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i. Tsutako
It was the most pure white that Giyuu had ever seen. The outermost layer had been carefully embroidered with birds and flowers, there was a knotted tassel on the left chest and it came with what Tsutako called a wataboshi. Personally, Giyuu thought the wataboshi was completely unnecessary since it hid most of his sister's long black hair.
Still, Tsutako seemed happy and she looked beautiful when she put it on. They were only two days away from her wedding and their entire small house had been buzzing with activity. Tsutako, being the bride, was very busy and Giyuu understood that so he did his best to stay out of her way.
The boy spent a lot of time simply wandering the halls, peeking into rooms and listening to his future brother-in-law's servants talk. He'd heard multiple people talk about how pretty Tsutako was- at those comments his chest had felt warm.
It was almost nighttime when it happened, Giyuu was walking down the hallway to his room.
"-out her brother."
Giyuu paused mid-step, frowning at the mostly closed door, then slowly he took a step forward. It wasn't good to eavesdrop, Tsutako had told him so, but they were talking about him so it should be fine, right?
"She'll have to find some other place for the kid." Came a second voice.
"But they don't have any family, where would the boy go?" It was the first voice again.
"Who knows, but he certainly can't go with her."
Giyuu gasped softly, stepping away from the door his brow furrowed in confusion. Was Tsutako leaving him somewhere? Was she going away and leaving him behind?
Giyuu's eyes stung, he didn't understand. Why couldn't he go with Tsutako? Why hadn't anybody told him so?
He spun on his heel half running and half-sliding away from the door and down the hallway to where Tsutako was most likely at. He had been good and given Tsutako space this whole week, so why did he have to go somewhere else?!
Giyuu could barely see where he was going through the tears blurring his vision. He only saw a vague red spot before running straight into it.
"Giyuu?" Tsutako's voice was warm if slightly alarmed.
Instinctively Giyuu wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face into her stomach. This was his sister, and he loved her, and if she decided to give him away he'd step back and do as he was told-
-but he really didn't want that!
"Giyuu what's wrong?" Tsutako's hand came to rest on her brother's head gently patting him in an effort to calm him down.
Sniffling Giyuu explained what he'd overheard.
"Oh!" Tsutako gasped "Oh no no." She knelt raising her hands to Giyuu face "No, Giyuu I'd never leave you behind."
Giyuu sniffed raising a hand to wipe at his eyes "But they said-"
"It doesn't matter what they said." Tsutako interrupted "Nobody can ever take you away from me Giyuu, I promise."
"You promise?"
She gave him a gentle smile "I do, nothing can ever separate us. I even swore it to our parents!"
She had lied.
The next night she shoved him in her closet and he heard her scream.
ii. Sabito
Fujikasane Mountain was beautiful. The wisteria that bloomed from the foot of the mountain bought with it a strange sense of peace, completely unfitting for the death that took place on it.
But then they go past the wisteria and suddenly it's not so beautiful anymore.
Giyuu and Sabito were separated before the first day ends, Giyuu wasn't entirely sure how or when it happened he was only aware of something's claw on his face. Sharp nails dug into his cheek and eye and he screamed as pain overwhelmed his senses.
Never before in his life had Giyuu been so thankful to see the sun.
The demon holding him dropped him to the ground and leapt deep into the forest where Giyuu was sure the sun's rays didn't reach.
***
Giyuu's head hurt, the world was spinning, and the edges of his vision were turning black. He was faintly aware of arms wrapped around his waist as he screamed.
"Please! Please don't go!"
The scarred boy in front of him had a gentle smile that Giyuu now found nothing but placating, like he was a child- like he needed to calm down- plastered on his face.
"We'll go back home together okay? I promise we will so just wait here Giyuu."
"No! NO!"
But no matter how much he screamed and shouted and squirmed the peach of Sabito's hair got farther and farther away.
"No..please.." He whispered finally going limp in the arms of the boy holding him back "please don't leave me again."
Three days later Giyuu woke in an unfamiliar room, alone. Strange people dressed in black tell him he's passed the Final Selection, then they hand him a small bag.
Inside there was a white fox ear.
A little piece of a mask meant to protect them.
iii. Ubuyashiki
Four years later Giyuu sat in a dimly lit room, kneeling on a cushion with his hands clenched into fists over his knees.
"Giyuu."
The master of the Demon Slayer corps voice is kind, yet Giyuu almost flinched at the use of his given name.
It had been a very long time since anyone called him that.
"I received your letter, however I must say I disagree."
Giyuu didn't reply, simply waiting for the older man to continue.
"You more than meet the requirements to be a hashira, so truly I don't understand why you would reject the position?"
Giyuu rolled the words around on his tongue before he spoke, carefully keeping his voice neutral "I don't deserve the position."
"So you said."
"I don't deserve it."
"You do."
"I didn't even pass the final selection."
"You did."
The soon-to-be water hashira felt in that moment as though this sick, frail man was the most stubborn person he had ever met.
"I can't live up to Urokodaki-san's legacy."
"You're the only one who can."
"I..." Giyuu bit his lower lip, finally raising his head to meet Ubuyashiki's serene gaze "I don't understand. There must be so many others, people who are better, stronger...Why would you choose me?"
Ubuyashiki's soft smile disappeared, "I cannot bear to see a child of mine rip himself apart. Even if you won't acknowledge yourself, it is a fact that you are strong- the fact that you are sitting here only proves that." Ubuyashiki takes a breath "I promise you that you are strong enough to fill this position."
Giyuu was silent, he didn't know what to say or how to reply to that.
"However, if you truly do not wish to join the Hashira then I cannot force you, but I ask you to take the time to really consider it."
In the end Giyuu does accept his offer, but he acts only as a placeholder for a future, much more talented hashira.
