Chapter Text
February 10th, 19XX
Dressed in his nicest clothes, Sanemi felt sick. It has been four years since the final battle that ended Muzan Kibutsuji, the demon race, and, ultimately, the Demon Slayer Corps. Since then, Sanemi has had so much free time that he doesn’t know what to do with, but there was always one person there for him. One he never would have thought of ever letting himself get close to. Tomioka Giyuu, the former Water Hashira. When he first met Giyuu, he hated him, something about him… irritated Sanemi. The pit in his stomach when he saw Giyuu fluttered in anger, was always at a loss for words for how… angry he was at the Water Hashira. Or, that was what Sanemi kept telling himself.
The day when Sanemi realized that Giyuu wasn’t that bad of a guy was after the very last pillar meeting that only had them and the current head of the Ubuyashiki Clan, Kiriya. What was a brief moment of understanding, turned into years of friendship no one saw coming, hell, Sanemi was certain if Shinobu were still alive, she would have made fun of him for their relationship. They would meet for ohagi at Sanemi’s place, sometimes the two would take trips to Ginza, now having the time to truly appreciate Japan. Sometimes, they would meet up with the former Sound Hashira for some drinks and to catch up. They would talk about their lives now that they have time on their hands, like how Hinatsuru will be having their firstborn child soon. Tengen would always try to bring up his and Giyuu’s love lives, but that usually killed the rest of the night so Tengen started to avoid the question.
A day that has always been in Sanemi’s mind was Genya’s birthday, the first one spent after his death. Giyuu told Sanemi to come by his estate before they left for Genya’s alter (alongside all of the other slayers killed in the battle). When Sanemi arrived, the smell of ohagi had hit his nose, a smell that he has never once smelled before in the Water Hashira’s place of residence before. Sanemi knew that Giyuu lost his right arm in battle, and that cooking was hard for him, so it was a surprise to see the ebony-haired male walking out with a bento of ohagi wrapped, albeit poorly, up. The soft smile on his red lips made Sanemi’s stomach feel like before… but he wasn’t angry, right?
Shaking off the feelings, Sanemi took the ohagi, and Giyyu and Sanemi took off for the alters. It was not that far from the Tomioka estate, so it was a nice comfortable walk with buying some of Genya’s favorite food. At the alter, it was a nice, long, and honestly therapeutic to the white-haired male. After an hour, and they went to a restaurant to get some food, Giyuu said a simple sentence that for some wouldn’t of mind that much, but changed Sanemi’s life.
“Hey, do you wanna live with me?”
So, for the past years, the two lived with each other. They started doing everything together, including seeing Tanjiro and his friends. In fact, at this moment, he was standing right next to Tanjiro. Just… not the way he expected. He should have seen it coming, honestly. Ever since his fight with Upper Moon One, he kinda forgot about what he had learned that fight, too caught up in the euphoria of defeating the demon king. He let his feelings take over his mind purging him of reality.
All around him, he could hear the sounds of crying and sniffling, and Sanemi knew he should be feeling like this too, but he just couldn’t cry. He wanted to so badly, so people wouldn’t think they he still hated Giyuu, he didn’t want people to think that. One could say that Sanemi… loved Giyuu, and wanted to be able to shower him with affection. He hoped to have the honor to hold his hand and make him forget about his troubles, but he was too late.
Slightly turning his head, he could see Tanjiro and Nezuko holding onto each other, and right next to Nezuko was Zenitsu. The white-haired male couldn’t help but find it funny that no matter what, Zenitsu was always right next to Nezuko and they haven’t even had their wedding yet! Right next to the lovesick man, was Inosuke who stood right next to Kanao. It was seen a little bit before that he saw Kanao as a sister but after the final battle, it seems like they were always siblings, to begin with. Sometimes when Sanemi was at the Kamado’s old residence, he would completely forget that the two didn’t know each other till their time with the Corp. Behind him was the remaining Ubuyashiki clan alongside the Uzui family. Since then, Kiriya and his sisters have been helping the slayers that survived, financially, emotionally, and physically. The majority of the Corp has been staying at the Butterfly Estate, and so Kiriya put what the money for the slayers was into the wage of the workers and the people staying at the Butterfly Estate. Tengen was standing next to another pregnant wife, Suma, while Hinatsuru is holding his one-year-old son, Tsuki, on Tengen’s other side. Makio is right next to Hinatsuru, holding onto the son’s chubby hand. Sometimes, Sanemi wonders what it would of been like if he and Giyuu started a family. The other people their, Sanemi could care less about. He thinks he heard Giyuu say the boy with the bowlcut was at his final selection, but he didn’t pay no mind to him. He could also sense the presense of a demon, and if it was him three years ago he would charge at the demon ready to take his head, but Yushiro has grown on him, despite having not seen him since the final battle. Sanemi was surprised when he saw the demon show up today.
After what seemed like hours, a monk priest came up to the front. Everyone looked up from what they were doing to listen to what he had to say. The next words is what woke Sanemi up from his disbelief, it was reality.
“Today, we come here to celebrate the life of the late Tomioka Giyuu.”