It had been a quiet dinner. The Kiheitai had been in an off mood. A general uneasy air hung over the ship, and the longer they sat together pretending to sip Takechi's watery miso, the deeper it sank.
"The nerve!" Matako muttered, shifting in place, and Takasugi set his chopsticks down. "After everything we did for her!"
He guessed they had both been broken up with. All of them, really.
Kawakami never shared what had been said in the privacy of her exit, but he didn't think it was anything that changed where things stood. He should have known. Takasugi had expected Kinu to be angry. Maybe even to yell at him, or hit him, and tell him how awful he had been. There were some things that couldn't be accounted for in strategy, though.
She had been cold as ice.
"Let's focus." Kawakami said, and Takasugi turned the key in his pocket over. "We're all in agreement, right?"
"We're killing Amagi?" Takasugi looked over the group. Matako and Takechi both said yes, the man low and sparse, and the woman ferocious. Angry. She had been ever since they'd been dumped.
"I was never opposed to killing him, Shinsuke." Kawakami said calmly, as if anybody needed reminding. Not opposed, but buzzing around the idea like a concerned nanny. Same difference. The metal ridges of the key dug into his fingertips. He wondered if she was there now. At the shop. In bed. Waiting for him to come crawling back.
Kinu knew he would. He had already shown her that weakness whether he liked it or not. Calling her was as good as writing a letter.
"We can take care of everything." The deaf man dabbed at his mouth with a napkin. "Takechi just needs a little more time to find Amagi, and I'll handle paying Kinu-chan. Then it'll be a clean break."
A frustrated sound escaped Matako. She was glaring down at her cellphone, with a little donut charm bobbing against her fingers.
"She actually did it! I can't- Can you believe she actually blocked me?"
"Un." Takasugi made a sound in the back of his throat. As soon as Matako heard it, her eyes narrowed at him.
"I need a raise." The woman said, shoving herself to her feet. She stomped away in a huff, with Kawakami's eyes on her back the entire way.
Then Takechi was up. He took Matako's tray. Then lifted the tray in front of Takasugi, thankfully sparing him a comment on his appetite. The same was true for Kawakami about his cup. It had been filled, and it had sat there.
He tossed it back before taking Matako's lead and drifting away as well. There was nothing to do but wait. Wait and look. Watch. Amagi couldn't hide forever. He would have to come up for air some time. Arrogant moles like him always did, and when he did Takasugi would be there. Waiting at the mouth of the hole with his sword in hand.
Maybe she wasn't waiting for him. He'd like to think she was. Under a mountain of covers, staring at her phone, weighing whether she wanted to text him.
For the first few hours, he couldn't stand the thought of it. This had been exactly why he hadn't told her. All it meant was that he had been right. She had seemed so solid but sifted through his fingers like sand. He had betrayed her.
It hadn't been his intention. Takasugi had never thought about it that way. Not fully. It had been a little whisp in the back of his head. A vague feeling that hadn't been fully translated. Why had it felt bad?
He hadn't known until she had looked at him when she passed him in the doorway.
It had cut.
He had been cut in one of the most delightfully heinous places of him, where he hadn't known he could feel pain, and his mind was reeling. Kawakami had seen it on him when he pushed him out of the doorway. Everybody was doing that lately. It hadn't been enough to soften her, though.
Hell, Takasugi hadn't been enough to soften her.
When the man crawled back into his bed, his phone was exactly as he had left it in both position and status. No texts. No missed calls, articles, pictures, or anything else that could be considered an olive branch.
On the other hand, he did have a dark ball of fluff curled up in the center of his sheets. The only positive note he could end the night on.
When morning came, it was the same.
Nothing from Kinu.
Matako didn't speak of her, but her tone was sour from the moment she dragged herself out of her room.
"Anything? Boat numbers? Something we can track?" The woman had asked Takechi over breakfast, but he shook his head.
"We're still waiting on our friends from the Mimawarigumi." He had said with a quiet sigh. "But I believe it's going to be favorable."
