Sharp Wings; 鋭い翼 [Gintama]

40 | Don't put your life in the hand of a man with an uncalibrated moral compass

XL

Manga: Lesson 89-97

Anime: Episodes 58-62

Movie: Gintama: The Movie, A New Retelling Benizakura Arc

GINTOKI couldn't hear anything except for the sounds of metal clashing against each other as his eyes watched Kusahara battle it off with Nizou a couple of feet away from where he was currently bleeding his insides out.

A few seconds ago, Nizou was pinned to the ground with Kusahara's knee and hand, then the next, Nizou leaped up and headbutted Kusahara before he proceeded to assault him with his monster of a blade. Kusahara, obviously not giving in, fought back and that brought them to the current events of continuously exchanging blows with neither one stopping to even breathe.

"What a wonderful display you're giving, Kusahara Noriyasu." Nizou commented as he pulled on his katana but Kusahara, not answering the statement, blocked by raising his blade up over his head. The teal haired male proceeded to kick Nizou in the stomach and sent him crashing against the bridge wall on the opposite side where Gintoki was. In a blink of an eye, Kusahara was pinning Nizou in place with only his hand on the blind man's head.

"My, my...." The older coughed, struggling against Kusahara's grip. "... you sure are angry.... I can tell."

Nizou eventually broke free and the sound of metal against metal echoed under the bridge once again.

"Gin-san!" Gintoki finally heard something else as he saw Shinpachi come from his side. "Gin-san!" the younger called again, worry filling his voice.

"Patsu-san." Gintoki weakly replied as he glanced over to the side and saw both Shinpachi and Elizabeth crouch near him. "Don't be an idiot. Get out of here." He said in attempt to prevent the younger from getting involved in the ongoing fight mere feet away from where they were.

"What are you talking about?!" Shinpachi yelled as he began to inspect the wounds on Gintoki's chest. "You need help! Elizabeth, can you do something?!"

Elizabeth pulled out a placard and a small box from who-knows-where. "I have a first aid kit, but he needs more care!" he suddenly began nursing Gintoki as the fight a few feet away from them continued. By that point, Gintoki's just grateful that it was water splashing towards them and not blades or scraps of sharp, broken metal.

"We need to get both you and Kusahara-san away from here." Shinpachi said hastily as he inspected Gintoki's wounds.

"Shit!"

They suddenly heard Kusahara let out a curse and a second later, the teal haired male came skidding to a halt right in front of Gintoki and right beside Shinpachi. He was crouching on the water, his right hand still clutching his katana and the other hand clutching his stomach. His clothes were torn from the back, where Gintoki saw blood spilling from exposed wounds and long gashes.

How the younger was tolerating the wounds, Gintoki doesn't know.

There was another curse and Kusahara suddenly fell forwards, his hand barely catching himself from in front. There was an awful gagging sound, as if something was locked inside one's throat, and the sound of water splashing came right after, as if liquid was poured into a container already filled with water.

By the red liquid that stained the flowing water at Kusahara's feet, Gintoki knew that he had just vomited out blood.

"Fucking hell, Shizuku, you owe me for this." Kusahara huffed, his voice sounding like he had just screamed his lungs out; hoarse and low.... Almost sounding broken.