Chapter 4

Hijikata told Kondo that they should work together? The two of them?

Both the young Yato female and the sadistic Shinsengumi captain glared at none other than the black-haired vice-chief. Hijikata almost felt fear as he saw the dark, demonic aura surrounding the two rivals, however, instead of fleeing like most people would, he smirked back at them. This infuriated them further to the point that Kagura picked up her umbrella and Sougo unsheathed his sword.

"Toushi, you said that they'd be happy to work together," muttered the chief of the Shinsengumi as he watched the two enraged individuals run at Hijikata. Kagura reached him first and aimed her kick at his head.

"Why the hell would you tell the Gorilla that I would want to work with that arrogant, sadistic idiot?" she screamed as she attacked.

"Now, now, China, you don't want to hurt this poor policeman's heart," he mocked, pulling a pretend pained expression as he too aimed his attacks at the unfortunate samurai. Luckily, this unfortunate samurai had great instincts and was able to dodge each and every hit.

"Stop now, otherwise I'll have to arrest the two of you," Hijikata said tiredly. He had expected this to happen but he decided it was worth it to upset Sougo. The two stopped attacking him and wordlessly went back to sitting down. They were calmer now anyway, after blowing off some steam in the way they thought was best, violence. "Anyway, even if you don't want to work together on this mission, I still think you should. You're both exceedingly strong so, together, you will have a good chance of defeating the Yato and on top of that, due to your intense dislike of one another, you won't get worried and risk your lives blocking the moves the enemy is using on the other one."

"Hijikata-san, I'd much rather take on this Yato alone, China will just get in my way," Sougo mumbled, annoyed by the whole situation.

"Sougo," Kondo said, "you have fought with Queen-sama before and you didn't defeat her, did you? This Yato will be much more powerful than she is. If you fight him alone, you have next to no chance of victory. None of us would. Not even Queen-sama, who is a Yato."

Kagura was becoming more and more content with the idea. Although the sadist would annoy her and possibly get in her way, he was stronger than Shinpachi so she wouldn't need to worry about him as much. He also didn't matter to her as much as Shinpachi did so if Sougo was in danger of death, she wouldn't lose control, would she? Wait, she didn't want the sadist to die… not because she liked the sadist, she didn't want anyone to die. Surely she wouldn't lose control this time; she only did last time because she needed to save Shinpachi. What if she wouldn't be able to defeat this guy without letting the beast within free? Did she care enough about Sougo to let loose? He was always there when she wanted to let off some steam by fighting and she really did enjoy fighting with him. It wouldn't be as fun fighting with anyone else, Sougo was safe when he fought against her… She knew she wouldn't hurt him and deep down, she didn't want to hurt him, even after he mocked her with his taunting words. Maybe she did care about him after all? Her life wouldn't be the same without him.

"I'll do it," she said confidently. The eyes of everyone in the room stared at her but she only noticed one pair, the pair of eyes that were reddish brown. They were surprised; she knew nobody expected her to agree with that. Everyone must have been aware of her dislike towards the stupid sadist. "I don't want anyone else to be killed by this guy and I think that Sadist and I have a good chance of defeating him," she allowed herself a sigh before she said the next word. "Together."

Sougo sighed and then muttered, "I suppose I might as well, but, China, when we do fight him, you better not get in my way."

"Me? Get in your way? Don't be ridiculous, you idiot, it's much more likely that you'll be getting in my way!" Kagura replied.

"A weakling like you would definitely get in my way," he retorted.

"I'm not weak, you bastard!" she argued, pointing her umbrella at her rival. Sougo opened his mouth to argue but he was interrupted by Kondo.

"I want the two of you to be nicer to each other. This is an important mission and I can't have the two of you mess it up because of your fighting," he scolded.

"Be nicer to that sadistic freak?" Kagura yelled, "I don't think I'll be able to do that, Gorilla!"

"And you want me to be nicer to the monster girl? The thought of that sickens me, Kondo-san," Sougo deadpanned.

"Monster girl? I'm going to kill you, asshole!"

"Asshole? China, you don't want to break this humble police officer's heart by saying the sort of rude things a brute would say. I thought you were a girl?" He looked her up and down. "No, wait, you have the figure of a boy."

"I am a girl! I'll have you know, my boobs have grown." The Shinsengumi members all looked uncomfortable as she said this. "And did you just call yourself 'humble'? You are the opposite of humble, you arrogant idiot!"

"Tch, girls don't usually talk about their 'boobs' in front of large groups of men, no matter how small and insignificant those boobs are. It's a crude, unladylike thing to speak about, brat," Souga retorted, but recently he had noticed his rival's breasts getting larger.

"S-shut up, Sadist," she said, cheeks getting pink, she knew that he had won that argument.

"Resorting to 'shut up', China? Pathetic."

