Yoshida Shouyo

Yoshida Shouyo died in the war and his split personality Utsuro took over. His long life has been nothing but suffering and what he wants most, more than causing destruction, is an end to his suffering. He finally gets what he wants.

A.N. Because I really can't be bothered to write a whole arc about Shouyo coming back and trying to destroy the world, I'm just going to do a kind of brief summary but with some major changes. I figured it's a good idea to add it into Gintoki and Tsukuyo's relationship since they already 'dealt' with her master and their pasts really are both quite similar and very tragic.

The man that had once been Yoshshida Shouyo was lying on the ground on his back, finally defeated on a desolate, alien world. The sky was grey overhead and it was drizzling a light, cold rain onto the rubble filled battlefield. The bodies of the Tendoushu lay dead and the people who'd fought against them in the fierce battle were all but spent. They were a ragtag, mishmash of people but they'd all fought side by side to defeat Utsuro and his followers and they had finally won.

Takasuki's loyal followers, his Kiheitai were there, as well as Katsura's Jouishishi and Sakamoto's Kaientai with his ever loyal Mutsu. Kagura and her father Umibozo were standing close by with Shinpachi and Sadaharu as well as Tsukuyo and about a dozen of the Hyakka. The Shinsengumi had fought too, they'd arrived at the planet on their own battleship, even landing it on Utsuro when they arrived and the man and still survived that. They'd leapt into the fight head first as well as the elites of the Mirawangumi with Nobume and Isaboro who'd arrive on their own heavily armed ship.

"I knew we couldn't lose," Bansi declared, "Not with the four of them on our side...even against that monster," he said, glancing over at the legendary four Joi rebels.

"Liar," Matako mumbled. The headphones wearing samurai was slumped over her shoulder, bleeding from just about every limb and barely able to stand up. "I bet you wrote your will before we came here," she said.

"Now what?" Katsura asked, turning to Gintoki and Takasuki.

Both of the samurai were beaten and bloody and Gintoki looked the worst out of all of them. He had blood obscuring his face and his right eye was closed, he'd been cut across his eye during the fight and it was difficult for him to open it. His right arm was practically immobile, his torso was a battered mess and his left leg was shaking too.

He was holding a broken sword in his left hand and that sword had been the key to Shouyo's downfall. Umibozo had discovered the weakness to Utsuro's immortality and had it forged into a blade which he'd given to Gintoki. The alien bounty hunter himself had seen better days and he was stood with his daughter and watching, having fought in the battle with the rest of them.

"Whatever...y...you do...I'll just come back..." Shouyo said, his voice so quiet they could barely hear it. But his voice was definitely that of their beloved sensei and not of his alter ego. "Y...you need to...behead me...with that sword...and burn what's l...left...burn me with that blade...and I won't come back...please..." he begged.

"Sensei..." Katsura blinked down at the man, the three of them stunned to see that Shoyou had regained his control, but just barely from the pained expression on his face.

"H...hurry," he begged, "I...can't...hold him off...Please...just end it..."

"You beat that bastard Utsuro back this time, you can keep doing it," Takasuki said, gritting his teeth.

"Shinsuke-dono," Henpeita Takechi began, "The odds of that actually being possible and then odds of us surviving if he regenerates are..."

"SHUT IT!"

"He's right," Katsura mumbled, "We have to end it."

"Please..." Shouyo begged, looking up at the silent Gintoki.

Raising the broken sword with a resigned sigh, Gintoki took a deep breath but his arm began to shake and after a moment, the blade fell from his hand and clattered to the floor. "Not again...I can't..." he said.

"You don't have to," Katsura said, sadly, putting a sympathetic hand on his friends' shaking shoulder. "It's our fault you had to bear that burden alone the first time. Now it's our turn," he said, looking at Takasuki. "You know we don't have a choice," he told the one eyed samurai. Takasuki gritted his teeth and let out an uneasy breath. "We were lucky this time...we won...we might not be so lucky a second time," Katsura continued.

"And next time, sir, he might actually make it to earth and destroy the planet," one of Katsura's followers said as that had been Utsuro's intention before they'd all banded together and stopped him before he could reach Earth.

"Let him," Takasuki hissed, "That rotten world took sensei from us in the first place! It deserves to burn!"

"Sensei doesn't want to suffer anymore," Katsura said, "We owe him a merciful end!"

"Merciful?!" Takasuki scoffed, ruefully.

"P...please...h...hurry..." he begged again, sounding strained as he writhed on the floor.

"We have to," Katsura declared, "It's the only thing we can do for him. It's what he wants..what he needs." He picked up the sword that Gintoki had dropped and stared at it for a moment. The sharp end of the blade had broken off some time during the battle but it was still more than enough to behead a man. "I'm sorry, sensei," he said, tears falling from his eyes unashamedly.

The man on the ground gave a shaky nod and look up at them, proudly. "S...should've t...told you about...didn't want y...you to know I was...a...monster," he said.

"Is that why you took us in?" Gintoki asked, quietly. "Raising a bunch of mini monsters was...what...your backup plan for when you went nuts?" he asked.

"N...no. T...took you in first...y...you reminded me...of me. You'd suffered as much as me...you were a child alone...scrounging for food on a battlefield of the...dead...not many children...would've been able to do that. A...after a while I did think...m...maybe one day if you needed to...you'd be strong enough to stop me...to protect yourself against me...I trained you...all of you, so that if it happened...I wouldn't have to kill you all...because I love you," Shouyo admitted and Gintoki couldn't hold back his tears.

"And now you want us to kill you?!" Takasuki hissed.

"I...need you to...quickly...I can't...hold him back...much longer..."

"Alright," Katsura breathed, tightening his grip on the sword. He raised it quickly and before he could bring it down, Gintoki had reached out his left hand to clutch at the handle of the sword. "What're you doing?" he asked, stunned.

"You don't have to do it alone either," Gintoki whispered, "We'll do it together...and we'll wind up in hell together after."

Katsura nodded, giving him a grateful, if rueful smile, "Together, then," he said.

"Oi. Not so fast. He's my sensei too," Takasuki said, sorrowfully, shuffling over to them. "And we're already in hell anyway," he added.

Sandwiched between them, Katsura held the blade, each of them with a hand on the hilt and with a shared expression of regret, they wordlessly brought the sword down, slicing Shouyo's head from his body.

