Gintama; Takasugi x reader (Finale) [Take Me With You]

Chapter 25 {Y/N}

Rain comes pouring down in sheets from the thunderous late evening sky. Each drop thuds on my shoulders and head like tiny breakable pebbles, leaking into my eyes and through my clothes as I stare at the misty scenery of the sea. The patters of the rain hitting the wood planks of the deck nearly drown out the washings of high tides against the ship's outer plating. The sea feeds viciously on each and every raindrop, intending too to wreck and feed on the ship.

I put my hands on the railings, the metal bites my skin with a coldness I can never get used to. Water drips down my hands and body, my hair sticking to my face and neck, as I remain still trying to not to shake. I had think that I would get another last pleasant view of this place, but the sky had begin its dramatic weeping the minute I set foot upon the deck.

I strain to see past the sting of water in my eyes to where the main part of the port is, now seemingly locating at a great distance away due to the exaggeration the rain makes the day to fall quicker to darkness. An ember of loathe flickers inside of me as I make out the stirring shapes about the docks as boats.

Maybe I could've had use the same method as he did to get what I wanted that night. So then I wouldn't be here right now, standing in the rain like a complete fool. Waiting for help but not asking for so just because a simple promise in which I've come to think is something only I now hold.

I let out a shivering breath and lift my face to face the continuous cascading rain, letting it wash away all the nuisance of my emotion - towards his decision, towards everything. I will get to Edo, and there I will get to my parents.

I allow myself to be lost in the calming spatter of the fall, allow the cold to be one of me and accept the fact that it will be one of me once this pitiful lifespan of mine reaches its dead line. Blackness surrounds me as I shut my eyes, inner made peace just a few more breaths away. Then the deck withholding its current sounds holds more than the sound of water slapping it as heavy footfalls approach nearer to my back.

Before my eyes can adjust to the dimming vision of the turning sea again, two different hands seize my arms and yank me away from the railing to face their owners.

My mind snaps clear from its haziness as two crew members secure my arms tightly in their grasp. Their dripping faces are unfamiliar yet familiar at the same time.

"What are you doing?" I throw the question to them, trying to sustain my balance at their sudden pull. Then the moment I shake the rain away in my eyes, a third presence enters the scene. Somehow the noise around us manages to cover up her footsteps.

"What is this?" I demand after making my voice firm.

Matako settles to a stop a good distance from me holding an umbrella above her head. Her hair flaps in the overflowing wind, mixing her gold strands with droplets of water that strays in below the umbrella. The graceful movement of her hair is nothing like the look she's giving me, even the pouring rain can't fully distort it.

"You'll have to get off this ship," she says, her voice still audible beyond the noise around us.

I narrow my eyes at her. "What?"

The girl doesn't step closer to me, keeping her distance as if I'm some wild animal yet to be tamed. "You should already know what this means, since I've told you about that night," she says. I flinch at the reminder. "Shinsuke-sama doesn't want you after him."

"So you decided to kick me out?" My voice carries as dark and thunderous as the sky. Lighting flashes across it, momentarily brightening the ship yet unable to brighten my tone. "You think I'd stay after you do so?"

Her lips curl into a snarl, but her voice remains the same, low and firm. "I don't care what you'd do after, girl," she quietly snaps, glaring. "When you're out of this ship, so does our responsibility on you."

An abrupt humorless laugh erupts from me, jerking my body forward. The guys binding me tighten their grip on my arms, their hands combined with rain feel slick.

"Oh?" Another derisive laugh escapes me, sounding more harsh than mocking. "Did your precious Shinsuke-sama leave on you the responsibility of me else well?" I amuse, though venomous disgust sharpens the edges of each word. "I thought he was only kind enough to let you know about him setting away alone." At that, the two behind me give out surprised gasps. I turn to one of them, seeing as he stares straight at Matako but none says anything. I restrain to tut in frustration.

When I turn to the girl again, something in her face makes me want to leap forward and claw her until I can no longer recognize her. She looks at me as if she has something I can never hope to obtain, a certain tantalizing triumph of being the only one knowing and seeing his secret. I can feel my entire body shaking, but not with cold.

"He leaves nothing on us, that's why he left alone," she states next, as if she understands everything he's done, everything he is. Her eyes go to the ground, her voice fall smaller like it always does when she speaks of him. I wish for the rain to drown it out. "What we do now will be our choices. He chose to protect us, and I choose to go after him." Her green eyes slides to me.

I ball my hands so hard my wounded thump stings again as the cut reopens beneath the wet bandages. "All talking big mouth with everybody doing the goddamn same thing in the end. Pathetic," I hiss through gritted teeth. I struggle to catch my breath amidst the rain and the engulfing anger unfolding. You're being pathetic. Calm down.

I catch the guys giving the wretch nervous glances as they try to hold me in place, although she bats them no eye.

"I'd never do as you planned," I growl to her. Then Yokade's deal with me surfaces behind my head. My single-mindedness at this point easily surpasses my rightful mind, and of course, every other things I've agreed. I'll never let her have her way with me.

She takes a step forward, her eyes eyeing down at me with displaying disinterest. "You're on your own girl," she says, cold. "Whatever you want to do next, do it yourself." She gestures to the men behind me.

They begin to move, gripping and dragging me to move after them but I show no intention to follow. I thrash against their persisting holds, but their strength easily outwits mine. My hands are numb from the rain, now still spilling down over us, my feet slippery from the water wetting the deck.

"Let go of me!" I scream to them and manage to snatch my arms back from their prowling hands. But as my hands slip free so does my body. It jerks backward. My footing gives up balance as I slide to hit the railing of the ship. And then I tip over the railing and down.

It happens before I realize what's happening. One split second I'm in mid air seeing the immense size of the seemingly black ship from half of its height, then the other second freezes as I drop into the sea.

Dead fear consumes me from head to toe as I struggle to surface above the black water. My whole body turns to ice the longer I strain to kick randomly to keep myself floating up. But my legs and arms freeze underneath the icicle water and would no longer move as I will them. Massive tides rise overhead, and I can't move as they smash down right at where I'm starting to drown. My world turns to ice and darkness and airless as the sea spins me in its enormous hold.

Darkness intensifies and I can't see beyond the water threatening to drag me down. Air and land appears further and further away as strength abandons me. My chest becomes painful and I start to suffocate.

Will I meet my end right this way, by drowning in a sea and forever be lost to my parents?

Consciousness dims to a far-fetched unrealistic spot as another tide crush my weight deeper into the churning sea. The last thing I remember touching is the endless untouchable icicle water before the coldness lifts and my surrounding fades. And I drown into the depthless.