A good woman is not behind every great man, she's beside him

The second time Gintoki awoke that day was to the sight of a nurse with a moustache. An actual moustache. She was leaning over him, calling his name and jolting his shoulder (which burned a hell of a lot more than it really should). He blinked several times, trying to come to terms with what he was seeing. The woman stood back when she saw he had awoken and let down her hair from a knotted bun, shaking long black, silky hair over her shoulders. He had to be on some sort of drugs. Whatever they had given him for the pain was clearly too strong and also not working, considering the aches he had from his toes to his bruised nose and all the throbbing organs and bones in between.

"Gintoki, it's me," the nurse said with a deceptively low tone to her voice. "Katsura."

Ah.

"Zura!" Gintoki refrained from hitting the idiot, who set about re-arranging her - uh – his disguise, tying his hair into a bun again with excessive skill for a respectful, courageous samurai.

"It's not Zura, it's Nurse Zurako."

"What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Leader told me you were injured. I'm sorry, Gintoki, for getting you involved in all this." Gintoki let out an irritated huff and allowed Katsura to help him sit up.

"Don't suppose you've brought me strawberry milk to make up for dragging my ass into a terrorist plot, you damn terrorist?"

"It's not terrorist, it's Joui. If we had managed to capture the official that night, we may have managed to stop their plan. Unfortunately we were not able to, even with your help."

"I didn't help. And don't ignore me. Fetch me strawberry milk."

"Do you want diabetes on top of your other ailments? You should look after your body more, Gintoki."

"Shut up. And get out of here before you're found. I don't want the demon of the Shinsengumi back on my tail again like some bloody sniffer animal."

"It's good to see you're fine. Leader was worried so I thought maybe you'd kick the bucket this time."

"Like hell. Ketsuno Ana has a special interview two days from now. I gotta live until then."

Katsura let out a small breath of relief, the false moustache on his lip tilting as he smiled. Gintoki looked out of the window and watched a sky ship soar overhead hundreds of miles away, leaving a puffy trail of white across the sky from its engines. He felt the man beside him shift and set something down on the table, before his presence began to move away towards the door. He didn't turn to watch, but raised a hand and said,

"See ya, Zura."

"It's not Zura, it's Katsura. Don't die yet, Gintoki. We still have things to do in this world."

"Not with you." He huffed back, but Katsura had already disappeared. He took a moment to glance at whatever had been left and curled his lip in disgust at the bagful of fruit laid out inside the bottom of a carrier bag. He prodded it with one finger, hoping to discover a hidden treasure amongst the inedible. No such luck. With a great sigh, Gintoki leaned back into the pillow supporting his back until his head touched the headrest. After a few minutes of thought, he felt sleep begin to call him into sugar-land and his heavy eyelids sank back down into a deep sleep.

His dreams were not as inviting as he had imagined. There were no rivers of strawberry milk, no mountains of sugar and basically no Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-style wonder awaiting him in dreamland. Instead, he saw blood, corpses and Shoyou's head rolling.

…

Five days later and Gintoki was lazying about back in the yorozuya apartment, sitting transfixed to the television like he'd spent the last week or so doing in the hospital room. In fact, his life hadn't really changed in either scene. Whether at home or attached to a drip, he basically slept, watched dramas and read JUMP. The only difference was that meals were not free back home. Even the constant flow of irritating visitors had not changed, Gintoki thought with anguish as the doorbell sounded once more.

He rolled onto his front and played dead, switching the television off by bashing a heavy hand against the remote and hoping he whacked the right button. He did. The person at the door maintained patience for a few seconds, before ringing the doorbell once more. Gintoki immediately cut out half of the usual perpetrators who ventured to his house. Otose, for one, who would not have had the patience to press the bell even once. There was no shouting, no violence … Gintoki began to wonder if he even knew the individual behind the door. No one he knew would give him the benefit of doubt for ignoring them the first time.

The doorbell rang a third time and this time, it was accompanied with the angry yelling. It soon became apparent which nob head was visiting.

"I know you're in there, you lazy invertebrate. I'll cut open your door and then your organs if you don't get up."

