Chapter 6

"Yum," Kagura said gleefully, mouth full of ramen.

"You know, China, you're really putting me off my food," he muttered to the young girl as she spoke with her mouth full, showing him her chewed up food, which he, of course, paid for. As per usual, the young girl was finishing her third bowl of ramen whereas he was only halfway through his first. "Also, if you keep eating like that, you're going to get fat."

"Shut up, Sadist! This ramen is good… I still prefer rice though! Another bowl! I'm not full yet!"

The Policeman allowed himself a chuckle; it really did surprise him how much he was beginning to enjoy spending time with his rival. "You do realise that talking with your mouth full, telling me to shut up and demanding another bowl as impolitely as you just did is not the correct way to act around the kind-hearted man who just treated you to three bowls of ramen," he said in his usual deadpan voice but when Kagura looked up at him from her bowl, she noticed that he had a small smile on his face; it wasn't even his usual smirk.

"Kind-hearted? You? I don't think kind-hearted men pick fights with cute girls."

"I don't know any cute girls."

"Moreover, you're only buying me food because Kondo would get upset if you- WAIT. What did you just say, you bastard?"

"I don't know any cute girls."

"I heard, I just didn't understand. I'm a cute girl!"

"You're rude, obnoxious and irritating."

"Want me to kill you?"

"You wouldn't be able too, weakling," he said and then turned to the owner of the ramen stand, "hey, old man, can we get another bowl of ramen, please?"

"Wha- Sadist, what are you doing?" Kagura asked, astonished that Sougo would buy her another bowl after she demanded it as she previously had.

"You said that you wanted another bowl, right?" He replied. Kagura felt heat rush to her cheeks. Wait, what was happening to her? Was she blushing? How embarrassing! She most definitely couldn't let that sadist see.

"Uh… Yeah… Thanks, Sou- Sadist…" She mumbled, turning her head away. He felt her cheeks become redder as she almost called her rival by his real name. What was wrong with her? She really didn't understand these feelings.

"S-shinpachi! Did you see that?! Kagura is blushing! And Sofa-kun was smiling as well. It wasn't even a sadistic smile!" Said the worried samurai as he watched his daughter on, what he believed to be, her first date.

"Gin-san, keep it down, we can't let them notice us and I would have seen it if you hadn't forced me to stand here to stop Sadaharu running to Kagura-chan," replied a slightly disgruntled Shinpachi, holding on desperately to Sadaharu, who was currently only using less than half his strength to get to his master.

"Ah, Gintoki," came a familiar voice, "I was wondering if you had made up your mind as to whether or not you will join to Joui."

"Katsura-san?!" Shinpachi said, staring at the long haired samurai, who had appeared out of nowhere.

"Leave, Zura. Kagura's on a date," Gintoki muttered, not even looking at his old friend, who was staring at Gintoki with his ever-present serious face.

"Not 'Zura' but 'Katsura'," Katsura replied, "Leader's on a date?"

"Katsura-san, perhaps you should leave, if we do get caught by Kagura-chan and her date, then I think you'll be the worst off," Shinpachi said apologetically.

"Why? Who's Leader on a date with?"

"Sougo Okita of the Shinsengumi."

"I see… Leader is dating one of the Shinsengumi…" Katsura began saying what Shinpachi and Gintoki both presumed was going to be ridiculously stupid but he was interrupted by a certain silver-haired samurai.

"Shinpachi, Kagura just finished her fourth bowl of ramen… Soichiro paid the old man and they're leaving…"

"Shall we follow them?" Shinpachi asked.

"Not yet, if we start following immediately, they might notice us. Wait a bit, and then Sadaharu can follow Kagura's scent. Zura, while we're waiting, if you're going to hang around with us, put on a disguise… Unless you want to be caught by the Shinsengumi, that's fine with me… In fact, get caught, you're annoying."

"Not 'Zura' but 'Space Captain Katsura'," Katsura said, already wearing his space captain costume, "and, Gintoki, I will never be caught by the Shinsengumi."

"I swear that they've caught him several times before though," mumbled Shinpachi, pulling his straight man act, "and as if they're not going to know that it's Katsura because of that costume."

"Did you say something, Pachi-boy?" Gintoki asked.

"No, no, Gin-san... Shall we go find Kagura-chan?" He replied.

"Yes, come, Sadaharu!"

"Sadaharu-kun," Katsura said, as if he had just noticed the large dog. There was a slight pink tint on his face, "mind if I fluff your stomach?"

Sadaharu replied in a way that surprised neither Shinpachi nor Gintoki. He bit down on the patriot's head. As the blood trickled down Katsura's head, his serious expression resurfaced and he said, "I suppose, I will have to take that as a 'no'. Gintoki, you still haven't trained your pet very well."

"He's Kagura's pet, not mine," Gin replied to which Sadaharu responded by biting Gintoki's head instead.

"I don't think Sadaharu-kun liked it when you said that," Katsura commented, "this is why I treat Elizabeth with the respect a pet deserves. Isn't that right, Elizabeth?"

"Um, Katsura-san, Elizabeth is not here," Shinpachi informed.

