Through The Fire

Echo sat ontop of the roof, her slender and lightly tanned legs hanging off the side. Her brownish honey colored hair was thrown over her shoulder and she was dressed in a tank top with blue jeans. She looked out over her city, it was calm at the moment, everyone was alseep in their little houses, She sighed lightly, being seventeen and the leader of a race was not easy, in fact it was grueling work.

She loved it though, she was making something of herself, and fullfilling the promis she had vowed to do when her mother died. Echo's ear twitched as she heard someone step behind her and in an instant she was up with her bow strung and an arrow aimed at the intruders heart.

{{Sorry its so short... im no good at first post}}

Gintoki had been hired to reapair roofs in the neutral grounds that day, as the workers were often being killed by punk vampires. He didn't wear his usual kimono and pants, but instead had on worker's pants, a haori, and a hard hat. Although he was a lazy slacker, money wasn't easy to come by, so he had to put his all into pain in the ass jobs like this. As Gin hammered a nail into the roof, he saw out of the corner of his eye someone sitting nearby. She would be getting in the way soon enough, so he stood up and walked towards her.
"Excuse me miss your-"
Gin couldn't finish the sentence before the girl turned around and aimed a bow and arrow at him. Gin raised his arms and screamed. What the hell was up with this? Why is a girl carrying such a dangerous weapon? More importantly, why was she aiming it at him?!

As Echo saw the intruder and noticed it was just another human, one of her, someone she was leading she lowered the bow. "Sorry. You can't be too careful in the nutral grounds." She quickly appoligised and reached out her hand to interduce herself. "Im Echo." Was all she said, she didn't really like to flaunt about the status.

She flashed a small smile, moved her blue hair behind her ears and petted the ferret on her shoulder. She looked back at Gin-San. "And you are?" She asked after a moment when he didn't answer imeadatly. Now she wasn't a spoilded leader, in fact the quite opposite, she just demanded respect.

Echo...so this girl was...? Gintoki got on his knees and bowe. "Its an honor to meet the Human Leader. Please forgive my rudeness. My name is Master Shintai Rokugan Valentinez III." Gin didn't really care about respecting the human leader. He didn't really care about the fate of his race or the worlds. But still, it must've been hard to be so young and be chosen to succeed a role played by the amazing man he once called his master. But Gin just wanted to live his life now. He stood up and resumed his earlier sentemce. "I'm in the middle of work, kid. If you don't want to be caught off gaurd by a flying loose nail, you'd best move."

Echo blushed a bit as he got on his knees, it rather embarrassed her and she wished he would get up. As he did she sighed in relief then her anger flared as he continued to talk. Oh no the hell he just didn't call her a kid. He face was set in an immediate glare as she watched him, her arms folded. She looked at him stubbornly. "Don't call me kid." She said flatly.

{{Sorry its so short}}

((Don't worry about it, short posts save me a lot of time. I don't wanna sit here reading 11 paragraphs lol ))

Gintoki looked at her with dead eyes, that always hid what he was thinking. "Unless your a vampire or demon or ghost, whose age defies their looks, your a kid. An adult like me has the right to call you kid...until you prove your worth in gambling or drinking." Gintoki was just messing with her now. In reality, he saw anyone who maturely dealt with hardships as an adult. This girl had the whole weight of the human race on her shoulders. If she couldn't deal with one obnoxious man however, how could she deal with the world? He of all people, tougher than anyone could have led the humans, but his dislike of violence and war made him leave the position to someone else. Gin went back to his spot and began hammering on a nail again, only to hit his thumb and start crying and screaming with a high-pitched voice.

Her temper flared even more. Who the hell did he think he was? As he turned around she stuck her tongue out and began cursing softly, something he would not hear. She stood there for a moment, thinking about just walking off and leaving him to do whatever it was he was doing, and as she did so she heard his scream. Now of course the first thing she wanted to do was smile, pulling a big grin, and laugh her ass off while she pointed at him. But her better judgment got a hold of her and she rushed over. "Are you ok?"

Gintoki kept on screaming, holding his thumb in pain, but then realized that Echo was still there and was asking if he was okay. Gin couldn't let himself be seen as a wimp after the tough time he just gave her. He took a deep breath and gave her a thumbs up with his bad thumb, shedding a tear. His thumb was swollen and bleeding a bit. "Of course I'm all right...adults don't cry...though I'm starting to feel a bit dizzy..." Gintoki didn't like the site of himself bleeding. He began to stagger a bit before falling over onto his face and starting to roll off the roof.

