New fic! How long it has been *

Pairing: GinxTae (did you expect anything else from me?)

Rating: T for the overall Gintama-ness

Note: Not a sequel to any of my one-shots!

Disclaimer (I always forget these!) If I owned Gintama, then I wouldn't be writing this now would I?

Enjoy and please review! ^^

EDIT: This had to be posted in but 5 min so I didn't have much time to check the spelling, it's edited now!Always wear a scarf when it's snowing, just a scarf!

Dull, grey clouds blocked any sunlight and snowflakes slowly made their way down. Already had Edo been covered in a blanket of snow, but the snow just kept coming and coming. The first day of snowfall was heaven for all children, they had snowball fights and made snow puppets. Joyful kids also celebrated the second day as they were excused from school. The twentieth day, it had become boring, and a bit too much.

The snow was now about thirty centimeter high and most citizens stayed inside and spend time with their families. Even the Red Light District was quiet at night, resulting in no work for the shops in Kabuki. Any sensible person stayed inside and kept warm.

Not that Gintoki was very sensible.

'Damn mutt.' He thought while looking at the oversized dog that was walking a few meters in front of him, "Why do I even have to walk you in this terrible weather?" He suddenly questioned out loud, making the dog look back at him with innocent-looking eyes.

He tightened his yukata around him as he felt a gust of cold wind pass him. He wondered why he had decided to just wear his normal attire, this time with two sleeves, and his red scarf to come outside. Surely it hadn't looked that cold when he was inside. Damn his two lazy employees, if he'd have a cold, they would pay.

'It must've been a trick; there's just no way I pulled the shortest straw. Again.' With that thought, he tried to kick some snow out of his way too get rid of some frustration but that just ended up with his boot being stuck. Trying to pull it out, he fell forward and landed in the snow, soaking his already slightly damp clothes even more. He spitted out some snow and looked up at the sky to see that the weather was gradually growing worse.

'I hate you author.'

Blue eyes narrowed as they looked at the cards held by two pale hands. Looking up at her opponent, she tried to read what cards he had. Said opponent just held a poker face and also looked up from his cards to meet her gaze. Some electricity sparked when their eyes met and with a monotone voice, the female spoke up.

"Card."

Her opponent, a young boy in his teens, picked up a card from the pile, neatly placed on the table, and gave it to her. The girl was in her early teens, hair bright dark orange and deep blue eyes. She wore pink pajamas and smirked as she received the card from her opponent.

He also took a card from the pile and added it to his hand. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes, glasses completing the picture of the general nerd. Kagura had to admit he was a bit geeky, but when it came to cards, Shinpachi wasn't one to be underestimated. But she found she also had some tricks up her sleeve when needed to.

"20." She proudly announced as she laid her cards down on the table, revealing a seven, nine and the four she had just drawn.

"Very good, Kagura-chan," Some light reflecting in his glasses, shielding his expression from her. She couldn't resist and plastered a grin on her face, "But not good enough." Her face fell when she saw his cards, a nine, ten and a two.

"You know, when Gin's not around, you have a fair chance of winning. But I'm not planning on losing either." He added gleefully, earning him a glare from the infuriated Yato. Luckily for him, they had decided not to kill each other on base of losing. A rule that had now saved his dear life for the third time that day.

When a car hit him, he had a broken leg.

When Kagura would hit him, there wouldn't be bones left to break.

"Don't you think it was a bit unfair of us", He questioned her, effectively stopping her from throwing out the table and blaming it for her bad luck, "I know Gin-san can play cards very well but was it really necessary to make him walk Sadaharu? How did you even make sure he would draw the shortest straw?"

He finished and she placed the table back where it was supposed to be and sat down. "It's called women's intuition."

Shinpachi refrained himself from making a comment that would surely end in pain for him and placed the cards he had saved back on the table. He looked outside and saw the sky becoming darker and the snow heavier. The Yato followed his gaze and also noticed the weather. Slight worry crept in her mind, but she quickly banned it and looked back at her opponent.

"Same game?"

"Game on!"

He pulled himself up from his snowy position and looked around for his dog. The 'mutt' was nowhere to be found and he sighed heavily. He reminded himself to ask Santa for a winter outfit, but knowing the old man, he was probably still unemployed and living in a cardboard box.

