Disclaimer: No

Rating: T

Pairings: None intended

Chapter 4: It's All about the First Impressions

Gintoki suddenly turned and threw the kid walking behind him a prying gaze, squinting his eyes a little. The kid flinched and almost dropped the horse's reins.

'Shit,' he thought glumly, looking back down at the dusty ground. It wasn't his plan to scare the hell out of him. By the looks of it, the boy had even almost peed his pants and it would have cheered Gintoki up a little if the situation hadn't been so dark. He hated to admit it, but Takasugi and Zura had probably been right. Maybe it was a good thing he hadn't gone Amanto-hunting with them. His wounds had done a number on him and he was already getting tired. A short break would be highly welcome. But after scaring the poor kid like that, it would've been embarrassing to ask for a ride.

Gintoki let out an irritated sigh. Zura would never have trouble like this. That long-haired idiot was getting along with his company so well that every time he so much as had a splinter in his finger, they'd force him to be carried on their arms. Gintoki could never get along with the troops well enough. Except for a few idiots who swam close and refused to leave his side, most of them kept their distance and he was happy with that. He had learned fast that it was easier that way.

Takasugi would have never gotten injured at all. He was so small he would've easily fit into one of those lockers Zura talked about. Hell, if he wasn't such a giant asshole, that midget could probably find refuge in just about anyone's pocket. Besides, even if he had been hurt, he had that ridiculously enormous pride of his that would've kept him on his feet. But Gintoki didn't want to waste energy he didn't even have to begin with for some stupid pride.

And Tatsuma, the fluffy idiot, just had the devil's luck. Gintoki had never even seen the guy with an injury more serious than a minor concussion or some small scratches or a broken leg that one time. If Tatsuma had been the one on that ship he most likely would have simply found an extra big locker. Or it would've just fallen on him before the whole shebang went kaboom.

He sighed grimly. Of course only Gintoki would have such rotten luck. Life was so unfair. Though he could cut the amount of improvised solo missions he took on. But then again, following plans and orders was a pain, and giving orders was even more of a pain. As long as he wasn't causing too much trouble to the other troops it was fine. They were all used to it anyway.

And he really, really could have used a break. The constant ache in his side and chest was getting worse with every step and it required a lot of willpower just to stay on his feet. The occasional cough certainly didn't make it any easier. Shiroyasha would never end up face first in the dirt.

'Or in horse crap,' he added after a brief inspection of the current ground conditions. He needed a plan. And fast.

What if he almost tripped on a rock or something? That'd get the kid's attention and then he'd offer Gintoki a ride... right? He could even pretend to be reluctant to accept the offer. Yeah, this should work. Now he only needed a rock of the right size, and there was one coming up so all he had to do was to stub his toe ever so lightly, start falling, and then, exactly at the right moment, bring forward his other foot to balance himself, and where the hell did that other rock come from there wasn't supposed to be another rock and oh this was going to hurt.

The next thing Gintoki came aware of was that he'd been right. It hurt like hell.

"Shiroyasha-san? Are you alright, sir? Sir!" somebody called from the edge of his consciousness and he tried to ignore the blinding lights flickering behind his eyelids. Then he opened his eyes and found himself staring truth with the biggest piece of horse dung he'd ever seen.

"Sir?" The kid – wait, what was his name again? – was crouching down next to him. "Although I, too, find that particular piece of excrement extremely fascinating, we ought to keep on moving. We're behind as it is."

"No, no, it's nothing like that," Gintoki explained, voice muffled against the dusty ground. "I really don't take any weird interest in crap. I just dropped 50 yen. Yeah. 50 yen. So I wanted to get it back."

"Yes, sir. How silly of me to think of anything else. But sir, if you have found your 50 yen, I think it would be best if you got back up. We're falling behind."

"Sure, no problem," he said, turned very slowly and carefully on his back, then reached out with one hand. "Y'know, it's not like I can't get up or anything stupid as that."

"Of course not, sir," he took Gintoki's hand and pulled him to his feet, supporting him as he wobbled unsteadily.

"Sir, are you sure you do not wish to ride the horse and rest a little while? I assure you, no one would mind."

'Yes! Part A of the plan is a full success! Moving on to part B.'

"Don't be stupid. I can walk on my own just fine. A true samurai will overcome all difficult situations without fail with only his iron will accompanying him."

"If you say so, sir. Um... sir?"

"What's up?"

"Then why are you climbing it?"

"Huh? What are you blabbering about? Nobody's climbing nothing here. You should probably have your eyes checked," Gintoki said as he settled down on the saddle.

