NOTE:
Hello again, how are you? Finally, the 5th chapter is out! I would love to know what you guys are thinking about the story so far. It may take a while for new chapters to come out, however I am dedicating myself to deliver the best of myself.
This chapter I wanted to focus a little on Gintoki and Kagura's relationship, but without losing the essence of the story.
I wanted to wish you a good read and drink some water! (I missed saying that)
A few days had passed since then. The nights were like a record player needle going through the same record over and over again, with the same silly dialogues and various adventures under a sheet.
The day 7 in question had started after 10 a.m., in which the samurai had no work to do in the morning, and the kunoichi took a few extra minutes off her work to be with him; this sounded strange, since she was not the type to leave work easily, but this time she made an exception to enjoy herself a little more.
He was leaning lightly on her bed feeling the warmth of her face under his chest, running his hand through her golden and messy hair and stroking her as he was embraced. She was relaxed with a smile on her face; she hadn't had enough sleep last night and it made her want to rest a little more, but she refused his wish and stood up, holding him to her jaw and giving him a kiss.
"Going already, honey?"
"It's been a while since you've called me that... Darling."
"I say the same." - They both laughed at the "nostalgia" that was going through their minds, in which they fell in love because of the drug called Aizen Kou.
"It's past my time, I'm supposed to be doing patrol..." - The blonde stood up and walked towards his wardrobe, picking up his black yukata to put it on. The samurai gave a slight look away leaning his hands back and watching the ceiling; he was thinking too much, which had eventually caught his attention. - "Did something happen?"
"No... I was just thinking."
"About?"
"We."
"What do you mean?"
"Me thinking of taking it a step further... You know?"
"Like a relationship?"
"You got it right. It sounds silly, but I don't know, I don't feel ready for it."
"It's not just you, I don't know if it's insecurity coming from me or fear of making a mistake with you."
"Mistake me?"
"Yes, I end up getting too dedicated to work and..." - The blonde interrupted.
"I don't see a problem with that."
"No?"
"Tsukuyo, I know you well enough to know how dedicated you are to what you do."
"But what if..."
"I don't care." - He could see on his face an expression of relief with every word the samurai said.
"Humph, I feel better hearing those words... However, ... I still don't have a ready answer..."
"Don't worry about it. I don't want to speed things up."
"I understand." - She walked toward the bathroom. - "I will go get ready for work..."
"Go on. I'm going back to Yorozuya too."
He put on his clothes and left the room, walking towards the exit. She was pensive, not sure if she was ready for this, and her decision could impact their relationship both positively and negatively; on the other hand, he didn't seem to care much? or did he? This question hammered in her mind, forcing her to give an answer as soon as possible. She paused in front of her bedroom window, letting out a puff of smoke from her kiseru, displaying a slightly relieved expression as she watched him leave the house like a spy.
'A relationship? Doesn't sound like a bad idea.'
-X-
Arriving at Yorozuya, he was greeted by the sight of a Chinese girl rummaging in his refrigerator and eating the pudding he had set aside for later. The redhead spotted him standing in the doorway, and continued to tease him by eating in front of him without caring about his presence. It didn't take long for the albino to realize that there was something wrong with her, because it wasn't normal for her to act this way.
"Oh, it's you." - She said with the fork in her mouth as she chewed the pudding with a bored face.
"I hope I'm seeing wrong or you're not eating 'MY' pudding, are you?"
"Yes, I am eating."
"Hey, hey... Are you wanting to die?" - He held her by the cheek.
"Never!" - The redhead teased him again. - "I just made a difficult choice between a pudding or chocolate bars."
"Why on earth did you decide to eat my candy? Do you know how hard it was to make this pudding?!"
"I don't care."
"Oh?! You've reached puberty and turned into a rebellious girl?!"
"Idiot, I'm past that stage thousands of years ago!"
"But it doesn't look like it."
"Hey what's going on here?" - The Samurai with glasses entered the room
"That female Majin Boo is devouring my pudding!" - The albino replied.
