Chapter Text
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It was rather difficult to see through the thick haze that carpeted the forest floor. Even if he squinted, he still couldn't make out anything past the trunks of trees that were a short ways ahead. The fog isolated him from anything else that could've been living in these same woods.
Giyuu had been assigned a mission two days ago. He'd been traveling the entirety of that time, stopping to rest and eat for only a few hours of those couple days. He knew he had little time to sleep with demons terrorizing the people of Japan.
He'd been on a streak the past two nights, slaying demons one after the other. He'd taken out five, two had their heads sliced within seconds, two put up more of a fight, and one had managed to get a couple hits on him before he beheaded it. His leg had been injured. Although he'd managed to sew it shut, it still caused a slight limp.
He didn't know whether to blame his weakness on himself, or his exhaustion from the lack of sleep. He chose to shove the self deprecating thoughts to the back of his head on focus on the demon he was hunting for now.
He heard the caw of his crow and glanced up, but the tops of the pine trees faded into the fog. He could not see where kanzaburo flew above, so he instead turned to follow the sounds of his crowing, leading him through the woods.
He was not given a lot of information on the demons he was sent to kill. Sometimes, rumors of demons turn out to be false. The demon slayer corps never let those rumors go unchecked, however.
Although, something he had been notified of while travelling was the small village the demon likely resided in. It had been abandoned years ago due to toxins in the nearby river. The only reason a demon would stay was because of the much more prosperous town not too far to the north.
The overwhelming amount of fog probably made for a great cover for taking people away in the night as well.
His eyes narrowed and he sped up to run a little quicker. his crows directions eventually quieted, and Giyuu could tell that the village was nearby. He slowed down to a walk, ignoring his quickened breath, and continued forward as the fog thinned out around him.
A building appeared as he approached. Then another, and soon he was walking along the tattered cobblestone roads of the old village. The houses were dusty and covered in moss. The insides of each one were empty and dark, the lanterns having been snuffed out for the last time years ago.
He walked and listened. Voices, screaming, footsteps, or breathing. It was quiet. The wind passed and wind chimes would knock against each other, but it was silent aside from that. He rested a hand on the hilt of his sword.
There was the click of wood against rock, and he had spun around to look behind him within a second. The sound stops as a small woman glanced up at him, wide violet eyes and jet black hair pinned into a bun. She wore a red kimono patterned with light pink flowers.
She would have seemed completely normal if not for the fact her face and hands were dripping with blood.
He didn't hesitate. he pushed himself off the cobblestone walkway, flying forward with his blade drawn before the demon had a chance to even speak. He slashed with ease, but as he landed behind her, he turned with his blade still drawn. She turned to glance at him with the same wide eyes, and the bleeding slash against her pale skin healed within a couple seconds.
"Oh," She spoke softly, "You're trying to kill me." She turned to face him once again, all while she brushed her wet hands against the cloth of her kimono, smearing blood that blended in with the red fabric. The tone of her voice sounded more disappointed than anything else.
Giyuu said nothing as he leapt forward once again. He slashed once more, but still found her quickly moving herself out of harms way. She raised an arm above her head and struck down a clawed hand. He ducked down and out of the way before the attack could even touch his haori.
"You're faster than the other ones." She gazed down at her hand, free of blood. "There were a couple others who had uniforms like that one."
Giyuu felt something twinge inside him, but he tried not to let it show on his face. She swung forward and he moved to swing his blade. He sliced through her arm like grass, and she stumbled but turned to slash at him with her other hand. She moved it before he could cut that one off too.
She turned and he sidestepped another swing, but barely noticed her foot coming up soon after. He moved, but couldn't avoid a kick to the side that made him stumble. She smiled.
Giyuu exhaled and readied his blade. Right as her hand had grown back, he sliced his sword and cut it off again, and took her other hand right with it. She jerked herself back as red blood followed the tip of his blade across her neck.
Right as his attack finished, he rotated the blade and cut back across, lunging forward for her neck, to finally end the drawn out fight. His blade made contact with her neck.
"Blood demon art: flowering death." She said, and Giyuus eyes widened as he came face to face with the light blue petals of a large morning glory. He didn't have the time to move as the flower opened, and sprayed pollen directly into his face.
He shut his eyes and stumbled back with a gag, and leaned over to cough into the sleeve of his haori, attempting to dispel the disgustingly sweet taste that coated the back of his throat.
He shook his head and looked back up at the demon. Thin green vines ran up her arms and sprouted flowers. Small white petals sprouted up through the cracks in the rocks around her feet. Distantly, he noticed the light sprinkle of rain that started to patter against the floor and roofs of surrounding houses. The scent of rain did nothing to drown out the rosy smell still covering his face.
