After a minor job in the morning, the members of the Yorozuya found themselves standing on the edge of an abandoned garden. The wooden porch under them was covered in leaves, and the room that branched onto the porch, despite glowing in the afternoon sun, was covered in a thick layer of dust. Directly in front of the porch, and old dried out stone waterway was filled with natural debris, half way to the raised stepping stones leading to the actual garden.
"Ki… This is a disaster."
Gintoki scratched his head as he looked down at the layer of dirt caked into the wood under his foot. Years of neglect had taken away the polished shine that had once been there. He remembered it like it was yesterday, but after it had fallen out of use, and after hearing the news of the head of their family, it made sense that Ai and Kinu hadn't returned to maintain it; irresponsible as it was.
Kagura's eyes were skimming over the overgrown garden; speckled with color despite the years. Little patches of purples and pinks peeked between the dead brown leaves of a fallen branch that blocked the path to the back fence.
At least it was still green.
"Can we fix it?" Kinu left the door to the ceremony room open as she walked to his side, and stepped onto the stepping stones. She turned back, one brow raised with worry as she looked to the silver haired samurai.
"What? You want us to fix this?! No way! It's too much! I don't care what kind of job you got-"
The gardener was booked for two weeks, and all the contractors she called said the fee to come give me an estimation was non refundable. Her only hope was Gintoki. If anybody could achieve the impossible, it was him.
"I'll pay you."
"So where do we start?" Already beside the branch, Gintoki lifted it from the ground and hauled it to the back corner of the garden. Asshole. As many times as she'd gone over and cleaned his place without asking for anything in return! Kagura, following his lead, started to lift chunks of debris and carry them off after him.
As the two disappeared behind the overgrown foliage, Shinpachi stopped just shy of the stone steps, smiling.
"This looks like it was a great tea house, Kinu-chan. A little elbow grease and it'll be good as new, just leave it to us."
"Hm." Of course, she was going to help, too. She needed to see what she was working with, and adjust the scenery accordingly. Add a few stone lanterns, and dim lights. Maybe more plants, once they tended the already existing ones.
"The form is unique, isn't it? How long has this place been in your family?"
"Dunno… At least five generations, maybe." She was met with a calm nod, and as Gintoki and Kagura pulled another set of fallen branches away, they looked out at them. "Let's get some tools, and start on this." Motioning to the porch and man made water basin of a pond, Kinu stepped back towards the house. Shinpachi made an agreeing tone, and they entered the house together.
The box of yard tools were exactly where Kinu remembered them. Under the stairs. Shinpachi returned with the broom from the tea shop, and they did exactly as said.
They cleared all of the junk from the pond, and filled it with a shallow pool of water to scrub it clean. Swept the porch, and the ceremonial room. Kinu decided she would need to replace the tatami. That was easily forty thousand yen. How her mother was going to profit from this job was beyond her. Kinu wondered how much she was being paid for the ceremony.
Slowly, but surely, an actual yard was being revealed. Kinu decided to flip the tatami mats over after sweeping. They were still green. Good as new.
Gintoki, being responsible with a pair of sharp sheers, went over the bushes, and shaped them. Not perfect, but more appealing than what had existed before. As all of them sank into their tasks, Kagura wandered the yard, looking for something she could do. Her eyes set on the round stone, standing beside the rocky pathway, just before reaching the water's edge.
"Gin-chan, should I clean this pump?" She waited a few seconds. Didn't hear a reply. "Giiin-chan, does this pump need to be cleaned?" Raising her voice, Kagura glanced towards where the man that was grooming a blossoming bush.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever ya want so long as everything's done!"
Nodding, Kagura frowned down at the thing. There was green stuff on it, so that's probably why the water wasn't working. She'd just take it to a hose, and spray it a little. Run a cloth over it. As she hoisted it up, a loud snap sounded and she shifted the weight of the pump onto one hip as she looked down at where it had sat. A solid stone slab sat under it, jagged and fractured.
She gaped down at the thing, then at the stone over her hip.
"K- Kagura-chan!" Shinpachi called her name from the porch, and her wide eyes set on him. "What have you done?!"
Jaw hanging, the girl looked between the broken stone and the basin in her hands.
"It was dirty! I was gonna clean it!"
"That's moss, it's supposed to be there!" The boy turned back towards the house, scanning for Kinu, but she was nowhere to be seen. "Quick! Put it back!"
"O- oi! What are you doin'?!"
Swiveling around to face Gintoki, Kagura shoved the stone at him.
"Gin-chan, you said to clean it! You told me to!" She whined the words at him, and as soon as she let go of the purification basin, it dropped, taking him along with it. Gintoki hit the ground and his hands were grated into the stone pathway as he cried out in pain.
"God damn it- Kagura get this thing off me!"
The girl was peering down at him, with large doe eyes, and a single hand propped under her chin. There was no way this could get worse. Shinpachi had called his name as soon as he'd dropped, and was well on his way to meet them in the path. Hopefully to free Gintoki of his hellish prison. As the silver haired samurai snapped at Kagura to release him, movement caught his eye.
He looked down at the stone basin, and his heart dropped into his stomach. Hundreds of tiny forms were darting in every direction. All rushing to the rim of the stone, and subsequently, headed for his face and hands. Spiders.
He screamed. Tried to jerk away and throw himself backwards.
