Hey guys, Murayama Tsuru here. Since tomorrow (today technically, since I'm posting this after midnight) is Kodomo no Hi (children's day), I decided to write something for it. It features the cyborg dude, Obi Hajime, I prefer Obi-One myself. So, without further introduction, here's the chapter…oneshot? Well, whatever you want to call it, here it is ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't own Gintama; it belongs to Sorachi Hideaki-Sensei.

Shinpachi woke up leisurely at a relatively late hour for him to the smell of his sister's cooking. As soon as the smell of burning omelets reached his nose, the glasses-clad boy sat bolt upright in alarm. He didn't know why his sister had decided that today was a good day to cook, but he had to stop it as soon as he could.

But, when Shinpachi stood up, he realized that he had moved too fast to try and stop his sister and that had resulted in him feeling too dizzy to move. After a few minutes slumped against one of his Otsu posters, Shinpachi was able to move again, cursing silently that his sister decided to cook this morning.

After the boy got dressed, he raced over to the kitchen just in time to see his sister doling the dark-matter eggs onto five plates. Shinpachi wondered, for about half a second, why there were five plates, but realized that he was too late to stop his sister's cooking, so the fact that there were five plates seemed insignificant.

Instead, Shinpachi asked, "A-Aneue, why are you cooking this morning?"

Shimura Tae turned around and gave Shinpachi a sunny smile that had just enough of a hint of darkness to send shivers up her little brother's spine, "Ah, Shin-chan, you're up just in time for breakfast. Since today is Kodomo no Hi I figured that I would treat you to breakfast in bed. But you got up before I could bring it to you."

Shinpachi looking more than slightly distressed that his sister seemed to want to feed him five plates of her dark matter asked, more cautiously this time, "Um…Aneue? If you wanted to give me breakfast, why are there five plates? Even that much might be a little to much for me to handle..."

Before Otae could answer however, a familiar deadpan voice said, "Oi Pattsuan, you're not forgetting about the kids you know are you? It is Kodomo no Hi after all. But of course, the no-good glasses boy would forget that wouldn't he?"

"Yeah, you're so forgetful Shinpachi," Kagura's voice added, "Gin-chan said that today is the day that people are supposed to give us free food since we're kids, uh-huh! How could you forget about that?"

"That's right," Gin's voice agreed, "We came here for Kashiwa Mochi and Chimaki. But instead we got…whatever this is…Otae, were you trying to kill you precious little brother or something? This doesn't really look…"

Shinpachi turned around just in time to see his sister punch his sort of silver-haired boss out the door, leaving a Gintoki-shaped hole in the Shoji that no doubt Shinpachi would be fixing later. Kagura, looking as energetic as always, started laughing as Shinpachi's sister decided to chase after Gintoki, still angry about the crack about how her food didn't look edible.

Shinpachi sighed as he watched his sister and his sort of boss running around the yard, this would just be another regular day for the Yorozuya. But, then, Shinpachi heard something that gave him pause, "You working hard Shin-Bo? Been a while hasn't it?"

Shinpachi turned around and saw the person that he considered to be his big brother, a large grin forming on his lips, "Hajime-nii! What are you doing here?"

Obi-One laughed heartily, "Well, I had to fulfill my promise to you two didn't I? I've come to see you guys again. And what better day to do that than on Kodomo no Hi? That is the point of the holiday right, to spend time with the people that you were friends with when you were kids!"

"Um," Shinpachi sweatdropped, not really wanting to contradict his Nii-chan, but, at the same time, not being able to help himself, "Hajime-nii, I don't think that's quite the point of Kodomo no Hi…"

Obi-One cocked his head to the side and said, "It's not? Then what is the point Shin-Bo?"

Shinpachi shook his head, "No, you're right Hajime-nii, spending time with your friends on Kodomo no Hi is the best."

Hajime-Nii nodded, "I thought so! In order to celebrate this day of friendship, we shall become carps ourselves!"

Shinpachi, caught up in his proxy brother's enthusiasm, said just as enthusiastically, "Yeah, let's do that, Hajime-Nii!"

But, once the meaning of what the sandy haired man said actually sunk in, Shinpachi stopped and said, "Wait, we're going to do what?"

Obi-One turned to his sort of little brother and said, "We are going to turn ourselves into Koi for the day…well, you are anyways. I'm just going to help you gather materials."

"What? But why aren't you going to do it too? Wouldn't it be more fun if we both became carp?" Shinpachi said, whining slightly because he would be the only one to look like a complete weirdo.

