Here is chapter 5, hurray for not taking a month to update! Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING
"I nominate you, son, to go in and console your sister." Said Umibozu. Sounds of the most precarious type had been coming from inside, they ranged from unremitting sobs, to primal grunts, and a constant banging noise against the drywall. Being the dutiful and caring father he was, the detective ventured upstairs to further investigate the safety of his walls and, of course, his precious daughter too. By the time Umibozu gathered the courage climb the twenty something steps up the stairs and to Kagura's door, because god forbid it may be some horrific issue like boy trouble that was causing this commotion, his son was already there, waiting.
"Do you take me for a fool, father? I do not accept suicide missions." He calmly said to the balding man, " Especially ones pertaining to hormonal and also emotionally unstable adolescent females, notably named Kagura. She's been acting in fits of rage, sorrow, and joy since yesterday night; they started shortly after she returned from a sparring match with a male opponent. "
"What are you trying to get at, boy."
Kamui continued, " First thing I noticed were her flushed cheeks and blank stare, her mind clearly elsewhere. Also, she refused dinner that night, saying that she didn't ' have an appetite'. Kagura ALWAYS has an appetite, its unheard of otherwise, although you would not know, what with always being MIA and the sort." He dryly finished,
Umibozu's face paled at his son's insinuation, " No….you cant mean? That's impossible! Why do the heaven's scorn my fate in such cruel manners?! Whhhyyyy?!" he said now crouching on the ground, holding his hands on top of his head. The situation he dreaded most had come to past, his pure and innocent daughter was in love. In his mind, Umibozu believed Kagura would forgo the normal life of a sane female and instead decide to seek comfort in the reclusive and abstinent life of a nun. It was a long shot, but nonetheless he prayed that this one meagerly wish of his could be granted, well, he was proven otherwise. " Kamui" he said, grabbing onto his son's shoulders, " how on earth did this happen?! I thought I gave you explicit instructions to threaten to cut off any guys testicles if they dared approach her, you failed me my son!"
Kamui pried Umibozu's hands from his body, the male clearly displeased with his father touching him in any form. " I have not failed you in any way, I did exactly as you said and threatened the manhood of any person foolish enough to come within a foot of my beloved sister. I scared the lot of them off once they saw what I did to one poor soul," he said with a smile that sent chills even down Umibozu's spine, the balding man would question his son's sanity later, there were more pressing matters at hand," that is except a certain pair of glasses and silver haired man..." Kamui finished.
"Is it them?" Umibozu inquired.
"Ha, that's rather funny of you to think that either of those men…no buffoons, even had a marginal chance of being together with Kagura, MY little sister. The glasses himself cannot even fully be considered a man, he is after all only a glasses stand, and the lazy assed silver haired professor of hers isn't any better. He is the type of no good, lecherous scum of society that is typically condemned by all; no female would consider a person like that."
"…..well then why does Kagura even associate herself with them?"
"Because they're my friends, baldy." Answered a peeved Kagura standing in an open doorway. She leered down the two males currently blocking her passage out.
"KKKaagura…"
"Little sister.." both of them stuttered out.
" Here's a tip for you guys, if you don't want others to hear you, then maybe speaker softer next time, I heard EVERY word you said." She said before pushing her way through and proceeding down the stairs.
"You think she's mad?" Umibozu asked. The front door slammed closed causing the house to shake from Kagura's Yato strength.
" I would say that's a yes."
She overreacted, plain and simple. Goddamnit! Kagura swore to herself, why was she acting like a crazy in love teenage?! She thought those dreadful years of unrequited and overly dramatic high school love tales finally came to a close. But no, emotions were complicated for no coherent reason. Kagura blamed the one person for the fuzzy and warm feelings in her stomach, to the anxiety wrenching in her gut, and the sorrow swirling in her heart, the despicable Okita Sougo.
With every thought of him, thoughts that occurred too often for comforting as of lately, she was thrown on an undulating rollercoaster. Conflicted between hating or loving him, Kagura lamented her newly acquired indecisive nature. Okita Sougo aggravated her to no end. His whole existence was the bane to her own existence. Every time the sadist opened his mouth, either spiteful comments or unnecessarily sarcastic and rude remarks were hurled at her, a tactless man through and through. Yet alongside the total hatred and disdain she harbored for the man, there existed a silver lining. In rare instances, the sadist's display of tenderness and affection momentarily brainwashed her in forgetting the flaws she harped constantly about before, at their last encounter the duo had one of those rare moments. The mask he wore was stripped off, showing his true self as naked and raw as ever shown before. No longer did the sadist act as the pompous, holier than thou, bishounen he claimed himself to be. In the brevity of that moment, it was Kagura and Sougo.
