Chapter Text
The first thing he heard in the morning was the sliding of his shoji doors, the violent clatter of them as they rattled against their frames echoing throughout the estate.
The second thing he happened to hear that morning was the voice of the wind pillar.
“Tomioka!”
Shinazugawa’s voice reverberated through the many rooms of his house until it finally crashed into the water hashira’s eardrums, which happened to be perfectly still and tranquil before this. Of course Shinazugawa’s unruly temper and hotheadedness had to ruin that.
He groaned, sitting up in his futon to rub at his sore eyes. Through his peripheral vision , he saw the blurry image of a white-haired man approaching him, his dark uniform covering most of his body except for his exposed chest, revealing skin littered with scars. As the man stomped closer, coming into focus, Giyuu noticed lips curled into a snarl and thin eyebrows furrowed in anger.
He was so fucked.
Suddenly he felt the collar of his yukata tugged at, pulling him out of the comfort of his futon and dangerously close to the wind pillar’s fiery face. Unexpectedly, the action left the water pillar unpertubed.
Giyuu noticed a vein pop on Sanemi’s forehead, presumably at his annoyance for his expressionless face.
“What the fuck is your problem, huh?” He spat, his breath ticklish on Giyuu’s nose. “You think you’re better than us or something?”
“Shinazugawa,” He spoke, unfazed. “What are you talking about?”
The wind hashira’s scowl only deepened, the corners of his mouth tugging downwards. “The hashira training, dumbass. You’re not doing it.” The grip he had on the collar of Giyuu’s yukata only tightened in response, drawing them closer to each other.
“...I’m aware.”
“Why not?”
From this distance, Giyuu could observe nearly every detail of Sanemi’s furious face. His snowflake lashes brush against the shadowy circles around his red-rimmed eyes as he blinks. Annoyance was evident everywhere, from the way his scars crinkle at his forehead and across his nose, down to his lips pulled taut by the corners of his mouth.
His eyes fall further down Sanemi’s body, landing on his pectorals, littered with scars. He would be lying if he said he didn’t occasionally sneak a few glances during the hashira’s meetings and whatnot, wondering what his scars would feel like under the palms of his hands.
Shinazugawa was objectively attractive, even if he was also annoying as shit.
Obviously Sanemi noticed the wandering gaze of his eyes, how they traveled down his face, flicking down to his chest suddenly.
“What– Hey, eyes up here!” He snapped, causing the water pillar’s focus to shift from his body into the depths of the other man’s eyes, the action somewhat defiant in its nature. Despite being woken from his sleep, tossed around, and berated, his face remained in its vacant state, as if all of this meant nothing to him.
“I’m afraid my reasons for opting out of the training is none of your business, Shinazugawa.” He answered plainly, raising his hand up to the wind pillar’s own on his yukata, wrenching the fabric out of his grasp. “Now if you’ll excuse me.” He stood up, walking right past Sanemi like he wasn’t there, leaving the scarred man dumbfounded.
“Hey! Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
“To the shower. The training grounds. Literally anywhere except here,” He thinks, but he doesn’t dare to say any of these things out loud. Shinazugawa had looked like he might actually explode from how pissed off he is, best not to add fuel to the fire. Best to just walk away from this situation.
“Tomioka! I know you can fucking hear me!” There’s a silence as Giyuu continues his path to nowhere in particular, which is why he doesn’t expect a sudden, firm hand on his shoulder and being spun around startlingly fast.
What he also doesn’t expect is looking directly into Sanemi’s eyes, only finding this time that they are not filled with anger but rather exasperation. Tiredness. Whatever it was, the wind hashira no longer looked to be mad at him.
A moment passed. Something must have changed in Giyuu’s face, because Sanemi goes right back to being pissed off. Or at least looking like he was pissed off.
“Listen. You don’t have to talk right now. Whatever.” The water pillar raises an eyebrow, eliciting a groan from the other man. “Let’s spar, at least. Please.”
Really, Sanemi’s words were a sorry excuse for “being polite”, no doubt. If it had come from anyone else, it would’ve come off as rude. Coming from Sanemi, however, it seemed he was being an absolute gentleman.
Not that it really made a difference to Giyuu anyway. Sparring seemed like a good use of his time, at least it gave him an opportunity to shut Sanemi up. As long as he didn’t have to talk about his reason for absence from hashira training with Sanemi fucking Shinazugawa, he was okay with anything. It seemed like the guy had no intent of leaving him alone anyway.
“Fine,” He replied simply. “Let’s go outside.”
It had been a few hours since the wind pillar had awoken him, which had been enough time for Giyuu to realize that he was not going to be left alone anytime soon.
Sanemi didn’t seem to need a break—didn’t seem to get tired at all, actually. Not that Giyuu felt any differently, but he would prefer it if the rest of his day wasn’t spent sparring with the man.
He had chosen to fight simple today, or at least fighting that would appear simple to anyone of his status. He figured that the other man would eventually get bored of it and leave.
But somehow, it seemed like he had achieved the exact opposite of what he wanted.
