AN: A rather... serious Gintama story, if you will.

Almost a Fantasy!AU, but not quite. A bit on the dark side as well.

It should be pretty obvious that I don't own anything.

CHAPTER ONE: The Girl Who Hates Violence But Loves To Fight

The young woman let her gaze sweep over the empty cottage once more, taking a deep breath. She savoured the familiar smell and let memories flood her mind one last time.

Memories of her laughing with her family, smiling, happy memories, and then the day of her mother's death and her father's depression, the day her brother left and now, today, the day she would leave as well.

A picture frame on a shelf caught her eye, a picture of her entire family, from when all of them were still in this old, wooden cottage.

Smiling, happy.

She went up to it and gently took it into her hands, letting her finger run over the dusty surface of it. Then she sadly shook her head and placed it back on the shelf, face-down.

She grabbed her umbrella and her travelling bag, hoisted it on her shoulder and walked out the door. The sound of the door falling close and the sun shining down on her made her rethink her decision, but she wouldn't let herself be swayed. Not anymore.

She had hesitated far too long, and it had only brought harm upon this world.

She opened her umbrella expertly with one hand, shielding herself from the imploring rays of sun.

One last glance at the surrounding green meadows she had grown up on made her heart clench slightly, but she ignored it.

Everybody else had left it behind, so it was time she did as well.

That cottage had stopped being 'home' a long time ago, after all.

Kagura wouldn't say that she had a plan, not really. It was more the urge to get away from the suffocating emptiness that her house had provided. Her father's equally empty promises to come back soon didn't really help and living in isolation got to everybody sooner or later.

The weight of her travelling bag on her shoulder seemed miniscule next to the heavy weight on her heart and the feeling of unease that was steadily growing.

Her first thought had been to find her father, but what would she do then? Join him on his bounty hunting missions?

Then she thought about her other still living family member. Her brother, Kamui.

She bit her lip while in deep thought, contemplating the idea over and over again. He wouldn't be happy to see her, she knew that much. But from what she had heard from one of the few times her father had actually come back, he'd gotten himself involved in some pretty nasty company.

Unfortunately, she didn't know much more than that.

After a long day of walking and thinking, she was just about ready to settle down on an old tree in order to sleep when an old farmer offered her to sleep in his barn. She thankfully accepted and helped out the farmer's wife in the kitchen to make up for her stay.

Eating together with the farmer, his wife and his two children brought a smile to her face, but at the same time it made her heart ache because it reminded her of what she didn't have.

They were the perfect picture of a family, a family she desperately found herself longing for.

The next day, she met a travelling merchant on the way to the next town and got some more supplies. He had asked what a young lady like her was doing out here, but she just shrugged and said she wasn't sure yet.

But somewhere, deep in her mind, a voice had already decided what to do.

She would find her idiotic brother and her idiotic father, she would find her family, fix it, and find a new place to call home.

The first step was easy: gather information. The best place for that? Shady bars.

She dumped her bag on the bed at the cheap inn she was staying at and got dressed and headed out, looking for the shadiest place she could find.

The few times she had been to a real town was with her parents when she was quite a bit younger, but all she could remember were the things she wasn't allowed and supposed to do. Don't be rude to the merchants, don't wander off on your own, don't go to the outskirts, don't talk to strangers and don't let go of Mami's hand.

A more recent incident in which her father took her out drinking in a low-profile bar in the outskirts would have to suffice as experience.

She sighed at the memory, pulling the hood she had been wearing the entire time further over her red hair and adjusting the goggles and bandages covering her face and entered the run-down, yet bustling, bar.

She didn't even seem that out of place with her cape and umbrella holster. At least every second person here had obscured their face in some kind of fashion, and equally as many had brought their weapons in. The bartender looked bored as he dried some glasses, not fazed a bit by the giant with a morning star that was chugging his beer.

She squeezed herself towards the counter with the bored looking man and ordered a drink. The bartender gave her a quick second glance before nodding and preparing her beverage.

The high stools were pretty uncomfortable, but she shouldn't have expected anything else, after all, she was squashed in between two probably-criminals with weapons as big as their bodies.

She tapped her bandaged fingers on the counter while waiting for the bartender to come back, slightly shifting her head every now and then, picking up parts of the conversations.

"… and then he just killed the guy in cold blood, before he could justify anything!"

"I swear, it was real! The monster was real!"

