I was groaning in my sleep as I felt something wet on my face. I was unconsciously confused, then I started to hear someone quietly trying to hold in their sniffing. "Mmm… what is that?" I forced myself to wake up and see a blurry face. "What…?" I rubbed my eyes, clearing my vision to see Giyu in tears. "Oh god!" I panicked and quickly using my sleeves to wipe his teary eyes away before hugging him tightly. "Don't cry, Giyu! I'm sorry!" I rubbed his back gently. "I know I caused you pain and I'm sorry for that… but I didn't expect myself to be kidnapped because I stormed out,"

"What?!" Giyu pulled back and stared into my eyes with horror. His hands firmly gripped my shoulders and pushed me down to the bed, as he hovered above me.

"Well I…" I started to feel embarrassed as my face flushed due to our position. "Was kidnapped…" I gulped dryly. "I don't know how long I was gone, but I was severely beaten as you can see on my face. Ummm…." my eyes drifted away from his. I felt weird looking at him from this position, it felt so intimate. "I was going insane every night and morning. We almost wed, but then I stabbed myself so he would also kill himself too—"

"Where?" Giyu's voice was concerned yet firm. I was confused why he was acting so troubled by my words. He should feel relieved that I am alive.

"Giyu…"

"Where did you stab yourself? Let me see," his clammy hands were trying to undo my kimono which triggered an unpleasant memory of my hostage and I had to do something.

Before he could open up my kimono, I grabbed his hands and kicked up my leg to roll myself on top of him. "Giyu!" I yelled at him, staring down at his shocked figure. "Get a hold of yourself! Stop acting so weird. You're making me uncomfortable." I released his hands and flicked his forehead.

Giyu quickly uttered out an apology, "I'm sorry… I-I was—"

"Shut up," I covered his mouth with my hand. "I'm telling you my story. So," I resumed where I left off. "When he stabbed himself, I ran off as night fell. I was going to die, but I didn't because I was saved by Tanjiro and them. Zenitsu took me here…. Oh yeah, on a sad note, my handmaiden passed away last night because she was killed by my kidnapper. When I arrived here, my wound was tended and I visited your room to see you sleeping, and I guess I knocked out in your futon too," I laughed off, trying to make myself feel better than the terrifying event. "But Giyu," I moved off of him and sat beside him. "I'm sorry I caused you so much worriedness. I ask myself if seeing you was worth it? Going through the pain to be around you…" I grabbed his hand and finished my sentence, "and I say 'yes' because every moment with you makes me happy since I missed out my childhood with you. Just let me know when you find a wife, so I can start distancing myself from you." I joked, trying to change the air. I didn't want to feel sad anymore, I wanted to feel happy.

"Who said I'm going to get married?" He uttered like no one is going to be on his ass about marriage.

"Well, everyone will settle down later in their life. I will find my someone in the future, you know? I can guarantee you that I want to be married with children." And I quickly changed the subject, "Why don't you get ready? I bet your colleagues are waiting to see you return healthy and happy." I peeled him off his futon and brought in his folded uniform to him. "Get ready. I'll see you outside," I smiled, patting his head before leaving him to change.

I decided to place myself in the kitchen and cook meat buns for everyone. My insides were telling me to spread kindness, so I wanted to cook a small snack for everyone to eat and feel warm inside. Being in the kitchen made me feel like a hard worker: I was chopping meat, rolling out dough, steaming meat buns all by myself. "Ahh…" my hands were cramping up from the constant hand workout. "This is a good sign that these meat buns gonna be delicious!" I grabbed one to taste and indeed they were delicious. "Mmmm! I'm in heaven!" The food moving down stomach made my organs danced.

