"I didn't need ya help." Tsukuyo tersely insisted with a scowl, watching Gintoki wrap a bandage around the flesh wound on her arm after he had sewn it up with a surprising amount of proficiency. It wasn't a severe injury by her standards so it was a tad strange to see him treat her when he knew she was perfectly capable of handling herself. After all, she was the leader of the Hyakka.
"Oh please, you were about to be overrun. If it weren't for me you would've been on the losing end, and no one wants to be on that side." Gintoki reminded her.
He wasn't wrong. The Hyakka were not in a great spot during their standoff with the gangsters and likely would have lost if it wasn't for his intervention.
His eyes narrowed to a much more serious look as he looked her dead in the eyes. "You're awfully reckless for a leader. You gotta learn how to ask for help, it's no good keeping bad situations to yourself."
Tsukuyo said nothing, inhaling smoke from her pipe instead as she reflected on Gintoki's words. They were recuperating in Tsukuyo's room after what started out as an uneventful night patrol turned into one that almost overwhelmed Tsukuyo and her Hyakka squad. To think that it was Gintoki's first night and he had already rescued her group from a serious beating, singlehandedly too.
"Could've been a lot worse." Tsukuyo finally said as she softly blew out smoke.
"Yeah...could've been." He reluctantly agreed, slightly peeved that she remained stubborn in admitting her mistake. But she wasn't entirely wrong either, it indeed could have gone worse.
Gintoki slowly rose to his feet with an rather strained sigh and slid off the remaining yukata sleeve, resting it on his shoulder as he took a few steps forward towards the shoji door. "So how did I do for my first night, 'Kashira'?"
Tsukuyo looked up at Gintoki with slight discomfort. For some reason, it felt more natural for her to call him an equal rather than a subordinate.
"Don't call me that...Tsukki is fine." She said unusually timidly.
"Ha...Alright then Tsukki, how was my first night you think?" He asked in her direction.
"Ya did alright I suppose..." She murmured.
"Hm? I didn't catch that." Gintoki said with a shit eating grin much to Tsukuyo's annoyance.
"I said ya did ok." She said with more clarity. "Don't let it get to ya head though, that was only the first night.
Gintoki's grin softened up to a more gentle one. "I won't."
"And thanks..." She mumbled with a faint smile, quickly reverting back to her stoic frown when Gintoki made an audibly confused noise that almost caught her off guard.
"Huh? You say something?"
"It's nothing...G'night Gintoki."
"Oh...alright. See you in the morning Tsukki."
Gintoki sat in his room idly reading his fifth JUMP issue. He had lost track of the number of days that had passed since his 'induction' working with the Hyakka, but he was certain that a few weeks had passed since then. Life in Yoshiwara had begun to iron itself out. He felt more familiarised with the streets and the alleyways, which the patrols certainly helped him in memorising. Despite the risqué, dirty, adult-scented atmosphere, there was a quality about it that made it come alive like any other ordinary city above the surface. It wasn't just a red light district, but a home. One that he could be comfortable staying in. He didn't feel like an outsider or a freeloader anymore, but a family member. He hadn't felt this sentiment since his master saved his younger self from the desolate wastelands of corpse-laden fields, no longer resorting to feeding off the dead to scrape by.
Three knocks unexpectedly arrived at his door. "Who is it?"
"It's me, can I come in?" Said a familiar voice with a distinguishable accent.
"Huh? Uh yeah, sure thing. Watch the books though. Try not to knock them down." He politely warned.
"What?" She interjected with slight surprise.
"Never mind...you'll see."
Tsukuyo slid the door open and had to almost pick up her jaw off the floor for a moment. What laid in front of her were stacks of JUMP issues all around the room. And Gintoki was in the centre with his futon, one leg crossed over the other as he laid down.
"What the- why the hell do ya have so many of them in ya room!" She yelled.
Gintoki reluctantly looked away from his magazine with complete indifference. "You got a problem with that? Oh wait you've never been in my room before."
Tsukuyo carefully navigated around the giant stacks of paper to take a seat next to Gintoki. A thin trail of smoke emanating from her pipe followed her in. He was right, she'd never sat in his room before, so it was a shock to see it inundated with so many issues. And they were numerically in the correct order.
"Since when did ya start reading that?" She asked as she sat down.
"Just recently. They're a great time sink." He casually said, his eyes still glued to the pages.
Tsukuyo studied his stoic face as he continued reading, only just noticing that he was wearing...reading glasses?
"Ya never told me ya had glasses for reading." She pointed out.
"Yeah well...I like having them on." He bluntly explained.
"Oh right." She replied, still looking at his spectacled face. There was something about him that emanated an air of maturity now that he had the glasses on. She couldn't help but feel her body feel a little warm the longer she stared at him.
"You still staring at me?"
The question almost caused her to jolt as she exited her unintentional trance, blowing out smoke to keep calm. "Oh, no I wasn't...I was just thinking...that ya should keep the glasses. It uh...looks good on ya."
Gintoki didn't bat an eye as he turned the page. He eventually sat up with his legs crossed while Tsukuyo's eyes wondered around the room at the magazines before returning to Gintoki.
"So what brings you here exactly?" He asked as he turned another page.
