Gintama does not belong to me but to Sorachi Hideaki-sensei

Well, this is the third sequel to the Family AU. I have to tell you that I am incredibly busy lately so this fic is not going to be updated as fast as the previous two. It may even take weeks for me to write the next chapter, I don't know. And I still want to finish that one Naruto fanfic I have. And well... here it goes

"Tsukuyo! It's time for breakfast!"

"I'm coming Nee-san!" Tsukuyo checked all of her things in her backpack and made sure she had everything ready. She closed it and with her bag on her back, walked out of her room and into the dining room. Hinowa and Seita were already there. Her older sister smiled at Tsukuyo when she entered the room.

"Ready for a new school year?"

"Well, it's not like many things are going to change. I mean I only go up one year. Seita, on the other hand..."

Seita was practically bouncing in his seat. "What's elementary school's like? What're the teachers like? What kind of games are there?" The boy started going to elementary school this year and he was excited as he was anxious.

"Well, first of all there is no game in elementary school" Tsukuyo told him. That got him quiet.

"Really? Then what are we doing in elementary school?"

"You just study." When Seita looked anxious, Tsukuyo quickly added "But you're going to learn a lot of fun things there. The teachers will answer all the questions you want to know."

"And you will make a lot of friends" his mother added. "Izumi-chan and Kotarou-kun will go with you right?" Izumi was one of Seita's close friends and Kotarou was her brother.

Seita finally cheered at the mention of his friends. "Yes!" His mother and aunt smiled, knowing he no longer worried about going to elementary school. "What's it like when you were in elementary school, Tsukuyo-nee?"

Tsukuyo froze. What was it like? She started to recall what it was like. She didn't make any friends. She buried herself in her books, spending all of her time studying. Some students bullied her, and the rest didn't care or were too afraid to defend her. Not even the teachers dared to defend her because the one who bullied her was the daughter of the school's benefactor. She was called "Hideous Scarred Girl". They always said she was ugly and poor and filthy, for living in red light district and having a prostitute for a sister. The memories swam inside her head. Hinowa frowned, knowing that it was a touchy topic.

"Tsukuyo-nee?" Seita asked again. Hinowa put a hand on her younger sister's shoulder reassuringly, snapping Tsukuyo out of her daze. She turned to look at her nephew again. A smile slowly showed on her face.

"It was fun of course." Tsukuyo tried not to think about it. Their life was different now. Seita wouldn't go through what she did.

They ate their breakfast in silence. "Are you going to the boutique today, Nee-san?" she asked her older sister. Hinowa worked for Nishikiya, the best clothing shop in the country.

"Yes. Oryou-san is going to pick me up around ten a.m. I have to do something in the shop." While Hinowa worked for Nishikiya, sometimes she only had to send her designs through email. She couldn't walk and was confined to a wheelchair, and because of her condition, she couldn't go back and forth to the shop and their home. But when the workers really needed her for something, they would pick her up and she would go to Nishikiya boutique not far from Tsukuyo and Seita's school.

Tsukuyo nodded. "I'll pick you up when it's time for you to go home."

"Oh no need for that Tsukuyo. I'm just working there for a short while today and Oryou-san will take me home with her car." She glanced at the clock and clapped her hands together. "It's almost time. Come on you two, hurry up. You won't want to be late for the first day of school."

Tsukuyo and Seita quickly ate their breakfast. After they finished eating, they grabbed their backpacks, said good bye to Hinowa and walked out of the house. Tsukuyo offered to hold Seita's hand as they walked toward Gintama Elementary School. But he refused, saying that it's embarrassing. They arrived at the school gate and Seita spotted his friends, who waved at him.

"Are you okay if I leave now?" Tsukuyo asked him.

"Oh, come on Tsukuyo-nee. I can take care of myself."

She smiled and ruffled his hair. "Alright. See you after school."

Seita ran to his friends and waved at Tsukuyo, who waved back at him. She then went to her own school, Gintama High School. She was not a sophomore anymore. She was a senior now. She had to start thinking about her future carrier, more specifically what major she would take in college. She sighed as she still hadn't think about that. She arrived at the entrance gate and saw some new faces. Of course. The freshmen.

