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rainsometimesThis fic was supposed to be done in time for Gintoki's birthday last October or at least just a little later. Well, things happened, I was tired, things kept happening, I found it hard to get into my writing groove again, and then it also took me time to figure out where to end the story and (among other things) figure out what on Earth Katsura was going to give Gintoki. It was supposed to just be this simple, silly story, and it remained quite simple and silly and didn't even turn out very long. But it still took its time all the same - sometimes stories are just like that. Or writers are just like that.
I finally finished it in time for Katsura's birthday instead! Comments are very welcome, including constructive criticism!
Title: Instead Of Admitting You’re One Day Late To The Party, Just Claim You’re 364 Days Early
Characters/Pairing: Gintoki/Katsura
Spoilers/setting: Set in general spoilerless status quo time, but I imagine it taking place after a good many episodes. Definitely before the Renho arc, though.
Word count: 4426 at the time of posting
Summary: Katsura shows up to celebrate Gintoki's birthday one day late.
“Happy birthday, Gintoki!”
Katsura was standing outside on the porch wearing his standard outfit and a solemn expression. Gintoki gave him a bleary look and started to slide the door close. Head pounding from last night’s party, he’d shouted at Shinpachi to open the door a minute ago, but the boy was on the toilet and Kagura was out on a morning run with Sadaharu (or at least Gintoki had a vague impression she was), so Gintoki had stumbled out on his own in his well-worn green pajamas, only to be met by this sight which screamed I Am Here To Say And Do Weird Things Way Too Early In The Morning. Why, it probably wasn’t even ten o’clock yet.
The next second, Zura held up a gift-wrapped present with a huge red ribbon, though he didn’t hand it over. Gintoki paused, considering. Against his better judgment, he leaned on the doorframe still holding the doorhandle, blocking entrance to the apartment but not quite shutting Zura out entirely.
He gave Zura a very flat look, and Gintoki was extremely good at flat looks. “You’re one day late, idiot. My birthday was yesterday.”
Zura sighed in mild, patronizing exasperation. “Today is October 11, Gintoki. Your birthday is today. You may have bamboozled all these other people into thinking it was yesterday, but you can’t fool me.” He pointed dramatically at Gintoki. “I know the real truth!”
“It’s always been October 10th, you ninny.”
“It’s always been October 11th, you mean! It’s the same as your voice actor! You just keep telling people it’s October 10 because that’s Naruto’s birthday!” Zura tut-tutted, crossing his arms.
The wrapped present seemed to have evaporated, as if some lazy gorilla or forgetful dôjinshi artist forgot to draw it. “Really, Gintoki,” Zura continued, “don’t conflate your own birthday with Naruto-kun’s just so you can make yourself look more like a driven, upstanding, proper shônen hero like him! It’s just not going to work!”
Gintoki picked his nose and changed tactics. “Huuuh? Are you saying you never showed up here last night, then? Can’t say as I noticed. Figured you were just milling around in the huge crowd that got here, uninvited as usual. It’s not like anybody noticed or cared that you weren’t here, Zura.”
That did make him twitch, at least a little. “It’s not Zura, it’s Katsura,” he muttered, eyes narrowing. “Was Kyûbei-dono here?”
“Of course she was,” said Gintoki promptly. “Goes without saying.” Kyûbei had only shown up for a short time as far as Gintoki could recall, fairly late in the evening, together with Otae who she had escorted there from the cabaret. By that time the party had been getting close to wrapping up. “There’s no mistaking that one!”
“But what did you—” Zura started, but whatever he’d intended to say was lost as the stairs thumped and creaked under the weight of Sadaharu and Kagura returning. Gintoki groaned as he stumbled over to the side to avoid being run over by his dog in this vulnerable state. Mercifully, Sadaharu just crowded past him today.
“What are you doing here, Zura?” said Kagura. “Hey, you’ve got a present! Gimme.” She reached out greedily for the present that had materialized once more in Zura’s hand. “That can’t be for Gin-chan, nuh-uh, his birthday was yesterday!”
“Good morning, Leader—”
Gintoki whapped Kagura over the head. “How does that make it your present? I mean, it’s sure to be something lame anyway, but--”
“—actually, Gintoki’s real birthday is today, although I seem to be the only one to remember it—”
“You’re late, Zura! It’s no good showing up with a present a day late like that, Gin-chan’s got his pride, he won’t accept it! Give it to me instead.”
“But, Leader—” Zura kept the present out of reach as Kagura reached for it again, while clearly trying to get closer to the door even as Gintoki was already shutting it close again. Inside the flat, Shinpachi was wailing over Sadaharu apparently knocking the cleaning bucket over.
“Don’t but and rebut!” said Kagura.
“It’s ‘but me no buts’,” said Gintoki.
“I said, don’t even try, Zura!” insisted Kagura. “You never turned up last night, we all noticed, but we didn’t think you were so dumb to forget what date it was! Shinpachi sent you an invitation after all, uh huh! You can’t just turn up now and pretend nothing happened!”
Gintoki groaned. “Pachi-boy should mind his own business,” he muttered, then elbowed Kagura in the side. “Anyway, it’s not like we missed this guy, right Kagura?”
She pinched him in his side in return, making him yelp. “Right!” she exclaimed. “We definitely didn’t miss you at all, Zura! It’s not like Gin-chan kept looking out the window like you were going to climb in! And then when those cop idiots left he said ‘now Zura can come, that bastard’ but you didn’t show up! Ow, stop that, Gin-chan! I mean he didn’t say that! But he should have done, because I was missing Eli, not you!! Where’s Eli, anyway?”
“Elizabeth had prior engagements today. She’s cleaning up some business from last night,” said Zura in a distracted tone. He shot Gintoki a smugly weighing look, clearly pleased to find his absence last night had been noticed after all.
Gintoki had already glowered at Kagura and now collected himself to shoot Zura the very blandest of looks in return. “So you didn’t even come even though you had an invitation,” he drawled. “Not that I sent out one.” In fairness, he had sent no invitations at all to anyone, or done much preparations in general apart from wearing clean clothes and baking two cakes.
