Chapter Text
For the eleventh time that night, Giyuu’s sword got wedged in the trunk of a tree. He frustratingly tugged it out before the demon could land a fatal blow.
Giyuu stumbled backward onto his knees. If he had moved a second later the demon would've taken his vision.
“Ke-ke.” The demon chuckled, watching the pillar regain his position.
“If this is the power of a hashira then I’ll be a moon in no time!”
Its eyes rolled upward as it laughed and covered its mouth. The demon was fairly shorter than him and quite fast. It had to have been no more than four feet and annoyingly crafty. A mission like this would’ve best suited Uzui or Kochou.
No this is just my incompetence.
He was a hashira too (or was supposed to be). Since nightfall, he had been battling this demon and in a few hours, the sun would begin to rise.
“Ghck-” Giyuu swallowed a cough. He would just have to hold it off until morning.
The fight ensued but each time Giyuu got closer to decapitating the damn thing the demon would get close to his face causing him to keep backing away. The demon sometimes dug its claws into his skin during that process.
Blood ran along the side of Giyuu’s arm, the thick liquid coating hands and sword hilt. He constantly wiped them on the left of his haori, dirtying the yellow and green pattern.
With each drop of Giyuu’s blood on the demon’s fingers it got stronger. The nichirin blade slowed the process of regeneration but it was useless against the demon constantly consuming his blood.
Giyuu inhaled a sharp but steady breath, using total concentration breathing to slow the blood flow from his open wounds. This would allow him to continue this fight for a few more hours. Giyuu only hoped that backup and the kakushi would arrive before it was too late. It was already a struggle to keep consciousness.
He hadn’t battled like this in a long time and just imagining himself in this pitiful state angered him. Hadn’t he gotten stronger? It didn’t matter now; he was too weak.
His mind wandered to his old crow home he sent two hours ago. Maybe he got lost but even so, in rare moments of need like this, Kanzaburo doesn’t typically lose his way.
The demon resumed an attacking stance and Giyuu raised his arms in preparation for the attack, his eyes going in and out of focus.
“There’s no way you are a hashira. I do admit you managed to get a few hits, but…”
The cocky demon kicked Giyuu, sending him backward and sliding on his heels. He swung his sword, severing the demon's leg which grew back once the demon consumed more of his blood.
“Someone as weak as yourself couldn't be one of the strongest. Ke-ke-ke.”
Giyu’s grip tightened around his sword.
“Lull.”
In an instant, Giyuu was face to face with the demon using its tactic. Before it could lunge backward Giyuu severed its limbs from its body. He stabbed the demon against a tree, with its newly regenerating feet dangling above the ground.
The demon didn’t know how the human suddenly gained this speed. He was bloody, battered, and snuggling to even hold himself upright. It didn’t matter though, it could see the man was a few minutes away from falling forward. Whatever technique he used took a heavier toll on his body than the demon. It angered the creature but excited it at the same time.
Soon enough he’d kill him. It flailed its arms and legs trying to reach Giyuu who’d backed away and was now hunched over coughing up blood.
Giyuu gasped for breath cupping the blood that erupted from his throat, his eyes going in and out of focus. The grass below him became stained with red. He was losing too much blood and yet there was still no sign of anyone's arrival. The only sound he could hear was the demon's chuckles and threats.
From the inner part of his haori, he grabbed bandages and sloppily wrapped them around his arm and chest, ignoring the demon but keeping his guard up. It still was having a hard time removing the sword wedged in its chest.
Giyuu clenched his throat in pain. Where are you, Kanzaburo? Are you safe? Did you make it?
The pillar took in a shallow breath, his eyes still having trouble focusing. All he could see was red. Giyuu lifted a hand to touch his forehead and flinched from the contact.
Above his right eyebrow was a cut stretched across his forehead. Using his bloodied haori he wiped off as much as he could. It didn’t stop the flow but allowed more room for his eyes to function properly. He needed help very soon.
“Don’t think you’ve captured me human.” Its voice was really starting to piss him off.
In a moment of bold confidence, Giyuu removed his sword, releasing the demon. It smiled in response.
