Title: The Vermillion Bird
Author: Ihartkimchi
Rating: Rated T
Warning/s: Unbeta'd
Disclaimer: Gintama belongs to the ever-beautiful gorilla-sensei, Hideaki Sorachi.
Summary: An alternative universe wherein Kouka made Kamui promise to always take care of Kagura no matter what happens. Harusame!Kagura. Okikagu.
Prologue
Promises are Like Unwanted Kids, You Just Can't Get Rid of Them!
Endless rain clouds cover the constant dark skies of the gloomy planet of Rakuyou- a place where the sun never shines. A place where the most dangerous criminals and creatures of the galaxy gather around, forming one of the seediest planet in the underbelly of the universe.
A place where only the strong will survive- a perfect playground for the battle harden, blood craving monsters of the Yato tribe, arguably the strongest specie in the entire universe with their ability to flatten landscapes with a playful flick of a finger; it's no wonder that this planet attracted Yatos like bees to honey. Given the environment of Rakuyou, one will wonder how it is not the home planet of the nearly extinct Night Rabbits, especially with their extremely sensitive translucent skin.
The Yato tribe are not locals of Rakuyou but rather, they are hailed from a distant galaxy, in the unlivable dying planet of Kouan. Due to constant war that plagued the planet, that is consequently caused by the cursed nature of the Yatos that always thirst for blood- whether friend or foe matters not as long as blood is spilt.
The fear that the Yatos struck into the hearts of the universe was immensely threatening that perhaps it is not that surprising that major planets had allied together in order to obliterate Kouan amidst the Yato civil war. They had feared that once the Yatos are done with fighting among themselves, they would venture to other planets to seek their insatiable need for destruction so these planets decided to form a temporary truce to completely annihilate the Yatos whilst they are distracted with fighting amongst each other.
Their planned to exterminate the feared tribe had failed as Yatos are more durable than they had thought and decided to retreat but the damage that they had caused to the planet had doomed it to a dystopian future that perhaps they had succeeded after all.
The damage was unrepairable- everything was rotting due to the nuclear radiation that Kouan is subjected to; from the food, the plants, the land and even the water. The once fertile lands of Kouan has turned into a field of red sands, the cool climate has turned into a desert like aridity and the heavily clouded skies have parted, allowing sunlight to peak through the atmosphere- an extremely fatal condition due to Yatos weakness against the sun. The planet is slowly dying and its taking its residences along with it.
The Altana radiation have caused mutations such as the planetary parasite Orochi- a cobalt serpent creatures with rock-like body attributes that due to being fed with excessive Altana, ironically, multiplied like rabbits, and other odd and horrifying primitive creatures that thrive in the radiation infested Kouan. Soon, the Orochi had outnumbered the residents of Kouan that it is no longer feasible for Yatos to live in their home planet, because as powerful and seemingly undefeatable they are, Yatos also have limitations.
Some decided to stay in Kouan- wanting to die along with their birthplace; some are practical and decided to move on to another planet. The Yatos have been scattered all over the universe and considering how little their numbers had dwindled during the prolonged civil war and the universal ambush- the mighty tribe of Yatos had been reduced to near extinction.
One such family is Kamui's- he was born and raised in Rakuyou along with his adorable little sister Kagura. His father is the infamous alien hunter Kankou, dubbed as Umibozou, the strongest alien-sweeper in the world but to Kamui he's just a deadbeat baldy of a father who's barely at home so can he really be considered a father?
Whatever.
And of course, his beautiful and beloved mother Kouka. His mother had always been by his and his sister's side, unlike baldy who visits only once in a while, taking care of them constantly despite her sickly disposition. Kamui truly love his mother and would do anything to see her smile- just to ease her pain of trying to be strong in the midst of her still unknown illness.
'Mami is sick again' Kamui thought as he raced into the damp streets of the red-light district- well to be fair the entirety of Rakuyou is the red-light district of the universe but Kamui felt safe; as much as he despised his baldy of a father, being his son has its benefit as no one in their right mind would harm him for fear of the great Umibozou.
Except for his plain neighbor, Jimmy the bully who's an idiot, and his even dumber henchmen but their irrelevant anyway.
Small feet made splashing noise as he looked along the market place, searching for his mother's favorite flower. It was an exotic pink flower with a reddish center and it always make his mother smile but due to her being bedridden, Kouka wasn't able to buy the exotic flowers anymore in order to decorate their meager but comfortable home.
