Chapter Text
Giyuu
I open my eyes and feel something warm on me. I look just to see sanemi laying his head on my chest, fast asleep. I smiled at him and played with his hair until he woke up, half awake he goes
“Mornin” in a deeper voice he says
“Good morning” I say, still playing with his hair
Sanemi inched closer as he was an inch from my face, his hands holding him up in a cobra pose, he had a look in his eye, one we shared, then he kissed me. Fully kissed me, his lips weren’t rough like I thought and we went perfectly insinc. After awhile we both pulled away, out of breath and flushed faces. Our fervent display of affection made my heart feel full, so full it hurt.
We silently freshen up for the day as we have moments of hugging or kissing here and there. Then we decided to visit Tengen, I had told him I would in a letter and this would be an opportunity to tell him of our relationship if it came up.
Sanemi
We both were gonna visit Tengen today. I can’t believe I’m in a relationship with Tomioka, with giyuu. One year ago I never would’ve thought; If I had to guess how the others would react I think
Rengoku: would be supportive but surprised
Iguro: In shock for a long time before getting used to it
Kanroji: would be the most excited for us and would talk about love whenever she could
Kocho: would be supportive but would tease us to no end
Tokito: wouldn’t really care
Himejima: would be really nice and supportive
At least that’s what I’d hope. We both get ready to go
“Hey, you ready?” I asked giyuu, who was fixing his hair with his left hand
“One moment” he said
I laughed, “what are you doing? You look fine” I said, walking up behind him
“I don’t want to make a bad impression in front of Tengens family” he said
I hug him from behind, putting my head in the crook of his neck. “You won’t” I said kissing his neck
“Sa-Sanemi, I, haha, what are you doing?”
“Hm” I say
Giyuu
He wraps my waist with his arms and just stays in place
“We have to go soon or we’ll be late.” I say, smiling
“Ughhh, Tengen shouldn’t get to see you looking so cute” he says, whining like a child
I laughed, really laughed, Sanemi paused at that.
“What’s so funny?” He asks
“Nothing, it’s just that I can’t imagine a year ago we’d never think we’d be like this.” I say
He hums in agreement before appearing in front of me all serious. “Is something wrong?”
“I’m sorry” he says
What? Sorry for what?
“What are you talking about? Sorry for what exactly? You haven’t wronged me” I say
“For the way I used to treat you…I would be so harsh and angry all of the time. Even when you tried to befriend me. I didnt realize that I never apologized for that”
Sanemi
He cups my cheek with his left hand, smiling so softly it hurts me, as he kisses my cheek before saying
“Sanemi, it’s okay, we both have done things in the past we regret. Now let’s go..” he says
Why did he forgive me? He didn’t even think about it, does he have any regard for himself? Has he ever? I was an asshole to him and most people I came across in the corps other than the master and other hashira.
He just takes my hand while trying to hold his bag,
“What do you think you’re doing?” I ask
“Huh, I’m just taking my bag”
I snatch it from him and out it over my shoulder, “you’re not holding shit when I’m around got it?”
He just nods and holds my right hand with his left, us both leaving his estate to tengens home.
Giyuu
“Do you want to tell them about us?”, I say as we walk through the path to tengens home. We pass by an open field with flowers under a blue sky with few clouds
He stops walking for a moment as he pinches both my cheeks before saying
“Of course you idiot, I have to make sure everyone knows I’m yours and you’re mine”
I’m his and he’s mine. The thought made my heart swell and my face flush. I feel my eyes tear up so I place my forehead on sanemi’s shoulder.
“Giyuu…?”
“I’m fine….I just never would have thought someone would care for me in such a way” I say quietly
He lifts my head and holds my shoulders, kissing my tears and the rest of my face. “Neither did I” he says
We walk the rest of the way in comfortable silence, soon seeing the uzui residence come closer.
