Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A sudden crash caused the whole ship to shake. Some of Kiheitai's crew rushed to where the collision had occurred to assess the damage.

We are in space. In space. Who's the idiot who managed to run into us even though we're in the middle of nowhere? Matako headed in that direction, more annoyed by the new hassle than worried about a possible attack. They weren't carrying anything of value and it wasn't a dangerous area anyway, plus she had left her commander asleep in his room on the opposite side of the ship. There was no risk. For some reason, the situation felt familiar. As if it were something that had happened many times before and to which she had become accustomed despite herself.

When she arrived at the crash site, any fears she might still have had disappeared like snow in the sun. The bow of a ship she knew all too well had broken through part of their side, simultaneously acting as a plug and preventing the oxygen and crew from being sucked out. Matako didn't even have the time to get angry when what looked like a sack of potatoes was thrown violently at her feet.

"Sorry, we lost sight of the captain for five minutes and he made it to the navigation bridge," Mutsu justified herself as she calmly approached and gestured with her head at Sakamoto still on the ground.

Oh... it wasn't a sack of potatoes...

"Of course we'll take care of the repairs," the yato concluded with her usual neutral expression. Matako nodded not at all surprised; after all, they'd been playing that little game for ten years. For ten years, at more or less regular intervals, the noisy guy would board them, roll in, and, after vomiting in various spots on their ship, go and harass the captain while his crew repaired the damage. The first time it had happened, the Kiheitai had prepared to fight the unknown invader, but their commander seemed to be just extremely exasperated by the guy who kept laughing and talking in an overly friendly and loud manner, heedless of the dozens of blades pointed in his direction. Subsequently, the scene had repeated itself countless of times over the past decade and more. In spite of the threats, the merchant had continued to laugh and come back, convinced that those were just empty threats. Since the commander had not yet killed him or hurled him into space, Matako deduced that the merchant had had a point. There was no point in protesting or asking too many questions when those people were involved, and she had some ideas why the loud, eccentric guy had decided to destroy their ship this time. Takechi, who was standing nearby, didn't look surprised either and kept his eyes glued to the Kaientai's captain.

Sakamoto stood up and adjusted the collar of his jacket, then tried to wipe off the dust with a few quick movements. He looked around, pretending not to notice the suspicion in the eyes of those present, threw up a few inches from Matako's shoes, who jumped back half a metre, and burst out laughing.

"We've done some damage, eh Mutsu?"

"You have done some damage, you mean," she replied without missing a beat.

Tatsuma laughed again. "It's no big deal. No big deal at all! We'll fix your ship in no time! Mutsu, you'll take care of it, won't you?" the man completely ignored his second in command's murderous and exasperated glare, put an arm around Matako's shoulders and dragged her away.

"So! Where's the little monster? Bakasugiiii!" shouted Sakamoto at the top of his lungs as he continued to drag Matako around the ship, like he was in charge.

The girl turned around in search of Takechi, but the Kiheitai strategist was deliberately ignoring her. "Stop yelling!" hissed the gunwoman. "Stop screaming like a lunatic and I'll take you to him."

Sakamoto gave her a satisfied look. "Please, lead the way."

They walked in silence for a few minutes. Matako found herself thinking that then the man was capable of silence every now and then, and then she began to worry. Why was he quiet? And why had he shown up alone? The girl had long expected such a visit, but she thought all three of Shinsuke-sama's old comrades would arrive.

"Sakamoto-dono, you are strangely silent," Takechi intervened out of the blue. Matako gasped, not having noticed that he had followed them. "That's odd of you, one could almost think you were up to something."

The merchant laughed faintly, it seemed the strategist's presence hadn't caught him off guard at all. "Why, how untrusting! I am simply doing what I was asked to do by this young lady! I was told not to be noisy."

"Oh I see, you're being a good guest. Then I apologise for my suspicions," Takechi replied without lowering his eyes. Sakamoto's expression didn't betray any kind of discomfort, as usual he simply seemed at ease in any kind of situation.

"He's here."

The man didn't wait for the other two to precede him and walked briskly into the room that had been Takasugi's during his previous life. Sakamoto didn't look around, he headed straight for the cot in the middle and looked inside. As he had expected, the purple-haired child was about a month old. According to Gintoki's accounts of Shōyō's rapid growth, this meant that the child had appeared only recently and the Kiheitai had been able to track him down soon after his appearance.

Or perhaps it would have been better to say reappearance.

Tracking them down and keeping an eye on them had been easier than expected. Now came the hard part.

"Be careful," hissed Matako. "He just fell asleep."

Sakamoto smiled and nodded bringing a finger to his own lips.

"So what are your intentions, Sakamoto-dono?" Takechi had long since gotten a clear idea of his commander's friends, and he didn't believe at all that the merchant was there for a simple courtesy visit. Especially since he had showed up alone. "Or should we take a guess?"

"Oh I mean... you can't visit old friends anymore?" the other asked jovially. Receiving no reply, however, his expression changed. He was still smiling, but the firmness in his gaze made the two Kiheitai members realize that their doubts were more than well-founded. "I guess not," Sakamoto concluded, resting a hand on one of the sides of the cot. Matako moved slightly in his direction, but Takechi stopped her by grabbing a flap of her sleeve.

A wail interrupted the exchange between the three.

"Oh but we've woken up," commented the merchant, again in a cheerful and amused tone. "Hello, Shinsuke, long time no see. Do you remember me?" he asked taking the child in his arms who smiled at him reflexively. "Mh... It's probably still a bit too early for that, isn't it? Gintoki said that Shōyō didn't remember anything at first... it doesn't matter, you'll remember sooner or later. Well, let's go," he concluded as he headed towards the exit laughing, with the baby still in his arms.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" squealed Matako as she saw him run off into the hallway. Sakamoto laughed uproariously and quickened his pace. "Stop! Get back here right now!" the gunwoman shouted, launching herself in pursuit as the man began to run in the direction of his crew, laughing louder and louder. He quickly reached the spot where his ship had run aground and ran past Mutsu, who was not at all surprised by the little show. For a moment she had thought to ask what was going on, but then she had noticed what- who her captain was holding in his arms and the blonde-haired girl at his heels shouting "Shinsuke-sama!" at the top of her lungs.

Sakamoto wasn't paying her enough.

The two had finally stopped and Mutsu could distinctly hear Matako's screams. She was very surprised when she saw the captain return the child to the girl. As she approached, she was able to hear only the last part of what he was saying to Matako. "...joking of course. I think Zura and Kintoki would really like to see him though," he sighed listlessly and ruffled his hair with one hand. "Oh well, I'll have to drag those two with me next time. I suppose you won't mind if we break in here more often?" the sentence sounded completely innocent, but Matako couldn't help but perceive it as a veiled threat. Sakamoto took a few steps towards Mutsu, while Takasugi was beginning to look restless. "Surely it will help him regain his memory, after all those three grew up together and we've known each other for a long time too. Well, Mutsu," he then said abruptly changing the subject and turning to her, "are we ready? Can we leave?"

The yato nodded and the man took his leave noisily from everyone present, then began preparations to get back aboard the Kairinmaru.

"Wait," Sakamoto paused, his expression betraying no surprise or impatience whatsoever. Matako shifted her gaze from him to the grumbling, fidgeting child. He shouldn't have been able to recognize the merchant, and yet, while the man had him in his arms, the little one hadn't protested once... was he right? "All right," said Matako annoyed. "Take him."

For a split second, she thought she saw a smirk and a sly expression on the man's face, but a moment later it was gone, leaving room for his usual dumb grin. Matako felt her irritation growing again - she had been fooled like an newbie! She was sure, however, that the Kaientai captain's surrender was only a farce. He would have found other ways to get what he wanted... after all, only a few minutes before he had burst through the side of their ship... completely accidentally, of course. It hadn't been a warning. Not at all. Besides, if she had to be completely honest, she thought leaving Takasugi with his old friends was the right decision, too. She turned and saw Takechi, who had arrived only moments before, nodding silently.

Sakamoto picked up the child, who stopped grumbling. "I will take him to Earth, to Kintoki and Zura. Surely they won't object if you go to visit him."

The Kiheitai members stood by and watched as their bizarre guests left, taking their swaddled commander with them.

"You actually made it," commented Mutsu once they were on their ship again.

"Did you have doubts?" the captain asked her in amusement, not looking away from the baby he was holding in his arms, as if deep down even he couldn't really believe that he had managed to find him and was taking him back to their friends.

"No, not really," she admitted, her tone slightly less harsh than normal. "But was it really necessary to sabotage their ship's control panel?"

Sakamoto laughed and did not reply. He was sure he'd somehow manage to get Takasugi the easy way, but having a Plan B in certain cases was always a good precaution.

Chapter Text

The Yorozuya had just fallen asleep on the couch with a copy of Jump on his face, when a loud crash woke him up. He looked out just in time to see Otose railing at someone who had just emerged from a crashed ship a few metres away from the bar. The deafening laughter that followed was answer enough to Gintoki's unspoken question of who the hell had made all that noise. The man in the sunglasses hurried up the stairs and waved enthusiastically.

"Kintoki! I have great news!"

"I told you that's not my name," grumbled his friend as he re-entered the house, immediately followed by Sakamoto. When he turned back, he noticed that the bundle in his arms was moving, a child's arm popped out of the blanket. Gintoki's eyes widened.

"Oi, Tatsuma..." he immediately asked with a mocking expression. "What have you done? You really messed up this time. Who's the poor fool? Am I going to have my house invaded by pissed off aliens who want to skin you?" Sakamoto laughed. "Oi... it's not Mutsu's, is it? Mutsu's not about to come and kill us both, is she? I already have a yato in my house."

"Shut up! Mutsu had nothing to do with it, I didn't do anything. You're going to keep this one," the merchant replied, dumping the baby in his arms with an enigmatic smile.

"Are you out of your mind? I don't want your son. I've already raised two teenagers, I don't want this br-" he glanced at the little one and his voice died in his throat. It wasn't possible.

"I told you he's not my son. I did no such thing," laughed his friend, seeing Gintoki's shocked look.

The Yorozuya stood staring at the child, incredulous. It was not possible. He had seen him die in his arms after the fight with Utsuro, yet the child he was looking at at that moment had the same purple hair and green eyes as Takasugi. And Sakamoto wouldn't have simply barged in with a child so painfully similar to their friend if he hadn't been sure that-

It was true.

What Takechi had told Zura... what Sakamoto had written in his letter... it was all true. When he had read that letter, he had felt relieved, but only now did he realize that he hadn't really believed it. It had seemed too unreal to him. After all he and his friends had been through, after all they had lost, it would have hurt too much to hope. But Takasugi was alive. Shōyō had managed to save him.

Gintoki swallowed with difficulty the lump that had formed in his throat and tightened his grip on the child, his hands trembling slightly. He tried to clear his throat and blinked rapidly a couple of times, feeling his eyes dampen. Sakamoto smiled and put an arm around his shoulders, pretending not to notice his friend's damp eyes and sudden emotion. "Even I had a hard time believing it at first, but I can assure you that it's really him," he said in a satisfied tone. "As soon as the Kiheitai found him, I tracked them down and brought him here. He should be about a month old now and he appeared a couple of days ago, I think... at this rate I think he'll be a year old within a month." Gintoki nodded, still visibly shaken.

Suddenly someone rushed inside the flat, startling the two men.

"Tatsuma! What's going on? I got your message telling me to come to Gintoki's right away for an urgent matter!" Katsura looked around and quickly examined his surroundings. His gaze landed on the baby in Gintoki's arms and the worried expression soon gave way to surprise. Katsura widened his eyes.

"You really did it..." he murmured as he approached a few more steps, his eyes glued to the little one. "I have to admit I didn't think it was possible, instead you found him..." his voice trembled slightly and died in his throat. Sakamoto nodded again, continuing to smile. He understood well his friends' emotion. Only once he had realised that the Kiheitai would not follow them, he had been fully hit by the awareness that Shinsuke was alive, as if he had not really believed it until that moment. Irrationally terrified that he might disappear at any moment, Sakamoto had been unable to put him down for most of the journey, even though more than one person had offered to relieve him of that task for at least five minutes.

"Wait," Gintoki lifted his head and turned an accusing glance at Sakamoto still beside him, who abruptly awoke from his thoughts. "You said it was the Kiheitai who found him... are you telling me that that old perv and the psycho fangirl who did nothing but shout 'Shinsuke-sama' from the Beninzakura arc onwards let you take their commander away?"

"I'm very good at negotiating, it's my job," Tatsuma laughed noisily.

"You kidnapped him, didn't you?" Katsura asked point blank.

"Tatsuma! We've recently renovated! If I get invaded by the Kiheitai, you'll have to reimburse me!"

Sakamoto was not at all impressed by his friend's shouting. "I didn't kidnap anyone."

"If they don't know you took him, that's kidnapping," Katsura pointed out.

"They know I took him."

"If they didn't agree, it's kidnapping," Gintoki chimed in.

"They agreed! Don't worry, everything is under control. Worst case scenario, they'll visit us from time to time," laughed the man, amused by his two friends' distrust. "We agreed it was best for him to stay with us, as we've known him for a long time and he'll have to get his memories back. When I left we were all still in agreement. Just in case though, I sabotaged their control panel, so even if they have second thoughts it will take them a while to catch up with us."

Gintoki sighed in exasperation, but he didn't have time to answer when the pocket version of Takasugi began to emanate an unmistakable smell. Gin grabbed the boy under his armpits and pulled him as far away from him as he could, holding his arms out and dropping the blanket he was swaddled in. The other two men also took a step back, wrinkling their noses.

"Alright, Kintoki. So we said you're on it, right?"

"Me? Why me?" the samurai asked scandalized.

"Well I've got the Kaientai, you know... business... I certainly can't take such a small child with me."

His friend gave him an eloquent look, not buying his bullshit. "That doesn't stop you from changing him now," he commented, moving the child in his direction. Sakamoto withdrew his arms and waved his hands. "No, no, no! I've never done that sort of things, Kintoki. I'd definitely mess it up. I'm going to go buy some nappies, alright?" he didn't even wait for an answer and bolted out of the flat.