Tsukuyo finally spotted some of the seniors, gathered around the school board, trying to find out their classes and who their classmates were. She went there as well, to find which class she was in. But before she arrived there, she spotted her three best friends standing in front of the crowd, with smiles on their faces as they looked at one another. They then noticed her and ran to her almost instantly.

"Tsukki!" Ayame greeted.

"Good morning too Ayame. And you guys too, Tae, Kyuubei."

"Happy new school year" Tae replied, smiling prettily. Kyuubei nodded and smiled.

"That's not important!" Ayame said. "Do you know the four of us are in the same class?"

Tsukuyo widened her eyes in shock as the three's grin widened. "No way? Really?"

"See for yourself." They pulled her to the board and pointed to the list. She read it quickly and sure enough, all of their names were in the same row. Tsukuyo smiled widely and turned to her grinning friends. The four girls shrieked as they hold each other's hands and jumped around, earning annoyed glares from the other seniors surrounding the board.

Tsukuyo went to look at the list again, to see who else were in her class. She spotted some familiar names, but what surprised her was reading the name Yoshida Kotarou and Yoshida Shinsuke in her class' row. Gintoki's brothers were in the same class as her? What about Gintoki himself? She searched for her boyfriend's name and was disappointed when she found they were not in the same class.

"Gin-san's not in the same class as us. So it's true that the staff purposely put couples in different classes" Tae said.

"Eh? Really?" Tsukuyo said, turning to Tae.

Tae nodded. "Yes. I heard that it's to make the seniors focus more on the study and not relationship."

Well, that made sense. Tsukuyo was a bit sad for not being in the same class as Gintoki. They were in the same class in their freshmen and sophomore years and she was going to miss having him pestering her any chance he got. But they still could meet during break or after school. Speaking of her boyfriend, she didn't see him.

Tsukuyo looked around the crowded school yard and finally spotted Gintoki near the Sakura tree. He was standing with his brothers, sister, Sougo and Kamui. It was a bit strange for Tsukuyo seeing Nobume, Sougo and Kamui wearing high school uniforms, being used to see them in their middle school uniform. Nevertheless, she felt she had an obligation to greet them. Excusing herself from her friends, she walked toward the group of six people. They seemed to be talking heatedly about something, but calmed down when they spotted her.

"Hi, Tsukuyo-san/Tsukuyo!" they all greeted her.

"Hi everyone. Welcome to high school, Nobume, Sougo, Kamui. It's nice to see you here."

The three freshmen nodded at her. "Nice to see you too, Tsukuyo-san" Kamui replied. "We're going to have a lot of new fun here" he said, smirking mischievously. Tsukuyo shuddered a little.

"Though I like the middle school uniform better. These clothes are a bit dull, don't you think?" Nobume commented, looking at her uniform.

"Well, that's the way it always is" Tsukuyo replied.

"I wonder what we can do here" Sougo mumbled, more to himself.

"Now that you two are here, there're many things we can do together" Gintoki said, grinning mischievously. Sougo and Kamui gave him matching grins. Tsukuyo shuddered again. She remembered about them being called Trio Sadists but she didn't want to think about it.

"Gintoki, you're a senior now. Set a good example for our juniors and focus on your study" Tsukuyo said.

Gintoki rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I know." He then looked at her, and this time he smiled softly. "Nice to see you again, after the long weekend."

Tsukuyo smiled. "I know. I miss you too. Though I'm a bit disappointed that we're not in the same class this year."

Gintoki frowned. "Yeah, I know. It sucks. And instead of me, you've got to be in the same class with these two idiots" he said, pointing his thumb toward his two brothers.

"Who are you calling idiots?!" Kotarou and Shinsuke said in unison.

Kotarou then turned to Tsukuyo. "Oh yes, Tsukuyo-san. As Gintoki has told, we're in the same class."

"Yes, I already know. Let's help each other through this year. You too Shinsuke-kun."

Shinsuke nodded at her. "Sure."

She then leaned to him discreetly. "So how are things regarding that?" she whispered to him.

"About what?"

