Standard Disclaimer Applies.

Note: I had this story on my mind for quite some time…even wrote a couple of chapters too. The reason I didn't post this sooner was because I was searching for an apt title. It's hard finding one when I haven't written the entire thing yet and even more so because I don't know where this will lead to. But, well, now it's out there and I can't take it back. Hopefully, at the end of this, I (as well as you?) will approve of the title choice.

Song playing while writing this…Greg Laswell – "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"

Side Note: Ages of the characters in this chapter: Gintoki is 24; Kagura is 17.

. . .

To Where It's Green

Chapter One

Feels Like Goodbye

. . .

"When will you be back?"

The question was asked with deliberate neutrality, delivered in his customary drawl. He studied her from behind lazy, half-lidded eyes.

"I don't know," she answered truthfully with a shrug, "Depends."

Gintoki pretended that a passing raucous family arrested his attention and he looked away. "Man, I can't believe you're leaving me with Shinpachi…what'll I do when he starts acting like a crazy housewife and makes me finish the leftovers? My stomach can only eat so much!" he lamented, his hands reaching to the ceiling in reprieve.

The girl laughed, "Then you can find him a husband. Four-Eyes needs one!"

Just then, a woman's voice cut through the crowded air of the terminal: "Flight One-Three-Four has been docked. Passengers in Section One may now board…"

Kagura stretched her arms in preparation; the excitement welled up inside of her bubbled out through her bright eyes. "I guess it's time."

He yawned nonchalantly – another pretense. "You take good care of yourself up there in space, alright?"

She stuck out her tongue, "Hey hey, I'm a big girl you know. It may take years…but I promise I won't return old and balding like Pappy. I'm planning to beat him by years!" She added a thumbs-up in assurance.

Gintoki merely stared at her smiling face. Finally, he sighed and raked a hand through his unruly locks. He forced himself to reach out a hand and ruffle her hair.

"Good enough."

He let his hand linger there, and then released her.

Just before Kagura disappeared through the gates, she turned around to shout exuberantly:

"Just you wait, Gin-chan! In three or four years, this girl will be the strongest alien hunter in the galaxy!"

The familiar confident grin she flashed made him almost reach for her. Almost.

. . .

He watched from behind the large window as the ship's engines flared a hot orange hue. The great vessel lifted and hovered a few seconds above the floor, and slowly began to propel its great mass higher and higher. With a deafening, final burst of energy, the ship rose out of the terminal's mouth and raced towards space, like a bird eagerly leaving its nest for the first time.

He wandered towards his motorscooter, numb and unsure of what to think, feeling that now that the ship was gone, so was something else.