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Yamazaki Sagaru had been through many things since he had joined the nation’s Shinsengumi. He had fought alongside people who saved the world, he met a man who could not die, he became a goddamn robot cop and was generally a good man who fought to protect his country and the people he cared and admired for. Yet Yamazaki Sagaru, the lead Inspector of the force, the man who was as skilled as a ninja and had his own licence to prove it and was in charge of many operations that put his own life at stake, did not, could not, grasp the situation in he was currently in.
Before the man stood a little girl, with brilliant vermillion hair and purplish eyes and did not even reach his hip. She wore her hair in two buns, covered with a black accessory with gold embellishments and a red cape that dragged a bit behind her. She lifts her purple eyes to him and stares at him and blinks. “Do you know where I can find my daddy?” she asks him, lifting her hand and poking a small, stubby finger into her cheek.
What the fuck? His mind screamed at him, losing every bit of his composure. The child in front looked exactly like the Yorozuya’s resident red haired Yato, the one the Shinsengumi were familiar with as China-girl, a moniker that stuck with her due to her clothing and foreign antics, he hadn’t really known the details.
“Um,” he begins and clears his throat, the words momentarily escaping him, “Who- who is your father?” he asks her. It couldn’t have been Sakata or someone at the Shinsengumi either. As far as he knew, the girl was still young and the child in front of him didn’t look more than three or four. The situation was bothering him and he was a few words away from getting this child into protective services and starting a new investigation into the matter.
“Okita Sougo!” The little girl gleefully says, a smile on her face.
Yamazaki Sagaru collapses onto the streets of Edo.
“Aw,” Kagura comments, “He passed out too quickly. I thought he would’ve been some more fun.” She doesn’t shift out of her child state and the strange glances that she received from people on the street as the police fainted in front of her would’ve raised enough questions. She ponders what to do and decides that hiking him up against the side of the wall was enough. When Yamazaki was dealt with, she begins to head for the headquarters itself. There she was, at least, a familiar sight among the men. She planned to see how many of the policemen she could rope into believing that Kanna was the child of Okita Sougo. A playful prank between the two.
The gates of the headquarters were, as always, open and she freely enter. One of the men, clad in the normal uniform approaches her as she walks. “Can we help you?” he asks her in a kind tone, dropping to her level. Kagura didn’t know his name and neither was he a familiar face to her, “Are you lost?”
“No,” she shakes her head, “I’m looking for my papa,” she tells him.
“Oh,” the man says, “Is he one of us? Or-” she nods before he continues, “Okay, what’s his name? Or yours?”
“I’m Okita Kanna,” she tells him, her voice high and a grin on her face, “My papa is Okita Sougo!” All heads turn to look at her, officers fall to the ground, pens and pots and pans and other various equipment drop and break in the vicinity of every man who hears.
“What the hell are you morons up to?” a familiar voice breaks through the new silence of the previously bustling front yard of the Shinsengumi headquarters.
“Vice-chief!” The man who was speaking to her cries out when he sees Hijikata Toshiro show his face. He had an unlit cigarette in his mouth and seemed to be fishing his lighter out of his jacket as he approaches them.
“Eh?” Hijikata responds, “I came to see what’s the fuss about. Why all the noise? If you have nothing to do, go ahead and commit seppuku.”
“No, no,” the man says, “This girl here, she says she’s,” he stops and looks at Kagura again. He looked to be taking in her appearance again and his mouth stays open as his eyes flicker between her and the vice chief.
“She’s what?” Hijikata says, pulling the lighter that looked like a mayo bottle and clicking it.
“She says she’s Captain Okita’s daughter.”
The lighter erupts into a large flame that encompasses Hijikata’s face and disappears quickly but effectively lighting his cigarette. The dark haired vice chief looks at the girl, his blue eyes wide and his mouth open.
