The Water Brothers

You before me

Third Person:

Tanjiro: Tsutako nee-san?

Tsutako: Yes Tanjiro?

Tanjiro: I heard that when kids get older, they tend to become less fond of their younger siblings. Most times, they continue to play with them out of pity. Will Giyuu leave me too?

Tsutako looks at Tanjiro before a smile forms on her face.

Tsutako: Well, most people call it maturity. When you get older, things you enjoyed when you were a kid become less interesting. Also as you get older, you become stronger. The stronger you are, the more people will rely on you to do certain things, and your focus goes to those things.

Tanjiro gasps a little.

Tsutako: Giyuu will soon go through that phase of his life, where more people are going to rely on him. But Giyuu, you will never abandon you. That I am sure of. One day, he'll move out, and go on his own, but he cannot abandon his family. He won't leave his loved ones behind. Especially you. He can't. Do you know how much he worries about you when you're left home with mom and dad? Giyuu will do everything he can protect you. He always puts you before himself. Something tells me he's gonna let you go way later than he should.

Present Tanjiro startes up at the ceiling.

I understand now, Urokodaki. Giyuu always puts me before himself.

Giyuu walks into the room.

Giyuu: Aren't you finish that? It's not like you to not eat.

Tanjiro turns to Giyuu, then looks back at his food.

Tanjiro: Yeah.

Giyuu sighs and walks over. Tanjiro scoots over so Giyuu can sit next to him.

Giyuu: What's wrong?

Tanjiro sighs before he begins talking.

Tanjiro: I went Urokodaki's house. I know what you did on that mission.

Giyuu stares at him for second as his eyes widen slightly, then he sighs. Before he can say anything, Tanjiro starts talking again.

Tanjiro: I understand why you didn't tell me now. But I wish you didn't. You're breaking a major rule in the Corps.

Giyuu: ...Thought its strange, I believe that those two can make it far. I can sense that the of them have a special bond that'll protect them. The girl will make sure her brother never eats nor harms a human, the boy will protect his older sister.

Tanjiro: ...Like us?

Giyuu raised a brow.

Tanjiro: ...Well! One of us isn't a demon... we both know that it's our duty to always protect the other... so in that we kind of are like them... aren't we?

Giyuu: ...We are?

Tanjiro: ...In a sense, yeah. You believe that the girl, Nezuko, is always going to protect herself and her brother just like Tsutako believed you are always gonna protect me.

That caused Giyuu to gasp.

Giyuu: ...We are like them...

Tanjiro smiled, relieved that his brother responded that way.

Giyuu: Tsutako said those things?

Tanjiro: I had a flashback about it. Or maybe it was a dream of the past... Eithet way, I hadn't remembered me asking her about that, until this morning. But I believe what she said is true about us.

Tanjiro was walking up a mountain.

That girl's life should be okay. I defeated the demon that targeted Urokodaki's other students. She'll be fine.

Tanjiro stops when he hears grunting and panting.

Is that her?

Tanjiro walks at a faster pace towards the noise. It was indeed Nezuko, who was practicing her sword thrust.

Nezuko: C'mon... you can do it...!

Tanjiro: You're bending too much.

Nezuko: Huh.

She turned her head and saw Tanjiro walking up to her.

Tanjiro: You want your arm to be straighter. Because the way you're moving it, the swords twisting. See?

Tanjiro pulls out his own sword, and guides Nezuko how to do it.

Nezuko: Oh... I see. ...Thanks... Tanjiro, was it?

Tanjiro: Yeah. Tanjiro Tomioka.

Nezuko smiles.

Nezuko: Thank you for not killing my brother. I was uh, alarmed for a moment.

Tanjiro: At first, my instinct was to just kill him. But remembering that Mr. Urokodaki is a retired Hashira, I knew there was no way he would just choose to house a demon with no explanation as to why.

The two stand in silence for a moment, before Tanjiro speaks up again.

Tanjiro: How long have you been training for?

Nezuko: Maybe for about a month or two..

Tanjiro: Oh... so you still have long way to go...

Nezuko: I do?

Tanjiro: Well... it took me and Giyuu a while to learn how to properly use the sword and fight. I can help teach you to speed up your training process if you'd like. I'll correct your mistakes and you can practice fighting with my if you feel confident enough. What do you say?

Nezuko stared at him in awe, but then she smiled.

Nezuko: I'd really appreciate that. Thanks!

Chapter eleven...