"𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘒𝘰𝘤𝘩𝘰."

• 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚞𝚎 •

Giyuu Tomioka, who had lost his parents at a young age and later on his sister, never knew that he'd find other familial figures in this lifetime of his. Even though he considers him as his sensei, Sakonji Urokodaki acted as the father he never knew.

Sabito, his other pupil besides Giyuu himself, was like a brother to him. The protective, best-friend like older brother, who gave his life in order to protect him and others in the final selection on the path of officially becoming a demon slayer.

That was the push it took for Giyuu to fully break. In his mind, Sabito was another person he cared deeply about that he failed to protect, another family member who had died in the hands of demons and he blamed himself because he couldn't do shit.

His weak limbs dragged him to the exit of the final selection area, dried tears and exhaustion written all over his face. His mind was broken, his emotions a fleeting dream as he awoke, back safe in a wisteria house, all warm and cozy while his best friend and other people suffered horrible deaths.

When he returned to his master, Giyuu was a different person - barely eating, rarely sleeping, having less motivation to live than he had before.

He was more of a mess than he was when he had lost his sister.

He tucked away his slayer uniform in a closet, never touching it as days, even weeks passed by.

Urokodaki stayed optimistic, but in reality, he felt hopeless in helping him recover from his experiences, because deep down, he knew that Giyuu couldn't.

On the day of him receiving his nichirin blade, he was filled with anger.

He felt nothing but anger.

Anger towards the demons for being monsters, the monsters that took everything he ever knew from him - taking everything from innocent people who are then forced to live lives filled with anguish and trauma. The demons take and take, and Giyuu knew it was only natural that they should give back. He promised to make sure they will.

As he sat in the dark late into the night, he snapped, his mental state becoming more deranged and unfixable.

His hand tightened around the grip of his new sword, silently vowing to erase every single demon who roamed the world in a fury.

He promised to never stop until every one of them was gone, a fire of intense hatred igniting within him which stuck to him like a nail to wood.

His hatred would be the fury towards eliminating the threats towards anything worth being protected.

The next day, he left 'home' with Urokodaki wishing him farewell as Giyuu made his way to his first ever assigned mission as a demon slayer.

As he walked down the path of mercilessness, he only turned around, raised his hand in a wave and bid farewell to his teacher. Other than that, he never turned back for a second time, nor a third.

He didn't want to watch his 'home' grow more and more distant as he left it, his 'home' of childhood memories he'd be sure to cherish.

A few years go by, and every cut, every demon he slayed only fueled his rage. Not that he ever showed it anyway, he was good at hiding his feelings; he was good at hiding everything.

He never realized how much he's been working or how strong he's become, since he was too blind to focus on the present due to his mind being stuck in the past. He knew it was because he was bad at letting go, he was self conscious about it.

Before he knew it, he had officially risen to the position of Shōgun at the age of 19. Not that he wanted it, he only accepted it out of Oyakata's wishes and peer pressure from none other than Shinobu Kocho, who he, at the time, knew as his colleague's - Kanae Kocho's - younger sister.