She was still learning. And trying. And needing constant supervision from the others. Also getting a fever from the sudden changes she was making for herself. But she was making progress!
For example, she was doing better at landing. And built up endurance. Now her hands weren't as soft as before.
She also made mud pies for everyone and sent one to Giyuu, who she seldomly saw.
Dear Giyuu-nii,
Camellie is learning how to use bokken!
Am I a bad girl? Camellie didn't say thank you to Nee-chan when she took out a stick from my hair. So is Camellie going to not get a present on my birthday Christmas New Year day?
I cut Camellie's hair again when it was getting long.
Sorry I didn't send you a message last week. Camellie got sick from being around people in the nearby village.
And, here is a mud pie for you to remember Camellie by.
She was also trying to stop her habit of referring to herself in third person. It just led to some odd sentences.
But, she was hoping that she could be with Giyuu for once. She was usually tied to the hip to Urokodaki or the other kids, but if Urokodaki had to go out, she would come with him.
Except after the time she got a fever from being around other people. He checked if she could stay home alone with the other kids he didn't actually see.
This time, after a year of her training (despite Urokodaki not wanting to), her birthday was approaching again, where she would turn six or seven. She wasn't counting. But it was near the end of the year, also around the time of Christmas.
Giyuu's crow came and gave Urokodaki a letter that she didn't get to read. Then, Urokodaki said he would go down and buy her a cake, but would be out for a bit. But, she didn't want to go down because of the people. But, she also didn't want to be with the kids of the mountain.
"Ummmm. I want, to go with Giyuu-nii," she mumbled.
"I don't know if that's possible, little one."
".......... Camellie wants to go."
Camellia used [Tears]!
"......."
Urokodaki, who literally should have some sort of resistance by now, [flinched]!
"Please, Jii-chan?"
Urokodaki gave in.
Within the hour, with Giyuu's wondrous speed and endurance, Giyuu had arrived and picked her up.
"Yaaay! Giyuu-niiiii!"
Clinging onto his back as he just bowed his head to Urokodaki, Urokodaki said to watch her for the day while he got ready for her birthday.
And, the moment Urokodaki was gone, Giyuu's crow cawed for a mission.
Giyuu looked to Camellia. "Up for a mission?"
"Mission, mission!"
She said she was training with the bokken(wooden swords), so she probably knew of demons.
Right? Right.
***
Giyuu Tomioka was a Demon Slayer. A Pillar. He was cold, he killed, and could not express himself very well in words, and therefore came off as quiet. He was hard to approach, and not many liked him from his seeming cold shoulders.
This same person was babysitting his adoptive little sister, Camellia.
She was a cute little girl with freckles that Giyuu genuinely believed deserved everything good that the world had to offer.
Taking a child on a demon killing mission was definitely not the best idea. But Giyuu didn't have a choice.
Literally just as the letter came, he just spared a boy with a demon-turned sister. That was why he left in a flash.
She wants to spend time with you. I'm going to be out for the day, and she can't be left alone. Please watch her for the day.
Giyuu was walking through a village he was sent to by his crow, all while being accompanied by his little sister.
The two certainly, despite being adoptive, seemed blood related. They looked it, for sure. The other Demon Slayer Pillars ― the top fighters of the corps ― had seen letters from her, through snooping at what she sent Giyuu, but hadn't ever seen her themselves.
Which was why, Shinobu Kocho, a fellow Pillar, was surprised to see Giyuu with a little girl that seemed to look like his little sister.
Her purple eyes gazed at the scene that the two interfered in.
A crowd of men around another girl, all of them hunters of the wild. They were arguing with the girl, for going out again when avenging should be left to them.
***
A small hand grabbed the long gun on the hunter girl's back.
"Ah.."
"... Hey."
At the pull of her gun, the hunter girl with long dark hair and a bandana, a dog leash in her other hand to a golden dog, shoved her elbow back to whoever dared to touch her weapon.
"Don't go grabbing my shirobire!"
"Wah-!" the response of surprise belonged to what sounded like a little girl.
A hand stopped her elbow. The hand belonged to a male with sharp navy blue eyes.
"Who..."
Next to his raised hand that blocked her, from below, was a little girl with startled, matching blue eyes. Hers weren't sharp, but more gentle around the edges. Her hand grasped the older male's haori, and as if to disappear into him, she stood closely to him with the fabric meshing around her and pressing in.
"So you're Yae," he introduced himself, "Giyuu Tomioka. Demon Hunters. Tell me about what happened when the demon attacked you."
"Demon..? No, they got attacked by a bear."
"Err, you mean the feral humans, Giyuu-nii..?"
".... Yes."
