Hello OkiKagu fandom! I've had this idea sitting around for a while, and a lot of it pre-written, so I decided to polish it a bit and upload it here. This story will be a two-parter, though the second part will definitely be shorter. I hope you guys like it :)

Warnings: Explicit Lemon, Some light comedy (in OkiKagu fashion) and some angst near the end. Also, Sougo being an asshole, because he is.

Part I: When In Doubt...

When Kagura looked back on the events of those past fifteen weeks, it was clear to her that it had all started because of the gorilla.

Not in any direct sense—the Chief of the Shinsengumi couldn't entirely be blamed for his unrealistic and borderline psychotic attempts at wooing the elder Shimura's heart—but all the same, Kondo's misguided attempts at romance were at best cringe-worthy and on his worst days could have ended in the destruction of half of Edo were it not for everyone else doing damage control for anego's rampages.

And, unfortunately for Kagura, a result of one of those "worst days" ended up being an event that, unbeknownst to her at the time and even long after, would haunt her for weeks to come. As a matter of fact, she started off even being happy about it.

So—what was it, you might ask? What could have possibly blindsided the female Amanto to such a degree that even she, bringer of destruction and lover of sukonbu, could have not seen it coming from a mile away? Well, the answer was simple.

It was love. Or, at least, she thought it was. Love…and that damned sadist.

Though, in actuality, she supposed the whole ordeal had started sooner than fifteen weeks ago…

Sixteen weeks ago…

"You damned brat! Give me back my sukonbu!"

Kagura didn't even break a sweat as she pursued her target down the sidewalk, her legs pumping her lithe body as fast as it could possibly go. Few things could rev up the girl into such a state, among them being her love for Sadaharu and nearly equivalent love for food.

And, a few minutes ago as she had been walking back to the Yorozuya from the market, that damned Shinsengumi brat had stolen the latter right out of her hands. It wasn't enough that the two of them fought every chance they got, but now he was targeting her even on her day off? And when she had merely gone to the store just to buy some sukonbu, nonetheless?

He had simply gone too far this time, and Kagura was intent on making him pay for it!

He didn't respond to her continued cries, and in fact only seemed to speed up the more detailed and violent her threats became; now all the pedestrians in their path acted fast to avoid the incoming human projectiles, familiar enough with the routine at this point to know that any attempt at interference would be met with quick and immediate death at the hands of either one or both of them.

When their high-speed chase led them to the park, Kagura gave an inner yell of victory; it seemed as though she had finally gained the upper hand, as Sougo appeared to slow down considerably—though she sensed this with a healthy dose of skepticism.

What's he up to…?

Her question was answered when they came within range of a mud puddle, only for Kagura to cry out in fury and dismay when she saw the recognizable wrapper become airborne as it left Sougo's hand and flew directly towards it.

Dammit!

It was a good thing the Yato cared little for public decency, because the next thing she knew she was careening towards the ground in a desperate attempt at saving her beloved snack—only to be stopped mid-flight by the constriction of her neck and torso.

Glancing downwards as the wind was knocked out of her, Kagura saw the torso of her qipao tighten around her chest, and a brief backwards glance saw her staring right into the red eyes of evil incarnate—in other words, Okita Sougo. His hand held onto the collar of her qipao, his mouth twisted upwards into a mocking grin as his free hand held…her sukonbu?!

At her angry and incredulous glance, he merely remarked, "A decoy."

"You son of a—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You really have to start coming up with better insults, China girl."

A swift kick to the shin was enough to send him into a fit of cursing, and Kagura huffed indignantly as she ripped her favorite snack out of his palm. "You're one to talk. Maybe you should come up with better nicknames! And really, sadist? Stealing a poor girl's food is just low, yep!"

"Poor girl, my ass! Is that any way to thank someone who just saved you from getting covered in mud?!"

"I was at risk because of you in the first place! Not like I'd care, anyway. I can just wear Gin-chan's clothes if all of mine get dirty."

He scoffed at that, a look of disgust falling over his face; the sight tugged at Kagura a bit, though she couldn't say exactly why. "Danna lets you wear his clothes? There's being nice, and then there's just indecent."

Her face burned, and Kagura hissed back, "Well that's none of your business, eh?"

Then, for a brief moment, the Yato swore she saw something more than indifference flicker across his face—something that dangerously threatened to bring out the more hidden facets of her opinion on the sandy-haired man. But it was gone as soon as it came, leaving Kagura to wonder if she had only imagined it.

"I guess it's not," he agreed. "Let's call it a day, then. You've got your sukonbu, and I've got a bruised shin." He started to walk past her, only to turn back around at the last second.

"Oh, and by the way…" he began, "your dress is ripped."

"Wha—?"

