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

Chapter 32 {Takasugi Shinsuke}

     What am I to you?

A bullet flies across the air, piercing its way to me. It skids along the length of my blade as I hurl it away.

Soldiers charge from the opposite direction. Dozens of bullets explode from their guns, dotting the space between their defense line and targets. I leap fast and create a curved track to avoid some of the fires and deflect more by flicking my weapon.

Closing the last gap with a jump, the tip of the sword slices across the body of a close-ranged soldier, sending him to the ground as more joins the first.

     Tell me...

More troops gather around the opening and the sound of gunshots intensifies. I recognize one in particular behind me as Matako shoots off those who step beyond the line.

The cries of the gathered mass create a certain vibration that rattles every time my blade tears through flesh or clashes with another. Yet nothing but the thinning of patience lies beneath that resonance. Nothing thrills me as thinking of the time when the mastermind would finally make his grand entrance.

     Answer me...

Four soldiers attack at once. The three with swords have them raised high as they sprint to me, leaving the one remaining to assault in outer-range.

I hoist my weapon up and meet the fierce forces of the opposing blades with both hands clamped right around my own. At their narrowed instinct to press more weight against me, I seize the chance to throw a kick to the furthest one, altering his focus and strength, before doing the same with the next.

Sensing my attack, the closest one prepares to withdraw his weapon near our heads, but before he can manage a defense, the hilt of my blade knocks his neck with a loud crack. He chokes and staggers aside as just the other two come for me.

A stray bullet pierces through the heart of one them and throws him off balance. I wield my weapon across the throat of the one still coming. Blood sputters seconds later and he drops.

A gun fires close, from the last remaining of the group. I dash toward him-

     Just what am I to you!

My body jerks backward. The chaos raging around ceases for a split second as Y/N's anguished cry takes over my version. Then her image is gone, replaced by the face of a close soldier with a flash of victory. He fires his gun.

I snap to senses and dodge at the last second. The bullet tears through my clothes and cuts across my upper arm. Instead of my heart.

I thrust the blade into the soldier's chest, seeing as his face rages from triumph to shock. His eyes fall to the metal protruding from his body before they go blank, his body limped.

I pull my weapon out and watch as blood begins to pool from the wound and to the ground around him. In the dim light of twilight, the blood appears dark instead of crimson, but the stench of it only sharpens in the airless late evening.

I stare at the particular soldier with a distant mind. Soon, oblivious to the troops still shrouding and ready to the attack, the shocked expression frozen on the alien's face flashes to a tear-and-anguish stained features. Against my better impulse, my eye trails over the bloody mess inflicted on the corpse.

     The blood that was washed all over her body...

I involuntarily take a step back. The agitation at the back of my head solidifies to alarm. And bitterness.

     "Shinsuke-sama, are you alright?"

I glance over my shoulder and see that Matako is staring at me, her face a thin mask of concern. Her targets lay dead with holes in their body as more replaces the last. Her gaze moves from my face to my body.