Disclaimer: The characters of Gintama belong to Sorachi Hideaki. :)
Authors Note: This. Is. GINTAMA! Haha! See what I did there! This is not Sparta, this is GINTAMA! That Sparta thing is used WAY too much. Watched the last episode of Icarly… Miss it already. Man… that show was fun. Enjoy chapter 26!
Chap. 26 Is it That Hard to Trust Someone?
Gintoki opens his eyes slowly, shutting them quickly he groans. "Kagura…?" He coughs when his voice comes out in a raspy whisper. He clears his throat, putting a hand on his head, he tries again. "Kagura…?! What time is it?" He waits a few seconds, raising an eyebrow at the lack of a reply. Gintoki rolls his eyes. "Geez it has to be afternoon already…"
Gintoki raises his head, only to fall back with a scream. He groans, moving his hand slowly across his chest feeling bandages. "What the hell…" He mutters.
Gintoki's eyes widen as he looks around slowly. "This… isn't my room…" Looking around again, he stands up off the futon, noticing that he was wearing only his yukata and no shoes.
Gintoki shakes his head. "What…?" He gasps suddenly, memories flooding back. Getting stabbed by Akatsuki and passing out, everything. Gintoki exhales loudly. "Oh shit…" He mutters.
Gintoki squints, seeing nothing in the darkness. "Aren't there any windows in this damn room?" Slowly, Gintoki starts to feel across the wall. His eyes widen as he feels a shoji screen. Feeling further he finds the handle. He smirks. "Found it…" He mutters. He slides the shoji screen open fast. Gintoki blinks slowly, gaping at the sword that was pointing at him.
The amanto at the other end of the sword growls as do a few amanto around him. The amanto thrusts the sword forward, making Gintoki take a step back. The amanto reaches forward, shutting the shoji screen with a slam, plunging Gintoki in the dark again.
Gintoki narrows his eyes. He turns, walking to the other side of the room, turning around to face the shoji. He sighs heavily. "Well… here we go…" Gintoki suddenly breaks into a run towards the shoji, jumping into the air; he lashes out with his foot, smashing the shoji screen out.
"S'cuse me!" Gintoki yells as he smashes the shoji screen, knocking all three amanto down. He lowers himself onto his haunches with a groan, grabbing at his bandages. "Dammit… shouldn't have done that."
"Oi!" The amanto screams, scrambling to grab his sword.
Gintoki grits his teeth, breaking into a run down the corridor. "Dammit!" He screams at the pain, digging his fingers into his chest as if it would subside the pain.
"Hey! Stop!" An amanto screams.
Gintoki, not stopping, looks over his shoulder. "Shit!" He exclaims as he notices that more amanto have joined the three, each carrying an odd assortment of weapons besides swords.
Gintoki looks forward again; noticing that at the end of the corridor was a turn. Gintoki looks behind him once more, an amanto gripping a spear tightly in his hand. Gintoki's eyes widen. "Eh?!"
The amanto pulls his arm back with the spear. Smirking, he throws it.
Gintoki lets out a scream, throwing himself to the ground. He rolls a couple times, slamming into the wall. Gintoki opens his eyes just as the spear enters the wall above his head.
Shaking his head, Gintoki jumps up. Breaking into another run. "Shit…" Gintoki mumbles as he feels his bandages moisten with blood.
Gintoki slows down as he hears heavy thuds. Suddenly at the end of the corridor an amanto appears, carrying a huge club. Gintoki's eyes widen as he realizes it was the Dakini from before.
The Dakini growls at him, sprinting towards him.
Gintoki almost stops, but realizes by the amanto's screams, they were close behind him. Gintoki smirks, running faster.
As he nears Gintoki the Dakini raises his club, bringing it down hard.
Gintoki's smirk breaks into a grin. Suddenly he jumps into the air, just as the club hits the ground where he was. Gintoki chuckles as he goes over the Dakini's head. "Idio-" He stops suddenly as a hand quickly latches onto his ankle. "Huh…?"
The Dakini tightens his grip on Gintoki's ankle, throwing him onto the ground.
Gintoki lets out a scream, as he hits the ground, gritting his teeth as he feels blood rising in his throat.
"Who's the idiot?" The Dakini whispers in a raspy voice.
"Still you." Gintoki murmurs. He lifts his front up with his hands, kicking out with his other leg.
The Dakini smirks, quickly twisting Gintoki's ankle.
Gintoki's eyes widen as he lets out a scream.
"Humans are so fragile…" The Dakini says, tilting his head in fascination.
"What'd you say you dick?" Gintoki growls.
"Hey!" An amanto screams.