Glancing down, Kagura blanched. In the front of her dress, a large tear displayed a sizable portion of her chest and cleavage, along with a fair amount of undergarments. A vein threatened to pop in her forehead, but before she had time to turn around and kick the sadist halfway back to the Shinsengumi compound, he had already vanished.

The next few days saw a decided shift in Kagura's perception of the sadist she so often sparred with—not in any tangible way, since the two of them still fought whenever they happened across each other and the collateral damage, if anything, only seemed to have escalated, but in such a way that the young woman could only classify as bizarre.

For example, she found herself more conscious of his body when they fought—not in a perverted way, she denied with a blush—almost as if she were worried about hurting him. Though she never used her full Yato strength to spar, she was well aware that even the smallest slip of her finger could have dire consequences for humans, both civilians and idiotic cops alike.

And, to her disgust, she noticed that she tended to make more eye contact with him when they weren't fighting—and, for the first time in the five long years they had known each other, Kagura found that she actually liked the look of his blood-red eyes, especially when he matched them with that fevered grin he always sported during their matches.

She wondered idly what he would look like if he were actually smiling, not because of his latest sadistic trick, but because he really meant it; would he ever look at her in that way? Or would he—

She cut off that train of thought before it could even fully articulate, her face heating with embarrassment despite being totally alone in her closet in the Yorozuya.

Yep, she was in trouble, all right.

One week later…

"Sis, please calm down! Kondo-san didn't mean it—"

"Oi, Shinpachi, you call that 'not meaning it?' He was hiding in her bathtub, you know. That's typical pervert move number three."

Kagura rolled her eyes, not bothering to move from where she stood at the street vendor's booth. Gin-chan and Shinpachi were trying in vain to calm down a raging anego, who stood towering over the Chief of the Shinsengumi from where he had collapsed on the sidewalk outside of the Shimuras' dojo.

Though she hadn't been there when the fight broke out (one-sided though it looked to be) Kagura could glean what had happened from Gin-chan's blunt observation, anego's rage, and the gorilla's guilty expression.

Well, he deserves whatever he gets, the pervy gorilla.

"Let go of me, Shin-chan!" Otae demanded, her face contorted into a mask of impotent fury. "I don't want you to be in the line of fire!"

"Oi! She's going to bring down the whole city! What are you gonna do about this, you guys?!"

Kagura turned her head towards the recipients of Gin-chan's question, only for her face to heat up when she recognized the two men who had arrived on the scene: the Mayora, with the sandy-haired sadist in tow. Both of them sported characteristically un-amused looks, though the former's was tinged with blatant frustration.

"Kondo-san," the nicotine addict drawled, "you should realize by now that stalking is technically a crime. How does it look to the people of Edo when their own Chief of police can't follow the laws?" It spoke volumes about their relationship that this all seemed to be business as usual for them.

"B-But—"

"No buts, Kondo-san," the sadist chimed in. "If you keep this up, you're going to end up getting yourself killed." Kagura thought it might be her imagination, but she could swear that the young man's eyes flickered over to her for a second.

It took a bit more prodding, but eventually the gorilla resigned himself to hanging his head in shame before being led away by Hijikata. Shinpachi, meanwhile, returned to the Herculean task of calming down his elder sister. Kagura had already turned away from the scene, and had just gotten her dango from the street vendor when she heard a grunt from behind her.

"Oi, China girl."

She tried to force the blush off her face before facing him, nervously shoving half of the dango into her mouth in an attempt to create a distraction. "Sadist?" she coughed out, the word garbled through the food clogging her throat. "You wanna go right now?"

He raised a brow at her bizarre behavior, but wisely didn't mention it. "Uh…no. I actually wanted to ask you something, if you're not too busy choking to death on your dango."

She swallowed the literal lump in her throat. "…Oh. What is it?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Kagura noticed Gin-chan watching their exchange with a wary expression. She silently begged him to interfere, to put a stop to this situation before she ended up saying or doing something that would tip off the sadist as to how she actually—

"Wanna go on a date with me?"

The next three seconds saw a progression of events: the first was that Kagura all but inhaled the dango remaining in her mouth, leading to a fit of choking and coughing that could have awoken half of Edo. The second was that several chunks of it flew out of her mouth and into Sougo's face, causing the man to stare blankly at the young woman.

The third was that Gintoki absolutely freaked out.

"Say what?!" His high-pitched cry was emphasized by how he slid into place beside the couple, his eyes all but bugging out of his head. His disbelieving stare was shared between the both of them. "Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait! Hold on! What's going on here, Soichiro?!"

"Sougo."

"Since when did you have designs on Kagura?! I thought you two hated each other's guts!"

"I don't know about her, but I like anyone that can hold their own against me. You probably just can't tell, danna, since hardly anyone understands the subtleties of my behavior." He shrugged, and Kagura's eyes nearly burst out of her skull as he gave her the tiniest of smiles. "I'd at least like to take you out on a date."

