HijiGin - Bittersweet

Chapter 22

  Hijikata returned to his office, only to feel as if a foreign presence had graced the place. He shifts his hand so that it casually rested on his sword, eyes scanning his room for anything unusual. He walks around, checking every nook and cranny until he reached his desk.

  Hijikata eyes the white envelope suspiciously, trying to remember whether or not it had been there before he left for his little venture. Deciding that it probably wasn't there before he left, Hijikata snatched the envelope up and began to tear it open, wasting no time.

  Inside it contained a single piece of paper, which is pretty common in most letters except the fact that this one had no name explaining it's whereabouts. The piece of paper, once unfolded, read:

    How long are you going to take to find his memories, Hijikata?

  Hijikata promptly dropped the letter in shock, only to pick it up with trembling hands, reading over the one sentence over and over again, not believing what he was seeing. This seemed like whoever had written this knew something about Gintoki's amnesia, and Hijikata was going to do whatever it takes to track them down.

  "Yamazaki!"

  Clumsy footsteps were heard as Yamazaki rushed to the Vice Commander's room, stopping outside briefly to catch his breath before opening it.

  "Y-Yes, Vice Commander?"

  "Do you know if anyone had entered my room while I was gone? Or anyone who was carrying a white envelope?"

  "Uh, no sir. May I ask why you're asking about this?"

  Hijikata sighed, before handing the content of the letter to Yamazaki, indicating that he should read it himself if he wanted to know. Yamazaki quickly registered the weight of the single sentence and put on a grim face.

  "As you can see, this is probably the only lead we have on Gintoki's amnesia, but whoever left it doesn't seem to want to be found...yet."

  Hijikata paced around the room, biting his lip in thought and frustration as he racked his brain for any possible theories or links he could make. Yamazaki looks with sympathy, but he also is curious as to who could have possibly left this letter.

  Were they a friend or foe?

  "Yamazaki."

  "Yes?"

  "This might sound weird but...did you feel anything off when patrolling? Anything at all?"

  "No, not reaー! Wait." Yamazaki's eyes widened as he recalled the unsettling feeling he had felt when he saw that shadow.

  "What? What is it?! Tell me, Yamazaki!" Hijikata grips his shoulders and shakes him firmly, desperately. His gaze was so intense that Yamazaki just couldn't break away even if he wanted to.

  "I-I was patrolling near the garden with two other officers when I noticed a shadowy figure by the bushes. However, when we were preparing to engage in combat the figure revealed itself to be a cat."

  Hijikata sighed and rubbed his forehead.

  "That wasn't exactly what i was looking for-"

  "Vice Commander, I think there was more to it, though. My gut feeling tells me that it wasn't just the cat that was there, I felt uneasy and disturbed but was confused as to why, but please believe me when I say there is more to this."

  Yamazaki steeled his gaze and challenged Hijikata to tell him that he was wrong. It was obvious that HIjikata was caught off guard, as the surprise had shown on his face before his features softened, a faint smile gracing his lips.