“I’ll deal with this,” he says after a moment and shoos the other man away. He looks at Kagura and ushers her inside the building, “You say you’re Sougo’s daughter? What are you, like from the future?”
“The future?” Kagura asks him as she removes her shoes, “I always come here looking for my papa. I don’t know who you are though, Uncle.”
“Huh?” Hijikata says, “What? I’m your uncle Hijikata.”
Kagura shakes her head, “I don’t know you. Papa said Hijikata, his brother, died before I was born.” She ends up taking the role of ‘daughter from the future’ before she knew it. At least, with Hijikata as the sight of him squirming that Sougo would have a child and he would be dead made him uncomfortable. She laughs internally as she sees him become visibly pale.
“Kid-”
“My name is Kanna!”
“Kanna-chan,” Hijikata corrects himself, “How are you? Did you come across a time machine or something?”
Kagura shakes her head, “No,” she tells him, “I always come here to see Daddy.”
“Okay, who’s your mom?” Hijikata asks her instead.
“Mammy!” is all she tells him as they arrive in front of Sougo’s room.
Hijikata doesn’t prod further as he opens the door for her and says to the man, “Sougo, you have a kid here,” and leaves. Kagura watches as he pulls out three cigarettes and shakily places them into his mouth, frantically clicking at the light to fuel his nicotine addiction.
"What? Have you lost it?" a familiar sadistic voice says as Sougo looks up from his very comfortable napping position upon his chair. "Where's Hijikata?" He asks when his eyes fall upon Kagura.
Of course, she knew she wouldn't fool Sougo. He had seen her like this several times already. Kagura shrugs, "He left already," she tells him and closes the door. She doesn't shift out of her childish form either, still hoping she could get one or two people inside the room to continue her game.
"Why're you like that?" Sougo asks her, "I thought you came to see me. I'm not a lolicon if that's what you want me to admit," he says, fixing himself back into his sleeping position, "I like my girlfriend her normal way."
"Who said I'm your girlfriend hm?" Kagura asks him, "I'm your daughter," her voice shifting to a higher and childish pitch. "My name's Okita Kanna!"
"I wouldn't name our daughter that," he said, "I'd like her to be named after my sister if you don't mind."
Kagura's heart flutters at the fact of her boyfriend saying those words, as if he saw them together and having a future, one with children as well. She doesn't blush as she knew she currently looked like a child and thought it herself to be weird to behave like an teen in her current form.
She moves over to sit on one of the seats in Sougo's office space. She, in her normal age, frequented the place often to visit Sougo. She typically came around lunch time, to eat their food and found a time to fight with her boyfriend in the Shinsengumi's spacious training room. The room was small with only a desk, two chairs for visitors and a luxurious one that Sougo currently occupied and was taking a nap. There was a stack of papers on his desk, clearly untouched and two bookshelves behind him that held more files.
"Sougo!" A gorilla yells and stumbles into the room. The sandy coloured young man flies up from his position, sitting up immediately and rubbing his eyes. He looks at child Kagura, who managed to climb on top of his desk from the chair and hisses at her to get down.
"What's this about you having a child? I raised you right! What would your sister say if she knew you had a child and wasn't married, much less dating someone who isn't the mother?" Kondo rambles, the words leaving his mouth quickly and not looking at the red haired girl. "Who's the mother?"
Sougo laughs, a short and cruel sound as he tucks his hands behind his head and lies back on his chair, "I don't have a child Kondo-san," he says, "This is just China," he gestures to her and Kondo finally sees her.
"Hi!" She greets him, "I'm Okita Kanna!"
The gorilla looks at Sougo and his mouth drops open as he takes a seat in front of the desk. "Sougo," he begins, "Did you have a child with China?"
"That is China," Sougo tells him and Kagura frowns, "It's one of her scary Amanto skills. I don't know why she's like this or what she wants to get from this though," he finishes and glares at her.
"Papa says that but I'm Kanna. My mammy had me when she left Edo," she tells Kondo, "Are you the Gorilla?"
