Stepping inside the boundaries of his old home, Okita Sougo felt nostalgia wash over him like a tsunami. Everything had been in the same place as he left it years ago, albeit dusty and some furniture gone. Turning his head to the right, he saw his old shoe rack—empty of its usual contents—and brushed his hand over the top, leaving his hand dusty.

He let out a heavy sigh as he proceeded on removing his shoes and entering his apartment unit where he used to go home to during his student years in town. Paying no mind to the dirty wooden floor, he took a peek at his old kitchen, now void of any appliances. His mind recalled where his stove used to be and the silverware that was once placed beside the sink, now empty with a few dust bunnies floating around. He walked over to the table and noticed that one side of it was cleaner than the other, thinking that Yamazaki might have eaten there not too long ago. The lone chair was also clean, indicating that indeed it was used a few days prior.

He had asked Yamazaki to look after this home once in a while after he left the country to go off in his Wandering Samurai scheme, also known as travelling-around-the-world-to-escape-from-that-girl plan.

Leaving the kitchen, he went straight towards his old room across. As expected, it was as empty as the day it was built. The one thing that was inside the room was the dart board with a picture of Hijikata pierced with a slowly-rusting dart. He removed the dart and took Hijikata's picture, noticing the many tiny holes around the picture. He smirked as he remembered the days he used it as his target practice.

His ears picked up a sound coming from the entrance door. A few seconds later, the knob was turned and in came his former classmate, Yamazaki Sagaru. The plain-looking guy beamed at the sight of his old companion and went near him. "It has been a while, Okita-taichou," Yamazaki greeted with a sincere smile. The former spy still hadn't dropped the name he used to call Okita in their high school years.

Okita Sougo merely nodded as a sign of greeting, recalling the days he had tortured the jimi for fun. His lips turned up into a sadistic smile. Noticing the sadistic grin on his former captain's face—and the picture of Hijikata in his hands—Yamazaki deduced that he still hadn't changed and his sadism was still present in his personality, despite the seven years that passed. With a weak smile, Yamazaki said, "Okita-taichou, why don't we have a tour around town? It had been years since you were last here. A lot of things had changed over the past years."

"Really now," Okita was still a man of few words around the people he was not that close with. Gesturing, he made a move towards the entrance of the apartment, waiting for Yamazaki. The jimi followed suit, and watched as Okita locked the apartment and both went out to the streets, ready for the tour.

"How's Kondo-san and the others from our school?" he asked, eager on hearing news about his former Disciplinary Committee president and the other members. The two walked side-by-side, with Okita staring far ahead.

"Kondo-san has three kids now," Yamazaki told him with a cheery smile. "Quite handful brats, if I do say so myself," he added as an afterthought.

"Three? Kondo-san must have been very pleased," the sadist prince said, imagining the gorilla-man laughing wholeheartedly with his family. "Though I'm still wondering how the hell did Nee-san give in and married him."

"Kondo-san is a pretty pursuing man… and behind his obsessive and stalking issues, he is a pretty decent man," Yamazaki explained to his sandy-haired friend.

"Well as long as he's happy with that violent woman…" Okita trailed off, noticing the new establishments they passed by as they conversed. Indeed, just as Zaki said, a lot of things had changed in just a span of seven years.

"Is Gintama High still there?" Okita asked as he stared at the path leading to their former high school.

Yamazaki nodded. "It's still there. In fact, Seita-kun is now studying there," he said.

"He's graduating this year, isn't he?" Okita said.

The plain guy nodded once more. "It makes me feel like I really am getting old," he said with a hearty laugh as he scratched the back of his head. "Oh yeah, Tsukuyo-sensei and Danna also got married two years ago, finally. They had a baby boy last year."

"Danna settling down with Tsukuyo-sensei is not surprising. Although I thought they would have gotten together years ago," Okita said, remembering their silver-haired lazy ass science teacher and the blonde health class teacher.

"Well, both were in-denial of their feelings for years…"

"How about you, Zaki?" Okita questioned suddenly, "Got a girlfriend yet?"

Immediately, Yamazaki's cheeks flushed a deep shade of red. He was more than a little nervous as he shifted around, trying to find the right words to speak.

"I'm guessing you finally hit it off with Tama," Okita said with a teasing smirk, sadism still present in his wine-red eyes.

Yamazaki stopped fidgeting around and meekly nodded his head once.

