Gintama – Time Machine Arc
A silver soul resides within a room with 5 other souls. Sleeping peacefully in a machine. "Today we will see Gin-chan's past!" "Hey! Kagura-chan are you some kind of villain now?! …When Gin-san wakes up and finds out he'll probably get really mad….." "Don't worry, as long as you two don't do anything suspicious it will be fine." "But what if we do Hijikata-san?" "Shut up Shinpachi! If you're a man you won't get caught!" "Ummmm….. But Kagura-chan I'm not so sure about this….." "Don't worry, if boss finds out I'll make him lose his memories" "HEY! SOUGO! WHY ARE YOU PUTTING ME IN IT TOO?!" "I thought boss would like to have you as company when I make him lose his memories, Hijikata-san" "Shhhhh! Be quiet Toshi, Sougo if he wakes up we're screwed!" "You'll be even more screwed if you mess up! Gorilla!" "Hey! I'm not a gorilla! Anyway let's get started."
The five souls were transported into a world from the past. "Wow, so this was where Gin-san lived. BUT THERE'S HARDLY ANY TOWNS!" "Don't worry Shinpachi-kun, in the past, there wasn't really any big towns or cities, so only small amounts of people gathered." "Is that true? I thought you were only a useless gorilla." "HEY! Why do you have to be so mean to me Kagura-chan?" "Because you're a gorilla." WAAAHHH! TOSHI PLEASE SAVE MEEEEEE!" "Urgh, anyway, where is that idiot?"
"Now that I think about it where is Gin-san?" "In this world he's a kid so he probably has a house or family nearby." "Gin-san said that he doesn't have a family." "Bullshit, in this age of time if you don't have a family you would easily die, especially if you're a kid." "Uhhh, so how did Gin-san survive Hijikata-san?" "How the hell would I know?" "Umm…. Toshi." "What?" "We're standing right in the middle of a road…" "So what?" "There's a carriage heading over this way!" 'WHAT!?" "AHHHHHHH! IT'S COMING THIS WAYYYY! WHAT DO WE DO NOW?! HIJIKATA-SANN!" "QUIET FOUR-EYES!" "WAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" (All together)
"Uhk… I had a bad dream of going into Gin-san's past and then getting run-over by a carriage." Shinpachi saw everyone lying down on the grass near a pond slowly waking up. "OUCH! Uh my side hurts." gasped Kondo. Shinpachi gazed in amazement. "IT WASN'T A BAD DREAM!" Everyone was sitting up now. "Who brought us here?" asked Kagura. "They even treated us." added Sougo. "Hey….Wait a second…There's someone there."Hijikata pointed. Everyone looked and saw the same thing he did. A naturally-wavy, white-permed kid resting on a rock. "Is that…. Gin-chan?" asked Kagura. "I think it is, who would've thought that instead of us finding him he found us." Chuckled Sougo.
"Hey, let's go wake him up." Suggested Kagura. "A-Are you sure about this? Everyone?" asked Shinpachi. In a few seconds, everyone was observing the child closely. "HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" "Quiet four-eyes, we are checking if this really is Gin-chan, yes?" whispered Kagura. "Hmmm… A naturally-wavy perm that's white, and….. Dead-fish eyes? Yep, those are definitely that bastard's eyes." said Hijikata quietly. "He really is Sakata isn't he?" asked Kondo. "He definitely looks like boss. I think he is." said Sougo. Quickly, the boy stood up with alarm as he saw the 5 people gathering around him.
"Ho~ so he finally woke up." threatened Hijikata. "Hey, you'll scare him, Hijikata-san." said Sougo as he made an extremely scary face. "Umm… I think you're the one scaring him." suggested Shinpachi. "HEY! IF ANY OF YOU SCARES GIN-CHAN I WILL KILL YOU!" shouted Kagura. The boy stared quietly as the people argued in front of him. "Hey, is this really Gin-san? He hasn't talked at all. He's so anti-social. I'm really starting to wonder what childhood he had…." said Shinpachi. Kondo took the first move. "Umm… So is your name Sakata Gintoki?" asked Kondo. The boy unsheathed the sword he was carrying and aimed it at Kondo's neck. The gorilla/Kondo put his hands in the air. "H-Hey… it's dangerous to point t-that at a person who's unarmed." advised Kondo sweating nervously. The boy calmed down deeming him and his group as friendly. "So are you Sakata Gintoki?" The white-permed boy nodded silently. Kondo whispered to the whole group, "Hey! It really is him! What do we do now?" "We follow him." said Kagura and Hijikata. The group agreed and turned towards the small boy that was Gintoki. "Thank you for treating us, could you please show us the way to town?" Gintoki thought for a moment, and then he nodded a yes.
