felt like writing more PapaGin/Dadtoki. don't take this story too seriously. i sure don't
Disclaimer: don't own gintama; plot is all mine
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"Big sale on tofu in five minutes! One hundred yen a pound!" A supermarket clerk yelled through a megaphone. "Come get your tofu! One hundred yen a pound! First come, first serve! Don't miss out on this great deal!"
Gintoki ignored the shouting store employee and the old house wives and women jostling each other around the table to prepare for the sale. He burrowed his face further in his scarf to try to shield his face from the cold spring breeze of the evening. It annoyed him that April would be over in about a week yet the weather was still cool in the evenings. Gintoki would have rather been hibernating in his apartment until summertime, but he'd run out of strawberry milk. With Otose still hounding him about not coming to school, he didn't think he could ask her to replenish his stock for the time being.
The sky grumbled ominously as Gintoki bypassed the market and headed inside the convenience store about a block and a half from his apartment.
He sighed under his breath, a bit irritated that it seemed to be one of those overcast days that always reflected the storminess of his mood. It made him kind of nervous. There air was restless and every time he got that particular feeling, something ridiculous always tended to happen to him.
His phone buzzed with a text and he opened it as he headed to his favourite aisle in the convenience store with his favourite drink.
Stop skipping school! You better be here tomorrow, you brat!
As expected, it was from Otose, ever persistent in her attempts to make him return. Of all the efforts from teachers, advisors, and the principal, she was the only one who'd kept up her fervent attempts even though it'd already been three weeks since the school year began and Gintoki had yet to step through the school gates. Then again, she was technically his legal guardian, so he didn't blame her for her refusal to give up. But that didn't make it any less annoying. Gintoki was tired of being bothered by his high school about the school he skipped.
He pulled out all the cartons of strawberry milk he saw in the fridge, gathering them in his arm as he made his way to the checkout counter. He had to hurry up. He'd heard the rumble of thunder coming from outside once again, and it was only a matter of time before the skies opened up.
Gintoki's cellphone vibrated again, this time several times in a row. Why were they so adamant he come to school? He honestly didn't see the point. It wasn't like he was planning on going to university and he had no interest in conventional society or any jobs in conventional society either. Otose called him lazy and irresponsible for this mindset, and maybe he was, but he liked to think he was destined for something greater than being some businessman bored out of his life. Being a recluse or some guy who worked from home and occasionally went out to gamble was more up his alley.
He dropped his cartons of milk on the counter of the convenience store checkout.
"W-will that be all?" the cashier said with a partially flabbergasted smile on her face as she swiped and bagged the literal dozens of boxes of strawberry milk.
"Yeah…" Gintoki responded, ignoring the strange looks other patrons were giving his hair.
He sighed, his decision to be a recluse reinforced by his annoyance at the way people around him tended to react to him for no damn reason. In his first year he'd been dubbed Shiroyasha and for some reason, that stupid nickname had stuck even though he hadn't particularly done anything violent. The name followed him to his second year, and no doubt, his skipping had only reinforced the school's image of him as some notorious teen.
When his phone began vibrating again, he shut it off, deciding he'd had quite enough of human interaction for the day. His cashier gave him his change from his purchase, and once the transaction was completed, he gathered the bags to leave.
It wasn't like he was trying to avoid Otose (though he definitely was). It was just that he didn't feel like discussing his current desire to skip class. And he was tired of that damn old woman constantly checking on him, leaving him voicemails, and trying to get him to come back to school. School was just another place set in stone to control students' lives. He much preferred his lethargic life; he was too lazy to follow a consistent schedule every single day.
When he left the store, it was already pouring outside. The tofu sale had clearly gotten fucked. People were scrambling around with newspapers and purses on their heads to try to escape while the store clerk cried over the ruined tofu.
Yawning, Gintoki kicked a rock and headed out in the rain to go back to his apartment. He'd forgotten his umbrella and in only a matter of minutes—seconds even—he was drenched by the heavy downpour. He felt like a drowned cat. He was grouchy, irritated, hungry, and now his clothes were soaking wet after he'd just done laundry. But still, he couldn't be bothered to walk any faster. He made a mental note to shower and draw himself a hot bath once he got home so he wouldn't get sick. The last thing he needed was Otose going all mother hen on him and smothering him just because he had a little cough.
As he walked past the alley near his apartment, he heard soft crying. It wasn't totally recognisable over the din of the rain so he almost ignored it. For a second, he'd thought it'd been the mewling of one of his neighbours' dumb cats stuck out in the rain, but when he heard the little cries again it started to sound a lot less like an animal and a lot more like the strangled cries of a baby.
He walked cautiously over to the dumpster in the alley. "I'm being ridiculous. There's no way there would be a…"
There was a crying baby inside the dumpster.
He shut the lid and blinked, glancing around momentarily to see if someone was nearby playing some sort of prank on him. But there wasn't anyone in sight since everyone had hightailed it to get out of the rain. He slowly opened the lid again and stared back down at the baby.
