Hello again or for the first time, Murayama Tsuru here. Because I had two finals today (which really sucked by the way) I didn't feel like I had enough energy to try to update any of my chaptered stories tonight. Instead, here's a oneshot that was inspired by the second half of Gintama episode 111, which is really sweet in my opinion. Well, without further introduction, here it is. I hope you guys enjoy ^_^
Disclaimer: I don't own Gintama; it belongs to Sorachi Hideaki-Sensei
It had been before they got the orders that they were to investigate and, if necessary, displace Hosen as the ruler of Yoshiwara but after they knew that they would ultimately have to confront the Night King. Kamui and Abuto had decided that it would be a good idea to explore the world that they would eventually have to take over for the Harusame Space Pirates. Kamui, of course had decided right away that he would have a much better time if he ditched Abuto and explored by himself. Abuto was a good person to have as a right hand man, but Kamui found him to be such a stick-in-the-mud when it came to following orders.
And it had happened too, but not as Kamui had planned. He was planning to ditch Abuto when he got distracted by a pretty pair of legs. But instead, the red-headed Yato had smelled something in the air and just had to go search it out. It had been raining in this place since they had arrived, it reminded Kamui altogether too much of the hometown he had left behind a long time ago. So, the delicious smell took his mind off that dismal place he used to call home.
But, as he was walking along, munching happily on some Yakiniku, the source of that delicious smell, he saw something out of the corner of his eyes that made him stop dead in his tracks. Kamui then turned around slowly, making sure the umbrella covered his eyes to confirm what he saw.
And there she was, the person he'd been trying to escape from for a long time now, crouching outside a convenience store, looking slightly down. This made his smile falter just a little, he never knew his sister to look down when it was raining, since it was the only time she didn't have to use an umbrella.
Eyebrows furrowing in slight consternation, he followed her eyes as she looked longingly as a couple of giggling girls passed by her, sighed discontentedly, and stuck a finger up her nose irritatedly. It took Kamui a moment to realize that Kagura had been watching the umbrellas with the ridiculous patterns on them and not the girls; as those were something Kamui and most other Yato wouldn't notice at all.
He then watched as a lazy looking man came out of the store, one of his fingers in his nose as well. When the two saw each other, she stood up and both Kagura and the silver-haired man started smushing their buggers on each other as she said, "Gin-chan, did you buy my Sukonbu, uh-huh?"
Kamui's eyebrow twitched as the man scolded her slightly, "Buy it yourself, brat."
Kamui's eyebrow twitched again when the silver-haired man brought out a yellow umbrella with pink flowers and held it out to her, saying "Here" like the gift didn't mean anything and he hadn't been paying attention to what she wanted at all.
Kagura, after a moment of staring at the umbrella with adoration, said, hesitantly, "I-I don't want it. That umbrella is too flashy." This made Kamui growl softly, why wouldn't she just take the umbrella, she clearly wanted it (despite the fact that Kamui still thought the whole idea of an umbrella that wasn't useful as a weapon was completely ludicrous).
The man then rolled his eyes slightly, opened up the umbrella, and started walking away, "Who said it was for you? This is for me. Just use that dirty old one."
Then, a black-haired, glasses-wearing boy that Kamui hadn't noticed before as his personality seemed to be completely in his glasses, trotted after the silver-haired man saying, (probably in hopes of getting Kagura to take the umbrella), "Wow! Nice umbrella Gin-san. It looks cool and chic."
"This is nice isn't it? Even though it only cost 100 yen." The silver haired man agreed, going along with the boy's impromptu plan.
Taking the bait, Kagura ran after the two yelling, "Hey, wait! That's weird, uh-huh. It's weird if a man uses it. I can take it if you like, uh-huh!"
"That's alright." The silver-haired man responded, "It's alright if women walk in the rain." Kamui's eyebrow twitched again in slight annoyance, his usual smile almost completely gone by now, as the silver-haired man still didn't give the umbrella that he had clearly bought for his sister to her.
But then, as Kamui was about to follow after them to make damn sure that Kagura got what she wanted, the silver haired man put the umbrella over her head and said, "But since you seem so insistent about it, I'll lend you my umbrella for a while. Just make sure nothing happens to it ok?"
And Kamui automatically turned away from the scene. Now that his sister was happy again, there was no longer any need for him to be there, where he was sure to get caught eventually. He sighed slightly, his smile returning to his lips, it was time to find Abuto again and completely ignore the ensuing lecture that was sure to come.
The next day Kamui returned to Edo, without Abuto in tow for once, for more scouting out of this new place. He certainly didn't go to follow his sister around as she showed off her new umbrella, a goofy smile on her face. He certainly didn't care that she was having fun at all. The smile on his face definitely wasn't real as he watched her enjoy herself in the rain like she used to when they were little and living in that perpetually-raining city.
He absolutely did not enjoy watching her jump around in the puddles and look at herself in the window of a shop or swing on a swing set or talk with that woman who reminded Kamui a little too much of himself or balance on top of that bridge happily. He was just watching her because she seemed to know about a whole lot about Edo. There was no brotherly affection, no matter how slight, involved in his stalker-like behavior at all.
And of course he didn't keep following her all the days that it rained, watching as the storms got steadily stronger and the umbrella she so foolishly liked no longer stopped the rain from soaking her through the skin. The now slightly strained smile on her face didn't bother him at all, nor did the fact that she seemed about to fall off that bridge that she liked to balance on. He was, after all, just familiarizing himself with this city that he and the Harusame Space Pirates would eventually conquer.
