Chapter Text
The water Hashira was a most peculiar man. Many of the other pillars preferred to keep their distance, which was no surprise, considering how everyone who tried to form a social connection with the man normally ended up being ignored.
Much like the other Hashira, Shinobu had been irritated by his stoic personality at first. It didn‘t help much either that she had been assigned to work with him on one of her first missions as a Hashira, back when she was still very insecure about her new position and whether she was really worthy of her new rank.
She had taken his curt sentences and sharp words as a personal rejection, a confirmation that she wasn‘t quite on his level, not worth his time or words.
But she had still put on a smile–because this was what she did best: Smiling and pretending.
She had started to understand why the others kept their distance from him and decided that it would be best for her to do the same. One could only imagine her surprise when she got a glimpse of another side of the Water Hashira.
She had seen him being completely ignorant of other people‘s emotions and opinions, but when he shared with the poor girl, whose father had just been turned into a demon and killed, the man‘s last words, with such ferocity and conviction, she couldn‘t help but be moved. It had felt as if he had tugged at the lifeless strings that had once held her heart tight in her chest, up until Kanae had taken it deep underground with her the day she was buried.
“We are pillars. So we should act firmly and do our outmost best together.“
These words had stuck with her over the years. She may have been too weak to behead a demon. She may have been inferior to her sister in every way, but she still tried her best. She devoted her soul, mind, and body to the one goal: to eradicate all demons. She was a pillar after all.
Somehow, even though she was quite sure that he wasn‘t aware of the fact, Giyuu Tomioka had lifted a heavy weight from her heart that day. And he also made her realise something else: that the other Hashira might just be wrong about him. Sure, he was curt and often too blunt with what he said, but she found that underneath the hard exterior might just rest a softer heart than one would expect. If nothing else, he had gained her respect that day.
So it came to be that Shinobu requested to be paired up with him on her next mission too.
The next time they met, she could tell that he was surprised, though he seemed to brush it off as a mere coincidence that they were sent out together again.
The time after that, he gave her a sideways glance, but she just smiled at him in her usual fashion.
He never asked her about it though, so she never felt the need to tell him that it was partially her doing.
They seemed to have reached a silent agreement to just keep rolling with it.
Over time, they grew used to each other, so much so, that they became one of the most efficient duos in the Demon Slayer Corps.
So it didn‘t surprise Shinobu much when one afternoon, her crow landed on her desk, telling her that she was to set out on a mission with Giyuu Tomioka the following day.