It was now the middle of the day on September 20, 1913, the day after the journey on the Infinity Train had begun. James, Nezuko, and Susamaru had just arrived at the Butterfly Estate, while the others had been laid up in a hospital near the crash site while they were prepared for transfer to the Butterfly Estate for any injuries they received in combat. After spending most of the morning talking to the police and military about what had transpired, they were both tired and needed rest.
As James walked into the shared room he had with Susamaru, he asked her, "Are ya feelin' better?"
"How do I recover from that?" She looked outside through a window as she sat in a chair in the room. "How do I get better from losing my mentor and my best friend?"
James sighed. "I meant your stomach, dear."
"Well," Susamaru replied. "I guess I'm okay in that sense. I'm not okay in any other sense."
Then, Aoi walked into the room, but stopped herself. "Am… Am I interrupting something?" She had put a black band around her upper left arm in mourning for Kyojuro.
"No, you're fine," Susamaru assured her.
"I just want to check something," Aoi told them. "It concerns some things you told me about your sickness. You said it was going on for a week, right?"
"Wait," James replied in disbelief. "A week?"
"Yeah," Susamaru nodded. "It happened occasionally, but what happened at the battle was the worst of it."
"James-san," Aoi told him. "I'm going to check your wife to see if she's pregnant."
Both of their eyes widened as they said in unison, "Pregnant?!"
Aoi nodded. "Ever since Mukago-san got pregnant, I won't take any chances. You can step out of the room if you want, James-san."
"I'm fine," he assured her. "I was there for Julia the whole way. I'll be there for Susamaru if that's the case. I know fathers normally aren't like that here, but I'm different."
Aoi gave a faint smile. "Americans really are built differently." She then told Susamaru, "Okay, you're going to have to expose your lower regions. I need to be able to check your vaginal opening."
"It's fine," she assured her. "He's seen it in great detail already." She made light of it as a way to cope with the grief from the still-fresh loss of Kyojuro as she dropped her skirt and underwear before she laid down on the bed.
Aoi and James blushed at the remark as the former opened up a tool bag and pulled out a speculum. "Well this may be the end result of his familiarity." As soon as she got a good view of Susamaru's cervix, she sighed and pulled the speculum out. "It's blue in color and has some mucus coming out, a clear indicator or Chadwick's sign. I also have indications of Goodell's sign. Susamaru, you are absolutely pregnant."
To hear those words confirming such was a shock to James and Susamaru. "Pregnant…" The latter was overwhelmed as she began to cry. "Oh my God… Pregnant…"
James quickly rushed to her side, hugging her and telling her, "There, there, dear. You'll be fine."
Aoi told them both, "I'll leave you two alone to process this. If you need any help, let me, a Kakushi, or one of the Caterpillar Girls know. Shinobu-sama and Kanao-sama should be back by either later today or early tomorrow."
Susamaru told James, "There's… There's a new life growing inside me… If only Rengoku-san could have heard the news."
"He'd be so happy for you," James told her before he kissed her on the forehead. "This… This gives me a chance to start over, my love." He then placed a hand on her abdomen. "This child of our's… I want this child to be the first of several."
"Me too," she replied before she yawned. "James, dear, I'm tired… I'm gonna go to bed."
"I'm tired too," he replied as he shut the curtains to darken the room.
"Before I do," she told him. "I want you to hold me."
James sighed and took his shirt off, realizing what they were most likely about to do. "Should we be doin' this so soon?"
"After what happened, I just want to feel some kind of comfort." As the two slipped off the rest of their clothes, the pair kissed before James gently lowered her back onto the bed.
…
Later that night, Shinobu and Kanao returned to the Butterfly Estate, both of them still shaken by Kyojuro's death. Additionally, Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu joined them, having returned from the hospital. Giyu and Sanemi had also come over, both also heartbroken over his death.
Late at night, Sanemi, Tanjiro, Giyu, and James all sat around a table in a break room within the Butterfly Estate, silence filling the room before Giyu spoke up. "This… This really hits home. Rengoku was close to all of us. No death in the corps has impacted us more since Kanae died."
The mention of her name caused Sanemi to look up from his seat. "This shouldn't have happened. How could he just go and fight an Upper Moon by himself? Didn't he realize how dangerous it was? He was reckless."
