He noticed how hard she tried to stay awake while sitting beside him; he also noticed when her body finally gave in, slumping on his shoulder in the drowsy state she was.
Which, if he were to be honest with himself, he didn't mind. Not one bit.
Giyuu turned his head slightly to notice the sleeping figure beside him; the moonlight making her soft features look even more delicate.
He wondered what he should do now— should he carry her to her bed or just sit here till she wakes up? Leaving her here would be considered bad, wouldn't it?
Giyuu sighed as he looked back up at the starry night.
Social etiquettes were something he was not comfortable with— largely due to his lack of knowledge in that field, especially during more informal of times like this one.
He didn't know if he should just wake her up or carry her to her room or just leave her there; he was not used to theis type of interactions which didn't help him either.
Giyuu tilted his head to look at her sleeping figure again, noticing how tired she actually looked. He had noticed how she skipped sleeping the past few days, working on her medicines and paperwork instead.
Once or twice he had thought about asking her if she needed any assistance, but hesitated to do so as he lacked any kind of knowledge to actually help her with anything.
Useless, like he always was.
Miyasha suddenly curled up, making him blink in surprise as she almost cradled his arm while she slept beside him.
Giyuu's eyes softened as he stared at her small, curled up form. Maybe he should carry her to her bed— it'll be a much more comfortable place than the wooden floor of the porch.
With that decided, Giyuu proceeded to slowly stand up; trying his best to not disturb her sleep as he gently scooped up her small frame in his arms.
And while he did so, he couldn't help but notice how small she was compared to him— even her hands were barely half of his size.
She had such a small frame and yet, he never felt her being as such— her loud and bold nature making up for what her stature lacked.
He still remembered the first time he had seen her; accidentally brushing paths with her younger self just after she killed a demon. He initially hadn't thought much of her, assuming her to be one of his fellow slayers till he noticed her pouring what seemed like her own blood over the demon corpse to clean up the scene.
That was when he knew she was not one of the slayers and neither was she a normal civilian.
Unfortunately, he couldn't intervene before she left— her aura and smell so repressed that he could hardly find her, despite following her out the bloody scene.
However, to his much surprise, it was only the first of many times they crossed paths— many of which he tried to be discreet in, and yet, she somehow always managed to find him; almost catching him red-handed, if it wasn't for his speed. It was only recently did he got to know that she could feel auras and that was the reason she was able to find him so easily.
He shook his head lightly as he dispersed the memories out of his head, focusing back on the present as he quietly opened the sliding door to her room and placed Miyasha gently on her futon.
He tucked her in gently, feeling the eyes of her Kasugai at him from the corner of the room. He looked up and noticed its (her?) orange orbs looking at him intently before turning back to its master.
Brushing that strange occurrence aside, Giyuu attempted to get up and leave before he heard her whimper in her sleep.
He watched she tossed around before curling up again, whimpering and shivering.
Without any hesitation, Giyuu sat down beside her futon and gently took her small fisted hands into his. She stopped whimpering and tossing immediately, opting to curl her body closer to where he sat instead.
He found it almost amusing how her sleepy self behaved like a small child which he didn't particularly mind, if he were to be honest. It was... endearing, if he dare say so. It was almost impossible to imagine her right now as the same woman who had attacked Sanemi in the Hashira meeting.
He noticed as she suddenly curled in even more, cradling his hands once again as she squeezed them between her own palms and her chest.
He felt the blood rush up to his cheeks as she did that, making him remind himself how she wasn't aware of what she was doing since she was asleep.
He took a deep breath to calm himself, focusing instead on thinking about the past few days of the mission. They had collected a good amount of data on the whereabouts of Muzan's previous 'family' and had also managed to get some information about potential demon-infested places.
What surprised him the most was that she had somehow managed to convince the police in giving up any records on possible slayers too— which, unsurprisingly, included his own. She had yet to get the papers in her hands, but her persistence for the whole matter convinced him that she soon will.
All this made him wonder how long she was actually doing this all for. Was it really only four years as she claimed, or was it more? As Giyuu peered at her soft sleeping face, he found himself not exactly caring about the answer either way.
It wasn't like Miyasha was out to harm anyone— in fact, she was helping the corporation more than anything. She didn't seem like the person to betray anyone. She was very kind and understanding too; never pushing him to talk or making jabs at him or poking him to get her answers.
Unlike Kocho.
A tired expression formed on his face at his own thought, wondering how bad it was that she was the only female he had any proper interaction with— except Miyasha now, of course.
