Chapter Text
He should have realized it’d come down to her. For all they'd fought and how she was a thorn in his side, she was the only one who’d kept up with him toe to toe. As the wild ones, the violent ones, the youngest in their respective group.
They’d never said it, but all those times they’d ended up fighting side by side, when she’d understood him better than he expected, like that time he’d had to fight those Rokkaku bastards. She was so much younger than him, a true brat but she’d stood there and said she knew him. Under all the jokes and death threats, she’d become an ally he could entrust his back to, at least when they had a bigger enemy to deal with.
He’d counted her as a friend, if that could be the word, when they’d gone to save Kondo-san. That moment she’d fell , his hand had reached out before he’d even thought about it, grabbed her. When she’d screamed at him to let go, he’d ignored her, willing himself to support her weight while they’d waited for Saito and Elizabeth to drill out from under the enemy. I can’t let her die.
Then when he had decided to leave Edo, crossing her on the bridge. When she’d blown him into the river, her trademark grin as she mocked him for trying to be honest and cordial for once. Not that he’d been any good at it, because he was Okita Sougo, not Hijikata. Their last fight, getting bruised and dirty while fending her blows and the heartfelt grin he’d felt. When they’d promised each other never to lose to anyone else, until they could defeat that crow Oboro.
When the era of samurai had finally ended, when the Shinsengumi were no longer needed in the new Japan and he’d been “executed” so that he could fade back into the shadows, where he’d been ordered to execute jobs that couldn’t be linked back to the higher-ups, at least publicly. As the mafia, where he wasn’t working for the ever too kind Kondo-san and morally righteous Hijikata. He’d never been one for nostalgia.
When she'd come back after two years strong as ever, or even stronger, but still glaring at him with those spiteful eyes, he'd felt something. It’d lightened his heart, and he’d felt alive . After everyone had dispersed, when Yorozuya had no longer been her and Shinpachi and Big Master, Edo (or Tokyo as it was now called) had felt empty. No more friendly death matches or banding together against an enemy bigger than themselves. And when she’d revealed her older self, he’d had one fleeting thought. She looks pretty.
Now, he was 26, almost as old as Hijikata had been, back when the samurai existed, before he'd left Earth, realizing there was no more bloodshed in a nation that had rapidly modernized. Before he’d decided to join forces with Kamui of all people, where he could use his sword as often as he liked and his commander wouldn’t blink an eye. Two of a kind, murderers to the core, as he’d like to say. Needless to say, they were a force to behold and now that they’d grown up, they only unleashed their violence on people who deserved it. If they made a game out of body count on suicide missions, who could blame them, they had to do something to make things more fun.
26. Older than his sister Mitsuba, before she'd left him. Sometimes he could see her smile in the corner of his eye. When he’d see Gintoki on the rare occasion he had to ask for a petty job. When Kondo-san would treat him to a meal when he swung by for a visit. When Hijikata would join in on missions Japan had a stake in as an unofficial federal agent. When he’d fight side by side with Kamui. I have friends now Sister, are you proud of me? And every year he would come back to visit her grave and see the remains of cigarette ashes and crumbs from the firey rice crackers she’d loved to send him and the rest of the squad.
Kagura was what, 22 now. Kamui had occasionally mentioned her and said offhand comments about her dating someone, an evil look in his eyes. She’d always be out of town when he was back in Japan, on her mission to save other children, where she could wreak havoc on the human monsters in the world. Now, with her standing before him, as an adult instead of the annoying brat with two buns and an umbrella, he felt a tangle of emotions bubble up in him.
You’ve grown up huh.
She’d become pretty, like her weird as fuck yato abilities had predicted. And taller. He was barely taller than her now, couldn’t look down like he was used to. Some things hadn’t changed though, like the rough way she held her umbrella, the disdainful way she glared at him.
“China. I see you finally look more like a girl instead of a brat.”
He felt the smirk turn up his mouth even as he narrowly escaped her fist and his sword flashed out to meet her umbrella, the adrenaline coursing through his veins.
Missed you too China.
Oh, and Kamui is going to murder me.
***
Sougo couldn’t feel his face. Kagura had definitely gotten stronger, since that last punch he'd gotten just a little too cocky about to really deflect had hurt like a bitch.
She was still the same girl she’d been before, with the heart and temper that he knew like the back of his hand, quick to fight and loyal to the bone.
It just turns out that, after all, falling in love was just like snow, where the small fragments pile together until you realize, far too late, that your heart had been headed in this direction and it was impossible to go back. And, Sougo thought ruefully, it was gonna be a while until Kagura was gonna realize.
***
It was the first thing Kagura noticed. She didn’t have to look up quite as far as she used to, when he would mock her for being a kid. Hmph like he hadn’t been a kid himself, just barely 18.
Seeing him now made her feel off-kilter, something unnamed settling inside of her, not joy or anything cheesy like that because she would die before admitting she felt joy to see her old rival. But nevertheless, it’d been years since she properly saw him again, their paths taking such wildly differing turns after the dust had settled on the new nation and bodies had been buried.
When she and Gin-chan had had to bury Shinpachi, comforting Otae who had stared at them with red-rimmed eyes and a stoic expression on her face. The whole of Shinsengumi had shown up to the funeral, the Gorilla managing to not be a creep for once. Otae was still the same now, her scary-comforting smile plastered on her face as she beat up Kondo, who still stuck around even after he retired, still hovering over her. Their relationship was never going to truly change, but sometimes, Otae had told her, it was nice to have someone else in that big empty house of hers. Kagura had smiled then and promised to visit more often, knowing that their “family” was all scattered now, since without Shinpachi it just wasn’t right to continue Yorozuya. Gin-chan was.....bereft, without the weight of his past and the weight of his debts, he was now somewhat of a guardian for Kabuki-chou. He’d wander off and come back to visit Otose, and sometimes, they’d do a quick job together.
She had found her own path, realizing that she could use her strength for something, in a world where possibilities were endless, thanks to the path that the Yorozuya, the police dogs, and the countless allies they had made had carved out for the future. When she'd been 18 and decided she wanted to dedicate her life to helping other kids, the ones who didn't have someone like Gin-chan in their life.
After all, for brats like them, they had the rest of their lives to live out their destinies.