With the letter came money. Giyuu did not have a need for money, not even after taking Senjuro in. The salary of a Hashira at that point was insane, Giyuu was not sure what kind of business Oyakata-sama ran, but he hoped it was not something illegal. He could neither confirm nor deny.
Nevertheless, Giyuu decided to split the money Shinjuro had given him and gave a portion to Senjuro. He had more than one reason for doing that, he wanted Senjuro to be a responsible adult one day and he needed to learn how to manage money, on the other hand, the money belonged to the boy although he would not make him responsible for the exorbitant amount of money that Shinjuro had sent. That was the reason why he had kept a part; if Senjuro needed something, he could use the money, if he did not, he would save it for when Senjuro grew up or left the Water Estate, it would give him a good push to start comfortably the life he wanted.
They went all out with their studies, Giyuu never considered himself a very knowledgeable person, but he taught his kids everything he could. Mathematics had never come easily to him as it seemed to be the case with Senjuro and Aiko. Suki, on the other hand, would fly through her calculus and had already asked Amane to teach her what Giyuu could not.
Now, when reading and writing was involved, Aiko surpassed all of them. When she convinced Giyuu to buy her a new book, they would barely see her face for three or four days until she finished her new purchase. She would do her chores in a second and eat dinner and lunch at lightning speed so she could get back to her book as soon as possible.
Senjuro surprised them in a different way, he did not have a burning passion for reading or writing and math was a nightmare for him, but he remembered every little history detail he had ever heard. He could almost recount the books of the Flame Hashira by heart with dates and names without any problem. He had told them that his brother had read them out loud to him one time and he had loved them, he liked history and Giyuu had tried to find books that Aiko liked but that she could read out loud to Senjuro and that he would also find interesting.
When that happened, Suki would sit by their side and draw little sketches of the things they read and at the end of the day they would give Giyuu a short version of what they had read with Suki’s funny drawings as a supporting feature.
In between their normal home life and Giyuu’s missions, they made time to begin with Senjuro’s training. The boy did not want to stray too much from his family’s breathing technique, so they decided to study each form individually, Senjuro tried to demonstrate, but Giyuu could see the trouble he was having in even trying to replicate the movements his brother could easily do.
He would have loved to tell Senjuro that it was enough but the truth was that it was not. Giyuu could not rely on Senjuro's explanations to create a new breathing technique no matter how much he wanted to, he hardly believed that he was capable of creating anything that was worth it, his eleven form being the only exception.
So he had come down to two possible options: ask Senjuro’s family: Shinjuro or Kyojuro, or ask Kanroji and, since he was still angry with Kyojuro and did not know if he could face him without hitting him at least once, Giyuu decided that Kanroji was their best option.
“Dear Kanroji Mitsuri,
I hope this letter finds you in good health.
As you know, Senjuro is staying at the Water Estate under my protection. He has told me that he would like to know how to defend himself not only while he is in heat, but always, but I know Flame Breathing would take a toll on him way too quickly and he would never get to master it. For that reason I thought I could adapt some of the forms to a less aggressive stance in hopes of making it more accessible to him.
Senjuro does not want to see his family just yet and I will respect his wishes as much as I can, but I also know that you trained under Rengoku’s supervision and that Love Breathing is derived from Flame Breathing. If you are willing and have some spare time, we would like to pay you a visit and observe the Love Breathing forms. We could use your experience in creating new breathing techniques and would appreciate your input.
Sincerely,
Tomioka Giyuu.”
Kanroji’s response was so undeniably hers that Giyuu could have smiled. There were little hearts and doodles in the margins of the letter and she was asking them to have lunch with her the next day. She even made a point to assure them that they would not see anyone else on her Estate. Neither lower ranking demon slayers nor Hashira, just her.
If Giyuu had not known that keeping secrets from the rest of the Hashira was a big problem for Kanroji, he could have told her about his daughters, but he knew he could not do that as much as he could not tell her the truth about himself. So he promised the girls that they would go to the market that night and eat out for once and left them alone to go with Senjuro to Kanroji’s Estate.
And she was waiting for them, she looked excited out of her mind, all big eyes and flushed cheeks; physically vibrating with emotion. She squealed a second before running up to Senjuro and embracing him in a bone crushing hug, she did not stop her squeaking at all during that hug but managed to control herself by opening and closing her fists repeatedly to contain her desire to pull Tomioka in for a hug meant just for him.
“I am so happy you are here,” she squealed, jumping from one foot to the other, unable to stand still. “Come in, please,” she said, opening the door wide and inviting them inside. “I made donburi for Sen and I made salmon daikon for you, Tomioka-san. It is your favorite, is it not?” she asked and even if she was wrong, which she was not, he would have said yes just so he would not spoil her happiness.