“Ke-ke-ke, yo-”
Using the last of his strength Giyuu swiftly severed the demon's head from its body. He collapsed onto his sword, stabbing it into the ground for balance. The side of his head rested against the hot fabric wrapped around the hilt. He rested for a few minutes before he finished wrapping his open wounds, sucking his teeth as he tightened the binding. Blood soaked the wrappings quickly and Giyuu shivered and staggered going to lean against a tree.
It’s been hours since the battle and two since he sent his crow. He was now at a loss debating whether he should stay or leave.
The butterfly mansion wasn’t too far from his location judging from the terrain. Considering Kochou didn’t come meant that she must've been away on a mission. Even so, there should be kakushi stationed at her estate.
He looked behind him, noticing the abused trees and blood splatter. They’ve traveled quite a bit away from where the battle began. Giyuu’s crow didn’t go in the direction of the mansion though, just how far had he traveled? He groaned in annoyance.
It wouldn’t be long before he passed out. Despite the hot season, his body ran cold. His skin felt uncomfortably hot and tight and his throat remained dry and hoarse. The gourd with water he carried on his hip was long forgotten during the heat of battle.
The man wondered if lying down for a quick rest would help ease his exhaustion, or if he would drift into a deep slumber and never wake again- depending on whether the others would find him before he met his end. Another option was to attempt to walk his way to Shinobu’s estate.
With both options posing great risk he settled for walking. If anything he hoped other members in the core would follow the trail of blood and branches before he passed from exhaustion.
So with heavy limbs and a blood-coated body, he sheathed his sword and made his way in the direction of the Butterfly estate.
He doesn’t know how long it’s been. Giyuu’s been walking for what seemed like hours. The sun had started peeking from beyond the terrain and he’d been walking zoned from reality. The harsh orange sky caught his attention and he finally noticed the large brown building coming into view.
As he got closer his eyes located the small wooden plaque with the family name “Kochou” inscribed on it.
Giyuu begrudgingly raised a hand to knock on the gate door. The first knock hardly made any noise. He groaned and knocked again. This time his fist had slightly more power. After a moment of not hearing anything he banged his fist against the door desperately.
The sound reverberated through the air, Giyuu removed his hand and stared at where it once was.
There was now a small dent in the wood and he groaned, quietly apologizing to Shinobu. It surprised him that he had enough power to form it.
Irritation slowly crept through his body rivaling the pain. His body felt as if it was getting colder and his shoulders began slouching. In one last attempt to get attention, he raised his hand to knock again but not before a sleepy voice answered.
“I’m up. Who is it?” She yawned.
Before Aoi, was a bloody Giyuu, his lips were slightly parted and his eyes were on her but not quite focused. He saw blue on each of her ponytails and determined it was the Aoi girl.
“Water pillar-sama..?”
She examined him with mild surprise before opening the gate door wider. The realization hit her and she immediately reached out to him, telling him to quickly come inside. She called out a few names and staff in the direction of the actual estate.
Moments later Giyuu's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he blacked out.
“SUMI, NAHO, KIYO!”
“GRAB THE KAKUSHI AND COME WITH BANDAGES AND WATER!!”
Giyuu heard muffled screams and orders being thrown around. He felt a pair of hands unbutton his uniform and reveal his sloppily wrapped wounds with a gasp.
He noted that he was now facing upwards, still outside. The sun had risen slightly higher and was now casting more light on his eyes. Soon multiple footsteps approached them, the small thumping relaxing the pillar.
“You can’t fall asleep Tomioka-sama. Please stay awake just a little longer.” The girl's voice became stern and sounded strained.
He was trying, but finally lying down caused his muscles to relax involuntarily. That, and the added knowledge that he was safe reminded him of his exhaustion.
“Go,... Kochou-sama!...Kakushi…bandages..”
He heard her voice in bits and pieces but the part he mainly focused on was Kochou’s name being mentioned. Was she near?
More orders were being given and three small voices answered with a dutiful, “Alright”. Or maybe it was just his imagination. The pillar’s hearing became distorted during his walk after all.
“Tomioka-san.”
He recognized that voice.
Giyuu opened his eyes slightly and caught sight of a familiar purple he knew all too well. With creased eyebrows, the woman with black purple-tipped hair examined his wounds.
“Koc-”
Blood started rising from his throat as he violently coughed. Shinobu quickly turned him to his side to avoid choking. His blood splattered on the gravel beneath him.
