The Butterfly Drowns【GIYUSHINO】

「CH1: Bicker and Battle」

⚠️this work has manga SPOILERS⚠️

"Tomioka," her nails dug into his skin, cold as she still kept a smile etched on her lips, "Do you.. perhaps have a grudge on me..?!"

Silence filled the air, but the grip of her hands was unmoving, in fact, it had gone tighter.

"...No." Giyuu had finally spoke. It was like he was running for a contest to see how long he could go without answering, except his only viewer was the tree in front of him.

Giyuu had been sitting on a rock surrounded by an abundance of green; trees, bushes, crickets, even the half his haori. Next to him, Shinobu Kocho with an eerie smile and threatening touch on his shoulder.

"Ahahaha...hahaha...." Shinobu responded rhythmically, "Then tell me why you're SO against me treating your wounds?"

Giyu could only sigh, "It's a waste, I'm completely fine?" A response was great, but had not been much of help unfortunately, considering his side was oozing out blood by the second.

Shinobu couldn't help but laugh, one that arupted with annoyance; either way, Giyuu wouldn't have been able to tell, "Tomioka, I'de love to leave you here like you'de want but it's of my best interest that we don't travel back with a blood trail!"

"Then we can wait for them to find us." Giyuu proposed nonchalantly.

Shinobu could feel a vein deep in her forehead ready to burst, 'Frankly, I don't want to spend any more seconds than I have to with you, so no,' is what she would like to say. Yet she stuck with, "That's funny." as her short answer.

The both of them had been sent out to investigate a family reportedly missing for days. The family's house had been enclosed by the surrounding forest, and it had already been clear to both Shinobu and Giyuu that it had most likely been a demon.

Unfortunately for their bickering stupidity when paired together, Giyuu had gotten an injury on his side. No, not from any demon. Shinobu had purposely ran quickly onto the trees once the demon had been dealt with to avoid any more interaction with Giyuu. While Giyuu trailed farther behind, Shinobu had gotten bored and decided poking fun was better than the continuous rustling of leaves—so she traveled back to him. However, when Giyuu heard the approaching footsteps, he had assumed it was another demon and unsheathed his katana. Ready to slice the next demon's head off, Shinobu's smiling face appeared behind the tree. Giyuu had been so disoriented that as he shifted his katana to avoid beheading his coworker, his foot slipped and the next branch over got him.

Shinobu had been insistent in patching his wound since they had to cross a town to travel back, but Giyuu had been annoyingly rigid on not being treated.

"It's barely a scratch, Hashiras aren't that weak." Giyuu defended himself, "It's barely even bleeding now."

Shinobu didn't know how else to explain to this man that she could care less about him, she just didn't want to be seen walking next to an idiot with blood oozing on their side.

Shinobu turned, letting go of Giyuu's shoulder, "Ah whatever.. make sure to hide it with your haori when we get to the town." In the end, she could do nothing but give up. It would be stupid for the demon slayer corpse to come in for an arrogant hashira with a boo-boo.

—🦋—

When they arrived at the town, the first thing they settled on was grabbing a quick meal to replenish their energy after all the fighting (with each other).

However, it never really ever is that easy. Shinobu had been craving for a dish filled with more greens and vegetables, while on the other hand, Giyuu had insisted they eat at the locally recommended seafood place. Luckily, there had been a simple solution: eating separately. Shinobu politely declined his offer and told him to meet in the same spot once done.

Shinobu had finished first, and waited. Except she waited for a long while.... a long while. Shinobu turned her head back and forth, "Where is he?" she muttered.

At some point, Shinobu couldn't help but find herself walking around, exploring the town on a deeper level as she looked into open windows and admired the people and families who walked with a genuine smile. Even then, she could not see a mismatched-haori man with long black hair waiting around their meeting spot.

"Excuse me," Shinobu gently bowed to a townsfolk, "Do you perhaps know where the seafood restaurant is around here?"

The woman had been with her child and reassuringly pointed outward while speaking with more directions. Shinobu quickly thanked them and hurried off.

The place she landed in front of had been old, almost run down looking with some wood that had obviously started to rot and the broken off slanted sign that beheld above. None of it mattered though, what truly mattered was that she could clearly see the messed up ponytailed idiot biting away on a seat benched up near the counter.

"Tomioka!" She fakingly joyed as she walked over with her usual smile.

The store owner slapped down a towel on their shoulder and gave Shinobu a large warm smile as he waved her over, "Welcome, welcome!"

Giyuu too, looked over his shoulder, "Oh, Kocho." He lowered his chopsticks, "I thought we were meeting elsewhere?"

Shinobu stood on the side behind him, "Ahaha... that's right, but it seems someone didn't understand what a 'light meal' was." she rested her hand over her smile naturally.

"Haha Sorry!" the voice interrupted behind the counter. The owner let out a chuckle, "He must have been entranced by our food, do you want to order anything, miss?"

Shinobu waved her hands politely, "No thank you, I'll just wait!" she continued to smile.

"That's too bad," the owner returned her smile, "Well then do please sit down, I'm sure your..?" he stopped in his tracks.

"Co-worker." Shinobu finished off for him.

"Yes, I'm sure your co-worker will be here for a while!" he poured her a glass, "I don't want to force such a frail woman to be standing for so long, come sit!" he gestured.

"Ah," Shinobu puzzled a bit with his comment, "Thank you." She sat down next to Giyuu who had nibbled away this whole conversation. It hadn't even seemed like he paid any attention to anything said.

Shinobu stared a bit, not knowing what to do next. Giyuu had been constantly, but somehow gracefully, eating a bowl filled of salmon dipped into sauce. "Do you enjoy salmon, Tomioka?" Shinobu asked.

He took a while to answer, even moreso put down his chopsticks. Shinobu had even thought he might just ignore the question. But he had suprisingly answered, "It has the perfect texture and absorbs the sweet and saltiness of the sauce well." Although only for a second, Shinobu could swear she saw a smirk form on his face, but the angle she looked at him from made it hard to tell.

"My, is that so?" Shinobu smiled, "Can I try?"

"Order one."

"..."

"..."

Amidst the silence, the bowl of salmon had shortly slid from Giyuu to Shinobu.