A Daughter's Call

Hey!
First of all, I'm a non-native English speaker, so I'm sorry if there's any mistake.

That said, I hope that you will enjoy my fic as much as I enjoyed writing it! I got the idea right after reading chapters 687/688 so it's really important that you've read/ watched at least up to these chapters!

See you at the end!

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Kagura had left Edo two years ago with just a brief waving to Gintoki and Shinpachi, and with Sadaharu in her pocket as her only comrade. She'd gone on many planets, so much that she probably couldn't even give the name of half of them. She had crossed rivers smaller than the size of her pinky, and some bigger than a ship of the Kaientai. She'd seen grass whose green could compete with emeralds, and multicoloured skies whose shade changed at nightfall. She had smelled flowers used to make fragrance that were said to be divine, and tasted fine meals only a few locals had ever eaten.

Yet the rivers' waters seemed dull when compared to the Arakawa River. And no matter how green the grass was, Kagura never felt the urge to let herself fall and roll on it just like on the riverbanks of the same Arakawa river. When it came to skies, she often found herself longing the soft blue shade filling Edo's one and never once felt impressed by the curious shades that were presenting in front of her, her mind only drifting back to the soft pink and purple shades she was used to. No fragrance could erase the smell of drizzle falling onto the soil of Kabukichou's streets on a stormy summer day, and she knew that each bite she took was tasteless and bland when compared to the savours she'd eat with her friends at lunch time.

Coming back on Earth felt just like coming back home after a journey, a feeling she hadn't even felt when she'd came back to Rakuyu two years ago after having left it for the same amount of time. Yet, when she crossed the doorway to the Yorozuya Agency, a weird stinging cord tensed in her chest as she realised that the home she had longed for was only half full. It was just as if she'd stepped into a nightclub without music or a restaurant without a chef, the pilot to their ship was missing, and neither the stewardess or the co-pilot knew where their pilot was. Whatever she had hoped to find when she'd stepped back on earth, it wasn't what she had found.

It wasn't the first time Gintoki was missing. Actually, the punctual disappearances and vanishing were like a forced package, you either accepted Gintoki with it and his hundreds of flaws, or never let him in your life. Kagura was used to it. Shinpachi was used to it. Everyone was used to it. But being used to it never meant that it didn't hurt. Back when they still lived together like a family, Kagura would be dreading those days when she would wake up to find his room empty, the futon not even undone and his slippers in the exact same position he'd left them the day before. She hated the feeling of terror and apprehensiveness seeping through her veins like frozen blood. There was always this uncertainty about how he would come back, in which state, and when. From one single night to a whole week, her nights were paced by nights filled with cold sweats and days where she couldn't eat anything because of her churning stomach. Shinpachi was always with her when it happened, never leaving her and Sadaharu's side because they were all feeling the same.

So when she opened the door to the agency to observe that Gintoki hadn't come back in those two years, the feeling seizing her was familiar. Almost comforting in its own way, showing that no matter what happened, Gintoki was still the same selfish and devil-may-care asshole as before. But Kagura couldn't even find it in herself to call Gintoki an egoist. Even if in theory his impromptu getaways seemed selfish, she knew deep down that it was only a way for him to protect her, them, and himself at the same time. She knew how he felt, hearing him talking with Katsura in drunken nights and conversations about how he couldn't face her if he ended up losing his temper and crumbling into a crying mess in front of her. No matter how carefree he seemed, he couldn't just let his facade fall apart. Kagura would have liked to tell him that it was okay, that she understood -even though at the time she didn't understand very much what could bother Gin-san so much that it brought tears to his face and forced him to leave the place for so many days-. She never told him, though; she had always thought that it would have been even worse if he knew that she knew. But now that she was old enough to understand it, and that she was aware of his past, she couldn't pretend that she ignored what messed with the man's mind on moonless nights anymore.