He noticed in his peripheral how the owl had now neared her master's futon and now was looking at him with a tilted head.
Giyuu sighed lightly as he reasoned with himself— Kocho was technically the only female he had the most missions with; and even though Kanroji was there too, he never did interact with her much either. Though, he wished that wasn't the case.
Giyuu shook his head as he remembered some of Kocho's antics, making him feel tired all of a sudden as he recounted all her jabs and remarks.
Though... was she really speaking the truth when she said people hated him?
It confused him a lot when she told him that; he was a simple man and he had never really did anything bad to anyone, then why would people hate him so? Was it because he was not a good slayer? If yes, then they were right to—
"Hoo-Hoo!"
Giyuu was jolted out of his thoughts as the snow-owl landed on his left arm; the small creature looking at him with his orange eyes as it hoot-ed at him.
"Hoo-Hoo!" The Kasugai blinked twice and tilted its head, as if asking what he was doing here.
Confused on what to do — especially since he was not that good with animals in the first place — he simply nodded towards the only sleeping figure in the room. The owl looked towards her master, and strangely nodded back before snuggling down in the area between him and Miyasha.
Like master, like pet, Giyuu thought as the nocturnal creature snuggled to her master and hoot-ed to her, as if in reassurance.
If there was one thing he had learned about Miyasha in this weeklong mission, it was that she was a very understanding person and very oddly observant when it came to people around her.
She adjusted to his mannerisms and lack of talking pretty well and never forced him to do anything; she instead stepped up to explain without him even asking and didn't mind his lack of social etiquette that he found very liberating, to say the least.
Although, her sudden burst of praises (that he was not yet used to) did leave him flustered here and there, he couldn't bring himself not to be comfortable around her.
He remembered the first day of their mission when they had travelled through the whole night; she had offered him her portion of the meal (rice balls and candied fruits) and kept on asking if he had any issue with anything or was tired or not. He found it very kind of her and was almost not sure how to respond to any of that.
Giyuu's eyes softened as he rubbed her knuckles gently. In fact, he still wasn't sure about how to treat her either.
He was not used to this kind of interaction, but that didn't mean he didn't like it. In fact, her kindness almost reminded him of her.
His fingers froze as he revaluated his thoughts.
Miyasha... reminded him of his elder sister— kind, generous and so... caring. His lips turned downwards as he thought about his sister, and how he had just... let her die.
He... He didn't deserve anyone kind. He was not worthy. He could've saved so many, and yet he didn't... including Tanjiro's family. He is useless, unworthy, waste of a—
Giyuu blinked as he felt Miyasha's fingers tighten around his hands, her palms giving a soft, almost reassuring squeeze to his own.
"...hoo-hoo-hoo." Her owl nuzzled its beak on his wrist as well, as if reassuring him just like its master was doing. And honestly, it made him smile a little.
He gently took one of his hands from Miyasha's and rubbed the Kasugai's head— just as he had seen its master do so many times before. The owl leaned into his careful touch and nuzzled back, taking in all the affection he was giving.
This made his chest feel lighter; a strange warmness spreading throughout him that he hadn't felt for a long time.
And as he noticed the Sun rays slowly peering through the window, he selfishly hoped he could continue feeling this warmth for a little longer.
(~<>~)
"Oh, good morning, Tomioka-senpai!" Miyasha greeted Giyuu as he came out of his room, his eyes brightening as he noticed how refreshed and cheerful she looked this morning, "How did you sleep last night, senpai?" She asked briskly as she rearranged her satchel over her left arm.
He simply nodded in answer as she fiddled with her satchel; he had left her room before she woke up, finding it better to not tell her that he had stayed up the whole night beside her there.
He knew she wouldn't mind (maybe? he thought as he watched her checking something in her satchel) but he just couldn't find it in himself to tell about it.
Especially how she curled up against him and cradled his hands to her chest.
He had to look away as he felt his face grow warmer, making his mission partner look at him questionably.
"Um, you okay, senpai?" Miyasha asked him bluntly, her eyes portraying the same worry her voice did, "Are you feeling sick or...?"
Giyuu immediately shook his head, thinking how to console her that he's absolutely fine—
"Don't hesitate to tell me if you're not feeling well, okay?" She softly said as she walked up to him in the hallway, her eyes peering into his as she smiled, "You wouldn't be bothering me with anything, got it? Not to mention, I'm technically a doctor; it's my work to look after people, so need to be shy, alright?"
Giyuu nodded again — which he found himself doing a lot around her — as she smiled satisfactorily before listing off things that she had packed.