"I just wanted to see what ya up to." She answered.
"Out of boredom?" He bluntly theorised.
"Something like that." She quickly finished.
"Hmph, since when did you start coming into people's rooms out of boredom?" He questioned with a hint of scepticism in his voice.
"Ugh, ya know what? Fine, I'll leave if ya don't want me-"
"Actually I'd prefer if you stay. It's been a little lonely not having anyone here lately."
Tsukuyo's disgust quickly faded once he made his request. He'd riled her up and dispelled her angry mood in an instant. It wasn't fair.
"Ya bastard Gintoki..." She mumbled with a faint smile.
"I know." He replied. "Feel free to take one of the issues for a read, just make sure you put them back where you found em."
Tsukuyo didn't answer, instead shuffling behind him and delicately wrapping her arms around his waist with a light blush on her face, something completely out of the ordinary for her standards.
Gintoki didn't seem to react to neither the smell of tobacco or the close physical contact, his eyes still glued on his issue, so she slowly dug her chin into his shoulder for some comfort, her eyes joining Gintoki's as he flipped another page. She couldn't help but stay stuck to his body. It felt...strangely comfortable, enough for her muscles to relax as she quietly let out a soft, content sigh.
"What are you doing...?" Gintoki lazily asked, finally breaking eye contact with his manga issue to look at Tsukuyo.
"Reading what ya reading, that's all." She awkwardly answered as she set her pipe down and gently blew out more smoke, trying to maintain eye contact with the pages as her face began to burn up from his stare. Gintoki lifted an eyebrow with suspicion, not amused by what she was doing, but he didn't object to it either.
"You have a funny way of sharing a book with people..." He said as he looked back to his issue.
"I..." She hesitated, catching her tongue before she could say something stupid and recollecting herself. After all, she didn't actually come in his room just to spend time with him, at least that's what she believed.
"I just wanted to know what ya reading." She finally answered. Gintoki reluctantly flipped back to the cover page to show her.
"It's Shonen JUMP, didn't ya see the front covers all over the place?" He rudely said as he returned to the page he was on
"So that's what it was...was only asking." She replied rather diminutively.
It didn't take long before Tsukuyo began to be a little more invested in the contents of the magazine as her smile slowly began to spread on her face. It also didn't help that her reading was punctuated by frequent glances at Gintoki's soft eyes and face as he read the pages. There was something about him that provided a great deal of comfort. Even her eyes began to droop a little bit after a little while. She hadn't even notice Gintoki's own smile staring back at her. For some reason, seeing her smile made his chest awfully light every time he saw it.
"You've been a lot more smiley lately." He pointed out, prompting her to quickly revert back to her cold blooded exterior.
"N-No I haven't..." She frowned, though the deep blush on her face indicated otherwise, which made Gintoki chuckle slightly.
"Yes you have. Hinowa and I caught you smiling when I made that strawberry cake for you all yesterday." Gintoki smirked. "You were totally enjoying it. And she pointed it out too."
"Ah-I only said that the cake was ok! Don't get ya hopes up!" She exclaimed.
"And your Hyakka ladies have been telling me that they keep seeing you like that when we're on-"
"T-they're just seeing things. They got the wrong impression, and so do you!" She replied in disbelief.
"Heh, if you say so I guess. Sheesh...such a tsundere..." He mumbled, which rewarded him with a flick to his cheek and a pout for his remark.
"I'm not a tsundere..." Tsukuyo scowled, to which Gintoki rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue at before continuing on with his reading.
"...what other genres are there?" She timidly asked much to his surprise.
"I know shōjo is a thing. It's the opposite of shonen, geared towards girls usually. I can get some for you if you like." He kindly offered.
"Um...that would be great." She quietly answered, much to Gintoki's pleasant surprise.
"You know, I never pegged you as the type to read." He happily admitted as he turned another page, glad that there was someone to share his reading interests with.
"Ya learn something new every day." She flatly declared, trying not to show her enthusiasm as she gently held him tighter.
Gintoki let out his own content sigh as he flipped another page with Tsukuyo sat right behind him. She remained clinging to his back for a good half an hour, her body beginning to lean into him more, as did her chin. Her already droopy eyes were slowly starting to drift off too, which greatly amused Gintoki once he looked over his shoulder. Fortunately for her, he wasn't interested in pranking her at a time like that.
"Hey...Gintoki?" She sleepily murmured.
"Hm? What is it?" He asked.
"Are ya going to the summer festival in a few days?" She asked.
"We have a festival to go to?" He said with a raised eyebrow. No one mentioned anything about a summer festival to him recently.
"Mm...Hinowa wants ya to come along." She answered.
"Oh right...I guess so. Probably have to dress up."
"Hehe...that's a nice idea. Could actually make an effort for once." She softly tittered.
"Pfft, I'll think about it." He concluded. "And you should think about going to bed."
Gintoki didn't get a response for that one, instead soft snoring on his shoulder. He turned his head slightly to see that she had indeed fallen asleep.
"Good grief...first tou put your arms around me and now you falls asleep...do you really not like me?" He jokingly contemplated with a faint blush and a sheepish smile on his face.
"Let's get you to bed huh? You're gonna give off the wrong impression if you stay in my room any longer."