We'll protect each other (SabiGiyuu)

31

Sabito's POV
I tore my gaze from Shoto's overexcited expression, deciding to focus on the mission at hand. "Well, it was nice talking to you, Shoto, but Giyuu and I have to take care of this demon problem. We'll see you around, okay?"

The white-haired boy nodded in understanding. "Alright, good luck!" He waved goodbye as we made our way back through the crowd to the edge of the street. "So where are the bodies?" I asked quietly, seriousness hanging over my words.

Giyuu's mouth formed a tight line. "This way," the hashira grasped my hand, pulling me against the flow of the crowd and into an alleyway. A minute later, we came across two bodies strewn across the floor. Next to one of them, a kimono was laying crumpled in the dirt. I didn't give it a second thought, the smell rising from the scene was enough to convince me I probably didn't want to know.

"I wanted to bury them, but..." The ravenette gestured to the space around us. "You can see why I couldn't."

Exhaling slowly, I nodded. "Yeah, not a lot of room. I think people would notice of there were a couple of bodies buried behind their shops, anyway." Looking up and down the alley, thoughts of where the demon could be hiding plagued my mind. "UGH! Where is that damn demon!?" I shouted in frustration, balling my hands into fists.

Giyuu glanced at me, maintaining a calm, straight face. "Maybe the demon left. Maybe it's gone," he offered.

I shook my head, turning to walk away through the alley. "A demon wouldn't leave a place so full of food. There are hundreds- possibly thousands of people here, and even more places to hide! I wouldn't be surprised if there's a demon just pretending to be a human so it can get away with existing here."

The water hashira chased after me, catching up and slowing down to a fast walk to match my pace. "Sabito, we've been here for days. It'd be alright if we called off one mission, right?"

"Of course not! I'm not leaving til that demon is dead."

"Then calm down and think. Where would a demon be right now, a few hours from sunrise after killing, but not eating, three humans?"

I stopped moving and waited for the gears in my head to stop moving a million miles per hour. "The real question is, why didn't it eat?"

Giyuu shrugged, looking down at a few blades of grass poking out of the ground. "Either it wasn't hungry, or it was stopped by something."

"But other than Shoto, you and I are the only demon slayers here. Trust me, he would have been bragging if he killed a demon tonight. Those bodies were fresh. Most likely killed within the past few hours," I estimated.

A moment passed before Giyuu looked up at me. "You don't think..."

I cursed under my breath as the idea sunk in.

No time was wasted as we rushed back into the streets to find any clue of where we could find the man with red eyes. If anything, it was a lead. But we weren't going to take the chance of letting a possible demon roam Tokyo freely.

After searching for what had to have been another twenty minutes, I heard a faint, muffled scream coming from inside an apartment building. Both my and Giyuu's heads turned towards the source of the noise, and we hurried to get into the building so we could see what had happened.

I pushed past the people in front of me to force the door open, parting the way for Giyuu to move through. He ran up the stairs first, no emotions displayed on his face. I followed suit with equal urgency, ignoring the confused and frightened stares of passerby who had heard the scream as well. The carpeted floor gave way to a lavishly decorated hall, electric lightning hanging from the ceiling every few paces. Giyuu had started trying the doors, and I was about to start helping when a young boy with red hair ran past me.

His box knocked against my arm, and I quickly reached out to grab his shoulder. He felt the contact and turned quickly, one hand on the hilt of his katana and the other clutched loosely around his rib cage.

"Tanjiro?"

The young swordsman looked over me, quickly recognizing who I was. "Sabito! What are you doing here?" His head turned to take in Giyuu's presence as well, and he eased his death grip on his sword. "Oh thank goodness, you're both here," he whispered gratefully.

"What do you mean by that?" I let go of his shoulder.

"No time to explain." He limped slightly as he sped over to a door at the end of the hallway. "The person is in here!"

In an instant, Giyuu had burst through the door, and it swung open with a complaining creak. I rushed in after him and Tanjiro, the latter of which headed directly for a small bedroom full of children's toys and furniture.

I stepped inside to see a women and her child, the same ones I had seen earlier, dead on the floor. Blood pooled from clean, deep cuts on the backs of their necks, soaking into their clothes and coating the floor in a dark red sheen. Both had dark hair, and the little girl had her's done up in two small braids, big pink bows holding each of them up.

Tanjiro stared down at the mess with a look of fury, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles were white. "They were so clueless... they didn't know he was a demon. Then he went along and killed them, all because he didn't need them for his disguise anymore."

I narrowed my eyes. "What does that mean?"

"This woman," he pointed to the mother, "was married to Muzan Kibutsuji. She thought he actually cared for her and her daughter, but in the end, they were just a disposable way for him to hide from the corp."

At the mention of the demon king, Giyuu and I stiffened. "You're sure??" He questioned. "You're sure it was Kibutsuji."

"I know his scent from... from when he killed my family and turned Nezuko into a demon," Tanjiro confessed. "I ran into him earlier this night, and saw him turn an innocent man into a demon."

I decided not to press the matter any more, to rather focus on locating the demon king instead. "Is there any chance of finding him now?"

The fiery teen shook his head. "His scent doesn't lead anywhere, it's almost like he came in here, killed them, and vanished. He's probably long gone by now."

Shame. I really wanted to shove my sword down that demon's throat.

A soft rattling from the box on his back drew all of our attentions.

Nezuko emerged from the wooden container slowly, dropping onto the ground before growing to her normal size.

"Hey, Nezuko," Tanjiro greeted her softly, taking her hand in his as she took in her surroundings. When her eyes met the two bodies on the floor, they narrowed first with anger, then with sorrow. She got down onto her knees and gently stroked the bloodstained cheek of the child, then placed her other hand on the mother's head.

My body relaxed at the show of compassion, and I watched Giyuu out of the corner of my eye as he stepped over to me and let his head fall tiredly on my shoulder.

"Tired?" I whispered softly.

"Mhmm" he hummed. "But I can't sleep now, we have things to take care of." A small sigh escaped his lips.

"Well if we stay here much longer we'll be seen by the police, so we should get moving anyways." I gestured for Tanjiro and Nezuko to follow. He quickly offered her to get back into the box, but she shook her head, holding onto his hand like the protective younger sister she was.

Time skip

We'd settled into a quick jog as we made our way towards the demon slayer headquarters. Tanjiro had to head off to another mission, and we had wished him well on his journey before continuing.

Our plan was to explain the situation to the master and the other hashira, then play with jinx and get some rest. We would continue taking regular missions until Kibutsuji surfaced again, then we'd help defeat him in any way we could. And preferably not die in the process.

Ok this ending is absolutely junk, but it's late and I want to go find something to deal with my runny nose. I apologize for not updating sooner, I'll try to do some writing tomorrow. Good night/day!