not just a one shot, i couldn't resist the kids. this one is based on a prompt i saw months ago, check the ending notes for it.

btw i found out an interesting thing: i have a sensor inside me that only allows me to finish what i began writing when serious shit is happening. seriously. the first one was during the kurokono arc, the second one in the Asaemon one, the third one i waited until Tsukki's bday and this one i finished exactly one day before the spoilers of the first chapter of a serious arc came out. coincidence? i think not.

~xx~

CHAPTER 2

... but never build a time machine

if you do disaster is fated to happen

~xx~

"Oi, just what are you doing here?" He asks, slowing his pace so she could catch up with him.

"You forgot Kagura's umbrella," she says, "figured it wouldn't be a good idea to let her out tomorrow without it."

He nods, taking the accessory from her hand. They visited Yoshiwara this afternoon. Kagura dozed up and he ended up carrying her home, he haven't paid attention to the umbrella. Still, Tsukuyo comes all this way to bring it back. He thanks her.

"This is not the way to your place."

"Indeed." The frantic anxiety growing inside him got a little out of control when he had the opportunity to share his flawless and genial plan with a friend. He is not someone who'd jump around and giggle without control, but he allows himself a smile.

"I have better plans for tonight," he says, hoping to incite her curiosity at least a bit. "After I'm done we can go out and- no, we can't have a drink, forget what I said. We can do something, from now on money will no longer be a problem."

She sighs. He is an excited kid inside. She gets along, after all, she is already here and it's not like she will deny having a small chat - she enjoys talking to him more than she admits.

"And by that you mean…"

"I finally found a way to fix my poverty."

Knowing him, he was up to no good.

"Please don't tell me you found a secret virtue and now are secretly a host at night."

"Oi, was this supposed to be a joke? Was this supposed to be offensive? I don't think you are in position to say such things."

"You should have asked for help, we still need people in that gay club. I'm sure your income would be higher."

"Shut up," he says. "That would be unfair with the other boys, who'd want them once they can have the handsome Savior of Yoshiwara?"

"SO THAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?"

They turn a corner, entering a less illuminated spot of the town. The laughs and loud voices from the main street are still audible, yet fading at every new step. Gintoki walks in a straight line, Tsukuyo following him into the unknown path.

"We are going to a friend's place," he tells her. "He is a mechanic, I asked him to build me something."

She nods. Soon she can smell old oil and hear the soft sound of an engine working.

"How exactly is this friend of yours related to your problem?" She asks.

"Well, I thought a lot about which method would be the best to earn some easy money, so I figured having the lottery numbers was my key to success."

"So this guy is making some sort of calculating device?"

He sighs in disapproval.

"How uncreative to think about something so obvious and boring."

He begins explaining his plan, still smiling and now talking a bit higher than he usually did. This moment is one of these which you can tell something big was about to happen. Either Gintoki would present her an excellent idea with an obvious good outcome or he'd have another good-for-nothing thought, causing their usual bit of trouble. Needless to say, the first option is very unlikely. So, when he reaches the last detail of his explanation, a bit of her already realized what he was up to, but her body refuses to react just yet. Probably preventing herself from sending him flying to the nearest trash bin.

"Basically, it's a time machine," he finishes.

And now she allows her denial to vanish, her pipe's smoke making her choke.

"JUST HOW ABSURD ARE YOUR IDEAS?"

~x~

Having a bit of common sense, she doubts him at first. And when she arrives and sees an old man working on a small circular device, no bigger than her hand, she is almost sure it won't work.

"Are you sure about this?" She whispers to Gintoki, watching her tone so that the other man won't hear her.

"Don't worry, the old man know what he is doing."

He indeed has some skills, she realizes as she watches the man. He handles small pieces with ease, fitting them precisely where they belong.

"Are you two planning to go together? I can guarantee you'll be back with every organ a human being needs to function, but I am not responsible if they are not originally yours."