An eerie silence descended as the clang of the metal sword collided with the hard ground and echoed all around them.

"It's over," Gintoki mumbled as they stared at the decapitated body of their beloved teacher. He snatched the sword from his friends' hands and turned his face away from Shouyo's body. Then he limped his stumbled his way over to where the Shinsengumi and the Mirawangumi were standing and dropped the bloodied sword, letting it clatter to the floor. He collapsed onto his knees, unable to stand any longer.

"Gin-chan!" Kagura yelled.

"Do whatever you want," the silver haired samurai told Kondo. "Everything was my fault. He was my sensei. I'm the one who killed him the first time and let his crazy other personality take over...I didn't know. Who the hell could've known something like that would happen? It's so f****** ridiculous...But if even I'd known...I'd probably have made the same choice anyway..."

"What're you saying, Gintoki? You had no choice. You did what sensei would've wanted and it's our fault! We're the ones who got caught back then. If we'd been stronger maybe we could've fought our way out and saved you from making that awful choice!" Katsura yelled.

"I'll take responsibility for whatever he's done," Gintoki continued, ignoring his friend. "Throw me in prison or execute me or whatever. I don't care," he said.

"That so, huh?" Kondo said, sadly. He took one step towards Gintoki, aiming to merely retrieve the broken sword to burn along with Shouyo but before he could, Kagura, Shinpachi and Sadaharu had jumped in his way, standing between him and the silver haired samurai.

"If you're going to arrest Gin-san, you'll have to get through us first!" Shinpachi declared, brandishing his sword at Kondo.

"Grrrrrr," Sadaharu growled, standing beside Gintoki protectively.

"Yorozuya Gin-chan always sticks together, uh-huh!" Kagura said, taking a fighting stance and glaring at them. "I'll fight all of you if I have to! It wasn't Gin-chan's fault, you can't blame him!"

"What if we arrest all of you for obstruction of justice?" Hijikata asked, breathing out a mouthful of cigarette smoke.

"Like to see ya try," Tsukuyo said. She, along with her dozen Hyakka, all holding sharp kunai, made their way to stand with Kagura and Shinpachi in front of the samurai. "We're Yoshiwara women," she said, calmly, "Ya think we care about the law? We're used t'being outcasts. Do ya worst."

"The Jouishishi are always ready to take on the Shinsengumi," Katsura declared.

"What the hell, count me in," Umibozo said with a shrug, joining them. "You Earth monkeys really think you could take me on?" he asked, pointing his battered and torn umbrella at the Shinsengumi.

"Papi!" Kagura exclaimed, happily.

"Umibozo-san...why're you..." Shinpachi asked, stunned.

"I owe that crazy kid enough favours already, it's just getting stupid," he said, shaking his head, "Besides, who's going to take care of my precious daughter on Earth if he's in prison?"

"That's quite a guard you've got there," Kondo said with a kind smile, staring at Gintoki. The samurai head was bowed his his messy hair obscured his eyes from view but he still hadn't moved at all. "You're trouble as always, Yorozuya. If I'd intended to actually arrest you, I'd probably just give up now," he said. He then took a small step closer while the group of people tensed in front of him. "Relax already, we're not arresting him. We just need the sword, that's all," he said to them calmly.

"Huh?" they all blinked in confusion.

"He's our friend too," Kondo declared. "There's no way we could arrest him, not after all that. We're not that heartless, y'know," he said and took a few more tentative steps towards Gintoki. Then he knelt down beside the unmoving samurai and picked up the broken sword. "Get outta here, you've done your bit. You did good. We'll deal with this...so you don't have to. You've done enough," he said with a gentle hand on Gintoki's shoulder.

Gintoki finally raised his head to look up at Kondo with a stunned expression of disbelief, his face stained with blood and tears and his one open eye still red and raw. Kondo then stood up and turned to the Shinsengumi again.

"Oi, danna!" Sougo exclaimed suddenly.

Gintoki had slumped to the floor on his side, his eyes closed and his body limp as he finally relented to the bone deep weariness he felt.

"Gin-chan!" Kagura ran over to him.

"Gin-san!" Shinpachi joined her.

"Gintoki!" Tsukuyo fell to her knees by his side.

Sadaharu lay down and gently licked the fallen samurai's face with a gentleness he didn't usually use and whined pitifully when his master didn't move so much as an eyelid.

"I didn't do that," Kondo declared, needlessly, holding up his hands.

"Damn," Sakamoto mumbled, walking over to them as quickly as he could. "That idiot was running on adrenaline...looks like he finally ran out. Stubborn idiot. Get him back to my ship," he said, "There's a doctor there...Mutsu figured we'd probably need one so we brought the best with us."

"But...what about..." Shinpachi asked, nervously looking over at Shouyo's body.

"We'll take care of it," Sakamoto said and Kondo gave him a nod of acknowledgment.

"Go on, get him outta here," the leader of the Shinsengumi told the young Yorozuya members.

Between them, they managed to prop Gintoki onto Sadaharu's back with Kagura and Tsukuyo sitting there behind him to hold him steady. "Easy does it, Gin-chan," she said quietly into his ear. "You'll be back to your old self in no time, uh-huh, you'll be reading JUMP and drinking strawberry milk all day, you'll see," she said.

Walking beside Sadaharu, who was doing his best to keep the bleeding samurai steady, Shinpachi, Tsukuyo and the Hyakka left for Sakamoto's ship.

"And where do you think you're going?" Katsura called after Takasuki when he tried to leave while everyone was watching Gintoki vanish in the distance.

"Who knows," he replied with a shrug. "But if you're wondering what my next plan is...it hasn't changed. The world took sensei from us twice now. I aim to make it pay twice as much," he said. Now leaning heavily on Takechi with an arm around his shoulder to help him limp away.

"Bastard, you can't just..." Hijikata yelled at him and Kondo stopped him. He raised an arm in front of his friend before the man could try and run after them single handed.

"Let him go, Toshii," Kondo said, "We don't have the energy left for another fight."

"Neither do they! At least they're outnumbered! And we can't just let them..."

"We'll get them...eventually," he insisted. "But for now...we've got more important things to worry about," he said, looking down at the sword in his hand. "Sougo...take whatever men who aren't badly wounded and use whatever you can find to build up a pyre. Who knows how much time we've got...so make it quick as you can."

