Chapter Text
She had woken up that morning with a feeling of happiness inside her, which had slightly dried up when she realized she was all alone.
Hardly surprising, considering that her dark blue-eyed companion was one of the nine pillars. He used to spend his time on missions, although lately it had calmed down a bit...
So she could spend a little more time with Giyuu since a few weeks, who left early in the morning and came back when the sun went down, but still came back every day. She didn't get to see him leave in the morning because she was still asleep, but she looked forward to him every night to catch up.
Compared to the times when Giyuu had to leave for weeks, the last few days were heavenly. The same was true for the other pillars, for that matter. The demons seemed to have calmed down, much to their delight.
(Y/N) was a simple slayer, of high rank but not too much, who had been lucky enough to attract the attention of one of the greatest warriors of their slayer order. Always full of life, she was the exact opposite of her companion.
She only saw him smile when he was alone with her. And that made her feel special.
She didn't go on missions as often as he did, and she had much more time to herself... She suspected Giyuu of intercepting the mission orders that were intended for her to do them himself, but so far she still had no proof. Today was one of those days, when she had no mission in sight, or anything else.
The moments spent the day before with Giyuu and the prospect of a quiet day cheered her up a little bit, regaining a fragment of bliss she had lost when she had woken up alone. She recovered quickly by saying to herself that her lover would return soon, just a few hours to hold... The little note that Giyuu had left for her forgave everything and made the waiting much less long.
So she got up, and went to the garden to take care of her many flowers, which almost rivaled those of the butterfly domain. Outside of her assignments, it was this passion that took up most of her time.
She spent many hours removing weeds, trimming her plants and pampering them like a mother would with her child. She realized that she had not eaten anything yet when some visitors came to see her, around two in the afternoon.
She was scolded by Aoi and the three little ones who followed her everywhere, and she was forced to eat something before returning to her garden. The hours passed again, and she soon got tired of it.
Her back hurt and she was covered in dirt. It was time to stop, before she was totally exhausted for her potential next day's missions.
Then she had an idea, which she thought about regularly. If Mitsuri was at home and not on a mission, she could go spend some time with her at the baths. And that's what happened, to her great happiness.
A trip to the bath was what she needed the most right now, besides spending time with her pink and green haired best friend.
In a good mood, the two girls had gone to the hot springs of Giyuu's domain, which were obviously the best that could exist on earth. With modesty, of course.
(Y/N) was slowly undressing while Mitsuri had already jumped into the water as soon as she entered the baths, full of energy as always, even after a busy day of work. (Y/N) was a little more quiet than usual, pretty tired on her side.
She was turning her back to Mitsuri, who was in the spring, when the later let a gasp of amazement escape her, making Hiyori turn her head around, so that she could see her friend with her hand over her mouth, as if to hold back a laugh or something else.
"Mitsuri? What's happening to you?"
The young woman shook her head from right to left, her lips tightly pressed together, before she dived under the hot water for a few moments, as if to regain her composure.
(Y/N) on her side shrugged her shoulders, finished putting down her well folded clothes beside those of Mitsuri thrown as always, soaped herself up a little in order to get rid of most of the dirt that had settled on her skin during her day, and finally had the chance to enter the bath, sighing of happiness while feeling her cheeks becoming warm under the wet mist that the boiling water produced.
Mitsuri was back on the surface since a few moments, and seemed to have calmed down... Although she was still looking at her friend with a big smile and innocent eyes, her cheeks completely scarlet. But this last characteristic was undoubtedly due to the heavy ambient air, hot and slightly suffocating.
They talked cheerfully, telling each other about their days and their latest gossip, before the conversation drifted on a particular subject.
"How is it going with Tomioka, by the way?" asked the green-eyed girl with a big smile, which (Y/N) gladly returned.
"Perfectly well! He's so attentive to me, you should see that...! He looks like another man!"
If Giyuu ever heard her say such a thing, she didn't give a damn about her skin. Well, in a manner of speaking. In practice, the dark-haired man would certainly be busy regulating the redness of her cheeks instead of giving her a hard time.
She felt that Mitsuri was holding back once again from saying or doing something, but did not add anything more on this subject. Moving on, the pink-haired woman let out a cry of happiness, imagining her dear friend being pampered by a boy like Giyuu, uptight like no one else, but smiling like a knight in shining armor at his sweetheart in the privacy of their couple.
So cute!
The two young women continued to chat more or less quietly, enjoying this rare moment of relaxation they could have before having to go back home, and then return to work the next day.
Yikes.
A little bit of courage would be more than welcome, in order to face the demons that awaited them in the following days. For now, however, it was relaxation.
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In the evening, for the first time in a while, she had come back home after Giyuu. She had not seen the time pass with Mitsuri, and the sun had already fallen when they had separated.
