The Blood Vessel of Fate
Chapter 1: She is of age
In the past ten years, not once did Umibouzu think that he would have been contacted by the offspring he was not proud to call his own. Why would that boy even want to contact that man he once called "father," the man who created him, the "father" who let his own son rip off a limb in rage?
In his years of being the father to such a child, not once had he expected this.: a battered, torn-up, yellow letter from Kamui, regarding the age of his younger sibling.
"How old is Kagura?" the old man read. It was odd. Four words that you'd never guess came from a psychopath, but rather an aunt. Then again, that psychopath was a caring brother as well. Just under that lone question, sprawled out in ink were four numbers, only one of which was Kagura's age: fifteen.
The man wanted to laugh. Just thinking that their torn up, mangled, sorry excuse of a family would reunite just because Kagura became of age, tickled his belly.
Umibouzu blinked. Because Kagura became of age. He looked at the letter and like magic, everything about it made sense. It was as if Kamui was watching from the shadows, face palming as his father failed at raising a Yato clan member of the female variety. The letter was a reminder. A reminder that Kagura is of age, that she is lacking a mother and is living on earth with a bunch of Japanese idiots. She would go insane if she saw the blood.
He raced to the nearest ship towards earth. His daughter must know the process of Yato mating. No matter what.
A few days after this happened on the other side of the universe, Gintoki smiled. The damn kiddies were out and wouldn't be back for hours, he could get some well deserved rest, eat whatever was left in the fridge, read some jump, watch the weather girl on the T.V., and stuff like that. Just as he got into a comfortable position on the couch that would keep back pain away if he happened to fall asleep, a man crashed into his living room. Gintoki screamed. Not like a girl mind you, he was always on top.
The man, who had decided that falling through ceilings was a better idea compared to walking through front doors, looked at the perm headed freak, goggles glinting in the sunlight that was pouring over him from the hole in the roof.
"Where's my daughter?" he said, if Gin wasn't so freaked out, he would have added this moment to his list of amazing sights; with all the dying-flame-like-seriousness and the dust settling and the sunlight being in the right angle.
Gin, with his not-so-elephant-like-memory looked at the man, horror stricken, "what the hell?"
"Kagura. My daughter. You idiot. Where is she? I must tell her something of utmost importance."
The gears that worked in Gin's brain clicked and he recognized the man as Kagura's father and asked why he was there.
The man bashed Gin's skull with his umbrella, "WHY DID I EVEN TRUST YOU WITH MY DAUGHTER'S LIFE? YOU WHO CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED SECONDS AGO!"
"SHUT THE HELL UP OLD MAN! LIKE YOU CAN TALK! YOU WEREN'T THE ONE WHO HAD SOME CRAZY ALIEN CRASH INTO YOUR HOUSE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE WHO'S NOT EVEN THERE AT THE TIME!"
"I KNOCKED ON THE DOOR BUT NO ONE ANSWERED!"
"THAT STILL DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN JUST CRASH INTO SOMEONE'S HOUSE FOR NO REASON!"
"SHUT THE HELL UP BOTH OF YOU!"
Both grown men looked towards the door to see Catherine angry as the devil when he didn't win at chess, "You're disturbing the peace and I have half the mind to call the cops for destruction of private property!" and with that, she left. Leaving both of the big babies speechless.
Gintoki groaned, and scratched his head and looked at gaping hole in the ceiling, "Man that's gonna cost more than the rent..."
"Who cares about that! My daughter is in danger if I don't find her quick!"
"Yeah, why's that anyway?"
The strongest Yato clan member opened his mouth to deny the perm-head of any information. But then he remembered that the perm-head was his daughter's current guardian. Which meant that the idiot might as well know, "Alright. I'll tell you."
"Ah. Okay, but before that, why's my name 'perm-head'?"
"Word of god." the geezer said, picking his nose.
"Ah."
So they stood there awkwardly for about ten minutes, in the light of the sun and covered in the dust. They honestly didn't have any sweet clue on how to go about it. One man was a lone wolf that didn't look cool and was a horrible excuse for a father, while the other one was a lazy; good-for-nothing that had high chances of getting type one-diabetes. It was safe to say that they didn't have any experience in their situation.
So, like all angry people, Catherine was the one who made them move. "And stay out until you two learn to stop being awkward around another!" she said.
So Gin and Mr. Umibouzu ended up in a popular cafe to discuss why in hell, the fail-father had decided to crash through his roof to talk to his little blossoming daughter. The fail-father had ordered Gin a parfait so he would stay there and not run away on him.
"You see perm-head," the fail father began, "I recently got this letter." he showed the letter to perm-head. "And as you can read, it's time for Kagura to know what the rest of her life is gonna be like."