"We'll help," Katsura declared, looking at his own loyal followers along with Sakamoto.

"So will we elites," Isaboro said, "Now we can finally put an end to this."

On the long journey back to earth, all bustling around Sakamoto's ship was the Shinsengumi who had been forced to abandon their ship after they'd crashed it onto Utsero, Katsura and the Jouishishi, both factions had called a temporary truce until they returned to earth but tensions were high. After fights began to break out on the very first day, Mutsu confined the two factions to opposite ends of the ship and made them eat at different times in the mess hall so that they'd never even see one another.

Umibozo, they had dropped off on an alien planet on the third day after Kagura waved goodbye to him and hugged him so hard he couldn't breathe.

Isaboro and the elites had taken their own ship back to earth and had sworn that there wasn't enough room for them to take the Shinsengumi with them and then they'd fled.

During those long, oppressive days, Gintoki was resting in a bed in a large bedroom on the ship. He hadn't woken or even moved at all and for the first two days, the doctor was worried that he'd die. The samurai spent several days hooked up to a plethora of machines and it had made him look oddly small and vulnerable. Of course, the silver haired samurai hadn't died, but he hadn't moved either. In that same room, Kagura, Shinpachi and Tsukuyo had each dragged in a futon and had been living right there beside him, along with Sadaharu who slept in the corner with his own pile of blankets.

On the fifth day, Tsukuyo was using a straight razor and Kagura was holding a bowl of water while the blonde woman shaved the sleeping samurai's face. By now, all the of the medical machines, except for the IV were gone.

"What're you doing?" Katsura asked as he closed the door behind him. He was holding a sheathed sword and he had his usual sword hanging from his belt. He was still covered in bandages around his wrists and his chest but his clothes hid most of them.

"That idiot won't be happy if he wakes up with a beard," Tsukuyo said, rising the razor off in the bowl of water.

"He'll look like an old man, uh-huh," Kagura agreed, "It makes him cranky."

"I see," Katsura smiled at them and pulled a chair close to his friend's bedside. "He's still asleep, huh?" he sighed.

"He's not even moved a muscle," Shinpachi answered.

"Not even when I told him I was gonna drink all the strawberry milk and eat all the chocolate parfaits in the world without him, nu-huh," Kagura said, sadly.

They sat in silence while Tsukuyo finished her task, washed Gintoki's face and then Kagura left the bowl on the small table by the bed.

"He's had worse than this before...but it's never taken him this long to wake up," Tsukuyo said.

"Gin-chan's just lazy," Kagura insisted, sounding worried despite her comment. "He just wants to sleep in, uh-huh. Stupid, lazy perm head! Wake up!" she yelled at him.

"Maybe he doesn't want to wake up," Katsura said.

"What do you mean?" Shinpachi asked.

"After what we did...what we had to do...I don't blame him," Katsura sighed. "You weren't there after he had to kill sensei the first time, you don't know what he was like after that. Maybe he doesn't think he can survive it again if he wakes up. I don't know how he coped before...well, other than badly, I mean. We all coped pretty badly. Takasuki turned into a monster who still just wants to destroy the world, I became...well...a terrorist and Gintoki...I really don't know. But somehow he didn't end up like us. We all went our separate ways after the war...when I met him again after all those years and he had you two following him around, it was like he was his old self again," he said, looking ruefully at Shinpachi and Kagura. "You two really helped him I think. I never told you how grateful I was for that," he added.

"Katsura-san," Shinpachi mumbled.

"What will you do...if he doesn't wake up?" the samurai asked, slowly.

"Idiot!" Kagura exclaimed and leapt over to him. She grabbed him by the front of his clothes and slammed him against the wall with enough force to shake the room and cause a large crack to appear in the wall all the way up to the ceiling. "Gin-chan's gonna wake up for sure when he's had his nap and when he does, he's gonna kick your a** for saying that!" she yelled, angrily.

"Kagura-chan," Shinpachi rushed over to them and tried to pry her away from Katsura but she easily just shrugged him off.

"Aren't you meant to be Gin-chan's friend?!" the girl screamed at Katsura. "Stupid Zura! There's no way this is enough to kill him! Don't lump him with the rest of you stupid humans! He's a hundred percent city boy, uh-huh, you stupid country bumpkin!"

"Everyone has a limit...even him," Katsura told her calmly despite the fact that he could barely breathe.

Kagura growled and threw the samurai across the room as though he weighed nothing more than a rag doll. He collided with another of the hospital beds and landed painfully in a jumbled heap. "I don't want to think about it either," Katsura said, wincing as he sat up in the floor. "But it's been almost a week...Sakamoto says we'll be back on Earth in the next few days and his oh so famous doctor says there's nothing else that medicine can do for Gintoki. They still don't even know if he'll be able to see properly after what happened to his eye," he said, staring at his friends' bandaged eye. "He should have woken up by now. I've seen him get stabbed and shot and worse all at the same time and not even take the time to rest but maybe this was one fight too many," he said.

"You'll see," Kagura yelled at him. "You're wrong! When he wakes up you're gonna have to apologise! It better be the best apology ever! You better bring a million packs of pickled seaweed and strawberry milk, you hear me?! I don't care how long it takes! I don't care if he wakes up half blind or whatever! We're gonna be here when he wakes up, right?" she turned to Shinpachi and Tsukuyo with a heartbreaking expression.

"Hmmm," Tsukuyo nodded at her with a kind smile, "Where else we gonna go?"

"We'd look pretty stupid if we followed him all the way out here and then just left him," Shinpachi said.

"See!" Kagura said smugly to a despondent Katsura. "Even if you all give up, we won't," she said. "So go back to being a crazy terrorist or whatever if you want, Zura, uh-huh. 'Cause Yorozuya Gin-chan never gives up, no matter how stupid something is. That's what Gin-chan says!" she finished and sat back down on the end of Gintoki's hospital bed.

"Hmmm," Katsura smiled, ruefully and stood up, rubbing at his arm where he'd landed painfully. "You're right," he sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just...sensei's gone...again and Takasuki's still out there...everything's a mess," he said.

"Maybe it is," Shinpachi agreed. "But Kagura-chan's right. Gin-san will wake up. I don't care about Takasuki, as far as we're concerned he's an enemy. All that matters is getting Gin-san to wake up."