Then I headed out to find the pillars and training corps officers. When I stepped out, I didn't find anyone around my surroundings. "Where could they have gone?" but then something hit me. "Wait! I need to give some to the head household family first!" I didn't know why I forgot about the Ubuyashiki family, so I ran around the floor to find where they resided. "Hi Lord Ubuyashiki, I'm here to give you some meat bun I made for everyone. It would be an honor to serve you this…. I hope you'll like it!" I pushed a serving towards him, hoping he'll like it.

I watched as he picked up the meat bun and delicately chewed it off, taking his time to swallow it. I was breaking a sweat watching him eat my food. Adrenaline was coursing through my veins as I was scared to hear his criticism.

"Chiba," Ubuyashiki called out my name, causing a bolt of electricity to shock my whole being up.

"Yes!" my straight back was stiff and formal when he called my attention.

"This is wonderful," his compliment eased my chest so much that I thought I was going to die by not breathing in the room as suspense built up. "I'm honored to be the first to eat it." He lightly chuckled, letting me relax myself around him. "Chiba, I'm glad that you're back. I heard what happened, and it must've been terrible."

I wondered how he found out, but I guess I can't be surprised since it is his house to know everything that goes on around here. "Yeah, it was… but I'm putting that behind me now. It's all in the past."

"As everyone informed you, my child Giyu locked himself… even I was surprised when nobody could bring him out to me. For those days that you were gone, I had servants to check up on him to see if he's doing alright and is properly eating. It pained my heart to see him act like that while you were abducted, but now that you are present, I want to see him happy. Chiba, you are the one to make him go on with life. You are very dear to him, and I appreciate you sticking with him. I hope you continue to stay close to him and be his anchor."

"Yes I will, Lord Ubuyashiki!" I bowed before exiting myself out of the room. I felt so thrilled to know that Ubuyashiki acknowledged me, it made my heart explode. However, the things he said about Giyu made me feel like our relationship seemed so transparent. Everyone could read us easy by one glance.

Traveling around the residence, I gave out meat buns to everyone and they smiled, appreciating the snack. Their sweet smiles made me feel very happy inside, especially when their eyes lit up from their taste buds getting savory flavor washing over their mouth.

"This is really good!"

"The meat bun taste like Mother's cooking,"

"You should make more. This is too good to eat it once!"

The compliments boosted up my energy and happiness to a whole new level of exploding.

"Kirika," I felt a light tap on my shoulder.

"Yes?" I turned around to see Giyu looking at me.

Giyu stared at me, scanning over my kitchen attire. Suddenly, his hand laid on top of my head covering. "You look like a mom wearing this."

I felt a quick shattered, my world was breaking down when he called me I looked like a mom. "Don't call me that…! You're making me sound old and married, and I'm not in those categories. Giyu, apologize to me! You hurt my feelings." I stared into his dark blue eyes, giving him the puppy stares.

"You crushed my existence when you disappeared." He clapped back at me.

"Giyu, apologize to me now!" I pouted, puffing out my chest and staring up at him. "I know I hurt you a lot, but you insulted me. If you don't apologize, you're not going to get meat buns!" I threatened, holding true to my words.

"Ou, meat buns…!" It was the pillar of sound, Tengen Uzui. "If you don't mind if I do!" He grabbed three meat buns and ate it in one go. "You're cooking is great. Kirika… although you're not a kunoichi, I want to take you in as my fourth wife."

I was flabbergasted. "What?" Tengen's words took me by surprise. "I know sharing is caring, but in all honesty… I don't share the love of my life with another woman. I reject your offer," I had to inhale deeply to get a hold of myself because I wasn't sure if he was joking or not.

"Aw, don't look so sour Giyu. I was only playing to see your reaction," Tengen laughed, poking the vexed Giyu. "I wanted to know if you love her because Shinobu has it that you guys flirt a lot."

"Huh?!" My face flushed red. "That's not true. She's making things up! Me and Giyu are good friends." I quickly said, crossing my arms and weirdly looked at Tengen.