“Stay quiet. Focus on breathing and don’t fall asleep.”
He quickly shut his mouth and followed her instruction trying to keep his body awake.
Soon he heard plucking followed by the insertion of a needle. With bleary eyes, it registered in his mind once he saw the syringe in her hand. He barely even felt it.
“He’s lost a lot of blood, carefully put him on the stretcher. Aoi you did a good job wrapping him now go prepare my tools.”
Giyuu felt himself being lifted, the feeling was painfully uncomfortable. His eyes weakly found her walking alongside him assigning a kakushi a task. Once she finished she directed her attention back to Giyuu, smiling reassuringly.
“Hold out for a little longer. You will be able to rest soon.”
Shinobu’s hand reached for his pulse. A concerned look graced her features and suddenly everyone moved faster.
One minute he saw the early morning sky and the next he was staring at a ceiling listening to the clanking of tools with minor chatter. Giyuu found it harder to follow Shinobu’s instruction. Only when he heard Shinobu’s soft voice telling him he could rest he fell into a deep slumber and everything went dark.
The slayers and kakushi sat quietly on the ground in the common room of the Kochou estate. Everyone was frightened to make even the smallest of sounds to avoid direct attention from the head of the house standing in front of them.
One of the first things Shinobu noticed when Giyuu arrived- besides being injured- was the lack of his crow. After mending him together it still was missing so she sent her own crow to locate him. En took a while to find him but once she returned En guided Shinobu and some kakushi to his location, relieving Shinobu of the worry that he might've died in battle.
What she did find was low-rank slayers lazing around, one of them even holding a trapped Kanzaburo in their arm. Likely to prevent him from moving.
Some were injured but looked to be patched up and among them were three kakushi celebrating another day of survival with them. The sight honestly surprised her and it took a lot of self-control to keep her cool-minded when rallying the slayers to her estate. She may have knocked out the loudmouth among them who refused to follow orders.
And now here they sat all heads down before a furious bug-eyed woman.
"What makes you think you can all ignore Hashira's orders?"
The group flinched under her gaze. Her usual smile was plastered on her face as she addressed the small crowd.
"Judging from the sight I found you all in, you must've been finished your mission for some time. Enough time to grab alcohol and treats." Her voice dripped with venom with each word that left her lips. "And I'm assuming you held the water pillars crow hostage to avoid trouble. Hopefully, my assumption is not correct because that would mean serious trouble for you all."
The room was dead silent, Goto, a different kakushi stood in the corner and shook his head, two of the three kakushi in the room were trained under his supervision as well. It humiliated him to see them scared shivering before their higher-up.
One of the slayers spoke up and asked a question to the fuming Insect Pillar, the others gasped and prayed for him.
"Insect Pillar-sama... How is he? I'm sure he's doing well under your supervision." Goto shook his head at the weak attempt to butter her up right now. Even the others knew better not to step out of line.
"How he is, is none of your concern. What is your concern, is the punishment you will face for your actions. If you, mainly the kakushi, arrived much sooner then he might've not been in the state he's in."
"But he's strong and alive, isn't he? So it all worked out in the end," said the same slayer who she knocked out previously. Goto was wrong to believe the others knew better because as soon as he finished his sentence Shinobu's sword was at his throat. The young slayer gasped.
"The Water Pillar would've been able to dodge this easily and counter. Yet you are stunned, this is only a fraction of the average Hashira's abilities and you think someone like him should be neglected aid in battle because of his strength. We are all human. The mission he was tasked with would've had you killed in minutes."
She sheathed her sword turning to the eldest kakushi in the group.
"Maeda." The kakushi shivered. "You've been in the core longer than any of them. I'm honestly surprised you allowed this behavior and even engaged in it so I'm looking forward to seeing you with Oyakata-sama tomorrow, along with the rest of you."
All of them bowed deeply as she left the room, a sighing Goto following behind giving a disappointing and disgusted glance toward the group, Maeda specifically.
In a room Kanzaburo pecked at his sleeping master, using a wing to shield Giyuu from the sunlight entering through the window.
Giyuu stirred and stared up at his crow. His eyes widened and the crow immediately nestled its head into Giyuu's cheek.