"It's open." Gintoki groaned loudly, burrowing his face further into the sofa. "What the fuck are you here for, Mayora?" Said person clicked open the front door and shuffled into the house, heading wearily for where the voice was coming from.

"Were you asleep?"

"No, just pondering my peaceful life without a single soul to disturb me."

"Sorry for your loss." Hijikata shrugged, sounding less than apologetic. "I have questions."

"So do I. What did the first person who took a shit think? Did cavemen have a little voice in their head? And also, how did humans figure out that we could milk a cow? Disgusting to think about, ain't it." Gintoki stopped his flow of nonsense when he felt someone lift up his feet from on the sofa and then the other end of the cushion sank as they sat down. His feet were lowered again across a pair of legs.

"I think the person who thinks 'bout that shit is more disgusting. Now, terrorist, tell me how you knew that the government official from the other week was involved in drug trafficking?"

"Now there's a question." Gintoki muttered, sarcastically. He turned over onto his back and rested his arms behind his head. He was impressed that the shinsengumi had finally put one and one together. "Let's just be clear. I get dragged into shit. I don't work for anyone. I heard that government official was corrupt and ended up involved with the Joui for shitty reasons. The Joui are aware that the guy's a shit head politician in cahoots with criminals. How else do you think he affords his Hamborghini Space Shuttle? He doesn't pay with the tears of the children he steals from."

"We found evidence of him takin' bribes from that organisation and some records of his involvement with their drug dealing operations across the universe. We guess that he was planning to use his political influence to help free the prisoners on death row, along with a bit of forceful persuasion from that attack. Just a little more evidence and he'll be eating rice in a yukata the colour of the prison walls."

"The Joui were going to capture his ass and use him as propaganda. 'Look how corrupt the bakufu is'! 'Join our cause and make Edo great again!'" Gintoki joined his grandiose speech with a salute to the heart that probably didn't belong in this anime.

"So that's what they were after … " Hijikata muttered under his breath.

Gintoki twitched as he felt the commander's hands drum absent mindedly on his ankles as he sank into a state of deep thought. He span the remote back into his palm where it sat comfortably and re-commenced the programme he had been watching. It didn't manage to distract him from the fingers still dancing along his leg, but whatever internal monologue Hijikata had fallen into didn't seem like it was going to end soon. There were no more questions so Gintoki interpreted that as the limits of Hijikata's knowledge. As he suspected, they had discovered the link to the official probably by accident and were at the beginnings of unravelling the most corrupt happenings in Kabuki's recent history. Nevertheless, Gintoki wasn't going to spill all the juicy details. Half of the reason for that was it put Katsura and even Gintoki at risk. The other half was mainly the fact that he was entertained by the prospect of Hijikata knowing less than him and stumbling blindly into the investigation. He'd probably return every now and again to ask him questions too, and Gintoki would pretend not to revel in hiding information from him.

With a yawn, Gintoki turned his head away from the television and closed his eyes. He was tired, as he had found himself frequently since the incident. His body was always screaming at him to rest and regain his energy, and Gintoki gladly partook in the long snoozes and power naps. It wasn't like he had work to do anyway, as the kids forbade him from doing too much. Another advantage of being ill. That and the free food being delivered in condolences from his past clients and a guilty Joui patriot in a nurses' outfit. Though most of it was inedible. The only thing Gintoki ate that came from the ground was fine grains of heaven.

His thoughts were broken as Hijikata stirred, internal monologue seemingly over for now.

"Want a smoke?" He asked, hands still warming Gintoki's ankles though the silver perm didn't think he realised. He cracked an eye open.

"I got shot in the lung and you're offering me a cigarette?"

"We addicts don't think logically." Hijikata shrugged, holding up the packet. Gintoki remembered his many discussions with doctors who tried to rationalise him, to which he replied that he'd rather die the size of King Henry VIII than cut down on sugar. Hijikata had a point.

"No thanks. I genuinely don't smoke. Tastes like shit."

"I agree." Hijikata mused, lighting up his own cigarette and breathing deeply. "What about a drink?"

