Chapter Text
It was a cold night in the middle of December. Giyuu was sent to a run-down town near the mountains, where a demon had been terrorizing people. Since it killed all of the mizunoto who went after it, this became Giyuu’s job. He ran towards the town, where he expected to hear some sort of commotion, but only heard… silence? This demon was reported as being extremely active, so he was a little confused.
Whatever. I’m sure it'll show itself soon.
Giyuu walked into the town and was greeted by the mayor, who filled him in on the demon's activity.
“Thank you so much for helping us, hashira. This demon has been killing the children of our town, we had no other choice but to call for the Corps!”
“Alright,” Giyuu said, “I’ll go look around.”
Giyuu walked around the sleeping town. It was quaint, with small houses and big families. Giyuu walked past a nice ramen shop, and took note of its location in case he was hungry later. It smelled warm and comforting. It reminded him of the stew that Urokodaki Sensei used to make for him and Sabi- not right now. He only realized that he had stopped walking when he noticed the shop owner waving to him. Giyuu raised a hand to acknowledge her, and then turned to walk away as quickly as possible, hoping the cold would hide his embarrassment. He kept walking and noticed the many alleyways in between the buildings.
Perfect demon hiding spot, he thought.
Giyuu walked towards the first alleyway, his hand on the hilt of his sword. He swiftly turned the corner and looked down the alleyway. Nothing. He checked the next one, and saw only a few boxes and a rat, scurrying into hiding after seeing Giyuu approach. This continued for most of the alleyways, though he did find a drunk man passed out in one of them. That guy made him jump so bad that he almost stabbed himself in the arm. No matter; he continued anyway.
He approached the last alleyway. This was the last spot he could check before he waited for the demon to show itself. He walked closer and heard a muffled scream and the sound of a blade slicing. He rushed towards the final alleyway before he was stopped by the red dust floating out from the alleyway. He was confused. After all, he’d thought that all of the mizunoto had been killed. Was there still one more? He pulled his sword out of its guard and held it in a fighting position. When he turned the corner, he saw a small figure.
Was that a child?
It was, wasn’t it? Did this child kill the demon? It was lower six, but still! The twelve kizuki are difficult to kill for anyone, especially someone this weak and small. They looked to be about 12 and appeared to be severely neglected. He put his sword away and approached the shaking child. He was about to speak and comfort the scared little one, but as soon as they noticed him, they pushed themselves back into the corner and started breathing harder. They held the weapon up to him weakly. Giyuu couldn’t really comprehend what the child was saying through their stutters and gasps, but he was able to make out five words.
“I didn’t do anything this time!”
Giyuu stopped his advancement. His eyes widened before softening back down again. This child was pleading for their safety. He wasn’t sure what exactly they meant, but he was sure that something or somethings happened before he found them here. He wanted to ask them about it when they had calmed down, but for now, he had to get them out of this alley and back to… wherever they needed to go. He slowly kneeled down to get down to their level. He spoke in a low, gentle tone so as to not startle the child.
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
The child lowered the weapon, but did not relax any further than that. Giyuu put his sword out in front of them so he could not reach it. His end goal was to get the weapon from the child's hand both for his own safety and theirs. He stayed crouched down and put his hands out in front of himself so he didn't worry them any further.
All progress is good progress I suppose.
Giyuu continued to slowly creep forwards, moving slowly and speaking reassurances to them. Slowly but surely, their death grip loosened on the fragmented blade. Their hand was bleeding, but he didn't want to reach out to stop it from gushing in case they resumed their grip on it and made the bleeding worse.
Then, just as Giyuu was able to get close enough to remove the weapon from the child’s hands, their eyes rolled back and they fell forward into his arms. He’d gone to move backwards before deciding a concussed and unconscious child would get him a very stern talking to from Shinobu. He carefully assessed the situation at hand.
He started with the obvious; there was an unconscious and wounded child in his lap. This child did not trust him at all and probably didn't trust any adults from the looks of it. He looked towards the small space the child had created in the alleyway. It had a tattered teal blanket with white polka dots on it. The child was old enough to not have a comfort blanket… right? Probably. So the child was abandoned with nothing. The only other thing that was sitting there was the weapon they had. It was a double-sided piece of nichirin blade. This child was very strong, obviously. They killed the demon by themselves, with no help besides maybe a rock or two nearby. He determined that those wouldn’t have been much help, anyway.
