The Swimming Butterfly (Giyushino Fanfic)

Chapter 2

𝚂𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚘𝚋𝚞 𝙺𝚘𝚌𝚑𝚘

"I-I have to use the restroom," I stuttered. I quickly stood up from my chair, knocking it over onto the hardwood floor. I hastily made my way to the restroom and stood in front of one of the many sinks. 

Waiting for my heartbeat to finally slow down, I looked up into the mirror and saw a version of myself that I had never seen before. My entire faced was flushed and sweat was beginning to form on my forehead. 'Why am I getting so flustered over just feeding Tomioka? We've been on countless missions together that often led us into life or death situations. I treated his fatal injuries when he got injured from one of the Upper Moons.' 

However, after all these experiences, I had never gotten a good close up look at Tomioka's face. While I was placing the salmon in his mouth, I got a good look at his shapely nose. His cold, ice-blue eyes that seemed to stare into my soul. His supple skin that glowed under the sunlight coming in from the windows. His sharp, defined jawline that perfectly complimented his facial features. His black, long hair that swayed back and forth from the wind flowing into the estate. His lips that looked so kissable...

"Ah! What I am thinking about! Just because he's handsome doesn't mean he captured my heart! Why would anyone like that stoic, dense, airhead?" Continuing to reassure myself, I rabled on without stopping.

 Just as I had said that Mitsuri walked into the bathroom. Her eyes widened and she put her hand over her mouth as she squealed. "Is this about Tomioka? Did I hear the man-hater Shinobu calling her partner handsome?" She smiled and stood by my ear. "Is there a romance blossoming here in the Butterfly Estate that I'm not aware of? Hmm?" 

"It's not like that," I replied. I tried to keep a straight face, but my flushed cheeks told another story. "He's not even handsome. I just said that as a joke."

"But Shinobu," Mitsuri slyly smiled at me. "Weren't you feeding Tomioka in the cafeteria? Your cheeks were so red that I thought you were doing to explode!" She patted me on the back and whispered to me, "If you like him, you should make a move on him now. You know, many girls in the Corps find him very attractive. Also, when I went on patrol with him before, many young, beautiful women were hitting on him."

 After she was done speaking, she left the restroom, leaving me confused and frustrated with my feelings. For some strange reason, I couldn't help but feel annoyed and slightly a little angry after Mitsuri told me about the women chasing after him.

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------𝙶𝚒𝚢𝚞 𝚃𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚘𝚔𝚊

As soon as Shinobu ran out of the cafeteria, I saw Kanroji follow her out. 'I wonder where they are going. Maybe this a girl thing that only happens to girls.' When I looked around to find a kakushi to help me finish my meal, I saw all the girls in the cafeteria giggling and pointing in my direction. 

'Are they making fun of me? I wonder why they're all looking at me. I didn't do anything weird.' While I was finishing up my meal with the aid of a kakushi, I pocketed a piece of salmon. After finishing my meal, I made my way outside to where I left the dog last night. 

"Hello doggy. I brought you some food." As soon as it saw me approach, they started to growl and got ready to attack. Before they were about to bite my leg, I took the piece of salmon I pocketed and threw it on the floor. After a few seconds of deciding whether to attack me or eat the salmon, the dog trotted back to where the salmon was and quickly gobbled it up.

 "You must have been hungry after not eating for a long time." I untied the twine on the dog's neck and picked it up, placing it in on my palm. After examining it for a few seconds, I determined that the dog was in fact, a girl. 'I guess I should name her now that I know her gender.' 

Cycling through a few names I saw fit, I settled with the perfect name. 'I'll call her Kocho. Just like the human Kocho, dog Kocho is small, feisty, and packs a punch. They're both also quite... cute.' Clouds began to fill the sky and the air began to feel humid. Kocho began to bark at the sky from my hand. 'I guess she also knows that it's going to rain today. I should bring her inside.'

 I stood up and glanced into the courtyard, checking if anyone was present. If one of her maids saw me with Kocho, they would make me leave her outside. "Listen up Kocho. If you bark or attack me, everyone will know that I brought you inside and you'll have to sleep outside. Got it?" 

As if she could understand what I was saying, she stopped yapping and laid down in my hand. I carefully placed her in one of my pockets and made my way back inside the estate nonchalantly. Silently, I tiptoed into the infirmary room and made myself comfortable on the bed I had slept in the day before. I rested my head on my pillow and closed my eyes.

 Letting my mind run free in the comfort of the bed, I quickly began to doze off until a loud growl interrupted me. I quickly sat up and looked around the room. 'Thank God no one was here.' Placing underneath the blanket, I placed some jerky I grabbed from the kitchen next to her. "I'm going to go take a bath, so be quiet or else people will hear you." 

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 I slowly lowered myself into the bath, letting my worries wash away in the piping hot water. 'Ahhh. I've been meaning to take a bath for a long time.' I felt all my muscles relax and loosen up for the first time in a while. 

Sitting against the edge of the bath, I let myself sink, leaving only my eyes above the water. Letting out the air I was holding in my mouth, I watched as the bubbles floated onto the surface of the water only to pop. 'It's not like me to get do things this troublesome. I usually try to keep a low presence and not interact with anyone. If Kocho is caught by the real Kocho or anyone one of the staff, I'll be caught in an annoying situation. Perhaps dog Kocho will be the downfall of my peaceful life.' I came back up for air and let out a deep sigh. 'I better go check up on her.'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------𝚂𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚘𝚋𝚞 𝙺𝚘𝚌𝚑𝚘

Since Oyakata never assigned me to a new mission since my last one a month ago, I had a lot more time to do whatever I wanted. I usually stayed in my study for hours, concocting new wisteria based compounds and grinding more medical herbs. 

There's no such thing as too much medicine in the Demon Slayer Corps. After a long day of training my tsuguko, Kanao, and researching new poisons, I decided to change things up by cleaning the infirmary room. 'Poor Aoi. She always has so many things to do at once. I should help her out a bit by changing the sheets on the beds in the infirmary and washing them.' 

When I walked into the room, I saw the bed Tomioka took for himself. It was remarkably clean, the only difference between his bed and an unused one was the strange lump underneath the blanket. Looking at the lump, I smiled, reminiscing about the time Kanae hid under a blanket for hours just to scare me. 

'Ah, the good old days. After she jumped out and screamed, I didn't talk to her for several days. I only forgave her when she gave me this butterfly pin...' I reached up onto my hair and gently touched the pin in question. I made my way to the very first bed and took off the bedsheets and blanket, putting them both into a basket. Working fast and efficiently, I quickly tore off the blankets and bedsheets off of each bed, finally reaching Tomioka's bed. 'I wonder what the lump hidden underneath the blanket is...'

Author-Kun. Sorry for the slow update. I'll definitely update within the next 𝚝̶𝚠̶𝚘̶ ̶𝚍̶𝚊̶𝚢̶𝚜̶ week. 

bruh I had to edit this chapter so much. sorry for not doing this sooner.