Describing the Sky
Anime: Gintama
Major Pairings: OkiKagu
Summary: Oneshot. Kagura loses her eyes due to certain incidents with the Harusame Pirates and Sougo takes up the role of describing the sky to her everyday.
Disclaimer: BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW to the power of 165
When Sougo visited Kagura in the hospital, he almost felt sorry for her.
Well, really sorry for her when he saw her bedraggled, limp form lying there, red against the white sheets. A trickle of blood was running down her forehead and even as he watched, it stained the sheets like a crimson flower. Both her arms were in slings and there were bandages wrapped around her eyes, although her face was still beautiful despite the many bruises and scratches. He looked up at Kondo.
"Kondo-san… how did China end up like this?"
Kondo sighed. "She got into a fight with the Harusame Pirates," he said, scrutinizing the girl with pitying eyes. "They went for her brother first, but Takasugi teamed up with the bastard and now they want revenge. Their first ideal target would be Kamui's relatives, of course."
Sougo's hands had clenched into tight fists as he sat at Kagura's bedside. Kondo and Hijikata left the room silently to give him some private time with Kagura. When they were both gone, Sougo poked Kagura's arm.
"Hey, China, wake up."
Kagura stirred a little. "S-Sadist?" she breathed in a barely audible whisper. Sougo had to lean in so that he could hear her.
"I have a name, China."
"You're one to talk." She smiled a little. Sougo felt a wave of relief wash over him.
"Are you all right? You look pretty beat up."
"Shaddap! I'm perfectly fine," she insisted, turning her face away from him. "I'll get my idiot brother later for this," Sougo heard her fuming angrily. He sighed.
"Well, let me know if there's anything you need, okay?"
He got up and started towards the door; there was still a pile of paperwork waiting for him back at the Shinsengumi headquarters. It made his head swim by just thinking of them and now that he knew Kagura was all right, he would be able to do them without worrying about her every five minutes. However, his hand was already on the door handle when Kagura called him back.
[A Brief Conversation]
"Oi, Sadist, did you turn the lights off?"
There was a short pause. "No. Why?"
Another pause.
"Hey, Sadist?"
"Yeah, China?"
"You sure you're not lying to me?"
"… Of course not."
He didn't turn around. She didn't say anything. Both of them already knew.
Kagura was now blind.
~X~
A few days later, he was back at the hospital. Kagura looked far better than she had a few days before; the scratches she now bore on her arms and legs were of her own doing. Sougo assumed that she had howled out her lungs when she fully realized what being blind was really like; it was no joke, as the Yorozuya often took it as, but a frightening, crushing reality that was slowly snuffing out her poor, delicate soul. Now, she lay back as if gazing aimlessly at the ceiling but Sougo knew that she could only see blackness.
"Sadist?" Her voice was hoarse. He reached out and squeezed her hand to let her know he was there.
"Is everything all right, China?"
"Can you tell me what the weather is like today?"
"No. Why on earth would I do that?"
"I wanted you to describe a sunny day for me," Kagura said sadly. Sougo blinked.
"I will, if you'll tell me why."
"Because I'm sick of the rain," Kagura said, clenching her fists with anger or regret, Sougo never knew. "I don't like the rain… I have to use my umbrella on rainy days and I hate that. I have to use my umbrella on sunny days as well, but it's for a different reason and I-I forgot to look at the sun one last time."
Sougo looked outside at the morning sun. "Erm, well, it's blue," he said awkwardly, not having much experience in describing things. "And well, there's this huge, white thing in the middle of the sky."
"Are you talking about the sun or the clouds?"
Sougo blinked. "The sun, of course."
"What else is there?"
"Well, the clouds. You know, puffy and fluffy-like."
There was a pause. "Thanks, Sadist."
"Whatever, China."
"Will you describe the sky for me tomorrow?"
"Even if it's raining?"
"… Yeah."
"All right."
~X~
And so every day, he would be there at the hospital three times a day to describe the morning sky, the midday sky and the night sky. At first he found it hard to use adjectives to describe the skies, but as the process continued each day, he found it easier to inspect the sky carefully from each angle, and every time he did so, the sky seemed more beautiful to him than it did the day before. But whatever he described to Kagura, she would always listen carefully and smile contently whenever he finished.
"It's a rainy day today," he would start off. Kagura would pull a displeased expression but otherwise remained silent. "The clouds today are different shades of grey, like the different shades of rock you find on the riverbank. Many of them overlap each other and you can't see the sun this morning. The raindrops are like tiny shards of glass falling from heaven but they're falling too fast for you to see them clearly."
"What are the people doing?"
"The umbrellas are starting to pop up all over Oedo," he would say, scrunching up his eyes to look down five floors below. "A lot of people didn't bring their umbrellas, they're all scurrying about like rats for cover."
Kagura laughed. "I really want to see that," she sighed. To which Sougo would have no reply to.
"This afternoon, the sun is red and the sky is an orange colour, almost like looking into the dying embers of a fire. There aren't many clouds; most of them are spread out all over the place like cotton fibers."
"I wonder what it's like to be able to touch them," Kagura mused out loud. Sougo laughed.
"Clouds are just water, Kagura."
"I know that, Sougo. But if I pretend they're cotton candy, then it's the same as them not being evaporated water." Kagura turned towards the source of his voice and smiled at him. It was so very like the smile that Mitsuba had given him back then when she lay on a very similar bed and died shortly after. The smile almost cracked his poor heart in two. Her condition lately had been going downhill and the doctor had told him to be prepared for the worst. Sougo sighed.
"Hey, Sougo…"
He grunted to show his attention.
"When I go…"
He looked up at her with a jolt.
"… will you miss me?"
~X~
He didn't even go to her funeral.
Instead, he went straight to the Harusame pirates with a few others that were itching to destroy them and wrecked something that would later be called "The 170cm Crisis". He did, however, make sure that he went to visit her one last time.
Kamui slipped Sougo off his back in front of Kagura's gravestone. "Mah, mah, I always knew she was weak," he said in a matter-of-factly voice before walking away towards the rain with Takasugi. Sougo, however, remained beside the stone and reached out with shaking fingers and touched the cold tombstone.
"Today, the sky is crying…"
Rain began to fall gently.
"… the clouds are like the different moods Sadaharu goes into when you forget to feed him…"
He blinked. One rare beam of sunlight had broken out from behind the clouds. He gazed up at the sky and the ends of his lips curled upwards.
"… and the sun is just like your smile."
Author's Note
As you can see, this is really just metaphor and similes practicing. I never really intended to finish this as a piece of fanfiction, but oh well, whatever.