"Heh. Congratulations. Thirty-year-old Zaki finally gets himself a girlfriend for the first time ever," he said, disguising his insult in a deadpanned tone, and giving him a thumbs-up with a look far from praising him.

"Please don't say it like that," Yamazaki mumbled quietly, suddenly feeling disappointed at himself for being a thirty-year-old virgin. Oh well, at least he was not alone—he thought as an image of Shimura Shinpachi flashed in his mind. Speaking of men in their thirties… Okita Sougo was one.

"At least I'm not a virgin," Okita told him as if he had read Yamazaki's mind. "I consider myself as a bachelor," he bragged behind his usual emotionless face.

Yamazaki opened his mouth to mention that girl when he decided against it and just tried to change the topic. "A-Anyway, Hijikata-fukuchou is now a policeman. No surprise there."

"… I know. Aneue talked about him a lot of times in her e-mails," Okita said, ignoring the awkwardness of the topic.

Yamazaki just forced a laugh since he knew that Hijikata and Mitsuba's marriage was still a sensitive topic to the sadistic brother. However, the jimi felt that somewhere along the way, his captain had accepted their relationship and although still in-denial, was a little happy for the two of them, especially his sister. "Anyway, aren't you hungry? Why don't we grab a bite? I know of a place where they serve good food. You remember Nishiki Ikumatsu? She has finally inherited her father's ramen restaurant!"

"Ikumatsu?" Sougo thought that he heard that name somewhere before.

"You don't remember her? She's the feisty senior who can tame the rebellious Kats—" Yamazaki suddenly stopped as he noticed a certain vermillion-haired child standing not too far away from them, staring at the candies in a store with an obvious drool in his mouth.

Okita raised a brow at his companion's strange behavior. He gazed at where Yamazaki was staring at and his eyes widened slightly at the sight of a very familiar blue-eyed monster.

00ooo00ooo00

A little boy around the age of five stared innocently back at the two grown men standing a few feet away from him. He instantly recognized the one on the right, as he had met with the plain-looking man several times before. The one with him, however, was a complete stranger.

"H-Hi there, Kenichi!" Yamazaki greeted half-heartedly. The last thing he needed right now was to explain to his captain who the kid was and how he knew him. Of all the people they could bump into today, it had to be him. "W-Well we better go now since we're in a hurry!" he said hastily and tried to walk past him, hoping that Okita would follow behind.

"Jimi," the kid called as Yamazaki was in parallel to him. Yamazaki turned to the vermillion-haired boy with a forced smile, his plan of escaping the awkward situation ruined. The young boy pointed towards the candy store. "Buy me Sukonbu," he ordered the grown man rather rudely.

"U-Uhm, Kenichi… I still have something I have to do so…" Yamazaki stopped as he saw the glaring blue eyes of the younger boy. He looked back at Okita and saw that the sadist prince was thinking of something deep. His gaze fell back on the kid and he sighed in defeat. "F-Fine."

Yamazaki bought Kenichi several boxes of Sukonbu, just as the spoiled brat ordered him to do. Hoping that the kid would leave him alone after that, he yanked the sandy-haired boy and gestured for them to leave as soon as possible.

After just a few steps away from Kenichi and the candy store, the young boy called him again. "Jimi! Thanks for the Sukonbu!" he told him before running off the opposite direction.

Yamazaki smiled weakly in return and proceeded on walking fast away from the little terror, fearing that the kid would follow them.

A small ray of hope told Yamazaki that Okita-taichou wouldn't ask about the kid, but knew that he was clinging into false hope. He wanted to avoid about that topic as much as possible that's why he didn't mention that girl.

"The Sukonbu was a dead giveaway, Zaki," Okita told him as soon as they were out of the kid's earshot.

Yamazaki's head lowered as he let out a deep sigh of defeat. "I just figured that maybe she can tell it to you herself," he said.

"I…" Okita stopped, realizing he didn't know what he should say. He inhaled after thinking of something. "Let's just go to that ramen restaurant you told me about," he changed the topic and went ahead of Yamazaki.

Yamazaki walked faster to catch up to him and led him the way to Ikumatsu's ramen shop, a little glad that his captain didn't press the matter.