The Yato rammed her hand into her forehead, desperately trying to erase the images she formed in her mind. Intimacy was a foreign language to Kagura, and merely reenacting the scene of their kiss cause the blood to rush straight to her face. Slapping herself hard, Kagura tried to focus on the trees in the distance, or the myriad of cars zooming past her, any little distraction was welcomed as long as it pulled her from any thoughts pertaining to him. She continued walking forward, counting each step she took. Current she was at 3421 and only 5 minutes away from her Anego's dojo, perhaps keeping her sanity in check for the day was possible. The day before though, Kagura did the exact opposite and allowed her imagination to run wild. The consequence; her only two family members nervously standing outside her door, contemplating what exactly the situation was and then coming to their own exaggeratedly wrong, conclusions. Today it would be different, the time had come to transform into an actress and act out the part of a perfectly normal 19 year old university student. Kagura, since her time in the kindergarten adaption of Snow white, had proven herself to be an awful actress, and being normal was never naturally apart of her list of characteristics. After all, what was normal about a freakishly strong Amanto female with the appetite of ten grown men? For now though, she would have to put her nonexistent acting skills to use. The sadist, without a grain of doubt, will be at the dojo today. For both his sake and her own, she would not destroy the small miracle they created by being the incredibly tsundere woman she was, while none of the information they shared was of great importance, it still mattered to her. Being bombarded with questions by others later on also sounded awfully displeasing. If any of the dojo members, and god forbid Otae of all people, were to discover why the abash Kagura suddenly changed into a demure and slightly love struck girl in front of Okita, she would shrivel up like a raisin in the sun and die from embarrassment. No, it was best to leave them in the dark for a while. Ignorance is bliss, and while Kagura slightly regretted not following through with that ideology, the past was in the past and she now only could look towards the future.
Otae's face instantly brightened as she saw Kagura lethargically walk in. " You made it!" she chimed, " the others are already practicing for tomorrow's match, hurry along inside and show them what you learned at the one on one lessons you had with Okita."
For the second time that say, Kagura rammed her hands into her face. Hopefully the red mark left from the impact of her hit would hide the conspicuous deep blush that crept across her porcelain Yato answered with a short, " Yes, angeo," and headed towards the changing room.
Odd, normally energetic and jovial, Kagura's mood seemed to have taken a complete 180 degree turn since the last few days. Otae looked on curiously as she witnessed a strange array of gestures from Kagura. The brunette knew better than to snoop on other's business, especially when the said person wanted to keep their secret, well, a secret. Her instincts though, silently told her that something was amiss, and more likely than not it was because of Okita. " I just hope that everything goes smoothly until tomorrow, both for their sake and mine." Otae mumbled to herself.
Kagura held her breath on the painfully long walk down the corridor to the main dojo. What if he's there?! What if he sees me?! What if we make eye contact?! NO! she screamed in her mind. Clutching her head, the female ran through the infinite number of possible scenarios. God she hated herself. She really was acting like a love struck teenager and it bothered her to no end that her brain could not control her heart. In my next life I should just be born a fish, I highly doubt fish go through even a percentage of the turmoil I deal with. They don't have the brain capacity, all they do is eat and swim, that sounds like a pretty swell life.
Entering through the arch, Kagura quickly made her way to the adjacent storage room. She refused to even look around, if she had scanned the room, then she would see him, and he would see her. No, that was forbidden, Okita was the plague and she would avoid him by any means necessary.
Yamazaki's gaze followed a familiar vermillion haired woman as she entered the dojo and seconds later bolted for the storage room, he then directed his gaze to the dirty blonde standing parallel to him. Okita acted indifferently, concentrating on his stance, but Yamazaki had seen his eyes dart from the woman back to his sword. Well, Yamazaki concluded, Okita is deeply in denial.
"Taichou, I think you should go talk to her." he said apprehensively. Having trained with the self proclaimed sadist for many years, too many for comfort actually, Yamazaki became accustomed to his taichou's bipolar nature. On a good day he was still irascible, what with threatening to murder Hijikata-san in his sleep, it was a far cry to call Okita harmless. Today, though, a murderous aura enveloped him entirely, and the tension hung heavily in the air. The whole school was advised to stay clear of him, unless of course, they had an early death wish since the glares he sent people alone were enough to kill. The dirty blonde turned to his usually demure sparring partner.
"Did you say something, Yamazaki? You didn't, right? Right?!"
The brunette backed away and broke out into a cold sweat. He underestimated his taichou's grouchiness, this was a whole new level to grumpy and Yamazaki was willing to bet that it had something to do with the girl that entered the storage closet.
"Ummm, taichou I actually just remembered something….so yeah….im going to go…." And he ran off as quick as his legs could carry him before Okita even heard his last words. The dirty blonde heaved out a sigh, people seriously needed to mind their own business. He could be pissed off all he want! If terrorist could bomb buildings in downtown Edo then why couldn't he at least attempt murder without someone nagging at him?! Damn, it was her fault! Stupid China and her stupid soft lips, ughhhhhhh! Okita thrust the sword to the ground, unwanted images currently swarmed his mind and Okita wanted them gone, now. He especially did not appreciate the scene of their brief make out popping up every time he closed his eyes, it drove him to the edge of insanity. Heck, he was pushed off the edge since last night. She simply would not stay out of his mind, to make it worst, the said woman was only a couple hundred feet away. Great, life keeps getting better by the moment.
"Sougo!" called Kondo from across the room, " Grab me two more Kendo sticks, please." Okita zoned back from his meandering thoughts. He glared at the gorilla, " Me?" he asked, obviously surprised that Kondo would bother him with such a trivial task, " Tell Yamazaki to do it."
