Chapter 36: Chapter 35
You abort your decision to visit her laboratory when you realize Shinobu would have already called for you if she'd been there. Kurenai said he hadn't seen her during breakfast, a probable reason you can think of for anyone to miss a meal would be if they were up to their ears in work. You don't put it past Shinobu to bury herself in whatever she's doing to the point of skipping a meal.
You smile at the thought. Workaholism isn't a trait you're supposed to find endearing, but as one yourself, you know how addicting it can be to pursue an envisioned goal with single-minded determination that eskews everything else.
That thought reminds you of another thing; you've neglected checking up on your businesses. Between recovering from your injury and spending time with Shinobu, you haven't given your merchant duties a spare thought. Aside from completing the bare minimum of work, which amounted to simply reading and responding to weeks old letters from salesmen and businesses under your watch, you haven't done much else. You're lucky you built them not to require constant oversight, but you'd need to remedy your inactivity soon.
Your Slayer duties will also be resuming. And doesn't that thought bring a groan to your lips? The physical conditioning you'll need to get back into shape won't be fun. Active Slayers will also have to travel for missions one way or another, meaning you and Shinobu will be separated by leagues of distance once again. You feel yourself deflate, wishing it didn't have to be true. But what else can be done?
The mansion's hallway splits into two routes, and you turn down the left. You willingly shaft that problem to be dealt with another time, and focus on the way your bare feet glides across the wooden panelled floors. Soundless in their movement. Walking past the dining hall again makes you a little awkward, this is the only path leading to the infirmary and patient wards. At the least the sliding doors are shut, as is usual for it outside of meal times.
The door to the infirmary is open, and a quick glance inside reveals it to be empty. You pass it by and move on to the wards. It's clear now that that's where Shinobu will be. With her position as a Pillar, you sometimes have to remind yourself she's also an extremely proficient doctor. When she isn't sending demons to where they belonged, she saves lives.
Your injuries didn't nurse themselves, and it's highly unlikely your smooth recovery was due to anything you did outside of sleeping like the dead. You chuckle lightly. You wonder what Shinobu would say if you told her that her company was twice as healing as the bitter medicines, she made you take? Smack you lightly on the shoulder with a coy smile promising kisses, probably.
You finally reach the patient ward and plant your feet outside the double doors set into the floor. Your close proximity allows you to hear a low buzz of voices, intermingled together as they slip through the thin crack of space under the door. You also hear the occasional light thump of footsteps from staff on duty.
Before you enter, you think to reach up to touch your face. You find yourself smiling. Not wide enough to mistake you for an idiot, but capable of raising eyebrows. Thanking your paranoid nature, you swiftly smooth your face into a neutral expression. You can imagine the uproar that would have decimated your reputation if you had visited the ward full of wounded and traumatised Slayers sporting a foolish smile.
You call out a brief, "Excuse me," and slide the door open.
Stepping into the ward feels like entering an entirely different dimension. Plain white beds attached with small nightstands run the length of the walls, each bed separated by a meter or so of empty space, some with the occasional window. It's easy to tell whoever designed this room had put thought into the patients' wellbeing. Despite the number of beds, a large nursing station set up against the wall at the other end of the room, the ward doesn't feel as cramped as their counterparts in the city.
Multiple pairs of eyes land on you. The gazes behind them range from curious to searching. "My apologies for the intrusion," you say, bowing at the nearest attending nurse who approaches you. It's not someone you recognize, and the lack of headgear writes her off as a kakushi. Most likely one of the Butterfly Mansion's own attendants, then. "I'm looking for Shinobu-sama for an urgent matter. Is she occupied at the moment?"
It might be your imagination, but the temperature of the room feels like it just dropped off a cliff. A sudden draft?
The nurse looks at you, speechless. Her wide-eyed stare is uncomfortable, but it's nothing like the tense, drawn out stares you're used to during trade negotiations. You give her a friendly smile, casting a glance around the room. Before she can reply, you spot the person you're looking for. As luck will have it, Shinobu turns her head just as your eyes land on her. Your gazes lock. Shinobu smiles. Pleasantly.
The hairs on the back prick up seemingly out of nowhere. You ignore it and give the nurse a small nod. "It's fine, I see her." Shinobu has stopped whatever she's doing, gliding towards you in that effortless way of hers. "Good afternoon, Shinobu-sama," you greet politely once Shinobu stops at half an arm's distance from you.
The attending nurse voices out a quiet, "I shall check on the patients, Shinobu-sama," before she backs away. Obstacle gone, Shinobu takes several steps closer, coming close enough to force you to look down to meet her gaze.