“I saw no need to encourage your delusions,” said Zura haughtily. “And we had things to do, anyway. Something came up with the Joui.”
“Always easy to find an excuse when you don’t feel like making an effort!”
“Don’t judge me by your slacker standards!”
“Admit it. You’re just doing this because I didn’t give you anything for your birthday.” Gintoki shot at him, picking his nose.
“Ah hah!” Zura pointed dramatically at Gintoki, then pulled his hand back as Gintoki tried to wipe his snot on it. “So you do admit you were quite aware of my birthday last June 26th! You were just a thoughtless cheapskate who decided to ignore it!”
Sucking on sukonbu, Kagura remarked, “I told Gin-chan back then he should just give you something cheap to shut you up. He should listen to me more. I said, ‘even if it’s just some dirty shoelaces at least Zura can’t say you gave him nothing’.”
“Shut up, both of you!” Gin exclaimed. “It’s not the same thing! I didn’t claim the whole damn month of October now, did I?” He turned to Kagura, pointing at Zura, “This moron becomes a complete megalomaniac about his birthday, you can’t give him an inch or it will just reward him!”
“Gin-san,” came Shinpachi’s voice from inside the flat, close to the shoe removal area now, “I think Kagura-chan is right. Katsura-san will just get worse about his birthday if you persist like that.”
“You brats just don’t get it!!” But by this point, Gintoki’s stomach made a rumbling statement of its own, and he decided it was more urgent to feed himself breakfast than to stand here and blocking this moron any further. He grumbled under his breath for form’s sake, took a half-hearted swipe at the present -- Zura still held it just out of reach, the contrary bastard -- then gave up and left the hall to pad into the kitchen. Shinpachi had already started the rice cooker so it didn’t take Gintoki many minutes to emerge into the living room with breakfast for himself and Kagura.
“There you are,” said Shinpachi, who was peaceably sipping tea that he had brought out for himself and their terrorist guest.The television was talking quietly in its corner. “I was getting to wonder if the fic writer was ever going to get this far or if you two would just be stuck arguing at the front door forever.”
“Don’t be inconveniently aware of the fifth wall when the rest of us politely decided not to notice,” muttered Gintoki through his chewing. “It’s an unattractive trait in a Glasses cherry-boy character.”
“Don’t talk while you eat, Gintoki!” said Zura, elbowing him in the side.
Gintoki elbowed him right back and pulled his hair for good measure. “Shaddap, you uninvited jerk.”
“Ow! As Leader confirmed earlier, I was indeed invited,” said Zura, going back to drinking his tea calmly.
“To the stupid shindig yesterday! Not to showing up late today! Ah, what the hell.” Gintoki subsided again, remembering too late he wasn’t supposed to care. “Bet that present is something dumb anyway, like Joui propaganda or hideous merch of that monster.”
“It’s not monster, it’s Elizabeth, and all Elizabeth merch is very cute!!” Zura glared at him. “It’s too good for louts like you.”
“I’m getting more rice,” Kagura announced, leaving for the kitchen. “This is way too little for a growing girl!”
“‘Too good’?” spluttered Gintoki to Zura. “You say that now?? Then why do you keep unloading it on me for all my other birthdays??”
“I do not! I may have condescended to it ONCE.” Zura eyed Gintoki’s egg-on-rice pensively, leading Gintoki to put up a warding hand around his bowl. He knew from long experience that Zura’s high-handed stance on table manners wouldn’t always stop him from trying to steal a bite on occasion. “Probably solely because I had a discount”, Zura added.
“What do you need a discount for? It’s your stupid pet!”
“Elizabeth merch is in quite high demand!” Zura claimed, clearly a blatant lie. Then he glanced at the television corner. “Say, isn’t that the weather lady you like?”
Gintoki turned his head fast, though he made sure to put a protective hand around his breakfast. “Hey, it is! She’s doing a news report thing again! Shinpachi, raise the volume!”
“I think Sadaharu swallowed the remote again,” said Kagura from the kitchen, but thankfully she was wrong, or maybe Shinpachi had already retrieved and washed the thing, because he was pushing it over to Gintoki with a disapproving eye now.
Ana (Christel) Ketsuno was smiling sunnily as usual from down at the waterfront. What she went on to say had nothing to do with the weather. Maybe they were shortstaffed at the TV station today.
“Yes,” she said brightly, “as we have already heard, the Shinsengumi does report that last night they attacked and sank a boat smuggling weapons to an illegal group of extremist terrorist in the southern part of the harbour. They used their network of informants to that effect.”
Gintoki glanced over at Zura, who was nibbling on snacks by now and didn’t seem bothered by the news story. Kagura returned from the kitchen with a giant bowl of rice and two eggs on top. Shinpachi had put aside his magazine with moe manga in order to watch the TV.
The TV camera swerved to reveal a smouldering shipwreck in the harbour. “However,” Ana Ketsuno continued, “here in the northern part of the harbour, this freight ship you see behind you was attacked and boarded at the very same time last night.” She took a few steps as the camera moved with her, stopping beside a sour-looking a middle-aged man with a chonmage, who looked rich and upset. “Half of the ship’s cargo was stolen by these pirates, according to the export company Seido SPACE which owns the ship. The other half of the cargo was blown up or thrown overboard. As you can see behind us, the ship was badly damaged by explosions set by these criminals. Mr Akumori here is the Deputy CEO of Seido SPACE.”
“Yes, that’s it exactly,” said the man, fuming. “This part of the harbour should have been better patrolled! And the police took forever to respond to our pleas when we alerted them! We have lost so much money over this…”
“Do you think it’s possible that the very same people who leaked information to the Shinsengumi about the operation in the southern harbour were also the ones who attacked your own ship?”
The Akumori guy crossed his arms. “It’s highly possible that the Shinsengumi were misled, yes,” he said haughtily. “I suspect Joui extremists who wanted to get rid of a rival faction while targeting us. We have had dealings with such dangerous men before.”
Gintoki gave Zura another sideways look, but Zura was looking very bland, which in itself was telling. If he hadn’t had anything to do with this, he would likely have muttered something in response by this point, or at least sniffed with annoyance.
