Chapter Text
It starts out as a simple job for some rich, rather nice, amanto man. The client looks mostly human with a long black braid and tan skin. He's a slender man, a bit shorter than Gintoki, and probably a good decade older. But seeing as Gintoki himself is only 22, that makes sense, considering the guy's request. The man has dark blue snake eyes, and pale yellow scales on his forearms, proving him to be a non-human, not that it bothers Gintoki.
Kagura, a red-headed ten year old from the Yato clan, dressed in red Chinese-styled clothing, stands beside Gintoki trying her best to not fidget. She still ends up twirling her purple umbrella around looking rather excited to be on a job. Shinpachi, a 12 year old human boy, dressed in blue and white samurai clothes, stands on his other side. There's a serious look on his face, but he's just as excited to be allowed to come along.
"Thank you for coming. My name is Skanda. I hear you do good work. If you're willing to agree, I have a job for you." Skanda says, after inviting them in and leading Gintoki and his two kids to a living room.
"Depends on what it is," Gintoki replied running a hand through his white curly hair. He took almost any job, pretty much as long as it stopped short of kidnapping or terrorism or, well, if he just plain didn't like the sound of it. And he only took the kids on the jobs if it was safe enough, no need getting the Yato girl or the samurai kid killed. Even if they did want to be employed by him, which was dangerous in itself, he wasn't going to put them in even more danger by doing his usual jobs with them along.
"Oh, it's nothing too bad, I think. It's just that... my niece, Rika, hasn't been home for a few days. I'm looking after her you see. She's about your boy's age and height, " Skanda hands them a picture of a girl that look very like him, except with bright blue scales instead of yellow. "My sister's coming to pick her up in the next week or so and I am getting a little worried. Could you find her for me?"
"You're not caught up in anything shady are you? No reason for someone to kidnap her?" Gintoki asks, squinty eyed. He honestly doesn't mind if there is, it's not like he has much room to talk, but he needs to know if he can bring his own kids along with him to look. And where exactly to start looking.
"Oh gods no, I own a merchant company, and we've done good business. We have had few problems with pirates in the past, but I rather doubt they'd be especially interested in coming to Earth for revenge or anything." Skanda seems to be telling the truth, Gintoki decides, when all he does is calmly stare at him. Gintoki can see that he's worried for his niece though, so he thinks it will probably be fine to take the job.
"Alright," Gintoki relents, "we'll see if we can find your kid."
"Oh, thank you!" Skanda exclaims jumping up. "Let me know if you can. If not I'll have to get the police involved, and they'll definitely call my sister. I want my niece back before I have to tell her I lost her kid. She'll never let me live it down as it is, not being able to look after one kid for a few weeks. I don't know how she does it." He says with a shake of his head.
Gintoki nods, shakes his hand, and then leaves Skanda to pace a hole in his floors waiting.
"Right, then!" Gintoki exclaims with a clap of his hands once they're outside. He looks to his own two kids, "Where do you want to start?" And that is how it begins.
Several days later they do find the girl. Or rather, they stumble into a rather alarming situation. And really, Gintoki thinks crossly, he should have seen the signs for this. A trafficking ring. Great, just great.
They had, after some digging, thought the Amanto girl they were looking for had just got kidnapped for ransom by some local gang because of her rich family. A situation which Gintoki's kids could handle easily. So, they sneak into the warehouse in the train yard. Only to find rows and rows of cages with people, both human and amanto being kept there.To make matters worse the kids are with him when they get spotted by the guards. A passing guard catches them staring dumbfounded at the cages, and almost sends out an alarm before Gintoki knocks him out with a swift jab to the throat with his bokken.
Kagura turns to Gintoki with a fierce determination in her eyes. Before she can even open her mouth Gintoki is already caving, saying, "alright, alright. Jeez, don't give me that look. We have to make this fast though, if you want to get everyone out." Both Kagura and Shinpachi light up and Kagura proceeds to rip the doors right off the hinges, while Gintoki slashes apart bars and Shinpachi directs people out without being spotted. It's not quiet, and Gintoki hopes they're working fast enough to leave before back up arrives.
They find the girl, Rika, while they're going. Gintoki tells her to get back to her Uncle and she nods before follow the other escapees out. It's as the last of the prisoners are getting out of the warehouse, about twenty minutes after they first arrived, that the gang or whoever they are - space pirates by the looks of them- comes in. Only to find their business being disrupted. So close, Gintoki thinks ruefully.
They get caught. The fight goes well at first, but the kids are still too inexperienced to take on people of this level. Shinpachi goes down first, a large lizard-amanto pinning him to the ground. Kagura takes longer, but eventually goes down to a rhino-amanto - nasty to deal with, their thick hide absorbed damage and they were strong enough to shatter a human's bones with a ingle punch. Kagura gets knocked out cold, but it takes two solid hits.
"Oi, give up or we'll kill 'em!" one the higher ups snarls over the sound of Gintoki knocking out his people. Gintoki glances around, but both of them are too far from him and too far apart from each other for Gintoki to be able to do anything without getting them both killed. He throws his sword down blade first into the concrete floor. It sinks in a good three inches into the solid concrete causing several of the weaker members to scurrying back. His word is made of wood so... fair enough.
"Well, don't just stand there! Get some chains on him!" The head amanto snarls, before turning towards the back of the warehouse and walking off. Coward, Gintoki thinks nastily. He eyes the ones left but can't think of a way out this. "And get all of them on the train! We're meeting up with the air cargo ship at the other base." The boss calls over his shoulder.
A braver member steps forward and locks a pair of shackles around Gintoki's unresisting wrists, then tugs him along to the train. Shinpachi and Kagura are being dragged along behind them. Shinpachi's still conscious a they take him away. He looks over to Gintoki and sees the grim set to his mouth. He hopes everything will turn out okay, he really wants someone to step in and help them, but knows it's unlikely. We'll be okay, he thinks, Gintoki will think of something. It might just... take some time. They'll be fine. He hangs onto that belief, even as Gintoki's led out of his sight. They'll be fine.
Some of the members look like they want to say something as Gintoki passes, but back off at the glare Gintoki levels at them suddenly deciding they have something better to be doing. Somewhere far away from the white haired man.
Gintoki's shoved in the direction of a separate train car than his kids, who are led to a car farther down, closer to the back. Shinpachi yells and twists in the grip of the lizard-amanto, but he doesn't get anywhere with that, and Kagura's been tied up even though she isn't moving, still out cold. He's glad the girl doesn't have to watch him being taken away; from what Gintoki's figured she's watched enough people leave her.
They force him up into the car and he forces himself to cooperate even though he wants nothing more than to gut all of them. They push him toward the front of the cargo car, before stopping him about six feet from the wall and make him turn around. His arms are yanked up and shackled above his head. He can just barley stand flat footed on the ground when they get through chaining him up. He wonders if Rika got back to her uncle safely, it would be nice if they actually got paid for this job when they got out of this. He'd buy the kids a treat, and they'd take the week off. It'll be nice. Maybe have a get together with the few acquaintances he had.
The amanto grumble and walk off. A few stay in the car while a couple climb up a ladder to the roof, and another slides the side door closed with a bang. He wishes he could reach his lock picks in his boots, but he won't be able to with their kidnappers still in with him. The car jerks and he sways with the motion as the train starts running.