"Kagura! Kagura help me! They're coming!" Another high pitched scream tore through him, and Shinpachi froze dead in his tracks. "Shinpachiiii!"
The boy turned to Kagura.
"Do something! Kagura-chan, quick! Before Kinu-chan sees, put it back!"
"But it's covered in bugs! Gin-chan should be able to handle a few-"
"Why you little- I'll kill you! I'm gonna fart on your pillow! I'm gonna use your pillow like tissue paper if you don't get this thing off me!" Still trying to jerk himself backwards, Gintoki rushed to get the words out before his life came to an unfortunate end. The innumerable critters were already dropping to the ground around him, and crawling up his arms. He was as good as dead. Another scream racked through him, and the same sound echoed through Shinpachi.
"No! Gin-chan how could you say that!? I told you that wasn't me! It was Sadaharu, I didn't do it!" As if seeing the single shred of mercy in her heart, Kagura did what any logical person would. She kicked the basin. It split in two, and the round of screams that tore through Gintoki and Shinpachi was renewed.
Gintoki was still in the middle of batting at his sleeves and arms, but he felt more. More crawling up his skin, looking for a place to bite. He tore at his yukata and practically danced out of his clothes as Shinpachi pointed down to the split basin.
"Kagura-chan you made it worse! You broke it!"
Stomping her foot, the girl balled her fists and snapped back at Shinpachi.
"You told me to! You both told me to move it!"
"Not to kick it! It's broken! What are we gonna tell Kinu-chan?!"
Just as Shinpachi got the words out, Gintoki, now hopping on one foot and stripped to his pink boxers spotted the girl in the doorway. Her clothes were in disarray; layers of white, blue and pink, and a wooden board hung at her side.
"I… can't find it…" She croaked the words, displaying the board as she staggered forward. "I can't find his notes… Onii-chan, call grandpa with me, I can't find his tea set…" Ouija was written across the top of the board, and Gintoki's eyes flew open.
"Ki! What the hell are you doing! Why do you have that?!"
"It was in the graveyard. Call grandpa with me. It's the only way. The souls of the dead are sympathetic to the trials of the living… right? They are, aren't they?"
Shinpachi flew into Gintoki, hands stretched towards the evaporating image of the girl that had once been like a little sister to Gintoki.
"K- Kinu-chan-"
"No- Stay over there! Don't bring it any closer!"
"O. nii. chan…"
Squealing, Gintoki stumbled over Shinpachi and took off through the garden. It was too late! The ghosts had already gotten her! Seeing that he was running, Shinpachi took a step backwards. He couldn't just leave her! Couldn't let the ghosts have her!
But Kagura laughed. Kinu stopped at her side, grinning and holding the wooden board that Shinpachi could now see was blank. Only had the word Ouija written in black marker on it.
"Gin-chan, are you still mad?" Kagura looked up from her bowl of noodles, grinning at the man. He had been scowling at his food since Kinu had announced the time for a break and served refreshments. Shinpachi chuckled under his breath as he shook his head.
"Damn right I am! That's no way to treat the main character!" He shoved a pile of noodles into his mouth, and added on, trying to push the words past his food. "I could have died!"
Kinu had already apologized. She really needed that laugh though. It was cruel, and unusual, she knew. But anything to lighten the mood. Even at the expense of the basin. She stooped over the fixture, running her finger along it as the trio ate.
"I'm just glad his tea set was where mom said. She was right, his notes were with it." The stone grit against her fingertip, and she glanced at the jagged base. "You really did a number on this, Kagura-chan…"
"Gin-chan told me to." She spoke with a mouth full of food, and the silver haired samurai snapped back.
"I did not!"
"Kinu-chan, it shouldn't be hard to fix. A little cement and it should be fine. We can set it up to dry today, and it should be good as new by tomorrow." Ever the helpful one, Shinpachi spoke as kindly as he usually did. Kinu could see why she had liked him. He calmed her down. He was always kind to her. Even now, when something so small made it feel as though her life was spiraling out of control, his optimism brightened it right up.
It was fixable.
They could do it together.
She was sure Takasugi would have had a similar reaction though. Even if he was uninterested he felt so much more solid. Real. Stable wasn't the right word, but he didn't handle her with kid's gloves. Maybe that was what made him special. He was rough enough to make her take responsibility for her own feelings and actions, while simultaneously being gentle enough to not actually hurt her.
She didn't have a personal standard for the garden, or the ceremony.
So she made her standard something that he would have enjoyed. He was a patriot, right? If she tried to make the space and ritual something that would appeal to him, it would fall into place. Who cared what her actual guests thought? Anything up to his standard would be perfect.
That was more calming than Shinpachi's words, and her grandfather said that everything about a tea ceremony and its preparation needed to be calming. To effectively conjure the reflective self, was what he'd written.
She wondered if Takasugi knew how to make things like that. If he hadn't been so angry before, she'd have asked him. Harsh as he'd been, she was almost convinced that next time he saw her, he was going to tell her that he was through with her and her bullshit friendship, because she wasn't up to his standards, and had done something. He had to be sick of it.
Sick of her. So she couldn't face him again. Not for a while. Just until she finished with this job, so not to distract herself, because she already knew she wouldn't want to get out of bed after actually hearing it. Her fingertips grazed over the rough stone of the basin, and where it had split.
"Let's work on this, then get back to the yard..."