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 3

It sucks being sick.

It was seven in the evening, and it had been another month since she had started playing the sequel to the Space Pirates otome game. As much as Kagura had gone through it to check if she had missed anything, she wouldn't dare touch the Do-S Space Pirate's route. Not only did she know that she would just end up rage quitting over it, but she might throw her QSP in anger over some virtual character.

But probably someday, she'll play that route.

Someday.

Someday would be when she was able to play the Do-S route without feeling so much rage. And someday would also mean when she would get her QSP back.

Right now, her handheld has been held hostage by anego. For the past four weeks, she hardly slept, for her gaming addiction had taken over her with a vengeance. When Gin-chan had noticed that she was walking around the office like a zombie, complete with the look (she now looked like a raccoon, her hair was a total mess, her clothes had food stains in it and she walked in slow motion because of fatigue), he had forbade her from playing. When she protested and hurled him across town, it had been Shinpachi who intervene. Just her luck, anego came along with him, and had personally confiscated her gadget.

As much as she wanted to rage over what they did, she couldn't, for she fell violently ill at that instant.

Or rather, fainted from the lack of sleep.

The Yato didn't really get sick, but they suffered from fatigue like humans. In her case, the fatigue was very severe, since she had really neglected herself. She estimated her recovery time to be three days tops, and now that she thought about it…

A sudden knock, on the door, and as quickly as she could manage without vomiting on the floor, she opened it…

… Only to find a certain sandy-haired Shinsengumi captain looking at her smugly.

She slide the door shut at his face, accidentally hitting the tip of his nose. He yelped from the pain and slid the door open once more. "What the hell is your problem, China?"

"You've no business here, sadist. Gin-chan isn't around!" she said angrily, irritated at the fact that he dared to show his face to her after what he did.

Truthfully, she still hasn't recovered from his cruel remarks.

"Sorry China, but danna asked me to drop by and give you your stuff—"

"Liar!" she interrupted him, temper flaring at an alarming rate. The sight of him made her sick, for Kagura felt dizzy all of a sudden. "Stop tormenting me already, will you?"

"Now, now, China, you're trampling on my feelings. I'm just—" again, he was interrupted by her.

"I already told you to get out." She glared at him as best as she could, but Okita didn't take her seriously. How could he, when she looked like a zombie?

"No." and with that, he grabbed her arm and pulled her to the couch, where she landed face first with a yelp. Before she could even recover from what had happened, Sougo had rushed forward and pinned her arms and legs effectively with his own.

"Get off me!" she demanded.

"You listen here, brat. My precious day off just had to be interrupted because your dear Gin-chan requested me to keep you in line for today." He said in a tone that Kagura wasn't used to, and it was obvious that he was trying to keep his temper in check. "Now be a good girl and obey your Gin-chan's orders before I break all of your bones so you'd be unable to move."

She cringed at the memory of the battle in the Yagyuu clan's compound. "Fine, but I'm doing this for him, not you!"

"Who gives a fuck." He said it so casually that she wondered what had made him ticked off.

"Why are you angry? I should be the one who's angry!" she remarked.

"Huh, the brat is curious. I wonder why…?" He mocked.

Kagura gritted her teeth at him. "I've had it with you!" she exploded. Right now, it felt like something inside her snapped. The female Yato was unstoppable in her wrath, and if her limbs had been free, she would've made sure the young man on top of her would be unable to walk for the rest of his life. "What the hell is your problem, huh? I've done nothing to you, yet you keep on pissing me off!"

"… And?"

"Leave me alone already!" somehow, she could feel her eyes sting. Ugh, why was she having the urge to cry…?

"I can't."

Did she hear him right? "W-what…?"

"I can't leave you alone." He said it so seriously that she wondered what he was playing now. Any minute now, she expected him to mock her for taking him seriously, but after several seconds had passed, Sougo was staring back at her. "I can't leave you alone, China."

"And why can't you?"

"I…" did his voice just quiver…? "Ah, hell."

Before her thought process clicked in, he closed his eyes, leaned forward and covered her mouth with his own. Panicking, she tried to resist him, and even wanted to overpower and slap him, but he grabbed her wrists as soon as he felt her moving them. Sougo prodded her to open her mouth with his tongue as he used his strength to pin her wrists above her head, deepening the kiss in the process. Shocked and confused, inexperienced Kagura ended up becoming submissive to his whims as she shyly allowed him to gain access. Before she knew it, he broke the kiss. Red blood eyes flapped over and were staring back at her, all the while letting his free hand roam all over her body, touching her breasts through her clothes, then lower and lower until…

"S-stop." She said it so quietly that she had to repeat it the second time. "S-sadist, stop…"

To her surprise, he did stop.

"If that was your idea of a joke—"

"That wasn't a joke." He mumbled under his breath.

"W-what?" she couldn't believe it. Sadist actually had a good side?

"I said it wasn't a joke." He repeated. "You should know better than that, China. Didn't those otome games teach you anything about romance and shit?"

Nearly everything except how to deal with a sadist, she thought. Out loud, she said, "… I haven't even finished my game yet."

He shrugged. "Too bad for you." He quickly stood up. "Here's the medicine danna wants you to drink." Sougo placed the small bag on the table in front of the couch and began walking to the doorway.

"See you around, China."

As soon as she heard the sliding door closed softly, Kagura blinked.

And blinked again.

What the hell just happened…?

As soon as he had shut the door, Okita leaned against it and felt himself slide down and sit on the floor.

For some reason, his mind wanted to contemplate just right outside the Yorozuya entrance and had rendered his legs useless for the meantime.

Just now, he…

Well, whatever that was, it shocked him to the core. Him, a sadist, had suddenly turned into an ero-sadist. How was that even possible? He preferred inflicting pain unto others, not dominate them.

… Well, just a part of him did want to dominate China in many, many ways, but still…

All he had to do was deliver the medicine that Sakata Gintoki gave him since he had been in a hurry to head over to god-knows-where-the-hell-it-was, yet something else happened. It was surprising, but not unpleasant. After all, it was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing, and that was the farthest thing from his mind. He was too preoccupied with thinking up of ways to force China to either stay in bed or force her to drink the medicine, as per the permed samurai's suggestion, but this?

Making out in the couch was not part of his plan at all.

But then again, Okita Sougo realized that for the past few nights, his dreams had been not-so-innocent, and he ended up soaking both his yukata and the futon. The only thing that prevented the Shinsengumi members from asking their captain as to why he did the laundry every single day recently was the fact that he was able to whip out a bazooka in record time and obliterate them on the spot.

He shook his head to shake the thoughts away, but deep inside him, he knew that the moment was forever stuck with him.

Looks like I'll be doing the laundry again tomorrow morning.

Apologies if this chapter isn't at par with the first two. I'm really sleepy right now, and I just wanted to upload this since I owe you all an update. ^^;;

Tsukuyo-Ka: Most of the otome games I've played are quite addicting. I'm playing one right now where Suzumura Kenichi (Okita Sougo's Japanese VA) voices the guy I'm currently dating. XD;

Also, to those who want to contact me, I'm sorry, but I cannot share my personal information like my mobile number and the like (one reviewer in my other story was asking for my number). Email me instead at this address: aeneid (period) fanfiction [it's one word] *at* gmail *dotcom* . Whether it's a comment/suggestion/new fic idea/just need an email friend, drop me a line.

Thanks for reading!