You were in the middle of training on your own before a practice fight with Muichiro when you heard a familiar female voice calling your name. The calls came closer and closer, until you could see Shinobu Kocho running towards you. You dropped your sword onto the ground and ran to meet her, throwing your arms around her and spinning her around.

"Ooh, Y/N, you got some muscles on you now!" she said, giving your arm a squeeze.

You laughed and poked at Shinobu's long black hair, which she had put up in a bun. Some strands were escaping it, and she looked annoyed at them, but she couldn't fix them, so she just accepted them.

"Why are you here, Shinobu?" you asked her.

She pulled her lips down in a pout and said, "You don't like to see me?"

"No, no!" you quickly responded, trying to rectify the situation. "It's not that, it's just that you don't have any reasons to be here, and I'm curious as to why you came. It would kind of suck if you just came to watch me practice..."

Shinobu laughed and said, "Sadly, I'm not here to watch you practice. I have to tell Muichiro that there's a hashira meeting today. Actually, it's happening right now. I'm assuming he forgot it, so I'm here to pick him up and take him there."

"Can I come with you?" you asked her.

She bit her lip, which was something she did when she was thinking hard, and she wouldn't meet your eyes. It was obvious that, inside her head, she was grinding out thoughts and possibilities. You waited patiently for her answer.

"Yes," she said, which surprised you. "Yes, but you have to promise to be quiet for most of the time. The hashira don't like it when students speak out of turn. They may even hurt you if they're really angry, even though Oyakata tries his best to stop them from drawing their swords in a meeting. So be careful, okay? If you promise me that you'll obey what Muichiro and I say, I'll let you come with me. Will you promise me that?"

You nodded and said, "I promise that I'll obey you and Muichiro, and I won't annoy the other hashira. Satisfied?"

Shinobu nodded like you, and smiled her pleasing, alluring, small smile, which meant that she was filled with joy.

"It's going to be so fun to hang out with you!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around you once again.

You were excited for your first experience at a hashira meeting. After all, it would be good to experience the atmosphere of the meetings that you would soon go to. It was your goal to be a hashira, and when you felt like you were done training with Muichiro, you would leave him and go on your way to kill upper moons and become one. You only hoped that the end result for you wasn't death.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"No. I refuse."

"But Muichiro-"

You and Muichiro were having a fight about the hashira meeting. Shinobu had told him about your promise, and she had promised him herself multiple times that she would protect you and make sure none of the hashira hurt you. However, he was adamantly refusing to let you go, saying that it was too dangerous and that the topics discussed there were not ones you were allowed to hear.

"Y/N will be fine with me!" Shinobu snapped. She had gone from calm to angry in the span of a moment, and it was scary to see her this angry. She usually stayed relatively calm and wasn't one to get worked up about anything. So this was surprising.

"Y/N, do you really want to go?" Muichiro asked you.

You were about to respond in the affirmative, but then you noticed the way his eyes looked. They were filled with sadness and concern that you hadn't previously noted in them. Was he really that worried that you would be hurt?

"Mui..." you said, using a shortened version of his name as a nickname, "are you really that worried that one of the hashira will hurt me?"

"I suppose I should just tell you this, before I forget it... I'm in love with you."

You were shocked by his response, and backed away as if you had been hit by him. A blush was spreading across your cheeks, and you felt heat rise up on your skin. You had never been this shy before, and it surprised yourself and your old friend Shinobu.

"You have to be joking me," you told Muichiro. "You can't possibly be in love with me. I'm not at all your type, right? You like girls that are warm and nice, and I'm not at all like that, right? I'm all mean and hard and I'm not good at love, just fighting, and-"

"Y/N. I'm in love with you," he repeated. "I'm not joking around, and I'm not playing. I love you."

You threw your arms around Muichiro and gave him a long kiss right on his lips. When you pulled away, he looked flustered, and his long hair was hanging in front of his face. His cheeks were now pink with a blush, like yours had been earlier.

"Will you let me come with you?" you asked him.

"B-but I'm scared... what if they hurt you?" he said, softening up almost immediately.

"I won't let them hurt me," you responded. "I'll fight back if they do. And you know I can fight."

He smiled a small smile and said, "Yes, I do. Alright, you can come with me. Let's hurry, or we'll be late!"

As you rushed to the meeting together, you looked to see how Shinobu was feeling. She hadn't spoken much to you after Muichiro had said that he was in love with you, and you were concerned and wanted to see if she was okay.

Her eyes were glowing with happiness, and when she saw you, she squealed and screeched, "You're in love!"

You chuckled and gave her a thumbs up.

You didn't need to worry about her. She was as happy as a lark.