Water Breathing

[Seiji's POV]

"It's a shock to see you here, Tomioka."

Tengen said that usually one or two other Hashrias would take the break with him but never in a million years would I expect Tomioka Giyu to be one of them.

He just never really struck me as the type of guy, both in my past life and in this one. I expected other Hashiras like Kanae, Sanemi and even Gyomei. Just not him.

Giyu replied by blowing bubbles as half his face was submerged in water. But I was able to get what he said by the contraction of his throat.

"Well, at first I thought this was another mission but turns out it was a rest day or something like that." I said, "I ain't complaining though, I really needed it."

Ubuyashiki really was one hell of an employer.

My eyes scanned him from head to toe in the span of one second. In that short time, I was able to learn a lot.

His body was extremely fatigued and there were multiple torn muscles. But the lack of external injuries told me that instead of being in a tough fight, Giyu was pushing himself above his limits and he was under rigorous training.

That was a surprise. He was already so strong as he was, I wonder what pushed him to train like a shounen protagonist. Or was he always like that?

"I can see that you painfully needed rest. You won't see progress until you allow your body to heal." I said, which was funny. I should be the last person to advise on the topic considering I still have the habit of depriving myself of sleep and constantly overworking.

Giyu blinked at my words before he raised his head above the water.

"Yes, I have been training quite hard these days."

There was a minute of silence afterwards as we both simply enjoyed the warm atmosphere of the hot spring. The hot water on our skin made every other sensation we had in our body - soreness and pain - vanish.

After that, I said.

"Would it be okay if I join you in your training for a few days?"

"You want to learn Water Breathing?" Giyu asked me, instantly deducing what I wanted. It was already known that I was a user of two different styles of breathing so it was not a surprise to him that I wanted to learn a third breathing style.

Actually fourth, since I was getting the hang of Wind Breathing.

"Yes." I said.

"If you want to learn Water Breathing, I can recommend you to my sensei, Urokodaki. I think he will be better suited for teaching than I." he said. I observed his face carefully so I knew he only had good intentions.

But, "No."

I shook my head. "You will be a better teacher than anyone else. You see, I am a visual learner so I will be able to learn better if there is someone who can show it to me rather than instruct me."

One factor why it took me longer to learn Thunder Breathing than Flame breathing was my teacher. While I fought with Rengoku and he could demonstrate the techniques for me countless times, Jigoro was an old man and even executing one form was difficult for him.

With my eyes, I learned much better if I could see and copy instead of being guided and taught.

And if someone like Giyu - who was one of the strongest Hashira - were to act as the one I copied from, I reckoned I would not only learn but become proficient in Water Breathing quickly.

He blinked at my words. His face was extremely stoic so I had to deduce his expression from the little things like the way he blinked his eyes.

Good thing his blinks said a lot.

"I heard that you have very special eyes compared to us and you are deaf. I guess that is true." Giyu said. He probably heard it from Kanae or Ubuyashiki.

I smiled, "Indeed."

"I wouldn't really mind it if you join me in my training." he said.

"Thank you." I replied.

Then silence returned.

"..."

"..."

I mean, what else did you expect when two extreme introverts were in a room together?

I looked around the hot spring as the naughty part of my brain told me to look through the walls to peek at the female side of the hot spring.

But I resisted such temptations.

Not because I was a person with good morals or anything like that, but because I was not alone and it would be absolutely shameful if I got a boner with another naked guy next to me.

"So-.." Giyu said but the rest of the sentence died in his throat.

This time, it was my time to blink in confusion. I stared at him.

He wanted to say something, likely start a conversation so that we could be friends or something if I based his character off of what I knew from the anime.

But at the last moment, he hesitated. Maybe his awareness of my disability was stopping him or because he did not want to disturb me, thinking that I would prefer silence.

Don't worry Giyu, I know the feeling way too well. You already had the script in your mind but you suddenly hesitated right before speaking out and your mind suddenly came up with logical reasons as to why you shouldn't do it.