"Shut up you bastard! You forgot it was your turn to make breakfast today!" - The Chinese Girl retorted.
"That is no reason for you to eat my delicious pudding!"
"Yes, it is! Ever since you started with that damn nightly routine you've started forgetting things!"
" AH IS IT REALLY?"
"YES!"
"You might as well have made 'YOUR' breakfast!"
"And you could 'STOP' running away from home, you idiot!" - The two stared at each other with angry looks of who was about to come out in the punch.
"Hey you two! Stop fighting!" - Again, Shinpachi tried to break up the fight and was ignored, making him angry as well. - "WILL YOU TWO STOP IT? CARAMBA!" - The two stopped arguing. - "Gin-san, you should stop making a tempest over a teapot over a pudding."
"Shut up, you idiot." - He replied while poking his nose.
"And Kagura-chan, you should stop meddling in other people's personal lives."
"Shut up, you idiot." - She also replied while poking her nose.
"WILL YOU STOP OFFENDING ME?" - He said shouting. He fixed his glasses and resumed speaking. - "You should stop acting like children and apologize to each other."
"So, it seems!" - The two said crossing their arms and avoiding eye contact.
"HEY! Are you guys listening to me?!"
"You'd think I'd want to make up with a runaway!" - Again, the Chinese woman teased him.
"Look who's talking, female Majin Boo!"
"WHAT DID YOU SAY BASTARD?"
"THAT'S JUST WHAT YOU HEARD!"
"YOU SON OF A BITCH-"
"Oh shit." - Grumbled the bespectacled boy doing facepalm.
Just when you would think the argument would end peacefully, the duo returned with another idiotic argument over the damn pudding, to the point where they stopped talking to each other and avoided even eye contact. As iconic as it was, Shinpachi knew that it would be a terror to see them fighting and that one would provoke the other in the worst possible way. He tried to make them understand each other in a peaceful way, but failed miserably.
In the early afternoon, the children left to do their work at the hamburger restaurant, leaving Gintoki to wait for the other delivery service. It was a matter of an hour and a few minutes before the phone rang and he was quickly attended to, and was told the address where he would be meeting to pick up the package.
-X-
Tsukuyo had started recruiting for a new squad: the group consisted of 12 members and a leader handpicked by the blonde from her current squad, who would be responsible for the north of the city. The one selected was named Sato Fumiko, who called her attention for being popular in her squadron, recognized by her intellectual achievements and quick strategies in battle. As for her appearance, she had light brown hair and wore a lilac yukata with blue and white details, she also had a scar across her nose, dark skin and green eyes.
The girls in both Tsukuyo current squad and the new squad had agreed to the decision, however there was a small minority that caught her attention for possibly not accepting her choice. Something was telling him to keep his eyes open, as that small group did not bring a good feeling.
A patrol was started in search of a possible new drug that was circulating in the area: it was rumored to be some kind of alien-drug that could be addictive right away. One of the first victims was a courtesan found in an alley in northwest Yoshiwara, where the initial theory emerged that the drug was injected into the body through needles and could cause pleasurable hallucinations for long hours.
Tsukuyo had left the courtesan under Hinowa's care while she ran for clues about the case. She had no starting point, so she questioned some of the other courtesans who worked closely with her to find the root of the problem. Some said that the last boy who received her care was an ex-policeman who visited Yoshiwara quite often, while others said he was some kind of amanto with a humanized appearance.
Based on this information, she started her search; she didn't have any cycle of friendship with any policeman to look for something in her database, but she knew that Gintoki had a connection with some policemen that could help her in this matter. With this, she considered the possibility of searching for her lover until it was time for Gintoki to visit her.
-X-
The albino had arrived at the place: it was an old factory near a port with some parked ships, he swore that the factory was deactivated, but when he entered the place, he could see some machines in operation and some amantos controlling them. He was greeted by a chicken-looking amanto, similar to the bartender in the nightclub where they looked for Kimiko and discovered the existence of the drug "Tensei Kyou".