"You know..." Tsukuyo glanced at Nobume and Shinsuke widened his eyes.

"What the-no, there's nothing! And I don't think there would be any" he said, blushing a little.

Tsukuyo frowned. "I'm not going to let you go about this. Now that we're in the same class, expect me to keep asking you about this."

Shinsuke sighed. He started to regret having her as his classmate. Moreover, he regretted telling her about his feelings for Nobume.

Nobume watched the two from the corner of her eyes. She secretly felt dejected at the fact that Tsukuyo and Shinsuke were in the same class. Now they were in the same class and Gintoki wasn't there with them, they would get closer. And what were they talking about just now? She swore she could see Shinsuke blush a little. Nobume looked away from them, sulkily.

"Nobume? What's wrong?" Kotarou asked his younger sister.

"It's nothing Kota-nii."

Meanwhile, Gintoki, Sougo and Kamui were busy planning (plotting) something in the background.


After they went through the opening ceremony, the students went to their new classes. Gintoki and Tsukuyo had promised to meet after school and that got Tsukuyo excited as she went into her new class with her three girl friends. A man, wearing sunglasses despite being in a room walked in. He put some documents on the teacher's table.

"My name is Hasegawa Taizou and I'm going to be your Homeroom teacher. Now, let's get to know your names."

Tsukuyo didn't really pay attention to the lectures. She was waiting for the time the school end. Since it was the first day, they didn't really study anything. There were only some introductions to the new courses. And of course, the drill. The teachers kept reminding them about the future.

"You're a senior now. Think about what you want to do in the future."

They kept saying that to the students. What did she want to do? Tsukuyo was still not sure. She walked out of the class when school was finally over. She saw Gintoki waiting for her beside the entrance gate and smiled. They walked out of school together.

"How's your class?" Tsukuyo asked him.

"Fine I guess. Tatsuma, Zenzou, and that bastard Hijikata are in my class. There are some others but they're not important. How's yours?"

"Fine I guess. Tae, Ayame and Kyuubei are in my class. This is the first time that the four of us are actually in the same class and we're really excited."

Gintoki smiled. "Well, that's good. But seriously, even at the first day, they already give speech to the students. It makes the start of the year stressing" Gintoki complained.

"What speech?" she asked.

"You know... Something about the future."

Tsukuyo went quiet. "Gintoki... have you... have you decided the major you'll take in college?"

Gintoki blinked. He then went silent, a thoughtful look crossed his face. "Actually... I was thinking about taking laws."

"Laws?" Tsukuyo asked, surprised. Among all the majors she thought would suit him, she didn't expect him to pick law of all things. "Why laws?"

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"Well, no. It's just... I never expected you to pick that of all majors."

Gintoki shrugged. "Oboro-nii-san already takes Educational Studies major. He's going to take over the school after Dad retires. Shinsuke's going to take Music Major since he wants to be a musician. Kotarou's going to take Political Science Major cause he wants to be politician. Nobume, I heard she's going to join Mimawarigumi military academy. Well, she likes fighting and I'm sure she can survive that. Then I thought what more can I offer? I don't know. All of my siblings seem to know what they're going to do. And I thought about what I want to do. I never tell anyone about this but I want to help a lot of people. And what is the job that can make me help a lot of people? I still don't really know. Sure, I can be a cop, but we have Nobume who will do that. For now, I'm thinking about becoming a lawyer or something like that. But it can change later on."

Gintoki would die if he ever told anyone about this. He was too proud to admit that he loved helping the people around him. But he never hid it from Tsukuyo. Because she knew him all too well for him to hide anything from her. Just like with his father.

Tsukuyo smiled gently. "A lawyer, huh? I think it suits you. I mean you do have a knack in coming up with excuses, even if you're wrong. I'm sure you can defend your client."

"What, is that a compliment or an insult?"

Tsukuyo chuckled, but deep down, she felt a bit insecure. What about her? What would she do in the future?

"What about you?" he asked her.

"I... still don't know."

"Well, you'll have an idea later on. Don't worry."