"Kagura and Otose have already banned me."

"They worry for your health, I see."

"No, not for that. I'm banned because I got drunk and turned her shop into a hideout. Used all the tables for the walls and Kagura's wardrobe contents as curtains."

"Doesn't sound too bad. For you."

"I made a bonfire."

"Oh."

"And used alcohol as firewood." Gintoki shuffled back down to snooze again, adding as an afterthought- "And used Otose's dead husband's katana as a kebab stick for roasting marshmallows."

Hijikata laughed softly and Gintoki felt the reverberations of his stomach through the legs under his. The fingers on his legs left for a second, presumably to take a breath of smoke, before replacing themselves on Gintoki's black trousers and he felt the warmth emanate through once more.

"You going to sleep?" Hijikata asked after a moment and Gintoki didn't bother to grace him with a worded reply. He simply grunted and pressed himself closer towards the back of the sofa. It seemed like the conversation was going to end there and Hijikata resolved himself to return back to work, grasping Gintoki's ankles lightly to move them out of the way so he could stand.

"Stay if you want." The hands paused. "Go to sleep, too. It's quieter over here. More so than your place, and the kids won't be coming home for a few hours."

"Love to take ya up on that," the commander rose reluctantly and lowered Gintoki's legs carefully back onto the sofa, "but I got stuff to do."

"Hmm, s'that so. Well then, if you'll excuse me …" Gintoki span onto his side and huddled himself to sleep. There was a silence, void of footsteps or speech, until Hijikata sniffed in amusement and pattered over to the front door. He didn't say goodbye as he left.

…

Gintoki rose from the sofa like a zombie, tripping over the table on his way to douse the screaming beast in his stomach. It wasn't like that table was always in the same place or anything. And it wasn't like he fell over the damn thing every time he slept on the sofa. His feet tapped the floor sluggishly as he hovered in the kitchen, fridge door wide open shining dull yellow light into his weary eyes. Nothing seemed to entertain his stomach as he glared at each item in turn. It was clear that the last person to make the weekly shop had been Shinpachi, because there was actually green things in there. The only time food was green when Gintoki shopped was because it had been left for so long that mould had harvested itself there.

Gintoki contemplated making something with the remnants of dishes in the fridge, but decided he was too lazy and dived in for a snack instead. He would wait until Shinpachi returned and made something more favourable. The yoghurt he chose was strawberry flavoured, but also contained bits of actual strawberries which Gintoki spat out into a conveniently positioned open bin not far from where he leaned against the kitchen side. It was then that the phone decided to ring, and after contemplating the idea of leaving it, Gintoki grudgingly half-jogged to the receiver. It could be the kids calling him. He set down the half eaten yoghurt on his desk and picked up the phone, mouth still full of viscous liquid.

"-llo?" He mumbled, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his yukata and swallowing the last drop in his mouth.

"Gintoki Sakata. Owner of the yorozuya above Terada Ayano's bar, more commonly known as Otose. Formerly the Joui patriot Shiroyasha."

"That's my line." Gintoki drawled as sarcastically as possible. He had a bad feeling about this caller. "Though I usually just say, Yorozuya Gin-chan."

"Guardian of two kids, who are currently helping to find the lost pet of Takeshi Ken."

"'m listenin'."

"Good." The voice replied calmly. Gintoki glanced out of the window, up and down the street. He was looking for something out of place, but nothing struck him as unusual. "I'm part of an organisation whose plans you recently disrupted. It cost us a lot of members. And money."

"Yeah, I royally fucked them up, didn't I?" The voice seemingly ignored his jives and continued.

"If you don't want anything to happen to your two kids and your landlord, I suggest you cooperate."

"Like what? Mummy told me not to talk to strangers."

"She probably also told you not to stick your nose where it didn't belong, but you did that quite nicely."

"A villain with a sense of humour. I like it, in a disgusting way." Gintoki snorted. He was playing the confident bravado but on the inside, he was memorising the voice of the caller, every remnant of an accent, the choice of vocabulary, the inflections, the tone …

"Thanks. I'm sure you'll learn to love me. I'll be calling you quite a lot over the next few days, after all."