"… yeah, further north, you know? There's a treasure buried somewhere around there…"

"I heard the royal family was planning a trip, so I think we should rally the gang together…"

"That bounty hunter is over in Edo? Good thing you told me, I was just about to head there…"

"Edo's not what it used to be anymore, man… ever since those guys came…"

The sound of a glass being placed in front of her made her redirect her attention to the barkeeper. She nodded and pulled the bandages over her lower face down so that she could drink.

The bartender suddenly spoke up. "I didn't think I'd be seeing more of your kind around here."

Kagura paused and looked at the middle-aged man through her tinted goggles. "Why would you say that?"

She wasn't quite sure what he meant by that, but maybe it was just his standard ice-breaker to talk to customers.

He shrugged. "I thought all of you were down in Edo, at least that's what the last one said."

She hesitated slightly before taking a sip of her drink. The burn of the alcohol left a pleasant trail in the back of her throat, but she didn't have time to enjoy it. Did this man know of what race she was? He seemed pretty confident, but she couldn't be sure.

"Are you sure it was a…" She trailed off, fixating her gaze on him. She was sure he would catch on.

He nodded. "I don't know any other tribes that walk around with umbrellas all day." He gestured to the cone attached to her back.

She just took another sip to get a grip on her thoughts. Would her brother be in Edo? Would her father?

She had only been there once, but that must've been ten years ago, shortly before her mother died. And according to the conversations she had overheard just now, Edo had changed quite a bit. She remembered the part about the bounty hunter. Did it have something to do with Papi?

"True, true." She opted to answer. "But I didn't know there was some kind of meet up in Edo."

The man leaned against the counter. "Maybe you should go. Might be interesting." Then he brought his fingers to his chin and thought about something. "Or maybe not, it's not exactly the safest place to be right now."

"It isn't?" She prodded, hoping to get more information on Edo. If this had something to do with the Yato and bounty hunters, she might have just found the lead she had needed.

"No, lately there's been this new organization at the top over there. They call themselves the Harusame."

"Harusame." She tasted the word on her tongue. It wasn't very threatening, not awe-inspiring. A small part of her mind couldn't help but feel disappointed in the name choice. And yet, it still held some sort of weight to it.

"Yes. The have many Yato members from what I've heard." He excused himself for a short moment, taking care of another customer that had just come in, leaving Kagura alone with her drink and her thoughts.

Even if this had nothing to do with her family, it was still of importance. Her tribe was known for being good mercenaries and military force. And with an entire organization gathering the Yato? That couldn't mean anything good.

She took a big swig of her drink, nearly emptying it. She stared at the last sip in the glass, swishing it from side to side. Should she really go to Edo? Sure, it was her only viable lead right now, but did she really want to get involved with other Yato?

Not really.

"Oi, missy," a gruff voice said from her left. She turned to look at the Dakini who had spoken to her.

He nudged his head to the side. "Get moving, my boss wants that seat."

She glanced over at the imposing Amanto behind him and narrowed her eyes at him, not that he really saw it through her goggles. "Tell him to look for a seat somewhere else."

She wasn't going to give up her access to possibly valuable information.

"Tch." The guy clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Brats like you don't have the right to talk back to me."

Kagura downed the last bit of alcohol in her glass and slammed it back on the table, causing a few heads to turn towards her. So much for not attracting attention.

"What do you know about brats like me?" She asked him, a dangerous tone to her voice.

"Heh," he chuckled, "are you trying to act all tough now? Get out of the way, bitch." His hand moved towards his weapon, a big cylindrical block full of spikes, and wrapped his fingers around it.

"Please, sir, don't use that thing in here." The bartender spoke from behind her. He was smiling, but there was a threatening tone of authority under it.

The Dakini grimaced and lowered his hand from his weapon. "You're right, I don`t need this to take care of this little bitch."

His hand shot up towards her face at incredible speed and probably would have left behind irreparable damage had it actually made contact. His fist trembled in the tight hold her hand had around it, and she crushed his fist a bit further for good measure until she felt liquid seep through her bandages.

His eyes widened in horror as he realized that she had single-handedly blocked a full-powered punch without even flinching. Her face was obscured by her clothes and the bandages, but the small shift of her lower face told him that she was smirking.

His blood began to boil in anger. "What does a puny woman like you think she is doing?" He seethed at her.

"This puny woman is not as weak as you think." She answered calmly, reaffirmed her grip on his hand and hauled him into the air effortlessly before throwing him across the room.

