Chapter 10.

.

.

He continued to twist the sword further into Kagura's body and stared intensely as blood spilled from the wound.

His eyes were dilated with rapture. "Hahaahaha, you could have a thousand lives and still not use it as effectively as me! Your body, your youth, I could put it to much better use. Try using your Yato abilities to heal this, I'm sure even Yato have problems healing mutilated innards. Hahaahaaha"

Behind them, Sougo instinctively flew forward, stopped again by the chains cutting into his wrists and ankles. Completely ignoring the tearing pain in his shoulder as he pulled hard against it "STOPP ITT, FUCKING STOPP ITT!" He shouted, feeling completely useless.

Worse than anything else he'd experienced, which is a lot considering, was watching as that creature hacked at her and being unable to do anything.

The madness seemed to stretch for eternity, every second of Kagura's scream, every sound of another piece of her body torn, every splatter of her blood continuously falling to the ground magnified till it was the only thing he could hear. The man's maniacal laughter only a background annoyance. Reality seemed to fragment.

Suddenly, the man's hand fell onto the ground, as in literally broke off. The weapon, imbedded within Kagura, slowly slid out and fell on top of the dismembered limb.

His high-pitched laughing turned into a high-pitched wail that sounded eerily similar. "Ahhhhh, ahhhh, my hand! Grab my hand quick, get the glue!" The man frantically ordered the Amanto carrying him. The Amanto reached down to grab the crumbling hand and rushed back to the dark corner of the cave with the wailing man.

More blood spilled from the open wound in Kagura's stomach as she breathed heavily. Her eyes veered back and forth in confusion. Panic setting in. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. More tears pooled in her eyes. Where was she again? Why was it so dark? Why did it smell like death? She choked and sniffled, each hitch causing unbearable pain to her abdomen.

Gin-chan? She wanted Gin-chan. Sadaharu? Sadist? Anyone? Her eyes turned every way but saw nothing except her own darkness, spiraling further into hopelessness. Until she caught a vague glow of red. Weakly focusing on the glow she slowly noticed it was 2 points of red. Eyes. That were staring at her. Clear and transparent, penetrating her soul, Kagura gradually overcame the pain and lost herself in those eyes. Soon the eyes morphed a face and eventually the rest of Sougo and their surroundings came into focus.

'Ah, that's right. I'm here... I'm here with sadist.' She recalled.

"Kagura." His voice was firm, demanding, but the warmth underneath undeniable.

And like a splash of cold water, Kagura felt completely herself again, albeit in excruciating pain.

Taking a deep breath, she replied steadily. "What, sadist."

Sougo scoffed. "Don't die on me, alright."

Kagura smiled back, careful not to laugh and cause any unnecessary movement. "Right back at you, idiot."

They stayed like that in a moment's reprieve as the corpse tried to re-attach his limb.

Sougo kept a keen eye on the heavily damaged girl in front of him.

He knew this type of cowardly man, he'd seen him a dime a dozen. All talk and no action. He would never actually send threats to Danna or the Shinsengumi. He would keep them here, tormenting and threatening. Keeping them alive to use as possible hostages if the time arises. That's what made it so hard to find criminals like him. Always hiding and only striking in the most cowardly way. But this time he'd made a huge blunder. His greed to take Kagura his downfall. Sougo had left a trail to the hideout, and the mess they left at the entrance was nothing if not conspicuous.

Sougo couldn't do anything for her or himself for now, he would just have to clench his teeth and wait for the others to come.

Luckily, very shortly after these thoughts, a frog amanto came running in, out of breath.

"Master! Shinsengumi are heading this way!"

"Whatttt?!" The ex-Tendoushuu screamed, still babying his glued hand to his chest. "Quickly, grab the children, put them in the traps to delay the Shinsengumi." The frog amanto saluted and quickly ran towards where the kids were.

The old corpse was lifted again by his carrier and they started heading further into the cave where there was likely another secret opening.

When he peered back, he noticed that the frog amanto had opened the cage door and was untying the last few children, setting them free.

"What are you doing, you Idiot Frog?!" He screamed. "Just drag them out bound! They're getting away! Quickly, capture them!"

The frog stood and gathered the kids around him, then turned toward the shouting man, he reached up and tore off his frog mask revealing long dark silky tresses and a very familiar face. A face postered on nearly every vacant wall in Edo. "Idiot frog ja nai, Katsura da." He stated.

The corpse-man's eyes widened, this was another of Utsuro's students.

"Zura" Kagura croaked happily.

Katsura eyed Kagura's wound worryingly. "Hang in there, leader. Gintoki will be here soon."

He took out several metal balls from within his kimono and scattered them on the floor, smoke quickly spread throughout the cave, all visibility lost.

"Ahhh, Ahhhhhhh!" The ex-tendoushuu squealed, thrashing in panic, his servant dropped him in amidst the panic, where he continued flailing trying to fight off the harmless gas.

Suddenly, the ceiling exploded! Sunlight instantly penetrated the smoky cave and small bits of Earth fell everywhere. Katsura and the children were nowhere to be seen.

"KAGGGURRRAAA!" Umibouzu shouted, seemingly the one who blew a hole in the top. He jumped straight in followed by Gintoki, Shinpachi, Sadaharu, Kondou, Hijikata, Elizabeth and the rest of the Shinsengumi and Joui-shishi. All of them shouting the names of Kagura and Sougo and one barking and one holding up a placard.