Upon arriving at the place named Hokutoshinken Ramen (1), Okita Sougo was instantly greeted by a dreadfully familiar face. The silky long black hair and idiotically serious expression didn't change a bit. "Katsura," Okita spoke of the other man's name upon recalling their cat-and-mouse days in Gintama High.

"Shinsengumi," the word fell out of Katsura's mouth, making Sougo remember the way the Disciplinary Committee used to address themselves. "So you're back," Katsura added as he gestured the two of them into an empty table.

"I'm surprised you're still not a terrorist," Okita said casually as he and Yamazaki sat down on the table where Katsura led them to. He observed the place and saw that it barely had any customers despite the delicious smell of ramen wafting through the place. "And I'm even more surprised that you're a waiter here."

"I co-own this place," Katsura told him, and Okita gaped in surprise.

"Okita-taichou," Yamazaki began, looking back at Katsura and Sougo nervously, "Katsura and Ikumatsu are married, and they are expecting a baby soon."

Katsura grinned, proud of himself. "Yes, that is true."

"… Okay." Frankly, Sougo didn't expect that he would meet Katsura Kotarou first than Kondo-san and Hijikata-san. And he also didn't expect—or thought of—him getting married to someone and owning a fairly decent ramen shop instead of joining factions opposing the government. "What else should I expect? Megane married to that popstar?" he asked sarcastically.

Yamazaki shook his head. "Reality hasn't been twisted that way yet."

Katsura cleared his throat, gaining the two's attention again. He asked them of their orders, and after taking them, he disappeared inside the counter of the shop, where his wife was probably cooking.

While waiting for their orders, Yamazaki awkwardly played with the glass of water that Katsura brought them earlier. He was expecting his captain to ask about China-girl sometime soon, and he knew he wouldn't be able to escape. He prepared himself for the questions he would have to answer. Surprisingly though, taichou still hadn't uttered a word about her, or the kid they met earlier.

As Okita opened his mouth to speak, Yamazaki gulped nervously, anticipating the worst. "So that kid's China's son, huh? And to think she named it based on my seiyuu (2),"he commented rather impassively. Which made Yamazaki think that the sadist was trying to hide what he was really feeling deep inside.

"U-Uh y-yeah…" cold sweat ran down jimi's back, foreseeing the next question that would most likely roll off Okita's mouth.

"Who is…"

Yamazaki wanted to bang his head on the wall to knock himself out, just to escape from Okita-taichou's question.

"… the fath—"

"Order up!" a woman's voice boomed behind Yamazaki as four-months-pregnant Ikumatsu appeared with Okita's order in hand. The woman grinned knowingly at the two of them before placing the bowl of ultra-hot spicy ramen on the table. "Since you're a good friend of my idiot husband, today's lunch is on the house. Zaki," she turned to Yamazaki with a smirk, "We need an extra hand. Mind if you help us at the kitchen?"

That time, Yamazaki wanted to kiss Ikumatsu's feet as gratitude for saving his life. He could almost see the woman sparkling. He nodded without a second thought and muttered a small apology to his companion. The two went back to the kitchen, leaving the sandy-haired sadist alone in the table.

"Sneaky," Okita mumbled as he began eating the bowl of ramen in front of him. "Why's he so eager in avoiding the question anyway?" he asked himself as he continued on eating. This made him more curious on who the father was. He tried to remember the face of the child again, and racked his brain for anything that would give him a clue on the possible father. To no avail, the child looked completely like his mother.

The girl with vermillion-colored hair and innocent oceanic blue eyes appeared in his mind. His lips curved into a nostalgic smile.

After he was done eating, he dropped his chopsticks on the side, pushed his chair back as he stood up, and bid a quick farewell to the three people inside the kitchen, whom he knew were closely watching him.

"Did he ask any more questions?" Ikumatsu asked Yamazaki, who was peeking through the corner of the wall with her, as soon as Okita was out of the shop.

Yamazaki shook his head and heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank you again for saving me from his prying questions, Ikumatsu-san," he offered a smile of appreciation towards the flaxen-haired woman.

Ikumatsu crossed her arms over her chest and smiled meaningfully. "It's nothing. After all, it is pretty awkward getting in between those two's business. Especially now that he knew his rival has a son."

"If he wants to know more about Leader and mini-Leader, then he should ask her directly. That is the way of a samurai," said Katsura, who was standing on another corner of the room, looking as if he was the wisest man on the world.

