4 Years [SaneGiyuu]

3

Now wearing his blanket over his head like a hood, Giyuu leaned up against the wall by the kitchen, desperately trying to fix his sad face into a normal, blank one. When he was sure his self-murderous insides wouldn't be noticeable to anyone but himself, he slid the door open and stepped in.

His nose was immediately greeted by the delicious smells of many different types of food. There was a surplus of platters on the counters, all filled to the brim with diverse meals and snacks. There were sweet potatoes covering some plates on the left side of the room, right next to the sakura mochi and cooked seaweed. On the other side of the room, ginger sukhodoni, simmered radish, and Takikomi-Gohan were laid out in neat rows, crane origami spread in the gaps between them. Aoi stood in the center of it all, preparing another dish. Sitting on a cutting board but so far left untouched, was a ripe-looking watermelon.

Am I.. interrupting something? With a small frown, Giyuu rapped his knuckles against the doorframe.

Aoi jumped, turning sharply to see who was there. "Oh. You. There's simmered salmon with daikon, soy sauce, and sweet rice wine to the right of the cabinets. I cut the sake out, I don't need you even the slightest bit intoxicated while you're healing." She pointed a wooden spoon at the water hashira sternly. "I would have given it to you sooner, but you were asleep when Sumi brought it to your room, so she brought it back." Pointing the utensil towards a cup beside the dish, she added "There's pain meds in that water, I want you to drink all of it."

Giyuu opened his mouth to protest, but before he could get a word in, Aoi jutted in once more.

"Don't you even start about not needing it as much as the younger slayers. We have more than enough meds for everyone, so you get your fair share too."

"Okay." walking over to the tray with his food, Giyuu smiled slightly at the fact that she'd gone through the trouble of making him his favorite food. Balancing it carefully, he took a step towards the door, then turned back to the girl. "Are you doing okay?"

Aoi sighed heavily. "I'll be honest, I've definitely never been worse than right now. But doing this," she waved to the foods scattered around her, "is helping a bit. I'll go give them their food later, right after I finish Shinazugawa's ohagi." A pause. "Should I give Tokito the origami, too?"

Giyuu nodded. "He would like that, I think.."

Aoi smiled weakly, then went back to preparing Sanemi's food. "Now get out of here, I'll talk to Shinazugawa about his attitude."

"How-"

"Magic. Naho tattled on him while you were outside. Door. Now."

Whisking himself out of the kitchen, Giyuu took care not to drop anything as he made his way back to his room. Aoi is doing so much for us and for the deceased.. and here I am, still doing nothing.

Maybe it would be easier to go if I made a list of things I could say to them? ..I'll do that. That's a good idea.

When Giyuu slipped back into his bedroom, he shut the door with the heel of his foot and set his food down on the small desk. He sat down, thinking while he ate. He was finding it easier to do things with only one hand as the days went by, as he got more practice. Of course it was even more inconvenient that he only had his left arm to work with, but he could manage. Eventually he finished with his breakfast, and pushed the bowl to the side, chasing his last bite with the medicated water. As expected, it tasted like medicine. And it was disgusting. But now he had some ideas for his list, so, taking up a pencil and sliding a piece of paper into place, he began to scribble down in barely legible handwriting what he thought would help him.

Kocho: apologize to her for not being more social

Tokito: tell him you'll never forget him

Rengoku: he was nice.. thank him for that

Himejima: again, thank him for tolerating you

Iguro: tell him you think his scar looks fascinating, and that his snake friend is safe

Kanroji: thank her for being so sweet all of the time and for making sure you didn't starve yourself to death that one time

Oyakata-sama: tell him how much you appreciate him, and that he's strong in ways other than physically

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't think of something to say to Sanemi's brother. The boy had contributed, and held his own, so why shouldn't Giyuu honor him like he would any of the other hashira? After a good ten minutes of searching for any acceptable thing he might be able to tell him, he finally wrote down:

Genya: tell him he made a difference and that he matters

———————

Sanemi stared up at the ceiling. Aoi had just finished scolding him for being so harsh with Giyuu, most of which he'd ignored. If anything, he was doing the world a favor by knocking that fake ass cute smile off the water pillar's face. Cute? Annoying. That's what he meant: annoying. Not cute.

"You're lucky I don't just stop giving you medicine to help with the pain, mister," Aoi had threatened.

Was getting angry at Giyuu really a good enough reason to cut off his medicine supply? Apparently so, because in Aoi's words, she couldn't "heal depression with an ice pack." And although Sanemi seriously doubted that the hashira was depressed, now he was curious. If Giyuu was as down in the dumps as Aoi suggested, would he go so far as to harm himself? Would he turn to suicide? If he did, how would Sanemi feel about it? He had no clue.

Even though his opinion on the water pillar was undecided, he had made up his mind on something entirely different. Tomorrow he would go to the cemetery and visit his brother and the fallen hashira, regardless of whether the butterlfy girls said he was clear or not. Sanemi didn't care if it messed his gut up even more, he'd been healing for a month, so it must be at least good enough to walk to the damn place and back. If he got told off again, so be it. He just wanted to tell his brother that he still loved him.

———————

Oh how I love knowing that I've already planned out the end of my story ^^ it's such a secure, safe feeling