Disclaimer: All characters belong Sorachi-sensei.
Tae winced looking at the wounds that adorned Gintoki's torso after his battle against Naraku. She didn't need to be an expert on injuries to know which wounds would become scars later on.
Speaking of scars, there were so many battle scars -some were conspicuous while others weren't, and most of them she has no idea where and when he got them but she was certain he got them before he met them. One scar was too familiar to her and she felt the urge to gently trace it with her finger. It was the one that came from his sword fight against that Nizou and the one that made her realize how easily he could be killed.
"You've been staring at my wounds for awhile now. Got a problem? Or nauseated?" Gintoki asked in a poorly veiled irritation. "I can redress myself." He was about to snatch the roll of bandage from her hand when a deadly aura suffocated him.
Tae was looking at him with her eyes dangerously glowing in red. So demonic. "Injured person should shut up and act like an injured person," she said, her smile too saccharine to be true.
Gintoki immediately became docile. Tae nodded approvingly and carefully redressed his wounds.
After it was over and he was halfway to the door, she said, "I know and understand your reasons to fight but can you be careful next time?" She slid her gaze from his back to the floor, her hair covering her expressive eyes. "If you keep on pushing yourself, the day when you won't come home draws nearer. If you're gone, Shin-chan and Kagura-chan, no, everyone will be sad. And I... the Kabuki district won't be the same without you."
Gintoki looked over his shoulder. His eyes grew wide slightly upon seeing the tears that glistened under the light. He sighed. "I won't die. I'll come home always. That's a promise." Then he resumed walking muttering about crying girls making him feel the bad guy.
Few months later, Tae found herself waiting outside Gintoki's place with a bag of bandages in her right hand. Her heart was filled with trepidation while anxiously waiting for the odd jobs to come home.
When she saw them from the distance her heart sunk to her stomach to see a bleeding gintoki being half-carried and half-dragged by Kagura and Shinpachi.
It felt like forever before they reached her. She was relieved to see Kagura and Shinpachi unharmed. As for Gintoki… She took a glance at him and pushed back her panic upon seeing that most of Gintoki's clothes was drenched with blood. She hurriedly opened the front door for them.
Kagura and Shinpachi stopped when a barely conscious Gintoki raised his head and looked at Tae with something akin to a smirk on his bruised lips. "I'm home."
I'll always come home as long as you're waiting for me.