[Gintama] Immortal

...What is this thing called "love"?

She had thought about it for a long time.

The little girl with soft and clear eyes like a young deer jumped up and down the ancient stone steps, happily shouting "Yae", the joy that lit up in her heart at that moment spread from the tip of her heart like a smile The same emotion, is it love?

The little girl who always tilted her head to listen to her stories later grew up and started a family. She stood beside the decaying shrine every day in the overgrown weeds, looking at the bluestone steps that no one came up to. , that, like the limestone corroded by the sea, gradually dimmed, gradually relieved, the sour and gratifying silence-is that also love?

Just like an adventure in childhood, an adventure before a child becomes an adult, the shrine hidden in the deep mountain is a secret that only two people know.The little girl becomes a girl, the girl becomes a wife, and the wife becomes a mother... Yes, people always have to return to the world of people, and the space she lives in remains static. Occasionally, one or two visitors come in, and eventually they have to learn Wave goodbye and let the other party go back to their original world.

……

Long time no see, you have become an old woman too.

The mountain cherry blossoms next to the shrine are in full bloom again, brilliantly and incomparably gorgeous.It's been a long time since you've been here, but don't worry, I've kept that shrine very well, and the time we've spent together doesn't seem to have changed at all.

... sleep peacefully.

As long as the cherry blossoms at the shrine are still in full bloom, no matter where your offspring are, just call my name, and I will answer.

……

……

please call me.

Please call my name.

No matter how much time has passed, just call that name, the name you gave me, the name that no one has called for a long, long time...

Because that's the name you named me, I decided to be Yae.

But that name has not been called for a long, long time.

If this continues, I won't even remember your voice.

Why leave me.Please don't leave me alone.

I……

Obviously, I have never felt this kind of mood before, even if I am alone, it doesn't matter.Obviously it's been like this all along, but——

Why fall in love with humans?

After knowing what love is, I am lonely.

Without you, I'm really lonely.

……

"That was probably decades after her death." Yazhong looked out the window, the sky was high and the clouds were light, and the shallow green hills disappeared on the horizon.

"I suddenly found that my memory began to blur, and I was afraid, so I tried to recall it over and over again. I even deleted the part of myself in the memory, leaving only the memory about her. The result Before I knew it, all I could recall were pictures of her smiling and calling me Yae."

In the memories blurred by time, only the name "Yae" resounds again and again.

Yae smiled and said: "But what is her name? By the time I realized it, it was too late. I don't remember, I can't remember."

"... Yae." Songyang seemed to want to say something to her.

"However, how can I forget her. I am the only person in this world who remembers her existence, Songyang."

If even she is forgotten, no one will remember that there was a little girl who, in order to pray for her sick mother, bravely came to the shrine in the mountains and wanted to dedicate her only copper coin to the god .

"I..." There was still a smile on the corner of the slightly curved mouth, Yae's voice choked up, Songyang slowly caressed her back, like comforting a fragile cub, carefully and gently wrapped her sad emotions: "It's okay, it's okay."

Patiently waiting for her to recover her breathing, Songyang held her cheeks and lowered his head to touch her forehead.With intertwined light-colored and jet-black long hair, he gently lowered his eyes, and there was a soft smile in his voice that no one could refuse:

"The flowers in the mountains are already blooming, let me take you to see them, okay?"

The snow has just melted, and the scenery in the deep mountains is covered with withered yellow.The towering ancient trees cover the sunlight, leaving only a faint golden ray, which slantly falls like fog, illuminating the light dust wandering in the air.

No birdsong, no crows, no step of the deer, no rustling of the fox through the bushes, all was as still as if the earth were still covered in the silent winter, and withered dry branches stretched out, Like ink falling on rice paper.

In that lonely color, a lonely mountain flower blooms in a remote corner illuminated by the sun.Clusters of soft petals bloom on the flower branches. From a distance, it looks like unmelted snow accumulated on the branches. Only when you get close can you smell the faint fragrance.

Yae stretched out her hand, and the light yellow petals fell from the branches and landed in her palm.

Her shoulders suddenly warmed up, she turned her head, Songyang draped the feathers on her shoulders, slightly bent his eyebrows, and smiled at her: "This year's mountain flowers bloom very early."

"..."

"Pretty, isn't it?"

Yae hummed lightly, and looked up at the petals falling down like blowing snow.

The misty sunshine shrouded the flower branches, and the deep mountains in this season were so quiet that people felt a little lonely.The soft mountain flowers falling on the tip of the nose and brushing the cheeks seem to fall into the silent time, hazy and charming.

Songyang quietly broke off a mountain flower and called her: "Bazhong."

When she turned around, he raised his hand and pinned the light-yellow flower into her hair on the temples beside her ears.

