Broken Wings- Shinobu x Fem. Reader

Falling in Place

Kanao had left a few minutes ago to tend to the afternoon chores in the estate leaving Tanjiro alone at the table. The dining room had mostly been filtered out leaving only a small amount of people in the room including the staff members. Tanjiro grabbed his dishes and headed towards the dish drop off center, he made do with kind small talk as he thanked the staff for their hard work and headed out the door, reassuring them to hollar for him if they needed his assistance.

As he walked down the hallway it was colder than he remembered, there were two different routes he could take to get back to his room. If he took the short way it would only take him a minute or so, even at a slower pace he would arrive before anyone even took notice. Or, he could take the longer route, and pass the portrait that had completely mesmerized him. He took a sigh and lifted his head towards the ceiling, he thought to himself, 'I'll only look at it for a moment, then I'll hurry back.'. He looked out one of the windows in the hallway of the mansion, the sun was already coming down and the moon had begun rising to take over its duties. He nodded, he made up his mind! He would go visit the portrait and then hurry back to his room, he had already spent all day out and he was sure his sister missed him.

Tanjiro walked through the lengthy and narrow hallway, it had dropped at least 5 degrees from when he was here with Kanao earlier. It must be the moon, the night time always seemed to bring cooler temperatures. As Tanjiro was nearing the corner before the painting he smelt someone close. He stopped, it was probably just some random staff member trying to hurry and do their tasks so they could escape the cool. As he began to focus on his smell he relaxed, it was someone similar. He just had to remember whose scent it was. After coming to a careful conclusion he deemed it to be the gentle, yet angry smell of Kocho Shinobu. He made a small peak around the corner to check if his analysis was correct and to his very pleasure it was!

She didn't stand very tall, especially in comparison to the large painting in front of her. Her hair was down and not accessorized by the iconic butterfly pin she usually wore. Her hair instead just rested on her neck and right above her shoulders, she was in comfy silk clothing, and she was wrapped in a cardigan. Tanjiro was too far away to see her expression but he could sense a gentle nature coming from her. He started to turn around, he would just come back tomorrow, he didn't want to disrupt Shinobu's time with the sacred picture. She started to speak, not loudly, but because Tanjiro had already been snooping on her, he was able to focus on what she was saying.

To stay or to go. To listen, or to respect Shinobu and grant her privacy. Tanjiro found himself in a mental war, usually he would have just walked off and respected the other person, but this was different. When push comes to shove, curiosity kills the cat.

"Tanjiro dear~"

"Dearie you do know it is not polite to snoop on others,,, especially hashira~"

Busted.

Tanjiro came around the corner with his head looking down, showing himself to the short woman. The moonlight hit her features perfectly tonight. As he began an apology he noticed that Shinobu no longer paid any attention to him and was already mesmerized by the painting in front of them again. He stood there for a moment, for some reason it was more awkward standing in silence with Shinobu than it was with Kanao. Maybe it was because Shinobu held all the answers he would need, or maybe it was the fact she caught him snooping. Finally he broke the silence.

"Shino-"

His gaze flickered over to her. He noticed how she held the corners of her elbows, quietly gripping the edges of the cardigan, then he looked at her face. Tanjiro couldn't help the shock that flooded his face. Shinobu's face had been decorated with tears. Silently she had been crying this whole time, and he didn't notice until just moments ago. Sympathy shot through him and as he began to stick his hand out to comfort her, she turned to face him.

"I really miss her sometimes, you know?"

Tanjiro hated the expression that she wore. Her eyes clouded with pain yet she still had the most beautiful smile presented to him. Tanjiro had no idea what Shinobu meant by the 'you know', he wished he could sympathize with her, but he didn't know the relationship the two shared. Maybe it was a relative, he could sympathize with a dead or missing relative, but his gut told him he was still off from the truth. A friend? Sure he had friends that had passed through his few years as a demon slayer, but he assumed Shinobu had many dead friends. It wasn't like Shinobu to just protect one person's memory instead of all of them.

He had nothing to offer her, no words, no smile, nothing. Shinobu sighed and looked up at the painting again, she had no idea why she was trying to confide in Tanjiro, she had held it all in for way too long. All the pain she had gone through, and not once did anyone ever try to take some of the burden off of her shoulders. Yet here stood Tanjiro, shivering in the moonlight, his eyes held a similar pain and lack of understanding that made Shinobu hold the boy in a hug. Tanjiro was shocked by the sudden affection shown towards him, but embraced her back. Shinobu lowered her head into the side of his neck as she whispered in a hoarse tone, just barely noticeable.

"Do you think she'd forgive me?"

Tanjiro felt her body weight suddenly shift onto him, Shinobu's knees gave out. Tanjiro caught the falling girl and gently sat her on the floor. For a girl who always held herself together well, she was falling apart quicker than he could pick her back up. She looked back up at Tanjiro, eyes empty.

"After all, we did leave her."