Chapter Text
"...Shoka Sonjuku."
"Huh? What is that supposed to be?"
"The name of our school."
"What does it mean?"
Shouyo pointed up to the tree they were taking cover under, smile not faltering. "School under a pine tree. I just made it up now. Right now, it's just you and me, but I hope more will join us someday. And you'll have plenty of junior students."
Oboro blinked and stared into the campfire they set up. "Junior students?"
"Yes. Oboro, you may have been the youngest and weakest among the Naraku, but at Shoka Sonjuku, you'll be the most advanced senior student. We'll both need to do our best."
The gray haired boy blushed. "Y-yeah! Junior students, huh? I can't wait.
-
Before the two could settle down and establish a proper place for Shoka Sonjuku, they needed to shake off the Naraku for as long as possible. They were on the run more often than they weren't, and they weren't sure when or even if those assassins would ever give up. But, Shouyo refused to give up, to Oboro's surprise, leaving him no choice but to follow after him with just as much determination.
It was afternoon when the pair had escaped the Naraku's clutches yet again, at least for the rest of the day. They ended up in a small town ravaged by war, but still populated enough that they could blend in with the rest of its inhabitants. The town itself was bordered by a vast field covered with countless freshly slaughtered bodies of fellow samurai, at most a few days old. Despite being both attacked and taken in by assassins, Oboro couldn't help but shiver at the sight when they passed by it. Shouyo, on the other hand, showed no reaction other than his signature smile disappearing. For a second, Oboro swore he saw a small child walking among the bodies, but dismissed it as a trick of the light.
As they settled into an open area at the heart of town together, Oboro couldn't help but notice the sheer tension that loomed over the town and its people. Men, women, and even children were all on edge, as if trying to stay prepared for bloodshed to make its way to them.
"Sensei..." Oboro asked, making Shouyo turn his head in curiosity. "...what is this war, really? What is the point of it?"
Shouyo gave the boy a wistful smile. "I suppose it would make sense that you wouldn't have known yet as the Naraku's youngest recruit. Unfortunately, there's not a simple answer as to why war happens. Not this one, nor any past wars."
"Some years ago, our planet was invaded by beings called Amanto because they wanted access to certain resources this Earth was especially abundant in. You've probably seen them around."
"Yeah, I think so... they often have scary and futuristic looking weapons. Did they get this resource?"
"Well, that's where the conflict comes in. Our government, the bakufu, didn't resist their pressure for long and gave in to their demands rather quickly after seeing their advanced weaponry."
"But, there were many people angered by the bakufu's compliance, including the samurai you saw on the battlefield earlier. They're called Joui warriors, battling against both Amanto and the bakufu in what's called the Joui war."
Oboro looked troubled. "...But Sensei, I can't help but feel like those samurai are fighting a losing battle. How are they supposed to win against that powerful technology?"
Shouyo gave him a sad smile. "You see, Oboro, many of those samurai aren't just fighting for their country. They're fighting to protect their very souls, their bushido, their way of life. Many of them know that they're being overpowered or outnumbered, and they still fight despite that."
"If I want to be a samurai, would I have to do the same?" Oboro asked.
"Just as those samurai live by their own code, you'd simply live by yours. And yours could be just like theirs, the desire to join together to fight to the death for a common cause. But it could also be different. Your bushido can only be determined by you and you alone, Oboro, and as you grow up, you'll have a better idea of what that truly is." Shouyo looked up for a moment. "If I could do everything over, that would be the kind of life I'd want to live, one that I'd decide to live on my own terms. One where I don't lose to myself."
Oboro looked down at the grass below him in thought. "I see."
A group of men passed by talking amongst themselves in hushed voices. Oboro couldn't help but overhear their conversation.
"Hey, do you know if anyone saw that little demon around today? You know, the corpse eating one?"
"You mean the little silver haired kid people spotted on the abandoned field yesterday? Actually, I think I heard someone mention they saw it on the edge of town, but it fled when they tried to approach it. Why do you ask?"
"I dunno, I was just curious I guess. It's like it has the body of a child, but it has weird demonic eyes and hair and is covered in dried up blood and dirt, or so everyone says."
Oboro unintentionally thought back to the figure he thought he saw when they passed the sea of bodies earlier. Could that have been the thing they were talking about?
