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.