Chapter Text
CHAPTER 1
Hashira meetings - one of the biggest pains in the butt for Tomioka Giyu.
He usually avoided his co-workers. Unlike him, they were all worthy of their Hashira title, even the shitty ones like Shinazugawa and Iguro.
Giyu tried to stay away, tried to make himself disappear. After all, he wasn’t like them, and they should be wasting their time on someone like him. But instead, the other Hashira decided it was an invitation to invade his personal space, making cruel jokes and twisted compliments. In the end, Giyu was never sure whether to feel insulted or pleased by the praise.
He trusted some; Gyomei was always honest, Kanroji was very kind (though she was kind to everyone - even stray animals would get as much love as possible from her), Tokitou and Giyu had a silent understanding (or Tokitou was too lost in his mind to pay attention to him). Still, in the end, there was a big gap between him and the rest of the Hashira, a gap both sides never bothered crossing.
That’s what made the meetings annoying - they had to communicate and work together - things Giyu usually avoided.
He couldn’t understand why the Hashira demanded his presence when they could always find solutions without him. And when he stayed, Giyu could never say something without being ridiculed by
Shinobu in her sweet, poisoned voice or Shinazugawa’s explosive demeanor.
Another thing that annoyed the hell out of Giyu was the timing. He would be in the middle of training or taking a bath when a crow would appear, call a meeting, and fly off. No matter what state he was in, if the meeting was urgent, then he had to drop everything and head to Oyakata-sama’s house.
“One time,” Giyu grumbled to himself in the dead of the night, “I tried to sleep one time.”
This time the crow caught him just as he was about to fall asleep.
For the first time in TWO FUCKING WEEKS!
Giyu truly hated his life.
“So? Are you just going to stare at the door, shithead?” Someone growled behind him. “Don’t tell me you need a fucking personal invitation to come in ‘I’m not like the rest of you’.”
Giyu didn’t bother turning around. If the Wind Hashira wanted a reaction, today wasn’t his day.
—-
“-then the demon went like ‘BANG!’ and I swung my sword like ‘SHAZAM!’ and-”
Currently, Giyu was trying to block out all the noise from his co-workers and not slam his face into a wall.
Kanroji was describing a recent fight she had with Iguro, who was listening to her with pure devotion in his eyes, his snake third to lay on both of their laps at the same time.
Gyomei was quietly praying, his beads hitting against each other as he watched Rengoku and Shinazugawa wrestle. Every other minute, one of them would slam into the floor. Giyu wasn’t surprised that they were evenly matched, even with Rengoku’s missing eye.
The only ones missing were Shinobu and Tokitouuuuu. He couldn’t say he was sad about the former, but Tokitouuuuu being late was surprising. When he first joined, he was constantly late, forgetting every meeting. But now the kid would come to everything on time and would speak up more.
He’s so young, Giyu thought, yet accomplished so much already.
The door creaked open, revealing the small figure of the Insect Hashira. To everyone’s shock, instead of the bright smile she usually wore, her face was set in a scowl.
“Ahhh? Shinobu-chan!” Kanroji was immediately at Shinobu’s side. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Is it Oyaka-”
“No.” Shinobu interrupted, ”I’m fine. It’s-”
She paused and smiled, but it was clear the smile was much more strained than usual, and she muttered, “Oyakata-sama will explain.”
After that, she sat down, ignoring everyone.
Awkward silence filled the room.
—
“Oyakata-sama has arrived.” Two monotone voices rang out.
In a second, every Hashira was bowing.
“Please, my children, sit.” Oyakata-sama smiled at the group. Giyu felt something in him warm up - Master always gave off such a calm aura that it was impossible not to feel it. And yet, just like with Shinobu, his smile was forced.
“Oyakata-sama, we are so glad to see you in good health,” Gyomei said. Everyone echoed his words, from Rengoku’s booming laugh to Iguro’s almost unseen nod.
“So what’s wrong, Oyakata-sama?” Shinazugawa called out.
“And does it have to do with Tokitou-kun?” Mitsuri added.