(Y/N) didn't have to go far though, since she was already at home. Relaxed as possible by the hot springs, she had slowly walked up the corridors leading to the room she shared with Giyuu, who was already there.
The poor man seemed to be worried, she noted as she entered the room plunged into semi-darkness, lit only by the light of a paper lantern.
Giyuu was sitting in the double futon, his hands on his legs and his ears on the lookout. When he heard (Y/N)'s footsteps in the distance, he sighed with relief.
It was not usually his lover's habit to stay out without telling him what she was doing, and he had a habit of worrying quickly and a lot, although he tried to make an effort about it. When he went on a mission, he always made sure to leave a note for (Y/N), and she did the same.
"Sorry Giyuu, I was in the sources with Mitsuri and I did not see the time pass... Sorry!!!"
She threw herself into the arms of the young man with black hair, not to be forgiven but only to hug him, which he had still not learned to foresee despite the time they spent together.
Embarrassed, Giyuu patted the hair raised in a bun of his companion, who came to deposit a kiss on the corner of his lips with a lightning speed, escaping his grip the next moment, leaving him there with scarlet cheeks, the hand in the void, the eyes wide open.
He was so cute when he was embarrassed like that. (Y/N) congratulated herself for being among the only people who could put him in such a state... Not to say the one and only.
Turning now her back to Giyuu because she was searching in the wardrobe for a pyjama, having left her clothes beforehand and finding herself in underwear, she was singing lightly when she heard a gasp of surprise behind her. This reminded her of a memory, which had taken place just that afternoon.
Mitsuri had also reacted like this when she had turned her back on her in the baths. When she turned around, she saw the dark-haired man staring at her, his cheeks more scarlet than ever despite the dim light, his mouth opening and closing without finding what to say.
"Giyuu? Is something wrong?" she asked, tilting her head to the side, slipping the kimono she used to sleep on her bare arms.
For any answer, the young man with the elusive look beckoned her to come towards him, which she did with a lost look on her features, finishing tying her kimono while walking. He made her turn around again, so that her back was offered to him.
The brunet then grabbed her kimono, undid the barely knotted belt and removed the garment, discovering the mission-marked skin of his companion, who was more lost than ever.
She was about to ask what was going on when she felt Giyuu getting up from the futon where he was previously sitting, who remained strangely silent. When she ventured to glance over her shoulder, she saw the dark-haired man standing there, eyes wide open, looking agar and obviously speechless.
Before she had time to add anything, however, he chose this moment to finaly speak.
"You went to take a bath with Kanroji... Like this...?"
So there was indeed something going on with her back after all. The only problem was that she couldn't see it at all. She asked Giyuu about it, but he chose to turn away and go back to the futon, pulling the blanket up to his nose and not talking anymore.
She would have no answer for the moment, apparently. She resigned herself to go to bed as well, and promised herself to look in a mirror tomorrow, to understand what was going on. For the moment, she was much too tired for that.
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The next morning, Giyuu had already left when she was woken up by her raven, barely after sunrise, who brought her a mission order. She found the note that the dark-haired man had left for her before leaving just beside their futon, and she put it away with all the others she had collected since they knew each other, neatly arranged in a box.
As she got ready, she suddenly remembered that she had to check something. She turned her back so she could see it in the mirror, and felt her heart miss a beat as she realized.
Slight scratch marks and a few bruises were smeared across her buttocks and shoulder blades, which she hadn't even seen before this moment. The "wounds" were so small that she had no pain, but she knew perfectly well where these marks came from.
The night before, which followed the day she had gone to the baths, she had spent it at the side of her beloved. It was not a very complicated enigma to know how she had made these marks... Or rather WHO had inadvertently made them.
She hadn't been paying attention, but she was sure that Giyuu also had some on his side.
And she had gone to take a bath with Mitsuri in this state...? No wonder Giyuu had been weird, just before they went to bed. Why didn't her friend with pink hair say anything, instead of laughing alone?
As a result, the following days were extremely embarrassing for a small handful of people, without anyone outside the events understanding why. While Mitsuri looked at Giyuu and (Y/N) and screamed with joy inside, (Y/N) had recovered very quickly from this incident, but the worst was definitely Giyuu.
If he could have buried himself alive, he would have done so. He could no longer look anyone in the eye, for fear that the rumor of the famous marks had spread among the pillars.
He was still the same uptight young man, obviously.
His colleagues wondered many times what was happening to their comrade, and often questioned the one who was closest to him, Hiyori, but she just laughed and said she didn't know anything, making Giyuu relax, who had tensed up at the indiscreet question every time.
People didn't change, in spite of all that could be said.
And Giyuu was a perfect example.