Chapter 13

Weeks had passed and Okita hadn't seen his redheaded rival since that morning in the infirmary, she hadn't been to visit or even asked how he was, despite that idiot Hijikata telling him that he had bumped into her and her Yorozuya colleagues. It irritated him how much her lack of concern for his wellbeing bothered him, but there was nothing he could do about that. She thought of him purely as a rival, nothing more… He sighed, getting up. He had finally been allowed to re-join his workmates and get back to work. Although, work lately had been the last thing on his mind (since the dumb China girl had a tendency to consume his every thought), he was pleased to get back out in the field and stop the rest of the Shinsengumi from feeling concerned for him. Even when they tried to conceal it, he could feel their worries… Even Hijakata had started showing anxiety towards his welfare. Not that he cared; he was more preoccupied with finally seeing that umbrella-wielding brat once more. It had been too long and she hadn't attempted to contact him once. Well, today it didn't matter whether Kagura had come to visit him, because he had decided that he would use his first patrol since he had recovered to visit her. Oh, how he couldn't wait to see that ugly, irritated expression she pulled every single time she saw him.

He clambered out of bed and dressed. Quickly, excitedly, he hurried to the kitchen to grab a snack before going to report to the compound. Yes, today would be a good day, he thought to himself, his trademark smirk returning to his face for the first time since his last conversation with Kagura.

Not too far away, a Yato woman of 18 years had just awoken, not knowing that she was on the mind of a certain sandy-haired police officer. Oddly enough, he was on her mind as well, but that was a usual thing nowadays because she woke up surrounded by his smell which wafted off of the Shinsengumi jacket she clutched to help her sleep at night. She had no idea how he was doing, if he was healing or if he would die… The only way she could calm herself when she thought too much about his condition was to hug his jacket. Gintoki, of course, being the father figure he was, had picked up on her sadness, telling her that if she felt guilty, she should just ask another Shinsengumi officer how he was doing or to just visit him. He had even volunteered to go with her, claiming that he too was 'concerned for that Soichiro-kun's health', but she, stubborn as she was, was quick to deny her fears for her sadistic rival. Each time they spoke of it, he just gave her a knowing look, but left it at that. She felt that deep down he did not want her to spend too much time with the sadist anyway, and she had overheard Shinpachi call him a bad influence before anyway, but that was probably more due to his jealousy towards Sougo than his concern towards Kagura.

The girl got dressed quickly and decided that she would go for a walk, her usual method of distracting herself from that idiot sadist. She smiled at her boss as she left. "I am going out, Gin-chan, uh-huh. Tell that megane that he will have to do my share of the cleaning, yes?"

"And I'll tell him that you said to do my share as well," Gintoki said lazily, before they both chuckled a little. "See you later."

"Bye!"

"Oi, Kagura, buy me some strawberry milk while you're out."

"I would if you actually paid me, you stupid silver perm, uh-huh!"

Okita met his boss, Kondo Isao, in the compound, who already had a not-even-the-slightest-bit-subtle troubled look on his face and as soon as they were at talking distance, the question that Sougo was expecting came immediately.

"Hey, Sougo, are you sure you're ready to get back to work?" the Shinsengumi commander asked.

"Kondo-san, I have been off of work for weeks and my injuries are all healed. You heard what the doctors said," the young captain replied simply, wishing his boss was a less caring man. As dear as Kondo was to him, the younger man was desperate to get on with things. So many weeks in bed had bored the life out of him, and it was even worse after Kagura had left. Even when he was able to move back into his own room, life was still mind-numbing as he had been instructed to rest 24/7. He was incredibly excited to finally get back out there.

"I know… but have you healed mentally?" The man's voice was full of apprehension. Obviously, Sougo's appearance didn't reflect how he was feeling. This was the happiest he'd been in ages.

"I'm fine. There's no need to worry. I knew what I was signing up to do when we formed the Shinsengumi, I understood the risks."

"Good," the other replied, giving his old friend a toothy grin.

"Oi, Sougo," said a voice from behind him. He turned around and a black man stared back at him with icy blue eyes and a cigarette in his mouth (and an annoying aura surrounding his whole existence.) "You're back to work today then?"

