Shingeki no Yaiba (Demon Slayer x Attack on Titan crossover)

Gone

They trained for most of the night, until Tanjiro was ready to drop from exhaustion. The pain and discomfort he'd felt earlier in the day were nothing compared to the aches and pains he felt now, his back strained, his arms sore, even his feet stretched.

But he was learning. Slowly but surely, he was figuring out how to balance, although not wholly on his own. Makomo was a wonderful teacher, understanding completely how to operate the machine and move her body to accommodate it.

"You have to breathe," she would instruct him, "and stop panicking. The machine is a part of you, and you of it. The two of you are one. Remember what your master taught you."

"Y-you know my master?" Tanjiro gasped, blood rushing to his face as he hung upside down for the fifth time that hour. "Urokodaki?"

"Of course." She smiled wistfully. "Both me and Sabito know him. And we love him very much. He rescued us when we were orphaned, gave us a home, and trained us. We are not siblings, as you assumed, not in blood, at least."

How does she know I assumed that?

"Let's try again." Sabito lowered him to the ground without much gentleness and Makomo frowned at him.

"Right!" Tanjiro stood, arms out, waiting to be hooked up by Makomo. He couldn't help but blush when she worked her hands around him. She was so cute!

"What are you thinking!?" Sabito snapped, glaring at him.

"E-Eh?" He looked away quickly. "N-Nothing!"

"Sabito..." Makomo sighed. "Raise him up, please."

Sabito complied with a huff and Tanjiro felt the belt tighten, pulling him into the air. But this time, he didn't try to remember everything Urokodaki had taught him, or everything Makomo had instructed him to do. He just took a deep breath the way his master had taught him and put out his arms.

And he floated.

For a few seconds he stayed in the air, barely having to work to stay up. Then Sabito lowered him to the ground and he took another deep breath, his heart pounding with exhilaration.

"Tanjiro..." Makomo whispered happily. "That was great. Never forget what you did there." She turned to Sabito and nodded.

"Tanjiro." The man reached up, unhooked his mask and lowered it from his face. He wore a light sad smile that deepened as he tilted his head to the right. "That's how a man does it."

Tanjiro felt tears gather in his eyes and he raised a hand to wipe them away, but when his vision cleared he suddenly realized he was alone at the machine. Sabito and Makomo were gone.

"Makomo?" he whispered breathlessly. "Sabito? Where'd you go?"

There was no answer. Tanjiro looked around again but he really was alone there. He looked down, at the belts hooking him up, the belts Makomo had tied. And yet, why did they have the scent of his hands on them? He knew Makomo had no scent, just as Sabito didn't, but...everything led him to believe he'd hoisted himself up on his own. Everything except what his eyes and memory told him.