Chapter 11: Mother and Wife

"Yorozuya?" A voice called at the door of Gin's work. He stood up, still tired from his previous job of being a bouncer at a bar all afternoon.

"Coming…" He said tiredly, but when he opened his tired eyes, he saw something he didn't expect.

"I'm home!" Kagura smiled brightly like the sun, totally energetic. Gin just stared at her for a little.

"It's… Been two years." He nodded slowly, realizing how fast time had passed.

"I'm all better." Tears dripped from Kagura's smiling face.

"See…? Two years wasn't that bad." He laughed nervously.

"Gin…!"

"Kagura…!" They embraced each other tight, and Gintoki listened to the sobs of his woman. His long-absent wife was finally back. He stroked her hair softly.

"Kagi?!" Kagura looked at him, "Where's Kagi?!"

"Monkeys took her."

"Liar."

"OK, she's playing with Takarou. She should be home pretty-" Before Gin could finish, Otae, Takarou and Kagi walked up.

"Kagi…!" Kagura held her hands over her mouth, but knew what she had to do. She had to smile for her daughter to see.

"Mama…?!" Kagi's eyes welled up as she stood there, looking at the woman up at her dad's work. "MAMA!!!" Kagi screamed desperately to her mother and ran to hug her. Kagura tried to smile, but she couldn't do it anymore. She ran as fast as she could, sobbing like a child.

"KAGI!!!" Kagura cried as she grasped her arms tightly around her child. The mother kept her child close to her, but it was hard to tell who was the mother or child otherwise. They both needed each other, just as Gin needed Kagura, and Kagura needed Gin. Everyone in the family was a valuable piece of their jigsaw puzzle. And now they were together again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Gin…" Kagura rolled over in bed and kissed him. They both lay next to each other, their bare bodies touching softly.

"Yeah?"

"I love saying your name to you again…" She sighed and placed her hand on his muscular chest, "…You aren't going to fight the Shinsengumi right now, are you…?"

"No, I told Katsura I'd only fight when they came here to fight. Until then, I'm protecting you and Kagi." He kissed her forehead, "I've got to say, your hair has gotten longer…" He looked at his wife's orange-red hair which fell down to her hips now, and her hair bun clips, which she now used as regular hair clips on the side of her hair. She had truly become goddess-like, the perfect-looking mother and wife. She kissed him softly, snuggling up to his chest.

"I'll spend time together with Kagi tomorrow, but for now, let me be with you…" She said quietly.

"Of course. Anytime you wish." He smiled and held her close. They never realized that night would be a new turning point in their lives.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~"You're pregnant." Otae smiled to Kagura at Shimura Dojo 2 months later. Kagura sat there, stunned.

"Pregnant..?!" Kagura said out of breath. Otae nodded.

"You're 2 months pregnant. Strange… Right after you came back." She chuckled, knowing what had happened.

"This is… Great! I mean, if Kagi has a little brother or sister, she'll be so happy!"

"I'm sure she will. Kagi is an accepting child. If I had another child, Takarou would throw a fit. Well- More like he wouldn't talk to me. Maybe when Toushi returns. Truth be told, we don't really need another kid, but… It would be nice." She said dreamily.

"Can you tell if it's a boy or a girl yet?" Kagura said with excitement clearly in her eyes.

"No… There's no way to tell until it's born. Not with the technology we have now."

"Oh, I see." Kagura nodded, "I know Gin loves Kagi, but he would like a son too. I can tell."

"All men do. I was lucky with Takarou, but I myself want a girl to pamper."

"Kagi can take you up on that offer. We've been teaching her ways to fight with the power of her Yato side, so we don't have time for that kind of stuff."

"How are you going to tell Gin?" Otae closed her doctor's briefcase, "It's going to be hard. After all, the war has already started… It hasn't gotten extremely bloody yet, but by the time the baby is born…"

"It's better than keeping it from him, though." She said and took a sip of tea.

"I suppose so. He'll probably be thrilled."

"Otae, thank you. I've got to go now." Kagura stood up off of the tatami mat and dusted herself off.

"All right. Come back soon, all right?"

"Sure! Your tea is really good!" Otae smiled at her improvement in cooking. It was her determination to make something yummy for Toushi that made her get better. She went on the porch where she had once held his head in her lap and lifted her left hand into the sun.

"You hear that Toushi? Your fiancee's tea is really good, so come back soon, OK?" She clutched her hand with the ring to her chest and closed her eyes, imagining his arms around her, his hands around her own. Every day was like a year without the one she loved. When would those long years finally end…?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Welcome home, Mama!" Kagi welcomed her mother at the door. Kagura smiled and patted her on the head.

"Thanks Kagi. Will you go get Papa for me? Tell him the entire family needs to talk."

"All right. Are you OK, Mama?"

"Yeah, Mama's fine. Just get Papa, all right?"

