Can't I See You One Last Time?

Chapter 16: Down The Mountian

This game was one full of feelings. Kanao, who would show nothing but a smile,  was filled with fear. Sure, the ridiculous form Giyuu was in exposed all of his weak points, but the air around the Hashira was full of bloodlust. Kanao's instincts were all yelling at her to run, but she didn't. Instead, her feet inched forward to the source of the bloodlust.

The closer Kanao got, the heavier her shoulders felt. She could swear that there was a low growl coming from Giyuu, like an animal. An animal that was ready to bite if you touched it's precious thing.

It was a slow process, but Kanao managed to get close enough to grab Giyuu's arm. Now the only thing stopping her, was her instincts, telling her that she was going to get a fatal injury or die if she grabbed onto Giyuu's sleeve.

Shinobu, who was standing back and holding the demon sibling, Nezuko, was watching the whole scene. To her, it looked like Giyuu was a possessive, vicious predator protecting a small, injured rabbit, that was Tanjiro, and another rabbit, Kanao, was trying to get it's friend back. It was a sight that Shinobu could have never thought of, even with the influence of alcohol.

Kanao was shaking. Her hands were right about to grab the sleeve of Giyuu's haori when someone, unexpectedly, spoke.
"Tomioka-san?"
Of course, the voice was muffled, but it could be heard clearly through the quiet forest. As soon as the voice was heard, the threatening air around Giyuu lessened, and that gave Kanao a little more breathing room.Giyuu glanced at Tanjiro and made short eye contact with his red eyes.
"Are you alright?"
A slow nod in response and,
"Tomioka-san, what are you-"
Giyuu put a little more pressure on Tanjiro's head,
"Please keep still."
Tanjiro's body tensed, not in response to what Giyuu said, or his actions, but because of something else.
"Is Nezuko okay?"
Thud
"She's fine."

Kanao took the chance to grab onto Giyuu's sleeve and try to pull his arm off Tanjiro. With all her efforts, Kanao couldn't get his arm to budge, let alone make it release Tanjiro.

Pulling, tugging. Kanao tried everything to get Giyuu's arm off of Tanjiro, but nothing worked. During the constant attempts, Shinobu had thought of using poison on Giyuu. It was going to be a poison that wasn't fatal, but still the poison was going to hurt a little.

Right when Shinobu pulled the poison out, another announcement was made.
"CAW, MESSAGE! WE HAVE A MESSAGE! TANJIRO AS WELL AS THE DEMON NEZUKO, RESTRAIN THEM AND BRING THEM YO HEADQUARTERS! TANJIRO HAS A SCAR ON HIS FOREHEAD! THE DEMON NEZUKO IS BITING ONTO A PIECE OF BAMBOO!"
It was the announcement Giyuu was waiting for. The one that would insure the siblings safety out of the forest.

Giyuu took the pressure away from Tanjiro's head and gently place his injured body on the ground.
"Stay here."
Tanjiro could only make the slightest movements, so he stayed where he was. Not being able to move his arms, didn't stop Tanjiro from trailing Giyuu with his eyes.

Tanjiro watched as Giyuu carefully picked up his sister's box and checked if there were any holes. As he walked to Shinobu and took Nezuko out of her hands and gently woke her up, red eyes followed. When Nezuko shrunk and crawled into the box, he watched. The closing of the box and when Giyuu picked up the box, Tanjiro watched. The box holding his sister was slid on Giyuu's back. Tanjiro watched all of Giyuu's careful movements regarding his sister.

Walking down the mountain was a bit different than it was on the first try. Before, Tanjiro was knocked out and carried with the other injured slayers by the Kakushi. This time, Giyuu was carrying Tanjiro bridal style with Nezuko on his back while walking down the mountain.
"You can put me down now, Tomioka-san."
Tanjiro's voiced showed that he was embarrassed because of the current situation. Giyuu knew, but he didn't put Tanjiro down.
"Walking will only make your injuries worse."
Of course, that was one of the many reasons Giyuu didn't want to out Tanjiro down or leave him in the hands of other people. The main reason Giyuu didn't want to put Tanjiro down or give him to someone else was because he enjoyed holding Tanjiro. This was the first time he held Tanjiro like this, excluding the first try. That time didn't count because Tanjiro's body was ice cold. This time, though...
He's warm.

Shinobu was in the middle of an identity crisis. It wasn't her own identity she was confused about, but Giyuu's. The quiet guy who rarely showed any emotion. That was the way Shinobu thought of him, but now, her perspective of the slayer, Tomioka Giyuu, was a complete mess. In the first in, well, forever Shinobu saw clear emotion coming from Giyuu. It was unthinkable, unbelievable, unimaginable. She even thought that she was dreaming at one point. Of course, she figured out that she wasn't when she slapped herself. The fact that it wasn't a dream made the whole thing even shocking to Shinobu.

Walking down the mountain was even worse for her. She sweared that she saw a faint smile on Giyuu's face. It was terrifying to say the least.
If he smiled like that all the time...
Shivers. Shinobu felt shivers go down her spine. She couldn't even image the amount of popularity Giyuu could obtain smiling like that on a daily basis. The amount of free food from rest stalls he would get was unimaginable.

While paying a little more attention to Giyuu, Shinobu realized that the only time his emotions showed was when he was around the demon slayer named Kamado Tanjiro. After figuring that out, a whole lot of ways to annoy Giyuu popped into her mind. It was like her mind was set on annoying Giyuu to the point where he would show emotions without the involvement of the red head.

Giyuu wasn't paying attention to anything accept Tanjiro, so he didn't realize how long Shinobu was looking at was staring at him. Somewhere along the way, Tanjiro had fallen asleep in Giyuu's arms, and it made Giyuu happy that Tanjiro felt safe enough to fall asleep in his arms. This was one of the happiest moments that Giyuu had experienced in the three chances of life he was given. It wouldn't be wrong to say that he had found another reasons, upon many, to fall in love with Tanjiro.