"What can I do for you?" - Said the amanto wiping his hands on a grease soiled cloth. - "Hey, your face is familiar..."
"I am Yorozuya." - He scratched the back of his head as he watched the scene while ignoring your speech. - "I was called for a delivery service."
"Okay, follow me." - As they walked, the samurai observed every detail; it appeared to be just an auto parts factory, however there were some machines that made no sense in the place. He climbed a staircase that led to a container on the second floor containing an administrative office. The amanto knocked on the door and entered as soon as he received a confirmation to access the place, where it announced his arrival. - "Come in." - As soon as he stepped inside the office, he could notice an overturned chair and a strong smell of nicotine.
"Ah... Excuse me?" - Said the man of odd jobs.
"I was waiting for you... Yorozuya." - He turned his chair around. The Leader was a short-haired amanto with brown hair and curly bangs, pale, with a large X-shaped scar on his face, yellow eyes, and smoked an oddly shaped cigarette. He wore a light brown suit with a white shirt and black social shoes. - "Please take a seat." - The albino pulled out his chair and sat down in front of the table; he was soon served with a shot of sake, in which he took it all in one gulp.
"You had requested a delivery service... Of a product, right?"
"Exactly."
"... And where should I take it?"
"Nowhere."
"What?"
"My product just arrived."
"I don't understand." - Amanto stood up and walked toward him. He held his face and returned with an answer.
"It's because my product is right here in front of me, isn't it Yorozuya... Or I mean Shiroyasha." - Upon hearing those words, he could hear some laughter from some amantos around him, he knew he had been surrounded. - " Harusame will love having his head decorating the bookshelf!" - As a reaction, he slapped the amantos hand, causing him to let go of his face, taking the opportunity to back away from him and draw his bokuto.
"Hey bastard, what's going on here?"
"Don't you remember me? It was you who made that scar on my face and cut off my right arm during the Joui war." - The alien took off his blazer, showing his robotic arm.
"To be quite honest, no."
"Well, it looks like I will make him remember..."
"Come then!" - The group consisting of five amantos invaded the small space with a single kick on the door, attacking him with swords, in which he defended himself with his bokuto.
He used the lack of space as an advantage since most of the amantos were over 6,5 feet tall, where he pushed one of the amantos with his wooden bokuto, throwing him towards two others. He used this opportunity so that he could grab one of the swords and run out the door, running his sword through one of the standing amantos and fending off the other, where he kicked him in the stomach, pushing him towards the wall.
The Leader just smiled, sitting at his desk, watching his every move. As he walked through the door, he could see several other amantos waiting at the end of the stairs holding some melee weapons and maintenance tools, emitting mischievous smiles.
"Looks like I will have a little too much work!" - He said in a breathless manner, watching each of the amantos' faces.
He ran towards the enemies, making fast movements and cutting whoever was in front of him with the objective of reaching the exit as fast as possible, and fortunately he managed with light scratches, but not for long. He began to feel a strong weakness and dizziness along with difficulty breathing, slowly losing track of what was happening and small blackouts were hitting his mind.
"It finally took effect." - Said the amanto-leader before hitting him with a cut in the back, causing him to faint.
-X-
The night has come and Tsukuyo was waiting for him at the window with her kiseru under the moonlight as she always did. She watched the time on the wall clock and noticed that it was already 3 in the morning and the albino had not appeared, making her start to question herself: 'Did he forget? No. That doesn't make any sense, because he comes here directly... Or is it that because I will meet him early tomorrow morning, he didn't want to come today? But he would have called... That idiot should have warned me. Well, anyway, tomorrow I'm going to make him hear a lot of complaints for making a fool of me!'
O
o
"He really didn't come." - She snorted.
FINAL NOTE:
Hey, thanks for reading this far! I wanted to share my first experience writing fight scenes based on the voices in my head, I think I described it pretty well (or not hehe).
I admit I had a mental block in this chapter, but it's all right now. I hope you enjoyed it from the bottom of your heart and see you next time! o/