"I wonder how S-" You caught yourself almost saying his first name, stopping yourself before Mitsuri could freak out, "Shinazugawa is doing."
It had been five days since Shinazugawa- no, Sanemi- had left for his mission, and for some reason, your only thoughts were of him. His face and the way he spoke clouded your mind, like a thin layer of mist the Mist Hashira had cast to interfere with your thinking. The feeling of his hand over yours still lingered if you thought about it (which you often did); this thought made you flex your hand and sigh, wishing he was here, now.
"Why? Do you looooove him?" She teased, fixing your sword posture from behind you. "Like this, then move like this." She made a gesture with her whole body.
She was helping you speed up your sixth form. "No- I mean... I-I dunno. Maybe?"
She giggled, hiding her face in her hands. "Oh, you two really are made for each other..." she sighed, her voice muffled in her hands.
"So," she sat back up, a look- one that was troublesome to you- etched into her smile, "What were you two doing before I came out that night?"
"Mitsuri! It's nothing! Mind your business!" You huffed and stood up, tightening your grip on the sword and lashing out quickly. You grumbled when it wasn't fast enough to produce an affective attack.
She sighed mournfully. "All right, fine. Keep your secrets. Put more oomph! into your shoulders." She said and sat back on a bench to watch you try again.
A smile spread across your face. "Okay- well," You spun around, suddenly eager to tell her, "Somethings happened and right before you came out I worked up the courage to kiss him! Not on the lips, but like-! Yeah." Mitsuri's eyes lit up and she ran to you, grabbing you by the shoulders and shaking you.
"You two are meant to be!" She squealed and wrapped you into a lung-crushing hug. "Is that why you've been calling him by his first name?"
"Wha- you knew? I mean yes, but I thought I was being good about it!"
"It's hard not to notice you correcting yourself when he's all you ever talk about." She winked at you and you groaned. "We should go tell Shinobu!"
"Would she care?" You picked nervously at the hand guard on your sword.
"Who wouldn't care about young love?!" She gushed.
"I'm literally older than both you and Kocho! The only young love I see is between you and Iguro!"
Mitsuri flushed a new shade of red you had never seen before. "Shut up! Iguro? Why him?! Whatever, let's just go! Finish your reps and we'll leave for the Butterfly Mansion!"
You tittered at her and swung again, finally reaching your desired speed after putting 'more oomph!' in your shoulders. "Yes! I did it! I finally did it!"
"Great! Now do it again." Mitsuri commanded, her face's bright red hue fading.
-
While you still had a long time before you mastered the sixth form in Love Breathing, Mitsuri dismissed your training early so you could visit Kanao and Shinobu's home. Two days of excruciatingly long walking later and you arrived. Just as before, Kanao was watering some plants with a placid smile on her face.
"Kanao! I'm back! Did you miss me? Where are the boys from before? You know, the impulsive boar, the kind boy, and the weird little yellow one?"
"They were dispatched a couple days ago. A new mission. I heard the crow say something about meeting up with the Flame Hashira, Rengoku. Why?"
"Just wondering! Any other patients for me to meet?" You smiled at her. Mitsuri was slightly astonished by how well spoken you were with Kanao. When she had seen her during their Hashira meetings, she never spoke a word, and if approached, she would ignore the person until they left or Kocho came to save her. Perhaps it was a tsuguko thing?
"Oh, Kanao! When we were passing through a town between our houses, I picked this up for you!" It was true. Along the way you had seen a beautiful purple and white butterfly hair pin that looked strikingly similar to your friend. You held it out to her to see. "It reminded me of you. I hope you like it."
She took it vigilantly and inspected it. A small, genuine smile of happiness spawned from her calm one. Her eyes sparked for a moment with joy. The notion of having something given to her just because... it reminded them of her? She tucked it away and thanked you earnestly. "Please, come inside, I'm sure my master would love to see you. What brings you here anyway? I see your mentor brought you. Check up?"
"No. Mitsuri was desperate to spill news about my personal life to her, so I tagged along to make sure it wouldn't get out of hand." You had meant this teasingly to your mentor, who gave you a dangerous look.
"Ah, I see. My mentor is like me. I don't care for drama."
"Oh, but it's not drama! It's love! Y/n's in love!" Mitsuri skipped ahead of you, cheering.
This peaked Kanao's interest, though she didn't physically express this. "Love? With who?"
"Well- uh, I'm not sure if I'd call it love just yet... okay, maybe it is- I'm not really sure! But, you know the Wind Hashira, Sanemi Shinazugawa?"
Kanao nodded calmly. "Yes, he's-"
She was interrupted by a loud clashing sound from a separate wing, followed by yelling.
She turned to face the noise before making her way down the hall towards the commotion. When she opened the door, she blinked at the situation in front of her.
