Disclaimer: I do not own Gintama. It belongs to Hideaki Sorachi. I only own the plot, the ideas and the gag in this fanfiction.

Of Addiction and Neglect

Chapter 2

She walked out of the game store with a huge smile on her face.

Kagura was quite happy with her purchase, for she had managed to snag the limited edition of the game sequel she had been slaving over for the past three weeks. The first one left her squealing over how the guys acted towards her, for their personalities had been very, very different from the men she had come across with in real life. She knew very well that the personalities of the men in the game were heavily modified to fit the wants of girls like her, but to hell with that.

She was having so much fun!

'Ah, I can't wait to play Renai Uchuu Kaizoku 2: Galaxy Lesson![1] I wonder how the guys would be like this time!'

She had reached Kabuki-cho around four in the afternoon, but Gin-chan had warned her not to go home until six, so she went off to the Battle Royale Host Restaurant to order a strawberry parfait, something that she had become addicted to, all thanks to two years of living under the same roof as Gintoki. Headphones over her ears, she placed the new game disc at the back of her QSP port and waited for the opening song to play.

Kagura fought the urge not to grin as the catching song started playing, and she got mesmerized over the looks of the handsome space pirates that were introduced in the minute and a half opening. When it was done, she quickly maneuvered over to the character selection list and checked the personality of the men she was going to date.

One of the guys caught her eye, and she nearly twitched when she saw the word to describe the male.

'Do-S Space Pirate'.

'Why the hell is that guy's personality here? Stupid sadist, you come up with ways of annoying me, even with the things I enjoy!'

Okita Sougo had been one pain in the ass for Kagura as soon as she had turned sixteen. Once she had turned that age, her body had been developing rapidly, her clothes becoming too short and too tight for her, especially in the chest area. Because of the sudden growth, she was forced to temporarily wear male clothes while her new dresses were being made over at the seamstress's place. One of the male clothes that the sadist saw her in was Shinpachi's old uwagi and hakama, which had fitted her nicely and had hidden her growing assets. Most of the time, she was in pain, for it felt like every part of her body was growing.

"What, you're into crossdressing now, China? Is that because you've nothing to show off?"

She promptly aimed a punch at his face, which was a failed attempt, for he dodged it, and delivered a swift kick to her midsection.

Another one of those horrible moments where puberty sucked so much was the fact that she was bleeding every damn month. And on the day that Sougo kicked her, it was the most painful day for her. No amount of Yato blood could withstand the pain of the cramps she was experiencing.

Whoever did this to females everywhere was a total asshole.

"Fucking shit!" she had keeled over both from the impact and the cramps, trying hard not to cry at the fact that the cramps had hurt more than the kick.

"Tch, China, you're growing weak." He remarked in that tone that she really found annoying.

"S-shut up." It was a huge struggle to get up, but with her condition right now, she knew that the provocation wouldn't be worth the bait. She was in pain alright, but all she wanted to do was to curl up in her 'room' and sleep the days away. "And I've no time to play with you."

"Really now." He was staring at her with his blood red eyes. "And who's gonna play with a monster like you?"

She remembered having no retort that day, for she had ran off immediately. The pain had been unbearable, and she had kept crying when she reached Yorozuya Gin-chan minutes later. She didn't want to admit it, but for some reason, when sadist called her a monster, she felt a sharp pain in her chest, and the tears just started to fall down her eyes, down to her cheeks and her chin. Admittedly, it temporarily took her mind off the cramps, but when she had calmed down, the pain in her abdomen was back, and she was crying harder than ever. Gin and Shinpachi had freaked out when they saw her face, tears and snot mixing all together, but after being assured by anego that it was normal, they treated her so well that she wondered if they were the same person.

The next day, when everything had calmed down, that was when she asked Gin-chan if he could get her a QSP.

If no one wanted to approach her because they found her scary, rude, inappropriate and violent, well, she would have to find a way.

And found a way she did.

The otome games on the QSP were perfect for someone like her. And how would Gin-chan know if she was dating anyway? He barely moved his ass, thanks to his obsession with JUMP and cooping himself in the office ensured that he wouldn't even be looking out for her whenever she was away.

Ha, that would show idiot sadist!

Sure, it would probably send Gin-chan to the hospital room, and it might even force Papi to come back to Earth, but to see sadist shocked, speechless and gaping at her would be worth it.

Smirking to herself, she made her choice in dating the first space pirate, who apparently was the youngest of the bunch, a year younger than the heroine (whom she had named Sakata Kagura, of course!), and was called 'Little Devil Space Pirate'. At this, she took a huge spoonful of the parfait and felt her body shiver a bit at the tangy taste of the fruit.

Ah, this was heaven—

"Oi, China, what are you grinning at?" even over the headphones, she knew that familiar tone when she heard it, but Kagura was in no mood to deal with him, so she turned up the volume and let herself drown to the catchy background music.

