Chapter 2:

Day 2: It's still cold but it's getting warmer.

Day two. Morning.

Everyone gathered around the large table which was beautifully carved. Another reason for the guests to let the guilt of hijacking the villa overflow them. But once again, don't expect too much. Kagura was feeling as proud as ever while Gintoki was sharing the atmosphere. He raises her after all.

"They feel no guilt..." Shinpachi thought and sighed. Once again he was reflecting on the bad things they did... a straight man's job. Poor Shinpachi. He was also the one who prepared the breakfast table along with Yamazaki.

They all ate their breakfast eagerly while some stare competitions were going on. And everyone knows; every stare-competition leads to a fight. Whatever kind it was.

Gintoki and Hijikata's stare competition started after they both had their usual breakfast. And of course, Gintoki thought Hijikata's mayo was dog food while Hijikata detested Gintoki's rice with sweet beans. And so it began.

"Ehh you call this dog-food? Then what would you say about your breakfast that tastes like horse-crap?!" Hijikata practically screamed at Gintoki. And of course, Gintoki returned the favor to his symmetrical rival while they both shared a popping vein on their foreheads.

"Horse crap?! Carbohydrates and sweets have gone together since ancient times unlike your dog food. No I shouldn't insult the dogs. Even their food tastes better." Gintoki sarcastically said.

"He knows by experience... After all he steals Sadaharu's food..." Shinpachi thought while he was forced to listen to their fight.

"Then shall we compare which food tastes better? Ne ojii-san?" hijikata said while patting Musashi's shoulders.

"iie iie, don't make the poor man go through hell eating that thing. Ne ojii-san?" gintoki replied while his gesture's moved along with his words.

"ehhhh? Oji-san? Where did he come from? Nande?! Why is the homeless ojii-san here?" Shinpachi hopelessly said.

"anoo.. actually, I just came to eat. I'm going back to Edo now", Musashi said while packing some things from the breakfast table into his bag and slowly walked towards the door. Before he left he turned around and said:

"demo you youngsters… you better eat while you can!" and smiled a fabulous smile which lightened the whole room and well, left Hijikata as well as Gintoki inspired.

"Haii!" they both replied with tears in their eyes and eagerly ate while they could.

"Idiots.. idiots.." Shinpachi's thoughts reflected on his face.

"Die, Hijikata, die..." Okita amusingly hummed in his head.

The second stare competition was rather short compared to Hijikata's and Gintoki's. It was the sadist and the Yato. And everyone knew how much the china girl loved to eat.

While Kagura was in the process of taking some breakfast meat from the plate Okita aimed at the same piece as Kagura. *zzz-zzz* you could practically hear and see the sparks that was caused by their stares. And so the fight over the meat-piece began. They both skillfully tried to take the meat from one another while dropping and picking it up again. Their chopstick-fighting was on a whole new level which entertained Kondo-san.

"Bastard. He won't even leave me alone now. I'm having breakfast damn it! Who invited you -aru!" Kagura thought. Okita smiled as if he read her thoughts which fired Kagura up and the same feeling was injected into Okita's blood.

Before they were able to determine a winner, Toujou casually ignoring their fight picked up the piece of meat and shoved it into his mouth, eating it delightfully. But what he didn't know was that that was the day he would start hating meat… Okita and Kagura's eyes turned red as they looked at Toujou. Unspeakable things happened.

After breakfast everyone gathered around the living room trying to digest the load of food they ate. Kagura was sitting next to the window staring at the big sand dunes.

"Oi china, liking the view?" Okita disturbed her.

"Urusei sadist. Leave me be –aru." Kagura coldly replied while chewing on her pickled seaweed.

"What's wrong? Are you still mad at what happened yesterday?"

"No, it's just that I dreamt of your eyes ... konoyaro -aru…" she blushed… "Damn right sadist! I hate you. Even if you hadn't pulled that off yesterday, I would still hate you -aru" Kagura fiercely replied. But she knew that's not how she felt. True... she didn't like him, but she was still unsure why she was touched by his behavior yesterday.

"Girls will be girls. I won't blame you if you've fallen for me" Okita said and unleashed a dazzling smile.

Doki Doki.

"No... Bakayaro..." kagura thought. "Ehhhh Fallen for you?! I have an idea. Today, when we go fire-wood collecting, whoever collects more wins. If I win, you will apologize to me on spot as well as leave me alone -aru."

"And what happens if I win?" Okita asked not liking the idea of leaving her alone

"You can eat horse-crap" said Kagura revealing her ugly trolling face.

Okita smiled while a vein popped on his forehead "if I win, you will become my slave for all eternity."

