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tanaennos · 3 years ago

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no matter how cute you think you are, you will always lose to a dog | sakazura

Pairing: Sakamoto Tatsuma x Katsura Kotarou

Summary: As the evening sun shines its heavy golden light, alpha Tatsuma comes home to see Kotarou, his omega, nesting on their bed. Seeing this, Tatsuma does whatever he can to comfort his omega through his heat.

Rating: Teen

Word count: 1,460

Tags: Omegaverse, Alpha/Omega, Alpha!Tatsuma, Omega!Katsura, fluff, cuddling, nesting, heats, making out

Also available on AO3

A cool gust of wind flows in from an open window, letting a few rays of evening sunlight slip through the drawn bedroom curtains.

Kotarou lies curled up in a big nest of fluffy pillows, blankets. Tatsuma’s shirts and jackets surround him. He clutches one of Tatsuma’s jackets, burying his face in the fabric. He softly breathes it in, letting Tatsuma’s scent of freshly ground coffee and the seabreeze comfort his senses.

Tatsuma opens the door to see his omega in a mountain of his clothes. The room is heavy with the scent of cedarwood oil and sweet jasmine mixed with his own. “ Zura? ” he calls out.

Kotarou lifts his head from his nest, sitting up. He doesn’t let go of the jacket in his arms and keeps it close to his chest, leaving the rest of Tatsuma’s wardrobe to pool around him. Kotarou's blue kimono is worn loosely, hanging off shoulders and opening up his chest. His hair is slightly disheveled from being in bed all day, his usual silky locks framing his flushed face in soft waves. The amount of fabric surrounding him makes him look smaller and daintier than he already is as an omega. There's an earnest eagerness in his eyes when he realizes his alpha is home. “ You’re back .” he states.

Tatsuma feels a warmth rise in his chest, seeing Kotarou’s nest on their bed. He grins at him, “ That’s right! " he exclaims, walking towards him, “ your Tatsuma is back home! ” he booms, spreading his arms wide for a hug.

Kotarou throws his arms around his neck and hangs off him, letting his weight pull Tatsuma down onto the bed. Tatsuma grins, scooping Kotarou up into his arms and falling onto the bed next to him. They adjust themselves so that Tatsuma can slip his arm underneath Kotarou’s neck and rest his hand on his back. Kotarou rests his head on Tatsuma’s shoulder and curls his fingers around the collar of his shirt. Kotarou nuzzles into the crook of Tatsuma’s neck, breathing him in. He sinks into Tatsuma’s body, shrouding himself in his alpha’s scent.

Tatsuma uses his free hand to tuck a lock of hair behind Kotarou’s ear. “Did you miss me?” he asks gently. Kotarou takes a moment to breathe in deeply, his eyelashes brushing against Tatsuma’s scent glands. “ Yes .” Kotarou whispers in reply.

“Aww.” Tatsuma coos, brushing his bangs out of the way to place a loving kiss on his forehead. “I’m sorry I made you wait so long.”

Kotarou doesn't say anything. He just continues to bury his face into Tatsuma's neck as Tatsuma scatters small kisses onto his head.

Kotarou’s hands on Tatsuma’s collar pull it down slightly to slip its fingertips underneath and feel his chest. Tatsuma inhales deeply, resting his cheek on top of Kotarou’s head, feeling Kotarou stroke his thigh with his leg. Kotarou gets up, hovering over Tatsuma’s face. His hair falls around them like the branches of a weeping willow. Tatsuma brings a hand to Kotarou’s cheek and gently runs his thumb over it, gazing deeply into his eyes. They feel like they're the only two people in the world, shrouded by Kotarou’s dark tresses.

"You're gorgeous." Tatsuma breathes.

Kotarou sits up fully to climb onto Tatsuma's lap. Tatsuma brushes his hair back to get a good look at his face. Kotarou takes Tatsuma's hand by the wrist and leans his cheek against his palm, smiling fondly down at him.

" How'd I get so damn lucky?" Tatsuma thinks out loud.

Kotarou leans over, bringing his hands into Tatsuma's hair. Tatsuma closes his eyes, feeling Kotarou's fingertips over his scalp. Kotarou gives his head a rub, ruffling his fluffy brown hair, getting more vigorous as laughter bubbles up from Tatsuma’s chest. Kotarou huffs to himself and buries his face in his soft curly locks. Tatsuma wraps his arms around his waist when Kotarou presses his chest against his face. He hums happily to himself as he places kisses all over Kotarou’s collarbone.

Kotarou lifts himself upright, sliding his hands down to cup Tatsuma’s cheeks. He squishes his cheeks together, distorting Tatsuma’s face that’s beaming from ear to ear.

Kotarou hums, satisfied with himself. “You look like a dog.”

“Am I the cutest dog?” Tatsuma asks, grinning.

Kotarou pauses for a moment. “Sadaharu is cuter.”

Tatsuma feigns a frown, pulling a long face. “Am I the second cutest dog?” he bargains.

Kotarou pauses for a longer moment, looking to the ceiling to feign a moment of speculation.

“ Zura. ” Tatsuma squawks, half concerned.

An amused laugh escapes Kotarou. He squishes his cheeks together again, leaning back down to smother Tatsuma's face with kisses as an apology. Tatsuma wholeheartedly accepts it, giving him some in return. One of Tatsuma's hands snakes up Kotarou's back while the other arm tightens around his waist. Their kisses melt from being chaste to something deeper, soft laughter turning into blissful sighs.

Kotarou sits up again and shrugs off his sleeves, letting it fall by his sides. On Tatsuma's lap, his top half is completely bare. His legs are spread apart with the kimono fabric splitting in the middle.

" Tatsuma, " he beams. " I love you. "

The wind blows in again. Deep, yellow sunlight bounces off Kotarou's bed hair, creating a soft ring of light illuminating the crown of his head.

Tatsuma feels a breath escape his lungs. He feels like a divine blessing has been bestowed upon him. Kotarou looks like a glowing goddess who has fallen right onto his lap.

Tatsuma could just take him then and there.

Tatsuma sits up, wrapping his arms around Kotarou's waist and pulling him close. He looks up at him. "How should I take care of you today?"

Kotarou pulls down at Tatsuma's collar to reveal his chest. "Take it off."

Tatsuma obliges, slipping off his shirt and dropping it among the pile of his other clothes on the bed.

Kotarou wraps his arms around Tatsuma's neck and leans in, pressing their bare chests together. Tatsuma slides a hand up Kotarou's back, over the nape of his neck and into his hair. Kotarou gently lifts Tatsuma's head by his jaw and presses their lips together, breathing him in.

Tatsuma breaks the kiss, humming breathily. He moves to Kotarou's jaw, trailing soft kisses down to his neck and over his scent glands.

Kotarou moans softly and goes pliant in his arms, dragging his hands down to Tatsuma's chest. " Tatsuma. " Kotarou breathes, pulling the wrist of the arm wrapped around him. " Hold me tighter. "

Tatsuma obliges, embracing him tightly with both his arms, one hand resting on the small of his back, holding him close. He leans back, letting them fall back onto the bed with their lips pressed together in a deep kiss.

They pull apart, love-drunk giggles scattered in between soft breaths as they gaze into each other's eyes.

Kotarou hums to himself. "Maybe you're a little bit cuter than Sadaharu."

Tatsuma grins victoriously, leaning back into him to attack Kotarou's face with kisses. From his forehead to his flushed cheeks, all the way to his jaw, neck, and collar bone. Tatsuma made sure no part of Kotarou's skin was left unloved.