It was a traditional home, one of the defense locations ubuyashiki left. In his will he gave each hashira something, many things, but Tengen only accepted this much. Giyuu and sanemi had not yet asked what was for them, not feeling worthy, ubuyashiki’s son would eventually send them a letter later on listing what was left in his father’s will.
Outside the estate was a small garden of flowers with an engawa outside and a rock path leading to it. We see a woman with a brunette ponytail, purple eyes and a light and dark purple dress, slightly different from a regular kimono. She sees us and politely waves
“Greetings! You must be Tomioka and Shinazugawa, Tengen told us a lot about you both, you can call me Hinatsuru!”
I bow politely and feel a bit flustered, I don’t want to make a bad impression
Sanemi
He went quiet, probably feels embarrassed or something like that
“I’m Shinazugawa, this is Tomioka”
“It-it’s nice to meet you” Giyuu says
“Here, come follow me! Tengen and the others are inside”
We follow Hinatsuru and as she opens the sliding door we hear arguing from the inside
“No you can’t serve this, it’s burnt!” A woman with a brunette ponytail and blonde bangs yells, she also had yellow eyes and a red version of hinatsuru’s outift
“Wahhh, hina! Makio is yelling at me!!” A younger woman yells with black hair down below her shoulders and blue eyes with a blue outift like the other two women
Sanemi and giyuu just make an awkward face and unsure what to do
“You two, what do you think you’re doing? Our guests have arrived if you haven’t noticed. I’ll fix the food, you two notify Lord Tengen and get everything ready!”
The two women scramble down the hall into another room
Hinatsuru turns around and smiles and giyuu and sanemi
“Sorry about that! The one in red was Makio and in blue was Suma, they tend to argue a lot but they mean well and care about each other even if they don’t say” she says
“It’s no problem, it’s nice to see such a lively household” Giyuu says with a calm face
“Yeah yeah what he said” Sanemi said
“You two can make yourself at home! I will be back!” Hinatsuru said, going to the kitchen area.
The two were in a tatami room with a large table in the middle and shelves against the wall. They placed their bags against the wall and sat down on the cushions by the table.
Sanemi
I look at giyuu to my right, he was so antsy it was painful. I place my hand on his to try and calm him down
“Calm down will you? I don’t think I saw you this nervous even when we fought Muzan” I teased
“I’ll try” he says softly, gripping my hand
A few more minutes go by until we hear more noise outside the shoji door, the door slides open, a tall man with long white hair and a black eyepatch pokes his head in
“Shinazugawa, Tomioka! It’s good to see you both!” He says sitting down across from us
“Haven’t managed to die yet somehow” I laugh, Giyuu frowns at that
“I’m glad to see you in good health” Giyuu says
“My lovely wives will join us soon, they’re just making tea and snacks, you’ve probably already met Hina, you’ll meet Makio and Suma soon”
Giyuu nods, fiddling with his hands
“How are the kamados and their gang? Uzui asks
“Hah, the brats are always chipper and upbeat”
“That’s good then! They’ve been through a lot at their age, I’m glad they’re doing well”
Uzui gets slightly more serious, “How are you both doing?…after everything?”
“I’m…alright” Giyuu says, probably lying but it’s hypocritical if I say so
“I’m fine” I say, I wasn’t but he didn’t need to know that
He sighs, before saying, “if either of you need to talk I’m here”
Tengen…I always respected him. Even now he’s looking out for his fellow hashira
Giyuu
“You have our thanks, uzui”
Tengen
“Hey now no need to be so formal! Oh also, tomioka the hair is a flashy change, I won’t be surprised if you get swooped up by a lover soon!”
Tomioka got red and looked like he was deep in thought; I’m glad he doesn’t look insanely depressed anymore. Him and Shinazugawa looked…close. I have my suspicions based on the interactions I heard from earlier. I’d just tease them a bit more to see if I was right.
Shinazugawa looked pissedddd, I could see the vein pop out from his head.
