Hey guys, Murayama Tsuru here. Here's a Halloween oneshot. Yes, I know it's already November 1st (probably November second when you read this) but I still wanted to write it. Even though I said New Year's Eve would probably be the last chapter for this story, I lied. I hope you guys enjoy ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't own Gintama; it's the property of Sorachi Hideaki-Sensei.

As he put the finishing touches on his costume, Katsura smiled. Halloween had always been his favorite holiday because it involved something he loved doing more than anything; putting on a disguise and pretending to be someone he wasn't. Even though that's what he did every day when he walked around in public (or escaped from the Shinsengumi), today was the day that everyone else did it too.

And this year, he decided that he would dress up as his friend and comrade, Sakata Gintoki. Once his costume was ready, he would go over to the Yorozuya and hand him a set of his clothes so the silver-haired Samurai could dress up as him. Katsura smiled again, he really liked this idea!

Katsura looked at himself in the mirror once more to see if there was anything missing. And as he did, something felt off, but he couldn't quite tell what it was. Katsura had gotten a silver wig, and red contact lenses. The outfit he had borrowed (without Gin knowing of course) looked fine, except for one thing…

Suddenly, before Katsura could figure out what was wrong, he heard Elizabeth come into the room. Katsura turned around and saw a sign that read, Nice costume Katsura-san. But, don't you need to make the right side dangle off your shoulder lazily? That's what Gin-san usually does, no?

"You're right, Elizabeth!" Katsura agreed, suddenly realizing what was wrong. Even though Katsura thought that a Samurai should never wear anything as lazily and sloppily as Gintoki did, Katsura slipped off the right sleeve and let it dangle limply at his side; he was going for authenticity after all.

Katsura then nodded toward Elizabeth and said, "You make a very god Shinsuke, Elizabeth. I'm very proud of you."

Somehow, Elizabeth managed to grin as she held up the sign, I know. Even though Takasugi-san is our enemy, he so much fun to dress up as.

Katsura's grin widened, "Well, shall we get going?" Elizabeth nodded and the two exited their hideout.


"Hah?" Gin said, eyebrow raised in both contempt and confusion. Zura had come rather suddenly, asking about wanting to go candy hunting or something like that and Gin had no idea what that meant. Really, he'd just expected a quiet evening to himself since both Kagura and Shinpachi were out, "You want to do what now?" he asked, figuring his plans for a quiet evening had been dashed.

"I want you to dress up as me so we can go trick-or-treating." Katsura said again, a serious look in his eyes.

"And that's what I don't get." Gin said, "Why would you want to go trick-or-treating? One it's November first. And two, as much as I like pawning candy off random people with no expense to me, I think I'm a little old for that. Although, if I'm dressing up as you it won't really matter since you're so childish anyway, Zura."

"It's not Zura, it's Katsura!" Katsura huffed, "So, will you come with me or not? If you do, you'll get to see Elizabeth dressed up as Takasugi."

"Are you trying to promote your idea of sway me against it?" Gin asked, "The idea of seeing your duck-penguin costume-wearing old man of a comrade dressed up as Takasugi, as funny as that sounds, doesn't sound all that appealing. Besides, haven't we already done that joke?"

Katsura scoffed, "Gintoki, I can't believe you! Where's your Halloween spirit? If Elizabeth wants to dress up as Takasugi, he can! Just as I can dress up as you and you can dress up as me! And, we should get the leader and Shinpachi-dono to dress up as each other as well, it would make Halloween so much more exciting!"

"Hate to break it to you," Gin said, not sorry at all, "but neither Kagura nor Shinpachi are here tonight. So, it'll just be the three of us."

Only looking momentarily disappointed that Kagura and Shinpachi weren't here to share the Halloween fun, Katsura's grin returned when he heard that Gin had agreed to his plan. So, grin still in place, the Joui leader thrust a set of his clothes and a wig in Gin's direction and declared, "Well, what are you waiting for? Go get changed!"

Gin sighed, already regretting this immensely; but he took the clothes and disappeared back into the Yorozuya. After a few minutes, Gin reappeared and the three began walking down the stairs of the Yorozuya. After a minute or two of silent walking, Gin suddenly asked, "Oi, Zura, why the hell do you even have a set of my clothes to begin with?"

Katsura stiffened, but didn't look at Gin. After a moment, without even commenting that his name wasn't Zura, he kept walking, much faster than before, still not making eye contact with Gin. Gin sighed as he walked faster to catch up with the Joui leader; he'd be sure to grill Katsura about this later, he was broke after all and needed those clothes!


After some unsuccessful attempts at getting candy (something about the three being too old for trick-or-treating), Gin, Katsura, and Elizabeth decided to cut their losses and go to a bar instead. Well, Gin and Elizabeth decided this; Katsura hadn't been all that keen on the idea.

But, once they had chosen a suitable bar, Katsura didn't feel so bad about drinking this night. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but ever since leaving his hideout he'd had the sense that someone had been watching him. But, it wasn't a gaze filled with malice like he had originally thought (Katsura had been afraid that the Shinsengumi were on to him), but there was a kind of nostalgia.

Katsura, still slightly unnerved by the fact that someone may be watching him had looked around several times to see who was following them. Gin noticed this and eventually asked him what was wrong. Katsura though, still hoping that this was just a feeling and nothing more, brushed it off by saying it was probably just the ghosts of Halloween watching them to see if they were performing sufficient tricks for the holiday.

But now, that they were in a relatively empty bar Katsura felt the sensation even more. So, he turned to Gin saying, "Gintoki, do you feel that someone is watching us?"

But, there was no reply as Gin was now passed out snoring loudly away next to Elizabeth. Katsura sighed, so much for confirming that he wasn't crazy. So, Katsura did (to him anyway) the natural thing and called out, "Whoever's there, come out. Hiding is not the way a proper Samurai should behave."

Katsura thought he heard a far off chuckle and then a breeze seemed to stir the room. Once the breeze settled, a figure solidified in the room right across from Katsura, making the Joui leader's eyes widen and the breath to be stolen from his lungs.

Katsura couldn't believe what he was seeing, sitting before him was Yoshida Shouyou, his Sensei from a time that has been all but forgotten. Katsura, still incredulous about Sensei being there, turned to wake Gin to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating; but before he could, Katsura noticed Sensei shake his head, "Don't," he said, "let Gintoki sleep. I'm sure he needs it."

Katsura turned back to his former teacher and snorted, "I guess, but all he's been doing is drinking, I think he'll need more than rest…Sensei? What are you doing here?"

Sensei shrugged, a small smile on his face, "I just wanted to see my precious students again. It is unfortunate that Shinsuke isn't here, I'm sure we'd all have such fun together. Like old times."

Katsura sighed at that and said bitterly, "I'm sorry Sensei, but I don't think those times can ever return. No matter how much we want them to…"

Sensei sighed as well, and Katsura thought he was going to say something along the lines that he felt the same way. Instead, Sensei said, "It's a pity I couldn't find the Haori of the Underworld that Gintoki obtained from that Shinigami during Obon…you look like you're having a hard time, Kotaro."

Katsura shook his head vehemently, "No Sensei, I'm not having a hard time. It's just that it's still a little confusing that you're here as a ghost…why haven't you come to us before? Maybe if you had, Takasugi wouldn't have…"

Sensei looked pensive for a moment, "Well, haven't you heard that there have been a lot of ghost appearances of ghosts in Edo lately? As I said before, Gintoki defeated a Shinigami who was holding us all captive during Obon. Partly, I meant to tell him how proud of him I am. But, I can see that he's fine, sleeping away like he is. So, I shall continue to talk with you until the morning."

Katsura noticed that Sensei had left Takasugi out completely. For a moment, the Joui leader thought about bringing up his former comrade again, but he quickly decided against it. If Sensei was here, there was no reason to bring up painful memories. So, Katsura smiled and began talking with Sensei.


The next morning, Gin cracked his eyes open to his altogether too bright room. The silver-haired Samurai squinted painfully and exited his room. Gin didn't remember too much about how he got back here, the last thing he remembered was going into a bar to drink their sorrows away that they couldn't get any candy.

As Gin exited, he saw the white lump of Elizabeth on his couch and was even more confused; why would Katsura bring both him and Elizabeth back to his place? The answer was Katsura roaming around the house looking rather wistful. Gin frowned and remembered a dream he'd had last night; Sensei had come back and told them that everything was fine.

Gin frowned and asked, 'Zura, what's up? You don't look like your usual idiotic self."

Immediately, the look dropped from Katsura's face as he turned to look at Gin. With a huff, Katsura said, "It's not Zura, it's Katsura."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Gin responded flippantly, "So, what happened last night? I hardly remember anything after we went into that bar…"

The wistful look returned, "Oh, nothing," Katsura said, and he changed the subject, "So, what do you want to eat? I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

Gin raised an eyebrow, ready to question Katsura about what really happened. But he decided against it, last night's dream once again coming to mind. If Sensei had really shown up in that bar last night for Katsura, it was only a matter of time before Gin saw him as well. Gin shrugged then and said, "Well, I'm hungover so either you can cook breakfast or you can go out and buy breakfast. I'm craving a strawberry parfait."

Katsura chuckled at that, a grateful look appearing in his eyes, making Gin wonder all the more what had happened last night, "Well, with those options, I guess I'll go get us something to eat."

And that is the end of that. I'm not sure how well I did with Shouyou-Sensei…Oh well, that's ok, we don't (probably, I haven't really been keeping up with the manga) know too much about his personality. And, without anything else to say I shall leave you with a happy (late) Haloween! As always, reviews are greatly appreciated as I love to know what you guys think.

-村山鶴