a/n: I am not sure canonically when Shigeshige became the Shogun, but I think it's fair enough to say that most of the future candidates are hand-picked far in advance for the next reign/era, which may cause others to call him Shogun even before he officially becomes the leader.

I recently rewatched the Rakuyo arc and one minor detail that I didn't clock until now was that there was a legit space war that took place before Umibouzu got married. So this fic is somewhat more canon-compliant than I expected, ha ha ha.

18. warriors

After she'd witnessed the prison break, Tsukuyo had made her way into a nearby shrine, and had knelt in front of the incense, praying for Gintoki. She hadn't forgiven him just yet. But a part of her heart was grateful that he had escaped.

The sting of bittersweet heartbreak wouldn't leave her alone even after a few days had passed. For a while, Hinowa had hugged her tightly, longer than usual before going to bed, as if she was afraid Tsukuyo would break without the constant reminder that she was loved, that there were people who cherished her deeply. And so, Tsukuyo had allowed herself the rare self-indulgence of sadness, allowing herself to feel the ache of emptiness inside her chest. Someone once had told her that the pain of a first love would go away with time. She couldn't remember if it was Hotaru or another courtesan who had said such a thing, but it didn't matter.

He wasn't entirely gone, and yet he was, in a way. Only the gods above would know when he would ever come back to Earth.

Before he had been held captive, she had made it a habit to visit a temple not too far away from the entrance of Yoshiwara. She would kneel at the shrine of a local deity, even though she was unsure of exactly what to pray for. It would have been too much for her to pray for him to come back to her now, knowing that it had been fate that had forced his hand to push her away from him. And yet, her body and mind still pined for his, a selfish wish after a lifetime of wishing for nothing except for Hinowa's happiness.

If only she had known better at the time, things wouldn't have ended like this. She felt as if she was stuck in limbo.

Despite her internal dilemma, life went on. She went on patrol, made sure Seita was learning his characters at school, and the courtesans continued to do what they did best - entertaining the nobility.

-x-

"Do you want to know why the Amanto fight wars over Altana?" Kankou asked Gintoki, as he punched in the coordinates for their next destination.

"It's a source of power," Gintoki had said. He wasn't dumb, contrary to popular belief. "Like fire, or thunder."

"It's a bit deeper than that," the Yato remarked. "You're not wrong, though."

"Then what is it?"

"It's healing energy. Everyone has traces of it inside them. Some more than others." Kankou leaned back in his chair, and swirled around. "The Yato clan, for example, has huge amounts of Altana energy inside of them, which is why we were bred to be the most powerful warriors in the universe. Its easy for us to keep fighting if we can heal from our wounds in minutes, if not seconds. But sometimes, it can manifest in humans too."

He eyed Gintoki with amusement. "Which students were closest to your teacher?"

"I was one of them... " he replied, thinking a bit. "But he loved Zura, and Takasugi, too. We were very close to him, and we'd compete for his attention when we were young."

"Bingo," Kankou grinned wryly. "And I'll bet you were the best samurai that Earth had to offer, right?"

Gintoki couldn't deny it. It was true.

"Sometimes when you get close to a god, your strength will increase." Kankou took out a necklace of crystals. "Guess what these are?"

"Your wife's jewelry?"

"Close, but now quite. They're Altana gems. More valuable than a mountain, I'd say." He put them back into his jacket safely. "Some can be absorbed more easily than others. I find the ones from Earth to be the best."

He landed the spaceship onto a red, dusty planet that had seemed desolate at first glance. There were no ports here; the ones before had already been destroyed.

"Where are we?" Gintoki asked. He was wondering if he had to wear an oxygen mask.

"Burei." At Gintoki's questioning glance, Kankou chuckled. "This used to be a very beautiful planet, like Earth. Quite similar in composition to Earth, too."

They set off; Gintoki clad in a pair of Umibouzu's old boots and one of his spare outfits. Their feet crunched on the hot sand, and they walked for almost half a kilometre before Kankou stopped at an enormous red rock; it seemed as old as the rest of the planet.

