Sharp Wings; 鋭い翼 [Gintama]

30 | Being a Shinobi is only cool when you can actually become one

XXX

Manga: Lesson 67-69

Anime: Episode 43, part C-44

"WHAT'S wrong, are you not going to eat? Don't worry about the money. It's on me today." Katsura said with a smile on his face, waiting for his friends to dig in on the food that he bought.

Shizuku quietly sat beside the dark haired male as they both watched the Yorozuya trio try to practically breath in the food that it was in front of them.

"Uh, Gin-san?" the teal haired girl called softly. Gintoki didn't answer but Katsura knew that he was listening to the younger. "Are you going to eat your parfait or not? You can give it to me if you don't want it." she said, since she already finished her own share of treats – the food that Katsura got her were the most expensive of all the things that he bought.

"Shizuku, you know that he's plotting something with that smiling face of his!" Gintoki replied, his eyes not leaving the dessert on the table. "Even when we were young, he always had that stupid look on his face whenever he's going to ask something big!"

"Oh, come on, Gin-san. You know that you can probably handle his favors. You're being unreasonable. Isn't that right, Zura-nii?" Shizuku smiled up at the taller male beside her.

Katsura, not missing the use of the cute little nickname – the only nickname that he approves of –was immediately reminded of his childhood.

Even after being told that both his and Gintoki's intuitions were right when they first saw Shizuku inside that ship – anywhere, anytime, they wouldn't forget that that shade of teal hair (literally, she's the only one that they know with such an unnatural hair color) – Katsura still couldn't find it in himself to completely believe that the innocent little girl that he had known – and practically raised – since childhood was turned into some kind of person with supernatural abilities.

The girl still didn't say where she got her abilities. She said that she doesn't really know how and where she got them – "I woke up and poof! I have the ability to see through the soul! Your soul is color blue, by the way, Zura-nii" just to quote what she said. They were informed that only Kusahara knows, but he's not talking and Shizuku said not to ask him anything about it because no matter how hard she tried, he didn't say anything.

They decided to stick with Shizuku's warning because when Gintoki tried – after Shizuku failed to persuade him to back off – Kusahara, the kind, good-natured and smiley Second Division Captain of the Shinsengumi, gave him the coldest, darkest, and most menacing death stare that Katsura has ever seen in his life.

That was saying something considering that he's been in the war.

Shizuku just told them to role with it and that her having abilities doesn't do anything remotely dangerous to her.

"Just don't piss off Nori-san and you'll be fine." She said with a warm smile.

Noted, Katsura mentally said to himself when Shizuku said those words.

As a Patriot, it would've been nice to take the chance to grab Shizuku and use her to make the country fall into chaos, but Katsura's not like that. No, when it came to her, her childhood best friend and sister, he wouldn't even dare to do anything remotely similar.

For now, he's happy that Shizuku was there, sitting beside him and talking to him.

Just like all those years before.

"Zura-nii?" Shizuku called out, tilting her head to the side as she did. She seemed to call him again when Katsura didn't answer her immediately.

Katsura looked at the younger for a while more before he reached out and fondly ruffled her teal hair.