A Split in The River of Time

Part 7: First mission back

God, Giyuu. Tomioka sat in his bed, waiting for his bird to arrive. Shinobu didn't trust him enough to go home yet, but she agreed for him to go on missions.
"CAW!" A raven called from the window. He reached for his crow, patting its head and petting it, before reaching for the note. He fumbled with his hand for a moment, before unwrapping and reading it.

Tomioka Giyuu and Kanroji Mitsuri are to travel to ________ and investigate possible demon activity, several missing lower ranked slayers. Reinforcements will be sent when available. Expect a long journey.

Giyuu sighed and stood. He had grown to like Mitsuri, however he knew to stay away from her due to Obanai's protectiveness. What kind of demon requires two, maybe three Hashira? He stood up from bed and gathered his gear, reaching for his knife and sheathing it, the bag of bombs Tengen had given to him, and of course, his sword. It was newly made and with darker colors along the handle. He reached for where his Haori was, but only found his uniform and a jacket. He slipped into the clothing, grabbed his bag of emergency equipment and ran towards the front of the estate, where to his surprise Kanroji waited.
"Hello, Giyuu!"

"... Mitsuri." The two looked at each other for a bit before Mitsuri got uncomfortable with the silence and began walking. Giyuu simply shrugged and followed her, adjusting his pack as they walked.
"Any idea on what could require two of us?" Mitsuri asked out loud while looking at some flowers.

"Maybe a nest." Tomioka replied simply. The two walked in silence for another hour, before Mitsuri couldn't take it anymore.

"So you and Shinobu!" She abruptly shouted. Giyuu looked at her weirdly, a small amount of red appearing on his face. She was the one who had seen the two cuddling, after all and he was just hoping she had forgotten.

"W-What about us?" he replied meekly.

"Are you two dating, do you like her?" He sat for a moment, and looked up at the sky.

I do like Kocho. I think I do? I want to hold her close, and protect her and keep her smiling. Kami is her smile to die for. But it would never work.
"We are not together. I don't know why we would be, she doesn't seem to like me very much. Always teasing me and bullying me, there isn't a point to be interested in somebody who doesn't like me." He said. Mitsuri looked at him with a face that just screamed:

You can't be this dumb.

He is really that dumb, Mitsuri came to realize. She also realized he was a terrible liar, though. They walked for the rest of the day discussing several topics, including their favorite foods... Tomioka's just so happened to be Salmon daikon... Mitsuri merely smiled at this knowledge. Towards the end of the day the two set up a makeshift camp inside the mouth of a cave, because as they climbed the mountains, the nights began to get colder and colder. Pretty soon the two were huddled together by the fire they had made, Giyuu using his jacket to warm up the female slayer who was most definitely not in cold weather attire. The next morning had come, and after walking for around another one and a half hours they stumbled across a small hot spring. The two slayers were absolutely thrilled, Mitsuri shrieking with joy (At this point she had been wearing Giyuu's jacket and had her uniform buttoned all the way up) Giyuu didn't exactly display his joy, but the loud groan and sigh he let out definitely signaled it very well. Steam rose from certain parts of the water as the cold air interacted with the hot water, causing the surrounding area to be warmer than the rest of the area, and the two sat by the waters edge.

"Did you want to swim first?" Giyuu said, removing his bag while looking at the water.
"What do you mean, 'First'? We are adults, Giyuu. I think we can swim at the same time without it being weird." The girl responded while removing her bag and the man's jacket.