He was looking for a panel, tracing the entrance with his palm. Gintoki couldn't see what he was looking for until the door opened.

The cave opened, and Gintoki could see a tunnel dimly lit by flickering, florescent lights in front of him.

"Are we going in there?" he asked with some trepidation.

"Of course we are," Kankou answered. "We're going to meet a royal prince, so you ought to be on your best behavior."

They walked for a while, Gintoki's eyes gradually adjusting to the dark. His hand itched for a weapon; he missed his sword. Something about this place told him that bad things had happened here before. Whether Kankou was leading him to an enemy's trap, he couldn't ascertain what the alien's motivation for coming inside this suspicious place. No royal family would have willingly lived in a place like this.

At the end of the tunnel, a wooden door stood at attention, and Kankou knocked on it three times.

In silence, they waited for a minute, before it creaked open.

A red-haired gentlemen with a stony expression appeared. "Good morning, Umibouzu. And who might this be?"

"This, my prince, is the Shiroyasha."

"Never heard of him," he said curtly.

"And this, Shiroyasha, is Prince Enshou. He is as much of warrior as you are."

Now it was Gintoki's turn to smirk. "Never heard of him, either."

The prince merely lifted an eyebrow, his only expression one of cool apathy. Kankou threw him something, which he caught with ease.

"Altana gems," he said. "Thought you might appreciate them. I paid a mint for these."

Enshou examined them with a closer eye, and finally nodded in approval. Then he looked at Gintoki, sizing him up. "Can we trust him?"

"I'm here to convince him."

"I'm right here," Gintoki said, frowning.

Now the prince finally looked at him in the eye. "I'm not in the business of trying to get people who aren't invested involved. You're either in, or out. No in-betweens."

"He's got some experience in plugging Altana ports up," Kankou said, and now Gintoki stared at him, wondering how the hell he knew that. "If you explained things properly, he might be all for the cause."

"What is there to explain?" Enshou asked, incredulous. "It's as obvious as the day."

"One of his forms was different. Completely opposite to the one you know," Kankou said, giving the prince a meaningful look. "If one has been lucky enough to live on a planet that hasn't been done for, it would be hard for them to understand otherwise."

"Fine. But if he's not convinced... "

"Don't worry," Kankou said, as if there wasn't some underlying malice in the other man's words. "He will be."

-x-

Although they were underground by now, Gintoki was starting to notice his surroundings becoming progressively nicer. The tiles were cooler, the walls were paved with brick instead of sandstone, and the ambiance of the tunnels became cozier.

Enshou stopped at another door, and pushed it open. There was another person who shared the same red hair, but at the sight of Umibouzu, he had a much warmer expression.

"Brother. We have guests."

"So I see," the other man agreed, and stood up to embrace Umibouzu. When he stepped back, he smiled at Gintoki. "And you are... ?"

"Just another soldier," he said. "But you can call me Gintoki."

"He's from Earth," Kankou explained. "What they call a samurai there, is what we consider a warrior here."

"I see." The man extended his hand; Gintoki took it. "My name is Yuan."

"That's King Yuan Shao to you," Kankou reminded him sternly.

But the man only gave him a sad smile in return.

"I am no King without a kingdom to rule," he replied. "This planet used to be beautiful as Earth, once. But without Altana, life cannot flourish here as easily as it once did. Many of my people have left by now."

"You've been to Earth?"

"Of course. Most Amanto royalty generally try our best to visit as many planets as they can. After light speed travel was invented, it got much easier for us to explore more of the universe."

They heard a slam of the door, and it caused all of them to turn their heads. Prince Enshou was gone.

"You'll have to forgive my brother," Yuan said, somewhat apologetic at the display. "He's never been the same since the invasion. Fifteen years ago, my wife passed away in the conflict, and he took it very hard. The three of us were childhood friends, and I suppose the loss of someone that close to him damaged him beyond repair."