"They sure like taking their time." Matako muttered back into her mug of tea.
Only when it matters. He had waited most of the day, heads down, ears open. Then waited some more. Takasugi was always waiting, and he was sick of it. Everything was always overly complicated. Get to the galaxy, intercept radio waves, and bribe a few bureaucrats into giving him information about the meeting. Then the access to the meeting, and the girl, and that rich asshole- why couldn't things be simple for a change?
Just once, Takasugi would like to fly to a planet, take his ship directly to the front door, and murder whoever needed to be murdered to make everything right in one fell swoop.
By evening, they were no better off than before, but docked.
The metal in Takasugi's pocket burned against his fingertips as he walked the paved alleyway, leaving the dockyard behind him. Light flooded the street from the storefront, and he could see her before he could look inside.
Behind the counter, stirring a bowl. Reading. Frosting a cake. Smiling at him.
Instead, the woman behind the counter had distinctly brown hair.
She had a customer. A certain dark haired, slightly chubby man that looked to be in a clean yukata at the very least. Takasugi couldn't see Riku's face, but he knew that he'd been living at the rehab Gintoki had set him up with. Riku owed his life to Gintoki in more ways than he realized, and more ways than Takasugi wanted to count.
He turned the key in his pocket again.
The upstairs light was on. Kinu was probably in there. He wondered if she had told her mother. Ai was as much of a wild card as her daughter, in his opinion. He hadn't seen much from her, but he didn't want to take any chances, seeing the capabilities of her daughter.
Smooth as silk, the key glided into the lock. He gave it a twist and let himself in. This was probably worse. She'd be angry at him. Angrier; using her house key after the way they had left things. Takasugi was sure he didn't have her permission.
Riku and Ai laughed. It was a muffled sound that faded the further up the stairs he drew. When he let himself into the house, a dead silence filled his eardrums. Dull, silent ringing. He stopped at the doorway.
Thinking.
He had already come this far. How could Takasugi turn around now? If Riku and Ai caught him creeping through the house, it was bound to be a problem. He wasn't sure what type of problem, exactly, but he didn't want to find out.
So Takasugi knocked. Softly at first, and then a little more firmly.
"Kinu," He spoke through the door, hoping to hear her call back. Sometime in the last few days it had been replaced and was back on a proper track. He expected the door to peel back an inch; a single glaring blue eye peering through, but nothing happened. She was ignoring him. "Can we just…" What? What could he possibly say to her? She was furious and of course she was. He would have been, too. "Talk?" He finally finished, pressing a hand against the door. "Is that so much to ask?"
Apparently it was. She had no words for him. Not even harsh ones.
"Look," Holding the edge of the door, the man nudged it back. Just to see if she'd explode out and attack him. That, he could deal with. If he could just get his hands on her she'd see how sorry he was. Maybe even say some pretty words to make him feel a bit better.
There was no opposition.
In fact, when Takasugi pulled the door open, he found the room empty.
"Honey, your father and I are going to the movies!"
Nearly jumping out of his skin, Takasugi fumbled to shut and lock the door behind himself. Quick light steps rang up the stairway, and the man nearly tripped over a mass of thick cords hanging out of Kinu's closet. The table was pulled up to her bedside and covered in metal bits and ends. In the center, a blackened rectangle no larger than a can of dried tea leaves. Beside it was her cellphone.
It was open, face up. A single wire fed into a circuit board beside it, and various little metallic pieces had been laid out like a shrine to the gadget's ancestors.
"Honey," Ai was outside of the door. She knocked lightly, and Takasugi stepped around the metal torso hanging on the back of Kinu's closet door. All of the cords were coming out of that thing. "Are you still locked in there?"
He was silent. Takasugi had no choice. Talented as he was, he had never taken up voice acting, and something told him his natural register wasn't allowing for any miracles. "You've gotta come out some time. Maybe to the movies with us?" She waited another stretch, and Takasugi could hear her fingers against the door. Pressing, but not pulling. "Your father's been dying to spend some time with you… Let's watch something funny, and get ice cream, or…"
"Uh, yeah…" A deeper voice came then, and Takasugi realized they were both out there. The room was suddenly smaller. "But… no harm if yer… uh, not wantin'." At least Riku sounded sober. "But if ya are, that's real good."