Everyone at the table looked at him, with an exasperated and angered Tanjiro asking him, "Are… Are you saying it was his fault? Why?" James similarly was angry at him for saying it, but kept his mouth shut.
Sanemi, annoyed by Tanjiro's remark, told him, "Watch it. I'm the Pillar, and you're the Mizunoe here."
Giyu, not pleased with his remark, told Sanemi, "Wow, you really do like picking on the lower ranks, huh?" He then whispered, "Fucking asshole."
Sanemi looked over at him with rage in his eyes before he lunged at him from across the table, screaming, "What the fuck did you just say to me?!" The two quickly began to exchange blows.
James punched Sanemi in the face before Sanemi responded in kind, with him yelling, "Sit the fuck down!"
Tanjiro tried separating the three of them, telling them as they all yelled various obscenities at each other, "Shut the fuck up! Stop fighting! Come on!" As Sanemi pushed him away, he got right back into it, using both of his hands to drive Sanemi and Giyu apart.
Shinobu, having heard the commotion from the other room, soon realized what was going on, and it infuriated her. "Of all fucking times they have to fight," she thought to herself as she marched on over. "They have to fucking do it now?!" As she appeared in the doorway, a look of unbridled rage on her face, she quickly grabbed a chair in the corner of the room and shouted as she threw it into a wall, smashing it to get everyone's attention, "Hey, hey, HEY! What the Hell is going on here?! Huh?!"
James and Sanemi, who were at each other's throats literally, were the first to turn and look to her, followed by Tanjiro and James, who tried to rip Sanemi off of Giyu. The Water Pillar spoke first, asking her, "Koch-"
"I come back from the telephone after calling Mitsuri-chan, his old Tsuguko, and doing my best to comfort her," Shinobu started out calm despite seething with anger. "And this is going on… In my house." In a split second, she began shouting. "IN MY HOUSE!" She then took a deep breath, and switched to a quieter though still harsh tone. "Stop fighting each other! That's an order!" As Sanemi tried to raise a finger to say something, she immediately shut him down. "I know you and Tomioka-san may be the more senior Pillars, but when you're in my house, you follow MY rules!"
"She's pissed," James thought to himself. "She's really fuckin' pissed."
Shinobu then continued. "It happened! It fucking happened, okay?! People in this line of work DIE! All we can do is learn from it, remember it, and move on by sticking together..." With tears now falling from her eyes and trailing down her face, she once again shouted, "And then we get back out there and slay some GOD DAMN DEMONS, and that's how we honor Rengoku-san! He's barely been dead for long, and you're already letting it get to you like this?! Enough!" Taking a deep breath, she followed up with a simple command to them, "Anyone think of lowering the flag outside to half-staff, or putting a notice up for his passing? Do it!"
Giyu tried to reply to her, admitting as Shinobu closed her eyes, "Kocho, we were wrong. We shouldn't ha-" However, his apology was cut short when Shinobu turned around and marched out of the room, trying to hold it in long enough until she got to her bedroom. As she slammed the door to the room shut, the Water Pillar was at a loss for words.
Indeed, everyone was at a loss for words. For a full minute, nobody said a word as the Insect Pillar's words sunk in. Finally, Tanjiro spoke up, and told the group, "I'll go lower the flag."
"I'll help you," Sanemi quietly added, now feeling deep regret over the words he had used earlier that caused a grief-stricken Giyu to leap at him across the table.
James himself turned to Giyu after Sanemi and Tanjiro left the room, telling him rather bluntly, "You'd better go talk to her. I've told you time and time again that she loves you, Giyu, and yet you still barely do anythin' about it aside from vague words to her about how she's more than a friend." Perhaps his own regrets about not being with his former wife Julia longer than they were together were coming back to haunt him once more. "Have y'all even shown any affection to each other since that little talk with her? I don't think so."
"Enough," Giyu sternly replied to him as he stood up. "You've said your spiel, James." He wiped his eyes, realizing he was right despite his harsh tone with him. "You've said it to me multiple times... Multiple times... And you're right." He took a deep breath as the evening sun lowered past the horizon in the distance before getting up from the table and running out the door to see Shinobu.
James smiled as he left, saying to himself, "Go get 'er, son."