"What conflict?"

Both Kankou and Yaun's faces became stony.

"Show him the footage," Kankou urged.

-x-

The king's hand had trembled, as he pressed the remote button. The footage was old and grainy, but it had captured enough of the disaster for Gintoki to understand what was going on.

A minute in, he had seen flames burning down the capital city.

Two minutes in, he saw Utsuro mercilessly tearing off the limbs of the screaming civilians, not even bothering to stop at what surely must have been the children of the land.

Three minutes in, he saw a younger Enshou and his soldiers charging on horses, trying his best to stop the murderous rampage, but failing to do so, over and over, crushed under Utsuro's might.

Four minutes in, Gintoki finally looked away, the deepest part of him burning in shame. He'd been grateful that he hadn't been the one to kill whatever his teacher had been before he'd seen the video.

Now... he wasn't sure anymore. Something empty and sad had replaced his guilt over that sad day on the cliffs.

The King was watching the screen silently, his eyes gleaming wet underneath the flickering light of the projector. Finally, Kankou reached for the remote, turning it off. For a while there was no sound except the low hum of generated electricity in the background.

Gintoki let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "What... the hell... was that?"

"We were massacred by this being," Yuan said hollowly. "Something more powerful than anything we'd seen before overcame us. He couldn't be reasoned with, couldn't be negotiated with. Nothing we'd say would reach his ears. He simply destroyed. And... I couldn't stop him. None of us could."

Kankou put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "But we're working on it now so that it won't happen again."

The king wiped his tears with a sleeve. "Indeed. For the sake of the universe."

"For the sake of the universe," Kankou repeated, nodding in solidarity.

-x-

Gintoki had barely listened to the rest of the discussion between Kankou and the king as they ate their lunch. They were discussing other potential allies, for some army that he didn't know of, and didn't care about. There were some mentions of a weapon that could possibly be effective against Utsuro, but they weren't sure of its efficacy yet.

Whatever they were talking about, it was all still too much for him to take in.

So that had been his old teacher's life before he'd ever picked him up that day on the battleground, he thought sourly, as he picked at his food. Why the hell did he even waste his time building a school, wasting his time on a classroom full of human children when he was perfectly capable of destroying the universe the way he was?

Shoyou-sensei had given him his name; he had referred to him as his son. He had given Gintoki a philosophy to follow. A way of life, a creed to uphold.

And now to find out that the first person who'd ever accepted him for who he was, his very first tie to humanity had been one between him and a monster...

His fist clenched around his fork, turning white.

It burned him inside. For as something as precious and important as Shoyou-sensei was to him, there was no denying the fact that his teacher was evil. Gintoki still struggled to reconcile with the fact of the matter. It wasn't like the Amanto he'd been ordered to kill during the Jouishishi war - that was simply a fact of battle, that you had to ignore the possibility that they were possibly good beings from whence they'd come from. But what he'd seen today had irrevocably proved that Shoyou-sensei was a cesspool of immorality that he could not wish away.

"Gintoki," Yuan said, his eyes kind. "You must be tired. I could have a servant escort you to your chambers, if you'd like."

"I'm fine."

The two other men at the table exchanged significant looks with each other. Kankou cleared his throat. "There's a sparring field not too far away from the palace, if you're interested in that."

Fighting - now that was an idea. The prospect of letting out pent up energy sounded cathartic to him, so he nodded at the suggestion. "I suppose you wouldn't have swords."

The king shook his head slowly. "No. But we do have light sabers."

-x-

Sakata Gintoki wasn't intelligent with a lot of things, but this particular avenue came instinctively to him.

Taking a deep breath, he charged straight at the rock with his borrowed weapon, and split the boulder in two. It crumbled into a pile of red dust, making him cough.

"So it's true - you are a warrior."

Gintoki turned around and saw Enshou, who'd been observing him from a distance. Something about his expression had let Gintoki know that while he wasn't going to extend the same warmth to him that his brother had, there was at least a modicum of respect there. Perhaps it was a universal thing that transcended species, a respect of physical strength.