"OK." Kagi ran off upstairs, where her father was sleeping, "Papa, Papa, it's time to get up." Kagi shook her father.

"Not now, Kagi… Five more minutes…"

"Mama said she needs to talk with all of us. I think it's important."

"Important…?" He sat up and scratched his head. He had been working hard to earn enough money to pay for all three of them now. Kagura was looking for a job, but because of the rebels that were around recently, it was hard for an Amanto to find a job, no matter how beautiful and human-looking she was. Gin walked down stairs with Kagi and sat on the couch opposite of Kagura.

"'Morning, Sleepyhead." She smiled.

"Yo." He smiled back.

"What is it, Mama?"

"Well, I just went to Otae's for a check-up, because I had been feeling pretty crappy… And here's what she told me." The father and daughter gulped. Could her disease have come back or something…? They waited in patience. "…I'm pregnant."

"Wha…?" Gin said in shock.

"Papa, what does 'pregnant' mean?" Kagi tugged on his sleeve.

"Well, it basically means that a woman is going to give birth to a child sometime soon…"

"Wait, so I'm going to have a little brother or sister?!"

"That's right, Kagi. And YOU'RE going to be the big one. You can make it your slave or whatever." Kagura sparkled.

"Kagura, don't give her ideas."

"That's so great! I can't wait to have someone to play with!" Kagi was a shy and innocent little girl. She didn't have plans for world domination like her mother… OK, Kagura didn't have THOSE kind of plans.

"Wow… So now we have a wedding baby, and a reunion baby." Gintoki chuckled.

"What am I?" Kagi asked.

"You're the wedding baby."

"Why am I the wedding baby?" Pause. Gin was about to explain it to her, but if he did, that might be rated R…

"Oh come on Gin, it's not that bad. I already taught Kagi about sex. Right, Kagi?"

"Y-Yes!" Kagi's face went red, remembering the lessons her mother gave her.

"Kagura, what the HELL did you teach her?"

"Just the basics. Nothing bad. She'll learn when she starts to go to school next year-"

"They don't learn that in kindergarten!!!"

"So that means you got pregnant with me on your wedding night?"

"That's right! Kagi, you're so smart." Kagura patted her on the head.

"Too smart… The last two years, she didn't want to get children's books from the library, she wanted chapter books. After she devoured them, she returned them back to the library. She's so fast at reading, so smart."

"I'm not that good…" Kagi blushed from being praised so highly by her father.

"Yes you are, Kagi." Kagura kissed her daughter on the cheek and brought her into her lap. Kagi held tight onto her arm.

"Where's my beautiful granddaughter?!" An excited voice said behind their front door.

"Grandpa Raizou!" Kagi clapped her hands, and Kagura hugged her father who had entered with Kagi on her hip.

"Kagura, you look very well. I'm so glad you got through the disease. I'm sure Kanade is overjoyed in heaven." He kissed his daughter.

"I'm sure she is, Papa." Kagura smiled.

"Hey, Uncle…" Gin said when they had sat down at the coffee table, "Are you planning to remarry?"

"That was blunt." Raizou almost spit up his tea, "I have a policy. I decided that if I ever got married once, I would never marry again if my wife died early. It makes it harder when you get to the afterlife, you know?" He laughed heartily. Kagura smiled happily, knowing that he only had eyes for her mother.

"Dad, we have some news for you." She placed her hand with her wedding ring on her tummy, "I'm pregnant again."

"Again?!" Raizou hopped up with joy, "That's great! Another granddaughter!!!"

"It's not necessarily a granddaughter, you know." Gin said sagely as he took a sip of tea.

"No, it has to be. After all, 2 years after Kagura, Kaede was born."

"That's one time. Doesn't Kagura have a brother?" He said without thinking. The room went silent. Gin realized what he had done wrong, and quickly picked the conversation back up. "I'll bet you 1000 yen that it'll be a boy."

"And for me, 1000 yen it's a girl!"

"Done!" The two hard-headed men shook hands.

"I'm the one giving birth you know." She laughed. Everyone sat around, laughing, smiling, talking. But pretty soon, this kind of thing would become rare.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Are they here?!" Kagura asked desperately to Sa-Chan, the ninja who was once infatuated with Gintoki. More than 6 months had passed since that time at the table with the family. Kagi clung to her mother tightly, scared of what might happen. Suprisingly, Takarou did the same to his mother, Otae. War is a scary thing. It can change brave boys back into the children they really are. Kaede was against a wall, scared of what might happen to Okita and everyone else.

"We'll have to change positions soon. If the Amanto find out where you and Kagi are Kagura, well, it's all over. If they had something against the Silver Demon…" Sa-Chan cut herself off, "It wouldn't be pretty." The entire group of people was underground in a tunnel that the ninjas used. It was dark and cold, and there was no food around. It was all right, though. They had only been there for a day or two. This battle was going to be short. It was probably the last.

