4 Years [SaneGiyuu]

4

To clarify, in this fanfic, everything before and during the final battle stays the same. Same deaths, same battles, same events.

Timeskip to the next morning :)

**Im just gonna say the whole book has a mild swearing TW because of Sanemi-

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Sanemi blinked his eyes open in the dim light of early morning. Even through his drawn curtains, he could tell it he sun was just barely peeking over the horizon. With a heavy exhale, he turned over onto his side and sat up, letting his legs dangle over the side of the bed. Pushing himself to his feet, he quietly started out of the room and into the hallway. When one of the butterfly girls woke and went to check on him, they would freak seeing he wasn't there, but he didn't give two shits if they were worried or not.

Ghosting a hand on the wall just in case he needed to support himself, Sanemi tensed and made his way outside. He could feel someone's eyes on him, but he didn't need to be wasting energy trying to figure out whose. As long as they left him alone, they wouldn't have any problems with him.

Birds twittered in the background, singing their 'good mornings' for the world to hear. Cicadas buzzed, invisible among the rustling leaves that shielded them. The sounds were becoming increasingly annoying the longer they persisted, but at least it wasn't silent. Silence would be even more unbearable.

The cemetery wasn't terribly far from the estate, only a mile or so from the butterfly mansion. The master's estate was much closer. After everything, the destroyed estate had been rebuilt so the Ubuyashiki family could continue to live there, but there were still small traces of what had happened to it. Charred pebbles in the surrounding gardens and dead greenery being some of them. Sanemi slowed down as he passed it. He had a few things he wanted to say to the new master, but he'd save those words for another time. There would be more opportunities, and currently, he was fighting against the most painful headache.

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Giyuu performed one last respectful bow before the headstone before standing and getting up to move onto the next one down the line: Mitsuri's. Obanai's had been the one before her's, and after this, he only had Shinobu's and Genya's left.

Lowering himself down to sit in front of the grave, Giyuu exhaled heavily, drawing another long breath in. This was harder than it should be. But so far he'd managed to hold in any tears that threatened to fall, which was good. He tugged at the edge of the borrowed haori he was wearing, pulling it back into place.

"Hi.." he started off quietly, his voice just barely reaching over a whisper. "I didn't really talk to you much, Kanroji, and I definitely didn't thank you for everything you did for me. That was a mistake on my part, so I'm sorry. I think it was mostly because I never felt like talking, but also, Iguro was always watching over you, and glared at me until I turned away." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I hope everything worked out for you two." Pausing again, he tried to think of more things he could say. "Thank you for.. not ignoring how much weight I was losing. Thank you for noticing soon enough to save me from myself." Giyuu bowed low enough for his forehead to touch the ground. His gratitude was only halfhearted, as he had really wished for that to be his end back then. Starving had hurt, but it was better than being killed or mauled to death by a demon. Not that he'd ever get the chance to try that method out.

As he got up to shift over and sit before Shinobu's butterfly-decorated headstone, he hoped from the bottom of his aching heart that the deceased pillars would hear and appreciate what he was saying to each of them. Scratch that, they didn't have to appreciate it, and he knew most of them wouldn't. But he at least wanted to be heard.

He hesitated before talking, this time. There were quite a few things he could say to the insect hashira, not all of them very kind. It would be rude, and quite strange, of him to get mad at a piece of stone sticking up from the earth, though, so he decided to stick to the niceties and the niceties only.

"I'm sorry, Kocho, that I wasn't as social as you kept telling me to be." Giyuu narrowed his eyes slightly. "I'msorryIdon'tknowwhattosaynext-"

So he spent the next few minutes just staring at the ground, trying to put together words into coherent sentences.

"I'll try to make more friends.. sorry again that I didn't start to sooner."

If Sabito was- hell, if anyone was there with him, they would have told Giyuu to stop apologizing so much. But no one was, so he had no one to tell him off for it.

After bowing once, Giyuu stood and went to find Genya's grave. It didn't take very long for him to locate, and when he did, Giyuu stood in front of it, looking down at the earth. "You didn't deserve to die.." he muttered. You and Tokito were too young to face death. He hadn't ever gotten the chance to get to know the young marksman, but based on what he heard from Tanjiro, Genya had been a great boy.

"Oi, what're you doing here?"

Giyuu jumped, startled. He hadn't heard Sanemi approaching, which really freaked him out. "How.. long have you been there?" He asked, turning to face the wind pillar.

"Just a minute or two. Now answer my question, jackass." Sanemi fixed Giyuu with a blank stare- not a glare, but just as intimidating. It made the water pillar want to shrivel up and die even more than he already did.

"I was paying my respects.. saying sorry to them."

"Sorry for what?" Sanemi crossed his arms.

"For not being what they all wanted me to be. Iguro would have preferred me dead, Kocho wanted me to be social, Kanroji wanted me to be happy-" Giyuu backed away from Genya's grave, casting his gaze once again to the ground.

The wind hashira had nothing to say about that. He took Giyuu's place in front of his little brother's grave, sitting down in a cross-legged position. "Be whatever the hell you want to be," he finally snapped. "I can't be bothered to care anymore, and we won't even have to deal with each other soon enough."

Assuming that Sanemi wanted to be left alone, Giyuu shied away, turning to begin the walk back to the Butterfly Mansion. Isn't he supposed to stay in his room? He shouldn't even be here if he's still healing.

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Sorry for the pause in updates :') I had a drop in motivation

Also yes, Sanemi still isn't aware that Giyuu lost an arm. The blanket hid it before, and now the haori did.