"I said, shut up!"

"Sougo, stop winding her up," Hijikata muttered.

"Don't get involved, bastard," Sougo replied, "I'm not going to listen to you."

"Listen to Toushi, Sougo. I want you to be nice to Queen-sama. This mission is important. It needs to go well," Kondo said.

"Fine," Sougo muttered, he then put on a fake smile and looked at Kagura. "Kagura-chan, would you like a drink?" His voice was sickly sweet. Kagura laughed hysterically.

"Sadist, what are you doing? You're so stupid!" She said, giggling. Come to think of it, she was sure that was the first time he'd ever called her 'Kagura'. She blushed slightly, even though he was putting on a stupid voice, she liked the way it sounded when he called her by her name.

"Or would you like a snack?" He asked politely, laughing silently as he saw her eyes light up. "Gluttonous pig," he muttered under his breath so quietly it was inaudible. Kagura stopped laughing and decided to play along with his game.

"Why, Sou-chan, thank you very much for your kind offer, I would very much like a snack," she replied graciously. She quickly noticed her rival's frown. What was with him? Had she upset him? Little did the girl know, Sougo's deceased sister often called him 'Sou-chan' and her calling him that reminded him of his cherished sister. "Sougo?" Kagura asked, concerned.

He smirked up at her. "My, my, China, you just called me 'Sougo'… And what was with that tone of voice? Were you worried about me? Oh, China, I didn't know you felt that way about me..."

"I was not concerned about you! I was just going to make a comment about how ugly the face you were pulling was."

"Okay, okay, whatever."

"Is it really that hard for them to be nice to each other?" Yamazaki whispered to another Shinsengumi member. Kondo sighed and opened his mouth to give them a lecture but was swiftly interrupted.

"Don't worry, Gori-san, Sou-chan and I are going to be nice to each other from now on. Come with me, Sou-chan, let's go get something to eat," Kagura said, pulling a sweet smile.

"But you just ate loads of dango," Okita argued.

"Sou-chan, that's not enough for me. Come on; let's leave Gori and Mayora and the other idiots in peace."

"Oi, oi, you'll get fat if you eat like that… no wonder Danna is so poor… Speaking of Danna, why don't I just drop you off at the Yorozuya? You can eat more there. Anyway, Danna and the four-eyes are probably worried about you. It's already 9 o'clock."

Kagura pouted, knowing that the food at home would just be rice but she still agreed. She couldn't wait to get away from the sadistic idiot and the rest of the tax robbers.

"Remember, don't speak of your mission at home," Hijikata muttered to Kagura as she left. She mumbled an 'I know, idiot' in response and then headed out and began walking home. She glanced at Sougo, who was walking with her.

"I don't need to be escorted home, you know," she pointed out. Sougo frowned, it was already dark and he felt a need to walk her home. It was almost as if he, Sougo Okita, the sadist, was worried about his number one rival. He shuddered, what was going on with him? What was this new, irrational need to protect China? He couldn't understand it at all. He knew he didn't have feelings for that brat; she was disgusting, obnoxious and loud-mouthed and on top of that, with her monstrous strength, she was definitely in no danger walking home alone, even in the dark.

"I… just wanted to speak to Danna quickly," he murmured when he noticed her staring at him with those adorable azure orbs. Damn, did he just mentally call China's eyes adorable? What was wrong with him? He was clearly going insane. He shook his head, trying to erase the insane thoughts he had just had.

"What are you doing, Sadist?" Kagura asked, giving him a weird look.

"Nothing. I see you've stopped referring to me as 'Sou-chan'," he replied. He was relieved by this; he really didn't like her calling him that. Only Mitsuba was allowed to do so.

"You sound happy about that. Why? Don't you like being called 'Sou-chan'?" she asked, feeling mildly curious by the sadist's strangeness.

"Just be quiet about it, China. Don't stick your snotty nose in other people's business."

"My nose isn't snotty. Gin-chan says it's clean because I pick out all of the snot in it."

"That's disgusting, idiot."

"You're disgusting, idiot."

"I don't pick my nose."

"Well, you should because I can see a massive bogey in it."

"Thank you for that, China."

"Tell me why you don't like being called 'Sou-chan'."

"No."

"Why not, Sou-chan?"

"Because I don't want to. Don't call me that."

"But, Sou-chan." She pouted.

"ONLY MITSUBA CAN CALL ME 'SOU-CHAN'!" Sougo yelled, causing Kagura to jump. Wait? She was confused. Who was this Mitsuba? Sougo's girlfriend, maybe? A strange emotion bubbled up inside her. She'd experienced it before, when she saw other people eating. The useless four-eyes called it 'jealousy' and said he felt it whenever he saw that his precious Otsuu-chan was on a date. But Kagura had no idea why she felt this jealousy.