"Right you are, sir," he sighed and took the reins again. "Must be the heat."

Gintoki frowned. He'd been feeling like freezing up all morning. His body must really be a mess if he couldn't even feel the heat. Well, whatever. Now that he had successfully executed his elaborate plan, he intended to use the situation fully for his own good. He leaned forward on one arm to keep as much weight off his chest and side as he could, and closed his eyes, trying to get as comfortable as it was possible on a horse, which, unsurprisingly, was not a whole lot.

They had been on this dusty road for about an hour. The forest had been left behind a little while ago and the mountains were up ahead but it would take them maybe another hour before reaching the somewhat safer area between the first hills.

Except for the sound of a few crows quarrelling not too far from them it was fairly quiet. Too quiet for comfort, actually. Like before a devastating storm. There were no storm clouds in sight, though. The sun was shining like someone was paying it to heat up the world like a sauna and there wasn't a breath of wind. It truly wasn't at all surprising that the kid complained about the heat and for a moment Gintoki idly wondered how bad off he'd be if it was winter.

They had been travelling for maybe ten minutes before the silence became too much. "So why'd you join?" Gintoki asked, opening his eyes to the bright sunlight once again.

"Err... I believe it was to, 'Chase Out The Amanto Who Tarnish Our Cherished Land With Their Dirty Paws And/Or Hooves And Fix Our Nation!' sir."

Gintoki snorted. "Yeah, right. That's what Zura wrote on those slogans to get the young idiots to join, alright. I meant the real reason."

"It's nothing unusual," he shrugged a little awkwardly. "In order to receive my girlfriend's father's approval for marriage, I needed to earn some honour and glory in battle first."

"Marriage, huh?" Gintoki stared at him in disbelief. No matter how he looked, the boy could be no older than 16 – not that he was that much older himself. Common knowledge was that the leaders of this army were all 18 years old, but that wasn't quite true. Back when they joined they had had to lie a little about their age. Still, no wonder the girl's father sent the kid to prove himself.

"If all you're searching for is, uh, glory and honour and whatnot, then wouldn't it have been smarter to join the Bakufu's army? You seem like a fairly reasonable guy. Isn't it kinda stupid to team up with a bunch of rebels when you've got a girlfriend waiting for you at home? If you get caught you'll probably end up beheaded, y'know, and there's no life insurance coming from this end, either. Don't get me wrong now – it'd be a pain to test your loyalty or whatever. If Zura trusts you then that's enough for me. Just asking out of interest."

He thought for a while, staring at the dusty road. More crows were gathering on the branches of a nearby tree. "Couldn't say for sure, sir, but I guess that joining the Jouishishi sounded more sensible for me at that time. And it seemed that my father-in-law-to-be preferred the Joui's reasons to fight, too. He thinks that Japan shouldn't be ruled by some aliens from outer space. I personally do not think that it is possible to actually chase out the Amanto anymore, but I believe we should at least show them that the samurai are not yet extinct and that we are still very much of a threat if they just ignore us." He stopped for a second. "And although I cannot fully comprehend this, despite the slogans, Katsura-san has a way to attract people into joining him and staying beside him until the bitter end."

Gintoki gave him a long look. "You're actually pretty perceptive, aren't you? So you say you're willing to follow Zura to the bitter end?"

"I would prefer to avoid a bitter end, sir, but if that is what the situation calls for, then yes."

"That so? Wouldn't your girlfriend be sad?"

"Yes. She would also want to kill me in the most gruesome way possible for dying before her, but she would forgive me and move on eventually. I have made many precious friends here and abandoning them is something I cannot bring myself to do. So I will try my best staying alive and going back to her, but if my death means that I can protect my friends, then I won't regret it."

"That resolve of yours would work better if you hadn't broken that arm, though," Gintoki nodded towards his splint. "Y'know, people tend to do a much better job at protecting something when they're not injured."

"Indeed, sir. It was a rather regrettable mistake. However, one might say the same things about you, wouldn't you agree, Shiroyasha-san?"

"Hey, I can still fight if necessary. I'm just a little anemic at the..."

"Sir, I was there when they brought you back last night," he cut in, his voice quiet. "The medic yelled at them at first for bringing in a corpse, and truthfully, I can't blame him. I didn't know anyone could survive losing that much blood, let alone run around like this the next day. And by the looks of it, sir, your body didn't know it either. I wouldn't say that 'just a little anemic' is the best way to describe your condition right now."

Gintoki straightened up and leaned his hand against the hilt of his sword. "Do not dare underestimate Shiroyasha, boy."