"Sure…" Tengen wasn't buying any of my words. "I know you and Giyu will become lovers." Then he changed his attention to Giyu who was watching. "Giyu, my man…" He slung an arm around Giyu's shoulders. "To get a wife—"

I didn't want to hear Tengen's methods of snatching a wife. "I'm going to excuse myself…" I awkwardly fled from the scene.

Continuing to hand out meat bun to the others, I stumbled across the love pillar, Mitsuri Kanroji. "Kirika!" Mitsuri ran over to me and her eyes smiled. "I'm glad you're okay," she hugged me then released me. "I'm sad to see what he did to you. It breaks my heart," Mitsuri frowned as her heart twitched in pain.

"It will heal, and I will be alright." I smiled to assure her that I was going to be fine.

"Oh yeah!" something popped into Mitsuri's mind as if she forgot to tell me something. "I cleaned your shiromuku." She handed me my folded shiromuku. "It was kind of hard to take off the blood, but after a few attempts, all the blood was gone and it looks new."

My heart felt so touched by her kind action. "You didn't have to do that for me, Mitsuri. I would have cleaned it myself…" I pressed the folded shiromuku close to my chest.

"I don't want to see you strain yourself, so…" Mitsuri took a few steps closer to me and snatched my cart of meat bun. "I'll do this for you. Go rest, Kirika. You've done enough today," she happily smiled, waving me off. "Keep walking. Walk back to your room."

I had no choice but to walk back into Giyu's room since I wasn't allowed to roam anymore.

Sitting down, I held my secondhand shiromuku from my late mother. As I stared at it, my heart weighted many emotions from childhood to adulthood. My mother had endured a lot with my father and I somehow blocked the bad moments of them fighting and arguing. Placing the folded shiromuku next to me, I laid on my side, staring at the wall far from me. Emotions were pouring over my existence.

The sliding door opened and I knew it was Giyu because who else wouldn't chase me down other than him. "Kirika, I was trying to find where you went—"

My whole attitude change within an hour about marriages. "Is marriage worth all the pain and suffering?" I cut him off with my question. "Is it better to be unmarried and live freely without any problems?" My eyes started to swell up from memories of my mother doing so much for me, protecting me from the harsh reality of life and relationship.

"Why do you ask?" His footsteps gradually got louder as he was coming closer to me.

"I don't want to suffer…" a tear rolled across my face. "I don't want to be in my mother's shoes—a few days ago I was in her shoes… I wanted to end myself." I quietly sniffed. "The idea of marriage is overrated. Being married isn't in my to-do lists anymore… I just want to live my life now. I don't need a husband to be happy, I don't need children to bring a new generation, I—"

"Kirika, why are you acting like that? Turn around and look at me." Giyu placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed firmly. "Face me and talk," he gently spoke.

"No," I refused. "I want to be alone."

"I won't leave you because I know you were alone when you were kidnapped. I don't want you to be by yourself. It's okay to cry to me. You know I'm here."

"Do you want to know my thoughts during my hostage?" I slowly turned myself over and stared at him with sad eyes. "Are you prepared for the dark thoughts that occurred?" I breathed out heavily.

"Kirika," Giyu moved a strand of hair out of my way and gently stared at me with a different face from usual. "I will always listen. You're not alone," it made my heart feel at ease when he said that to me.

When I spoke about my evil thoughts of hurting myself and flashbacks of my family, a wave of emotions piled up and I was on the verge of crying. I didn't want him to see me cry, so I covered his eyes from looking at me. "Don't look at me while I cry. It's not a pleasant sight…" my voice cracked as I sniffed my running nose.

"Don't be like this," Giyu removed my hands and surprisingly pulled me into a hug. This wasn't like Giyu, this Giyu was new. I was pulled into his chest as I tried to stop my crying. "I know you are hurt. This will take time to heal, don't force it." He stroked my hair, trying to calm me down. "You don't need to speak any further… unless you want to." His touch was so warm and accepting. He made me feel like crying wasn't a bad thing to do in front of him.