"Oh… that's because… I left her with the rest of the Joui," Katsura replied.

"You have no idea where she is, do you?"

"Of course, I do. Oh, I have just realised the time, I'm going to have to leave. Gintoki, keep thinking about whether or not you are going to join the Jouishishi rebellion."

"No, Zura," Gin replied.

"Not 'Zura' but 'Space Captain Katsura'," Katsura replied as he walked away, still in disguise.

"Pachi-boy, Sadaharu, let's go!" The man with the natural perm said, signalling the two to follow him.

"I can't believe you had four bowls of ramen," Sougo commented drily, "you really waste my money, China."

"It should be a pleasure for you to get to spend your money on a beautiful girl," Kagura replied, walking beside her rival in the clothing shop, with a huge grin on her face. It wasn't that Sougo liked her or anything, but he had made a mental comment that she did look pretty cute when she was smiling at him. His feelings towards Kagura were really beginning to confuse him. Little did he know, she was confused about how she felt about him as well.

"A beautiful girl? Where?" Sougo mocked, pretending to search around.

"Hmph," she said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Just hurry up and pick some clothes so we can leave. I've been spending too much time with you lately."

"Really? I didn't think we were spending enough time together," Kagura replied, looking up at him with heavy lidded eyes.

"W-what?"

"I was kidding, Sadist."

"Where'd you learn that trick?" He said, laughing.

"I saw it in one of Gin-chan's dirty magazines. It was in 'Ways Women Try to Make Men Fall for Them.' From your reaction, I think it works," she said, a nonchalant tone in her voice, as she picked up and looked at some clothes. Unbeknownst to Sougo, Kagura was using that casual tone of voice to hide her delight that she had made the sadist laugh. She wasn't sure why, but it made her feel good.

"As if I would fall for a flat-chest like you, I like women who have breasts. Why'd you use that on me? Do you want me to fall for you? Aw, the little China girl is in love with the gorgeous policeman. It's pretty understandable, I suppose."

"I don't want you to fall for me, you bastard. Don't act so big-headed." she hissed, putting down the dress she had been admiring to glare at him.

"You've called yourself both 'cute' and 'beautiful' today and I'm the big-headed one?" he hissed back.

"At least what I said was true," she mumbled smugly.

"You are most definitely the big-headed one."

"No, you are."

"Stop with the pathetic retorts and pick some clothes."

Kagura continued to look around the shop, muttering inaudible comments about the sadist causing people in the shop to give her weird looks. Sougo rolled his eyes as he saw her staring at a cheongsam, similar to the one he had torn. As he did so, his eye was caught by a Lolita dress in the corner. He went over to look at it. He imagined what Kagura would look like wearing it and decided she would look beautiful in it. Maybe China hit him on the head earlier when they were fighting because he had just thought that that brat would look 'beautiful'. What was wrong with him? Spending so much time with China was clearly driving him insane.

"Have you suddenly gained a new fetish, Sadist?" Kagura asked judgementally, looking over his shoulder as she had noticed him staring at the Lolita dresses but soon she too was staring at the Lolita dress. "It's pretty." Her voice, before sounding sceptical, now sounded in awe. She continued to look at the dress, wishing she could have one like that. Lousy Gin-san would never let her get it and how could she ask the sadist for a dress like that? She wondered why he was looking at it; maybe he wants to get it for his sister?

"Have you picked your clothes yet, China? I want to leave," he deadpanned, forcing himself to sound bored and wanting to leave the shop before he imagined China wearing other types of clothes. He noticed there was an underwear aisle nearby and with flushed cheeks he muttered, "Hurry up."

"Okay, okay, want to see what I'm buying?"

"You mean, what your kind, handsome friend Sougo is buying?"

"Ew, you're not my friend…"

"But you agree that I'm handsome and kind… Wow, China, maybe you just want to be more than friends…"

"I do not! You're not kind and you're most certainly not," she began, but staring at him, she did decide in her head that he was handsome. She mumbled the last word, "handsome."

"Whatever. Just show me what you're destroying my wallet for."

She held up two cheongsams, both in the usual red colour she wore. Sougo rolled his eyes, it was typical China clothing. Come to think of it, he was sure he had never seen her wearing anything that wasn't in the Chinese style. She was grinning at the clothes happily but looked up at him when he said, "I only ruined the one dress, why have you picked up two?"

"Sadist," she moaned disappointedly. He felt slightly turned on by the sound of her moaning his name, appealing to his sadistic side. Damn, why did he enjoy the sound of her moaning so much? To Kagura's delight, her moaning worked to her advantage.

"Fine, I'll buy you both. Danna probably never buys you anything anyway," he said, turning away from the girl and headed towards the shopkeeper, an irritated and flushed expression on his face as he tried to avoid imagining other ways he could make her moan his name. When Kagura had followed him over to the till and he began to pay, she heard him rant to himself about his poor wallet. She smirked; causing the sadist such displeasure was really enjoyable for her.

"Gin-san, what's happening?" Shinpachi asked, desperately holding Sadaharu back to stop him running to Kagura.

