I... finally finished chapter 8. orz

For miso ramen goddess, 'cause she was nice enough to tell me if the ending for this chapter was just right.

Anyway, without further ado, here's Chapter 8!

Disclaimer: I do not own Gintama. It belongs to Sorachi Hideaki.

Real

Chapter 8

"Absolutely not."

Hijikata Toushirou took a heavy puff from his cigarette as he sat outside Sougo's room. Seconds later, he ducked out of the way as he narrowly missed the katana that went through the thin opening of the sliding doors. "… And what's with that violent reaction? I thought you'd want this—"

"Hijikata, don't meddle in my affairs." Came the cold-hearted tone before the coughing fit. "China leaves by tonight."

It had been two days since he had demanded that the Amanto leave the compound. He wasn't surprised when she was still in the compound the next day and was carrying a bucket of ice cold water along with a small hand towel. He had provoked and insulted her about how she sucked at taking care of him, only to be met with stony silence. When it didn't work, he continued on with his remarks until she began to scrub his skin raw using the towel.

He had never known the feeling of getting sunburned until she scrubbed him raw and poured cold water all over him.

"And what, ask Yamazaki to take care of you? You're at a highly infectious stage now; we will not risk one guy actively helping out the townspeople recover from a simple case of flu just for you. Yours is not a simple case, and if you infect Yamazaki, you infect us all." Hijikata explained. "Why do you think China girl is here?"

"To piss me off." Came the bitter tone.

Hijikata sighed out loud, clearly exasperated at his childish reaction. "… Sougo, I suggest you take this chance to be nice—"

"—Go to hell, Hijikata—"

"—and say sorry—"

"What the hell did I do wrong anyway?!"

Hijikata smacked his forehead before he could even stop himself. Sougo was acting like a brat, and no matter how many times he told him to go left, he would go right. The older man knew it was partially because the First Division Captain hated his guts, and the other reason was that he was totally stubborn.

"… Not gonna point it out the obvious, but just so you know, sometimes, you need to swallow your pride in order for everything to work out."

"How would you know?! You're the last person I know who'll do such a thing." He said bitterly.

"… Why do you think your sister and I can manage to have a conversation lately?" at this, Hijikata stood up, dusted himself, and took another puff. "But anyway, good luck in dealing with China girl, but as I've said, I will not let her leave until you fully recover. The sooner you get better, the earlier she can leave. Help her leave by getting back on your feet."

With that, the vice commander walked off, leaving a very bewildered Okita Sougo.

Him and… aneue…? Sougo was aware of the fact that Hijikata and her have come to an understanding, but Hijikata admitting to him about their relationship status irked him, though he had to applaud the guy for saying it straight at him.

Still, his hand itched to punch the bastard.

Who the hell was he to lecture him about China?!

Hell, he could handle China all by himself. Why was Hijikata suddenly butting in in his affairs?

… He's up to something.

That afternoon, danna and the Yorozuya jimi had visited the compound.

He knew of it despite being confined in his room when he heard a squeal, and finally, a loud, "GIN-CHAN!"

Footsteps echoed on the wooden floor, and he knew it was China who was doing the running.

Sougo rolled his eyes upon hearing her scream out loud and whine about her job she was doing. Eyeglasses had spoken by then, noting that she looked like she wasn't getting enough sleep. A smack was heard, and he guessed that she had slapped eyeglasses, who was howling in pain and had dropped down to the ground with a loud thud.

Why the hell were they having their chat outside his room?

Couldn't they do it somewhere else?

The last thing he needed was hearing China whine more about him and her being a nurse.

As if hearing his silent prayer, China spoke up, saying, "I asked Gori and Mayora if we can stay in one of the rooms. They prepared snacks for us."

"Huh. Guess the tax robbers aren't that cheap ass after all. Lead the way." Footsteps gradually disappeared, and when he heard none of it anymore, he sighed in relief. It's weird, his mindset of unable to take insults from her recently. Hell, before, when they were younger, they could insult each other all day, but now…

He couldn't seem to stand getting insulted by her in front of the boss and the plain guy.

Must be the fever. I'm getting delusional.

"… Can I ask why you suddenly led us away from Souichirou-kun's room? The tax robbers aren't that generous in offering us afternoon snacks, you know."

Sakata Gintoki knew something was up when Shinpachi had pointed out the puffy eyes that Kagura was currently sporting. Years of failing to sleep properly gave Gintoki a bit of knowledge over it, and in his daughter's case, it was not just lack of sleep, but something that he couldn't put his finger on.

Kagura ignored the question and stopped by an empty corner room, slid the door open, and looked back at the two. "Get in." when they didn't, she raised an eyebrow at the silver-haired samurai. "Why aren't you two going in?"

"Why don't you answer the question first?" Shinpachi asked gently.

At this, she scratched her head in irritation. "… What makes you think it's related to him?"