"Good afternoon, Ryuu-san." Shinobu's head dips like a bird taking a sip from a pond. Apart from some stray hairs, small tufts sticking up from her pin, and the dark bags under her eyes, Shinobu looks impeccable. You wouldn't know she's been working at night judging by her appearance. "Are you here to collect the results from your concluding check up?"
You flounder wordlessly for several seconds. Her words don't make sense, until you realize the significance of this interaction.
This is the first time you're meeting Shinobu in a public setting after having started the courtship. If you stride up to her and dive into a discussion that has nothing to do with the Corps, it would be like announcing to the world that you have something going on behind the scenes with the Insect Pillar. You count yourself lucky that you're more observant, or you'd have ruined the secrecy of the entire thing.
"Yes, I was wondering if they were ready. I know you said I'd have to wait longer, but I came to try my luck." You watch Shinobu remove her gloves and tie them into a bundle. You continue apologetically, "But I should have realized you were busy. I apologize for putting you on the spot, I can come back later if you'd like."
"I'm finishing up soon. You can come by my labratory later, I'll have it ready for you by then." You nod at her. Shinobu receives your acknowledgement with a slight smile, and then reaches up to adjust the overlapping folds of your kimono. You let her do it without a fuss. She's done it plenty of times when she was taking care of you during your recovery, and while you had initially blustered and tried to stop her out of embarrassment, it has reached a point where you've gotten used to it.
Shinobu's hands abruptly go still. You look down, see her eyes subtly widen in something that seems like shock and regret. You find yourself confused, until you hear the murmurs around you rise like an incoming tide. Oh no. Neither you or Shinobu realized it, but everyone else definitely had.
Shinobu isn't a person that shies away from light physical displays of affection. You've witnessed her comforting patients with a gentle hand on their heads or shoulders, occasionally hugging Aoi and the girls when they shyly approach her for help or just to talk. However, you are in neither category of patient or child. Everyone in the ward is undoubtedly keyed into Shinobu's every movement, and her simple act of adjusting your kimono has just painted a giant target on your forehead. What she just did indeed suggests a high level of friendship, and of course… intimacy.
Denial will bring only suspicison, so you excecute the next best course of action. Misdirection.
You crane your neck to stare at the place Shinobu had touched and put on an expression full of relief. "Thank you, Shinobu-sama. I think you managed to get rid of it." You pat your chest several times, making a show of searching for the non-existent critter. Your sigh is long and drawn out. "Thank goodness. I really depise how clingy those spiders can be. They're tiny, so it's hard to pick them out even when I'm looking."
A nearby patient almost hacks out his lung with a deep, watery cough, covering up everyone's disbelieving murmur of 'spiders?' and sending nurses surging towards him. As per your calculations, the tense atmosphere has completely fizzled.
"Shinobu-sama!" One nurse calls in a pitched voice of worry. "His lungs just suddenly–"
Shinobu gives you a grateful, veiled nod before quickly moving to deal with the emergency. Taking advantage of the sudden chaos, you quietly slip out of the ward and head over to the laboratory. Despite how close things came to becoming exposed, you can't help but feel like laughing.
"She must have been really tired to slip up like that," you muse as you make your way through the hallway.
---
The steam wafting from open pot is thin enough to be entirely translucent by the time Shinobu returns. The noisy grind of the door sliding open makes you look up. You straighten your lazy posture as she walks into the lab, shutting the door behind her with a sigh. She sounds exhausted.
You get up from the western piece of furniture you had lounged on, apparently called an 'armchair', and cross the room in large strides. You meet her in the middle, and Shinobu doesn't protest as you gather her into your arms.
Shinobu fists the front of your kimono, burying her face into your chest. Her actions dispel the lingering worry that she would cease the courtship. The urge to voice your relief is overwhelming, and thinking about your sleepless night, you feel a little silly.
You let the peaceful silence linger for several seconds more before speaking. "I had Aoi prepare some tea. I wasn't sure if you would be hungry when you got back, but I brought your lunch along just to be safe." The grateful groan that slips from Shinobu's mouth sends vibrations through your chest, straight to your heart. "Come sit down. I'll pour you a cup of tea to start with."
You maneuver her into the armchair you previously occupied. Shinobu reluctantly releases you when you tell her the tea pot is on her desk. Moving swiftly, you give the pot a quick stir. After you replace the lid, you fill the cups you had prepared. Shinobu receives the cup you offer her with a weak hand, and takes a long sip. The tea should still be warm, though if Shinobu had taken longer to return, the brew would have gone cold.