"What's this guy talking about?"
"Uh. Are you a policeman?" one of the male hunters asked him.
".... No."
"Eh?"
"I'm a Demon Hunter."
"Demon..? Are you a political official?"
"No. Our organization is nonpolitical."
The hunter girl, Yae, was clearly befuddled.
Despite his stoic face and his words trying to get straight to the point, the fact that no one ever heard of Demon Hunters made him seem unbelievable. And that a little girl was clinging to him, shaking like a newborn fawn.
"So... What's that at your waist?"
Giyuu looked at Camellia. "My sister."
"No.. the sword."
Giyuu held his sword and looked at it before kneeling, placing his katana on the ground.
"No no no..."
"Giyuu Tomioka, Demon Hunter......"
"Oh God, we're not getting through to him...."
"Should we call the police on him?"
One of them tried touching the little girl, asking, "Hey, you. Who is he?"
"Uh, N-N-N-Nii-san-" she seemed equally as bad at words. "Hunter of Pillars- Watching today- Birthday busy-"
"Ah, I remember now!" one of the hunters exclaimed. "It's the guy who slaughtered that coal family in the other mountain range! They said the suspect had a half-and-half haori!"
"Ahhh! No wonder he was suspicious!"
"...... No....."
"Don't move! Someone get the ropes! Ropes!"
"No, wait-"
"Wait, this girl is-"
"Eeeek!"
One moment later,
"Tomi - oka - san." A finger poked Giyuu's back with each bit. "Tomioka-san. What a coincidence, seeing you here. Well, I'm glad to see you still suck at talking."
Giyuu looked at the familiar person, with her butterfly hairpin holding her dark hair back. Out of her Demon Hunter uniform, she wore civilian clothing, holding something long and wrapped up in her arm, possibly her hidden sword.
"... Kocho."
"If you want, I can explain for you, okay?"
"..... Don't worry. I can handle this myself."
As he said so, he was surrounded by angry hunters, and was tied up in rope. His arms and hands were bound, and he was being taken away. The little girl, somehow, with his bad phrasing, ended up being tied up as an accomplice to the crime, despite looking like a five year old.
"No. You're not handling anything." She sighed. "Tomioka-san, this is what happens when two people who don't know how to talk are confronted. You need to put more effort into talking with people. This is why everyone ha-" she stopped herself.
"... What?"
"Nothing."
"Uhh," Yae's cheeks were red, and she was huffing, "I don't know what you want, but if you want something..." She suddenly collapsed.
Kocho touched her face, kneeling in front of her. "She has a fever. Tomioka-san, stop fooling around and help me and your little sister."
Wordlessly, he flexed and pulled his arms apart. The thin ropes binding his body snapped immediately.
"You sure?" Turning around, he knelt down to the little girl with teary eyes reflecting his, and untied her. She jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his neck.
He stood up, carrying her with ease. She buried her face into his shoulder, relieved and blubbering.
Kocho smiled at the two, who seemed to be the same in many things. She could tell at a glance, that this was the famous little sister he wouldn't tell them about.
"I got on the boat already. Might as well help out."
. . .
The little girl was Camellia. She was the one Kocho heard about from snooping at Giyuu's letters.
She didn't realize that she actually looked just like Giyuu until then.
The other Pillars knew her for the mud pies that Giyuu carried around for weeks until it dropped or he forgot about it, which he actually got sad and worried over, her blunt comments and her spiralling off in her letters like she were actually speaking when she apologized, and her horrifically innocent questions no one would know how to answer.
Like how babies were formed in watermelons, where she came from, why his eyes were blue, did other babies come in fruits floating down rivers, what fruit did Giyuu pop out of, why was she allergic to not saying thank you, and if she wouldn't get anything for Christmas AND her birthday because she did a bad thing of not saying thank you when her "Nee-chan" pulled a twig out of her hair.
Yeah, not even Giyuu knew who "Nee-chan" was. He had a hint, but-
Sanemi, their Wind Pillar, always got on Giyuu's case for not knowing what to do for his little sibling. He wouldn't show it, but he was concerned about their relationship that somehow worked.
They learned she was very shy, or at least even worse with people than Giyuu, in a letter she sent, telling Giyuu about how she went down to a village and ended up with a fever from stress in a new environment. In other words, she couldn't stand being around more people, and collapsed because of it. Then she apologized because that was why he didn't get a letter for a while.
Giyuu always carried her letters around, so each meeting, he would get shaken up and another Pillar would read the letters aloud. It became something Kocho looked forward to in their meetings. They would all tell Giyuu how to be a better sibling, things he could do for her, and how to answer her questions.
"What does she look like?"