A third voice added "I heard that other towns see it too. They say the corpse eating demon travels to wherever a brutal battle just happened, but whether it's to scavenge for food or eat the actual corpses, I don't know."
"Scary..." the second man whispered in fear before the group was out of earshot.
It looked like Shouyo was listening too, because he also looked intrigued as he watched them leave. He then turned to Oboro with a smile and said "I'm sure you're hungry after today. Shall we find something together?"
"Oh. Um, yeah, sure..."
-
After Oboro and Shouyo shared a simple meal together, the latter found them a decent room at an inn, which Oboro found strange considering they usually just camped outside together.
"Oboro, I apologize, but I have to ask you to stay here in this room for a while. I'm not sure how long I'll be away, but I will also be on the lookout for any Naraku coming into town. If I see any, I'll run right back here, okay?"
"Um, okay. Stay safe, sensei..."
"I will. I trust you to do the same."
Oboro felt dumbfounded as Shouyo left the room he had gotten for them. Normally he would never have left him alone like this, instead opting to try and be as close to the boy as possible to protect him. Was this some sort of test? No matter how hard Oboro thought about it, he was left clueless. He didn't even try to sleep out of paranoia that Sensei would be in trouble. But still, he remained put.
It was a few hours later, with the sun almost completely gone, that Shouyo finally returned back to the room. The first thing Oboro noticed was the small child he was carrying on his back, covered in dirt and specks of blood, silver wavy hair unkempt and matted. The child remained unconscious as Shouyo set him down into a futon he placed in the corner of the room and tucked him snugly under the duvet. He then placed his own sheathed sword next to the boy.
Oboro's eyes widened and his mouth slightly gaped open in surprise. "Sensei, is that... is that the corpse eating demon we heard about? Did you leave so you could find him?"
"That's right. I apologize for not saying anything at first. A cute little demon, wouldn't you say?" The so called demon curled up and shivered in his futon, eyes tightly shut and brows knitted.
"Was... he actually eating corpses?"
"Who's to say? When I found him, he was sitting on a corpse but he was eating a rice ball. Although, the crows around him were eating corpses."
Oboro looked back at the sleeping boy, who looked to be a few years younger than himself. The demon kid's hair was a similar shade to his own, but had a brighter, more silvery tint to it.
"A feisty little guy he was. He drew a sword he picked up from another corpse at me, but I think that sword suits him better, don't you think?" Shouyo asked, pointing to his own he placed next to the boy.
"You gave it to him?"
"Sure. I felt like he deserved to learn how to use one properly."
Oboro's eyes widened. "Wait, do you mean-"
"I wonder, do you think he'll make a good junior, Oboro?" Shouyo smiled at Oboro, who gaped his mouth in awe and then grinned.
"Wow, Sensei, you sure are starting me off with a tough one. But don't worry, I'm up to the challenge."
Shouyo grinned in delight and ruffled Oboro's hair. "Good to hear!"
-
It turned out that "challenge" was a bit of an understatement. When the boy woke up the next morning (no Naraku showed up, thankfully), he saw Oboro and immediately pushed further back into the corner and curled up tighter in his futon, fearful of the boy he hadn't seen yet. And when Shouyo finally calmed him down, they found out the boy could barely speak, only knowing very few basic words. They couldn't even get a proper name out of him. At first, it felt like instead of finding a junior student, they found a feral cat off the street.
It took all morning for the boy to finally warm up to the both of them, although he still clutched onto his brand new emotional support sword. Feeding the kid certainly helped when it came to getting him to trust them.
Since he seemed to not have a name, Shouyo's first task for Oboro as a senior student was to give him one.
"...Wait, Sensei, you want *me* to name him?"
"Sure. Is that okay, my little junior student? Can Oboro give you a name?"
The boy, although he couldn't speak fluently, could comprehend enough of what Shouyo asked and answer in a concrete way. "Um. Yes."
Oboro's first responsibility for his junior student sure was a daunting one. He couldn't help but sweat as he tried to think of ideas, even writing some of them out to see them on paper. Soon enough, he had a thought.
"Um, Sensei... where did you end up finding him? I mean, like, the location?"
"If I recall, it would have been near some rice fields... and also a lot of corpses."