"Unless you've suddenly developed an allergy to whatever-the-hell-it-is-that-they-have-here, I could've sworn you've been crying a lot." Gintoki's dead fish eyes bore into her, and almost immediately, she felt tears running down her cheeks. A broken sob escaped her lips, and she stood there, crying her heart out, not caring anymore if anyone else had heard her. In an instant, the two were alarmed at her sudden reaction.

Gintoki was the first to recover from shock. "… Okay, what the hell did that sadist do to you?!" angrily, he turned around and was on his way to march to the sadistic captain's room when Shinpachi held him back by pulling on his kimono. "Oi megane, let go, I'm gonna beat the shit out of him—"

"G-Gin-san, calm down…! The guy's sick and—"

"Then I'd better break his legs and put him into the hospital for good, that bastard—"

"G-Gin-chan, don't…" she whined, sniffling. "I-it's fine… h-he's not worth… he's not worth it."

The silver-haired samurai was placated immediately. He stopped in his tracks, turned to his daughter, and gave out a defeated sigh. "… Of all the guys you had to fall for, why did it have to be him, hmmm? Kagura?" when she shrugged, snort running down both holes of her nose, he sighed. "It just had to be the guy whose crotch you grabbed—"

"Shut up, Gin-chan!" she screamed at him as she went forward to try and literally sweep him off his feet. Gintoki, sensing her intent, ran as fast as he could, his footsteps echoing beneath the wooden flooring. "Oi, get back here, you stupid naturally-permed jerk!" with her face as red as the qipao she was wearing, the silver-haired older man tried not to laugh and tried to dodge all of her attacks.

"Kagura, that's not nice. As your special guests, you should treat Gin-san and Shinpachi-kun well." He said in-between the ducks he was doing, avoiding her kicks and punches.

"Shut up!" she screamed, stomping her feet in frustration. "S-stop teasing me…!"

"Hey, at least you feel better now, right?" at this, she looked up in surprise. "What, you think I was just teasing you for fun?"

"Obviously, Gin-chan." She frowned at him. "Thanks for cheering me up."

"No problem, crotch grabber Kagura."

A swift uppercut was immediately delivered to Gintoki's jaw.

At midnight, while everyone was sound asleep, including the guy she was taking care of, Kagura quietly made her way to the private bath that the Shinsengumi had assigned to her. The compound had four bathrooms, one of which being the public bath that all the members of the police force use. The two other bathrooms were semi-private baths that may be used by the members of the police force whose rank was captain and above, while the remaining bathroom was used exclusively by the commander. To avoid any accidental walk-ins, Kagura was assigned to a bathroom near her room for use while she was staying over at the compound. Every male in the compound was required to stay at least two meters away from her bathroom, which everyone carried out dutifully.

She was thankful for the privacy, as she had the bathroom all to herself, and because it was midnight, she could use it for as long as she wanted. Her patient had been sleeping for some hours already, and she needed a long, warm soak. She found it surprising that after following Yamazaki's advice, she was becoming weary after the long day, in contrast with the previous days wherein she was still full of energy, even after midnight.

But then again, it's only now I've started taking care of him seriously, she thought, referring to her helping her patient sit upright during mealtimes, making sure that he ate his soup and finished all of it, no excuses. He didn't look particularly happy with her staying, but Kagura knew that even she had to suck it up if she wanted more money. The faster she was done with this, the earlier she could get home and be with her family once more. Problem was, she only decided to take this job seriously and that meant an extension of a week before the tending she did would take effect.

This is your fault anyway. She told herself as she begun to undress herself in the changing room that doubled as the toilet. If only you did your job seriously from the beginning, this wouldn't have happened—

Her thoughts were interrupted when the sliding door of the bathroom slid open and she came face to face with a panting and bleary-eyed Okita Sougo.

And she just stood there, naked as the day she was born, her long vermillion hair which reached the middle of her back doing nothing at all to at least cover herself and—

Immediately, she covered her mouth to suppress the scream that was stuck in her throat and turned away from him. Hell, at least he wouldn't be able to see anything unless he looked down and—

"… What the hell are you doing here?!" he rasped before coughing violently.

"I-I was supposed to take a bath before you got in and—"

"This bathroom was supposed to be only for my use—"

Oh god, this was not going as planned. "Then I'm leaving!" she was just about to retrieve her clothes hanging on the back of the sliding door when she realized a bit too late that twirling around to face him was not the best idea. The look on his face when she turned around to face him said it all as it went from pale white to a beet red, and immediately, she covered her breasts with her arms. "Errr, turn around, will you…?!"

"… Get inside."

"Huh?"

"Use the tub. I need to use the toilet." He commanded her, pushing her by the shoulders. "Go, China."

"Fine…! You don't need to push me, you know!" she screamed before shutting the door to the bathing area loudly just to annoy him.

With her out of earshot, Okita Sougo sighed to himself, now wondering how he was going to deal with a full bladder when he half hard from what he had just seen. The last thing he expected to see in the bathroom was a naked China, and he was thankful that the yukata he was wearing right now was loose, and didn't accentuate the obvious. He wanted to take a short walk to calm himself, and at the same time to stretch his legs, as he had been bedridden for the past few days. Sighing once more, he turned to the door, slid it open, closed it, and headed for his bedroom to get his hanten [1] before beginning his walk.