At this Tsukuyo takes a step closer to the door behind her, casually lighting her kiseru and pretending to be there just to prevent the smoke from bothering the other men. She hopes neither of them noticed that the thought shared is a bit scary and she is totally not willing to have her body mixed with anyone's else.

"This won't be necessary," she says. "I'm not interested in this mess. Besides, I just came here to bring the umbrella and leave"

Gintoki smiles, he knows better.

"What is it, are you trying to sneak away?" He proceeds to cross his arms and shake his head in disapproval. "Can kill a man in the blink of an eye, yet is scared of a tiny machine."

She blinks. Multiple times. He is still alive, why is that?

"I'm not scared of any machine. I'm scared of having that mop you call hair in my head."

His smile fades a little. His hair is a sensitive spot and she knows that.

"Please let my hair out of this. You should feel sorry for me and my future kids."

She rolls her eyes, still not moving. She is not leaving that place. She is also not leaving this time. The only thing she is leaving is Gintoki, she is leaving him behind. Let the man do whatever he likes with his life, just don't drag her into his mess.

"Come on, Tsukki, it's just a week." And here he smiles, remembering that one thing Seita accidentally told him that he has to let her know he knows. "Besides, Seita told me about what you have been reading, I think it would be interesting to know what happens in the next issue before everyone else."

She lets out a nervous laugh, the only thing that slips from her perfectly crafted normal reaction.

"I have no idea what this boy has been telling you, but I guarantee it's all nonsense."

She believes she was convincing everybody she was serious, but Gintoki finds it ridiculous how she keeps the same stoic face even after cracking up her voice as obviously as when she said her last statement.

"Are you sure? I remember he talking a lot about it, that you were dying to know if the girl would finally confess her love to her senpai, which, by the way, is her childhood friend whom she always loved. The school festival is the perfect time for that, don't you think? How romantic!"

The irony in his voice annoys her. She doesn't read anything this cliché and has no desire to hear usual Gintoki bullshit.

"E-Enough!" She says. "If you want me to come with you so bad just ask, you don't need all these embarrassing lies."

She hears Gengai saying "just admit already, lady", more to himself than to anyone else, and she does not let that pass without a reprehensible look at the man.

"Shoujo mangas involved or not, I'm done here." He hands Gintoki the device, now ready to work. "You just set the date here and press the button. It's not a perfect machine, these beauties are a bit imprecise. So be ready to face a little divergence in time, though I would say it's nothing more than a year."

"I'll just pretend you haven't said this thing can take us to a completely different time," Gintoki says, than sighs. "Geez, I must be crazy or something to still want to use this."

"Uh… I think it's just that you are really poor."

"Shut up, Tsukki."

Sighing and already regretting - she must be really stupid to accept this - she touches the machine and Gintoki presses the button, sending them to whatever kind of place the future is.

~x~

First there is a flash. So bright and intense she sees only white for seconds. And then an intense feeling in her stomach comes, not like the one she felt when she was next to Gintoki, something more painful and unpleasant. Almost the same sharp pain she felt that one time she laughed hard while recovering from a serious injury in her belly. The heavy light slowly fades, and as her eyes adapt to the sudden lack of light she realizes she was in the same room as before, just a bit more dusty and smelly.

Gintoki is a mess of old boxes and limbs, coughing and tossing the boxes away. He touches his body and sighs in relief as he realizes all his members are still his.

"I'm a bit perplexed this thing actually worked."

She nods. He sits next to her and none of them motion to move from their spots for a long time. They wait together, hearing people outside, seeing the sunset-colored rays coming from the old abandoned windows. It's weird to know the world kept moving during an entire week and they weren't part of it.

Gintoki is the first one to stand up. Gently pushing her leg with his boot, he signs with his head towards the entrance of the shop.

"Better get these numbers and go back as quick as possible," he says. "It's a bit uncomfortable, the future."

It takes her just a few steps outside to realize. Tsukuyo hangs out around Kabukicho enough to know it's not possible for the city to have changed so much in just a year, much less a week.