"Joy."

"We're going to ask a few things of you. And you will do them without question, no little tantrums and obviously, we'll know if you tell anyone or go against us. And it won't just be you who'll suffer."

"Scary." Gintoki flicked a ball of snot from his nose and hoped the bastard was watching.

"Indeed. Anyway, if you do as we say, one week from now, we will leave you alone and will not contact you again."

"Hmm?"

"In return, you'll help us to capture the vice commander of the shinsengumi." Gintoki's eyes widened quickly and his pupils sharpened.

"Ooh, big goals."

"He's a thorn in our side. A strong swordsman; the backbone of the shinsengumi. He'd be adequate payment for the damage you've caused."

"You should know that I've never paid a penny I owe back."

"I hope, for your sake, you pay this one back. We'll be in touch."

The phone call ended.

Gintoki waited until he was in the bathroom before punching the wall with all his strength.

…

"The raid was unsuccessful," Kondou announced to the assembly of shinsengumi members. "However, we will not let this phase us. The information we have is solid, but we cannot make an arrest until we have managed to capture this organisation in the act and prove the relationship between them and Lord Kanto. We'll sit back, gather more information and then stage another raid."

"Hopefully this time we won't be wasting police resources charging full strength into an empty building." Okita sneered and Kondou gently tapped his shoulder, signalling him to sit down with the rest of them. Okita did so obediently as Kondou gave Hijikata the nod to speak.

"There's a large shipment from space reaching the terminal this week which will stay for another seven days. We suspect this will contain the drugs to be sold. There's solid evidence of Kanto's investment into this shipment. On the outside, they're coming to trade flour and rices from across the universe. We'll invade this shipment for a 'routine check-up'. We could be met with resistance."

"It's a golden opportunity. Your squad leaders will inform you of your role. Let's make this raid a success!" Kondou exclaimed to the nods and grunts of his men.

"Rise!" Hijikata commanded and his men quickly stood bolt upright. "Salute!" They did so and Kondou received the compliment as he left. Once he had gone, Hijikata dismissed them and followed his commander.

Once he caught up, Kondou immediately began speaking.

"How is Sakata-san?"

"He seems to still be recovering, but it's definitely an improvement."

"Good. Did you ask all your questions?"

"Yeah, basically confirmed what we know. I'll fill you in at the captain's meeting later."

"I look forward to it. It's good that he feels better. Maybe now our vice-commander can relax a little, eh?" Kondou only grinned broader when Hijikata shot him a surprised stare.

"W-what do you mean?"

"You got through at least four packets a day for the first few days after the incident. Now you've barely had five cigarettes in total, am I right?"

"Well, yeah but -"

"I know how close you two are, even if you try to hide it in petty arguments and fighting." He patted Hijikata on the back with a heavy hand. "I bet you were glad to see him make it through. It was a close call for a while though, mm?" His expression faltered sombrely as he thought back to his first visit to see Sakata, wherein he was shocked to find the bulky man on knife-edge. It seemed like a breath of wind could knock him into the River Styx. Both of them had seen Gintoki covered in more blood than that day with a higher degree of injuries littering his body in open gashes, but this was not the type of injury that could be recovered from easily. Fighting wounds, Gintoki was probably used to. A bullet to the lung was much more life-threatening than what any of them had seen him go through before.

They were just relieved that it was over now.

"At least he won't be coming round to disturb us any more." Hijikata huffed, earning himself a scornful but amused shake of the head from Kondou.

"What are you doing about his surveillance?" Kondou asked, and Hijikata had to stifle an 'oh yeah', since with everything going on, he had forgotten. Even Yamazaki had.

"We'll review it. It seemed to be a waste of police resources anyway. We just watched the bastard eat parfait and gamble his way into his underwear." Hijikata tapped the cigarette in his mouth with his tongue, eyes narrowing in thought as they exited out into the sunlight. They strode towards the front gate to resume patrols separately. Before they parted, Hijikata stopped him, saying,

"I think we'll withdraw the official surveillance, but I'll personally keep an eye on him." The look he received made him regret saying that out loud, but he brushed it off by ignoring eye contact. The contented beam on Kondou's face didn't fade as he waved goodbye. Hijikata nodded curtly.

