Orion – Oh deeear ): I realised it has been ages since I posted anything to this story. For clarification this is becoming just a side hobby so I'll just keep writing whenever I find muse or have an idea that comes into my head. For everyone who still comes to check if this is alive, I love you all. And for all those that reviewed, thanks a lot guys, you help motivate me so much :3 And yes.. life does tend to get busy. Which sucks big time.

Two Calls Away

"Hello…" the voice drawled lazily, stretching itself out like a fat cat on a Sunday afternoon.

"Gin-chan!" Kagura's voice fell awkwardly from her mouth and tripped over each other before snowballing into a pile that echoed despondently down the empty alleyway.

"Oh hey, what's up…" the baritone drawled in a fairly uninterested manner.

"Gin-chan, I'm lost because that stupid prick student of yours led me here and then left me, I need to get home, but I don't know how, can you-" Kagura rattled off as quickly as she can. Asking for help was never a frequent habit of hers and her pride was suffering from an immense wave of soul pains, read embarrassment.

"Yeah…" the voice cut her off and Kagura was just a fraction too late in capturing the suspiciousness behind it. After a two second pause, there was a chuckle and… "… I'm probably eating a parfait right now. Please leave a message; I'll get back to you when I start caring about humanity in general." ~Beep.

Somewhere else in a seedy snack shop, Sakata Gintoki was idly spooning the contents of his third strawberry parfait into his mouth while watching the sky darken outside. His phone abandoned on the table and Kagura's rejected call joined the other 54 missed calls and 21 new messages on his phone's display.

Gintoki heaved a deep sigh and wondered how long the principal was going to hound him about the assignments he was supposed to mark and return by last month. Swallowing the spoonful of diabetes, Gintoki straightened with resolve.

"Alright, I'll just draw the results out of a hat tonight…" he declared to himself and went back to ordering a fourth parfait before casually rejecting the 55th call.

Kagura almost snapped her phone in a mixture of irritation and mortification at being tricked. She was no better off than 15 minutes ago. The girl stood still for a moment and wondered about her options.

There is no way in hell I'm calling that prick. She decided before trekking off on her own.

Swallowing her words just a short two hundred metres later, Kagura sighed wearily before leaning against the dirty walls of backstreets while pressing her phone a bit too firmly against her head. Maybe if the radiation fried her brains before he could pick up, she wouldn't have to rely on anything at all, let alone that jerk.

"Hi China," the voice greeted her cheerfully with an undercurrent of mockery.

"Oi prick, where the hell am I?" she asked grouchily. Someone, otherwise simply termed Fate, obviously had a thing against her today, and just to spite her in a stroke of bad luck, the sky had split open, slowly drenching her while numbing her hands and feet.

"China how am I to know where you are," Okita replied sceptically, but he was smiling.

"How are you not to know where I am, you brought me here and ditched me," Kagura snapped and sniffed to keep her nose from dripping down her face. The balmy summer day had grown cold with the rain.

"I didn't lead you, your umbrella did. As for leaving, you didn't want to come with me in the first place," Okita taunted as he packed up the bento boxes calmly. "And are you crying?"

"No I'm not," she glared at the ground and sniffed again.

"You're sniffing," Okita pointed out.

"It's raining," Kagura retorted out while shaking excess liquid from her hair.

"Ah… fantastic observation skills, do you want a sticker?" Okita praised condescendingly into the phone. He could hear her bristle with annoyance on the other end as she shifted uncomfortably.

"Look prick, I'd just want my umbrella, and hopefully to bash your head if I got lucky. But really I think the umbrella is enough, so can you please just give it back so I can go home?" Kagura asked as kindly as she could, while soaking up the icy droplets like a dejected sponge.

Okita was grinning as he carefully prepared his words. He was slowly herding her options like a cat would skilfully back a mouse into a corner, leaving them trapped. "I thought you were lost, how will you go home alone?"

"I don't know ok? But I'll figure it out," Kagura replied, clear exasperation was slowly leaking into her tone. Okita picked it out like a child could pick out a red ball on a green lawn. He was definitely nearing his objective, and it was time to swoop in for the final blow.

"Let's play a game China, if you agree I'll come get you now, return your umbrella and then very kindly chauffer you home," Okita suggested and waited with a smile for his response, although that smile was anything but kind.

"…" there was a pause and a sigh, she was out of options. "Whatever, just hurry up."

Checkmate.

She was shivering too much to aim straight when Okita finally found her in the network of confusing alleys that only he can map. Kagura promised herself that she would give him the mother of all punches sometime in the future. Hopefully when he would be least expecting it, maybe some time like when he is the bathroom with his pants around his ankles.

Okita, needless to say, continued with his innovative torture by using her umbrella to shield himself from the rain and himself only. His line of argument was that she was already wet, what was the point in sharing? She responded by viciously diving at any puddle she can find, so by the time they reached their objective, Okita was almost as soaked as her. He didn't seemed to mind as much tho.