Gintoki turned to Katsura and dropped the baby in his arms. He in turn stretched out his arms to keep Takasugi at a distance. "Why should I do it?"

"You're the bomb expert. Defuse it."

"This isn't a bomb, it's a bacteriological weapon. The mangaka has clearly decided that you're the expert of that, remember Be Forever Yorozuya?" Katsura asked trying to hand the kid back to Gintoki like he was a stinky ball.

"What are you talking about? The events in that movie never happened because I went back in time."

In the middle of their back-and-forth, Shinpachi walked in and watched them for a few seconds. The scene was absurd: two grown men were holding a baby above their heads.

"Where did that child come from? And why are you holding him as if he were Simba?"

The two men gave each other a complicit look, Katsura let go and Gintoki rushed towards Shinpachi, the baby stretched out towards him. "Shinpachiiiiii, can you do us a favour?"

The young man smelled the stench coming from the child and wrinkled his nose. "Oh no, you can forget about it. I don't know where you found that child, but I have no intention of taking care of him. It's your problem."

"But he stinks," Gintoki protested.

Shinpachi sighed in exasperation. "How many times have I told you not to accept babysitting jobs for such small children? It always ends up like this. You're on your own this time."

The samurai looked away in embarrassment and pulled the child back close to him, holding him against his chest with one arm. He ran his free hand over the back of his own head, unsure how to introduce the subject. What would Shinpachi's reaction be? "It's not a job," he said reluctantly at one point, without meeting the other's eyes.

The friend looked at him worriedly. "What do you mean? What have you done?"

"Why do you immediately assume the worst? I haven't done anything, I'm not that irresponsible and- Zura, I can see you! Don't try to run away!" too late. The man had already escaped from the flat, shouting: "I'm not Zura, I'm the delivery man!" From the street he added: "I'll buy food and clothes for the child!" and disappeared.

The two remaining men looked at each other for a moment, puzzled, then Shinpachi focused on Gintoki again. "So if you're not babysitting and it's not a mess you've made, where does he come from?"

Gintoki hesitated, making his friend even more curious as he didn't understand what was wrong with him. Had he really gotten someone pregnant despite what he had just said? After all, he had been travelling for two years, they didn't know everything he had done... or who.

In the meantime, the child seemed to be very interested in the light reflecting off the lenses of Shinpachi's glasses, who had bent over to get a better look at him. Takasugi took advantage of the man's moment of distraction to grab one of the spectacles stems and steal them from Shinpachi. He looked at the light games on the lenses with wide eyes and played with the stems, amazed by the fact that they could bend.

"No, no! Stop," Shinpachi pleaded, already imagining his poor glasses being destroyed. "I need these, will you give them back, please?" he began to gently open the child's hand and finally managed to get them back. Unfortunately, the little one wasn't at all thrilled about it and he began to complain loudly, but Shinpachi was quick to grab a keychain with colourful jingling pendants and wiggle it in front of his face. That seemed to be enough, and Takasugi allowed himself to be distracted by the colours and sounds. Having avoided the tantrum, Shinpachi turned to Gintoki again.

"Well? What could be so terrible? Who is this child?" he insisted even as a suspicion was beginning to build in his mind. But that wasn't possible, was it? Of course, absurd things had happened in recent years, but this...

"Takasugi," his friend finally replied, peering at him out of the corner of his eye.

The boy with glasses froze, stopping dangling the keychain and staring at Gintoki. "Excuse me?" Had he understood correctly? "Takasugi... you mean that Takasugi?" unlike what he had just thought, he couldn't help but feel shocked.

"It's not like I know many others," mumbled the samurai who was studying the other's reaction.

"What does that mean?" asked the puzzled boy. After all, he remembered that the Kiheitai commander had died at the end of the war and was definitely an adult. How was it possible that that child was the same person?

Gintoki ruffled his own hair with one hand and gave him a brief summary of what had happened with Shōyō during the two years he had travelled on his own, explaining how the altana worked and how he, Katsura and Sakamoto thought that with his last gesture Shōyō had saved them all, including Takasugi.

Shinpachi nodded, strangely calm. "Well... we did survive a very violent explosion..." he paused. "So he will grow at an accelerated rate, is that right?"

"That's right, roughly a year each month.... Sakamoto thinks it's about a month old now, but I wouldn't be surprised if he got the maths wrong because he's lost track of time."

They were silent for a moment, then Shinpachi sighed. "You couldn't get someone pregnant like everyone else does when they have a midlife crisis, could you?"

"Hey! Who did you call middle-aged?!"

"Anyway, all the more reason: your friend, your responsibility," Shinpachi said, pulling the keychain away from Takasugi just in time to keep him from putting the keys in his mouth. "But first," he grabbed a camera and took a picture of them both with a wicked grin, "life insurance. When he's an adult again, he'll definitely try to kill you because you'll have done all sorts of things to him. This is to show him that it was literally you who left him in deep shit and that I am innocent.”

Gintoki gave him a strange look; he couldn't seem to decide whether to be astonished by Shinpachi's calm reaction, betrayed by the photo or relieved by the reply. He didn't have time to figure it out because they were interrupted by Kagura.

"What are you two doing?" the girl asked as she suddenly entered the living room, having just returned from a walk with Sadaharu. "There's a crashed spaceship outside, is your noisy friend here? And where did that child come from?" she asked without pausing. Gintoki stiffened again. Just because Shinpachi had seemed to take it well, that didn't mean Kagura would.

"It's Takasugi-san. Shōyō-sensei brought him back to life with the altana before he died. He's going to stay here," Shinpachi cut short, getting Gin off the hook seeing him getting uncomfortable again. Kagura was puzzled for a moment, then launched into a million questions. At the end of the explanation she replied with a simple "oh... okay" that promised another questioning as soon as she had processed all the answers she had received. Shinpachi pointed at the child who was starting to show signs of discomfort. "Gin-san, you'd better really change him or he'll start screaming soon. We don't have any nappies, but at least wash him while you wait for Sakamoto-san to come back."

The samurai nodded and walked towards the bathroom, but stopped after a few steps and gave the two a questioning look. "Shinpachi... you said he'll stay here..." Gintoki said, finally processing Shinpachi's words who looked at him confused.

"Isn't that what you wanted to ask us?"

"Yes, but... are you sure you're okay with it?"

Kagura and Shinpachi exchanged a surprised look. "So that was the problem?" asked the boy. "If he stayed with the Kiheitai, he would develop an even more disproportionate ego than the original one. Sakamoto-san could very well lose him on some unknown planet light years away, and right now he doesn't seem self-sufficient. Katsura-san is running around with an alien man disguised as a duck, and he gets a bit too much trigger happy around bombs. I don't know about you, but given Takasugi-san's track record, I'd avoid it," the boy enumerated. "You don't have to ask our permission, Gin-san. We understand. Really," he was silent for a moment, then his lips parted in a mocking smile. "Well I do at least..."

Kagura gave him a sideways look. "What's that supposed to mean? I've understood perfectly."

"Oh really? So you also understood that you're no longer the youngest of the house and therefore you're no longer entitled to the largest portion" the girl froze at those words and gave a shocked look to Gintoki, then to the child. "Gin-chaaaaaan," whined the yato, as the man burst out laughing and headed for the bathroom, visibly relieved.

Kagura and Shinpachi exchanged a complicit look and smiled. They understood why Gintoki had had qualms about telling them, but despite the negative experiences they had had with the Kiheitai commander, they had become allies in the end. They were also aware that the bond between the four samurai went back a long way before that. If they had settled their differences, that was enough. They both still clearly remembered Gintoki's grief at the death of his friend after the battle with Utsuro, so to ask him to entrust him to Sakamoto or Katsura, or even to send him back to the Kiheitai, would just be cruel.

A series of cussing and disgusted cries came out of the bathroom.

Besides, watching those three idiots deal with such a small child promised to be a lot of fun.

Chapter Text

A week. Shinpachi and Kagura had managed to get through a week without being involved. That first week had turned out to be chaotic to say the least.

Katsura and Sakamoto were now regular guests, only leaving at night, delegating their duties to Mutsu and Elizabeth. As much as Shinpachi and Kagura recognised Mutsu's abilities and weren't at all worried about her leading the Kaientai, in fact the fleet was probably much safer with her than with Sakamoto, they couldn't say the same for Elizabeth. They dreaded the day the Shinsengumi would knock on their door and arrest them all as accomplices to something they had never agreed to.

Katsura and the Shinsegumi no longer had any reason to be enemies after the Tendōshū had been defeated, but Kagura and Shinpachi weren't too sure that their friend and his right-hand (or should they have said fin? Wing? What the hell was that thing anyway? After years of airings, episodes and tankōbon it still wasn't clear to any of them. His story had only gotten more and more absurd) knew about it or remembered it. Sometimes they weren't even sure the Shinsengumi had processed this information.

In any case, although the two men were spending the nights at Zura's, they were at the Yorozuya from early morning until late at night and chaos reigned supreme. The good thing was that they seemed to feel obliged to contribute not only to the baby's expenses, but also to everything else. Since they spent whole days there, arriving before breakfast and leaving after dinner, the fridge was full as the “kids” had never seen it before. Even Otose, despite her initial complaints about the noise, had soon accepted the new arrangement more than happily after Sakamoto had slammed two rolls of banknotes onto the counter, laughing loudly and shouting, "Kintoki! I'll bill you for that, too!" before the three yorozuya could stop him.

Shinpachi and Kagura had promised themselves they wouldn't get dragged into that madness because they knew that if they offered to help out even once, the three men would take advantage and they would find themselves changing nappies. And not only that. So they had decided to simply enjoy the view of the three friends struggling to take care of the pocket-sized Takasugi. They were not disappointed.

In the early days, the chaos was due to the fact that the three ex-jōi had no idea how to take care of a child: how much he should sleep, how much he should eat, how he should be dressed, how often he should be changed... Sakamoto and Katsura, in despair, tried to point out to Gintoki that he had already taken care of a child in the past, but the silver-haired samurai simply sighed in exasperation. Apparently, Shōyō had been much easier to deal with than Takasugi: he ate and slept at set times, and was quiet, whereas the mini-terrorist seemed to have decided that he needed to be as loud as possible and the three men had yet to fully decipher the meaning of his shrieks. Sakamoto and Katsura also had to learn how to do everything else, really. Shinpachi had seen with his own eyes Katsura pick up the baby and weigh him in his hands to see if he needed to be changed.

"Katsura-san," Shinpachi couldn't help but comment, "there are far more effective ways to tell if he needs changing..."

The man had given him a questioning look and the boy had sighed in exasperation. "Just move it closer and you'll be able to smell it. Or just move the edge of the nappy with your finger and take a look."
Katsura had given him a disgusted look and tried to hand the baby to Shinpachi. The boy and Kagura had shaken their heads with a sadistic grin and the ronin had left for the bathroom, giving them a betrayed look, while Gintoki had sprawled even more on the couch, glad it wasn't his turn. A disgusted shout had sent the four of them running to the bathroom and Gintoki, Sakamoto and Kagura had started laughing loudly. In front of them stood a motionless Katsura, two flaps of the nappy still clutched between his fingers and something liquid dripping from his face.

The baby for his part was particularly happy of the newfound freedom and was laughing at what he considered a very funny face. Shinpachi had tried to stop himself, but couldn't help but snicker as he approached the two.

"Katsura-san, go wash your face. I'll finish," the boy offered, trying not to burst out laughing. He still remembered Gintoki's much less calm and controlled reaction when it had happened to him. At that moment he was doubled over in laughter trying to catch his breath, but only a couple of days before he had threatened to throw the 'pissy little demon' off the balcony. Shinpachi had finished cleaning and changing the baby, then left him in the hands of Sakamoto, who, strangely enough, seemed to be the one with the least amount of convulsions from laughing.

***

"We have a job this afternoon, can you feed him if we're late?" it wasn't really a question and both Katsura and Gintoki knew it well. A little earlier Sakamoto had been picked up by Mutsu, who had complained about some matters concerning the Kaientai. The merchant's protests had been to no avail and the yato had dragged him away, reminding him that the meeting he had to attend was the only one he could not delegate, after which he could safely return to Earth... indeed, the longer he stayed out of the way, the better it would be for the fleet. No one believed that act anymore, but watching Sakamoto being dragged away by his jacket was always entertaining. The problem was that the merchant still hadn't returned, and the Yorozuya had received a job that needed all three of its members and would bring in a lot of money. Money they could really use, as they had had a "little leech", as Gintoki had started calling him, to look after for a couple of weeks now. What's more, the child seemed to have decided that a diet based on milk was no longer enough. In the last few days, Takasugi had begun to stare attentively at what the others were eating. Once Gintoki had gotten distracted by Ketsuno Ana on TV and when he had turned back to his plate, he had seen the boy sitting on his lap clutching a handful of ramen noodles in his fist and trying to stuff them into his mouth, staining his clothes. Obviously, the seasoning also ended up on Gintoki's white yukata. "You got it everywhere but your mouth, congratulations," the yorozuya had commented without losing his cool, earning a toothless smile from Takasugi. By now he had resigned himself to the idea that his clothes couldn't stay clean for more than two hours at a time.

They had hoped to be back in a few hours, but it had taken them longer than expected. It was well past dinnertime, and if everything had gone according to plan, Katsura must have put Takasugi to bed some time ago, so the three of them tried to get in as quietly as possible. A loud laugh startled them.

Not everything had gone according to plan.

"Why is he still awake?" asked Gintoki in an accusatory tone as he entered the living room. "And where's Zura?"

"Hello, Kintoki. I came back just now and found Zura arguing with Shinsuke."

"I'm not Zura, I'm Katsura," grumbled the other coming out of the bathroom and trying to rub something off a sleeve of his haori. "That little monster spat his dinner all over me" Katsura brought his face closer to the child's. "You're very rude," the little boy laughed, not understanding a word, and grabbed his face with his chubby little hands, squeezing it so that Katsura's lips curled. "I never liked you, Shinsuke, you know?" said Katsura making a strange face trying to speak, the expression and tone amused Takasugi greatly who let out an enthusiastic squeal and laughed.