He switched off the light saber; he couldn't detect any killing intent from the prince.

"Dunno, really. I don't know what I am."

"My brother told me that Utsuro was your teacher. I was... unaware."

"So was I."

"There are many mysteries in the universe," Enshou said. "I suppose even monsters can be kind to their own children."

Gintoki smiled coldly at that, and then he asked slyly, "Does your brother know that you were in love with his wife?"

For a split second, he had enjoyed the look of utter rage on the other man's face.

"Of course he does," the warrior snarled. "Only a fool wouldn't be able to figure it out."

He regained control of his expressions; his posture had straightened with a sense of decorum. "She's dead now, thanks to your teacher. So it never mattered in the end."

Gintoki had remembered that bone-aching sadness of watching Tsukuyo leave his cell, and wondered what he would have felt if she had died before him, had he been unable been able to stop it from happening.

The thought was too terrible to consider.

"I'm sorry," he said, and meant it.

"Tell that to me when Utsuro's dead," Enshou replied. He then walked away from him, leaving Gintoki and his unsaid thoughts behind in the fields.

-x-

"I'll do it," Gintoki said to Kankou, once he returned from the sparring fields. He was sweaty, he was tired, but he had finally came to a decision.

"Do what?"

"I'll join your fight. To defeat Utsuro, this god of Altana... or whatever the hell he is. Doesn't matter. I'll try my best to help."

The Yato put a hand on Gintoki's shoulder. "Thank you. That means more to me than you could ever know."

He walked the samurai to his room. "I've thought about it, and I'd like you to come visit my home planet. It's been a while since I've returned, and my daughter... " His voice trailed off, before he cleared his throat. "My wife and daughter would enjoy the company."

Gintoki smiled. "Would they really?"

"Of course they would."

-x-

The palace officials had found Tokugawa Sadasada lifeless in his bed with no explanation. An autopsy had been done, but so far the doctors could detect no foul play. There were no obvious wounds to be found, no strangulation of the throat, and no visible bruises on his body. On further medical observation, they concluded that it had been a simple case of heart failure. After two days of careful examination, they had ruled it as a case of poor habits such as a proclivity towards food and drink, and had allowed the body to be set off to the coroners for an official burial.

As Shigeshige sat in the front of the funeral proceedings, he felt the responsibility of the country weighing heavily on his shoulders. His uncle, while not a pleasant type of man, had conveyed a certain gravitas to the general public. Although he had made many unpopular decisions during his reign, such as allowing the Amanto to enter Japan's borders, he had always stood firm on his choices in spite of the consequences.

Shigeshige still did not completely understand in many ways why his uncle had chosen him to be the next Shogun. Although he had a nasty feeling that it was because Sadasada had privately wanted to control him behind the scenes, it was also a fact that Sadasada had many sons that were more talented politically than he would have ever become. Had it not been for Sadasada's private mentoring, right before his untimely death, he wouldn't have ended up in this position. On more than one occasion Shigeshige could feel the resentment towards him coming from his cousins, and even more bitterness from the other factions of the Shogunate, especially from the Hitotsubashi clan.

If he hadn't respected his uncle back then, he certainly did now. To survive being the Shogun for almost a decade and a half while navigating through his vast network of allies and enemies in plain sight was no easy accomplishment. He could see now what his uncle had alluded to long ago; possessing such power was akin to having a tiger as a pet.

He did not feel safe without his uncle's protection, even though he was still living inside the castle since he was born. The stress of losing his mentor so early in his reign had led to endless nights filled with insomnia, and for a while Maizou, his caretaker, had bore the brunt of his anxiety. Sometimes, he feared dying an early death, but his biggest fear was to become an ineffectual leader who could not enact meaningful change for the people of his country.

"Who, then, did you feel the safest around?" the old man asked kindly after a week of listening to his fears; they had stayed up until three in the morning, the moon a crescent sliver in the sky. Soyo had been put to bed long before, and he had envied the lack of worries that came so naturally to children.

