Hey! I'm sorry for the not-so-long hiatus. I've gone on vacations to Chile, so I've been doing other things, as you might guess. By the way, I'm really sorry I haven't mentioned before, but this story will have lots of Gintama spoilers. If you haven't caught up up to the latests chapters, I suggest not to continue reading (Of course there also HXH ones, but you already knew that, I bet). Anyways, I hope you enjoy this.

Chapter 3: Psychologists Are Only Good If They Know What They're Doing

As always, upon entering in someone else's mind, Pakunoda saw a flash of light before materializing inside the mindscape. The difference this time was that she was in no hurry. Thus, instead of her classic approach –assault– technique, Pakunoda used an alternative side of her ability, which consisted in the appearance of multiple doors on the way of a long, very dark hallway. This hallway, of course, was endless. Humans have an unimaginable number of memories if you also count the memories of their dreams and, also, the ones the individual doesn't remember that, as a result, were buried in the deepest of the psyque. If you asked Pakunoda, this technique would've been of excellent use if she was a psychologist. Pity she wasn't really, as society had marginalized her and, as a result, she couldn't give a damn about other people's problems. Another interesting point of this technique was that, if she wanted, she could summon the person's conscious. This way she could give Kamui more 'control', like she had promised. And thus, she summoned him. Said boy looked around with wonder.

"Is this my mind? This is amazing," he said with wide, enthusiastic eyes.

Pakunoda smiled gently. It wasn't every day that someone praised her ability.

"You could say this is more of a representation. As you can see, apart from those endless doors, there is only darkness. That's because there's not really a way of discerning what truly is the mind made of apart from memories. But it doesn't matter, it's too complex to discuss now." She took a step forward and looked down at him. "Now it's your turn of showing me the way."

Kamui nodded, looking ahead of himself and started walking without looking at Pakunoda

"So, Hana-san(*), how do I know which door reveals the memory I want to show you?"

"First, call me that again and I'll make sure to see your deepest fears and embarrassments. Second, you don't know, you'll just simply feel a pull towards a door. It's an unconscious feeling. It is your mind, after all, so you should believe in yourself. I don't believe it's true when people say that the mind is the worst enemy of man."

Actually, there was certain inaccuracy in Pakunoda's proclamation about Kamui being in 'control' of what he'd show her. Pakunoda didn't voice it: it was too complex for a little kid to understand. Basically, the Subconscious works in strange ways apart from the Conscious. We can't control the Subconscious. If it was for Kamui, he'd show a different memory instead of the one he'd actually choose based in Pakunoda's instructions. For Pakunoda, this was a very interesting aspect of her ability: being shown a message from the independent and wise Subconscious.

Kamui said nothing as he walked door by door, trying to feel the pull Pakunoda described. Suddenly, Kamui instinctively locked eyes with a door which seemed to almost glow. Pakunoda followed his gaze and he nodded, wordlessly giving her permission to see inside.

Once again, there was a flash of light before the scenery materialized before her. Pakunoda could feel the extreme humidity in the air, filling her bones and giving her an uncomfortable sense of dizziness. Ignoring the bad sensations, she fixed her eyes on the buildings –worthless of being called habitable–, the incessant rain without trace of the slightest gleam of the sun and, finally, on the people that lived in that deplorable... could it even be considered a city? It all looked like falling apart.

The truth was that Pakunoda didn't recognize the place. However, the most surprising thing was the aspect of people there. She was of course familiar with anthropomorphic beings, but no one –apart from Kamui–seemed to be entirely human. Deciding to think about it later, Pakunoda hurried to go after the Kamui of the memory, who took a turn towards an alley. Said Kamui, Pakunoda saw, was walking with who appeared to be a sibling. Before them, some men of unpleasant aspect appeared.

"Who are those guys wearing all black?" One of them asked out of nowhere and Pakunoda followed their gaze. Indeed, there were some dark fellows. Pakunoda noted, however, their polish form and straight posture. They walked as if they owned the world. Everybody were looking at them warily.

"That's Harusame,"another responded the question.

Pakunoda took in the name 'Harusame' for later research. Fortunately, she had an amazing memory. She could write whole lists in her head and remember them afterwards.

"It looks like they came here to do some business."

"Goddamn," a Mohawk guy spat. "Look how stuck up those guys are."