Kotarou laughed breathlessly, playfully pushing Tatsuma off and leaning away from him. A low growl rumbled in Tatsuma's throat. He got more aggressive, nuzzling into his neck to tickle him, forcing Kotarou to turn his body away completely to catch a breath.

Tatsuma admitted defeat, letting Kotarou calm down. He consoled himself by covering the nape of Kotarou's neck and the back of his shoulders with kisses instead. Tatsuma shifts almost his entire weight onto Kotarou and feels him relax underneath him. Applying the pressure of one's weight onto their partner is just one of the many ways an alpha can comfort his nesting omega. Judging from the way Kotarou's hips are backing into Tatsuma's, Tatsuma can think of a few more ways to take care of him.

But for now, he lets him rest in his arms. They have lots of time to do things like that later. For now, Tatsuma holds him close, Kotarou linking their hands together in their loving embrace. Tatsuma grips Kotarou's hand tightly, soothed by his soft breathing that mimics the sound of lazy waves pulling in and out of the seashore.

One more gust of wind flows in through the curtains. A warm ray of sunlight spills onto the bed, a gleam of light bounces into Tatsuma's eye from their wedding rings currently pressed against each other.

Tatsuma places another soft kiss onto Kotarou's cheek and nuzzles into his hair. He closes his eyes, feeling Kotarou already go limp in his arms, falling into slumber. " You really are the best thing that's ever happened to me. " He whispers.

Authors Note And then they did dirty things!!!! (●ˇ∀ˇ●) I should know, I was the wind hehehe hahahaha I hope you enjoyed this fic that was basically just 1.4k words of pure fluff hahaha it took me 3 days to write because I struggled a bit with stuff like trying to find an English equivalent to the Malay/Indonesian word "geram/gemas" (TωT`);;; I hope I could get the feelings across clearly though!! hahaha also in that last line, yes I was referencing another sakazura fic I wrote (*￣▽￣*)

#sakazura #Sakamoto Tatsuma #Katsura Kotarou #Gintama #Gintama fic #Hoffman writes shit

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suchine-toki · 6 years ago

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Hey, I love your analyses and was wondering what your thoughts are on why Takasugi sought out Zura right after coming to Edo and then choosing to fight him?

Oh you’re so sweet thank you 🙈 this took some time because I’d to reread a couple of chapters and it’s kinda long but I wanted to cover the things I considered important (plus I love joui relationships)

Before Katsura and Takasugi met, Takasugi says there’s something he needs to do before facing the enemy, which indicates that said meeting was something he’d planned previously. I believe he sought out Zura because he needed him to carry out his scheme, but also for another reason. Let’s see:

Katsura receives a call that warns him about the presence of a particular person and he replies that said person will probably look for him. I guess someone was warning him of Takasugi (maybe Hijikata or Yamazaki), therefore he wasn’t surprised when he suddenly appeared. In fact he looked pretty confident about himself and relaxed, so much that he talks about twitter and stuff. The situation clearly doesn’t have the same seriousness compared to when they confronted each other in Benizakura.

Then they stop beating around the bush. Takasugi recognizes that Zura, like him, has done everything for Shouyou. He also acknoledges having felt his gaze on him, that is, that Zura knew what he was doing.

Nevertheless, Katsura tells Takasugi they’re in opposite positions. He assumes he can’t save Shouyou and protect everyone at the same time. Katsura doesn’t ask for help, but asks him to step aside. He tells him they can’t go back to those days (even though they both want to). Takasugi, who expected this response, says he can use him without reserve and fights him.

Here he confirms that Katsura is useful to carry out his plan. But in what way exactly? Later, when they meet with Gintoki, he’s mad because Zura and Takasugi were accomplices after all. Zura denies it and explains they just used each other because they’d the common goal of crushing that religion. On the one hand Takasugi helps Katsura with his assassination scheme, on the other hand, Takasugi also uses that plus the attack to the terminal, which is necessary to achieve the instability that will force their enemies to show themselves.

But if that was the plan from the beginning, why was Takasugi hostile to Katsura and Gintoki at first? Probably he behaved this way because he didn’t intend to work with them initially, but to do everything by himself. When circumstances changed, he changed his attitude too. Did he do it just for convenience then?

Takasugi intended to make himself look bad, tricking even Gintoki by making him believe that he blowed up the terminal and used Edo as a bait. When he attacks Gintoki and steals the heart once again he tells him he isn’t fit to carry it. It’s like he’s trying to shake his resolve.

However, when Zura appears Takasugi’s expression changes. It can be seen that he’s surprised to see him there, and then realizes that with his arrival the act he was trying to perform was over. Probably he wanted to put Gintoki against him so he would be out of the matter and was looking for the same with Katsura after having cooperated.

Here Takasugi’s motivation is very well reflected. It shows that he was really looking for the help of Zura and Gintoki, but in the end he was going to take care of everything. And it’s not because he believes that he’s the most special or the only one who cared about Shouyou, on the contrary, he’s aware of both Katsura’s and Gintoki’s feelings. The point is, he considers that the other two have more things to live for, while he is “somebody who nobody’d miss if they died.” There’s a reason why he insists Gintoki to return to “playing house,” and he also knows that Zura has gained valuable things while he was in Edo.

However, both Katsura and Gintoki prove to Takasugi (in one of my favorite panels of all time) that they’re not willing to stand back and watch.

He looks pretty happy about it though.

TL;DR: Takasugi went after Zura because he’s a tsundere emo edgelord. Or maybe he was just bitter bc zura stole the title of the most dangerous joui patriot.

#lunar-beauty #Gintama #Katsura Kotarou #Takasugi Shinsuke #Sakata Gintoki #Joui 4 #Shouka Sonjuku #takazura #ask #analysis #it also took me a while bc I get distracted easily and have the attention span of a fly #but it helped me realize some things I haven't thought about and that's great #I'm glad you asked this #so feel free to ask or say anything :D

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yohanes-magic-circle · 5 years ago

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A Piece Of Cake

(As always, this fic is on AO3 if you’d prefer to read it there. Here’s some silly YohaMaru-centric fluff with added Mari fun. Enjoy!)

Countertops covered in flour. Eggshells carelessly strewn about the place, some covered in flecks of icing. To the uninitiated, this might look like an explosion in a bakery, but it was actually the kitchen of the Tsushima household. Yoshiko’s mother could still just about make it out, underneath the ongoing culinary experimentation. Her brow furrowed, and she called out to her daughter and her friend. “Do you girls need any help?”

“Do not interrupt this arcane ritual!” came the fraught reply from Yoshiko, who was somewhat overselling the concept of making a Secret Santa gift.

“Yoshiko, don’t you think we should have accepted? Things aren’t going great,” said Mari, as she desperately searched for a whisk. “Besides, how are you this bad at cooking? I had your Tears Of A Fallen Angel, they were great.”

“Yeah, but I’ve never made a cake before. That’s why I asked for your help in the first place.”

“I don’t understand,” came Mari’s reply in English.

“I see. It’s nice to know I was your first choice.”

Yoshiko was about to launch into a self-defence, before she caught Mari’s wink. “Actually, I really liked your Stewshine,” she admitted.

Mari didn’t expect that the first year might actually think she had any culinary skills. The truth was that she rarely cooked for herself – she was lucky to be living in a hotel, because between her studies and running the school, she barely had time to fix herself a proper meal. “You know that Stewshine is only good because of the ingredients, right? None of that means I have any cooking skills.”