Someone like Sabito.
***
Two years later Giyuu sprinted through deep snow, the smell of blood sharp in the air.
By the time he made it to the small wood cabin all that was left was snow stained red and the cold corpses of a family now long gone.
Not for the first time, Giyuu was reminded of Oyakata-sama's words, and silently he adds another tick to the times he has proved the Corps Master wrong.
iv.Rengoku
Giyuu had long ago resolved not to let anyone in, he hadn't thought that anyone would even try after meeting his cold exterior. But Kyojuro had burned his way through all the walls Giyuu put up, until the older man didn't have any left to lift.
Before he knew it they were spending more and more time together- time outside of missions. Days they happened to both be off and sometimes they'd go to a village together when they happened to cross paths on a mission.
Kyojuro became the only one to ever visit Giyuu at the water estate- he was also the only one Giyuu actually opened the door for.
Slowly Giyuu relaxed, he found himself leaning into Rengoku's warmth. And then one night, only a day before Kyojuro was set to leave on another mission, Kyojuro asked him a question.
"Tomioka-san."
"Hmm?" Giyuu didn't lift his head from where he had settled on Rengoku's shoulder.
"Who is Sabito?"
Giyuu's eyes snapped open and he was sitting up in record time, gaping at his friend(?) "How do you know that name?"
Rengoku met his gaze head-on "You say his name in your sleep."
And Giyuu could practically feel his defenses racing up, words of denial on the tip of his tongue and yet, they didn't leave. Bright red-orange eyes pierced through him and Giyuu knew he wouldn't be able to lie his way out of this.
He had been raised to be honest, Tsutako would've been disappointed that he wanted to lie to the only person he had left.
So Giyuu opened his mouth "Sabito was my best friend." His voice left him in a hushed whisper. "We trained together, a long time ago."
Rengoku sat patiently a small smile on his face, delighted to finally hear a little more about the elusive water pillar.
"He was strong and kind and bright. He was also an orphan, just like me. We were the same age so we bonded quickly." Giyuu paused his breath catching in his throat.
"He died, protecting everyone else in the final selection."
Rengoku's smile disappeared and Giyuu stared hollowly at the wooden floor. Rengoku would leave now, he'd see how weak Giyuu was and he'd realize that there was no reason to-
Something incredibly warm wrapped around Giyuu, pulling him forward and- oh. Rengoku was hugging him.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to remind you of such painful memories." Rengoku's usually loud voice had softened as he held the water pillar closer.
Giyuu didn't tell him it was fine, he simply allowed the broader man to hold him. For just those few minutes he could afford to feel warm and safe. For just those few minutes he allowed himself to think that everything would be alright.
"Promise me something, Kyojuro."
The flame pillar's breath hitched at the use of his first name.
"Promise me that you'll live. Promise me that you'll be a little bit more selfish from now on."
For a moment it was silent. The two pillars understood better than anyone that wasn't a promise that could be made so easily, so Rengoku hesitated.
Still eventually he said, "Okay. I promise you."
Giyuu sighed in relief.
"But in return you have to promise me the same."
"...Okay."
Rengoku's smile was dangerously bright, "I love you, Giyuu."
Tomioka's eyes widened, he hadn't expected those words to leave the flame hashira's mouth.
"I.."
"It's okay." Rengoku rested his head on Tomioka's shoulder, "You don't have to answer me now."
'You can answer me when I come back' Is left unsaid.
***
Kyojuro could almost see it. Giyuu would receive the news first by crow and then from Tanjiro. He wouldn't flinch, and he wouldn't sob. At most there would be a hitch in his breath, but he'd remain steady as a river.
Kyojuro didn't want to give Giyuu another ghost. It wouldn't be right.
So he tried, he really, really did try.
v. Shinobu
Giyuu knew she was there before she had said anything. The insect pillar had light footsteps unique entirely to her.
"Tomioka-san."
He didn't acknowledge her simply continuing to stare at the bright full moon in front of him.
Shinobu sat next to him but was careful to stay a couple of feet away; he could touch her if he reached out his arm.
"The moon is beautiful isn't it?"
Tomioka didn't reply. They were both familiar with the steps to this dance, having preformed it over and over.
"Are you scared?"
Giyuu's eyes widened just a fraction.
"What?"
"It's all right to be scared." Shinobu turned towards him a tight smile on her face, and he wondered how he hadn't seen it before; the deep fear etched into her purple eyes.
"It's what we have to do." Giyuu's voice came out soft, "To achieve a better world."
He's not sure if those words were meant for himself or for Shinobu.
Kocho nods, "Bute that doesn't mean we can't dislike it. We're only human after all."
Giyuu tore his gaze away from her but otherwise didn't respond.
"Let's all come back together, even you Tomioka-san." Shinobu leaned back using her arms to support her, "When we're done I'll patch everyone up and then we can go to Uzui-san's place and drink together, I won't let anyone die I promise."
A sharp pang of guilt hits Giyuu. He knew Shinobu had been given a special job, she shouldn't be wasting her time here trying to console him, and yet...he couldn't stop the guilty sense of relief her words brought.
Even though he knew they were pointless.
+i. Tanjiro
"We'll end this," Tanjiro stood smiling "together!"
In that moment, Giyuu felt that Tanjiro was extremely bright- just as painfully bright to look at as the sun.
Yet he couldn't tear his gaze away.
"I swear we will!"
There was so much confidence in his words, and Giyuu, not for the first time, wondered how it was that this boy who had once pathetically begged in the snow had grown to be such a radiant person.
"So, Tomioka-san, let's all come back home together!"
"Yes," the words slipped out of Giyuu's mouth before he realized "we'll come home, together."
And for once, Giyuu believed in those words.