“Indeed,” said Ana Ketsuno. “We at our station have had some of our own sources hinting that this might be the case.” She continued, still smiling, “These sources also claim that your ship, Mr Akumori, was carrying not only illegal drugs but also some illegally abducted people, the latter intended to be taken off-planet and sold at an interstellar slavery market. How do you respo-”
“That’s not true at all,” said Mr Akumori quickly, his face closing down into pure denial. “Utter slander. We did carry medicine, but only pharmacologically allowable ones on Earth, of course, and it’s laughable to suggest there were any people on it who did not wish to be there. Your so-called ‘sources’ must be jealous of our success as a company. Anyway,” he raised his voice, as Ana Ketsuno had started to reply, “the point is that the police were incompetent and we demand an apology and monetary recompense. That’s all!” He looked past Ana Ketsuno, towards the camera crew presumably, waving his arms in a ‘stop this’ gesture. “I have no more time for this!”
The station now cut to Ana Hanano, also standing outside with the bay behind her. Next to her stood Sôgo, who was chewing gum with an unconcerned expression.
“Thank you, Ms Ketsuno,” she said. “I am now standing here in the south harbour with Shinsengumi First Division Captain Sôgo Okita. Captain Okita, how do you respond to the complaints of Seido SPACE and the allegations of the police having been deceived?”
“Yes, we are very sorry we were slow to reach those guys and their precious ship,” Okita said in a bored tone, chewing gum and not looking sorry in the least. “But you know… we did get all those weapons that would have been used to disturb the peace. And we arrested a bunch of terrorists. That’s our main mission, you know? Yeah, yeah, it’s really sad all those drugs got blown up and those kidnapped people ran away. Or you know, not that last part if that’s made up or something. You know.”
Kagura grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. “Look at that Chihuahua, blowing bubbles and being smug even though he got played.”
“We were watching that, Kagura-chan!” Shinpachi protested.
“Gin-chan doesn’t care, Christel wasn’t even on anymore,” said Kagura tranquilly.
“Oi!” Gintoki said for form’s sake. “You can still ask, you know.”
Kagura muttered, “I don’t feel like watching that idiot especially when he’s being right.” She flopped down on the sofa, next to Gintoki. “Was that where you guys were last night, Zura? Did you leave Eli down at the harbour? You fiend! Bad master!”
“Hm, now I understand why the Shinsengumi had to rush off so quickly last night,” said Shinpachi, glancing sideways at Gintoki.
Zura had finished his tea and had his hands inside his sleeves again. “As I told you, Leader, Elizabeth is on a mission. She is going with one other of my men to escort a few liberated people back to their home province. Well, Elizabeth is just going part of the way, until they get out of Musashi Province…” He trailed off, not meeting anyone’s gaze. He took his hands out of his sleeves and put them in his lap, twiddling his fingers. A blush had crept upon his face and rested there now.
A silence fell upon the room. Gintoki was acutely aware both of Shinpachi and Kagura looking at him and Katsura studiously avoiding doing so. It was so quiet you could have heard a ninja stalker breathe.
“Fine!” he burst out, leaping up from his seat. “Fine, all right, what do you want me to say? So you did have a real reason not to come! Not that I cared! So why the hell didn’t you just say that?? Stop trying to pretend I wasn’t born on the right day!”
“I’ve been wondering about that,” said Shinpachi thoughtfully. “I thought you said you never really knew your parents. How come you know the date of your birthday?”
“That doesn’t matter! It was still my birthday yesterday and not this one, the gorilla mangaka confirmed it, don’t question that!! Yes it’s the same one as Naruto but that doesn’t mean anything! I’m older than Naruto anyway!”
“Not when it comes to publication…” said Zura.
“Not in ninja years either,” Kagura piped in.
“I am in samurai years, okay?? Samurai years! Which are stronger than both ninja years and voice actor years any old day now!” He sank down again in the sofa, sprawling out with one foot over his knee. “ANYWAY. None of that explains OR EXCUSES” -- he glared at Zura -- “why Mr Do-Gooder Terrorist here couldn’t just be straightforward about the whole thing.”
“I did say something came up with the Joui,” muttered Zura. “Besides, it was supposed to be a clandestine operation.”
Gintoki rolled his eyes. “You could have just pretended you’d forgotten about my birthday,” he pointed out. “But I guess your dumb pride couldn’t accept that, so you just decided to look like a lunatic instead. Well, it’s not like that’s new to anyone,” he allowed, digging into his ear.
Shinpachi coughed. “Katsura-san, I suppose I had better be the one to move things along since neither of you know how to hold a real conversation and Kagura-chan’s already worn out from her contribution. Weren’t you going to give Gin-san a present?”
“Ah. Yes. Right.” Zura was still flustered and his blush hadn’t gone away. Maybe that was why he simply reached into his sleeve and handed the wrapped present over to Gintoki finally, without making anything more of it. “Here,” he mumbled. Then he sat back on the sofa, arms crossed, shutting his lips tight. He looked very silly and, unfortunately, rather adorable. Gintok felt a faint blush of his own - at least, he hoped it was faint -- on his cheeks. He covered it up by grunting as he looked the present over, weighing it from side to side. It was light and made only the softest of noise.The ribbon was getting loose.
“Better not be Elizabeth-themed socks,” he muttered as he loosened the ribbon and tore the paper open to reveal a cardboard box. Ignoring the remarks from the others telling him he really ought to wear socks, Elizabeth or no Elizabeth on them, he proceeded to open the box and pull out some kind of blue garment.
He held it up. It wasn’t socks but a pair of sky-blue swimming trunks in his size, in the length he preferred to wear; to his surprised relief, there was no duck-suited alien abomination to be found on them. There was a logo, but rather small, and he had to peer closer to see it.
“Hey! This is just the Jump mascot guy!” he exclaimed.
“Which one? Let me see!” said Kagura, reaching out a hand, but he pulled the trunks back from her reach.
“That’s not for you! It’s that old pirate dude, you know, these are Shônen Jump trunks.”
“That’s nice,” said Shinpachi. “Not as nice as my own new Otsu-themed trunks, but not too shabby.”