"Toshi! Over there!" Kondou was the first to spot the cage and they both rushed towards it. They just managed to jump out of the way, narrowly escaping death as Umibouzu kicked the cage door off its hinges imbedding it several metres into the opposite wall.

"Kagura!" He rushed toward his daughter, followed closely behind by Gintoki and Shinpachi, freeing her from her chains.

"Gin-chan, Papi, Shinpachi." Kagura managed to whisper with a smile.

They all assessed the damage to her stomach. Umibouzu saw red, his blood boiled and the grip on his umbrella tightened. Jumping up, only death existed in his eyes, no enemy would be spared today. The other two stayed with her.

On the other side, Kondou and Hijikata did the same for Sougo. Hijikata caught him just as he was let loose. "I'm alright." Sougo reassured though, "I can stand." His only thought to make it to Kagura's side, where he set off hobbling.

"Alright, you stay with them, we'll quickly finish up here." Kondou called after him, running with Hijikata to join the battle.

Gintoki while holding Kagura tried to distract her from all the surrounding chaos (especially the one-man battalion known as Umibouzu causing the most ruckus). "I'll make sure there's all the food you need in the house this time, your Gin-chan will spend everything on food till I'm broke."

"You're already broke, Gin-san." Shinpachi still has to play the straight man in these situations, you see.

"Well, hopefully, with the new hole in your stomach, we can recycle."

"HOW CAN YOU JOKE ABOUT THAT?!" Smack.

Sougo managed to hobble his way to them at this point and crouched down.

"Kagura." She turned her head and smiled tiredly at him, face strained. Their hands slipped gently together. Shinpachi looked between the two, bewildered.

Gintoki was a little distracted, he noticed in amidst the battle, a crumpled form scrambling on the ground screeching. He carefully laid Kagura in Shinpachi's arms and stood up. "Look after her" he directed toward the two men.

The trio watched him as he made his way toward the ex-Tendoushuu.

Gintoki stood in front of the hideous screaming creature and looked down.

"Eeeeek Eeeeeeek, get away!" He flailed some more, but then noticed who stood in front of him. His expression changed 180 degrees. "YOU! Ahaha hahahhahaahhahaaahah. Did you see? Did you see what I did to the girl?!" He liked when Gintoki's expression darkened. "Yes, that's it. Feel the hate. Suffer like I suffered. This is what your Sensei caused. You think this is it, that you have me now? I'm immortal! Hahahahahahahahha. And I'm not the only one. We're all probably just waiting for our chance. You think centuries of power can be undone because of one man. Foool! You're all fooools! The Tendoushuu will revive, we will rev- - kuh gah cough cough cough" He began severely choking on his own words.

The battle was finished, all amanto lay dead. The Shinsengumi and Joui slowly made their way toward the scene. Gintoki hesitant, unhooked his bokuto and held it above his head. The ex-Tendoushuu's eyes shifted back into blind panic, still coughing he uselessly scrambled backwards, defenseless.

"Nobody's going to hurt you, aru. Relax."

The voice sounded just behind Gintoki, he turned and saw Kagura half carried by Shinpachi and Sougo. Gintoki glared darkly at Shinpachi.

"She, she threatened to follow you." He reasoned, sweating heavily.

"She can still threaten you in that state?!" His bokuto found another target.

Sougo led Kagura the rest of the way to the choking man and carefully lowered her to the ground. Their hands re-clasped together.

"Now, honestly." She started all uppity, though still sounding tired. "You've lived a life longer than multiple lifespans, but have you ever been happy? You're never going to be able to pass on peacefully if you keep holding on to useless things." The ex-Tendoushuu was less panicked now, he simply looked at her like a crazy girl. Well, he wasn't the only one.

'But how can she look so happy?' He thought, eyeing her fresh wound. It was still bleeding profusely, and pain was evident in her eyes. However, she held the hand of the Shinsengumi beside her and all the ones she loved were surrounding her protectively and she was, she was happy.

For the first time in his life, the ex-Tendoushuu was not envious of another's power, but of what she had.

She reached out and pulled him slightly closer, her hand closed over his eyes. Before he had a chance to panic, she continued speaking. "Now close your eyes. Think happy thoughts. The last time you were actually happy. You can dream about it-aru."

Now he was sure she was mad, just as he was about to tell her to check herself into a mental asylum, he registered the warmth and softness of her thighs and hands. If felt nice. When carried by his slaves, it was always cold armor he was against.

He unexpectedly recalled a similar feeling from ages past. Centuries and centuries ago, he remembered the same warmth and softness, along with a sweet lullaby.

'Ah, that was... quite some time ago.'

He thought to himself, transporting to that time he lay in his mother's lap while she sang for him. He immersed himself in his dream, his face relaxed, his body untensed. For the first time in a long time, he was content.

He was silent for a while, Kagura thought her plan had failed, till she heard a soft sigh. The man against her lap smiled and then started to fade. His body crumbled like dust and with the wind rose into the air, a form held there at head height for a second as if watching, then with a light gust it vanished.

Kagura smiled. She too closed her eyes and thought about eating Sukonbu, watching TV with Gin-chan and Shinpachi, playing with Souyo, travelling with Papi and Baka-Aniki, talking with Mami, fighting with the Sadist. With happy memories in her mind, she passed out.


Notes: Nearlyy theree. Safe to say now, this will be finished. Didn't really know whether I would in the middle there, hehe. Some parts are always super awkward to write, and other parts just flow on off me.

So whaddya think? Reviews? Constructive-critism? :)

Next chap soon.