"You'd be much more believable if you could say that without smiling like an idiot," Gintoki pointed out, waving a picture he had just taken. The instant camera Shinpachi and Kagura had bought him was very useful for all those embarrassing photos. By now they had about ten of them with them with the stupidest expressions they had ever made or soiled with milk and other amenities. They had blackmail material on each other for the next thousand years.

Because that was the reason why they had those pictures.

Obviously.

Not because they thought that microbe was cute.

Or because they were happy to be all together again (more or less) and so they wanted to immortalise it.

It was just blackmail material.

Chapter Text

Gintoki let himself fall onto the sofa, exhausted. Kagura and Shinpachi were sitting on the other, facing him. All three of them were so tired that they were not even able to speak. They simply remained motionless with their gaze lost in space, they had disconnected their brains to such an extent that they didn't even notice Otose's arrival.

"You guys look terrible," the woman commented mercilessly. The three of them jumped in surprise and hissed like a nest of snakes, then froze with ears pricked up and eyes wide open. Terror was clearly visible in their eyes.

"Old woman!" tried to shout Gintoki under his breath. "He's finally asleep! Don’t be so noisy!"

Otose gave them an unimpressed look and raised an eyebrow. "That brat won't wake up just for that," she reassured them as she approached and placed a pot on the table. "Dinner," she explained as she saw them staring at it. When two minutes had passed without any of them moving a muscle, Otose huffed and headed for the kitchen, only to return with plates, glasses and chopsticks. She set everything on the table and began to prepare the dishes. "Eat," she finally ordered. "Can you do that at least or do I have to feed you?"

The three of them began to eat in silence and it was only after a few minutes that Shinpachi was able to gather enough energy to thank her for the dinner.

"He’s really giving you a hard time, that brat," Otose teased them once they were done. Gintoki sighed in exasperation. "I haven't been able to go play pachinko once in the last three months," the silver-haired man grumbled.

"That's not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe this way one day there will be enough money and Kagura and I will get paid" Shinpachi mumbled.

"With all the money we're spending on food and clothes?" grunted Kagura. "That brat needs new clothes all the time."

"I didn't even have time to go drinking, there hasn't been any sake in the house for months!" continued Gintoki without giving any sign that he had heard them.

The kids gave him an accusing look. "We don't miss cleaning up your vomit, don't worry."

The samurai ignored them again, as if they hadn't spoken. "What's more, I never have time to read Jump! Never a moment's peace!" he ran his hands through his hair in desperation. "They pile up and pile up, but I can't read them!" Otose gave him a pitying look and the man became even more animated. "Don't look at me like that, old woman! You don't know what these two and a half months have been like! Or is it three? How old is that demon?"

"Gintoki..." she tried to interrupt him.

"First, he had to be weaned. I think Sakamoto enumerated all the possible spaceships to get him to eat... although I'm not at all convinced he didn't make up some of them. I've never heard of a trackdalo with a quantum biscuit engine!" the samurai's tone was a few octaves too high. "But then who had to clean up the vomit, uh? Who? Tatsuma? Surely not! Because he has all his own business. And Zura's running around being a vigilante! So that leaves poor Gin-san to clean up baby vomit and change nappies and get bitten!"

Otose cast a questioning glance at Shinpachi and Kagura, who shook their heads disconsolately: there was no stopping him now, so she decided to let that slacker adopted son of hers vent.

"Bitten?"

"Bitten! Bitten!" confirmed Gintoki, as Kagura and Shinpachi nodded grimly. "At first it wasn't a problem... he didn't have teeth, but then..."

"How do you turn it off?" asked Gintoki exasperatedly. The pocket version of Takasugi had been whining non-stop for half an hour now. He had been passed from hand to hand several times while Gintoki, Katsura and Sakamoto tried to distract him and make him stop crying. At that moment he was in Katsura's arms, who was trying to free a lock of hair from the child's grasp. Big tears streamed down the baby's chubby cheeks as he continued to put his free hand in his mouth. They really couldn't understand what was wrong with him. "Guys..." said Sakamoto suddenly, straightening up, after having been bent over for a while with his face at the level of the baby-terrorist's, "is it possible that… he’s growing teeth?"

"Teeth?" replied the other two men in unison.

The friend nodded, "It should be about time, right?"

They stood for a while looking at each other, not knowing what to do. After another ten minutes of that agony, they were standing before Otose with a pleading look on their faces.

"You need to buy one of those gum toys," the three gave her a lost look and she sighed. "You need to put it in the freezer for a while, then have him put it in his mouth and rub it gently on his gums. It'll make the discomfort go away and he'll stop crying."

"Yeah, but... we have to make it stop now," they said dejectedly.

"Well..." she said, raising an eyebrow and grabbing one of Gintoki's wrists. Before the man could protest, she gave a tug and the samurai found himself half stretched out on the counter as Otose slipped his hand under the running water. "What are you doing, old woman?!" protested Gintoki.

"You'll have to use a finger," she merely said with an impassive expression.

"A... finger?" he asked, puzzled, giving a doubtful look to the child who, although he had momentarily stopped crying, still had a dejected expression and had started reaching out to Gintoki to be held and comforted. After all, no matter how often Katsura and Sakamoto were around, he was living at Yorozuya and Gintoki was the one he saw most often. The silver-haired samurai picked up the micro-terrorist who had started whimpering and stuffing his little fist in his mouth again, pulled his hands away from his face and hesitantly stuck a finger into the child's mouth, running it over his gums. Gradually, the little one stopped moaning and grabbed Gintoki's hand with his own.

Of course, the scene was immortalised mercilessly.

"You'll pay for that," Gintoki grumbled a few minutes later, washing his hands for the third time in a row. The little monster had drooled all over his hand. They had to buy one of those toys quickly, Gintoki liked to stay completely un-drooled. Thank you very much.

Otose interrupted him. "I was there too, Gintoki."

"Yes, well, evidently the narrator decided to torture me by making me relive that scene!"

"Come on, go ahead, Gin-san. Don't argue with the writer, she might decide to add more embarrassing episodes."

"More than embarrassing, it was exhausting. He went from just having itchy gums to having his teeth come out one after another! Shouldn't they take longer?"

Otose looked at him waiting for the realization that didn't come. "Gintoki, he's growing at an accelerated rate, you should know better than us. You can't really expect them to grow slowly and..."

The samurai was too tired to be rational. "Yeah, but that's how he bit me! At some point he decided he didn't like that cold toy anymore and he must have remembered my finger because I was sleeping peacefully on the couch and, at some point, he bit me! He ambushed me, old woman!" he protested. "Shōyō never cried and he never bit me," he grumbled, pouting. A little voice in his head was telling him that he was being childish, but to hell with the little voice! He just wanted to sleep.

Kagura snickered. "Well, you are not the only one who got bitten..."

An amused grin appeared on Gintoki's lips as he thought back to what had happened about a couple of months before.

"Come on, make yourself useful," Gintoki said under his breath to the boy, while Katsura and Sakamoto watched in amusement. Takasugi lifted his gaze and looked at him questioningly. "No, you don't have to look at me like that! The girls, you have to look at the girls!" the little boy continued to stare at him and gave him a smile that went from ear to ear. "That's good, that face is fine, but you have to show it to them. Look at them! Come on, make yourself useful and help poor Gin-san get laid!"

"Haven't you fallen a little too low, danna?" a monotone voice suddenly asked behind him. Two men in police uniforms had stopped to observe that dramatic little scene.

"Sōichiro-kun, Oogushi-kun," Gintoki greeted them. "You don't know how many girls have approached me since I've been hanging around with-" he froze, realizing what he was about to say. Only he, his old comrades, Otose and the kids knew who that child was... it was not wise that word spread further. Sooner or later, they would no longer be able to hide the truth, but maybe by then Takasugi would be able to recover his memory and be old enough to leave Edo if necessary. The silence, however, went on for a moment too long and the two Shinsegumi agents lowered their gaze on the child, only to raise it again to the Yorozuya. "I was surrounded by girls yesterday, not that you guys would understand how that feels..." added Gintoki trying to distract them.

"And where did you find that child, danna?" asked Sōgo ignoring the provocation or the fact that Gintoki had called him by the wrong name for the umpteenth time.

"In space, of course," Sakamoto replied, bursting into laughter.

"Of course?" the two officers asked unconvinced.

Katsura crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head, closing his eyes. "Sakamoto, don't mock the Shinsengumi officers. The war is over, we are no longer enemies," everyone present gave him a sceptical look. "Even so, they haven't stopped protecting Edo with all their might..." he paused and raised a hand to stroke his chin. He nodded to himself without opening his eyes and added, "It's normal that they don't know where children come from.”

Hijikata snorted, "As if an ex-terrorist walking around in a duck mask could give lessons."

As expected, the argument quickly escalated and the five men ended up scuffling. When they were finally tired of arguing, Hijikata looked at the boy again, who looked back at him with a serious expression. Slowly, the Shinsengumi deputy commander's expression changed and he gave the three of them an exasperated look.

"You must be joking," he said. "What have you done?"

The three gave him a forcedly innocent look. "What are you talking about?"

"Come on, danna. I know Hijikata-san isn’t the smartest, but do you really think he can't even figure out who that child really is?" said Sōgo without seeming the least bit upset or surprised. His expression didn't change even after Hijikata slapped him on the back of the head.

"We don't know what you're talking about," insisted the other three, who from the rigidity of their shoulders must have completely forgotten even the most basic dissimulation techniques.

Hijikata pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger in exasperation. "Drop it. Do you really think the Shinsengumi didn't do some research at the end of the war against the Tendōshū? We know full well that the four of you worked together to save your sensei, we were there. And we also know that your sensei had a bad habit of resurrecting. Just as we know that the terminal should have exploded, wiping out the city completely," the demonic vice-commander concluded.

"Yet the city did not explode. Besides, danna, you and the two other waste of space you usually bring along made it out unscathed, even though you were in the exact centre of the explosion. You guys are lucky as hell," Sōgo commented disinterestedly, popping a bubble-gum balloon. He lowered his gaze to the child and smiled sardonically. "I must say, this child's resemblance to that terrorist is uncanny, isn't it Hijikata-san?"

Hijikata nodded and glared at the three ex-jōi. The tension was palpable. Although none of the five had yet moved a muscle, the vice-commander could see that despite the three's still relaxed pose, their muscles were contracted, ready to snap, and Gintoki's grip on the boy had tightened. Even the one Hijikata had branded as a messy idiot had stopped laughing so loudly and his gaze had sharpened. The policeman let his gaze wander from one to the other... had they finally remembered that they were samurai? He snorted in annoyance. "Whatever happens, you will be held directly responsible."

Katsura, Sakamoto and Gintoki gave him a surprised look.

"As much as I'd like to, I can't arrest a one-year-old. We will keep an eye on you. The moment even one of you does anything suspicious, we'll lock you up and you won’t see the light of day again," Hijikata concluded unceremoniously. "That goes for him too," he said pointing his finger at Takasugi who grabbed it before the cop could take it back. "Hey! Let go of me, mini-terrorist."

Takasugi frowned and tightened his grip further. "No! You!"

"But if you don't even know what that means yet! Let me go!"

"No," the boy pouted. The fact that he hadn't understood what the strange man in black had said didn't mean he'd liked his tone... or that he hadn't realised he'd been insulted.

"Let go," the Shinsengumi ordered again, shaking his hand slightly and trying to free himself. All it would have taken was a little tug, but if that pesky brat started crying, he had a feeling those three wouldn't take it very well. At the very least, Yorozuya would torment him for months. And Sōgo would just enjoy it from the sidelines, the little traitor. The child's eyes momentarily focused on something behind him and laughed, Hijikata automatically turned to check what Sōgo was doing and that moment of distraction was fatal: the child put Hijikata’s finger in his mouth and bit it. Hijikata suddenly withdrew his hand, cursing loudly. The boy continued to laugh, clapping his hands, and Hijikata glared at Sōgo, who had an all too innocent expression. That little traitor.

"Oh... you should be careful, Hi-ji-ka-ta-kun. Shinsuke's teeth are coming out," said the Yorozuya with an equally innocent look.

"Tsk stay out of my way," he ordered, grabbed Sōgo before he could run from his punishment for giving the brat the idea to bite him and walked away from those human headaches at a brisk pace.

The kids laughed as they thought about Hijikata's reaction and Kagura complained about not being there. Gintoki snickered. "I'll admit that this offers good ideas to annoy that tax thief," he commented.

"Do you think they'll cause trouble going forward?" the old Otose asked, alluding to Takasugi's presence.

Gintoki shrugged. "There's no point in worrying about that now. They'll mind their own business for the time being, if they try to meddle in the future..." the samurai left the rest of the sentence unsaid. His expression was still peaceful and almost bored, but they all knew that if the Shinsengumi tried to kill or capture Takasugi once he became an adult again, Gintoki, Katsura and Sakamoto wouldn't let it slide. "But I don't think it will be a problem. They've known I was the Shiroyasha for years, and I've only been arrested once. Katsura was a terrorist and they've been after him for years, but now they're fighting each other more out of habit than anything else. Sakamoto has been supplying weapons to Katsura and Takasugi for a long time, I don't think the Shinsengumi don't know that, but they're not going after him. If that shrimp doesn't start blowing things up again, they'll leave him alone."

"Or," Kagura said out of the blue, "we could hand him over to them willingly, so they'll be the ones who have to clean up everywhere. I still remember the state of our bathroom the last time you tried to teach him to brush his own teeth." It had taken them half a day to clean the toothpaste out of the boy and the bathroom. Takasugi had managed to get it into places they had never used in all the years they had lived there.

"If only that were the problem," Gintoki sighed. "If it was just the teeth popping out faster... but of course not!" Kagura and Shinpachi nodded. "In these months he learned to talk and walk and go to the bathroom. All at once in the space of two months. Because heaven forbid, we get five minutes of respite," he said taking his head in his hands.

