The sun had begun to fall behind the distant mountains as Shinobu knocked on the door to the wisteria crest home. Her light taps would likely go unnoticed at another location, but as this was the most convenient resting spot in Shinobu's northern territory, she is a frequent visitor. The door creaks open revealing an old man, his back bent nearly doubled over, resting on an intricately carved dark wooden cane.
Wisteria wood, Giyuu notes. While possessing nowhere near the demon repellent potency of a wisteria flower, objects made of wysteria wood appear to feel boiling hot to demons. Wooden weapons are useless for actually killing demons so the corps has little use for its properties, but those civilians who are aware of the demon threat often carry traveling staffs or other pseudo-weaponry carved of wysteria wood. When defending against demon attacks as a non-corps member, the best one can hope for is convincing the demon you aren't worth the trouble or keeping it at bay until dawn comes. As wisteria wood has less ideal qualities for wooden weaponry than more common woods, it is a signal used between those 'in the know.'
"Ah, welcome… welcome…" the old man guttered. His voice was wet and bubbly, yet filled with cheer. He urged them into his home, turning to waddle down the hall. "Been expecting you, the crow said it all. Two hashiras in my home, two of them… oh me, oh my…" He jerked a hand up and down, waving at a mud room. "Any outerwear there, if you would!"
Giyuu and Shinobu took off their shoes there and put on some slippers meant for guests. There were only two pairs and they were pleasantly warm; he must have gotten them out and put them next to the hearth before their arrival.
"He's always been a sweet man," Shinobu told Giyuu, leaning closer to speak in low tones. "Please try and be kind to him, Tomioka-san. He's served me, my older sister and many more hashira before her."
"I will," said Giyuu. "…does he live alone?"
"His daughter lives close by," Shinobu sighed, "but even she's getting on in years."
"Hm."
They turn to catch up to the old man, who hasn't gotten all that far yet.
"Well last time we had two pillars here… hmm… well it must have been almost nine year- no… idiot, there was the flame one here, the flame one, with… oh who was that sweet lady…" the old man mumbled to nobody in particular. He continued to hobble down the hallway until he reached a door frame on his left. His hand flung outwards, gesturing towards the room. "Victuals and treats for the slayers here… let me know if you need any assistance, if you would. I'm going to go check on your baths, take your time."
"I don't need a bath," said Giyuu.
"He means thank you!" Shinobu called down the hall before leaning in towards Giyuu to whisper icily. "You stink, stop being rude."
Giyuu looks at her smiling but strained face, disgruntled. "Many demons have enhanced senses, baths make you smell like soap."
"Ahh, Tomioka-san, if they can smell that, they could certainly smell you from even further away right now!" Shinobu shot, her expression becoming even more tense.
The old man's voice scratched faintly from down the hallway. "No scented soap! And the water don't stink of minerals either, this ain't no hot spring boy! I know what I'm doin'!"
Giyuu nods to that, and pivots into the dining room to eat. Shinobu lets out a sigh and follows him. They sit across from each other and begin pecking at the offerings on the table. Toasted breads with oil, fresh vegetables, small pieces of cheese. From the gaps on the table, it seems their actual meals have yet to arrive.
"You don't bathe, Tomioka-san?" Shinobu said before popping a cheese cube into her mouth, with a tone half joking and half concerned.
Giyuu shook his head. "Of course I bathe. But on days before I expect to fight demons, I only use a wet towel."
"Hmm… but you fight demons very often, don't you?" Shinobu said, sarcastic curiosity in her voice. "Almost every day, even?"
He nods. "…I bathe."
"I sure hope so!" she mocked cheerfully.
The old man returns, loudly dragging a wooden table behind him. He's using it as a sort of improvised dolly cart, since he can't carry the plates with his jittery hands. The plates rattle as the wooden legs of the table skip over the floorboards, and with their host's uneven jerking movements the plates slide back and forth, coming dangerously close to the edge with every pull.
Shinobu rises, extending her hands to the food.
"Ah I got it, I got it, sit back down there missy. Just- just a little shaky these days that's all," he laughs. Their food is placed on the table with the speediness of someone overcompensating for a disability; a few bits of food slide off the edge.