Their bokkens clashed once again, wood splintering off from the sheer impact of the collision. Sanemi pushed against the water pillar, eyes manic. Giyuu could’ve sworn he saw the flicker of a wild grin playing on Sanemi’s lips.
“Vaguely threatening.” Giyuu thought.
“Come on,” he taunted. “Don’t be acting like that. What, think I can’t handle you at your best?” He emphasized that last point with a particularly forceful thrust forward, one that would have knocked Giyuu onto his back.
But Giyuu wasn’t that weak.
He landed gracefully, unfazed by Sanemi’s aggression. It was subtle. It appeared Sanemi got a kick out of trying to rile him up, and as much as Giyuu didn’t want to admit it, it was kind of working.
He wasn’t supposed to let someone like Shinazugawa get the best of him, but he couldn’t really be blamed. If anyone else had been in his position, Sanemi would’ve had his head bashed in hours ago. He had rudely awoken Giyuu, egging him on for hours. And it was uncomfortably hot and sticky outside, so..
So anything that happened next couldn’t have been his fault.
“You’re the one that begged me for a spar. Don’t think you should be complaining about the way I fight.” He deadpanned, launching forward directly at Sanemi’s ankles.
The wind pillar’s eyes widened in surprise as the other man’s bokken hit him, swept off his feet by the sheer force behind the attack. As if that wasn’t enough, Giyuu raised his bokken again and managed to hit the other man’s ribs, causing him to let out a pained cry. It seemed to be the final straw for the water pillar’s sword, as the wood split into two immediately on impact.
Maybe that was a little messed up. A little too much.
“Ow!” Sanemi screamed, hunched over in pain on the dirt floor. He was on his knees, one arm shaking trying to hold him up as the other clutched at his ribs where Giyuu had hit him. "Tomioka, what the fuck?"
Shit.
“Shinazugawa,” Giyuu’s eyebrows furrowed as he set down whatever was remaining of his bokken and rushed over to the other man, crouching down in front of him.
Judging by how Sanemi reacted to the hit, he was seriously injured. No way he could leave here without confirmation he was okay. Maybe he could get Shinobu to get over here and check him out. Either way, it seemed like Giyuu would have to stay with Sanemi for the rest of the day, at least.
He extended his hand out in courtesy. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get you that hard–”
A scarred hand slapped his own away. “Nah, Tomioka, it’s fine.” Sanemi croaked, getting up onto his feet. Tomioka could see his face clearly now. His bottom lashes stuck together, wet with tears that seem to have dried almost instantaneously from the rest of his face. The rest of him was slightly flushed — made sense, it was hot outside– but it was just the slightest amount over what was normal. Opposed to the rest of his appearance, he was wearing a shit-eating grin.“Fight’s not over yet.”
“What is this guy’s problem?” He thought, trying to ignore the fact that he thought Sanemi looked kind of pretty right now. Eyes lined with tears, a breathy voice, cheeks dusted a rosy pink. Hell, maybe his stupid-looking smile was kind of cute too.
“No, it’s over.” The water pillar asserted, choosing not to linger on his questionable attraction. “My bokken’s broken, you’re injured. We’re not continuing this any further.”
Sanemi’s grin dropped, nose scrunching in annoyance. “You’re an ass. You’re finally showing me what you got, and you won’t even stick around long enough for me to enjoy it. Fuck you.”
Giyuu raised an eyebrow. “I’m not going anywhere. You’re clearly injured. I suggest you stay here so I can get Kocho to look at you.”
“I’m fine. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have your bokken, we can just pummel each other with our fists.”
“If you were fine, you wouldn’t have been curled up like that a few seconds ago. When do you ever fight a demon with just your fists anyway?” Giyuu sighed. “Just go inside, Shinazugawa.”
The wind pillar rolled his eyes as he shoved past the other man, heading for the entrance of the Water Estate. Clearly if the injury was bad enough for Sanemi to actually listen to what he had to say, Giyuu needed to call for someone. He signaled his crow over.
“I need medical help over here. Call for Kocho and tell her Shinazugawa’s rib is injured.” He delivered a pointed stare. “Butterfly Estate. Remember.” His crow seemed to be forgetting a lot recently.
Kanzaburo curtly nodded in understanding and flew off, meanwhile Giyuu took to picking up what was remaining of his shattered bokken.
When he entered his estate about ten minutes later, he found Shinazugawa sitting criss-crossed on his tatami mats, hand still covering the same spot as before. He looked pissed as fuck, but at the same time pondering something deeply. He didn’t notice Giyuu had entered until he spoke.
“Come on.” Tomioka chided. “At least lay down.”
“I’m telling you, I’m fine.” Sanemi scoffed. “You’re not strong enough to hurt me that badly, keep your ego in check.”
Giyuu would’ve responded had he not been interrupted by the fluttering of wings right outside his shoji door, the call of a crow echoing from outside the room.
He opened the shoji doors to find Kanzaburo.
“Too busy,” He cawed. “ Couldn’t talk with the insect pillar.”