“We brought these as a ‘thank you’, Kanroji-san, Giyuu says those are your favorites,” Senjuro said, offering her a wooden box that Mitsuri took with utmost care.
“There is no need,” she said, her eyes already tearing up while opening the box. Inside sat a pile of perfectly shaped sakura mochi, arranged in neat rows. Mitsuri blushed and cried at the same time, not sure what to do with herself when she felt so appreciated and excited at the same time and by no other than Tomioka-san.
She could not stop herself that time.
She closed the box carefully and put her arms around the other Hashira as gently as she could manage. She did not knew why nor if her perception was correct, but she firmly believed that Tomioka-san did not like physical contact too much and she wanted to respect him as much as she could.
“Thank you, Tomioka-san,” she mumbled, her voice mellow and calm in a way Giyuu had never heard from her before. Too much like his sister's voice when she tried to comfort him. “And thanks to you too, Sen. You may call me Mitsuri, we have known each other for a long time, have we not?” she said, once she let go of the hug, leaving the sakura mochi on the kotatsu and turning around with one of her big welcoming smiles. “Would you rather eat first or train first?” she asked, open to whatever they chose.
Knowing Mitsuri as they did, they knew they would not be leaving the table for a long time if they decided to eat first.
“Training, I think, once we are done with that, we can eat in peace,” Senjuro said.
“To the training grounds then,” Mitsuri said with a big smile, still blushing. She knew that she would probably have to show them her forms and she felt strangely shy. “What do you need to know?” she asked, extremely interested.
“Well mostly just the Love Breathing forms, if you remember any of the Flame Breathing ones we would be interested in those as well, Senjuro wanted to keep his style as close as possible to his family’s. If you can, do them slowly so we can really see them,” Giyuu explained, making Mitsuri’s cheeks blush a deep red. That was probably the longest thing Tomioka had ever said to her.
“I can do Love Breathing forms pretty slowly, but I am not sure about the flame ones, I do not consider myself a good example of Flame Breathing,” she said, embarrassed.
“Do not worry, he sat observing me while I tried to show the forms to him and he did not laugh, and I was pathetic” Senjuro replied.
“Senjuro,” Giyuu’s voice became harsh, “watch how you talk about yourself,” he said once the boy looked at him.
Mitsuri squealed some more when she heard it, admiring their relationship, they almost sounded like father and son. She did not know that Tomioka-san could be so affectionate, he always seemed aloof, even uninterested in them, their emotions or emotions in general. Uzui had called him ‘emotionless’ once and even when she did not entirely agree, she did not have any proof to the contrary. But now she had, she knew he was not emotionless and her heart was about to burst with pure joy.
“My attempts were not very accurate,” Senjuro corrected himself.
“Anything you feel comfortable showing us, Kanroji, we will appreciate,” Tomioka-san said, and even if he had not, Mitsuri would have shown them every single little trick she knew about Love and Flame Breathing, so she took her special katana squeaking silently and prepared herself to move slowly and with the perfection with which she had come to master her breathing style.
Senjuro was looking at her enthusiastically, almost cheering for her; Giyuu, on the other hand, was observing her every move, almost as if he was trying to recognize which muscle she was tensing and which one she was relaxing. His deep blue eyes almost pierce through her, extremely attentive and appreciative at the same time, had she been able to blush harder, she would have.
Once Mitsuri had performed every single one of her forms as slowly as she possibly could, Giyuu looked quizzically at Senjuro, as if analyzing his strengths and weaknesses. Eyebrows knit together, lost look in his eyes and lips pressed into a line. Giyuu was thinking, Senjuro could recon, Mitsuri though he looked like he always did: blank.
“What is the most important thing to you during a fight, Sen?” he asked out of nowhere.
“Staying alive,” he answered quickly.
“Kanroji, could you do your second form again? And Senjuro, try to imitate as best you can,” he said, barely turning his head to the side as if to get a better look.
Mitsuri jumped at the possibility to actually teach Senjuro one of her breathing stances and moved through Love Pangs almost impossibly slow to help Senujuro see the way her body twisted to wield her whipping sword.
Senjuro’s first attempt was unsatisfying… to put it mildly.
“It was horrible,” Senjuro said, honest to a fault.
“We will have to practice speed, flexibility, and agility,” Giyuu said, ignoring Senjuro’s unhelpful comment. “You will not be able to put as much force into slashes as Kanroji has and I do not think that a whip sword would be the best option for you but we could adapt it to a common nichirin sword,” he added.
“We should eat,” Mitsuri proposed, “I do not think it was that bad, Sen, you could use a little help on the jump but the rest was pretty good.” They all knew that even when the jumping was the worst part, he would need a lot more than a little help in more areas besides the jumping but Senjuro accepted the compliment: even if he was not a good demon slayer his goal was to be able to fend for himself until help arrived, to go down fighting, at the very least. He was not delusional, he was not dreaming of being a Hashira.