"Maybe this is the year Takasugi finally decides to burn down the world," Gintoki says, also noticing the subtle changes. "At least we know we rebuild everything."

It's more a joke than anything else, but a slight concern burns in the corner of their minds. The town changed so much that they actually had no idea where they should look for. Looking at some stores on their own and getting out of trouble is the safest choice, both of them know. They look at each other searching for a quiet confirmation. In unison, they nod.

They head to complete different directions, with completely different objectives in mind.

"Oi, this is very anticlimactic, this is not what we should be doing!" Gintoki almost screams, making a few people look at him.

"If we part ways we will find the numbers in less time."

"And you'll be lost! We'll find the numbers, but you'll be lost! You can't get lost in the future, oi!" And watching closely, one could tell what are her intentions. "YOU JUST WANT TO READ THAT MANGA, DON'T YOU?"

"Bullshit," she says, disappearing inside a store suspiciously specialized in that kind of thing.

Gintoki face palms because really, he is so done with her. Never would have him imagined she could so deliberately ignore prudence. It is his fault, after all. His fault for showing up in Yoshiwara with his Jump over and over, until she would finally ask him "what are you reading?" And he would smile and give her a few comics he purposely had with him, that he was sure she would like. She took a few magazines he gave her, but never would he expect she actually got into it. That one time they taught Seita history should have been enough clue. But no. Now, of all time, is when he learns that. In the future. When he has no idea of the consequences they'll cause. When he is desperate for lottery numbers and can't read them with her.

"Maybe when we are back," he says, more to himself than anyone else, and chose a random store.

Ignoring a shelf of tasty-looking strawberry milk, he finds himself heading to the balcony of the store, hoping to ask the lady working there for the numbers. Soon he stops on his tracks for a while, focusing on the scene he has before his eyes. He never was in that store before, so he is not used to his surroundings. But he is sure a certain… peculiarity is not supposed to be there. Looking at the back shelves, there is a young kid, no older than five. The boy examines a copy of Jump, and the great taste for magazines is not the only thing he has in common with Gintoki.

Standing there the boy scratches his blond hair, in all his natural perm glory. Gintoki's natural perm glory.

He doesn't react at all. He closed his eyes, nod and smile a nervous smile. What a funny coincidence, he thinks to himself while swallowing hard. This is not a reaction, let it be clear, right now he is completely stoic. He resumes his search once again, focusing on the lady and completely ignoring the boy. They say people look at you if look at them, and that is not something he wants right now. Just for safety measures, of course. The kid is merely a coincidence, that is all. Probably just another perm buddy lost in the world.

The control he has over himself vanishes all at once when the kid turns to Gintoki's side and smiles.

"Dad!" He says in awe. "I finally found you!"

No. Way.

It is the weather, he decides. The weather is the one to blame for his sweaty face. And the boy, too. The boy is an illusion caused by the heat. Yeah, that is a perfect explanation.

"I knew you would be around, but I would never guess I'd find you so quickly."

What an annoying illusion. This kid can't be talking to me, he reassures himself. Gintoki turns around. He and the boy are alone in the store. Their eyes meet. The smile is still there.

"W-W-What a coincidence, then, huh?" Gintoki says gesticulating a bit too much with his hands. "Hahaha, what a smart kid you are, hahaha!"

"Laughing this way you sound like uncle Sakamoto. How lame, dad."

HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY KNOW ABOUT THAT? Gintoki swallows hard. Searching the depths of his mind, he tries to remember what he did so many years ago. He is almost sure it was nothing. Or maybe he was so drunk he couldn't remember. Oh, the guilt he feels now looking at the boy. He hasn't even considered a possible second prank. One thing was making him believe he got laid with all his friends in the same night, but a son... that is plain cruelty, even for that bunch of sadistic people he knows. Besides, the boy's hair is legit, nothing can perfectly pass as his hair, it's a natural curse that can't be reproduced artificially.