“You’re finally awake.”
He turned his head slightly, enough for his eyes to land on Shinobu walking toward him from the door, closing the curtains. It was midday.
Giyuu turned his head back to its original position and his eyes wandered the room. There were posters on the wall containing plant studies and little notes beside them. The only thing that now lit the room was a lamp and a few unscented candles by his bead side. His vision blurry as his eyes adjusted to the room making it impossible to read what was written. Not that it mattered.
Shelves also lined the room mostly near a desk space. Cabinets were above and to the side of them; it was then that he recognized the room as Shinobu’s office. This was normally where she held Hashira’s checkups every so often when everyone was free. So why was she using it to house him while injured? There were plenty of other infirmaries in this estate.
The small woman grabbed a metal tin with fresh bandages inside on the nightstand. Giyuu moved to get up and she was quick to help him sit upright.
“How.. long…?” He asked hoarsely. Shinobu grabbed the gourd from the nightstand beside the bed, holding it as he drank.
“Three days going on four.” She replied sweetly her previous tone gone, Goto watched in amazement.
“I’m surprised you’ve slept this long. The demon must have been extra strong if it left you in this condition. Tell me… was it a moon?”
Giyuu tensed from the question. Shinobu lowered the gourd and watched him curiously.
A bitter feeling rose in his gut and he felt reluctant to answer. Surly she’d mock him. Even with the position “he held”, he wasn’t able to come out of this battle fairly unscathed and much less in critical condition.
The water pillar turned his head shamefully as she undid his wrapping and wiped them with a wet towel.
“No.”
The battle was a close call. Before he fought the demon alone there were also others in the area attacking him and each other fighting for the position to become a moon. It sickened him greatly to be used as a sacrifice for their initiation involuntarily. Previous to that he took care of another mission the night before. But they were all weak demons, he should’ve been able to complete his tasks with little difficulty.
Giyuu could still hear that demon's sick laugh taunting him. He needed to get stronger. Shinobu noticed the way his fist clenched and decided to discontinue the topic. Instead, she followed her usual procedure.
Professionally.
“Your wounds are starting to heal nicely.”
She wrapped the last of the bandages around his torso before securing it.
“How are you feeling right now?”
Giyuu’s brow raised slightly. Part of him expected her to make a quip of some sort but, when he remembered it was foolish to wonder why she hadn't said anything. Even in playful situations, she wouldn't make fun of a person's abilities or failures. Instead encouraged them on, although she knew he didn’t need the encouragement.
“Hello? I need to know how to treat you from now on Tomioka-san. Is there anything bothering you at the moment like dizziness, nausea, or even a stitch being too tight? It would be nice to get a response soon.”
She smiled up at him after using a towel to wipe leftover blood before rewrapping his skin
“Fine.”
“Nothing bothers you that I should know about?”
“No.”
The small woman clasped her hands together.
“Well, that’s good then! The cut on your forehead thankfully wasn’t as deep as I thought and with time it shouldn’t leave a scar. I also numbed you a bit so you won’t be feeling much of anything for a while.”
He looked down at her handiwork, she truly was an expert in her field. The slight discomfort he got by moving wasn't downright painful from the tight stitches across his chest and torso. The bandages were also wrapped tightly around his form but still breathable and nonrestrictive (unless you count the tighter wraps around specific parts of his body to keep it in place).
“Why am I here?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m in your office.”
“That you are." He gave her an unamused look.
"With such the condition you were in I needed to overwatch your recovery. This was the most effective way I could do so.”
He hummed in response and swung his legs off the western-styled mattress. He noticed his pants had been changed and on the nightstand was a typical white button-up along with a uniform top the gold buttons lacking from the garment. But that wasn’t what was wrong.
Giyuu lifted the covers and looked back at the nightstand while Shinobu was talking to the most reliable kakushi in the core. The man stood up and turned behind them to completely pull the covers from the bed. The sudden movement caused him to sway.
Luckily, Goto caught him before he could bump into anything and carefully sat him back on the bed. Kanzaburo flew to his lap as if to prevent him from moving again.
“Where is my haori?”
Ah. That’s why he was acting that way.
