Summary: Takasugi and the Kihetai split up to avoid getting caught by the Shinsengumi. Gintoki just happens to be there and helps out Takasugi. It's serious in the beginning but there is a fluffy scene for GinTaka. There's a hint of GinHiji also. Takasugi centric.

Disclaimer: Well obviously I don't own Gintama, if I did there would be fanservice and actual yaoi pairings.

Men screamed war cries everywhere. The scene unfolding already quickly becoming a bloody battlefield. Swords clashed and screeched as if it begged to be sliced into flesh. From amidst the battle only one man, a samurai, fought in the center, his purple kimono wavering as he cut down every uniformed samurai. His right eye screamed in the delight of bloodshed and screamed for more. He laughed as if cutting down people were nothing more than breathing. Covered in blood, the purple kimono launched at the larger mass of samurai, cutting them all down with one swift swing of his sword.

A distance away, if one paid attention, there was another person…no, samurai, wearing a brightly colored white kimono. The man clad in white charged into the mass of the samurai and straight towards the one covered in purple. Their eyes met and a fierce glare towards the other samurai was shot as they both sliced the rest of the officers down.

"Oi, Gintoki,"

"I know already, I just didn't want people getting in my way,"

"As always, never wanting people getting in your way," the man clad in purple sighed.

"Takasugi, sorry, but this is the last battle you'll ever fight, and just letting you know, I'll be the one to cut you down,"

"Gintoki, don't talk serious like that, it doesn't suit you. You should have gone back to enjoying this pathetic world with your loser buddies. Because, when we're through here, I'm going to finally destroy this world,"

"Oi, oi, now, that's not happening in this city, not my city,"

"So what? Are we going to keep talking? You never were really the talker, Gintoki. I learned from you, forget about the other person and cut him down without giving him the chance to talk, right?"

"Yeah, I used to be like that…towards Amanto, besides, it was more like a different personality took over my body, Shiroyasha," Takasugi flinched as he remembered the demonic man Gintoki used to be.

"So now what? You're going to tell me you can't fight me because you lost that part of you?"

"No, I'm going to tell you…that I'll be the one to kill you!" Gintoki yelled as he dropped the wooden sword he had been using and unsheathed another sword, quickly swinging it at Takasugi.

"Now here's the good part. Gintoki! Show me him, show me Shiroyasha!" Takasugi parried Gintoki's attack and counter-attacked, swinging his blade upwards quickly.

Gintoki dodged and Takasugi stilled, both started moving in a circle. Takasugi launched forward with a battle cry, and swung his sword up, clashing with Gintoki's sword. The force of the attack created little gusts of wind to swirl around them.

"Not bad Gintoki, though I have to say, you've gotten weaker,"

"No, just rusty," Gintoki snapped back as he kicked Takasugi in the shin, he could see Takasugi bite his lip to keep from not showing pain.

Gintoki shoved Takasugi forward and used Takasugi's slow reaction as a chance to attack. However, Takasugi seen this coming and was able to avoid getting badly damaged. They kept exchanging blow after blow after blow, if any of the soldiers that were dead were able to see this battle, they'd be truly amazed at the skill of both men.

At first neither Gintoki or Takasugi showed signs of an advantage of winning, they were both getting exhausted but they never wavered. At least not Gintoki. Takasugi noted after watching Gintoki take a deep breath, his dull, dead-fish eyes, turned crimson red, and he seemed to emanate a fierce, terrifying power. Takasugi felt himself laughing uncontrollably, as his eye turned a dangerous green color, and his mouth twisted in a sadistic smile.

"Gintoki, look at yourself, calling upon Shiroyasha so soon,"

Takasugi didn't get an answer as Gintoki hissed and charged towards him with much faster speed. Takasugi was able to block the blow with his sword, but he could feel his blade scream in pain, as their blades screeched and trembled.