“Shut up, glasses-boy. Man, these actually aren’t bad, Zura. I’d be willing to be seen in public like this.”
“I figured so,” said Zura, and Gintoki realized with just a little twinge of guilty sting that Zura was also visibly relieved, his shoulders relaxing now. “You could even use them to swim with whenever the gorilla mangaka forgets you’re not supposed to do that.”
Gintoki shuddered. “That’s always scary. I’d rather just use these to wade in the shallows and check out hot babes in.”
He was relieved, both that the gift was usable and that it wasn’t something overly emotional and mushy that would have embarrassed him in front of the kids. At the same time, though, he felt just a little let-down. That was it? After all this build-up?
Zura gave him a fond look for a long second. Then he stood up.”There’s a pair of swimming goggles in the box, too,” he said brightly. “They came with the trunks, really, it was just a bonus. Well, I’ve imposed on you people enough today. Happy birthday, Gintoki. I’d better go and rendez-vous with Elizabeth now, she should be getting back into the city soon.” He started to walk towards the window.
“Hold on,” said Gintoki. “You don’t wanna stay for lunch or anything?”
“Gin-san, we don’t even have any food left to ourselves,” Shinpachi pointed out. “We’d better go down and see if Otose-san needs any help at the bar, so we can at least get some snacks.”
“Oh, snacks!” said Kagura, brightening up.
“Yeah, yeah,” said Gintoki dismissively, getting up from the sofa himself. “You guys go do that. I just remembered something else I wanted to discuss with this idiot first. I’ll be right back.”
“What’s that? What are you two old guys so secretive about, huh?” Kagura’s voice was suspicious again, but now Zura had already climbed out of the window and up on the roof, and Gintoki followed him there and over to a neighbouring roof. He just barely heard Shinpachi say something like, “Let’s give him this, he’s had a confusing morning,” in the room behind him as he left.
Zura didn’t say anything at first, and Gintoki knew better than to tell him to slow down just for a minute. It didn’t work that way, not for them. He kept quiet, too, unconcerned about being able to keep up: anywhere Zura could leap or climb, so could he.
Finally, after they had left Kabuki District behind by several streets, Zura slowed down. He sat down next to a chimney in a space that wouldn’t be too easily spotted from below. Gintoki stood there for a couple of seconds, then sighed and sat down as well. It was windy up here, but not overly cold. The sun was coming out from behind a stack of clouds and the leaves on the trees in the park shone in red, gold, and brown.
“I have a hangover, you know,” he said. It seemed to have gone away by now, in fact, but it was something to say.
Katsura turned and gave him a long look. Then he looked away, out at the rooftops. “I’m not just anyone, Gintoki,” he said, his voice sounding chilled and just a little hoarse. Maybe it was the autumn air.
“What’s that supposed to mean? That it was below your dignity to show up at the party with everyone else? Is that what you’re saying now?”
“No,” said Zura immediately. “I like celebrating you. Even if you’re a bastard who can’t repay the favour.” Gintoki opened his mouth, but Zura went on quickly, “No, that’s not it, I’d have turned up if I could, in disguise if need be. But…” He paused for a moment, rubbing his forehead. “...But it’s not like that. I can’t just take a break. I have to go on like this.” Then he laughed a little. “I’m glad you liked the trunks, I bought them as leftovers at the end of last year’s JUMP FESTA celebration.”
“Oi, what a cheapskate!”
“It’s more than you gave me!”
Gintoki dropped his voice and scooted closer, so the wind wouldn’t drown him out. “You keep saying that. I couldn’t say anything with the kids present, but you know that’s not true. I paid for the damn hotel room! And are you so damn sure you want me to stop making up to you for ‘forgetting’ your birthday?”
Zura flushed. “That’s-- That’s shameless logic, Gintoki. And paying for the hotel room was the least you could do! …It was a pretty dirty room anyway.”
“You’re lucky I was able to pay for anything at all!”
“Just make sure you set a piece of money aside for towards the end of June, you can start in March already and save up!”
“Now who’s being self-centred?”
“Gintoki! You’re barefoot!” gasped Zura, suddenly noticing.
“Of course I am, I was in the living room when you just leaped out the window like a maniac! I don’t keep shoes on the windowsill!”
“It’s not a maniac, it’s Katsura! You’ll have to wash your feet once you get home, you know.”
They kept talking and scuffling a little, and one of them closed one hand over the other, and the wind was ruffling in their hair; and there were a few kisses, just a few ones, very deniable, and that spot on the roof was hard to see from below, or at least that’s what Gintoki figured.
In a short moment, Zura would get up and leave, off to be dutiful and conscientious and take care of things, to be Katsura... but Gintoki could hold Zura for just a few more seconds, breathing the scent of his hair and feeling him under his fingers, warm and real and impossible.
He whispered in his ear, his breath so hot Zhra drew in air through his teeth sharply, what he hadn’t been able to make himself say over in the living room in front of the others. “Thank you.” I’m glad you’re around. “I’ll forget your birthday the next time too.” So I can make it up to you the same way, whole night long. He could think that but not say it, and the mere thought made him red with embarrassment. He hid his face in Zura’s shoulder.
Zura dug one hand into his hair and started to say, “Happy bir-” but Gintoki shut him up with one more kiss. “Shaddup, you idiot,” he mumbled. “That was yesterday, and this is now.”
I finally finished it in time for Katsura's birthday instead! Comments are very welcome, including constructive criticism!
Title: Instead Of Admitting You’re One Day Late To The Party, Just Claim You’re 364 Days Early
Characters/Pairing: Gintoki/Katsura
Spoilers/setting: Set in general spoilerless status quo time, but I imagine it taking place after a good many episodes. Definitely before the Renho arc, though.
Word count: 4426 at the time of posting
Summary: Katsura shows up to celebrate Gintoki's birthday one day late.
“Happy birthday, Gintoki!”