"You're right," he agreed. "If...when he wakes up," Katsura said pointedly. "Give him this," he said, holding the sword he'd been holding. It had a red sheath and a golden hilt.

"Huh? A sword?" Shinpachi stared at it.

"It was sensei's," Katsura said, "It was broken in the fight...I got some of my people to fix it."

"He's told ya before, he doesn't want it," Tsukuyo asked, sceptically.

"I know," he said, "But it's all we have left...please...just give it to him...please."

She reluctantly took the weapon with a sigh. "Can't promise he'll keep it," she said.

"Then you keep it safe for him until he does," Katsura told her, "At least then he'll know it's nearby."

"What d'ya mean? Ya goin' somewhere?" she asked.

"No. I suppose I'll need to do something about Takasuki at some point, but...it's just...I don't want it either. That sword. He might never want it. But he trusts you. He loves you. Who else should I give it to?" he said and noticed her purse her lip at the word 'love'. "What's that face for?" he asked. "Oh...right, he hasn't told you, has he?" he said. "Well, if he was awake he'd kill me for telling you," Katsura said. "But he does. I know he does. He told me. He was drunk at the time. But he wouldn't lie about that, even drunk. But the last person he said that to was sensei and, well...I told him he was being stupid. You've stuck around him for what...three years now?"

"Two...two and a half," she corrected.

"Close enough," he shrugged, "I told him, if she's put up with you for that long then she's already seen you at your worst and she's not going to go anywhere. She's either crazy or she's in love with you."

"Prob'ly the same thing," Tsukuyo scoffed, ruefully.

"Probably," he agreed with a smile.

"Not like I've ever said it either," she said turning away and staring out if the window. "I don't think we're the kind of people that say...that...y'know?" she muttered.

"Well," Katsura said, taking a deep breath. "It's probably none of my business. But you came all the way out here to help us fight an un-killable monster...all three of you did. I guess for people like us that says more than just a few little words...maybe," he said and then he left the room, closing the door behind him.

When the ship landed in Edo, the Shinsengumi drove them and the still sleeping Gintoki home to Kabukicho and they managed to carry both the heavy samurai and the IV up the stairs and into his bedroom.

"Thanks," Tsukuyo muttered to them.

"Shouldn't he be in a hospital?" Kondo asked.

"Doctor on the ship said all he needs is rest now, there's nothin' else they can do," she shrugged. "Except keep cleaning his eye out...just have to wait till he wakes up," she sighed.

"Gin-chan's lazy," Kagura grumbled, "He knows it's Tuesday. He knows it's his day to do some chores and he doesn't want to. Well, Gin-chan, none of us are gonna do your chores for you, nu-huh!" she yelled into the bedroom where they'd lay the samurai in his futon.

"Sounds like him," Hijikata muttered.

"Let us know...when he wakes up," Kondo said as they left.

Two days after returning to Earth, Tsukuyo, Shinpachi and Kagura were sitting in the Yorozuya living room. Since all three of them were reluctant to leave the house, Otae was bringing them their groceries, though thankfully she hadn't cooked anything for them. She was just walking into the room carrying two large bags when they heard a loud crash from Gintoki's room.

"Gin-chan's awake!" Kagura announced and they ran to the shoji door. The young girl almost tore the door apart as she slid it open.

Gintoki was sat huddled in the corner of his room, his knees brought up to his chest and his head resting on them with his arms curled around himself. He'd ripped out the IV from his arm and tossed it across the room where it had crashed against the wall.

"Gintoki?" Tsukuyo said, tentatively as she took a step closer to him but he didn't say a thing. She took another step and another until finally, she knelt down beside him and put her hand on his shoulder. He flinched a little in shock and he looked up, surprised to see her there. "Are ya okay? Ya been asleep for a week. Ya were hurt pretty bad, the doctor gave us some pain meds in case..." she said.

He shook his head and then closed his eyes and resting his forehead on his knees again.

"No, ya not in any pain or no ya don't want pain meds?"

He shook his head again. Then he reached up a hand to the bandage around his right eye and tugged at it but Tsyukuyo stopped him by putting her hand over his and moving it away.

"Doctor said that has to stay on for a bit," she told him. He grunted and shrugged off her hand, trying to remove the bandage again but she stopped him. "I know it's prob'ly annoyin' but if ya take it off too soon ya might damage ya eye more," Tsukuyo said.

"Gin-chan, that was a really long nap, uh-huh. You hungry? We can get anything, right? Anything you want, uh-huh," Kagura said but he just shook his head, silently again.

"What about a chocolate parfait?" Shinpachi suggested, practically begging, "Two chocolate parfaits?"

"A whole chocolate cake?" Kagura said, waving her arms, "With strawberry milk, uh-huh!"

"Fried egg?" Otae suggested.

But he simply shrugged and sighed. They shared an uneasy look just as the front door slid open and Otose walked in.

"What was that crash?" she asked, as she came into the living room.

When they turned to look at her, she saw their desperate, concerned expressions and she walked to stand beside them and then looked into Gintoki's bedroom through the open door. She saw him huddled in the corner and she sighed. "Oh," she said. "Blondie," she called to Tsukuyo who was still sitting beside the unresponsive Gintoki. "Come out here, you're not gonna get anything out of him," she said.

"What? And just leave him in 'ere?!" she exclaimed, stunned.

"Just come out here, already," Otose repeated, "Just for a minute."

"Fine," she said, on hearing the older women's almost pleading tone. "Be right back, 'kay?" she muttered to him, stroking his hair, but he remained silent and motionless.

When she walked into the living room, Otose slid the bedroom door closed and looked at them. "Don't suppose he's said anything, has he?" the old woman asked them.

"No," Tsukuyo replied.

"Not one word," Shinpachi added.

"Why's he so quiet? Gin-chan's never this quiet. I don't like it, nu-huh," Kagura said.

"Didn't think so. He won't say anything...not for a while anyway. He won't eat, either."

"He didn't even want a parfait!" Kagura exclaimed, close to tears.

"You could probably shove one of those damn things under his nose right now and he wouldn't touch it," she said.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Tsukuyo demanded.

"Don't let him near any alcohol," Otose replied, sternly, "If there's any up here, get rid of it. He'll drink himself stupid the first chance he gets."

"There's some sake in the kitchen..." Tsukuyo said, thoughtfully.

"Get rid of it," she reiterated. "And don't let him out of the house by himself," she added.

