I will always follow

I will act without orders

"I can do Love Breathing forms pretty slowly, but I am not sure about the flame ones, I do not consider myself a good example of Flame Breathing," she said, embarrassed.

"Do not worry, he sat observing me while I tried to show the forms to him and he did not laugh, and I was pathetic" Senjuro replied.

"Senjuro," Giyuu's voice became harsh, "watch how you talk about yourself," he said once the boy looked at him.

Mitsuri squealed some more when she heard it, admiring their relationship, they almost sounded like father and son. She did not know that Tomioka-san could be so affectionate, he always seemed aloof, even uninterested in them, their emotions or emotions in general. Uzui had called him 'emotionless' once and even when she did not entirely agree, she did not have any proof to the contrary. But now she had, she knew he was not emotionless and her heart was about to burst with pure joy.

"My attempts were not very accurate," Senjuro corrected himself.

"Anything you feel comfortable showing us, Kanroji, we will appreciate," Tomioka-san said, and even if he had not, Mitsuri would have shown them every single little trick she knew about Love and Flame Breathing, so she took her special katana squeaking silently and prepared herself to move slowly and with the perfection with which she had come to master her breathing style.

Senjuro was looking at her enthusiastically, almost cheering for her; Giyuu, on the other hand, was observing her every move, almost as if he was trying to recognize which muscle she was tensing and which one she was relaxing. His deep blue eyes almost pierce through her, extremely attentive and appreciative at the same time, had she been able to blush harder, she would have.

Once Mitsuri had performed every single one of her forms as slowly as she possibly could, Giyuu looked quizzically at Senjuro, as if analyzing his strengths and weaknesses. Eyebrows knit together, lost look in his eyes and lips pressed into a line. Giyuu was thinking, Senjuro could recon, Mitsuri though he looked like he always did: blank.

"What is the most important thing to you during a fight, Sen?" he asked out of nowhere.

"Staying alive," he answered quickly.

"Kanroji, could you do your second form again? And Senjuro, try to imitate as best you can," he said, barely turning his head to the side as if to get a better look.

Mitsuri jumped at the possibility to actually teach Senjuro one of her breathing stances and moved through Love Pangs almost impossibly slow to help Senujuro see the way her body twisted to wield her whipping sword.

Senjuro's first attempt was unsatisfying... to put it mildly.

"It was horrible," Senjuro said, honest to a fault.

"We will have to practice speed, flexibility, and agility," Giyuu said, ignoring Senjuro's unhelpful comment. "You will not be able to put as much force into slashes as Kanroji has and I do not think that a whip sword would be the best option for you but we could adapt it to a common nichirin sword," he added.

"We should eat," Mitsuri proposed, "I do not think it was that bad, Sen, you could use a little help on the jump but the rest was pretty good." They all knew that even when the jumping was the worst part, he would need a lot more than a little help in more areas besides the jumping but Senjuro accepted the compliment: even if he was not a good demon slayer his goal was to be able to fend for himself until help arrived, to go down fighting, at the very least. He was not delusional, he was not dreaming of being a Hashira.

"Anyway, how have you been? Are you adapting just fine?" She asked, wolfing down her udon but not taking her pretty eyes out of Senjuro.

"Oh, yes, It has been... quiet, thankfully, and peaceful. I like it, and haha is teaching me a whole lot," he said, covering his mouth with his hands as soon as he noticed his misstep. Giyuu did not even falter, he continued too invested in his salmon daikon to be bothered by anything else, but Mitsuri did stop eating, a noodle dangling tremorously from her mouth.