Chapter 2: A cherry petal falls five centimetres per second, which is much slower than an ice-cream
Really, he shouldn't have been surprised when he saw the familiar face, with stitches drawn on the pale skin to "look more like a pirate", the damned alien duck trailing behind, dressed in the same style. He was torn between turning around, pretending he hasn't seen them and shouting at them that they are out of their minds. The place was crawling with Shinsengumi, both undercover and not, so the latter was out of question and before he could do the former, Katsura saw him and Elizabeth produced a sign saying "Hello again, Odd Jobs."
'You're not fooling anybody,' he growled when they were close enough so that nobody would hear him. Predictably, Katsura ignored him.
'You lost your kids?' he asked in a light tone, looking around. Gintoki's hands twitched in the kind of neck-grabbing motion. He took a deep breath to calm down, only realizing that it was a wasted effort when Katsura looked at him worriedly and asked if everything was alright, because Gintoki looked stressed. 'Did something happen to Leader and Shinpachi?' he added with genuine concern.
'You idiot,' Gintoki hissed. He grabbed Katsura by the collar and dragged him behind the food stalls, ignoring the exclamation marks on Elizabeth's sign. 'What are you doing here? This place is swarming with the Shinsengumi after they got that threat from Takasugi,' he hissed. In a remote part of his brain he wondered why he cared, but really: this was his friend.
'Takasugi sent-' Katsura trailed off, his visible eye widening for a short moment and Gintoki cursed his big mouth. He has been sure Katsura knew about it and that was why we came. Gently, but firmly, his friend pried his hand off the collar and straightened his clothes. 'I think it's a false message, but in any case, I'm here to enjoy my free time,' he said primly. Gintoki narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but then Katsura offered himself to be searched if it calmed Gintoki down and he sounded insulted enough for Gintoki to believe him.
All the same, he did search Katsura, because he did remember that other time when he believed Katsura's words and ended up charred from a bomb that has "accidentally" gone of just few seconds after he left the vicinity of the amanto embassy. The only thing he found were a couple of nmaibo, which he knew were smoke screens, and so reluctantly, he had to believe that Katsura wasn't planning to kill any of the officials who were supposedly coming to the event later on.
'Still, the Shinsen-'
'I am undercover,' Katsura pointed out. Gintoki looked at him flatly, but of course the wig-head met that stare with his own and eventually, Gintoki decided to give up. Muttering that Katsura better not come to him when he's in trouble later on, he left to find the kids. He knew, at the very least, that Katsura would keep away from them on the not-so-odd chance that Kondo was stalking Shinpachi's sister again.
Everybody came to the grandest hanami of Edo. Gintoki ended up spending a rather enjoyable afternoon with the kids, Otose and some others coming and going. He tried his luck in games and managed to win sukonbu for Kagura, although Shinpachi claimed Gintoki lost and the owner of the stall just wanted to get rid of the sukonbu he must have gotten by mistake. As a retort, Gintoki wondered out loud whose mistake it was and whether it was perhaps Shinpachi who has packed that stall's contents some days earlier.
Needless to say that the situation evolved into a large argument, which went from responsibilities to salaries and back, while Kagura cheered them on gleefully. It wouldn't have turned into a fist fight, that being Shinpachi, but Hijikata and Okita, dressed in civilian clothes yet openly armed, came up to stop the disturbance. They stayed to chat a bit, or rather for Okita to argue with Kagura, while Gintoki and Hijikata glared at each other.
Then Otae brutally kicked Kondo out of the trash can where he was watching them and the three officers left. At the same moment, Gintoki saw a glimpse of the long-haired pirate and he purposefully turned around and headed the other way.
It turned out that officer Karma did end up wearing a wig: when Gintoki bumped into her, not looking where he was going in his haste to get away from Katsura before the others noticed him, she had long, black hair, carefully styled up. She also had a pretty kimono, deep plum in colour, with the obi and undergarment in toned down green and large, cherry blossoms painted in appropriate pink. If not for the sparkling, blue eyes and the horizontal scar on her nose, he would have never recognized her. And his surprise probably showed on his face, because she smiled brightly.
'Is this pretty enough for you, Odd Jobs?' she asked, just a tad mockingly, moving her hands to the sides a bit, presenting herself. From the unnatural folds of the sleeves, he guessed that she had some weapons hidden there. He ignored them and laughed at her words. He was seriously starting to like her.
'Woah, Gin-chan, you didn't say you had a date,' Kagura exclaimed excitedly. 'Hi, my name's Kagura. You're pretty, alright, but I'm going to verify if you're worthy of dating our Gin-chan,' she added, turning to the undercover Shinsengumi officer, who laughed briefly but not without a blush colouring her cheeks.
'Gin-chan?' she repeated, amused. 'Don't worry, Kagura, I'm not here to date "Gin-chan", I'm just an acquaintance. My name is Alma,' she added in that cheerful and friendly tone of hers. Shinpachi and Otae took turns to introduce themselves as well, Shinpachi with his usual politeness and his sister somewhat coolly, and officer Karma said that she was thrilled to make new friends.