"I haven't been able to do that for a while. Nobody has tried to fight me for some time." She had barely finished her sentence though when he launched himself forward to strike again. Her hands had grown once again, and she moved forward to strike as well.
"I guess with you being a Hashira-" she paused as his sword cut through her chest- "my art won't work as fast."
He didn't give himself time to try and understand what that meant, and turned to cut her neck. He felt bad, for there was no way he should be struggling against a demon so weak.
He brought the blade down, and stumbled as it met thin air. He turned to see two of her instead of one. In fact, he could see two sets of everything instead of one. He squeezed his eyes shut in a desperate attempt to make the double vision go away, but opening his eyes again to the unchanged sight only made him nauseous.
He inhaled, exhaled, and took a step forward. He felt his sword hit flesh, but he couldn't tell where. He could tell another attack was coming, but he couldn't tell where it was coming from. He tried to move back, only to feel claws tear into his arm. He let out a sharp gasp and stumbled away from her. He tried to ignore how he nearly tripped over his own feet.
"Are you feeling quite alright? You seem a bit dizzy," she asked him, and he hated the fake concern coating her voice.
Giyuu resisted the urge to look anywhere but her. He knew he would vomit if he tried. He couldn't see, but he could tell his arms were shaking, exhaustion coated his limbs. This demon should've been quick to take out, but he'd messed up by not resting after running around and hunting demons for two days straight. And for not taking care of the older wound on his leg, causing him to stumble.
He felt rain tapping against the back of his haori, soaking through like icy roots. He shivered, and shifted his feet to help him balance. He closed his eyes and breathed. If his vision was the thing holding him back, then he just wouldn't use it. Distantly, he heard the flapping of wings getting further away.
He heard wood on rock, and the fluttering of her kimono, and the swish of her arm as she raised her claws above her head. He sidestepped her blow, and while she was still recovering from hitting nothing but rain, he prepared his 11th form.
"Dead calm," he whispered under his breath, and suddenly the sweet scent had faded and was quickly replaced by that of water. He turned and flicked his blade, and instantly it met flesh.
He didn't need to open his eyes to hear her head hit the ground.
He could tell she was saying something. She sounded sad, but it was raining harder and the pollen in her flowers had done something to his head. He heard the sounds of rustling cloth, and squinted his eyes open to see what it was. Instantly, he inhaled and brought a hand to his eyes. It wasn't even bright out, but the light that still made it through the fog made his head throb.
By the time he managed to open his eyes and look down at the body, it was already too late. What was left of her corpse convulsed, and Giyuu only had time to throw an arm in front of his face before the body exploded into a cloud of more sticky, sweet scented, pollen.
The rain washed it away quickly, but it had already swept past his arm and gotten wherever it could reach. He bent over and coughed once more, shoving down the urge to vomit.
He stumbled down the cobblestone path, his bad decisions piling up all at once as blood soaked through his clothing. He wanted to just lie down in one of those houses and sleep, but if he did, he wasn't sure he was going to get back up.
Although, it would help him get out of the rain. Being the water hashira didn't make him resistant to the bone chilling wind that froze the water soaked into his clothes.
He knew he needed to get to that town. Rent a room and visit the local doctor, take a shower, sleep in a futon instead of on the ground. He knew he wouldn't make it. At least not with his senses so blurry like this. He'd taken to leaning on the sheath of his sword as he walked, and even then he'd nearly ran into multiple things that looked further away than they actually were.
he tripped up the steps of the closest building and used his entire body weight to shove open the old doors. He dragged himself inside, blood and water pooling on the floor around him. He couldn't bring himself to care as he limped to the far wall of the small house and slid down against it.
He urged his eyes to stay open as he slipped his haori off his shoulders and let it flop to the ground around him. He looked down at his shoulder with narrowed eyes. The four red wounds on his arm spun in his vision to make eight, and he knew he wouldn't be able to stitch this along with the now reopened wound on his leg.
He tore a strip of cloth off his sleeve with shaking hands, and struggled to wrap it around his shoulder. He did the same thing once more for his leg.
He closed his eyes and relaxed his body against the wall. The rain outside pounded against the roof of the building, and even filtered through a few cracks in the old supports, but Giyuu was dry enough in the spot he'd chosen. He breathed slow and deep, hoping to dispel the toxins in his system by the time the rain stopped so he'd be able to get to the village without passing out.