Katsura was standing outside on the porch wearing his standard outfit and a solemn expression. Gintoki gave him a bleary look and started to slide the door close. Head pounding from last night’s party, he’d shouted at Shinpachi to open the door a minute ago, but the boy was on the toilet and Kagura was out on a morning run with Sadaharu (or at least Gintoki had a vague impression she was), so Gintoki had stumbled out on his own in his well-worn green pajamas, only to be met by this sight which screamed I Am Here To Say And Do Weird Things Way Too Early In The Morning. Why, it probably wasn’t even ten o’clock yet.
The next second, Zura held up a gift-wrapped present with a huge red ribbon, though he didn’t hand it over. Gintoki paused, considering. Against his better judgment, he leaned on the doorframe still holding the doorhandle, blocking entrance to the apartment but not quite shutting Zura out entirely.
He gave Zura a very flat look, and Gintoki was extremely good at flat looks. “You’re one day late, idiot. My birthday was yesterday.”
Zura sighed in mild, patronizing exasperation. “Today is October 11, Gintoki. Your birthday is today. You may have bamboozled all these other people into thinking it was yesterday, but you can’t fool me.” He pointed dramatically at Gintoki. “I know the real truth!”
“It’s always been October 10th, you ninny.”
“It’s always been October 11th, you mean! It’s the same as your voice actor! You just keep telling people it’s October 10 because that’s Naruto’s birthday!” Zura tut-tutted, crossing his arms.
The wrapped present seemed to have evaporated, as if some lazy gorilla or forgetful dôjinshi artist forgot to draw it. “Really, Gintoki,” Zura continued, “don’t conflate your own birthday with Naruto-kun’s just so you can make yourself look more like a driven, upstanding, proper shônen hero like him! It’s just not going to work!”
Gintoki picked his nose and changed tactics. “Huuuh? Are you saying you never showed up here last night, then? Can’t say as I noticed. Figured you were just milling around in the huge crowd that got here, uninvited as usual. It’s not like anybody noticed or cared that you weren’t here, Zura.”
That did make him twitch, at least a little. “It’s not Zura, it’s Katsura,” he muttered, eyes narrowing. “Was Kyûbei-dono here?”
“Of course she was,” said Gintoki promptly. “Goes without saying.” Kyûbei had only shown up for a short time as far as Gintoki could recall, fairly late in the evening, together with Otae who she had escorted there from the cabaret. By that time the party had been getting close to wrapping up. “There’s no mistaking that one!”
“But what did you—” Zura started, but whatever he’d intended to say was lost as the stairs thumped and creaked under the weight of Sadaharu and Kagura returning. Gintoki groaned as he stumbled over to the side to avoid being run over by his dog in this vulnerable state. Mercifully, Sadaharu just crowded past him today.
“What are you doing here, Zura?” said Kagura. “Hey, you’ve got a present! Gimme.” She reached out greedily for the present that had materialized once more in Zura’s hand. “That can’t be for Gin-chan, nuh-uh, his birthday was yesterday!”
“Good morning, Leader—”
Gintoki whapped Kagura over the head. “How does that make it your present? I mean, it’s sure to be something lame anyway, but--”
“—actually, Gintoki’s real birthday is today, although I seem to be the only one to remember it—”
“You’re late, Zura! It’s no good showing up with a present a day late like that, Gin-chan’s got his pride, he won’t accept it! Give it to me instead.”
“But, Leader—” Zura kept the present out of reach as Kagura reached for it again, while clearly trying to get closer to the door even as Gintoki was already shutting it close again. Inside the flat, Shinpachi was wailing over Sadaharu apparently knocking the cleaning bucket over.
“Don’t but and rebut!” said Kagura.
“It’s ‘but me no buts’,” said Gintoki.
“I said, don’t even try, Zura!” insisted Kagura. “You never turned up last night, we all noticed, but we didn’t think you were so dumb to forget what date it was! Shinpachi sent you an invitation after all, uh huh! You can’t just turn up now and pretend nothing happened!”
Gintoki groaned. “Pachi-boy should mind his own business,” he muttered, then elbowed Kagura in the side. “Anyway, it’s not like we missed this guy, right Kagura?”
She pinched him in his side in return, making him yelp. “Right!” she exclaimed. “We definitely didn’t miss you at all, Zura! It’s not like Gin-chan kept looking out the window like you were going to climb in! And then when those cop idiots left he said ‘now Zura can come, that bastard’ but you didn’t show up! Ow, stop that, Gin-chan! I mean he didn’t say that! But he should have done, because I was missing Eli, not you!! Where’s Eli, anyway?”
“Elizabeth had prior engagements today. She’s cleaning up some business from last night,” said Zura in a distracted tone. He shot Gintoki a smugly weighing look, clearly pleased to find his absence last night had been noticed after all.
Gintoki had already glowered at Kagura and now collected himself to shoot Zura the very blandest of looks in return. “So you didn’t even come even though you had an invitation,” he drawled. “Not that I sent out one.” In fairness, he had sent no invitations at all to anyone, or done much preparations in general apart from wearing clean clothes and baking two cakes.
“I saw no need to encourage your delusions,” said Zura haughtily. “And we had things to do, anyway. Something came up with the Joui.”
“Always easy to find an excuse when you don’t feel like making an effort!”
“Don’t judge me by your slacker standards!”
“Admit it. You’re just doing this because I didn’t give you anything for your birthday.” Gintoki shot at him, picking his nose.
“Ah hah!” Zura pointed dramatically at Gintoki, then pulled his hand back as Gintoki tried to wipe his snot on it. “So you do admit you were quite aware of my birthday last June 26th! You were just a thoughtless cheapskate who decided to ignore it!”
Sucking on sukonbu, Kagura remarked, “I told Gin-chan back then he should just give you something cheap to shut you up. He should listen to me more. I said, ‘even if it’s just some dirty shoelaces at least Zura can’t say you gave him nothing’.”
“Shut up, both of you!” Gin exclaimed. “It’s not the same thing! I didn’t claim the whole damn month of October now, did I?” He turned to Kagura, pointing at Zura, “This moron becomes a complete megalomaniac about his birthday, you can’t give him an inch or it will just reward him!”
“Gin-san,” came Shinpachi’s voice from inside the flat, close to the shoe removal area now, “I think Kagura-chan is right. Katsura-san will just get worse about his birthday if you persist like that.”
