It was the hottest day ever. The sun's glare seemed to follow his path as he patrolled down the streets. The air was really hot and humid; it hurt to even breathe normally. The marketplace was filled with both humans and aliens. Stinking smell of sweat, dust, and smoke was overwhelming. The Sadist had been walking around the assigned district for hours. As punishment for blowing up a good chunk of the Shinsengumi Headquarters for the nth time (probably because of the rocket launcher aimed for Hijikata, but narrowly missed) his patrolling hours extended until midnight.

"Hey, Sougo," a voice came from the walkie-talkie strapped to his belt. "It's almost noon, move your ass to the Kabuki district." Sougo groaned in response, not expecting that the person on the other line would hear. "Oi, oi. Don't you even dare complain or I'll make you commit seppuku!"

Okita grabbed the device and answered back, "My ass." Before the mayo-freak could reply, Sougo mustered up all his strength and threw it away as far as he could. He watched it fly away to the city, and then heard the sound of screeching tires followed by huge blast from where the gadget might have landed. Feeling a rush of contentment, he walked away, humming a song.

The back of his head throbbed. His breaths were short and quick. Everything was fuzzy around the edges. He was sweating all over and his legs were wobbly. All of the sudden, he couldn't breathe through his nose. His hand went up to his face and felt the warm liquid. Blood. Oh, great. He thought as he wiped the blood off with the back of his hand. Sougo desperately looked for a shade but found nothing. Every corner of the district was conquered by the sun's heat. After a few more minutes, he slumped against a wall and slid down. He sighed in defeat.

"Oro? Okita-kun?" was all he heard before his consciousness drifted to Dreamland.

The sun was scattering its rays in his eyes when Sougo woke. Unlike earlier, it was warm and comfortable because of the cooler temperature he's currently in. He found himself in an unfamiliar futon and decided to remain a little longer. The Sadist stared up the ceiling as he tried to recall the memories about how he was lead here. Getting his patrol hours to extend, groaning silently in his head and walking down the streets. Getting reprimanded by Hijikata through the walkie talkie, throwing the device away (which caused an accident), humming contentedly. Panting. Staggering. Ooozing blood. Fainting.

Where Am I?

Okita sat up and glared thoughtfully down at the kimono he was wearing. It was long, white and the edges were printed with blue swirls. This-!

He thought with more effort. Sougo didn't remember reaching the natural perm's apartment but he did remember having his uniform peeled away and then a pair of unfamiliar hands faintly wiping cold, damp cloth unto his sweltering skin. And then he did remember a pair of oblique spectacles. He looked around the room. It was tidier than he had expected it to be since Gintoki was the one living here. He chuckled at the thought of the sweet-toothed, lazy-ass, enthusiastic nose and earwax digger, silver-haired man cleaning his own apartment. There was no sight of an air conditioner but beside him was little electric fan with a bowl of ice cubes in front of it.

No wonder why the air was cool. He thought. The door slid open and a bespectacled boy wearing blue hakama stood by the entrance, carrying his folded uniform and katana. "Oh, good, you're awake." Shinpachi smiled at him cheerfully. He entered the room and put down the uniform beside the sadist.

"Hey, Shinpachi-san. How did I end up here?"

Shinpachi looked at him thoughtfully. "You fainted beside the door of the apartment. The three of us saw you and carried you in."

"And this-," The sadist pointed at the kimono he wore.

Shinpachi laughed. "Oh, that. You're uniform was too thick for the weather so I borrowed one of Gin-san's kimono for you." The younger boy noticed Sougo's disgusted face then added, "I do the Gin-san's laundry so don't worry about stray boogers."

Okita sighed in relief. Just the thought of those unsanitary beings was enough to turn his stomach upside down. Shinpachi stood up and walked out the door.

"I've prepared lunch so you can come down if you feel better." He said over his shoulder before sliding the door close.

He's one decent young man. He pondered. But he spoils his friends too much.

When he arrived at the dining table, there was, indeed, food. Shinpachi occupied one of the sitting cushions, reading a book. He only looked when Okita sat down in front him from across the table. "Eat as much as you want, Okita-san. You can take Gin-san's share since he's out for a job." He said. "And Kagura picked up Sadaharu for his walk."

