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Giyuu had returned from a week-long mission. When he reached the wisteria rest-house, he wanted nothing but to take a bath and make way for home. He did not want to waste time, he wanted to see Shinobu at earliest.
To his and everyone's utter amazement, Shinobu and Giyuu were officially courting each other.
However, it did not happen suddenly, it took them, him, considerable time to come to terms with their feelings.
They both had faced depths of grief, both became Hashira, a profession that did not allow them to look forward to such future.
Yet they had ended up together.
It started with Shinobu, of course it was her.
Her mischievous attempt to get him talking, often poking him to get his attention, turned into a bond without him consciously realising it.
The unnamed bond became friendship which eventually turned into a relationship they were too invested in to pretend otherwise.
Yes, they are not promised happily ever after but the paucity of time made them realise to simply go for it.
They watched Iguro and Kanroji steal moments to spend time together, so they could also.
Shinobu had told him that she didn't want to spend rest of the time they were left with wondering what could have been.
His thoughts were so occupied by Shinobu that he almost missed the knock at the door.
It was the caretaker, a young woman. She bowed towards him and began in a formal tone.
“Hashira-sama, another comrade of you will also be joining us in the rest house.”
Before he could enquire about who the Hashira was, a blur of pink appeared behind the caretaker.
It was Kanroji Mitsuri, the Love Hashira, and Shinobu's closest friend in the corps.
“Oh Tomioka-san, it is you!” Mitsuri's squeaked voice followed her appearance. In return, Giyuu offered a stiff nod.
The truth is despite Shinobu and Giyuu officially getting together, he still found it hard to talk to other people. And Mitsuri was one of those people whose energy he found bit too much to handle.
She was perhaps among the few in corps, besides Shinobu, who didn't think negatively of him. Yet he couldn't just seem to find a common ground with her, they were just too different.
However, things had gotten pretty awkward between the two recently.
One day, before they were in an official relationship, Shinobu prompted the other Hashira to make him smile.
Everyone tried different tricks to get him smile, but Mitsuri's way of making him smile involved tickling him.
She was so embarrassed afterwards on watching Giyuu's reaction that she didn't try to talk to him much.
Even now, there was an awkward silence between the two as they sat down for lunch.
Mitsuri was fidgeting nervously with her fingers while Giyuu was never the one to start a conversation. So, they continued to eat in silence.
Giyuu looked at the meal, and smiled, it was one of Shinobu's favorite dishes.
“Wow." Giyuu turned to Mitsuri whose face had lost the nervous look, and now had expression of genuine surprise.
“We all tried to embarass ourselves in making you smile, and all it took was one of Shinobu-chan's favourite things to make you do so.”
Giyuu did not know how to answer.
“I am sorry.” Her fidgeting returned but she didn't turn to her meal before saying, “You are lucky to have her in your life."
“That I am.” He answered in a firm voice.
Mitsuri started eating her food again, that is when Giyuu remembered something.
“Kanroji,” Startled that Giyuu addresssed her, she turned towards the expressionless man with unconcealed excitement, “I wanted to know, ugh, if there are any good places to eat, you know you and Iguro have explored the area quite a bit.”
Watching her practically vibrating with excitement, he continued in a cautionary voice, “I-I just wanted to take her somewhere, she has been working hard.”
Mitsuri smiled at him with genuine warmth.
“She does, doesn't she? I always respect her and her skills. She is a perfect woman. I wish I could be like her. ”
“She says the same about you.” This startled her, “She often tells me how she wants to be as strong as you.”
Hearing this, Mitsuri's eyes brimmed with tears.
“Did I say something wrong?" Giyuu's brows furrowed with worry, the last thing he wanted to do was to make Shinobu's closest friend cry.
“No, no, you are fine. It is just—” Mitsuri sniffled, “Nevermind.”
“Kanroji, there is one more thing Shinobu told me.” Giyuu's voice was uncharacteristically comforting, “She said Iguro is extremely lucky to have you.”
Mitsuri didn't just smile, she beamed with happiness.
“Of course, she did, she is the best.”
She then stood up abruptly, food half-finished.
“Let me fetch my scroll and brush, I am going to list down all the best places you can go to with Shinobu-chan. ”
Giyuu responded with a simple nod.
The moment Mitsuri dashed out of the common room to fetch her things, Giyuu sighed and let his train of thought wander. He would go back and tell Shinobu about this and how she became a common ground to bond over for two of the most precious people in her life.