Chapter Text

"Then of course he started talking and walking," sighed the silver-haired man without really stopping. "Now that's not a bad thing. He should be about three years old, he explains himself pretty well I think. Or maybe I'm so used to it by now that we can communicate. I don't know, either way he's talking now. I don't think I've ever heard him talk so much during his first life," Gintoki added incredulously. "Oh and he's also started walking..."

Gintoki had left the room for a few minutes when he had suddenly heard Sakamoto, Shinpachi and Kagura making surprised noises, followed by the sound of footsteps and something that sounded a lot like a table being moved. He immediately went to check: Takasugi had clung to the sofa and stood up on his own. "Kintoki! Did you see that?" exclaimed Sakamoto, pointing at the micro-terrorist.

The friend nodded and smiled softly. "Yes, he did that last night too." Seeing the puzzled looks on Kagura's and Shinpachi's faces, he added, "You were already back at your sister's, and Kagura was out with Soyo. There was a piece of dorayaki on the table and he wanted to steal it."

The boy with glasses laughed. "Kagura, your influence is showing," he told her and his friend gave him an uncertain look, not knowing whether to feel flattered or insulted. She didn't have time to make up her mind, though, because they heard the door open and saw Katsura enter wearing the Obaz mask. The little boy gasped and looked at him worriedly, not recognising the strange being that had entered the house. Gintoki slapped the back of Katsura's head before the situation could get worse. "Take that thing off before you enter my house or I'll have Kagura head-butt you again." The threat had the desired effect and his friend quickly lifted his mask, remembering the time the yato girl had sent him through the core of the planet with a single head-butt.

Seeing a familiar face, the worry vanished from the child's face as he slowly backed away from the couch and tried to take a few steps towards them, trilling.

"Okay, this is new," Gintoki said, widening his eyes.

"Isn't it a bit early?" asked Katsura puzzled, receiving a dubious shrug from the other four. After all, everything was happening at supersonic speed, so it was pointless to ask too many questions. The two of them moved a little closer, leaving only a couple of metres between them and the boy, and crouched down to wait. The silence in the room was deafening, five pairs of eyes were fixed on Takasugi who, after his first uncertain steps, no longer seemed to need any particular help to keep his balance. He finally bridged the gap and leaned against Katsura's knees. "Li'bet?" the boy asked, looking around confused.

Katsura shook his head. "Elizabeth isn't coming today." Takasugi nodded, turned back to Sakamoto and held out his arms. "Up," he said simply and pointed to the couch.

"That brat was already giving orders at one year old," grumbled Gintoki without heat at the end of the story. "And since then he can't stay put for more than five minutes! He's hyperactive, running all over the place, climbing on the sofas, on the desk, on Sadaharu... running from one side to the other and trying to escape. When Zura and Tatsuma leave, he tries to chase them and sneaks around. When I take him outside, I can't lose sight of him for a minute because he runs down the street, climbs trees and railings and..." the samurai stopped short and straightened his back. "It's too quiet."

Kagura and Shinpachi quickly became alert as well. "He's sleeping, you said so," Otose replied puzzled.

"No. It's different," he retorted with a note of urgency in his voice, stood up and walked briskly down the corridor. The others followed him and caught up with him in time to see him sprint out of the flat and grab Takasugi, who had already made it to the balcony and was trying to climb between the railing and the temporary gate they had put up at the top of the stairs.

"Noooo! Gin-chan!" shrieked the boy as he was forcibly detached from the balcony railing and dragged in by his waist. "Gin-chan! The dog! The dog!"

Still holding the screaming, kicking child, Gintoki closed the door, went back into the living room and sat him down on the couch. The child gave him the angriest look a three-year-old was capable of producing. "Bad Gin-chan!" he shrieked. "There was a dog! I want the dog!"

Gintoki squatted down so that his eyes were on the same level as the child's. "Shinsuke. There's a dog in our house too. I've already told you that you can't climb the railing and the gate."

"There was a dog!" shouted the still angry little boy.

"It doesn't matter if there was a dog. If you want to go downstairs, you have to call me. Call me, Shinpachi or Kagura. You can't climb the railing and you can't go down the street alone. You can get really hurt if you fall from that high."

The other three remained completely still and silent. If they so much as smiled, because seeing how that brat was trying to stand up to an adult was actually comical, Takasugi would have noticed and Gintoki's scolding would become completely useless. For Shinpachi and Kagura, seeing Gintoki scold Takasugi had been really weird the first time. They had been working, living and fighting alongside the samurai for years now, but they had never seen him with such an expression. His expression was completely serious, his eyebrows slightly furrowed and his tone firm and determined. It wasn't the kind of anger they were used to seeing him unleash on enemies or the frustration caused by losing the new issue of Jump. Gintoki was clearly trying to get the boy to listen to him, he wanted to make sure he understood that they weren't playing around.

"But if I call you it goes away! It's late!" protested Takasugi in frustration.

"It doesn't matter. You can't go alone. And that's the end of it," Gintoki concluded. All right, he wanted the boy to understand, but he was three years old. Explanations alone would never work: the little punk had not yet developed even the barest minimum sense of danger. "No cartoons tonight," he said then.

Predictably, the child did not appreciate the turn of events and began to cry and scream at the top of his lungs. Gintoki plugged his ears, while Kagura and Shinpachi let out an exasperated sigh.

"Do you see what I'm dealing with, old woman?" bellowed the disconsolate samurai. "And I'm not going to tell you about the various... incidents during potty training," he finished, shuddering.

Otose smiled at his distraught expression. "Well... if it's that tiring you can always hand him back to the Kiheitai," she teased him.

"Please," he muttered, "that bunch of idiots came here once while Zura and Tatsuma were here. They lasted half a day. Probably if we had left them to fight Utsuro unarmed, they would have panicked less," the man taunted them. "I don't think they'd last long if they took him away."

"Away? Me?" the boy suddenly asked.

Kagura grinned, "Yes, if you don't behave we'll send you away. With the blonde chick who came last time," she said and to emphasize the point, she took a step towards Takasugi making grabby hands at him. The little boy let out a squeal and ran closer to Gintoki, clinging to his kimono with all his strength. "No! No no no! I'm not leaving! I'm good! Gin-chan, I'm not leaving! I'm good!"

"Kagura..." warned Gintoki, frowning and putting a hand on Takasugi's head.

"I mean... maybe sometimes..." the girl added, leaving no time for the samurai to intervene. Takasugi shook his head vigorously. "No! Always!"

"That's not true, you're not always good. Gin-chan scolds you..." the boy shook his head again and stared at Gintoki with wide eyes, clearly frightened. Shinpachi, who had been trying to elbow Kagura to make her stop, finally reached his target.

"I'm good!" said Takasugi to Gintoki. He removed one hand from his kimono and spread his arms. "Always! I'm always always good!"

Gintoki picked him up. "Oh yeah? You're always good?"

"Yes! Always always always good!" he confirmed with conviction, then whined with damp eyes, "Gin-chan, I'm not leaving."

"No, you're not leaving. Kagura was joking," the samurai finally replied. And it was definitely because the Kiheitai weren't capable of taking care of a child, not because at the idea of looking away from the new pocket-sized Takasugi for more than five minutes, the three ex-jōi could feel an icy chill running down their spines. As long as it was a matter of leaving him on Earth with Gintoki, both Sakamoto and Katsura didn't mind going back and forth from the Yorozuya or leaving to handle their activities. Returning him to the Kiheitai, where none of them could keep an eye on the situation, was not even remotely conceivable.

Takasugi seemed to be convinced, but for good measure he clung to Gintoki with his arms and legs, then stuck his tongue out at Kagura. "Bad Kagura. Bad joke."

"Oh really? So if I'm bad I don't have to give you biscuits," the girl replied with a grin and ran off towards the kitchen, as the boy began to struggle and flail trying to get down. As soon as Gintoki had let him go, Takasugi rushed into the kitchen in pursuit of Kagura, who shrieked shortly afterwards. Apparently the microbe had clung to her leg and had no intention of letting go.

"And then there are these two who do nothing to help,” Gintoki added with an accusing look at Shinpachi. The boy glared at him and tried to hit him on the head with a broomstick. "We've changed nappies as much as you have, even though you should have taken care of it yourself! And don't think I've forgotten about the times you played dead when he started crying at night or wanted to keep playing despite being running around for two hours..."

Gintoki grinned in amusement at Shinpachi's scolding. The truth was that after the first few days, Shinpachi and Kagura had decided to take pity on him and had started taking care of the Yorozuya themselves, so that Gintoki didn't have to bend backwards to manage both work and the baby. At a time when Katsura and Sakamoto were busy elsewhere, Takasugi, still unable to speak, had decided to become irritable and hyperactive for days on end, keeping Gintoki awake two nights in a row by crying and screaming. Unaware, Kagura and Shinpachi had spent those two days at Soyo's and Otae's respectively, and when they returned they had found the samurai sitting on one of the sofas with the baby asleep in his arms and staring into space, with two deep bags under his eyes and red eyes from lack of sleep. Without speaking, Shinpachi had picked up the mini-terrorist and Kagura had grabbed Gintoki's wrist, then made him stand up and dragged him towards his room. She had come back shortly after without him, while Shinpachi had placed the hyperactive monster on the sofa, careful not to wake him. The two friends had exchanged an eloquent look and tacitly decided that they had had enough fun at the expense of those three.

A victorious laugh caught Otose, Shinpachi and Gintoki's attention. The two man widened their eyes and sprinted towards the kitchen.

"Kagura, no!" shouted the samurai. "Don't give him biscuits! No sugar in the evening!"

"He hasn't eaten dinner yet!" added the boy with glasses.

Otose laughed at the commotion, even more so when she heard Gintoki of all people shout, "Kagura, put that jar away! I can still punish you too! No soap operas tonight!"

Chapter Text

"...and so I was miniaturised, put in some sort of jar and tossed into the sea. Mutsu came to rescue me before the jar melted. I don't recommend swimming in the waters of that planet and-"

"Why do so many of your stories end with you locked up somewhere and being thrown at sea, Tatsuma?"

"Or being rescued by Mutsu?"

Sakamoto laughed loudly. "What can I do, some people are too touchy!" he shrugged. The other two shook their heads in amusement, well aware that their friend had a real talent for provoking others' susceptibility. Distracted by Sakamoto's tales of his two recent weeks in space, the three only realised Takasugi had joined them when the boy climbed onto one of the sofas and clung to Gintoki, hiding his face in his kimono.

"Hello, Shinsuke," Sakamoto and Katsura greeted, surprised by their friend's lack of liveliness. Ever since he had come back, the brat had been hyperactive most of the time, so for him to be so quiet was really strange. Gintoki for his part didn't seem surprised at all, he just sighed and hugged the boy. Sakamoto and Katsura gave him a questioning look.

"I think the memories are starting to come back," the samurai explained quietly. "It usually happens while he's asleep, as if they were dreams or nightmares."

"So it has begun then," Sakamoto commented.

"I don't know how fast they'll come back, though. It was different with Shōyō: for a long time after I found him, he followed me in silence; when he started talking again, he seemed to remember everything. Shinsuke seems to be a child in his own right, noisy and hyperactive, but it seems that the memories are coming back little by little."

"You didn't tell me anything the last time I was here," Katsura said, thinking out loud. "Is it recent?"

Gintoki nodded. They hadn't seen Sakamoto for a couple of weeks, but Katsura had stayed with them for a couple of days only a week before. "It started shortly after you left, about a week ago. Some seem to be normal dreams, when he wakes up he's just a bit confused. He seems to understand that the ones in the dreams are people he really knows, but he can't figure out how he knows them. Others are nightmares apparently."

"Apparently?"

"This pain in the neck won't explain himself," he said in a mock angry tone and moving his legs to shake the child slightly. "I told you to wake me up when you have nightmares, didn't I?" Takasugi nodded and merely gave a sad moan, hiding his face even more in Gintoki's kimono. "He wakes up, comes looking for me... but then he doesn't tell me what's going on," the samurai added in a mock reproachful tone, "he clings to me like an octopus, but he doesn't talk. Do you?" The little one must have learned to tell the difference between Gintoki scolding him and Gintoki joking, because he didn't move an inch and sighed. "Well?" the samurai decided to change tactics and, holding the boy with one arm, began poking him with a finger. "Well?" he continued, poking his forehead, then his nose, then his shoulder, interspersing each gesture with the same question, until he was tickling him. Sakamoto and Katsura couldn't help but think that it was strange to see Gintoki at ease with a child, even though they had seen their friend interact with the mini-terrorist several times in the last five months. In the meantime, Takasugi had started laughing and struggling to try and escape.

"Gin-chan! No!" he tried to protest, still laughing. "Stop! Stop!"

When Gintoki felt satisfied, he stopped and allowed the child time to catch his breath. Takasugi's cheeks were red and he was completely disheveled.

"So, Hikusugi? What did you dream about?" the samurai asked again, the child's face immediately became serious and uncertain and Gintoki waved his finger threateningly. "Do I have to start again? Haven't you had enough?" the pocket version of their friend moved away the silver-haired man's hand and gave an unconvinced smile.

"I'm a man. Men don't complain," the boy replied in a half-hearted voice.

"Where is this coming from?" asked Sakamoto raising an eyebrow as Gintoki and Katsura frowned. "What man," Gintoki teased him. "You're a five-year-old shrimp, not a man."

"Besides, if that were true, Gintoki would be a goner," Katsura added.

"What are you saying, Zura!"

"I'm not Zura, I'm Katsura," replied the friend automatically. "Leader was very clear: Gintoki just complains all day because he wants to read Jump, eat ice cream and sleep and then-" and then nothing. The conversation degenerated into a wrestling match between Katsura, who called Gintoki a slacker, and Gintoki, who was a slacker but didn't want to be scolded by someone who went around dressed up like an idiot.

"What are you doing?" they were interrupted by Shinpachi's voice who had just returned with Kagura from a job as yorozuya.

"Look who's talking!" commented Kagura once the three friends explained the problem. She turned to the boy. "Gin-chan never talks about it when he has nightmares either, he's too stubborn."

Takasugi widened his eyes. "Gin-chan has bad dreams too?"

