a/n: I'm back after a month lol. A longer-ish chapter for this one. The AU expands here! Also added poems from the Japanese Greats of Poetry at the opening of each chapter. They inspire me to write beautifully in as few words as possible.

Chapter 2: The Dews on the Grass

This world of dew

is a world of dew indeed;

and yet ...

―Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827)

As soon as the sun climbs the sky, the dew evaporates. Ayame thinks that all human life is like dew: so beautiful, so precious, so ephemeral.

On the other hand, she, an otherworldly creature, wouldn't go so beautifully. She was not capable of physical death and would never cease until centuries have passed. And it simply made sense for a yosei - the forest guardian.

She is there whenever the forest heralds the spring with its many colors. In summer too, when the bright sun paints every leaf verdant green. She is also there when the forest turns red in autumn, as though in anger, to protest against the approaching cold. Finally, in winter as well, when the snow claims the forest and turns everything white and silent. Ayame will witness nature's scenes play out over and over again for the rest of her life. The passage of time to her is almost meaningless.

As part of her role in the forest, she can return the dead to the soil - from which life will spring forth to repeat the cycle.

This power was now emanating from her hands, disintegrating Tsukuyo's body until what's left on the futon was a pile of dust faintly tracing the shape of what it once was.

Outside, crows squawked as though announcing her death.

She hated the sound. It reverberated across the forest, ringing loudly in her ears.

'No stopping now,' she thought. By destroying Tsukuyo's remains, she had created a ripple onto a body of water that she should have never touched.

She closed her eyes and transformed into her physical form. She did it so effortlessly now, compared to her first time.

She carefully gathered the ashes with the sheets then sealed them with a knot. She fulfilled each step with silence, moving slowly. To an outsider, she would have looked like an ordinary wife fulfilling her ordinary chores. But she was burying someone.

With Tsukuyo's ashes on her arms, she headed towards the wisteria tree. It was striking yellow this autumn. It stood out against the trees behind it, whose red foliage highlighted the wisteria like the evening sky would for a bright star. The tree began to open at the center of its wide trunk, groaning the sound of wood breaking and snapping. There, in the opening it made, the lilac-haired spirit gently laid the ashes. The tree enclosed itself on it, returning to normal like nothing happened.

It wasn't long before Ayame felt something changing on her physical body. A flood of strange and uncomfortable sensations started coursing through her veins. They became intense and reached a peak that gave her excruciating pain before eventually dissipating. Ayame was brought to her knees. She panted heavily, eyes wide in shock. She stared at the shape of her hands on the grass before noticing beads of water trickle onto them.

'Is this sweat?' She was surprised. She never had it before.

In fact, her hands looked a bit different now.

She immediately rushed to the nearest creek to stare at her reflection in the water. What stared back at her was a completely different person. It wasn't her. It was Tsukuyo. Pale blond hair, violet irises, and a faint scar that ran from her eyebrows to her cheeks. She took a sharp intake of breath at the sight.

Meanwhile, a crow perched itself on a leafless tree. Its dark beads of eyes reflected two different people staring back at each other. They looked identical, but one was an apparition of a person who has already crossed the void.

On the dim hallways of the Bakufu castle, the footsteps of a man's leather boots echoed through the dark. The strands of his silvery hair glinted from the torches illuminating his path. There was a line of men guarding the hallways who promptly bowed to him - but he simply walked past, his face unreadably aloof - fuelling the mystery that shrouded his identity.

Many feared him and referred to him as the Shiroyasha. He was the shogun's most powerful blade, fighting countless battles and winning them with his unrivaled skill and strength. Now, he just led the humans' battle against the Amanto. Because of that, some call him Edo's greatest samurai - but he dismissed such a title, for that title belonged to his teacher, not him.

For him, he was simply Gintoki Sakata - a man who lived by his own rules.

He entered a large room with a high ceiling. Across him was the silhouette of a man seated by the balcony. Gintoki walked towards the figure until he was just right behind him.

"Shogun-san, I'm here to get my pay and tell you I'll be taking my leave."