"Come quickly." Sa-Chan fixed her glasses on her nose and crawled down the tunnel with the others close behind her. For about an hour they crawled to their new location.

"Here, take a rest." She lead them to a much bigger area with head room, it was like a regular room in a house.

"What is this place…?"

"It's a rest shelter we made in between tunnels so that if there were a need, ninjas could stop for a good rest and food.

"There's food?!" Kagura piped up.

"Only canned food and jerky."

"Still, it's food, food!" She looked into the cabinets and saw different potato chips and canned drinks, canned food and jerky… It sounded good to her.

"It'll all have to be cold because of the smoke."

"That's fine." Otae pulled out some meat and mashed potatos in a can for her and Takarou, "I brought an electric heater."

"No electricity."

"The power of batteries." Otae put it in a pot and stirred it around. It slowly fell apart and became more moist because of the heat.

"Here, everyone gets one serving of this." Otae scooped out a scoop for each person. There were 3 cans of it, so it made a pretty good scoop, but for Kagura, who was full-blooded Yato and also pregnant, it wasn't nearly enough.

"I'll cook something else for you, don't worry." Otae noticed Kagura's anticipating face, and she blushed from her gluttony. Otae took another pot from the cupboard and placed chips from a bag inside.

"By the way, what do we do with the dishes?" Kagi asked.

"Oh, usually when the mission is done, someone comes back and cleans them. It's fine. We'll come back later." Sa-chan nodded.

"Here, it's cold in here, so everyone take some." Otae emptied the first few servings of hot chips of some kind onto their plates.

"What are these?" Takarou sniffed at the orange-colored chip.

"They're sweet potato chips, and I added some cinnamon and sugar. We all need something sweet to keep us going right now." She took a bite and smiled.

"Kaede, what's wrong? Why aren't you eating?" Kagura placed her hand to her arm.

"How can you be so damn calm?!" Kaede slapped away her sister's hand. "The one I love could die any second! I'm not saying I agree with the Amanto's ways, but think about it! We'll be sent off right back to our planet if the rebels win! And who knows where daddy is right now…" Kaede curled up into a ball. "I'm scared… I want to fight with Okita, but then I'll be going against my sister and her family, and also my beliefs. If I fight with the rebels…" She shuddered at the thought of her loved one dying at her own hand.

"…I know. I know how you feel Kaede. I'm going through the same dilemma." Otae took a bite of a sweet potato chip, "But I have faith that Toushi will be all right. But it's matter of pride. The reason they've been fighting for all this time… It doesn't matter if they lose. Not even to them. I believe that Gin will defeat both Toushi and Okita, and they'll give up easily. They'll live. They'll come home. They'll marry us."

"I want to fight with Gintoki, but then I would get in the way. I'd waver because of Okita, the man who used to have feelings for me, and Hijikata, the man who is my best friend's fiancee. Also, I have my own job. I have to give birth any-" A splash of water was heard, "Second?" She said weakly and realized. It was time for the baby to come.

"Mama!" Kagi called to her mother.

"I'm fine, really…" She layed down on the ground.

"All right, let's get her to the bedroom." Otae opened a door and inside was a small, but useful bedroom, it even had a sink.

"Why only a bed and sink?" Takarou asked. All there was was a bed and a sink, nothing else.

"Well, we get tired after missions, so the bed is a no-brainer. For the sink, it's because we sometimes get blood stains, and those are hard to get out."

"Big sister, I'm sorry I swatted your hand away!" Kaede begged Kagura and grasped her hand. Kagura tightened her grip.

"It's fine. You've never gotten angry at me, and I'm glad you finally did. I have Okita to thank, I guess." She laughed and pushed hard.

"Her body condition is normal. Thanks to the cure for that disease, she should give birth just fine." Otae stroked Kagura's hair, "But I can tell you're suffering, Kagura. You want your husband here, don't you?"

"More than anything…" Tears dripped down her cheeks. Kaede had realized now. Kagura was pretending the entire time, trying to act like a good big sister so no one would be scared.

"Sa-chan, where's the nearest exit?" Kaede jumped out to the main room of the little hideout.

"You can get out through the hatch up there. That's how we resupply our food and wash and stuff." She thought for a moment, when Kaede hopped up on the table where the hatch was just above. "You can't be-?!"

"I'll be back!" Kaede quickly jumped onto the ledge above the hole. "AND DON'T TELL ANYONE, OK?!" She yelled, already starting run on the surface. Sa-chan repositioned her glasses.

"Gin-san is one lucky man to have a sister-in-law like that… And to have such a lovely wife… Even though he didn't choose me, I'm still happy…" Sa-chan smiled while she had tears streaming down her face.

"Gintoki! I'll never forgive you if you die! You'd better not leave my sister behind when she loves you so much!" Kaede ran as fast as she could through the dark, blood-stained Edo streets.