Disclaimer: I do not own Gintama. It belongs to Hideaki Sorachi. I only own the plot, the ideas and the gag in this fanfiction.

Of Complications and Soap Operas

Chapter 1

Okita Sougo was excited.

His older sister had sent him a letter, saying that she was going to stay in Edo indefinitely. That meant that he had to be on his best behavior, and there would be no threatening other people to die or pointing of bazookas at anyone. So far, he had managed to keep his sadistic side in check by not randomly throwing the usual threats, and was referring to himself in the polite male pronoun, which was 'boku'. He did not want to scare his older sister with his rough ways, so he practiced as best as he could to be… polite.

This, of course, scared the whole Shinsengumi, as the first division captain didn't do 'polite'. Despite the initial shock, they knew better than to not gasp out loud when their captain did something… unusual.

Unusual, of course, ranged from saying 'thank you' to 'good morning, everyone!', something that would have shocked the uninitiated.

But they were the Shinsengumi. They were tough, and they were prepared.

And they knew better than to point out the obvious.

The only one who hadn't noticed the sudden changes in their compound was Hijikata Toushirou, who was too busy obsessing over his mayonnaise donburi. "So what's got Sougo's eye mask in a bunch?" he asked Kondo Isao during breakfast.

"Mitsuba-dono is staying indefinitely in Edo. She said she'll be arriving this week, and we're thinking of where she should stay." Because the Shinsengumi was an all-male compound, they knew that someone of Mitsuba-dono's beauty wasn't worthy of staying with them. "But Sougo said that she's fine staying with him."

And they didn't even want to start with the security risks. If someone had found out that she was Okita Sougo's older sister…

Hijikata looked surprise. "She's feeling better now?"

"Yes. She has completely recovered from her lung disease." Kondo said happily. "Amanto technology sure is amazing, huh, Toushi?"

The commander of the Shinsengumi missed the dark look on Hijikata's face. "… I'm not hungry anymore. Excuse me." The demonic vice-commander stood up, mayo-on-top rice bowl laid forgotten on the dining table. "I'm going out for a bit."

Clad in his uwagi and hakama, he made his way out of the compound, ignoring a smiling Okita (who had actually greeted him a cheerful 'good morning!' by way of practicing for his sister) and went off to wander around Edo.

This is not good.

Later that day, when Kagura had spotted a lady getting harassed by the yakuza, she had quickly rushed head-on, injuries be damned. She was a Yato, the strongest race in the universe, and the gang of yakuza was nothing but idiots who targeted ladies who were too weak to defend themselves.

Enter the female Yato, and in fifteen seconds flat, all yakuza gang members were out like a light.

"T-thank you." The dainty lady who had short, sandy brown hair smiled warmly at her. "If it wasn't for you…"

"No worries." Kagura suddenly felt conscious of what she wore, and how she acted. In hindsight, she wanted to curse at herself for not paying any attention to what anego had been teaching her about 'good manners'. Her actions were rough, her speech bordering on rude at times, but she really didn't care, since she had been surrounded by mostly men.

Right now, however, was a totally different level.

The lady in front of her reeked of grace and beauty, which was usually associated with what anego called a yamato nadeshiko.

"Anyway, uh, miss, please be careful on your way." She gave a short bow to the woman before proceeding to walk back to Yorozuya.

"Please wait!" the woman grabbed her hand. "Won't you please join me for tea?"

Kagura seriously wanted to say no and spare herself the embarrassment of making a fool out of herself, but the pleading look on the woman's eyes had told her not to refuse. "S-sure. I would… love to join you, miss." It really was a struggle to speak politely.

"Great! Let's get ourselves some dango!"

Kagura tried hard not to look surprise when the lady had taken out a spice shaker from her kimono pouch and started seasoning her dango with so much fervor that somehow, she seemed more human than some deity who had descended from the heavens.

Now that she thought about it, the lady beside her reminded her strangely of the Shinsengumi vice-captain, though his obsession was with mayonnaise.

"Thank you so much for helping me out." The woman said, taking a bite from her dango.

"Please, don't think about it too much." Kagura said politely, stuttering and stumbling over her words. "I just had… to do what I'm supposed to do." And that's to kick butt when stupid yakuza members try to scare people.

"Still, I'm very grateful." She said. "If I may ask, what's your name?"

"I'm Kagura." She said, smiling at the woman. "And you are…?"

"Call me Mitsuba, please." The lady smiled once more, and after putting down her dango stick, took both of Kagura's hands. "Nice to meet you, Kagura."