"What does being a samurai have to do with this?" Ikumatsu rolled her eyes and placed a hand on her hip. "You're always spouting nonsense," she clicked her tongue and walked towards the table where Okita sat a few minutes ago. She pulled out a wash cloth and cleaned the table.

"I wasn't spouting nonsense," Katsura told himself with a reassured nod, "But if that's how you see it Ikumatsu-dono, then so be it."

Yamazaki laughed quietly as he watched the two lovebirds' quarrel. The two of them looked as if they were an old married couple already. Oh wait. They are. "W-Well," Yamazaki stuttered as he walked towards the entrance of Hokutoshinken. "I better go. I was planning on touring Okita-taichou around some more but because of circumstances, I guess I should be heading home."

Just as Yamazaki was about to slide the door open, Ikumatsu's hand shot out and prevented the door from moving. Yamazaki gawked curiously at Ikumatsu, seeing the older woman's menacing grin. "And who said I'll let you off that easily?" she grabbed Yamazaki's shoulder with her free hand and patted it, "I didn't save you earlier for free, you know."

"E-Eh?" The plain-looking man paled as Katsura walked towards him with Hokutoshinken's uniform in hand.

"You will be helping us in the shop today, just as Ikumatsu-dono said before," Katsura said as he dropped the uniform on Zaki's head.

"Hurry up and wear it. Lunch rush is about to start~" Ikumatsu singsong-ed as she disappeared back into the kitchen again.

Feeling deceived and ashamed of himself, Yamazaki dropped on the ground in fours; Katsura watching him with his default expression.

"Free labor is always the best," Katsura told him with a slight nod of his head.

00ooo00ooo00

Okita strolled around town thoughtlessly. A few familiar streets here and there, and a couple of new shops and establishments across the street; it felt as though he was a foreigner lost in a strange land. But alas, this was not the case. He was simply a grown man who happened to return back to his old hometown, where he spent most of the years of his life. Therefore, he couldn't stop the good and bad memories from his past to appear in his mind.

His feet halted as soon as he was in parallel to a rather familiar street that leads to a certain person's house. He contemplated on taking a turn, remembering how Yamazaki nervously avoided telling him about China's husband. Perhaps he knew the person she married? Maybe that's why Yamazaki didn't want to tell him who the guy was. And maybe, he also didn't want to find out who the father was.

Making up his mind, Okita turned away from the street and proceeded on walking straight ahead.

"You were just about to take a turn here, weren't you?" a young boy's voice broke his train of thoughts... and his growing avoidance of the matter. Okita wasn't surprised to see Kenichi staring at him with his big blue prying eyes, a piece of sukonbu dangling from his mouth.

"No," he responded and began walking away.

Kenichi's head turned right, staring far ahead at the street where his house was located. He turned his head back at the walking man, feeling quite wary of him. The sandy-haired man knew Yamazaki, who happened to be his Mami's former classmate—that idea fuelled his doubts more. "Hey!"

Okita didn't even look at him and continued on walking away from the little man.

The vermillion-haired boy visibly pouted at the way the older man ignored him. He wanted respect, despite being only five years old. His Mami taught him to punish imbeciles who do not even acknowledge him (he did not know what imbecile means, he obeyed his mother's advice nevertheless). He quickly paced towards the older man and gave him a swift kick in the back of his knees.

Sougo flinched at the strength of the child. Clearly, the child had inherited his mother's monstrous strength. "Honestly," he thought with irritation, "he's a carbon copy of his mother!" He turned around and glared at Kenichi who was looking at him smugly. Another trait in which Okita could prove the blood relation of the child to the female glutton

"Glad you're finally acknowledging my greatness," Kenichi said, his head held up high and his arms crossed over his chest. He loudly laughed in victory afterwards.

"You act like an old man, kid," Sougo said as he took in Kenichi's expression—which greatly reminded him of his mother's smug appearance. "I see you really are China's son. No doubt there. Violence is always her answer."

Kenichi's laugh promptly stopped and he gaped at Okita with wide eyes. "I was right. You do know Mami!" He eyed Okita fiercely. "What is your relationship with her? Answer me truthfully or I'll kill you."

The frequent abrupt changes on his expression somewhat reminded Sougo of Shimura Shinpachi and China combined. Okita smirked evilly at the young man. "Sorry kid. My special relationship with your mother is none of your business," he said sadistically, not caring whether he would come out as 'Home-wrecker' in the child's eyes.