Kamui couldn't really understand it, why his mother is constantly on bedrest when she used to be strong, even stronger than stupid baldy, when he was younger. Now Kouka couldn't even find the strength to get out of bed on a good day; most of the time she's just lying on her bed with a serene expression on her face, trying to hide her pain to relieve her children from worrying too much on her.
Kamui had saved his months' worth of allowance in order to buy some flowers for his mother; flower's ain't cheap no matter how reverent of a hunter your father is. Especially since Rakuyou isn't really an ideal agricultural planet with its almost barren lands; anything that grows in this planet are either too heinously ugly or too poisonous. That's why every flowers worth selling are all imported from other planets- well the safe one's anyway.
The red-headed boy continued his search along the market place, never-minding the heavy pouring rain that continued to drench his signature violet umbrella, until the streets started looking familiar. Recognizing the surroundings, he ran like a bullet, turning along sharp corners and avoiding discarded crates and boxes that littered the dirty streets like it was nothing.
'Found it!' He exclaimed, bright blue eyes twinkling with delight as he jumped above a rather unfortunate beggar lying along the streets, excited to finally reach the flower shop and buy the said exotic flowers. He entered the shop's premise and wasted no time to buy his mother's beloved pink flowers.
After buying the precious cargo, he started walking home with a bright smile on his face, skipping on an unheard happy beat, contrasting the quite gloomy streets of the market place.
"Hey you!"
"Hmm?" Kamui stopped on his step to look back on his shoulders with a look of confusion on his youthful face "Are you talking to me?"
"Yes, you, red-headed freak!" said the plain looking unimportant OC Amanto that has no relevant connection to the plot, comically raising his swollen red hand whilst goopy tears fell out of his fish-like eyes, pointing his uninjured hand to Kamui accusingly, "You just fucking broke my hand, you bastard!"
"Oh, it's you Jimmy."
"My name is not Jimmy! Its Taka! How many times do I have to tell you!"
"Alright, Baka!" Kamui taunted with his signature fake smile, tilting his head as flowers and shiny shoujo sparkles coming out of nowhere, further mocking Baka, "What do you mean?"
"UGHHH! ITS TAKA!" Baka screamed, red faced and with veins bulging out of his slimy green forehead, infuriated at Kamui's flippant attitude, "I WAS SLEEPING AND' YOU JUST FUCKING JUMPED ON MY HAND!"
"Oh… you were the beggar."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BEGGAR?!"
"What kind of idiot would just sleep around the streets? Only a beggar would do that."
"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU BURNT MY HOUSE LAST WEEK."
"Its not my fault that you're so irrelevant, even your house left you."
"THAT'S IT! YOU'RE ASKING FOR IT"
Suddenly, Baka's dumb henchmen surrounded Kamui like vultures, trying to overwhelm the young Yato with numbers. The gang of 6 idiots smiled evilly, thinking they finally had their chance against Kamui whilst said red-headed smiled disarmingly and seemingly unfazed by the incoming violence.
"HAAAHHHHH" They attacked simultaneously with a war cry, Baka raised his fist to sucker punch Kamui in the gut with 5 of his goons backing him up, ready to attack Kamui's unprotected back and side, when he suddenly disappeared.
The group looked around in alarm, trying to locate the red-headed freak when random henchmen #1 and #2 suddenly went down on their face, said red-head landed with lethal grace on the back of the unfortunate idiots' head with his foot stepping on each of their heads, knocking them out on the spot, creating a small crater on the ground whilst his signature purple weapon rest on his shoulder gracefully.
"Oh sorry! I thought there was a cockroach on your head! I didn't realize it was just your hair!"
"#1! #2!" Baka screamed with horror, face pale with fear as he saw the attack induced crater tinted with red, with Kamui own ankles sprinkled with his comrade's blood.
"Aniki #2!" Idiot #3 yelled with anguish, eyes bulging with anger as tears fell on his eyes from seeing his aniki being forced to eat dirt, "You'll pay for that you brat!" seeing red, he dashed forward to Kamui trying to avenge his defeated aniki only to be smacked in the face by the indestructible umbrella, sending him flying into the nearby dilapidated walls of the seedy market place, cracking it with the force of his body.
"Oh! Another cockroach!" Kamui yelled with glee, obviously enjoying the destruction that he had caused; Yato blood run true after all. He pointed his umbrella to idiot #4, who out of fear, ran with his tail, literally, between his legs along with #5, leaving Baka all alone, his temporary bravado dwindled into nothingness leaving him shaking in his boots.
"Ehhh that was disappointing… looks like there's only one left!" Kamui exclaimed cheerfully, disarming smile still present on his face as he beamed towards Baka.
"Y-you monster!"
