mood.

The priest drowned out their conversation. He looked around the room again and squinted at the darker corners of the room. There were even shinobi. What kind of people did this man know?! His attention was drawn back to the people's conversation at the front row as he waited for probably hundeds more people to slowly trickle in.

"Why is Sougo up front with you guys?" Kondo asked. Meanwhile Toushi was in the second row with them.

Kagura and Shinpachi shared a look and their eyes slowly moved to the unusually somber and quiet figure of Okita Sougo in his Shinsengumi uniform who was seated next to Shinpachi.

"Gin-chan put the bastard there," Kagura grumbled angrily.

"You mean you didn't know, Kondo-san?"

"Know wh--

"Oi, shut up if you don't want a hole in your throats" Sougo said blankly.

The others froze. Although the captain's tone was his usual tone, his eyes promised pain if the conversation continued.

And so all conversation came to a sudden halt.

The priest watched as the room slowly filled with people, so many people that many were forced to stand. Finally, the doors closed and the speeches proceeded. Or...they were supposed to proceed with the speeches anyway.

"Gin-chan was..." Kagura couldn't even form a whole sentence before the tears started pouring. "I c-can't *hic* do it...Shinpachi!" She fell apart completely, her hands scrubbing at her face as tears continued to slip from behind closed lids.

Surprisingly, it wasn't Shinpachi who went up to comfort her, but it was Okita Sougo. He rose from his position on the ground, strolled forward and tugged the girl down back onto the cushions. "Shut up," he said, his voice cracking. "Shut up then." He held her close, his own eyes shut tightly.

"Gin-chan..." she whined pathetically. "Gin-chan, Gin-chan, Gin-chan..." Not caring anymore, she threw her arms around the other teen, hugging him fiercely to her, and burying her face in his tense shoulder.

"I said shut up" Sougo growled, and his voice cracked again. A single tear rolled down his cheek. The grip on him was crushing, but at the moment, it was a welcomed physical pain if only to drown out the emotional pains. Sadly, it didn't work that way as more tears came.

Kondo and Hijikata watched the scene mutedly. It wasn't as if there was anything they could do. 'After all,' they thought as they stared at the color photograph depicting the man they were all gathered here for, ' you can't bring back the dead.'

It was a long time before everyone went their separate ways attracting many a stare from passerbys with their colorful clothing.

"Okita-san," Shinpachi called. The red-eyed teen stopped in his tracks.

"Here," the glasses-wearing otaku held out a bokuto. 'Lake Touya' was etched onto the handle in dark ink.

Sougo slowly looked over his shoulder before turning and accepting it. "Thanks," he said hoarsely.

"Gin-san wanted you to have it."

A small watery smile found its way onto the sadist's lips. "Ah."

END

AN: I don't know why, but this came to me when I was in the middle of waking up. It just hit me, and so I wrote it. I know it's not like the other two, but there were still some funnies in it true to Gintama style.