Kenichi rolled his eyes, not believing what Sougo said. "My Mami will never cheat on Papi, even if her life's on the line. She is not capable of such impotence," he said with oozing confidence.

"Are you sure you're not an old man disguised as a five-year-old brat?" questioned Sougo while squatting down to Kenichi's level.

"Are you an idiot? Of course I'm not an old man! How can I be an old man?" shouted Kenichi angrily. He then smiled conceitedly. "You could say I'm a child prodigy instead."

"Child porridge?"

"No, prodigy."

"Prodigal son?"

Kenichi stomped his foot as he finally snapped. "Child pro-di-gy! What is wrong with you?! You did that on purpose to annoy me, didn't you?"

Okita smirked at the kid as he watched him throw tantrums around. Behind all those cocky words and actions, he really was just a child. Typical of China's son to act all high and mighty behind all of his ignorance, and also the thread-like thinness of his patience. "Even their personality's the same, huh?" he thought as he stared at the crystalline blue sky longingly.

"The hell's that expression for?" Kenichi snorted.

Okita shook his head before saying a mumbled, "It's nothing", and stood up, hands inside his pockets. "So, tell me," he hesitated asking any further, but words flowed out of his mouth uncontrollably, "Who is your father, and how is he?" Surprisingly, he didn't even feel any regret. His eyes were blank and he felt neutral…

Just like that day at the train station…

"Ah, I knew it," he accusingly glared at the sadist, "You are trying to get between my Mami's legs."

Okita bumped Kenichi's head in a scolding manner. "Watch your mouth, old man. A boy your age shouldn't even be aware of things like **** and ****. How can you kiss your mother with that mouth, you bastard. **** **** **** you ****."

Kenichi held his aching head and shouted, "You're the one who should watch his mouth! That hurts!"

"And no, I'm not trying to get in between your mother's legs. That's disgusting," Sougo stated with a sickened look as he covered his mouth with his hand.

"Then what the hell do you want with her?"

"I don't want anything with her. If I recall correctly, I was asking about your father," Sougo deadpanned.

"My Mami's really pretty, you know. That's why a lot of suitors are after her."

"I said I wasn't asking about your mother." Sougo poked Kenichi's forehead with his index finger, an empty look in his red-wine eyes.

"Normally, I wouldn't bother finding out who you are and what your relationship with Mami is, but seeing that you're a… fairly... good-looking man, I figured that I should interrogate you first before letting you meet her," Kenichi told him as he crossed his arms after he removed Sougo's hand from his face.

"I am assuming you are not planning on telling me about your father at all. Very well. I'll leave now." The sadist prince began striding away from the little monster. After a few steps, he stopped and blankly stared at Kenichi, noticing he was trailing after him, "Don't follow me."

"Where are you going?" Kenichi persisted as he tagged behind Sougo, who began marching faster away from him.

"Nowhere. Leave me alone." Sougo tottered faster.

"Why do you want to know about Papi so much anyway?" Kenichi inquired casually as he placed his hands behind his head, in par with Sougo's increasing speed.

"…" Okita didn't know how to answer that, so he just opted on ignoring the four-foot monster speed-walking after him. Eventually, the two found themselves sprinting.

A few feet away from the sidewalk they were currently having a race on, a bald man inside a police car watched them intently with apprehensive eyes directed at the sandy-haired man. He held his radio closer to his mouth. "Vice-commander, I have found a suspicious man with China's son, over."

"Kidnapper? Over."

"Perhaps, over."

"Follow him then. Make sure you're discreet, over."

"Roger, over."

Harada Unosuke stepped on the pedal of the car and silently followed the sadist prince and mini-China.

00ooo00ooo00

Hijikata Toushiro, now aged 35 and still good-looking, huffed a smoke as he took out his mobile phone. He was sitting on his chair inside the Headquarters Office and just finished recording Harada's report. Of all the people kidnappers could target, it had to be that monster girl's son. Frankly, he was scared for the criminal if ever China-girl finds out about it. And of course, Kenichi wasn't someone to be taken lightly off either. Despite his young age, he could pummel down men thrice his size; a trait he evidently got from his vigorous mother.

Poor, poor kidnapper.