"Oi, Sadaharu!" He checked his environment from where he was sitting. An almost 5.7 foot tall dog couldn't just disappear in air, correction snow. He felt the snow slowly drenching his clothes even further and decided to walk instead of crawl, looking for a dog didn't mean you had to act like one.

"Sadaharu~!" He tried in a singsong voice, resulting in nothing. He wondered how Zura managed to keep Elizabeth at his side at all times. Even if it was an old man in a suit, she.. uuh he? The unidentified being (that's it) was always with him.

He swore he heard a 'It's not Zura! It's Katsura!' coming from somewhere, but he figured it had to be his imagination. Even Joui members didn't come out in this weather, and since they didn't, the Shinsengumi also had the privilege to keep warm during these harsh days.

Gintoki slowly followed his pet's footsteps in the snow and tried to stay upright in the high snow, failing multiple times.

'I never should've allowed Kagura-chan to teach him how to play hide-and-seek.' He rubbed his hands and blew some of his, surprisingly still hot, breath on them. He had even forgotten to bring gloves in this ungodly weather and now feverishly wished for some alcohol and a hot spring.

It had begun snowing even harder, Gin cursing loud enough to cause an avalanche. His pet's footsteps slowly disappeared making him curse even more colorful. As the wind blew the snow in his face, he faced the ground to shield his face with his perm. He was sure his hair would look lovely as in an unrecognizable blur of hair tomorrow.

"Wan!"

He looked up at the sound, narrowing his eyes to avoid any snow, and saw his now even whiter dog in front of a strangely familiar porch. He looked at the gate and had a feeling that the snow on the roof could come crashing down any moment.

He slowly went over to the dog and carefully took hold of the rope, if the dog was planning on running off again, and gave a slight pull.

"Come on." Resulting in no reaction, he pulled a bit harder, "Come on you damn mutt."

He rested all his weight on the rope to get the dog to move, but it seemed he didn't get enough weight from the sugar. Still in his awkward, perfectly 45° angle, he hung his head in defeat.

Why didn't anyone ever listen to him?

Events following up where rather a blur to him. While he was still using the rope as balance, the clearly evil dog who had surely planned this ahead, jumped forward, causing him to lose his balance, falling forward. The shock of his landing send the snow, the whole pack that was until recently resting on the roof, crashing on him, soaking him to the bone.

He sweared the dog planned even more ahead than Aizen. He sighed and stood up, inspecting his clothes.

Completely wet and ice cold.

Great.

He sat on the porch, back against the gate. The snow was still coming down hard, and it made his hair almost look white instead of it's unnatural silver.

Gintoki glared at the dog, whom was a safe distance away playing in the snow. 'At least one of us is enjoying himself.' He thought with a bit of jealousy. He closed his eyes, placed his hands behind his head and looked up at the ever so dull, grey sky, slightly shivering.

He was making a movement to stand up but was surprised when he suddenly felt the gate behind him open, making him land on his back, eyes looking up at an all too familiar face.

"Gin-san?"

Shivers went down his spine as he sneezed hard. He pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose in it.

"It's your own fault you know." She said, entering the same room as him.

Gin was currently in the Shimura dojo's living room, wrapped in a light green blanket that was far too thin for his liking. His savior, Shimura Tae, had just entered the room, a plate with a cup of hot tea on it resting in her hands. While he continued to blow his nose in the poor cloth, she sat down next to him. She handed him the cup, which he gladly accepted.

"What were you doing outside anyway?" She asked the silver head. His nose now free, he gave the dirty handkerchief a slight look of disgust before he threw it away.

"Walking the dog." Was the answer, pointing at his pet that was resting in the far right corner of the room. "I pulled the shortest straw." He added before vigorously drinking the hot tea. He found it a rather bad idea and burnt his tongue a bit. He stuck it out and fanned a bit of cool air with his hand to ease the pain.

"I see." She looked down at the plate that was still in her hands, and placed it on the table.

"But why were you on my porch?" She asked, turning to look at him.

"Dhog's let me 'round thown." He said in a rather strange way, whilst still trying to cool off his tongue. Strangely enough, the female understood what he was trying to say and nodded a bit.