When they came to a halt, Kagura realised they had backtracked to the school. Night had fallen and the drumming rain was the only sound around them. Okita turned to her and gave her a once over. Confused by his scrutiny, Kagura stood there and glared at him; partially soaked in his school uniform, covered in splashes of mud, curtsies to her undying efforts to get even.

"Ah… Red. How daring," Okita concluded before twirling around and spraying the girl with stray droplets that flew off her umbrella.

"Red?" she intoned before looking down. Of course… her uniform had gone see-through in the rain. Her face suddenly felt hot even though the boy had long diverted his attention to walking. Self consciously she wrapped her arms around her chest before chasing after the retreating figure. "Get back here you pervert!"

"If only there was something to perv on, ironing boards really don't count," Okita deadpanned and ducked to avoid getting slapped by the flustered girl.

As Kagura followed the heartless boy deeper into the school, she couldn't help by wonder what sort of a person he really was. Was there some undiscovered gentleness in his heart that made him come back for her? Or was it just another twisted challenge of his waiting to trap her in another difficult situation? Kagura frowned, if niceness existed within that blackened soul of his, the world would probably end. That would be terrible and hence for the greater good of mankind, she decided Okita Sougo was just rotten to the very last fibre of his very last hair.

Her sodden clothes were obviously proof enough of his sadism. She was wet and cold, not to mention half blind from the sweeping rain. Anyone that can so easily turn a blind eye on a girl struggling with such elements was obviously a demon in the making. Not to mention making her walk through the streets in transparent clothing. As the knowledge of all those looks she had received from the male population of various ages on the way back to school dawned on her, Kagura clenched her fist and grounded in the conclusion. Okita was beyond saving. Nothing would ever, ever be able to exorcise those sadistic instincts from him.

Her thoughts seemed to have hit the boy in the back of his head with their intensity. For he turned around gave her a delightful smile. He was definitely enjoying this. Kagura ducked her head to restrain the furious urge to do nasty things to him. Abandoning her, then leaving her in the rain, then publically humiliating her and finally pointing it all out to her. That was a lot of psychological damage in the one go, and all he needed was the rain. He was quite masterful.

Even now he still has the upper hand. Whatever perverse game she had managed to get herself caught up in, she knew the option of quitting wasn't available. At least not yet.

"You stopped," she pointed out.

"Yes I did and you've stopped cursing me. I got worried and thought you might have drowned in a puddle," Okita feigned a small amount of care.

"Your concern is touching," Kagura replied tartly before raising a hand to shield her eyes from the pouring rain. "Well, what are playing?"

"This…" Okita gestured the building behind him.

The girl with her sodden red hair glanced pass the boy's outstretched arm and set eyes on the structure behind him. It was a crumbling building of sorts and most certainly didn't look welcoming in the slightest. Just above the chorus of the rain, Kagura could hear the eerie creaks and groans of the building's straining foundation.

Squinting hard enough, she could see the base of a normal looking school building, but as her eyes travelled upwards, the smooth work of concrete walls peeled away in places to reveal the skeletal framework of the abandoned construction. By the top floor there was nothing standing except the heavy set wooden beams reaching out like large gnarled fingers into the night. Another portion was piled with rubble which Kagura guess happened when the roof collapsed. The whole place was fenced off with "keep off" tape and simply stood as a real life metaphor for the word danger.

Despite the voice in her head that protested No, no, no don't do it!Kagura gave him a hard stare and with a toss of her head that recovered a quarter of her dignity, the girl replied defiantly much like Okita had anticipated. "Whatever," She strolled forward, flicking rain and hair out of her face.

"Wait." Okita cautioned and reflexively his hand shot out and captured Kagura's cold wrist. The girl flinched at the sudden warmness and turned to glare at him. "First to the top," he decided on the simple rule. "By the way, the building is said to be haunted when a girl fell down the stairs on the third floor stairwell,"

"What are you trying…" Kagura narrowed her eyes as the wind snatched away her words. Her heart was beating frantically at the sudden warmth but at the same time, a feeling of dread weighed her down. She hated the supernatural more than anything. Before she can restructure the broken sentence, Okita had let go of her hand.

As he sprinted away, his words found her in an awkwardly comforting but mocking manner.

"If you need me, you know I'm just two calls away."

Orion – originally... there was supposed to be more. But I decided to put their great adventure through an abandoned building into the next chapter. ~ not much fluff today. Just more banter. On a side note, I fail at proofreading. If you pick up any embarrassing mistakes or inconsistencies please let me know.

Happy early Easter and hopefully I'll see you all soon. And yes, I'm a sloth, I'll start answering reviews soon. I do read them tho and they are great. (: I love hearing from you guys.