Giyu dashed out into the hallway, looking around to try to find where Shinobu went. A part of him was telling him to travel to the right, so he turned and ran down the hallway. His heart was racing as he reached an ajar door and looked inside, finding the Insect Pillar on her knees, burying her face into her bed and weeping in solitude. Her blankets were stained with tears, and she did not seem to notice him slowly walk in. "Kocho…"
"I've treated you like shit for seven years," Shinobu told him through her tears. "And then I violated you… I'm sorry, Tomioka-san… I'm so sorry for being the closest person to you for seven years and yet treating you terribly… And all because I couldn't express how I felt about you properly…"
"No," Giyu told her as he got closer and rested a hand on her shoulder. "You don't need to apologize, Shinobu."
Her eyes widened as she heard him call her by her first name. "You… You called me by my first name, Giyu…" As she raised her head from the bed, she continued, telling him, "I've felt like I don't deserve to be loved for a long time. I always blamed myself for every little bad thing that came my way, and through it, I told myself I deserved to be treated like shit." She then stood up, getting ready to leave the room. "Stop being so nice to me. I don't deserve it. Just leave me the Hell alone."
The Water Pillar took the opportunity to stop Shinobu in her tracks and embrace her as tears began to fall from his own eyes. "No! Don't leave!" He then told her softly, "Shinobu-chan… I've felt the same way since Sabito died. It's what's prevented me from being honest to you for so long. The last thing I want is for you to fall into the same trap for so long." As his grip tightened, the flow of tears down his cheeks increased. "Kocho Shinobu, I love you. I've loved you ever since you and your sister came to see me and Urokodaki-san. I kick myself every single day for not telling you sooner."
Shinobu replied to him, "You have no idea how long I've wanted to hear those words, Giyu. For a long time, I wanted to die avenging the death of my sister, but now… I want to live! I want to live this life with you in it, because I love you! For seven long years, I loved you, and I won't stop!"
Giyu finally could take it no more. He raised his head, thinking to himself, "I need to do this now!" He then moved in and closed his eyes as he kissed Shinobu on her lips, the Insect Pillar being caught off-guard for a few seconds before she closed her eyes and returned it, wrapping her arms around him.
Once the two split, Shinobu told him, "For a long time, I've felt like the runt of my family. I always viewed my sister as the prettier one, and me as the small and ugly one. I was honestly… Honestly so surprised to know you loved me despite my flaws."
Giyu then caressed her right cheek. "You're not a runt. You're not ugly, either. You're beautiful, Shinobu. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, not even yourself." The two then closed their eyes and kissed again.
Shinobu then split off from him and undid her hair pin, setting it down nearby on a nightstand before unbuttoning her uniform. "I'm doing this because my heart can't take it anymore, Giyu." As she took off her uniform top, revealing her western-style bra underneath before she slipped out of her pants and revealed similar western undergarments. "You've probably never seen a woman wearing something like this before, but that won't be a problem for long."
Giyu quickly blushed as he realized what she was about to do. "You're going to-"
"Please," Shinobu asked of him as she took the last of her top off, exposing herself from the waist up. "Make love to me, Giyu."
Giyu replied to her request by taking off his own uniform, gently laying down his haori and uniform top on the ground before stripping down to his own underwear and taking Shinobu by the hand. "I shall." The two then kissed as they gently landed on the bed together, and as the last of their clothes came off, it did not take long for Shinobu to come out on top, holding herself up by pushing down on the bed next to Giyu's head. "Shinobu…"
She had begun to shed tears again. "Thank you. I've thought about this very moment for a long time. Ever since I began to become a woman, this fantasy has continuously played out in my head, and now that it's in my grasp, I don't want to let go." The two once again kissed as Shinobu fell onto him, and within less than a few minutes, Giyu and Shinobu had begun to have sex for the first time. The two cried out each other's names several times, and once it ended, they both collapsed back into bed and fell asleep in each other's arms, with Giyu clinging Shinobu's head close to him. She thought to herself as she drifted off into sleep, "After seven long years, I've finally done it… I love you, Tomioka Giyu."
Giyu meanwhile thought to himself, "She's finally mine, and I'm finally hers. I haven't felt this happy in a truly long time. I love you, Kocho Shinobu."