"—okay, so we have everything with us, right?" She asked rhetorically as she checked her satchel again, "Alright, I think we are ready to be off now! Sorry for the delay I caused." Miyasha grinned sheepishly as she rubbed her neck, her hands brushing past her already shoulder-past hair.
After nodding again, Giyuu started walking out the hallway; Miyasha closely following him as he led her through the hotel. If there was anything that Giyuu had noticed about Miyasha yet, then it was how easily she actually got lost— despite knowing the way, which surprised him a lot initially.
"Tomioka-senpai..." Miyasha started once they left the hotel, "I'm extremely sorry for, uh, last night." She apologized serenely, her eyes scanning the nearby vendors rather than looking at him as she usually did.
Giyuu didn't dare say anything; instead, he looked at her questionably as he knew she would understand his expression.
"I, uh," she stumbled upon her words, "I shouldn't have just fallen asleep like that... thank you so much for taking me to my room too, senpai."
Giyuu stared at the shorter slayer in front of him, her shy expression making him feel something that he really didn't know what to think of.
"Did I," he started, frowning as he tried to interpret her words, "Make you embarrassed?"
He saw her flinch as he finished his question, a set of nervous laughs soon following from her as she replied affirmatively.
"In a way?" She replied unsurely, her eyes still darting away from him which he was not used to seeing, "It's actually, um, I don't normally fall asleep like that..."
He raised an eyebrow as she proceeded to explain her sleeping dilemma, and how she couldn't even sleep properly in the night anymore because of the strange coldness she felt.
"I never had this problem when I was younger," Miyasha admitted as they entered the nearby town, "And I honestly still don't know why this happened, or when it started either."
Giyuu observed the bustling town as she continued, his attention hanging onto her words despite how he looked at the nearby crowd, "I still don't know if it does have any biological reasoning or is just a... well, abnormality of my body. I won't be surprised if it is, though." He noticed Miyasha shaking her head, making him want to console her but he didn't know how, "Regardless, last night was actually surprising for me."
He turned to her as she continued, "As I said before, I'm too used to sleeping in the morning rather than the night. It's only if I'm too exhausted to almost black-out that I can sleep in night... but yesterday, that wasn't the case." Her lips stretched into a small (grateful?) smile, "I think you being near me helped me in that."
Giyuu felt his heart skip a beat at her last statement; did she know that he stayed the night beside her?
"Your warm aura just... made me feel so much warmer and calmer when I was on the porch with you." She admitted as she smiled softly in his direction, "I really believe that helped me fall asleep yesterday, so thank you for that as well, senpai. And please forgive me for burdening you with all this."
Giyuu nodded again as he tried to calm his heart down, his mind processing the fact that she was only talking about the porch and not her room. Why was he nervous about that anyway?
"It wasn't an issue." He managed to get out, before asking about something that caught his attention before, "My warm aura?"
"Oh!" She blinked in surprise, "It's, uh, you actually have, uh, a very warm and, uh, vivid aura!"
He nodded along as she flustered over her words, "I mean, different people have different auras and, uh, yours is actually the first aura that I found that was so... warm and stable and you know, wave like." She suddenly shook her head and started again, "I mean, your aura reminds me of warm ocean waves, you know? The ones that brush against you when you sit along the beach side. Warm and wavy and so... comforting."
"Oh," Giyuu blinked in surprise at her description, never expecting his aura to be compared to something like that, "Do you feel everyone's aura near you?"
"Technically, yeah." Miyasha admitted, "But I can ignore them if I want to. I can only feel it vividly if I focus on them."
"Hm," he hummed as he looked at her from the corner of his eyes, while Miyasha opened her satchel slightly to pat her sleeping Kasugai in it.
"I'm sorry if it felt strange." She apologized after a few minutes, rubbing her neck with a sheepish smile as he tilted his head in question, "I mean, it may feel invasive for some people with how I, uh, read people's auras."
Giyuu shook his head, "You cannot stop yourself." He said as they walked towards their last destination; the police quarters.
"Yeah," she let out a sigh before thanking him again, "You are very kind to me, Tomioka-senpai, I swear."
It confused him how she reached to that conclusion, but he didn't question it.
As the police quarters came into their view, the question he wanted to ask her yesterday suddenly popped up in his head.
"Why were you avoiding demon slayers?" He saw her stumble as he finished asking his question, her face looking at him in utter bewilderment.
"W-What? When?"
"The policeman said yesterday that you were avoiding demon slayers before." He explained the context behind his question, noticing how her lips stretched into a half-smile, "Was that true?"
