Chapter 12

The sandy-haired boy was the first to awaken that morning due to a sharp pain in his collarbone, the cause of which he soon discovered. His red eyes glanced at the painful area only to discover someone else's rather slender shoulder was digging into his own. He looked up at the owner of said shoulder and his heart skipped a beat. His usual blank expression was one of shock. His rival, Kagura, was lying down next to him, fast asleep, drooling slightly. Regaining his composure, he tried to edge away from the girl, only to discover that moving too much caused him great pain. Okita sighed before using his free hand to nudge her slightly, wincing at his discomfort as he did so. "Oi, China," he said in an attempt to awaken the sleeping girl, whom tensed slightly at the sound. "China, wake up!" Just what was she doing in his bed anyway?

A few moments passed before Okita could no longer withstand the pain. "CHINA," he yelled as loudly as he could. "WAKE UP, YOU IDIOT!"

Kagura, in turn, woken up by the noise, yawned and her azure eyes fluttered open. "Hmm, Shinpachi, I do not want to work," she mumbled. "Give me five more minutes, yes? No, scratch that. Five more hours…" She then proceeded to roll over, finally relieving Okita of his pain. However, he was still a bit peeved that the girl had decided to crawl into his bed.

"Oi, China," he deadpanned, causing the girl to tense up and roll over to face him, her eyes wide open. Meeting his eyes, Kagura let out a squeal and immediately jumped out of the bed. "What are you doing?"

"S- sadist! Why are you in my bed?" She hissed, forgetting that she had climbed into his bed when he had asked her, thinking she was his sister, to stay with him. "I hope you did not do perverted things to me, uh-huh!"

"First of all, this is my bed," came Okita's monotonous response. "Second of all, why would anyone do anything like that to you, you immature brat?" His thoughts however contradicted that statement. His rival had indeed matured greatly looks wise and wanting to kick himself for thinking about her like that, he did think that she was attractive.

Of course, Kagura herself would never find out that he thought that. Well, he hoped she wouldn't anyway. Besides, she was too busy getting offended by his comments. "What did you say, brat?" The redhead asked, glaring, but she was also thankful that he had made the second comment, which meant they didn't have to stay on the topic of her sleeping in his bed. She at least could remember why she got into his bed now though.

"You heard me."

"Tch, I will kill you!"

"Might as well, I am already half way there," he joked, however Kagura didn't laugh. The comment actually made her stop and stay silent. "What? It's not like you care."

"You're right, I don't," she muttered, lying.

Hearing that from her, despite the fact he knew she would say it, made it feel like he had received another wound. This wound, however, was the most painful of the ones he'd recently received. It was a wound which hit both his ego and his heart. It was the worst wound his heart had felt since Mitsuba passed away a few years ago. Hiding his pain, Okita smirked at his rival. "So, China," he began. "What were you doing in my bed?"

Her facial expression was glazed over and she didn't bother to respond. Silently, she walked over to a bed on the over side of the room and laid down on it facing away from him.

"China?" The Policeman said, his smirk drooping. "What are you doing?"

She turned her head to look at him and darkly uttered the words, "it's not like you care," before turning back around and staring at the wall.

"Eh?" Was his response. He didn't understand her at all. She just said that she didn't care, so why was she acting like she was the one who was hurt? He sighed. "China, you're being ridiculous." Yeah, good one Sougo, insult her while she's in this mood. That was clever.

She didn't say anything back to him at first, just continuing to stare at the wall. After a while, she turned round and her blue eyes met his red ones. "I am leaving," she said.

"What?" He replied, his face gracing his usual blank expression.

"My wound is almost fully healed; there is no need for me to stay here any longer, yes?" She explained. There is no need for me to stay with somebody who doesn't think I care about him.

"Oh," he mumbled. "That's a good point. You should leave. Go move back in with your beloved 'Gin-chan'."

"I will."

"Good."

"I do not know why I bothered staying in here so long anyway. I would have been much happier at home."

