Chapter Text
Shinobu closed her journal. Stifling a yawn, she looked outside her window.
The sky was endowed with deep blue and golden hues of a fading day, signalling the arrival of night. Soon she would be accompanying a certain airhead for a mission. Theirs is not a world that allows night to be a moment of peace; peace in itself has been quite an elusive thing in their lives as demon slayers.
And her partner for tonight's mission certainly doesn't help as a distraction for such tiring adventures. Speaking of whom, she has been relentlessly teasing Tomioka for some time now with the hope that he would become more talkative, and sociable.
She doesn't know why she wants him to talk more. But something inside her wants him to break out of his shell, even if it is for a moment. Something about him — his loneliness — leaves her with a strange feeling, an ache.
However, like everything else in her life, she is now growing wary of her teasing attempts, especially the poking. Her wariness with poking him into talking has become even more noticeable given Tomioka actually has a 'friend' now— Kamado Tanjiro. Yes, the young boy and his demon sister for whom Tomioka fought her, broke corps rules and put everything on line, including his life.
Somewhere, she has been thinking of stopping, or at least leveling down, her attempts to get Tomioka to talk more, given now he has, um, company. "I am not disliked," she recalls rather fondly, and of course, Tanjirou's presence means this is true and he might not need her as much as he did before (not that he ever said so). Young Kamado is a gentle soul, like her sister.
She is sure that boy will get through Tomioka's walls much more successfully than she could ever, just like he managed to bring Kanao a little bit out of her shell. It is not like she has endless patience, pretending to be like Kanae could only get her this far.
A sigh escapes her lips. Yes, she will definitely tone down her teasing, and maybe, maybe, also seek a break from Tomioka Giyuu for some time. With so much else going on in her life, teasing an awkward tree can take a break, can't it?
With a vague resolve of sorts, Shinobu prepares to leave for the Water Pillar's estate to join him for the upcoming dangers and also make futile attempts to humour his indifferent self, though in a toned down manner.
Next day arrived like a blank page in the notebook. Kagaya had called Hashira for a meeting to assess the quality of new recruits.
Shinobu had reached first. She was tired. Yesternight's mission was, um, interesting. No, it was not that demon was a difficult one. One of many reasons Shinobu and Giyuu got paired up together so often was because they both worked quite effectively as partners. It was actually what happened afterwards that refuses to leave her mind.
"This was an easy one." She turned to look at the demon who had turned to ashes.
"Good job." came Tomioka's genuine but curt reply. Usually, Shinobu would have added some teasing remark at his lack of tact, or atleast jabber his side to get his attention, but she had already decided against it, hadn't she? So, instead of offering any snarky comments, she contended with a simple affirmation. "Yes, you are right."
Good, she kept it cordial and formal.
She put her katana in the sheath. Since no civilian was harmed as they had cornered the demon in a deserted part of the forest, there wasn't much to do. She did not want to stay long because she wanted to take some rest before the meeting. Also, Tomioka was a man of few words, he hardly ever had anything to add. With a dismissal of her petulant thoughts, she decided to bid him goodbye (knowing that he must be relieved she didn't stay back to tease him).
"It was great working with you as usual Tomioka-san, I will see you at the meeting. Bye."
Without waiting for his response, she turned to leave. But before she could take another step, Giyuu grabbed her wrist.
To say she was surprised would be an understatement, he had pulled her so suddenly she momentary lost her balance. Giyuu quickly steadied her with both his hands, one gently wrapped around her waist, another gently but firmly holding onto her wrist.
"What in the name of—" (internally). And here she was being polite to this doofus!
"What are you doing Tomioka-san?" She kept her tone as sweet as possible but a popping vein near her forehead showcased she was barely holding her anger. Also, the fact that he had yanked her wrist which made her catch her breath, now held her in an awkward embrace which made her heart skip a beat and cheeks acquire a certain tinge of colour pink certainly did not add to her irritation.
"Are you alright?" he asked in his characteristic deadpan voice, without expressing any remorse for nearly making her fall.
"Huh?" She looked at him, confused by this sudden question.
"I mean you haven't said anything about my behaviour. I just wanted to know if everything is fine." My god, this man spoke two full sentences! The old Shinobu would have teased him relentlessly after hearing his concern but new Shinobu knew better than this, right? (not to forget that old Shinobu had been there just a day ago!).
Suddenly, he realised he still had not let her go. So, he quickly let go of her wrist and unwrapped his arm from her waist as if it burned.
"Sorry." A blush crept up his neck and spread across his face.
Again Shinobu would have teased him, this time for real, had she been herself in a better position. She was extremely confused by Tomioka's actions and his concern. She thought he did not like her talking. But apparently, he was concerned she did not talk much .
Convinced he was indeed a socially inept airhead, she decided to salvage the situation in her practiced collected manner.
"It is just we have a meeting to attend and I wanted to take some rest, I was in a hurry. That is it. I am fine." She looked at him with her saccharine smile, suited for situations that required damage control.
He did not look convinced as his gaze lingered on her face a moment longer, a bit too intense (She definitely did not try to swallow the nervousness that arose in the back of her throat on being subjected to the intense scrutiny of his ice blue eyes).
"Okay, I take your word,” he turned towards the other way, "for now."
Shinobu released the breath she did not realise she was holding. With a smile plastered on her face, she straightened her spine and turned the opposite way. "See you soon, Tomioka-san, rest well." With that she made a dash towards her estate, leaving behind a man with slight frown, caught up in deep thoughts.
Her reverie was broken by sounds of her fellow Hashira approaching. Uzui and Kyojuro were talking about some training technique, loudly. Mitsuri waved at her from a distance and ran towards her. Shinobu saw her holding some kind of small pouch in her hands. She recognised the pouch; it was from a local vendor who sold high quality cosmetics.
Tokito and Himejima walked in quietly. Iguro and Sanemi were pointing at Tomioka with a not-so-subtle scowl, as he entered in the last. His eyes found hers the moment he turned his head towards the direction his comrades were walking in, as if he was looking for her.
She quickly noticed something different in his gaze. For others, Tomioka was like his usual self— silent, brooding, plain and unimpressive. But him and Shinobu had spent enough time together for her to notice things others didn't. She could see his eyes were filled with certain amount of concern and questions, his forehead was slightly creased by a thin frown and his shoulders were slightly tense. She knew he was thinking something, no, it looked like he was internally struggling.
Before she could question him, Kagaya's two children announced his arrival and his gentle voice filled the courtyard.