“Yeah, but… I like hanging out with you too. You’re fun.”

“So sweet! Can you pass me the bowl?”

Yoshiko grabbed the bowl and handed it to Mari, who had finally found the whisk. The two girls had gone about things in rather the wrong order – Mari was overly keen to make the icing, so that was handled well before the cake was even in the oven. Now they were racing to get things in a better shape, but outside of their bizarre speciality dishes they rather lacked kitchen skills.

“Round, round, round it goes,” Mari sang softly as she mixed the ingredients together, holding the bowl in one arm as she whisked with the other hand. “This cake is going to be great! Hey Yoshiko, did you preheat the oven?”

“Oh crap!”

Mari turned to reassure Yoshiko, who was now charging forward to correct her mistake, but knocked the milk off the counter with her elbow as she did. Once again, Yohane was falling from grace – this time courtesy of a hazardous dairy spillage. She tumbled into Mari and with an almighty thud, wound up covered in attempted cake.

“Oww! Why does God detest me so?”

“Come on,” said Mari, offering a hand. “There’s no use crying over spilled milk!”

Yoshiko just rolled her eyes, too absorbed in her own misfortune to find the pun amusing. She looked back at the kitchen and, somewhat reluctantly, made a decision.

“Hey, mum…”

As Yoshiko poked her cake-covered head around the living room door, Yoshiko’s mother couldn’t help but let out a laugh, despite her attempts to stifle it.

“How long’s left?”

“About an hour,” Mari replied. “It’s a good job you bought too many ingredients, really. Are you feeling okay now?”

“Yeah, I just needed a shower,” said Yoshiko, as she took a seat at her computer desk. “I took a look at the cake on the way past, it’s looking good. I’m glad I asked for your help!” Mari didn’t have the heart to mention that she’d quietly accepted the help of Ms Tsushima while Yoshiko was cleaning herself up.

“Hey,” said Mari, “what’s the deal with you and Hanamaru, anyway?”

“We’re old friends from kindergarten. C’mon, you know that.”

“Yeah, but… How do you feel about her?”

“Hmm… She’s always shutting me down when I get on a roll, and making fun of Yohane. And she’s so backwards! We can’t go near anything that uses electricity without her being all like ‘mirai, zura!’ Zuramaru’s a nightmare.”

“So why did you decide to make a cake for her?”

“Well, she loves food but she doesn’t like the spicy stuff I’d make for myself.”

“Okay, but why not just buy a cake?”

“It wouldn’t mean as much if I bought it from a shop,” Yoshiko confessed. “I chose that recipe because I knew she liked the flavour. And I wanted to decorate it myself.”

“I see,” said Mari, shifting forward on the bed. “That’s a lot of effort to go to for a nightmare.”

“Ahem… even when they go astray, my little demons are precious to me. Zuramaru was one of my first, so she’s extra important.”

“Haha, I get it.” Mari backed off a bit – it was clear that Yoshiko still had some things to figure out. “It’s funny, the idea of a friend being a nightmare.”

“Oh, really? I’m sure Dia has probably thought of you like that before,” Yoshiko poked. “I know you’d have said the same of Kanan not too long ago.”

“Huh… I suppose so. But we wouldn’t feel so strongly if we didn’t care a lot about each other. It’s the same for you and Hanamaru, right?”

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

Mari thought for a moment, and smiled. “You know, I don’t think your luck is as bad as you think it is, Yohane.”

Yoshiko’s face scrunched up as she tried to figure that out.

“Think about it,” Mari continued. “I know everyone in Aqours means a lot to each other, but it’s a bit deeper with you two, right?”

“I guess so, yeah.”

“You only had a small chance of getting Hanamaru for this Secret Santa, but you did! And now you’ve got this opportunity to show her how much she means to you. That sounds pretty lucky to me.”

“Well, sure,” said Yoshiko. “But it’s Secret Santa, you’re not supposed to know who gave you your gift. I’ll go to a lot of effort and for all she knows it could be Ruby, Chika or anyone else.”

“I think she’ll know who it was,” Mari said with utmost confidence.

Yoshiko excitedly tore open her gift – it felt like manga, and it was… Ah, she thought, glancing in Riko’s direction. You comment on a cute girl one time – one time! – and you end up getting yuri.

“Zura!”

Before she knew it, Yoshiko was enveloped in a hug from her oldest friend. “Yoshiko, this cake is amazin’! Where’d you get it?”

“Oh, I made it. Well, Mari helped too. Actually, I just picked the recipe and decorated it. I tried to help making it but it went wrong, and I sort of… ended up covered in it.” Hanamaru giggled a bit, picturing the scene in her head. “But anyway, by what sorcery did you discover that it was from me?”

“Don’t be silly. Who else would be callin’ me Zuramaru on the icing?” Yoshiko’s face was a picture – after all that effort making the gift, she’d failed to keep her secret. “Did you get to try any of it?”

“No, we didn’t have any spare ingredients after I ended up wearing the first cake.”

“Oh no! Here, have some!” Hanamaru lifted the fork to Yoshiko’s mouth and fed her a piece.

Oh wow, thought Yoshiko. I’ll have to have this again. “Such a divine taste! I’m at risk of being purified.”

“Right? I’m really strugglin’ not to keep it all to myself. Thanks so much!”

Hanamaru leapt forward for another hug – and if that hadn’t turned Yoshiko red, the knowing wink from Mari certainly did. For some reason, Yoshiko suddenly had the urge to read her gift.

“So anyway, ain’t you gonna tell me what your gift was?”

“Ah… ahaha…”

“Yoshiko, are you okay? You look like you’re burning up. Yoshiko…?”

#love live sunshine #yohamaru #yoshimaru #yoshiko tsushima #hanamaru kunikida #mari ohara #yohane #zuramaru

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tomatorepublic · 7 years ago

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HEARTCATCH 101

A/N: decided to post this earlier than planned just because... I wanted to take out fluff after this week’s feels episode. For the title, umm.. ahaha.. I’m not sure what to title this.

Pairing: Riko x Hanamaru

Word count: 1,549 words

Checking the pile of new book that I bought today, I found that is totally out of place. I am sure that it wasn’t one of the books I picked. It did not take me a long time for an idea to where it came from, to struck me. I was reminded of the events that occurred earlier today.

I was strolling along the shelves of books in the bookstore when my back hit something that is not actually a thing, but someone. I hear a soft yelp from them and I immediately apologized only to be met with surprised amber eyes. Or was it shock I saw?

“H-Hanamaru-chan?”

“Riko-chan?”

We stared at each other for a good few seconds until she picked her scattered books panicky. And before I could make a move to help her, she had already gathered them all up.

“I’m so sorry zura~!”

“Ah- don’t worry about it Hanamaru-chan. It was my fault for not looking too.”

“I didn’t know you love to read that much zura~!” I exclaimed looking at RIko-chan’s books.

“I do have some books I love to read. Ha ha ha…” She replied while seeming to cover the titles.

We talked a little bit about the ones I read after she commented on the number of books that I was about to buy. And then we proceeded on paying our books and went on our separate ways.

I didn’t had the time to check the books after that because grandma sent me to run some errands. Only until before bedtime that I was able to check them The book most likely got mixed up with mine when it scattered with Riko-chan’s earlier.

“I should just give this to Riko-chan tomorrow.”

I was about to put the book on my bag when my eyes accidentally caught on the title. It reads as, HEARTCATCH 101 vol. 3. The title was interesting enough to make me open the book.

So this is what they call doujin. I thought to myself as I start reading.

