Hello again or for the first time. I decided to write another Gintama oneshot. Since I wrote about Abuto last time I decided to write about Kamui this time. I just got the Yoshiwara manga in Japanese, so I was inspired to write something about Kamui. And, I kinda wanted to give a reason for the Kamui acts the way he does. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: Gintama is the property of Sorachi Hideaki-Sensei. Since I already put what I'd do if Gintama were mine, I don't know what to say now...
If he was being honest, he'd say he was worried about this sister. But being honest is for losers. So if anyone asks, he'd say he was spying on a potential enemy. He remembered watching her play with that non-Yato umbrella and thinking she was being utterly ridiculous. Umbrellas are the Yato weapon of choice so why would she give a damn about the "fashionable" umbrellas those teenage girls had. Deep inside, though he'd never admit this out loud, he enjoyed seeing her happy. It reminded him of when they were young and they'd often play out in the ever-raining city. The other Yato kids would always run away from them because they had heard that their father, Umibouzu, had taken on the Night King;the fight only stopped becuase Umibouzu had to take a dump. He usually blamed his lonely childhood for the reason he wanted to kill his father.
Another time, he noticed her and this sandy-haired guy fighting. He wasn't sure, but in Yato culture that's how people flirted. So he didn't get what she was trying to do; fight with him or flirt with him. It filled him with brotherly concern, again something he'd never admit aloud, when he thought about how the sandy-haired boy might hurt her (Kamui had followed him one time, and he found out he was a super sadist). It also reminded him of a time long past when he and Kagura had played together in very much the same way. The only difference was that they playing had been a lot more destructive. Their mother would always come and stop them, even when she could hardly move because of her illness, by bringing them large helpings of rice. This was part of the reason they both ate so much, their mother was always trying to placate them with food to stop the destruction.
WHen the Harusame gave him the mission to find out if Hosen, the Night King, was betraying them or not, he was delighted. He'd get to fight the man his father dueled to a standstill and see how his sister was doing. He was told to pick two people with him, so he basically chose at random this long haired guy this guy with a big beard. He later learned their names were Abuto and Ungyou respectively. While Ungyou had no personality, Abuto seemed smart enough to make sure not to get on his boss's bad side but annoying enough that Kamui liked teasing him about small things (like the fact he liked to say "Stumped? Don't worry it's just a quiz" any time he asked a set of questions and didn't get an answer right away). When they got to earth, they went to this place called Yoshiwara. It's a perfect place for Yato because it's underground; no wonder the Night King rebuilt it after it had burned. He was looking forward to meeting the person who was his predecessor to his role as 7th Captain of the Harusame, but he was disappointed. He thought the Night King would be someone more imposing, but instead he was just an old man who was afraid of the sun. So he was grateful when he was told to apprehend the "dangerous people" who were trying to escape. He never thought he'd see his sister there. He was more than a little surprised, but he decided to act like he didn't care so he wouldn't be kicked off the mission. After all, fighting the Night King wasn't something one got to do every day y'know. But, he did feel a tad guilty and worried as he watched her fall off the pipe he smashed.
Feeling frustrated and bored, he set it up so that Hosen would fight him sooner rather than later. It worked, and he got a great fight out of it. He didn't expect Ungyou to die or Abuto to chew him out about starting the fight in the first place. But he chose to let it slide because Abuto did lose an arm trying to stop him (though, he also thought it just made him weak and not really worthy of his time).
Soon he learned that his sister, the leader of the Hyakka, and those other two with his sister were coming to rescue both the head prostitute, Hinowa (The Night King was obsessed with her, another thing he found disappointing), and her son who was the "dangerous person" they had to apprehend earlier. He was glad for the distraction. He'd let them take care of the night king and then fight whoever was left as a way to alleviate his boredom. He had not expected to see such a good fight. Against all odds that Silver Haired Samurai had beaten the Night King (with the help of the sun and the Hyakka, but still it was something amazing). He had found another opponent he wanted to fight. Now, the only problem was how to convince the elders not to destroy Yoshiwara. For that he needed to find Abuto (he seemed politically savvy). Learning that Abuto fought Kagura though, almost made him scrap the whole idea and find someone else. But, he really didn't think he could do it on his own or that anyone else was good enough for the job, so he decided not to kill Abuto after all.
On the way back to the Harusame ship, he kept going over the events of Yoshiwara. Other unwanted memories kept surfacing as well whenever he thought of his sister. Like the time he decided to revive the Yato tradition of "father killing".
Umibouzu, being the most famous Sweeper in the galaxy, was hardly ever home. When he was little, Kamui never resented his father for it because he thought his father was being a "protector of the universe" as Kagura liked to call it. Also, when his father was home he and Kagura always had fun trying to steal his food. His mother, though, unfortunately fell ill so Kamui and Kagura had to take of her when their father was away. While Kagura never minded taking care of her mother, Kamui started to resent their father for never being around. It's hard for two children to take care of their mother on their own. So, as the years went on he hated his father more and more.
