Giyuu Tomiyoka watches the crow land on a fence post nearby. He stops to receive new orders from headquarters, an open hand resting on the hilt of the sword at his hip. A few miles away, Shinobu Kocho notices a headquarters crow landing in the nesting spot of her personal kasugai crow. She stands up from where she has been sitting on the porch of her mansion, brushing off her intricately designed haori before regarding the bird. The crows belt out the Hashira's orders in their scratchy, squawking voices.
CAW. CAW. GIYUU TOMIOKA AND SHINOBU KOCHO ARE TO MAKE FOR THE VILLAGE OF HARA IN THE NORTH. CAW. GIYUU TOMIOKA AND SHINOBU KOCHO ARE TO MAKE FOR THE VILLAGE OF HARA IN THE NORTH. CAW.
Shinobu walks back into the butterfly mansion to gather her traveling gear. Hara in the north… she ponders. If her memory serves, it was a village tucked in the foothills of the northern snowy mountains. She would need to consult the map in her study to check for the presence of wisteria homes on the way there, as that would determine the amount of food and the caliber of supplies she needed to bring on the journey.
As Shinobu walked to her office, delicate haori floating behind her, she scanned around for Aoi or any of the other sisters to tell them about her pending departure. Looking out an open window she notices Kanae sitting on the edge of the wooden manor exterior floors, overlooking the garden.
"Yoo-hoo, Kanae-chan!" Shinobu waves through the window as Kanae turns to look at her. "I've been sent on a mission and won't return for a few days, please tell Aoi-chan and the little ones when you get the chance~!" Kanae gives a slow nod, and turns back to stare at the pond in the garden.
Entering her study, Shinobu uncovers the detailed map she keeps of the surrounding hashira territories. Every hashira is assigned a certain area of land that they will be *mostly* responsible for. Cross-territory missions happen frequently for any extenuating circumstances like the territory's hashira being predisposed, or if more than one hashira is sent on a mission to investigate the presence of a moon or a heavily populated demon nest. Her finger hovers above the map, tracing upwards until it reaches the northernmost fringes of her territory.
"Ah, there we are," she says softly. Hara was the northernmost significant settlement in her territory, as her territory ended at the peaks of the mountains north of the village. North of it and to the east was Tomiyoka's territory. It envelops hers more so than the surrounding territories, partly due to the impassable nature of the northern mountains as well as other geographical considerations, and partly because as the leader and main surgeon of the butterfly mansion's hospital, she was often unavailable for demon slaying duty. As such, her territory is a smaller enclave centered around the butterfly mansion. If you saw it on the map, you would think that it broke off from the bottom left corner of Giyuu's territory, as it was relatively square save for her jurisdiction.
As her eyes traced the roads leading to the village Shinobu noted that it would only take two days of on-foot travel to reach, and since there was a wisteria house located approximately halfway there she could forgo any camping supplies for this mission. She gathered some odds and ends from her office she thought she might desire, antidotes and medicines mostly, and made her way back to the front entrance of the butterfly mansion.
Aoi was waiting at the front door, having heard from Kanae that Shinobu was leaving, and when Shinobu came to leave she gave her mentor a small bow and began opening the door for her. "Have a safe trip, Shinobu-san. We will take care of everything here until your return."
"Tha-" Shinobu froze for a moment as she saw Giyuu standing in the door frame that Aoi had just opened, his left hand poised to knock on the door. Aoi recoiled in surprise.
"My-my, Tomiyoka-san," Shinobu said slowly after the momentary surprise, folding her hands and tilting her head to the side. "You really should announce yourself better!"
Giyuu showed no emotion at her passive-aggressive greeting. "I was going to knock."
"I suppose so, I suppose so…" Shinobu said. "I suppose we will be traveling together from the onset? How unusual…" Shinobu's smile never waivered, but Aoi shook her head in apprehension.
"I was close by already."
Shinobu hummed at that, and bade farewell to Aoi. She began walking down the gravel path to the road, Giyuu following close behind, and mentally prepared herself for two days of walking alongside the worst conversation partner in the demon slayer corps. Well, besides possibly Muichiro, she conceded. They began the light jog that any hashira could keep up for weeks with minimal breaks for water and food, making their way north towards their ultimate destination.
—
Shinobu knew better than to expect an actual conversation with Giyuu on the road. She would occasionally mention some piece of information or ask him a question, and would invariably be met with a grunt or a two word "sentence." The silence between them would last for tens of minutes at a time, only broken by her occasional attempt at communication. She sighed internally. On most joint missions we meet up at the destination. Usually I only have to deal with this on the return journey, if he even goes in the same direction as me at all. Oh well… this happens every time. He really was selfish with the way he communicated with people, so Shinobu didn't feel bad at all for teasing him every now and again.
Giyuu felt a finger poke his shoulder, and sighed internally. This happens every time. Whenever they travel long distances as a pair, it wasn't long before Shinobu grew restless and began pestering him to… well… exactly why she did this he wasn't entirely sure. Keeps her occupied, I guess. He felt the staccato impacts of her finger on his shoulder continue when he didn't respond the first time. "What," he grunted.