"So," Gintoki says, "what do we do now?"

"We look out for mom. She said she would be coming too."

Oh my god the kid is with his mom.

He wants to run back to Gengai's shop and disappear. Leave the problem to his future self. But this is not something he will simply ignore and get away from, he has to find the proclaimed mother of the child and find out what happened. Maybe Gengai was wrong and he was actually six years in the future. He can't run away from his past, but from his future he surely can.

"Okay, what does she look like?"

It is a simple question, he is sure the kid is capable of giving a decent description, yet he says nothing and looks perplexed at Gintoki - maybe even hurt.

"What?" The boy says.

"Look, I seriously have no idea who she is, I'm sorry. But hey, just help me out, okay? Tell me her appearance, what she is wearing. Anything will do."

"Dad, are you drunk?"

I kinda wish I was is what he thinks, but instead he says "no."

"Well, she is really beautiful," the boy says reluctant, still not quite believing his own dad was asking that kind of question "and you two are married, you shouldn't forget about your family like this."

Really, he must have been really drunk. He is pretty sure he never married anyone. It's time to embrace his six years theory.

"She has blonde hair, almost the same height as you. Oh, and she has a scar over here too and-"

"Sorry, can you repeat that?" Gintoki interrupts the kid. He has his usual dead fish eyes outside, but inside his head is a mess, thinking thousands of different things at once, yet none of them fully realizing what he had just heard.

"...she has a scar over here? What is so surprising about that?"

Perhaps his heart stopped for a while, for feeling so suffocated cannot be explained by anything else. It hits him, it hits him harder than all the kunai hits he had taken before. Forget about the kid, the real problem was the mom. He can't deal with that.

He has to lean in the wall and rub his forehead with his fingers, closing his eyes to focus on the shocking truth he just faced.

"Get me a newspaper, will ya?" He asks the kid. Not really understanding what was going on, he does not take long to hand him the paper. Once he reads the date he can't do so much besides laughing. "A decade. Seriously, a decade. Is this old man for real? How can ten years be an acceptable margin of error?"

"Excuse me dad, but what are you talking about?"

Gintoki looks at the kid and sees the confusion in his eyes. The moment he comes back to his present time, he will buy a lot of calendars and spread them all over his place. He will circle this day and write the year and make sure his future child will stay home the entire day. He has just traumatized his son for all eternity.

"I'm telling you something, but promise you will keep this between the two of us."

In the end, he is willing to risk sounding like a madman rather than leaving the boy in confusion.

~x~

As soon as she requests for this week's volume of her manga, she realizes something is out of place.

"I'm sorry lady, but this is not published anymore for a long time now." The guy in the shop can't help but smile at his unusual customer.

She finds a way to work around the situation.

"Sorry about my mistake," she says, "it's for my daughter, I am not very fond of these things."

The man lets out a friendly laugh.

"No problem, miss," he says. "But we do sell it here, just ask her what volumes she wants and come back later."

She thanks him and leaves the store. She hopes Gintoki is still in the same place, but he is nowhere to be seen. She regrets her impulsive behavior now. No manga for her, and trouble for both of them. Wasting no time, she buys the first newspaper she can find.

She is rather surprised once she reads the date. A decade. Gintoki's messy business crossed the line in unimaginable levels this time. She feels like hitting him a hundred times for his stupidity, yet cannot deny she is a bit curious about her life ten years in the future. While she reads a few lines, she thinks about possibilities. How Yoshiwara is now, the new people she probably met…

"Hey mom," a little girl interrupts her thoughts. "Can you buy this lollipop for me? Dad ate all the candies alone… again."

At first, Tsukuyo thinks the girl mistook her for someone else. She looks down to tell the kid that, and at that moment she freezes. She looks at the girl and the girl looks at her, and the paralysis between them would never end if the child had not insisted in the candies. Tsukuyo tries her best to keep her voice under control, smiles and give the little girl a bit of money, telling her to buy all the sweet she wants. She is impressed by her self-control – which, as she observed her life until now, it's not that impressive when it comes to this.