I was too tired to check the time when I went to sleep. There was so much for me to take in and it was only the tardiness that made me sleep. I think I only had about three to five hours of sleep when I went to school. It was quite hard for me to focus during class because one, my head is aching due to lack of sleep, and two, my mind keeps on replaying the things I read on Riko-chan’s book.

As a bookworm myself, Riko-chan’s book was a surprise. It was my first time reading a doujin, not to mention, the genre was something I’ve never tried before too. The story was really good though, just that, I was surprised. I wonder if this is Riko-chan’s fetish that Chika-chan and You-chan were talking about.

When lunch time came, I asked Riko-chan if she can meet me at our clubroom when she’s done eating. I only reasoned that I have something to give to her, and she agreed.

There was still about fifteen minutes left before lunch time ends when Riko-chan arrived at the clubroom. The nervous look on her face tells me that she has an idea of what I am about to give her.

“This got mixed up with my books. I think this is your RIko-chan. Here.” I said handing out the book to her.

“T-Thanks, Hanamaru-chan.” She said taking it with her shaking hands. “You must’ve been charged for this right? Let me pay you.”

“No need. Let me just give it to you zura. And besides…” I trailed off, unsure if I should finish what I was saying.

“D-Did you r-read it b-by any chance?”

“Yes…”

There was a minute of silence between us before I decided to say what’s on my mind.

“I do not usually read something like that but, I… I like it.”

“You do?” There was a hint of surprise on her face as if not expecting to hear those words from me.

“Yes. It was quite unusual for me, but I enjoyed reading it. There’s just something I can’t comprehend zura~.”

I borrowed the book from her hand and opened it to a certain page. It is the scene where one of the lead characters pinned the other against the wall. Apparently, it is called “kabedon” and it is one of the significant scene in the story. The relationship of the leads started to go to the next level after this part.

“What I don’t understand here is that, how come this kind of intimidation is counted as something romantic, Riko-chan? Under normal circumstances, getting pinned into a wall would either make you mad or scared right?”

Riko-chan giggled in response to me. But after a minute she smiled at me sweetly and said, “You are really cute, aren’t you Hanamaru-chan? And innocent too.”

I suddenly felt a faint blush form in my cheeks. There was no intent of teasing on her tone, but only pure admiration. My heart rate slowly started increasing.

“Hmm… Let’s see, I am not sure how to explain it to you but, there’s a way.”

“What is it zura~? I really want to understand it so please tell me.”

“Are you sure Hanamaru-chan?”

“Hai zura~!” I said with a determined expression.

Riko-chan borrowed back the book from me and read it quietly for a bit. She put the book down after, and released a small sigh. For a second I didn’t know what was going to happen when she suddenly gave me a sharp eye to eye. It was so sharp and intense, I got lost on her ambers. I didn’t realize we were moving from our spot until I felt my back hit the wall and then it happened. Riko-chan slammed her hand on the space beside my head as she continued to look me in the eye. I found myself in the same situation as the scene I was talking about and then I realized, Riko-chan must have been reenacting the scene for me, or rather, she pulled me into the reenactment too.

The feeling of getting intimidated is there as I have expected. Given our height difference, it can’t be helped. What I am not expecting was the great thumps the situation is causing to my heart. It must be Riko-chan’s gaze. It doesn’t contain pure intimidation. There’s something else and I am not sure if passion is the right term to describe it. But I feel like I would melt if I stayed meeting her gaze so I looked away.

“Don’t look away from me!”

Riko-chan’s voice surprised me so much that I found courage to meet her eyes again. It wasn’t a command but more like a plea. And then her expression softened as she spoke again. “Please look at me, and me only.”

Her acting was so good I forgot that we were just reenacting. My heart is beating like crazy when her line reminded me that we were just following what happened on the scene. I got carried away and I was still, when I closed my eyes unconsciously and waited for Riko-chan to do her next part.

I felt her inched closer as her scent started filling my senses. There was a mix smell of her sweat but she still smelled fresh and nice.

What am I thinking at a time like this zura~?!

I scolded myself internally. The faint blush I had earlier had long grown deeper as I wait for the moment. The next thing that should happen according to the scene never came, or at least did not came as how I expected it to be. My eyes shot open the moment I felt Riko-chan’s soft lips against my forehead. She may not have followed the script but, it felt so sweet, probably just as sweet as what actually happened in the scene. She pulled away and then our eyes met again. Riko-chan put a finger on my lips as she said the next thing.

“Hanamaru-chan, save the first for the person you really like.”

It was a picturesque scene. Riko-chan was smiling so kindly at me as the light shone upon her features emphasizing the beauty that is Sakurauchi Riko. It was perfect and heartwarming, I could only manage a nod.

“Good!” she uttered happily, pulling back her finger. “I guess you understand the significance of that scene now, right?”

“A-Ah right. Yes. T-Thank you zura~”

“Hmm~ I’m glad! Well then, we better get back to class now. Lunch break is almost over.”

“Oh right! We should hurry zura~!”

We were already out of the clubroom and just parted our ways when she called out to me and handed me the book.

“I think it’s better if you have the book. Just don’t tell the others about it though.”

“But why zura? You wanted it right?”

“I just wanted to see how the content looked in the release. I’m glad you liked it Hanamaru-chan. And as a reward, I’m gonna tell you another secret. It was written by yours truly. Don’t tell the others, alright?”

Riko-chan winked playfully before leaving me there stunned by her again. I barely made it back before the bell rang for the afternoon classes.

#rikomaru #sakurauchi riko #kunikida hanamaru #fluff #oneshot #love live sunshine #LLfanfic #TMTR #not sure if i did enough review on this haha

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dimensiontripperhibiki · 7 years ago

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Confessions (1/1)

Another short one, I hope you like it!

“How do you know when you like someone, Onee-chan?”

Dia almost spat out the tea she was drinking. She had known there was something on Ruby’s mind but she hadn’t known what. Usually when Ruby managed to rope her into a night of watching old Muse videos she was eerily focused but Ruby hadn’t even seemed like she was watching. Not like Dia, who’d been entranced by every lyric and dance move. Still, she hadn’t been expecting Ruby to say something like that.

She winced and swallowed her tea, fortunately giving herself enough time to think before she responded. Had she not been drinking she was sure she would have replied in shock. Horror even. Ruby was much too young to have herself a boyfriend. She would very likely kill any boy who so much as looked at her sister the wrong way.

“Do you like a boy?” She asked carefully instead of responding the way she wanted to. Ruby would only withdraw if she did.

Ruby solemnly shook her head, her pigtails swinging with the movement. “Not a boy. But…what if I liked someone like um…” She thought for a moment, trying to think of an example that wasn’t so obvious. “Mari-san?”

This time Dia was free to say whatever came to mind and that’s exactly what she did. “I should have known! I’ll kill her, I’m going to…” She began to get up only for Ruby to quickly grab her wrist.

“I-It was an example, Onee-chan!” Ruby exclaimed quickly, worried that Dia might actually fight with Mari. “I don’t like…it’s not her. It’s someone else. I think. I think I might like them b-but I don’t know. Can you please answer the question?”

Dia wanted to go and warn Mari off but just because she had the idea in her head now. She wanted to warn the rest of Aqours too for that matter but she took a deep breath and forced herself to settle back down next to Ruby in front of her laptop.

“I guess…” Dia hesitated for a moment, biting her lip as she tried to figure out how to answer the question. She didn’t want to think about her feelings for a certain obnoxious blonde and she’d never had feelings for someone else. “Um…I’m not sure, Ruby. I guess that when you have feelings for someone you just know. Like um…no matter how much they annoy you, you still want to be close to them a-and you still care about them?”