"They're just leaving the shop, he bought her clothes… I saw him blush," Gintoki said, shuddering. Seeing such a sadist blushing was really discomforting. He decided the brunet was probably thinking perverse things about the young Yato girl.

"Okita-san blushed? What? Why?"

"He looked over at some underwear and blushed. He's clearly thinking corrupt things about our Kagura-chan!"

"What?!" Shinpachi yelled like a worried mother. Unfortunately, his reaction to what his boss had said caused him to let go of Sadaharu, who immediately ran over to his beloved Kagura. The two men stared after Sadaharu and then began sweating.

"SADAHARU, how did you get here? Did Gin-chan let you out?! That useless samurai! Or was it that useless four eyes? Probably four eyes…" They heard Kagura shout.

"S-shinpachi, Sadaharu is leading Kagura and Soichiro over here…" Gintoki mumbled to the young man wearing glasses.

"G-g-gin-san, what should we do? They'll kill us if they find out we're spying on them," Shinpachi replied.

"Don't worry, all we have to do is find a t-t-time machine," Gin replied, climbing into a bin.

"And you're the one telling me not to worry? That's not a time machine, it's a bin, which is where you belong, you useless samurai!" Shinpachi yelled.

"Sadist, did you hear that? It sounded like Megane!" Shinpachi heard Kagura say and her voice, to Shinpachi's dismay, sounded a lot closer than before.

"We're going to die… We're going to die," Shinpachi muttered to himself.

"T-t-time machine," Gin replied.

"There is no time machine!" Shinpachi yelled.

"Shinpachi, Gin-chan, is that you?" Kagura said, looking into the alleyway the two males had been spying on her from.

"N-no, little girl, we don't know who those men are… We are just simple street thugs," Gintoki replied, putting on a fake voice.

"Street thugs, eh?" Sougo said, "then, I, as a Shinsengumi member, must arrest you."

"Did I say 'thugs'? I'm sorry, I meant to say 'actors'… We are actors, who are playing thugs in a play. I said 'street thugs' because I was so in character."

"Oi, oi, what are actors doing in an alleyway?"

"Just… practising our roles, getting more into character…"

"It's funny," Kagura said, "I swear I heard Gin-chan and Shinpachi earlier… Sadaharu, where are they?"

Sadaharu barked and then headed into the alley. A few minutes later, he returned, dragging Shinpachi out by biting on his sleeve. Sadaharu dropped the glasses-wearing boy and went back in to grab Gintoki.

"Ah, Kagura-chan, we can explain," Shinpachi began, looking at Gintoki, who was being dragged out, for help.

"We got a job as actors…" Gintoki said.

"I didn't know actors spied on people," Sougo retorted.

"Ah, you already noticed?"

"You're very loud."

"Gin-chan, why were you spying on me?" Kagura asked with a confused tone of voice.

"Shinpachi doesn't want you dating Soichiro!" Gintoki said, trying to push the blame onto Shinpachi.

"Gin-san! It was your idea to follow them!" Shinpachi yelled.

"Actually, my name's Sougo, not 'Soichiro', Danna," Okita deadpanned.

"Sadist and I are not dating!" Kagura screamed.

"You're not?" Gintoki asked, "Oh, sorry, we'll go home. Come, Shinpachi, Sadaharu."

Gintoki quickly walked away, followed by Shinpachi and Sadaharu. When the other two were out of earshot, Shinpachi whispered to Gintoki, "what? You're just going to believe their not dating like that?! Did you not see them today?"

"Oh, no, they're definitely dating but we're going to need better evidence to get Kagura to admit it," Gin replied and they headed home.

Kagura and Sougo watched the two leave and then Sougo looked at her and said, "Your precious Gin-chan didn't believe you. You must hint to him at home that you like me or something."

"He did believe me, didn't you hear him, idiot?! As if I'd like you," she replied, irritated by the policeman.

"You really don't understand people, do you, China? It's obvious he didn't believe you, he just didn't want to start an argument."

"You're wrong, Sadist, Gin-chan definitely believes me!"

"Whatever. Anyway, come on, we need to get back to the Shinsengumi. Kondo and that bastard, Hijikata, have probably planned our mission by now."

They walked together back to the Shinsengumi base.

Hiya, thanks for reading.
Many thanks to all who reviewed the first five chapters and to everyone who reviews this one. It's very, very helpful.
I really wanted Katsura in this story somewhere because I love him... but I made him exit because I was struggling to keep him in character. XD Poor Katsura.
Hachibukai, I don't think it's annoying that you want me to update quicker... I'm really flattered about! I had more freetime over the past few days so this is quite a quick update. Also, your picture is Fairy Tail *squeal* You like Fairy Tail and Gintama too! :D
C.A.M.E.O.1 and only, I know Sadaharu has an opinion but I don't know how to make him express it... I've been trying to use his actions but it's not really working. DX
Little101, the action should be starting soon. I don't have it planned out really... I'm not one for planning... I just write. Haha. It's probably annoying how I've left the action so late, it's just I wanted to build up their emotions etc. The action should start in either the chapter after next or the one after that, okay? :)
Thanks again, everyone!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
I will update as soon as possible.
I don't own Gintama or the characters. :P