Luckily for both of us, I was blessed with the ability of prediction and pattern recognition. From the contraction of his throat, our situation and the starting word of his sentence, I deduced what he was about to say.

"You want to ask me what my first month of being a Hashira was like," I said.

"...."

"Hn." he nodded.

My lips curved, "Well, it was much more relaxing to be honest. But you see, around five days ago I encountered these two kids who were forced by a demon to lure in travellers. The demon had a unique blood demon art-"

And so, I told Giyu about the extraordinary experience I had in the last month. He also added a few words and would sometimes advise what I should've done in the situation.

He also told me about the significant encounters he have had during the time that he was a Demon Slayer. Even before we knew it, we were having a very nice conversation in the hot spring.

Giyu was often misunderstood by many people due to his seemingly stoic face but I could read him perfectly well. The mere blink of his eyes and the tiniest movements of his brows were enough for me to see his emotions.

He found talking to me easier than others even though he himself did not exactly know why.

I learned new things about the Hashria that I never knew before. Like the fact that he became a Hashira at the age of 15 and has been a Hashira for well over a year now.

I went to the hot spring with the intention of aiding my healing and to freshen up but I got much more than I bargained for.

Throughout the conversation, I noticed a small curve on Giyu's lips which was arching more and more as time went on. He was smiling.

I think he likes me.

..

..

/////////////////////

We went out of the hot spring after an hour or so. Giyu bid me farewell and told me if I still wanted to, I could join him in his morning training.

He himself was going to take it easy with the training since the whole reason he took the break was so that he could heal and rest. But he said he could easily show me his breathing style.

It was late into the night and I just woke up so to keep myself busy, I went to the river of the village and washed my uniform and haori there. The onsen had Yukata available so I wore those in the meantime.

Then I spent the rest of the night with a mix of meditating, playing with Raven and training my breathing patterns.

When morning came and the sun slowly peeked out from the horizon, Giyu finally sought me out. He led me to the outskirts of the village and when we found a good spot, we began.

"Water Breathing is the most common breathing style. It is easy to learn and its adaptability makes it so that it is helpful in any type of situation." Giyu said while pulling out his sword.

"Water Breathing is not aggressive like other breathing styles. Instead, it relies heavily on counterattacks and defensive forms," he said and took a stance.

"Come at me."

Say less.

"Thunder Breathing : First form"

Without holding back, I pushed myself off at the speed of a bullet.

"Thunderclap and Flash."

The very act of me exploding out was loud enough to shake the earth and it made the sound of thunder. I expected a reaction from him but my eyes saw that he was still calm.

"Water Breathing : First form." he whispered. "Water Surface Slash."

To counter my attack, he opted to swing his sword. The world slowed down as I was left confused, the technique was clearly not strong enough to clash against mine.

He was not going for a block either since he was swinging his sword. So what was he planning when he swung his sword?

My arm twitched and I swung my sword at him in one deadly stroke. I saw him adjust the grip of his sword and then he returned to motion.

But instead of swinging in a way to clash with my sword, Giyu swung from under. My eyes widened as I saw his attack flow under my weapon and instead of trying to block it, he increased the momentum.

With the disturbance, my swing lost its aim and whizzed right past Giyu who tilted his head.

Time resumed.

*BOOOOM!!*

My eyes allowed me to see the world in slow motion but in reality, everything happened in less than a second.

I stared at my sword and replayed how Giyu dealt with my deadliest attack with ease. Instead of blocking or dodging the momentum of my attack, he changed the trajectory by applying power under my swing.

His movement was smooth, like flowing water. It was also the first time I've seen someone with perfect movement.

It was no rocket science but what I was impressed about was how calm he was. Thunder Breathing was fast, my attack happened in the span of one second.

And he used - not a defensive form - but an attacking form to defend. At that point was there a defensive and attacking form in Water Breathing?

Is that what is meant when he said Water Breathing was the most adaptable?

"Incredible." I said.

"I want it."

..

..

[IMAGE]

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