AN: As you can see, I'm trying my hand (once again) at another story. Please notify me if you happen to catch any grammatical or any other kind of errors in my writing; constructive criticism is appreciated and gratefully accepted.

Oh, I almost forgot: Gintama and its characters belong to Sorachi Hideaki. The setting and concept of graces belong to Kristin Cashore.

Part One: First You Have To Wake Up Before Eating Anything

Gintoki opened his eyes to stare at a heavy gray sky. With a grunt, he rolled over on his side. No way was he going outside to buy groceries for Kagura in this weather. He'd probably make Shinpachi do it or something. Just as the lazy samurai was about to go back to sleep, a drop of icy cold water hit his nose and rolled down his face. Surprised, Gintoki cautiously lifted his eyelids. Was he always able to see the sky while sitting (or laying down) inside his house?

There was a rumble of thunder as the heavens opened to let a shower of raindrops fall to the ground. Eyes wide, Gintoki sat up and was soaked in seconds. He noticed the grass that he had been lying on and the unfamiliar stretch of forest on either side of him. Did Kagura and Shinpachi decide to throw him out after not being paid for the entirety of four whole years that the anime had been running? It wasn't probable, but it was possible, he concluded. However, his suspicions were not enough to answer his one big question:

Where was he?

"Oi! What the hell do you think you're doing, just laying out there in the open, hah?" a voice half shouted half hissed to him.

Gintoki's head snapped up to see a rather familiar face: dark, raven colored hair, pale skin, steely eyes… He blanched at the sight of Hijikata, drenched to the skin, hiding behind a pine tree. The cop made exaggerated "get your ass over here this instant" gestures and Gintoki raced over to the cover of the foliage.

"Fancy meeting you here, Oogushi-kun," he greeted. His joking mood faltered a little at Hijikata's stormy expression. "So where are we?"

Hijikata grit his teeth, a soggy and slightly burnt cigarette dangling from his down turned mouth. "I don't know."

"What? What do you mean 'you don't know'?"

"I mean that I don't know, you ass."

Gintoki snapped. Later he'd say that Hijikata's face always ruined his mood, but at the moment, he grabbed the other man's collar and slammed him into the tree with a growl. "I want to know where we are so I can go back home and read the Jump that I'd bought yesterday with a nice carton of strawberry milk, not wander around aimlessly in a random place with a tax-thief mayora who makes everyone around him suffer from secondhand smoking!"

"Wait..." Hijikata said, smacking away the silver-permed man's hand from the front of his jacket. He leaned in uncomfortably close and Gintoki found himself leaning away with disgust. "Your eyes look weird."

"Don't they always? Like a dead fish, remember?"

"No, not like that. I think they're different. If I look closely… Oh, God, your eyes are different colors, man." The cop wrinkled his nose. "Shit, this is gonna be difficult."

Gintoki scratched his head, not caring that the rain was still soaking into the both of their clothing. "I think you need your contact lenses, Hijikata-kun. You're as far-sighted as I remembered-" He paused and fixed an intense stare into the Vice-Commander's face. "…Oh, but look! Your eyes are different as well. One brown and the other blue, just like one of those hairy sledding dog- Uff!"

Hijikata's eyebrow twitched dangerously as he buried Gintoki's face into the tree bark. "Oi, Yorozuya, you better not be joking with me. I don't have weird eyes like yours, okay? So just be quiet and…."

He fell silent. Gintoki peeled his face away from the pine's trunk at the lessening of pressure and looked up at Hijikata's frozen visage.

"Hijikata-kun? What're you doing?"

"Run."

"What?"

"Run!"

The Shinsengumi member grabbed the Yorozuya boss' hand and pulled him along at a breakneck sprint. Gintoki could feel at least five pairs of eyes gazing into his back and could hear the tension of a string being pulled back, the soft growling of dogs, and the light huffing of a horse. The two of them dove to the ground, rolling to the side as an arrow stabbed the ground where their heads had been just a millisecond before. Arrows slammed into tree trunks and whizzed through the air and dogs barked and growled loudly while their masters yelled and pursued.

"Hi-Hijikata! Who are those people?!" Gintoki panted. He ducked under a fallen tree trunk and skirted around a huge boulder.

"It's our eyes," Hijikata gasped back, neatly leaping over forest debris. "It's something about our different colored eyes that make the people hostile. I don't know why but that's why I've been careful about standing out in the open; those guys chased me as soon as I arrived and now they're after you too!"

Thankfully, the wetness of the downpour washed away their scent enough for the two men to take shelter in a high up hollow in a tree. The dogs and men howled by into the distance.

Gintoki sighed, catching his breath. Then he turned to Hijikata. "You! You made them come after me when they followed you! And now I've been dragged into your damn mess."