Oboro could almost feel an imaginary light bulb illuminating above his head and he grinned. "Aha! I got it! We should make the surname 'Sakata'."
Shouyo's brows rose in surprise. "You're giving him a surname, too? I'm impressed so far!" Oboro beamed at the praise.
"Okay, okay. Now for the first name..." Oboro furrowed his eyes in concentration with increased enthusiasm, not even noticing at first when the boy walked over to him and felt his hair. Oboro slightly jumped in surprise, but stayed still as to not scare the kid.
"Hair like mine."
Oboro gently smiled. "Yeah. I suppose it is pretty similar to yours. It's a little more of a silver compared to mine, but..." He blinked. "Wait. That's it. What do you think about including 'gin' in your first name?"
"Um..... silver name... silver hair?"
"Yeah!"
"What's 'Oboro' mean?"
Oboro was briefly taken aback, not expecting such a question out of the blue. "Oh. Um... It means 'misty'. And mist is kind of like fog."
"You... Oboro... misty name. And misty hair."
Oboro couldn't help but warmly smile. "I guess so. We'd both have names related to our hair."
The silver boy smiled, the first time he had since they met. "Okay. I like 'gin'."
"I'm glad to hear that... now let me think how to make that into a name... oh! I have an idea! 'Kintoki' is a real name, but we could replace the 'kin' with 'gin'! So it'd be 'Gintoki'."
The kid looked at Oboro in thought. "Gintoki?"
"What do you think, Sensei?"
"So 'Sakata Gintoki' then?" Shouyo clapped his hands together. "I like it! What do you think, my little junior?"
"Me too. I like 'Sakata Gintoki'."
Oboro hadn't felt this proud of himself in his entire life. He even had to hold back tears. He dared to ruffle the kid's - Gintoki's - hair, and to his amazement, Gintoki let him. "I'm really looking forward to being your senior at Shoka Sonjuku, Gintoki."
And looking on from afar, Yoshida Shouyo smiled in excitement, very hopeful for the future of the two boys in front of him and of Shoka Sonjuku.
-
To both Shouyo and Oboro's relief, Gintoki was willing to follow them during their travels. Once they cleaned up the kid, they got him some new clothing, plus a straw hat to hide his face and to match the other two.
Unfortunately, when he left the inn but before he was given this hat, people were rather scared of him, recognizing him as the corpse eating demon. They either ran from him or in one instance got objects thrown at him, which was when Shouyo finally intervened, only needing to wordlessly stare daggers at the perpetrator before he ran off in fear. Oboro could tell how badly Gintoki wanted to run away when he was attacked, but he didn't. He instead held tightly onto both his new sword and Oboro's hand to suppress the urge.
After they finally left the village, Gintoki continued to hold onto Oboro's hand as they walked. Shouyo showed him how to tie his sword onto his side so he didn't have to keep carrying it, although it took a few readjustments for the end to not trail on the ground and reveal their location.
It was about this time that Oboro and Shouyo started to learn more of Gintoki's true personality. Now with one hand free, he had the habit of sticking his pinky up his nostril, and now that he wasn't so afraid of being seen by passersby, his expression changed into one that resembled apathy.
"Where... going?" he asked out of curiosity.
"Actually, we're doing something not too different from what you were doing." Shouyo said. "We're simply moving place to place, but instead of following battlefields, we're running away from them, like a game of cat and mouse."
"Oh. Okay." Gintoki didn't ask for elaboration and instead flicked a booger off to the side.
Oboro let curiosity get the best of him. "So what were you doing out in those battlefields in the first place? How did you end up being out there?"
Gintoki slowly looked up at Oboro and simply shrugged. "Dunno."
"Did you have a family at all?" Shouyo asked innocently.
Gintoki shook his head. "Uh-uh."
"Well that's alright." Shouyo turned away and looked forward as they walked. "Neither do we. But that's okay. The three of us can still make do." Gintoki didn't respond.
The trio continued making their way across the fields and hills and valleys. They passed by some more abandoned battlefields, in which Oboro still felt uneasy around, Shouyo stayed silent, and Gintoki continued to have his deadpan expression with a pinky shoved up his nose. At one point, Oboro couldn't help but notice Gintoki looking troubled by something else.
"What's wrong, Gintoki?"