Ruby nodded, glad that Dia was trying to answer at least. “She doesn’t annoy me but I do want to be with her a lot. All of the time, really. Just talking to her on the phone makes my heart beat really fast.” She briefly touched her hand to her chest and blushed. “She’s really kind and sweet. And um…she’s really pretty too. Like…really, really pretty. She has really nice eyes.”

Dia was distractedly trying to figure out who Ruby could be talking about but that description didn’t really filter her choices down. It could be said that everyone in Aqours was pretty. She considered the last part for a moment, about them having pretty eyes. It could be You. Even Dia had noticed how startlingly blue her eyes were. Kanan had nice eyes too. So did Chika. And Riko. Dia sighed to herself. She wasn’t going to be able to figure it out. She didn’t even know if the person Ruby liked was in Aqours.

“Do you want to…” She struggled to force the words from her mouth, trying to be supportive. “Do you to k-kiss them? And…things like that?”

Ruby blushed even more but gave a swift nod. “A lot. I keep thinking about it. I almost did it once but I um…I panicked and she didn’t notice.”

Dia’s fingers twitched at her sides but she didn’t say anything.

“I do like her.” Ruby decided, having come to the conclusion without Dia. “I’m going to tell her. I can do it. I-I don’t know if she likes me back but I need to tell her. I need to try.”

“Ruby…” Dia stared at Ruby in concern. The last thing she wanted was for Ruby to end up hurt.

“Thank you, Onee-chan!” Ruby threw her arms around Dia’s neck and hugged her tightly before pulling away. “Can we keep watching?”

“Sure.” Dia said quietly as she watched Ruby turn back to the laptop to look through her video playlist. This time when Ruby pressed play, Dia was the one distracted.

----

Saying that she would confess and actually confessing were two completely different things and it took Ruby almost three weeks to actually manage to do it. She had resigned herself to not even going through with it, after so many failed attempts.

It was between the shelves in the library that Ruby had blurted out her confession, a warm glance from Hanamaru having brought the idea to her mind. The library was deserted after school, save for a couple of third years studying so nobody had really heard her besides the girl she intended the words for.

“W-What?” Hanamaru stuttered, almost dropping the book in her hand. She clasped it to her chest instead. “What do you mean, zura?”

Ruby swallowed anxiously. “I-I mean I like you.” She said again, her voice trembling. “I like you as more than a friend and I would really like it if you…you felt the same way.” She had practiced this, so the words sounded almost cold to her. “I like everything about you. Your eyes a-and the way you look at me a-and even the way you say ‘zura’ so much. I think it’s really cute and…”

“Ruby-chan.” Hanamaru interrupted regretfully, holding up her hand to silence Ruby. She looked pained, Ruby noticed. That wasn’t a very good sign. “I-I’m sorry. You’re my best friend and I love you a lot like that, zura.”

“O-Oh.” Ruby said softly, bringing her hand close to her chest. She had known this might happen.

“I-I like Yoshiko-chan.” Hanamaru confessed hesitantly. She had to tell her. She didn’t want Ruby to find out when everyone else did or if she slipped up and did something more than friendly with Yoshiko in front of her or the other girls. “We’ve been dating for a week now, zura! I-I’m sorry, I didn’t tell you!”

“A week…” Ruby echoed, feeling like all of the air had been sucked from her lungs. She felt sick suddenly. A week ago she’d been trying to muster up the courage to tell Hanamaru how she really felt about her. “O-Oh.”

Hanamaru didn’t fail to notice the fact that Ruby’s voice sounded even higher than usual, nor did she miss the tears in her eyes. “Ruby-chan, I’m so sorry.” She reached out and grasped Ruby’s hand only for the girl to flinch away from her.

“It’s okay.” Ruby said tearfully though she was obviously struggling to keep herself from crying too much. Her lower lip was trembling, tears sliding their way free from her eyes. “I-I understand. Yoshiko is interesting, I-I’m just…”

“No!” Hanamaru exclaimed quickly. “I-It’s not that. I really do think you’re amazing, zura! I just don’t…” She trailed off as Ruby bowed her head, her shoulder quivering. Her own eyes prickled at the sight. “Ruby-chan.”

“I-I have to go.” Ruby said quickly, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. She needed to go, she needed to find Dia. “I-I’m sorry for troubling you.”

“No, I…” Hanamaru trailed off as Ruby turned and ran off. “Damn it, zura!”

----

Dia was studying with Mari and Kanan when Ruby burst into her room. She looked up in surprise, ready to tell her sister that she shouldn’t run around the house when she noticed the state Ruby was in. Her face was stained with tears and she was still crying, choked little sobs passing her lips.

“O-Onee-chan!”

Dia threw her textbook to the side just as Ruby ran to her, throwing herself into her arms. Fortunately Dia had been leaning back against her bed otherwise she would have toppled over with the force.

“Hanamaru s-said….” Ruby sobbed into Dia’s shoulder, clutching her sister as tightly as she could. “She said she doesn’t l-like me! A-And she’s with…s-somebody else so I-I can’t…”

Dia wasn’t sure Ruby even noticed the slip up. Until then she hadn’t even known who it was Ruby liked. Now she supposed it should have been obvious. She patiently stroked Ruby’s hair, trying to soothe her. “It’s going to be okay. I know it hurts now but it’s going to be okay, Ruby. I promise.”

She felt Kanan move up beside her, her hand going to Ruby’s back and shot her friend a grateful look. Realizing Mari hadn’t moved she cast a look at her, ready to warn her to keep her sarcastic comments to herself but to her surprise Mari looked completely serious as she stared at Ruby. Soon enough, her gaze flitted to Dia. She seemed surprised to find her looking at her. “I-I’ll make us all some tea.” She said quickly, getting up from the floor.

Dia nodded and turned her attention back to Ruby, sighing softly as Ruby seemed to calm down. Hanamaru was going to get an earful the next time she saw her.

#Rubymaru #Yoshimaru #Yohamaru #Fanfiction

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kuraiamore · 7 years ago

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Zura 2017 bday fic, plum rain

pairing: Gen (though can be GinZura if you feel like it)

fandom: Gintama

rating: G

summary: Happy birthday, Zura!

I know, I know, I’m late, but this ended up so much longer than I expected (I mean, all my fics end up like that, but still...), and I’m a very easily distracted creature >.< In any case, it’s done now, so I hope you enjoy!<3

AO3 or read below

Another day of nothing but dreary summer rain, the overcast skies so heavy with water Gintoki thinks he should start stepping outside for his morning showers and save on the water bill—except going outside would mean standing around in the muggy weather and having to deal with the outside humidity making the air dense and sticky against his skin.

Yeah, better to just keep lounging around on his desk chair and wait for the rainy season to pass.

After all, if snivelling kids and high school brats get a summer holiday, why can’t he? He is most definitely still a kid at heart; his hoarded pile of Shounen Jump could attest to that, which reminds him…

He swivels around on his chair and checks the calendar hanging by the window.

Yep, Monday; the latest issue of his most beloved magazine should be out by now, waiting for him on the cheap wooden shelves of convenience stores and train station kiosks.

His fingers twitch, the phantom sensation of rough paper and waxy front and back covers sliding across his pads. He glances out the window; the downpour hasn’t relented at all, torrents of rain falling lazy and fat over Edo and sending the slightly rotten petrichor of the city wafting up into the Yorozuya office.