Tomioka broke the silence, “actually the thing is, uh
“We’re courting” Shinazugawa blurted
The room fell silent for a moment until I bursted out laughing, holding my stomach
“I KNEW IT! All the years of rivalry was just tension” I said
“I owe Kocho a lot of money now”
Sanemi
“You bastard! You were betting on us?!” I shouted, this prick had to be joking
“Even Kocho? I had no idea” Giyuu said, holding me back as I stood up to beat the smirk of that pricks face
Uzui walked around the table to behind me and giyuu
“Haha, lighten up Shinazugawa! I’m happy you two have figured things out!” He says, ruffling my hair then Giyuu’s
Giyuu
I’m glad that went well, hopefully his wives will also be supportive. Right when I thought that the sliding door opened
“The tea is ready!” Hinatsuru said, placing a ceramic cup in front of each of us and Makio and suma placing some small snacks on the table
“Thanks” sanemi said
“Thank you” I said
Hinatsuru sat to the right of Tengen and Makio and suma sat to the left.
“Right, this here is Makio and this is Suma. And this is Tomioka and Shinazugawa!”
“It’s nice to meet you both!” Suma said
“Nice to meet you” said
Sanemi and I returned the gesture.
I was sipping the tea when Uzui said to his wives “hey you three! You didn’t hear but Tomioka and Shinazugawa are courting! Isn’t that great!”
I choke on my tea and burn my tongue. Sanemi pats my back and glares at uzui. After calming down I see the 3 women’s reactions
“Congratulations! That’s lovely” Hinatsuru said
“Kyaaa, how adorable!” Suma said
“Nice!” Makio said
Sanemi
I saw Giyuu relax after hearing everyone’s support. He really was cute, I hold my hand atop his under the table, brushing my thumb on his hand.
“Thank you all for your support, truly” Giyuu said smiling at them
“My my what a flashy smile Tomioka!! Shinazugawa is a lucky man” uzui said
I sighed, “yeah, I am” which Giyuu blushed at and uzui as wives cooed
The next hour was full of talking, laughing, eating and reminiscing. Eventually his wives turned in for the night and uzui invited us outside on the engawa for some sake which we accepted.
Giyuu
The three of us sat on the engawa, Tengen to the left, me in the middle and sanemi to his right. The moonlight shone on the Uzui estate very gently. My blue yukata was getting a bit warm after having some alcohol.
“Did you guys get to visit the others?” Uzui asked calmly
“Briefly” I answered. Sanemi leaned on my right shoulder, it hurt a little because of my stump but I didn’t want to move him. I sip the small cup in my hand, my throat and body warming.
“We should pay our respects together, maybe even have a drink with them” he says
“That sounds nice” I said, feeling sanemi fall asleep on my shoulder
“Hey Tomioka”
I hum in response
“I’m really happy for you both; I’m glad you’re not as…gloomy as before”
My heart swells and my face heats up from more than the alcohol “thank you, you aswell. I wish you well with your wives”
He ruffles my hair and laughs softly, it annoyed me slightly but also reminded me of my sister, urokodaki, and even Rengoku who’d done so once or twice.
“Now, since this one is out like a light, let’s get you both to a room, stay the night!”
“I don’t want to impose-
“You’re not you fool, my wives and I would love to have you! I insist”
If he insists then alright.
“Alright” I say
I support sanemi with my left arm and uzui does so with his right, as we walk back inside uzui says
“It’s rough right? With the arm and everything” he says
“It can be…frustrating..yes” I say
“Frustrating is one way to put it; it wasn’t too bad considering I was dominant in both hands. You use your right hand mainly it’s probably very difficult”
“I don’t mind losing only an arm, I didn’t lose my life….”
He stopped and so did I, he looked serious, staring at the moon. “I feel guilt for not fighting, maybe then the others wouldn’t have died. Tokito was only 14….”
It surprised me for him to be so open. Well, he’s always been quite free with his speech even when serious or boastful.
“I feel guilty as well, maybe I always had felt this way” I say; unsure why I added that additional information
“Always?” Uzui questions
Tengen
Always? He always was like that? Was that why he always looked like he was at a funeral?
