𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 | 𝐆𝐢𝐲𝐮𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐨

Chapter 26 | All mine

What's happening? Where am I?

Shinobu's eyes were heavy, it was almost like her senses were giving up on her. She could barely make out the faint murmurs from next door as she twitched her fingers. A sudden sharp pain in her stomach forced her to open her eyes to the awfully bright room lit by the mere natural sunlight from the windows. She examined the room she was in, it was just one of the butterfly mansion's ICU rooms. There were lots of needles and tubes around her- five, possibly six.

So I'm still here, I'm still alive...

She sighed in relief, it was true that Shinobu didn't have any intention of surviving past that fight but it was just human nature to feel at least the slightest bit of joy. Speaking of surviving, she gasped at a thought, a little too sudden and it caused a stinging pain to rise up her body. What about Giyu?

She turned her head around in every direction that her half-in-agonizing-pain, half-paralyzed body could, just to find a peacefully napping Giyu lying on the couch. A smile formed on her face when she caught sight of him.

She couldn't help but wonder if all this time he had been visiting her here often.

Despite everything, I still search for him.

"Giyu.." she whispered in her overused and worn-out voice.

Although her voice was barely audible and he was quite a distance away, Giyu opened his eyes and sat back up as soon as he heard the mention of his name. 

"You're awake," he replied, walking over to her.

"Yeah, I guess so," her small voice was croaky but it still had its usual sweet charm.

She hesitated before speaking again, "but, how long have I been out for?" 

Judging by Giyu's healed up body and his relaxed manner, she could already guess that she had been unconscious for two weeks at the very least. To be completely honest, she was a bit scared for Giyu's answer.

He wavered before answering her, "two months."

She gulped, 'oh' was all she could reply with. How had she missed out on so much? She was so confused and had so many questions in her mind, two months' worth of questions and answers was awaiting her.

"I'll go get the other girls for you," Giyu told her after a brief moment of him awkwardly shifting his stare between her and the floor.

"Wait," she blurted out, extending her hand with the IV tube. Shinobu flinched at the pain, she had completely forgotten about the multiple tubes around her.

"Ouch."

He stared back at Shinobu's arms, littered with stitch marks and needles, although he didn't say anything else. 

"Sorry," she said, trying to laugh to lighten the mood, although her attempt was in vain, "I just wanted to talk to you a bit more first."

"We can talk tomorrow, it would be best for you and everyone else if they knew that you're awake now."

"Oh," she sighed in response, a little disappointed, "alright then, I'll be waiting for you."

A moment after Giyu left the room, Aoi rushed through the door along with Kanao and they all rushed towards Shinobu in delight. Shinobu smiled and comforted the girls as they poured their tears out to her. But even so, Shinobu's mood was still slightly affected by Giyu's sudden departure, she couldn't help but think about him.

"We're so happy your awake now!" Aoi smiled, wiping her tears off her face, "I'm sure everyone else will also be really happy!"

"Thank you," Shinobu smiled in response, "I'm glad."