“Ne, Kagura,” he singsongs, swinging his chair back around to look across the room at the young Yato seated on the floor between coffee table and couch, a pen in hand and doodling absentmindedly on a letter she's been composing to Umibouzu for the past hour, more paper and pens in varying colours scattered about the table.

“What is it, Gin-chan?” she asks, mild and sweet as the summer rain singing around them. The faraway quality to her voice that always appears on slow, rainy days dips her words with a soft wistfulness she’s probably not even aware of. Gintoki drums his fingers against the desk and waits for the butt of the pen to stop moving and bright blue eyes to turn in his direction.

“You hungry?” He does his best to keep his voice cool and nonchalant, but long experience living with him immediately makes Kagura narrow her eyes and cock her head to the side.

“And if I said I was?”

“What’s with that suspicious look, huh? Here I am, your gracious and generous guardian, simply wanting to offer you the chance to head down to the convenience store with money earned from my blood and sweat so that you can buy yourself a snack.”

Her eyes narrow even further, as if she’s squinting at something particularly loathsome.

“And pick up the latest copy of Jump for me while you’re there,” he finally relents.

“What a scummy adult you are, Gin-chan,” Kagura says, somehow managing to look down on him even though she’s the one sitting on the floor, “trying to trick young girls into going out into the rain for a stupid stack of papers no decent person over the age of fifteen would be caught dead with. What if I caught a cold and got sick, huh? What kind of guardian would you be then, huh? Would you feed me lots of rice and pickled seaweed and wait on me hand and foot until I got better, aa?” She pauses, her eyes widening to what would be a guileless stare if it wasn’t for the sly gleam sneaking through. “Actually, yes, give me some money, Gin-chan, I think I’ll head down to the shops after all.”

As Kagura stretches out her free hand towards him, palm up, he kicks out with his foot and spins around to face the window again.

“Ahh, look at all that rain out there!” He gesticulates wildly up at the grey-white sky. “Guess you better stay indoors after all, Kagura! Wouldn’t want you getting sick now, would we?”

“You should go out, Gin-chan; idiots can’t catch colds, so you’ll be fine.”

Gintoki only grunts in reply, leaning back heavily in his chair and staring drearily out the window. His only solace is the thought that no one with a respectable job is likely out in the downpour, and surely no working man or woman has time for the ¥300 childish mindlessness of Shounen Jump. There’ll most definitely be a copy waiting for him tomorrow, and with the month almost at its end, the rainy season should be over any day now.

He settles more comfortably into the desk chair, content to listen to the rain wash over the city and let the day pass by in quiet banality.

He zones out to the tinkling of water droplets falling on metallic roofs, the rush of the water gurgling and trickling through the empty streets below, and almost misses the knock at the door, only just managing to discern the rhythmic tap-tap-tap pounding beneath the pitter-patter.

“Gin-chan, door,” Kagura says helpfully.

“What the hell,” he mutters to himself, peeling himself from fake leather and moving sluggishly down the hallway to the front of the apartment. “Who in their right mind would be outside in this crappy weather?”

He pulls open the sliding panel and his entire version goes white, a blast of heated air flying into his face. At first he thinks he’s gone and fainted for no apparent reason, but then he blinks several times in rapid succession and takes a step back to see Elizabeth standing in the doorway, the wide outline of his body almost blurring into the white-grey of the sky. In one flipper, the ever-creepy alien duck holds a slim but wide black case by two strappy handles; in the other, his trademark signpost, words sketched out in big, black strokes.

GOOD AFTERNOON YOROZUYA. MAY I COME IN?

A folded umbrella, leaning against the wooden rail, slowly drips a tiny lake onto their porch.

“Don’t get any water into the house,” Gintoki says, moving back to let their visitor in.

Before he can turn to lead the way back into the main room, Elizabeth holds out the case and looks at him expectantly.

Gintoki pulls a face, suspicion in every line, then sighs and takes hold of the straps, hoping that whatever Joui madness he had just resigned himself to wouldn’t take up more than a few hours, and especially wouldn’t involve any running, fighting or general physical activity to be done outside.

A squelching sound pulls him out of his thoughts; he watches in a mix of disbelief and horror as Elizabeth pulls off his duck feet, careful not to touch the wet soles, and lines them up neatly in the genkan. He suppresses the urge to shudder when he catches sight of a pair of feet and ankles peeking out from under the sheet of white, desperately not thinking about what exactly is living under the sheet.

Instead, he carries the case into the living room-cum-office and sets it down on the coffee table above Kagura’s scattered writing equipment. Face up, it takes up almost a third of the whole table.

“Ah? What’s this, Gin-chan?” Kagura stops in the middle of drawing looping curls of silver on a stick figure standing beside two other stick figures, one with two balls of orange and the other with a pair of glasses, and looks up. “Oh, Eli! What are you doing here?”

Gintoki plonks himself on the couch near Kagura as Elizabeth seats himself on the opposite side of the table. The Yorozuya-minus-one both watch curiously as Elizabeth opens up the case and pulls out a card almost as large as the case itself, turning it over for them to read the words emblazoned on the front in shining gold.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATSURA-SAN!

In the background, various shades of dark blue blur together in a watercolour sea that make the words appear to glow. More gold swirls and dustings of gold glitter artfully flow across the expanse of blue, fireworks over an ocean.

Kagura lets out a gasp, “Eli, this is so pretty! Gin-chan, why didn’t you tell me it’s Zura’s birthday?”

Gintoki opens his mouth to protest, because how is he meant to remember the wighead’s birthday, he barely even remembers his own most years, but at that moment, Elizabeth unfolds the card with a flourish and the words vanish from his tongue as his eyes roam across the page. A chaotic jumble of scribbled messages fill up the almost entire space, handwriting in every degree of elegance and messiness spilling in every direction. Blue, black, green, red, purple, and bizarrely, neon pink ink clash together, words edging against each other as their writers vied for room to compose their birthday messages. The only real spot of white left is a small, rhombic patch near the upper left corner.

Near it, Gintoki reads a long, winding message in familiar handwriting.

‘Happy Birthday, Katsura-san! I know that we haven’t know each other for that long, but I feel really happy and grateful to have met you, both as a man and as a samurai. You have taught me a lot over the years, even if it’s only what NOT to do. Thank you for supporting me, and the Yorozuya, whenever we’ve needed it; we’ll always be here to support you too! I hope you have a really great birthday, filled with lots of laughter and smiles! —Your friend, Shimura Shinpachi’

“Look, Kagura.” He points out the message. “Patsuan’s already written a message for us.”

“What are you talking about Gin-chan?” Kagura picks up an orange pen, the one she must have used to draw her hair buns. “Shin-chan wrote such a boring message; we need to write something fun! It’s Zura’s birthday!”

Nodding to herself, Kagura writes a bold ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZURA!!!!’, followed by drawings of a round cake bearing a single candle, a wonky box topped with an extravagantly big bow, and a party popper. The whole thing takes up half the remaining white space, cutting orange lines into the words of the surrounding messages. Gintoki’s eye twitches.

“Oi, leave some space for me.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it. Now shh, let an artist work.”

Resisting the urge to grumble, Gintoki sits back, catching sight of Elizabeth watching Kagura draw. If Gintoki has to guess, he would say that the alien duck is smiling, though it’s hard to tell with the duck bill.

Several minutes later, Kagura jumps up with an excited shout.

“Done!”

‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZURA!!!! Let’s do K-BBQ for your birthday next year!!’