He ignored the gnawing voice in the back of his mind, telling him that a real hashira would be able to kill each of those demons within one strike. He ignored the voices that deliberately called him weak.
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It was difficult to walk through the town at night without people staring at him like he was crazy. Although, he guessed someone walking around with a sword at their side and the word "kill" scrawled across their back would make people uncomfortable.
He didn't necessarily care. He was here for one thing, and one thing only. He'd been travelling two days for one simple rumor about a serial killer that had hidden themselves in the town.
Whether it was actually a serial killer or a demon, he didn't know. Either way, he would kill them. Demon or not. The world would be free of one more killer, at least.
It'd started raining earlier, and the large grey clouds blocked out any traces of the sun before it could reach the town. People had started filing back into their houses as water soaked their clothes and being outside became less enjoyable.
Though that just made it easier to single out who the demon was. Or killer, searching for someone walking alone to grab and murder. Not that Sanemi would let them, though.
He froze as he heard a muffled shout from an ally, and he didn't think before turning on his heel to run in the direction of the sound, avoiding the puddles of water that littered the potholes in the road.
He swerved into the alleyway, hand on the hilt of his blade, and caught the sight of a man with a hand cupped over a woman's mouth. Her clothes were blotted with mud and her umbrella lay abandoned nearby, but there were no signs of blood yet.
The man looked up at him with furrowed eyebrows and a snarl across his face. It would be hard to tell he was a demon, if not for the sharp fangs in his mouth and slit pupils on red sclera.
Sanemi narrowed his eyes and rushed forwards, kicking the demon away from the woman before he had the chance to sink his claws down into her. He yelped as he rolled through the mud, but quickly shot back up with glare on his face.
"What the hell do you-" the demon started to shout, but was cut off by the slice of the slayers sword. His eyes widened in astonishment as his head flew straight off his body and onto the floor. He said nothing else as he gasped like a fish out of water, only to have his body fall to the ground and quickly fade to ash.
Sanemi sheathed his sword, not even bothering to watch the demons body crumble away as he turned to the woman on the ground. She'd managed to sit herself up, but only looked on in fear.
"You alright?" He asked, offering his hand to help her up. Her eyes seemed to finally snap to his once he asked his question, and she nodded after a moment.
"Y-yes, I'm fine." She took his hand and stood up, before reaching down to grab her umbrella. "Thank you," she said, nodding her head before running out the ally, nearly slipping on mud as she rounded the corner.
Sanemi sighed and combed a hand through his soaked hair. Two days of travel just for an underwhelming fight like that. At least it actually was a demon and not just a rumor. Having travelled all this way just to find nothing probably would've been worse.
He turned out of the ally and down the road. The clouds blocked the position of the sun, but the darkening of the sky indicated it was getting late. He was tired, and with no other leads for demons, it would be nice to check into a hotel to get some sleep.
He entered a building and tossed a couple coins on the counter. The man behind thanked him and pointed him down the hall to an open room. He just nodded and entered the room, shutting the door behind him.
He picked at where his clothes stuck to his shoulders, wet with rain, and figured he'd be more comfortable in something dry. Although it wasn't until he'd nearly taken off his uniform shirt did he hear the caw of a crow and a black blur fly through his window.
He flinched and caught the bird with a hand before it could impale him in the face with its beak. He narrowed his eyes as it struggled sluggishly in his grip.
"You're Tomioka's crow." He pointed out, releasing the bird as it flapped back to the windowsill. "What the hell does that bastard want?"
"Hashira injured..!" Kanzaburo shuffled on his feet anxiously as he cawed. "Tomioka has been injured!"
Sanemi huffed and glanced out the window. The rain was coming down harder than earlier, and the sun had nearly completely set.
"We all know first aid. He can deal with his own problems himself." He turned back towards the rooms closet to pick out something comfortable that would fit him.
Kanzaburo opened his mouth to say something else, but shut it again when Sanemi turned to give him a glare. The crow lowered his head and turned back towards the rain outside.
"He is in the abandoned village to the south." He said more quietly, before taking off with a couple beats of his wings. He stumbled for a moment midair, before righting himself and flying further into the village.
An abandoned village very close to a high density town. A great place for a demon. Although according to the crow, it seemed the demon had already been killed. It was just the aftermath of the fight the other slayer was dealing with.
If he did go and help the bastard, it would be another thing to shove in his snarky face for a while. Someone as great as him, needing help.
Yeah, maybe he could spare a few hours just for that. He ignored the underlying dread of imagining someone being stuck outside in such harsh rain while injured.
