Sharp Wings; 鋭い翼 [Gintama]

25 | A member of the family is a friend, and a friend is family

XXV

Manga: Lesson 57-63

Anime: Episode 40-42

"IT was a dreary city of constant rain. That was our home. A place where only the unscrupulous could survive. Others may have seen it as a sewer canal of a place, but it was a great place to live for sewer rats. Kagura always said that she was lonely over there. I would always say that her brother would come home eventually and that her mother would get better. While I work and earn money, Kagura would take care of her mother. That was our promise.

How many times did I say that to her, only to leave her in that hellhole, over and over again? And yet, she was always waiting. Always with a smile for her no-good father. In the end, we just kept repeating this scene until her mother died. I never once was able to make a warm nest for her."

Kusahara stood quietly beside Umibozu as the older told his story. They were currently at the terminal, waiting for the next flight out of Earth. Kagura and Shizuku were quietly sitting together on the bench near them. Quite a distance away, the two older males stood by the window as they talked to each other. Shizuku was there to see them off along with Kusahara, who had a patrol but he stopped by to say goodbye.

Oddly enough, Kusahara could relate with Umibozu. Though, admittedly, he did have that effect on people – if Shizuku could make almost anyone submit to her, Kusahara could relate to almost anyone. As the older male told his story, the teal haired male couldn't help but feel the same. Though, in a different perspective.

He knew that what he's feeling is not his own, but Shizuku's.

"You know, Umibozu-san, Kagura-chan reminds me a lot of Shizuku." he voiced after a while of silence. "Have you heard of the Joui war here on Earth?" he asked the older standing beside him.

"Ah, yes." Umibozu nodded after a second of thought. "I believe it was about six or seven years ago when it ended."

"That's right." Kusahara nodded before he sighed. "Believe it or not, Shizuku was there." at the shocked expression on Umibozu's face, the teal hared male just chuckled.

"Yeah, that pretty much sums up Shizuku's childhood. At the age of eight or nine, she was already joining a war. Though, she didn't fight. They wouldn't do that to a child." He said while looking at the teal haired girl that was comforting a vermillion haired girl beside her.

Even though they weren't looking his way, Kusahara could feel the sadness radiating from the two girls as the older comforted the younger. There was quite a distance away from them, but even though they were that far away, Kusahara could see the look that Shizuku had on his face.

He didn't like that look, but he knew that he couldn't do anything about it.

Kusahara sighed before he started to explain.

"You see; during the war, her friends were there. With little to no known other family, there was no one to take care of her so they placed her inside the main base, far away from the frontlines. Other family members of the samurais that joined the war were also stationed there so she wasn't alone or anything. On the contrary, she found a lot of friends there.

But of course, even if they were away from the line of battle, there were constant hits directed to the main base so there were still a lot of injuries, occasionally death. Shizuku was one of the lucky ones who always got away. But you know what happens to a child of her age when she experiences those types of things, right, Umibozu-san?"

"So, even she has had a hard life?" Umibozu asked, looking at the two girls on the bench near them with pity. Kusahara, who understood what the face was for, nodded.