She was damn good at this undercover stuff, Gintoki thought. She really did seem like she was there to make friends and not working undercover.
'Are you sure?' Kagura asked. 'Our Gin-chan is in the age when he should seriously consider finding a woman and he's not a man enough to ask Tsukuyo out,' she added. Her words made the officer blush some more, while Otae noted that there was no reason to be hasty. Gintoki knew that she was simply worried about her position as the heroine of the story, whatever that meant, but it wasn't the main problem.
'What the hell do you mean by "not man enough", you ungrateful, little brat?' he yelled, skilfully ignoring the fact that he was also blushing at Kagura's insinuations. 'Give me back my money,' he added, because just minutes ago he has had a moment of weakness and shared his precious savings, so that the kids could get some ice-cream. Kagura laughed.
'Come on, Alma, I'll tell you all about Gin-chan's shortcomings before you commit yourself,' she exclaimed and pulled the undercover officer towards the nearest ice-cream stall. Alma tried to protest, but she was probably finding out that dissuading Kagura from her ideas, especially when they involved food, was an impossible feat.
'Oi, what happened to judging whether she is worthy being my girlfriend?' Gintoki yelled behind them. 'Shinpachi, tell-' he started, turning, but trailed off when he realized that Shinpachi and Otae were also walking away towards a different ice-cream stand. He walked to the nearest bench and sat down heavily.
Ungrateful brats, he thought, watching Kagura babble blissfully, probably telling the undercover officer all about the different flavours and how sukonbu was better anyway, but it was a festival, so- He shook his head to stop his own imagination from drowning him in the babble. And he couldn't help smiling, because it was good to see the Yato brat so careless and cheerful.
He ignored it when the Shinsengumi's first captain sat next to him and for a while they sat in silence. And he forcefully chased away the nagging thought: "that sadist came back and I bet anything that it's just an excuse to pick a fight with Kagura when she comes back. Is that his brand of flirting?"
'Her father died in the Joui war, you know?' Okita said in a casual tone. Gintoki stiffened, despite his best attempt at ignoring the information. Although he appeared completely relaxed, the first captain was watching him like a hawk. He pretended to ignore it, turning to watch officer Karma getting her ice-cream, idly wondering what flavour she chose. He knew Okita meant her. 'He fought on our side-' he paused. 'I meant he fought for the Bakufu, so I guess that was not your side back then,' he corrected himself, only a slight mocking in his tone.
'Yet, she still joined you, Bakufu dogs,' Gintoki mocked right back. He didn't like the topic. He didn't like the expression on Okita's face. It was the kind of "I know something you don't" that made him very weary of the situation.
'That's not the end of the story, boss,' the first captain said lightly, his eyes trained on Gintoki betraying his casual tone. 'See, her father has had no choice, because he was called. Her older brother, on the other hand, he ran off on his own, free will and he ran off to join the Kiheitai. Fancy that? Do you think he has killed his own father in a fight? And her fiancé, although she claimed it was an arranged thing, has gone to follow the White Demon.'
It took all of his self-control to not physically flinch at the last words and Gintoki barely heard Okita continue in a light tone, as though he was discussing the weather, about how neither of the two came back, but of course there was no official register of the rebels, so they could just as well still be hiding somewhere. Gintoki didn't think so, but he had to wonder whether Alma became a police officer in order to find her brother or her fiancé.
'Funny she told you all that,' he muttered. It was awfully personal. Okita shrugged and pointed out that family was not held accountable for the choices of one black sheep. Gintoki itched to hit him right then, even though he wholeheartedly did not approve of the rebels nowadays. Or so he kept telling himself, but when he glimpsed the alien duck not too far from officer Karma, he hastily looked elsewhere.
'I suppose it's only logical that she's interested in the White Demon,' the First Captain drawled, keeping a pointed look on Gintoki, who returned it with a raised eyebrow. 'Don't give me that, boss, I'm not that idiot mayo addict. I couldn't care less what you have done ten years ago as long as you're a good citizen now.'
'Is this really what a police officer should be saying?' Gintoki mocked. Okita smirked.
'Like that, if you screw up, I get to beat you up legitimately,' he shot back with more enthusiasm than Gintoki considered healthy.
'You cannot beat me up,' he countered without skipping a beat, although he knew that what he should have said was that he didn't plan to "screw up".
'Yeah, you're too stupid to beat anybody up, weakling,' he heard above his head. Apparently Kagura came back and the small, crunching sound told him that she didn't believe in eating ice-cream slowly and was already far into the cone. He was sure he felt crumbles fall into his hair, while Okita glared up at the girl.
'Shut up, China. Adults are talking.'
With practiced ease, he tuned out their argument and once again ignored the worries about them actually flirting. That was not how kids these days flirted anyway, was it?
