"Honestly, Gin-san should be more responsible." Shinpachi sighs, as he collected Gintoki's clothes which were strewn all around. He picked up Gintoki's white yukata, checking inside if there was something he had left. Suddenly, Shinpachi feels a secret pocket inside it.
Arching his eyebrow, he gulped as he opened the secret pocket— and inside it was a picture. "A-A picture?!" Shinpachi gasps when he saw the picture.
It was a picture of Gintoki, with his arm around a beautiful woman, they both held up peace signs with their fingers and had the brightest smile on their lips. "Woah...I've never seen Gin-san smile this happily." Shinpachi gapes.
He, then— squinted his eyes and spotted familiar faces at the back. "Ah! Katsura-san and Takasugi-san!" Shinpachi's eyes widened at the familiar, younger version of Gintoki's old friends at the very back. "This must be back then when they were in the war. But who's the girl?"
Shinpachi then turned the picture around to find something written behind it.
"Happy Birthday Gintoki! Remember, I will always love you. I'm always by your side no matter what! Love, (Y/N)." Under that, the date was written, October 10th.
"So Gin-san's birthday is on October 10th...That's a week from now!" Shinpachi's eyes widened. Come to think of it, Gintoki had never really celebrated his birthday. Actually, he never told anyone when his birthday was.
A light bulb went off in Shinpachi's head as he rushed to Kagura. "Kagura-chan! Listen, listen!" Shinpachi beckoned Kagura over with his finger. Double checking to make sure Gintoki wasn't around, he showed her the picture.
"A pretty lady!" Kagura exclaimed, as Shinpachi nodded. "Gin-san's birthday is pretty near, I've got just the perfect idea for a gift! Let's search for her!" He beams as Kagura nodded.
"Oh right! But, why her?" She asked as Shinpachi smiled, "Gin-san definitely has something going on with her. Have you ever seen Gin-san that happy?"
"Oh. You're right!"
And so, the two set out with a new goal in mind. To look for the woman named (Y/N), to get what they needed. They had to look for Katsura.
•
"Oh! This brings back memories, alright!" Katsura exclaims, as he studied the old picture with a fond smile on his lips. "So, Katsura-san. Who is the lady with Gin-san there?" Shinpachi asks, as Katsura placed the picture down.
"She's (Last Name) (First Name). Before Takasugi and I joined the Shoka Sonjuku, she was already with Gintoki back then. They were really close, at the peak of the war. Gintoki had the courage to confess to her and they started dating then." Katsura explained as Shinpachi and Kagura's jaw dropped.
"S-She's Gin-chan's girlfriend!? A pretty lady like her?!" Kagura exaggerated as Katsura nodded. "Yes. Indeed she is, she was deeply in love with Gintoki back then too."
"So, do you have any idea where she could be right now, Katsura-san?" Shinpachi asked him, suddenly Katsura looked down. "On the day before we all went separate paths, she disappeared. It happened after sensei's death, we didn't know what happened to her." Katsura looked down with a grim look.
"We didn't know if she died, or she went away by her own decision. Gintoki was pretty depressed back then too so we didn't bother asking him. Ever since then, I haven't seen her since." Katsura ended his explain, when the soba was placed in front of him.
"Hey...Shinpachi, do you think Gin-chan still loves her?" Kagura asks out loud while they were walking to a nearby dango shop to stop for a while after searching all around.
"Probably. I've never seen Gin-san smile this happily ever since. I think whatever happened between them hasn't been resolved yet, there must be a misunderstanding." Shinpachi says as he takes out the picture again.
"But we're getting nowhere! And Gin-chan's birthday is like 3 days away!" Kagura says, when the shop owner handed them dangos.
"Oh, that's (Y/N)-chan, isn't it?" An old man exclaims, peeking over Shinpachi's shoulder to look at the picture.
"She sure hasn't aged a day." He says as Shinpachi and Kagura share a look. "D-Do you know her?" Shinpachi asks as the old man nodded. "Of course. She's the kind teacher that teaches kids for free under the cherry blossom tree at that park." He says, pointing to a park near them.
"She teaches the kids every afternoon for free. But in the morning, she works as a waitress here." He smiles, as he turned to the sky. "She's a very kind woman. But she's all alone, I've always been trying to hook her up with a few men, but she refuses and say she already belongs to someone."
"Kagura-chan!" Shinpachi says as Kagura nods and they both ran towards the park.
•
"And that's all for today's lesson. Don't be late for tomorrow, alright?" With that, (Y/N) closed the small notebook she held in her hands as the kids jumped up to their feet and went their own ways. "It seems you two have business with me, what might you need?" She turns her gaze towards Kagura and Shinpachi who were sitting on a bench near her.
She was a kind woman. They could not deny that, she was so friendly and open when teaching those kids. And how she softly spoke? Shinpachi and Kagura couldn't believe that Gintoki was this woman's lover.
"I see...Gintoki, huh?" She places the cup down with a small smile forming on her lips. She'd offered the two a visit inside her home where they spilled their intentions on searching for her. "I guess, his birthday is coming soon. I take it you want to reunite me and him as a birthday gift?" She chuckled lowly as their eyes widened.
"Say, (Y/N)-san. Why did you and Gin-san separate?" Shinpachi gulped thickly after asking such a bold question they see her cast her eyes downward with a soft but sad look swirling in her beautiful (E/C) orbs.
"We didn't intend to...at the moment— both of us were confused. But we trust each other, our promise lives on in our hearts no matter how far we are from each other." She says, placing a hand on her chest as a silver ring glistened.
"Promise? What promise?"
"We promised to love each other. Even if we're far away, even if we can't see each other. We should live our lives to the fullest for each other's sake. But right now, I don't know if he wants to see me. Or if he kept his promise at all, but I do know that I...Have kept my side of the promise."
"Also, knowing he is alive and well is enough for me." She had such an angelic smile on her face with her eyes closed, holding a hand to her chest.
"How can you say for sure, (Y/N)-nee! Gin-chan needs you!" Kagura argues as she looked at (Y/N). (Y/N) made eye contact with Kagura and she had a somber smile on her lips. "Because Gin-chan....even though he laughs and smiles around us...we've never seen him look so happy in that picture!" Kagura had her fists clenched at her side
(Y/N) let out a soft sigh, averting her eyes to the window, her voice softly spoke with a hint of sadness,
"Then why didn't he show up on the day we agreed to meet up?"
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AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Okaaaaaay. This didn't work out as I thought it would. Should I make a part 2?.... Sorry for this, Miharubleh ♥️ Hope you like it..
Requests still open tho. ♥️♥️♥️