"Why?" Shinpachi asked.

"He'll pick a fight as soon as he can and he'll either let himself get beaten half to death or he'll end up killing someone," Otose said, exasperated.

"How do you know all that?" Otae asked her voice wavering.

"I've seen it happen more than once," she admitted. "He was like this after I met him a couple of times...well, a lot of times, actually. One time he didn't eat for a week and he collapsed down the stairs. Another time, some punk kid was causing trouble in the bar and the idiot almost gutted him with a chopstick. Didn't even realise he was doing it, either. It was lucky I shouted loud enough that he heard me and he actually stopped. He promised he'd protect me after I took him in, so I guess he was just acting out of instinct. You should've seen his face when he saw what he'd almost done," she sighed. "Well, he wasn't the first person I'd seen come back from the war with issues but he was probably one of the youngest and he was definitely the most troublesome. I had to find the most difficult one, didn't I?" she said with a rueful smile.

"How long did he used to..stay...like this for?" Shinpachi asked.

"Sometimes a day, sometimes a week," she shrugged. "Usually he just snaps out of it like nothing happened and he never wants to talk about it. Hasn't happened for years though, at least not that I've seen. Not since before you two moved in," she said to Shinpachi and Kagura. "Guess it's not really surprising it's happening again...after what you've told me went on out there," she mused, "That stupid perm head has the world's worst luck, huh?"

"But...what's wrong with him! Why won't he eat? Why won't he talk?" Kagura asked, her eyes wide. "Did he hit his head or something? It is broke? Did he break his head?" she demanded.

"Guess that's one way of looking at it," the old woman remarked.

"Then we'll take him to the hospital to see a head doctor to glue his broken head back together with the world's strongest super glue!" Kagura said.

"Super glue won't fix this," Otose rolled her eyes. "Besides, he won't let you take him to a hospital. I tried once," she said, confidently.

"I could carry him all the way there!"

"I know," she shrugged, "But he won't thank you for it. Idiot'll probably hurt himself more trying to escape if you did. Giving him more things to stress about won't help him. Just...talk to him, even if he doesn't talk back. Make him eat. Just...be normal and he'll snap out of it when he's ready."

"But..." Kagura frowned.

"Trust me," Otose said and they nodded sadly.

"KABOOOOM! CRAAAASH GUUUFFUUUUUU!" Kagura exclaimed. She was sitting next to Gintoki's bed reading JUMP to him, but he stayed as unresponsive as he had been when he'd woken up earlier that morning. "BOOOOOOOM!" she yelled.

"Kagura-chan," Shinpachi winced, covering his ears. "Do you have to be so loud?!" he complained.

"I wanna be sure Gin-chan can hear me," she replied, "Granny says his head's broken. What if his ears are broken too?"

"Well, if they weren't before, they will be now," he grumbled, "Anyway, his head isn't broken, it's just...sad, I guess."

"JUMP will fix that," Kagura said with more confidence than she actually felt. "Right, Gin-chan? JUMP and strawberry milk will fix anything, right? Gaaaahah...why won't you answer me?! It's not the same if you don't talk back!" she said, burying her hands in her hair, "This is worse than when he had amnesia, uh-huh!"

"I know," Shinpachi sighed. "But what else can we do? Just...keep reading," he said, so she did.

"Say ahhhhhh...Here comes the kunai," Tsukuyo said, holding a spoonful of ice cream, trying to coax Gintoki into eating.

"How is that supposed to make him eat? He'll think he's under attack! It's meant to be here comes the airplane, isn't it?!" Shinpachi bellowed.

"How's that any better?" she scoffed. "He'll think a plane is gonna hit him in the face," she said.

"They're both kinda stupid, but still, that's not gonna make him eat anything!"

"I thought it was, here's comes the huuuuge, giant monster with claws and fangs, better eat fast before it gets yoooouuuu!" Kagura exclaimed.

"That's horrible! That's traumatising!" Shinpachi said.

"Gin-chan...it's a chocolate parfait, your favourite," Kagura said to the unresponsive samurai. "We got it from your favourite place. It's yummy. Say aaaaaaah..." she said.

"Maybe he's not hungry," Shinpachi suggested.

"He hasn't eaten all day, he's gotta be hungry," Tsukuyo replied.

"Maybe he just needs to poop," Kagura said.

"What does that have to do with not eating?!" Shinpachi exclaimed.

"Well, if you gotta go poop, you gotta go poop, nothing else matters when you have to poop except pooping."

"Stop saying poop!"

"Gin-chan, do you have to go potty?"

"He's not a baby!" Shinpachi rolled his eyes.

"Maybe...he needs to burp?" Kagura suggested.

"HE'S NOT A BABY!" Shinpachi repeated.

"This show gets stupider ever year," Shinpachi exhaled.

"It's the best show ever!" Kagura insisted, "Gin-chan likes it too!"

The silver haired samurai was lying on the couch, his head resting on Tsukuyo's lap which Shinpachi and Kagura sat on a pile of cushions on the floor right in front of him. They were watching one of Kagura's favourite tv shows 'Ladies 4' that she always watched with Gintoki.

"It's kinda dumb," Tsukuyo agreed, running her hand lightly through Gintoki's hair.

"Che," Kagura scoffed. "You guys just don't know good tv. In this house, only Gin-chan and I know what good tv is," she snorted.

"How does it look?" Kagura asked, twirling in front of Shinpachi and Tsukuyo.

"Err...why did you steal one of Gin-san's yukatas?" Shinpachi asked.

"Because I like it, uh-huh," she answered.

The white and blue patterned yukata was of course, too long for her but she was wearing it exactly as Gintoki usually did. With one sleeve hanging down and with a belt around her waist. She was wearing her black boots and holding her purple umbrella over her shoulder.

"Erm...it...looks nice?" Tsukuyo said, making it sound more like a question than a statement.

"It's too big for you," Shinpachi sighed.

"Don't care," Kagura shrugged, "Its mine now. It's my new look, uh-huh."

"Gin-san's not gonna be happy that you're stealing his clothes," the young samurai stated.

"I'm following in my Earth papi's footsteps. Gin-chan will be happy," she replied and turned to Gintoki who was still lying on the sofa with his head on Tsukuyo's lap. "Nah, Gin-chan?" she asked, tilting her head.

Gintoki's un-bandaged eye was closed, but he opened it slowly and stared at her for a moment.