Passers-by were turning to look their way and then speeding up even without Gintoki waving at them with a stupid smile. Shinpachi and Otae were nowhere to be seen, so he stopped trying, knowing they would show up eventually. All around him, since he was sitting under one of the majestic trees, cherry petals were carried by the gentle breeze and for a while he traced their trajectories with his gaze, idly wondering if he should break up the escalating argument between Kagura and Okita, before it turned into a fist fight.
Suddenly Gintoki choked on his own saliva. Right in front of him although a good distance away, Katsura, badly dressed up as a pirate, bumped into officer Karma, dressed in her pretty, dark-plum coloured kimono. She startled and the ice-cream she was holding fell to the ground. Gintoki was too far to hear what Katsura said, but when the young woman wrapped an arm around his and led him towards the food stalls, he could guess easily enough.
What the hell was that idiot thinking?
'Are you alright, boss?' he heard and froze. Okita was still there and now both he and Kagura were watching him curiously. And Gintoki felt a drop of sweat roll down his back: if either of them noticed, it could quickly become very nasty. Either Okita would recognize Katsura or Kagura would and sure as hell Kagura wouldn't think fast enough to not shout out in greeting.
'I just remembered that I decided to not limit my sugar intake today,' he replied with forced cheer, earning himself a doubtful look from Okita. Internally, he shouted at himself for being stupid: if he went to buy something sweet it would bring Okita, or at least Kagura, right to that pea-brained terrorist and the undercover officer!
'It's your lucky day, Gin-san,' said Otae and Gintoki, Kagura and Okita turned around to see her arriving with Shinpachi and a bag of what looked like Bargain-Dash ice-cream. Gintoki briefly wondered to which gods Katsura was praying for luck and whether they could spare him some, while Otae explained that she has had a very generous client the previous night and she decided to share the festival joy with her friends.
He had to wonder if Alma's previous appearance had anything to do with the sudden turn of events, but he wasn't going to refuse ice-cream on such silly bases.
'That's my cue to go back to work,' Okita said, wished them a nice festival and left. Kagura cheerfully told him he wouldn't be missed, but he didn't seem to care. And neither did Gintoki, because Shinpachi took out a strawberry flavoured ice-cream and he had to fight for it.
It was much later, when Gintoki was nearly finishing his ice-cream that remembered about the dangerous situation, not that he cared if the idiot wig-head got arrested, seriously, it would do him good for all the trouble he has caused Gintoki and the kids. All the same, he looked through the crowds and was about to breathe a sigh of relief at not seeing Katsura anywhere, when his eyes stopped on the now-familiar plum coloured kimono. And sure enough, right next to the officer, a stupid pirate with long, black hair was sitting, holding a plate of mitarashi dango.
Forget it, Gintoki thought angrily, if Zura was stupid enough to share dango with a Shinsengumi officer, Gintoki wasn't going to try and save him from an arrest anymore. Seriously, he was wasting his time and nerves for nothing. Hell, he deserved a medal for self-restraint for not going up to another police officer somewhere and telling them about the situation. He thought and almost stabbed through the bottom of the ice-cream container with the plastic spoon. It was a miracle it didn't break.
They were close enough to hear Karma laugh at whatever it was Katsura said and that got Kagura's attention. Her face brightened and she took a deep breath and Gintoki barely had the time to curse internally before he jumped forward, losing his spoon.
'Oi, Zu-' was all she managed before he slapped a hand firmly over her big mouth.
'Shut it, you idiot, it's a police officer that stupid wig-head's sitting with,' he hissed, watching how Kagura's irritation turned into surprise, then into worry and finally into a sort of mischevious glee that Gintoki was usually weary of. Nonetheless, he supposed he could trust her and she did not scream again when he removed his hand.
But then his efforts got wasted anyway, because Hijikata came up to Karma and the moment Katsura turned to face the vice-commander, there was a hand on the katana's hilt and even Katsura wasn't stupid enough to stay seated while unarmed in that situation. Fortunately even unarmed and relaxing, Runaway Kotarou stayed true to his name and before Hijikata had the katana halfway out, there was a large puff of smoke and when it cleared, predictably, Katsura was nowhere to be seen.
'That was Katsura Kotarou,' Hijikata growled at Karma and she looked down in shame. Or so Gintoki thought until he noticed that she was still holding tightly onto a stick with half eaten dango. Looking away, he frowned. Was she really looking for her brother or fiancé after all?
He didn't have time to wonder about it too long though, because somebody shouted that it was time for fireworks and he turned to look up.
They were truly splendid, even Gintoki had to admit it, but it was still funnier to watch the people around him. Kagura was watching them with open mouth and sparkling eyes. Shinpachi and Otae were exclaiming in joy whenever they particularly liked one of the blooming flowers of light. As he looked back up, with the corner of his eye, Gintoki saw Alma crying, face half-hidden in one hand, the other still holding the uneaten dango.
He focused on the fireworks, in his head repeating: it's not my problem.