PEACE | demon slayer

029

y/n heated the food; it consisted of giyu's favourite simmered salmon and daikon and y/n's favourite dish. giyu sat at the table, awaiting for the meal. he had asked if there was any need of help which the girl shook her head and dismissed that question. 

silently, the man peeked at y/n in the kitchen. her hands skilfully moving items in the kitchen and checking on the food. he was bewildered at the girl's skills and was genuinely grateful towards the things that he had down for him. as the whiff of the aromatic salmon and daikon lingered in the air, giyu knew that he would be eating his favourite dish. 

that thought brought a slight smile on his face. although he didn't want to show it, the thought of eating his favourite food, warm, made his heart full. 

y/n plated the food and brought it out on the table. upon the first dish reaching the table, giyu stood up from his seat to offer his help in bringing out the dishes. y/n appreciated the man's help and the two sat down to say their prayers before eating. 

"is shinazugawa-san busy?"
y/n casually asked where giyu nodded. he was trying his best to supress a smile from crawling up his face. 

y/n couldn't tell or understand his facial expression but took that nod as an answer. 

"is the salmon to your liking? i marinated it a little longer, i don't know if its saltier..."
y/n trailed off, thinking about her preparing the fish beforehand. 

the revamped simmered salmon and daikon was in fact better than before. giyu was really trying is best to hold in that smile from showing. he wanted to say that it was really delicious. but at the same time, he couldn't find the courage to. 

"it's... nice." 
giyu said in a rather quiet tone. animated flowers appeared around y/n as she heard the comment from the man who was eating silently. y/n was a little worried when the water pillar didn't make any remark on her cooking and was instead suffering in pure silence. 

"that's a relief." 
y/n smiled and continued to eat her cooking. tsuki flew down and perched herself on y/n's shoulders. 

"fish! fish! lady y/n!"
y/n's eyes widened at tsuki's comment. she was never a fan of fishes so why was her crow asking for fishes? 

"do you want the fish, tsuki?"
y/n asked curiously. 

"no! fish! fish is out of the water!"
y/n sweat dropped at her reply. well of course it would be out of the water. 

"mm yeah, the fish is out of the water."
giyu was slightly amused at the words of the crow since it didn't really make sense in any context. 

"koi pond fishes out of water?"
tsuki asked while y/n was alarmed by her response. 

"tsuki... please don't bring the koi fishes out of the water."

"yes, lady y/n."
the crow replied with a sad tone. the playful crow thought that she could fly into the koi pond and pull out some fishes to feast on. when y/n informed her not to, the crow was a little saddened by it. 

tsuki stretched her wings and flew away. she decided that she would pester and scare the fishes. completely forgetting that y/n could read her thoughts, y/n warned the bird. 

"please don't harass the fishes, tsuki." 
the bird was crestfallen but nodded and decided that she was going to play with shiro. 

"how do you know that she's going to disturb the fishes?"
giyu asked, he was curious as to why she knew that he was there and the backyard. 

"tsuki told me."
tilting his head, giyu couldn't understand what y/n meant. he was sure that the crows said nothing about his appearance, so what did y/n mean? y/n took notice on the confused expression of giyu, who was staring blankly at her. the girl had to admit it, it was a little endearing. 

just a little. 

"i can read the thoughts of animals, including the crows."
a wave of realisation washed upon giyu as he finally understood what she meant but 'the crows told her'. 

y/n decided to not let the conversation die, she asked about the joint mission. 

"how was the joint mission?"

"there were no signs of the upper moon. however, we did find the deceased crow's body and three nichirin blades."
y/n's eyes widened in fear. so it was true... all the crows i had sent out, died. i should have been more careful. those lives were lost, because of me. 

biting her inner cheeks, y/n didn't know that she had been holding her breath for so long. her mind wandered to the times where she had trained those batches of crows, guilt arising in her. 

giyu noticed that the girl wasn't breathing due to his heightened senses. a daze expression plastered on y/n's face as a myriad of thoughts swarmed in her head. 

"y/n, breath."
those words brought her back to reality. the girl gulped and apologised, 
"my apologies, my mind wandered off." 

giyu knew that expression, the one filled with remorse and guilt welling up. contained in a sphere, all rounded with no single crack in it. that feeling would grow in an individual, haunting them in their darkest time. 

he felt that and understood what y/n was thinking. 

"it's... not your fault." 
it was a gentler tone but had an empty feeling towards it. you're such a hypocrite/  the man mentally scolded himself and watched the reaction of the girl in front of him. 

a warm smile dawned upon on her face. she appreciated the words of the water pillar. it reassured her just for that bit of time. 

"thank you giyu."