Hajime-Nii gave a small sigh as his smile became slightly less bright than it usually was, "Well, I would but, as you can see, I can't really do much of anything except float around. I tried to get a Haori of the underworld, but the Shinigami that allowed me to come back for the day didn't seem to want to lend me his. Something about too many people using it or something like that."

"Oh…" Shinpachi said as it actually hit him that Obi-One was not actually among the living anymore (he hadn't been for a long time, in fact). It was then that Shinpachi noticed the slight translucence that his almost older brother had.

Sensing Shinpachi's distress over the fact that he had just realized that Obi-one was a ghost, the man said, "But dressing up as a carp doesn't really matter to me. As long as I can spend a day with you and keep my promise, that's fine."

Shinpachi nodded, his smile returning once again. The glasses clad boy then turned to the yard where Gin and Otae had stopped their game to watch the interaction between the boy and the cyborg ghost. Otae, who was now smiling softly, nodded her head in approval that Shinpachi could go with Obi-One.

Gin, on the other hand, just looked bored, so Shinpachi felt compelled to ask, "Gin-san is it ok if I spend the day with Hajime-Nii?"

At that, Gin raised an eyebrow and said, "Why wouldn't it be ok? It's not like I can stop you or anything."

Shinpachi pursed his lips, "I know, but I just thought that I'd ask anyway. You and Kagura-chan seemed to want to spend the day with us is all."

Gin stuck his pinky in ear, "Well, that's where you're wrong. I came here for the free food. Everyone seems to think I'm a kid anyway, so I figured 'why not? If they think I'm a kid, they'll give me sweets right?"

"Thank you very Hamnida, Gintoki-Jokutou." Obi-One said with a grin

Gin pulled a face at that, "There you go with your weird sayings again, Obi-One-Jokutou...You two better leave before I'm subjected to anymore of those."

Shinpachi gave Gin a grateful smile and turned to leave with his sort-of big brother. But as he was leaving, Gin called out, "But now that you're leaving with Obi-One over there, I figure that I'll just make something for myself. I think I'll make it my mission to keep your sister out of the kitchen for the rest of the day. We don't need to make anyone sick after all."

Shinpachi chuckled softly and the, before his sister could turn her reignited wrath on him or Hajime-Nii, the two ran out the door just as they heard Gin say only slightly apologetically, "Can't you take a joke…? I swear, the women on this show are just so violent!"

Once Shinpachi and Obi-One were sure that they were clear of Otae, they began searching for the stuff they would need for Shinpachi to become a carp. At first, Obi-One had suggested that Shinpachi strip down to his underwear and then find someone to draw carp scales on his skin.

Shinpachi rejected that idea soundly and immediately, stating that it would make him closer to a certain gorilla captain of the Shinsengumi and Shinpachi didn't want that at all. So, the sandy haired man began tapping his chin thoughtfully as he tried to think of something else that Shinpachi could do.

But, just as Obi-One thought of something, he seemed to stiffen suddenly. Confused, Shinpachi asked, "Hajime-Nii, what's wrong?"

The sandy-haired man's eyes narrowed slightly and he put a finger to his lips. He then turned around and pointed to a short Amanto that looked something like Yoda wearing a mask. Shinpachi rubbed his eyes, hoping that his glasses were just fogged up, not liking what he was seeing at all.

But, when he took his hands away from his eyes, the Yoda like creature was still there, prompting Shinpachi to say, "I thought all those guys were gone? What's one doing here?"

Obi-One shook his head and shushed the glasses-clad boy, "I don't know. Why don't we follow him and see what's he's up to."

Shinpachi nodded in agreement, thankful that he wouldn't have to dress up like a Koi fish at the moment, and the two began to follow the Yoda-looking dude in a ski mask. It wasn't a very exciting task though, as the guy seemed to stop in every tourist spot in Edo, causing Shinpachi to feel rather impatient with the Yoda-like dude for taking time away from his and Hajime-Nii's day together; though, he tried his best to hide it, since Hajime-Nii seemed to be having a good time as he hadn't really had all that much time to explore Edo the last time he had been there.

After a while longer, the Yoda (I don't actually remember what they were called in the Gintama canon, so I'm just gonna keep calling them Yodas), stopped and said, "You two have been following me for a while? What is it you want from me? If it's money, I don't have any, I spent it all during this festival as you could probably tell as you were following me."

Obi-One responded, "I want to know why you're here. I thought you guys gave up on Earth after your plans with me failed."

