Disclaimer: I don't own Gintama, that right belongs to the gorilla Sorachi Hideaki. Enjoy this chapter and I'll work on the next one as soon as possible. I'll be helping my friend write her fanfic so the fourth chapter will be a bit slower in coming but it'll be out asap.

Chapter 3

When noon came, Shinpachi knocked on Gin's door multiple times but didn't get an answer. What he didn't know was that Gin and Kagura were cuddled in his futon, still asleep.

The noise caused Gin to groan and mutter to himself, "Who the hell is it?"

Kagura mumbled, "Papi, another five minutes."

Finally after ten minutes of knocking, Shinpachi let himself in. Just as he came in, Gin and Kagura stumbled out of his room.

"What the hell? You two were still sleeping? And in Gin-san's room?" he shouted.

Without warning, Kagura punched Shinpachi in the face yelling, "You're so noisy, you'll always be a Shinpachi! Urusai!"

Before it could go any further, Gin grabbed them both by the collars and banged their heads together.

"Both of you stop! Now!" he shouted authoritatively.

Just then though, Sadaharu bit his head. After a few minutes of that struggle, they all sat down normally. Well, as normal as they could be.

"What is going on, Gin-san? Kagura?" Shinpachi asked them then.

Gin sighed as he answered, "You know how her old man left right? Well, around dawn I saw him off. I went to check on her and she was up."

"I just wanted to snuggle but Papi had to go. I stayed with Gin-chan because I was lonely," Kagura said with a little pout on her face.

Shinpachi softened as he apologized, "Sorry Kagura, but I was just looking out for you."

"Well don't jump to conclusions then Pattusan!" Gin yelled in irritation.

Shinpachi sighed as he said, "Let's just relax and eat ok? I'll go make some lunch."

Once he went into the kitchen, Gin glared at Kagura as he asked, "So did you hear me and Hage talking?"

Nonchalantly, Kagura tried to pass off a shrug but she still exuded deception.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and asked forcefully, "Did you Kagura?"

Reluctantly, she replied in a small voice, "Yeah but it's not that big a deal Gin-chan."

"You were eavesdropping," Gin said angrily.

She shrank back as she whispered, "Well, I have nightmares too."

This blew him away as he hadn't realized that fact.

"How do we not know this? Hm?" he inquired.

Kagura rolled her eyes as she replied cheekily, "Obviously I can hide them well like you have all this time!"

He glared at this cheeky young woman in fron of him as he thought of the fact that she hid something from him. She was usually so honest and brash with her feelings that he hadn't thought she could keep secrets.

He pinched her right cheek and said, "You little brat, you should trust us more, hm?"

"To be honest," she said, "I only started having them after I saw baka aniki again in Yoshiwara. What with what he did to Papi and that fight then, they got to me. They were intermittent mostly but they grew more frequent once I left to travel with Papi."

Gin softened once he realized how long she'd been keeping this to herself.

"Wait, does your old man know?" he asked.

When she shook her head no, Gin was surprised.

"How couldn't he know?" Gin asked again.

She shrugged as she replied, "I could hide it pretty well by then, I guess."

Gin decided to calm down and said, "Okay, sorry. I shouldn't have gotten so defensive about it. I guess I just haven't told anyone in so long, I feel silly about it now."

Kagura smiled as she said, "Don't be upset, you gotta trust us more, hm?"

As he realized that Kagura used his own words against him, Gin whacked the back of her head playfully.

All of a sudden, from the kitchen, Shinpachi asked, "Is that why you sleep until noon?"

Surprised that he had heard them, Gin and Kagura blinked stupidly before breaking out in laughter.

Once Shinpachi came out with the food, he asked, "Was that a yes?"

Gin smiled and answered, "Yeah, Shinpachi."

"The Joui war, losing your comrades and your sensei, possibly losing one of us in Kabuki-chou and Yoshiwara?" he asked, almost knowing he was right.

"What gave you that idea? Okay, yeah," Gin answered in a sarcastic tone.

After that, the three decided to eat. They chatter about how it was when she was gone, aliens she had hunted and things she'd done with her Papi. A knock came to the door and Gin and Kagura looked at Shinpachi, so he went to answer the door. Who else walked in when he opened the door but his ane-ue, Otae.

"Anego-chan!" Kagura shouted happily.

Gin and Shinpachi sighed as Otae and Kagura hugged and caught up.

"Kagura-chan, how have you been? These two are treating you well?" she asked as she glared like a basilisk at the two of them.

Kagura smiled at her Anego-chan and said, "No, these guys are great like always. I really missed them!"

Otae smiled and replied, "It is really good to see you. You've grown into quite a beautiful young lady too."

Kagura blushed as she answered, "Nah, you and Tsukky, even Sa-chan and Kyuubei are prettier. Besides, I'm mostly the same except I'm older really."

Otae shook her head as she said, "You're just modest. Snow white skin, beautiful red hair, blue eyes and a nice figure are what men love. Just don't be too naive with men, they only want one thing, you know."

As they talked, Gin rolled his eyes and ast with Shinpachi on the couch to watch t.v.

"So Gin-san, how did you sleep last night?" Shinpachi asked when what they were watching went to commercial.

Gin was a bit shocked to come back to that topic so he paused for a moment before answering, "I had a nightmare that kept me up before Hage left but...actually after he left, I slept great."

Shinpachi thought for a moment before he replied, "Once Kagura slept with you?"

"Yeah, weird huh?" Gin said a bit confused but not thinking on it much.

