[This is Koyuki's haori pattern! But her color palette is still the same.]
It's been four days and Shinobu was starting to get angry because she couldn't find where Tanjirou keeps disappearing off too every time after he visits. Yeah, she knew he was alright since Naho, Sumi and Kiyo told Shinobu that Tanjirou was still breaking the jars.
But she still needed Tanjirou to stay in the estate to heal. Then, an idea came to her a mind and she frowned.
"Koyuki.." She whispered to herself before going to the Moon Estate.
-
It was night time when Shinobu finally arrived to the Moon Estate. She took a deep breath but was cut off by a whisper.
"Oh? Shino-chan finally found where Kamado-kun is." It was Koyuki.
Shinobu glared at the silver-haired woman as and Koyuki just chuckled.
"Koyu-san..Is your other side acting up again? Is that why you wanted Tanjirou to come here?" Shinobu asked as she put her hand on the hilt of her sword.
Koyuki noticed this and stopped smiling.
"Oh please..for a joke, that's not even funny. Do you really think that you can beat me? With what? Posion? You're kidding." Koyuki mocked and disappeared.
Shinobu gasped and silently sprinted towards the woods. She stopped when she knew she was far from the estate and looked at her surroundings.
"Nao-san..Is your mask starting to break? Is it starting to become unable to suppress your other side?" Shinobu asked.
She heard a rustle behind her and saw Koyuki, staring at her with lifeless eyes.
"Maybe..Why do you ask? Scared that I might use Tanjirou to control it? And why not call me by my nickname? You're being so cold to me right now. Hate me?" Koyuki bitterly asked. Shinobu sighed.
"I don't hate you but I'm being serious right now. Please return Tanjirou to me. I can ask Tomioka-san to help you suppress this side of yours." Shinobu said seriously.
"Hmm..How about..no."
".." Shinobu was speechless at this. She knew she wouldn't be able to win against Koyuki like this.
"Fine.." Shinobu said. Right after she said that, Tanjirou appeared with Akari.
"Why'd I smell bloodlust here?!" Tanjirou asked as he looked around and saw the two Hashiras. Akari rolled her eyes at the boy.
"Kamado-san, I told you..Your nose is being freaky." Akari told Tanjirou. Shinobu's eyes lit up as she saw Tanjirou and saw this as a chance.
"Tanjirou, why are you in the Moon Estate and not at the Butterfly Estate? And why do you have injuries?" Tanjirou blinked and smiled at her.
"Ah. Sorry for not telling you Shinobu-san. I'm just training with the Moon Residencies. Koyu nee-san is treating me well!" Shinobu looked at Koyuki and saw her smiling.
"See? I'm not doing anything bad to him~" Koyuki hummed and lead Akari and Tanjirou back to the estate.
Shinobu was silent as she thought about going to the Water Estate. She sighed in defeat and just went to the Water Estate.
-
She finally got to the Estate and knocked on the door. She waited for a response. After a while, she was about to knock again but stopped when the door opened, revealing Giyuu with a monotone expression.
"Good Evening Tomioka-san. Lovely night, don't you think?" Shinobu asked sweetly.
"..What do you want?" Was all Giyuu asked.
"Well..I'm sure you won't hesitate to let me in if I told you it was about Koyu-san--" Shinobu got cut off.
"Get in." Giyuu said as he moved aside to let in the Insect Hashira. Shinobu sweatdropped at the speed Giyuu reacted with when he heard his friend's name. Shinobu just entered without another word.
Giyuu sat down on a tatami mat and Shinobu did the same as she sat across him. There was a moment of silence before Giyuu spoke up, which was rare.
"What is it with Koyuki this time?" Giyuu asked. Shinobu thought for a moment.
"Her..Other side is starting to act up again." Giyuu cocked his eyebrow at her.
"What? Can't she just use her mask?"
"That's what I thought too..But it seems like her other side is starting to get out of her control." Giyuu went silent.
"I'll talk to her tomorrow and maybe I'll pay Urokodaki-san a visit. You can go now." Was all he said. Shinobu nodded and disappeared that instant.
"She's always been troublesome.." Giyuu murmured to himself.
The Next Day
Giyuu was walking towards the Moon Estate but stopped when he heard laughter near the woods. He decided to take a look and saw Koyuki with Akari. Akari seemed to just have doused Koyuki with water, making her soaked. Koyuki didn't seem to be angry though.
"Akari-chan, if you do that again, I will not hesitate to have you clean the entire estate for the next two days!" Koyuki threatened jokingly. Akari whined but nevertheless stopped splashing water at her master.
"Ahem. Sorry to bother you two." Giyuu said. Akari and Koyuki stopped laughing and looked at Giyuu.
"Ah..It's okay. Uhm..Do you need to talk with my master.?" Akari asked awkwardly. She felt intimidated by the Water Hashira's stare.
"Yes. I need to talk with her." Koyuki was confused. Akari nodded and was about to leave when she heard a familiar voice.
"Akari! Yuna-san is looking for you!" It was Tanjirou. The brunette was now glad that she could escape this awkward situation.