"Shouldn't you get out of those wet clothes?" She questioned, noticing that he was still shivering. "You'll get a bad cold."

"I'll set up the heater, you can change in the other room." She said with a non-lethal smile. She stood up and walked over to the door but stopped as she heard the person behind her blabber something.

"D..Do you have something I could wear while my clothes dry?" He courageously asked the brunette, hoping not to be crushed into the ground.

"Shin-chan's clothes are too small." She said, placing a finger on her chin as she thought "But I think I still have something from Oto-san left." She stepped out the room and left the door open.

Gin stood up and walked over to the other room to change. He entered her bedroom and looked around a bit. A very normal, ordinary looking room. A bit like his but slightly bigger, and with less Jump around.

He took off the blanket and started to take off his yukata, careful not to place the wet clothes on the floor. Next was his shirt and he placed it together with his yukata on the blanket.

"Gin-san, I've found something for you to wear." The voice came with a slight knock on the door. He went over and pulled it open to reveal Tae standing in the doorway, a pack of dark colored clothes in her arms.

When she noticed he was shirtless, she dropped the clothes in his arms and turned around to hide her face. She had seen him like this before, but at that time he was unconscious and she was more worried about his injuries than his well-toned upper body.

Gin, obviously not getting the hint, just closed the door to change into his new-founded clothes. He further undressed himself and then changed into the Japanese styled robes.

Easier said than done.

The last time he had worn a hakama and a gi was before and during the Expulsion War, now almost five years behind them. In the end he still managed to change into the dark blue robes and put on the black haori to finish the picture.

He picked up the pack of wet clothes and stepped back into the living room. Tae was crouching beside a heater that didn't seemingly give off any heat.

"Trouble?" He asked her, giving away his presence. When she didn't answer he shifted closer to look over her shoulder and saw that the heater wasn't really doing it's job.

"Let me give it…" He started but stopped when the demonic presence filled the air. Words were not necessary as he just backed away and sat quietly at the table, not wanting to end his life before he had devoured a last parfait.

She was still vigorously working on the heater while her guest looked around to find something.

"Guess the weather is even to harsh for stalkers." He commented.

She turned at him with her fatal-smile and spoke up. "Well even if the gorilla wakes up any time soon, I think he will find it very hard to come and stalk me again."

Gintoki really felt sorry for the Shinsengumi commander and made a note to never anger her when it was this bad outside.

Somewhere in the middle of the Kabuki street, now deserted by all inhabitants or customers, laid a small black blur under a huge pile of snow.

The snow pile squeaked something that sounded like 'help'

After giving the heater a good beating, Tae went to sit next to Gin and apologized for the defect machine, the smile still not leaving her face.

He was sure the thing would never produce any heat again.

He shivered slightly and pulled the blanket on his shoulders once again. He looked at the miserable pile that were his clothes and sighed. Without the heater it would take some time for them to dry up, resulting in him being stuck here.

He looked accusingly at the table and picked up his now almost cold tea, and took a sip of it. He placed it on the table again and looked at his left, where Tae was sitting. Eager to break the silence he decided for some small talk.

"It doesn't look like we'll be going anywhere any time soon, now does it." He started, indicating that the wind and snow had still not died down.

Tae snapped out of her trance and agreed with a nod and a little shiver down her spine. Gin wondered if she was cold, the poor heather wouldn't likely work after the severe beating and he wondered if there was any other was of keeping warm here. He didn't really see anything that looked like it could make you warm.

She shivered again slightly, hiding it a bit from him. He wasn't one to be fooled and knew she was cold. He didn't really want to give up his warm blanket so he decided to take a gamble.

Offer her to share the blanket.

Option one: she would accept and both would be warm

Option two: she would beat him to a pulp for suggesting such a thing.

He'd go with option one.

He unwrapped the blanket and held it open. She looked at him with slight confusion.

"It'll be warmer if we share." He tried to keep his voice straight, not wanting to let her hear the fear hidden deep within his voice. He prepared for a blow to the head but was surprised when she stood up and sat close next to him, almost on his lap.