He was blowing it worse than Takasugi. They were whispering now, as his fingers trailed down the open door of the robot's chest. Something inside of it had caught fire. The hands Kinu had been working on had been carelessly thrown on top of the baskets of scrap lining the back of her closet. Wires jutted out of the palms, through the oddly angled fingers, half torn in two and hanging by a thread.
"I'll give ya'll a moment." Riku said, and the silence sharpened as he descended the stairs. The house door shut behind him, and after a good minute more, Ai sniffled.
"Ki," She was saying, as he opened his phone. Of course, she had gone to Gintoki's. Takasugi would have gone to Gintoki's if he wanted to avoid himself, too. No chance he'd pop in there. Takasugi opened his tracker app and zoomed in on the green dot.
Home. It said that she was home, but here he was, standing in the middle of what he considered to be home, and there was no Kinu.
"It's not fair to him. He's trying so hard, and he needs us-" Ai's words were already fading into the background.
Did that mean Kinu was actually in the house? Ignoring all of them? "Do you want me to call Shinpachi-kun to come sit with you?" The only thing Ai could do for him was go away. The more he thought about it, that didn't make sense. Kinu wouldn't hide from him.
Aside from the one time, but that was different.
On the way, he had picked up a box of pocky, but he realized that it was best not to leave her anything that could be mistaken for a stalker present. So he ripped the tab open, and the woman beyond the door sniffed again. "You are so cruel sometimes."
He frowned at the seafoam green box as Ai's footsteps padded down the stairs, nearly as quickly as she had come up. Kinu, cruel? He didn't think he believed that. Not unless he sank far enough into his own self-pity to start thinking in poems.
It took another ten minutes for Takasugi to be sure that the coast was clear.
Upon inspection, he confirmed what he had thought. Kinu's tracker read that she was here, but there was no sign of her. It was possible that she would keep it that way if given the choice.
So he left quietly.
Still a bit wounded, but more so by disappointment than the initial blow. Here he'd been ready to pour his guts out and maybe even grovel a little if she kicked him hard enough. There would be kicking, no doubt.
He wondered if Gintoki would kick his ass if he showed up, or if he'd actually give him a chance to play nice. Some places were best left unexplored.
A light titter came from his pocket, and he nearly dropped his phone in his rush to get it to his ear, but the voice that greeted him was annoyingly wrong. Deep, and cordial. Boring.
"You two can break it up now, we've got a list."
"I'm on my way." He said, but Kawakami continued.
"Both of you. If Kinu-chan can show us how to work the new scanner downstairs, she doesn't have to stay all night, but-"
"Fuck you." Snapping the phone shut, Takasugi shoved it back into his pocket. Clearly, Kawakami didn't understand what was happening.
One foot propped on his desk, Gintoki bit into a lollipop. Kagura and Shinpachi sat across from Ai and Riku, and while the older woman wore a tight smile, she was the only one. Riku was staring down at his own hands, pinching at his fingers. He looked a little lighter than when Gintoki had last seen him, and where he was usually coated in a solid sheen of sweat, his skin was matte.
Shinpachi had been glaring at him. Not openly, but in passing glimpses, alongside the large accusing blue eyes of the Yato girl.
"This is lovely, Shinpachi-Kun." Ai's voice was soft as her fingers brushed the tea cup he'd placed in front of her. The boy had set out a plate of cookies, and she had picked up on it instinctively. "These are mine." She said, biting into one. "Ki's."
"They are." Shinpachi nodded.
Gintoki was surprised to see Riku come with the woman. It was generally understood, though unspoken, that Kagura and Shinpachi were skeptical, putting it lightly. If Gintoki was honest, he'd say it looked pretty close to downright detesting the man. Riku, war man that he was, probably knew when he wasn't welcomed.
