It was probably midnight already. Though, Sanemi didn't have any idea of it as he had been walking for a few hours by now. He was really tired and could drop on to the ground for a wink of sleep, but he knew that it was dangerous to do so with demons roaming about on the hillside.
He had been sent on missions, nonstop, for the past few days because of demons, which had been deemed unbeatable by lower ranked corps members after quite a few of them failed to kill them in reality, it was not so at all. Sanemi grumbled about whether it was his rare marechi blood or the incapability and weakness of the newer recruits, which was the reason he found the demons quite weak and easy to handle.
Though he obviously didn't care at a time like this as he felt like he could drop dead any moment and grimaced at his own thoughts. He obviously wasn't weak and didn't want to think he was, but it was the first time he was so tired after defeating a few demons. Maybe they were quite powerful, after all.
After convincing himself about that, he looked around for any signs of wisteria houses or Pillar estates but couldn't find any. He soon saw his kasugai crow come back after looking for wisteria houses, but it also didn't have luck finding any. Sanemi suddenly saw it fly forward and disappear down the hillside into god-knows-where.
Suddenly, he heard it come back, and it started screeching as Sanemi's hands jerked to cover his ears. The crow said, "The Water Pillar's estate is not very far!", flapping its wings delightfully as it wouldn't have to fly around looking for wisteria houses anymore.
"I'm not going there, find some other place, or I'll eat you for dinner," he growled back at the useless crow. The crow backed away warily, still in midair. It pulled at the Hashira's Haori and pulled him down the hill as the Wind Pillar protested and tried to convince the crow to find some other place that was not the Water Pillar's.
He wasn't interested in strangling the crow right now as his hands were aching and he wouldn't be able to find another place to stay in if the crow left Sanemi, though he might've done that if he could. He grumbled to himself about how dumb his crow was and how unfair it was for Oyakata-sama to not give him any rest.
Soon, he was trudging down the hillside, regaining a bit of his strength after sitting under a tree for a while. Soon after, he was at the gate of the Water Pillar estate, which he was dragged to by his crow. He hesitated a bit and opened the gate, and walked into the wide front yard across which was a big door.
He walked up to the door and knocked on it roughly to rouse any sleeping residents. He waited for a few moments without any response and was debating with himself if he should just leave the place and search for some inn. He decided not to as he was too tired to walk all day long again and also didn't want to encounter any demons that he would have to kill. He was about to knock again when it was opened by a sleepy Giyuu.
Sanemi realised that there was a really good scent wafting out from the door when it was opened and couldn't help but peek inside for the source of it. Giyuu looked at Sanemi, perplexed, as he could not understand why the Wind Hashira was knocking at his door at such a late time.
Sanemi noticed that Giyuu's hair was tousled, which meant he was asleep and was not intentionally keeping him waiting outside. He was also dressed in a simple yukata. "Is there anyone in the house?"Sanemi asked Giyuu. "Why would there be?" Giyuu asked back. Sanemi wondered if the smell was coming from the Water Hashira because he was certain that Giyuu's scent had always been very faint and neutral.
"Why are you here this late at night banging at my door?" Giyuu asked. "Totally not because I'm nearly dying from hunger, thirst, and fatigue."Sanemi replied back, wondering how dumb Giyuu must be to ask him that. "I'm not letting you in."Giyuu stated. "What do you mean? Are you crazy? Just let me in already, I'm really tired and am not in the mood to fight with you."Sanemi said, sounding very annoyed by now because of the Water Pillar's attitude. Giyuu obliged and let him in as he was tired too from the relentless missions lately.