Kondo looks at Sougo again, "She called China her mother Sougo," he says, "What did you do? Is that Yorozuya boss coming to kill you for deflowering his daughter?"
Sougo looks at Kagura and at Kondo and realises that the other man wasn't believing his words. "She's really not my daughter though," he repeats himself slowly, "That's Kagura herself. It's one of her skills," he tells him, "Besides, we weren't together back then, Kondo-san."
"If she's the China girl, why does she look like a child still?" Kondo turns and looks at Kagura, "Aren't you this fool's daughter little China? You look just like your mother too," she nods at his words.
The gorilla can't seem to find more words to say and looks at Sougo with pity on his face, "I can't help you if the Yorozuya boss wants to kill you anymore Sougo. I beg of you," he says, "if this is your child and that's her mother, sort it out with them."
Sougo sighs and drags a hand down his face, his red eyes full of annoyance that he directs towards Kagura. "Why are you doing this?" he mutters to her as he sees Kondo leave the room.
"Because," Kagura says and winces as she begins to grow, her limbs extending and her body returning to her usual form, "I thought it'd be fun, yes."
"You're horrible," he tells her but his voice has no malice. She smiles sweetly as she moves off the desk to sit on top of her boyfriend. She unbuckles her cape from at her neck, carefully putting it aside and letting her reddish-pink cheongsam come out. Sougo's arms reach around her, pulling her towards him. "You made my men believe we have a child and at our age too," he says to her, "How are you going to clear that up?"
She shrugs, "They'll forget," she says, "And I can just show them it was me. Besides, wasn't it funny?" she asks her boyfriend, shifting herself in his lap to flick at his nose.
He looks at her in irritation and opens his mouth to speak and tells her that it wasn't funny. "And," he adds, "how'd you change your eyes?"
Kagura smirks, opening one of her eyes with her fingers and using her free arm, she presses into it. "Blue," she begins and pulls out the contact, "and red makes purple."
"You think our kid will have purple eyes?" Sougo asks her, his eyebrow raised.
"I wasn't trying to be literal okay," she sniffs and his arms tighten around her.
"I think our first boy will have my hair," he muses, "and your eyes. The girl will look like you but with my eyes. What do you think?"
"I'm not marrying you," is all she can say as she is interrupted by the door sliding open.
At the front was Hijikata, with Kondo and Yamazaki flocked to his sides and numerous other members of the Shinsengumi behind them. He analyses the scene before him when he slides the door open, with Kagura sitting on Sougo's lap and his arms around her. "Sorry for interrupting," he mutters and slides it closed again.
Kagura and Sougo look at each other and blink and mischievous smiles appear on both of their faces. The door opens again and a red faced Hijikata screams at them, "Where's the kid?" He looks around the room and pales again when he doesn't see Kanna. "What happened to your kid?"
"She's right here," Sougo says and reaches to pat his girlfriend's head. Kagura leans back into his embrace and smiles awkwardly.
"So," Kondo says, "You were telling the truth?"
"Yes," Sougo tells his superior, the chief of the Shinsengumi. “You wouldn’t listen to me,”
"And you're not your kid from the future?" Hijikata asks her and she shakes her head sheepishly.
"Then Captain Okita isn't a lecherous young man who laid hands on a young girl?" Yamazaki was the one who asked this question and Hijikata hit the older man on his head. "Ow!" he exclaims, "Vice-chief, you don't understand. A little girl told me she was Okita's daughter. She looked exactly like the Yorozuya’s girl too!"
Hijikata turns his attention to the two young people sitting too close together. "You two will be the death of us," he mutters and slides the door shut but not before saying, "Go kill your old man too won't you China-girl?"
"Well," Kagura starts, "They took that well, yes?"
Sougo hums in response and presses a kiss to his girlfriend's temple, "I hope," he says, "You're well prepared for anything I bring next in this war, my dearest."