Her stomach fell to her feet when she realized that there was a chance he might actually be sincere. Her face burned, and her mouth hung open in a wordless stutter that refused to obey her no matter how much she tried to say anything in response.

Gin-chan resumed his incoherent rambling, the gist of it from what she could tell being that she was far too young (though nineteen was really well past the acceptable age, and he knew it) and on top of that, she hated Sougo's guts.

In her own mind, however, Kagura knew that the latter statement was unequivocally false; she didn't hate the sadist, and on some level she wondered if she ever actually had. She certainly found him physically attractive (though it made her blush to admit it) and as of late she had found her thoughts preoccupied by him more and more, and in a non-homicidal way to boot.

So, in the midst of Gin-chan's fabricated excuses on her behalf, Kagura stood up straight, looked the expectant young man in the eyes, and said:

"All right. Where are we going?"

The silence that followed, punctuated moments later by Gin-chan's exclamation of utter shock, was nearly enough to make her regret her decision.

But not by much.

To his credit, the sadist really seemed as though he were trying not to be a prick on their date—or "friendly outing," as Gin-chan insisted on calling it. They had decided on meeting at the diner a few blocks away from the Yorozuya; Sougo most likely believed that she would be most comfortable there. (It would also require the least amount of effort on his part, coincidentally, but Kagura was just glad that he was actually acting like a normal person for once.)

She arrived at their arranged location a few minutes early, nervously twirling her umbrella as she entered the establishment, and looked down at her clothes. She had elected to wear the same qipao she normally did, beside herself with the temptation to act as though this were just a normal meet-up between friends.

Yeah, right, she thought sarcastically. As if we've ever just hung out as friends before, either. Once again, she worried over the fact that this date would go horribly wrong, and she would somehow end up outing herself as having a pre-existing crush on the sadist. She had already accepted the fact, but was still loathe in allowing any inkling of her feelings to be divulged to the sandy-haired man.

She snapped out of her reverie when she noticed a familiar hand waving at her from the other side of the restaurant, and paled when she saw that it was indeed attached to Sougo. Not one to run away from her fears, she held her head high and approached the table, taking a seat without so much as allowing eye contact until she sat down.

"Good afternoon," she said stiffly, immediately cursing her overly formal introduction.

"Why are you so stiff?" he instantly asked, leaning his cheek on a palm. "Cut it out. You're going to make this awkward, China."

She sent him a glare. "Shut it, sadist! I only came here cause I wanted to give you a chance."

"Oh? And how am I doing so far?"

"Pretty terrible, actually."

He sighed, crossing his arms as he leaned against the cushioned booth. "Well, I often get told by Kondo-san that I lack tact when dealing with women, but since he's the one always getting the crap beaten out of him by anego, I take whatever he says with a grain of salt."

Kagura giggled, remembering the gorilla's most recent "attempt" (that title being generous) at getting Otae to fall in love with him. "Yeah, he's pretty clueless, isn't he? But then again, aren't you in the same position as him? I regularly beat the crap out of you, too."

"That's different. We both beat the crap out of each other. It's like a choreographed dance."

Against her better judgment, Kagura laughed at that, covering her mouth in an attempt to stifle her loud giggles. "I guess you have a point, sadist—wow, never thought I'd be saying that."

"Eh? I'm always right, China girl. Your skull's just too thick most of the time."

"Bite me!"

The two of them continued bickering for a few more minutes, only stopping the flow of insults when their hapless waitress came over to take their order. Kagura, in typical fashion, ordered nearly half the menu under the presumption that Sougo would be the one paying for it ("You're the one who asked me out, aren't you?") while the unsuspecting man shrugged and decided to get the place's most expensive steak ("I'll just have them put it on the Shinsengumi's tab.").

The longest moment of silence between them was when their food arrived, as the vermillion-haired girl immediately set to work on devouring all of the edible matter placed in front of her. In contrast, Sougo took his time on his steak, allocating time to cut it into bite-sized pieces rather than shoving the entirety of the mass into his mouth as the girl across from him did. Ironically (though not surprisingly), she ended up finishing her food before him, and sat for a few minutes in post-digestive silence while watching her "date" finish his own portion.

When he had only a few bites left of his meal, Kagura found it appropriate to break the silence.

"Say," she began, fiddling with her hands, "why did you really ask me out? I mean, apart from the obvious answer…"

He glanced up at her with a mouth full of food, swallowing it before setting down his silverware. "Well, believe it or not, it really is the obvious answer."

A light blush adorned her cheeks, and she fervently hoped he didn't notice. "What do you mean?"

He rolled his eyes. "Really, China? Do I have to come right out and say it? I like you."

I like you. No matter how much she tried to stop it, Kagura couldn't hold back the obvious rush of blood to her cheeks. Damn her for being young and having a crush on such a bastard! Why did she have to react to everything he said while he never seemed affected?! It wasn't fair! "D-Do you really? For how long?"

He leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms behind his head as his eyes glanced upwards. "Well, it's hard to say. Maybe a few months? A year? I've never been good at distinguishing hating from liking."

Kagura sighed in exasperation. "I'll never get a straight answer from you, will I?"

"Probably not in the way you want. I'm not a normal guy."

"Obviously."

He shrugged. "Well, I doubt it bothers you much if that's your reaction to it. Anyway, since we're done with our food, you wanna head over to my place?"

Her eyes widened, and the blush that seized her was enough to nearly send her into cardiac arrest. "Y-Your place?!"

"Not like that—you've got a pretty dirty mind. I just recently moved out of the Shinsengumi compound, and my new place has a backyard that's perfect for sparring. You in? I've been missing our fights lately."

That made her relax quite a bit, and she sent him one of her usual devious glances. "You're on, sadist! I'll wipe the floor with you!"

He returned her glare with just as much fervor. "I'd like to see you try."

She returned home that night well past her "curfew" (as granted by Gin-chan) and pointedly ignored the silver-perm's stern proclamations of worry as she headed towards her closet. With a clipped reply of "G'night," she slipped into her sleeping quarters and shut the door in the older man's face, sighing as she folded her arms beneath her head.

All in all, the date wasn't nearly as catastrophic as she had feared. As a matter of fact, she had actually had fun both during and after, when they sparred back at Sougo's place; her butterflies had mostly receded by then, and she had allowed herself to go wild against the young man in a way she hadn't had the luxury of doing lately.

And, at the end of the night, he had asked her out again—and without hesitation, she had said yes.

Kagura wondered if this meant they were dating now, or if they were boyfriend and girlfriend. The thought put a weird feeling in her gut—she never would've thought her and the sadist would end up dating under any circumstances—but it wasn't necessarily bad. Surely they would be if this kept up, and she had no qualms with continuing it. In fact, she couldn't wait to see what the next few weeks would bring.

That night, the young woman fell asleep with a smile on her face.

The next two months saw a steady progression of the pair's relationship (if it could so be called) in the form of a series of subsequent dates and outings. They returned to the restaurant frequently, but on top of that and all the times they ran into each other in the course of business (her for the Yorozuya, him for the Shinsengumi), they also went other places. One time they went to a festival in another district, but they eventually got kicked out after causing both minor physical and emotional trauma to the man who ran one of the game booths. Another time they went to an amusement park, where the same process repeated itself but on a much grander scale—and involving several disgruntled carnies, a family of four, and far too much cotton candy for one human to consume (but which was child's play for the Yato female). Even Sougo secretly confided to her that he probably wouldn't be able to look at her the same way again for a while.

On the whole, Kagura had spent the last eight weeks having more fun than she had in a long time—and it was mostly due to that sadist. Even when they weren't together, causing mischief for the Kabuki district and spreading trouble seemingly wherever they went, the young woman found her mind frequently wandering back to him. But no longer were they thoughts of dislike or annoyance, or even that childlike affection she had been harboring in the time leading up to their first date; no, these thoughts were something deeper, feelings that she wasn't quite able to pinpoint but which emerged in full force whenever she happened to get a glimpse of his face, imagined or otherwise.

They hadn't even kissed yet, but the vermillion-haired alien thought this was hardly a reason for her to have misgivings about her emotions. After all, it wasn't as though they had to get down and dirty in order for them to be official…right? It wasn't weird that she was already feeling so strongly, was it?

Though she hadn't voiced these concerns to anybody, not even anego, Kagura secretly wondered if the feelings were—and even the idea made her fidget with nerves—love.

Several weeks later…

"Oi, earth to China!"

Dazed, Kagura lifted her head from where it rested in her palm and met Sougo's gaze. "Huh?"

"You feeling all right? You look like you're about to pass out on me. Don't die, okay? You aren't allowed to die unless I'm the one who kills you."

She shot him a glare. It may have been true that her attention had been preoccupied lately, but if anything it was only worse when he was around. Her jumbled thoughts were only made more chaotic in his presence, and she sure as hell knew it wasn't because of anything innocent.

"I'm fine," she said, reclining on the park bench. And it wasn't entirely a lie. The biggest direct problem in her life at the moment was sitting right next to her, hanging out with her in a park, and he was supposed to be her boyfriend—though they had never really made it official. Everyone else just assumed they were together by this point.

And she was happy—or, at least, she thought she was. But for some reason, when she woke up this morning to come and meet him at the park, she had felt nervous—nervous in a way that she hadn't been since their first date. She supposed it could have something to do with her dream last night, in which he had been a prominent star. Nothing too dirty had happened (she highly doubted that she would have been able to come and face him if that had been the case) but he had been acting differently, his smiles all sultry and eyes burning as he had embraced her, kissing her lips as he—

Okay, maybe it was a bit dirtier than she remembered, but still! He had to have those kinds of thoughts too, right? Why was she so stressed over something like that?

