They say the best confessions are those done in hospitals and death beds

Gintama Oneshot Fanfiction

Pairing: Okikagu (Okita Sougo and Kagura)

Trope: Sickness and Confession

SUMMARY:

Kagura is sick. Unlike the last time, this was serious enough to warrant a laughing Gintoki with downcast and panicked eyes. And unlike last time, Okita was not quick to notice; or more like he couldn't believe it.

To be fair, he didn't think the budding universe-famous alien hunter could be killed by something that was not him.

Set after the war. Non-canon compliant after that point. Kagura and Gintoki are back. The Shinsengumi was also reinstated. The Yorozuya is still the same, only with relatively more customers.

—

It was funny the first time he heard about it.

The day was clear and sunny, and Kabukichou was having a festival. After the war, the people of Edo has somehow found a sense of normalcy in rebuilding their city. Part of the effort was making sure their events still pushed through. For some reason, the newly reinstated Shinsengumi was tasked to monitor the surrounding area. One would think that they would be given more important tasks than this one. But times have changed, and killing rebels was not the priority anymore.

The reason, for Okita, was easy enough to deduce. Kondou-san just wanted to waste time stalking the Boss Lady again. And so with his 1st Division stationed all around the area, Okita ended up walking to the park and proceeded to do his job.

He lied down on the bench, took out his eye-mask, and fell asleep only to wake up when his radio vibrated with frequency. He must have slept quite soundly since the sun has definitely sunk in the horizon.

"Oi, Sougo. This is Hijikata, over."

"What do you want, Hijikata. Over."

"Where are you?"

"Away from you, over."

"Yeah well, you might want to come over the hospital."

"Why would I go there? Over. I have a job to sleep at this bench, over."

"That's not your job! But anyway, Yamazaki just told us that the China girl collapsed."

"Collapsed? Did she finally choke to death with her eating habits? And why do I have to come over, over."

He let at an impressed snort over his own joke but proceeded with the usual blank look on his face after.

"It looks serious, Sougo."

That made him laugh. "You said it was serious last time, over. She's just faking again, over."

I might convince Princess Soyo to host an even more ridiculous funeral this time.

"They took her to the hospital this morning. She's still not awake." Hijikata said.

Sougo turned to look at the watch in his hand. It was already close to 8 o'clock at night. If he counted right, that pig was asleep for almost 12 hours. It didn't bother him much though, he could sleep for far longer.

"Me too, if you didn't call, over."

Hijikata sighs. "Just get here in 10 minutes."

—

To be fair, Danna didn't look this panicked the last time this happened.

Last time, he was all sad and somber, with a smirk hiding beneath the farce.

But this time he was laughing around with a panicked look on his eyes saying that China will soon wake up after an hour or so. The glasses boy was somehow quiet throughout Danna's ramblings and didn't do his job as the straight man. The Boss Lady was there, too. Smiling through all of Danna's laughter.

"She'll wake up once his cue-ball head dad and psychotic brother comes. She's just trying to get their attention again, you know. And I guess she also wanted to eat free food from the hospital once she wakes up. Yeah she's fine. She's okay."

"Ah Okita-kun. You're here. Good. Do you want to see her?"

The Boss Lady said to me as soon as she spotted me.

"Hijikata-san told me to come. You know this isn't real right? She just wants attention."

"Yes. YES! Souichirou-kun is right. She's fine. She's fine." Danna interjected.

The Boss Lady smiles at me. "The doctor is inside Okita-kun. He's explaining the situation to Kondou-san and Hijikata-san. Just go inside."

This didn't feel right. Everyone was too nervous. This, he could easily see, was uninhibited anxiety.

He opened the door to the hospital room to find Hijikata and Kondou-san seated in front of the bed. The doctor was talking to them.

"She needs at least a crystal. Just to recover. She's not really dependent to them but the heatstroke weakened her significantly and she needs the crystal to jump start a natural recovery. She's a special Yato, right? It might be difficult to cure her with our own methods." The doctor said.

Hijikata turned to look at me. But I was not looking at him.