"...yeah." she sighed before continuing, "I actually, uh, didn't want to join the Corps, to be honest."
Giyuu stopped walking as she did, her eyes avoiding his own once again, "I didn't want to be involved in all this and so, had tried to keep away from, uh, the slayers as much as I could."
"Why?" He asked bluntly, still not able to comprehend the reason behind her not wanting to join the Corps despite her doing almost the same work as them.
"Because it meant getting involved with things that I wasn't even meant to be in." She vaguely explained, "I just... I guess I just didn't want to be attached and all."
Giyuu nodded at her vague reasonings; he didn't understand them completely, but he was no one to judge, "Okay." He replied simply as he started walking again.
"Y-You don't mind?" She asked as she caught up to him, her wisteria-coloured eyes meeting his own blue ones as she continued, "I mean, you don't mind my reasoning?"
"It is your choice." Giyuu replied after a beat of silence, thinking about his words again as he continued, "You decide what you want to do; others can only help you or not. My words won't matter in deciding your choice either way."
There was a pause in the conversation before Miyasha softly thanked him, making him look at her as she deeply thought about something he had no clue of.
Hopefully, he didn't say anything wrong.
(~<>~)
The Sun was about the set by the time Giyuu and Miyasha reached the Butterfly Estate, the comfortable silence between them broken by a pair of green and yellow jumping off the Estate walls and slamming into Miyasha even before she stepped in.
"Aneki!" The voices chorused, making the said female chuckle and hug the taller boys with all her might.
"Itsu-kun, Jiro-kun! I'm so glad to see you after so many days!" She exclaimed as she ruffled their hair, both of the boys looking at her with clear adoration, "Where's Ino-chan? Oh, and how did you training go? How's Nezu-chan? Shinobu-san didn't work you too hard, right? And Itsu-kun, did you complete your medication?"
"Matte, matte, Aneki!" Tanjiro good-naturedly halted her questions, answering to them one by one as Zenitsu piped in between with how he was completely fine now and how all of them had finally completed their rehabilitation training.
"I'm so glad to hear that!" She beamed at the boys, caressing them both as she praised them more, "I'm so proud of you both! Well done!"
"Arigato, Aneki!" Tanjiro thanked her energetically while Zenitsu did so shyly.
Giyuu felt a strange ache in his chest as he watched the scene; the feeling of being left out and not belonging running strong in him as he watched those three joined by another loud slayer wearing a boar mask.
Ignoring the strange ache in his chest, Giyuu turned to leave before stopping as he heard Miyasha call out his name.
"Tomioka-senpai!" She hurried to him, her wisteria-coloured eyes almost shimmering in the afternoon rays, "Thank you so much for travelling with me this past whole week!" She bowed as she thanked him, a bright smile stretching upon her lips as she looked into his eyes again, "Thank you so much for everything you did. You have no idea how much it means to me and how much it really helped me."
Giyuu felt his heart skip again; the ache he felt before replaced by the warmth that he was slowly becoming familiar with.
"Oyakata-sama asked me—"
"Oh, just shush and accept the thanks!" Miyasha bounced up on the heels of her feet, a playful expression blooming on her face as she grinned mischievously at him, "No need to be shy with me, senpai~"
Giyuu shook his head and immediately turned away; he knew staying here would only warrant in her praising him unnecessarily and making him embarrassed, which he really didn't want her to see.
However, he could not deny the warmth that he felt when she thanked him or when she turned to him despite others swarming around her.
Neither could he deny not loving her (and Tanjiro) bidding him farewell as he left the Estate.
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I didn't die yet, yay!
Or at least, exams didn't kill me yet, lel. I still have about 8 exams left (1 from my second semester and 7 from my third) that would go till 24th of the month 😭 So, expect chapters a bit slow— however, I really hope to catch speed up after these blasted exams are over.
Anyway, how did ya like this chapter? Was Giyuu in character? Was the fluff good or was it too fast?
Do leave a comment about the parts you hate/liked so that I can know xD
》Taishou Secret《
The Kinomiya twins are dog persons! They both love dogs so much while Miyasha is a cat person— she mostly loves all animals but means a bit more towards cats! And the most ironic thing? Cats can't stand the twins; making it even more hilarious for Miyasha whenever she is petting one and the twins are looking at her (or the cat?) with envy.
And that's it for this chapter, folks! Please leave a vote and comment if you liked it or even if you didn't— I'll love to hear your opinion on it!
Stay safe and stay healthy!