NOTE:
Hello hehe ~ It's been a long time, hasn't it? Welcome to the 4th chapter of Stay with me!
I just wanted to say that I am really excited about writing this story and I hope with all my heart that you are enjoying it. To avoid future problems, this story is being written in both Brazilian Portuguese and English and posted in other sites such as: SpiritFanfic, NyahFanfiction, Fanfics Brazil, Quotev, Inkspired, Wattpad, Archive of Our Own and .
All the sites my user is Kayomii (on Wattpad it's Kayomiii) and all the links you can find on my profile. Feel free to check out some fanfics not posted here ~~
That's it. Good reading. :)
The sun's rays came through the window opening and hit the albino directly in the eyes, along with the sound of several voices outside. He opened his eyes slowly, taking as his first sight a woody ceiling different from the casual one in his house, noticing that last night was not a dream, everything was real. After some light thinking, he widened his eyes and stood up quickly, realizing that he was already very late for his 'service' as a handyman. His first sight was of the blonde woman wearing her trusty pink yukata with a brown obi as she took the towel out of her hair to comb it to prepare for another day of work with Hyakka.
"Finally awake, Princess Aurora?" - The same one said.
"Shut up." - I said sulkily. - "What time is it?"
"10:30."
"10:30?!" - He shouted. - "Why didn't you wake me up?"
"You were in such a deep sleep; I didn't want to disturb you."
"Oh shit, Shinpachi and Kagura are going to kill me."
"I'll be right over to prepare the flowers for your funeral." - She ironized.
"Goofball!" - He gave a sigh. - "I'd better go soon." - Stood up and put on his clothes before walking toward the exit.
"Gintoki, wait."
"Say it."
"..."
"...?" - He raised his eyebrow showing a confused look.
"... You should eat breakfast before you leave."
"I won't be able to stay today. Next time I'll come with a longer one."
"Hum... Right..." - She looked away and just held up the sleeve of her yukata. - "Thanks for the evening." - He stared at her more relaxed, as if relieved to hear about it.
"I thank you."
"I wanted to ask you..."
"What?"
"You could..."
"... If I could...?"
"Come here... more often?"
"Of course, I can." - He gave a slight smile.
"So, mean..." - She faced him as well with a slight smile. - "Starting tonight, I'll be waiting for you to knock on my door at midnight."
"Exactly!" - After a nod, he left quietly so as not to be seen by acquaintances; it seemed he had committed a crime and needed to leave as soon as possible without leaving evidence of his existence.
After a long romantic evening, he felt much lighter, as if the weight on his shoulders was gone, and consequently he felt more energized. It had been a long time since the samurai had felt this way, and it was even strange. For her, her feelings were confused, but in a positive way: Was it good? Very good, it was as if her body developed a certain need to want to see him again and repeat the night, where every time she thought of him, her heart palpitated a little stronger, concluding that this was the love thing; as much as she hated to admit it, it was true and she couldn't change that fact.
During the past night She had wondered if she should take up a relationship with him: would it hinder her performance at work? Would it be bad if someone found out? And if something else happened, an unexpected pregnancy for example, what would it be like? Would he take over? She wasn't sure, but she didn't care about the answer either.
-X-
He returned as quickly as possible to Yorozuya. He infiltrated the deserted apartment in order not to be seen by the members, arriving to walk softly towards the office-room, but his path was interrupted when I was pulled by my hair in a rude way.
"Ouch!"
"We found you~!" - Said the pair who shared an angry look joined with a negative energy.
"Where were you, you bastard?" - Said the redheaded girl grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.
"We had to do the job completely by ourselves! It was hard, you know?"- Said the one with glasses.
"I-I can explain myself..."
"You better have a great reason!" - Said the Chinese woman again releasing him against the wall.
"Well... It's... Hum..." - He hadn't thought of anything to justify his night, he just spoke the first thing that came into his mind. - "It's just that I slept in a garbage can after drinking too much, you know? Haha."
"Nobody smells like rose perfumes after sleeping in a garbage can." - Said the boy.
"Ah... Haha." - He replied with a dull laugh. That damn perfume clogged his clothes with its strong smell, almost revealing about the night. - "Well... I'd say... Hum... I went for a walk and was a bit late."
"A little?!" - They both questioned.
"It's... it's... a little too much I'd say..." - He looked away and scratched the back of his head. - "But have you guys turned into my fucking mother now?"