"A while ago it happened more often, now not so much. But he never talks about them," the girl continued undaunted, totally ignoring Gintoki who was trying to shut her up... or maybe strangle her. "Don't be like this fish-faced idiot. Don't you see? Doesn't he look stupid?" asked Kagura conspiratorially.

The child looked less distressed, but still unconvinced. "I'm not a little kid."

"Ah alright... then we can switch," replied the yato girl with an evil smile. "You go sleep in my room and I'll sleep with Gin-chan."

"But you're a grown up!" he protested.

"Well? So what? You said you're already a grown up too, so we can switch. Before you came here, I used to sleep with Gin-chan sometimes! By myself."

The little one laughed. "You want to steal my futon! It won't fit!" it wasn't the first time the two of them had squabbled over who could sleep with Gintoki. Shinpachi couldn't help but smile exasperatedly: at the moment, they were just playing, but in the past Kagura had sulked because she could no longer sleep with her Earth dad. This had started a civil war between Kagura and Takasugi. The pranks and teasing had only stopped when an exasperated Gintoki had reminded everyone in the house that his room was not the size of his futon. Sometimes in the morning, when Shinpachi arrived before they had woken up, the boy with the glasses had found all three of them asleep in the same room, with Gintoki in the middle and the legs and arms of the other two sprawled over him.

"I'll bring my own" Kagura was replying.

"No. I sleep there," Takasugi stamped his feet, clinging to Gintoki again and sticking his tongue out at her. "I'm smaller. I'm five years old," he said, pulling a hand away from Gintoki's kimono and showing five fingers.

Kagura stroked her chin, pretending to think. "Mmmh... I think you're lying."

"No! Gin-chan said. I'm five years old!"

"I don't know... do you guys believe him?" she asked addressing the four men in the room. "He says he's small. Shinpachi, do you believe that?"

The young man shook his head and made an unconvinced grimace. "We'd need evidence."

"Evidence?" asked the boy, doubtful.

"Yes, you need to prove that you are small," confirmed Katsura. "A samurai must always tell the truth and be prepared to be tested." Everyone glossed over the amount of baloney the three ex-jōi spewed on an almost daily basis (that moment included).

The mini-terrorist made a serious face and nodded with conviction. "What proof?"

"Well... let's see..." interjected Sakamoto, pretending to look for evidence that would be convincing enough. "I know what you could do," the boy straightened his back and stared at the merchant. "You have to answer Gintoki's question. What did you dream about?" Takasugi still looked hesitant, but not as much as he had a few minutes before. "You said that small children can complain. If you're small, then tell us, so you can continue to sleep with Gintoki."

They all remained silent for a moment. Takasugi was clearly trying to decide if he wanted to be considered a small or big boy, he also knew that those people were joking and that they wouldn't send him to sleep somewhere else... however he really wanted to tell them about the bad dreams.

"I'm a big boy, but I sleep with Gin-chan," he said at last. "But I'm going to tell the dreams anyway," he added after a pause and looking at the others uncertainly, as if asking for confirmation that it was okay to do all three. "Grown-ups tell other people their nightmares, too," Shinpachi finally replied as the others nodded.

Finally the boy was convinced and began to tell what he had dreamed in those days, his eyes glued to the floor. "There was a man," he began. "Bigger than Gin-chan, he had a face like this," he said pulling at his own face to get wrinkles. "And he was always angry. And he was my dad."

Kagura and Shinpachi saw the three ex-jōi stiffen, as if they were beginning to understand. When Takasugi had said "men don't complain", they had started thinking it could have something to do with his father. They were quite sure none of them had ever said something like that in front of him in either of his lives. "It was dark and I was scared and then there was dad," he paused and frowned. "He scolded me for not being good, but I didn't know why he said I wasn't good. And I told him. But he said I was telling lies and he slapped me like this," he slapped Gintoki, who made a faux-offended expression, "but hard! He made me fall!" he pointed out contritely, waving his arms and almost hitting Gintoki again. "Afterwards he grabbed me here" he pulled up a hand and grabbed the hair at the back of his head "because he said that children should look at grown-ups when they talk. And he scolded me for crying. But I was crying because the slap made me fall and it hurt. And it was dark and I don't like the dark. And I told him, Gin-chan! But he was angry anyway! He said that I was a man and that men don't cry like little babies. And that if I cried then he didn't want me, and then he left," he paused a little. "I was there a long time..." he added in a low voice. "Then," he resumed sadly, "the other times he was in the bad dreams too. But sometimes I was bigger... not big like you," he pointed to the others present, "but bigger. And in the other dreams, too, he would slap me or punch me because he said I'd been naughty. Sometimes because I was fighting with the others at school, but the others were mean! Later I met some children I liked, they looked like them," he said, pointing at Gintoki and Katsura without stopping, "but my dad didn't like them. So he tied me to a tree. And it was dark. And even bigger me didn't like being there in the dark," he finally concluded.

Shinpachi thought that he had never seen such a small child with such a disconsolate expression. They remained silent for a while longer, during which the boy would occasionally add something, like a punishment he had dreamed of but forgot to tell. Shinpachi did his best not to react to an anecdote about a barrel and being stuck with his head underwater, but he could clearly feel his own face twitch. Kagura beside him was so still that she looked like a statue.

Were they really supposed to hear those stories?

He glanced at the three ex-jōi sitting on the couches: they didn't look particularly surprised, just resigned and angry. Shinpachi realised that for the three of them, those stories were nothing new. They already knew what had happened to their friend, or at least got a pretty good idea of what had happened during the time they had spent together when they were young. A barely perceptible movement caught his attention.

"You said I could tell," the boy said with a worried expression, probably misinterpreting the silence of the adults in the room.

"Hmm?" asked Gintoki re-emerging from whatever unpleasant thought he had sunk into. "Yeah, I know. We're not mad at you, brat," he replied, ruffling his hair with one hand.

"Oh... okay" Takasugi watched them for a moment, as if trying to work up the courage to ask something else. "Where is he now? My dad."

The three ex-jōi exchanged a look. "Far away," Gintoki replied without thinking much about it.

"What if he comes back?" asked the child.

"He won't come back. He can't," it was the first time Kagura and Shinpachi could see such a grimace on Katsura's face. The anger they could see in his eyes suggested that even though all three of them knew, he had definitely seen some of what Takasugi had told them.

"But what if he does?" the little one didn't sound convinced at all and looked at them with wide eyes. Gintoki sighed. "He can't come back, Shinsuke," he replied calmly. "He's dead, he can't come here anymore."

"Really?" Kagura and Shinpachi felt their stomach twist almost painfully as they saw hope in the boy's still scared eyes.

Sakamoto nodded, smiling. "Really, really. We saw his grave."

They didn't speak as the pocket version of Takasugi convinced himself that no, his father wasn't going to come and take him away or beat him up or lock him in the dark. "Gin-chan" he asked after a while with a very serious expression. Everyone stiffened and prepared themselves for another uncomfortable question or another unpleasant anecdote. "Can we go and buy ice cream?"

They all burst out laughing, dispelling the tension and heavy atmosphere that had settled into the room.

A child's mind was truly something magical.

Chapter Text

His head was about to explode. And Takasugi, like the pain in the neck he was, wouldn't stop jumping from one side of the room to the other, too awake at an hour for which it was still a crime for Gintoki to get out of the futon even when his head wasn't threatening to split open at any moment.

Not that Gintoki was displeased that the child was happy. For the past three months he had continued to have dreams and nightmares about his former life. That way Takasugi had collected scattered fragments of memories, but not enough to recover his old lovable, rabid-dog personality.

The night before, Shinsuke had dreamt about attacking Gintoki, Kagura and Shinpachi and it had shocked him. It had taken the samurai two hours to calm the boy down, make him understand where he was and that he would not be punished for what he had seen in the dream.

“Look” Gintoki said lifting up his pyjama shirt, “no injuries, see? These are all old scars," he explained. The fact that some of those scars had really been caused by Takasugi years before in Iga was irrelevant at that moment. The boy looked at him for a while, his eyes glazed over, and wiped away his tears with one sleeve of his pyjamas. Gintoki took him by the hand and walked out of the room, and then went to Kagura's room. "Kagura is sleeping. And Shinpachi went back home. None of us are hurt, see?"

Takasugi nodded unconvinced.

"Gin-chan... did I really do those things?" he asked in a trembling voice after a few minutes, as he sat in Gintoki's lap on the couch, his head resting on the samurai's shoulder. Gintoki stiffened. "What's with the question?" he asked trying not to let his own tension show, the onset of the headache he'd gone to sleep with laughing as he began to use his brain like a taiko. The boy began to fiddle with a frayed thread from Gintoki's shirt without looking up.

"I don't know... when I have those dreams, both good and bad, they seem real... it's like" he paused for a moment to think "it's like when I think about what I did yesterday. And then there's also you and Tatsuma and Zura. Sometimes even Kagura-chan and Pattsuan. And also Matako and Takechi. But I'm different, I'm older. And it all seems true," the boy finished. Gintoki swallowed, he could have just told him that they were just stupid dreams, that the fact that he saw them in his dreams was normal because he saw them every day, but he couldn't lie. For some reason his voice refused to come out. He watched his miniature friend stare at him expectantly for a moment, though Gintoki could clearly see that he was struggling to keep his eyes open now that he had calmed down. "It's kind of hard to explain. And it's also a bit of a long story. How about we talk about it tomorrow after breakfast? When Tatsuma and Zura are here, too" If I'm going to have this conversation, those other two will have to suffer with me.

"Why do we have to wait for them?"

"You said they were in the dreams too, right? If you have any questions about the things they did, you can ask them directly."

Takasugi nodded doubtfully. "We don't have to wait for Matako and Takechi though, do we?"

"We can wait for them if you want, but they came a few days ago and it will be a while before they come back. They won't come tomorrow."

"Why not now?" the mini-terrorist tried to insist.

"Because it's late now, it's a long and complicated explanation, and you're about to fall asleep sitting up," Gintoki explained, picking Takasugi up as the eight-year-old yawned. And I have to have this conversation without the Kodō in concert in my brain.

At that moment, as Takasugi wandered around the room, Gintoki was relieved to see that the boy didn't seem to be upset from the previous night anymore. He was a little less relieved that the taiko concert in his brain had turned into a full-blown rave party. The idea of lying at that moment didn't seem so terrible. He didn't really want to tell Takasugi "hey you know that what you're having aren't nightmares but your memories coming back? You know, you died and then came back to life in the form of a child with no memories, so now you're recovering. Oh right, you died because I killed you. Another takoyaki?"

He grunted and pulled the futon blanket up over his head, hoping the others would arrive soon so he could stem the damage. But why is that brat so active early in the morning? he complained to himself, emerging from under the blanket. However, he didn't have time to bark at Takasugi to leave and watch TV if he couldn't sit still, because Shinpachi's head peeked out from behind the door.

"Gin-san, are you still in bed?" what do you mean still? What time is it? Why are you already here?

"What are you talking about?" replied the boy with the glasses. Oh... so he had said that aloud. "It's almost eleven. When I arrived, he and Kagura-chan were already having breakfast," he explained, pointing at the boy with a nod of his head. "I've already cleaned up and Kagura-chan said we had some customers calling. We have a couple of appointments for next week." Gintoki grunted something Shinpachi was unable to understand, the boy frowned.

"Gin-san, are you ok?" he asked as the man started coughing. "I'll take that as a no," the friend commented as he approached and placed a hand on Gintoki's forehead. "You have a bit of a fever. How did you catch a cold in this period?"

Before he could answer, however, that living earthquake of their mini-terrorist knelt down next to Shinpachi. "Gin-chan. You must tell me the story you spoke of last night."

"What story?" the young man asked, as Gintoki pulled the blanket back up almost to the top of his head in a desperate attempt to escape.

"About why my dreams seem real," Shinpachi cast a glance at Gintoki who didn't seem to want to re-emerge from the futon and cleared his throat. "Gin-san can't explain now, he's sick. See?" he grabbed one of the child's hands and placed it on the samurai's forehead, Takasugi's eyes widened. "We have to let him rest. When he's better, he'll tell you what you want to know."

Gintoki heard Shinpachi stand up and head for the door. "Kagura is going for a walk with Sadaharu. Why don't you go with her? It's a nice day, you shouldn't stay inside," he said to the boy who nodded unconvinced as he kept his eyes glued on Gintoki. Shinpachi smiled sympathetically. "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him" and then turned to Kagura "Gintoki has caught a cold-"

"How does he do that?" grumbled the girl from the other room.

"I don't know," chuckled Shinpachi. "Anyway, since you're going out, could you take Shinsuke-chan with you?"

"Okay... hurry up, microbe" the child grimaced at her, but hurried out of the room and climbed on Sadaharu's back, as the yato cast a glance around the room to get an idea of the samurai's condition before heading out.

Gintoki was finally alone and the room was quite for a few minutes until Shinpachi returned. The yorozuya heard the boy set something down next to the futon and opened his eyes slightly, seeing that Shinpachi had set down a basin with a few cloths, but was still holding a steaming cup.

"Can you sit up?" Gintoki nodded and pulled himself up with a grimace. It wasn't until he began to drink that he realized how thirsty he was. Two cups of herbal tea later, he laid down again with a sigh. Shinpachi adjusted the blanket, which was a shapeless heap piled partly around Gintoki and partly outside the futon, and added a second one. Only then did Gintoki realise that he was shivering slightly and smiled at Shinpachi in recognition, remembering a second too late that the blanket was covering half his face and so the other was unable to see him. Shinpachi seemed to understand, however, and smiled in amusement as he placed a damp cloth on his forehead.

They were silent for a few moments, Shinpachi spoke first. "Are you sure you want to explain to him the nature of the nightmares he's having?"

Gintoki took a moment to answer, groggy from the headache despite the fact that it was starting to fade. "Not at all. But last night was the only way to get him to go back to sleep," the samurai grumbled and coughed again. "You said when I woke up it was almost eleven... where did those two go?"

"Those two? They left a little while ago," Shinpachi replied puzzled, thinking he was talking about Kagura and Takasugi.

Gintoki frowned, annoyed. "Not those two, the other two," he explained with great eloquence.