When they walked to town there was a very awkward silence. "SOMEBODY! ~ BREAK THE ICE PLEASE! ~" thought Hijikata desperately. "I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE! ~ TOSHI! ~ SAVE MEEEE!" thought Kondo. They all suffered quietly, except for Gintoki. Sougo finally broke the silence. "Are we there yet?" Gintoki just flat-out ignored him. "I said are we there yet? ~" asked Sougo making his sadistic smile. Gintoki pointed out to a small town with many small shops but not very much people on the walkways. Most of the people on the walkways were sitting on the ground, clothes torn, messy hair and skinny bodies. When the group walked past, they saw some thugs claiming to be samurai attacking the citizens and the beggars. Sougo gripped the handle of his sword, ready to unsheathe it and cut those thugs down. Hijikata and Kondo stopped him but Shinpachi and Kagura weren't happy with the way things were in this town. All 5 of them took a quick glance of Gintoki turning to look. When they saw his crimson eyes they immediately knew what he felt. Anger and Hatred. It was the first time they've ever seen him so angry; they were taken back a bit.
When they were finally in the heart of the town Gintoki stopped and waved a hand of goodbye. "Wait!" yelled Kagura and Shinpachi. Then he was nowhere to be found. "What are we going to do now? Hijikata-san." asked Shinpachi. "Well, let's look around the town and gather information about him." said Hijikata. "Wait! Should we really separate from him? On the way here I saw a warehouse and I heard a faint scream. It sounded like a kid. I don't know what's going on around here but I don't think we should leave him alone." explained Kondo. "Yeah, I heard it too, and I think the people who are treated badly all know what's happening. And the way Gin-san looked at them being beaten up, looked so furious and…" Shinpachi stopped, staring at the ground. "I think it's why he never talked to us." added Shinpachi. "I don't see Gin-chan having any friends around him, maybe he's just lonely, yes?" asked Kagura. "No, when I looked into his eyes, it looked like he was afraid of us." informed Hijikata. "What?! Afraid?! What have we done for him to be afraid of us?! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT YOU BASTARD!" shouted Kagura as she jumped on Sougo punching him in the face. "I think it's probably because of those guys threatening people calling themselves samurai." suggested Shinpachi. "How about we find some information on those guys and the warehouse?
They went investigating the shops asking for information. After about 2 hours they all met in an inn. Hijikata spoke first taking a cigarette out, "Only a few people told me some things about the situation, most of them seemed afraid to tell me anything. It seems like those bastards will silence anyone who spills what's happening." "From what I heard, those samurai collects taxes from everyone here and those who can't pay get beaten." informed Shinpachi. "So that's what we saw earlier, huh?" stated the gorilla/Kondo, "Anyone who stands up to them will have their family slaughtered right in front of them in the warehouse." "WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING! WE CANNOT LET THOSE BASTARDS CONTINUE!" "Stand down, china girl, we're gathering an audience." said Sougo looking cautiously at the staring faces. "Tch." pouted Kagura. "Umm… I'm getting worried about Gin-san, should we look for him?" asked Shinpachi. "Nah, he's probably somewhere safe. First, we should probably take care of this shady business." stated Hijikata. "But you saw the look in Gin-san's eyes didn't you? He might be getting attacked as of now!" said Shinpachi, "We have to go to the warehouse now!" The group nodded in agreement. They set out to find this warehouse.