Suddenly, he turned to look at Kamui, who was clenching the shopping bag full of vegetables in one hand and protectively grasping his sister's with the other. The other disgusting creatures also averted their gazes to look down at Kamui with cruel, sharp smiles. Pakunoda frowned at the turn of events. Was Kamui, maybe, subconsciously asking her for some type of help? Maybe bullying? Something told her it wasn't the case.

"When I get pissed off," continued the Mohawk, "I like to hit the old punching bag."

Pakunoda saw Kamui sweat-dropping.

He must be trying to put on a tough guy act in front of her, thought Pakunoda, looking at the little girl's expression of fear.

"Man, you guys really don't give up," said Kamui in an annoyed tone. "Would you just lay off, already?"

Suddenly, the little girl was blocking his view in a shielding pose.

"Kagura!"

"Do not bully Kamui!" she said, bravely, Pakunoda noticed with an unnoticeable smile.

"You promised mommy, right, Kamui? You said you would not make her worry anymore!" Kamui appeared stunned at her little speech. "You promised you would always be with her, right?"

"Shut up, brat!" Out of the blue, the Mohawk guy snapped, kicking her straight on the stomach without mercy.

"KAGURAAA!" Kamui could only watch as his little sister's body impacted hardly on the stone. Pakunoda flinched at the sight, as Kamui quickly kneeled in front of her, seizing his little sister's wounds.

"You think that's enough for us to call it even?" continued provoking the infuriating Mohawk.

"We're going to play with you and your little sister for a good long time."

Kamui slowly turned his head to give him the most murderous expression Pakunoda'd ever seen on a child's face She waited patiently, wondering curiously how he'd act now, when, in a sudden flash, the delinquents were all lying on the hard floor, knocked down. Pakunoda blinked, taken aback at the quick turn of events.

Before Kamui's awestruck face, was the dark silhouette of a very strong looking man. He was wearing a cape like the other Harusame members –Pakunoda observed– on the uniform. His forearms were covered with bandages and, strangely, he carried with him an umbrella like Kamui's. His sandy hair was spiky around the edges and his eyes held a soft tint upon looking at Kamui and his sister's state. His eyes, however, hardened as he turned to the despicable creatures.

"Geez. They really don't teach the juvenile delinquents here anything. You either pawn the enemy's little sister off for money or you use her as a hostage. There, I taught you something."

Pakunoda eyed-rolled. Don't give them ideas.

Then, the man's gaze met with Kamui's once again.

"Little rabbit, if you don't want to end up a villain, you should really learn to take care of your sister."

Without another word, the strange man turned his back and walked up to his partners.

"Oi, Abuto, what're you doing?" one of them, also carrying an umbrella, Pakunoda curiously observed once again, asked 'Abuto'.

"Nothing. I was going to take a dump in the alley, but there was already shit all over the place."

What a gentleman, deadpanned Pakunoda, turning to look at Kamui, who still was kneeling before his sister. He seemed to be holding back the tears.

Then, out of nowhere, the memory stopped, and she was once again in Kamui's Hallway. Kamui immediately regarded her. Pakunoda suddenly felt the need of being cautious around him. She had come to realize this wasn't an ordinary kid, at all.

"That was fast."

Pakunoda blinked. "Time is meaningless when you're inside your own head."

Kamui turned serious. "Are you satisfied with what you've seen? Share with me. It's weird I didn't get to see my own memory while you were intruding there. It doesn't feel fair, ya' know."

Pakunoda shook her head, slowly. "As a matter of fact, I haven't seen enough. With what little I've seen, I can only tell you live in a city I don't recognize and that there's a group called 'Harusame', which curiously I've never heard of it before. It's strange, taking into account that they seemed like important men. Also, there were some men that carried umbrellas like you do."

Kamui raised an eyebrow. "What else do you need to know? Actually, never mind, let's get out of here. You're starting to bore me."

Pakunoda sweatdropped. "One more memory. That's all I ask."

Kamui smirked. "And what will I gain in return?"

Pakunoda felt a chill. She somehow knew she'd come to regret it later. "What would you like?"

Kamui's smirk turned even more pronounced. "Take me to the most expensive restaurant in the city."

Pakunoda paled. The little devil was going to turn her wallet into ashes. But... a deal was a deal. She trusted her instinct, and it was telling her not to get in his bad side. There was just something about this kid. Something that surpass her.

Finally, Pakunoda nodded. "Deal."

Kamui smiled. "Great. Then, let's see..."

