Can't I See You One Last Time?

Chapter 34: Behind the Scenes

"Alright, I'm going."
"Where are you going?"
"..."
Going back to a few days later, Giyuu and Shinazugawa were having one of their weekly meet ups. This meet up happened at an udon stall like usual. Both of them were sitting down at the stall with a seat separating the two. They were close, but not too close that they would directly sit next to each other. They just were more comfortable in this seating arrangement. 

Giyuu seemed to have just made up his mind to do something and voiced his decision aloud. Shinazugawa was just siting there waiting for something to come out of Giyuu's mouth seeing as everything he said was going in one ear and out the other. He only figured that out by looking over Giyuu's expression. It was a slight change, but it was there. The look on his face as if he was looking at the horizon during an anticlimactic sunset. That was the only reason Shinazugawa knew that his mind was somewhere else, and it didn't take long for him to figure out where it was. 
"No."
Giyuu looked at Shinazugawa with an annoyed face. It's not like he was planning on doing something rash or interfering with the growth of the young. He just wanted to watch. Not in a creepy way, but just make sure everything played out right. 
"I'm going."
"No."
Both were stern on their beliefs on what they should do. Giyuu wanting to go, Shinazugawa wanting Giyuu to stay put. Either way, Giyuu didn't want to start a fight because that would only eat up time. He wanted to find the perfect reason as to why he should go. Thankfully for him, the perfect reason popped into his head.
"To beat Muzan in the final battle, we need as many people as possible, so I should go because if I jump in at the right time he won't be put out of commission." 
That was a good reason that Shinazugawa couldn't defect with ease. Now if Giyuu said something like,
'I want to make sure he stays safe.'
Shinazugawa would have the easiest time coming up with a comeback for that, but Giyuu didn't use that reason. He used something that actually had some purpose behind it. However hiding behind that purpose, was Giyuu's feelings of worry and anxiousness. 

Shinazugawa had to think about it, letting Giyuu go. He had already knew that it wasn't a good idea. Of course the reason was that the man got insanely defensive and overprotective when it came to the kid. So, Shinazugawa had to think of a reason as to why Giyuu should stay here, and why he should go instead.
"Giyuu, I understand that you have deep feelings for the kid, but-"
"Then let me go."
Giyuu was not about to fall to some dumb reason. He was going to go and that was the end of it. Shinazugawa was not going to allow that to happen. 
"No, you can't control your emotions."
Giyuu couldn't deny that. The moment he sees the teen in a life threatening situation he would want to do nothing but jump in and safe him. But during this mission, he couldn't. The life or death situations were what awakened the dormant power residing in his will. Giyuu couldn't take that moment away from him. He didn't want to take that away, but he did want to be by his side when the teen could finally faint without a worry. 
"I'll go, even if I have to bite  my tongue when I get there."
Both of them knew that biting his tongue wasn't going to be enough to stop Giyuu's urge to run to the rescue. The only thing that would stop Giyuu from running in and embracing that small figure into his arms was the interference of another person.

That was it! The interference of another person. Giyuu didn't mind if he wasn't the only one there. He just wanted to watch over him making sure everything was going to be okay. 
"Why don't you just come too?"
Shinazugawa was amazed that Giyuu actually managed to come up with that solution. Obviously, he knew that was an option from the start, but he didn't want Giyuu to realize that because of the amount of work he would have to do. Convincing Giyuu to plan things out rather than winging it was difficult enough, but if they really chose that solution, Shinazugawa would have to physically hold him back from jumping off the roof. He was a Hashira himself, but holding back another Hashira when they were in their right mind was hard enough. He couldn't imagine what would happened when rationality completely left their brain. Shinazugawa didn't want to think about that. Still, he knew Giyuu wasn't going to back down and he couldn't allow the guy to go by himself. He had no choice but to agree,
"Fine."

Getting to their destination, the destination of going to, the two of them made sure to stay out of sight. They made sure that not even a flicker of their clothing reached the the other slayer's eyes. Giyuu was anxious for what was going to happed to his beloved. He knew something bad was going to happen but never did he see such injuries in person. At the time he could, Giyuu had no idea about the tragic situation the teen was in and his feelings were still in the development stage, so he never visited his crush when he was in such a state. He prepared himself. Prepared himself for the tragic and heartbreaking sense he was going to force himself to watch. He prepared himself as well as he could, but nothing he could do would prepare his heart to watch his crush collapse to the floor and struggle to get up. 

When he was posing at a girl, Giyuu didn't take his eyes off him. He wanted to get closer, but every time he got even a tad bit close Shinazugawa would pull him back. 
"No."
Giyuu just wanted to get closer to him, even if it was just for a second. He yearned to just pass by him while walking on the street, but he couldn't risk it. Giyuu stayed far away, so he wouldn't mess up his beloved's future. He didn't want to mess anything up, but his yearning to get close to the teen only grew with every glance he took at him.

"Let me go!"
Shinazugawa was holding Giyuu back with everything he had as they both watched the red head get slammed into building after building. Giyuu was struggling to get out of Shinazugawa's hold. He was holding back screams of desperation and anger. He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry. He wanted to turn his head, but his own feelings forced him to watch.
"We can't...interfere."
Giyuu knew this but it didn't matter to him. As they both predicted, all rationality had left Giyuu's  body and nothing was going to bring it back but seeing his crush smile without worry glazing over his eyes. Nothing but the teen's safety was on his mind. Nothing but the urge to run to the rescue ran through every inch of his body. He just wanted to save him. Giyuu couldn't sit and watch someone so dear to him get tortured for a single night...
so how could Tanjiro sit and watch him for the next thousand years?