When the stars align for us

Chapter 14

It had been hours since the beginning of the final battle. The Hashira were losing stamina, while the lower ranks continued to fall in battle. By now, all slayers below the level of the Kamaboko squad had fallen, while the majority of the rest had sustained great injuries. Their blades red, Giyuu, Sanemi, Kyojuro, Ayaka, and Gyomei, remained focused on the battle, while Shinobu spent the remaining hours running between the battle and the injured slayers that required her medical care.
As time passed, Muzan unexpectedly transformed into a giant demonic creature that resembled a baby, in an effort to protect himself from the rising sun. The first light of day fell upon the warriors, leaving the darkness behind, signaling the beginning of a new era. As the light of dawn reached the Demon King, his body began to burn, slowly, but surely, turning into dust, revealing the microscopic value of the monster that had taken so many lives. Processing what had happened, the slayers dropped in exhaustion, each of them using nearby trees or weapons to keep themselves standing.
"...It's over," someone dared say, only to find out that they were oh, so very wrong. Tanjiro now resembled a demon. Having realized what had happened, all remaining slayers gripped their weapons tightly and launched themselves at the new Demon King. Nezuko decided to try to bring her brother to his senses by shaking him and pleading that he returnes to normality. Kanao, meanwhile, took one of the syringes carrying the cure, ran towards Tanjiro and stabbed him with the needle. She pushed the cure into him. Shinobu grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her back before Tanjiro could harm her. After a few seconds, Tanjiro looked at his sister on his left and hugged her, calming everyone down.
Now fully aware that the battle against the creatures he had dedicated his life to destroying was over, Giyuu shed a large amount of tears, releasing all he had been bottling up all these years. Shinobu, meanwhile, decided to take a different approach.
'Kanao,' she spoke, her voice laced with anger, 'why did you jump at Tanjiro while he was in that state?'
'I-'
'You could have died!' Shinobu shouted, letting out her frustration, as she went on a rant about the whole situation, shocking everybody present. At the end, she exhaled and proceeded to hug her sister.
'Never, ever, do something like that again, you hear me?' she spoke, though her tone was softer this time. Turning to her left, she noticed Giyuu smiling at her. She felt the urge to smile back, but decided against it, ignoring him.
'Alright, everyone follow me. We're going to the Butterfly Mansion,' she asserted.
...
Shinobu was sitting on the roof of her mansion, looking at the night sky. The battle was finally over. Her sister had been avenged. Now, she could live her life in peace, and so would everyone else. She suddenly remembered Giyuu. Sure, she had told him she loved him, and he had claimed he loved her too, but...there was something stopping her from being with him. The truth was, Shinobu had only ever discussed slaying demons with Giyuu, as that was all their lives had ever been about, and somehow...they had fallen in love. How? She didn't know.
Trapped in her head, Shinobu had failed to notice the presence next to her, until Giyuu lightly tapped her shoulder. She turned to her right to face him, noticing him wearing his usual blank expression.
'Kocho,' he said simply.
'Tomioka,' she smiled.
They stood in silence for a while.
'So...' Giyuu broke the silence, 'are we...dating now?'
Were they dating? She couldn't answer that. Instead, she decided to say something else.
'Tomioka,' she began, 'at the Infinity Castle you told me you loved me,'
He nodded, a bit confused.
'But the thing is, you don't know the real me,' she put on a blank expression.
'You never fell in love with me,' Shinobu claimed, 'you fell in love with the person I'm pretending to be. You don't know me, you don't know my pain, my scars, my past, dreams, or desires. And that is why, I don't accept your claim. I don't believe that you love me,' she finished.
Silence engulfed them yet again.
'Kocho,' Giyuu softly began, 'I do know the real you,' he simply said.
She gave him a look of impatience. He looked towards the sky.
'I fell in love with your smile. Your real one, the one you let yourself show when you're genuinely happy. With your determination, when you devoted yourself to killing that Upper Moon. With your intelligence, mannerisms, and of course....you're beautiful,' he finished, as she lightly blushed.
'I know about your pain, you revealed it to me when you spoke about your need to get rid of the demon. And then I understood why you wanted to kill Nezuko so badly. But, I don't know anything about your past,' Giyuu reflected. She waited a few seconds, then softly began to speak:
'My parents were killed by a demon when Kanae and I were very young. We decided then, that we would fight to protect other people from the same fate, despite our weakness. Some time after that, we met Kanao. She was a slave at the time. I didn't approve of it, so I threw some money at her owner's face and ran away with her,' Giyuu smiled softly, having started to cry, 'Later on, Kanae was killed by the Upper Rank, and I...,' she felt a tear roll down her cheek, 'I couldn't do anything to stop it...What about you?' she changed the topic.
'I also had an older sister. Tsutako. The day before her wedding, we encountered a demon. She told me to run away, while she sacrificed herself for my life,' he spoke slowly and quietly, 'That day I learned about demons, so I swore to become a demon slayer. There were two other kids who were trying to learn Water Breathing at my master's place. Sabito, my best friend, and Makomo. During the Final Selection, Sabito decided to save everyone from the demons, making sure everyone that year came out of the Selection alive. However, both he and Makomo,' Giyuu gulped, his voice breaking, 'died against the strongest demon in Final Selection...while trying to save me,'
He had begun to cry in earnest, and so had Shinobu. She hugged him tightly, both of them still looking at the sky.
'Kocho,' he gulped, 'how did you fall in love with someone like me?'
''Someone like you'?'
'I'm useless, Kocho,'
She hugged him even more tightly.
'You are not useless, Tomioka. You were one of the strongest Hashira in the Corps. And to answer your question...I don't know. I think it was your attitude. You seemed so mysterious and I wanted to get to know you. I enjoyed spending time with you. When I realized I was in love with you, I thought it was only a matter of time until I would have to die. So I decided it didn't matter how I fell in love with you. All that mattered to me was telling you before I lost the chance to,' Shinobu explained, 'Tomioka,' she began again, wiping his tears away from his face, 'the only meaning in our lives so far has been slaying demons. So, let's both find ways to live our lives fully now that this nightmare is over,'
Giyuu smiled softly, genuinely.
'So, what would you like to do now that we're free?'
'Well...' he mustered up the courage he needed, and squeezed both of her hands, looking her in the eyes, 'I want to marry you,'
Taken by surprise, Shinobu stared at him, a genuine smile slowly forming on her face.
'Let's do it, then,' she responded.
Giyuu's smile widened, his eyes regaining the light they had lost.
He looked at the sky again.
'The moon is beautiful tonight, isn't it?' He spoke, kissing her after, as he wiped her tears away from her face.
PS: This is not over yet.