"Wouldn't even dream of it. Only that Shiroyasha would never end up face first in the dirt, sir."

Gintoki glared daggers at the kid's completely blank face for a short while but when he didn't show any sign of regretting his words, he gave up with a sigh and lumped back down onto the saddle. The second time he lost an argument just that morning. Any other time he wouldn't admit his defeat even if the entire world burned, but right now he was way too tired to keep up such an argument. It was going to be a long day and he was not going to enjoy it at all. He liked the kid better when he was almost peeing his pants.

"Geez, Zura sure gave me a feisty one. Do you act so condescendingly with everyone? Man, how'd you even get a girl to like you? Is she that, y'know, a masochist or something?"

"No, sir! I only act condescendingly with foolish superiors, sir! I am extremely gentle when it comes to Mitsuko, sir!"

Gintoki snorted and turned away, ending the conversation. The little rest he'd had was good, but he felt his strength was lingering. His ribs and side were still aching but at least they weren't throbbing anymore – at least as long as he wasn't coughing – so Gintoki considered that as a rather good sign. He was still cold and wished he was wearing more than his usual clothes, but there wasn't much he could do about that. Hopefully staying still and getting some more sleep would solve that problem soon enough.

Sleeping on horseback wouldn't be too impossible – Gintoki had slept in weirder places – but the noise the gathering crows were making was really starting to get on his nerves. Gintoki didn't like crows. They brought back some memories he'd rather have buried as deep as possible. And that wasn't the only problem with crows. If they made too much noise they might give away their location. Zura and Takasugi could lead the enemy away only as long as the enemy didn't know where the rest of them were. The moment they found out they'd be all over them not even glancing towards the small group trying to mislead them.

Gintoki suddenly sat up straight, ignoring the moment of dizziness from the too sudden movement. Why were they gathering here anyway? If there was carrion somewhere he'd understand. If there was a fresh battlefield somewhere near he'd understand even better. But the only bloodshed in the near future would be where Zura and Takasugi were and even that was if they failed and had to engage in battle. Unless, of course, they had failed already and were all dead and the crows just gathered where their next feast would be. But Gintoki knew Zura and Takasugi were better than that. Even if they couldn't get back they'd find a way to send them a warning.

Unless, of course, they didn't know they had failed.

Gintoki quickly studied their surroundings, careful not to miss anything that might be important. They were pretty much out in the open. The mountains were closer now but it would take a while before they got there. He couldn't be sure they'd be any safer there, but it was the only chance they had.

"Hey, kid, hurry it up," he said quietly.

"Sir?"

"We need to catch up. Right now."

Author's notes: Okay, this update came as a surprise even to me. I think it has something to do with the fact that you guys didn't seem to like the last chapter very much (if the lack of reviews in a rather small fandom is anything to go by) so I'm probably trying to prove that HELL YEAH I CAN STILL WRITE JUST WATCH ME or something like that. So this chapter is unfortunately a little shorter than I'd like (but hey, the last chapter was a lot longer than I initially planned so it all comes together in the end) but man, did I have fun writing this. So much , by the way, no, I am not whining because of the lack of reviews. I'm serious. It's just that the amount and the tone of reviews is somewhat of an indicator how the chapter was received. So if I usually get 4 reviews in maybe the few days following the update, then this time it took close to two weeks to get those 4 reviews. What's more, nearly all the reviewers are new to this story. So, following what little logic I have when it comes to the stuff I've created, I obviously should've worked harder on the last chapter. Silence and lack of interest is the best way to show that, I guess.

What I want to say is that although I mostly write for myself, I do often work better when I know there are people who enjoy my works. I would never do anything like, "i WoNt WrItE uNlEsS yOu ReViEw". I love writing these stories too much for that! So basically, all I'm saying is that from now on I will try my damnedest to get you guys the best quality writing I can manage and that I truly hope you will keep on reading and reviewing.

Okay, time to stop blabbering. Moving on to the replies!

lany-chan: Wow, thank you! I will try to keep the characters and their thoughts and dialogue in character as much as I can!

Guest: Heya there, my Sadistic Anonymous Fan! Don't worry, I won't drop any of my works, ever. Just takes me a while to update. As for blood and injuries, I will try to fulfil your wish when I can. (I do love that kind of angst, too.)

Sedentary Wordsmith: I am very glad you're enjoying this. There's just not enough Joui4 fics around here. And humor mixed with drama is something I truly, truly love to write.

Guest: Thank you very much! It means a lot to me!

Thank you, my amazing reviewers! Actually, everyone reading this, you are all very important to me! Keep on being awesome!