"See?" Kagura spun around again, "Isn't it cute? Don't I look cool?"

Gintoki gave her a small, almost imperceptible smile and then he shrugged which she took to mean as a 'yes.'

"Yahoooooo!" Kagura yelled triumphantly and danced around the room.

"Aaaaarrrppppp!" Sadaharu happily barked.

Later that night, with an arm around the samurai, Tsukuyo led him out of the bathroom and sat him down on the sofa. Like everything else, had had no interest in bathing, so Tsukuyo had walked him into the bathroom, ignoring his fumbling, silent protests and she'd stood in the shower with him. Considering that fact that they'd both been naked in the shower, alone, he'd been as unresponsive as ever and she'd been surprised and concerned.

She's dressed him in his pyjamas and draped a towel over his dripping wet hair and went to fetch some clean bandages for his wounds while he sat listlessly on the sofa. Kagura vigorously used the towel to rub his hair dry and when Tsukuyo returned, she found that Kagura had managed to turn Gintoki's wet hair into a relatively dry, silver afro.

"Oops," Kagura blinked and then chortled at him.

"Oh boy," Tsukuyo face palmed.

"Afro samurai!" Kagura giggled as she pointed at Gintoki.

"That's copyrighted," Shinpachi drawled.

That night, Gintoki was still quiet and unresponsive but though he appeared tired, he showed no signs of closing his eyes to sleep. Not even when Tsukuyo helped him into the futon and lay down beside him. He tossed and turned all night, sighing heavily and occasionally holding his arms around her so tightly she couldn't breathe and then it woke her up too.

"S'gone midnigh'..." Tsukuyo whined, rubbing her tired eyes. "Please go to sleep. Ya need t'rest," she begged.

She rolled over so that she was facing him and she stared into his one very tired, dead fish eye. "Ya won't get any better if ya don't sleep," she told him, quietly. "Aren't ya sleepy?" she asked.

Slowly, he nodded.

"Are ya hurtin'? D'ya need the pain meds, is that it?" she asked and he shook his head. "Then please, please go to sleep. I'm right 'ere," Tsukuyo said, tenderly running her palm down the side of his face which was bandaged up over his eye. "There's nothin' else here...Kagura and Shinpachi are sleeping right outside. I'll stay awake if ya want, all three of us will if that's what ya want," she added.

Again, he shook his head and shuffled closer to her so that he could rest his head on her shoulder. He draped an arm over her stomach and twined a leg with one of hers without a word.

"Will ya please try and sleep?" she begged again. She felt him nod against her shoulder and she breathed out a sigh of relief.

Her relief was short lived however, as she stayed awake for most of the night and he never once fell asleep.

The next day, Hinowa and Seita arrived and Kagura carried the woman up the stairs while Shinpachi carried up her wheelchair. Kagura sat her comfortably on one of the sofas. Both Hinowa and Seita had come bearing a large bento box, both full of food.

A tired looking Tsukuyo greeted her and sat down beside Hinowa.

"You looked tired, Tsukuyo," Hinowa remarked, concerned.

"Didn't sleep," she replied, needlessly.

"How is Gin-san?" the older woman asked.

Tsukuyo, Shinpachi and Kagura exchanged a wordless, worried glance for a moment before Tsukuyo answered her.

"Still awake," she said. They'd let him lie in his futon and he'd been staring listlessly at the ceiling all morning. "I don't think he slept at all last night," she explained.

"And he still won't talk," Kagura added.

"Otose-san says it's happened before," Shinpachi said, "But we've never seen it."

"The sensei that took him in and cared for him, who he was forced to kill in the war, came back to life and turned out to be a monster who tried to destroy everything," Hinowa summarised. "It's such a cruel story," she said.

"Hmmm," the blonde hummed.

"Gin-san is strong. He'll come back to us. I know it," Hinowa said with certainty.

"He better do," Tsukuyo muttered, crossing her arms around herself, vulnerably.

"That's right! He missed on yesterday's chores!" Kagura exclaimed, "No one gets a free pass on chores!"

"Why don't you see if he'll eat with us?" Hinowa said to Tsukuyo.

"He won't eat," she replied, despondently.

"Maybe he will, maybe he won't," Hinowa shrugged.

"M'kay," Tsukuyo relented and went into the bedroom to help him out of the futon and over onto the sofa.

"Morning, Gin-nii-san!" Seita waved at him, wisely not commenting on the bandages as his mother had advised before they'd arrived.

Tsukuyo sat Gintoki on the sofa between Hinowa and herself and Seita began to take out the plethora of food from the two large boxes.

"Waaaaa...Hinowa-chan's cooking is the best!" Kagura grinned, "Nah, Gin-chan?"

"Don't worry," Hinowa said to him. "You don't have to talk if you don't want to. But I made all your favourites," she said, gesturing daintily to the open bento. "It was a lot of work. It'd be rude not to try at least one bit, right?" she said.

He snorted at her and stared at the food just before his stomach made a very loud gurgling sound, reminding him that he hadn't actually eaten anything for quite some time.

"'Ere," Tsukuyo said, quietly. She was holding one of the trays from the large bentos on her lap and she quickly ate one of the artistically made pork buns and held one out for him.

"Seconds, please!" Kagura exclaimed, her mouth full of food. She'd emptied the other box in a matter of seconds leaving Shinpachi stunned beside her.

"What am I supposed to eat now?! Why did you have to eat it all?!" he yelled.

"I'm a growing girl, uh-huh!"

"So am I! Err...I mean..."

"You're not a girl!"

"I mean I'm still growing!" the young samurai blushed.

While they argued, Gintoki took the pork bun from Tsukuyo's hand and took a bite. It was of course, as delicious as ever considering that Hinowa had made it and as he took another bite, the relief from the others in the room was almost palpable.

"Eat these ones, Gin-nii-san!" Seita exclaimed, pointing at some sushi in the box, "I helped ka'a-chan make them!"

"Seita's very good in the kitchen," Hinowa beamed and the boy smiled, proudly.

Another day passed, and the silver haired samurai didn't say a single word. But at least he would eat small meals now and to Tsukuyo's relief he actually slept for a few hours that night.

On the third day, Kagura and Shinpachi were talking loudly in the living room while Tsukuyo and Otae sat and listened, exasperated that they could even argue about the weather forecast for that morning. To their relief, Gintoki had slept for the entire night and was still asleep that morning, or least he was trying to sleep, as their arguing had woken him up.