—

She actually looks like she's dying. She was pale. Too pale, with the dark circle on her eyes far too deep to be make-up. He moved closer to the bed. He saw she had trouble breathing too. Even though she was asleep, he could see that it took a lot of effort for her to breathe involuntarily. Her fingernails looked too dark. Her arms sheen with sweat.

What actually scared Sougo for a moment was how her skin looked. It looked like she was crumbling. Her arms alone had certain spots where it looked like one wrong move could turn it to dust.

And her eyes were closed. Not opened in panic because her joke has gone too far. Closed. Like she's dead.

"Sougo.." Kondo starts.

"What is Danna doing? He's wrong. She's not fine." Sougo answers, still looking over Kagura.

"He's in denial." Hijikata answers.

"What does she need?" Sougo answers, this time looking at the doctor.

"Ahh. She needs at least one altana crystal from her home planet." The doctor explains. "We know of her history since we've improved our Amanto knowledge but we still don't have what she needs. I'm told that her family has been told to come and we will explain to them what could be done in case there isn't a crystal any—"

"How much time?" Okita interrupts.

The doctor swallows nervously seeing Sougo's serious gaze. "Uhh two to three weeks, we suppose. But it would be difficult to wait that lo-."

Okita does not let the doctor finish. He was about to go out of the room, beat that deadbeat of a samurai, and go out to space himself when he hears it.

"Gin-chan."

He looks back sharply and sees her with opened eyes. Steeling his expression, he quickly opened the door to tell Danna she's awake. The crowd outside immediately rushes in. He moved out of the way and left to wait outside with the other Shinsengumi officers.

He took the chance to focus himself. He nearly acted rashly a while ago. What was he thinking, asking those questions. It's not like he cares enough to actually go out in space to find that blasted crystal. No, Sougo doesn't do rescues. He's a policeman, yeah, but he's task usually involves killing the bad guys rather than do stuff to save people. That wasn't his role. He doesn't panic like what he's doing now. He's certainly not the type to worry-

A sharp hit to his stomach halted his thought processes.

"Breathe." Hijikata said. "There's still time. You know she's not weak."

He coughs the pain away and lifts his head to look at Hijikata and Kondo-san.

"Shut up Mayo-freak. I can still breathe better than you with the amount of cigarettes your smoking. Die Hijikata."

Kondo laughs at Sougo's tirade. "It's okay to be worried Sougo. Just keep a clear head, alright."

Hijikata has a smug look on his face which angered Sougo a lot but it was Kondo-san he had to answer and so he begrudgingly nodded.

Just as he was about to make up an excuse to get out of the hospital or at least the hallway, Danna's head poked out of the room and called him.

"Souichirou-kun. Get in here."

"It's Sougo and I don't want to get in."

"Just go Sougo." Kondo said as he pushes his back. "Go check on her yourself."

Kondo-san pushed Okita into the room as soon as the crown inside went out. He saw the glasses boy wiping his eyes with his sleeve while his sister clung to his arm. Danna looked like he got his first breathe of air and looked ahead with a gleam on his eyes.

"I heard that you came here, panicked, and professing your love for me. I can't blame you, yes. I'm sure my model figure and beautiful face already made you fall for me a long time ago, yes." A soft, haughty voice said.

He looks at her with a dead-pan look on his face, "You must be really sick if you believe that."

She let out a snicker only to breathe heavily after.

His body moved before he can even register what he was doing and he found himself closer to her bed, looking over her.

"See, you love me, yes." Kagura teased.

Sougo decided to ignore what she said and just asked the question.

"What happened?"

Kagura, this time, had the audacity to look away. "I collapsed. Didn't you hear?"

"Why?"

"Just the sun again, yes."

"This didn't happen before."

"Well, before, I didn't get exposed to high-level Altana. That triggered my condition. Although it was the Earth's altana. It was the same stuff that made Mami immortal and sick. Its possible it affected me."

"Hmmm."

"Why are you asking so much, yes? Are you actually in love with me?"

She let out a snicker but immediately stopped when she heard his reply.

"That might actually be the case China."

Her eyes narrowed in confusion as she finally looked back and found Sougo staring straight at her.

"What the heck does that mea-"

Before she could finish her sentence and before Sougo could think of an excuse, the door to the hospital room immediately opened and in came the two most dangerous creatures in the universe. At least, Umibouzo was really dangerous and Sougo is not that confident in fighting him. But the stupid pirate can definitely suck it.

"KAGURAAAAAAAA-CHAAAN." Omibouzo screams into the room.

"Shut up baldy. You're gonna kill her with that screech." The idiot pirate replied.

Upon seeing Sougo near the bed, however, both Yato were put to a stop. Umibouzo's face turned serious while Kamui's face darkened with a smirk.

"Look Baldy. The policeman boyfriend was here first." Kamui said.

"BOYFRIEND? Is this true young officer?!" Omibouzo exclaimed.

"Papiiiiii. Stop that, yes." Kagura softly interjected.

Hearing her voice immediately sobered the two, with Kamui's eyes widening for a second.

Sensing the change in the atmosphere, Sougo immediately moved towards the door silently. The two Yatos let him pass peacefully. Both of their attention solely focused on their youngest family. When he got outside, the rest of the Yorozuya, the Boss Lady, Hijakata, and Kondo-san were all waiting for him.

"Sougo, you can stay here if you want. We can assign other officers to cover your patrol." Kondo-san told him.

Sougo can't bring himself to answer. He can't stay here, he knew that. The hospital was a taboo place for him. And so without answering Kondo-san, he walked away from them towards the end of the hallway and eventually, out of the hospital. Just as he was crossing the gate, he looked up to the window of Kagura's room. Only to find Kamui staring straight down at him. He turned away and went back to the Shinsengumi compound. He went straight to the dojo and practiced his swings until Yamazaki called him to eat, telling him it was already morning.

—

Three days passed and he never went back to the hospital. Well, to be exact, he never went in. He just stood by the gate and stared at the window of her room until the urge to stay leaves him. It was a day later when he found himself going to the park to lie down on his favorite bence; only to find that Danna was sitting on said bench, apparently waiting for him.

He was about to turn away and go some place else when Danna answered his unsaid questions.

"They found a crystal. She's out of the hospital so I think you can go see her now."

Sougo looked back.

"Who found it?"

"It was the psychotic brother. Funnily enough, he always said that he'd kill Kagura if she became weak but just when she was really dying, he used all of his pirate connections to get an altana crystal. Two days. It only took him two days to find one and two days to bring it back here. Ha! Psychotic and sadistic idiots say one thing and does the other. Sounds like someone else we know, right?"

"Danna, if you're trying to say that I love that pig like how her idiot brother loves her then you're wrong."

"Oh? I didn't say anything about love though?"

"Yeah I know. It was me who said it."

Sougo answers indifferently. "Where is she?" He adds.

"Looking for you apparently." Danna said with a slight smirk on his face. "Go on now then Souichiro-kun. Just no fucking around and I mean that literally or else her monster familiy's gonna have your balls."

"Let them come, Danna. You too."

Gintoki grins fully now. He motions for Sougo to leave, standing up slowly from the bench while picking his nose.

—

Sougo found her by the bridge. She was sitting on the rails with her umbrella in hand. Typical China, already out under the sun just when she was dying from it days ago. As soon as he nears her though, she speaks.

"Papi said he's gonna come for you soon, yes."

"Danna already warned me and I told him to let them come."

"I told them that you confessed your undying love to me on my deathbed and Papi told me that I shouldn't fuck you unless you beat him."

"So crude China."

"And Kamui-nii said that he wants a round too, yes."

He sat beside her and removed his sword from his belt. Kagura turned to look at him while Sougo looked up at the sky

"Are you worried, China? Afraid I might die?"

"Well, you should be strong enough if you want to claim this beautiful lady, yes. You're not scared, are you?"

At this, Sougo looked down and stared at her blue eyes.

"Not really. Hospital beds are still scarier for me."Kagura's eyes glistened and she swallowed before she answered.

"Is that why you just spent all your time staring at my window?"

Sougo didn't answer. Well, he didn't need too. She understood.

"It won't happen again, yes."

"Yes, it won't."

Never again. Not under his watch. He's never gonna profess his love on a death bed again. Not unless they're both lying down on it.