"So, what's this about a job, Ma?" Dropping his feet to the tatami, Gintoki pulled the lollipop out of his mouth. Ai tilted her head, grimacing. She should be. It would be a lie to say he wasn't a little upset with her after the way she'd tried to smooth over the letter situation. She had told all of them, and when they had met, Kinu had been MIA.
Of course, Takasugi's group had pounced on the evidence. Gintoki had only read a few, but it had been enough, and he hadn't wanted to be the one to show them to Kinu. If Takasugi was taking that responsibility Gintoki wasn't one to argue, and he had assured them he would be telling her.
At least Gintoki knew that he had kept his word, because Ai had called in tears the day after and told him that Kinu wouldn't forgive Riku. Riku was so hurt. Emotionally bleeding out, even, and Kinu showed no remorse.
Gintoki thought they should be happy the girl had locked herself in her room, of all the things she could have done.
"We're concerned…" Ai's hand covered Riku's. She spoke slowly and gave each member of the Yorozuya a measured look. "About Ki."
Kagura made a disgruntled sound as she crossed her arms, but only Shinpachi glanced her way.
"The girl packed a bag and didn't say nothin' to no one." Riku squeezed Ai's hand back, but as soon as he said the words the woman's palms shot to her face. She doubled over then, elbows on her knees, sobbing, and Gintoki was on his feet as quickly as Riku was there to pat his wife's back.
"There, there." He pulled her into a bear hug, and her sobbing slowly transferred over to his stomach. Then his shoulder, while he rubbed ripples into the green fabric over her back, and the members of the Yoruzuya sank back into the seats, save for Gintoki. "It's okay, Darlin', the girl's… It's alright…"
A strange place to be in, Gintoki thought. He never imagined the day that Kinu's parents would be here, asking him to find her. If she had left, he thought she deserved the decency of privacy, until she decided to come back on her own accord and make what she wanted out of this mess. Packing a bag sounded like a woman that knew enough of what she was doing to make that call.
Still, he didn't like that she wouldn't stop in first. Maybe that was his pride speaking. Gintoki had been wearing the banner of big brother for so long that he naturally assumed he knew what Kinu was up to. She had gotten away from him for a bit there, but it hadn't seemed to be what Gintoki was thinking then.
Gintoki wasn't sure what he thought now, but he knew he had been wrong about something. Which something was up for debate.
"How long ago?" He asked, when Ai's cries had faded to small hiccups for control. The woman was bracing herself. Squeezing her husband's fingers with rigid tendons popping out of the backs of her hands.
"She was in her room two nights ago, but she wouldn't even speak to me." Another loud sniffle forced its way through the woman's body, and she went so rigid it looked painful.
"Ma," Two days was a long time to not call anybody. "She's probably just with…" Gintoki couldn't even make himself say the name. He loathed it.
What kind of friend seduced little sisters? The stalking would have come out eventually, with or without Takasugi's help. If anything, it sounded like Takasugi had done the opposite, to him. Young as Kinu was, Gintoki wasn't surprised Takasugi would be able to keep a hold on her. It was a significant difference.
Gintoki wanted to give Kinu credit. He did, even. She was no fool, and strong when it counted. But when he thought of her, he saw her in her frilly kimono pouring tea and giving him princess candies.
"That's the thing, Gintoki." Riku wrapped an arm around Ai as he finally met Gintoki's eyes. "She left 'er phone in 'er room, all took apart and in pieces."
Hiding was a good idea with somebody after her, but not if they couldn't be sure she was safe. Gintoki wanted to deal with the rich guy, but if Kinu was alone, who was to say that she wasn't being pursued?
"It's not exactly like I can call him and ask." Gintoki crossed his arms. It didn't make sense. Kinu wouldn't just leave without telling them. Someone in the room had to know where she was. If nothing else, Katsura knew how to contact Takasugi. Why would she take her phone apart? For a moment, Gintoki wondered if Takasugi was really the kind of man to steal a woman and run away with her. An ex-friend's little sister, at that! It was only a moment, because he already knew the answer.