True to his word, Hijikata took it upon himself to seek out the silver-haired moron whenever he had chance. During his short break on the first day, he wandered towards yorozuya's street and dropped in for five minutes with the excuse of finalising the shopping centre ransom report. Though, in actuality, they spent a few minutes bickering and then some more time in silence on the sofa in front of daytime TV. Okay, so maybe Hijikata hadn't spent just five minutes in there. Maybe he had spent 5 minutes arguing animatedly and then ten minutes sprawled horizontally across the sofa, his feet purposefully thrust in Gintoki's face to irritate him. The bastard also had his feet wedged behind Hijikata in such a way that it made it uncomfortable for the both of them to sit, but neither of them were going to give in. It was only when Gintoki received a phone call that he had risen reluctantly from his post.

The next day, Hijikata had visited twice. Not on purpose, of course. The first time, he had spotted the three yorozuya musketeers on his rounds. They were on a job together, Gintoki's first since his injury, which was a good sign. They were helping a shop by working as waiters, dressed in typically old fashioned English servant attire, complete with a stupid moustache (even on China). Hijikata had raided their peace and ordered from the café. Usually, he would never slack off in front of his subordinates but this time, he was paired with Sougo. And Sougo was equally up for a spot of relentless teasing.

Then, in the evening, Kondou had asked him to go over to the shop and deliver a bottle of sake for Gintoki 'as thanks for his cooperation'. Hijikata decided with certainty that the commander had ulterior motives, but went along with it anyway. After all, it meant he could keep track on the possible Joui affiliate criminal. It was upon this third visit that Hijikata confirmed that something was amiss in the household.

It was a definite feeling he had gotten from the start. The day before when he had visited Gintoki, the man had stared at him wide eyed for a second, and then diverted eye contact almost guiltily. Things settled down back to normal after a while, but Hijikata couldn't shift the way his muscles were twitching. His nerves were buzzing, telling him that something wasn't quite right. The longer he spent thinking about it, the more he wondered if he was just over thinking things. Eventually the feeling vanished as the two of them wrestled with their feet on the sofa.

Then Gintoki had received the phone call.

"Yorozuya Gin-chan … ah, it's you." Hijikata found himself startled by the sudden iced edge to Gintoki's words, but when he looked over, the man turned his back. "No, I'm not, don't worry your little fluffy brain over it. … Yes, I know." Gintoki was pacing as far as the chord on the phone would allow. The strain in his voice to keep his tone level was becoming apparent. "I remember, alright … Yeah, I know … I know... Yeah I fucking know!" He snapped and Hijikata stood up, making enough noise for Gintoki to turn and eye him from over his shoulder. Hijikata gestured to the door mouthing, 'should I leave?', but Gintoki waved his hand and continued his phone call. "As I'm sure you stalkers know, it's pretty hard for me to talk right now. Get it? I fucking know what to do, stop sweating rivers over pathetic details. See ya." The phone clattered onto its base, silenced abruptly.

"Ex-girlfriend?"

"What? No. Yeah. No … Just some pathetic bastard. Don't ask or I'll get wound up again and do something stupid."

"Wasn't going to, you think I'm interested in you?" Hijikata scoffed, folding his arms and rolling his eyes. "Thanks for cooperating with the investigation." He commented as dryly as possible, before waltzing out of the apartment.

The next meeting they had started off completely normal. The tension from the day before seemed to have diffused out of Gintoki's body, and Hijikata was dragged into their usual flow of banter in less than a minute. Everything seemed normal, but then again, the kids were there. And Gintoki was known to put up a front for them. The yorozuya were helping out a restaurant owner and Sougo had suggested visiting them- entirely for sadistic purposes, though he didn't say that out loud. Their drinks were served with a glare and a smirk (courtesy of Kagura and Gintoki respectively) and the two of the waiters were thanked with a glare and a smirk from Hijikata and Sougo. It was only when someone bumped into the younger Shimura sibling that Gintoki was revealed to be less than okay. Hijikata was sure he was the only one to see his temporary loss of composure, but it was certainly there.

