𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝑰 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒆 [𝕘𝕚𝕪𝕦𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕠] (KNY)

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝟦: 𝐵𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝐻𝑜𝓂𝑒

Giyu POV:

By the time I opened my front door, my haori was soaking wet, and so was most of me. 

"Giyu!" Tsutako gasped as she met me in the doorway. "You're all wet! Oh, I keep telling you to bring an umbrella to work, you never listen."

"I'm fine, one-chan." I hung my soaking haori onto the hook and rung out the rain from my ponytail. 

"Go take a shower, Giyu," Tsutako commanded. I was just about to take a step towards the shower when she tugged my ponytail. "Wait! I think it's hair day."

"Noo." I tried to pull my hair out of her hand. "It's not, it's only the third or something, not hair day yet!"

"Yes it is." Tsutako grinned. "Get to the bathroom, and I'll get the scissors."

I groaned, siddling to the bathroom. Tsutako insisted on cutting my hair every two months, calling it 'hair day'. She didn't like my ponytail, calling it long and impractical. Personally, I thought it was great to tug on when I was stressed or anxious, so I liked to keep it. But nobody argues with Tsutako when she's determined about something. 

Tsutako hurried back into the bathroom with the hair kit, and she pushed me onto a stool. I watched scornfully as she took out the cutting scissors and began to snip away at my hair with practiced ease. 

"Can't you just leave it?" I frowned, glancing at the floor, covered with black tuffs of hair. "I like it. It keeps me warm at night."

"You have your haori for that," Tsutako scoffed, "Or do you want me to make you a warmer one?"

"No." I grumbled. Tsutako smirked. She knew I would never trade my haori for anyone else's- she and Sabito had made it for me specially when I was just a kid. It was one of my most treasured items of all. 

Tsutako finished cutting my hair and she went off to prep dinner while I took my shower. Afterwards, I stepped into the kitchen, to be met with the delicious smell of Tsutako's cooking. 

I smiled, taking a seat at the dinner table. After a long day with the Hashiras, I treasured these moments at dinner in which I could feel safe and loved; the complete oppisote of how I felt with the Hashiras.

"Here you go." Tsutako handed me my spoon for her soup. "I made onion prawn today."

"Prawn!" I stirred my soup. "Can't see any."

"Maybe you just got a bad serve." Tsutako grinned, staring at my head. "I love how you look after you get a cut. You look so young, like you're all 14 again."

I rolled my eyes, tugging at the short tufts of hair. "I can't even tug on it anymore. It's my favourite plaything."

"Tugging on your hair is bad for your roots," Tsutako frowned. "I keep telling you to cut it out."

"You always tug on your braid," I grumbled. 

"Never saw it happen," Tsutako said cheerfully. "Let's eat!"

This evening, I went to bed with a full stomach and a warm, bubbly feeling of contentment in my heart as always.

What would my life look like without Tsutako?

Shinobu POV:

As soon as I stepped through the door of the Butterfly Mansion, Kanae pulled me in and wrapped me in a soft, fluffy towel. 

"Shinobu! You're all wet!" She admonished me. "What do I always say? Have a backup plan! Umbrella, umbrella, umbrella!"

"One-chan, it's impractical to carry around an umbrella to training," I rolled my eyes, drying the tips of my hair on the towel. "You would know."

"Oh, alright, but you should have had someone with an umbrella drop you off." Kanae frowned. "I wouldn't mind. You know, Shinobu, you can always have a friend over if you like." 

I sidled, my mind flashing to Tomioka's offer of his haori. My hand was still raw from how hard I'd slapped him. Maybe it was a bit overboard? Kanae kept telling me how I had to be less harsh and more trusting to anyone who liked me...

Well, I doubt Tomioka would still like me after I slapped him. Somehow, that made my heart twinge. I pushed the thought away. "One-chan, I think I'm going to go take a shower."

"Not help out with dinner?" Kanae teased. "Just kidding, go ahead. Nobody wants to have a wet rat at the table."

"Hey!" I pinched Kanae on the shoulder, then ran out, laughing as Kanae shouted playfully after me. I loved this part of my daily routine- laughing with my sisters, being back home, away from the complicated feelings that I had to go through everytime I met with the Hashiras. 

I slid into the bathroom and closed the door behind me. As the bubbly feeling of being with my sister faded, my traitorous brain went back to thinking about Tomioka. 

I shouldn't feel bad about slapping him, I told myself angrily, He deserved it! He was trying to touch me! He was trying to invade my personal space! He was....

Did I overreact? I slid to the floor. Maybe I did. Everytime I saw him, I couldn't help but think 'I have to hate him. I have to hate him because otherwise I'll end up like Kanae.'

Kanae's story was well-known in the Kocho household. She, as a 15 year old Corps slayer in training, had once loved a fellow slayer named Akio. He'd been the 'love of her life' for over a year before he abandoned her on a mission in which she almost died. Ever since, their relationship hadn't ever been the same again. Kanae was heartbroken for months. 

She was well over him now, and he'd died in a mission last year, but I was still afraid of ending up like her, heart shattered and dreams lost. Love was dangerous, a terrifying prospect. If you care, you lose. I couldn't care about anyone if I didn't want to experience heartbreak. 

Only my sisters would matter to me. My family. My friends. No-one else. I don't want any more to lose. 

Having relationships or even friendships with fellow slayers was dangerous, as I'd learnt from Kanae. The death rate was just too high. And I knew I couldn't be with anyone else, anyone else who just didn't understand why I had to be a slayer, a Hashira. 

I wanted someone who could understand, but who couldn't die before my eyes. Yes, maybe that was it. Or maybe I shouldn't want someone at all. Yes. That way, I can avoid all pain.

After emerging from my shower, the dinner table was set, with pots of steaming miso soup and bowls of ramen. I took my seat at the table, and after chatting with my sisters in turn, we began to eat. 

Aoi's cooking always left a cozy pit at the bottom of my stomach, like a dream that couldn't be turned off. My mind took on a hazy, contented bubble as I listened to my sisters talk and laugh and just be themselves. In this household, I couldn't help but feel completely at ease. The Hashiras were never like this- in my mind, each and every one of them were dark figures, splattered in blood that they couldn't erase because they were murderers, and so was I.

But here everything was innocent. Sweet, and perfect, and just normal. My sisters were my haven, my nest, my safe place.

I couldn't imagine my life without them.

A/N: this chapter is to give you a better idea of giyu and shinobu's situations <33

honestly really love short-haired giyu, he looks so young, like he ought to look with tsutako around >_< ALSO WE AIN'T BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL BC WE ALL KNOW HOW THEIR LIVES LOOK WITHOUT TSUTAKO AND KANAEEE ITS JUST DEPRESSO EXPRESSO