Hijikata walks into a small bar in the Kabuki District, it was one of the rare day offs he had, clad in his yukata, he enters the shops and sits at the stool, next to the woman who's head was leaning down using her hands as a pillow rest.

"Hey....Samurai-san," She calls out in a hoarse, low voice. "You talking to me?" Hijikata gruffly says as he lit his cigarette.

"The usual please," He turns to the owner.

"Yeah,"She nodded, barely lifting her head up, to shift to her open palm. "Wanna talk about it?" She asks and Hijikata raised an eyebrow, as he stared at her.

"Talk about what with a complete stranger?"He fights back the sarcasm in his voice as his eyes take in her appearance.

Based on what he's seen, she wasn't from Edo- She wore a black, fingerless glove on her right hand all the way up to her arm, her breasts were only bandaged up, and she only wore one sleeve of her purple kimono (much like a certain samurai he despised) with the pink sash, her kimono was short so her legs were visible, and her (H/L) (H/C) hair was pulled into a bun of some sort with a few ornaments sticking in it, her face wasn't too bad either. She had great features, with her beautiful (E/C) orbs, big eyes and naturally red, soft lips.

"You look like you have the same problems as me....I can feel it. Feel free to complain all you want." She chuckles, blowing the few of her bangs framing her face away.

"A stranger can't tell me anything, So I have nothing to say to you either." He huffs, puffing out a smoke as the woman lets out a sigh.

"Don't be a killbuzz, Isn't it better to complain to a stranger? They won't know a thing, so they can't judge you." She grins, giving a soft closed eye smile which made Hijikata's eyes slightly widen.

"Then....I guess I'll need a drinking buddy for the night." He coughs, eyes averting downward in an embarrassed gaze.

"So, what brought you here today, Samurai-san?" She lets out a small hum, turning her face to his, she smiles as she awaited his reply.

"I'm Hijikata Toshirou, it wouldn't be good for you to keep calling me samurai the whole night." He says as she nodded, "You can call me, (Y/N)."

"Nothing much, I was just tired...My job is exhausting me to the core." Hijikata says as he pours himself sake, "My boss is a stalker, who makes me clean up after his ass, my subordinate is a sadistic boy who enjoys trying to kill me in his spare time." Hijikata frowns as he downs a drink in one gulp.

"It isn't tiring, AT ALL!"He emphasized, "How about you? What brought such a beautiful lady to a bar at night?" He shrugs, turning to her as he pours her a drink.

"Love." She shortly answers, her (E/C) eyes had a sad look to them, it was like hollow....or dead, even- with a longing look.

"Typical woman having love problems," Hijikata laughs as she smiles at his retort.

"Don't you know the enemy of a woman is love? Love makes a woman beautiful, and feels as if there's nothing wrong in the world. But pick the wrong love and it'll break you down until nothing's left of you and you'll see all the wrong in the world." She says frowned.

"That's a sad interpretation- for a woman." Hijikata frowned at her.

"Then....Have you ever fallen in love, Hijikata-san?" She hums in an indifferent voice. Hijikata looked down, unsure of what to say.

"I have,"

"Once...." He lets out a shaky breath, "She died." He shortly added.

"Because I was too much of a coward, we didn't work out, Her name's Okita Mitsuba. I wasn't originally from Edo, you see." Hijikata explained as she listened closely to him.

"I was from Bushu, but then I left to work here...Before I did, she confessed to me and I turned her down because I was scared that she would get hurt." Hijikata says, he scowled at the thought.

"It was too late before I realized that I was the one hurting her." Hijikata sighs, downing another cup of sake, but he was nowhere near tipsy.

"How about you?"He asks, eyes watching her careful expression, she lets out a small laugh. But it wasn't the fun kind, it was the pained kind.

"Well....I don't even know where to start, with this story of mine that's nowhere near a happy ending,"She laughs ironically, downing a cup, she sighs deeply.

"His name is Sakata Gintoki." She started off and Hijikata's eyes widened, eyebrows furrowed, at the mention of the bastard he hated so much.

"We've been friends since childhood....not literally, we studied under the same sensei in the same school." She continued, her eyes going off to her hand, where there was a long scar, from her left palm to her left upper arm.

"I....I guess I was too much of an idiot,"She says, tears now welling up in her eyes. "You probably know about the Joui war, right?"She says, Hijikata kept quiet and listened.

"Those sleepless nights on the battlefield, he begged me not to fight because he was afraid he couldn't protect me." She hums in a low tone, "He was a total idiot...Who only thought of protecting others, not even caring to protect himself." She lets her tears fall out.

"Every passing night on the battlefield, we clung to each other as if it was the last time we'd ever see each other." She grasped her hand, "And I.....tried to sacrifice my life for his,"She laughed again.

"This was the result of that,"She says bringing her left hand out and showing the deep, huge scar that run across her flesh.

"I could never hold a sword again, so they took me away from the front lines, and we parted just like that." She says as she leans her head on her palm, covering her now red eyes.

"So I....After the war, I wanted to look for him, and just recently I did find him here..."

"But when I faced him, he....pretended he didn't know me. Isn't it so ironic? I've been with him the longest, I knew him the most, I loved him the best- Yet, when the war ended, all is lost and forgotten, everything I sacrificed for the man who changed me- for a man named Sakata Gintoki...."She sniffed, Hijikata pushes another drink towards her.

"Even his name- just that damn name makes me feel so- so lost!"

"Have you had intimate nights together?"Hijikata asked a personal question, maybe because of his desire to learn more about the mysterious silver headed samurai.

"Many..."She nodded, "He was a passionate man,"She chuckles.

"And in the times of war...You don't know if you'll live long enough to see the dawn of a new japan, " She looks up, "Or if you'll live at all,"

"But now- without him, it feels like I'm not even living at all. Like I'm dead."

"Did you...."Hijikata paused, "Did you love him?" His eyes gazes on her, watching her expression go soft, she smiled. Different from before.

"I did...I love everything about him,"She admitted, "And I still do." She sighs, suddenly the doors slide open and Gintoki appears.

"(Y/N)!...I....I'm sorry, "He stumbled behind her, hugging her tightly. "I didn't mean to do that...I was scared, that I couldn't protect you again...I just can't lose you!" Gintoki says, his hands grasping her tightly, as he buried his face in her neck.

"I swore to myself....That I wouldn't let you sacrifice yourself for me again,I...won't ever let that happen! I love you too much to let you go." Gintoki says as (Y/N) looks down, she stood up and faced him, and then she kissed him, circling her arms on Gintoki's neck. Gintoki places his strong arms on her waist, pulling her closer.

"Come back with me?"He cooes as she nodded and smiled. "You're still helpless, Gin." She laughs as she pays for her and Hijikata's drink.

"That's on me, thanks for listening to a love driven woman's complaints, Hijikata-san." She smiles at Hijikata who stared at her in awe.

"Atleast you got your happy ending,"He nodded as she walked away with Gintoki.

"Stop it, Toshi...."Hijikata mumbles to himself. "It's just the alcohol getting to you.....You were definitely not starting to like her!" He slaps his face angrily.

"The permhead...is pretty lucky."