"Ah, Hijikata-san, you want to look out today. Kondo-san thinks that I'm unstable, and so I think I might kill you thoughtlessly."

"Glad to see you're back to normal," the man retorted, walking past him. Giving his comrade a slight pat on the back, the Hijikata continued, "Now get to work, or go slack off and bother that China girl like you usually do. I don't even care."

"Toushi, you just sounded like a tsundere~" Okita heard Kondo joke as the other two headed inside. He smiled. It was good to finally be back.

The streets were fairly empty so that would make it easier for him to find Kagura, assuming she was out today. If not he could and go to visit the Yorozuya headquarters, he did need to get his jacket back anyway. "Now, if I were a stupid China girl, where would I be?" He muttered to himself, trying to decide where to look, and realisation hit him instantly. The park. She was nearly always there. Even though she was an adult woman now, whenever he patrolled the park, he would see her sitting on a bench or on the swing, chewing some sukonbu while her dog roamed around. He headed straight there, and smirked when he saw that his initial instinct was right. There she was, sat on the swing, watching her dog terrorise a group of kids, her stupid umbrella in hand, blocking the sun from her porcelain skin. He suddenly felt embarrassed. What was he even doing? Purposely seeking her out like that… It was weird and made him seem like quite the stalker… Maybe he was talking to Kondo-san too often. No, it was normal. He just wanted to annoy her again. It had been ages since the last time he'd seen her pissed off with him. He strolled towards her as she looked in the opposite direction, before leaning close to her and muttering, "I believe I owe the young lady a meal."

Kagura's head turned quickly and her eyes widened in surprise as she realised who was talking to her. "Sou- Sadist?!" To his surprise, her cheeks went red, before her facial expressions relaxed. "Oh, so you have healed, yes? That is a surprise. I thought a weakling like you would never recover from those injuries, uh-huh."

She went straight in with an insult. The usual China. However, he felt confused by her blushing cheeks. Well, she did wake up in his bed last time they saw each other so it made perfect sense. It was not as if she had feelings for him. He didn't speak for a while so she spoke again. "So what was this about you owing me a meal?"

"I recall promising I would buy you a meal," he replied, smirking, watching her eyes light up as he spoke.

"Really? Are you going to do that now?" She grinned. "I did not expect you to be a man of your word."

"Oi, no need to be harsh, China. Here, enjoy." He said, producing from his pocket a can of dog food. He just wanted to get a little bit of revenge for the absence of her visits. "This is what a bitch like you eats, right?"

With her expression blank for a moment, she lifted the dog food from his hand, before an appearance of searing rage came over her face. "Die, you bastard," she muttered. She threw the can to the ground before grabbing her umbrella and whacking him with it. Hard. As she did so, he coughed loudly and let out a moan. Hearing this noise, she dropped her umbrella, and supported him before he could fall to the ground. "Shit, Sadist, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, pushing her off of him. "How pathetic do you think I am?"

"Incredibly," came her quick retort. "I am not sorry though, uh-huh. You did deserve that, you dumb brat, yes?"

"We have discussed this before, the dumb brat is you. You are the brat because you're the younger, more brattish one."

They quickly reverted to their usual insult-based argument, however for once, both of them had a huge smile on their face and a friendly tone to their voice. After all that had happened, the two had begun to truly care for each other.

"Oi, sadist," the girl said, giving him the biggest grin she had ever let him see. "I seem to recall you promising me an all-you-can-eat buffet for my meal, not a shitty can of dog food, yes?"

"Why, China, it sounds like you're asking me on a date."

"In your dreams, idiot sadist, uh-huh."

Wow, it's been a while… Helloooo, thanks for reading. Sorry about the long wait ~.~ I am super busy lately and FAILING my education hahaha. Thank you for your kind reviews and I'll try to update more. ;~; Please don't hate me…

This story doesn't even seem to have a plot anymore i'm so sorry... This is kind of a bittersweet filler chapter as I haven't really thought about where this story is going but I wanted to update since I can't end it as I have introduced Kamui into the story so I need his part explained…
Next chapter will probably just be Kagura and Okita eating food so Kagura should be happy hahaha.

I haven't reread my previous chapter so there are probably major plot holes in this chapter, but oh well I hope you enjoyed ^^