Giyuu decided that he had two options. He could either take this child back to the demon slayer corps and have them fixed up by Shinobu at the butterfly mansion without telling the people of the town, or he could talk to the mayor and try to find their parents. After a bit of consideration, he decided to talk to the mayor. He was sure that the town would appreciate knowing that there was an abandoned child in an alley somewhere, especially with the demon resurgence. So, he picked up the child and brought them out of the alleyway.
The mayor was located in the town center, talking to whom Giyuu presumed was his wife. When Giyuu emerged with the child, the mayor appeared confused before realization crossed his face. The mayor walked over to him and gestured to the shaking child in his arms.
“Ah, so I see you’ve met Tōru. The most troublesome child in our village.”
Tōru. Isn't that a masculine name? This child appears to be female… maybe I’m misremembering.
“This child was in an alleyway. Do you know where their parents are? I’m sure they’re worried sick.”
Giyuu felt a stirring on his chest. Tōru opened their eyes slowly and blinked themselves back into the world. Once they realized they were being held, they started breathing heavily again. They pushed off of Giyuu’s chest in an attempt to get themselves free, bumping into the mayor in the process. Giyuu loosened his grip so they could free themselves fully, and they stood up and moved away from him. They looked behind them and their eyes widened in fear. They immediately started apologizing as the mayor's face turned into a deep frown. He seemed extremely upset with Tōru for a simple mistake.
“Disgraceful child! If I had half a mind, I would bring you back to your father and let him discipline you further.”
“No-no, please, I’m so sorry! It won’t happen again, don’t bring me back there!”
Giyuu looked at this interaction and began piecing things together. This child was scared of adults, was extremely cold, had infected wounds, and the mayor knew? Something was happening in the child’s household that Giyuu wasn’t being told. He was brought out of his headspace when he heard far more desperate pleas from Tōru’s mouth. He looked to the side to see the mayor grabbing Tōru by the shoulder and pulling them in the direction of the houses.
“Hang on a second, sir. I have reason to suspect an abuse situation going on with this child. They clearly don’t want to go back to wherever you are taking them. So please, let them go.”
“Oh, here we go again. What did Tōru tell you about their father? That he ‘hit them’ or ‘stabbed their eye?’ I know the man, he’s my best friend! He would never hurt a child no matter how troublesome–” he pushed their shoulder– “this one seems to be.”
“Please sir, you have to believe me! I’m not lying! Don’t let him take me back there!” Tōru shouted as they struggled out of the mayor’s grip.
“Enough! If you really want to take Tōru, you can have her. This town doesn’t need liars staining our reputation.”
The mayor pushed Tōru towards Giyuu. He walked away, gesturing for his wife to follow after him. He muttered something about "a pitiful man" and a "lying child." He wasn’t paying much mind to it. He cared more about Tōru right now. Tōru stumbled towards Giyuu a bit before their eyes started to roll back again. This time, they were able to regain their balance and avoid going unconscious. They walked over to Giyuu with their head angled down, looking extremely guilty. For what, Giyuu wasn’t sure. They spoke quietly now, a sharp contrast from their previous interactions.
“Thank you. I’m sorry that I tried to hurt you earlier. I can only see out of my left eye and I thought you were- nevermind. You don’t have to take me with you if you don’t want to. I was fine where I…” They stumbled a bit. “Where I was. Sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize, you know. I chose to bring you back to the butterfly mansion with me. Besides, your wounds are infected, and you seem quite malnourished. Speaking of, do you want to get some ramen before we go?”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that, I already-” He looked at them skeptically. “That would be nice, thank you.”
“You need to eat something sustainable so you don’t pass out again. Then, you can hopefully make it back to the butterfly mansion- okay.”
Tōru had gone dizzy again and fell forward into Giyuu’s arms once again. He carried them over to the nearest park bench and laid his haori over their shivering form. He walked to the ramen shop and ordered two bowls to go. When he returned to the bench, Tōru had unconsciously curled up into his haori in their sleep. He picked them up with his unoccupied arm and carried both them and the ramen bowls back up the mountain and towards the mansion. Among many other things, Giyuu had one overarching thought as he ascended the snowy summit:
What did I just get myself into?