The Hashira watched as Ubuyashiki and Lady Amane shared a look.
“Now, we want you to take the news calmly,” she said at last.
Everyone nodded, and Giyu felt the air grow heavier.
Tokitou Muichirou, the youngest Hashira. Giyu would be lying if he said he didn’t have a soft spot for the kid. Tokitou went up the ranks at lightning speed, becoming a Hashira in only two months. The
only one among them to achieve something like that was Gyomei - and he was already 27.
Still though, he was just a child. A prodigy, yes, but also one of the most selfless and considerate people he has ever met, just like Tanjiro.
“The Mist Hashira, Tokitou Muichirou, is missing. Upper Moon One took him.”
What the hell?
“No way! You’re telling us Tokitou-kun has been taken?” Kanroji’s eyes turned glassy. “But why? And how-w?”
Iguro was immediately at her side, trying to comfort her, but his shaking hands were proof of his own feelings.
Shinezugawa was on his feet, pacing around and muttering curses.
Gyomei was praying louder than usual, the constant tears in his eyes multiplying.
And Giyu? He was sitting in shock, watching his co-workers react to the news in their own ways.
Tokitou, taken by Upper Moon One. Why?
When?
How?
Giyu felt his pulse quicken and tightened his grip on his sword because he had no idea what to do with his hands. Grab his hair? Punch the floor?
The latter definitely seemed interesting.
Rengoku wasn’t smiling anymore, maybe for the first time since Giyu met him.
And Shinobu-
“You knew.”
Everyone turned to him as he continued to stare down at Shinobu.
“You knew. Yet we are all sitting here instead of searching for him. Every second that we waste is another second for Upper Moon One and Tokitou. And also, what is the proof that Tokitou was kidnapped by Upper Moon One?”
This was probably the biggest amount of words he has ever spoken at a Hashira meeting. Heat rose up Giyu’s neck as he remembered who he was in front of.
“I’m sorry for speaking out of turn, Oyakata-sama,” he mumbled, bowing, and resumed staring at the floor.
“It’s okay, my children. It truly warms my heart to see how much you all care for our youngest.”
“Our evidence, is Ginko, Toukitou-kun’s crow, and Shinobu.”
At a motion of his hand, a crow flew into the room. Her usually glowing feathers were disheveled; her long eyelashes were droopy; in short, Ginko looked terrible.
“Ginko,” Lady Amane said softly, “Can you tell the Hashira what happened in Kantou?”
Kantou, huh? That was pretty far from where Giyu was stationed that day.
“Okay, but this is the last time,” the crow gritted out.
“We were on patrol in Kantou when some peasant started running around in the village we were currently in, screaming about an army of monsters in the mountains. Tokitou-domo, being the hero he is,
headed out immediately and intercepted more than two dozen demons.”
Giyu’s breath caught. What were so many demons doing in one place?
“Tokitou-domo sent me out to call for backup, but for some reason there weren’t any slayers nearby. It took me longer than usual, but at last I met with Shinobu-san. Though when we arrived, every
demon was dead and Tokitou-domo was missing.”
“Shinobu-san and I split up- she was searching for any remaining demons, and I was searching for Tokitou-domo. Then, as I was flying above a meadow-”
Ginko stopped her ramblings and closed her eyes.
“I-I already told this part many times. Could one of you continue?”
Shinobu nodded. “When she found him, he was pinned to a tree with a sword, a demon looming above him. He was saying things about turning Tokitou-kun into a demon and making him into an Upper
Moon. How it would be a waste of talent for Tokitou-kun to die at twenty-five.”
“I-” Shinobu looked away. “I arrived too late. And when the demon turned around to face me…”
She shuddered.
“I was terrified, and I wasn’t even sure why until I saw his eyes. The only thing that I was sure about at that moment was that I was going to die, but instead the demon just grabbed Tokitou and…
disappeared.”
Upper Moon One. He must have killed and consumed hundreds of humans. And now that monster had Tokitou.
“How are we even sure the kid isn’t dead already?”