"Thank you for the meal," Shinobu says with a beaming smile.
"Thank you for the meal," Giyuu says, chopsticks already digging into some baked leeks.
The old man turns and waves dismissively. "Just holler if you need something, I'll be in my chair. Just right there," he points. The old man huffs as he walks down the hall, and the two of them hear his body settle into a creaky wooden chair.
The meals are eaten in polite silence, with only the clinking of sticks against plates and the distant crackle of the hearth as background. It was quite good they both agreed, with a few shared compliments going to the blackened fish in particular.
After most of the meal was eaten, the old man could be heard very conspicuously making his way back down the hall to the dining room. He stood in the doorway, eyes flitting between the two of them, regarding his guests and their appearances. "You fellas are on the northward roads? It's gettin' real cold up there, and ain't neither of you two dressed for it."
"I trained in mountain winters," Giyuu replied. This earned a skeptical but accepting grunt from the geezer, who then turned a raised eyebrow to the petite insect hashira on the other side of the table.
Shinobu put her hands together apologetically. "So sorry, could you spare some warm clothing? My set was recently soiled on a mission, you see."
"Humph," the old man grunted. "Not sure I have anything for someone of your stature, but I'll take a look." He hobbled off again in the direction of the entrance.
Shinobu notices Giyuu's gaze on her. "My, I hope you're not offended I didn't ask for your scarf instead. It's still a hypothetical whether or not you bathe, after all…"
Giyuu scoffed annoyedly. "I've never worn it before, so it's impossible for it to be dirty."
"Oh," Shinobu said with a hint of surprise. "Why not, Tomioka-san?"
Giyuu shrugged. "Never needed it. But it was a gift from my instructor, so I kept it regardless."
"Ah." That's sweet, I guess. But if he never wears it, wouldn't it just take up space in his pack?
Their host shuffled back into the dining room, holding a huge puffy black mass. He tossed it to Shinobu, who let out a small chirp of surprise at its weight. "All I have, dearie."
"Ahh… well, thank you for your consideration…" Shinobu hesitantly lifted the coat by its shoulders to see its span. It would have been too large on Giyuu, let alone her. "I think I'll just tough it out until we reach the village, I can certainly purchase something there. Thank you so much," she declined politely, extending it back to the host.
"So sorry miss." The old man roughly folds up the coat and drapes it over his forearm before collecting their empty plates. A gnarled pair of fingers steal an uneaten berry before he leaves for the kitchen.
Giyuu and Shinobu stand up, thanking the old man for his kindness. They walk down the hallway to the entrance of what was presumably the baths, based on where the old man went to check on them before. They open the door to find a small tiled room with two wooden tubs pushed to the opposite walls. It was filled with steam from the hot baths, and there were no dividers or means of privacy in sight.
Oh my. "Ah, it seems-" Shinobu began before Giyuu walked in wordlessly, startling her. He couldn't think that we… Giyuu stooped over, picking up a small wooden wash basin off the floor. He dunked it in the bath on his right, filling it with warm water. Walking back to the entrance of the room, he grabs a towel from the rack next to the door and slings it over his shoulder.
"I'll be in the guest room," he says flatly.
Shinobu chuckles apologetically, raising her palms in front of her. "Sorry, you know how old-timers can be about privacy. Generational differences…"
Giyuu nods understandingly and leaves the room. Shinobu exhales curtly, then locks the door and begins prepping to take her bath. That was less awkward than it could have been. She laid her sister's haori on a rack, then took off her demon slayer uniform and settled into the bath. The water was perfect, but the wooden tub left a little to be desired. She began lathering herself up with the unscented soap, and glanced over at the other tub. She stared at it for a moment before shaking her head and quickly scrubbing the day's journey off of her skin.
After everything in there was taken care of, Shinobu opened the wash room door dressed in a fresh set of clothes left for her on the towel rack. She was a semi-frequent visitor, so even though he didn't have winter wear her size, their host had long ago procured some sleeping outfits for her to wear there. They were modest white pajamas with delicate flowered vines tracing a pattern around her figure. She saw the wash basin Giyuu took laid next to the washroom, emptied out with the towel stuffed in it, and used her left foot to scoot it back inside. She approached the guest room door, rapping it twice with her knuckle.