Sanemi grabbed the sword he'd discarded by his futon and went out the door. The man at the counter seemed surprised to see him leave so soon, but didn't comment as Sanemi rushed out the exit.
Stupid Tomioka. Why'd he have to go and need help while it was raining so hard? Did the downpour help strengthen his water breathing?
It was dark as he exited the town, and it only got darker as he entered the woods. Rain fell on and around him, soaking his clothes thoroughly, but running through the woods kept his blood pumping and kept out the chill.
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Though blurred by the rain, he could make out the dark shapes of buildings placed together to form the rumoured village set in the center of the clearing. The cobblestone road faded in under his feet, and he placed a hand on the hilt of his blade as he walked through the many houses.
Rain dropped off the shingles of the roofs and fell into small dents in the ground, worn away by time. Sanemi thought for a moment about calling out the other hashira's name, but he knew he wouldn't be able to hear if the other responded, drowned out by the rain.
Soon however, he paused as he approached a road that looked too battered to be normal. Scratches marked the path, stones were torn out of the ground, and if he looked closer, he could make out small petals that covered parts of the cracked cobblestone.
He glanced up and around for the person he came all this way through the rain for, and eventually his eyes landed upon a house with a half open door. Blood and water puddled on the porch, underneath the tiled roof. He ignored a twinge in his chest.
He grumbled as he marched up the steps till he stood before the door. He grabbed it and slammed it open, stepping inside.
"Tomio-" he started, but paused when his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the house and he could make out the ugly red and bright green of the water hashira's haori.
Tomioka raised his head and stared up at him through soaked bangs, eyes squinted harshly. A moment passed before his pupils finally widened in recognition.
"..Shinazugawa?" He muttered, as if just figuring out who was standing a couple feet in front of him.
Sanemi snorted. "I had to walk through the rain to find you, and this is how I'm greeted?"
"Oh. Sorry, I.. I can't see too well." his eyes turned down to stare at the floor in front of him as his voice wavered through his sentence. His hands trembled from where they firmly wrapped around himself.
"Your crow nearly stabbed my eye out," He spoke as he glanced over the others state. There were torn bandages slowly seeping blood wrapped around his wounds, but he appeared physically okay otherwise. "He said you were in trouble, but you seem fine to me. were you just relaxing after a fight or what?"
Tomioka's eyes didn't move from where he'd set them on the floor as he sighed. "..I didn't know he'd gone to bother you. He's old, He probably got confused."
"I don't need to know about your crows age problems." He snapped back automatically, only to force himself to take a breath. But before he got the chance to talk, Tomioka spoke.
"You can go if you need to. I'll be alright." The idiot said as he shivered in soaked and bloodied clothing in a dark, abandoned house in the middle of nowhere.
"I didn't come all this way just for you to kick me out!" He growled, taking a step forward. "I'm taking you back to the town."
Tomioka's eyebrows raised as he glanced up at him. He opened and closed his mouth as though he wanted to say more, but all that came out was a small "oh."
Sanemi rolled his eyes before motioning the other up with a small step back. "Can you stand? Or do I need to carry you back?" He asked with a small scoff.
The other didn't respond as he tossed his haori back over his shoulders and put a hand on the wall, shutting his eyes as he stumbled to a stand. He braced himself and slowly opened his eyes.
...Only to trip over his own feet after taking a singular step forward. His eyes widened as Sanemi placed a hand under his chest to stop his decent, and to lift him back up to a stand.
"Did you hit your head or something?" Sanemi asked, raising his hand off Tomioka's chest, only to hover it over the others shoulder in case he tripped again.
"I inhaled a blood demon art." Tomioka spoke with the palms of his hands firmly plastered over his eyes as he swayed. "I told you, I can't see."
Sanemi narrowed his eyes. Shouldn't the art fade if the demon was dead? Sometimes an art can stick around a while after death though, he guessed.
"Whatever." He muttered, before grabbing the arm of the other man. He heard a sharp inhale but nothing more as he placed Tomioka's arm over his own shoulder, before wrapping another hand around his waist.
Tomioka leaned onto him almost immediately, his eyes kept firmly shut. He didn't know why he didn't feel as bothered by this as he usually would've.
He practically dragged the limping hashira out the door of the old house and back into the rain. He hoped to get to the town soon. Not because he was afraid of freezing to death, but because he was sure Tomioka would. He could feel the other shivering against him.
By the time they made it to the edge of the village, he was sure the other had passed out. His legs dragged limply along on the ground, and his head hung low.
He wanted to feel angry, but he knew that carrying the other would make it easier for the both of them. So he slung the unconscious man over his back, and headed towards the town.
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