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citruspeel · 6 years

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under cover [4/5?]

Kondo began to think that even gorillas were smarter than him. After all, who else would dare put - by their own hands - the undercover-courtesan-love-of-their-life and their love rival together in a steamy, compromising position?

[gintama fan fiction]

[gintoki x otae]

[2k++; part 4/5?]

intro + illustrations initially posted here part 1+2 here part 3 here

It took Kondo all he had to not tear his hair out.

“Tottsan! What did I do to deserve this special kind of hell?!” he almost wailed, clutching at his boss’s coat.

Matsudaira calmly took a puff from his cigar, undeterred. “What’s the matter? Aren’t you an M? You should be enjoying this.”

“You definitely took it the wrong way!”

In the cramped surveillance van, Kondo’s protests sounded louder than they actually were. The smoke from Matsudaira’s cigar was also an unwelcome distraction. Yamazaki tried to cough into his hand as silently as he could; why did the supreme boss of the police force have to be in there with them in the first place? Wasn’t this job a bit too…low-scale for him to be present?

“I was in the area,” he answered, when Kondo asked him. “I thought, why not? Besides, it’s like a live show.”

Kondo’s eyes widened. “Live show?!”

The older man only snickered as his eyes went from monitor to monitor. Once Kondo realized there was no getting a straight answer from their boss, he slumped onto the seat next to Yamazaki.

Before them were a set of screens, showing what was happening in different areas of the house. One monitor showed the Yorozuya’s little girl dressed as an apprentice and hiding in a secret closet on the second floor. Another showed Shinpachi clothed in black, hiding behind a set of crates and an airconditioning unit in the alley beside the house. Okita was concealed in a false wall on the back of the bedroom, while Hijikata was camped out on the building across the back entrance. Gintoki, now with sleek black hair and donning simple Edo-style clothes, was standing by the front foyer, sword in hand.

Yamazaki watched with wonder as the Yorozuya buried his face in his hands. In another monitor, their stunning Crimson Beauty of Kabuki-cho was doing the same.

“Eh, this is strange,” Yamazaki pointed out. Kondo stopped his grumbling and looked. “They’re both acting weird, Chief.”

“Look at her, she’s so beautiful,” Kondo ignored Yamazaki and placed his hand on the monitor, as if touching Tae’s face. “Otae-san, I will give all of my life savings to buy you out of this wretched city –”

He was abruptly cut off when one of their receivers buzzed.

“Target just entered the perimeter. Contact in ten minutes.”

The surveillance team eyed the monitors. True enough, by the shadows of Kabuki-cho’s sidestreets, two cloaked men were making their way to the house.

Kondo and Yamazaki watched the monitors intently.

“Why do they keep shaking their heads?” Yamazaki noted, glancing at Gin and Tae. He then pressed a button on the panel, activating their communication. “Kagura-san, please notify Shimura-san to get ready. Contact in ten.”

“Got it, Mountain Zaki!”

“Operation, commence. Be on your guard.” Kondo took over the microphone. “Especially you, Yorozuya. You as much as try – ”

Hijikata groaned. “Chief, you’re going off-topic here.”

“Right.” Kondo laughed sheepishly. He shot a nervous glance towards Tae, who was now calming herself down with deep breaths. He tried fighting against this assignment, but Matsudaira had pushed that it was crucial for them to do it this way. His stupid mouth suggested Tae’s beauty would be a perfect fit. In essence, he somehow put her in that position.

Plus, there was really no way to say no to Tottsan.

“Ah, she’s a good one, isn’t she?” he heard the boss say. “All calm even if we didn’t give her a comm set.”

“It might get discovered and compromise the mission,” Kondo said. “If she can hear what’s going on, it might affect her acting.”

“True enough.” Matsudaira took another puff, eyes gleaming behind his sunglasses.

Kondo’s eyes roved all over the screens. The two hooded figures were making their way steadily past the crowds and into the quieter streets.

“Tottsan,” Kondo started, “Shouldn’t you tell us at least the name of the target by now? Your briefing for this mission was the vaguest we’ve ever gotten.”

Matsudaira took a moment before responding. “Just trust me. I had an…interesting chat with a loud, drunk idiot at Club Smile. He gave me an idea.”

Kondo frowned. Tae was now smoothing down her oiran kimono as she settled by the door, where she would bow once the target came in. “Should we really trust loud, drunk idiots?”

“You’re not drunk, but you’re a loud idiot and I trust you, don’t I?” Matsudaira smirked as he hung the cigar on his lips. “Besides, he wears sunglasses, just like me. Can’t go wrong with sunglasses.”

He ignored Kondo, who was about to protest once again.

“Anyway, all you need to know is that he’s an enemy of the state. A pretty crafty bastard, so we needed to get crafty too.”

“Target contact in three minutes.” Yamazaki spoke up. “Sakata-san, please ignore our liaison agent. He’ll stay on the first floor as the target goes to the site. Don’t make eye contact until given the go-signal.”

On the monitor, Gin gave a nod of acknowledgment.

The two figures were already near the house. A heavy feeling started to settle itself in Kondo’s stomach. Even through the monitor, their target gave off a sinister vibe.

“Target on site. Now ascending.”

Each step the target took felt like an added weight to Kondo. There was something very bad about this, his gut told him, and he couldn’t shake it off. He kept his eyes transfixed on the hooded figure, now on the second floor, just a few steps away from Tae’s dimly-lit receiving room.

The target stopped. He seemed to be deep in thought as he gave a second glance to the stairwell. Kondo watched with bated breath as the figure shook off whatever thought he had and went back to going towards Tae’s room. Gingerly, the target took off its cloak.