"Hell, they would've come after you as soon as they saw your face." Hijikata hissed back. "Be grateful that I found you first, Gintoki."

Said samurai scowled and the two sat there, squished inside the tree, waiting for the rain to stop in oppressive silence.

"Oh, you boys are looking for information?" An old lady smiled kindly at the two strangers standing before her, folding a piece of laundry in her hands. "Why, this is a good place to ask. This town is an important stop for travelers. What would you like to know?"

The stranger on the right opened his mouth when the lady interrupted him.

"Oh, where are my manners? Do come in for some tea. Come on, come on, hurry up, now."

The slightly burlier man pulled off his hood, his companion mimicking him as they entered the abode. The old woman pushed them into comfy chairs near a warm fireplace, warding away the post rain chill and handing them dainty teacups filled to the brim.

"Excuse me ma'am, but we're from… far away, and we'd like to know some of the customs and laws of this land, if you could oblige us."

"So polite you are! Handsome, too!" she laughed good-naturedly. "Let's see, oh, we'll start from the very beginning, yes? It'll make everything easier to explain later. A long time ago, there was a land, not too far from here, whose name I've forgotten in my old age. Well, that land was ruled by a king whose niece was a Graceling."

"A Graceling?"

"My, you haven't heard of a Graceling, my boy? Oh, indeed you must be foreign; I can tell by your beautiful hair. It's like the color of moonlight, my dear, very beautiful indeed. Yes, a Graceling, as we call them, have rather unique and special abilities born in them, a specialty that they are graced with. A sign that one is a Graceling is their eyes. You can tell if one is graced or not by looking at one's eyes, you see. A Graceling has two different eyes, like that king's niece. She had beautiful eyes, although some consider the eyes of a Graceling to be ugly, this girl's eyes were beautiful- green and blue. She, along with the youngest prince of Lienid, a far away island kingdom, brought down a whole kingdom for the sake of morality. She and the prince reconstructed our laws and everything was for the better: Gracelings, who were detested, feared, and forced to leave their homes and family for the bidding of their king, were free to work as they wished. Both the ungraced and the graced lived together well, like equal humans who were peaceful and loving to each other."

"But?"

"..But then, after the girl and the prince had grown old and died, their friends forgotten and their deeds faded, a new person, another king, rose to the top of the world and conquered it. He was from a far away place, like you two claim to be, but he was cruel, a master of words and deceit, much like an older king of legend. That cruel king would capture our world and turn it into a place of malice and hate, hunting down Gracelings who were unidentified and not registered for his own uses, those who refused to join and serve him put to death. Now, you see," the lady concluded with a rueful smile. "The world has fallen from the happiness that it used to be, and no one is alive to fight for rebels and those who believe in good anymore. Oh, how I wish for the olden days…"

The two men sat silently in their chairs, solemn and pensive. The slender one stood and bowed to the lady, a gesture strange to her, and took off his cloak. An odd piece of clothing, a vest with sleeves and some sort of silken scarf with trousers were clothing him, and a foreign sword was strapped to his waist. His companion made no move to stop him from identifying himself as the man spoke.

"Ma'am, thank you, truly, for telling us about the history of this land. We're lost, you see, and are embarking on a journey to get ourselves back home. We…" He sighed, lifting up his hand to brush aside the fringe bent awkwardly over his right eye. A brown eye contrasted greatly with the piercing cobalt on the left side of his face as his companion stood up, mahogany red and gold staring back at her. "…are probably Gracelings, as you've told us, and are very grateful for your time. We would compensate you for your hospitality, but…"

The old lady's eyes widened, her mouth dropping open dramatically. "…Gracelings? You two are Gracelings?"

There was a pause in the atmosphere. Suddenly, everything erupted in motion.

"Please, please, my dears, hurry out of this house and out of this town; the King's Men will be here soon, with their dreadful hounds and horses. They'll raze this village to the ground and destroy everything in their path, looking for the both of you."

She raced at a surprising speed around the house, gathering items at a blurring speed and dumping them into the both of her visitors' arms. Hijikata and Gintoki stiffened as the sounds of dogs and horses approached the edge of the wood where the humble town began.

"Obaa-san, there's no time anymore," Gintoki said hurriedly. "The King's Men are here; we have to leave right now."

"Come with us," Hijikata urged. "They'll kill you."

The old lady gave them each a large blanket-like wrap and bundled all of the things she'd given them, tying it shut with a firm knot. She smiled at them, ushering both through the back door.

"I love this house too much." she said.

AN: Ah, the lovely end of my first chapter. I hope to have more in the future; multi-chaptered fics make me happy. Was mine well-written? Please leave a review and tell me what you think! Thank you for reading!