NOTE

Oh, hello, I guess I don't have much to say about this chapter today, just let the reading flow.

Good reading ~~

'How would you tell a sloppy person that he is going to be a father?'

This was the question the blonde asked herself as she walked in circles in the alley that was next to Otose's bar. She was not at all prepared to break the news, which her anxiety had made her uneasy. Her actions eventually drew too much attention, causing her 'stage' to crumble when she spotted a lady around her 60s with brown hair carrying a bag of garbage.

"Do you need help?" - Otose questioned her. - "You seem to be distressed."

"Oh, it's nothing."

A typical phrase used in the sense of "I'm in trouble, but it's not something I can tell you about out of sheer embarrassment," causing Otose to notice and raise one of his eyebrows, not confident of his answer.

"If you say so..." - She said holding the cigarette with my fingertips. - "You must be the girl from Yoshiwara, right?"

"Yes..."

"Kagura told me about you."

"The Kagura?"

"She always made fun of Gintoki because of you." - She threw the garbage in the bucket. - "She kept saying you two were going to break up together, ironic, isn't it?"

"It really is..."

"So, what brings you here?"

"I came to see how he is doing... Last time he wasn't doing a bit well."

"He's much better than before, but I won't say that he has fully recovered." - He sighed. - "That idiot only knows how to worry us." - She took a drag on his cigarette. - "Do you know anything?"

"Me? Well..." - Why do I suddenly feel so frustrated? He hasn't told me anything until now, and apparently, he hasn't told the children either... He just showed up sick and injured, and with that he kept himself reclusive from people, what a weird guy.

"So...?"

"I don't know anything, but maybe I can get him to talk."

"I'm counting on you."

She closed the subject with the lady and started up the flight of stairs until she arrived in front of Yorozuya door. She knocked in a rough way a few times until she was finally answered by Shinpachi. Tsukuyo was not angry, but her desire to want to understand what was going on made her anxious. Was this from pregnancy? She didn't know. All she knew was that she wanted to talk to him.

"I need to talk to Gintoki."

"He's kind of busy right now."

"Let her in." - He was standing leaning on the wall as a second figure approached the door of the room. Black hair, black uniform with gold details, with a cigarette in his mouth and a totally serious expression, it was Hijikata Toshirou.

- Minutes before -

The doorbell rang around 8 in the morning, where it was ignored by the two members present in the house, who after a few grumbles went back to sleep as if nothing had happened, but it got to a point that no one could stand it anymore, so much so that the albino got up sleepy and irritated, answering the door in his pajamas, and coming face to face with the policeman.

"The day of good deeds is tomorrow. Let me sleep." - The albino complained slowly, closing the door in his face. Only it didn't close completely, because the policeman prevented the door from closing by putting his foot on the track.

"I need to talk to you."

"About?"

"That day. You know which one." - He didn't have much to think about, from his serious face and his tone of voice, it was enough to realize that it was something important.

"Come in."

The albino quickly grabbed his change of clothes and went to the bathroom to change and do his basic hygiene. Time enough for the redhead to wake up and get ready. She didn't miss the opportunity to complain to the policeman for arriving so early at his house. When Gintoki came out, he was only wearing his Yukata correctly, which was strange to Hijikata.

"Kagura-chan." - The albino called to her in a corner. - "Go to the market and buy strawberry milk."

"I don't want to."

"You can buy sukonbu with the change."

"Aah, really?" - I said excitedly.

"Yes, now go."

"Yes sir!" - As soon as she left, there was a knock on the door and silence was beginning to dominate the space.

"So? What do you want to talk about?" - He sat down on the couch.

"Do you know a guy named Rey?"

"Never heard of it." - He poked his ear with his little finger looking away in a relaxed manner.

"We're after this guy, it looks like he's leading some kind of black market." - The policeman lit a cigarette. - "We found out through a ship carrying illegal weapons."

"And what does that have to do with me?"