It was strange to see her again after three weeks of not showing up at her usual hangout at the park where she brought her huge pet. As much as it pained him to admit it, he slightly missed her.

In all honestly, he slightly felt bad at the fact that he had kicked her three weeks ago, for he had heard through gossip that his action had made her cry.

He actually wondered how a monster like her had suddenly become so weak that his sissy kick had made her cry. He didn't even give it his all, yet she cried over it?

There must be something wrong with this girl, he decided.

And what luck, she was in the restaurant where she and the Yorozuya trio frequented in, albeit alone. At least it saved him the hassle of looking everything.

… Not that he actually tried doing such for the past three weeks. More like look out for her, just in case she happened to pass by.

China, unfortunately, was being difficult, for she was too engrossed in whatever handheld console that was in her hands. Add to that, the music was turned up, and he could hear the background music blasting through her headphones. As being a sadist was in his nature, he grabbed hold of the right side of the headphones and snapped it hard against the back of her head, nearly destroying the electronic device.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she screeched at him, ignoring the looks of the other customers.

"China, keep it up. The whole of Edo didn't hear you." He said sarcastically.

She rolled her azure blue eyes in reply and sat down once more, placing the right headphone back on her ear and kept on playing her QSP as if nothing had happened.

"Oi, China."

She raised her left middle finger at him and kept pressing the buttons on the right side of the handheld.

"China." He called once again.

This continued for five minutes more until finally, Kagura had enough. Calmly, she slipped the headphones and let it hang over her shoulders and neck and looked at the sadist with a poker expression that Sougo wondered if she was feeling alright. "What do you want?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to bug you."

She was nearly ready to throw a chair at him when she remembered that she shouldn't even bother with him. Sighing once more in response, the female Yato left some bills on the table, took the QSP and started exiting the restaurant. The captain of the first division of the Shinsengumi followed suit, much to her frustration. "Stop stalking me." She growled at him.

"Who says I'm following you? I'm heading off to headquarters."

"Are you an idiot? Tax robbers' compound is on the opposite direction."

"Doesn't mean I'm heading there right away." He smirked.

"You're so annoying." And you're ruining my virtual date.

Okita annoyed her further by following her to the place where she had wanted to be least disturbed, which was the park. There, she had put on the volume at full blast, placed her headphones against her ears and continued from where she had left off…

… Until Sougo snatched the QSP from her hands.

"What the heck are you playing, China?" he deadpanned, staring at the QSP screen as he held it up in the air, out of her reach. "Oh my, is this an otome game? Danna actually allowed you to play these games?" he mocked a gasp, eyes glinting with sadistic intentions.

She said nothing, too angry and frustrated at the recent turn of events.

Why was sadist ruining everything…?

"How pathetic, China. Can't get a boy to date you so you went for some virtual guy?"

"What's it to you? You don't have anything to do with this. Leave me alone already." Goodness, did she just beg for him to leave her alone?

Fortunately, he failed to notice the plea in her tone. She didn't want him to think she was at his mercy. "Nothing, really. I get to see you become pathetic, and I find it amusing."

Before she could even process what he said, her hands automatically grabbed the nearby wooden park bench and bashed it at the sadist, who had gotten a direct hit, for he wasn't paying attention. Up went her QSP, and she made a jump for it, successfully catching it in the process.

"No one gets in my way of gaming, not even you, you stupid sadist!" she kicked his right leg, which was the only part of him that had been exposed, since he was under the wooden rubble of the remains of the park bench. "Now leave me alone!"

And with that, she marched back to the Yorozuya, six in the evening curfew be damned.

Can't a girl play her games in peace?

He didn't really understand what the fuss was all about.

Back in the Shinsengumi compound with bandages all over his face that eerily reminded him of Hijikata after the battle with the Yagyuu clan, Okita Sougo wondered what the hell was in that QSP of hers that made her engrossed with it.

It was just a dumb old game, right?

But he couldn't erase the image of China grinning so widely at her QSP. What had her grinning over it anyway? It was such a rare moment that the image was stuck in his mind, and for some reason, the image of her grinning made his face a bit warmer than usual.

She never showed that side of hers publicly, nor would she ever dare show such to him. Heck, she was frowning and scowling whenever he appeared, and in hindsight, he was slightly disappointed with her reaction towards him every time. Apparently, only he was the sole recipient of that expression, which slightly irritated him.

He blinked at the thought.

Since when did he care so much about China's opinion about him?

Okita shook his head slightly, amused at how his train of thought could force him to overthink about a very simple situation that involved China and her obsession with the QSP.

At the back of his mind, however, he really was itching to destroy that thing that always held her attention.

Renai Uchuu Kaizoku 2: Galaxy Lesson! – Parody title of an existing otome game wherein you date one of the six guys available for a year, who then teaches you about love and what-not. XD

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It was slightly longer than my supposed 1k = 1 chapter, but I was in the mood to write today.

Thanks for reading!