As the hood fell away, Kondo felt all the air being knocked out of his lungs.

He could barely speak. “Tottsan -- !”

Even Yamazaki gasped. “Chief, this is bad – ”

“You never would have agreed if you knew.” Matsudaira said matter-of-factly. The end of his cigar glowed bright red as he pulled from it.

“But this…” Yamazaki managed. He eyed the comm system button. Should he warn everyone, at least?

He glanced their Chief, but Kondo’s eyes were wide in shock as he watched the monitors. The figure was now standing right before the room’s shoji doors, his silhouette a dark shape against its paper panels.

Matsudaira clucked his tongue. He could see Kondo’s clenched fist on the dashboard. “If you compromise this mission, Kondo, your agent will bear the brunt of it.” He said plainly, both a warning and advice.

Kondo’s knuckles turned white. He took a deep breath, then nodded to himself. “No one would compromise this mission.”

Matsudaira blew out the smoke in a steady stream. Behind the haze, he seemed like he was grinning. “Right? That’s why we got them, after all.”

The stillness of the house was unnerving. Especially whenever she remembered that most formidable fighters in Edo were stationed around it, not making a sound.

She tried to stop her face from showing any emotion whenever she remembered it. Shinpachi, who usually bawled over Otsu and screamed through his straight-man routines; bubblegum-chewing Okita-san who never stopped arguing with noisemaker extraordinaire Kagura; Hijikata-san, who told everyone off to commit seppuku no matter when and where - they were all still and silent, expertly hidden from view. It made her smile with pride, but also made her realize just how drastically they could change when combat was imminent.

Aren’t you leaving someone out?

Her own personal bodyguard, as Kagura had put it, was the most disconcerting of them all.

Stupid perm-head.

Tae sighed and placed her hands before her knees. In this atmosphere, it was hard not to remember that night. It was harder not to remember how normal he acted the day after. The next morning, he was calmly picking his nose by the breakfast table, all splayed out, watching the TV with his head resting on a propped-up hand. Upon her entrance, he merely threw her a glance, flicked the snot off his finger, and greeted her with a lame ‘yo.’ He was so nonchalant about it, she was almost convinced that the night before was just a dream.

From then on, there was no mention of their kiss. He joked with her the same, talked to her brother the same, never talked to her about what happened, nor did anything to even hint at what they had done. The idea of bringing it up suddenly felt forbidden. It came to a point where Tae started to doubt herself. Was she really overreacting? Maybe he saw kisses as commonplace as hugs. Was she alone in feeling that electricity when they kissed? Maybe because it was her first that she added meaning to it immediately. And why did he stop? She wasn’t born yesterday; she had seen people kissing deeply before. If his point was to teach her, he should’ve at least shown her how to do that. But he merely walked off and acted like it never happened. Maybe the reason he didn’t bother with her was that he was never really interested in her at all.

Tae bit back a groan of frustration. Could it have been that she was the one at fault? Was it her problem, that deep inside her, somehow, she entertained the idea of wanting something more…?

This is stupid. As weeks rolled by, Tae fought hard to convince herself to stop obsessing about that moment. A kiss with Gin-san wasn’t even a moment to be proud of, was it? But she couldn’t help but feel guilty whenever she saw Sarutobi, Tsukuyo, Kondo and even Kyuubei. It’s as if she had sinned against them, and it was a sin she wasn’t particularly ashamed of. That night, with his dazed look, his warm lips, that soft kiss…for her to remember it so vividly, surely it was no dream.

Thud.

The noise brought Tae out of her thoughts. The target was ascending the stairs; whatever light came from the laps by the hallway was now beginning to be eclipsed by a figure of a man. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. This is no time to think about Gin-san.

The figure stopped in front of her shoji door, his silhouette a stark mark against the panels. She steeled herself and bowed; soon enough, the doors slid open, wood creaking against wood.

Tae pressed her forehead on her hand in a deep bow.

“Good evening, danna,” She spoke in the meekest voice she could muster. “I am pleased to be of service to you tonight. They call me Hinagiku.”

It took a while before the target replied.

“I hear they call you The Crimson Beauty. …it would seem that they tell no lies.”

“A mere moniker, danna.” Tae then rose from her bow, her kimono gracefully following her every move. She gave a soft nod and looked the target in the eye. Her breath stilled. “But it pleases me to hear your worries have been quelled.”

The target cocked his head to the side and closed the shoji door behind him. “Might be so,” he said, taking a step nearer.

Tae swallowed a lump in her throat. The target was leagues away from what they had all expected. She had been anticipating some old, wrinkly politician, or a potbellied corrupt yakuza, or even a hybrid Amanto pirate. Katsura and the others were even taking bets. But the man who stood before her was different – too different. He had a slender build, covered in kimonos of rich purple, red, and gold. Soft, dark hair framed his youthful face. The only thing that would raise questions were the bandages that covered his left eye. They were wound around his head, slightly hidden by his fringe, strangely reminding her of Kyuubei, Gin, and war.

“How do you wish to be called, danna?”

He crossed the room slowly, taking every step mindfully. Tae found that she couldn’t take her eyes off him; something about him was magnetic.

“If you really must…” he then deposited himself by the slightly opened window. The lights of Kabuki-cho shone on his face and made his remaining eye gleam. “…Shinsuke would be fine.”

[Part 5 here]

#gintama #sakata gintoki #Shimura tae #gintae #Gintoki x otae #fanfiction #fanfic #fan fiction

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