So hello again! Someone sent me an ask on tumblr asking a few questions about the ending to this story and I thought I would share since some of you may find it interesting!
Hello! I discovered Pieces (late to the party lol) about a month ago and CAN I JUST SAY ITS BEYOND AMAZING! It's the best okikagu fanfic I've read. I was looking at your ideas for the last chapter and saw that one of the discarded ones was Kagura getting pregnant and them getting into a fight. This may sound a bit weird lmao but I was wondering what kind of details would that have had (what would the fight had been about, how they make up, etc.)? I'm just really curious as to what you specifically had in mind or what would have happened in that prompt because the story seemed like it was going that direction, and I just love the idea of them building their own family in the end especially all they've went through Again, thank you for this fic!
I never get tired of rereading it (and your other works as well), and sorry for this long message !
Well hello there! First of all, thanks a lot for your words, it makes me extremely happy knowing there are people out there still discovering AND enjoying my fics even after all this time T^T Pieces holds a special place in my heart for what it meant to me, too, so thanks again to the moon and back33 and no worries, I also like going to ask my fave writers about details of their fics so, no worries there hehe
Now, onto the actual content and Kagura getting pregnant I had two possible scenarios in mind. The first one was them having children in the near future, but after they had gotten together and properly worked through a healthy relationship, with communication, sincerity and actual plans of having children.
Option number two was, as stated in the fic, Kagura unexpectedly getting pregnant right before the movie events (that would explain why future Okikagu don't interact at all :') The fight would have been about nothing in particular but more about "little" things that had been accumulating until they both just exploded (their unstable "relationship", their clashing personalities, the problems they were facing both with the Shinsengumi and the Yorozuya, ghosts from the past they hadn't moved on from yet, the issue with Kamui, pressure and frustration with the lack of communication and the secrets, ... and then cherry on top, Kagura getting pregnant and the fear and insecurities that came with it and Sligo being the dad, since they're not even supposed to like each other). Because of this, Kagura decided to hide the secret from him and then they had the big fight that culminated everything going on and then they're fucked AND alone ha. So basically Kagura spent the first months of pregnancy hiding it from everyone until it became so obvious she couldn't run away from it anymore. These first months were awful because she's alone (out of her own choice), she's scared because she barely knew how to take care of herself, imagine a baby, and she had to add this "problem" to everything stated before so yeah, she had a really hard time coping with everything. On top of everything, I also like the head canon that she was coping with depression from everything previous to the movie events (which I think fits her mood and behaviours quite well during the onscreen time before Gintoki reappears) so basically she's miserable.
I'd like to point out that Kagura had a lot of people that still cared for her but because of circumstances she wasn't in the best state of mind to realise it. Depression makes you cover away from people, even those that love you, and she didn't know how to reach out while pushing people way at the same time. However, there's a time limit on how long you can hide a pregnancy and when it became obvious, she had a flock of people trying to know what happened, why she had hidden it and, above everything, ready to help her. Tsukuyo and Hijikata knew right away who the father was and they already imagined what their relationship and feelings were (that moment when people around you know more about your situation than you lmao) so they became Kagura's biggest support. They encouraged her to talk to Sougo, especially Hijikata since they'd been so close since Sougo was a kid, but they never pushed her too much because she's already coping with a lot and they wanted to focus on her well being, both physically and mentally.
I'm a bit confused myself about some aspect of the ending, because I'm not sure whether to have Gintoki remain gone or to have him return (in the movie they do find the Gintoki from this timeline, but I can't remember right now if it's implied that he returns with Kagura and Shinlachi or not). Having him return would make things easier for Kagura, since her main problem would be solved (let's remember she's in the state she is because Gintoki disappeared, the Yorozuya fell apart and she was left alone). So having him back would help her along a lot. If Gintoki didn't come back, Shinpachi and the rest would have a lot more work to do, but at least she would have known what had happened to Gin and be at peace with that.
Regardless of this, the fact remains that Sougo didn't know a thing. The time he spends alone he's lonely and sad as well, but he occupied himself with finding a job (no ideas here what he could be?) and after the movie events he had Kondou back so! that cheered him up as well. He missed Kagura terribly but he didn't want to bother her, he's proud and, most of all, they had NOTHING to start with, so he doesn't even know what he would say to her (hey, I'm in love with you and I have no idea what the futures has in store for me but I want to be with you, no matter what) so yeah, he's prone to thinking she hated his guts. Kagura felt the same in this sense, thought exactly like him plus she had a baby incoming! And her worst fear was being rejected, so imagine now with a child in the picture. Absolutely out of the question to tell him.
Eventually, though, things start to fall back in place because they couldn't keep their hands off each other for a reason, so they do miss each other terribly and this makes them reconsider things a lot, a lot of times. They also live in the same place so Sougo was bound to see Kagura pregnant at some point or hear about it from someone, so as soon as he knows he basically storms her place (whenever she is at the moment) and then they have no choice but to talk about it. At this point, Kagura has had some time to recover and prepare herself for motherhood (because Sougo or not, she decided she was gonna have her child) and Sougo hadn't thought anything through but knowing she's pregnant kicks his butt and he realises (he already knew but now it's unmovable) that he has to be his her. So, after confirming that he's the father (Kagura was reluctant about telling him before but she is sure now that he at least deserves the truth and she wants him to know that if she's pregnant, he was the only option) they need To Talk aka fixing all the issues stated above and related to them. Once that is out of the way and they know how they feel it's a bit awkward at first because they're not used to it BUT they make it work and live a happy life together with their kids, working through everything together. I say a happy life because while things are rough in the movie I believe things do get better, eventually, and everyone gets used to the new future.
So this is it, mostly. This was one long answer but I hope I have answered all your questions haha tho if you have more I'm more than happy to read through them all as well ^^