"Well then." - He stared at his relaxed expression with his blue eyes. - "Rey is the name of the one who leads the Yohalo traffic." - The few words were enough to catch the attention of the albino who instantly changed his pose to something more serious, raising his eyebrows. - "By the looks of it you know something, don't you?"

Silence dominated the place for a while. You could feel the tension in both boys' eyes, for one was the other's piece of the puzzle, and as much as they hated each other, they had to work together on the case. The silence was cut by the arrival of the boy with the glasses, who didn't know what was going on there.

"I'm home!" - The teenager shouted heading towards the room. - "Gin-san, I brought some medicine for-" - He interrupted his speech when he spotted the policeman. "Oh, good morning, Hijikata-san, sorry for interrupting your conversation. I will leave you alone, I will be in the kitchen in the meantime." - And so, he left the room.

"As I was going to say..." - The policeman adjusted his posture. - "I need you to tell me what you know about this. Don't worry, you will be rewarded for it."

"I really don't know anything."

"You know. That day, the amantos who were chasing you were all animal-looking, with the exception of their leader. Something tells me that you are involved in that."

"Tell me more." - The albino spoke with a spiteful look on his face.

"We found a vessel that was trafficking in weapons on the east coast, however there was no supervision at all." - She continued to stare at him. - "I deduced that was to distract us so they could work in the shadows while we were busy."

"They've been doing it longer than you can imagine."

"Oh?!"

"They have been trying to expand their business for over 10 years here on earth, but it seems that the Joui war ended up interfering with their plans."

"That day they chased you because you discovered the plan?"

"No, it was for revenge."

"It makes more sense now." - He relaxed.

Leaning against the kitchen wall, the boy listened to the conversation in secret, worried about what was happening and what was to come, because for the two of them to be cooperating with each other was something really serious.

'What's going on here?'

"I will share something with you and it will stay between us." - Again, the policeman returned the speech.

"Say it."

"Kondou-san told me that you were at a pharmacy in Yoshiwara yesterday."

"So what?"

"So, what, he was playing his stalker role stalking Otae-san and ended up finding some amantos stalking a violet-eyed blonde woman."

He realized that this was getting worse. He felt a tightness in his chest imagining that someone had found out about his relationship with Tsukuyo, which he considered the possibility that they were after her to capture her, or worse, to hurt her because of him. Anguish weighed heavily on his body.

"W-What...?"

And so, the doorbell rang, which was quickly answered by the teenager. Upon hearing her voice, he sighed slightly relieved to know that she was all right, but a shiver still nagged at him.

- Back to reality -

"Did something happen?" - Tsukuyo questioned him.

"Did you happen to be in a pharmacy yesterday?" - Gintoki questioned her.

"E-eh?!" - She froze. - "Yes, I have been."

"Was there anyone else with you?"

"Well... I met with Otae and Kyuubei."

"Keep your eyes open."

"... Why?"

"It's just a warning." - He leaned away from the wall. - "Sit down."

"What's going on here, Gintoki?" - She asked confusedly sitting down next to the albino. - "Why is there a policeman here? Did something happen?"

"Not exactly." - The policeman answered her. - "You must be Tsukuyo, right?"

"Yes."

"My name is Hijikata Toshirou, I am the vice commander of the Shinsengumi." - He uttered. - "We are on a mission after the person responsible for Yohalo's drug... And it seems that you are a target of theirs."

"I figured."

"What do you mean you imagined it?!" - Gintoki questioned her perplexed.

"Well..." - He sighed. - "Lately Yoshiwara has been noisy because of a drug circulating among clients and courtesans."

"Please continue." - Hijikata spoke attentively to his words.

"We were able to control the situation somewhat, however..."

"..."

"... Unfortunately, one of the courtesans ended up having contact with the drug and with that she ended up getting sick."