"W-who's Mitsuba?" she asked, nervously.

"Hm…? My sister," he answered, his voice had reverted to its original bored-tone. Deep down he felt remorse just thinking about her, but he couldn't let China see him being vulnerable.

"Oh…" was all she said. She didn't answer any more questions. She had judged from the atmosphere that the sadist didn't want to talk about his sister. She had a good idea though, when she was next at the Shinsengumi Headquarters, she was going to ask Mayora.

They were just outside the Yorozuya now. Kagura slammed open the door and yelled, "GIN-CHAN, SHINPACHI, I'M HOME!"

"Kagura-chan, you've been out for ages! It's past 9 o'clock now!" said Shinpachi as she walked in. She continued past him and saw her boss lazing about on the sofa just as she had left him.

"Ah, Kagura! I was worried sick about you," Gintoki said, looking up at her from his Jump.

"You didn't act on these worries though, did you?" she mumbled. "By the way, Gin-chan, the sadist is here."

"You've been with Soichiro all day?" Gintoki looked concerned.

"Yes, unfortunately. He said something about wanting to talk to you," she replied and then turned and yelled, "MEGANE, I WANT SOME RICE!"

Shinpachi jumped at the young girl's loud screams. "Y-yes, Kagura-chan," he answered. He quickly cooked Kagura some rice and she ate it as the poor, glasses-wearing boy got back to tidying the Yorozuya home. Sougo allowed himself a small chuckle as he watched this. They sure were odd people.

"Oi, oi, four-eyes, you shouldn't let a little brat like that boss you around," He muttered to Shinpachi. Kagura glared up at him momentarily, but then continued eating; she had decided her food was much more important. Sougo sighed slightly, the girl hadn't reacted as badly as he had wanted her to. Shinpachi shrugged off the Shinsengumi captain's comment.

"Sadist, I thought you wanted to talk to Gin-chan, if not, just leave," Kagura said, looking at him as she began her second bowl of rice.

"Just shut up, you stupid pig."

"You shut up, tax robber!"

"You should watch what you eat, pig-girl, you don't want to get fat… Never mind, too late, you already are," he said in his normal monotone voice. Then he headed over to the silver perm so Kagura wouldn't think that he had walked home with her just because he was concerned for her safety… he most certainly wasn't, by the way.

"Ah, Soichiro, Kagura said you wanted to talk to me," the lazy man with dead-fish eyes mumbled.

"Ne, Danna, it's Sougo. SOU-GO. Tch, you useless samurai," Sougo deadpanned, enunciating his name to try to clear it up to the samurai.

"Whatever, Souji. What did you want?"

"Not 'Souji'… Just wanted you to know, we'll need you to send the girl down to HQ tomorrow morning."

"You want my daughter to spend more time with you tax robbers? You'll probably be a bad influence on her!"

"If anything's a bad influence on China, it's you lot. Tch, what would we influence her to do? Pay taxes? Pay our employees? Obey the law?"

"Your gorilla boss is a very bad influence… I don't want our Kagura to become a stalker or an embarrassment to society."

"Don't talk about Kondo-san like that… It's the useless, unemployed samurai like you who are an embarrassment to society. Anyway, just send her to the Shinsengumi HQ tomorrow morning. She knows why."

"What do you idiot policemen want with Kagura?"

"You and four-eyes are not allowed to know. Boss' orders."

"Soichiro, tell me!"

"Oi, oi, I told you I couldn't…"

Then Sougo turned away and left.

"KAGURA! WHAT DO THOSE TAX ROBBERS WANT WITH YOU?" Gintoki shouted when the sadist had left.

"IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, GIN-CHAN!" She yelled back, finishing her sixth and final bowl of rice. "I'm going to bed. GOODNIGHT!"

"Goodnight, Kagura-chan," the two males replied. Then, Shinpachi turned to the Yorozuya boss.

"What do you think the Shinsengumi want with Kagura-chan?" He asked.

"I don't really think it's the Shinsengumi that want something with her," his boss replied.

"What do you mean? You think she's just hanging out with Okita-san?"

Gintoki nodded.

"Gin-san… do you think it's… love?"

"I don't know, Shinpachi, but I most certainly do not want our Kagura-chan falling for a man like that."

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 might check it out! :) It can't be Kamui, Yamazaki said he had black hair and green eyes. BUT DON'T WORRY, EVERYONE, I'VE GOT A PLAN FOR KAMUI TO COME INTO THE STORY, IT'S OKAY! :P (But, aikoojamajo, I don't think it'll be a love triangle 'cause I don't like the whole KaguraxKamui thing. Incest-y e.e Sorry.)
This chapter took longer than the others- Sorry! It's longer though! :D
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!
I will update as soon as possible.
I don't own Gintama or the characters. :P