-Chapter 2-

Gintoki could not believe his own eyes.

Okita? The Prince of Planet Sadism? He'd seen the boy around a few times with the Shinsengumi (Those guys never seemed to get anything done), but usually he was either firing bazookas at random, or thinking up ways to kill his superior. No matter which way you looked at it, Okita was undoubtedly - a Bad Influence.

So what was Kagura doing with him?

Okita had turned around again, and the pair continued their traipse around the park. Breathing a sigh of relief, Gintoki assumed that he had not been recognised. With utmost stealth, he crept around the fountain and started to follow them, making sure to keep a healthy 20-meter gap just in case one of them suddenly turned around.

I wonder what they say to each other, he thought. So far, he had only heard them bickering every single time they met, the insults shooting off their tongues like venom. Gintoki peered at them from behind, using a thick tree trunk as cover, but he couldn't catch a single word. However, from the movement of their heads, they seemed to be walking along silently.

Just like the awkwardness of a first date, Gintoki thought. His clutch tightened around the tree trunk, leaving a prominent hand print in the bark.

Before long, the couple was out of the park and walking down the streets of Edo. A few times, they stopped to look at something - window shopping? and Gintoki hurriedly pretended to stoop and pick something off the floor (Like a rock). This earned him some odd looks from passer-bys, who scuttled around him like crazy was infectious. Well, he'd come this far. Gritting his teeth, Gintoki ignored them and continued to follow his mark.

Once, he thought he'd lost them, but he backtracked and found them buying tickets for a movie. Aliens versus Pirates versus Ninjas, part 3. Warning signals began flashing in Gintoki's imagination. Cinemas were never a good sign. In a darkened room, surrounded by other people who were transfixed on the screen... in other words, not looking at you, there was no telling what would happen between two teenagers filled with raging hormones. Innocent knee-touching and holding hands could well spiral into far more dangerous and sinister things...

"ONE TICKET PLEASE!!!" Gintoki practically yelled at the ticket person, slamming a dollar bill down upon a counter, and earning himself several less-than-friendly glances from nearby onlookers.

He had intentionally chosen a seat two rows behind them, where he could easily see what they were doing. For the first hour of the movie, both of them appeared to be watching intently (and unaware of a pair of red eyes boring into their backs). Gintoki, of course, was hardly paying attention to the drivel that was being played onscreen, whereupon a hot-blooded ninja with orange spiky hair was battling a pirate with rubbery arms and legs. Seriously, the stuff they made in Hollywood these days.

Then, as perhaps a snake would do, Okita's arm curled up and placed itself upon Kagura's shoulder, pulling her body closer to his own.

Gintoki leapt up suddenly, steam rising from his head. The villain had struck!! He had to stop them before anything major happened. He was deciding on his next plan of action, when irritated voices began cursing all around him.

"Sit down, you idiot!!" one man shouted. "You're blocking the damn screen!" "I can't see, your wig is in the way!!"

Gintoki was just about to snap "It's my NATURAL hair, not a WIG!" at the person who had yelled, but he held himself back just in time. He couldn't afford to blow his cover. "Sorry," he muttered sheepishly, and sat back down, fuming silently, and all the while focusing on Okita's snakelike arm.

The slim fingers attached to the end of the arm had begun entangling themselves in Kagura's hair (she had let it down today, instead of wearing two buns), twisting around a lock and letting go, in an extremely leisurely way. The action seemed to say to Gintoki: TRY AND STOP ME. He could imagine Okita's drawling voice saying it in a jeering tone, challenging him to do something.

Twisting and turning with desperation in his seat, Gintoki tried to think of a way to get Kagura's attention without making any noise. But he was two rows away, and he didn't have a stick or anything to tap her shoulder with. All the while, Okita's unstoppable Hand of Doom was playing with Kagura's hair, and every now and then his thumb would start stroking her neck. The worst thing of all was, she wasn't even trying to stop him!

After two hours of constant inner agony, the film ended and the moviegoers dispersed. Gintoki felt like he had just run a psychological marathon. Okita, you snake!! he seethed inwardly, as he stumbled out towards the sunlight.

There's an even more dangerous snake in his pants, a voice of warning resounded in Gintoki's mind, which acted like a splash of water in the face. Looking around, he caught sight of them again in the distance. They seemed to be heading in the direction of the shopping mall.

The shopping mall, with its vices of the game arcade, the merry-go-round, and the purikura. (Sticker picture machines.)

It was common knowledge in Edo, that whenever couples go into one of the purikura machines, something bad will happen, most of the time involving S-K-I-N-S-H-I-P, and occasionally, even T-O-N-G-U-E-S.

Without wasting any more time, the silver haired samurai picked up his pace, and ran.


Author's note: Aah, probably one more chapter until the end. I had fun writing this. Sorry about Gintoki being kinda OOC here, a bit of a hypocrite really since he's a bit of a libertine himself. :) Hope you liked it, and see you next time!