Gintama belongs to Sorachi Hideaki.
New Beginnings
"Oi Gin-chan!" There were shuffling movements coming from the direction of the bathroom that was being occupied by a certain Amanto. Gintoki held in his breath when the door slammed open with a force. Kagura stomped out to the main room with a bath towel wrapped around her curvaceous (and very naked) body. Long vermillion locks clung to the side of her narrow cheekbones and her sky blue eyes became sharper at the current state of her disposition. "We ran out of shampoo. Go buy some." Kagura crossed her arms, pushing up her well endowed chest.
"Just use the bar of soap as shampoo. Make it into bubbles." Gintoki waved it off.
Her arched eyebrows twitched. "Stop being cheap and give me money so I can buy shampoo if you're not going to do it yourself then, old man!"
"I don't have any money on me."
"You liar!"
Gintoki twisted a finger in his ears, trying to familiarize himself to Kagura's new form of speaking. She was no longer the young girl speaking with –aru at the end of her sentences or making Bobby-esque Japanese mistakes. It was painful to admit that Kagura was a fully grown (in many areas) woman and was completely capable in taking care of herself now. He was the first person to be able to witness it after she came back to Earth from traveling with her father.
She was seventeen-years-old when she left with Umibozu to travel space. The samurai eyed her up and down and stifled his groan. Two years did wonders, miracles actually,to Kagura. Casually, he commented, "Why don't you go buy it yourself with the money you make?" Kagura began moving closer to him with a fist raised and he frantically took out money from his pocket and tossed it at her. "Fine! Take it you damn woman!"
Kagura caught the money and grinned smugly. "I knew you were lying. You always save it for the night when you go out to drink." With an indignant huff, she marched to his room to change into fresh clothes. Gintoki sighed when she reentered the living room in the outfit she customized to resemble his yukata. Although, it did fit her slim body quite nicely, Gintoki feared she was still going through her idolization phase.
The samurai felt a migraine forming; he remembered praying for her to not transform into the beautiful woman he met when he was sent to the future. However, Fate was inevitable. Five years passed and despite not being in the timeline of the white plague breaking out, everyone somehow managed to convert into the future he was sent to. Shinpachi no longer had baby fat on his face and Sougo resembled Hitokiri Battosai because of his long hair and red men's kimono.
Gintoki blinked and snapped out of his revere. He sat up on the futon and moved over for Kagura as she sat down and shoved her feet into the thick leather boots. "Does anyone else besides me know you came back?"
Kagura shrugged her shoulders. "I don't think so. It's only been at least three days since I've come back."
"You're still a twerp after two years," Gintoki snorted, rolling his eyes. Hmm…were her legs always so slender?
She caught him staring and grinned slyly, punching him in the shoulder. "And you're still a pervert."
"I' m not a pervert, I'm just a child at heart."
Kagura rolled her eyes. "Gin-chan, you need to get a girlfriend."
"Oh yeah? What about you? You're at the highest point of your life right now. You should be dating someone. If I remember correctly, a certain sadist was interested in courting you before you left for your journey." Gintoki said.
"Sadist?...Oh! That bastard!" She wrinkled her forehead. "Please. As if he would ever be interested in me romantically. Just the thought of that is disgusting. Besides, I don't see myself dating him."
"Yeah? And who do you see yourself with?"
She didn't hesitate and automatically stated, "You. I see myself with you." Gintoki stiffened at her response, clearly uncomfortable by her answer. Adjusting the bottom of the kimono that exposed her left leg, Kagura stood up. "I'll be going out to buy some shampoo. If I don't come back within the day, make sure to call the police and send out a search party." The purple umbrella was now twice the size compared to when she first had it, but the Amanto held it casually over head as she left with Sadaharu trailing behind her. "Bye!"
Gintoki laid back down on the futon and groaned. Kagura came back to Kabuki three days. It was four AM when she arrived to the apartment, unannounced. He woke up to her straddling his waist with a stupid expression of joy on her face, claiming her love for him. Glancing out the window to see a dreary sky, he sighed at feeling of unsettledness.
"I wonder how she'll react when she finds out the truth."
"Hey beautiful, do you mind if I get your number and address tonight so I could come over and bang your smoking hot body?"
Sougo shook his head at the man's attempt to flirt with who knows what in the next aisle. His high pitched voice was booming throughout the store. The Shinsengumi's first division captain could almostfeel secondhand embarrassment when the woman replied boldly with a sharp tone, "I'm not interested in dating a damn chubby bastard with gross hands doing who knows what at home."
"Come on beautiful. You know you want some of this."
"Get out of my way. I need to buy shampoo."