Tsukuyo smiled at him and nodded. Gintoki looked at her and he knew she was still distraught. He then looked to their left. There was a small hill near their school, which separated them from the other side of the town. He spotted a long stairs, leading to the top of the hill. "Hey, what's that?"

Tsukuyo looked at what he saw. She followed the stairs up the hill. "Oh it's a temple. I've heard about it from Kyuubei before. She said the temple is selling some powerful charms and the possibility for your wishes to come true is higher if you pray here."

"What kind of charms?" he asked.

"There are many kinds. For romantic relationship, for family, for finance, for success and many others."

"Is that true?"

"I don't know. It's just a rumor."

"Have you prayed here before?"

"No."

Gintoki looked up at the temple. "Want to try praying here?"

Tsukuyo looked at him. "You want to?"

"Well, why don't we try? For the future."

For the future. Tsukuyo looked up at the temple thoughtfully. "Well, let's go up there."

"It's just a suggestion. You don't have to do it."

"No, I want to."

"Don't you have to pick Seita?" Gintoki asked.

"This won't be long. He can wait for a few more minutes" Tsukuyo replied.

Gintoki nodded. "Alright." Suddenly, his eyes flicked at something on the other side of the road. A crepes vendor. Tsukuyo followed his line of sight and smiled in amusement. "On a second thought..."

"You'll catch up with me later?" she said, finishing his words. He scratched his pink cheeks sheepishly.

"Yeah, I'll catch up with you later."

Tsukuyo sighed, her eyes glinting in amusement, and walked up the stairs as Gintoki crossed the road toward the crepes vendor. Wishes or not, sweets would always be number one in his book.

Tsukuyo arrived at the top of the stairs and saw a fairly modest and clean temple. But there's no one there. A large red torri stood at the entrance. There was the rack of charms at the right side of the temple. On the left side was a cobbled path leading to a place behind the shrine. Could it be there's a house behind it? A Buddha statue sat in the middle. The shrine was small but completely clean. Tsukuyo walked toward the rack of charms and looked at them. They were surely different than the charms she had seen from other temples, though she couldn't explain why. There was one with the kanji that said "Finding". She picked the charm and inspected it.

"Who's there?" a feminine voice suddenly said behind her, startling Tsukuyo. She thought there was no one here. In her shock, she dropped the amulet and her bag, the content spilled out of it.

"I-I'm sorry. I thought there's no one here" Tsukuyo said as she hastily kneeled down to pick up her things and the charm.

"It's okay. I'm sorry for startling you too. It's just rare for some visitors to come here lately" the person said as she too kneeled to help Tsukuyo gathered her things.

Tsukuyo saw two pale hands helped her gathered her things when she looked down. "Thank you" she said, looking up at the person. "No problem" the other said, looking up as well. Suddenly, everything was frozen.

Tsukuyo blinked. She felt like she was looking into a mirror. Because she was seeing her own face. Blonde hair and amethyst eyes. It's just like her. But there's something different. There's no scar. She gaped at the person in front of her and the other was looking at her with identical shocked expression.

"I... You..."

"You... Me... We..."

"..."

"..."

"You look just like me!" the two girls exclaimed at the same time.

Tsukuyo gaped in shock at the girl in front of her. Her face looked just like hers. She had short neck-length blonde hair and amethyst eyes. While she was wearing her school uniform, the other girl was wearing Hakama, like what miko usually wore. The other girl seemed to be as shocked as her.

"Oh... my God..." she mumbled.

Now that they looked at each other, they noticed that they were not completely the same. For one thing, the girl didn't have scars on her face like Tsukuyo did. Instead, there was a horizontal scar along her neck, like someone had cut it. And while the two had blonde hair, the other girl was a lighter shade of blonde, to the point that it was almost gray. Tsukuyo's hair was shoulder length, while the other girl's hair was neck length. Other than that, they looked pretty much identical.

After they calmed down from their shock, they stared at each other awkwardly. They then chuckled awkwardly in unison, and everything was silent again. "I... I never met someone who looked just like me before" the other girl said, smiling at Tsukuyo.

Tsukuyo smiled back at her. "Me too... Um... I'm Tsukuyo" she said and offered her hand to the other girl, a bit awkwardly.

