Second Life [Giyushino] Kimetsu no Yaiba

One

Is this it? Was it the end?

The ringing in his ears was immense. He couldn't move. He was numb.

The taste of iron numbed his tongue. He knew blood was spewing out of his mouth at a rapid rate, but he let it go by freely. This was his fate after all.

The Water Pillar, Tomioka Giyuu, was drowning.

***

Everything felt surreal within those breaths, when that demon drove their threads through his chest, cutting through his organs. How he was able to let Tanjiro and Nezuko escape, based on their condition, and how he was able to distract the demon, enough that it both killed them, for it was dawn by then.

The shrieks of the demon burning in the sun quickly came to a halt as Giyuu fell under the surface of the water; the demon's last action being to cast him off the dock. The coastal city had been traumatized, for this Upper Moon demon had been murdering innocent children within its crowded alleys and loud street vendors for months now. Now that it was gone, several lives were still lost, including the Water Hashira.

The man's final moments were almost too calm in order to say that he was killed be a demon. His eyes were halfway open, his gaze fixed on the light reflecting on the waves above him, trickling warmth into his body as his muscles were no longer tense, but relaxed. He felt almost no pain, the sting in his chest being lightened by his surrounding aura, which was somehow killing him at the same time. Giyuu felt his hair become undone, cradling his face, as it swayed upwards, moving with the various bubbles that came from his mouth; red clouds danced, merging with the water, forming calm patterns, almost like a silent lullaby, with the sound of water swirling in his ear as a tenor note, and the feint yells and grief of Kamado Tanjiro as a bass in the distance.

More blood was escaping his mouth and chest, masking his uniform sticky and smell like sweet iron, a scent he was almost too familiar with, since he had encountered it hundreds of times. This time however it was stronger since it was coming from him, but faded away much faster, for he was losing his senses.

Giyuu did not feel warm, nor cold, just nothing. Numbness enveloped his body as thoughts ran through his brain.

My time has come. At least; I've always wondered what it would be like, but I never thought it could be so.. calming.

Everyone I've lost in my life, I'll be joining them soon I hope. Perhaps we have gone our different ways in the after life, but we will reunite somehow. Maybe then I will not be disliked by people.

Tsutako, Sabito, Makomo, Kyojuro, Muichiro...
...Shinobu.

He closed his eyes, exhaling the rest of his breath, the last thing he saw being the dozens of fish swimming around him that reminded him of butterflies in the wind.

____

Do you all like it so far? Probably not because we started it sad. It will get better though. Please let me know what you think of the plot.