"Oh my Tamioka-san, no need to be so huffy." Shinobu stared at him with that ever-present smile. "I was just wondering why…"
—
The day passed by as Giyuu put up with Shinobu's endless pestering. While total concentration breathing meant their physical stamina was limitless in a situation like long distance travel, there was no such technique for mental fortitude. Even with constant meditation and focused mental training one could only increase one's limits, not do away with them entirely. Giyuu was pondering whether putting up with Shinobu's antics actually counted as some sort of mental fortification training, when he realized she had been silent for a long time. He glanced over at her without moving his head, and saw her looking straight ahead as they traveled in silence. While a little relieved, he also knew Shinobu well enough to take interest when she acts out of the ordinary. He observed her silently for a while, trying to ascertain why her behavior had changed in the last hour and a half. Clouds of frosty air had begun to puff from their mouths as they traveled further northwards.
"Kocho?"
"Ah-?" Shinobu was startled by his beginning of a conversation, after such a long period of silence.
As I thought. Her voice was a little hoarse, so he guessed she had stopped talking to save her throat. Giyuu used his right hand to rummage around the pack he carried on his back. After a moment, and while looking straight ahead, he extended a water canteen to Shinobu. "Here."
Shinobu blinked at the gesture. "Ah, Tomioka-san, I have my own water." Shinobu held up a much smaller water container that she was already holding in her left hand.
"Oh." It must have been hidden by the sleeve of her haori while she ran, he surmised.
"My my, what a gentleman! I'm so sorry to steal your thunder Tomioka-san, especially after you tried so hard to come to my rescue~"
"Hm." He was well immunized to her snide comments.
"If you must know," she relented a little, "It's the cold. Good guess though, Tomioka-san! And I'm very proud of you for offering!" she said patronizingly.
No response this time. After a long moment passed in silence, long enough for any sane person to firmly decide the conversation was well and truly over, Giyuu began rummaging through his pack again. Shinobu glanced over at him while they slowed their pace, to let him readjust his pack and get whatever he wanted out. They stopped in the wooded path, the only sound being the rustling of the icy winds flowing through the forest. After another moment, Giyuu pulled out a deep blue scarf and offered it to Shinobu wordlessly.
Shinobu stared at the offering with her usual smiling face. Moments passed in silence with Giyuu extending the scarf to her, expressionlessly. Shinobu covered her mouth with a hand.
"That is really disgusting, Tomioka-san."
"..."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Shinobu waved her hand apologetically, "I wasn't talking about the scarf. I just meant that I thought that was a really disgusting thing for you to do, Tomioka-san. It looks like a nice scarf!"
"..." Giyuu wordlessly began to put the scarf back where he got it from.
"Oh, so now I can't have it anymore? Even though I'm still cold?" Shinobu pouted.
Giyuu hesitated, then again offered it to Shinobu.
"And here I was worried that I had offended you! Thank goodness…" Shinobu said with false concern. She looked down at his offering. It was a neatly folded deep blue scarf, and now that she looked at it up close she saw detailed red embroidery on the edges. The material was certainly thick enough to ward off the cold, ot was no fashion piece.
"I don't want it!" she said cheerfully.
Giyuu held it out for a moment, in case she was just messing with him again, but her expectant stare gave him his final answer. He carefully replaced the scarf back in his pack, slung it onto his shoulder and began traveling down the path again, with Shinobu close behind.
"Tomioka-san, I'm quite worried for you…" Shinobu said with mocking concern. "I mean, you really thought I would wear your scarf? Did you want to see it wrapped around my neck? That's quite gross, Tamioka-san, maybe I should request to be taken off of joint missions with you…"
Giyuu's expression finally buckled. Shinobu took pride in her handiwork. The only expressions she had ever seen on the water pillar's face was his usual stoicism and this…what would you call it, she wondered. Exasperated stoicism? That's oxymoronic I know… but it's the only words that come to mind. She knew she had finally gotten to him when his usual impassioned expression changed to this mix of annoyance and exasperation. It still had his usual aloof attitude present, but it was wholly different to his usual inexpressive self.
Shinobu wasn't trying to torture him. To her, Giyuu was a selfish asshole who made everyone around him do the work of trying to communicate with him. The rest of the pillars play along with his game, even if some of them dislike him because of it they still end up playing. She tries to poke holes in his behavior, to show it as the weakness she believes it to be. As someone who spends their lives helping others, especially in a medical setting, she has little patience for those who fail to communicate simply because 'they don't want to'. She has had patients die because someone refused to communicate something embarrassing or shameful, so for her to see a pillar of the corps behave in this way irks her on a personal level.
Giyuu couldn't wrap his head around the insect pillar's behavior. Once mission critical information was discussed, they simply needed to travel in the direction of the demons. Shinobu would constantly pester him of her own volition, then get mad when he didn't respond to her taunting. He would rather pass the time in silence, and if that wasn't achievable, solitude. And it was cold, her voice was hoarse, why would she not want a scarf? Why else would he carry a scarf if not to ward off the cold? She wasn't talking anymore, he knew she was cold. She was purposely freezing to what, spite him? Giyuu shook his head, returning to his usual impassioned gaze. I guess I'll never really understand Kocho.