“I had been unable to protect many people in my life…Even though Muzan is dead there’s a small part of me stuck in the past”
Oh. Well that does make sense, his heart beat was a little bit faster; it’s probably hard to admit out loud
“That’s something we have in common then” I say
Giyuu
We walk inside in silence, not from discomfort but from a silent understanding.
We walk down the hall
“My wives got a room ready and some clothes for you both, they already went to theirs” uzui says
As we open the shoji door I see one futon, my face flushes a bit.
Uzui laughs and hits my back “Don’t have too much fun now, the walls aren’t thin but I’d hear everything anyway”
My face got even more red “uzui…”
“Just kiddinggg, get some rest and we’ll see you both off tomorrow after breakfast”
I cleared my throat “thank you”
He just grins and closes the door
I heard sanemi mumble “giyuuu” , my face got warm again as his yukata was open a dangerous amount, my own slightly open as well from the heat produced from the alcohol. I set him down on the futon and was about to get up again but sitting down he hugged my back, putting his arms around my waist and head in the crook of my neck; he’d been doing that a lot lately.
he just breathed in and out for a moment
“Sanemi…Are you drunk?”
“Mm, just sleepy”
I sighed, “come, we have to change”
“Don’t want to..” he mumbled, he really was being a little bratty today
“If you do I’ll give you a kiss” I said teasingly, he’ll probably just ignore anyway
But he immediately stood up and grabbed the extra yukata placed here and stripped, I was going to turn around but I saw his back, his muscle toned back with scars around it and his abdomen, after I averted my eyes, feeling a bit embarrassed for staring
He turned his face around smirking as his face was a little flushed from the alcohol “you can look you know…” he says teasingly
I clear my throat and went to grab a yukata to change. I felt embarrassed but quickly changed, my fudonshi appeared but disappeared as I put my yukata on.
Sanemi
Why was he so cute? I looked away for a second cause he was embarrassed; but I saw his back and shoulders, it was toned with a few scars and he had a slimmer waist than me, all things I as observed when I helped him bathe over a month ago.
He finished changing and looked over to me shyly. He walked up to me and set his lips on mine while holding the back of my neck with his arm. His lips were soft, so soft; our mouths moved in tandem and when we broke apart catching our breath I could see the desire in his eyes and it probably appeared in mine as well.
“Let’s continue this at home, not at the uzui’s, it’d be disrespectful” he says still a little breathless
I hug him and spin him a little, “fineee. Let’s go to bed then” I say getting a little sleepy
Giyuu
We both get on our futon and under the blanket and face each other. I took him in, his face, his hair, everything. I traced my fingers along his scars and combed his hair. He averted his eyes, he seemed….ashamed almost.
“Is something the matter?” I ask softly
Sanemi
“My facial scars, you’re not bothered by them? They’re hideous”
Giyuu suddenly got very serious and sat up, glaring at me. “Take that back. Your scars are beautiful, you look handsome with them, not matter where they came from”
I was speechless, I didn’t know what to do or say. I was also sitting up when Giyuu cupped my face with his hand and kissed lines around my face where my scars were. His lips were warm and soft unlike his skin which was usually cool. I thought of genya, he got similar scars the same night ma….My little brother, why couldn’t I die instead of him? I feel tears well up in my eyes and feel them fall as Giyuu wipes them softly with his hand and I lean on his shoulder, crying my eyes out. He strokes my hair with his fingers and hums, something my mother used to do a long long time ago. After god knows how long I laid on Giyuu’s lap and fell asleep.
Giyuu
Seeing sanemi this way..hurt me. I didn’t know how to comfort people but I tried to comfort him the way Tsutako comforted me when our parents died. I can only assume this had to do with Genya…and other events in his life. I wouldn’t pry, but I had to show him I was here. After falling asleep in my lap I lay us both down and feel myself drifting to sleep.