"Just a second," came an answer from inside. Shuffling could be heard behind the door for a moment, then it was opened by Giyuu. He was wearing a plain dark blue shirt and a pair of black shorts, and was regarding her appearance for a moment. He had never seen her with her hair down, and while wet it was a little longer than shoulder length. Longer than he thought it was, he noted internally.
"And I half expected you to sleep in your uniform!" Shinobu teased cheerfully. He rolled his eyes and moved aside so she could enter. Their futons were laid on the matted floor a respectable distance apart, considering that the guest room was the largest portion of the house. By the shape of it, it had previously been a corner room that was later extended further outwards by the entire length of the house. Many wisteria homes had large guest rooms like this to accommodate demon slayer squads on the move. Their futons were laid near enough to each other to be polite, while far apart enough to be respectful. Shinobu saw his demon slayer uniform and haori folded neatly next to the futon furthest from the door.
Shinobu pointed at the farther futon. "Ah, could we switch?" she asked politely. "I like sleeping on the far side." Giyuu shrugged at that, and scooted his clothes from one futon to the other. It was obvious by the sheets that nobody had laid down in either one yet, so it didn't matter.
Shinobu laid her uniform and haori down next to her futon and tucked herself into the sheets. Giyuu stood by the door, waiting until she was finished to blow out the oil lamp lights. Darkness filled the room save for the scant silver moonlight from a crescent moon. Giyuu shuffled around getting into the covers in the darkness, and Shinobu closed her eyes and waited to fall asleep. The soothing sounds of the night filled her ears as she slowly began drifting off.
"Why didn't you want the scarf?" Giyuu said, breaking the silence. Shinobu opened her eyes.
"I'd like to sleep, Tomioka-san~"
Giyuu didn't respond. Shinbu sighed after a couple moments of thought.
"It's rude, the way you force everyone else to do the work of communicating with you. That's why you're so unlikeable, Tomioka-san." She heard his sheets rustle at that, but still no response. "Instead of making me refuse the scarf, you should ask if I want it in the first place."
"What's the difference? You either want the scarf or you don't." he said brusquely.
"Hmm…" Shinbu considered the right way to word this. "I suppose from your perspective it's similar, but from mine it's not. If you'd have asked me if I wanted the scarf, I would have got to decide yes or no for myself. I get to keep my autonomy, and you get to make a kind offer. But by shoving the scarf in my face like you did, you have already made the decision for me that I need a scarf. You force me to either accept your pity, or deny your kindness. It's not very fair Tomioka-san."
Silence.
Shinobu disliked his habit of staying completely silent in situations where he didn't know what to say. It felt like she was being ignored, and in the dark she couldn't read his expressions to make up for it.
"Oh."
Shinobu looked over at him in the dark, surprised by his tone. It wasn't his usual voice, it was higher and had a tone of newfound understanding to it, like he had never actually considered the difference before. She stifled a laugh in the dark. He sounded like a child…
Time passed in silence, and Shinobu guessed the conversation was over. She settled into the covers and tried to sleep for a second time. The night crawled along with the sound of the evening bugs buzzing through the window.
"Do you want the scarf?" Giyuu asked.
"What?" Shinobu said sleepily.
"Do you want the scarf?"
"…Ask me tomorrow, Tomioka-san."
"Hm."
"Good night, Tomioka-san," she warned, wanting to sleep.
"Good night Kocho."
For a final time Shinobu closed her eyes, and after a few minutes the two hashira were sleeping soundly in the safe haven of the wisteria house.
—
Giyuu was the first to awake. He had slept bolt upright on his back, and the only indication he had returned to the waking world was his eyes flitting open. He heard the chirping of the morning birds, and by the amount of light coming in from the window it was about a half hour until sunrise. He sat up slowly and looked over at Shinobu.
She was still asleep, and her appearance was quite the different story. She had turned onto her side in the night and begun straddling her bunched up sheets. One leg was straight while the other was pulled up with her knee almost to her chest, and her arms were wrapped around the blankets. Her mouth was slightly open and she had been eating her hair in the night, and Giyuu could see a small wet spot on her pillow. She slept like a child, he noted.
"Kocho."
