SUGAR CONTENT; gintama oneshots

creature 2 - utsuro

I am creation, both haunted and holy

Made in glory

Even the depths of the night cannot blind me

When you guide me

Utsuro had lived a long, long life. He had seen everything this world had to offer, from pain and hurt to love and family. He had existed through different personalities, ones that feared humans, ones that hated them, ones that lived amongst them. He had found this world to be never ending when all he wanted was to finish his story. And, throughout this time, one occurrence, one meeting, one lasting interaction between him and a human, had stuck with him. 

All he remembered was a girl and a stream, where he promised that he was going see her the following day. He had broken his promise when the sound of footsteps in the night had prompted him to move on, breaking away from his once secure sanctuary out of the fear of returning to the pyres. That of course did him no good, because he still ended up locked away for centuries. One thing led to another and after he had become a leader, a savior, and a teacher, the part of him that had been waiting returned. And with his return came that memory.

A memory that soon became a reality.

He walked the streets of Edo, disguised so that no ghosts of his pasts recognized him, unsure why his weary feet had led him here. As the leader of the Naraku, he was supposed to be engaging in reconnaissance before the rest of his assigned group joined him in the city, searching for another someone that had wronged them. Instead, he had left the area he was supposed to be in and now found himself in a shopping district, staring at a young woman who looked all too familiar.

But there was no way it was her, his mind provided, she's been dead a long, long time. The girl from the stream was in no way immortal and couldn't still be alive walking the earth like he was. There was, of course, the matter of reincarnation.

A hand waving in front of his face broke him out of his thoughts and there he found her with a worried expression on her face, asking, "Sir? Are you alright?"

With a gentleness he didn't know he could possess, he grabbed her hand before it could start to annoy him, moving it away from his face before dropping it as though it might burn him if the contact was prolonged. Utsuro stared down at her, aware that if she were to recognize him, now would be the time. As he thought, there was not a hint of familiarity in her eyes.

"I was simply lost in thought," Utsuro said with his usual, cold smile, "What made you think otherwise?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. I was curious about you and decided to ask." A smile tugged at the edge of her lips. "My name's (Y/N), by the way. What's yours?"

This time he was confident in his answer. "Utsuro. I am called Utsuro."

"Utsuro as in empty?" (Y/N) pursued her lips as she pondered his name, before her eyes lit up, "Since we exchanged names, does that mean we're friends now? Do you want to have lunch with me?"

"Aren't you being a little too trusting? We've only just met." Utsuro said though he wasn't opposed to her invitation. If anything, he wanted to spend as much time with her as he could before they inevitably parted again. Even if she didn't remember him, the small part of him that longed to feel had surfaced once more and he would take advantage of her presence in regard to his own emotions while he could.

(Y/N) hummed before saying, "That's true, but somehow you're familiar. Like I've been searching for something and finally found it."

"What an interesting idea," Utsuro said even though he felt the same way.

In his case, however, he knew what she was saying was true. 

Without pulling away this time, he allowed her to take his hand and guide him over to a small restaurant on the street corner. He was pleased to find he didn't recognize a single person in the vicinity, meaning his reunion with her would be a quiet one, just as it had been during their first meeting by the stream. They sat across from each other in a booth by the window and while he read the menu, trying to decide what to order that wouldn't make it obvious he didn't need to eat to survive, he could feel her admiring him. 

He could feel her gaze drift to his hair every so often, followed by a soft sigh as though she wanted to run her fingers through his well taken care of hair. Utsuro had never let another human touch him, other than the occasional times required for battle, and for the second time in his life, realized he didn't hate the touch of a human being. It had started off small, but as the feeling grew, he remembered what it was like to be seen as an equal and not as a creature.

"What do you think about reincarnation?" Utsuro asked, setting aside his menu and resting his chin on his propped up hands.

(Y/N) laughed lightly, "That's quite a deep question for a first meeting, but I suppose...it's something I believe in. I've always liked the idea of knowing someone in a past life and meeting them again in this one, even if I can't remember anything. You could call me a hopeless romantic or something like that, but I think it would be nice..."

"Knowing someone loved you before?" Utsuro couldn't help but finish. He had not had such a genuine smile on his face since his days as that teacher. "I feel the same way."

"Ah, this really is strange. I feel like I've known you forever," (Y/N) said, resting her head on her hand. 

There was a certain emotion he could see in her eyes, one deeper than admiration, closer to endearment, that made him rethink his earlier thoughts. Yes, his life had changed a lot since they had last met, but that didn't mean he awoke in the middle of the night from nightmares any less. That didn't mean he hadn't returned to the stream the second he was freed from his prison to see if she was still there, that he didn't linger in that area where they had first met during his time off. Now that she was here, the same as before but all so different, he didn't want to leave.

"We should see each other again after this," was out of his mouth before he had even thought the words through. 

"I was just thinking that!" (Y/N) said excitedly, "Here, I'll give you my number and the address to where I work, just in case you ever want to visit me."

He took the napkin she had scribbled her information on and tucked it away, ensuring it was safe. The rest of the reunion was spent happily between a human girl and the creature that was no longer haunted by his past. And this time, when she said 'see you tomorrow', tomorrow came with them together again.