The Dakini looks behind him to see the group of amanto. "What do you want?"
The amanto glares at him. "What are you doing? That man was brought here by Boss. We were meant to guard him until he came back."
The Dakini chuckles. "Well, you didn't do a very good job." Before the amanto can retort, he continues. "Just so you know I wasn't going to kill him." He smirks. "He must be pretty strong since Boss wanted him. Too bad he's injured… or I'd fight him."
"Boss didn't bring him here so you can have a fun fight." The amanto snarls.
The Dakini snorts. "You think I—" He's cut off as Gintoki suddenly yanks his ankle out of the Dakini's grip.
"Hey!" He screams, reaching out to grab Gintoki.
Gintoki turns around abruptly, swinging his fist, punching the Dakini on the nose.
The amanto gape in astonishment as the Dakini flies back a couple feet, landing on his back.
Gintoki lets out a hurried breath, gripping his chest. He turns, stumbling as he tries to run, but he doesn't get very far. Suddenly Gintoki hits something hard, falling back.
Gintoki's eyes widen as he looks up, as do the amanto.
"Boss!" An amanto exclaims.
"Hey…" Akatsuki says with a smirk.
"Boss!" Yamazaki screams, running into Kondo's room.
Kondo looks up from his Kanji in surprise. "What's wrong Yamazaki?" He asks, setting down his brush.
"Someone from Okita- san's squad believes they saw Takasugi Shinsuke!"
"What?! Are they sure?!" Kondo asks, jumping up from where he was sitting.
Yamazaki rubs the back of his head nervously. "Um, well. They only saw him from the back, so…" Yamazaki trails off, mouth twitching in nervousness.
"So, you're saying you came here to tell me this by someone's ASSUMPTION!" Kondo screams.
Yamazaki's eyes widen. "I'm sorry! I thought if there was anything, assumption or not, it could be a lead."
Kondo puts a hand against his head, sighing heavily. "I'm sorry Yamazaki… This mess with Oboro and the Tendoshuu is overwhelming." He glances at his kanji. "I thought maybe kanji would calm me, but it didn't really…"
Yamazaki looks down beside Kondo's table, the wastebasket filled with papers. "I guess not…" Yamazaki mumbles. He bites his lip. "Um, Kondo- san… that wasn't everything I wanted to talk about…"
"What else is there?" Kondo asks cautiously.
Yamazaki shifts from one foot to the other. "Um, I went out again today and um… No one has seen Boss in a while."
Kondo nods. "Yes, I know. It hasn't been twenty- four hours yet."
"Actually… you've been in here for quite a while…" Yamazaki mumbles, "And um, it's been thirty- eight hours…"
Kondo's eyes widen. "What?! Why didn't you come get me?!"
"Hijikata- san told me not to bother you!" Yamazaki shrieks.
Kondo's body trembles in anger. "TOSHI!" Kondo screams, running for the shoji.
"Wait! Kondo- san!" Yamazaki screams. "Why does it matter?!"
Kondo glares over his shoulder at Yamazaki. "Because… if Yorozuya did kill Sada, we can't have him out of our sight for too long."
"What… but Kondo- san! We don't know if he did it!"
Kondo smirks. "Like you said, we can't take any chances. Besides…" Kondo's eyes darken. "Yorozuya is the Shiroyasha… I don't even think we can trust him anymore…"
Yamazaki's eyes widen. "W- What are you saying…?"
Kondo smiles sadly, running out of the room.
"Kondo- san!" Yamazaki runs out of the room, stopping suddenly in the entrance. He looks down sadly. "As if I could do anything…"
Yamazaki jolts as he hears something shift to his right. He jumps to the side, reaching for his sword, but stops when he sees who it is. "Um, Okita- san?"
Sougo says nothing, his body trembling, gripping the sword at his side.
"Hey…" Akatsuki says. He looks down at Gintoki narrowing his eyes he glares up at the amanto. "What the hell are you doing?" The amanto freeze, glancing at the Dakini.
"Um, Sakata Gintoki got out, then Kawasaki got in his way, injuring him further." An amanto says quietly, pointing at the Dakini.
Akatsuki raises an eyebrow. "So, did you guys do that to Kawasaki?"
"N-No… Gintoki did…" The amanto stammers.
Akatsuki's eyes widen, looking down at Gintoki. Suddenly, he bursts out laughing. "I can't believe it! Either though I shouldn't be surprised! But you're injured!"
Gintoki blinks at him. "Are you insane?"
Akatsuki smirks. "Well, you beat a Dakini! They're even stronger than a Yato."
Gintoki snorts. "Yeah right! I've fought a Yato and HE was nowhere near the strength of one!"