He dialed a few buttons on his phone before bringing it closer to his ear. The demonic vice-commander, regardless of knowing China for years, still didn't know how to approach her properly. In fact, no one from the Shinsengumi does. They tend to avoid her as much as possible. Yet ironically, even though they treat her as a violent, loud-mouthed monster, they still treat her as a girl… at times.

"I'm busy," came the seething voice from the other end of the line. "This better be important or I'll ban mayonnaise from the planet."

"You should know that I, of all people, would only call when I need to. No need to—"

"I get it, I get it. Just get to the point, Mayora."

"I just got a report from one of my subordinates. Your kid is either in trouble, going to be in trouble, or have taken care of the trouble," said Hijikata as he sandwiched the phone between his shoulder and ear, used to her rudeness and name-call. He moved to his computer on his desk and started typing rapidly, where it was seen in the screen the map of Kabuki district. "We still don't know if it's a criminal, but just to be sure, I ordered Harada to track them. Oh, wait—I just received a new report from Harada. They're on the way where you work."

The woman sighed heavily; he heard. "Of all the people to target, and of all the places to go to."

"Just thought I should give you a heads up. I sent some files and data in your phone," Hijikata said as he finished typing something in his computer and rested his back on his chair. "The red blinking dot in the middle of your screen marks where Harada is currently located."

The woman stared at the screen of her phone that alerted her of new files being sent to it, and just like the mayo-man said, it suddenly featured a small map of Kabuki district and a red blinking dot that was moving in fair speed. Harada was nearing her workplace, apparently. "Are you commanding me to capture the criminal myself? Who do you think I am?"

What Hijikata heard next was the beeping sound of his phone, notifying him that the woman ended the call. He knew that the woman would take out anyone that would try to harm her son. And he also knew that she was the type of person that wouldn't take orders from anyone, save from the silver-haired ass and the gorilla-woman of course. It must have irritated her to get ordered around by him.

"V-Vice commander… this is patroller 421, over," he heard Harada's voice from the radio. The bald man sounded frightened and feeble.

"What is it, over."

"The man isn't a kidnapper or any sort of criminal… I have confirmed it, over."

"H-HUH?!" Hijikata snapped. Great. Now he would have to apologize to the man involved for the misunderstanding if ever the mother beat him into a pulp. And maybe give him a bribe or two. What a pain in the ass.

He hated admitting it, but he was also an overprotective uncle to Kenichi. The child almost grew up with them, that was why he would jump into sudden conclusions when he was involved. Something he rarely does as a police officer. Besides, China wouldn't just attack someone who was seen with her son, would she? So there was still a huge possibility that she wouldn't do anything to the innocent man. No biggie. Problem solved. "Fuck, I just sent China infor—Nevermind. Who is it then? And what's he doing with Kenichi? Over."

"It's Okita Sougo… and they're talking about Kenichi's father… over."

"… Double fuck…

… over."

00ooo00ooo00

As hurriedly as he can, the Demonic Vice-Commander left his office and out of the Headquarters to get inside one of the patrol cars parked in front of the station. He started the engine and turned the siren on. He stepped on the pedal as hard as he can and the car practically flew on the streets of Tokyo.

"Fuck this shit. Why oh why?!" he yelled from inside the car, not caring if any of the civilians will hear him; the car window was open after all. "Of all the people… of all the places… DAMN IT!"

As he was speeding away and ignoring all the stoplights he passed by, a random person who was crossing the street appeared in his vision. Panic-stricken, the raven-haired officer swiveled the wheel to the left, and he ended up bumping the car on one of the shops. He stepped out of the car to see if the person he almost ran over was all right.

His cigarette fell off his mouth the moment he saw the person he almost killed.

"T-T-T-Toushi! How could you?!" Kondo Isao, who looked as if he was just finished buying groceries, was on the cemented floor, snot and tears visible from his face.

"I've got no time for this!" Hijikata yelled loudly and immediately got back inside the police car, ignoring the angry owner of the shop he destroyed. He started the engine again but he was stopped when Kondo jumped on the (ruined) hood of the car. "What the hell, Kondo-san?! Get off!"

"Don't you care about me anymore? Is that why you tried to kill me? Was I really a bad leader?!" Kondo ugly-cried desperately; his hands on the windshield. "Is wherever you're going to really much, much more important than your poor Commander?"

"This is not the time for this!" An angry vein sprouted from the vice-commander's forehead. "If you're not going to get off there, just get in here quick!"