"I'm starving," she finally says. Taking it as a cue, you grab her lunch and present her the meticulously arranged bento courtesy of Aoi. "As usual, it smells delicious." She glances behind you. "Where is yours?"
"I had a heavy breakfast. I'll abstain from lunch on the basis of making sure I can still fit into my pants tomorrow. I think I can live without the chore of being outfitted for brand new sets of uniforms." Shinobu giggles and takes her bento without gracing you with further questions. She exchanges her cup for the lacquered box, which you refill before placing it on the low table placed in front of the armchair.
You grab your own cup, satisfied at how it warms your hands, and take a seat in the armchair directly opposite of hers. You drink the tea at a leisurely pace, watching Shinobu demolish her food. She is nearly halfway through her rice and one of the three side dishes before you decide to speak.
"You look like you're enjoying yourself," you say in a jesting tone. Shinobu swallows a mouthful of food before looking up. She holds out her chopsticks, a cube of tofu wobbling delectably in its grip. Your mouth curves up in a grin. You lean forward to accept the offering. "Hm, this tastes ten times better than what I had for breakfast," you saw between chews. "I wonder why that is?"
"Such an obvious question deserves an equally obvious answer." Shinobu's smile is infinitely teasing in the way her eyes sparkle, the way the corner of her mouth quivers with suppressed laughter. "It is because I am here."
You pretend to bop yourself on the head. "Of course. That was too easy. I'm ashamed I didn't think of that. You aren't the smartest in the Corps for nothing, it seems." Your grin turns sly as you recall the scene in the ward earlier. "Oh, now I understand."
Shinobu looks confused. You gleefully go to enlighten her, saying, "Since your presence makes food twice as delicious, then I suppose me showing up earlier made it twice as hard for you to think. Otherwise, I can't think of a reason for you to have slipped up in front of all those people."
Shinobu flushes bright scarlet. "W-What?"
"Really, Shinobu. Touching me like that." You shake your head, sighing. "You are lucky I'm used to being put on a spot."
"And you are lucky I like you," is all she says as she resumes stuffing food in her mouth. You can't tell if the sudden speed of which she eats is simply to keep from talking or if she's distressingly hungry. The tint in her cheeks are slow to fade, so it is perhaps a little bit of both. You laugh and relax into the chair, waiting for her to finish.
It is strange. While you waited for Shinobu to come back, you had been a bundle of nerves. You don't think you're wrong to assume things would be awkward since the topic is a sensitive one, but it seems you should have allowed yourself more optimism. Shinobu stonewalling you was certainly possible, but so is something like this.
The current atmosphere is pleasant and light, charmingly playful despite the elephant in the room. It has everything to do with how Shinobu has reacted ever since she stepped foot into the lab. That she didn't immediately jump to address the issue is thoughtful of her. She's probably just as anxious regarding the matter with Kanao, but she still took the time to fully settle in first.
If you did not trust her, then it would have been easy to misconstrue her purposeful delay as an ominious portent. But you do, and so, you can simply marvel at your good fortune for having a person like Shinobu in your life.
Minutes trickle by in affable silence. You know it is time when Shinobu places her empty bento on the table, chopsticks balanced neatly across the center. She leans back into her chair and takes out a square folded cloth. She cleans her face before tucking it back into the depths of her haori.
"Ryuu, are you calmer, now?"
You start at the unexpected question. You grope for words, trying to formulate a response that isn't a stutter or a confused noise. Shinobu waits patiently. It doesn't seem to be a joke, so you decide to answer honestly. "Yes, I believe I am."
A smile creeps onto her face, so soft that you would have missed it if your entire focus wasn't on her.
You give another start. "So, you noticed I was anxious when I came looking for you."
You phrase it as a statement instead of a question. If your words catch Shinobu off guard, it doesn't show. "It was not exceedingly obvious, but I've spent enough time with you to notice," she says. "I rarely find you in a foul mood, but when I do, it is usually when you're facing an exceedingly difficult problem."
If you weren't separated by the table, you would gather her into your arms and kiss her. You settle for smiling at her instead. "I feel better, and I have you to thank for it." Shinobu's eyes go wide. You chuckle. "What? Did you think I wouldn't notice your attempt to distract me? It turned out to be very successful, if you were wondering."
You may be unsure of many things, but you will never doubt that Shinobu is wonderfully kind. It is simple fact, like the sun rising when night turns to day.
"And here I was, thinking I could have done more," Shinobu sighs exaggeratedly. "Alright then. Seeing as we are both ready, shall we begin?"
"Please," you say, and Shinobu begins to speak.
"I'll start with how we found Kanao. When we first saw her, my sister and I…"
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