Once more, they started walking down Kamui's Hallway in search of a new memory. Ten minutes later, Kamui stopped and pointed at a random door. Without words, Pakunoda entered it.

Again, she appeared in the same decaying city and saw the man –Abuto, was it?– eating the scraps of food of a stick. Maybe dango. There was also a group of very alien looking men staring at him –too obviously, if she may say– in an alley across him, obviously waiting for a opportunity to stupidly attack him.

"There's the guy," one of them said.

"Let's do it."

"B-but... he's a member of Harusame."

"Nobody's going to give a shit just because some grunt died in a fight with some street rats."

Quite the contrary, I daresay, thought Pakunoda, unimpressed.

"Let's take our payment in exchange for them taking our turf like that."

Interesting, thought Pakunoda, eyes narrowing. So this 'Harusame' might be some kind of illicit group.

Suddenly, Kamui appeared behind them. "Oi!"

What happened next, genuinely surprised Pakunoda, as she haven't really seen Kamui fight in any sort of way before. He simply blasted them off, as if they were mere specks of dust lying in suspension. That also catched Abuto's attention, apparently.

"Geez," he voiced. "It's as if not even one of the juvenile delinquents in this Rakuyou place got any proper training..."

Pakunoda narrowed her eyes once more, in concentration. So this place's called Rakuyou. Never heard of it. Never saw it in a map, too. This is getting curious and more curious.

"...I thought I'd try re-training them, but it looks like a baby rabbit started teaching 'em."

Abuto suddenly appeared to change his mind as he looked deep into Kamui's eyes.

"No," he drawled. "Those aren't the eyes of a big brother that came to avenge his little sister. It actually looks like you've got what it needs for being a villain way more than these guys."

"I don't care if I'm a villain of whatever," said Kamui, as he shot forward fiercely.

"I don't care what I become, as long as I get stronger!"

Kamui firstly tried throwing him out of balance with a punch, but was dodged, almost dismissively. Pakunoda appreciated Kamui's determinated eyes, as he tried hit after hit to somehow catch him off guard. As Kamui threw a kick, Abuto jumped and used Kamui's head as support to make a back flip and get behind him.

"Oi, oi, what're you doing? Did you seriously come here to get taught on how to be a villain?"

"Oi, Abuto's started doing acrobatics with a kid!" A Harusame said said loudly, while drinking with a comrade. Both of them were laughing as they appreaciated the spectacle.

"Yeah, go get 'im! Beat the shit outta tha' kid!"

Abuto got distracted a second, but that was enough for Kamui. He rapidly blocked a punch, but was too late to notice Kamui using his other hand to grab him firmly by the arm, as he promptly took advantage of his defenceless and went for a powerful kick to his face.

Abuto's eyes widened in shock. This isn't some ordinary brat.

Abuto was truly expecting the kick's impact, but was suddenly saved by someone, who catched Kamui's leg just centimeters away from Abuto's face. Kamui didn't have time to react, as he was brusquely rejected.

Abuto's savior step forward and Pakunoda noted Abuto's surprised face. Could that be...?

"Nice kick," said the man with a hint of mockery. "Kid, the Captain of the 7th division of Harusame is taking up this fight."

Pakunoda gulped at the 'Captain'. He was strong, no doubt.

"Soldier," the 'Captain' turned to Abuto. "Even if it's against a child, if they point their fists at you in earnest, then you answer with your own fists in earnest. That is a man's etiquette."

Pakunoda watched as the strong man shot towards Kamui with the intention to kill, and was bewildered when Abuto stepped in and blocked the impressive blow. Both him and Kamui were shot straightly through a wall.

"You want to get stronger, kid?" The Captain asked as the broken wall's dust dissipated. "Then you must know your own weakness."

"If you think you've gotten stronger, come back again. I will gladly send you back onto the ground as many times as you'd like." Then, he smiled. "You have the same beastly eyes as him."

That was the last Pakunoda saw of the memory, as she drifted back once again. Kamui looked at her expectantly.

"Finished?"

Pakunoda nodded. "Yes. I haven't heard anything of what you've told Nobunaga yet, but I feel like whatever you or him tell me won't be as far-fetched as anyone would think."

Kamui shrugged the comment off. "Whatever. Let's just get out of here. I'm hungry."

Pakunoda's eyebrow twitched. "Of course you are."

(*): 'hana' means 'nose'.