Giyushino Oneshots/Drabbles

Winter Winds

Notes: This chapter was written after a prompt someone sent me in Tumblr after I asked for giyushino AU prompts. The exact message was "Idk about an AU, but what about embarrassed Shinobu?" so I went with it.

I don't think Giyuu would be quite bold as to do this, but oh well. Someone asked me in the comments what spurred on his compliment, and I like to think he noticed Shinobu was upset/annoyed and was like: "hmm. Compliments cheer people up, I should compliment her". So there's your Giyuu context lol. Enjoy

~•~

Shinobu likes to think herself composed.

It was difficult to quell her emotions in the first months after Kanae's death— ever-present was the anger that flowed through her veins. But she learned to smoothen out the permanent scowl that marred her face with time, leaving with it only a light smile.

She learned to be gentle, patient, sympathetic— everything Kanae once was, for she'll have to model herself after her sister if she can ever hope to fulfill her dream. Sympathy doesn't come easy, it never has in the face of demons, So she presents them with choices she knows they'll never make and tempts them with mercy she knows she'll never give and pretends that it's all she can do.

Her grief settles into the back of her mind while her rage festers somewhere in her chest. She fills Kanae's spot as Pillar, and with that title, she is assigned new missions with new colleagues.

She's frequented in these assignments most often by Tomioka Giyuu, the quiet, lonesome Water Pillar. She thinks his aloofness a trait brought on by arrogance at first, but as she works with him more and more, she realizes his silence is born out of awkwardness rather than conceit.

She begins to tease him, simply to get a reaction at first, but then it becomes habitual, and the more time she spends with the Water Pillar, the more her childishness seeps through her thickly built walls.

He begins to respond to her nagging with short answers and small affirmations to show that he's heard. And then he begins responding in words, small sentences. Rarely does he initiate conversation— but his tolerance to her teasing is enough for Shinobu.

~•~

They're returning from a short mission when it happens.

The only sound in the quiet morning is their footsteps as they tread into fresh snow. Shinobu shuffles a few paces ahead of him, her hands tucked into the sleeves of her uniform to keep out the cold.

Her hair is falling loose from its clip, stray pieces falling around her face and into her eyes. Dirt and gore cover her clothes, she's exhausted, wholly unable to enjoy the beauty of the morning. Behind her, she knows Giyuu doesn't fare much better.

Shinobu lets her smile droop, uncaring if the only one to see her discomfort is the quiet man behind her, she doesn't have the energy to make any one-sided conversation with him as they trek back through the biting cold.

She expects the walk to be in complete silence, until—

"Kochou," he mutters, so quiet she wouldn't have heard if the dawn hadn't been so muted, she turns her head to face him as she slows her pace.

He's silent a moment, and Shinobu is about to turn around and deliver a biting remark, far too impatient to deal with his social ineptitude today, until he meets her eyes.

"You're pretty."

She gapes, mouth open for an embarrassingly long moment before she whips her head around, staring stiffly forward. Her face flushes hot enough she's sure she'll melt the snow, and she has half a mind to let down her hair lest he sees her ears, which are undoubtedly burning scarlet.

She simply lets out a quiet, "ah," the monosyllable betraying every thought shouting angrily in her head.

This stupid, airheaded, man! She thinks, and curses how her composure crumbles in the face of two simple words.