The door of the apartment was slowly opened by the Chinese girl who had just arrived. She first caught sight of the teenager listening to the conversation through the door, which caught her eye. He just signaled silence as he listened to the discussion through a doorway, it didn't take long for her to join him.

There was no dialog there, only stares that crossed the gap unnoticed in a mixture of tension that I felt in that room. With each dialogue, things got stranger.

"So that was two guinea pigs so far..." - The policeman put out his cigarette in the ashtray.

"Two?" - The blonde questioned him. - "Where's the other one?"

"The first is in Yoshiwara and the second..." - He stood up stopping in front of the albino, staring at him with a cold, dark gaze. - "... It's right in front of me."

That was shocking. Of course, it would be. The tension got much worse, leaving the room in a dull and boring atmosphere. It didn't take long for the silence to be broken by the blonde, who now didn't feel relieved to discover the truth but more worried than before. She approached without saying a word, but it was noticeable that she was very distressed. She began to connect the dots from Kagura's speech saying that he had a desire for something to the symptoms that the sick courtesan had. He just watched her with a desperate look on his face.

"Tsukuyo what are you doing?" - She ignored him by pulling up the sleeve of her left yukata, exposing the part where the drug had been inserted, which was now purplish all around just like the courtesan's.

"Gintoki..." - She said in a serious tone. - "I hope I'm very wrong... You don't have a drug in your body, do you?" - She got no response. - "You're not, are you?" - Her voice gradually increased. - "GINTOKI PLEASE TELL ME I'M WRONG-!" - He looked away and lowered his head. - "It wasn't a human-looking amanto that did this to you, was it?

"You're right." - He whispered.

"What..." - She lowered his tone of voice. - "Why didn't you say that before...? We could have done something-"

"Nothing could be done." - He said in a dry tone. - "If I had told them earlier, it would only make them worry sooner."

"You are selfish with yourself. Stop thinking like that, Gintoki." - She hummed. - "How do you think we feel whenever we find out that you haven't told us something? Don't you trust us? Is that it?"

"No. It's not."

"Then why...? You told me yourself that when I needed help just ask..., But you're not like that, it's not fair." - She said in tears. - "At the same time that I feel anger towards you I completely understand..." - She mumbled. - "What the hell!"

He didn't know how to react; he just gave her a genuine hug in a failed attempt to try and calm her down in the face of her situation. She just responded by digging her nails into her yukata to express the anger she felt and he murmured words of comfort to her.

"Tsukuyo..."

"..." - She relaxed in his arms.

"I promise to change."

"Even though I know this is a lie, I will pretend to believe it."

They didn't kiss, they didn't have a long hug, on the contrary, they just behaved as if they were just close friends in front of the children and the policeman, although the scene became 'honeyed'. The children returned to the kitchen to put away Kagura's groceries and, of course, to leave them alone.

Neither of them could express themselves in front of the situation, they were really worried about the albino's health, with a bit of anger dominating their hearts for not having realized this earlier. His wounds had not completely closed and his fever had partially subsided, but he was now more willing to get up and slowly get back to his routine.

Kagura has always been a girl very attached to her surrogate father, even though they quarreled with each other all the time. She always hated the fact that Gintoki put her in the background during certain occasions, especially in this situation, in which she heard the kunoichi comment about lack of trust. And that's where things started to go wrong.

"Hey Patsuan... Doesn't Gin-chan trust us?"

"Why that now?"

"After what Tsuki said, I kept thinking about that..."

"I don't know anymore..." - His mind rewound to various past events that made him ponder. Was it a thing of his personality? Was it always like this? No one knew the answer. He was a difficult person to understand, like a book under lock and key, the brunette even considered the possibility that it was a past trauma. Everything about him was suspicious and the pair wanted to understand why he behaved this way.

FINAL NOTE:

Oh, you're here... Be very (Re)Welcome!

Thanks for getting this far, soon, soon a new chapter will be out soon, and until then I count on your presence!

That's it, kisses and see you next time.