"Yeah, you shouldn't have stayed so long. I really wish you hadn't. I can't wait to finally have some peace in hear."

"Great, I will tell Gori and Gin-chan the good news whenever they come back in."

"Fantastic."

The mood was sour for hours, before Kagura couldn't stand the silence anymore. "GIN-CHAN!" She yelled. "GORI!"

Okita winced at the sudden noise. She was really doing it. She was leaving. Why should he be surprised? It's not like she cared about him… and he didn't care about her either! But why did she have to go?

"Ah, Queen-sama, you called?" Kondo said, entering the room with Gintoki, Shinpachi and Hijikata trailing behind him. "What is it? Are you okay?" He looked concerned as he glanced at her and then at Sougo.

"I am fine. In fact, I am feeling great!" She said, beaming at them. "Gin-chan, Shinpachi, I am ready to go home."

Gintoki looked at his 'daughter' and smiled. "Ah, Kagura, it's about time. It's really annoying to have to keep coming over here," he said.

"Tch, lazy silver perm!" She said, getting up. "Although, Gin-chan, I think you should give me a piggyback home because I am still injured!"

"No way, Gin-san is tired from coming here every day to see you!"

"Please, Gin-chan!"

"… Fine, hop on."

"You know Shinpachi is kind of tired too, Gin-san," Shinpachi added.

"No room for useless Megane's up here," Kagura retorted with a laugh, before looking at Kondo. "Oi, Gori, thanks for letting me get better here. There was lots of food, so it was good."

"No problem, Queen-sama. Thanks for your help with the mission. Oh- Queen-sama, once you're finished with it could you please bring that uniform back? Sougo will need it when he's better!" Kondo replied.

"Yosh! I will! Let's go, Gin-chan!"

"China girl," Hijikata said, grabbing Gintoki to stop him from heading out with the girl on his back. "Don't leave without your pay." He gave her an envelope. "The money's in there."

"Later, China," Okita said from his bed. Kagura frowned upon hearing his voice and didn't respond, acting as though she were more interesting in the money.

"Oi, Shinpachi, dinner's on Kagura tonight," Gin said, carrying the girl out, with Shinpachi walking beside them. They left the compound and headed home.

As soon as the Yorozuya trio left, Okita scowled at the ceiling. What was that girl's problem? Why was she messing with him like this?

"Oi, Sougo," Hijikata said, staring at the young captain. "Did something happen between you and the China girl?"

"Nothing happened. We hate each other as usual," Okita replied quickly.

"Heh, you're both still in denial then?" The black haired man mused, exiting the infirmary.

Just what did he mean by that? All of a sudden, he realised he wanted to see Kagura again and that's when he began to understand everything he had been feeling since their mission had begun.

He had fallen for the China girl. He sighed in frustration, why did it have to be her of all people?

The Yorozuya members had arrived home and Kagura headed into her room to get changed. As she took off the Shinsengumi jacket, she smelt a waft of a familiar scent. For some unknown reason, her cheeks flushed red and she sniffed the jacket. It smelt like him. It smelt like her rival… and she liked it? What was wrong with her? She couldn't care about that guy anymore and he probably didn't care about her at all. Something wet rolled down her face and she licked it. Salty. She was crying.

Why was this happening?

Why did she have to fall for him?

Hiya, thanks for reading.

Many thanks to all who reviewed the first 11 chapters and to everyone who reviews this one. It's very, very helpful.

Sorry for the long wait. I have been incredibly busy as of late with school! I'm currently writing another OkiKagu fanfic as well, so if you're interested, you should be able to find it on my profile! It's called 'Eating Dark Matter Does Not Help Your Memory'.

Also, sorry if this chapter isn't very good. I haven't written anything for this fic lately so I feel like I've lost touch with it. I can't really remember where I was intending to go with it either. e.e

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
I will update as soon as possible.
I don't own Gintama or the characters. :P