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

Chapter 26 {Ayano Yokade}

Night comes already just after I set my mind on some trivial chores of the ship. Now I'm cleaning after supper in the kitchen. The usual noise of utensils and china clanging against each other in the sink can't even outwit my distraction from the activity.

I've been building up some sort of plan to help her after I left Y/N to herself. A small boat would do more than enough for the both us, though it's our destination that might leave a sailor with second thoughts.

"Yokade," the chef voice jolts my attention back to the dishes in the sink. I turn to him, noticing that everyone's done and out of the kitchen apart from me and the chef.

He's standing in front of the fridge, back to me and one hand to his chin. Without glancing my way, he asks, "Is the little miss eating alright?" before deciding to shut the fridge's door and turns to me.

I give him a late answer. "Yes," I reply, taken back by the concern in his voice. I thought that he's completely forgotten about Y/N, considering how he almost never keeps anything for her if not for my reminders.

"I see," he says, his aged face forming an unfortunate smile. Then he looks to me, wiping his hands with the white apron sprawled across his front. "Well, I guess she can go back to where she came from now," he adds, untying the apron before hanging it by the near the door. "I heard that Takechi-sama has decided that we leave for Edo."

I trail my gaze along him. "Really?" Here I've spent almost the entire afternoon thinking about how I could sneak out with Y/N, and have already reached something I can help. I keep from letting my disappointment show, not that the chef would notice anyway. "That's great news," I say when he nods. "Finally we can actually have some action going on."

The chef gives a short laugh at my eagerness. "Well, go make sure you have the energy needed then," he says before waving a hand then he's gone.

I turn back to the dishes in the sink and start working with more speed. I guess I have to tell Y/N to cancel our deal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's been awhile since I've gone outside. The last time was when Vice-commander told me to help out in carrying some shady luggage from a place not far away from here. I can't really remember the way there, but it's sure to be somewhere near the edges of the woods on the other side.

The ship's entrance looms ahead of me, and beyond the gloom of the night outside encompassing the ongoing rain. I've taken the role of closing off the entrance and be on first watch tonight. Knowing her, Y/N might be waiting for me nevertheless of the rain.

I quicken to jog to the ship's entrance, the threshold and bridge descending to the ground puddled with water. Peering outside, the raindrops tapping my face, I can't make out the appearance of anyone. The place surrounding the ship is bare.

Maybe Y/N didn't come after all, or if she somehow knows about us setting off tomorrow.

I draw my dripping head back inside the sheltered roof, and intend to shut off the entrance. Y/N must already be asleep in her room, I tell myself that. But the weird lingering feeling in me doesn't go away.

I decide to jog down the ship's bridge. Making sure won't hurt. The rain instantly draining through my clothes, I glance around to see if there's anywhere outside Y/N can use as a shelter. The furiously flapping trees in of the forest are of course beyond choice, and besides that are our ship and the flat exposing shore of the sea. I turn to the direction of the port, blurry in the distance. Could Y/N already be at the port, waiting?

I start to move, rain making my track appear almost uncertain and I blink hard to able to get a short clear sight of things. The wind blows crazily strong, wanting to sweep me along its swipe.

A couple of steps from the entrance, I reach the end of ship's length. I shiver when the wind coming from the sea practically slaps the side of my face. I carry on, glancing at the high tides doubling over in the sea. Tonight must be new moon for the sea to behave like this.

I take my eyes back to the path leading ahead, then come across something shadowy lying on the shore.

It's not recognizable amidst the falling rain and darkness. The tides sweep the length of the shore up and down in constant movements, and sweeping too the motionless shadow stationed there.

I walk to whatever it is being carried on land by the water. At this distance, it appears too big to be an object. I narrow my eyes when I near it, leaning forward for better examination.

Shock punches my gut at the face I'm staring at. I leap to where Y/N is lying and drop to level myself down near her.

"Y/N!" I alarmingly call while shaking her shoulders with frantic motion. She doesn't open her eyes, her lips and body cold and pale. I trail the length of her, looking for signs of injury but find none except for the bare cut of her left thump. I fling a look at her closed eyes again.

"I better get her inside," I murmur to myself. Then taking her arms to pull her upright, I hastily bring her body onto my back. She feels way too light for her age and look, and it's like I'm carrying a weightless luggage of ice. Stumbling at first, I hold her tight and run back to into the ship, not caring to shut the entrance.

A spy or whoever can sneak take the chance to sneak in, but I'm going to deal with that later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I burst into the infirmary room. "Manager!" I shout as I stride to an empty bed and lie Y/N down, her clothes soaking through the clean dry sheet.

One minute later, the manager is seen rushing out of his room, not remembering to shut the door and turn on the light switch near it. Then seeing me and Y/N, he quickly comes around.

"What happened?" the manager asks, raising a hand to inspect Y/N's bloodless unmoving body. His eyes in the dark are clear and sharp when they land on me, as if he's not being abruptly jolted up from sleep.

"I don't know," I tell him, looking widely between him and Y/N. "I found her unconscious and lying on the shore just now."

The manager doesn't answer to that, in which only pokes my impatient to wait for his reply. He continues to check on her. Her chest doesn't rise and fall, and I'm afraid that I'm too late. The manager's hand goes for her neck, checking her pulse. I can't tell what he's is getting out of that from the look he's having. Like this is not something to fuss about.

"Well? How is she?" I prod him testily. For one moment, I can see nothing beyond this, nothing apart from Y/N's pale face and cold body. Nothing beyond the fact that she's not okay.

The manager's oddly calm voice capture my thoughts away. "She will be fine," he finally says, his hand remaining on her shoulder. I almost say which part of her now is fine, but a memory stops my mouth. The time when she's been contained in the cell, and how blades going through her body wasn't enough to kill her.

I shudder, then realize that I'm also dripping wet. I wipe the water from my face, trying to close off the image of her pain. I look to where Y/N is lying again, feeling my panic ceasing. I almost forgot. She won't die from something like this, due to whatever reason about her body.

One look at the manager shows that he's thinking the same. "I will see to her. Don't worry," he assures, his grip on her shoulder tightening, before he turns away, signaling my dismissal.

I recede a step from the bed, numb from the rain and incident, before taking more and out of the room. I shut the door in front of me but make no move to leave.

Y/N will be alright, despite what happened between the time I wasn't with her. This situation, compared to what she's gone through, is probably just some sort of small accident. She'll recover no time. But then, can she always recover forever?

I don't know what's in her body to make her like this, but the idea of humans living forever and immune to any harm strikes me as absurd. If there's existence like that in this world, then I wouldn't call it human.

But Y/N is as humane as any girl can be. And whatever she's been through to have herself turn into this, whatever she is now, and whether her immunity lasts as long as she lives, I going to find out.