Maybe…it's because I want to do that with him in real life?

"You're spacing out again," she heard him say, his body heat suddenly far too close to ignore.

She turned to face him and, seeing his face only inches from hers, was once again struck with admiration at how handsome he looked up close.

And before Kagura realized what she was doing, she had planted a full-on kiss on his mouth.

As soon as their lips touched he froze, his eyes wide open as the redhead became aware of what she'd done. Yet instead of panicking as she would have thought, she merely pulled her lips away and folded her hands in her lap, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Oh, her face was on fire, to be sure, and it looked as though even he had a light tinge of pink dusted over his cheekbones, but more than anything else she was smug.

I did it! She couldn't help doing an internal victory fist-pump. Take that, butterflies! I kissed him first!

"…China?"

"Eh?"

"…What was that?"

She raised a brow. "Uh, duh? It was a kiss, stupid. I figured it was time we did it already, since it seemed like you were never gonna do it yourself."

His face remained utterly blank for a few tense seconds before—and Kagura swore eternal vengeance on him for this—he burst into uncontrollable laughter.

What the hell?! "Why the hell are you laughing, idiot sadist?!" If he were making fun of her, there would be hell to pay.

He shook his head, wiping the tears that had run from the corners of his eyes. "It's…it's just that…that's what you call a kiss?"

Oh, he was so dead. He would pay dearly for humiliating her so. "What right do you have to make fun of me when you haven't even made a move yet, huh?" She huffed, turning away from him and crossing her arms. "Maybe I should go get a new boyfriend, then, yep."

He went suddenly silent behind her, and without moving a muscle she felt him slide closer. A hand landed on her shoulder, and before she could do anything she felt his heated breath on the back of her neck.

"Listen, China…" he started, his voice low, "if you really wanted to take this to the next level, you could have just told me, you know."

She tried to ignore the sudden pounding of her heart and the goose bumps that rose on her skin in response to his words, and instead offered a quiet, "Really?"

"Sure," he confirmed. "And, if you want…we could go back to my place. I'm sure danna wouldn't notice if you were gone for a while. Today's your day off too, right?"

She nodded mindlessly, leftover images from last night's dream plaguing her as she digested the implications of Sougo's offer. Did he mean what she thought he meant, or was he just messing with her? If it were the former…well, she would be lying if she said she wasn't giving it serious consideration. They had been dating for a while, about fifteen weeks at this point, and she was well aware that other couples that had been together for shorter periods of time had already done the deed. Hell, even couples that were younger than them were doing it nowadays! Kagura knew she was a grown woman, at least in the eyes of the law and in many ways wise beyond her years—as long as she knew she wanted to do it, what was stopping her?

Nothing, she decided—the answer was nothing.

"All right," she agreed, turning to face the man behind her with what she hoped was a seductive look. "Let's go."

Going to the sadist's place to spar was one thing, but going there armed with the knowledge that she was intending to have sex with him was another. All of her previous confidence regarding the situation seemed to vanish as soon as they crossed the threshold of his home, and the journey to his bedroom was similarly harrowing.

It wasn't that she didn't want to do it, or that she was already regretting the decision before she'd even gone through with it, but a part of her, the part that housed all of her insecurities, wondered if she would not end up making a fool of herself. Would she be any good? Could the sadist have done this sort of thing with other girls, and if so, would he be comparing her to them?

There were far too many variables for her to keep track of, but Kagura planned to try her best to forget about them for the next few…hours? Minutes? How long does this sort of thing take, anyway?! She assumed that the mechanics of human sex were similar to those of the Yato, but beyond that, the young woman drew a blank due to lack of personal experience.

When they got to the bedroom, Sougo immediately flopped down on his bed, folding his arms underneath his head as he turned to glance at the girl who lingered in the doorway.

"Something wrong?" he asked lazily.

"Uh, no," she said honestly, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "It's just…do you mind if I use your shower?"

The hot water was soothing like nothing else, carrying with it the promise that even if tonight ended up being a total flop, she could at least turn to a bath in an attempt to wash away her shame—or to drown herself, if the need arose.

The redhead pulled her hair back, doing her best to rinse out Sougo's shampoo so as not to leave any unbecoming stains on his bed later—though, with the limited knowledge she had gleaned from Gin-chan's "adult entertainment," she knew that there might be other stains to worry about instead.

She was so caught up in her continuous worries that the steam and noise from the hot water was more than enough to hide the presence of the bathroom's intruder—that is, until he pulled back the curtain.

Kagura cried out in shock as the comparatively colder air hit her skin, and she crossed her arms over her chest on instinct.

