Chapter Text
The soft crunch of pebbles could be heard under Obanais feet as he made his way to the usual hashira meeting spot outside of the Ubayashiki manor. He walked slowly, taking in the peaceful environment.
He looked at the clouds in the sky, frowning under his bandages as he saw storm clouds approaching. He enjoyed seeing the clear blue sky during the day, and he hated storms. Plus, the clouds would block out the sun, which would mean demons could wander around in daylight hours.
He was expecting to be the first one there, as he usually was, but he stopped in his tracks as he spotted a familiar half and half haori.
Why in the hell is Giyuu Tomioka here before him? He’s usually late to the hashira meetings.
Obanai’s eye twitched as Kaburamaru adjusted around his neck, sensing that he was angry. He lightly petted their head, not approaching Giyuu.
He had hoped that the other man wouldn’t notice him, and he could sneak up to his usual spot in a nearby tree to avoid any interaction, but there was no such luck.
Giyuu finally seemed to notice that Obanai was there and he turned his head to see him. Giyuu’s blue eyes were cold, as always, and he was wearing that blank expression that he hated.
Obanai glared at him, walking past him and getting into his tree in a matter of seconds. He adjusted himself on the tree branch he always sat on, the bark underneath his fingertips familiar to him.
He tried to ignore Giyuu’s gaze on him.
He really did.
But he knew that it would be a while before any of the other hashira showed up to make Giyuu stop looking at him. He had a routine of showing up at least 30 minutes to an hour before the actual meeting started. By his guess, the meeting would start in 45 minutes and the other hashiras would get here in 30.
Just.
His.
Luck.
Obanai sighed, looking at Giyuu and making eye contact.
“Stop staring at me.” He said, his voice loud in the quiet courtyard. Giyuu seemed surprised that Obanai had actually said something, which Obanai wanted to roll his eyes in response to. He didn’t want to start any arguments today, though.
“Sorry.” Giyuu mumbled, his voice so soft that Obanai almost didn’t hear him.
Silence fell over the two of them for about 5 minutes as Obanai looked at the sky, his reason for always getting here so early. He soon felt Giyuu’s eyes on him once again.
“I said stop staring.” He said, not bothering to look at the man below him. Kaburamaru sat their head on top of his own, trying to get a bit more comfortable.
He expected to get silence from Giyuu, which is what usually happens if you ever tried to talk to the gloomy man. Obanai never thought it was possible for someone to always seem like they’re going to a funeral at every moment, but Giyuu Tomioka proved him wrong.
“Your eyes are pretty.” He heard Giyuu say.
“Huh?” Obanai said, his head turning to look at him. He raised an eyebrow, trying to detect Giyuu’s usual attitude, but the compliment seemed genuine.
“Your eyes.” Giyuu repeated, making eye contact. “They’re pretty.”
His mind went blank.
He got a compliment.
From Giyuu Tomioka?
Giyuu ‘I’m not like the rest of you’ Tomioka?
Kaburamaru shifted to twist around his arm, jolting him out of his thoughts. “Oh. Thanks.” He said, still a bit confused. Giyuu nodded, still looking at him. He looked like he still wanted to talk to him. Obanai sighed to himself, hoping he wouldn’t regret this later. “Why are you here so early?” He asked.
Giyuu’s eyes seemed to change when Obanai spoke. “I don’t know. Just wanted to be here.” He paused, seeming to think for a moment. “What about you?”
Obanai thought for a moment. This is probably the most he’s ever heard Giyuu speak since he’s met him. It was weird to hear his voice.
“I just like the view.” Obanai responded, Shrugging. Giyuu nodded, and he took that as the end of the conversation.
The two were left in comfortable silence for around 15 minutes before more of the hashiras arrived. Earlier than Obanai had thought, unfortunately. Both he and Giyuu could tell who was arriving by the loud chatter in the distance.
“That must be Rengoku and Kanroji.” Giyuu said, and Obanai nodded in agreement.
“At least Uzui isn’t with them…” He said, looking over at Giyuu. He swore he saw him smile, just for a split second. Whatever, he was probably seeing things.
Mitsuri and Kyojuro’s steps could be heard approaching them, and they both turned to see the pair smiling and waving at them. Obanai waved, and Giyuu simply nodded and turned his attention to whatever he was looking at.
He couldn’t help but think that Giyuu was either just shy or introverted, not stuck up like he and Sanemi always thought.
“Tomioka? You’re here really early!” Mitsuri called out, smiling at Giyuu as she stood next to him. Giyuu simply nodded. “Eek! And you actually responded with a nod! A month ago, you would have ignored me!”
“Now, now! I’m sure Tomioka here just has a difficult time getting comfortable around others!” Kyojuro said, basically yelling. Obanai winced a bit at the loud noise, but he was getting used to it. “Ah! Morning, Iguro!”
“Good morning.” Obanai responded, nodding at Kyojuro. He had known Kyojuro since he was a child, as his father had saved him from the snake demon that haunted every moment of his life. Even now.
Although their time together as children was short, they had reconnected after Obanai had become a hashira. He was glad for it, too.
“Oh, yeah! Hi Iguro! Hi Kaburamaru!” Mitsuri called out, waving at them on the tree. Obanai waved back, his face heating up just a bit under his mask.