All conversation died down and all gazes were fixated on the pub brawl that was about to break out. Some guests chose to leave in the shadows before things got too out of hand, others waited with baited breaths.

Kagura instinctively reached for the handle of her umbrella, but stopped herself after she recalled the bartender's words. If there's one person she's not going to mess with, it's the owner of this place.

The Dakini cursed colourfully as he stood up again and roughly pushed all people in his way aside. He was breathing heavily and his eyes had narrowed dangerously, all his fury concentrated on her.

Kagura's smirk widened slightly.

This land they lived in was home to many different tribes and races, the most prominent of them the humans. Others included the Dakini and Shinra, but there were too many too count. But the Yato, the Yato were considered the real monsters, proper nightmare material.

They lived off their bloodlust, and they were willing to do anything as long as they could feel the glory of taking another's life. They wielded fearsome umbrellas and were creatures of the night. Their snow-white skin was reminiscent of the corpses they left in their trails. Their monstrous strength and battle prowess were not to be underestimated and if you ever found yourself confronted with one, you could only pray that it would be a quick and merciless end for you.

Kagura often found herself suppressing her instincts to attack like a rogue animal. But it didn't mean that she didn't embrace them.

However, if you asked her whether violence was an answer, she would probably shake her head.

But this, right now, made her heart beat faster. This excitement was her instincts, her blood, yearning for battle. She cracked her knuckles in anticipation as the enraged Dakini charged at her. The vermillion-haired woman spared a glance for the Dakini's boss, who was watching both of them intently.

When their eyes met, the boss lifted his chin ever so slightly, trying to establish a certain superiority over her. She smirked at him, letting him know that that was not going to happen.

The Dakini attacked her while she was still looking over her shoulder, but her raw instinct let her intercept the attack without even looking at him. She turned her head back towards him painstakingly slow, enticing an angry growl out of him.

Her heart began pumping even faster along with the adrenaline. Her slim arm aimed for his collar, she grabbed it and slammed the Amanto into the ground through the wooden floorboards.

After realizing what she had done, she shot the bartender an apologetic look and mouthed 'sorry'. The man just shrugged and continued drying glasses.

The Dakini let out a ferocious growl and wrapped a hand around the wrist of the hand that was still holding on to the collar of his cloak. He glared up at her with unadultered rage on his blood-stained face. He yanked her arm away roughly and used the millisecond of imbalance this caused in her body to his advantage and landed a hardened fist in the area of her abdomen.

"You fucking cunt!" He shouted through crimson-coloured teeth.

If this would have been the punch from earlier, she would probably be coughing up blood now, but the short distance between them left little room for swinging out the punch, thus it not having a lot of force behind it.

"Is this puny woman too much for you to handle?" She mocked.

She jumped up, pulling her legs close to her chest as he aimed a kick for her lower half. She twisted in the air, aiming a kick of her own at the Dakini's torso. He crossed his arms in time to block it, but he still grunted in pain on impact.

"Are you sure you want to continue? You don't look too well." She feinted worry and laughed.

A satisfied smile crossed her lips as she pulled back into a stance, reading her opponent's next moves. The crowd around them had livened up again, and they were shouting and cheering, but all the voices mangled so that she couldn't understand a thing. Her heartbeat was thundering in her ears and all her attention was focused on the slightest movements the Dakini made, which muscles twitched and which were about to work extensively.

A small bead of sweat ran down the side of his face and mingled with the blood that was there from her previous attack.

He was going to use the distance to his advantage. A punch, aimed for her upper half, probably chest or face.

She followed the trail of his eyes while they assessed the situation.

Chest seemed the more likely target.

"You're going to regret this." He threatened her.

"Those won't become very famous last words." She replied calmly. She relaxed all her muscles in her body as everything began to slow down around her.

Her heart was till beating incredibly fast, but her breathing had evened out.

She closed her eyes and adjusted her stance one last time. She could sense the Dakini closing in one her, the right arm pulled back, his acceleration, the angry aura around him.

Suddenly, another presence popped up behind her.

She snapped open her eyes and found an empowered punch mere centimetres away from her face.

So it was the face, after-all.

She ducked at lightning speed, taking in the crunching sound of the Dakini landing his attack on one of his kin, the one that had snuck up behind her.

The second Dakini flew across the room, causing more property damage.

The first one still had a look of surprise and confusion etched on his face, which was quickly wiped away by Kagura's fist shattering his nose and breaking off one his horns. Her punch made him cross the room at magnificent speed, landing at his boss' feet like a miserably pile of Amanto.