Floating all around the message are balloons and stars in every colour she owns—she had even taken the time to squeeze them into the tiny spaces between other people’s messages, filling the card up completely with colour.

Gintoki doesn’t have room to write even the tiniest ‘hapiba’ that wouldn’t be an illegible series of dots.

Ignoring the strangely hollow feeling in his stomach, he turns to Kagura’s grinning face.

“Looks good,” he admits.

Kagura beams, carefully folding up the card and putting it back in the portfolio case for Elizabeth. Over her head, the alien duck tilts his head in question towards Gintoki; Gintoki stealthily waves a hand in response, shrugging lightly. Understanding, Elizabeth accepts the proffered case from Kagura, bowing to both to them, and starts making his way towards the door.

With Kagura seeing the Joui rebel out, Gintoki wanders back to his desk chair, settling himself to face the window once more. Behind him, the sound of footsteps as Kagura comes back, then the scratching of pen against paper. If Gintoki wanted to, he could pretend that Elizabeth’s short visit had never happened.

But.

His eyes keep drifting to the calendar, circling around the date.

June 26th

Zura’s birthday...

His eyes drift shut, the sound of the rain soothing his ears—

—they had spent a night huddled in an alleyway once, their only shelter from the rain a protruding roof, because the men had found out their General Commander’s birthday and that had evidently been enough cause for the entire army to get drunk—

—Sakamoto had bought a bottle of saké for Zura’s birthday once; it was the first time Zura had ever drank a full bottle all to himself, trying to blame the beautiful red flush of his face on the summer heat—

—once, before—

—back when things had been simple, he and Takasugi had found a hidden pool at the foot of a mountain, in the forests on the far outskirts of the village, and spent the days of the long summer week leading up to Zura’s birthday stealing away to deposit bits of hard candy wrapped in pink paper, packets of nuts and red bean mochi, and the occasional bit of fruit into a box they stashed in the upper branches of a nearby tree, the lid carefully tied down against any curious beaks or paws, until the moment when they could bring Zura up to their secret spot and watch his face light up with pure delight; they had spent the whole day swimming and lounging and laughing, sugar tingling on their tongues—

—one night, the three of them huddled in their futons, Zura had confessed that his grandmother had always bought him plums as a treat for his birthday; the next morning, ignoring the dew still clinging to the grass, he and Takasugi got down onto their hands and knees and let Zura climb onto their backs to pick the ripe red fruits hanging down from lush green branches, the smell of earth and rain and plum all around them.

Gintoki opens his eyes; outside, the rain falls.

“Oi, Kagura, I’m heading out.”

“Huh? Whatcha doing out for, Gin-chan?”

“…Shounen Jump.”

“Oh, hmm. Okay then!”

“Yeah, be back in a bit.”

He slips his wallet into his pocket, pulls on his boots, grabs an umbrella, and is out the door in less than a minute, opening up the umbrella as he heads down the stairs and onto the street. It’s a quick fifteen minute walk to the nearest grocer, water splashing under his boots the whole way. The old lady watching the store gives him a kind smile as he starts picking out the juiciest-looking plums from the stand. It makes him want to protest, and tell her it’s not what it looks like, except what does that even mean, he’s just a regular guy picking out regular plums from a regular fruit store, it’s not like they’re meant for anyone, urgh, okay, he’s just going to pay for the plums and leave.

The old lady smiles at him as he walks out, plastic bag full of plums in hand.

He’s halfway down the street when he realises he doesn’t know where he’s going, that he’s never gone searching for the Joui rebel of his own accord, has no idea where he should even start looking.

(Kagura would know; in between the itinerary she keeps of her father’s travels and the timetable of Shinpachi’s kendo classes at the Koudoukan, she saves the slip of paper holding the location of the latest Joui meeting spot, slipped under their door every month.)

The longer he stands there, the worst the rain seems to feel as it slogs and hammers over his umbrella. The air is oppressive, the collar of his shirt sticking uncomfortably to his neck, his hair all frizzled and bristly in the humidity. Frustration gnaws at his chest, and he’s about ready to chuck the damn plums into the bin just to make himself feel better when a familiar low tenor calls out his name.

“Gintoki?”

Looking up, Gintoki sees the man he had been just about to give up looking for standing a few paces in front of him, a large white-and-yellow patterned umbrella shielding him from the downpour around them. He’s forgone his haori, dressed simply in only his usual blue kimono. His hair is pulled up in a high ponytail, only his fringe and a few loose strands of black framing his face.

Somehow, he looks incredibly young, even though he’s aged another year.

Gintoki licks his lips.

“Oi Zura, the hell you doing out here in this rain?” he asks, completely naturally, walking forward to close the few steps between them.

“I’m not Zura, I’m Katsura,” Zura says on autopilot, then makes a contemplative hum, the sound almost drowned out under the rain. “I tried call a Joui meeting today to discuss our future plans, but everybody said they were busy and that I should take the day off. Even Elizabeth left me this morning!” He sighs dramatically, shaking his head. Gintoki watches his tail of hair swish behind his neck with the movement, somehow still looking soft and silky even with the heat in the air. “Honestly, just how do they think we’ll bring change to the country if we’re not constantly striving towards a new dawn, a new tomorrow? Days shouldn’t be wasted so frivolously like that, it’s unbecoming of a samurai.”

“Japan will still be here in a day,” Gintoki says, his voice gentle despite himself.

Zura shoots him an odd look, eyes searching, and Gintoki glances away, his grip on both bag and umbrella tightening.

He’s relieved when Zura lets the comment go unremarked, instead asking, “so what are you doing out here?”

His whole body relaxes, and he holds up the bag and lets it swing in Zura’s face.

“Grocery shopping. Apartment’s out of food and plums are in season. You want one?”

He supposes he can’t blame Zura for the baffled expression that crosses the man’s face, though it smoothes out a second later as a soft smile lights up.

“Yes, that would be nice,” he says.

If he tries hard enough, Gintoki can pretend that the rapid beating of his heart is no more than the pounding of the water falling around them. He coughs lightly into the back of his hand, the plastic bag rustling with the movement.

“Let’s get out of the rain,” he mutters, averting his eyes from Zura’s gaze and making a show of looking up at the sky, even though the only thing he can see is the red of his own umbrella.

He makes no effort to lead.

“…I have a place we can go,” Zura finally offers, turning on his heel.

Gintoki hums in acknowledgement, following after the rebel; they walk in a sort of meandering stroll, the rain and emptiness of the streets beckoning Gintoki to a dreamlike haze. When they finally reach their destination, a small traditional townhouse off a main road, the only thing Gintoki can clearly remember from their walk is the sound of the rain, the weight of the plums in his hand, and Zura.

Leaving their umbrellas and shoes at the entrance, they pad through to the main room at rear of the house, where Zura slides the shoji screen open to reveal a garden grown wild, leaves and branches tangled and groping over sand and stone. Gintoki plonks down on the tatami mats, handing over the bag when Zura gestures for them. The rebel walks off and comes back a minute later carrying a bowl filled with several pieces of the reddish fruit, water droplets glistening on their skin.

Zura sits down cross-legged and sets the bowl between them. They grab a plum each; the plum juice is cool and sweet on Gintoki’s tongue.

The rain outside eases as they eat, a soft breeze drifting through the falling droplets to cool the damp heat clinging to their skin.

Gintoki waits until he hears Zura bite into his second plum before breaking the silence.

“Hey Zura.”

“Hm?”

“Happy birthday.”

A ragged hacking noise.