"Eh? The only monster around here is you. What kind of self-respecting adult would pick on an innocent child" Kamui said, blue eyes twinkling brightly, mocking Baka even further. "I'm just a dutiful son trying to get his sick mami his favourite flowers."
"There is no innocent child here, you and your family of monsters! You should just leave this planet, Rakuyou has no place for immigrants like you!" Baka screamed at the top of his lungs, trying to hide his fear with incessant yapping, "It's not enough that you Yatos take refuge in this place but you have to bring your unknown diseases as well! Your prostitute of a mom will just spread her disease here! We don't need you here! Just leave and don't bother- "
"What did you say about mami?"
"…Huh?"
"What did you call mami?" Kamui repeated, humor leaving his demeanor like a bubble, intense blue eyes focused on Baka's person, "Say your next words carefully," he continued, jaw tensed and fake smile twitching, desperately trying to cling to his sanity as he clenched his fist in anger.
"P-prostitute!" Baka stammered, seeing that he finally cracked Kamui's seemingly unflappable demeanor, started gaining confidence, "Your mother is a prostitute! Everyone knows it! She gained her unknown illness from sleeping aro- URFFF!"
The world turned into a kaleidoscope of colors as he flew around the market place after being hit by a rage-fueled punch in the face from an angered Yato. He crashed along a market stall, ruining the products and scaring the vendor and his customers. Baka's mind nearly blacked out if it wasn't for the adrenaline and the fear of the pint-sized monster that he angered. He tried to stand up but his vision is just to blurry and his mind is too disoriented from the powerful punch he received.
Chaos surrounded the market place as people started panicking from the impromptu fight that's happening- with people fleeing left and right, Baka is left even more distraught and confused over the situation.
"Kufufufufu… you want monster."
The creepy laugh reverberated along the nearly empty streets of the market place, Baka tried to focus his vision but can only focus on a distant vermillion blur. Panic started fueling Baka's veins as he tried to get away from the monstrous child when suddenly- red filled his vision.
"I'll show you monster."
"Tadaima Mami!"
Kamui greeted, removing his outdoor shoes and putting his slippers, as he enters the premises of his humble abode. He tried to cover his injured hand underneath the bouquet of flowers as he doesn't want to worry his mother. The last thing he wanted is to aggravate his mother's sickness further.
"Okaeri Kamui!"
His mother greeted cheerfully as she lay serenely on the bed; their house was small but it fits the family of four more than enough- especially with Umibozou constantly out on a job. There wasn't used to be a bed in the middle of their living room but with their mother being bedridden, they had decided it was best to put her bed in the living room so that she wouldn't get lonely being cooped out alone in her bedroom- at least in the living room she could spend time with the children.
"Mami I have a gift for you!"
"Hmm… what is it?" Kouka humored her son, smiling amusingly at her adorable son as he tried to hide something behind his back, as she caressed her sleeping daughter's form besides her.
"I bought you flowers!" Kamui blurted out, as he quickly revealed his surprise gift, conspicuously trying to hide his injured fist behind the bouquet, smiling disarmingly trying to distract his mother from looking to closely at his hands,
Kouka smiled, eyes slightly misty from his son's considerate behavior, she took the flowers and hugged his son lovingly; she caressed his face loving as she thanked him sincerely.
"Thank you, Kamui."
"Anything for you mami!"
"And Kamui," Kouka's affectionate disposition suddenly dissipated, her face darkens as she sported an intimidating expression that only disappointed mothers can achieve, "Why are you injured?"
"Err… arfrsdv"
Kouka continued her stare at her son, her piercing blue glare digging at his very soul making Kamui tremble with fear and sweat bullets "What was that?"
"I-I tripped! O-on a beggar!"
"You tripped?" Kouka asked in disbelief, her face darkens even further as arctic eyes pressed on his son for answers, veins bulging at her forehead as she seemingly appeared like a giant in the eyes of Kamui "You're a bad liar, just like your father."
"E-errr…"
"Ahh… tell me the truth," Kouka sighed in disappointment, her intimidating glare softening as she tried to coax the truth out of his son, "Did you had a fight again?"
"… It was Jimmy's fault for being an idiot," he murmured, trying to hide his injuries uselessly behind his back with a sheepish expression on his face, obviously unapologetic about his actions, "I was just trying to defend you!"
"… who's Jimmy is this?"
"What do you mean?"
"Kamui, you call everyone you fight as Jimmy."
"Well their irrelevant anyways."
Kouka sighed in defeat, her son is being unreasonable as always; she understood Kamui, she really did, as the neighbors aren't exactly nice with their nasty gossips. It can't really be helped with how infamous her husband is- their family is practically a local celebrity.
