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

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝟧: 𝒜𝓃𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝑀𝒾𝓈𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃

A/N:

At nine o'clock the next morning, Giyu and Shinobu both received a crow calling at the same time. 

"Caw, caw! New mission! Please proceed to the Kizumi Mountain Range! Ex-Twelve Kizuki sighted! Dangerous territory, many victims! Caw! Would Hashiras Tomioka Giyu and Kocho Shinobu please proceed to Kizumi Mountain Range! Caw, caw!"

Giyu stared at his black crow, flying overhead. They're sending two Hashiras?

Time skip

Shinobu and Giyu met up at an outskirt village close to the Kizumi Mountain Range.

"We'll go there and back quick." Shinobu said shortly. "I have another mission after this."

"Me too." Giyu grinned. "Shall we go?"

Shinobu eyed him. "What's up with the hair?"

"My sister. She-"

"Actually, I don't want to know." Shinobu held a hand up and jumped onto a balcony. "Come on."

The two bounded over rooftops until there were no more to cross. Then, they jogged over a rough field till they came to the mouth of the mountain. There wasn't a word between them, despite Giyu's best attempts.

"We'll split up to find the demon," Shinobu ordered. "You go west, I'll go east. We'll both proceed north. If you find the demon, sent up a signal and I'll go over."

"Fine." Giyu grinned. "Good luck."

Shinobu didn't say it back, and she bounded into the woods before he could get a chance to say anything more. 

Giyu POV:

I went north-west through the trees. It was still morning, so I appreciated the light, but the clustered trees didn't help my path. I kept stepping on twigs, and an occasional spider jumped in my path. It was disturbing. 

My skin felt crawly. This whole forest, this mountain, it gave off an eerie aura, as if the demon lurking in it could be worse than whatever I had encountered- which could very well be the case, as the demon here was apparently an ex-Twelve Kizuki. And it had to be a strong one, too, otherwise Oyakata-sama would not have sent two Hashiras.

After around half an hour of trekking through the woods like some idiot, I crashed straight into somebody familair. 

"TOMIOKA GIYU!!" she whisper-shouted furiously as I accidentally knocked her to the floor. "THE HELL YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? I WAS SPYING ON SOMETHING THAT WAS PROBABLY A DEMON, AND NOW IT'S GONE SCUTTLING OFF!"

"Sorry!" I whispered back, panicked as she swatted at the hand I tried to offer her. "I didn't know! I didn't know!"

"Just stay back!" she hissed, getting to her feet. "God, you're so annoying."

I stepped back, injured. "What's up? Why're you being so snappy?"

"I don't.... just leave me alone. I can't deal with you right now." Shinobu gritted her teeth. "This demon.... it's aura. It haunts me."

"I'm sorry, I-" I touched her shoulder, meant only in a reassuring gesture and not as anything more. But Shinobu leapt back and bared her teeth at me. 

"Don't touch me, Tomioka. I'm not one of those girls you can just wile and coddle to do whatever you like." she glared so hard at me I swear it might have burned a hole through my chest. "Don't think I don't know."

"Don't know what?" I blinked.

"That you've never been there for me." she frowned, crossing her arms, looking away. "You think I don't know what you didn't do at Final Selection? You don't remember?"

"Remember what?" she was confusing me. 

She ran a hand through her hair. "I was struggling against a larger demon, and I spotted you in the bushes. I called to you for help and you joined me, but all you did was trip me when the demon was attacking. I almost died, thanks to you."

"What? I never.... I didn't trip you!" I gaped at her. "You tripped over a rock! I was trying to catch you!"

"I hate it when you lie," she spat at me. "Just leave me alone."

"We're supposed to be on this mission together-"

"Well, since you're so good at this demon thing, maybe you can just go find it yourself." 

She disappeared into the trees.

A/N: IM SORRY GUYS I REALISED THE WHOLE LILI THING WAS ACTUALLY A MISTAKE IN MY PLAN SO IM REDOING THIS CHAPTER AND THE NEXT ONE... 

(if you have no idea what i'm talking about please just ignore this)