The shogun turned his head and smiled. He was only around Gintoki's age - a young man in his late 20s. He had narrow, sharply slanted eyes with the face of a person with a high upbringing. His hair was in chonmage style whose appeal Gintoki still could not grasp.

The young military leader returned his gaze towards the city. Below, people scrambled in the midst of the rubble. The beauty of Edo's Japanese architectural landscape was gone. They were now just bits and pieces of building materials left from cruel razes instigated by the Amanto. Underneath them hid more dead bodies which the survivors worked together to unearth for a proper burial. It was how they could move on from their war-stricken past.

"Before you take your leave, I'd like to discuss with you your future in this country. For years, you fought against my enemies and quelled uprisings in our war-torn land, preventing any more bloodshed. And just now, you fought against foreign invaders by taking up your sword. Your contributions to this country are immeasurable. Truly, I am very grateful to you."

Gintoki simply raised his brows, unsure what the young shogun was getting at. He had the sense that his words were simply an interlude to something bigger.

"I plan to make you a daimyou. Take your post in Kamakura - I'll be rebuilding this country from the ground up. It is good to have a trusted aide ruling the land beside me."

Kamakura was the city south of Edo. When the late shogun - the current shogun's father - generously handed it to his brother, it served as the tipping point for a years-long plan of the latter for a coup d'état. The land provided him resources for an overthrow. That was a decade ago. Gintoki remembered being an 18-year-old under Shoyou-sensei's wings eagerly arriving at the site to battle. He was just a nobody samurai then, ready to prove himself.

But now, he has no interest in getting Kamakura nor any land for that matter. He wants to leave Edo and return to his small home in Bushu where his wife awaits him. He and the shogun had known each other for years, and yet the latter still does not understand that Gintoki does not possess any desire to rule.

His answer was simple.

"No," Gintoki coldly replied. His tone, final.

The shogun was surprised and looked at him like he was stupid for turning the offer down. But Gintoki's resolute expression made him understand.

"You were never one to thirst for power." The shogun declared as though that was the conclusion he arrived at.

"What plans do you exactly have that makes you desperate to make me a daimyou? You are not short of allies. And the arrival of Amanto has united this country against a common enemy."

The other man took a long hit from his kiseru and released a billow of smoke that danced in the air before disappearing. His gaze was far away.

"I plan to welcome the Amanto in this country."

Gintoki wasn't quite sure of what his facial expression was like because he didn't know how he felt. His initial reaction would be anger - he put his life on the line to keep the Amanto away - followed by confusion as it was unlike the shogun to make illogical decisions.

His silence was the signal for the shogun to pick up where he left off. "I'm sure you're shocked, angry even. But during the war, many Amanto laid down arms after they saw the carnage that they caused. I hope you didn't forget about them, Sakata-san. And I am sure you met some very good ones too. After the war, more came to me and pledged to rebuild this country. They promised to bring advanced technology from their lands. Those kinds of Amanto make peace-building worth it for our generation."

"You are bordering on dangerous territory. This could very much turn against you," Gintoki said, his voice serious. He found the shogun to be very naive.

"A peaceful future - vastly different from what we've had until now - is very much worth the risk, don't you think? Edo will be a city that welcomes all."

It was perhaps he was tired from battle - physically and mentally - that Gintoki didn't argue anymore. That or because he, too, is tired from war. Long before the Amanto came, Japan had already been fighting with itself. The warring states gave birth to generations that endlessly fought for power in a bloody, divided nation. The shogun's idealistic vision of a peaceful Edo was many times more appealing.

"If that plan comes back to bite you in the ass, I won't be there for you. I'll be in the mountains of Bushu," the silver-haired samurai declared.

The shogun laughed, finding his dry humor amusing.