Shinobu opened her door fully to show the garden. Light quickly filled the room as she pointed to the clothing line. A red and yellow-green patterned haori swayed in the gentle summer breeze along with sheets, blankets, and his usual uniform.
“It was dirty so I had my girls wash it for you. I’ll have it delivered here once it dries.”
Giyuu let out a relieving breath. An action that didn’t go unnoticed by Shinobu.
Looking back at the garment, it was unusual. Many have said he had poor taste and some have gone as far as to say it's ugly (like the flashy pillar himself). The haori certainly was unique. She suspected it held some value to him. At first, she figured it was a stylistic choice but as of now, she assumed she was correct.
"A room is already prepared for you once I determine that you are ok to be moved but for now you will reside here."
“Goto-san you are dismissed.”
Goto stood and bowed. With that, she left the room. This whole process has been surprisingly done quickly though it would make sense considering she’s a busy woman.
Behind him, Giyuu immediately laid back down, pulling the covers over his body.
The kakushi awkwardly made his way to the door and stood there, waiting if the man was going to say something.
Once he determined Giyuu wouldn't he bowed and took his leave closing the door. Goto wasn't expecting anything to begin with, he didn’t think he’d ever even heard that man’s voice other than today, and even then it was so quiet. The man shrugged and left to find something to do.
A full two weeks have gone by and this is the third time she caught Giyuu sneaking out to train.
She smiled at him but the small bit of warmth that usually rested on her features was replaced by something colder. Something unsettlingly dangerous.
“Where do you think you’re going Tomioka-san?”
He halted his actions of putting on his uniform. She caught him in the act, once again.
“Surely not off to train I hope.”
When she first caught him, he was limping with a wooden sword in his hand and a very frightened Aoi by her side on the night of a waning moon. She doesn’t know why she didn’t send a letter to Oyakata-sama before the incident happened but, soon after she requested a three-week leave for the foolish man.
The second time she caught him was when she went to check up on him and his stitches had come undone due to him secretly swinging his sword in his private room. Based on those two incidents alone she already was thinking of switching him to a more public space.
Her patience was low and when asked by Kiyo why she was so agitated the first time it happened she smiled and replied that this wasn’t the first time it happened before.
“I’m healed, Kochou.” He replied stiffly, leaving her staring at his back as she spoke.
“Are you now?”
She tapped the side of his right shoulder not surprised to feel the stitching still on his arm as he winced. If it were truly healed then the stitches would’ve fallen out by now.
They both knew that.
Giyuu sat still in silence (when doesn’t he)- he already knew what expression she held on her face. A strained smile and dead eyes. Sure, it was a shift from the visibly angry fourteen-year-old before his late co-worker passed but this look had the same poisonous gaze but was replaced with a fake, prim smile.
The woman's hands wrapped around his shoulders grabbing the first and second layer of his uniform, and tugged backward, sending his arms to jerk from the sudden movement and for her to undress him. Shinobu then walked in front of him while Giyuu was still averting his eyes.
With some visibility, she saw that some stitches had fallen out leaving behind small scar tissue and scabbing. Giyuu sat there frozen, there was no point trying to hide himself or resist her. It would only upset her more.
“I must say,” she started, “It’s admirable that you want to better yourself for the sake of the core. Your persistence and stubborn behavior are truly remarkable.”
Amongst the healed skin, there were still some bandages wrapped around where his shoulder meets his chest. A small patch of fresh blood underneath it.
She pressed lightly against the small blot spot unsurprised to see that the light touch was all that was needed to determine a thread had been broken.
“However, It is ignorant to ignore your health to do so.”
He slowly brought his gaze up to hers and decided midway that the wall behind her was a more interesting subject to look at. The small act irritating Shinobu.
“Three weeks off duty and you would’ve been able to train after one and a half. By the third week, you would be almost perfectly fine.” She emphasized. “Do I need to strap you down and watch you for the remainder of your stay Tomioka-san?”
“...”
A strong sense of deja vu hit him and he was transported to a time where a younger, more fiery Shinobu was scolding him.
“Do we need to chain you to this room so you don't act so foolishly and try to escape Water pillar-sama?” She asked sternly, poking a finger between his brows harshly causing them to furrow a bit. The small girl was too angry to regard their differing status.
“Shinobu! He’s still your superior!” Young Shinobu huffed, backing down from scolding Giyuu.