Suddenly, without warning, the door to Gintoki's bedroom slid open and he poked his head out looking angry.

"Shut up!" he yelled, "I'm trying to sleep! What are you even arguing about? Whatever it is, keep it down, you brats!" his voice was hoarse from disuse and he looked extremely tired owing to the fact that he'd hardly slept properly in days.

"Huh?" Kagura blinked. She and Shinpachi turned to look at him and after a moment, they both smiled, laughed and ran over to him. "GIN-CHAAAAAA!" Kagura yelled and quite literally threw her arms around him and jumped on top of him, tackling him to the floor.

"Gin-san!" Shinpachi laughed in relief as he too, albeit with much less strength, hugged the older samurai.

"Whaaaaaa!" Gintoki exclaimed in shock as his back hit the floor. "Oooowwwwww!" he grimaced.

"GIN-CHAN, WE MISSED YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH!" she cried, with her arms around his neck.

"Can't breathe...can't...need air..." he choked.

"We were really worried, Gin-san," Shinpachi said.

"That's right! We got some calls about a few jobs but no one listens to glasses!" Kagura pouted.

"My name isn't glasses!"

"Might as well be," Gintoki mumbled.

"Arrrrpppp!" Sadaharu barked happily and rushed over to the already squashed samurai.

"No...don't do it!" Gintoki warned, horrified, but Sadaharu didnt listen.

The giant dog leapt onto of him, now sitting on top of Kagura, Shinpachi and Gintoki, squashing them all. Both samurai's yelled in protest but Kagura just laughed happily.

"Sadaharu...bad dog...dont squish your master!" Gintoki choked from the bottom of the pile.

"Hehehehehehe!" Kagura giggled.

"Can't...breathe..." Shinpaci said.

"Now you know how it feels!" Gintoki told him unsympathetically and he shoved Sadaharu off them. "Oi...Kagura...is that my yukata?" he asked, looking at Kagura. He shoved her off him with a wince when he twisted his shoulder and she reluctantly sat on the floor beside him.

Kagura had in fact stolen one of his signature white and blue yukata and had taken to wearing it lately even though it was still too long for her and she insisted on wearing it.

"Err...maybe..." she pursed her lip.

"What is it with you women and stealing my yukata?" he grumbled. "Did you steal one too?" he turned to Shinpachi.

"Err...no..."

"He was gonna!" Kagura said.

"I wasn't!"

"You were!"

"Was not!"

"Was so..."

"SHUT IT!" Gintoki yelled holding a hand to his head. "I already feel like I've been through a meat grinder, leave my poor head alone, will you?" he muttered.

"...Sorry, Gin-chan," Kagura pouted.

"Me too," Shinpachi said, looking sheepish.

"Whatever. Give it back, it's too big for you," he grumbled a minute later to Kagura as he tugged on the sleeve of the yukata she'd stolen.

"But..."

"Give it, already," he insisted.

"...But..." she frowned.

"What's with that face?" Gintoki demanded, "Don't do the watery eye thing! Quit it already!"

"But I like the yukata."

"It doesn't fit, it's too big!"

"Don't care," Kagura pouted.

"Arrrgh...what a pain. Fine! When I can see outta my other eye again, I'll make it shorter, just quit it already!"

"YAY!" she yelled and tackled him again, happily.

"OWWWWWW!" Gintoki exclaimed, "Gin-san's really gonna die if you don't stop doing that! I'm really gonna die! Seriously!"

"It's way too soon for ya t'be jokin' 'bout that," Tsukuyo said, walking over to him.

"Who's joking?" Gintoki drawled, "She's gonna choke the life outta me here! Lemme go, already."

"Don't wanna!" Kagura shook her head.

"Seriously," Tsukuyo glared at him. "Don't even joke about that. We really thought ya were gonna die," she said, unamused.

"...Too soon for jokes, got it," he gulped under her stern glare. "Is she mad at me?" he muttered to Kagura.

"Mmmm mmmm," the red headed girl shook her head against his chest. "She's happy," she said.

"Doesn't look it," Gintoki whispered.

"Gin-san, you didn't say a word for days. Before that you were asleep for ages...and you were really badly hurt..." Shinpachi said.

"So...I was taking a nap. A nap will fix any injury. Any doctor will tell you that."

"I said that!" Kagura yelled, "Stupid, lazy Gin-chan! You just wanted to get out of doing your share of the chores, didn't you?"

"Oh? No chores? That's always good. Makes getting my a** kicked worth it in the end," he replied.

"Oi, what'd I say about jokin?" Tsukuyo snapped.

"I'm not joking, I hate chores," Gintoki said and she turned her back to him. "Seriously, what I do? Why's she mad at me?" he whispered to Kagura who shrugged.

Gintoki took a dramatic breath and using the wall, he managed to pull himself up off the floor and he stumbled over to Tsukuyo. He put a bandaged hand on her shoulder and turned her around to face him.

"I know I probably look a mess right now, but I can't be that bad to look at," he said, dryly as she turned around. Her eyes were wet with tears that she was just managing to hold back. "Oi, why're you crying? I look that bad? Geez, kick a wounded guy while he's down, why don't you?" Gintoki said.

"Gin-chan, you do look kinda silly," Kagura stated, "Like a pyjama pirate with an eye patch, uh-huh!"

"If I look silly, then why isn't she laughing?"

"Maybe Tsukki's scared of pyjama pirates," she shrugged.

"Wouldn't she be screaming at me, then?"

"Hmmmm," Kagura shrugged.

"Are you scared of pyjama pirates?" Gintoki asked Tsukuyo.

She rolled her eyes and let out a weak sounding scoff before she took a small step closer to him and dropped her forehead onto his shoulder.

"Idiot," she scoffed, tearfully. "Course I ain't," she said, "What's a pyjama pirate anyway? Idiot."

"Pyjamas are the best, why wouldn't a pirate wanna wear them?" he muttered back.

"Stupid...so stupid...If ya weren't already hurt so bad, I'd smack ya," she threatened, weakly.

"Promises, promises," he replied, dryly. He rested his hand on her back and gently moved it up and down along the curve of her spine.

"Shut it," Tsukuyo mumbled back with a snort. She drew her arms around him gently and clutched at his shirt with her fingers, holding him close.