He thought about it. "When I was a boy... " He paused, careful to consider his words. "I remembered the companionship of the Oniwabanshu. The head of the group had a son, and we would often play together as children... "

A fond smile came to his face as he recalled the memory. "I promised him that if I ever became Shogun, I would wish to fight along his side for the sake of the country."

"Those are very honorable words, Shigeshige-sama."

"I'll never forget what it was like to live in their village," the ruler said. "I always felt safe there; they never cared what I stood for or wanted anything more from me than friendship. In fact, that might have really been the only time where it was perfectly fine for me to act and behave like a child."

Oi, Shogun. That's not how you hold a kunai.

Oi, Shogun. A ninja shouldn't be crying over a such a minor wound.

Oi, Shogun. JUMP is most fun to read during class.

"Perhaps you should cultivate them as allies," Maizou suggested. "I understand your uncle disbanded them, but it would be worth a try to recruit them."

"Would they even remember me?" Shigeshige chuckled. "As I recall, I was nothing more than a useless shinobi at best, and a crybaby at worst... "

"Of course they would, Shogun-sama," Maizou replied. "You saved their lives, once upon a time."

Shigeshige smiled, and let the old memories wash over him, comforting and nostalgic. Perhaps he would finally be able to sleep well tonight.

-x-

Hattori Zenzou had called her for a meeting. The ugly girls club - while sadly on the decline, had always managed to pay their rental fees somehow every year with the customers who didn't have enough money to afford the better establishments. They had sighed with admiration when Tsukuyo entered the parlor, offering her a drink. Beautiful women were an anomaly here.

"Just a club soda, please," she said. One of the girls with a giant bucktooth scurried off with her order.

He was nursing a bourbon whiskey himself. "I got some news."

She was lighting her pipe. "Good news, or bad news?"

"Probably good, I think." The ninja beckoned her to come closer, and when she did, he whispered in her ear, "The Shogun is coming to visit Yoshiwara next week. He wants to meet with me in private."

She jerked away from him, shocked. "You should have told me sooner!"

"He wanted it to be discreet."

"What of his guards? Will the Mimawarigumi be there?"

Zenzou shook his head. "I think he's using a double to come here on his own without anybody knowing. He doesn't seem to trust his own men. Is it okay if I bring some of my friends into town next week?"

She nodded. On the day of the meeting, she had waited in the shadows, seeing two men wearing a hood and cape, but she knew that Zenzou was nearby as well.

To her surprise, it wasn't the old Shogun that she had came into contact with months ago, but it was a younger man who stood with a sense of dignity and poise. Though she had known that something big had happened on the surface, she hadn't bothered to keep up with the news.

He was surprisingly eager for someone of his stature - a fish out of water, she mused. She supposed that people like him rarely had the opportunity to socialize with the lower classes, and though Yoshiwara often entertained high end clientele, it was an untold requirement that if the Shogun had requested a courtesan, it was assumed that she would come to him, rather than the other way around. To pretend otherwise would have resulted in a social faux pas of the highest order.

Zenzou had allowed her to observe the proceedings - it was her town, after all - and so, she had stood behind a silk screen, her eyes trained for any sign of sabotage. Her head would be cut off and so would many others if so much as a single scratch landed on him.

The nobleman sipped on a cup of tea, smiling warmly as he sat cross legged across from his old friend. "Thank you for meeting me here. It's been years, hasn't it?"

-x-

- tbc -

-x-

a/n: Before people rag on me for the chronology (ya Enshou looks like Gintoki's age but lemme just say he's not in this fic), friendly reminder that the planet of Burei has Elves (you cannot dissuade me from this, Enshou's boo has pointy ears) and elves live for hundreds of years, so his Pain is relatively fresh in his mind. I'm half sarcastic here, but yea, I said what I said lol.

Also, me at Enshou while I was writing this chapter: It's ok babe. You can date me if you want.