Her senses come back the moment the girl steps out of the shop. She becomes so flustered her face might be on fire. She wishes she could begin the day again and tell Gintoki she was busy when he called her this morning. Or remind him of the umbrella. Or just vanish from existence. There are certain things a person should not know, and this is definitely one of them.

First of all, she is ten years in the future. With Gintoki. All sorts of wild absurds are supposed to happen. And she sees a girl with eyes strangely similar to hers. Probably the most suspicious fact about this twisted situation is that the first thing the kid told her was to buy her candies, since her dad apparently ate them all alone. If the ten years gap, the eyes, and the sugar-eating dad are not enough clues for her shocked self, the little girl's hair is: as she runs, her silver locks wave wildly in the air. And with the urge to smile suppressing her panicked self, Tsukuyo realizes it is as straight as hair can be.

~x~

The shocked kid stares at the wall of the alley they just made a place to sit down and talk, and he shakes his head in disbelief.

"I'm just believing what you told me," said Block - Gintoki learned with a giggle that he actually named his son with such a name, "because I don't think you would forget about us. And because mom told me you were really poor and desperate when she met you."

Gintoki's gratitude lasted two seconds. That's how much time the boy took between his last two statements.

"Ignoring how you just insulted your future dad," he says, "how is it in the future for us? I must be an insane failure as a father, letting my five-year-old kid go shopping for candies at sunset."

Block smiles, leaning his head on the cold wall besides him. Looking at the man who is supposed to be his dad and telling him their history is plain awkward.

"You told us you'd be coming later. I thought it was already you. Anyway, if you are expecting to have a perfect family I am sorry to say that we are going to disappoint you." He waits for a reaction. None comes. "We yell all the time, annoy each other, you and Dia are fighting all the time for candies, mom is so done with random strawberry milk taste in her food - which by the way is awful, don't do that in the future - and there is not a single time we sit down to have a meal that you don't steal my meat. I still have no idea what is your point, to be honest."

Gintoki lets out a nervous laugh, running his hand through his messy hair. He watches a couple looking at the alley and taking a step away from them, as if a pair of permy-heads sitting on an empty road could represent any harm.

"But it's fine," Block says, knowing too well what his dad was doing. The man before him is not exactly the same as he knew, but some things never change. "It's fine the way it is"

"We go out together all the time. We yell at each other, but a few days later we remember and we laugh because really, it was for a very stupid reason. I love to hear us laughing. When mom and I get tired of you and Dia we plot against you, we hide all the candies for ourselves and we watch as you two blame each other."

Gintoki looks at the kid, and the way he tries to hide his smile reminds Block of a kid trying to pretend he is not happy after receiving a gift.

"And about… you know." It's a bit hard to tell the next words. He looks away, finding a crack in the wall way more interesting than eye contact with his future son. "Your mother and I."

Block smiles too.

"Dia and I watch you two, you know," he says. "Sometimes you are worried or hurt or just feeling down, and I hear her talking to you. Or sometimes you understand each other without even talking, I think you have a secret language or something. My point is that you are always there for each other. I don't know a lot about these things, but i guess it's good?"

Gintoki's eyes never leave the wall. It's not hard to imagine what the kid told him. God, he would be lying if he said he never thought of that before. He has problems admitting to himself, but every now and then he thinks. And he catches himself smiling at nothing. The smile goes away as suddenly as it comes, he doesn't belong in there and doesn't dwell on that that often for this very specific reason. He is not smiling right now, what makes Block, in his naive childish mind, believe he said something unpleasant. He tries to fix it.

"But truth be told, I think you like her so much because she is the only person in the world who likes your stupid hair."

Gintoki wears a weaker smile than before and rolls his eyes, messing his son's hair.

"What are you talking about, kid, look at your own head." After many begs Gintoki stops, observing again the movement in the main street. He wish he could stay longer, hear the kid talking more. But Gengai was very strict about the damage they could cause if their stay is prolonged. "Guess it's time for me to go back now."