"She looks like me."
"... Okay. You also came out of a watermelon floating down the river. That's why you look like her." Sanemi paused, realizing that he was crouching with Giyuu and explaining while pointing at the letter.
Giyuu looked on, confused as he froze and started shaking before a fist planted underneath his chin, and he was thrown up in an uppercut by the abruptly angered Wind Pillar. Luckily, he landed safely and with grace.
Sanemi stormed off. Giyuu rubbed his chin.
"Kocho." Giyuu looked to the silently shaking, containing her laughter Shinobu. "Did I do something wrong?"
Whenever the subject about where babies were from came up, they all had their own picture of her in their minds, and all diverted the topic or just said the same thing, imagining the shock it would give her. When she was more mature, they would tell her in letters.
Pretty much, they were overprotective of a girl they never met.
Tengen, their Sound Pillar, felt like she was his own kid. But he also wanted flamboyant stuff, which was one of the only reasons he agreed with delaying telling her. He wanted to meet her himself and then tell her. For the "flamboyant shock".
This would be the first time Kocho actually met her, however, and she witnessed for herself how awkward the little girl was. Look at her, blubbering from being asked questions.
Despite being adoptive, she was just like Giyuu. Possibly worse when it came to social skills, which Kocho didn't even realize was possible.
She had thin limbs, the same hair color, but her hair was actually straight and manageable, and her eyes were the same color blue as well. Though her eyes were bright, which made them seem more like glowing sapphires. Her skin, like his, was fair and smooth. She had freckles, which Giyuu didn't have, but the freckles only added to her cute charm.
If she smiled, she would certainly be able to light up the whole building they were in, but her head wouldn't lift to look at others. She seemed distressed at the people, and barely said a word.
Placed next to each other, Kocho wanted to laugh out loud at how alike they were.
At the moment, the two were sitting next to each other outside, waiting for Kocho and Yae. Yae had yet to wake up, and Kocho was waiting for her to do so.
Giyuu got tea. Waiting with the two siblings was an elderly lady who gave Camellia candy.
Camellia seemed comfortable around her enough for that. Maybe it was because she was old like Urokodaki, and old people seemed nice to her. Or it was because she got candy, and was secretly someone who could be bought and persuaded.
Maybe both, who knew. Candy was a very tempting thing.
She liked the golden furred dog, Taro. The dog liked her too. But he didn't like Giyuu.
The dog was letting her climb over him, and let her sit on his back and ride him like a pony.
Kocho, having not seen her riding the dog, since she left to the other room immediately, didn't see the cute, giddy smile on Camellia's face that made Giyuu feel fuzzy and pinch her cheek.
"Uwaaaaah!" Yae screamed from the other room.
"Mmph!" Startled at the sudden noise, Camellia buried her face into Taro's fur.
The dog growled at Giyuu. He tried to pet his head, but the dog snapped out and bit his hand.
"Aaah!" Camellia voiced both of their panics, as Giyuu didn't say a word, but was obviously startled.
She fell off the dog as he jumped at Giyuu, trying to bite his face.
She let out a wail. She pulled on the dog.
"No doggy! Nono! Uhhhh!"
The sliding door slid open, hitting the end with a slam.
"Taro! Stop it! Taro!"
Yae fell out the door, hearing the sudden commotion.
Giyuu held the dog back with his hand, the dog's paw pushing on his cheek.
The older lady was fussing over the dog, sweating.
"Sorry, he's usually so friendly with people..."
"That's okay. Tomioka-san's just that kind of person," Kocho dismissed airily. "More importantly, let me give my condolences to your father. If you don't mind, I have two or three things to ask you, Yae-san."
"... Me?" Yae looked at her.
Outside, Camellia hung off Taro, cheeks puffed out and arms around his neck. She hung like a rag doll with no weight.
"Whatever attacked you, Yae-san, might have been that work of a demon."
"Kocho," Giyuu cut in, the dog biting the back of his head and dangling from there. "This is my job. I'll explain."
"No... How could you say that? Your job is to watch Camellia-chan. Look at her, she's crying."
"......."
"Taro...."
"Are you aware that you're being attacked right now?"
"I'm not getting attacked, we're just fooling around."
"I truly worry about your relationship with Camellia-chan, Tomioka-san. Just back off right now, please. Camellia-chan might get hur-"
Said girl fell off the dog and hit her head on a pole.
"Ah. There she goes." Kocho sighed.
"WAAAAAAHHHH! NII-SAAAAAN!"
"TARO!"
Taisho rumor
I hear Camellia started referring to herself in third person after hearing Sabito do it with "Kaa-chan."
Camellia just wants to be like Kaa-chan!