Hello, lovely readers!

Here is just a product of the many painful plot bunnies I have been attacked with.

I would like to thank all the wonderful people who have read and reviewed (faved and followed) my 100 one-shot series, 'Moments' I have not abandoned it, just stuck on the latest prompt, is all.

This story is strictly AU, which means most things might differ from traditional Gintama Universe, and it's a College based story, and some characters may or may not act like themselves. All characters are around their early 20's with the exception of a few others.

Enjoy, and leave your thoughts!

Disclaimer: I do not own Gintama, probably never will, and its characters, I just own this plot. Also the quote is not mine, it is by Alden Nowlan.

Travelling from Hagi to Edo, by driving takes roughly 13 hours.

Gintoki Sakata was an odd ball. He had permed silver hair and red colored dead fish eyes and an exceptionally childish personality. He stood at five foot eleven, of slender build, and a rich baritone voice that made women weak in their knees. He also had an undisputed strawberry fetish, formal Ken-do training from childhood and he wanted to become a writer more than anything else.

He in all honestly didn't care about education. People he argued, taught themselves even before school and some poor unfortunate kids around the world still taught themselves how to read and write by themselves, of course you may argue back with him, that what were the chances of a street urchin having the necessities and patience to actually teach themselves to read and write.

But then his eyes would glaze over and a soft nostalgic expression would seep in, if only for a moment, until returning to dead fish eyes oblivion, at which point he would blow you off and be on his merry way. Because that's the way he lived, and nobody else had the right to tell him how to live it.

He keeps his story to himself and leaves the speculation to the world. Nobody needs to know his pain of being abandoned during an earthquake in Hagi, sixteen years ago at the tender age of seven. How a kind student teacher had picked him off the streets and brushed the rubble and the tears away and gave him a new home and family and how it was taken away again.

Nobody deserves to know either.

But he would leave it all behind, like he had all those years ago. Only he was seven then and now at the age of twenty-three, he would finally leave the place that had burdened him with so many ill memories behind.

As he boarded the bus from the Hagi terminal, he never once looked back to see the home he had known for the past twenty-three years of his life. He would not look back nor would he utter any departing words, because it had become a place he couldn't even look at through his rear-view mirror.

Travelling in a moving vehicle, can cause changes in some, like insomnia and motion sickness.

It was the third time he had gotten up and sprinted to the bathroom.

His stomach was never this weak before. He grimaced after flushing the toilet for the nth time, he was getting sick of hearing all the water regurgitating inside the suction system, the sound itself made him sicker. Gintoki slumped against the tiny counter in the travelling bathroom, turning the knobs of the sink with shaky hands. He was embarrassed at being so motion sick, he had been on buses before, hell he has owned a car before, never had he gotten this sick not even on boats.

He gathered his hands under the running water and splashed it over his face. It was the lack of sleep, he guessed, and maybe the lack of food too. He had a fear of throwing up publicly and causing more embarrassment, which usually led him to refuse food on the bus, which was probably not the best idea considering how loud his stomach sounded at the moment.

He rinsed his mouth a couple of times before exiting the small bathroom and returning to his seat. He was lucky enough to have gotten a window seat, not that it helped his situation, the fast-moving scenery and the long-suffering head aches made him dry heave a little, but masochistically he still stared out the window as if to create an immunity for his upset stomach.

From the ramblings of the bus driver, he found out that they were a bit more than half way to Edo, the thought caused excitement to boil in his stomach. He was glad, extremely glad to have been able to get to Edo.

Receiving a scholarship due to his performance in Ken-do, his below average grades did nothing to mar his chance of getting into Edo University, he had met the dean of admissions, some hag who went by the name Otose on his way to the dojo he had trained in from childhood, and the woman was quite impressed by his performance, that she had left her card and told him if he ever wanted to try for the historical scholarship, to just give her a call in that number.

Gintoki snorted at the woman and told her his thoughts on the education system, the woman didn't seem fazed, she only handed her card to him and left without another word.

As his life, twisted out of control, and in some horrible downward spiral when all he could remember was waking up with massive hangovers, he decided he tortured himself enough and gave the hag a call.

The woman on the line however was not her, but some snappy man voiced fujoshi, who probably liked wearing cat ears to hide her disgustingly unattractive features. After many rude remarks from both sides of the party, the phone was given to aforementioned hag, who had given him instructions on his portfolio and which forms to fill out. After much unnecessary paper work and technicalities, Gintoki successfully filed his admissions form, complete with video footage from all his matches (all of which he won, he proudly noted) and his not so great test scores and class attendance. Though he knew the odds were very much against him, he still hoped that he would win.

After a long period of waiting, which included Gintoki drinking himself into comas repeatedly and gambling away much of his possessions (for scrap cash and what not), Otose had called him and gave him the news. She wasn't very nice about it, keeping him at the edge of his seat and almost bringing him to tears (on the phone, and no soul shall ever know), she teasingly told him that even though academically he had no chance, his talent in kenjustu had apparently stunned the entire council, that they unanimously agreed to grant the scholarship to him, but he would have to work hard on all his other classes, and take remedial lessons along with them.

Gintoki in his excitement, had done two things, one he threw up because of the nasty hangover and emotional turbulence he was going through, two he slipped on his own vomit and passed out.

After regaining consciousness, he had called Otose up again, only this time it was a gentle voiced young woman who picked up the phone and asked if he would leave a message considering that the dean was out of office. Gintoki questioned about his scholarship details, while the young woman on the other side told him that everything would be ready by the time the fall semester would begin, but he would have to arrive earlier than other students as he is a scholarship candidate and a new student.

Gintoki complied, and after selling/pawning off his possessions, he had 8,000 yen in his pocket and barely any money left in his account, he still set off to board a bus to Edo, feeling the best he has felt since he was eight.

Which brings him to the end of his musings. It had been a crazy few months, he was ready to give up before, Otose had given him the chance, he was ready to let go, but now he is confident. This would be his one last chance for a fresh start, he would have to take it and make a life for himself.

And then so begins his journey...

The bus started slowing down, as Gintoki shook awake. Groggily, he rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand to remove the sleepiness, and then he gave a lazy smile gazing out the window. Big, tall buildings that almost touched the sky and lights glittered through the horizon, a city that was aglow, even though it was eight in the evening, people still buzzed past one another, minding their business and going there ways, ignoring one another and the streets still busy and thriving almost as if nighttime didn't exist.

His smile turned nostalgic for a few minutes, as he recalled and tried to imagine the scenery of Hagi, but he felt too tired to do so. He reached in his back pocket and pulled out a messy piece of paper with even messier handwriting scrawled across it, only one part seemed legible and it was the word 'Kabuki-chou.'

Alright that's the first chapter guys! I hope you liked it, I will try to update by tomorrow :)

Anyways, please leave your thoughts and such in the reviews, I will appreciate it very much! Thank you!

And I will try to update Moments as fast as I can!