Her heart was still racing in euphoria and the satisfactory feel of bones cracking and breaking under her bandaged fingers left her smiling like a mad man.

This was what it felt like to be alive.

The Dakini was wheezing and utterly furious and tried to stand up again, but his boss signalled him to stay down.

"So even the cute rabbits of the night have claws." The boss spoke. He shook his head. "I wonder what god was thinking when he let monsters like you be created."

"God doesn't exist in this rotten world." She answered.

"That's all point of view. And I'm sure you didn't beat up my subordinate because of religious reasons."

He was rational, she noted.

"No, I beat him up because he came looking for a fight. He insulted my abilities."

He laughed. "We Dakini believe children and woman don't belong on the battlefield. But the difference between this moron and me," he pointed at the lump at his feet, "is that I don't believe that Yato have children and women. When I look at you and your people, I only see monsters."

She pulled her lips into a thin line. "That's all point of view." She quoted him.

He crossed the room in nearly majestic steps, picked up his other subordinate by the back of the neck and returned to his first subordinate, picking him up with his other hand.

A trail of blood stained the wooden floor and went right past the hole she had put there earlier.

The bar was still silent, everybody watching the two of them. The Dakini boss turned back to her.

"I consider all Yato monsters, but your family must be the scariest of them all. I'd be careful where I walk around with that hair."

She immediately reached up to her hood, only to realize that it had fallen back over her shoulders some when during her scuffle. Her hair was in a simple braid, but it's vibrant vermillion shade stood out in the glum lighting of the bar.

"Old man, I'll pay for the repairs!" He called out to the barkeeper and threw a small sack of coins at him.

The Dakini left with his two subordinates and the other guests began to talk with each other again, the whole incident and the glaring hole in the floor nearly forgotten.

Somebody nearly slips on a puddle of blood, but it's swept aside quickly.

Kagura returned to her seat at the bar, her two neighbours now a considerate bit further away from her.

The bartender wordlessly pushed another glass in front of her.

She takes one sip, then another one, and another one. The bar had settled back into its pre-fight mumbling and talking and laughing.

"You Yato always walk around all covered up like that, it's always difficult to recognize anyone." The bartender sighed after she had finished about half of the glass.

"I'm not exactly sure how you can recognize somebody you've never met." She replied with a sigh.

"With hair like yours, it's easy. Like Toro said, your family is quite infamous." He explained.

"My family?" She scoffed. "Right now, we don't even resemble a family. And the only person who looks similar to me and is still alive is my broth-" She paused and frowned. It couldn't be, right?

"Your brother Kamui, right? The son of the great Umibouzo, hailed as the strongest man in the world." The barkeeper finished for her.

"I see." She answered grimly. Looks like finding her brother wouldn't be so difficult after all.

"There's no doubt that you are related, so why say you don't resemble a family?" he asked her while washing some glasses.

She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "We're related by blood, but that doesn't make us family. Families are related by heart." She explains bitterly before finishing the rest of her drink in one go.

"You want another one?" He asked her, dropping the previous topic.

She just nods.

"You know, the Harusame is divided into multiple divisions." He begins to say.

She looks up from her newly refilled glass.

"The captain of the Seventh Division has bright red hair like you."

She nods again. "I see."

"So I take it you'll be heading to Edo after this?" The old man asked after taking care of some other customers.

"Probably." She replied with a shrug. Not just probably, definitely.

"You mind doing me a favour then?" He asked innocently, but Kagura saw his eyes wandering to the hole in the floor, insinuating something.

She sighed. "Not at all."

"If on the way you meet a silver-haired man who only eats and drinks sweet things and is as hopeless and useless as a granny on her deathbed, please kick him all the way back here. He still owes me quite a bit of money." The man continued smiling.

The description sounded ridiculous to her ears, but she accepted anyway, considering she really did owe him to a certain extent.

She left a few coins on the bar and pulled her hood up again and left.

"Edo." She muttered to herself. "Looks like it's time to go back there."

If you asked her whether violence was an answer, she would shake her head.

But she wouldn't deny the kick she got out of beating somebody to a pulp.

AN: On a scale of one to ten, how bad was this and how stupid am I?

Like, seriously, I have no idea when I'm going to update this...

Well, anyway, reviews please? Did I make any stupid grammar and spelling mistakes anywhere? Anything?

Next: The Boy Who Wears Glasses But Isn't Smart

~Emi