"Of course I'm all right...adults don't cry...though I'm starting to feel a bit dizzy..." She chuckled. a bit, a low and humored sounding thing. "And i guess that's why your not an adult." She said calmly. As he began to sway she got worried, she watched him for a moment then as he fell he instincts quickly kicked in and she was on the other side of him. her body braced to stop his from rolling anymore.

Gintoki was saved from falling off by the girl and he breathed out a sigh of relief. He looked up at her and smiled, "I am an adult...I'm just a boy at heart...." Gin stood up and dusted himself off, then ripped off some fabric from his haori and wrapped it around his thumb. He then reached inside his pocket, trying to find something. Gin pulled out a buisness card and handed it to her. The card read, "Jack of all trades, Odd Jobs Gin-san."
"Thats me. Got any problems? Just give me a call, I'll give you a discount..." he said dully, before picking up his hammer again.

"I am an adult...I'm just a boy at heart...." She laughed, a trilling bell kind of sound that echoed off the rooftops and came back to them. "How funny, i was going to say your a boy just an infant at heart." She retorted as she handed her his card. She smiled softly, her lips pressed together in almost a disapproving way. She took the card and cocked her head to the side. She honestly wanted to make some smart ass remark about if he always gave girls his number the first time they met. But she figured he wasn't one of those kinds of guys and would just father disapprove of her as a leader and see her more of a child. So she just smiled. "I might give you a call."

Gin watched as she looked at his card. The disapproving smile she wore ticked Gin off. In reality, she though Gin was trying to give her his number. In Gin's head, he saw the smile as a way of saying, "What the hell is this crap? I just saved your life, give me some damn money."
Gin reached in his pocket again and pulled out an amulet. "I can't give you anything else for saving my life, as I'm extremely poor...but what I can give you, is this magical amulet that makes you smell like vanilla and a spell that makes you less nervous in job interviews..." he said with an honest tone. Of course the stuff didn't actually work but Gin liked to believe it did...

"I can't give you anything else for saving my life, as I'm extremely poor...but what I can give you, is this magical amulet that makes you smell like vanilla and a spell that makes you less nervous in job interviews..." Echo's face went into a flat emotionless plaine. Though her eyes spelled out her suprise. She stood there for just a moment. "I don't want you money. And if you as poor as you say you are I would actually pay you twice as much to work for me." She said with a bit of truth in her voice. She didn't like to think of her nation to be poor and easy to prey upon, so she did what she cold to make sure everyone was an equal.

She would pay him twice as much? Gin perked up his ears and got on his knees, bowing again, only this time it wasn't in a mocking manner. "Thank you! I'm very good at what I do, and what I do is anything you want." he said happily. It was true...Gintoki did anything for money. He once even cross dressed for a club lacking "workers". His stage name was Paako...surprisibgly he earned a lot of money off that job...
"If you have any work for me, I'll do it with all my strength. Its hard being poor...I've eaten nothing but rice and eggs with strawberry milk the last couple of weeks..."

As he rambled on Echo sighed and attempted to bring him off his knees. "Come, theres no reason for that." She wispered softly. She stood up straight and looked over him. "Where are you living at?" She asked softly, a plan forming in her head.

Gintoki stood up and dusted his knees off. "I live in a small crappy house on Earth...I'm just here on buisness." he said tapping his hard hat. He called over to an old man hammering the roof. "Pops! I'm done for today! I'll be expecting full payment on Monday!" To this comment the old man threw his hammer at Gin and yelled about how he didn't even do anything. Gin caught it and tossed it aside before taking off his hard hat, letting his curly mess of hair out freely.

As he and an older man exchanged words Echo smiled. She loved seeing her people be normal, not worried with fear of dieing. As he let his hair down she smiled a bit more. Glancing over him again she smiled. "Come on, i wanna see where you live." She said after a moment.

{{Sorry its so short}}

Gin scratched his head. He didn't recall inviting her to his house. But he couldn't complain...soon he'd be dining into steak. Or did he want shrimp? Maybe both. Gin smiled at her and beckoned to her with his hand. "Come on then. The place is a bit dirty...I killed a roach the other day and left its body out as a warning but now their planning revenge." Gin said with a somewhat frightemed tone.

((I'll make a topic in Earth, and again, don't worry about short posts around me))