“Anyway, how have you been? Are you adapting just fine?” She asked, wolfing down her udon but not taking her pretty eyes out of Senjuro.
“Oh, yes, It has been… quiet, thankfully, and peaceful. I like it, and haha is teaching me a whole lot,” he said, covering his mouth with his hands as soon as he noticed his misstep. Giyuu did not even falter, he continued too invested in his salmon daikon to be bothered by anything else, but Mitsuri did stop eating, a noodle dangling tremorously from her mouth.
The sound of Mitsuri slurping the noodle inside her mouth echoed in the room. Then she gulped it down noisily and finally squealed.
“Do you call him ‘haha’? That is so cute!” she squealed loudly, setting her food aside for a second to catch Senjuro in a new hug. “I am so happy for you, you look so happy and healthy and you have so many plans, I have never seen you better before, Sen,” she said, rocking him back and forth.
Senjuro laughed, maybe out of relief, maybe because he did not know what else to do. But the truth was that he was happy, happier than he had been in a long time. He had many things to think about, he was still angry at his brother, he was still hurt and scared half the time, but his father had apologized, he was learning about himself and he was finally going somewhere, he was not sure where just yet, but to somewhere and, for the time being, that was enough.
“Sen… can I tell the other that I saw you or would you rather I try and keep it for myself?” she asked, letting go of the hug but not going around the table to continue her meal.
“It is okay, you can tell them… maybe keep the training part to yourself, Kyo is probably against it and I really do not want another scolding letter from him,” he said, happy that Mitsuri actually asked before sharing. Maybe it was just his family that did not listen to him, maybe Giyuu treated him like people normally do.
When Giyuu and Senjuro left the Love Estate, Mitsuri was still smiling widely and Senjuro had a big smile of his own. He liked Mitsuri, she was very similar to an omega in a million things despite being an alpha, she was considerate of the efforts of others, she was empathic and extremely sweet and caring. She was also an amazing hostess, a skill that was normally expected and required of omegas.
The very next morning, Giyuu greeted the dawn with a kasugai crow he had seen once before: Iguro’s.
“I think it will start tomorrow.” Said de letter, neither a greeting nor a goodbye, Giyuu was perfectly okay with it, it described his relationship with Iguro perfectly, or the lack of one. However, it was definitely not the best time. Giyuu had not slept that night, after they said goodbye to Mitsuri; Suki, Aiko, Senjuro and he had gone to the nearby town and spent a good couple of hours eating from street markets and fooling around. Senjuro, Aiko and Suki had played tag and Suki had ripped them to shreds, she had run them into the ground without an ounce of compassion and laughed at their exhausted faces.
Giyuu had been banned from playing after the first match, they had said it was cheating. He was sure it was not, but he knew he was going to beat them in the blink of an eye, so he accepted his banishment with elegance and sat back to watch them run around.
Kanzaburo had caught up with him when they were at the gate of the Water Estate.
“NORTH-EAST, NORTH-EAST, DEMON ATTACK, NORTH-EAST” Kanzaburo squawked.
“Get inside, do not go out no matter what,” he said, ushering them inside the Water Estate. He had taken the habit of always carrying his nichirin at his side and most of the time he would be wearing his demon slayer uniform if he was not in heat or at home. He kissed their heads and waited to see the door closing before running off following his crow.
A carnage, that was what Giyuu found north-east. Dead demon slayers and village people alike, their broken bodies decorated the ground, the dried earth turned to mud, smeared with blood. A rag doll covered in grime was laying on the ground a mere meter away from him, a small hand was still clinging to the doll’s once pink little kimono.
One last terrified demon slayer was barely standing in front of the demon, trembling from head to toe and holding his katana in his hands so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. His right leg was clearly wounded and he was bleeding from more than one place. Giyuu knew that the only thing keeping him up straight was adrenaline and fear.
In front of them there was a female demon, short in stature, bluish big eyes, black hair and chubby cheeks, almost childlike. Its clothes were covered in blood, an ugly scowl on its face and a clawed hand clutching its kimono closed.
Its other hand was bone deep in the left arm of a red headed girl, the girl was alive but would not be for long. She laid there, completely motionless at the demon's feet, paralyzed with fear. An omega girl in the midst of a very strong heat, Giyuu had to get to her quickly, kill the demon, and make sure that the young alpha demon slayer was not going to attack the girl, even though he was not sure if that demon slayer was going to even be able to walk once the threat was dealt with.
The blood demon art almost caught him off guard, even when he was never really off guard, because it was completely silent but the wind had been disturbed around him by the deadly cuts of… hair? Giyuu was not entirely sure what they were, they did not make a single sound and were practically invisible, but they were there nonetheless. Blood dripped from the demon’s long fangs onto the ground and a good amount of discarded bodies were missing different body parts.