"Who else? You're the only not sparring right now. Come on, don't be lazy, Sougo." If anyone else had the audacity to one, boss him around, and two, deliberately call him lazy, then they, at this moment, would be lying in a hospital bed. But Kondo was different, Okita owed more to this man than his life would ever be worth. With a grim countenance, he dragged himself to the storage room,
" Just this once, alright?"
Sliding open the door, the sight of darkness greeted him. He frowned at the cluster of boxes and miscellaneous objects lying about. Where on earth are the swords? Normally the lower ranked students fetched the equipment, Okita hadn't been in this room for years and be it true or not, the room looked different, it had changed from his younger days. Skimming his hands alongside the wall for a light switch, Okita found none. Sighing once again, he forwent searching for the switch and opted to just assimilating his eyes to the dark, he would be in and out soon anyways. Three steps in and he noticed the light coming from the doorway diminish until it disappeared. Seconds later he heard a click. No, those idiots didn't.
Okita heard another noise, a rustling from within the room. " Did someone close the door?" asked an all too familiar female voice. Even with his vision impaired by the dark, Okita instantly recognized the voice's owner. Fuck.
"Yup, China, they locked us in." He said as apathetically as possible. Hide the emotions, wear the poker face like usual, be calm stupid heart, be calm! She appeared from behind a stack of boxes.
"Wwwhaat? Locked us in? Just asked them to open up." She stuttered, unable to keep the surprise and sheer dread from her voice. Kagura had entered the storage room for the sole reason of avoiding the abomination away! And now they were apparently locked in together?! Kagura was on the verge of swearing up a storm towards the heavens, it was as if fate forcefully keep pushing them together while they themselves wanted to be pulled apart. Who cares if opposites attract?! They weren't magnets and physics was just a bunch of bullshit anyways. For once, why could they not be exempt from following the lawas of the world? Was it too much to ask, seriously?
" Yamazaki!" Okita shouted while banging on the door, " I know it was you, so open up before you make me do something I may regret."
" I know what you want to do and you wont regret it!" Yamazaki shouted back, it was true after all. Okita would kill him regardless, now it became a matter of either elongating his limited time or running as fast as he could before the beast inside was let loose. " Besides Taichou, everyone is doing this for your own good! Kondo and Hijikata-san agree with me too."
"That's great to know." he nonchalantly replied while continuing to pulled the knob of the door," now why don't you also let Hijikata know that once I get out, I'm going to decapitate him first."
"In your dreams, Sougo. Now talk it out with your girlfriend. We're all going to lunch, you have two hours, use it wisely." The raven haired man called back. While Okita never directly stated out loud that the China girl and him were going through a rough patch, it was clear as day that something happen. And by god if Okita tried one more time to stab him in the heart, then he would go off the deep end, Hijikata could only handle so much of the boy. And personally he was fed up with watching Okita longingly gaze at the China girl and then quickly look away, or whenever her name was mentioned, he automatically became ten times more violent. Adolescence, the worst years of any ones life. Those two needed to resolve their personal issues and if that meant locking them in a dark storage closest together for a couple of hours, then so be it. No one else in the dojo had a compliant, they wanted as much as Hijikata did for Okita to go back to his usual, slightly less violent and considerably more tolerable, self.
"They can't be serious, right?" asked Kagura. " I mean, who in their right minds would lock someone in a storage closet?"
" No, they're being completely serious, I bet they also already left for lunch. And China, if you hadn't noticed, one of them is a gorilla, another is a mayo head, and the last one is Apan crazy, not exactly the sanest lot of the bunch." He answered, finally giving up on trying to pry the door open. " China, kick the door down with your brutish monster strenght."
She shook her head, " I would love to, believe me, I don't want to be stuck here with you either, but do you honestly think Angeo will appreciate have a broken door?" and as much as Kagura wanted to leave, the fear of an angry Angeo truly was frightening, everyone called her the lady boss for a reason.
Okita wanted to say that one stupid door didn't matter, but that would be a lie. The lady boss would indeed freak out, calmly of course, but soon after she would demand retribution and she doesn't mean buying her a new door. He shuddered at the possible consequences, " We're going to have to wait for them to get back then."
Kagura stood petrified; this meant she was stuck with the sadist, alone, in a dark room for two straight hours, what was this nonsense?! The Yato began laughing hysterically.
" What now China, you think this is funny?"
" No, not in the least bit, I'm thinking how this day could possibly get any worse."
"Don't jinx yourself, I sure as hell did a few minutes ago."
Just to clarify some things, in this story Amanto do exist and Kagura and her family are one, the world has already gotten use to them so the Yato family is not scrutinized as often. Also Kagura's father is a detective and Kamui's a cop, something nice to know I guess. Okita is in grad school while Kagura is an undergrad and Gintoki is a professor there. Lastly, the dojo where a majority of this chapter takes place is owned by Otae like in the manga but it is off campus. Kondo is the head teacher/instructor and Hijikata is his aid. I hoped that cleared up any possible misunderstandings and that you guys enjoyed the chapter!