The lunch Shinpachi looked, smelled and tasted good. The food was relatively ordinary but it was long time since Okita ate such a nice homemade meal. It composed mainly of deep fried tofu, hot miso soup, tamagoyaki and warm white rice. But it Okita found it hard to swallow when he felt the nostalgia it brought. It tasted like his sister's cooking.

"Thish ibs bweally gooch," Okita complimented him with his mouth full of food. Shinpachi laughed at the sound the sadist made. He looked at him and said, "Bwhat sho fbunny?"

The younger boy wiped a tear in his eye and recovered almost instantly. "Nothing. Don't mind me."

Something clicked inside Okita. The thought made him grin from ear to ear (spilling the food from his mouth in the process). Shinpachi saw his rape face (kinda) and shrunk back. The sadist swallowed the food. "Say, Shinpachi. Do you want to play?" He smiled again wantonly.

"Okita-kun, are you sure this is alright?" said Shinpachi as the sadist caressed his hair. He wore Okita's Shinsengumi uniform, his glasses were replace by reddish-brown contact lenses (thankfully, he could still see clearly), and having his hair dyed light brown by the sadist.

"It'll be alright as long as you do what I said earlier," He said in a soothing voice which terrified Shinpachi even more. "Don't worry about anything at all. They will treat you like a god."

Just how sadistic is this man?! He thought. Okita pulled back and marvelled at his work. "It's perfect! They'll never know it's you."

While Shinpachi is dressed in his uniform, Okita also changed into Shinpachi's blue hakama and dyed his hair black. They both faced the mirror and smiled.

"OOOI, SHINPACHI! IS FOOD READY?" they both jumped at the loud Chinese accent they heard outside the bedroom. Shinpachi paled and almost ran for the door but Okita held him back. "Hey, hey, calm down, Okita-kun. It's me they're calling, right?" Okita smiled at him sweetly. He knew this smile. He saw it every time he smiled at the mirror. Shinpachi exhaled, trying to get his nerves calm down. Okita walked out the door and shouted back, "Coming!"

Shinpachi listened closely at the voices downstairs.

"Oi, Shinpachi, is food ready? How's the sadist?" Kagura said.

"Food is on the table, sweetie. And Okita-kun is upstairs, getting ready to leave." The bespectacled boy could feel the feigned affection in Okita's voice.

"You sound weird, Shinpachi."

Okita chuckled nervously. "W-well, I-it's just snot clogging up my nose. I think I'll have a cold soon."

Kagura grumbled. "You better be careful, Shinpachi. The news said that today is the hottest day ever recorded!"

"Really? That's sounds...nice."

"What's so nice about the weather? Have you forgotten that we, Yato, are weak against too much heat?"

"Oh, geez, I never forget. I-"

Shinpachi thought it was time for him to cut in. He quickly ran down the stairs and flew in to kick Kagura. She immediately noticed his presence and jumped side wards to evade the attack. Shinpachi landed on the spot where Kagura was.

"Hey, Sadist. You better now? You're pretty slow today." Kagura chirped and gave him a toothy grin. Shinpachi looked at his partner in crime and raised an eyebrow, sending him an obvious, emphatic message. Really? Just how do you two fight?

Okita bit his lower lip and rolled his eyeballs. It's hell.

"Oi, why'd you stop? Do that again!"

When Shinpachi was about to reply, Okita cut in with a cheerful smile and said, "If you two fight here, I'll make you clean the bathroom with your tongue and never cook food for you again."

For a second, the formerly bespectacled youth dreaded that Kagura would sense something wrong. But Kagura pouted at his counter-part and said, "No, don't do that. I only want your food."

"Okay, now stop arguing with our guest here and go eat your food."

Shinpachi gaped at the scene. Okita actually managed to stop Kagura by bribing her with food. "How long are you going to stay here? Go back to the Headquarters. I'm sure they're looking for 'you'."

"Okita-san, what if-" The sadist delved his fingers into Shinpachi's open mouth and pinched his tongue between his middle finger and forefinger. "Sshhh..Calm down, Shin-chan. It's easy to be me. Just consult the list I wrote for you if you don't know what to do."

Feeling slightly relieved at the reminder, Shinpachi nodded.