Disclaimer: Gintama is Sorachi Hideaki's. Not mine. :)
Chapter 8.
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Sougo followed them down a zigzag of alleyways till he came upon the sorriest looking rundown hut in the middle of what looked like a garbage dump of broken building pieces.
On his journey, he did wonder about these kidnappers. They didn't seem to have any concern about pursuers at all, talking and laughing loudly all the way to their base.
When they entered, Sougo quietly climbed over the broken walls and pipes and lots and lots of bricks. He made it to the entrance of the hut to find surprisingly that it was much bigger inside. The hut was made to conceal an underground cave. Surrounded by rocks, Sougo could see several Amanto lying about, some playing cards, some talking in the corner, some sleeping. In another corner, was a straw cage, in which a sleeping Kagura could be seen.
Sougo deadpanned. At the same moment, he overheard two nearby Amanto talking.
"Hehehe, we got her good. Now we just gotta punish her, so we teach her and that Shiroyasha a lesson."
"Hehehe, yeah, good good. How we punish them?"
"Heheh, we keep her here a while, make him fret, you know? And in the meantime, we torture her."
"Hehehe, good good. What kinda torture?"
"Darmin's got that new tickle machine, you know, the one that doesn't stop, that one."
"Hehehe, good good."
Sougo made up his mind, he was going to leave the damn idiot to her fate.
He stood up, but then thought about all the stuff he had wanted to shout at her, and, well, he had already come all this way.
He then noticed that he had stood up in full view of the front door without a single one of the occupants noticing. He could probably walk right up to the cage and shout at her to get things off his chest then walk out again with no one the wiser. So, he did just that.
Strolling straight from the front door to the back of the cave where the straw cage was, he made it all the way without one of them stirring.
Looking down, he saw Kagura snoring away, looking quite comfortable on the straw mat. His foot reached through the straw bars and stepped on her head.
"OW!" She whined and awoke.
Still, the amanto continued talking their talk, or playing their cards or remained in their dreams.
Sougo crouched down, while Kagura took in her surroundings, rubbing her sore head with confusion written on her face.
Finally, her eyes met his and she gave him a sheepish smile.
"Oops."
"Oops? That's all you have to say? What have you been doing all these years? You're not supposed to get captured so easily, you imbecile. How did this happen anyway?"
Kagura looked down a bit shamefaced. "I ate their free sukonbu..." She whispered.
Sougo would have drove his head into the straw if he thought it would help. "Only you China. Would be dumb enough to fall for a trap like that."
"Shut up sadist! I've been tuned to smell a lot more dangerous people than these bunch of ragatags. They smell purer than the virgin-iest undies. Even purer than Shinpachi's!"
"Don't give me that mental image, please. And virgin-iest is not a word."
Their argument finally got the attention of some of their neighbours, who noticed the intruder and that their captive was awake.
However, the unexpected turn spooked them. This wasn't part of the plan! The intruder was the first division captain of the Shinsengumi!
Before any of the amanto could move or bolt, Sougo stood up and unsheathed his katana. Red eyes gleaming. Kagura also stood and like walking through air, stepped out of the cage. The straw fell all around her, almost burying her and made her look a bit of a fool.
"Heh, nice look, China."
Kagura struggled with the excess straw, red-faced and fuming.
"Why are you here?!"
"Tch, making me work on my day off, and this is what I get." Sougo muttered while stalking forward, slicing the amanto before him.
"It's not even your day off, lazy tax-robber!" She rebutted amidst her flying kicks and umbrella smashes.
About 30 seconds later, all the amanto were laying on the ground. Kagura was dusting off the last of the straw and Sougo yawned loudly.
"You can at least be my pillow to sleep on after this."
"Keep Dreaming." Kagura replied, but just as she turned to leave from the cave, a sharp pain bloomed through her upper left thigh and before she knew it, she was collapsed on the dirty cave floor. An echo of a loud bang bouncing off the cave walls she only now noticed.
Within a tenth of a second, Sougo had drawn his sword and was flying towards the offender who could be seen behind a well-hidden rock on the left side of the cave.
"DON'T MOVE!" Another voice shouted this time somewhere deep on the right side of the cave. Sougo nimbly shifted his sword to the voice. "or we'll blow her brains out next time round. And just in case you get any funny ideas, ojou-chan. Please consider this poor child's safety." A large rock shifted at the back of the cave wall, where an amanto appeared carrying a young human child of about 5-7 pointing a knife to his throat.
The boys mouth was roughly covered but his muffled sobs could still be heard.
Kagura had been getting up again with difficulty, but immediately stopped as she noticed the hostage. 'What cowardly assholes, using children as their shields!'
Sougo couldn't believe his luck, he recognised the kid as one of the missing children. Always when the damn yorozuya are involved...
They both dropped their weapons. They were surrounded in the enemy's territory, it was obvious this was a trap. Kagura could smell the blood on them, whatever weird connection they had with the initial kidnappers, these guys were on a whole different league.
They didn't move when several more amanto entered from hidden passages at the back of the cage and bound their hands and feet. They wore dark green armor and were much more built, all having their fair share of battle scars.
Sougo and Kagura were led down the inner cave deeper and deeper and deeper, winding this way and that. The labyrinth was extensive, the most astounding thing was it all seemed to be artificial, someone had taken the time to create this.