How blessed the Shinsengumi officer was today. He was going to that aisle next to buy shampoo himself. Maybe he would actually meet the so-called beauty and chubby bastard. Throwing a couple of soap inside of his cart, Sougo paced himself over to the shampoo aisle and promptly froze halfway—his breath caught in his throat.
Kagura.
The last time he saw her was a week before she departed with her father two years ago. Now she was back—all grown up and mature in appearance wearing…He narrowed his eyes into slits. She was clothed in a kimono modeled after Gintoki's yukata. Not a day had passed when the young girl, woman he corrected, hadn't crossed his mind. It irked him how much the alien had an impact on his life. Kagura found him to be a waste of her time but she would be willing to give her life away for the silver-haired samurai. The way she treated them was unfair in his opinion. But the Yato woman had become stunning, Sougo grudgingly admitted.
"Come on baby! You sure you don't want some of this? I'm the hottest person in Kabuki-cho."
Kagura wasn't impressed when the stranger flexed his muscles. "I SAID MOVE IT." The blonde haired man growled and leaned closer to her face.
"Listen you bitch. You'll go out with me whether you want to or not." He grabbed a couple strands of her hair and smirked. "I refuse to take a no as an answer."
Sougo choked with laughter when Kagura grabbed his fingers and crushed it without a thought and flung him across the aisle. "Tsk. Men are weak." She flipped her hair over her shoulder and glanced through the shelves of shampoo and picked up couple of large bottles—tossing them in a cart. Kagura seemed satisfied with the amount she had in the basket and began making her way towards the cash register.
The wheels finally began turning in his head and Sougo ran up to catch up with her. "China! Stop right there!" He grabbed Kagura's wrist and turned her around—dodging the punch thrown to his face out of instinct.
"Who the hell are you and what do you want from me?" Kagura blinked in surprise and suddenly gaped, pulling herself away from him. "S-Sadist! You're here! And…" She giggled at his choice of fashion. There was a cheeky grin that crossed her face. "You know, most people become attractive when they grow older. You look like shit." Sougo narrowed his eyes. After two years of being teased as a Himura Kenshin imitator, she merely waltzed back into his life and casually told him he looked akin to crap. Kagura leaned closer to his face and trailed her up to his face and behind his head before she gave his ponytail a hard tug. "Your hair is probably the only thing that looks good on you."
Sougo's eyes twitched. "You bitch."
"Hey! You shouldn't call a lady that!" Kagura retorted. She screeched when he grabbed her hair and yanked it. "OW!"
"Sorry, I don't tell lies."
"That's bullshit." Sougo didn't miss the way her lips twitched upwards in amusement. "You haven't changed at all. You're still a little shithead."
He smirked. "You got rid of that stupid foreign speech pattern."
"Shut up."
"You grew some boobs and decided to dress femininely. Perhaps you plan to seduce Danna now that you're of age?"
Kagura's face flushed with red from embarrassment and she glared at him. "Shut up you asshole! I don't plan to seduce Gin-chan just because I dress this way!"
"Actually, you could seduce any man dressed like a prostitute."
"Are you trying to tell me I'm a prostitute?" Kagura snarled.
Sougo tilted his head and smirked. She didn't really dress as one. Her clothes were modest compared to most women, but he decided to tease her. "Yes. The way the kimono purposely emphasizes your large chest and the flash of your legs are very slutty. Don't you know that men go crazy when you show them some skin?"
"That's their fault then! There is nothing wrong with me wanting to feel more confident about my body with the way I dress!" Kagura snapped bitingly. She spat at him, "Now if you excuse me, I have better things to do than talk to a stupid sadist. I want to head home and take a shower. Plus Sadaharu is waiting for me outside."
"Ehhh. I'll come back with you," he replied in a monotone voice. Sougo reveled in the fact that he would forever be one of the people who would be able to get under her skin in a matter of seconds. He missed her consistent name calling and the silly little fights they had back then.
"As if! Stay out of my life you bastard! I don't need some sort of misery like you trying to make my stay in Kabuki a living hell." The items in her basket were being ringed by the cashier painfully slow for her liking. The tapping of her foot showed her impatience.
"You make it sound like you're going to leave Japan again."
Kagura stiffened and averted her eyes to ground.
Bingo.
"You're going to leave Japan again." There was an aching pain in his chest at the idea of her leaving him. "When?"
"I'm planning a month from now. There's someone outside the planet I need to visit." She was handing coins to the cashier and took the bag of shampoo out of their grip. She brushed loose orange locks behind her ears and turned to him. "I do plan on coming back again to stay on Earth permanently. What else would Gin-chan do if I wasn't there to take care of him?"
"Che." Jealousy pricked the insides of his chest. "I say he's doing perfectly fine without you up his ass all the time with your idol worshipping." He dodged the parcel jabbed at his face.
