Always Will Be

Chapter 1

"Promise me...that when we grow up, we'll run away and never come back. Me, you, and Ume. Promise me!"

"I promise, Yuna."

Gyutaro blinked, pausing in his meal as the words from an eternity ago echoed in his mind.

More than a lifetime had passed since that promise had been made, yet the bitter winter snow that had clung to her lashes and tattered kimono that day remained fresh in the recesses of the demon's mortal memories. The ones he had tried countless times to bury alongside his abandoned humanity. Try as he might, they still clawed their way back to the forefront every so often. The one ghost of the past that just refused to die, to stay forgotten, to stay buried in the ground like he had left her that day. For over a hundred years she had followed him.

He had broken that promise to her. The three of them had never made it out of the Entertainment District. For here he and his sister still were. But yet, things were quite different now. The two of them had power. They weren't helpless, starving, preyed on children anymore. Now they were the predator; the beast of the night that exacted rightful suffering upon those more fortunate. The tearing of flesh, the gnashing of bones, all tokens of solatium the world would forever owe them for having spit on them.

Gyutaro had seen to it all this time that the two of them were never cold nor hungry ever again. He'd made sure he had kept his promise to Daki by never leaving her side for over a century. Maybe, by upholding that promise to his sister, it could rectify the one he had broken with his only friend. Or at least, that's what the Upper Moon had settled on telling himself all these years.

"What's your deal? Keep eating you idiot or she'll get cold." Daki's shrill voice reverberating off the dirt walls of the "store house."

Gyutaro glances over at his sibling, her pretty face covered in crimson as a half eaten limb laid limp in her grasp.

"Shut up, I'll do what I want." Gyutaro snarked as he returned to taking another bite out of his own portion of their victim.

The debt collector didn't know why she was complaining; this was his catch for the night after all. The siblings had worked out a routine from prowling the nights of the past century. Daki would stay and work and seek out prey among her fellow house courtesans. While her brother would leave her to her work in favor of lurking the city streets.

Ever since he'd become a demon, Gyutaro had never felt whole without the hunt. The innate need to conquer, ravage, and devour his prey was ever present and it gnawed at him with each passing day until the sun gave way to the moon. The high of getting the kill was always the same; as was the feeling of it never being enough.

Besides, sitting on the sidelines to watch his little sister do all the work was never his style. All the providing, all the protecting. No, that was his purpose. That's what big brothers did. What he did. As it had always been and always will be.

He let her carry on like this all these years because Daki had always been so gung-ho on proving herself to be useful. To be strong. However, Gyutaro was no fool, it was not so much to prove herself to him but rather to Lord Muzan. Despite her best efforts, his sister would often fail in her pursuits and naturally it was always up to him to finish what she couldn't. But he didn't mind much, obviously it was never anything he couldn't handle. At the end of the day, their team work was impeccable with her work providing them with such a wonderful cover. One that allowed them to feast all the while plucking the Hashira one by one from the shadows that came in search of their heads. They would never succeed, not as long as Oni-Chan was around.

As long as the two of them were together, they could never be beat. The streets of the entertainment district were practically the blood in their veins and the air in their half-dead lungs. It was their birthright; their domain for all eternity. Nothing and nobody would ever get past them. Nothing would tear them apart.

"You'll always be my best friend, Gyu-Chan."

There it was again. That same stubborn ghost. The fragments of the past now so far behind him her voice echoed within him like she stood down a long tunnel. But so much else of her remained crystal clear. The warmth of her embrace. The way her skin would glisten in the rain. How his chest felt when she laughed at the silliest things. The love he could feel in her eyes. All things that had died along with her.

Gyutaro instinctively shook his head free of the thoughts. Strange, he never thought of her this much anymore. In a way, it was easy to make himself forget; as some things truly are better off dead. But the demon would be lying if he tried to say he hadn't spent many nights wondering what could've been had he only been there. For her. And his sister.

"Ugh, you are acting SO weird tonight Oni-chan!" Came Daki's voice again.

"I'm just tired." He muttered lowly.

"Tired? What are you talking about, demons don't get tired! We don't need sleep!" Daki squawked.

"Will you shut up already? You know what I mean." He snapped back. It's true, demons don't need to sleep but it didn't mean they couldn't. The sun was about to rise and there was nothing else to kill time with anyhow. So Gyutaro would often spend the days sleeping. Or at least trying to, if Daki wasn't yapping his ear off about whatever stupid meaningless human had pissed her off and how she was going to rip them apart limb by limb. But often, she would follow suit as her brother into dreamless slumber.

Once finished with his "dinner" Gyutaro lazily ambled over to the bed he and Daki shared. A plethora of pillows and blankets they had accumulated over the years that more so resembled a nest rather than a bed. But that was how they liked it, certainly more luxurious than what they had in the old days but still not straying too far from those same old roots.

"Are you coming or what?" Gyutaro grouched at his sister as he laid down.

She said nothing, only skipping over to him as her response. Daki laid her head down on his outstretched arm as she nestled closer into him. All these pillows at her disposal yet she always chose his bicep as her pretty little head's resting place. Gyutaro proudly remembers her telling him once that he was her favorite pillow. And as always, he had made it his job to provide his precious sister with only the finest. Day by day, this was how they would sleep all these years.

Though, it hadn't always been this way. Once upon a time, there had been the three of them sleeping together in a heap.

But that was then and this was now. Now, it was only just the two of them. Come dusk, it would be no different as well. Always the same and always will be, he had told himself.

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Hi! I'm super excited to be stepping into the Demon Slayer fanfic scene! After I saw this last season I immediately got this idea in my head and had to see it come to life! I really hope you enjoy this series as much as I'm loving writing it!

Once again, just like the series summary states, this fic will be going to some very dark places. But it only makes sense considering how horrible Gyutaro and Daki's childhood was. You have been told, so don't come screaming in the comments at me about it lol.