"I guess no use talking to a demon,"

Their battle became more fierce. Every time Takasugi was able to cut Gintoki, Gintoki used that chance to equally attack Takasugi. Gintoki couldn't have been bothered with what his kimono looked like or how much blood he was bleeding. All there was to it, was killing the other man, that was what he wanted, and that was what Shiroyasha was going to do. Takasugi noticed the change in the other's position and copied his position, realizing the battle was going to become more serious. Gintoki's speed was even faster than before, surpassing those limits of a human, but this was the reason why he was called Shiroyasha, he was a demon, a real demon. Gintoki's attacks became even more powerful and he was able to push Takasugi back with every hit. Takasugi struggled to even block Gintoki, the force of impact against their swords sent little shock waves up his arms. His breathing became ragged and his arms trembled.

"Oi, Gintoki, I guess you're right, this probably is my last battle. Hehe, and I'm glad it's you, I wouldn't want those two stupid idiots being able to overpower me and kill me. That'll be a ruin to my reputation I've built, unlike you, all Amanto has feared the Shiroyasha. It'll only make sense that I was able to be killed by him," Takasugi's voice cracked, and he cursed slightly as his voice betrayed him.

Takasugi's confession went unnoticed as Gintoki charged again, the force drove both men against a wall. Takasugi squeezed his eye shut as he felt the blade being pressed into his neck. He gave up. Gintoki had the advantage, not only was there a sword to neck, but Gintoki was able to pry Takasugi's sword out of his hand and tossed it onto the ground. His breath hitched and tensed under the feeling of a sweaty forehead against his own. He opened his eye and seen Gintoki, breathing raggedly, his eyes closed. Being unable to tell if it was still Gintoki or Shiroyasha, he had decided on staying quiet, for once. A hand was brought up to his shoulder, but Takasugi didn't shake it off. He felt the blade on his neck retreat and heard it being stabbed into the wall. Takasugi opened his eye again, and was still unable to read Gintoki's actions.

"Takasugi, I'm sorry. I don't think I can keep that promise. I know I'm supposed to kill the next time we met, but I can't, at least not right now," Gintoki took a deep breath and continued, "I can't kill you yet, Takasugi. The Amanto are still here, they're still here taking over, they're still in control. I won't kill you until the Amanto are gone, believe it or not, I still think of you as a comrade. But don't worry, after they're dead and gone for good, I'll be the one…I'll kill you," Gintoki's eyes fluttered open, and Takasugi finally noticed how close they were and felt his cheeks heat up.

However, once he looked into Gintoki's eyes, he saw how they swirled around; pity, worry, fear, and something else he couldn't quite place, he felt his fist curl up into a ball and uncurl. He didn't want to be pitied or worried about. He could take care of himself pretty damn well. He didn't need an idiot to worry over him. Takasugi shut his eye and continued to stay quiet. He flinched at the touch of a soft, warm hand on his face, and he quickly shot open his eye. Again, there was that unidentifiable emotion in Gintoki's eyes, but yet, he couldn't bring himself to move away from the touch but neither did he want to lean into his touch.

Then he saw Gintoki do something Takasugi never imagined in a million of years, he seen Gintoki smile warmly than he had ever seen before. All during the war, he saw Gintoki smile, laugh, and become angry, but he never saw him smile like this. His smile felt like it was able to radiate heat, and he felt a awkward twist and lurch in his stomach. Takasugi felt his cheeks turn all shades of red and squeezed his eye shut. Gintoki chuckled softly and Takasugi felt he might as well die from embarrassment than anything else. He felt how close they stood next to each other and how intimate they looked. He felt Gintoki's warm breath on his face and noted how fast his own heartbeat throbbed.

Takasugi felt another lurch in his stomach, but this time it was sore and he felt himself frown. He couldn't understand why he felt this way. He couldn't understand the meaning of why his heart beat so fast. He didn't understand why he wanted to cry so badly and throw himself into Gintoki's arms. He couldn't understand why he didn't want this moment to end.