The water pillar sighed. Not that there was a “good” day for the Butterfly Mansion to be clogged up, but if there was, today certainly wasn’t one of them.
He turned back towards Sanemi, plopping down on his knees right next to him. Giyuu noticed how the other man was caught off guard by the action, twitching slightly.
“Looks like you’re out of luck. I’ll be looking at your injury today.”
“Goodie.” Sanemi responded sarcastically. “Or you could just let me go home.”
“You’re not getting out of this that easily; weren’t you the one who barged into my home unannounced?” Giyuu gestured. “Take your shirt off.”
Sanemi went red at the command, knuckles growing white with how hard he suddenly gripped the fabric of his pants. It was kind of endearing how quickly he got flustered, Giyuu thought absentmindedly, because this wasn’t the first time he did.
“What–No! Are you crazy?”
“How am I supposed to check your ribs if your shirt is still on?”
“Just don’t check my ribs at all! I’m telling you, I’m okay.” It was kind of strange, Giyuu noted, how Sanemi was so adamant on not taking his shirt off when his uniform basically exposed his entire chest. Maybe he was self-concious about his obliques or something.
“It’ll only take like 5 minutes. Maybe less,” Giyuu bargained. “This could be really serious, Shinazugawa.”
There was a few seconds of silence before Sanemi scoffed.
“Fine.” He grumbled, shrugging his short haori off. His uniform was sleeveless, something Giyuu had never noticed, He watched the other man’s arms as they worked on unbuttoning the rest of his uniform.
Sanemi had a lot more scars than Giyuu had realized, thick ones striking across his bicep like lightning bolts. They drew more attention to the muscle, made the man look more threathening.
The wind pillar shucked the top half of his uniform off, revealing the rest of his torso. Unsurpringly, a purple bruise was blooming across his tan skin as well as mild swelling where Giyuu had hit him— a few inches above where his waist tapered in.
Shinazugawa’s waist was fucking tiny, he noted, shoulders pinching into his midriff in a way that made Giyuu feel dizzy. He placed his left hand around his waist, trying to ignore how perfectly the curve seemed to fit into his palm as he pressed near the bruise with his right thumb. Shinobu had taught him how to check for broken bones before.
Other than the bruising and swelling, nothing about Sanemi looked off. His ribs didn’t look much different, no bone showing through skin. As the room fell silent, the water pillar could hear the other man using Total Concentration: Constant, so it didn’t seem like breathing hurt. The skin underneath his thumb didn’t feel tender, so he moved closer to where the brusing was.
At this moment, Giyuu had realized how close he was to the other man: being able to hear the sounds of his breathing, holding him by his waist, pressing into his skin. He could hear the rhythm of Sanemi’s heartbeat— with how fast his own was going, Sanemi could probably hear his too. Out of his peripheral, he could see the gentle flutter of the wind pillar’s eyelashes as he closed his eyes.
The air felt thick with something that the water pillar could not put his finger on, and as the breathing of the man above him shifted slightly, Giyuu was sure Sanemi was aware of it too. It only got quieter as Tomioka realized their heartbeats were syncing up.
Weird. He needed to distract himself.
He pressed into the bruise, eliciting a hiss from the other man.
“Tomioka!”
“Sorry,” Giyuu mutterered. “Does it hurt when you move around?”
Sanemi paused, as if in thought. “Didn’t hurt to walk here. Kinda hurt when I took my shirt off, though.”
Tender skin, bruising, swelling, mild pain…
“Okay,” He sighed, finally moving away from Sanemi. “You likely have a fracture. Nothing too serious, but you should be visiting Kocho as soon as possible.” He rose. “You’re free to go once I get you an icepack.”
“Thanks,” Sanemi grumbled, getting up from where he was sitting on the tatami mats. "Could've just let me go." He buttoned his shirt back up—not fully, of course—and threw his haori back on. Giyuu watched him all the while, until Sanemi shot him a look.
“The hell are you looking at?” He snapped.
Oh, right, the icepack.
Giyuu’s face flushed a little bit.
“Just making sure you were okay.”
With that, he promptly turned on his heel and left the room immediately, sliding the shoji doors behind him shut. He was alone in the hallways of his own home now, no distractions. Just him and his thoughts.
“What the fuck is going on?” He whispered to himself. The entire day had been filled with bullshit, but Giyuu was only really concerned with one aspect of it.
His lingering stare on Sanemi—the thoughts they would drag out of his subconscious. Giyuu wasn’t a stranger to letting his mind wander about coworkers. It had happened with Kanroji, Uzui, hell even Iguro, but those had only happened once and never again. Sanemi used to be like that too— just an occasional glance, a fluttering thought— but now? It was like he couldn’t stop thinking about him like that.
“It’s the proximity,” Giyuu rationalized. “It’s definitely just the proximity. Once he leaves the estate, my thoughts regarding him will be completely normal. Nothing about his waist, or his pecs, or his pretty eyelashes—fuck!”
Sanemi was unintentionally doing something to him, he realized, minutes later as he watched Sanemi leave the estate from his front porch.