Hi ! It's been a while, hasn't it? I said I would write a story about Kamui and Kagura, and I did, but I forgot to post it here... Sorry 'bout it. Hope you will like it!
Disclaimer : I do not own Gintama ;D
A scream broke through the night, waking him up right away. The source was close. Really close. Like the room next to his.
Fighting his urge to rush into the bedroom next door, he waited a bit. The screaming didn't stop. And it sounded like no one else in the house was moving to see what was happening.
He swore between his teeth. Was the old man gone, again? Or didn't he see the point of waking up ? Finally, he got out of bed and tried to keep a slow pace as he walked to the noisy room.
At first, he didn't see anything. Just a little girl, her eyes showing signs of panic, screaming while hugging her rabbit pet.
Oh. Wait. The pet. Little did he know, a rabbit's head was not supposed to make such an angle with the body. Using his most annoyed voice, he spoke.
"What are you thinking, being that loud in the middle of the night? Can't you respect the sleep of your family? Do you need so much attention?"
It looked as she finally noticed him. She wiped her tears but they were soon replaced by new ones.
"Brother, it's Sadaharu... I just wanted to sleep with him, but when I hugged him there was a crack and he stop moving... Brother, he will wake up, right? My best friend will wake up?"
Every word broke his heart a little bit. He was supposed to be a Yato. To be brave. To reject any useless feeling. But the day he saw that little red head in the arms of his mother, the day he took her in his arms, he knew he wouldn't be such a rule follower. Yet, he was doing his best to hide it.
"Stuuu~pid. First, you don't sleep with your best friend. Ever. Let that be a lesson. And second... Of course it's not going to wake up. You killed it. And dead stuff doesn't come back."
He could see by her expression his words destroyed something in her. And that very expression destroyed something in him, too.
"Now go back to sleep. We'll bury that tomorrow, okay? But remove it from your bed, you would get viruses."
He tried to leave the room, but her gaze captured his. Her teary eyes were saying everything she didn't dare to say out loud. Begging him.
"Want Big Bro to stay with you until you fall asleep?"
He wanted to sound pissed off. His voice turned out to be soft and kind.
She nodded. He sat next to her, stroking her hair until she fell asleep.
…
The next day, he woke up in his sister's bed, the little girl rolled in a ball in his arms. He sighed and hoped the old man didn't see that. Trying not to wake her up, he left the room, taking the dead rabbit with him.
He put the animal in a shoe box, washed his hands and prepared breakfast.
"You're up early." a voice stated behind him. "I'm... I'm sorry I didn't went to your sister's side this night. I just couldn't get up. I'm sorry."
He almost dropped the glass of orange juice he was holding.
"Mom! The doctor said you should lie down ! I don't mind taking care of the midget, but your state will get worse if you move!"
"You're right. But I just wanted to thank you... For everything. You are only ten, you shouldn't have to take care of everything by yourself."
"Anyway – where's the old man? You are ill, you can't move, so I will for you, but him, what's his excuse? Where is he ?"
Words were spat, full of venom and hate. His mother sighed.
"Will you ever call him Dad? Or Papi, like Kagura does? Anyway, he went out yesterday night. My coughing were getting worse. He heard about that doctor who can heal anything, but it takes three days to get to him... For now it's just the three of us."
She started coughing again. A lot. She excused herself and went back to her room where she could lie down.
When Kagura got up, Kamui had prepared her breakfast. She ate a little, then he helped her getting dressed. He gave her a soft smile.
"Let's go, shall we?"
Of course, it wasn't such of a ceremony. The box in one hand, his sister's hand in the other, he walked to the hole he dug before his sister woke up. He put the box on the bottom. Kagura threw a daisy she just picked on the box. She said a few words about Sadaharu being her best friend and how sorry she was. Kamui concluded by a "Let him be forever remembered" and with a shovel, he filled the hole. And that was it.
The next day, Kagura woke up to find a turtle with a ribbon on its carapace in a big glass box on her shelf. As she was staring a the animal with amazed eyes, a tender voice came from behind the door.
"Don't sleep with it this time."
On one side of the door, a redhead shed a single tear while on the other side, another redhead smiled kindly.
The old man came back a week later. Alone. With no remedy. But that didn't really mattered, as he was too late anyway.
Their mother fell asleep the night before, to never wake up again. Kagura kept on asking "Why isn't Mami waking up?" and Kamui hugged her tight, saying that Mami went to play with Sadaharu n°1. Kagura cried. Kamui didn't.
At the funerals, everyone paid their respect to their family. Kamui thought they were a bunch of hypocrites, as no one ever visited while their mother was sick. The only heartbreaking thing was Kagura's swollen eyes, her shoulders moving as she silently sobbed. And Kamui finally understood why he couldn't feel anything for his mother's death. The Yato were just a bunch of hypocrites. His father, who pretended trying his best to find a cure while all he was doing was running away. His mother, who pretended she was sorry her ten-years-old son had to take care of his sister and yet never asked a thing about their day, never asked why her daughter was crying. She never knew about the dead pet. She never acted like a mother. Ever.
They were Yato. The did not raise children, the raised warriors. Love had no place here.
And in the middle of those heartless warriors was born a little girl who laughed when she was happy, cried when she was sad, pouted when she was annoyed. She was born as a Yato, and yet she felt like a human. And she was the only one Kamui would ever shed tears for.
She was what stopped him from becoming a full Yato. She was his only weakness.
Time passed. Kamui grew into a young man while Kagura remained a little girl. Their father was not often there, so Kamui took care of his sister. Everyone thought he was doing it reluctantly, as his facial expression always showed boredom or annoyance when they were seen together, but in truth he liked how she would come back home covered with mud and bruises because she had climbed high rocks to pick a flower for him. She had a lot of pets ; none of them lasted long, and yet he always gave her a new one when the previous died.
When the old man was there, the two men always ended up shouting and fighting. And one day, it became worse than usual. It began when Kamui reproached his father with the fact he could never answer Kagura when she was asking when "Papi" was coming home. His father told him to be more of a Yato, that his absences were making Kagura stronger, and that because of her Kamui was weak.
They started yelling at each other. Kamui affirmed that taking care of his sister didn't influence his strength. And they made a deal. They would fight, a serious fight. If Kamui won, he would be allowed to stay with Kagura and to live the way he wanted. But is his father won... In the hypothesis Kamui would still be alive, he would have to leave the planet. Wouldn't be allowed to come back until his father judged he was worth his Yato blood. And of course, he would have tostay away from his sister.
They fought hard. Kamui was almost winning, when Kagura saw them and started shouting, pleading them to stop. For the very last time, Kamui's heart broke.
Stop crying. I beg of you, stop crying!
His inattention caused his loss. His father left him for dead on the ground, muttering "By tomorrow morning, you'll be gone."
Kamui closed his eyes, letting the rain wash his blood away.
"Please, stay! Don't leave me here! Brother!"
Ignoring her tears, he glared at her. She was standing on the top of the stairs, her tiny umbrella in her tiny hand.
"I have no use for weaklings."
With those very last words, he left. She was hurt, but so was he. And he decided at that time to close his heart, to never be weak again. So that she would do the same and become strong.
She was his only weakness, and no one but her would be allowed to end his life.
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