Towering over a poor nurse, a tray thrown to his right, a shattered glass with liquid seeping from it's remains, stood Sanemi. He was yelling at her for something. "I'M NOT TAKING THAT BULLSHIT, FOR THE LAST TIME!"
Kanao didn't utter a word, or make a sound. Mitsuri wasn't present either, presumably already in Kocho's office after she had skipped ahead of you. The poor nurse was quivering in fear as the giant, when compared to her, jabbed a finger at her and continued to yell.
Kanao pulled you out into the hall.
"As I was saying: he's here now." Kanao told you. "Perhaps, you can calm him down? He seems rather worked up at the moment."
"Flip your coin! I'll call tails, you get heads. If it's heads, you have to do something!" You whispered at her, as if it was possible someone could hear you over Sanemi's angry shouting.
Without a word, she pulled out the coin and flipped it. She turned it over for you to see and- just your luck- it was tails.
Sighing and forcing yourself to do this, you ran up to Sanemi and pushed him out of the way, stooping to help the young lady nurse up. "I'm so sorry about him. He gets like this sometimes. Go find someone who can clean this up, yeah?" The nurse's eyes were still wide, but she bowed and ran off to find help. You swiveled and glared at Sanemi, who seemed suspicious of your presence.
"And you, Sanemi Shinazugawa, should know better than to harass meer workers! Ones that aren't even your own, at that! You should be ashamed of your actions and your outburst. You're going to help clean up this mess, do you understand?"
"What? Hell no! It's not my fault she's been bringing me this ass tasting water-medicine! I'm not taking anymore of that shit! She tried to get sassy with me and force me to!" He yelled at you.
You didn't flinch, instead you pulled him by the collar of his hospital gown to your level and glared. Your voice dropped to a dangerous new low. "You are going to help clean up the mess you created. At this rate, you'll open old wounds, so calm down and get it over with."
He huffed, but picked up the tray and a couple pieces of glass and three them onto the table next to, what was assumed to be, his bed.
"There? Happy?"
"Yep! Thanks! Kanao, is someone coming to help?" You asked. She nodded from the doorframe.
Suddenly, two people passed by her and quickly sweeper up the remaining glass and dried up the liquid from the floor. Before they left, you could've sworn you saw one of them look warily back at Sanemi, as if another outburst was unavoidable.
He sat down on his bed and watched Kanao leave to follow the two workers. "Sanemi, you do know you have to drink that medicine, right? It'll help you." He didn't answer. "Is this the hospital wing?" You asked. "It's smaller than I remember..."
"It's a wing designated for special patients, idiot." He huffed.
"Okay, that's it. You are acting like a child. You threw a tantrum when you didn't want to take medicine, you were being petty when you cleaned up your own mess, and now your being impudent." You sat down next to him on his bed.
"I am not-!" He stopped himself and instead looked away.
Something is bugging him. You draped an arm around his shoulders and leaned your head against him. "What's wrong? Something has gotten you all worked up, and I'm not leaving until you tell me what."
He sighed, annoyed by the fact he was willing to confess the issue. "On my mission, the one I was sent to that while at your place, I fought with a couple of demons. Obviously. These demons posed as lovers and were being total dickheads. I ended up taking a blow that left me with this." He opened up the back of his gown and showed you a new, red, nasty looking scar down the length of his back.
"Hey! We're matching!" You smiled.
"What?"
That was not the response he expected.
Look!" You pulled your shirt over your head and turned away from him. "I have the same scar on my back after fighting that ink demon!" We're matching!" You pulled your bra up a little to expose your back some more before putting your shirt back on.
Sanemi shrugged. "So, what?"
"So, that's pretty neat, don't you think? What're the odds?"
He rolled his eyes, slouching and resting his chin on his hand. You sat behind him and wrapped your arms under his arms, and around him. You were hugged close to his body, face smushed into his back, when you smiled. "You're pretty neat, Sanemi." You whispered.
You felt his breathing hitch when you said that. You snickered. You lifted your face off of him and kissed the back of his neck gently, just above the new scar. He hung his head and sighed again, making you chuckle.
"Here." You scooted away and sat with your legs crossed over each other. "When I had the same injury, Mitsuri would rub my back to ease the tension I kept wound up in my shoulders and stuff." You began to massage his back, making his entire body flinch at the initial contact and then relax.
"Damn, you're tense." You grunted, putting more effort into your movements. "Have you ever thought about relaxing, for once? Do you ever take breaks?"
He shrugged.
You finished after a couple minutes and rested your forehead on his back, hands resting on his shoulders. Admittedly, your thumbs were sore now. "Why are you here?" He mumbled, just loud enough for you to hear.
"Excuse me?"