“You brats just don’t get it!!” But by this point, Gintoki’s stomach made a rumbling statement of its own, and he decided it was more urgent to feed himself breakfast than to stand here and blocking this moron any further. He grumbled under his breath for form’s sake, took a half-hearted swipe at the present -- Zura still held it just out of reach, the contrary bastard -- then gave up and left the hall to pad into the kitchen. Shinpachi had already started the rice cooker so it didn’t take Gintoki many minutes to emerge into the living room with breakfast for himself and Kagura.
“There you are,” said Shinpachi, who was peaceably sipping tea that he had brought out for himself and their terrorist guest.The television was talking quietly in its corner. “I was getting to wonder if the fic writer was ever going to get this far or if you two would just be stuck arguing at the front door forever.”
“Don’t be inconveniently aware of the fifth wall when the rest of us politely decided not to notice,” muttered Gintoki through his chewing. “It’s an unattractive trait in a Glasses cherry-boy character.”
“Don’t talk while you eat, Gintoki!” said Zura, elbowing him in the side.
Gintoki elbowed him right back and pulled his hair for good measure. “Shaddap, you uninvited jerk.”
“Ow! As Leader confirmed earlier, I was indeed invited,” said Zura, going back to drinking his tea calmly.
“To the stupid shindig yesterday! Not to showing up late today! Ah, what the hell.” Gintoki subsided again, remembering too late he wasn’t supposed to care. “Bet that present is something dumb anyway, like Joui propaganda or hideous merch of that monster.”
“It’s not monster, it’s Elizabeth, and all Elizabeth merch is very cute!!” Zura glared at him. “It’s too good for louts like you.”
“I’m getting more rice,” Kagura announced, leaving for the kitchen. “This is way too little for a growing girl!”
“‘Too good’?” spluttered Gintoki to Zura. “You say that now?? Then why do you keep unloading it on me for all my other birthdays??”
“I do not! I may have condescended to it ONCE.” Zura eyed Gintoki’s egg-on-rice pensively, leading Gintoki to put up a warding hand around his bowl. He knew from long experience that Zura’s high-handed stance on table manners wouldn’t always stop him from trying to steal a bite on occasion. “Probably solely because I had a discount”, Zura added.
“What do you need a discount for? It’s your stupid pet!”
“Elizabeth merch is in quite high demand!” Zura claimed, clearly a blatant lie. Then he glanced at the television corner. “Say, isn’t that the weather lady you like?”
Gintoki turned his head fast, though he made sure to put a protective hand around his breakfast. “Hey, it is! She’s doing a news report thing again! Shinpachi, raise the volume!”
“I think Sadaharu swallowed the remote again,” said Kagura from the kitchen, but thankfully she was wrong, or maybe Shinpachi had already retrieved and washed the thing, because he was pushing it over to Gintoki with a disapproving eye now.
Ana (Christel) Ketsuno was smiling sunnily as usual from down at the waterfront. What she went on to say had nothing to do with the weather. Maybe they were shortstaffed at the TV station today.
“Yes,” she said brightly, “as we have already heard, the Shinsengumi does report that last night they attacked and sank a boat smuggling weapons to an illegal group of extremist terrorist in the southern part of the harbour. They used their network of informants to that effect.”
Gintoki glanced over at Zura, who was nibbling on snacks by now and didn’t seem bothered by the news story. Kagura returned from the kitchen with a giant bowl of rice and two eggs on top. Shinpachi had put aside his magazine with moe manga in order to watch the TV.
The TV camera swerved to reveal a smouldering shipwreck in the harbour. “However,” Ana Ketsuno continued, “here in the northern part of the harbour, this freight ship you see behind you was attacked and boarded at the very same time last night.” She took a few steps as the camera moved with her, stopping beside a sour-looking a middle-aged man with a chonmage, who looked rich and upset. “Half of the ship’s cargo was stolen by these pirates, according to the export company Seido SPACE which owns the ship. The other half of the cargo was blown up or thrown overboard. As you can see behind us, the ship was badly damaged by explosions set by these criminals. Mr Akumori here is the Deputy CEO of Seido SPACE.”
“Yes, that’s it exactly,” said the man, fuming. “This part of the harbour should have been better patrolled! And the police took forever to respond to our pleas when we alerted them! We have lost so much money over this…”
“Do you think it’s possible that the very same people who leaked information to the Shinsengumi about the operation in the southern harbour were also the ones who attacked your own ship?”
The Akumori guy crossed his arms. “It’s highly possible that the Shinsengumi were misled, yes,” he said haughtily. “I suspect Joui extremists who wanted to get rid of a rival faction while targeting us. We have had dealings with such dangerous men before.”
Gintoki gave Zura another sideways look, but Zura was looking very bland, which in itself was telling. If he hadn’t had anything to do with this, he would likely have muttered something in response by this point, or at least sniffed with annoyance.
“Indeed,” said Ana Ketsuno. “We at our station have had some of our own sources hinting that this might be the case.” She continued, still smiling, “These sources also claim that your ship, Mr Akumori, was carrying not only illegal drugs but also some illegally abducted people, the latter intended to be taken off-planet and sold at an interstellar slavery market. How do you respo-”
“That’s not true at all,” said Mr Akumori quickly, his face closing down into pure denial. “Utter slander. We did carry medicine, but only pharmacologically allowable ones on Earth, of course, and it’s laughable to suggest there were any people on it who did not wish to be there. Your so-called ‘sources’ must be jealous of our success as a company. Anyway,” he raised his voice, as Ana Ketsuno had started to reply, “the point is that the police were incompetent and we demand an apology and monetary recompense. That’s all!” He looked past Ana Ketsuno, towards the camera crew presumably, waving his arms in a ‘stop this’ gesture. “I have no more time for this!”
The station now cut to Ana Hanano, also standing outside with the bay behind her. Next to her stood Sôgo, who was chewing gum with an unconcerned expression.
“Thank you, Ms Ketsuno,” she said. “I am now standing here in the south harbour with Shinsengumi First Division Captain Sôgo Okita. Captain Okita, how do you respond to the complaints of Seido SPACE and the allegations of the police having been deceived?”