The bag in Kagura's grip was adjusted. She stated in a soft agitated tone, "I wouldn't expect you to know the difference between idol worshipping and love. You focus too much on BDSM."
"Eh?" Were his ears failing him? Did China girl just implied her feelings towards Gintoki wasn't idol worshipping but love of all things? Sougo pinched the bridge of his nose. A green monster was tearing him apart and it didn't feel too pleasant. He knew that he had feelings for the dense idiot ever since she turned sixteen, but he hoped she would one day fall for him if he gave her enough hints—ten million hints was enough, right? "You—you're in love with Danna?"
A scarlet blush dusted her cheeks and Kagura said hotly, "So what if I am? I don't see how that's any of your business."
He hated this. Sougo hated how this ridiculous woman brought him happiness so quickly by her presence and managed to shatter it just as it came from the news. "Ah. So I guess you haven't heard the big news about Danna then."
"What's the big news?" Kagura rocked back and forth on the ball of her feet anxiously. "Has he finally come out the closet and confessed to mayonnaise freak?"
Sougo snorted, "As if. Him and that prostitute from Yoshiwara have a thing going on right now. Your love to him doesn't mean anything if he's loyal to another woman."
The bag of shampoo dropped and was pursued by silence.
Her lips trembled while she spoke, "Y-you're lying."
There was another pregnant of silence. Sougo then exhaled deeply out of frustration and dropped the basket of items he carried, shoes slapping against the cement while he padded to the exit. Damn the stupid woman's expression. She made it so much harder for him to hurt her. Had it been two years ago, he would have gladly told her off in order to make her fall in love with him quickly. But now he matured (somewhat). If he wanted to win her over, he couldn't constantly hit a sore spot that would force her to hate him.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"
"I just realized I have brand name and manufactured coupons for shampoo at a different store," Sougo replied briskly. "I'll buy it later when I have the time. Right now I'm hungry. I haven't eaten anything in twenty-four hours because of Hijikata-san."
Grabbing the shampoo bag off the ground, Kagura chased after him. "Oi! Wait up for me at least! I want to eat too!"
He turned around sharply and stopped abruptly causing Kagura to run into him, colliding with his muscular chest and broad shoulders. "I thought you were going back to you precious Gin-chan," Sougo mocked. "Afraid to face reality that Danna has a girlfriend?"
Kagura rubbed her nose and scowled. "Shut up you sadist! Maybe I just want some company besides him." A blank stare was thrown in her direction. She huffed and averted her eyes. "Fine. There's no food at home. I'm starving. So feed me."
"What makes you think I want to eat with a monster that suffers with the black hole syndrome?"
"ARE YOU TRYING TO IMPLY THAT I'M FAT?"
"It's true. You eat everything in your sight. Tch. More like inhale." They were walking down the street in a heated argument with Sadaharu eagerly trying to shower Sougo with affection. The dog had taken a liking to the Shinsengumi officer (which Kagura despised). Sougo patted Sadaharu's head softly, "I'm surprised you didn't let your dog get fat over the years seeing how bad your eating habit is."
An aggravated scream left her throat. "ARGH! AND HERE I WAS THINKING YOU GOT NICER!" Kagura began to stomp away from Sougo with an indignant growl. "Forget it! I'm going home! There's no way I can hang out with a lousy and incompetent asshole sadist! Sadaharu, let's go!"
Sadaharu barked, "Arf!"
"Hold up China." Sougo reached out and pulled Kagura back by the waist. "I never said you could leave me."
"To hell with you. If you're not going to take me out to eat, I'm going home." There was an apparent blush on her cheeks. She gulped. "Move it Sadist. You're too close and I feel like I'm gonna throw up."
Cue, a smirk.
"What's wrong China? Is it possible that you have feelings for me?"
"NO! YOU JUST THREW ME OFF!" She yanked herself away from him, oblivious to the way her cheeks heated up intensely when he brought his face close to her. "Are you going to take me out to eat or what? If not, I'm leaving!"
"Buffet."
"Huh?"
"We're eating at a buffet since you have the tendency to inhale everything in sight," Sougo clarified. "I don't need a monster putting a hole in my wallet in just a couple of hours."
"Fine. But I want a packet of sukonbu after we eat."
"Tsk. Deal."
Sougo was reluctant to admit that Kagura looked stunning when he saw mirth twinkling in her crystal blue eyes as she mischievously tugged him along by the hand to the best buffet in Kabuki-cho. He squeezed her hand lightly, relinquishing in the fact that the warmth he coveted wasn't fully his yet. She may have still been in love with Gintoki, but for now he had her attention.
But when Kagura squeezed back Sougo realized it was a start.
It was a start to a new beginning.