"What the—? Sadist?" Sure enough, the sandy-haired man stood outside the shower, the steam transparent enough for Kagura to see that he, too, was completely naked. "What are you…"

She couldn't even finish the question, her anger at being intruded on dying along with her voice. She went slack-jawed as her eyes traced over the young man's chest, the sinewy muscles she had known he had and even seen a few times when his clothes had been torn during a fight, but which now took on a far more sensual connotation in the current context. She blushed darkly at the sight of his lower half, which apparently he felt no apprehension or shyness about putting on full display. Bringing her eyes back up to his face, Kagura flushed at his serious look, at the half-lidded eyes that for once were not darkened with bloodlust, but the regular kind.

She didn't need to be a mind reader to know that he was thinking similar things about her own body—his own betrayed those thoughts for him.

Kagura didn't protest as he stepped under the hot water with her, not even bothering to close the curtain behind him. His hand closed around one of her wrists, pulling it down and away from her chest as he towered over her. Her other hand followed suit of its own accord.

When did he get so freaking tall?!

He stared down at her, his hair now wet and gaze intense as it roamed over her face, her neck, down to her chest (she blushed at that) and past her hips before returning to linger on her lips. His free hand reached up to rest on the side of her neck, while the other slid up to her hip and gripped her there. The feeling sent a jolt through her body, and she exhaled harshly as he bent his face towards hers.

Kagura barely had time to take a breath before he kissed her, his lips insistent against hers in a way that put her earlier attempt to shame and caused her stomach to nearly burst with butterflies. She returned it with fervor, molding her mouth to his as he deepened the kiss, and parted her lips when he prodded his tongue against them. She sighed into the kiss as their tongues intertwined, moaning softly as the hand on her hip slid upwards across her stomach, leaving a tingling sensation in its wake. It then hazarded a move in the other direction, sliding around to caress her backside before Sougo delivered a harsh squeeze. Kagura jumped at the feeling, grinning stupidly against his mouth when she felt him snicker in response.

"Wondering how I'm so good at this?" he asked in a sultry voice, his mouth venturing sideways to pepper kisses along her jawbone and neck. She panted at his actions, her nerves nearly shredded by his ministrations as it was. If he continued like this…well, then she may not last five minutes.

"No," she gasped, biting her tongue as his fingertips grazed the underside of her breast. Her nails clutched at his naked back, digging into the flesh in a way that she knew he would appreciate later. "Just wondering how you still manage to act like such a bastard at a time like this."

She yelped as his mouth suddenly descended on her chest, nipping at the skin above her breasts while his right hand held one in a surprisingly gentle palm. "Oh, yeah?" he teased her, his red eyes glancing up at her mischievously. "You haven't seen anything yet, China girl."

It didn't take them long to move from the shower to the bedroom—namely, as soon as the hot water started to run cold. Kagura had the temperature cranked up so high to begin with that it had barely lasted ten minutes.

Not that she was complaining, of course, for the second her back hit Sougo's sheets she was plenty warm already. He didn't allow even a second to pass before he was hovering over her, his naked chest pressed against hers. Even if she was inexperienced, the young woman knew enough to spread her legs without being asked, allowing Sougo to get even closer to her as his hips nestled between her thighs. She had seen him put the condom on already, so she closed her eyes, silently gritting her teeth as she waited for him to enter her.

But he didn't.

Instead, much to her surprise, his body slid upwards against hers, bringing him up to her level as he resumed their previous kiss. His skin brushed against her nipples, creating a sense of friction that made her purr with want; the place between her legs ached for its own stimulation, but she was forced to make due with rubbing herself against Sougo's lower stomach for the time being. She was already incredibly wet, and she tried to show him this by pulling him closer to her and wrapping her legs even tighter around him.

He broke the kiss to snicker evilly and reseal his lips against her throat, sucking the ticklish spot behind her ear with enthusiasm that almost made her cry out. She didn't know where he got off being so cocky (pun intended), seeing as she could feel how hard he already was against her inner thigh.

He must have done this before.

She tried to ignore the little voice in her head, focusing instead on how hot she felt and how warm he was against her, and it became much easier to do so when his mouth inched down her throat and between her breasts as he had done before—only this time, he closed his lips around her nipple, his tongue playfully flicking across the hardened peak.

That was it. Whereas before Kagura had only been letting out small sounds, this time she released a deep moan in the back of her throat, along with it coming the strangled syllables of her lover's nickname.

"S-Sadist…" She clutched his hair in one hand, unsure of whether she should pull him closer or push him away. With how much she ached for him to move on, she was leaning more towards the latter.

Her discomfort was only made worse when his left hand caressed her body, journeying across the slope of her curves as it made its way to her inner thigh. Kagura stiffened against her will, her nerves a frayed mess as one of his fingers reached between her legs. She subconsciously spread her legs further as the tip of his finger traced her slit, somehow causing her to become even wetter than she already was. Kagura felt like she was on fire, as though she would spontaneously combust at any moment, and she was not in the mood to deal with any more of his games.