“Yes, we are very sorry we were slow to reach those guys and their precious ship,” Okita said in a bored tone, chewing gum and not looking sorry in the least. “But you know… we did get all those weapons that would have been used to disturb the peace. And we arrested a bunch of terrorists. That’s our main mission, you know? Yeah, yeah, it’s really sad all those drugs got blown up and those kidnapped people ran away. Or you know, not that last part if that’s made up or something. You know.”
Kagura grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. “Look at that Chihuahua, blowing bubbles and being smug even though he got played.”
“We were watching that, Kagura-chan!” Shinpachi protested.
“Gin-chan doesn’t care, Christel wasn’t even on anymore,” said Kagura tranquilly.
“Oi!” Gintoki said for form’s sake. “You can still ask, you know.”
Kagura muttered, “I don’t feel like watching that idiot especially when he’s being right.” She flopped down on the sofa, next to Gintoki. “Was that where you guys were last night, Zura? Did you leave Eli down at the harbour? You fiend! Bad master!”
“Hm, now I understand why the Shinsengumi had to rush off so quickly last night,” said Shinpachi, glancing sideways at Gintoki.
Zura had finished his tea and had his hands inside his sleeves again. “As I told you, Leader, Elizabeth is on a mission. She is going with one other of my men to escort a few liberated people back to their home province. Well, Elizabeth is just going part of the way, until they get out of Musashi Province…” He trailed off, not meeting anyone’s gaze. He took his hands out of his sleeves and put them in his lap, twiddling his fingers. A blush had crept upon his face and rested there now.
A silence fell upon the room. Gintoki was acutely aware both of Shinpachi and Kagura looking at him and Katsura studiously avoiding doing so. It was so quiet you could have heard a ninja stalker breathe.
“Fine!” he burst out, leaping up from his seat. “Fine, all right, what do you want me to say? So you did have a real reason not to come! Not that I cared! So why the hell didn’t you just say that?? Stop trying to pretend I wasn’t born on the right day!”
“I’ve been wondering about that,” said Shinpachi thoughtfully. “I thought you said you never really knew your parents. How come you know the date of your birthday?”
“That doesn’t matter! It was still my birthday yesterday and not this one, the gorilla mangaka confirmed it, don’t question that!! Yes it’s the same one as Naruto but that doesn’t mean anything! I’m older than Naruto anyway!”
“Not when it comes to publication…” said Zura.
“Not in ninja years either,” Kagura piped in.
“I am in samurai years, okay?? Samurai years! Which are stronger than both ninja years and voice actor years any old day now!” He sank down again in the sofa, sprawling out with one foot over his knee. “ANYWAY. None of that explains OR EXCUSES” -- he glared at Zura -- “why Mr Do-Gooder Terrorist here couldn’t just be straightforward about the whole thing.”
“I did say something came up with the Joui,” muttered Zura. “Besides, it was supposed to be a clandestine operation.”
Gintoki rolled his eyes. “You could have just pretended you’d forgotten about my birthday,” he pointed out. “But I guess your dumb pride couldn’t accept that, so you just decided to look like a lunatic instead. Well, it’s not like that’s new to anyone,” he allowed, digging into his ear.
Shinpachi coughed. “Katsura-san, I suppose I had better be the one to move things along since neither of you know how to hold a real conversation and Kagura-chan’s already worn out from her contribution. Weren’t you going to give Gin-san a present?”
“Ah. Yes. Right.” Zura was still flustered and his blush hadn’t gone away. Maybe that was why he simply reached into his sleeve and handed the wrapped present over to Gintoki finally, without making anything more of it. “Here,” he mumbled. Then he sat back on the sofa, arms crossed, shutting his lips tight. He looked very silly and, unfortunately, rather adorable. Gintok felt a faint blush of his own - at least, he hoped it was faint -- on his cheeks. He covered it up by grunting as he looked the present over, weighing it from side to side. It was light and made only the softest of noise.The ribbon was getting loose.
“Better not be Elizabeth-themed socks,” he muttered as he loosened the ribbon and tore the paper open to reveal a cardboard box. Ignoring the remarks from the others telling him he really ought to wear socks, Elizabeth or no Elizabeth on them, he proceeded to open the box and pull out some kind of blue garment.
He held it up. It wasn’t socks but a pair of sky-blue swimming trunks in his size, in the length he preferred to wear; to his surprised relief, there was no duck-suited alien abomination to be found on them. There was a logo, but rather small, and he had to peer closer to see it.
“Hey! This is just the Jump mascot guy!” he exclaimed.
“Which one? Let me see!” said Kagura, reaching out a hand, but he pulled the trunks back from her reach.
“That’s not for you! It’s that old pirate dude, you know, these are Shônen Jump trunks.”
“That’s nice,” said Shinpachi. “Not as nice as my own new Otsu-themed trunks, but not too shabby.”
“Shut up, glasses-boy. Man, these actually aren’t bad, Zura. I’d be willing to be seen in public like this.”
“I figured so,” said Zura, and Gintoki realized with just a little twinge of guilty sting that Zura was also visibly relieved, his shoulders relaxing now. “You could even use them to swim with whenever the gorilla mangaka forgets you’re not supposed to do that.”
Gintoki shuddered. “That’s always scary. I’d rather just use these to wade in the shallows and check out hot babes in.”
He was relieved, both that the gift was usable and that it wasn’t something overly emotional and mushy that would have embarrassed him in front of the kids. At the same time, though, he felt just a little let-down. That was it? After all this build-up?
Zura gave him a fond look for a long second. Then he stood up.”There’s a pair of swimming goggles in the box, too,” he said brightly. “They came with the trunks, really, it was just a bonus. Well, I’ve imposed on you people enough today. Happy birthday, Gintoki. I’d better go and rendez-vous with Elizabeth now, she should be getting back into the city soon.” He started to walk towards the window.
“Hold on,” said Gintoki. “You don’t wanna stay for lunch or anything?”
“Gin-san, we don’t even have any food left to ourselves,” Shinpachi pointed out. “We’d better go down and see if Otose-san needs any help at the bar, so we can at least get some snacks.”