The fail father waited for perm-head to tell him to continue. He only got a "I can't read that."
"It says 'How old is Kagura.' And those little symbols are numbers. This right here is Kagura's age: 15"
"Ah." Perm-head guessed that aliens also had times of months that the females of the race became bitches and complained about everything.
"So because Kagura is fifteen now, she's gonna see things. And by things, I mean red things that connect two pinkies together. The people can be any two people; gender doesn't play a big role. I believe your people call this 'the read thread of fate?'"
Perm-head's guess was wrong.
The fail-father continued, "Though, my wife once told me that it's actually more of a blood vessel, not a string."
"And you wanted to tell Kagura this... why?"
Perm-head's question did not reach the father's ears, as he was asking a waitress if she had any writing paper he could use. And a pen. He needed a pen. So Perm-head sat there and watched the man scribble things down on the paper. When he was done, he took a napkin and made an envelope out of it, placed the folded paper inside and sealed it with fresh chewing gum he found under the table. He then gestured to Gintoki to take it. Gin was horrified. Like hell he was taking that thing.
"I want you to give this to Kagura." He said.
"What the hell happened to you telling her upfront?"
"We both know she won't listen to me," he said dramatically, then bouncing back with a "I'll buy you anther parfait."
Grumbling, Gin took the makeshift envelope.
When they parted ways, Gintoki knew that the Yato people were responsible for their red thread suspicion, and so he looked at his pinkie. Kids used it as a way to tease other kids about girls, but he never actually thought it was true. No it wasn't 100% true, the story and reason behind it was true though.
He opened the door to his home and was attacked with questions. Shinpachi and Kagura were curious about hole in the ceiling. Shinpachi was concerned about the need of more buckets, and the idea that if they left him alone for 3 hours, they'd all be in shit. Kagura was concerned about the fact she wasn't there when the action was going on.
Perm-head's reaction? Just a simple statement that he wanted to get off his chest, "You have mail Kagura."
And instantly, bright blue eyes were looking at the letter in his hand excitedly. He gave it to her, and brushed her pinky. This normally insignificant connection between two people, instantly led Gin into shock, which made him shuffle away in depression, muttering about the need for more sugar.
Kagura didn't notice any of that. She was a fifteen year old girl, growing up around men, and besides, she just got a letter. It wasn't everyday she got anything. Well there was the random letter from her Papi, but he was a toupee wearing old guy, who was slaying rouge aliens on the other side of the galaxy. Who in the right mind would notice anything strange about Gin-chan's actions?
Kagura wasn't disgusted by the envelope, like Gin was. Nope, not at all. Heck she didn't even get to see the thing she tore the letter from the damn thing so fast it was like she was made of lightening. Shinpachi was very afraid.
Kagura my pretty little flower,
You are blooming into a true Yato woman. And because of that, this letter is as serious as your guardian's chances of getting type one-diabetes.
That subject was always a serious one.
Remember Mami? Let me tell you how we met.
Back when Mami was a beautiful young flower of your current age, she acquired an ability to see red lines connecting two people together. The people of earth call this "the red thread of fate." Your mami told me that it was actually more like "a blood vessel that was wrapped around the pinky like intestines that stretched out to another person's pinkie."
Anyway, one beautiful day -
Kagura paused. Remembering what "a beautiful day" meant on her home planet. It was something like... the earth expression, "it wasn't pouring tigers and bears."
- Your mother had decided to follow her fate's guidance, so she followed the line that was tied around her pinkie. She told me that she had travelled far to meet me, but eventually she wounded up in front of me. She told me that I was impossible to find and ugly. I asked "why?" and all she did was raise her pinkie, and I knew she was the one.
Kagura skimmed over her Papi's love and continued.
Kagura. I don't know where your fated lover is, as this ability is only gained by the Yato women. But know this: whoever that fucker may be, I won't let him hurt you.
The Yato girl recalled seeing red lines all over the place but she saw these things every now and then. Honestly, it didn't really matter to her. They were like those purple moving things that you see when you stare at the sun too long; they went away after a while so she didn't question it. She's fifteen: a growing girl, having someone to live with later on in life wasn't important now. Fun was. And that was what she intended on having until Gin-chan's dying moments.
"Sadaharu! We're going out!" she called.
"But Kagura-chan! You were just out and it's late."
"Shut up four eyes." And as she slipped out the door she saw it. The damn red line that was out to get her. There were two coming out from under the door but neither were reaching up to her pinky (she thanked kami-sama) and led down into the street. She noticed that hers was... glowing. Papi didn't tell her anything about glowing blood vessels.
Curious, she followed it.