"You disappeared last night and came back only now, Gin-san... We were worried." - Said the bespectacled samurai.
"Tsc... You guys are boring huh?" - He sighed. - "It's no big deal!"
"Are you sure?"
"Absolute."
"Hum... Right."
"If it was no big deal, you could tell us." - Said the redhead.
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because I don't want to."
"But why?"
"I just don't want to."
"Kagura-chan, you'd better forget about that... He won't talk" - The bespectacled teenager spoke again.
"Grr, okay."
The group went back to its do-nothing routine. The day consisted of two small jobs that guaranteed money for the week's food and a half-long getaway to avoid paying rent. The jobs ranged from taking care of a convenience store to the level of hunting down an amanto monster that looked like a mixture of moose antlers and wolf face for the idiot prince-, I mean, Prince Hata.
They finished before the sun even began to set; even though they were tired, they decided to walk around a bit before returning home, passing the cabaret where Otae worked to get a free drink and a quick stroll around the park that Kagura loved so much to go to. Shinpachi returned to his home and the remaining two went straight to the Yorozuya, where Kagura was taking a shower and Gintoki was preparing dinner.
As she finished her shower, Kagura noticed a rather iconic scene: as the smell of dinner wafted through the room, she could see him more animatedly picking up some ingredients for the meal and humming some generic song he had heard on the convenience store radio during his workday. She didn't question him, just pretended not to understand and went into the living room to watch TV until she was called to dinner.
As soon as he was ready, Gintoki went to take a shower without even eating dinner. What caught the redhead's attention was not the fact that he hadn't eaten, but because he didn't wear his green pajamas, but rather his casual clothes indicating that he was going out that night.
"Are you going out?" - She questioned him.
"I will."
"Where to?"
"I'm going to take a walk around."
"Make sure you're not late again, you bastard. We have a job tomorrow."
"Right, right..." - He scratched the back of his head.
"You made too little food, why? I can barely eat it myself."
"I won't be going to dinner tonight... The good thing there's more left tomorrow."
"Since when do you care about 'tomorrow's' food, you idiot?!"
"Go figure."
"Tsc... Don't be long."
"Okay, see you soon." - He nodded, put on his boots, and walked off toward Yoshiwara.
"Humph..." - He took the chopstick and started eating his famous rice and eggs while watching the news that was on TV.
He walked towards Yoshiwara, passing the whole of Kabukicho, where he stopped to buy some chocolates to give her as a present even though there was no reason to give her anything, but the need to see her happy spoke louder. He really was blindly in love with that woman, not for her body, but for who she was, and as strange as it sounded, he accepted it with ease.
He had set aside the money for the pachinko, but ended up using the little he had as payment. Would it be worth it? He didn't know, because he didn't know her well enough to know exactly her tastes and her limits for sugar (unlike him, anything with sugar made him very happy).
-X-
Midnight came on the dot, and the kunoichi was already waiting for him. Although the two already knew each other well enough to go to bed, shyness consumed them, preventing them from having a conversation like two normal adults. It was a kind of loop, in which they always acted as if they were seeing each other for the first time, but remembered the night before. The silver samurai cleared his throat and began a short dialogue.
"I thought I was supposed to knock on your door." - He ironized.
"Idiot, that way you would wake up Hinowa."
"So, you have people there...? It looks like we'll have to do everything in absolute silence."
"Yeah..." - They both let out a small laugh.
"By the way..." - He was extremely flushed, avoiding eye contact as he held out the bag with the chocolates in front of him. "I brought this for you..."
"Oh, thank you." - She opened the package staring at the chocolates. Noticing the gift, sketched a slight smile, for she knew that this was from the heart no matter how simple it was. - "Why, you didn't have to."
"Of course, I needed it!"
"So, here's my thanks..." - She pulled him close, allowing her to hug him and give him a kiss to thank him.
They entered the room to begin their long evening. At first, they started with small talks sitting near a small table with candlelight drinks, while one drank a few sips of sake the other ate the chocolates before starting to tease her in a sensual way and making the samurai fall like a duckling at her provocations, pulling her closer and kissing her in a 'hotter' way.
The first night after the promise was all about small talk and a lot of love with drinks, and that shyness mentioned earlier had completely disappeared along with the butterflies in their stomachs; when they are within four walls the atmosphere and their personalities change.
