I'm sparing you the emotional talk for the end of the chapter. This is the last part!
Everything is really bright. I can see it though my closed eyelids.
I wake up to the sound of muffled voices yelling. I don't know why, but hearing those two people getting mad at each other, even if I don't understand what they say, gives me a feeling of safety.
As I emerge from the mist, I start to get the words. They are not in the room, but still close, so I guess they must be behind a door or something. Their familiar voices make me feel home.
"You listen to me, mayonnaise freak! What kind of leader gives so little fuck to his soldiers not to notice a WOMAN is among them! And she's just a kid anyway! Are you jerky enough to think that a KID could be fit for a war?"
"No, YOU listen to me, stupid perm-head! You call herself her tutor? You pretend taking care of her? Then could you tell me why you did not notice she was gone? Because obviously, if you had noticed, you would have known she'd join us, right? She died and cut her hair, for fuck's sake! This is not something you do in 5 minutes! You had plenty of time to come home and understand what she was doing! Let me guess, you spent your whole day and night drinking booze and thought she was asleep when you got back?!"
He lowers a bit his voice.
"And she's not a kid nor a woman. She's a Yato. She was born a warrior. I'm sure that even when she was five, she was still stronger than most of my men. Furthermore... It's not like anything really bad could have happened to her, right? I mean, we messed up and didn't think the Rakutos would bring guns. But that aside... She was under Sougo's care. Even if he did not know who she really was, he grew fond of the kid and would have protected him – her – to his last breath."
The memories of all that happened brutally come back to me. Me running away from the Yorozuya. Going to a hair salon, giving them extra money to take care of me right away. Asking Anego to lend me some of Shinpachi's clothes. Hugging her goodbye when she understands I won't change my mind. Joining a group of men on their way to fight with the Shinsengumi, blending in. Blending in even more. Becoming a Shinsengumi member. Training with my rival. No. He was my Captain. Becoming friend with him. Fighting with him. Feeling like I'm dying by his side. Always lying to him.
The Sadist. I suddenly open my eyes and sit up. Is he fine? Hijikata obviously is fine enough to be arguing with Gin-chan, but what about the Sadist?
"I should have finished you there."
My heart stops racing. His drawling voice soothes my worries. I turn my head and he is sitting on the bed a few meters away, staring at the door where the voices come.
"How dared you lie for so long? I almost trusted you. No, I actually trusted Lag. I should have seen it coming. Are you aware that you almost died out there, China?"
His voice is quiet and low, but the anger is here. However, I refuse to lower my eyes. I give him a Lag Special and he looks at me right at that moment. His fists are clutched, but they are shaking.
"I won't apologize. I refused to spend my days sitting in the sofa, watching the news to know if you guys had died there. I am a fighter. My role is not to be at home cooking yummy lunches. My role is to fight, and to make sure you are coming home alive. So now, tell me what happened."
He sighs. I win again. And this time, it really feels like a victory.
"I'm not sure myself. Hijikata-san told me that he saw me going back to the battlefield after leaving you at the infirmary. I don't remember a thing, actually, but he said I slashed Rakuto after Rakuto, and I did not even dodge their hits... Thus all the bandages making me look like a mummy. Anyway, the backups got there right on time, and I collapsed because of massive blood loss. Apparently, the Mimawarigumi cut the head of the enemy General and they finally retreated."
I look at him with teary eyes, understanding what he implies.
"Do you mean..."
"Yeah, China", he smiles and I somehow feel light. "We won. I promised you. We got home alive. We got back to our people."
And I smile back at him.
"Let me welcome you back, then. Not as Lag, but as Kagura."
I leave my bed and punch him in the face.
"I hope you will choke to death. But I'm glad you survived, and if you ever think no one here in Edo cares about you, I will show you how much I care by slicing your throat."
I then take his hand in both of mine and lock my eyes in his.
"Welcome back, Sadist."
Time for being a chatterbox!
This fic actually had 2 other titles before I settled for Battlefield. The first one was "just a soldier" and I really did not like it, but hey, you gotta name your files when saving them so that's all that came to my mind when I started writing.
The 2nd title was "Mulan", because as you might understand now, it is freely inspired by Mulan's story! But then I realised it would actually spoil the whole fic, hahaha. So it became "Battlefield", because I suck at titles (y)
[Edit : I'm adding this because I forgot to talk about it!] Did you know there was a story behin Lag's name? If you pronounce it the Japanese way, it is "Ragu". And guess who gets called Gura several times in the anime? I just inverted the syllables ;) [end of the edit]
I've got at least 3 other fanfics to post! They'll be shorter (one shots), and one is a Christmas themed one so it will be out on the 24th. I might post one every week until Christmas actually! They are OkiKagu fics because I cannot write anything else hahahahaha
Also, Gintama anime is starting back the 8th of January. Who is excited? I sure am! I spend my days watching Gintama AMV. Do you watch some? Any good recommandation?
Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who read this fanfic from the beginning to the end. Thanks even more to those who took time to review it. Your comments always made my day, and boy when a chapter was out I couldn't stop checking my mails to see if someone reviewed because it makes me so happy! If you read a fanfic that is complete, even if it has been completed for a while, be sure to leave a review to tell the author what you thought of it. I'm just as happy to read a review for the fic I'm posting as for a fic I posted a year ago!
EmeraldNorth, XTataraX, daslevfka, perpetualpoverty, and you who are reading this right now, thank you for having given this fanfiction some of your precious time. You are awesome and if I could I would hug you a thousand times. Until you'd call the cops and I'd go to jail for being really creepy. Really, that's how much I love you!
I hope to see you around when my next fanfic is out!