And there absolutely wasn't any twinge of worry as he followed her on the day the typhoon hit Edo. He wasn't sad as the umbrella she seemed to adore so much turned inside out from the strength of the wind, after all Yato should only use their umbrella weapons, not silly girlish things like his foolish little sister was doing.
His sister's even more strained smile didn't bother him that day either. Nor did his face contort into one of worry as she fell off that bridge and into the raging waters of the river below it. He absolutely wasn't about to go help her when she pulled herself out of the river, looking about as happy as a bedraggled cat.
He felt nothing, of course, and his smile didn't falter even a little as she trudged back to the place she was now living, looking sad that her useless umbrella had now become as useless as it had always been to Kamui. He didn't, absolutely did not, want to follow her into the house and try to comfort her as she pulled the door open slowly and then quickly closed it again, blocking him from whatever happened after that.
The day after the typhoon was over he didn't return to see if his sister was alright. It didn't worry him when he didn't see her that day or the days after that (he wasn't lying to Abuto when he told the sandy-haired man that he thoroughly scouting out this land).
For sure, he wasn't relieved to see that, after a few days, when a light rain was washing over Edo, the she had returned. He didn't notice, and if he did he didn't care, that her fingers were bandaged up and that she was using an umbrella that was made up of a patchwork of random cloths. He ignored completely the smile that had returned to her face.
And then, as she was walking along, she lowered her umbrella and started walking slower than she had been before, her shoulders hunched slightly. Kamui wondered for a minute if she had noticed him following her. But, after a few moments she returned and, an unreadable expression on her face, and put the patchwork umbrella gently down and then began running so as not to get wet (which he didn't understand why she cared, since she had been plenty wet before with the umbrella before).
In consternation, Kamui looked at where she had left the umbrella. And then his eyes landed on two kids huddling under a small shrine trying to keep from getting wet and understanding washed over his features. He realized that his sister had a soft spot for kids, and he wondered if it was because of that silver-haired man. Wanting to keep following his sister, Kamui walked past the two grateful kids, nodding his head ever so slightly to them.
He didn't feel bad watching her walk along in the rain slightly dejectedly, until she found the shell of an umbrella in an alley way, tossed out now since it had long been broken and unusable. And he didn't want to kill every person who snickered derisively at her as she walked along, the rain soaking her once again, her head held high all the same.
He certainly wasn't about to try and enact his plan for mass murder as her head lowered slightly. And then, as he was just about to give up pretending that he didn't care about his sister even a little bit, a voice called out, "Hey, young lady. Young lady!"
Both Kagura and Kamui turned to see the silver-haired man and the glasses-clad boy standing under the overhang of the convenience store. Kamui saw that even though their umbrellas looked to be in complete working order as the silver-haired man said, waving to his sister, "You have such a cool umbrella. Would you mind letting us under it? Because ours broke."
After a moment, Kagura nodded and the other two joined her under the completely broken umbrella and Kamui's feet automatically began following the three like the stalker he most certainly wasn't becoming.
"Boy," the silver-haired man said after a minute, "'independence day' makes me feel really gloomy. That's why I hate it." This confused Kamui to no end, what the hell was Independence Day? Did the man just not know that the word for 'rainy season' was Tsuyu?
"No," Kagura responded, "I think 'independence day' isn't all that bad, uh-huh." Making Kamui realize that it wasn't just some random mistake the dumb looking silver-hair had made. Kamui smiled genuinely as he continued following the foolish trio; he realized that he rather liked the sound of Independence Day after all.
When Kamui returned to the Harusame ship, Abuto is waiting for him, hands on his hips (this is before Hosen tears one off after all ^_^), an annoyed scowl on his lips, "Where the hell have you been all this time Danchou? I imagine that by now you've explored the whole of Edo, if that's what you've been doing."
Kamui smiled up at the sandy-haired Yato and said, "Just been out enjoying Independence Day, Abuto."
There was a beat of silence, then Abuto asked incredulously, "Independen-What? What the hell is that?"
"Nothing, Abuto. If you don't get it, I'm not going to explain it to you." Kamui said, smile growing a little wider
A vein pulsing on Abuto's forehead, the man growled, "Danchou, I know you like taking walks in the rain, but you can't keep doing stuff like this now that you're the Danchou. Do you know what would happen if the Elders heard about this?"
Kamui just shrugged in response, "Well, you know what they say, Abuto, kids like rain, storms, typhoons and things like that." And he disappeared into the ship.
Abuto sighed and ran an irritated hand through his already messy hair, mumbling, "…that's for sure…" Abuto still hadn't quite gotten used to the fact that his boss was such a willful brat. Abuto sighed once more and pinched the bride of his nose in the sheer frustration of having Kamui for a boss. Abuto shrugged then, and went into the ship himself, not really wanting to think about what his young boss had been doing all this time; at least it couldn't get worse could it?
And there you have it. As I said, this oneshot was inspired by the second half of episode 111, where Kagura gets a new umbrella and has fun playing with it. I recently found that theme song on my iPod and was inspired to write this. Even though I think I may have made Kamui a little too caring for his sister, it think that this might be something that Kamui feels...maybe... Also, since it has been a year and almost a month since I wrote a different oneshot that referenced this episode, I wanted to, and did, write this oneshot ^_^ I hope you guys enjoyed. As always, if you'd like please a review, I love to know what you guys think. Until next update then, guys.
-Murayama Tsuru