Can't I See You One Last Time?

Chapter 28: A Promise

Giyuu kept crying for all of the demon slayers to see. The word about a crying Hashira spread calling more slayers into the dining hall. Two of the off duty Hashira went into to check if what was going around was true, and it was. Shinobu and Uzui were the two Hashira that came to see if the word was true. Surprising both of them, it was true. There was a Hashira crying in the dining hall. Shinazugawa wanted to shut Giyuu up and stop his tears as soon as he could because a Hasira crying outright in front of multiple people, stained all of the Hashira's reputation. From his multiple tries, it became clear that there was only one person who could fully calm him down. Currently, he was laying in bed with an injury and the news of a crying Hashia wasn't even close to reaching his ears. Shinazugawa had to go get him.
"Watch him, and try to calm him down."
Shinazugawa was talking with Rengoku because he was the only person besides him that was serious about what was going on. Shinobu was just teasing Giyuu and Uzui was just enjoying the sight of a crying man.
"Alright."
Rengoku had already known where Shinazugawa was going because of the previous mission they were on. Rengoku had seen and felt the air around Giyuu before the mission started. He may have ignored it at first, but he saw how he acted different with that slayer by his side. It was obvious to both of them that Giyuu would only calm down if he was with that newbie slayer. Shinazugawa nodded his head before he got up to visit Butterfly Mansion.

"Where's Tanjiro?"
"Third hallway, on the left, second to the last room."
Shinazugawa had ran all the way to the mansion to get the kid and planned to run all the way back. Stamina wasn't the problem, it was that Tanjiro would be to injured to withstand the speed they would travel at. Still, he had no other choice besides waiting for Giyuu to pass out from exhaustion, which would take a while considering the stamina of a well trained Hashira. Tanjiro was the best option to maintain a good reputation for the Hashira as a whole. Shinazugaw bursted into the room without considering that there were other patients, or people, inside.
"Tanjiro, let's go."
The injured slayer made confused eye contact with him,
"What?"

One moment he was peacefully resting on the bed waiting for the oranges he asked for, and the next he was over Shinazugawa's shoulder going somewhere.
"Ummm so where are we going?"
Tanjiro had never been on these roads of the slayer headquarters, so he didn't know where they were headed. Tanjiro hadn't stayed long enough to actually explore the place like other slayers did. The only reason he would enter headquarters was because he was injured and nothing else.
"The dining hall."
Tanjiro didn't know that the place had a dining hall, so it was his first time hearing it. Though, it didn't faze him that the place had one. The headquarters was already made up of ten mansions, so a dining hall wasn't surprising for the place to have.
"Why are you bringing me there?"
Shinazugawa kept running,
"Because Tomioka is bawling his eyes out like a child."
Tanjiro could've never imagined hearing something like that, but he kept calm. If Giyuu-san needed him than he would help. Giyuu had saved his life time and time again, and it was only proper to return the favor somehow.

Entering the dining hall wasn't eventful. There was an area that was clearly being avoided, but all of the eyes were being drawn to that place. Tanjiro could already smell all of the feelings in the place, and the strongest ones were where all of the eyes were looking. That was where Giyuu was. Shinazugawa didn't even need to say a word for Tanjiro to start walking towards that direction.

The air around him got calmer the closer he got to Giyuu. Tanjiro wasn't scared, he wasn't annoyed, worried or ashamed. He was perfectly calm. He calmly opened his arms and draped them around Giyuu's neck gently.
"Giyuu."
The tears stopped flowing out of Giyuu's eyes and he had started calming down. Giyuu grabbed Tanjiro's wrist softly and held on. He didn't grip his wrist like he was desperately trying to hold onto his last important thing in his life. It was more like an abandoned child seeking comfort from the first person they meet on the side of the street. Tanjiro pulled up his arm and Giyuu held on.
"Let's....let's go for a walk."
Giyuu didn't resist Tanjiro in any way. He just silently followed Tanjiro outside while holding onto his wrist like a lost child.

Tanjiro allowed Giyuu to keep his hand around his wrist as they walked, and so long as Giyuu didn't tighten his grip, Tanjiro would allow him to stay as so. The two peacefully walked down the path ways of the headquarter are reached a well. Tanjiro pulled water from the well and used it to wash the tear stains off Giyuu's face. After there wasn't a single trace of the multiple tears that had rushed out of the dark blue eyes and Giyuu got a sip of water, the two of them sat next to each other with their backs against the well.
"Tanjiro..."
Giyuu didn't know what to say. He just felt the need to say his name. To realize that Tanjiro was really there, to know that he wasn't going to be taken away, to be reassured that his blood wouldn't spill on the ground again. Tanjiro allowed his head to fall onto Giyuu's shoulder.
"Giyuu, what caused you to cry?"
Tanjiro didn't look at Giyuu's face as he listened to what Giyuu had to say.
"I was just thinking about my past with my sister, and my best friend. I got emotional and all of a sudden I was crying."
Tanjiro didn't ask if what he said was true. He didn't question anything that came out of Giyuu's mouth. He just listened as Giyuu spit lies out of his mouth.
"For some reason, I-"
"Can you promise me something?"
Giyuu stayed silent and listened to what Tanjiro had to say. He closed his mouth and no more lies slipped out. Tanjiro spoke freely with his eyes forward, and the air around him as calm as ever.
"You make memories that will, sooner or later, over write the old. After all, humans don't have the capacity to hold all of their full memories. We only remember the important parts, the instances that peek our full interest. So, while your new memories rewrite the old remember this. Gods only live because humans worship them. You could say that gods are bellow humans. When no one remembers them, they disappear.  Promise me that you'll remember that you only have to say 'no' to get out of this cycle."
Giyuu didn't understand why Tanjiro wanted him to remember that. He didn't understand why Tanjiro was saying this in the first place. It was like he knew something was going to happen. It was like Tanjiro was informing him of what might happened in his life, and what could solve the problem. Still, Giyuu wanted to keep a promise to Tanjiro. Whether the promise made sense or not, Giyuu just wanted something that could tie him and Tanjiro together. At least in this place, Giyuu wanted to be tied to Tanjiro even if it was something as simple as a promise.
"I'll remember that all I have to do is say 'no.' I promise."
Tanjiro lightly smiled and then he fell asleep. After hearing that Giyuu was going to keep his promise, he was happy and allowed himself to rest. Giyuu was happy to hear Tanjiro's light snores on his shoulder, and he ended up falling asleep with his head laying on top of Tanjiro's.

"No matter what you say or do, he will not allow the cycle to end."
"..."
There were screens playing out moments in someone's life with a teen chained to the ground in front of the screens. All four limbs chained down with a man behind him sitting in a white leather chair. The man had a smirk on his face and the teen just sat there looking at the screens.