“Tomioka-kun, I apologize for her, but she is right. You must accept weakness to gain strength. If you don’t then you will be stagnant in your recovery.”
The former flower pillar looked at him with pleading kind eyes. Behind her, her little sister was giving a disgusted look.
“Please stay for a little longer, you’ll be ready to get out there in no time,” she smiled.
As usual, Giyuu avoided eye contact. Not because of the Flower Pillar's concerned eyes but because the hole Shinobu was burning into his head was signaling him not to do so.
“Understood.”
Shinobu reached into her uniform pouch, undoing the clasp and pulling out thread and needle. She set it down next to the bed as Giyuu undid his wrappings.
The wound wasn’t as open and would only need a max of eight stitches. She was pleased to see some of his other wounds were fully healed or getting there. It was only a rip in the thread but there were no signs of him doing anything really strenuous. It must’ve come undone yesterday and he tried to hide it.
A vein threatened to form on her head.
It didn’t take long to restitch his skin. Once it was over, she handed him fresh wraps and watched as he put it on. She then took his sword and stored it in the closet in his patient room. Confiscating it was never really her plan and he could easily access it anytime he wanted but keeping it out of view for right now told him he wouldn’t need it or to touch it.
“I hope you know how to use a thread and needle. I won’t be the one who does this if it happens again,” she said with saccharin emptiness.
“Goto-san will come check on you later. Have a good afternoon Tomioka-san.”
He nodded and with that, she left the room with a sigh. It would seem no matter the age he hasn’t changed his actions. And he’s older than her too.
She put on her signature smile and walked to her office to continue her work.
She’d been looking to improve and strengthen her poison doses. It worked well for the time being but there was always room for improvement.
Once she entered her office she rummaged through her cabinets for vials filled with dried herbs and mixtures and set them on her desk. To improve her craft, she planned on looking at past recipes and plants to add or make them better. For that, she needed to grab one of her many books on the counter. Unfortunately, she never numbered the outside of her journals (she didn’t plan on it either) for her studies and instead relied on choosing from memory where she placed them. Recently she had just cleaned this space so everything was placed nicely and neatly into place. Maybe she wasn’t so unfortunate after all.
She pulled one recent recipe and flipped through the pages. Ingredients, effects, dosage, and more filled each nook and cranny of the book. She smiled to herself and went to grab another.
As she pulled the book from her shelf a few other books began to fall as well- ruining the cleanliness of her room. Of course.
Pages and notes that were stuffed inside fell on the ground. Books lay open and the contents became unorganized. Shinobu groaned and went to pick up the newly formed mess. Among the mess was a photo that caught her attention from under a page of poisonous plant effects notes. She had no memory of putting a photo in her books. Normally she drew them herself.
When she picked it up her eye widened slightly at the forgotten memory. It was from her last mission with Giyuu three months ago.
The photo still made her cringe but also made her chuckle. What a fitting time to stumble upon this.
It came back to her that once she got home from the mission she shoved it into a random journal before dealing with patients and sleeping. It was still in good shape too, aside from the small crease in the corner.
His face looked as strained and stiff as she remembered as well. The small giggle formed into a much louder laugh, of course, she stumbled upon this while the very man was in her care.
“Kochou-sama?”
Aoi gingerly peeked her head through Shinobu’s office door and Shinobu quickly stuffed the photo back in the book.
“Oh my, I must’ve gotten pretty loud, huh? Forgive me Aoi.”
“What were you laughing at?” The blue-eyed girl stepped into the room and bent down near Shinobu to help clean the mess, the older girl put a hand over Aoi’s.
“An old note, nothing important. Why don’t you go to rest? I’m fine with this.”
Aoi gave her a questioning look but relented with a dutiful nod.
“Sleep well Aoi-chan.”
“You as well,” Aoi returned with a smile before closing the door.
Shinobu pulled the photo from the book and shoved it in her pocket once the girl left. Afterward, she cleaned her mess and got to work.
Tomioka Giyuu watched the sky in disappointment.
Clouds covered the midnight sky. Little glimmers of moonlight came between the invading clouds only to be covered up not even a second later.
He came out because couldn’t sleep. The room was nice but tiring to stay in all the time. His recovery was a slow process and it irritated him.