"Um. What's Shock, uh, Soju-cue?"
"Oh, Shoka Sonjuku! That would be our school. It was made under a pine tree. You'll be my first junior student."
"What's school? And student?"
Oboro sighed and smiled sadly, and Shouyo let him explain on his own. "Well, a school is a place where you learn things. And where teachers give lessons to students. For example, Shouyo-sensei is a teacher, and at school he could teach you, a student, how to read and write and speak.
"Oh. Where Sho...ka Sonju...ku?"
"Actually, there isn't quite a place for it yet. That's another part of why we're traveling - to find a good place for it to go. And once we find one, we can enroll even more students, and you'll be a senior student to them like I am to you!"
"Oh. Okay."
After the sun set, the three decided to stop for the night, and Oboro saw Shouyo tying a big rock to a tree. Gintoki watched from another nearby tree with no readable expression.
"What is that?" the older boy asked.
"A trap to delay your pursuers. But you must never use it to kill."
"Y-yes."
Soon, Shouyo had fallen asleep, and it seemed like Gintoki supposedly had too, although he didn't try to huddle next to the former. Oboro was still awake, and his eyes widened when he saw a group of men in the distance. "Oh no..."
*There's no escape. Not for Sensei or even little Gintoki, if they take me along.*
He continued watching them trying to figure out what to do, not even noticing the younger boy joining him at first.
"Who those?" Gintoki asked, pointing to the men.
Oboro jumped at the sudden voice, but calmed down to grimly say "Our pursuers."
"I wake up Sensei-?"
"No. Don't." Oboro interrupted, making the boy blink. "I'll handle it."
For the first time since they met, Gintoki looked concerned, even anxious. "Don't be stupid. Aniki."
Oboro was taken aback for a moment. *A-aniki?*
A bead of sweat traveled down his brow. "I won't. Trust me." He bolted back from the edge of the cliff, took Shouyo's sword, and ran off without another word to Gintoki.
"Wait! Aniki!" he yelled out to no avail.
Apparently, the commotion had woken up Shouyo. "Gintoki? What's the matter?"
"Oboro..." is all he said before running back to the edge of the cliff to try and see what he was doing, Shouyo joining him.
What they saw had terrified them. Oboro had confronted the group of Naraku, Shouyo's sword impaled through his chest, trying to lead them the other direction. Shouyo watched in horror and hesitated for a bit longer, not noticing Gintoki already chasing him down. It was only when Oboro set off the trap onto both himself and his pursuers that Shouyo darted off as well, easily catching up and passing the silver haired boy halfway.
But he was too late. The debris from the trap had already crushed him and the Naraku, and Shouyo stopped. He trembled in sheer guilt at what his first student had done to try and save them.
Once Gintoki caught up to Shouyo and saw what happened, he, on the other hand, continued rushing down to the rubble to find him.
"Wait! Gintoki! It's too dangerous-" But the boy didn't listen, so Shouyo had no choice but to follow him to keep his only remaining student safe.
And so they both traveled down to the scene of the incident. All of the Naraku on their trail had been crushed, and Oboro's body seemed like it had been just as ravaged. But dead bodies had never stopped Gintoki - he walked straight to Oboro with no hesitation and his eyes widened when he knelt down and looked closer.
"Hey. Look. Shouyo. Oboro alive."
Shouyo's head cocked down at him. "Wait... what?" He ran over to Oboro's body as well, and it was like Gintoki said - he was still breathing and had a pulse, albeit very faintly. *The blood I gave him... could it still have been flowing through him?*
Gintoki gave Shouyo a pleading look. "Save Oboro? No leave Aniki?"
Shouyo returned a sad but relieved smile. "Of course not." Had Gintoki not been there, Shouyo would have thought Oboro was dead and left him there. He hated just thinking about that scenario. "You've done a good job of looking after your senior, Gintoki." He ruffled the boy's fluffy hair, making him look down in contemplation. "You make your Sensei proud."
"...Really?"
"Yes, really." Shouyo gently picked up Oboro's mangled body to take back to where they had settled before. Although he was alive thanks to his blood, he would still need extensive care to recover properly.
"...Never heard before."
"Is that so? Well, how does it feel to make someone proud?"
Gintoki shyly smiled. "...Good."