"Oh, that's right. You killed Housen." Akatsuki says, his smile widening.
"I didn't kill him." Gintoki growls.
Akatsuki chuckles. "Gintoki, do you really think that those women helped you at all?"
Gintoki's eyes widen slightly. "How did you…?"
"We have cameras in most places." Akatsuki says.
Gintoki's face contorts in repulsion. "You're disgusting."
"The cameras aren't where you think they are!" Akatsuki screams. He sighs. "We saw your whole fight… I'm surprised Kamui didn't interfere…"
"Why would you put a camera in Yoshiwara?" Gintoki asks.
"Because… Housen was there. When he left his clan, we decided to track him. We couldn't believe he decided to make a red light district."
"Even a shitty old man like him has his needs." Gintoki says.
Akatsuki smirks. "It was fun watching you kill him with his own weakness."
"I told you I didn't kill him!" Gintoki retorts.
"And I told you that those women didn't do anything. None of their attacks harmed him." Akatsuki smiles in satisfaction with Gintoki's lack of a retort. He turns, motioning with his hand for Gintoki to follow. Gintoki raises an eyebrow, but listens, following him.
Akatsuki stops, looking over his shoulder. "You can do whatever you want with Kawasaki, kill him or wait till he wakes up."
"Well, aren't you great." Gintoki says sarcastically.
Akatsuki smiles. "Come on." He says, walking down the corridor.
Gintoki looks around the corridor, raising his eyebrows at the all the doors. They were probably vacated. Turning a corner they come to two huge double doors. Akatsuki reaches up, pushing it open slightly.
"Your mansion is too big…" Gintoki says.
Akatsuki's eyes narrow in confusion. "Mansion?"
Gintoki raises an eyebrow. "Yeah…"
Akatsuki's eyes widen as realization dawns on him. He chuckles, opening the door.
Gintoki's eyes widen as they enter the room. In the middle of the room were huge pillars, but his surprise came to the five figures sitting on them.
"Heh, what are you? A cult?" Gintoki says.
Akatsuki laughs, walking further in the room. "Hey!" He calls. "Sakata Gintoki is…!" He stops abruptly in surprise.
Suddenly a sharp disk flies down from one of the pillars, heading for Gintoki.
Gintoki's eyes widen, ducking quickly. The disk flies over him, burying itself into the wall with a loud crack.
"What the hell?!" Gintoki snarls, jumping up.
One of the figures on a pillar drops down, landing with a light thump. He stands straight, much taller than Gintoki, his hood covering his face. "A normal human's reaction time is zero point fifteen seconds to zero point thirty seconds. He dodged in an approximate value of zero point ten seconds… Are you sure he's human Akatsuki?"
Another man laughs, landing next to Gintoki. "You're such a smartass Akira. Who cares if he's human or not. He's strong."
The other three drop down from their pillars to join them. All of them looked the same with their hoods on.
Akatsuki smirks. "The 'smartass' is Akira and that idiot over there is Souchi. Those three over there are Ryouchi, Minase, and Eiji."
"Why the hell would I want to know your names?" Gintoki growls.
Akatsuki smiles. "I think I already told you."
"I'm leaving." Gintoki says, turning towards the double doors.
"Leaving? How can you leave Gintoki?" Souchi asks.
"You're human… if you go out you'll die." Akira says.
Gintoki raises his eyebrow. "Die…?"
Suddenly Akatsuki bursts out laughing, his red eyes alight.
"You're such a dick." Ryouchi mumbles.
"You really didn't tell him?" Akira asks, shaking his head.
"I thought he already knew. I told him he would be part of the Tendoshuu." Akatsuki says, still chuckling. He looks at Gintoki. "You might want to see this Gintoki." Ryouta walks past Gintoki to the door, reaching up to press a button.
Gintoki's eyes widen as the ceiling retracts in the middle, revealing a window that covers the ceiling. Gintoki takes a step back. "Oh, shit."
Beyond the window revealed stars, but not the stars of the night sky. It showed the stars of space.
We have to distrust each other. It is our only defense against betrayal.- Tennessee Williams
Authors Note: Oh shit… Gintoki's in space. Well, I'm sorry this was a little… um, late I guess. But I had to scream "I'm screwed!" about a million times on this chapter. Meh. Hm, is Minase a girl or a boy's name? I don't know… I like the name Eiji. That's what I thought of naming Akatsuki at first. Okay~ let's talk about Sougo. I believe he REALLY respects Gintoki. BUT in the latest chapters of the manga, I'm not so sure… Next chapter, might have a little surprise. Or it may not. I've decided to put quotes at the end of all my chapters, so enjoy. Until next chapter!