But her smile instantly dropped when she remembered who she was going to be with. Tanjirou. Ever since that time with Tanjirou, she's been avoiding him. The boy, clueless as he was, made it worse by trying to talk to Akari.
"I hate this.." Akari murmured repeatedly to herself as she walked back to the estate together with Tanjirou.
When they were out of sight, Giyuu heard a giggle from Koyuki.
"Kamado-kun seems to have gotten comfortable with Akari-chan. Unfortunately, my Tsuguko seems to feel the opposite way.." She said and looked at Giyuu.
"So, what do you need to talk about, Giyu-san?" Giyuu gave her a stern look, making the female even more curious about the subject.
"Shinobu told me about your situation." Koyuki's calm smile suddenly looked like a forced one. Giyuu saw her clench her fists and got worried.
"And? What are you going to do about it? Talk me out of it? No." Giyuu thought about her response for a moment before he started walking towards her.
"So this is how bad it is now.." He said with a exasperated sigh. Koyuki started backing away from him as he got closer. Giyuu took note of this and prevented her from getting farther by catching her wrist and pulled her close to him.
"Ah!" The female let out a small yelp by the sudden force. She frowned and looked away from the ravennete.
"Look at me." Giyuu said calmly and made sure his grip was strong but wouldn't hurt her. She didn't budge.
Giyuu then used his free hand and used it to lift up her chin, forcing Koyuki to maintain eye contact with him.
Koyuki felt small under his gaze but would not falter in the slightest as she glared at him.
But she was surprised when his gaze softened and he started to caress her cheek. He even smiled a bit and hugged her.
What..?
"You know..if you were having such a hard time, you could've visited me in my estate and talked about it." Giyuu said confortingly as he stroked her hair.
Koyuki didn't say a word. She just relaxed into Giyuu's warmth, making the male relieved that the situation wouldn't get physical like the last time her other side started acting up.
"Feeling better?" He asked. Koyuki looked up at him before burying her face in his haori again.
"Kind of.." Though her voice was a bit muffled, he could still understand her words and let go of the woman.
However, the moment he pulled away, he saw how Koyuki looked like she wanted to cry. He wouldn't admit it, but he did feel guilty.
"Can't I hug you longer..?" Koyuki asked like an innocent child.
Oh no. Not the clingy side please don't..
"No. I know how clingy you get once somebody hugs you.." Giyuu said warily, slowly backing away from Koyuki.
Personal experience speaks for itself..
"But stiiiiiill~ You know how much I love hugs." She whined cheekily. Despite not wanting Koyuki to cling onto him, Giyuu was glad she was back to normal.
Then, Koyuki started sprinting towards Giyuu with her arms open wide. Surrendering to his inevitable fate, Giyuu braced for impact and closed his eyes.
..
No force.
Giyuu opened his eyes to see a white haori with flame-like ridges.
The man he saw wearing it was tall and also had bright yellow hair with red streaks.
Rengoku-san.
"Tomioka! If you didn't want Koyuki-chan to hug you, then you could've just called me! See? I'm hugging her for you!" He said energetically while showing me how tightly he was embracing Koyuki.
"Yay! I can always count on Kyo-kun for the hugs~" She laughed.
She seemed to be enjoying it, though for some reason, Giyuu looked away from the two before looking back at them.
"Ah right. If I'm not disturbing anything with you two, I'll be borrowing Koyuki-chan here for training!" Rengoku added.
Weird. My chest is feeling tight..For some reason, I don't want her to go with him.
"I see. Then you can have her." Giyuu answered shortly, shifting back to his cold and emotionless demeanour.
Rengoku just flashed him a cheery smile and slung Koyuki over his back and walked to his estate.
Koyuki had an airheaded expression on her face as she waved her hands goodbye to Giyuu. He didn't really return the gesture. He just walked away.
In The Moon Estate
"Hah! I got you!" Tanjirou shouted as he gave the child a bonk on the head.
Akari watched his actions with a blank expression.
You're being too soft on them.
Tanjirou then looked at Akari for a comment. The moment Tanjirou met her eyes, she instantly looked away, making Tanjirou feel guilty, sad and confused at the same time. He decided to ask her about it.
"Uhm..Akari? These past few days, you've been avoiding me a lot. Did I do something to make you uncomfortable?" He asked worriedly.
"..." No answer. Then, something clicked in Tanjirou's mind.
"Ah! Was it that time when you brought me back to my room--" He couldn't finish his sentence when he heard Akari sniffle.
"Just..Don't say anything!" She said angrily with tears threatening to spill in her eyes before going deeper into the dark halls.
Tanjirou was speechless. Did he really hurt her feelings that bad? He decided to leave it at that before making her feel worse. All he could do now was focus on beating the Moon Hashira's challenge and murmur an apology.
"I'm sorry.." Before running deeper into the estate to capture the children.
_____________________
To Be Continued...♡
I had a longer draft for this but Wattpad thought that it'd be cool to delete my draft that already had 2050 words in it. Now THIS chapter only has 1896 words. Thanks a lot Wattpad 😀