Before Sougo knew what had happened, the Yato had reversed their positions, flipping him over so that she hovered above him, her hands on his chest providing balance. Her sex was mere centimeters from his, and as she tried to catch her breath, he grinned devilishly up at her.

"Tired already, eh?" he teased her, his hand reaching up to tug on a piece of her hair.

"Shut up."

He used the hair in his hand to pull her back down, connecting their lips once again as Kagura shimmied into position above him. Her nails raked down his chest and abdomen, and he hissed in approval when her hips bucked against his, drawing her slit across the tip of his erection. His hands, which had moved to her hips, dug into the flesh of her sides, and she rejoiced in the fact that for once he seemed to be the one in need.

"Kagura," he said in warning as she sank down onto him, for the first time using her real name.

"Hm?"

And then, she fully sat down, taking him in entirely while the man beneath her groaned in response. She, meanwhile, also released a moan, but hers was mixed with pain just as much as pleasure. Had she sat down too fast? A tear pricked at the corner of her eye, but she wiped it away as fast as possible so he wouldn't see. She spent a moment fidgeting a bit, trying to get comfortable, but Sougo was having none of that.

Before she could protest, he had once again flipped their positions, and Kagura released a pained gasp as her back hit the mattress, the pressure inside her growing exponentially with the unexpected switch. His hands pinned her wrists to either side of her head, and her body curved upwards, as though drawn to his like a magnet.

"Sorry," he said quickly, catching her by surprise. She nodded, too breathless to respond with words.

And then he started moving.

Kagura instantly whined when he pulled out of her, the subsequent feeling of fullness as he reentered making her body tense up in shock—but not necessarily discomfort, she realized with another moan. A pleasurable feeling spread throughout her abdomen with every thrust, and he swallowed the sounds she made as their lips reconnected in the fray. Her legs wrapped around his waist, and she held onto him for dear life as he increased his pace, her hips gyrating in tandem with his own.

"S-Sougo," she rasped, her breath mingling with his.

"What's up?"

"S-Screw you."

"You already are."

She laughed at his poor attempt at humor, her nose bumping against his; just for effect, she gave it a small kiss in affection. She could have been mistaken, but she swore that he almost looked surprised.

She soon forgot that, however, as a particularly harsh thrust sent her vision careening into a mess of blinking stars. This guy's gonna kill me. "Sougo, I think I'm—"

"Me, too."

The tension in her lower belly had built up to an unbearable degree, and with a final thrust from Sougo it snapped; Kagura's ensuing moan was loud, but she barely even noticed it over the sensation of pure euphoria that washed over her, spreading from her center to the tip of her toes. Her entire body stiffened in response, shaking slightly as the waves of pleasure ran their course across her goose-fleshed skin. She felt Sougo stiffen above her as well, a throaty groan meeting her ears as he went flaccid inside her.

In the next few seconds, Kagura tried to catch her breath; she felt really, really warm, with the combined sweat from the both of them caked onto her skin in such a way that she knew her previous shower was just rendered pointless.

But she didn't care.

Sougo slid off of her and fell to the side, landing on his back on the rumpled sheets as he too tried to steady his breathing. Kagura turned to face him and curled her body inwards, wrapping an arm around his and burying her nose in his shoulder. She closed her eyes.

He smells good.

Maybe it was that she was too groggy to think things through, or perhaps she just thought that right then, in the afterglow of what they had just done, was the best time to say it, but Kagura hardly gave second consideration to what she said next.

"I love you."

When nothing but silence met her ears, Kagura started to panic a bit. Had she said it too fast? What if he thought she was weird for falling in love with him after less than four months? Or worse—what if he didn't feel the same way yet? Was it even possible for a super sadist to fall in love like a normal person?

She was snapped out of her panic by a subtle vibration. Incredulous, she opened her eyes only to see Sougo…shaking?

What the…?

She sat up, staring down at him as he—and her eyes widened at this—appeared to be laughing hysterically, though the sound was quite subdued by the hand that muffled it. It reminded her of what he had done earlier that day, though admittedly much more quiet—but despite that, in light of what had just happened, Kagura found it to be ten times as disturbing.

"What are you doing?" she asked. "Have you finally lost your mind, huh?"

He opened his eyes to stare at her, wiping away the second round of tears from that day. "Have you? 'I love you!'" He emphasized the second half of his statement with dramatic tension, and Kagura's face burned from the taunt. "I gotta hand it to you, China, that's impressive. I didn't think you'd actually go that far."

Dumbfounded, all Kagura could do was stare back at him. "I…what?"

"I'll admit it, though, you had me going there for a second earlier. I was almost fooled, you know—but I'm a sore loser, and I wasn't about to give up that easily. At least we got some kicks out of it, right?"

