Sharp Wings; 鋭い翼 [Gintama]

19 | Some questions are better left unanswered

XIX

Manga: Chapter 54

Anime: Episode 33

SHIZUKU woke up early in the morning, ready for the day.

She got up and stretched her body, brightly looking at the backyard when she opened her windows to let the cool morning air in. She knew that there was no one else there except for her since, as usual, Kusahara was already at the station and Otae was out with her friends from the hostess club. It has already been a week since the incident at the justaway factory, and since Shinpachi was staying over at the Yorozuya to help rebuild the office, Shizuku knew that she was alone at the house.

It was a nice and sunny day, so Shizuku thought about walking around town once again – because that's the only thing that the author can come up with to start a chapter. Shizuku went out of her room to heat up the food at the refrigerator – she knew that it was Kusahara who made it. She ate alone in silence as she watched the birds flutter around on the outside of the house. After a few minutes of savoring her food, she went to the bathroom and refreshed herself, then she changed her clothes and went out of the house, ready for the day. She lifted her umbrella over her head and started walking around Edo.

Shizuku waved as she passed by a couple of people that she recognized, like Hasegawa and Katsura – of course, she met with him as discretely as possible. She went to the stores that she frequented in, like Ikumatsu's ramen shop and the sweetshop that Gintoki often takes her to. She was enjoying her moment alone with herself before a certain cigarette smoking, dark haired male passed by and caught her attention.

"HIjikata-san, hey." Shizuku greeted the tall male as she slightly waved at him.

"Oh, Shizuku." Hijikata called when he finally noticed that the young girl was there.

Lifting her umbrella, Shizuku smiled at the taller male. "It's nice to see you again, Hijikata-san. What brings you here?" she asked.

"Kondou-san just sent me on a job." The older male replied. "But I still have no luck with it." he said before he sighed.

Shizuku tilted her head to the side. "A job that you failed at?" she asked, almost in an unbelieving tone. "I was under the impression that you could do anything, Hijikata-san."

"Well, thanks for saying that." Hijikata slightly chuckled before he looked at the young girl in front of him. "Speaking, I could recruit you."

"Recruit me?" Shizuku asked curiously. "What?" she blinked.

"You see; I was looking for people who could take care of the station for a while." The older answered while scratching the back of his head. "I'm sure that you've heard from your cousin. Did he tell you that we're leaving tomorrow?"

"He might've mentioned it, yes." the young girl replied, remembering what Kusahara told her the day before about the mission outside the city that will take them at least a week to accomplish, so he wouldn't come home for a while. "Nori-san told me that you're going away for a while. Though, he didn't tell me where you're going."

"Yeah, that's right. It's classified, so I'm not surprised that he didn't tell you where we're going." Hijikata nodded. "And the whole of the Shinsengumi will come. Our cooks and the others don't live in the Station, so they won't be there when we leave. No one will take care of the station."

"What?" Shizuku blinked. "Aren't you supposed to, I don't know, leave some of your officers behind, Hijikata-san? Who'll protect Edo when you're gone?"

"We aren't the only officers here, so we're going to be fine, probably. And besides, we are leaving some of us behind." The older male sighed. "But they're all new recruits, so they don't have much training, yet, and they'll just be doing patrol around Edo. They'll be doing small jobs for a while."