After a couple of minutes, the group stood in front of the closed warehouse. "I hear people in there," said Sougo reaching for his sword "Should I cut the door open?" "Yes" said Hijikata. The door was cut in half by the slash of Sougo's sword. "HEY! THIS IS A RAID!" yelled Kagura. Everything froze. In the middle of the room was a boy with droopy hair crying at the thought of what was going to happen a few instants later. Surrounding him, were more ronin, each with a scar on their faces or arms. And a stage, with a mother and father tied on a pole. Somewhere in the crowd, was a small boy with wild, white hair and crimson eyes being held back by two dangerous looking ronin. "GIN-SAN/CHAN!" cried Shinpachi and Kagura. Gintoki used this situation to escape from the two men and unsheathed his sword. With eyes full of anger, he slashed everything in is way. Blood pouring on him, making him look like a white demon bathed in blood. A man stabbed his right arm into a wall when he was off-guard. Not caring about his injured right arm, Gintoki pushed forward kicking the man backwards and pulled the sword out of his arm. He stabbed the man with his own sword and glared at the others, suddenly he ran forward giving a flurry of attacks, leaving a whirlwind of blood in the air, streaking his face and clothes with red. Kagura, Shinpachi, Sougo, Kondo and Hijikata couldn't do anything but stare in awe at the sight before them. Despite getting cut and bruised Gintoki didn't flinch at all, and did not hesitate when killing another person. The boy with brown hair was still crying, not noticing the situation at all, and the parents fainted on the poles they were tied to. "DEMON! HE'S A DEMON!" one of them cried. The people left in the warehouse ran for their lives, tail between their legs. In the end, a blood-streaked Gintoki was left standing among the corpses.
The group stared at him in awe. And Gintoki stared back, holding his shoulder wound. Walking slowly, he went past the group, still spacing out, and left the building. Blood trailing behind him. Shinpachi, looking pale, was terrified "Gin…san?...What.. Did you do?" Slowly without realizing, he found out he was crying. Turning to look at Kagura, he saw that she was also crying. The Shinsengumi trio were also surprised at what had happened. "Sakata…." Kondo started "He..must have had a terrible childhood.." Hijikata smiled grimly to himself, "So this was how he survived." "Boss…" muttered Sougo. Then, they snapped out of it. Gintoki was injured. He needed help recovering. "Hey, four-eyes and china girl, we need to go to him." said Hijikata looking at the depressed teenagers. Shinpachi snapped back to reality "Ah.. you're right." Pulling Kagura by the arm, he followed the Shinsengumi.
"The blood leads to the pond" pointed out Sougo. They all followed and saw the wounded Gintoki wrapping his wounds with ragged cloth. He was aware of their presence but ignored it. Lying on the rock, he tried to nap but couldn't because of the pain, so he only closed his eyes. The five came out of their hiding place and examined his wounds. Opening one eye, Gintoki saw the five of them staring. "Can.. we please help you?" asked Shinpachi. The boy just shrugged it off. Wondering if it was a 'yes' or a 'no' he grabbed a piece of cloth and soaked it with water, holding it to Gintoki's cuts. Gintoki shivered a little bit because of the stinging but let it continue. "Why…are you doing this?" the boy finally asked. Shinpachi, Hijikata, Sougo and Kondo gasped after hearing the boy speak for the first time. "Because we can't ignore a wounded boy" smiled Kondo, patting Gintoki's head. He was surprised at how soft his hair was despite it being messy and wanted to feel the sensation as long as he could. Hijikata took out a cigarette and muttered something about having a bath. Gintoki, who has now found friends, smiled comfortably to himself. The five people saw him smile and thought together "How peaceful."
A flash of light suddenly appeared, and the 5 souls found themselves back in the room they were in. But now, Gintoki was awake, looking extremely pissed. "WHERE THE HELL AM I!? WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?" The five looked at each other, and compared the child Gintoki with the Gintoki now, and giggled a bit. "HEY, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SNICKERING AT?! WHAT'S SO FUNNY?!" shouted Gintoki trying to understand the situation. "Nothing." They all said.
Not Everyone Can Have a Good Childhood. But They Can Make Up For it in The Future.
By Anime_Fan234