"But already going? I have other things to say."

Gintoki stands up, taking a good last look on Block.

"Apparently time travel is a complicated thing. I was not supposed to here in the first place, so staying longer can cause you trouble," he says. "Thanks for all you told me, but I don't want to spoil more of my life."

He smiles to the kid and goes back once again to the crowded main street. But footsteps follows him and soon he feels a small hand grabbing his wrist.

"Dad," says Block is low voice.

"What is it?" Gintoki turns his head just a bit, enough to see the boy facing the street.

"Promise me something."

He wants to keep walking and forget. He wants to say nothing and feel nothing and do nothing. He wants to run away and hide. Live his life and hope to have this kid in the future. Now he is free, and his mind wants to keep it this way. But his body is not listening, he signals with his head, allowing the boy to continue. And in this moment he is a bird trapped in a cage.

"Please don't let me disappear," he says.

He is tied by unbreakable ropes. He can't let it go - and doesn't want to.

"I won't."

At that, Block drops his hand by his side again, smiling.

"Great. See you five years in the future, then."

The kid runs towards the store they first encountered each other, back to his own business. Gintoki watches him, letting the smallest of the smiles take place in his face. He sighs, heading his own way and wondering if there is something he can do next besides hopelessly trusting time.

~x~

"Oi. Finally found you," is what she hears on a very familiar tone.

Tsukuyo almost jumps at the sound of his voice. She looks perplexed at Gintoki, as if he is not supposed to be here. She scam the street looking for the little kid, and thankfully she is nowhere to be seen.

"I already know about your girly manga, you know," he says "No need to be so surprised."

Yes, girly manga. That's her problem. She is not even in the comic book store anymore, and he needs to mention that. This man is beyond stupid, and enjoying every bit of it is her guilty pleasure.

"Found the numbers already?" She asks.

Dead-fish eyes and violet ones met. Both think the same, but neither speak of it. It's better this way, this is a secret they can't share.

"Nah, Gengai brought us to the wrong time. No lottery numbers for me this time."

"We can try again if you want to."

"Let's just get back home."

She doesn't question him. Something must have happened, and it's not her place to ask for more. The walk to Gengai's place is silent and uncomfortable. She hopes this doesn't last too long.

~x~

In a flash of white, just as before, they are back. This time they find themselves sitting next to each other, no dusty boxes at all. Tsukuyo is the first to stand up and move on. He doesn't look to see whether she has already left. He keeps his head down, gently running his finger over the tiny sphere still in his hands.

"Do you think the future will change because of today?" He asks, not really minding if he was talking to no one.

She wonders, just for a fraction of second, so small she almost doesn't realize it herself, if he knows. She tosses the thought away.

"Who knows," is what she says. Fighting the urge to look back, she waves a goodbye and leave. She takes a step away, and another, and another, until she is sure the only one to testimony her presence is a cat hopelessly looking for food in a trash can. She opens her mouth and wonders for a while before actually talking. In a sight she smiles, confessing to the feline what she swore to never spoke aloud. "I don't want it to change."

~x~

Alone, in the dark, his mind betrays him. He plays with the machine in his hand and laughs at the idea that he can make up for all his broken promises and naive hopes of salvation - reversing the failure they all were - just by pressing a few buttons here and there.

He throws the device to the depths of Gengai's mess, hoping to never see it again. He thinks about everything and nothing at the same time. Do you think the future will change? Please don't let me disappear. This all come and go through his mind subconsciously, and he finds himself burying his face on his hands, trying to ease the beginning of a headache. He laughs, a pinch of desperation in his tone.

"I don't want it to change."

unexpected ending dum dum dum~ i blame insomnia and sad music for my sudden not okay feelings

lastly, the prompt: Imagine that your OTP uses a time machine to go to the future, and they meet a kid that immediately recognizes them as their parents. Cue the awkwardness.