Tonight wasn't that cold, but Sougo knew he shouldn't push himself too hard as he did not want to have a relapse. As much as he wanted to teach China a lesson because of her stubbornness to stay, he wanted her out as soon as possible…

… or probably not.

In truth, both logic and emotions were having a fight, with logic screaming at him to push her away while emotions wanted to use this current opportunity to keep her closer to him. Even he was surprised at how his emotions could make him act out of character, and it scared him. China, it seemed, had some power over him, and it was getting out of hand. The logical side of him was serious with pushing her away, but even he himself couldn't do such to her. Her presence may make his heart beat faster than ever, and it confused him more than ever.

What did he feel towards China anyway…?

She broke his nose, ignored him for some time, is now grudgingly taking care of him, insults him whenever she had the chance to do so and yet—

Ugh, this is not the time to be thinking about this.

Women were complicated, and that included female Amanto who confused him greatly. Thinking into it too much might force him into another relapse, and that was the last thing he needed. He wanted China to leave as soon as possible just so he would stop dreaming of her every other night, knowing that she was sleeping in the room just next to his. There hadn't been any temptations to sneak into her room and just stare at her while she slept and—

Nice job, Sougo. You're turning into a real creep.

When he started sneezing after half an hour, Sougo knew he had to get back quickly. Making his way back to the compound, he sighed in relief as he got back just in time before it started raining real hard. As he removed the footwear, he took little notice of the footsteps that were echoing behind him. What caught his attention was the blow that he got on his lower back that had sent him falling face first to the round. Before he could get up and yell at the person who had hit him, he was startled to see China, clad in light pink pajamas, looking very distressed.

"Where the hell were you?!"

"I went out for a walk—"

"You idiot! What if you started spreading your damn disease around?!" she hissed.

"Nice joke, China. I didn't see anyone—"

"Not the point. What if you got caught in the rain?!" she hopped down the gap, grabbed him by the collar and began dragging him. "If you get any sicker than this, it's gonna be my responsibility! And no, I'm not backing out of it!"

"Whatever, China." He rolled his eyes. "Just do whatever it is that you have to do and—"

"Yeah, and you'd better cooperate." She slid the door open to his room, but before she could even throw him inside, he grabbed the pajama pants she was wearing. "What now?"

"… Toilet." He mumbled. The walk had calmed down the hormones that had hit him full force, but that didn't mean the same for his bladder. "Can I at least go to the toilet?" he asked her sarcastically.

At her nod, he immediately got inside the bathroom and did his business. He was surprised when, as soon as he opened the door, she was still standing there in front of the bathroom, her hands crossed over her chest. "The hell are you doing there?"

"Making sure you're gonna go to sleep."

He ignored her and proceeded to slide open the door to his room. Just when he was about to shut the sliding doors to his room, she stepped in and closed the fusuma behind her. "Now go to bed." She said while Sougo shook his head in disbelief as he headed to where his futon was located, and when he slipped in-between the covers, his eyes nearly bulged out when the Yorozuya girl kneeled down and flipped the blanket. "China! What the fuck are you—"

"You were shivering." She said quietly. "Micchan told me that the best way to warm someone up was with body heat and—"

"No doubt she was right, 'cause kids' body temperatures are higher than adults and—"

She colored at his comment, knowing that her actions had caused her enough embarrassment for one day. "W-well, looks like you don't need my help." Kagura started getting back on her feet.

Shit, shit, shit. Sougo, what the fuck did you just do!? The opportunity was there, dumbass! Before he could lose his courage, he sat up and said the words.

"Stay."

She twirled her head back, vermillion locks flying aside. "… Huh?"

"Stay." He repeated, eyes still downcast on his blanket, dreading if it had been a good idea on his part to be so bold.

"… Okay." Slowly, she lifted the blanket and stayed by the edge of the futon, but still did not lie down next to him. His futon was quite small for two grown people, but if they laid together side by side, they could still fit in it.

"Look, are you gonna sleep or not?" came Sougo's frustrated tone. "I'm trying hard to open my eyes right now 'cause I'm so damn sleepy, but you're—"

It all happened so fast: one minute, he was ranting, and before he could scold her further for keeping him up with all of her antics, she had grabbed the collar of his yukata and gave him hard kiss on the lips. Her tongue forced his mouth open, and before he could even respond back, she pushed him aside once more, with Sougo landing on his pillow.

"Good night." She said. "And for once, shut up, sadist. Time to sleep."

And with that, Kagura snuggled under the blankets of his futon, leaving a rather speechless and now widely-awake Okita Sougo gaping at her sleeping form.

... What the fuck just happened?!

Notes:

[1] hanten - short winter coat worn by the common people. Sougo had to use it for summer because of his cold.

Thanks for reading this! I hope you guys can drop me a review and tell me what you think of it! :3