The other smiled at her and shook her hand. "My name is Asaemon. It's nice to meet you."

The two girls smiled at each other. They didn't know why, but they had already felt close to one another despite just meeting each other. And it's not just because they looked like each other.

"Do you live here?" Tsukuyo asked her.

"Sort of. My sisters and I guard this temple" Asaemon replied. She then looked at the charm in Tsukuyo's hand. "Are you interested in buying that?"

"What? Oh this? I'm just curious. My friends said about the charms here being potent."

Asaemon smiled. "Maybe. It's thanks to Ane-nee-san and Mone-nee-san's prayers." She then beckoned Tsukuyo to look at the charms at the rack once more. "We have many things here. You'll have charm that makes you know who your soul mate is. A charm who helps you keep your family life happy. A charm that helps you reconcile with someone when you have a fight and there are many more."

Tsukuyo looked at the charm in her hand. "What does this one do?"

Asaemon looked at the charm. "Oh, I remember this one. Mone-nee-san said something about this charm helping you find something important in your life."

"Something important?" Tsukuyo questioned. "What is it?"

Asemon frowned. "I honestly don't know. It's really vague. Maybe it will help you find what you are meant to do in life... or something..."

Tsukuyo blinked at this. Find what you are meant to do? She stared at the amulet. "I think I'll buy this one."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. How much does it cost?" Asaemon named the price and Tsukuyo was surprised of how cheap it is. She then gave her the money.

"You attend Gintama School, right?" Asaemon said, having noticed her uniform.

"Yes. What school do you attend? I don't think I've seen you around here."

"I attend Sakura High School, at the other side of the town" she said, pointing to the west toward the back of the hill, the opposite side of Gintama School.

"Oh, I know that school. I heard our schools are going to have joint festival this semester."

"Yes. Maybe we can meet again during that time." The two girls smiled at each other. Suddenly, a cry was heard from the house behind the shrine.

"Asaemon! Please help with the cooking here!"

"I'm coming Ane-nee-san!" Asaemon cried back. She then turned to Tsukuyo. "If you want to pray, just pray at the shrine. If there's something you want to buy, just go to our house." She then smiled. "If you have some spare time, you can come again. Bring your friends or family next time."

Tsukuyo smiled back at her. "I will. Thank you very much. I'm actually here with my boyfriend. But he's down there, buying crepes."

"Oh, the crepes vendor at the other side of the road, right?"

"Yeah." Tsukuyo sighed, but smiled fondly. "He has a severe sweet tooth."

"Sweet tooth..." Asaemon mumbled. Her eyes were glazing and Tsukuyo looked at her worriedly.

"Is something wrong?"

"What? Oh, it's nothing" she said, snapping out of her daze.

"Asaemon!" another cry was heard.

"I'm coming!" the girl called out. "I'm sorry I have to leave."

"It's okay. Maybe we can talk again when I visit next time" Tsukuyo said. They smiled at each other. They didn't know why but they felt so close to each other already even though they didn't talk for long. And for some reason, they were reluctant to part.

Asaemon left, and a few seconds later, Gintoki came with crepes in hands. He handed one to Tsukuyo. She knew he would buy one for her as well. "Thank you" she said, smiling at her boyfriend.

But Gintoki wasn't looking at her. He was staring at the direction where Asaemon had gone. Tsukuyo tilted her head, confused. "Gintoki?"

"Who's that you're talking to just now?"

"Oh, just one of the mikos guarding this temple. What's wrong?"

Gintoki didn't answer her. He looked curious, confused, uncertain and... sad. "I think I saw..." he mumbled quietly. After a while, he finally averted his eyes. "No, it's nothing. Want to pray for our future?"

Tsukuyo raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend's odd behavior but decided to dismiss it for now. They rang the bell, put some money inside the wooden box, clapped their hands and started to pray. Tsukuyo glanced at her boyfriend for a minute. He still looked distraught. Like he was remembering something painful, something he wanted to forget, something he wanted to put behind him.

That's chapter one. I'm not sure when I will update this but I hope soon. See you in the next chapter.