As Things Should Be

-24- Growth

Gyutaro groaned as he was subject to yet another, and thankfully the final hug bestowed on him by the Love Pillar. By hug, of course, he meant a bone-crushing embrace that would kill a lesser being. She hadn't ceased trapping him in such. Where did she hide that much strength in that little frame?

"Thank you so much for all the help Gyu-chan!" the girl grinned as she lifted him off the ground despite his struggle. Didn't she know he could (and was almost willing) to kill her here and now for this blatant breach of his damn personal bubble?

Hashira or not, even if she was incredibly strong, flexible, friendly, bubbly, sweet, and kind - if it came to a fight he would win... probably...

He very suddenly didn't want to think about this splash of pink smiles and sweetness stained in blood, so he very simply didn't. It was getting easier to stop imagining things like that.

"You're welcome," was all he said instead, and she put him back down lightly.

"We should do another mission again sometime!" Mitsuri laughed joyfully. "Except next time you won't be all 'meh' and 'grrr', and we can 'swoosh', 'shing', 'baaam' all the demons quicker!"

Five days had unfortunately gotten Gyutaro used to this foreign language of onomatopoeia that the Love Hashira used too frequently. It had irked him at first, but to the same level as Inosuke's constant bickering or Daki's whining.

"Sure man, you know where to find me," Gyutaro shrugged as he jerked a thumb over his shoulder towards the Butterfly Mansion.

Mitsuri clapped her hands eagerly, hopping up and down as she went back to Iguro's side.

Ah... Iguro. Obanai to Misturi, but Gyutaro didn't think they were on first-name basis just yet. Hell, they'd never be on a first-name basis if the snake guy got his way.

Their relationship had been... rocky... at best. It started with a staring contest that only intensified whenever Mitsuri got remotely close to Gyutaro. But clearly, the hashira didn't completely despise him because the snake-boy had covered Gyutaro's back when one of the many demons they'd run into tried to attack his blind spot.

It really wouldn't have been a big deal if the demon had struck, Gyutaro's regeneration skills far surpassed any lower demon - but Iguro jumped in to help regardless.

He'd claimed he had just 'used Gyutaro as a distraction' but Mitsuri didn't buy it and Gyutaro didn't either. Now, that didn't mean he believed Mitsuri when she said the guy liked him - there was way too much murderous intent in that gaze to insinuate otherwise. 

Oh well, who the hell knew what the human was thinking? What any human was thinking... ever. Snake-boy was at least better than Mr. I-have-three-wives-what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it Hashira.

"Stay behaved, demon," Iguro muttered in what was probably a threat. His ever-present snake was resting on his shoulder and opened one of her eyes lazily before closing them and falling back to sleep. She at least liked him - Gyutaro could vibe with the snake and that was the only thing helping his case when it came to Iguro.

Gyutaro only chuckled arrogantly, tilting his head to sneer at the hashira.

"Sure thing, snake-man. Watch you back," he snickered.

They stared at each other for a long moment in silence, Iguro glaring from under his bangs, Gyutaro doing the same. Mitsuri let this go on for a few seconds before sighing and grabbing Iguro by his arm.

"See you later Gyu-chan! Say hi to everyone for us! Tell Shinobu-chan and Kanae-chan that I love them!" the Love Pillar dragged the Snake Pillar away, Iguro's eyes never breaking their contact with Gyutaro's until they were turning a corner and leaving Gyutaro alone a few feet away from the Mansion.