"Katsura-san and Sakamoto-san? They weren't supposed to come today. They'll be here tomorrow morning... did you want to wait for them to talk to Takasugi-san?"

"If I have to sit through that conversation, then so do they," grumbled the silver-haired man. Apparently the night before he'd gotten confused about when Katsura and Sakamoto would arrive. Shinpachi sighed. 'Well, they won't arrive until tomorrow morning, but I don't think Takasugi-san will ask you any more questions today. He seemed to understand that he has to wait for you to recover. Worst case scenario, Kagura and I will try to distract him."

Gintoki nodded and closed his eyes: thanks to the tea and the extra blanket, he had stopped shivering and the warmth and silence were definitely helping him sleep. He felt Shinpachi tuck him in one last time before getting up and letting him rest and then nothing.

Gintoki opened his eyes after what seemed like a few minutes, but must have been hours given the angle of the light coming in through the window and how dry his mouth was. He could hear Takasugi and Kagura arguing in the other room and almost laughed when he realised they were trying to shout under their breath. At that moment Shinpachi entered his room again. "In case you hadn't noticed, Kagura-chan and Takasugi-san are back," the boy joked as he saw him awake. Gintoki laughed but it came out as a sound halfway between a laugh and a cough. "I brought you something, you didn't have lunch," Shinpachi said lifting the bowl he was holding. Gintoki sat up as the boy knelt beside the futon. The silence was short-lived, for as Takasugi realised Gintoki was awake he sprinted into the room at full speed, almost making Gintoki choke on his soup in surprise. The boy then began jumping around excitedly and recounting what he had done that day. Gintoki's headache was not happy about it.

"Shinsuke-chan," Shinpachi scolded him, and the child turned sharply towards him. "We told you not to make too much noise. Gin-san has a headache."

Takasugi's eyes widened even more. How the hell was that possible? "Sorry, Gin-chan," he said almost in a whisper with an expression that Gintoki would have found comical if his temples had stopped throbbing for five minutes. "How come he's so hyperactive? I mean more than normal..." he asked, as Takasugi began to walk around the room and open all the drawers. Shinpachi turned an exasperated look to Kagura.

"Kagura-chan took him for a walk this morning, they came back for lunch and went out again" wait, they went out after lunch? What time was it? How much did he sleep? Shinpachi seemed to catch his confusion. "It's five in the afternoon," he informed him, then continued. "While they were out and about, they bought ice cream," he turned to the boy and in a tone less exasperated than the one he used with Kagura said, "Why don't you tell Gin-san how big the ice cream you ate was?"

Takasugi, standing on a piece of furniture and with a few too many decibels, replied, "It was as big as the ones you eat, Gin-chan. It was this big!" Gintoki hoped that the size indicated by the child's hands was exaggerated because 1. He had lived in Kabuki-chō for years and had never seen ice creams that big, so if it was true it meant that he had missed out on huge parfaits for more than ten years; 2. An ice cream like that would send anyone into a diabetic coma. "Well that explains a lot," the samurai merely commented.

"Shinsuke-chan hasn't got over his sugar rush yet, so now Kagura-chan," the boy said, deliberately emphasising his friend's name, "is going to take him out to play again until he calms down."

Kagura didn't protest, which surprised Gintoki, but then he noticed that the girl was sitting upside down with her legs resting on the back of the couch and her back to the floor, her arms spread out in a cross next to her. "Shinpachiii..." she finally found the strength to moan.

"You should have thought of that before you filled him with sugar ten minutes before you came home," her friend replied mercilessly. The yato grunted something inarticulate and dragged herself to her feet.

"Come on, Shrimp, let's go out again," she grumbled without looking in their direction, Takasugi jumped down from the piece of furniture he had climbed on and ran after her.

Once they were alone, Gintoki and Shinpachi couldn't help but laugh, thinking that someone had been able to tire Kagura out to such an extent. The girl returned only a couple of hours later, a victorious grin on her face and Takasugi exhaustedly perched on Sadaharu's back. Meanwhile, Gintoki took the opportunity to take a shower while Shinpachi changed the air in the room.

Gintoki woke up three times that night. Two of them were due to coughing fits that seemed to have decided that a night of uninterrupted sleep would be too much of a luxury for Gintoki. As he settled down after waking up for the second time in a night, he found Takasugi staring at him with a sleepy expression and a glass outstretched towards him. Gintoki smiled in thanks and returned the glass after drinking. The boy nodded, too sleepy to speak, and placed it a short distance from the futon, then curled up next to Gintoki, yawning. Earlier that night, the samurai had tried in vain to convince the mini-terrorist to go back to his futon, temporarily in Kagura's room, after all if he woke up again he would end up waking Takasugi too, but the other did not want to and Gintoki had to surrender to spending the night with the child sleeping next to him.

The third time he woke up, he was confronted with a way less peaceful scene.

Chapter Text

When Gintoki woke up, the first thing he heard was Kagura's agitated voice. She wasn't screaming, but she was clearly upset and Gintoki couldn't hear the voice of the person she was talking to. It took him a few seconds to realise that the young yato was talking on the phone. The samurai glanced towards the window, wondering if it was already morning, but seeing the darkness beyond the glass he got even more confused. Who the hell was Kagura calling in the middle of the night? He thought about getting up to check and only then realised that Takasugi was no longer beside him in the futon. He took a quick look around, but there was no sign of the boy. Had he gone to the bathroom? He usually didn't wake up at night except for nightmares... with that thought Gintoki decided it was definitely best to get up and check on the situation. As he tried to stand up, ignoring the dizziness, the door to his room opened, letting in light from the hall and making him squint in annoyance.

"Gin-chan," Kagura called to him from the doorway. Gintoki watched her for a moment, his confusion only increasing as he saw that the girl was wearing her jacket over her pyjamas. An unpleasant feeling began to crawl into him, waking him up completely. He looked around again. "Where's Takasugi?"

"I don't know," the girl replied, zipping up her jacket. "I woke up to go to the bathroom and when I came in to check on you, he wasn't here. I looked in every possible hiding place, but I couldn't find him. Even his shoes are missing" Kagura saw Gintoki's expression grow more and more alarmed. "I've already warned Shinpachi and Zura, they should already be out looking for him. Zura warned Sakamoto who said he was already on his way to join us and will be arriving shortly. I'm going out now. You stay here," she ordered him in a peremptory tone. "You're still sick and there must be someone in the house if-" Kagura stopped suddenly and went to answer the phone that had started ringing again. Gintoki didn't wait to find out who was on the other end, he walked out of the room, flew down the stairs and started searching every alleyway, crawl space and hole in Kabuki-chō.

Kagura hung up, Otae had called after Shinpachi had briefed her on what had happened. She had just seen Kondo enter her club and wanted to let Kagura know she would try to convince the policeman to help them in their search. Turning towards Gintoki's room, the girl cursed aloud, seeing that the samurai was no longer there. She ran outside, but couldn't spot him anywhere, so with another string of swear words she set off in search of the two idiots.

Gintoki let himself slide against the side of a building. He had been wandering around for two hours and was exhausted. At that moment he was in a dimly lit area of Kabuki-chō, still in his pyjamas and barefoot, although he had had the presence of mind to grab Lake Toya at least. As if that were not enough, it had started raining hard an hour before. The samurai was completely soaked, the cold from the rain getting into his bones and preventing him from stopping shivering. He couldn't help but stop and lean against one of the surrounding buildings when a coughing fit took his breath away and made him bend over. He sat with his back against a wall, but it still took him a few minutes to calm down and being able to catch his breath. When his breathing became regular again, Gintoki got up, determined to continue his search. He leaned against the wall for a moment, waiting for the dizziness that had seized him as he got to his feet to pass, and after taking a deep breath, he began to move again with caution. It was after a few steps that he heard a soft sound coming from an alley he had not yet searched. It was a miracle that he had heard it despite the roaring sound of the rain. Gintoki walked over to the dark bundle barely visible in the darkness of the alley and could see a child huddled under some cardboard boxes, sobbing as quietly as possible. The samurai approached him slowly. "Shinsuke?" he called and saw the other gasp. "How did you end up here?"

Takasugi curled up even more into himself and gave him a terrified look, his gaze constantly shifting from Gintoki to his bokuto. Gintoki suddenly had an excruciating doubt and, moving very slowly and staying at a safe distance, he let Lake Toya fall to the ground. He raised his hands to show the boy that he wasn't armed and wouldn't do anything to him, then took a few more steps forward and knelt down a couple of feet away from him. "I don't want to hurt you," he said in a conciliatory tone. "Did you have a nightmare?"

Shinsuke nodded without taking his eyes off him.

"Okay... what did you dream about?" asked Gintoki, although he feared he already knew the answer.

The other hesitated for a moment, undecided whether to answer or run away, but seeing that the samurai was doing nothing to catch him, he was convinced to speak. "I was as big as you. You were there, too. We were fighting and... and you killed me," his voice broke on the last part of the sentence and he began sobbing again. Gintoki closed his eyes and sighed. "Shinsuke, I..." he began, trying to provide an explanation.

"When I woke up it was dark and I didn't know where I was. Then I saw you and got scared and ran," the boy interrupted him. His voice was little more than a whisper. "Gin-chan, why am I having these dreams?"

Gintoki was almost relieved that it seemed Takasugi had only run off because he was confused and he seemed to have labelled the nightmare as just another disturbing dream. He didn't have enough energy to argue with a distraught eight-year-old, and they also had to get back to Yorozuya. How far had they got? He struggled to get up and tried to steady himself when he felt himself stagger. Somehow he managed not to fall and turned to Takasugi. "Let's go home," he said without managing to stifle a cough. The boy gave him a worried, guilty look as he stood up in turn and Gintoki smiled, ruffling his hair. Suddenly the child stiffened. "Gin-chan!" he yelled alarmed, pointing to a spot behind the silver-haired man. Gintoki's hand automatically snapped to his side to grab the hilt of his bokuto, but he grabbed at nothing. The samurai cursed, remembering that he had left the weapon on the ground not far from them, but he didn't have time to grab it: the man behind him smacked him on the head and everything went black.

Gintoki opened his eyes again in a dark room, his head felt like it was going to explode. That blow had definitely not helped his already aching head. Surely there was going to be at least a bump. He tried to stand up, but once he sat down, the world began to spin, so he gave up for the moment. Wonderful, he thought as he leaned against a wall and tried not to panic noticing that Takasugi wasn't around. He ignored the little voice in his head wondering if the world was spinning because of the blow to the head or if the fever had risen again and tried to assess the situation. A chill ran through him from head to toe. I'm still soaked, so I shouldn't have been unconscious for long. He looked around. No windows, I can't tell where we are. And they've taken Lake Toya, so I'm unarmed. Wonderful, he repeated to himself.

He had just begun to mull over what to do when a door across the room opened and a strange figure entered. Gintoki was too groggy with headache and fever to recognise the silhouette of someone at that distance, in the dark and with the only light present coming from the corridor behind the newcomer. It also had a strange shape. It didn't look human. Or if it is a human, I feel very sorry for him, Gintoki thought sarcastically.

The stranger started prodding him with something wooden. Lake Toya. "What are you grinning about, Shiroyasha?" the raspy voice of the newcomer, now closer, asked him abruptly. From that distance and that sentence, Gintoki could already deduce a few things. First, the guy was clearly not human, and now that he had focused on him, he could see horns and fangs. What a joy. An amanto. Second, he'd called him Shiroyasha, so he had to be someone connected to the jōi war or one of his stupid terrorist friends. It could also have been a combination of the two, but in that case he was more likely to be connected to Takasugi, given his past alliances. Third... apparently his face was doing things without his consent. He didn't remember grinning.

"...when we found out he was back in the form of a nurseling... really a good chance to make him pay," he heard the amanto say, who laughed particularly pleased with himself. Oops, was he talking to me? Did he say who he was? Well, as far as I can tell, they are after Bakasugi. Not that that's surprising. Did he say how they found out he was back? Damn, I really should stay focused.

The amanto laughed again, drawing Gintoki's attention. He was really making too much noise. "What a state you're in, Shiroyasha. From what I know, it's not normal for you humans to be this warm. Is that enough for you to reduce yourselves like this? What a pathetic species."

Gintoki coughed and grinned, on purpose this time. "Really? But I'm not the one who had to wait until one was a child and another was sick to capture my enemies." He had just finished speaking when he felt himself slamming against the wall. The amanto had lifted him up, grabbed him by the throat and shook him.

"What is it?" the alien asked as Gintoki tried to catch his breath, the amanto's grip and its smell not helping. The thing's snout was too close. "Aren't you being clever anymore?" Gintoki groaned, a coughing fit shook his entire body. "Well? Don't you want to try to get free?" the other mocked him. "Okay," muttered the samurai with a barely noticeable smile and spat. It hit the amanto's face squarely, who let go of his grip on both his throat and Lake Toya out of surprise. Idiot. Gintoki slumped to the ground and gathered his energy to sweep his legs. The amanto ended up on the ground with a thud. Gintoki coughed a few times, then laughed. "Argh that's gross. I bet it's yellow, isn't it?" he mocked as he stood up, rubbing his throat and retrieving his bokuto. The alien growled, stood up and tried to pounce on him. Gintoki let his own legs give out and dodged passing under the alien's arms, who lost balance. The samurai took the opportunity to strike him in the head with all his strength. The alien fell to the ground and never moved again.