They stopped talking mostly after that but Shinpachi continued thinking about it. A few weeks passed and Kagura just enjoyed being back in Kabuki-chou.
The doorbell rang and Kagura yelled to him in the kitchen, "Gin-chan, the door!"

He sighed as he walked to the door, thinking how Kagura had stepped back into her role at the Yorozuya so easily. Since then, Kagura had snuck in to sleep with him late at night. Oddly, he hadn't slept this well as long as he can remember.

"Huh?" Gin says as he opened the door to Okita, "What are you here for?"

"Hey danna, where's China-girl?" Okita asked curiously.

Curious himself, Gin pointed inside, "She's in here, come on."

Okita followed Gin into the main room, where Kagura was snacking and watching t.v.

"Sadist, what do you want?" she asked with a frown on her face.

Before Gin even sat down, Okita said, "China-girl, can we talk in private?"

With a perplexed look on her face, Kagura answered, "You can say whatever right here, Sadist."

Okita sighed and replied, "Sorry Danna but I wanted to do this differently. Do you want to go out with me today, China-girl?"

As he asked Kagura this, she stopped chewing her sukonbu as Gin fell to the floor, as he had missed his chair.

Silence filled the room for a minute before she asked, "Are. you. serious?"

With a blank look on his face, Okita said, "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

Gin had no idea how to respond to this before Kagura said hesitantly, "A date?"

"Yeah. Danna, is something wrong? You fell," the sadist asked.

Gin hesitated before he replied, "No, I...I was just surprised it all. Why would that bother me? You just asked out this brat that might as well be a mountain gorilla out on a date."

Disappointed, Kagura sighed quietly and responded, "Okay sadist, I'll give a date a try."

Both Gin and Okita were shocked and couldn't speak for a moment.

Before Gin knew it, Okita smirked and said, "Then you're on, China-girl."

"Name the time and place, baka," Kagura replied.

"An hour at the park entrance, we'll decide where after that," he answered.

Kagura glanced at Gin sneakily before saying, "Okay then."

"See ya later," Okita said as he left.

Once he left, Kagura looked at Gin and said subtly, "So I should go over to Anego-chan's to get ready."

He thought for a minute before replying, "I'll come to see Shinpachi while you're busy being girly."

Again Kagura subtly answered, "Well maybe I should just sleep in my own futon now too."

She left to gather her clothes up and left Gin, just standing there.

He sighed as he whispered to himself, "Don't be so bothered, she's not yours to give away or to lose."

After a few minutes, Kagura came out and they went over to the Shimura-Kondou home.

"Kagura-chan! Gin-san! It's nice to see you both," Otae exclaimed happily.

She noticed that Gin seemed...odd but figured she wouldn't ask right now.

"China-girl, I heard from Sougo. Congratulations on your date!" Kondou said cheerily.

Otae smiled and said, "Do you want help getting ready then?"

Kagura nodded and the two of them went to Otae's room to get ready in enough time before the date. After the girls went off, Gin and Kondou sat and tried to make small talk.

"So Danna, how has business been? Has Kagura settled back in again?" he asked.

Gin sighed and answered, "Same old, same old. It's almost like she never left actually."

Kondou wondered about why his tone seemed off but Shinpachi came out.

"Gin-san, hi! Kagura is back there with Ane-ue and I heard the news. Is it true?" Shinpachi asked eagerly.

"Yeah it it, Shinpachi," Gin told him.

"Gin-san, what's wrong?" Shinpachi asked with a frwon of concern.

Gin waved him off and said, "Nothing, this is probably just how a dad feels on his daughter's first date!"

Both Kondou and Shinpachi didn't quite believe him but in just a few minutes, Kagura and Otae came out all ready.

"How do I look?" she asked as she twirled for them to examine.

Otae proudly stated, "Beautiful, just beautiful."

The three men were stunned but not as much as Gin. He had spent so much time dismissing his feelings for Kagura that he hadn't thought about this: she was becoming a young woman. Kagura looked expectantly at Shinpachi, Kondou and at Gin.

"Otae-chan did a great job!"

Ane-ue helped you a lot, Kagura-chan!"

After a pause, Gin said, "You look b-pretty."

Kagura made a face and sighed before thanking them, even though Gin had disappointed her again.

Just then Otae loked at the time and told Kagura, "Go on now! It's nearly time!"

Once Kagura left, Otae punched Gin on the head.

"What the hell, Otae!?" he shouted angrily.

With an angry look on her face, she replied, "Hitting a baka. Why did you say pretty when we could clearly tell you started saying beautiful?"

"Isn't that appropriate? It's not like I'm her date," Gin complained as he rubbed the back of his head.

Kondou interjected, "Didn't you see how your responses affected her? Your tone, your answers, you disappointed her. Danna, are you blind?"

Before Gin could respond, Shinpachi said, "Gin-san, don't you think it's strange? You act like this doesn't include you now but...look at how the last few weeks have been! You've been happier than ever since she came back and sleeping better than ever. Don't you see it, Gin-san?"

"That's odd, Shin-chan. Why did mention how he's sleeping?" Otae inquired.

Shinpachi stuttered, "Well, he can sleep easier with Kagura back here on Earth is all."

She glared at the three but Kondou didn't know and Shinpachi couldn't say it. It came down to Gin, who held his own.

Suddenly, Kondoy spoke up and said, "Let's observe their date then. Just to make sure it'll go alright."

"Good idea, Gorilla! Come on guys!" Gin concluded as Shinpachi and Otae got dragged with the two bakas to the park.

On to the date next chapter!