Yae blinked once, then blinked again.She reached out and touched the flowers in her hair carefully.

The green eyes sparkled with a smile, and Songyang smiled and said, "I've wanted to do this for a long time."

"... At a time like this, should I say, "I didn't expect you to be such a Songyang"? "

Song Yang touched her cheek, his fingers were slightly warm, and his movements contained tenderness: "Of course it's up to you."

The mountain flowers are falling in the silent sunlight.Blooming and withering flowers are time, towering old trees are time, four seasons are time, and people are also time.

"I remember, Yae." The kiss that landed on the corner of the eyes was so soft that it seemed to melt. "I remember." Song Yang said to her softly.

August [-]th.The unforgettable color was the first gift he received in his life.

It was a very, very happy time.

"...Thank you." Yae raised his head.

Song Yang smiled and said, "You seem to have said this sentence before."

Yae raised his eyebrows slightly: "Then what should I say?"

"No need to say anything."

Songyang looked at her quietly for a while, the soft mountain flowers fell from the branches to her shoulders, he stretched out his hand, as if he wanted to brush off the petals for her, he closed his palms slightly, he held her shoulders, bowed his head and kissed her softly on her lips.

A very light touch, the soft feeling rests on the lips, without the slightest hint of aggression and possession, except for the careful tenderness, it is still gentle, as if she is some kind of hard-won treasure, and when she is held in the palm of her hand, she is extremely sympathetic.

In the misty sunshine, the mountain flowers fell silently one after another.

After a long and short silence at the same time, Songyang ended this shallow kiss that seemed to be hallucinatory.He stepped back a little, straightened up, with a understanding smile on his lips, and whispered to her:

"If you have something to do, do it."

If you have to go somewhere, go there.

Yae showed a slightly surprised look.She looked at Songyang, and looked at him seriously for a long time.

"Before then," she paused, "I've taken up enough of your limited time. You also have people you must meet, don't you?"

That was probably almost 20 years ago.

"Talk to him, Songyang." Yae said slowly.

The twelfth generation of Naraku of Amaterasu-in suddenly brought back a child in the cold moonlight one day.

……

The majestic mountain gate, the exquisite Buddhist scripture pavilion, the massive Buddhist hall, the quaint martial arts field - she knows everything in this organization, and even with her eyes closed, she can clearly feel every mechanism under every floor, every door. The secret passage behind the door.

The wind blew from the distant horizon, passed through the plank road built on the mountainside, and made her clothes rustle.

Yae wrapped her black feathers tightly, stood by the fence and looked down. More than 20 years ago, she was standing here watching the twelfth generation Muxu return to Tianshaoyuan Naraku. The child in her arms was wrapped in a loose robe, and the bloody smell that accompanied that person all year round had faded a lot.

Her mood was a bit complicated at the time.

I heard that people who make a living by killing are prone to some mental problems. She has always been fully prepared, waiting for some day or other, and something will happen suddenly, but she has cultivated the interest in being a father. This was something she hadn't expected.

The leader of the killer organization, who had been soaked in blood for 500 years, brought up the child on that day, learned to cover the little guy with a quilt, took his temperature, hid in the corner to observe secretly, and learned to talk to people as approachably as possible.

The darkness and blood that had accumulated on that person for so many years began to peel off bit by bit, revealing emotions close to human beings.

Virtually learned to laugh.

The eyes are bent, the corners of the mouth are slightly raised, like ordinary people, showing a warm smile.

In just a few months, in 500 years, it is just a snap of the fingers.But compared with the 500 years of stagnation, the few short months spent together with Oboro seemed like a truly flowing time.

So is her time.

——What exactly is "love"?

There was a slight movement from the side, and Yae came back to his senses. The gray-haired man stood by the fence of the plank road at some point, and looked at the distance she was looking at without saying a word, and he didn't know how long he stayed there.

His left eye was out of sight, and the eyelid was slightly drooping and closed peacefully.His expression was always silent and forbearing, but at this moment, those things that had been pressing on him, those things that were too heavy to be seen, seemed to suddenly disappear temporarily, and were taken away from him by someone.

Oboro wasn't smiling, and there seemed to be a hint of confusion on his face after he had unburdened himself.

Yafold opened her mouth, and after a while, she finally found her voice:

"hazy?"

Love makes people happy, but it also makes people learn to hate.

Love makes people tolerant, but it also makes people suddenly jealous.

The man with a dazed expression turned his head, and for a moment, Yae seemed to see the child who would smile at him more than 20 years ago again.

"What's the matter?" After saying this, the low voice paused slightly.

The tiniest arc appeared on the other side's lips, and it was quickly put away.

There was a look of relief on Hazy's face, and he responded to her:

"... Yae."

At that moment, she suddenly knew that this person was going to die.

Love can make a person lonely.