At the sound of Obi-One's voice, the Yoda turned around and asked, mildly surprised, "Kenofi? What are you doing here? We were told you died."

"Well, it's Kodomo no Hi and I wanted to spend it with my little brother. You still haven't answered my question."

The Yoda shrugged, "I'm here for the same reason as you are then. Festivals on Earth are such fun that I couldn't help myself."

Obi-One, shrugged, as though he thought that the Yoda-like dude was probably telling the truth and that leaving him alone was probably a better idea. Shinpachi on the other hand, still angry for what this group of Amanto had done to his sort of older brother growled, "Hajime-Nii you believe this guy? After all the things that they have done to you?"

Obi-One shrugged again, "C'mon Shin-Bo, let's go. I've already died twice so there's no point on dwelling on it any longer. Besides, this guy clearly isn't here to blow up the earth like he was last time. Let's go enjoy the festival, I bet I'll be able to find someone who can make you into a splendid carp."

Shinpachi's eyebrows narrowed in consternation, he didn't understand why Hajime-Nii wasn't angrier about what had happened. But, since his older brother figure said he didn't want to worry about it anymore, Shinpachi decided to let it go.

As the two were walking away, though, the Yoda guy spoke up one last time, "I know you may not believe this Kenofi, but not all of us wanted to use you to destroy the earth. There were some that actually wanted to save you just because. But we were a vast minority, so our voices were never heard when our group was making its plans."

Hajime-Nii didn't say anything further, but Shinpachi could tell that the Yoda's words had touched the sandy-haired man. The two sort of siblings then went back to finding a way to make Shinpachi into a living representation of a Koi.

Once Obi-One had found someone who was willing to paint koi like scales on Shinpachi and had forced the younger boy to walk around in his new 'outfit', the two made their way back to the Dojo in relative silence.

Of course, Shinpachi was mortified that people had seen him in his underwear with fish scales painted on him, but that wasn't really the reason for his silence. He knew that he probably wouldn't see Hajime-Nii again after this, which made the glasses clad boy pretty sad that the day had gone by so fast.

When the two finally reached the Dojo, Obi-One said, "Well, this is Shin-Bo. I probably won't be seeing you again after this. But, I had fun."

"Me too, Hajime-Nii." Shinpachi said after a moment of trying to keep the tears that were threatening to come out in check

"Now don't you start crying on me Shin-Bo." Obi-One said after a minute, "Remember what I told you about how the best Samurai are the ones who laugh even when the want nothing more than to cry."

Shinpachi suppressed a sniff, "I know Hajime-Nii, but…I don't think I'm at that level yet."

There was a pause and then Obi-One said quietly, "Me neither Shin-Bo. But I don't want the last image of this world to be my little brother's crying face. I won't be able to rest in peace until I see a smile."

Shinpachi's eyes widened at that, amazed that Obi-One would admit he couldn't always smile either. Then, once he was able, Shinpachi looked up at Obi-One with a grin that almost threatened to split his face in half.

In response, Obi-One smiled back and said, "That's how to do it little brother." And he faded into the sunset. Shinpachi, smile fading a little now that Obi-One was gone, turned back to the Dojo walked in, one final tear sliding down his cheek, "Bye Hajime-Nii…"

Once Shinpachi was back in the Dojo, he was greeted with a large tray of sweets and two passed out girls around the table. Looking around, Shinpachi said quietly, "Gin-san where are you?"

"Out here," came Gin's response, "decided that the Koi at night were the best. But, those two fell asleep, so I've been watching them by myself."

Shinpachi took some of the sweets and joined his other sort of brother on the porch. Shinpachi handed Gin one of the sweets and then looked out at all the Koinobori fluttering in the night time breeze, "You're right Gin-san, this is the best."

The two watched the fluttering Koi in silence for a while, sans the chewing noises from eating the Mochi. Gin then turned to Shinpachi and with a badly suppressed snort said, "Why Pattsuan, I didn't know you were into that exhibitionist stuff. You're becoming more and more like that gorilla of the Shinsengumi."

And that is the end ^_^ I don't know how well I did Obi-One since he's only in three episodes of the Anime, so his personality isn't all that developed in my opinion. But, I tried my best. I hope you guys liked it ^_^ Also, I don't know how many more of these I'm going to do…one because I don't really know of that many other Japanese holidays and two, I'm running out of characters…maybe I'll do something based off of the old lovers in that Sadasada arc for Tanabata. What do you guys think? Well, as always if you'd like, leave a review I love to know what you guys think. See you next time ^_^

-Murayama Tsuru