A little instance from the Be Forever Yorozuya movie, which I couldn't watch more than once thanks to my ocean of feels. I just love the Yorozuya family so much, words can't describe it.

Disclaimer: The wonderful and irreplaceable characters belong to no one other than the glorious Sorachi sensei.

The sky was clear and the pale moon lazily faced the depressing town of Edo. A pair of black boots slowly but steadily walked down Kabukicho's empty streets. The person stopped, still facing the road ahead of him, and after a long moment looked at the building on his right. The sign read "Yorozuya Gin-chan". It looked old and worn-out, as if no one bothered to clean it up for a long time. He did not intend to come here, but somehow his feet lead him here while he was in deep thought. The person fixed his glasses, sighing in the process, and headed up the stairs to the second floor. He did not bother knocking on the wooden doors and let himself in.

As he looked around the abandoned room his eyes caught a silhouette of a person sitting on the chair behind the desk and facing the window. Moonlight poured in through it and lit the face of the girl sitting there, but it wasn't visible to Shinpachi. However he did not need to think for even a moment to know who the silhouette belonged to; he expected the least and the most her to be here. He stared at her silently.

"Why did you come here?" came a question from the girl with the not-so-interested tone.

Shinpachi did not answer for a long minute.

"I could ask you the same question, Kagura".

The girl's shoulders seemed to have flinched for a second at his question. Her response took even longer.

"It's none of your business". After saying that in a cold tone Kagura stood up from the chair and walked around the table. Her custom-made white kimono with the trademark pattern of Gintoki's clothing on its hem gracefully swayed from her movements.

She stood before the table facing Shinpachi but not quite looking him in the eyes. Her vermilion red bangs hid hers. Shinpachi watched her every movement, and now waited for her to say something. His expression remained serious and focused.

"Shinpachi," her voice was quiet this time. "Can you please say that we came here for the same reason, because we miss him?"

Her voice was shaky this time. This behaviour and tone were unusual of Kagura, a girl so strong thanks to her blood and countless battles she's been in. But Shinpachi was not stupid, he knew exactly why this strong and confident girl who always stands brave against her opponents and knows how to be genuinely witty, looked so fragile and broken right now. Today was a special day, but not exactly for good reasons. Sakata Gintoki was born on this day. And it has been four years since he had gone missing never to return. There were no celebrations and the Yorozuya office had remained as quiet and grey as usually.

"Shinpachi, please," the girl's voice was even quieter now. Her shoulders started trembling and Shinpachi noticed a couple of tears slowly run down her pale cheeks as she still allowed her hair to cover her eyes.

He hated seeing women cry, but seeing Kagura, who had once been as close to him as his own sister, cry was insufferable. He felt a painful lump appear in his throat.

He lowered his eyes and slowly approached Kagura and stopped right in front of her. Even though they have both grown considerably, he was still taller than her. He could see the top of Kagura's head which was lowered even more, as more bitter tears fell onto the floor and on his boots. She was shaking even more now, and her form seemed more vulnerable than ever. She took a very small step and put her forehead on his now broad shoulder. Shinpachi felt warmth from her body standing so close to his. He lifted both of his arms and gently held her shoulders.

Who was he lying to? Even though he desperately tried to not run into this person on the streets of the city, and could barely stand the sight of her when they did meet by chance, and even though they exchanged nothing but mean remarks with each other during their encounters and did not bother checking up on each other – they were once part of a family; a family with bonds so strong they could overcome any mishaps and hardships. They were both suffering on their own, too afraid to face the pain of their loss openly, and their repeated attempts to avoid each other signified nothing other than that. And now this once energetic, witty girl with a huge appetite was helplessly broken beyond repair, just like himself. Kagura didn't openly cry, but quietly sobbed into his shoulder while the lump in Shinpachi's throat became even harder to bear.

"Yes, we're both here because we miss that excuse of a leader," he said with forced humour in his voice which made Kagura break out in an unexpected laughter but had immediately turned into louder crying as she pressed her face even deeper into Shinpachi's shoulder. Now he couldn't take it any longer either, he lowered his head and tears ran down his cheeks too. He didn't dare cry loudly, not because of pride, but rather because he believed that Gin-san wouldn't feel so proud of them for moping around like that in his absence had he entered the Yorozuya office right now. Not that he had any hopes left for that matter…

Shinpachi's grip on Kagura's shoulders tightened as he desperately fought back the growing pain in his chest and so did Kagura as she came even closer to his body and pressed her wet face into him.

The next moment he heard the wooden doors slide open and both of them had a glimpse of something flicker in their eyes and hearts. A question flashed in both of their minds: "Could it be…?".

However their eyes identified figures of three people at the door and something very bright in front of them. Upon focusing his vision better, Shinpachi recognised the faces of Otose-san, Catherine and Tama. They were all wearing their night gowns and warm layers upon those. Otose-san had a faint smile on her lips as she held what Shinpachi identified as a cake with a burning candle on it.

"Well why are you two moping around in his absence?" came a question from Otose-san as she entered the room and looked at both of them. At this point Shinpachi heard a loud whimper from behind and saw Kagura quickly cover her mouth at the realisation of what she had just done and, with her eyes facing the floor, couldn't help more tears rapidly running down her cheeks and onto the floor. Shinpachi wasn't shocked; they both had the same sensation, the same frail hope flashed through both of their minds. Having that hope rise so high in their hearts and immediately break into pieces was a strong blow, and it was when he tried to reach out once again to Kagura to support her, he realised his eyes were terribly blurry from his own tears.

Meanwhile, Otose-san, followed by Catherine and Tama, walked to former Yorozuya's leader's desk and lifted the cake in front of the two crying young people.

"That guy, he would never want to see you two like this. He would rather much prefer you biting into this sweet cake with smiles on your faces," said Otose-san with now the same sorrowful face.

"No, he'd want to be the first one to bite into it," came a now slightly cheerful response from Kagura. She was now wiping away the moisture from under her eyes and had a smile on her lips.

Everyone, including Shinpachi, brightened up a bit upon hearing her words. They all looked at the single burning candle holding the same one face in their minds. Together they blew the candle and shouted: "Happy Birthday, Gin-chan!", Kagura's voice coming out the loudest and the most joyous.

That night in Kabukicho, Yorozuya Gin-chan was the only building with its lights on and full of merry people celebrating and eating cake as the moon continued gracing the empty cold city of Edo.

Thank you for reading.