It occurred when a customer, dressed in baggy western clothes, hands hidden within a hoodie and hair shielded from the light by a low cap, stood. He made his way to the door, but seemingly tripped over the air around him because suddenly he was falling into Shinpachi. The megane stumbled to keep his balance and there was a loud clatter accompanied by a sharp bang as they collided and Shinpachi dropped everything he was holding. Hijikata's ears pricked at the sound. He wished he had been paying more attention because his nerves were telling him he missed something important. The stranger stood and bowed in apology before leaving, passing Gintoki on his way out.

Gintoki was sweating.

His face had paled. He stared at a point on the floor so avidly that Hijikata was forced to glance across. There was a dint in the tile, round and deep, close to where the incident had occurred. It steamed gently for a few seconds. Something had cracked the tile. Hijikata's eyes roamed back to Gintoki. He was glancing around like a cornered animal – Hijikata was unsure if he looked like he was looking for something to hit or somewhere to escape. Gintoki went to Shinpachi's side and made sure to check him over thoroughly for injuries. He did so by joking around in his usual way, but his voice broke which provided cement for the vague perception Hijikata had that something was definitely off. Normality resumed so quickly though that Hijikata didn't have chance to do more than watch with eagle eyes.

Their third meeting that evening was when Hijikata Toshiro discovered the troubles simmering beneath Ginoki's calm outer exterior.

"Eh~ you again?!" Gintoki grumbled from his desk where he appeared to be stacking empty plastic parfait containers into a mountain. Hijikata had let himself in without knocking.

"Where are the kids?" Hijikata asked, casually, dragging up a chair to sit opposite Gintoki.

"Downstairs with the old hag."

"Good." He presented a bottle of sake and sat it behind the tower of containers. The man across from it eyed the item suspiciously from between a gap in his creation.

"Poison?"

"Kondou sent it. 'Thanks for cooperating'."

"Hmm?" The tower was collapsed instantly with a swish of his hand, the bottle brought closer for further inspection. "So why are you sat there so expectantly, hm?"

"You ain't going to drink alone, are ya?"

"What? So I have to share my gift with you?"

"Either that or the dog."

"The dog is better company." Gintoki sniffed, unscrewing the top and tilting the bottle to his nose. "Smells like alcohol."

"If we'da wanted to kill ya, we'd 'av done it ages ago."

"If you could." Gintoki resealed the bottle and pushed it away. "Don't feel like drinking today."

Hijikata would have spat out the liquid in his mouth if he'd have been offered any in the first place.

"You've been strange, recently." Gintoki didn't hide his surprise.

"Am I really that obvious?"

"Not usually." Hijikata grabbed the bottle and took a swig of the liquid without asking permission. Gintoki didn't try and stop him. "Usually I can't read that shaggy head a' yours. But these past few days you've been on edge." The phone took that opportunity to ring and only supported Hijikata's words. Gintoki suddenly looked to the floor and he was an unusual colour. His eyes were darkened and angry, but there was a sense of loss to his composure. A loss of energy, of hope. He made no move to answer the phone, reluctance heavily apparent, so Hijikata reached for it. He managed to grab it despite Gintoki's sudden sharp reaction to stop him, diving across the table to take the device from his hand. Hijikata stepped away quickly and listened to the receiver and Gintoki stumbled around the desk.

"Plans are moving forwards, Gintoki." A deep voice said, tone a melody of suave notes. "Since you seem so eager."

"What plan?" Hijikata asked just as he was tackled to the ground by a frantic silver-haired idiot. The voice paused and it was obvious they recognised that it was not Gintoki. The silence hung for a second as Hijikata struggled on his back, planting one palm against the yorozuya to hold him at a distance. Gintoki's strength won over though and he retrieved the phone, pressing it against his ear as he pinned Hijikata beneath him. He kept the phone between his ear and shoulder, trying not to strain the wire which had already pulled the handset off the desk.