He sat on the engawa in a simple patient uniform messing with the hem of his shirt in boredom. Cicadas and crickets hummed noisily in the brush and on branches. Practicing meditation always came easily to him but tonight that was not the case.
He looked to the sky once more before standing to walk in the garden. He boringly strolled hoping to find something to calm his nerves, not being able to hold a sword or move his body constantly was putting him on edge. If he gave into his urges he’d get a nasty scolding from Shinobu and a random kakushi stitching his wounds.
It wasn’t that the kakushi weren’t skilled enough- they were but that he preferred someone he knew to dress his wounds. Goto was one example of who he preferred to tend to but he left early morning to tend to some slayers miles away. And Shinobu refused to mend him back together if he were to break them again. Even when he thought he was very careful they ripped and he hid them from the short-tempered woman only to be found out.
The walk was enjoyable to some degree, being that the small breezes hit his skin nicely. However, even that was ruined whenever his hair resumed its original position on his face.
Giyuu took to the roof in a final attempt to tire himself. The wind felt so much better up top and the noise slowly dissipated as he sat closing his eyes, peacefully enjoying what he could. Not even a few minutes later he felt a presence.
“You’re not escaping, are you?”
The man opened his eyes to Shinobu sitting beside him looking at the sky. Her knees were pressed against her chest and her hands rested on the tile below.
“Can’t sleep?” she asked, meeting his gaze. Giyuu faced toward the garden and closed his eyes once more.
The woman smiled and relaxed her position slightly. Her balance shifted so she could rest her hands on her lap. One moved to go in her pocket and pull out a paper, he heard her tapping the paper in her hands.
“Are you angry with me, dear husband?”
His eyes shot open and gave her a confused look. It seemed he didn’t remember either and it only made her chuckle.
“Husband?”
“Yes,” She pointed the photo toward him. “Husband.”
At that moment the clouds cleared and the moon shone on Shinobu’s small figure, making its way to illuminate the photo in her hands. His lips parted as he remembered the mission. Shinobu gestured for him to take it. As he reached out to grab the photo, she flashed back to him and set it in his hands. ‘April 23’.
Shinobu muffled a laugh behind her hand as he cringed at the photo as she did.
“Lovely isn’t it,” she teased, grabbing the paper from his hand and setting it back in her pocket, “dear husband.”
His face paled. Was she going to joke like this from now on?
She must’ve been extra giggly tonight because seeing the look on his face drove her to turn and laugh.
“Kochou,” he said sternly.
“Hmm?” Her voice bubbled with mock innocence and the thought made him uncomfortable. He came out here for peace and now he’s watching a teasing Shinobu laughing at him. He blamed himself for repeatedly attempting escapes. If not he probably wouldn’t have prompted her to check on him. The thought caused him to sigh and turn to ignore her again, it was futile, the photo would've come up sooner or later.
“I apologize,” she wiped her eyes, “I recently came across this a few hours ago, actually. I had forgotten I put the photo in my pocket and when I followed you to the roof I remembered it was there. Although my original reason was to make sure you didn't escape again."
“Seems I was worried about nothing. You haven’t tensed like you usually do when I catch you.”
Was I really that obvious?
“I should be apologizing.”
She turned to him.
“For causing trouble.”
“You say that, but next time will you do the same?”
He turned his gaze away from her facing the opposite direction. She hummed knowingly, turning her head to face the moon.
“The moon is lovely tonight.”
The small doctor never said anything after that and Giyuu turned to face the moon as she did. Before she came, the sky was a dull desaturated blue but now it was brighter and stars visibly glittered the night sky.
“I’m going to turn in for the night. Don’t stay out too long, I don’t want you scaring anyone else. Goodnight Tomioka-san.”
"Goodnight, Kochou," the man sighed.
Giyuu used his remaining time to meditate before going to bed. The moon was finally out and the the temperature cooled quite a bit, every sound faded into the background as he focused on relaxing his body and clearing his mind. Half an hour in he started recounting their conversation.
Husband.
Giyuu wondered why the small woman even kept that photo. She said she'd forgotten or maybe that was a lie, what goes through her head is a mystery to him. But for some reason, he couldn't imagine she'd go that far just to have a laugh.