Dango stick still in her mouth, she smiled at the lady and nodded, all the while telling herself not to pull her hands away from Mitsuba's. When Mitsuba had finally let go, Kagura had to remember to use a hand to remove the stick from her mouth and not wipe her mouth with the back of her hand. She remembered the first, but failed disastrously on the second, when she had used the back of her left hand. When the female Yato found Mitsuba looking at her, she nearly wanted to die of embarrassment.

Once again, she slightly regretted the fact that she ignored the basic lady training that anego tried to instill on her.

But then again, why does she need training when she's surrounded by men who didn't give a damn whether she was picking her nose and flinging her boogers at people or she was acting like a girl?

And why was she turning into a nervous wreck over a lady whom she'll probably never see again?

Was her intuition telling her something…?

She shook her head inwardly. It was probably just her imagination…

Using the paper towels on the table beside her, she used it to wipe the dango sauce at the back of her left hand and threw it aside. "Where are you from, Micchan?" she asked, her trademark being a giver of nicknames for almost everyone she met.

Mitsuba tilted her head a bit before smiling. "Micchan, huh… I like it." She said before taking a deep breath. "I'm from Musashi Province, just south of Edo. How about you, Kagura-chan?"

"Oh, ummm… I don't know if you've heard but… I'm not from around here. I'm an Amanto." The younger girl said.

"Oh, Amanto…! I know about that. My brother has been mentioning such to me whenever I receive letters from him." She said happily, clapping her hands at the same time. "He mentioned that there's a lot of Amanto here in Edo."

Suddenly, Kagura became curious. "Is he an older brother?" she asked, wondering if the lady's sibling was normal unlike her own. When Mitsuba shook her head, she sighed, wondering if her sibling was just like her.

"Do you have an older brother, Kagura-chan?"

"Yeah… but he's… well, sorry, I-I don't want to talk about it." Thinking about Kamui just made her pissed, and she didn't want to feel that way right now. The subject was still a sensitive subject for her, and as much as possible, the female Yato didn't want to be reminded of that violent jerk.

"I understand." She nodded, glancing at the Amanto who visibly looked upset. "I'm sorry for bringing it up."

Kagura shook her head. "It's fine. Anyway, thank you for the dango, Micchan." She stood up, bowing at the older woman in respect. "I enjoyed it."

"You're welcome." Mitsuba said, bowing her head in reply. "I'll be staying here in Edo for some time. I hope we run to each other again."

Kagura nodded. "I hope to see you around too!" she said enthusiastically, glad that there was another female around who would be able to show her how to act like a lady.

"I'll be staying in the Shinsengumi compound for the meantime. I hope you can drop by!"

'… Did she just say… what I think she said…?' "Oh! The… uh, Shinsengumi compound? Where is that?" she asked, pretending not to know where it was.

She did not want to see a certain someone there right now.

Unfortunately, fate decided to be cruel to her today when Mitsuba had said, "I can show you the way."

"N-no, it's fine, really. I-I have to go and meet someone. I really hope to see you again very soon, Micchan. Bye!" before the woman could say anything, the scarlet-clad Amanto ran off to the direction of Shimura Otae's place, knowing that she needed to stay there for the meantime and think.

'Why didn't I realize that she was sadist's older sister…! What the hell am I doing?' it had been very obvious that she did resemble the sadist in some way. Heck, she was an older, female version of that stupid Shinsengumi captain, minus the sadistic streak and the deadpan stare he usually had.

She wondered if Micchan knew if her brother had a sadistic side in him, and concluded that it wasn't possible. The Shinsengumi's First Division Captain was an expert in acting like a harmless soldier, but those closest to him knew who what he truly was.

'Why did everything turn out to be this complicated?' she moaned to herself, angry at the sudden plot twist in her used-to-be boring life.

Now, everything was just like those stupid soap operas that aired on the television every evening.

As much as she liked Okita Mitsuba and wanted to be her friend, she knew she had to stay away from her for both their sakes.

Second fanfiction submitted to the OkiKagu fandom!

As you've guessed, this is an AU fic wherein Mitsuba didn't succumb to the disease.

You're probably confused, but for this fic's setting, let's assume that she did survive the lung disease she had because of Amanto technology. If I remember correctly, her sickness was tuberculosis. With modern day medicine, it is possible to treat tuberculosis at the earliest stage possible, and it is treatable until a certain time frame. I don't remember how long one should wait for the treatment, but I'll have to use my artistic license for this fic.

As much as I am a research nut when it comes to fanfics (I try to make it as believable as possible), let's all just accept that Amanto technology has brought a tuberculosis cure in Edo and with Mitsuba cured, she'll have her happy ending.

Apologies for the lack of Sougo in this chapter, but he'll have more 'screen time' in the next chapter. At most, this will have three chapters.

Thanks for reading!