"Bad timing," Gintoki grunted, anchoring his hands to the floor with Hijikata locked underneath them. The demon commander thrashed like a shark out of water, but Gintoki's attention was elsewhere. "Don't you dare! Don't touch them!" The threat was desperate and viciously angry, teeth bared as he grunted into the phone. "I did everything you said so fucking hurry up."

"Yorozuya!" Hijikata yelled, struggling, wriggling every limb beneath the heavy weight of the other samurai. Gintoki cursed and shifted his grip to close his fingers across Hijikata's mouth.

"Come now. This is your only chance." Gintoki was ignoring the muffled grunts from beneath him, focussing on the phone call until the other person seemed content. Eventually, Gintoki threw the phone away and watched it clatter across the floor but maintained his strong grip on Hijikata.

Hijikata managed to free his mouth, jerking out of Gintoki's grasp with such strength that the man had to readjust his hold. The demon commander panted heavily, managing barely to grasp Gintoki's arm by the bicep and push it away. Once again though, Gintoki fought hard to maintain his position. Pain seared through Hijikata's wrist where the man held him down. It was clear that this was no ordinary fight. Soon, Hijikata realised that Gintoki had ulterior intentions and that there was no way he was going to let Hijikata get out of his iron grip any time soon. One look in his crimson red eyes said that.

Why?

What the fuck was going on?

"What are you doing?" Hijikata barked, lifting his knee sharply and aiming for Gintoki's gut. He winced slightly but didn't give. There was no reply from Gintoki, despite Hijikata's shouting and struggling. Gintoki wouldn't make eye contact, flickering them instead towards the door. With a strong thump of his heart, Hijikata's fighting instinct ignited through his veins. This was no normal bickering. Gintoki was waiting for something. Someone. And Hijikata was suddenly under threat. He struggled harder, but his limbs were becoming weighed down with lactic acid. That and the stubborn man perched on his chest. "Let me up, you bastard!". With an exaggerated crash, the door slammed open and an amanto entered, armed. He was swiftly followed by two more. God knows how many were waiting outside.

This was an attack.

Hijikata was under attack. He was used to this situation but at the same time, this was so foreign to him. He was alone, isolated from the shinsengumi and the only other person he had considered a comrade was partaking in the attack.

Fear powered his body with a new strength. With the hardest punch he had delivered in his entire life, Hijikata was suddenly free as Gintoki recoiled slightly. Hands grabbed for him again but he fought his way out of them easily, scrambling away from his attackers. Finally, he could use his katana -

"Sorry." Gintoki said, voice barely audible in the conflict as Hijikata's hand grasped at the air around his hip, his eyes snapping to the sword in Gintoki's lap. He was thrown off guard. A shot rang and he knew vaguely that something had pierced the skin on his thigh. He quickly pulled it out, buckling slightly under the foreign feeling that began to crawl up his leg. There were arms wrapped around his throat. He kicked furiously and landed several until the grip slacked. With a jerk and a twist, he collapsed onto the ground and was fumbling again to get onto his feet. His right leg just would not listen. That was when he felt a second jabbing sensation in his forearm. He was late in ripping this one out and he already felt his entire body numbing.

Hijikata was trying to think but he barely had enough brain capacity left over to observe his surroundings. These events were unfathomable to him. Gintoki was … his enemy? The notion was strange. He couldn't grasp at reality. He threw glances towards Gintoki, waiting for the man to kick himself into gear. To move. To help. To explain why the fuck this was happening.

His movements lagged and he was screaming at his legs to move but they weren't listening. Scrambling to the side, he was met with more hands pushing him down. Two people now, and despite his furious shouting and struggling, he knew he was being overwhelmed. It was a sickening realisation that without his sword and with his muscles shutting down one by one, he might not get out of this. A third dart hit him and Hijikata fell limp, casting one last glance at Gintoki as his head began to roll involuntarily. He felt heavy. His struggle for consciousness was short lived.

He never gave up trying to stay awake but he was dragged kicking and screaming into unconsciousness, blackness enfolding him in a painful, restless sleep.

AN-

And the title of the story becomes partially apparent. Hope you enjoyed!