“O-Oi, you okay?!”

Not knowing what else to do, Gintoki thumps frantically on Zura’s back with his clean hand, trying to catch the other samurai’s face through the fall of his fringe and the hand raised to his face, plum clutched in his fingers.

The choking sounds taper away into little hics, but Zura’s shoulders are still hunched over and shaking, still hiding his face behind hair, hand and plum. It takes Gintoki a few long seconds to realise the wighead bastard is laughing.

Immediately Gintoki’s whole face heats up, and he slaps Zura’s back again out of embarrassment and slight vindictiveness.

“Ah, sorry, Gintoki,” Zura says when the giggles finally subside completely and he can look up properly, letting his hand drop, “I wasn’t expecting that.” His eyes flash suddenly to the left, head tilting slightly with the movement. “Ah, but that could explain… Gintoki, wait here.”

Bemused, Gintoki waits as Zura stands up again, finishing his plum is quick bites and throwing the seed into the garden, and scurries off. He returns carrying a giant saké bottle as tall as his torso, and a round lacquered box painted with pink and white blossoms set against a crimson background. He sets them down next to the bowl of plums, opening the lid of the box to reveal candy wrapped in petal pink.

The scents of alcohol and mountain forest mingle in Gintoki’s memory.

“Elizabeth gave them to me, said they arrived this morning,” Zura says, a note of something bittersweet laced through his voice, “after the men told me to take the day off. I didn’t even think… Did you plan this?”

Gintoki looks at him, perplexed. “What?”

“Did you plan this?” Zura says again, as if Gintoki hadn’t heard instead being merely confused. He leans forward, earnestness taking over the timbre of his voice. “Elizabeth messaged me and told me to go to the convenience store in Kabuki District. I thought I was going to meet him, but then I ran into you.” His eyes shine.

Beyond the shoji doors, the rain recedes to a lull, the only noise vibrating through the air to their ears the slow chime of raindrops dripping off leaves and splattering to the ground.

Gintoki splutters, his brain running to make sense of Zura’s said, tripping over the words and untenably distracted by the intense way Zura is looking at him, the dark fall of his hair bringing out the gold of his eyes.

“I didn’t—it wasn’t planned—I didn’t even know—wait, that thing knows how to message? Since when did you even carry around a phone, Zura?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Gintoki. Elizabeth doesn’t know how to message; he writes on his sign, takes a picture of it, and sends that to me.” He says this so matter-of-factly, the veins at Gintoki’s temples pop slightly with annoyance. “And of course I carry a phone. How else would I keep in contact with all the Joui members? Gintoki, you’re the only one who doesn’t carry a phone, you know.”

“Shut up, the Yorozuya doesn’t need a phone, we have plenty of loyal clientele. What’s the point of carrying around a phone, huh? It’s just useless weight. Besides, Kagura—”

Gintoki stops short, his brain jumping through loops as he remembers how docilely Kagura had let him go, no questions or snide remarks or demands for her favourite snacks from the convenience store. How well connected the young alien is in their rough’n’tumble town, her journal full of locations and names and numbers.

Gintoki groans, wiping a hand over his face. “Meddlesome brat.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” Gintoki says loudly, making a note to buy Kagura some dango on the way home.

Zura smiles knowingly; Gintoki picks up a pink wrapper and throws it at his face. Zura laughs as it bounces off his nose, catching it in his hand before freeing the bit of crystallised sugar and popping it in his mouth. He picks up another piece and offers it to the man beside him.

Gintoki rolls the bit of candy around his tongue; as it melts into syrup in his mouth, sweet as Zura’s smile, sunlight breaks through the clouds and stretches across their laps. The whole garden gleams, light glinting silver off still-hanging raindrops.

The air, he thinks, rolling another piece of purple-red fruit to his old friend, smells of rain and earth and plum.

#katsura kotarou #sakata gintoki #gintama #hbd zura!<3 #my fic #my writing

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hxnamaru · 8 years ago

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Yousoro! (｡ゝ∀･)ゞ Can I request some shoujo manga-like first meeting scenarios for Hanamaru, You and Riko (maybe Dia-oneechan as well if it isn't too much trouble? ;D). Thank you~

Sorry that Hanamaru’s is so short, I really didn’t know how to make it longer lol. Thank you for requesting though! ♡ Also sorry that these aren’t the best, I haven’t seen that many shoujo anime! forgive me

Hanamaru:

It was just another day to you. Get up, get dressed, head out to the library to pick up some new books. You loved books. Who didn’t?

You made loads of new friends in the library, one of them being Kunikida Hanamaru. You met in middle school, and from the moment you saw her you couldn’t believe that a girl that gorgeous was in a library, of all places.Your emotions getting the best of you, you went up and talked to her. A beautiful friendship blossomed.

While reminiscing about you times with Hanamaru, you didn’t notice a certain brunette walking towards you. BOOM!

Being jolted awake from your thoughts, you looked up to realize you bumped into someone. That someone being the very girl you were thinking about.

“I-I’m really sorry, zura!”

That was all you needed to hear. You new it was her, and you were looking forward to getting to know this library goddess once again.

You:

She was practically everyone’s friend in school. Apart from you. It really sucked to be one of the only people not to talk to You, but hey, you had to live with it.

You’d tried to initiate conversations before, but it never worked out. But everything must have a reason, right? Then what was the reason you just couldn’t talk to You, no matter what you tried?

You’d analyzed the conversations once in a while, coming to the conclusion she just couldn’t talk to you. You’d brought up her hobbies, interests, even the weather. Why didn’t anything work?

Today was your last hope to talk to her, if you didn’t get to loosen up this time, you’d give up entirely.

It wasn’t the best idea to turn your last hope into your confession, though…

“Um, You, can I talk to you for a second?” You asked as she was walking with her friends Chika and Riko back to her house.

“Uhh, sure! But only if you don’t mind making it quick!” She said, while her friends were looking at us and grinning.

“Well, sorry to suddenly put this on to you, but…I actually really like you. I’ve liked you ever since I’d tried to start getting to know you, even though it always failed…”

You didn’t have enough time to finish your sentence as she blurted out her response.

“WHAT?! Really? I’ve liked you for the longest time…That’s the real reason I couldn’t talk to you, I was always too nervous…”

After convincing her friends to walk home with you, we walked to her house sharing memories and just having an enjoyable conversation.

‘Glad to know my last resort actually worked.’ You thought to yourself, listening to your dream girl chatter along beside you.

Riko:

As you were walking around in the library looking for some encyclopedias to help you study, you were lost in your own thoughts thinking about your crush.

Riko Sakuraichi.

The classic girl, smart, elegant, and sweet.

She was by far the most talented piano player in the school, and definitely had one of the most beautiful voices, along with her idol group Aqours.

You’ve admired them from afar ever since they formed, your little crush on Riko growing ever since.

As you were reaching on a book on composing music, you felt another pair of hands grab for the same book.

Shocking whoever the pair of hands belonged to, they let go of the book and you took it, revealing their face on the other side of the bookshelf.

It was her.

“Agh, I’m so sorry for that!” She squealed.

“Don’t worry about it, you can have it if you really want it. I do kind of need it to study, though.” You replied to her, knowing your blush was obvious but trying to play it cool in order to impress her.

“Maybe we can read it together…? As a compromise?”

The rest of the day was spent with you two getting lost in your talks about various music, her passionately speaking about Aqours and how happy it made her, and with normal small talk.

You’d both agreed to come back to the library again next week, same place, same time, same book.

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