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

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝟤𝟢: 𝐹𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓈

Time skip

Giyu POV:

"You've gotta cheer up, man. It's been a month. You're a Hashira." Sabito urged. "You've got a job and you can't do it well if you're down in the dumps every day over a girl."

"Not just any girl." Makomo smiled at Sabito. "You always seem to forget it's the great Kocho Shinobu, his childhood sweetheart."

Did I imagine it or did her eyes just turn hard at Shinobu's name? But her smile was so easygoing, in teasing light. I was overanalyzing everything these days. Sabito was right. I needed to pull myself together. 

He rolled his eyes. "She could be the empress of China for all I care and still not worth... whatever this is." He languidly gestured at me. "Look at yourself! I feel sorry, really, really sorry that she rejected you, but this is too much, even for you."

"Whaddaya mean, even for me?" I said scornfully while I checked myself out. My haori was dusty, I had dark circles under my eyes, my skin was pale, but surely that was normal after heartbreak?

"You're just usually so... energetic." Makomo said thoughtfully. "Like, you see the glass half-full. The optimist. You never gave up chasing after her like a puppy all those years, not even when she was horrible to you. So I guess it's just strange for us to see you.... so hopeless."

"Huh." I grinned. "That's cool. I'm hopeless."

"See? Even your smile is painful to see." Sabito winced. "Too much teeth."

"Whaaat." I rolled my eyes. 

Sabito got off his rock and put his hands on my shoulders. "Snap outta it, Giyuu. Pull yourself together. Yes, she rejected you, yes, you're heartbroken, yes, you feel utterly, completely hopeless, but it's been a whole freaking MONTH. She's over it. You've gotta get over it too." 

He said that with such brotherly confidence, but I didn't miss the silverthin look he shot Makomo. He'd once confessed to me his crush on her, though he claimed he didn't think of her that way anymore. I highly suspected a confession and rejection had happened sometime I was away. 

I stumbled back onto a rock and out of Sabito's harsh grip. "I'm fine."

Makomo studied me with those startingly green eyes. "She wasn't worthy of you, simple as that. You don't need her."

I winced, keeping my gaze on the floor. Ever since Shinobu had happened, Makomo seemed intent on painting her as the villian. Shinobu had broken my heart, I guess, but she didn't deserve that slander. At least, I hoped she didn't.

"Sabito? Could you leave us alone for a minute?" Makomo suddenly said. "There's something I'd like to say in private."

"Uh- sure." Sabito's eyes darted from me to Makomo suspiciously. "Do you need-"

"Don't worry. It's about work." Makomo worked part-time as a backup Slayer for the Corps. "I just... need some privacy. Sorry, Sabito."

"All good." He backed off. "I have to pick up some groceries anyways. See ya'll tommorow, same place, same time?" 

"Yep." I shot him a quizzical look. What was Makomo on about? "Later."

"Peace." He waved once, and then disappeared. 

Makomo shifted the entire weight of her attention onto me. "Giyuu."

"Yeah, what's up?" I turned to her, and was suprised to see her face so serious. 

"You treat everything I say about her as a joke you don't want to hear."

"Sorry, what-"

"Just listen." Makomo cut me off, tugging on her high ponytail harshly, her eyes fixed on me. "Please listen. Shinobu isn't worthy of you. Anyone who would reject you is self-conceited, selfish, has no heart, has horrible taste-"

"What do you-"

She didn't stop. Suddenly I was hyperaware of how close she was to me. She must've moved sometime and I didn't notice. Our eyes were locked on each other. "Tomioka Giyuu, that tiny savage little spitball of a woman isn't worthy of you."

For a moment I was so shocked I couldn't speak, because had those words just come out of sweet, innocent, Makomo's mouth?

She put a hand on my arm. I was pushed up against the rock. "You deserve so much more. You deserve someone who will love you like you deserve to be loved, someone who will never ever reject you, someone who has harboured a secret crush on you for year, someone who will truly appreciate you, someone who loves you and will never stop."

"I don't-"

She rose up on her tippy-toes and whispered in my ear, her voice low and husky, "You need someone like me."

Before I could process anything, before my brain could click, before I could move an inch, her mouth was on mine. Warm, caressing, soft, but I just couldn't process it. Surely I was hyperventilating. Surely it wasn't Makomo right now.

I closed my eyes, and for a hyperreal second it was Shinobu's mouth, her arms around my neck, her body pressed up against mine, her warm skin, and it felt so real I melted into the kiss before I opened my eyes and it wasn't her. 

"You kissed me back." Makomo said in wonder. 

"Wha-" My brain whirled. No. Wasn't it Shinobu? But wait-

"I love you." she said simply. 

"But you can't possibly-"

"I do."

"I don't know-"

"Oh, Giyuu." she gently traced my jawline. "What have you got to lose?"

A/N: hehehehehe this is my iconic sunny plot twist in action

just for context i do not ship makomo x giyu but this is for plot and slander...