"It's indeed cold." She said, taking the other part of the blanket in her hand "Besides," She turned her head to look at him, "I trust you." She smiled at him. She closed the blanket around them and adjusted herself a bit. Gin thought he was dreaming and was thinking about not wanting to wake up. She actually agreed!? He tried to hide his now somewhat redder face from her and looked at the now very interesting wall.

Shinpachi's sister had never left him cold but her violence and Kondo being always everywhere stopped him from ever trying to see if it was a mutual feeling.

But her being this close and non-violent, while Kondo was a bloody pulp and his apprentices that stuck on him like glue where at home playing cards, made him feel a little warm inside. He felt his heart rate increasing and tried to get a grip, he liked her in a way a little more than friendship but he didn't know it was this serious.

He really thought his heart had stopped moving when he felt her lay her head onto his shoulder, nuzzling a bit deeper and landing with her face on his chest.

He restrained himself and looked at her face, just to lose it even more. Her eyes where closed but she was still conscious, Gin watching her every movement.

'Restrain yourself!!" He mentally screamed, he felt the urge to lean forwards and… But decided against it, he wouldn't want to betray her trust or feel her wrath.

She nuzzled even deeper as Gin started to feel uncomfortable. Her face so close and yet… He looked at her face and breathed in deeply.

Without a second thought he leaned forward and closed the space between their lips. A small, quiet kiss. He felt very warm at the moment but was sure when she was finished with him, he would become very cold. Six feet under the surface.

He mentally started his will. 'I leave all my money to… Wait I don't have any. Well I leave all my Jump to…' But didn't finish as the clearly awake Tae closed in for the kill.

He expected a stab with a kitchen knife but was also rewarded with a kiss, this one deeper than his 'stolen' one. He found himself lost and just reacted after closing his eyes. After they broke apart, no words were said.

Tae just went to sit in his lap, head resting on his chest and sighed in contentment. It was indeed warmer than before.

"Understood, I shall commence." Tama announced as she picked up a card from the pile. She, Shinpachi and Kagura where sitting at a table in Otose's snack house where she had just learned how to play with these 'cards'.

Gintoki sitting at the bar, red scarf still around his neck, drink in his hand, parfait in front off him. Otose and Catherine were attending to the non-existent customers. Catherine went over to the table to look at their little 'show-off' with cards. The samurai took another spoon of parfait and fanned the air in front off him to filter out Otose's cigarette smoke.

"I learned them how to play cards, something to keep them busy." He said with a mouthful, not earning a look from Otose, who was studying Tama. The robot was vigorously trying to learn the rules and still not understood what the whole concept was of playing cards. But she was glad to see that Tama enjoyed herself.

She looked outside the window and noted that it had begun snowing again.

"Quite a weather." She said to no one in particular.

"Where are you going?" She asked her freeloader as she saw him getting up, heading for the door, with only his scarf around his neck.

"Just somewhere." He answered, not turning around.

"Yana!" He called with a wave as he stepped out the door.

Otose inhaled some more smoke from her cigarette.

'The idiot's in love, huh?' She questioned mentally, the thought sounding more like a statement.

"China!" She yelled at the Yato, "Leave that table where it is!"

Gin stepped outside and looked up at the sky, tugging a bit at his scarf. He walked in seemingly no direction and halted when another person stood before him. A female, clad in a haori that was two times her size.

"You're only wearing a haori." He told her.

"You're only wearing a scarf, you'll get a cold idiot." The female reminded him.

He grinned.

"Wanna share?"

End! That was it! This is my longest fic yet I think! I first decided on no kiss but yeah, I just had to have fluff in here so… The idea's probably been overused but bear with me, I wrote this in a roughly two hours to practice my English and to give you another GinxTae fic! In case anyone wondered, Kagura and Shinpachi are playing Blackjack.

Some notes:

Yukata: Japanese clothing that is worn during spring and summer

Oto-san: Tae's referring to her late father

Hakama & Gi: Formal devided skirt for men and some sort of shirt thing. In Bleach they wear those things.

Haori: Some sort of coat, also worn by the Captains in Bleach.

'Yana': Later, see you 'round,…

I made references to Bleach and YGO GX (hence the 'Game On!') since I just couldn't resist! *Takes off sunglasses* Man these things are a pain! *

Hope you enjoyed and please review! ^^