Gintoki sighed and swayed. He leaned against the wall to stay on his feet as a coughing fit shook him from head to toe. After catching his breath and making sure he could stand without support, Gintoki walked briskly (or at least what seemed to him to be a brisk pace) towards the still half-open door. He closed it behind him and began to wander down the corridor. No guards? What kind of imbeciles are these? Bakasugi should be ashamed to have such opponents. As he wandered, increasingly nervous, he heard voices coming from one of the doors ahead. It sounded like there were three or four people inside. He heard the cry of a child. He threw himself against the door with all his weight and struck blindly at the first opponent who stood before him. "Am I interrupting?" he asked, almost growling. There were four other amantos in the room. Three of them sprang to their feet, looking like they had been sitting watching some kind of show until seconds before, while one was pressing Takasugi against the floor, one arm twisted behind his back. Gintoki saw red and his body moved automatically to attack the aliens present. With an abrupt movement, the one that was holding the boy down made Takasugi sit up and pulled his head back, exposing his throat. One moment Gintoki's mind was registering the knife in the amanto's hands, the next the samurai was throwing Lake Toya at him, hitting him hard on the head. Freeing himself, Shinsuke hunkered down under a table and curled in on himself, his wide eyes fixed on Gintoki who at that moment stood unarmed and surrounded. A demonic smile spread across the samurai's face. To hell with it. He launched himself towards one of his opponents who took a step backwards, caught off guard. Gintoki punched him in the face and kneed him in the stomach. The other two were soon on him and a punch to the stomach made him bend in two. He gasped, but managed to take advantage of the position to grab one of the daggers from his opponent's belt. What kind of idiots was he really up against? If they had weapons, why weren't they using them? He plunged the blade of the dagger into the belly of one of his enemies, twisted his wrist and gave an upward yank, ripping the imbecile through the sternum. A movement to his left caused him to flinch to the side, but he was unable to avoid the blow entirely: the enemy sword opened a gash along his side. They remembered they had swords then. Congratulations. He brought a hand to his side and took a couple of steps back, coughing. He was panting heavily and now he was also bleeding. Tsk. Three opponents like these should be dead by now. Embarrassing. He jumped to the side and rolled towards his unattended bokuto. He managed to reach it and got to his feet. He didn't wait for the dizziness to pass, and taking advantage of the adrenaline rush caused by the fight, he sprang forward and landed a blow on the temple of one of the two aliens. The one still standing struck him in the back, opening a gash on his back. Gintoki stumbled, then spun around and struck the other in the side with all the strength he had in his body. The amanto's body had barely hit the ground when another dozen enemies came through the wide-open door. So there were guards, Gintoki thought as he staggered and leaned against the table under which Takasugi had hidden, bent in two by a coughing fit. His legs gave out and he found himself on his knees. He laughed to himself before he started coughing again. "This could be a problem," he murmured, as he tried to catch his breath.

"Gin-chan..." Takasugi had approached from under the table and was clutching the shirt of his pyjamas. Gintoki made a grimace that was meant to be a smile and struggled back to his feet, gripping his bokuto in front of him. Come on, he only thought as the enemies charged and he entered the fray. It took him a couple of seconds to realise that he wasn't really fighting all the amantos he had expected to face. Some were already dead and their forces had scattered. He looked around confused. Who else was there? A bullet whistled inches from his face, lodging itself in the head of the amanto he'd stunned earlier and was about to attack from behind. Bullets? "Tatsuma?" he asked, puzzled, turning in the direction the shot had come from. Finally he could see that Sakamoto and Katsura had joined them, they were taking out the remaining enemies without too much trouble. "You noticed us only now? So scatterbrained, Kintoki!" his friend replied. Despite the misnomer and the mocking tone, the merchant's eyes were icy as he fired off another couple of shots. Katsura, not far away, had an equally icy expression as he cut down one enemy after another as if he were swatting flies. Getting rid of all the amantos present was not difficult. A pattering sound from the corridor caught the attention of the three friends. Gintoki raised his bokuto again, ready to fight, but the two samurai shook their heads. Gintoki frowned, but relaxed when he saw Shinpachi and Kagura appear. The two couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when they saw him. Gintoki flashed a smile, but without the adrenaline from the fight, his legs finally gave out and he passed out.

Chapter Text

By the time the four of them arrived at Yorozuya, it was dawn. Kagura went to tell Otose that they'd found Gintoki and Takasugi, while Shinpachi headed straight upstairs. He called Otae for an update and Kondo to let the Shinsengumi know they'd found their two missing friends and the location of the amantos they'd fought against, so that their hq could be dismantled. In the meantime, Sakamoto, who had carried an unconscious Gintoki on his back, placed him on the futon and began undressing him, while Katsura headed for the bathroom with Takasugi.

Shinpachi helped the merchant, while Kagura left clean clothes for Shinsuke outside the bathroom door and carried towels and bandages to the samurai's room. When Katsura re-emerged from the bathroom with Takasugi, the boy was clean and seemed to have stopped shaking. Shinpachi and Sakamoto had finished cleaning and bandaging Gintoki's wounds and were trying to get him into clean pyjamas. Kagura placed a basin of water and cloths next to Gintoki's futon, while the other two tucked him in. She placed two clean futons in her own room for the two guests and moved her own to the samurai's room.

Everything was done in complete silence, until Takasugi began to cry while leaning against Katsura's leg. The ronin ran a hand through his hair and sat him down on one of the sofas. Sakamoto sighed and joined them. The two young yorozuya could hear them talking to the boy, but their voices were too low to make out anything. Kagura turned back to the silver-haired man's room. "I'll stay with Gin-chan," she said addressing Shinpachi, as if that hadn't been obvious. The friend nodded and rubbed the base of his nose. "I'll be there in a minute," he answered and headed for the kitchen. He emptied a bag of biscuits into a bowl and boiled a pot of water. A few moments later he walked into the living room and placed the bowl of biscuits and three cups of tea on the table. Katsura thanked him with a nod and the two men focused again on the sobbing boy. He felt guilty. The fear of the dream had given way to the fright caused by the amantos and the guilt of having made Gintoki's conditions worse. Shinpachi returned to the kitchen, filled a jug with water, took a glass and placed it in Gintoki's room, then took a clean futon and laid down next to the samurai.

Over the next few days, Katsura, Sakamoto, Kagura and Shinpachi took turns so that each of them had a role to play and not the same ones always took care of Gintoki and Takasugi. The boy was strangely calm and quiet, the reassurances from Katsura and Sakamoto that he would not be punished and that what had happened was not his fault had no great effect. Takasugi seemed to have turned into a perfect little soldier: orderly, silent and obedient. On the other hand, Gintoki's wounds were healing without too many problems, but he still had a high fever, was breathing heavily and coughing. In the end, to try and make him more comfortable, they had arranged for him to sit up partially, with his back against some pillows. During those days, Gintoki had been unconscious most of the time and the others had to make sure he drank enough. It was only after three days that the samurai's breathing became less laboured and his fever began to break. Kagura had just changed one of the patches on his forehead and was about to stand up when she felt a hand grab her wrist. The grip was clearly meant to stop her, but it was too weak to actually be able to hold her in place. The girl turned towards the owner of the hand who was staring at her, eyes barely open and lips slightly parted as if he wanted to say something to her. Kagura smiled and moved a little closer. "Gin-chan, you're awake!"

The man swallowed and looked around.

"Shinpachi's taking a shower and Katsura and Sakamoto went out shopping with the mini-terrorist," the young yato explained, guessing the samurai's unexpressed question. "We're all fine. You have a wound on your side and one on your back, but they've both been cleaned and bandaged. They shouldn't give you any trouble," Kagura said, pausing. Gintoki nodded, confirming that they didn't hurt. "Since you're an idiot who ran out at night in your pyjamas during a deluge, your cold has gotten worse. Do you know how worried we were when we couldn't find you? You've had a raging fever for three days! This is the first time you've been conscious in three days," the girl scolded him and stared at him for a while, disappointed. Finally Gintoki looked away and mumbled something that Kagura decided to ignore, probably that stupid guy was trying to play it down even then. The yato huffed, "Forget it. None of us were hurt anyway. That pocket-sized punk wasn't hurt either, just really scared..." Gintoki became less tense hearing those words and Kagura smiled. "Are you thirsty?" she asked handing him a glass, the man nodded and drank greedily, then leaned back against the pillows with a sigh. Kagura tried again to get up to change the water in the bowl, but Gintoki's hand remained firmly around her wrist. The yato looked at him for a moment, he had closed his eyes again and seemed to relax for the first time in days. She shook her head, snorting in amusement. She let go of the bowl and laid down beside the samurai, adjusting the blankets and resting her back against the pillows. Nothing happened for a few seconds, but eventually the girl felt Gintoki's head rest on her shoulder and the man sigh slightly, a few minutes later he was asleep again.

When he woke up, Gintoki kept his eyes closed for a moment. He heard no sounds from the rest of the house or the street. He cautiously opened his eyes and saw sunlight streaming in through the window. It was morning then. The unusual quiet must have meant that it was still early. He remembered talking to Kagura a couple of hours before... or maybe it was days? She had told him that he had been injured during the fight against the amantos and had had a high fever for three days... he checked his body. He could feel something tightening his torso, but it wasn't uncomfortable. It was probably the bandages. He felt no pain though, so his wounds must be healing well. He took a deep breath and realised that breathing was finally not so complicated. His head also seemed to have stopped throbbing. All in all he felt pretty good. He looked around and noticed the boy sleeping next to him in the futon.

Right.

The night before Shinpachi, Kagura, Sakamoto, Katsura and Takasugi had gathered in his room. Shinpachi had said that his fever was finally breaking and that he would probably be fine in a couple of days. Shinsuke had approached him cautiously, without taking his eyes off the floor, and had started to apologise in a shaky voice until Gintoki had grabbed him and sat him down next to him on the futon. The boy had clung to him like a koala and refused to let go, so they finally fell asleep like that.

At that moment, Shinpachi entered the room and smiled when he saw Gintoki awake. "Good morning, Gin-san. How are you feeling?"

The samurai smiled in turn. "Good, I'd say. At least nothing hurts and it no longer feels like someone is using a jackhammer in my brain."

Shinpachi nodded and laid a hand on his forehead. "The fever seems to be gone too... do you want to try and get up? I made breakfast."

Gintoki nodded, got up from the futon and headed into the kitchen with Takasugi still asleep in his arms. Both he and Shinpachi were evidently relieved that none of those actions had cost him any particular effort. Shinpachi placed a plate in front of him. "I made the usual... it's a bit less than normal, but I didn't know how hungry you'd be. If it's not enough, I can always make something else and leave Kagura hungry," Shinpachi justified himself with an amused grin.

Gintoki laughed. "Thank you, Pattsuan," he replied before starting to eat. When he was done, the boy with glasses cleared the table and put the dish in the sink. "How long did I sleep?" Gintoki asked suddenly.

Shinpachi turned around and seemed to meditate for a moment. "Five days. The first three you had a very high fever and were unconscious, after that it started to break and you had a few moments of lucidity. Do you remember anything?"

Gintoki nodded, "Last night. And Kagura two days ago... she scolded me, I think."

Shinpachi laughed. "Yes, she told me that. And she's right, Gin-san. You shouldn't have gone out on your own," his friend scolded him in turn. Gintoki grimaced and waved a hand. "It takes more than that to kill me."

"Then next time you catch a cold, we can leave you alone," Shinpachi teased, earning a betrayed look from the samurai, who pretended to be offended, got up and went to lay on the couch with Takasugi still in his arms.

Takasugi woke up slowly. He couldn't remember the last time he had woken up so relaxed. He yawned lazily and shifted slightly in his sleep, crumpling the fabric beneath him. There was something strange about it. The surface beneath him seemed to move in a slow, rhythmic fashion. What the hell were his men doing? Had they unlearned how to fly? They were in space, not at sea! He blinked a few times to get used to the light of his surroundings and what he saw confused him even more. He was not on his ship. Was that... the back of a sofa?

Takasugi froze suddenly.

Now he remembered.

He had come back to life.

He had come back to life in the form of a child.

A flood of embarrassing memories filled his mind, everything he had done in the past few months flashed before his eyes like a film.

And it seemed that during those months it had been his ex-comrades who had taken care of him. His ex-comrades and the two brats adopted by Gintoki.

Gintoki... oh no.

With the realisation of what had happened in the last period, he also realised the position he was in at that moment.

He wasn't on a swaying ship.

His eight-year-old self was sleeping on the sofa on Gintoki!

Takasugi sat up and the abrupt movement woke Gintoki who sat up in turn, looking at him not understanding what was going on, but still too sleepy to ask questions.

"Gintoki!" shouted Takasugi as he saw the other jerk awake without him having a chance to get off the couch. Gintoki's eyes widened, the familiar tone of voice had brought him back to reality and made him suddenly realise that the one in front of him was a Takasugi in full possession of his memories and personality. Automatically, the samurai grabbed the child and threw him onto the other sofa with a traumatised scream.

Shinpachi reappeared from the kitchen, alarmed. "What's going on?"

"Who the hell is making all this noise?" grumbled Kagura as she came out of Gintoki's room still in her pyjamas, rubbing her eyes with one hand.

Gintoki flopped back against the sofa and shrugged, pointing at Takasugi who was trying to sit up after being thrown. "He's back."

Shinpachi and Kagura were puzzled for a moment, then turned to the boy and seeing his annoyed expression they finally understood.

"Oh, welcome back, Takasugi-san," Shinpachi greeted.

"Yes yes," yawned Kagura. "Hello, one-eyed psycho. Don't blow anything up while I'm in the bathroom," she said before disappearing again.

As the girl re-emerged from the bathroom, dressed and vaguely presentable, Katsura and Sakamoto appeared in the living room too. Sakamoto, who had no idea what had just happened, sat down on the couch next to Takasugi and reached out a hand to ruffle his hair, while Katsura sat down next to Gintoki.

"Oi, Tatsuma! Take your hand away if you don't want to lose it," the boy barked. Sakamoto suddenly withdrew his arm, his eyes widening. But in an instant he realised that Takasugi must have recovered his memories and gone back to being himself, so he burst out laughing in amusement.

"Barely back and you're already in a good mood, uh Bakasugi?"

Katsura suddenly reached out and tugged at the child's cheek, which instantly glowered at him. "Yeah, he's really back!" he turned sharply to Sakamoto "Like this we won't be able to make him wear that costume!"

Gintoki's voice caught their attention again. "Says who?" he asked sardonically and with a smile that didn't bode well. "After all, it's three against one. And he's still in his pocket version."

"...don't try it," the friend warned them, trying to escape. Too late. The other three pounced on him and a few minutes later Takasugi found himself stuffed into a bunny costume. The picture was added to their collection of embarrassing photos from the past eight months.