"Kamui, you can't just punch away every problem that you have."
"Why not? It's very effective."
"It's the very reason why our tribe had gone to almost extinction. We threaten the universe that's why when they had the chance, they tried to exterminate us." She explained to her son carefully, trying to get her point reach her thick-headed son, "Why don't you get the first aid kid and let me treat those wounds."
Kamui rushed to the bathroom to get the first aid kid as he reached the kit behind the mirror cupboard and brought it his mother while happily plopping on the edge of the bed, excited to be pampered by his beloved 'mami', trying to keep extra quiet to not disturb his cute sister's slumber, who's currently curled up beside their mother.
Kouka wrapped Kamui's injured fist carefully in sterile white bandages as her son smiled cheerfully at her, "Kamui you need to stop fighting the neighbors just because they piss you off. Didn't your father already warn you? Our inherent strength is not to be used in order to bully the weak; we use it to protect."
"But I am protecting you!" he insisted, trying to make Kouka believe his innocence in the matter, "Papi's always trying to preach about how our strength is for protecting the family when he's not even around to protect mami. That's why it's my job to protect this family while papi is away- I'm the man of the family, after papi!"
"… Kamui,"
"Mami, I don't really understand papi" Kamui continued with an unsure expression on his youthful face, "He told keep telling me keep growing stronger but gets mad when I use this strength to defend myself or our family. I'm not even bullying or approaching them, they just kept coming at me; I just can't let them punch me and be ok with it."
"How about this?" Kouka said with a heavy sigh, holding Kamui's injured hands gently, caressing them, trying to soothe her son's wounds, "Promise me that you wont fight anymore, unless it's to protect Kagura."
"But what about you, mami?"
"I'll be fine." Kouka smiled reassuringly, bright blue eyes begging for him to agree, trying to convince her son that she will be all right without his protection "Just promise me that you'll always protect Kagura no matter what; if it's for your sister, I'm sure Kankou would understand."
Kamui was silent, contemplating his decision whether he should agree to his mother; if he agreed, he'd have to tolerate the people's horrible words against his mother which is unforgivable while if he didn't agree, he'd disappoint his mother and will make her worry and might even worsen her condition.
He stared at his peacefully sleeping sister and at his mother's pleading face- he made up his mind.
"I promise."
Author's Note (Please Read):
A/N1: The Vermillion Bird is one of the four Chinese symbols of the Chinese constellations and is the mythological creature of the South; it represents fire and luck, and it is also the constellation corresponding to summer, which is ironic for a Yato, but amongst the four seasons, summer is the one that best represents Kagura.
It is also synonymous with the planet Mars, which is how I envision Kouan; the planet Mars is always associated with passion, blood and war which is some of the words that best describes the Yato tribe, as well as Kagura's family.
A/N2: This is my first fanfic in YEARS and this is also my first fanfic that will be plot heavy and quite serious. I have always loved fanfics with serious plots and are somehow canon compliant at the same time, which is why I'm quite disappointed on how there are very few serious Gintama fanfics; although I can understand, seeing as Gintama itself is 80% comedy.
I have already drafted 50% of the story; I still haven't been able to decide on the ending but I'm still waiting to finish Gintama ASAP as I want this fanfic to be canon compliant as much as possible.
So, I guess this is my contribution to the fandom! I will try to incorporate Gintama's humor, including the dirty toilet jokes, but I make no promises of delivering them as good as our King Sorachi can.
A/N3: I would just like to inform everyone that this fanfic will not be updated regularly as I am a graduating architectural student- this is just a hobby and my main goal is to graduate college. I haven't written fanfics in years but due to constant battles with depression as well as high-stress due to architectural school- it had left me drained, unmotivated and uninspired. I am literally out of creative juice which makes my academic output substandard.
Our college counselor had suggested for me to find a hobby that will instill creativity that has nothing to do with architecture just to destress myself; that's why I went back to writing fanfics. It actually made things better for me, that's why this is more of a healing hobby.
As I said, I am a graduating architectural student so thesis is just around the corner, I am just trying to fit fanfic writing in my busy schedule so please don't ask for constant updates; I will try to update this at least once a month.
A/N4: This fanfic is highly inspired by ninjapanda16's 'The White Rabbit of the Night' and 'The Third Leg of a Crow', and EmeraldNorth's 'If It Sounds Like A Good Idea, It Probably Isn't', which are some of the best AUs and serious fanfics in the fandom. They aren't finished yet but the content is gold- go check them out!