-X-
Again, he woke up with the rays of light coming through the window and hitting the samurai's crimson-red eyes, but this time it was different, and amazingly, he woke up early. It was so early that she wasn't even awake yet. The blonde was lying on his chest, appearing to be hugging him.
He tried to get up with small movements without waking her, but failed miserably; She awoke with a swollen face and her blond hair in disarray, along with a sleepy look and voice. To him this was cute, as it was the first time, he had seen her more relaxed, totally the opposite of the casual Tsukuyo.
"But are you already going?" - She questioned him getting up off of it and scratching her eyes.
"Yes. Yesterday the children almost killed me." - She laughed at him before resuming speech.
"I see... I guess I have no way to stop him again, do I?"
"Exactly..." - He got up. "I'll be back later."
"I'll be waiting for you."
"Then prepare many bottles of sake today."
"I'll leave them separate." - She smiled as she watched him put on his clothes.
He left her alone again. A quick stretch was enough for her to get up and start her day: She took her morning shower, moisturized her skin and put on her black yukata with autumn leaves.
For the kunoichi the day consisted of small jobs with Hyakka, in which she caught some suspected thieves and 'clients' who crossed the line with the courtesans. This was happening with such frequency that it made her worry, it seemed that Yoshiwara's "laws" no longer meant anything and that Hyakka was not keeping track of them. She realized that it was past time to invest more in security and suggested to Hinowa that she start recruiting for a new squad.
At Yorozuya, Gintoki had arrived before Shinpachi and woke up Kagura, where he prepared a quick breakfast meal while the redhead went to get ready to eat. The only job they had was to uncover a supposed betrayal by taking a picture of the 'husband' with his mistress. It was not difficult, they finished before lunchtime, allowing the group to spend the whole afternoon idle. The week's money made it possible for one of the rent arrears to be paid.
The year had barely started and they already had several jobs for the week, which made them excited. They arrived at the Yorozuya, at which Shinpachi began to prepare lunch, while Gintoki went to read his Jump and Kagura lay on the couch to watch a little TV while waiting for the food. The phone rang and was quickly answered by the albino; a quick conversation without much detail. As soon as he put the phone on the hook, the questioning began.
"Who was it, Gin-san?" - Said the bespectacled samurai.
"A service... For the 7th."
"Oh? But we already had a service scheduled with the burger joint."
"Listen Patsuan, we could make a lot of profit if we did both services together..." - He leaned on him shoulder. – "Just think how much money we'll get this week."
"But what kind of service would that be?"
"I'm not sure, but it seems to be an afternoon delivery service... And the customer agreed to the value."
"So, you will do this service and we would stay at the burger joint?"
"Exactly! It will probably be quick, so I'll be back soon."
"That being the case, I don't see a problem with it."
The evening came and Gintoki's routine repeated itself: After Shinpachi said goodbye and returned home, Kagura went to take her shower while the albino prepared dinner for her, adding some new spices and vegetables for the redhead to eat something a little 'different' from her casual egg and rice. He served her dinner and went to take her shower, her clothes attracted Kagura's attention again.
"Are you going out again?"
"I will."
"Ah... Right."
She was dumbed down. She had been dining alone for several nights and when the loneliness hit, she didn't know how to express it; it was like a feeling of abandonment by him and a slight sadness with a hint of jealousy. The redhead pretended not to care about this, because it was normal for him to go out in the early hours of the morning, but in the old days he would wait for her to go to sleep so that he could escape to some bar, get drunk and finally get home and then sleep on the doorstep. Only this time he didn't come back drunk and didn't spend money, he came in smelling damningly of rose perfume and more animated than usual.
'That's annoying.' - She thought.
-X-
Without further ado he arrived at Yoshiwara. She was already waiting for him at the window and left when she saw him arrive wearing a beautiful short yukata, different from the traditional one: It was black with some red roses scattered through the fabric, with gold stripes and it was also possible to see that she was wearing a garter belt on her left leg.
"Since when did you get so... Bold?" - He joked.
"Shut up and come on."
The night repeated itself as the previous one: many conversations, sex, and drinks. The two were no longer the same as before, They were going so deep that neither of them knew what relationship they had with each other anymore. Colleagues? Good friends? Mere bed partners? Well, maybe they are long past that stage.
FINAL NOTES:
Hey, thanks for reading this far!
I wanted to apologize for the delay in posting this chapter, as I had to take a few days off to solve some problems and it ended up messing up my plans around here. :P
Questions and such, I'll be around ~~
Kisses o/