Broken Wings- Shinobu x Fem. Reader

Unfamiliarity in a Common Place

 Tanjiro walked down the hallways of the Butterfly Mansion, Kanao slightly in front of him leading him down the hallway. Tanjiro looked at the walls as he followed his guide, after all the estate always seemed to slightly change it's interior design every time he came. It was almost like looking at a new house every time he came. He was here for basic treatment and some strength training, while it had been a few months since he had last been here, Tanjiro can't help but feel sympathetic towards the staff, they only got busier by the day, which probably explained Kanao's fast pace as they walked down the hallway. Tanjiro was already exhausted from the training session they had prior, and now he could barely keep up with the girl. But before they turned the corner something caught his eye.

It was a large portrait.

Tanjiro's walk came to a halt as he turned to face the painting. He was now standing in front of the large portrait, it took up most of the wall, it was the most elegant thing he's ever seen. The frame was gold with a wavy rim to protect the portrait. While the colors were slightly muted to match the aesthetics of the mansion, Tanjiro could recognize that the portrait was of someone special, he just couldn't put his finger on who it was. After a few moments Kanao stopped, realising she couldn't hear Tanjiro's footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw Tanjiro fully mesmerized by the painting. It really was a funny sight, with a painting so large you had to stand far away to see the full picture, but instead Tanjiro stood at the base of it, yet he took it all in.

"Kanao,"

She snapped out of the small daydream she had been thinking and quickly walked over to meet Tanjiro. She looked at him, ready to respond to whatever he had to say. Her hands politely tucked behind her back as she looked at the painting with the boy. She was thinking about her busy schedule, and knew they had to hurry, but she couldn't just tell him to hurry up and look at the painting some other time, after all it truly was beautiful and a sight to see.

"Who is this?", not once did Tanjiro's eyes leave the painting, he took a step closer, you could barely make out the person with how close he was standing to the portrait. Kanao had a soft smile on her face, she finally broke eye contact with the painting and looked at the ground, her face now had a puzzled expression.

"I'm not too sure, I don't know that much," She took a small coin out of her pocket and placed it in her hand, she was ready to flip it when Tanjiro grabbed her wrist, it didn't hurt but he had a firm grasp on her. She looked up at him, slightly taken back by the boy's movement, she didn't even sensed him coming.

"The coin doesn't matter right now, just tell me what you know."

His attitude was controlling, Kanao blushed, shaking his grasp off of her wrist and taking a step back, she knew Tanjiro meant no harm, but she couldn't help but feel intimidated by his build and control over her, she mentally noted that she needed to work on mental control and consciousness when focused. Tanjiro's gaze went back to the painting on the wall, the sun was starting to set, they had been standing there for what Kanao deemed to be forever. She started walking, "It's time to go." her voice wasn't loud or controlling, but Tanjiro walked behind her, slowly as the painting seemed to disappear into the darkness of the hallway.

"I'll make sure to ask Shinobu-sama more about the painting."

Kanao stopped in front of a door, her black hair fell still as she opened the door and walked in, Tanjiro followed after making himself comfortable on the floor, a small table had been set, it had a two small cups, one with medicine and the other full of a beverage Tanjiro guessed it to be water. There was a bowl of rice and toppings beside it along with multiple different types of utensils to eat it with. Kanao sat across from him, a similar setup. She clapped her hands together, closed her eyes, and thanked the gods before beginning to eat. She picked up her bowl in one hand and spoke, not loud enough for the other guests to hear, but barely loud enough for Tanjiro to hear comfortably.

"That girl was my master's partner."

Tanjiro waited for Kanao to continue, but she never did. Tanjiro cocked his head to the side and let out an unsatisfied grunt that was loud enough for the whole room to hear them. The once loud room quickly became silent as they all turned their attention to the couple sitting towards the outskirt of the room. Tanjiro made an uncomfortable smile and apologized as one of the staff members came to shush them. Kanao shot Tanjiro a deadly blank look as she continued to eat.

"I told you I didn't know much."

Tanjiro angrily stuffed his face with food as he looked at the politely eating girl across from him. Her eyes were shut as she enjoyed the food in front of her, you could tell she was trying her best to change the subject without being blunt about it. As soon as she peeked one of her eye's open Tanjiro spoke.

"Well, what type of partner? Like a romantic partner or a fighting partner?"

It wasn't crazy to imagine Shinobu having a combat partner, especially since she struggled with cutting off demon's heads. Not to mention he often traveled in a small group, it was typically him, Nezuko, Zenitsu, and Inosuke, he deemed it extremely possible that in Shinobu's younger days she too had someone who assisted with missions. Then it hit him, Tanjiro's eyes grew wide, it wouldn't be crazy to think that Shinobu was romantically interested in the girl in the painting either. Tanjiro recalled just how close Shinobu and Mitsuri had been before she and Obani had announced their feelings for eachother. He looked up at Kanao who was staring right back at him, her face was covered with blush as he leaned across the table to question her. Kanao threw her hands over her face as she declared she had no idea, and she would never invade Shinobu's privacy to find out.