"I swear I'll kill you," Takasugi growled as the other three continued to tease him. Shinpachi and Kagura, however, could have sworn they saw the Kiheitai commander smiling for a second.

Chapter Text

That costume was the beginning of the end and started a series of tricks and jokes among the four samurai. In revenge for the disguise, Takasugi emptied the three friends' supply of sake into the toilet. Katsura, Sakamoto and Gintoki took their revenge by going to drink in a bar without him because "everyone still sees you as a child. You're too small, they won't let you in". He retaliated by following them secretly and planting himself in front of the bar door, where he started kicking and screaming, pretending to cry and pointing at the three friends inside the bar. Needless to say, the three were forced to flee under the accusing glares of the other customers.

Since Takasugi had recovered his memories, his permanent stay at Gintoki's house came to an end. The four of them did not separate completely, but when Sakamoto left on one of his trips, his friend would occasionally follow him on board of the Kairinmaru, only to return with him to Earth, where he would stay with Gintoki or Katsura, depending on who had been more annoying the previous time. Contacts with the Kiheitai also became more frequent, and when his body had reached fifteen again, Takasugi resumed his role as commander.

***

"We must celebrate!" shouted Sakamoto at the top of his lungs. It had now been over three years since Takasugi had come back to life, which meant that he had finally managed to bridge the age gap between him and his old friends.

"Please, that's just an excuse for you to get drunk," Takasugi taunted him, hiding an amused smile. He knew very well that his... friends would interpret his words correctly anyway.

Gintoki replied without batting an eye. "Oh right, because you are in fact a teetotaller, aren't you Hikusugi?" he said dodging a punch from the purple haired man. "That means you won't be taking a single sip. You're going to sit still and watch us and drink water until you've grown frogs in your belly."

The two of them began to beat each other up, while Sakamoto laughed boisterously and Katsura ignored them to steal Takasugi's pipe. "Hey!" the samurai rebuked.

"Finder keeper," replied the long-haired ronin, lifting an arm to push the pipe out of his friend's reach. "Who bought it back for you anyway? Don't be selfish."

The four friends continued to laugh and brawl until they reached the hot springs. The warm water and relaxing atmosphere got the better of them and they too finally calmed down. If anyone had seen them from the outside, they would have looked like four young friends having a bath, joking and catching up after not having seen each other for months. But a more observant eye would have realised that they had seen their faces somewhere before, although they might not have remembered the news reports of notorious terrorists, coups and brave heroes saving the Earth. A more attentive eye might have noticed how the faces and bodies of the four men, though still young, bore the marks of many battles. But no eye was more attentive than the eyes of Kabuki-chō, eyes that saw and knew everything and that had decided to finally leave some peace to those four men who, after all the battles they had fought, after all they had lost and all they had managed to save, deserved to be just young men in their thirties. Even if only for a few hours.

"Hey Bakasugi," Gintoki said at one point. "You've got a new body now, you're skin is as smooth as a baby's bottom."

The other two laughed. "Gintoki, don't be so sharp," Katsura scolded him. "His skin is so delicate, you might hurt him."

"You guys think you need a few more scars instead?" threatened Takasugi, glaring at them.

"Come on, come on, Shinsuke! Don't be mad," laughed Sakamoto, putting an arm around his shoulders. "If you frown like that, you'll end up getting wrinkles!"

Takasugi mowed down his legs with one of his own and sent him underwater. "Die," he replied as the other three snickered.

"Your skin is too smooth," Gintoki continued, "this isn't right. And there's something weird" he said as he moved closer, one hand stroking his chin.

"Is there?" the other two asked as they approached in turn. Takasugi looked at them suspiciously.

"Yes yes, don't you see?" said Gintoki pointing to his face. "There's a manufacturing defect, this one has two eyes!" Without giving the other the time to react, the silver-haired samurai jumped on him. "Zura! Pass me the katana!"

The fight that followed served if nothing else to tire the four samurai out, if most of the water in the tub ended up on the floor, no one had any objections.

After the thermal baths, the four friends walked around the streets of Kabuki-chō. When all four returned to Yorozuya they were completely drunk. They crawled under the kotatsu, one on each side, and fell asleep like that. Shinpachi and Kagura found them still in that position the next morning.

When Takasugi woke up, the other three idiots were still asleep under the kotatsu. Or maybe he should have said they were still in a coma. Looking at them, Takasugi realised that it really had been a long time since they had been allowed to stay like this. Together. Without a care in the world or the threat of an imminent and violent death. He got up and headed for the bathroom, upon his return he noticed the envelope of incriminating photos on the living room table and for some masochistic reason he grabbed it. He sat down on one of the sofas and leafed through the photographs one by one. He remembered what had happened in the moments just before and just after those pictures, which made the experience even more embarrassing, even so he couldn't help but keep looking at them. He couldn't deny that his idiot friends had tried really hard, it even looked like they were having fun... Takasugi snorted in amusement when he saw a photo of himself at the age of four, messing with Gintoki's face. He had made the mistake of falling asleep on the couch, leaving unsupervised a Takasugi in possession of various markers. Sakamoto and Katsura, instead of stopping him, seemed to be giving instructions on how to improve his work of art. Scrolling through photo after photo, Takasugi found himself thinking that those months had not been so terrible after all, it had been fun. He swallowed. He had felt... happy.

Hearing footsteps approaching, he put the pictures away and placed the envelope on the table, if Shinpachi noticed anything he didn't mention. "Good morning, Takasugi-san. Are the others still asleep?"

The man nodded and silently studied the younger man, who gave him a questioning look. The silence was interrupted by Kagura who was returning after spending the night out with Soyo. "Shinpachiiii, I'm hungry!"

The boy gave her an exasperated look. "Good morning to you too, Kagura-chan."

"I'm hungry," the young yato replied, clinging to one of Shinpachi's arms.

"Was there no food at the princess's house?" her friend asked, sceptically. "And if you're hungry, you can make your own food, you know where the kitchen is," he teased her.

Kagura snorted, "You don't tell them to make their own food," she grumbled, pointing at Takasugi, Sakamoto and Katsura.

"They are guests, Kagura-chan."

"What guests! This one," she said, pointing at Takasugi so vehemently that the samurai raised an eyebrow, "has lived in this house for months in the past. And the other two were practically always here too! They've been coming here every few months for years now."

The bickering went on for a while as Takasugi watched them in silence. Despite their young age and all the risks involved, those two kids had stood by Gintoki's side for years and waited for him during the two years he was missing. When he returned, they had gone back to fighting and working with him as if nothing had happened, and they hadn't even raised doubts about Shōyō. And to think that the idiot hadn't wanted to tell them anything...

"Why did you accept Gintoki's request?" he asked point blank.

Kagura and Shinpachi turned to look at him confused. "What request?" they asked in unison. Takasugi tilted his head towards the envelope of photos resting on the table.

"Shouldn't we have?" Shinpachi looked increasingly puzzled and the red-haired girl was staring at him as if he had sprouted another head.

"I can understand those three comatose idiots over there," the purple haired man explained, "but you didn't have the same motivations as them. We were enemies most of the time."

"That's true," Shinpachi conceded. "But after Iga, it seemed that Gin-san changed his mind. On Rakuyo we fought together. And also against the Tendōshū and Utsuro." Takasugi saw a strange expression cross the boy's face, but it disappeared too quickly for him to name it. Then he understood. "He told you what happened at the end of the war."

"A little," the other hastened to reply. "We don't know everything that happened, but we know that you knew each other from childhood, that you fought together, and... we know what happened to Shōyō-sensei. We understand that the relationship between the four of you is more complicated than it might seem. If you've managed to overcome what happened, we can't meddle," Shinpachi paused and cast a glance at the yato. "The truth is we do not care about defending the planet. We didn't participate in the war against the Liberation Army and then against the Tendōshū to save the world. We just wanted to be at Gin-san's side. So even what you did... if Gin-san decided it doesn't matter anymore, then that's fine," he concluded, smiling.

"Moreover Gin-chan did the same for us," Kagura added, sitting opposite him on the other couch. "He tried to save someone important to Shinpachi, even though that person was trying to blow up the planet. And well...you already know my idiot brother Kamui. Gin-chan knew I wanted to stop him, not kill him, and he helped me do it, even though that idiot attacked and injured him too. The past is in the past. No use thinking about it anymore."

"Very wise of you, Kagura-chan," Shinpachi commented.

The yato gave him a dirty look. "What do you mean?"

And so they resumed their poking and bickering until the others had woken up as well. Takasugi had to admit that now he could understand how the others must feel when he and Gintoki got into a fight.

Takasugi was smoking on the balcony of Yorozuya. For once, Kabuki-chō was strangely silent. He heard footsteps behind him and didn't need to turn around to know that Gintoki had joined him.

"Those brats of yours aren't so bad after all," he said without any real motivation. He heard his friend snort in amusement and lean against the railing next to him.

"Did you just say something nice about Shinpachi and Kagura? Are you dying again?" the silver-haired samurai teased him. The other one glared at him and kicked him, Gintoki managed to avoid getting hit. They kept quiet for a few seconds and could feel the presence of Katsura and Sakamoto behind them. Apparently they had joined them too.

"I saw sensei," Takasugi said suddenly. Katsura took a step forward.

"What do you mean?"

"While I was dead," he replied. "In the altana I saw our sensei. I didn't want to come back, but he said he owed me a second chance, whatever nonsense that means. As if my decisions were his responsibility," he paused. "I tried to convince him to let me stay, but he said you guys were still here so I had to come back. I remember getting smaller and smaller as he spoke," he murmured almost thoughtlessly. The others didn't dare make a sound. "I remembered. He told me to tell you that he is at peace now, he's no longer suffering. He is happy to have met us again at least once as himself and not as Utsuro. And he's proud of what we've managed to become. And he thanks you, Tatsuma, for keeping an eye on us when he couldn't."

Throughout the entire speech, Takasugi had kept staring in front of him. He wasn't sure he would be able to finish if he saw the expression on his friends' faces. The other three remained silent, not even Sakamoto daring to interrupt the moment. He knew his friends needed this. They had finally achieved what they had been chasing ever since they fought together in the army. For his part, he was simply happy that his friends had finally managed to find peace and reconciled.

It was Takasugi who broke the silence. "Speaking of Tatsuma... didn't you say you brought us a new liquor to try?"

The merchant laughed faintly. "That's right, that's right! Follow me! I haven't tasted it yet either, so it'll be a new experience..." he rambled on as he went back in the house, followed by the other three. Takasugi took one last look at Kabuki-chō before closing the door behind him. He had long since resumed his role as head of the Kiheitai, but now he had a place to return to from time to time, that place wasn't so bad after all... the fact that two of his fre- to hell with it, two of his three brothers lived there had nothing to do with his visits. Just as he was not at all happy to see them at regular intervals and made sure to express his annoyance every time they had to agree on a day to meet. Of course, in the end he always attended, but that was only to prevent Tatsuma from breaking through the side of his ship again. Likewise, the other three knew that that was a load of rubbish and that Takasugi was as happy as they were to have recovered a relationship they thought was lost forever.

"Thank you," he let out a little later, after the third round of a strange alien liquor. None of the other three asked if he was referring to the alcohol, the fact that he had been so easily forgiven by them, the fact that they took care of him when he couldn't fend for himself, or all of those things at the same time. After all, it wasn't necessary and it didn't matter, they were all together again.

***

"Where did all these people come from?" the silver-haired samurai asked puzzled as he saw the people huddled outside Otose's bar. Shinpachi and Kagura smiled, but said nothing. Gintoki was even more confused as he saw that the group of people outside the bar looked displeased. He also recognized a few of the old hag's regulars.

"I told you to get out of my way," he heard the woman order brusquely. "I told you that we are closed today. What's the big deal? Is this the only bar in all of Kabuki-chō? Get lost!"

After a few more complaints the crowd dispersed, threatening never to return after that treatment. Everyone knew those were empty threats. They would all be there again the next day at the same time.

"Pain in the ass," Otose commented as she watched them leave. "Come on, you three," she called them. "Come in."

Once inside, Gintoki couldn't help but widen his eyes. They were all there. For some reason, the strange jumble of weirdos that were his friends, the people he had forged bizarre bonds with over the years he had lived in Kabuki-chō, were all inside Otose's bar staring at him smiling. He looked at them confused. It was then that a voice brought him back to reality with its usual sharp tone. "I told you that idiot had completely forgotten what day it was," Takasugi teased him from a table towards the back of the room, where he sat with Katsura, who was shaking his head in exasperation, and Sakamoto, who had started laughing at Gintoki's confused expression.

"It's October 10th, Gin-san," Shinpachi explained, trying not to laugh. Gintoki raised an eyebrow. He knew what day it was, what did the 10 had to do w- oh. Those present burst out laughing, seeing that Gintoki finally seemed to understand. Tama came to his aid with a simple, "Happy birthday, Gintoki-sama."

Gintoki smiled uncertainly, but he didn't have time to process what was happening because apparently the others had interpreted Tama's words as the signal to start the party. Soon he found himself surrounded by people pulling him in all directions to offer him drinks and cheer. By half of the evening Gintoki was already quite drunk and had crawled over to his old friends' table, from where he could easily see the whole room. Despite the fumes of alcohol, he was still amazed that so many people had turned up. He looked around at everyone present and couldn't help but smile when he saw his three brothers sitting at the table with him, discussing something he couldn't fully grasp. He looked up and, seeing that Shinpachi and Kagura were watching him, his smile widened.

His friends were there. He had managed to find his little old family and keep the new one. The idea that he wouldn't need to give anyone up still seemed unreal to him and he couldn't understand what he had done to deserve such a second chance. For a moment, he saw an astonished expression appear on Kagura and Shinpachi's faces and realized his eyes were glazed over. Oh. Well maybe he could blame it on the alcohol. Or maybe not. The two “kids” seemed to understand and smiled again, moving closer.

"Happy birthday, Gin-chan," Kagura simply said, as she sat on his lap and put her arms around his neck.

"Happy birthday," Shinpachi repeated, hugging him in turn.

Yes, he was definitely happy.