One day, their father came back just to tell them he was leaving again in a few days. Their mother tried to put a smile on for the family to show support and not to make any of them worry. But Kamui could see through it, he had a talent for seeing when people were hiding things from others. He'd had enough, he hated seeing his mother like this. So, the next day he challenged his father to a duel on the pretense he was reviving the old tradition of "father killing" that had been outlawed because it was too animalistic. As he rushed at his father he thought "How could you leave Kaa-chan while you go off and leave your kids to take care of her? You're a horrible father, I hate you!" But all that came out of his mouth was a primal, wordless scream. The next thing he knew he was face down in a pool of his own blood with his father's arm a few feet from him. He knew his father was going to kill him. Because that's the Yato way, when you fight it's kill or be killed. So he closed his eyes, waiting for the end. Then he heard his sister cry "Pappy! No! Don't hurt Nii-chan anymore!" and he heard her rush to protect him. His father, hearing Kagura, woke from his rage. He then walked over to Kagura and patted her head saying "I'm sorry Kagura, Kamui…this is the best I can do... Please forgive me." He then took Kamui to the hospital and left right after checking him in. Kamui felt humiliated that his sister had saved him from death; the Yato would prefer death to being saved any day.
When Kamui got out of the hospital, he knew he couldn't stay anymore. He wouldn't be able to stand the pitying looks from his mother or those big, sad eyes from Kagura. So he packed up his things in the wee hours of the morning, when Kagura would be sleeping and left. He put a note telling on the kitchen table telling his mother and Kagura not to look for him, but not to worry about him either. He decided to get stronger by finding strong opponents both in the always-raining city that was his hometown and on other worlds.
He was about to leave the neighborhood when he heard a small voice that made him freeze. "Nii-chan, where are you going? Mammy's worried about you!" He didn't know what to say, how had she found him? Hadn't their mother told her about the note? It seemed he hesitated too long because Kagura continued "Nii-chan, Mammy told me that that note I found was just a joke and that you're feeling sad because Pappy isn't here. I'm still here, if you need someone to play with! Don't worry, I'm sure Pappy will be home soon." That made him feel worse. What was she thinking? He didn't get it, wasn't she afraid of him? He wasn't sad that their father wasn't there. He was angry and frustrated that he had been saved by his younger sister. He needed her out of his life so he could become stronger. So he plastered on a fake smile, turned to her and said coldly "I have no use for weaklings, don't follow me." With that he walked away, but not fast enough to get out of earshot of her crying. It had started raining again, so he almost didn't notice the tears streaming down his face either.
After that, he had wandered around fighting anyone strong. He got into the habbit of smiling whenever he killed someone becuase it was all he could do. After he had left his sister with a smile, how could he kill anyone any other way? Eventually he ended up fighting a Yato from the Harusame. After he won, Abuto (he suddenly just remembered it was Abuto) recruited him.
"Oi, Captain Kamui," Abuto said breaking Kamui out of his reverie, "You hardly touched your dinner. Is something wrong?" When he didn't get a snarky response from his idiot captain almost immediately he tried again, "That sister of yours was something else. I really had a rough time fighting her. I guess you inherited it from your dad. What was your mother like? If you two look anything like her, I bet she was a real beauty" Not wanting to dwell anymore on his past Kamui smiled at Abuto and said "What are we having for dessert Abuto? Keppei right?" then wolfed down his dinner.
It had been a couple of days since the events of Yoshiwara and Gin had noticed that Kagura still seemed depressed over seeing her brother again. Their father had told them that Kamui told the elders that he had been the one to kille Hosen, not Gin. Apparently he also became the owner of Yoshiwara in order to keep the Harusame away from it so Gin wouldn't have any trouble until Kamui came to fight him. Gin sighed, these Yato made no sense to him. From what he saw, the brother was even crazier than the sister. No wonder Kagura didn't like to talk about him. He knew what it was like to struggle with a past you'd rather forget. But, Kagura needed to snap out of it, it was hard being the funny man by himself. So he decided to get her back to normal by provoking her "Kagura? You still depressed over not getting to beat up your brother? Want some Sukonbu? That cheers you up right?" in response she said "I'm not depressed because of my no good Aniki Uh-huh! But Sukonbu sounds good anyway!" Gin, satisfied that Kagura seemed back to normal, teased her by almost giving her the Sukonbu but then yanking it away at the last minute.
I hope you enjoyed reading this. It's longer than my Abuto oneshot and a little more serious, I hope that makes it good. By the way Keppei is mooncake, Aniki is a very casual way to say older brother, and Kaa-chan is mom in Japanese in case anyone wanted to know. Also for those who don't remember, the Hyakka are the police of Yoshiwara. I read another fanfiction which has Kamui asking Abuto what's for dessert after Abuto asked about his family so I decided to use it too. It makes me wonder if it's actually in the manga or not...Oh well no use dwelling on it. As always, reviews are appreciated even if it to tell me something I did wrong.
-Murayama Tsuru