Gifts and roses..-*

Chapter 11 - festival.

Sanemi trudged along the cobblestone path to headquarters, his energy nearly depleted. After a day's journey, he was finally nearing the end of a long walk back home, the moon high in the night sky.

His muscles ached as he walked, having spent the previous night battling demons. He had come out the fight generally unscathed, other than the wounds along his knuckles. Although these wounds weren't from demons, in reality they were the result of his thoughts nagging at him, refusing to give him a moment's peace.

It had gotten to the point where they became too much, and he had let his anger out on a poor villager's wall. He'd made a massive scene, flat-out refusing to pay for the damage. In the end, his crow had chastised him enough to force him to concede, rambling about tarnishing the Corps' reputation. As if anyone even knew about them anyway. Stupid bird.

He had never spent so much time thinking, and it was sucking the life out of him. The admirer's identity, Kanroji's words, the festival? He didn't want to think anymore. He didn't want to care. All he wanted was to go home and sleep.

The path was dimly lit, and with no one else around at this hour, the quiet was broken only by the croaking of nearby frogs and the soft rustle of leaves in the breeze. The air was cool, it was nice in comparison to the heat of the day, and he welcomed it as it flew through his hair, tousling it about.

He enjoyed the peace, until two distant voices broke it. Sanemi looked up from the ground, squinting as he tried to make out who it was.

It looked like... Kanroji and Tomioka?

Of course, it had to be them. The two people who would actually talk to him. He sighed, tilting his head back in resignation. The last thing he wanted right now was a conversation; could he just get to the comfort of his bed with no obstacles, for once.

But much to his misfortune, the path led only one way, and before he knew it, the pair were getting unnervingly close.

"Oh! Oh! I know! Maybe you should- wait- hold on- Shinazugawa-san?"

There it was. Mitsuri had spotted him. Sanemi glanced over, a fed-up expression on his face as she began to call his name over and over.

"The fuck do you want?" He grumbled.

The pair seemed pretty unfazed by the harshness of his words, Giyuu held up a small hand to greet him, a content look on his face. "Did you just get back from a mission?" Giyuu asked him.

"Was it that fucking obvious." He deadpanned

"Well... Yeah! You look exhausted!" Mitsuri's eyebrows drew together in concern.

"Yeah. I am. Why are you two wandering around at this hour?"

Giyuu glanced at Mitsuri, silently prompting her to respond. "Just chatting," she replied with a smile.

"What happened to your hands?" Tomioka asked, worry etched on his face. "They're bleeding pretty badly."

Sanemi waved the hand dismissively as if to shield anyone from seeing the damage, and started to walk away. "Doesn't matter."

"Wait." Giyuu called after him. Sanemi turned, raising an eyebrow.

Giyuu shuffled around in his haori for a moment before pulling out a couple of bandages. "You should... uh... wrap those up. It'll help keep them clean." He looked at the floor as he spoke.

Sanemi stared at him, genuinely taken aback. Sure, he and Tomioka had been getting along better lately, but this? It was entirely unexpected. Sanemi's just stood there for a second, struggling to reconcile the gesture.