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]

If there was one thing that Goku could be swayed by, it was food. The youngster almost always found himself hungry, even after a good meal, but for some reason at the moment he couldn't remember quite why; just that there was a reason. And if there was one teacher he could seem to count on as a seeming reservoir of delicious treats, it was Ginpachi- his favorite teacher. Not only did he seem to get away with just about anything in that class, but it was one of the few that he actually seemed to do well in. He wasn't sure if it was because it was easier to understand, or if maybe it was just easier than his other classes; but whatever it was, basically saved his butt

[jumpismylife]

Gintoki pretty much almost fell out of his chair at the sudden entrance from the kid. The man jumped a little in his seat at the loud voice booming so freaking close to him. He was forced to grip against the edge of the desk to steady himself a little and calm down before the freelancer turned to the boy, smiling sincerely in return. Everytime he saw the boy, he just couldn't help but feel a little lighter than before - maybe it was just something in the kid, but whenever he saw the youngster it simply just brightened his day just like that, and Gintoki really didn't know why. But it was a good feeling, nevertheless.

"Hey there, kiddo," he greeted back warmly, hand almost automatically going to ruffle up the boy's hair affectionately - mindful to avoid messing the diadem around his head, of course. "Glad to see you're still as cheerful as ever," he chuckled out a little, but still smiling anyway before asking gently. "How was your day today now?"

[monkey_meatbun]

Goku dropped his heavy yet effortlessly towed-around book bag to the ground inside the door, squinting his eyes slightly when his hair was ruffled. "Ah! Uh, 'm good I guess! Hehehehe, looks like my banana peel trick worked awesome!" he grinned, before remembering his scolding for it- "But... I guess it wasn't such a great idea in retrospect. Ah well, I'll come up with something better.." He shrugged, pouting just slightly about having gotten caught and cleaning it up. "Uh, you didn't get in trouble or anything, didja?" The monkey asked. He would definitely feel guilty if someone other than him got the axe for his trick, and especially if it was Ginpachi.

"Anyway, classes were boring as usual... I slept through math I think," Goku scritched behind his head, plopping himself down at a desk right in front of Ginpachi's. "Uhhh... how were your classes?"

[jumpismylife]

The freelancer only chuckled slightly at the youngster - ah, if only he could have been a child again; as troubling as his childhood was, those were the days after all... Gintoki's warm smile continued to stick on his face, true and sincere as he patted the kid on the head once more before withdrawing his hand. "Ahahaha... no, not really. Just make sure your pranks don't hurt people next time, alright?" Well, he was in some form of trouble. What with a none-too gentle chide from Sebastian and a somewhat stern warning (was it even a warning? Gintoki could never tell) from that vice-principal about his teaching habits, it was obvious that his laid-back style was the cause of great discussion. The natural perm never really paid any mind though - in the end, this wasn't really real after all

[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...