Why the fuck was there a baby in the dumpster?!
She was swaddled in a thick blankie, stuffed in a basket and left at the bottom of the empty dumpster. It had slowly filled with water from some of the rain and a tiny bit was now pooled at the bottom of the basket. Some rain had gotten her hair and the soft orange tufts were matted on her head, clinging to her skin because it was wet. The little orange haired baby was nearly screaming her lungs out, her button nose was pink, and her lips looked a little blue. She couldn't have been more than one. Gintoki didn't know how long she had been out in the dumpster, but if he thought it was cold outside, it must have been freezing for her. If he didn't help her, she'd die.
Cursing under his breath, he scooped up the baby and held her close, shielding her fragile little body from the rain. He hurried into his apartment complex and took the stairs two at a time to get the crying girl inside before anyone saw him. It wouldn't do if the landlady happened to see him. She'd think it was his and then she would tell Otose, and shit would really hit the fan then. (Not that shit hadn't already hit the fan since he found a damn baby in a dumpster).
He barged into his apartment and immediately cranked up the heat so it was nearly stuffy in the room. He tried to calm the baby girl down by rubbing her back in soft strokes.
"Shh… hey, it's okay. You're safe now," he murmured to the girl, resting her on his shoulder as he bounced her gently. "Uh… Gintoki's here."
He didn't know what the hell he was doing, but it definitely seemed to be working because her crying became subdued. He rocked the bundle in his arms gently so she would settle down, and her cries eventually turned into small hiccups before she quieted and fell asleep. Her face was pursed in discomfort, but she was breathing evenly and that was enough for Gintoki. Plus, even though her cheeks and nose were still pink, her lips seemed to have regained their colour.
Gintoki let out a sigh of relief, but the gravity of the situation made him feel more apprehension than he ever had before. He'd found an abandoned baby in a dumpster and had no idea what to do about it. For one thing, he'd better get her into some warmer clothes before she died of hypothermia.
He went to his room and carefully—so as not to wake her when he'd already put so much work in calming her down—set her on his bed. He removed the soggy, wet baby onesie she had on and gently towelled her skin dry so she could feel comfortable. He would give her a proper bath later and figure out what to do about the diaper issue, but in the meantime he'd wrap her in a blanket until he could come up with a solution later.
There was a folded piece of paper that had been stuck into her diaper, and Gintoki pulled it out warily. The note was written in the worst chicken scratch he'd ever seen. He was tempted to believe it was written by a child, but there was no way a child would abandon a baby, right?
Her name is Kagura, and I can't take care of her anymore. I'm sorry. Kamui
Well that answered one question. This Kamui person had clearly deserted Kagura. But now it bred new questions: who in the hell was Kamui, and why had they left the baby in a damn dumpster? Gintoki couldn't figure out why anyone would think it would be a good idea to abandon a helpless child in a situation she couldn't control.
Kagura rolled over in her sleep with a sigh as her thumb went into her mouth. There was another folded piece of paper at the backside of her diaper, but this seemed to be some kind of birth certificate, but the only things filled out were the basic information of her weight and length at birth as well as her birthday and other facts that Gintoki didn't understand at all. She was about eight months and seemed to be in pretty good health though.
Gintoki took one of his clean spare scarves and swaddled the sleeping baby so her whole body was cocooned in the warmth. He set her down at the part of his bed wedged against the wall and plopped down on the edge to prevent her from falling off if she rolled the other way. Kagura wriggled around, squirming a bit as if trying to get out of her binds before she settled down again with a small baby burp.
"Now what…" Gintoki ran a hand tiredly through his mop of messy hair with a sigh. He was more exhausted than he'd ever been in a whole year.
He'd acted on impulse and rescued the baby because she'd definitely needed him, but he had no idea where to start or what to do. He didn't know all too much about babies, but he could surmise that they were a lot of work and they were above all else, fragile. And squishy. Gintoki didn't exactly live a baby proof life.
Hell, plus she could have contracted some sort of illness being in that dumpster or wherever she'd been. He really ought to have taken her to a hospital or something first. Or maybe asked some of the neighbours to see if anyone knew anything about the mysterious child deserted in a dumpster.
But part of him was hesitant to inform anyone else of the situation. What would happen to little Kagura if he took her to some government establishment? He wasn't her father and as an abandoned child, she would be sent straight to a foster system or orphanage of some sort. If there was even room for her. He felt wrong abandoning her too. But how was he supposed to be responsible for a baby when he was barely responsible for himself?
He'd give it a day and then tomorrow he'd try to figure out what to do with her. But for now, he'd leave her be. She'd been through a lot, and she deserved a good sleep.
Sighing again, he poked the palm of her free hand. To his surprise, her tiny hand curled around his index finger, just barely managing to wrap all the way around. Gintoki could feel a smile twitching on his face, though he tried desperately to keep it at bay. (To no avail). Dammit. The little shit was already starting to grow on him like a tumour.
Just what the hell had he gotten himself into?