In the recesses of her mind, the young woman felt a pit grow in her stomach; somehow, she already knew where this was headed—but whether because she really was a masochist, or because she was in denial, she instead allowed her annoyance to take over. "I'm serious," she said. "I meant it. Why are you being such a bastard, huh?"

He raised a brow at her. "Yeah, yeah, China, you can stop playing the game now. You aren't going to break my heart. Besides, we both had a pretty good romp just now. You have my approval, pig."

Her throat constricted, but before he could see the hurt on her face Kagura turned away from him, allowing her legs to dangle off of the bed. For a moment, she was in absolute shock. She often got out of sticky situations by pretending to be an airheaded idiot, but this…this was one situation that she could clearly see through. Sougo's words implied not only that he didn't believe she really loved him, but that all of her actions towards him had been faked.

And that meant…

"So…" she started, her eyes burning. "Does that mean…that during all these past few months, you've been…" Faking it. Tears burned at the corners of her eyes, threatening to escape if a wrong word was uttered.

"Pretending?" he finished for her. There was a pregnant pause, but then he said, "Well, I'd never answer a question like that honestly, you know. I like our fights. We make good rivals, and I'd never want to ruin a good thing with danna. I only kept this going for so long because you kept prolonging it. You were acting pretty flirty lately, so I thought you were just messing with me. That's why I asked you out."

With that, Kagura's heart shattered. Before she could stop them, the tears had escaped their confines, running down her face in earnest as she tried desperately not to start sobbing in front of who she had thought was her boyfriend.

But he wasn't. He never was.

"Well, I…" She choked on her words, a sob caught in her throat. "I…wasn't."

"Wasn't what?"

"…Faking."

He paused again, seemingly digesting her words. He snickered, the sound causing metaphorical knives to wedge themselves deeper into her heart. "You can't be serious," he said, punctuated by the sound of him sitting up in bed. "You don't expect me to believe—"

A hand laid itself on her bare shoulder, and that was all it took for the Yato to snap—but not in anger. Oh, no.

This was pure, unhinged devastation.

She whipped around to face him, her tear tracks and watery eyes visible, and he stared back at her, dumbstruck by her appearance.

"Don't touch me!"

Slapping his hand away, Kagura grabbed the nearest sheet and covered herself, feeling far too vulnerable in the large bedroom. She used it to stifle her sobs, her legs weak as she struggled to find the willpower to leave.

"…China?"

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she simply said, "That was my first time, you idiot."

She waited for him to provide a noncommittal "Oh," or at least some acknowledgment of his wrongdoing—no matter how out of character it would be for him to do so—but instead, all she got was a simple:

"Huh…I didn't realize Yato cared about those kinds of things."

And that was enough to make her break down.

Kagura bolted from the room as fast as she could, mindless of Sougo's shouts as she desperately gathered her fallen clothes from the bathroom. She pulled them on as quickly as possible, not even bothering to put her hair back in its trademark buns before dashing through the hallway, making her way towards the exit.

Her purple umbrella sat near the doorway, and Kagura only stopped to grab it before throwing open the front door. Even though she heard Sougo calling her name from behind—for once not using her insulting nickname—she didn't stop to address him.

She didn't even look at him before she tore into the street, the umbrella not being used for its intended purpose as the rain soaked her clothes.

At least it would wash away his smell.

She ran all the way back to the Yorozuya, sobbing all the while, with only a few tangible thoughts keeping her company on the journey.

It was all bullshit. He doesn't love me. He doesn't even like me. It was all a lie. He's so stupid. So, so stupid.

…And so am I.

When she came home crying, Gin-chan didn't ask where she had been. It seemed, at least to her, that he instinctively knew. He didn't ask her what had happened, because Kagura thought that he probably knew that as well. He just sat with her on the couch, allowing her to cry into his lap while his hand sat comfortingly on her soaked vermillion hair, and thought:

I'm going to kill that damn brat.

I hope that wasn't too hard on anyone's hearts. If so, I apologize, and I hope the next installment makes up for it. On a side note, I'd just like to mention that if anyone's pissed off at Sougo to remember that his character is quite objectively an asshole. Don't get me wrong, I love him, but he's pretty much a complete dick to Kagura most of the time, at least in the more lighthearted moments of the show. And that's why we love this pairing, isn't it? Because their dynamic is just so much fun. That being said, he pulled a horribly dick move on Kagura-chan (even if he didn't know her feelings were genuine) in this story and despite being the author I want to make him suffer for it.

And, on the other hand, it also makes for some damn good angst. In any case, I hope you guys enjoyed this fic and appreciated it for the light comedy elements I tried to include (as well as the over-saturation of angst near the end)! And the smut of course. Never forget about the smut.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!

-Vicious Ventriloquist