“Oh, snacks!” said Kagura, brightening up.
“Yeah, yeah,” said Gintoki dismissively, getting up from the sofa himself. “You guys go do that. I just remembered something else I wanted to discuss with this idiot first. I’ll be right back.”
“What’s that? What are you two old guys so secretive about, huh?” Kagura’s voice was suspicious again, but now Zura had already climbed out of the window and up on the roof, and Gintoki followed him there and over to a neighbouring roof. He just barely heard Shinpachi say something like, “Let’s give him this, he’s had a confusing morning,” in the room behind him as he left.
Zura didn’t say anything at first, and Gintoki knew better than to tell him to slow down just for a minute. It didn’t work that way, not for them. He kept quiet, too, unconcerned about being able to keep up: anywhere Zura could leap or climb, so could he.
Finally, after they had left Kabuki District behind by several streets, Zura slowed down. He sat down next to a chimney in a space that wouldn’t be too easily spotted from below. Gintoki stood there for a couple of seconds, then sighed and sat down as well. It was windy up here, but not overly cold. The sun was coming out from behind a stack of clouds and the leaves on the trees in the park shone in red, gold, and brown.
“I have a hangover, you know,” he said. It seemed to have gone away by now, in fact, but it was something to say.
Katsura turned and gave him a long look. Then he looked away, out at the rooftops. “I’m not just anyone, Gintoki,” he said, his voice sounding chilled and just a little hoarse. Maybe it was the autumn air.
“What’s that supposed to mean? That it was below your dignity to show up at the party with everyone else? Is that what you’re saying now?”
“No,” said Zura immediately. “I like celebrating you. Even if you’re a bastard who can’t repay the favour.” Gintoki opened his mouth, but Zura went on quickly, “No, that’s not it, I’d have turned up if I could, in disguise if need be. But…” He paused for a moment, rubbing his forehead. “...But it’s not like that. I can’t just take a break. I have to go on like this.” Then he laughed a little. “I’m glad you liked the trunks, I bought them as leftovers at the end of last year’s JUMP FESTA celebration.”
“Oi, what a cheapskate!”
“It’s more than you gave me!”
Gintoki dropped his voice and scooted closer, so the wind wouldn’t drown him out. “You keep saying that. I couldn’t say anything with the kids present, but you know that’s not true. I paid for the damn hotel room! And are you so damn sure you want me to stop making up to you for ‘forgetting’ your birthday?”
Zura flushed. “That’s-- That’s shameless logic, Gintoki. And paying for the hotel room was the least you could do! …It was a pretty dirty room anyway.”
“You’re lucky I was able to pay for anything at all!”
“Just make sure you set a piece of money aside for towards the end of June, you can start in March already and save up!”
“Now who’s being self-centred?”
“Gintoki! You’re barefoot!” gasped Zura, suddenly noticing.
“Of course I am, I was in the living room when you just leaped out the window like a maniac! I don’t keep shoes on the windowsill!”
“It’s not a maniac, it’s Katsura! You’ll have to wash your feet once you get home, you know.”
They kept talking and scuffling a little, and one of them closed one hand over the other, and the wind was ruffling in their hair; and there were a few kisses, just a few ones, very deniable, and that spot on the roof was hard to see from below, or at least that’s what Gintoki figured.
In a short moment, Zura would get up and leave, off to be dutiful and conscientious and take care of things, to be Katsura... but Gintoki could hold Zura for just a few more seconds, breathing the scent of his hair and feeling him under his fingers, warm and real and impossible.
He whispered in his ear, his breath so hot Zhra drew in air through his teeth sharply, what he hadn’t been able to make himself say over in the living room in front of the others. “Thank you.” I’m glad you’re around. “I’ll forget your birthday the next time too.” So I can make it up to you the same way, whole night long. He could think that but not say it, and the mere thought made him red with embarrassment. He hid his face in Zura’s shoulder.
Zura dug one hand into his hair and started to say, “Happy bir-” but Gintoki shut him up with one more kiss. “Shaddup, you idiot,” he mumbled. “That was yesterday, and this is now.”
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Date: 2022-06-26 03:25 am (UTC)Also Zura's actual reason for missing Gin's birthday too... ,,__,, he is!!! good!! thank you for your work Katsura-san!! Thank you Sogo for ofc not falling for that guy's shit too!!! aaaa!!! It's content that you love to see, Shinpachi aiding Ginzura into talking w/ each other too by bringing up the gift is wonderful too...even if that "Not as nice as my own new Otsu-themed trunks" came after it lmao. (smh shinpachi shh!!!!)
and the ending! the endingggg! It's standard ginzura bickering, while also being very soft at the same time. What with Gin-san questioning whether Zura would like him to stop making it up to him for'forgetting' his birthday, the unvoiced thoughts Gin had, and of course, the cutoff "hbd", haha. This was a nice read!!!! tis very cute and funny~
I tiredly rambled a lot without thought, but since you're unsure about the ending and/or whether the whole thing works or not, so I'd like to say...It does work? The pacing might've been a little quick, maybe towards the end the most (but maybe that's overall due to my mind running faster than it should LMAO. still enjoyed it though, will reread in fact when I'm not running off less than 8hrs of sleep), but in my opinion; this fic feels like a fitting special chapter or ova for Gintama! Please don't beat yourself up over thinking otherwise!! If you do end up posting this onto AO3 at some point, I'll gladly give the same amount of praise as I did here, and with my twt reply.
Thank you very much for writing this!!! Please take care of yourself, and I hope you do end up getting your writing spirit back, if it hasn't mostly returned already!! ,__, 💚
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Date: 2022-06-26 06:05 am (UTC)Maybe it is a little too fast in pacing, yeah... I think that can be hard for me to tell right now just because of how long I sat with most of it, although the ending was written more quickly.
The double leader and Ginzura interactions especially sold it for me, since yeah, they all would be dumb enough for this, huh.
THAT'S WHAT I FIGURED! :DDD I'm glad you agree!! They're so dumb and silly. ♥♥♥
Hehe, Shinpachi was so good and helpful here, I had to allow him some smugness of his own, too! :D