Mitsuri was the only female comrade Obanai had that he ever felt comfortable around. Well, first female ever. She always gave off the energy of a kind soul, someone loveable and trustworthy. Kaburamaru seemed to like her, too, so that was a bonus.
Mitsuri and Kyojuro continued on with their conversation, Obanai eavesdropping as usual. They were always talking about something weird, which gave him a bit of entertainment. Giyuu also seemed to be listening into the conversation, occasionally raising an eyebrow when anything odd was said.
Soon after the duo started talking, more hashiras arrived. The next two to arrive were Shinobu and Muichiro, and Obanai felt himself filled with the urge to run. It was nothing against Shinobu, really. It was just… she was a girl. She was nice enough, but her fake smile always reminded him of his family.
Muichiro, on the other hand, made him worry. He always thought he was way too young to be a hashira, but he respected him.
Shinobu went over to talk to Giyuu, who either shook or nodded his head in response to Shinobu's questions, and Muichiro stood there watching the clouds.
Just a couple of minutes later, Tengen and Sanemi showed up. Tengen went to meet up with Kyojuro and Mitsuri, completing the ‘chatterbox trio,’ as Obanai thought of them as.
Sanemi, on the other hand, immediately became angry. Obanai could always tell by the way his eye twitched, and no doubt it was because of Giyuu. Obanai and Sanemi shared a look, and Obanai shook his head. He didn’t feel like making rude comments about Giyuu today.
Sanemi rolled his eyes, but didn’t bother to try and convince him to actually do it. Sanemi may have been mean, but he respected his friends' wishes.
“Oi, Tomioka! Why are you here so early?” Sanemi said, his voice cutting through the air and stopping the other conversations. Obanai watched as Giyuu simply stared at Sanemi, not bothering to even blink. “Hey- I’m asking you a question!”
“Now, now! Let’s not have a repeat of the last meeting, alright?” Shinobu said, her fake smile making Obanai cringe.
The last meeting, which was 6 months ago, was certainly eventful. Sanemi had ended up chasing Giyuu around the entire Ubuyashiki estate, managing to mess up several gardens and ending up in repair duty for about 2 months. Obanai felt himself chuckle a bit at the thought of Sanemi doing some gardening.
“Man- that was hilarious to watch!” Tengen said, his smile wide and his voice booming.
“What was hilarious to watch?” A voice said, and everyone turned to see Gyomei walking over to them.
“Ah, just the events of the last meeting!” Mitsuri said, going to wave at Gyomei before remembering that he was blind. Her cheeks turned pink with embarrassment, and Kyojuro patted her softly on the shoulder.
“Hm, that was pretty chaotic. I heard the master did like how Shinazugawa did the garden, though.” Gyomei nodded, his smile soft. Sanemis cheeks had a hint of blush from embarrassment, and he was about to speak up one again but was interrupted by the master joining them.
All of the hashira quickly got in their places, kneeling down in respect for the master. Obanai took his usual spot the furthest to the right so he was able to see all of the Hashira out of his good eye.
He had kneeled down next to Giyuu this time, and he couldn’t help but think about their conversation earlier. Giyuu hadn’t said a word to any of the other hashira that had talked to him today, yet he had started the conversation with him.
Weird, but he had to focus.
The master was speaking.
-
Once the meeting was over, Obanai was eager to leave and either get to patrol or back to his estate. Most of the time he would stay and talk with Sanemi or Kyojuro after meetings, but the approaching storm made him eager to leave.
Luckily, no one stopped him as he was leaving the estate. He managed to get back to his estate rather quickly, frequently glancing at the storm clouds in the sky. They had almost completely covered the sun, so the hashira would most likely be sent on patrol earlier than usual.
Not long after he got to his estate, his crow arrived with a mission for him.
It was still afternoon, but the rain had started.
Which meant demons would start hunting earlier than usual.
Obanai quickly set out to the meeting spot for the assignment, putting on a straw hat to hopefully block some of the rain getting in his eyes
He went over the basic info he had gotten in his head. The demon had been preying on travelers walking in between two busy villages, and it had taken down several slayers in the process. He would be meeting with a higher rank slayer to help take it down, as it was suspected there was actually more than one demon in the area.
The meeting area was just outside of one of the villages, which made it easy for him to spot the other slayer if they were already there.
Obanai managed to get there pretty quickly, considering it was pretty close to his estate. He scanned the area, trying to spot a demon slayer uniform somewhere. When he didn’t, he simply took his hat off and sat under an area shielded from rain and waited.
He had Kaburamaru hide a bit more in his uniform so he wouldn’t attract any unwanted attention, even if there weren’t many people outside. He usually stood out like a sore thumb, and Kaburmaru would usually make people stare longer than usual. Someone with two different colored eyes, a katana, and a snake isn’t someone people trust very easily.
He waited around 5 minutes before he could see his teammate in the distance. He could tell it was a demon slayer from the way the person was running while holding their katana, their uniform, and their mismatched haori.
Wait.
A mismatched haori?
Obanai’s eye twitched as Giyuu Tomioka approached him, nodding. He sighed. Master had probably gotten the word from someone at his estate that they had been talking before the hashira meeting had started and decided to pair them together in hopes they would be a good team.
Well, he just hoped this mission would be quick.