The hand on his shoulder went to caress the other side of his face and he felt a pair of soft lips ghost over his forehead, but he didn't dare open his eye, not yet, not until this hidden feeling was gone. A shout was heard and Takasugi had to open his eye. Gintoki was gone. He wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad, but he didn't have time to think, an army of the Shinsengumi appeared, and sadly so did their vice-commander. He shouted orders and his men charged towards Takasugi. He was grateful for the amount of rest he was able to gain while…Gintoki was here. Takasugi surged forward, killing all men that stood in his way, reaching the vice-commander quicker than Hijikata was able to react, much less his soldiers.

"Listen, for now, I'll lay low. I won't cause damage, unless the Amanto are involved. See, I made a promise with a comrade a long time ago during the war. He said, that the four of us are comrades 'til the Amanto are driven from our land forever. And I'm going to keep that promise," Takasugi confessed, sheathing his sword. "And I take it, that it'll be nice of you, to not give a damn about us. Unlike you, we want the Amanto out, not only did they cause the death of a person we all hold dearly, but they took away our freedom, and it's not only the Kihetai, or the Kaientai, or the Joishishi, but also the fabled Shiroyasha's freedom. And the four of us is taking it back, whether you want to still be a pathetic pawn to the Amanto or not,"

Hijikata could only stare and listen to what Takasugi had just said. Processing this information took a lot of time and consideration, and before he knew it, Takasugi was gone already.

"Vice-commander! Vice-commander! Your orders. Should we chase after him? After all, he is wanted man," the group of soldiers all asked at once.

"No, we're retreating for now. Pretend nothing happened here. We got here too late, the man who killed our men escaped. And if you disobey my orders and say we let him escape, it'll be seppuku for you, got it?"

"Y-yes sir!"

"Call in for Kondo and tell him to bring an ambulance, a lot of ambulances, and tell him we have an unknown number of casualties and that I need Yamazaki to take a death count," Hijikata ordered his men, pulling out a cigarette and taking a long drag from it.

"Shiroyasha...I bet I know who you are,"

A man sat unnoticed on a roof of a nearby building, watching the man in purple and seeing how he walked away from a chance on killing the vice-commander of the feared Shinsengumi. He watched as the vice-commander took the wanted man's words to heart, understanding what the man in purple meant, and ordered his men to retreat, and to pretend as if nothing had happened here. Pretend they came too late and the wanted man was long gone already. He watched as the vice-commander took a cigarette out and placed it in his mouth, lighting it up and taking a long drag from it, exhaling smoke. He saw the man mumble a words he didn't hear and couldn't read, and the man watching chuckled. Standing up, he looked towards where the man in purple was running and couldn't help but smile, and the man who watched it all took his leave too.

~Omake~

*this is the scene during when Gintoki had Takasugi against the wall and was talking to him. Btw, Hijikata can only see the back of Gintoki, so he doesn't really see who's in back of him*

'What the hell is the stupid-silver-permed-good-for-nothing-bastard here? Is that another person in front of him? Wait is that our wanted man? Yeah, it matches, a purple kimono with gold designs. That god damn bastard. Why is he talking to him and how does he know him? And why does he look way too close to him?' Hijikata thought angrily.

"Vice-commander! Is everything alright?" a random Shinsengumi member asked.

"Commit seppuku right now!" Hijikata growled.

"W-what?"

'Oh, so that was Takasugi. When I find that bastard, I'll make sure I beat the crap out of him,' Hijikata thought looking back to where he saw Gintoki, where now only Takasugi stood.

"Didn't I say commit seppuku? Well, hurry up, now, die now!" Hijikata yelled at the his men, evil aura emanating from him.

Well so how was this little pathetic piece of writing that I can call a story. So it's my first one, and it'll be nice for R&R, but I don't force it. I'm thinking of actually writing a GinHiji, but I haven't gotten an urge to do so yet.