"So...I was outta it for a bit, huh?" Gintoki said, sounding almost disinterested.

"You didn't even want a parfait, Gin-chan!" Kagura told him, jumping to her feet and standing next to the samurai.

"Well, I want one now, so I'm fine," he replied.

"We ate it," Kagura admitted, "It was yummy!"

"What? You ate my my parfait?!"

"What else were we supposed to do with it?" the girl furrowed her brow.

"Che," he scoffed. "What happened..." he asked Tsukuyo after a moment and trailed off.

"Eh?" Tsukuyo blinked, confused.

"To sensei...to his body...what happened? I don't remember," Gintoki clarified.

"That was when you decided to take your nap, Gin-chan," Kagura said.

"Oh," he mumbled, "Right. So...what happened after that?"

"It's fine, it doesn't..." Tsukuyo tried to avoid answering.

"Just...tell me, please," he said, holding her tightly.

"...They burned...his body, with that sword...so he wouldn't..." Tsukuyo answered, quietly, "We checked...we waited for him to...y'know...but he didn't."

"Hmmm," Gintoki hummed and he tilted his head so that he was hiding his face in her hair. "Guess it's for the best," he mumbled, heavily.

"There's...somethin' else..." Tsukuyo began, tentatively.

"What?"

"I don't know why...but Katsura gave me your sensei's sword. He had it fixed..."

"Keep it," he shrugged.

"But..."

"I don't wanna know. I don't care. You keep it. Or give it to Shinpachi. He can have it. A growing samurai needs his own sword, right?"

"Gin-san..." Shinpachi began.

"You're welcome," the older samurai snapped, stopping him. "What day is it?" he asked, suddenly.

"Err...Friday..." Shinpachi answered, confused.

"Then it's my turn to cook dinner, right? I'm gonna go cook..." he trailed off and stumbled into the kitchen.

Tsukuyo and the others sighed but with a wordless exchange, they seemed to agree not to mention the issue again.

"Why don't ya wanna talk about it?" Tsukuyo asked that night.

They were lying comfortably in the futon, huddled beneath the covers in their pyjamas for the night.

"'Bout what?" he mumbled back.

"Anythin'," she shrugged. "Ya were outta it for days. Ya wouldn't talk or eat or wash or anythin' if Otose hadn't told us it'd happened before I dunno what'd we'd 'ave..."

"Well, she did tell you. And I'm talking and eating and everything else now. So it's fine," Gintoki snapped, tensing under the covers.

"But..."

"Look, it's over. It's fine. Sensei's...I mean Utsuro's gone. I'm fine. We won."

"Doesn't feel like we won anythin'."

"No," he agreed, "You didn't have to come all the way out there with me. None of you did. You could've died."

"So could ya. Ya nearly did," Tsukuyo retorted.

"You can't kill pyjama pirates so easy," he said, sarcastically. "Damn. This thing's really annoying," he added, scratching at the bandages on his eye, "And it makes me look like Takasuki, the b*****."

"Hmmm...I don't think so. Ya better lookin' than that jerk," she said in a slightly more playful tone of voice.

"That's true," he agreed quickly and she let out a quiet chuckle.

"Only be for another week or so," Tsukuyo said, "Doctor said it can come off then. So ya won't 'ave t'be a pyjama pirate forever."

"Shame. Always wanted to be a pirate."

"Ya get into enough trouble just bein' you. Ya don't need t'ba a pirate too."

"Party pooper," he drawled.

"I'm sorry...'bout what happened out there...to him, 'bout what ya had t'do," she said with a hand on his arm. She trailed her hand along his bicep, down his forearm and held his hand, twining her fingers with his.

"Makes me feel like such a hypocrite," he sighed. "All those times I told you that your master was a b***** for what he did to you...all the times I told you real sensei wouldn't have done anything like that...and mine turns out to be just as crazy. Y'think all sensei's are just...nuts?"

"Maybe just ours," she said, sadly.

"Hmmm."

"The part of him that was good...cared 'bout ya..."

"And the part that was pure evil would've been happy to kill me and everyone else on the planet," he retorted and, unable to dispute that, Tsukuyo sighed. "It's so stupid, huh?" he grumbled and she nodded.

"Mmmm," she hummed.

"I'm tired," he said after a moment and moved closer to her, draping an arm over her waist.

"Then go to sleep," she said, "I'm right 'ere. I'm not goin' anywhere."

"Hmmm," he hummed back and held her.

It took another week before Gintoki was finally able to remove the eye patch from his right eye and to his dramatic relief, he could see. It was blurry at first but after a day his sight returned to normal. He had a faint scar which would probably heal over time.

As soon as he could see, Kagura began nagging him night and day about keeping his promise to shorten one of his yukatas for her. One morning she even covered his bedroom in post it notes saying 'I want my yukata!' Or 'fix the yukata.' So, to end her pestering, he gave in. He used one of his four yukatas to make her a dress. Over the last few years the little girl he'd met had filled out a fair bit so it took him a few tries to get it to fit but once he was done, Kagura was ecstatic. She ran around the house twirling and doing backflips. It was a simple enough dress, sleeveless like her usual Chinese dresses but with the blue swirling pattern at the bottom. (i.e, the dress Kagura wore in the Yorozuya forever.)

And because Gintoki knew that Shinpachi would only complain, he used one of his other kimonos and struggled to make him a haori jacket. Again, white and with the blue pattern at the hem and the ends of the sleeves. (i.e. The one Shinpachi wore in the time skip arc.)

"Eh?" Shinpachi stared at him, stunned. "For me?" he asked, looking from Gintoki to the jacket.

"You'd only complain that Kagura got something and you didn't," Gintoki said.

Kagura was still cartwheeling around the house in her new dress, happily giggling.

"I...I wouldn't..." Shinpachi flushed.

"Uh-huh," Gintoki rolled his eyes.

"Thank you," the young samurai said to him, genuinely.

"That counts as your Christmas present," Gintoki stated.

"Erm...it's July," Shinpachi replied, dryly.

"Gin-chan!" Kagura exclaimed. "I need some new boots like yours now, uh-huh!" she said.

"What? Greedy kid! You got a new dress, now you want new shoes, too?" he grumbled.

"Ya never made me a dress," Tsukuyo drawled at his his side.

"Great," Gintoki threw his hands up in the air.