She was unresponsive.
Giyuu waited for a while until he said her name again. "Kocho."
Her eyes slowly opened, and in only another moment she sat up and looked around to get her bearings. She used her pinky finger to drag the hair out of her mouth, smacking her lips, then quickly tried to get her bed head under control. "Good morning, Tomioka-san," she said with the slightest tinge of embarrassment.
"You look like you slept well," he said, not looking in her direction while he stood up. Shinobu furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at the comment before she saw the rather obvious wet spot on the pillow where her mouth had been. A mixture of anger and embarrassment welled within her for a moment, but she held her tongue as there was nothing more to say about it. There would come another time, she told herself.
Giyuu stepped out of the room with his clothes, assumedly going to the washroom to get dressed. Shinobu put on her uniform and neatly folded the borrowed pajamas. She gazed over at Giyuu's pack on the ground. A small revenge, she decided.
Shinobu went over to snoop through his belongings. Opening the top flap of his traveling pack, she started to dig around in his stuff. There was of course the sensible things up top: rations for this mission, first aid, a folded map, fire starting materials, et cetera. Below this practical layer, however, were less explicable objects. A hair pin and brush, a small bottle of what looked to be premium sake, that scarf he had offered her, a calligraphy set, a compact tea set, even a miniature folded board game intricately carved of wood. There's no way he packed all of this for this mission, she thought, looking at the amount of random objects. Checking all the smaller pockets and compartments on his pack she found much of the same. Hygienic supplies in one, a small assortment of tools in another. A compartment filled with non-perishable, dry looking rations that had been half consumed already. One pocket filled with a lock picking set and a poorly carved wooden figurine. She even found that the hard backing of the pack was actually a griddle for use on an open fire, and the padding between it and his back was a spare demon slayer uniform. These things are supplies one would take on a very long journey, not a short mission like this. She had also noticed how large his water container was compared to hers, back when he had offered her some.
Shinobu considered the assortment of practical supplies and useless trinkets in front of her. Why would he carry all of this in a pack? All together it wasn't overly heavy, especially for someone as physically fit as him making use of constant concentration breathing, but still it seemed unnecessary to carry all of this around. She remembered something, then. A conversation she had with Rengoku, the flame hashira.
"His house is rather barren!" he had shouted in his usual demeanor. "It appears he goes there infrequently! I insisted on visiting there to…"
Shinobu's eyes widened a little when she came to a realization. She looked down at the contents of the pack in front of her, held in her two hands.
Is this… is this everything he owns?
—
The two hashira wave goodbye to the old host, and resume traveling to their destination. They only get a minute down the road before Giyuu breaks the silence.
"Do you want the scarf?"
Shinobu gazes at him, then the pack on his back.
"Sure," she relents, breath turning to ice on the northern path.
Giyuu slows down to pull out the scarf again, and hands it to shinobu. She stares at it in her hands. The deep blue of the fabric doesn't exactly match well with the red trim. It has the air of something halfway home-made, a purchased scarf that was modified by careful but inexperienced fingers. She wraps it around her neck and looks over at the water pillar, staring at his mismatched haori. It was ugly in its own way as well, but she has long known it held deeper value than aesthetics, ever since she noticed the patchy stitch job joining the two fabrics in the middle. She had considered her own haori's origin, and knew she shouldn't pry.
The two pillars traveled through the day, their well trained bodies and advanced breathing techniques meaning the only limit to their traveling distance was time. They occasionally stopped to snack on the small packs of food their host had prepared for them before they departed, consuming little bits of slightly hardened cheese and drinking some water.
Shinobu talked with him throughout the day, making small comments or questions, occasionally poking and prodding him for a response. But she didn't tease him as hard as she normally did.
This fact went unnoticed by both pillars.
The mountains in the distance got closer and closer throughout the hours, their white streaked peaks consuming more of the horizon as noon turned to atternoon. The mountain's presence could be felt from far away by the cold winds blowing down the path, and Shinobu wished the old man had at least had some gloves on him. She looked over at Giyuu, wondering if there were gloves anywhere in his pack, then shook her head. The answer was very likely no, anyway. She looked down and saw the blue and red of the scarf wrapped around her. That would be enough, for now.