All you had hoped for was some sort of reprieve, the alleviation of stress knowing that you could confide with the demon slayer that you deeply trusted.
You had not planned, however, that Giyuu would decide to take on such an impossible task.
Confronting the demon king?
All by himself, alone?
From the profile of his hardened face, you could tell that Giyuu wasn't thinking straight anymore.
Instead, he almost overwhelmed you with his unadulterated fury, lips contorted in a terrible attempt to hide his expression while clutching the material of his pants in a closed fist.
He was too focused on his murderous intents, on slaughtering Muzan Kibutsuji.
In this moment, he did not consider that he was human.
He did not think about how his opponent was the demon lord who could literally snap the Hashira's bones in mere seconds.
You wanted to stop him.
You needed to stop him.
You hadn't even told him everything yet.
How could you, though, understand Giyuu's hurricane of heartbreak, anguish, and sorrow that suddenly poured and flooded his already pained chest?
Why were the people he loved always the ones to unknowingly succumb and crumble in a demon's hands?
Were the gods toying with him?
They must be toying with him.
Either that or this was all some sort of horrible nightmare.
Giyuu never imagined that the person to who his beloved childhood crush had married was Muzan Kibutsuji, the freaking demon king of all people.
"Wait!" you shouted as you noticed the Water Pillar's continued steps toward the exit.
While your call ultimately interrupted his thoughts, Giyuu didn't wait.
He vanished by the doorway, and immediately, you jumped up from the bed, running after him only to meet a surprised Aoi in the otherwise empty halls.
You ran up to her, grabbing the startled girl's shoulders with your wide eyes and tangled hair that fell across your face.
You looked like a lunatic: crazy, insane, and more than a little wonky.
Shaking her shoulders, you hurriedly asked, "Where did Giyuu go?"
Aoi's small body trembled. "I don't know, miss. I didn't see Tomio—"
"I'm going to kill your husband."
The thought suddenly hit you.
Right.
Giyuu was hunting for your husband.
So, he was heading to Muzan. He was heading to your home.
Without further thought, you broke into a sprint through the Butterfly Estate, leaving a stunned Aoi behind.
Even several of Shinobu's helpers poked their heads into the halls at the commotion, outwardly wondering where you were headed.
With no time to answer, you mumbled a long string of "I'm sorry"s as you dashed by them since you had a lot to explain later.
Under the last of sunlight, you raced out, your shoes clacking against the cobblestone while beelining toward a local main road.
You were lucky enough to catch a carriage, which chauffeured you to the familiar stone gates of your home.
By the time you arrived, the moon was already a warm and milky glow in the sky, its eternal, stoic grace shining in the heavens after the sun had fallen into its slumber.
Conscious of the time, you didn't even have a spare fifteen seconds to pull out the correct number of bills to pay.
Instead, you threw all your cash at the driver's face.
Because while money could buy you a trip home, money couldn't buy time.
And it wouldn't be able to buy lost lives either.
Essentially jumping from the vehicle, you pulled your kimono up so that you would not trip on the cloth before scurrying into your mansion halls with the gracefulness and speed of a hooting ostrich.
Where are you, where are you, where are you, whistled inside your head.
However, on the outside, you remained quiet, forcing all the physical energy you could gather into your legs.
The building was both dark and empty after your housemaids returned home for the evening, but you sought for signs of life.
Signs of Giyuu. Signs of Muzan.
"To think that my wife knows a demon slayer like you."
You screeched to a halt.
This voice. This was your husband.
Without a doubt, Giyuu must be with him, too.
You swiveled into the direction of the sound, cautiously sneaking around the corridors to where the hum of conversation grew louder.
With the murmurs eventually leading you to Muzan's darkened room, you noticed that the opposite door for the courtyard was left slightly ajar.
Not a good sign.
Careful, you tiptoed across the bedroom until you reached the other side and pressed your right eye between the crack of the door.
As you expected, people were outside.
The first person you saw was Muzan.
He stood like a cocky, annoying idiot, folding his arms across his muscular body because he knew that not a single scratch would land on his perfect skin.
There, the realization of your husband's danger and power just became ten times more potent and a hundred times more real.
What really caught your attention even more, though, was Giyuu.
By the time his face was made clear by the rising moon, his entire demeanor had shifted.
Considering his gasps as he drew his sword, you understood from the safe haven inside your mansion that Giyuu hadn't arrived much earlier than you.
But gone was the levelheaded and composed demon slayer that you knew, now replaced with a much more savage entity residing within him.
The two men were locked in the staring contest of the century.
No, the millennia.
In the stillness, you wanted to scream, to slip between them in an attempt to call for a truce.
However, Giyuu was the first to shatter the deafening silence.
"What do you plan on doing with her, Muzan Kibutsuji?"
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