The women were eaten, the men were left dead to rot, discarded to the side. A demon with clear dietary preferences, it was new to Giyuu, but not with preferences to kill.
“Who are you?” the demon screeched. Its voice was shrill, blood-curdling and somewhat nasal.
Giyuu did not honor it with an answer, instead walking to position himself a few steps in front of the wounded demon slayer who had not noticed his presence until that very moment, his nichirin in his hands, his stance perfectly prepared to ward off any attack the demon could throw at him, waiting for the right moment to attack. They were not too many hours away from sunrise, if the demon did not move soon it would burn to death either way, with or without his intervention. If he did not act soon, the girl would be partially incapacitated for the rest of her life, if she could keep her life at all, it was a delicate game of tug of war.
And the girl suddenly moved. Desperate, probably through a stroke of pain in her heat, and punched the demon square on the nose.
The crack of one finger and a nose resounded like a clap of thunder through the silent village, and soon enough a choky sound interrupted every action. That hand that the demon had used to keep its kimono closed was suddenly in the girl’s throat, the long claws digging deep into her flesh, but before the demon was able to turn its eyes back at them, Giyuu moved with incredible speed and slashed its neck with a single powerful swing of his nichirin blade.
The girl fell right into his arms, running out of life, thick warm blood bubbled out from the five orifices left by the demon's claws in her throat.
“Where is your crow?” Giyuu asked the demon slayer, monotone as always, calm in the worst of cases.
“Itoshii,” the demon slayer called and the biggest crow Giyuu had ever seen landed heavily next to him.
“To Oyakata-sama, ‘I will act without orders’ from Tomioka Giyuu,” he said, looking at the crow straight into his eyes. “Go as fast as you can,” he added, pressing gently against the girl’s neck. “Go from house to house, find survivors and take care of that leg the best you can. Do not come back here, exhausted and hurt as you are, you are still an alpha and we do not want to risk it,” Giyuu ordered the demon slayer, who complied quickly, or as quickly as he could.
Giyuu watched him limp away for a couple of seconds and then turned his eyes back to the terrified girl in his arms. Her eyes were open wide, looking right at him. Giyuu would have liked to calm her down but he lacked the words, talking with his kids came almost easily to him, if not easily at least it came; talking with strangers was even more complicated.
He closed his eyes and focused his energy into his hands. There were things he could not completely heal, not in the safety of his home and much less in the middle of nowhere, but he could keep her alive, he could stop the bleeding no matter how bad it was.
His scent did not run unchecked that time, Giyuu was more than aware that he could not afford such a luxury, and even when the girl's injuries were life-threatening, they were not Rengoku's caliber. Not even close.
She had gone to sleep as soon as her bleeding stopped, Giyuu figured that she probably would not remember much of it and even if she did, she would think she was hallucinating. Giyuu lifted her up into his arms, after sniffing himself to make sure his scent was imperceptible, and walked over to the first house he saw to lay her down on a futon while they waited for the Kakushi. He gathered up some clean linen and bandaged her wounds neatly, her arm was still bleeding a little but that wound was not as serious as he had thought at first glance.
A different Kasugai crow flew in through the window, Giyuu thought Itoshii must have been really fast despite his heavy body, he might as well have very long wings, but Giyuu had not had the chance to look at it long enough to tell.
A tiny scroll of paper was tied to the crow’s foot, Amane fast handwriting printed on smeared ink.
“The Kakushi are on their way. If you need to run home before they arrive, do so.”
Giyuu left the door closed, a piece of clean linen hanging from the door as a sign that there was someone inside, someone injured more precisely, and ran out of sight. He remained close enough, just in case his intervention was needed again, high up, perched on the branch of a tree, until the sun climbed up in the sky and the light came over the whole village.
He wanted a bath, that was pretty much all he needed. His hands were sticky from the blood of the girl and his nose was itching, but he did not want to use his dirty hands to rub someone else’s dried blood on his face. It felt wrong and a little bit disgusting… maybe more than a little bit, and he had barely set foot on his Estate when Obanai’s crow landed on his shoulder to notify him about the start of his heat.
He had to answer to Obanai and disclose to Oyakata-sama all the information about what had taken place during the night. Words were needed for both of those things and he had to do it fairly quickly… and he was too tired to have words for either: physically tired, of course, but above all mentally tired, tired of being around people, tired of acting, of keeping everything hidden deep inside, tired of living. But he could not solve any of those, not in the short run so he washed his hands the best he could without soaking completely in scalding hot water for some time and sat down in front of a sheet of paper to start writing. He was an adult with responsibilities, he had to suck it up.