"HAHA we'll see konoyaro -aru!" …"as if!" Kagura thought and was determined not to lose. She doesn't want him near her. She didn't understand her feelings, she didn't like him and she surely would not let him be the one to control her feelings.

"Yosh mina-san! We should go collect firewood! We'll be doing this in pairs okay? Try to return soon so the wood can dry off till the evening as well as try to collect a lot. After that we'll all go skiing!" Kondo said.

"I guess it's me and you china" okita said emotionlessly.

"I guess so."

Everyone was awed by this pairing. Usually Kagura would have gone with Otae or Shinpachi… but Okita? Her rival? This was going to be trouble.

"Oii Souichiro-kun… If you do something wrong to our pure Kagura-chan I won't let you go off easily" Gintoki said.

"Don't worry Danna. She's ugly. We're just having a small competition."

A vein popped on kagura's forehead. She will definitely not lose to that bastard.

And so the fire-wood collecting began.

They all went outside the back door. In order to enter the forest they had to cross a bridge. Most of them were scared of heights and either ran or walked slowly. And some were trying to kill the other (Okita and Hijikata). But finally they all made it into the snow-covered forest where they all parted ways.

Kagura and Okita walked into the forest. They both liked it deep in the forest where nobody would disturb them. On the way they both ran off once in a while to gather the biggest fire-wood as well as collect the most. They unconsciously did that for a couple of hours while also involving fights and swear words. And that's when the disaster set it.

"China? I think you've also noticed but wasn't it a while ago bright? I mean we just had breakfast. Why is it getting darker?"

"Maybe it's because we're deep in the forest and the light can't pass through the trees?"

"Or..." they both looked at each other trying to shake off the thought.

"Please tell me it's not afternoon already..." Kagura thought while looking at the enormous pile she had collected. So much... It would have definitely cost her a couple of hours. And so did Okita's.

"It's afternoon. We should head back and let Yamazaki or Megane count who collected more. I still want to go ski." Okita selfishly said.

"Ahh." Kagura replied.

Carrying the load they slowly walked around the forest. Once in a while she peeked over to him but his expression almost never changed. The same as always. "Even Tama-chan displays more emotions" she thought... Okita noticed.

After a while of walking they both started to get a bad feeling.

"A-are we walking in circles -aru?"

"Iie iie... masaka…" okita tried to shake the thought of.

They were lost.

"How nice! Now I'm trapped in some weird forest with a sadistic bastard-aru" Kagura disappointedly said.

"I don't feel too well to be stuck with an ugly girl" Okita replied.

"Uff" they both sighed. They were too tired and didn't feel like arguing. Meanwhile kagura was getting cold. Her gloves were soaked wet from all the fire-wood collecting and she was slowly starting to develop a cold. *hachuu* she sneezed. Okita looked over to her and smiled. "Did you catch a cold?"

"iie, omae wa baka?" But she did. Before she knew it she started coughing and sneezing while the warmth slowly started to leave her body. She took off her wet gloves planning on warming her hands by rubbing them against each other.

"Oii china... you know Danna will kill me..." Okita said and for the first time in forever Kagura saw another side of Okita. He took off his black winter coat and placed it over Kagura's shoulders. Kagura couldn't help but blush. It smelled nice.

"Why?" she asked.

"Don't get me wrong, I just can't stand seeing people getting sick." Okita said facing the other direction.

"I see. You're thinking of your sister." Kagura sadly thought and sat down under a tree. Okita joined her. He pulled his red scarf closer to his face and tried not to think of the cold.

"As long as she doesn't feel cold" Okita thought surprised by his own thoughts.

Without noticing they both sat close to one another. Their shoulders touched but none of them made an effort to move nor complain. It was comfortable; for the Yato girl as well as the Sadist.

"Sadist... I know you're cold. So you can take your coat back. I don't want to owe you anything –aru." "I don't know why you're doing this but I don't want to see you getting sick because you're helping me –aru…"

"Oii china. Danna taught you a lot of things but he didn't teach you about a man's pride, now did he? If I gave you the coat, you will keep it till the end until we're back home. No excuses. And don't underestimate me, after all, I'm a samurai" he said with a deep and serious voice. Kagura couldn't help but love the tone of his voice.

"Alright..." she blushed. Once again she peeked over to Okita's face just to see him already looking at her.

"Oii china, did you fall for me yet?" Okita innocently said while revealing his sadistic yet nice smile.

"Ehhh? Noo!" she embarrassingly said while pushing his head to the tree.

"Ahh… It was a joke. A jokeee." Okita said while rubbing the back of his head.

