Just one night [sanegiyuu]

Chapter 20: The lovebirds [the end]

"Alright, Shinazugawa-san, I'm done."

Shinobu separates herself from the stretcher.

"Thanks, Kocho."

"It's my job. You can go when you finish packing your things, although I recommend you and your boyfriend to stay until dinner, Aoi made a lot of food and she'll be pissed of if it ends up getting spoiled."

Sanemi blushes inmediatl.

"He isn't... Giyuu and I haven't talked about that yet."

Shinobu smiles. Definitely spending so much time with the water hashira is influencing Sanemi's behaviour. He still gets as angry as before, but his way of showing it is no longer as aggressive. He's even making progress with Genya, who he still hasn't spoken to, but at least (after much insistence on Giyuu's part) he does no longer threaten. "Well, you're already taking a while to start dating, right? I mean, now all the pillars have found out and these days in the infirmary may have served as an excuse for you not to see them much but we both know that they'll start asking you about your relationship as soon as they have the opportunity. I wouldn't be too surprised if they organized the wedding for you two without telling you."

"Acording to Giyuu, Uzui has already theatened with doing so", Sanemi sighs.

"You two should talk about it before the wedding then. Sayonara". As she opens the door she sees the water hashira waiting at the other side. He lifts his head when he hears her coming out of the room. "Ohayo, Giyuu-san. You can go inside."

He greets her with a nod and enters the room. He closes the door behind him, but that doesn't end with Shinobu's intentions to spy on their conversation. She needs material for the Gossip Hashira meeting on Thursday, to which Mitsuri has invited her, and if neither Giyuu nor Sanemi plan to tell her anything about their relationship, she'll have to gather information another way. Without making a sound, she slides the door a few millimeters on it's bearings and observes the room through the small crack. Giyuu is next to the stretcher on which Sanemi is still sitting, with his head tilted and his fingers a few centimeters from the wound that the other has under the ribs.

"Kocho says that in a couple of days it will be completely closed". Sanemi explains. "Although it may leave a scar. As if I didn't already have enough of those..."

He says it in an annoyed tone, but smiles at the end. It's a smile that Shinobu has never seen before, right on the border between happiness and mischief.

"You seriously gonna joke about that?"

Shinobu doesn't know what Giyuu is referring to. He has never asked the wind hashira where the rest of his scars come from, they have never been close enough to do so. Giyuu must know. For a moment, Shinobu wonders if Kanae had ever known, before forcing herself to repress her memories and remain calm.

"And what am I going to do? Blame myself?". Sanemi taps the tip of Giyuu's nose with a finger, smiling at him in a calmer way than before. Clearly, it's a private joke between the two of them. "Furthermore, Uzui makes jokes about his past and is one of the hashiras who seems happiest. Maybe I should try it."

"If Iguro heard you say that you were thinking of taking Uzui as an example, he would think you got your body stolen."

"He couldn't be more surprised than when he heard me call you Yuu."

That's definitely good information for the Gossip Hashira meeting. Who knew those two were the type to give nicknames?

"You should have been more careful", Giyuu nods. Is he... joking? Giyuu joking? Shinobu certainly wasn't expecting that. "You almost killed him with the shock."

He takes a step away, leaving room for Sanemi to put his uniform shirt and haori back on. There is a moment of silence and Shinobu is about to leave them (she has a lot of work to do), but then the wind hashira speaks again:

"Hey, Giyuu, isn't it weird that we haven't talked again about...". He blushes and looks down at the cuffs of his shirt, which he is buttoning. "About being a couple? I mean, after... you know." 

Giyuu looks at him.

"The argument."

Argument? Shinobu presses even closer to the door. When did the lovebirds argue?

"Yes, exactly", Sanemi says.

"I have thought about it. And even though you haven't exactly given me proof of the part where you can protect yourself". Giyuu makes a gesture that encompasses both the infirmary and the reason why they are both there. Even so, he does not do so with the intention of blaming Sanemi. In fact, (and, yes, Shinobu has to rub her eyes and look again), he's smiling. "I've decided that I'm going to trust you and what you said."

The wind hashira also smiles.

"So, are we dating?"

Shinobu can't believe she's witnessing that moment, the proposal. The members of the Gossip Hashira are going to invite her to lunch for the rest of the month. For the rest of the year, if she describes the other things she has seen and heard with enough details.

"You need to ask it?"

"My apologies, Tapioca, but I thought you already knew I came with a certain degree of idiocy."

Giyuu takes a step forward.

"I had realized it, Salami. I will forgive you but only because you have also known the idiotic part of me". He takes Sanemi's face in his hands without stopping smiling. The wind hashira places his palms on Giyuu's hands. "We're dating, Nemi."

They both look into each other's eyes. If Mitsuri was there (and she had managed not to faint from emotion) she would say that both that look and the sweet kiss that follows it are of true love.

Shinobu steps away from the door without making a sound. As he heads to the end of the hallway he thinks about how much a single night can change someone's life.