Kondo promptly kicked the windshield causing the glass to shatter into pieces. Hijikata could only gape at what his commander had done. "I said to get in here quickly, but not that quick! Do you enjoy destroying police cars that much?! Who would explain this to the higher-ups?!" Hijikata screamed at the man who sat comfortably next to him.

"Relax Toushi. I'll do the explaining," Kondo said, tears and snot disappeared from his face completely. He put his seatbelt on and patted the Vice-Commander's shoulder with a blindingly-bright smile and a thumbs-up.

"Were you just acting back there? Were the ugly-crying and desperate pleas just an act?"

Kondo waved his hand in an attempt to change the topic. "So, where are we off to?"

"Oh shit! I almost forgot!" Hijikata rapidly stepped on the pedal again. The police car zig-zagged on the sidewalk (causing more collateral damage) before landing on the street, as he desperately tried to get on Kabuki district before the world ends.

Kondo Isao held onto Toushi for dear life. The latter's reckless driving was close to giving the gorilla-man a heart attack. "Y-Y-Y-You're too fast! I still have a family to go home to! I don't want to die!"

"Sougo's here," Hijikata said as he turned the car to the right. The car screeched and the people around them ran away, afraid that they would get run over.

"I-I know that! Yamazaki was supposed to meet him, wasn't he? And Yamazaki was supposed to bring him to the Station to see us! Now slow down!" Kondo said in between frightened screams.

"He's with Kenichi. And I sent China to him accidentally because I thought it was a criminal trying to kidnap Kenichi," Hijikata said with his eyes twitching from distress. Obviously, the nicotine-addict regretted telling China about that. He learned his lesson. Next time, he would definitely, definitely, confirm the identity of the person first before assuming… or informing… the violent mother.

"Eh?" Kondo's screams halted. "K-Kenichi? A-As in Kenichi-kun? As in…"

"China's son."

"STEP ON IT TOUSHI! WE MUSN'T LET THOSE THREE MEET!"

00ooo00ooo00

Just like what Sougo expected, the kid was still following him around like a bee attracted to honey. He was sure that Kenichi was only doing it to annoy him, and he could only congratulate the kid because he was definitely more than pissed right now. He was already sprinting as fast as he could and the mini-monster behind him, despite his shorter legs, could match up to his speed.

He was close to kicking him away. Very close.

"Stop following me you little demon," Okita deadpanned despite his growing anger.

"Hah, no way!" Kenichi cockily grinned. "If I take my eyes off you then you might do something dirty to my Mami."

"I promise I won't. Just go away. I'll give you 300 yen, come on."

"I don' wanna!"

"People will think that I'm a human trafficker with what you're doing."

"Kidnapper, prepare to die!" Kenichi and Sougo heard a yell from the distance.

As the two continued running, Sougo noticed a woman with a drop-dead gorgeous body standing in the middle of the sidewalk meters away. She was probably the one who just yelled accusations at him. He squinted his eyes to take a better look since the woman standing in the way had a very familiar-looking shade of vermillion hair dancing with the wind. She was clad in a sleeveless shin-length cinnabar quipao with gold trimmings and side slits reaching to her thigh. As he neared her, the woman's face gradually registered in the sadist prince's mind.

After he was no more than ten meters from her, the woman had positioned herself in a battle stance, making Sougo wonder what she was going to do. And just as he was about to pass her, the woman knocked him down with a smooth swing of her right arm through his throat. His speed, plus the impact of the woman's monstrous strength was enough to make him lose air and passed out instantly.

He dropped on the ground, head first. Before he lost consciousness though, he caught a glimpse of her oceanic blue eyes.

(1) – Hokutoshinken is the name of Ikumatsu's shop in the series. According to the fansub, it means "Heart of the Dipper House". Don't know if it's accurate though. See episode 39 for more details and KatsuMatsu interactions.

(2) – I think most of you already know by now, but Okita Sougo's Japanese voice actor is Suzumura Kenichi. Believe me I was tempted on making the child's name Sora, but it was too common for the Okikagu fandom to name the child Sora. And besides, he's not Sougo's child, so yeah.

A/N: I am such an idiot for writing another fanfic when I have unfinished ones. Both for this fandom and the others. I should stop doing that. But, I will await your reactions through your reviews... so please review and help me improve!

Gintama © Hideaki Sorachi