"I meant at the Butterfly Mansion."
"Oh, uh..." Think of a lie! Think of a lie! Hurry! He'll get suspicious! Your mind flashed back to what Kanao asked. "Check up." You internally exhaled in relief. Thanks Kanao! "Mitsuri is pretty positive I sprang my ankle badly during training. I think she's being dramatic, if this is just between you and me."
"Well, did you hurt your ankle?" Sanemi seemed much more calm now.
This was partially true. You had rolled your ankle a little while ago, and she was worried about you, but you ended up convincing her you were fine; which you were. "I rolled it when I was practicing my sixth form, and yeah, it hurt, but I didn't spring it! I love her to death, but sometimes she baffles me. She is an enigma, I swear. Why does she care so much to bring me here?"
Sanemi chuckled under his breath, making your heart flutter. You wanted to hear that again; his laughter. You smirked when an idea came to mind.
You slung one arm over his shoulder completely, aware it was near his chest. "Am I that funny to you?" You teased, resting your chin on the other shoulder. You knew that he could feel your breath on his skin. Hopefully, it would send the same tingles down his spine as his did to you.
"Shut up. I see what you're doing. It's not going to work."
"What am I doing, Sanemi? It's a simple question. Why can't you answer it?"
"Stop it."
"But, I like the way you laugh." You let a smile spread across your lips, though he couldn't see it. You picked up the arm that hung over his shoulder and ran it through the hair on the back of his head. You chuckled to yourself, still grinning.
His heartbeat stuttered, unbeknownst to you. However, you did catch the way his breath held in impediment for a moment.
"Do it again for me, won't you?" You teased.
"Hell no. Get off." He stood up and began to talk to the door, leaving you sitting on his bed.
"Where are you going?" You inquired, all flirtatious implications that were in your voice suddenly gone.
"You wanted me to take that medicine, didn't you?"
"Oh, yes! Of course! Let's go find someone to take care of that for you!"
As you walked down the hall together, you noticed Sanemi looking relatively uncomfortable.
Lightly, you touched his shoulder. "If you don't like what I did, please tell me... I'll stop. Seriously, if you ever get really uncomfortable around me, tell me to knock it off, and I will."
"No-" he started, trying to find a way to formulate how he felt into a sentence. "Your fine." was all he could muster up.
You nodded and opened the door for him that led into Kocho's office.
Mitsuri's jaw snapped shut when she heard you. A smile spreading across her lips as she realized it was you and Sanemi.
"We we're just talking about you!" She beamed. "Come and sit!"
Kocho looked exhausted, but you didn't dare mention it to her. She blinked slowly, tiredly. "Ah, Shinazugawa. Can I help you?"
"I need medicine." He crossed his arms impatiently.
"Oh? Weren't you given some this morning?"
"I- Yes."
"So, what's the problem?" She looked all knowing in this moment. She was dragging this out to hear him admit his faults.
"The first order was spilled."
"Is that so? Then, I'll have someone take another serving to you. Now, please get out of my office. Mitsuri and I were having a lovely chat that you both rudely interrupted." She looked slightly irked by the fact Sanemi half-lied to her face.
You bowed deeply. "Sorry, Kocho. Please, continue." You smiled sweetly as you dragged Sanemi out, Mitsuri stifling a laugh. Your shot her a look and she only laughed more.
"Let's go back." You offered.
He nodded and started his way back to the room, meeting another person holding a tray in the doorway.
He plopped himself on the bed and downed the medicine, grimacing at its taste. He tutted and set the empty glass back on the tray; the assistant hurriedly left with it.
"Damn. You scared the living daylights out of the whole staff, huh?" You sat down next to him.
"I guess. They do this at my place too, so I don't care."
"Your own staff avoid you?"
He shrugged.
"Y/n!" Mitsuri called. "Shinobu wants you to train with Kanao! Come here!"
You smiled to Sanemi and left, leaving him to look at his feet, alone.
Now, it's time for a Taisho Era Secret:
Mitsuri has finally finished your and Kanao's page in the Hashira Notebook!
Y/n L/n
Love Tsuguko - under me :) :) :) :)
She/they
Unlabelled
Gift giving, touch, (words of affirmation)?
Usually relies on speed and agility in a battle, though she struggles with precision. Very, very flexible. Strong when need be, or if in a competitive mood, but usually doesn't use brute force.
[below she drew a very lovely picture of you]
Kanao ?
Insect Tsuguko - under Shinobu Kocho
She/her
Straight
Gift giving, acts of service (NOT PHYSICAL TOUCH!)
Relies on speed and agility in battle. Very flexible. Also not very strong due to her size and build. Very passive until provoked. Very good at following orders and taking criticism.
[she has the sketch done for Kanao, but hasn't colored it it yet]