𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 | 𝐆𝐢𝐲𝐮𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐨

Chapter 18 | Yearning

It had been a couple of days since Shinobu had last met up with Tomioka, although it had felt like months. No, she wasn't working, nor was she feeling too tired to leave the butterfly estate, she was just doing her own things, or at least that's what she kept telling herself. In reality, she was trying to avoid the water hashira. She wasn't avoiding him out of hatred though, it was more of a precaution she took to not accidentally get too close to him in case the worst really did end up happening and he ended up getting affected by it. She had made up her mind the day she saw his broken face at the mention of his sister, she knew the feeling all too well.

A couple of minutes passed, then hours. Shinobu sat still on her study desk, her two fingers rolling around a marble ball as her hair flopped in front of her face.

"How has it all led up to this," she murmured to herself, one of her cheeks squished against the cold surface of her table. She was annoyed at herself for passing time so uselessly and sitting in such a pathetic pose. But to come to think of it, the number of missions had been slowly decreasing day by day. Now, everyone was only assigned a mission once or twice a week instead of once almost every single day they were available. The shortage of missions had resulted in Shinobu having a lot more free time than she was used to, meaning she had a lot more time to just think.

Suddenly, she slammed her two fists on the tables in such a way that exerted a lot of force but made minimal noise, "what am I doing," she sighed in frustration before standing up and grabbing her haori with a pocket full of coins. At this point, she was desperate to do anything as long as it was productive, anything because, for some reason, she couldn't stop thinking about Tomioka.

Without a second thought, she walked out of her study, down the stairs and out through the back door. "I guess I'll just go look around at the stores," she spoke to herself, shoving the purse in her uniform pocket. 

The weather was pretty average for a day at the Hashira garden, Shinobu could tell by the clouds that it was going to rain soon. The sun was also starting to set and the sky was turning an orange-ish colour. She was beginning to question her choices for leaving the house at such an untimely moment when she heard a deep voice yell out her name.

Just my luck.

"Shinobu, where are you going, can't you tell it's about to rain?" The voice asked.

She turned around hesitantly, just for her eyes to meet the ultramarine blue eyes of the person she so wanted to avoid. 

"Tomioka-san," she replied, one hand reaching out in front of her as she felt a droplet of water fall on her head. Of course, it had to rain now of all times.

"Get out of the rain," Tomioka continued, walking forwards and dragging Shinobu into his house by the sleeve.

"H-hey let go," she protested.

"Why were you even out there?" He said in a hushed voice, completely ignoring the girl's constant nagging.

When they finally got back into the house, Tomioka studied Shinobu as she shook the rain off her with a smirk on his face as though he was about to tell her off. He watched as she hit her uniform, the water flying off in little speckles, little clear drops of water also shook around as her hair flew side to side.

Shinobu was about to quickly scold the pillar standing in front of her for tugging her inside so aggressively when she remembered what she had been trying to do throughout the whole week.

"Um, I should probably head home now," she assured before attempting to escape through the door behind her, although her attempts were in vain because a strong arm quickly slid the door closed.

"So, are you going to answer my questions?" He teased her, putting his other hand on the wall right next to her head.

She turned around only to notice they were only a couple of inches apart and their knees were practically touching.

"What?" She quickly blurted out in a panic, moving a few steps to the right. All this time, they spent together, they were so close and she hadn't even noticed.

He chuckled a light and barely audible chuckle before moving his hand and adjusting his position at the sight of a flustered Shinobu. He couldn't help but smile at her cuteness at that very moment.

"Tell me, what would a butterfly be doing in the rain, right before the sun sets, without anything on her?"

Shinobu stared back at him with her eyes twitching. What is up with his sudden attempt to start a conversation like that.

"I was just going to the shops."

"How many times do I have to point out the strange timing?"

"I know," she sighed in defeat, finally giving up on her attempts to avoid him.

He inspected her once again after her final response. Her tone sounded much too defeated for just a confession of where she was headed for and he noticed. 

A moment of silence passed before Shinobu turned her head to the right and lifted one eyebrow slightly, "I never knew you painted," she commented at the sight of the arrangement of framed artworks that looked hand-drawn.

"Yeah, I guess I do."

"To come to think of it, I've literally never been here."

"Feel free to explore, there's not much though."

A smile grew on her face as the words left his mouth, never had she gotten so close to someone that they actually let her roam free through their house, or maybe Tomioka really did just not have a life and no privacy worth keeping, "sure, thanks Tomioka-san!"

"Hey, what's up with the sudden burst of exci-" He said before tilting his head up a bit and seeing the wide smile that spread across her face.

Her smile was so contagious it made him want to smile himself. 

"Hey, hey, cut it out," he said to the happy laughing girl, walking back closer to her and caressing her cheek, wiping a drop of rain away with a tiny grin on his face.

He smiled at the faint blush that formed across her face. He loved it when that happened, if he was completely honest, he loved it whenever she was happy. 

Just the sight of her smile or the sound of her sweet voice made him feel warm on the inside and he knew he cared deeply for her, he had noticed her sudden disappearance from his life for a couple of days, whether it was avoiding long conversations or excusing herself from every one of their meetings, it really worried him, as much as he tried ignoring his feelings, he knew deep down, he yearned for her more than he had ever wanted anything in his life.