Chapter Text
“Gin-chan!!” A shrill voice called out in the night. Gintoki groaned, dragging himself out of what couldn’t really be called sleep so much as a drunken stupor.
He muttered to himself as he stumbled down the hall to the closet where Kagura slept. “Every night, night after night. I don’t know why I even try to sleep. Everyone gives me so much shit for napping when I can, but what else can I do? Just go without sleep? Stay up all day and all night? What am I, a liquor store?”
He slid open the closet door, pushing away all thoughts of inconvenience or ever getting a good night’s sleep. “Can’t sleep, eh?”
Kagura shook her head, eyes frantic and a little bit damp. “Nu-uh. Nightmares.”
Gintoki gave his head a good scratch and sighed, pretending not to see Kagura’s lip wobble. “I’m feeling like Bleach tonight. Wanna watch with me?”
Kagura whimpered pathetically and nodded, climbing off of her little shelf.
The sofa had been destroyed again and wouldn’t be replaced until the next episode, so they curled up against Sadaharu with a couple of blankets and some sukonbu. Gintoki had to admit, he’d had lost the plot a bit and didn’t really understand why Ichigo was fighting the hindu god Ganesh in Victorian England*. But they were fighting a lot and fight scenes relaxed him.
“If you were a Shinigami, what division do you think you’d be in?” Kagura asked, her head tucked under his chin.
“Hmm…” He considered it for a second. “I dunno, but I’d like to tear the stuck up bangs off Byakuya so… six?”
“Joining a division just so you can fight the captain of your division. That’s a very eleven thing to do.” Kagura commented, munching on her sukonbu thoughtfully.
Gin snorted, letting his head fall back against Sadaharu as the bad guy unlocked his super-duper-ultimatest move. Man, this anime was running itself into the ground. Who even cares how much brute strength these guys have?? Muscles don’t matter if the heart stays the same size. “Let’s just say I’m in the same division as Ichigo.”
“Bullshit. You’re in the bullshit division.” She spat. Her language has been getting quite harsh lately. Gin wondered if he should start watching what they said around her. It didn’t matter if Kagura spoke colorfully around them, but her best friend was a princess and color tends to stain. What’ll happen when the Shogun comes home to a little sister who talks like a sailor? “I wanna be in ten, but I think I’d end up in eleven.”
“What’s so special ‘bout ten?”
Kagura shrugged. “Toshiro’s kinda cute.”
The white-haired twerp? That gave him pause. “Seriously? I always thought he was kind of a sad sack.”
“He has pretty eyes, ok!” She glared up at him, a little red in the face. Gin breathed a sigh of relief, for once thankful for his dead fish eyes. He didn’t believe much in the idea that girls went after guys like the ones who raised them but… he was sure all men would be afraid of their daughters running off with a shiroyasha.
“Ok, sure. Whatever you say.” He reached over to grab a piece of sukonbu as the end theme played. “What’s so bad about eleven?”
Kagura shrunk a bit into sadaharu’s fur, playing with her hands fretfully. “Nothing. It’s just. That’s where all the monsters end up. So, that’s where I’ll go.”
Gin suppressed a groan. Shame on this harsh world for turning such a swee-… innoce-… such a young girl into a monster. She should be kept up at night by ghost stories and strange noises outside and only lose sleep over the uncertainty of the future. She was too damn young to have a haunting past. Little kids should be scared of the monster under her bed, not on top of it.
He wanted to say something wise and insightful about friendship and family like they do in anime. But he had nothing. It was like 3am. No one can think up meaningful parables at 3am. “Yeah, well at least you’re not a stuck up loser like the rest of the seireitei. And hey… if that’s where all the monster go at least you’ll have me and this vicious beast for company, right?”
“Ya getting all sappy Gin-chan?” Kagura asked, elbowing him in the stomach just hard enough to make his liver bleed. You know, playfully. “You really are getting old.”
“I’ll never reach old age if you hit me like that!” He shouted, stopping when he noticed Kagura’s eyelids drooping. “Oi. Kagura. Don’t drool on my shirt.”
The mighty Yato warrior burrowed deeper into the feared and revered Shiroyasha’s chest, muttering a final ‘fuck off, fluffy’ before dozing off.