Chapter 3

Kagura sat in front of the, in her opinion, useless men of the Shinsengumi. She stared at them with tired eyes. Kondo Isao cleared his throat and began speaking, "S-so, Kagura-chan-,"

He was quickly cut off by Kagura. "Call me 'Queen-sama', Gorilla," she said grinning. She felt extremely powerful against Anego's stalker.

"Queen-sama," he began again.

This time, he was cut off by Sougo. "Don't let her boss you around, Kondo-san, she's just a brat," he deadpanned.

"Shut up, Sadist!"

"You shut up, China!"

"Sougo, stop it. This is important business. She's the only one we can trust to do this job," muttered Hijikata, clearly bored.

"Yeah, Sadist! You need me, so shut up! Otherwise, I won't do the job!" Kagura almost sang with delight. She then proceeded to laugh somewhat evilly. Sougo glared at Hijikata. Why did that bastard have to get involved and give the red-haired monster ideas?

"Oh, Queen-Sama," Sougo said, copying Kagura's sing-song voice, "you know you have to do the job… Or else!"

Kagura glared at his now smirking, sadistic expression. She hated to admit it, but she knew she was just going to have to put up with him and get the job over and done with. She really didn't want to get arrested or for people to die. Also, the idea of being paid by the tax robbers cheered her up a bit.

"So, what exactly is this job?" Kagura asked, not responding to her rival. His smirk fell slightly at the fact she didn't retaliate like she normally would. He wanted her to get upset, he wanted her to attack. This was when he realised just how much he enjoyed fighting with her, it allowed him to let lose without any worries. He didn't need to hold back against her for he knew, even though he would never admit it to her, that they were on par with one another.

"Sougo says that you know about the current serial killer that has been on the news for some time now," Kondo said, "however, the news doesn't show the full story. We have been studying him for quite some time and one of our spies, Yamazaki, has found out a lot about him." When Kagura looked at Yamazaki, he looked up at her and then quickly looked away… In fear? She gave him a weird look and shook her head. That Yamazaki was the Shinpachi of the Shinsengumi. "Yamazaki."

Yamazaki looked up at Kondo and then cleared his throat. "After following him around, I have discovered that the individual is incredibly strong and is killing for sheer bloodlust. The individual has thick black hair, green eyes and each time I have seen him, has been wielding an umbrella. However, I have reason to believe, he hasn't been using his umbrella to fight as each time I have seen him, his hands have been covered in blood, although, no one has seen him fight so I cannot be sure. We can only be sure he is strong, because numerous of those he has killed are, or were, samurai. He also has a pale, translucent skin tone."

Kagura gulped and whispered, "Umbrella? Strong? Pale? He's a Yato." Her eyes widened at the bloodlust. She was immediately reminded of her older brother. Many Shinsengumi members nodded.

"That's what we thought, China. Kondo gave us all strict instructions not to go against him because of this," Sougo said, sounding bitter. He had really wanted to fight him. If that brat was allowed to fight against him, then surely he should be allowed to too. He had expected the China girl to be ecstatic about this, but when he looked at her, she was staring at her lap with wide, scared eyes. "China?" He asked, with a raised eyebrow, "what's wrong? Are you scared?"

"Me? Scared? Gyahaha, don't be stupid, Sadist!" She said, her voice cracking awkwardly as she spoke. She couldn't admit it in front of the Shinsengumi, but she was freaking out. Last time she fought against another Yato, she lost control and that was because she was worried about Shinpachi. If she hadn't lost control, she and Shinpachi would have died. Surely she wouldn't be able to defeat this Yato… she wasn't strong enough. She'd been fighting against her Yato powers for years now so she wasn't strong enough or experienced enough to defeat another one. "I… I need to speak to Gin-chan and Shinpachi about this…"

"Kagura," Kondo began but upon the glare he received from a certain red-haired girl, coughed a few times and started again, "Queen-sama, we told you this here and not when they were around for a reason. They can't know."

"Why not?"

"Do you really want them involved?" Hijikata asked, "You must know that when they hear about your mission, they will both want to fight alongside you. A Yato clansman is strong, you know that… If you tell them, you will be putting them in danger."

"I… Yeah, I know."

Kagura mentally swore, she was hoping for Gin-chan's guidance on what to do, but the tax thief was right, she couldn't get Gin-chan or Megane involved.

"We will discuss the mission plan tomorrow," Kondo said, "now, let's talk about your payment."

Kagura immediately forgot about the fact that the mission could be the death of her, and focused on the payment. It made her really excited… She could earn her first wage.

"I've already discussed a payment with her and she accepted," Sougo mumbled.

"Really, Sougo? How much did you offer her?" Kondo asked.

"¥37000."

"And some sukonbu and some dango!" Kagura added, proudly. She was so happy with how much she was earning for just the one job. On the other hand, Kondo didn't look very happy.

"Sougo, I know that you know this job is worth much more than that," Kondo scolded.

"Really?" Kagura asked, surprised. She didn't really understand money, especially because she didn't even get paid by useless, unkempt Gin-chan but to her ¥37000 sounded like a lot.

"Of course, the pay is ¥100000," Kagura's eyes widened in glee as Kondo said this, but her mood became negative again as the Gorilla/Stalker continued, "obviously, this is a difficult job and you'd have to be very skilled to carry it out. On top of that, it's pretty risky; you could die on this job. You realise that, right?"

"Of course I realise it, I am a Yato. I know of the strength of a clansman. You do realise that this job will be almost impossible for me," Kagura confessed, "Most Yatos spend their lives training whereas I have been desperately suppressing my abilities… I may have the strong blood of a Yato and the same blood that runs through that baldie, Umibouzu's veins, but unfortunately for you, I am different."

"Of course, Kagu-… Queen-sama, we're not going to send such a young woman to fight a strong, bloodthirsty Yato alone."

"W-what? Who?"

"You will be fighting alongside our very own 1st Division Captain, Okita Sougo," Kondo said happily, "he's our best swordsman and Hijikata told me that the two of you really got on."

"WHAT?" The two rivals yelled together. Unbeknownst to them, they both thought the exact same thing as they turned to glare at the mayonnaise-obsessed samurai. Die, Hijikata, you bastard.

Hiya, thanks for reading.
Also, a big thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. It's very helpful when people review!
Aeneid, I have never read Durarara, is it good? I used your idea, thank you so much!
I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
I will update as soon as possible.
I don't own Gintama or the characters. :P