"It was your fault… konoyaro..." she whispered. He looked at Kagura who hid her face with her red colored and cold looking hands. Behind those was the sweet Kagura covered. The blushing one.

"Kawaii; so even the strongest girls have a cute side" he said with a low serious voice while looking up. He took off his gloves and put them on her thighs.

Kagura felt as if her heart was going to burst out. "I don't like him. It's just because I'm getting a fever that my heart is beating fast. And he's only doing this so he can maintain a good relationship with Gin-chan... I'm fine. I'm just… cold... demo... kawaii? Did he really say I'm cute?" Kagura thought.

She smiled. She will use this to get back at him. But her thoughts were interrupted by Okita's dark smile. "What are you blushing for china? Am I making you blush? Should I go to the next level?"

"HENTAI!" She screamed and backed off a bit. He couldn't help but smile sadistically. At least now she won't think of getting back at him. "Why did I say cute? How annoying. Control your thoughts Okita, damn it."

"Anyway China. Put on the gloves. Unlike you I took them off when I collected the fire-wood. We should try to get out of this forest. I'm tired and sleepy." Okita said emotionlessly.

"Wakata... yeah... we should really try to get out of this forest-aru" Kagura said. She felt bad taking his gloves. When she put them on she felt warm. They were warm. "So even sadists can be sweet" she thought and chuckled.

"Why are you laughing?" Okita said, curious.

"It's a girl thing. You won't understand." She said smiling.

Okita was feeling a bit under the weather and he knew; once he gets home, he should take a warm shower and sleep. He didn't want to get sick.

After a while of walking in the dark forest they noticed how late it really was. They were still unable to believe that they've spent an entire day collecting fire wood. Clearly, none of them cared anymore who got the most. They both just wanted to go home after such an odd day. Odd it was. Kagura saw Okita's sweet side while Okita saw Kagura's cute side. And nevertheless did anyone complain. They both felt comfortable which was weird for them. They never liked each other's presence... or maybe they unconsciously did?

"Oii china! Look." Okita said pointing in front of them. It was a light. A light coming from a villa. Their villa.

They both froze and then looked back. They were never physically lost… just, you know… mentally.

The both sighed at their own stupidity.

They crossed the bridge and went inside the house where everyone was worried sick.

"Kagura-chan!" Gintoki said and hugged her, treating her like a child. "Did Souichiro-kun do something to you? Some pervy things maybe? You can tell your dad" he said worried.

Shinpachi sighed. "We were worried guys. Where were you?"

"We just got lost." Okita emotionlessly said. Everyone looked at the way he was dressed and seconds later their eyes shifted to kagura. They didn't need words to understand what happened. He then walked upstairs with one aim: shower.

While Okita was showering, Kagura tried to explain to the rest that they really just got lost and that she now would want to sleep. She didn't answer any questions regarding the sadist.

After a while they all went back to their merry mood while kagura was changing into her pajamas. She looked at the coat and gloves which she put on her bed. "I should return them now" she thought. She folded them rather sloppily and walked towards Okita's room. He already finished his shower and lay in his bed… with a cold. *cough cough* Kagura heard Okita coughing inside of his room.

"Sadist… I'm here to return the coat and gloves -aru" she said.

"Come in" he replied. He tried his best not to cough but couldn't help it.

"Guess I'm the one with a cold now." He said and smiled.

"I'm sorry." Kagura finally returned the favor. He once apologized to her and now it was her turn. Along with a thank you. "Ne... arigatou … konoyaro" she said shyly.

"I might would have accepted that one if you wouldn't have chained 'bastard' to it." He said.

She looked at him and sat on the floor with her back to the bed.

"Oii china. What are you doing? Get out I want to sleep." Okita said surprised by her actions.

"Don't get me wrong sadist. Kondo has taught you a lot of things but he didn't teach you about a woman's pride. Now did he? In case you cough yourself to death or something, I'll be the first one to watch. And maybe, just if I feel like moving, I'll get you water... but only water." She said. She didn't believe what she was about to do... but she knew one thing. Today was a different experience and she had to return the favor.

"Whatever." Okita said turning towards the wall. He smiled.

They both fell asleep. The sadist who caught a cold by protecting the Yato girl, and the Yato girl who was sitting with her back to the bed on which the Sadist lay on. They were both smiling and even though the snow was dancing outside, in that room, it was nothing but warm.

Note: Kagura ends almost all of her sentences with 'aru' but when speaking in Japanese it sounds better as well as makes more sense. So here I just added the 'aru' when it was convenient and sounded better (: