Life is a Test || Complete

[jumpismylife]

Who: Sakata Gintoki (jumpismylife) & Son Goku (monkey_meatbun)
What: Goku comes to receive his bribe reward from Gintoki Ginpachi. And then some oddball cute... fluff... thing. Yeah.
When: Mid-Afternoon of 16th June
Where: Starting in Gintoki Ginpachi's office, and then the forest.
Summary: After loads of bribing promises of rewards to Goku, the monkey boy comes to cash it

Comments

[monkey_meatbun]

Goku 'huuum'd and thought about Gin's advice. That was.. generally, what he did tend to do- taking classes as they came, and tests, and just about everything else. He didn't really prepare- or do much actual studying in his schoolwork for that matter. The only things he ever really planned were some of his bigger pranks, but even those were usually spontaneous in nature. Maybe then, he was just imagining it, the feeling that he had a completely different life seperate from the one he appeared to be living at that moment- no, more than one life, in fact. A dream of another life..

There was something else though. A dream- or so he thought- that he had woken up from that morning. He could only remember it a little, but he had two distinct impressions from it- a lonely, trapped feeling- and suddenly, a golden brightness like the sun. He couldn't place either thought coherently, however, and had no idea what they meant. "Ne, Gin-sensei.. Ya ever woken up at night and wished you could see the sun again?"

[jumpismylife]

Gintoki blinked again at the boy, surprised by the question. Well that... was certainly a mysterious question to ask. The freelancer didn't respond immediately, but rather looked back up to the multicolored sky and thought about it for a while.

More often than not, the former samurai would always be awoken in the middle of the night by his nightmares - the haunting of his past, of soulless eyes and violent battles replayed again and again in his mind's eye. The only exception to that was when he got himself drunk (which he hadn't really done ever since that last time...) - even sleeping with Hijikata, Gintoki would still be awoken, disturbed and troubled by the replays of his bloody past. Although if he had to admit, the nightmares had eased quite a lot, especially moreso when besides the vice-commander. Maybe in a way like that...

"...can't say I haven't, I guess," the natural perm finally managed out as adequate as an answer as he could come with. "Why's that?"

[monkey_meatbun]

"I have this dream... naw, its more like a memory- that I wake up to- of bein' cold and alone, and then suddenly... the bright light like the sun comes, and I'm warm again..." Goku explained, having paused in his ice cream eating. The monkey went silent, staring off before him, before peering down at the teacher and grinning sheepishly. "Ya prolly think 'm crazy, huh teach?" he laughed, finishing his second cone and starting on the last one. "Ah well, it's just a dream anyway! No need to get all worked up over it, right?" The monkey dismissed, going on happily and loudly devouring his last ice cream cone.

In all truthfulness, though, that night he had woken up feeling more lost and alone than he could remember, despite knowing his 'caretaker' Hakkai and his 'fellow adopted brother' Gojyo were right there like they always were. He wasn't sure what the strange dream he'd had meant, but it had definitely been bugging him all day- maybe that was why he had decided to distract himself with that big prank with the banana peels...

[jumpismylife]

"Ah? Well, that's certainly an interesting dream..." Gintoki went as he looked at the youngster. He didn't know much about the monkey, except for a few tidbits here and there which didn't make much sense to him. But in any case, the man blinked a few times as Goku shook himself out of his deep thought and the freelancer laughed a bit himself. "Ahahaha... its fine, you're not crazy," he replied with a warm smile. "Don't think so much, yeah? I'm sure you'll figure it out sooner or later, eventually." Or at the end of the week, most likely.

Gintoki however, knew what was wrong. This was all not real, all an illusion made by those owls. He somehow had not been fully affected, though the blending of his two memories were rather confusing. His own as who he is, and this one... his supposed life as a teacher were at best spotty, the gaps filling in only when needed. Hell, he had no idea Shouyou was here until Takasugi said about it! The natural perm only sighed again. Well, this was a rather interesting curse, in the least...

[monkey_meatbun]

Goku, on the other hand, had recieved little to no warning of the 'curses' that were rampant about in this place, having arrived only a few days before it had started. Therefore, he had no idea that his mind would be messed with in such a way, and perhaps knowing would have made him even a little less susceptable to the curse. In any case, it appeared he only had those small inklings of a suspicion that something was up, and was otherwise completely taken in by the illusion

[jumpismylife]

The Hibou, if anything, certainly knew how to make their curses work really well. Everything was all so... well, real. As if it was all true... but yet Gintoki knew it was not real, surreal and unrtue as anything else, and still... it was a bit hard to digest, really.

The natural perm looked up at the kid at the question, one hand running through his hair again, mainly out of habit. "Hm? What is it then now? Nothing that'll be too disastrous, I hope," he asked, warm smile on his face. As troublesome as Goku's pranks were from time to time (and the many times that vice-principal was on his tail), they were indeed rather amusing to no end.

[monkey_meatbun]

"Hahaaa, well I got to thinking, maybe it'd be funny if during gym period I went and switched all the stuff in the lockers around, ya know? Hehe, it wouldn't be that much harm so I wouldn't get in trouble, but it'd sure be funny to watch! Of course I'd have to switch my stuff too, so it's not so obvious," The monkey grinned. "I wouldn't steal anything though, promise! .. Well, maybe a lunch or two.."

The monkey grinned and went on to his plotting, forgetting all about the talk of thought of another existance.

[jumpismylife]

The freelancer only continued to smile as he looked at the youngster in his plotting, somehow feeling a sense of warmth in his heart. He knew he had a rather big weakness for kids like him, although he'd never admit it... it was just nice seeing them being so innocent and just... well, who they were, before reality truly sank inside them and forced them to change.

Gintoki again laughed and chuckled a little at that idea. "Well, I suppose it can't be too bad..." he went with a smile before shrugging and sighing a little before he replied, "...as long as you don't take so many lunches, and don't take all of their lunch." As much as he knew the vice-principal (and possibly most of the other teachers) would be on his case for even allowing something like that, Gintoki figured it would be nice anyway... some laughs were what they needed the most now, after everything before this.

[monkey_meatbun]

The youngster laughed happily and freely, just as any youngster his age and personality would, completely betraying the underlying truth of what he really was, and what he was truly capable of when his true self was unleashed from its celestial cage.

Oh, if only Gintoki knew.

"Ahhhh, I won't~! I'll only take the ones that smell really, super, ULTRA good!" He laughed, kicking his legs over the branch idly. "I wonder if I'll get away with this one? Prolly not, huh.. I bet they'll suspect me before anyone. Ah well, it's totally worth it anyway! I do it for fun, not to test if I get caught, anyway." He shrugged and hopped down from his branch, landing easily on his feet. "Ahh...! Man that's good ice cream! I gotta remember to come back here more often!" The youth grinned brightly.

[jumpismylife]

It was possibly for the best that Gintoki didn't know - it would be hard for him to adjust and accept that fact. For now, the man just simply enjoyed his time with the youngster and passed the days as they were. It was better to leave things like that as they were. The troubling issues could come later.

A smile came to the freelancer as he chuckled at the sight of the kid. "Well, not too much, as big as that stomach is. I swear, your stomach is as bad as Kagura's," he teased lightly, getting up as well while the kid jumped down from the branch. "Just be careful, okay?" he said warmly, hand going to ruffle the kid's hair affectionately once more. "As I've said, there's only so many times I can try and get you out of trouble."

[monkey_meatbun]

"Gojyo thinks it's a bottomless pit..." Goku mumbled with a light pout. "Kagura...? Whosat?" The monkey asked. "Is she a friend of yours or something?" Goku squirmed slightly at the head ruffle again, and started shuffling off a little, back in the direction from whence they came. "Ahhh, ok, I'll be fine. I mean... it's not like ya gotta bail me out everytime, ya know? I.. I can take the heat, once in awhile I guess." Goku rubbed the back of his neck, with a slight shrug. He still... wasn't sure quite why Ginpachi always helped him out, but he was grateful for it, that was for sure. He would've been toast ages ago without it, probably.

"Hey teach... why do ya always save my ass, anyway?"

[jumpismylife]

"Eh... I guess you can put it that way. She's not here though," Gintoki replied, though the look in his eyes was distant. Just how were the two kinds handing back at the yorozuya, anyway? Were they doing fine? How were they handling without him... he couldn't help but worry. After all, he was responsible for the two teenagers...

He was shaken out of his thoughts at the next question, and the freelancer blinked as he looked at the monkey boy. Why was he helping Goku anyway? The man certainly had no real reason why, but he was just compelled to... he simply felt the need to protect the youngster. Maybe an internal instinct, perhaps, but still... it was an odd feeling, a mysterious impulse that the natural perm couldn't really explain in words.

"...well, maybe because I just felt like it, I suppose," the man shrugged, not really knowing how to put an adequate answer to the child.

[monkey_meatbun]

"Oooh, I get it, they live far away?" Goku scratched his head. Come to think of it, he couldn't remember ever having left the 'town' now, even to go to the next town over... How very strange. He had to ask about that, too sometime.

Goku hmm'd and thought about his response. He was certainly by no means obligated to the boy, nor did he really ever gain anything by helping him out. It almost made him feel a little guilty. "Hey, that mean ol' vice principle hasn't done anything bad cuz you're helping me, has he?" Goku asked, frowning. "Cuz.. ya know.." He trailed off, but wanted to tell Gin that he felt bad for getting him in trouble because of his antics.

[jumpismylife]

"I guess... you could say that," Gintoki replied with a small smile. How was he to tell the kid that Kagura and the Yorozuya was in another world, and whatever was happening now was just an illusion? A very real illusion, but still. He only hoped Goku would believe in this until the end of the week and not go probing into anything at all - the results could be disastrous.

The freelancer sighed as he ruffled the kids hair again, still smiling warmly as he replied to the next question. "Hmm? Well... no, not really. I've been fine, kid. Don't need to worry about me and just enjoy yourself now, eh?" he said warmly as he continued down the way back to the school. "C'mon now, its getting late. We'd better head back."

[monkey_meatbun]

Goku looked up at the sky, now beginning to tint warmer in the colors of dusk, the sun beginning to settle in the West. Something about that image flickered in Goku's head for a moment, and he felt a sudden important need to head in that direction- moving from where the sun rose, to where it set. "That's weird.." he mumbled aloud, scratching his head in confusion but shrugging it off and leaping into the nearest tree, swinging along through branches once more and following after Gin.

"Hey Ginpachi-sensei, you ever been outta town?" The monkey asked, deciding to question the issue. "I can't seem to remember.."

[jumpismylife]

The sun was setting... Gintoki looked into the darkening multicolored horizon, eyes looking into the distance as his mind recalled back the times in Edo before he wound up here. Already over four months had passed since he'd woken up and found himself here - it seemed so fast and yet so short. Everything seemed to have flown by in a flash, and so much had happened... so much.

"Hm?" the yorozuya went, blinking in surprise at the question again. The kid was really being too curious for his own good... "Well... not as much as I can recall..." he muttered out a half-truth. Best to keep things they were after all and not mess up anything.