"Out of everyone here, Sakata-san, you deserve to live happily. It's time for you to enjoy the peace that you fought for. I prepared for you some horses and a carriage. Your pay awaits you there as well, but if you don't mind, I included enough for a retirement. If you need more, do not be afraid to ask me. Which brings me to the second thing I want to tell you today - and I hope that your retirement pay would appease you for what I'm about to say next. I heard you sustained some injuries that might make you unfit for battle. Hence, I acquired the protection services of two young people to keep you safe on your way home. One is an Amanto warrior that hails from the notorious Yato clan, while the other is a master swordsman, successor to the Kodokan Dojo, and wielder of the Tendoumuushin sword style. They are very strong, and I assure you that your sword will remain in its sheath until you reach your doorstep."

Gintoki blinked. That was a lot to absorb. The thought of having two strangers with him on a day-long ride inside a carriage gave him a headache. But the shogun had already made up his mind, and he was much too tired to argue against the insistent man.

Accepting defeat, he began to turn around and walk away. He nonchalantly waved an arm to the shogun.

"Do whatever you want. I better take my leave now, because my wife is probably waiting by the door with her kunai."

The shogun smiled. "Be safe, Sakata-san. Send my regards to your wife."

Gintoki did not foresee how maddening the ride would be.

He did not anticipate his two bodyguards to be complete lunatics - the most annoying duo to come together. The Yato girl with an orange hair hadn't stopped digging inside her nose while arrogantly staring at him. And he could not sleep either, because the boy with glasses has never stopped whistling this annoying tune that Gintoki swears was already stuck in his head.

'Warrior and swordsman my ass!' Gintoki thought. 'Did the shogun just play a prank on me?!'

"Kagura-chan, you should probably stop picking your nose. Our client doesn't seem comfortable here," the boy said, stopping for once, in his unwelcome performance.

Kagura flicked the booger with the expertise of someone who does it regularly. She looked like a human, except for her pale white skin and intense blue eyes. "It's your singing that's bothering him, Pachi. Your obsession with that enka singer not only damaged your brain but your vocal chords as well. What's her name again? Katsu?"

"Otsu! All you think about is food! And what's your problem with her, huh?! Her new song deserves to be heard by everyone!"

"With how you're singing it you're giving her a bad rep."

"Like you can sing any better!"

"Of course, I can!" Kagura cleared her throat, began to sing to prove her point, or failed - because as soon as the first note came out of her mouth, Gintoki snapped.

"Can you cut it off?! Are you supposed to protect me or drive me insane?!" The silver-haired samurai yelled. He was sure that his voice was loud enough for the coachman to hear him outside. Gintoki pointed at the girl. "You! Kagura, right?! What's up with that nasty attitude? Didn't your mommy teach you manners?!"

"Mommy is dead and pappy isn't around much," Kagura responded.

Gintoki proceeded to point at the boy to his left. "And you, four-eyes! Carry yourself like a proper samurai damn it! And your singing sucks ass so don't ever sing again!"

"You're not being a proper samurai yourself with those insults! And my name is Shinpachi!" the boy shouted back. He fixed his glasses, and leaned back on his seat. "Anyway, we are really sorry, Shiroyasha-san. We'll be more behaved from now on," he said, which the silver-haired samurai reluctantly accepted, noting - "Kids."

"Fine. And Gin-san will do, because 'Shiroyasha' is a bit - "

He was cut-off in mid-sentence when his senses alerted him to something dangerous. It was only a split-second before an arrow pierced the wall beside him. The carriage came to a sudden halt, and he heard the horses outside neigh loudly in distress. Then, the coachman screamed, "We're under attack!"

Gintoki quickly reached for his sword, berating himself for not noticing the enemies sooner, when he felt hands on top of his. When he looked up, he saw the two kids grinning at him.

"Wha - " 'What the hell are you doing?!'

"Rest easy, Gin-san! It's our job to protect you!" Shinpachi said.

"Just keep hiding here, perm-head!" Kagura yelled.

In a split second, both of them were already out of the carriage.

a/n: Writing Gintoki will never be complete without Kagura and Shinpachi. Those two are so loveable. The shogun is, too, and in another timeline, I think that he would have been a good friend to Gin.

Reviews, story favs/follows are my bread and butter. Please leave them if you can! See you in the next chap.

*To Alia: Thank you for the kind words! I aspire to write better each time and I hope that you will continue to enjoy this story!