The Butterfly That Saved Him-A GiyuShino Story

Chapter Nine:

     Giyuu awoke the next morning to find that the fire had gone out. After slipping on his haori, he gently tapped Shinobu on the shoulder to wake her up. She rubbed her eyes, sat up, and then asked groggily, "Why am I here?" Giyuu stared blankly at her. Did she have amnesia? "Oh, yes, I remember now," she said as she rose up and went to the river to splash water onto her face. Giyuu decided against it. Remaining wary of the river was best. He still didn't trust it entirely.

    After receiving orders from his crow for them to head to a mansion, Giyuu and Shinobu set off, with Shinobu chirping away, as usual and Giyuu only half-listening, as usual. "This is exactly why no one likes you, Tomioka-san," she teased for the millionth time when he didn't respond to her attempts at making conversation.

   "I am not disliked by people." But Shinobu wasn't listening, as she had spotted three very familiar Demon Slayers. "Tanjiro-kun, Zenitsu-kun, Inosuke-kun! Are you heading to a mission?" "Yes, Kochou-san," Tanjiro replied before anyone else could. Zenitsu was swooning. Inosuke turned to Giyuu and yelled, "Fight me, Mismatched Haori!" Giyuu ignored him. "Hey, Inosuke, you can't just ask everyone you see to fight you," Tanjiro told him in a loud whisper. Zenitsu had snapped out of his reverie and said to Inosuke, "And learn people's names properly, baka."

     "Shut up, Monitsu!" "STOP CALLING ME MONITSU, IT'S ZENITSU, BAKA!!!!" Tanjiro turned to them and bowed several times apologizing for their behavior. "Ara ara. Take care of Nezuko-chan, Tanjiro-kun! See you another time," Shinobu called, waving as they left with Inosuke and Zenitsu still bickering.

     After another half day of traveling, they sat down under a tree to rest before continuing. It was pouring, and their clothes were wet, along with their hair. Shinobu had taken hers out of her bun and pinned her clip so that it swept her hair out of her face. She looked pretty with her hair hanging down by her shoulders, and long, dark lashes framing her violet eyes. 

     "Tomioka-san," Shinobu said to him, jolting him out of his thoughts. "Hmm?" "Can you stop staring at me please?" she asked, blushing furiously. Giyuu turned away to hide the blush creeping across his face. His heart was racing, and he felt flustered, but....it was a good kind of flustered. He shook his head to rid himself of thoughts about Shinobu, and stared out into the distance trying to think about anything but her.

    But of course that didn't work, and the only thing he could think about was her. After a few minutes, they started on their path again, as the rain wouldn't let up and only started pounding harder on their backs.

     They were drenched, and by midnight, they were still walking. Deciding to rest for an hour or two, they set up camp in the woods. The rain had ceased by now, and Giyuu and Shinobu sat side by side next to a small fire. Giyuu watched as the twisting, curling smoke disappeared into the night sky. "Tomioka-san," Shinobu said. "Yes?" "Why did you become a Demon Slayer? You asked me before, so I just wanted to ask you too..." After seeing Giyuu's hardened expression, she quickly added,"It-it's okay if you don't want to say, I was just wondering, so...." She fell silent and gazed up at the branches above.

    She thought he wouldn't answer, so she was quite surprised when he spoke. "When I was a child, I had an older sister. Her name was Tsutako." Shinobu blinked at him. Had he really just said more than a sentence to her? But she listened, knowing this was not the time to tease him about that. Tsutako....hadn't he said that part of his haori belonged to his older sister?

    "One night, a demon broke into our house. Onee-san hid me, and the demon killed her. When I told the villagers what had happened, no one believed me and tried to send me to my uncle, a doctor in the city. I ran away and found Urokodaki-san, the former Water Hashira." 

     This Shinobu knew. That he was trained by the former Water Hashira. But, the part about his sister killed, and him seeing that when he was only a child....she hadn't known that. Had she been so self-centered about her own losses that she hadn't payed attention to anyone else's?

    "I trained with him alongside two others, Sabito and Makomo. Because of our similar pasts and being of the same age, I became best friends with Sabito." Shinobu watched him carefully as he continued. There was this lost look in his deep blue eyes. Loneliness? 

    "We went to Final Selection, but he didn't make it out. He was the only one not to survive. He was protecting us. Then, I suppose, I realized....there are some of us who become Demon Slayers because we have no choice. We don't know which direction to go, and it's all we can do to protect the ones that are still living." 

"I am always the one that is protected," Giyuu said, his voice almost a whisper.

     "Everyone that I cared about, everyone I was ever close to....is dead. I don't deserve this. Not this position as a Hashira, not this....life. I wonder....would I be better off dead?" Shinobu stared at him, shocked. Dead? He thought he would be better off dead?

     "I promised Sabito that I'd never commit suicide. I told him, once, after Onee-san died....and he slapped me and told me to never think about that again." Giyuu chuckled. Shinobu didn't even have the time to overcome this shock before he said,"That's why no one likes me, I suppose. I don't want to bring my curse upon them, which is why I try my best to remain distant."

       Shinobu, for once, was speechless, her eyes wide with shock. Guilt flooded her body. All this time, she'd teased him about being a loner, but in fact....he thought he was cursed? It didn't make any sense, but in his own way, was he trying to protect them? He fell silent, gazing into the distance. "Tomioka-san," Shinobu said quietly. Giyuu turned to her, and they locked gazes. His sapphire eyes were captivating. Sometimes, they withheld tsunamis, raging waves and storms. And at others, they were tranquil, like the calm surface of a lake.

     "You aren't cursed." Giyuu shook his head. "How would you know that?" "Because," she said. "Bad things happen to the best of people. You can't let your circumstances make you think the worst of yourself." "No, really," Shinobu insisted when Giyuu looked evidently unconvinced. "You can't control your luck, can you? You just have to do your best. At the end of the day, that's all anyone can do."

     Giyuu finally nodded at her. "And besides, Tomioka-san," she added. "Even if no one likes you...." She started blushing furiously, and Giyuu's gaze turned questioning. 

     "I like you," she mumbled. Giyuu's face flamed and he dropped his gaze to the ground, evidently embarrassed. "I-I mean as a friend. Y-you're a g-good friend," she stuttered. Her heart was beating so hard it nearly flew out of her chest, and a million butterflies fluttered in her stomach. She clamped her mouth shut to prevent saying anything else that would make it worse. But Giyuu did something that surprised her. He smiled, and it lit up his features. "Thanks, Kochou."

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