I FIXED THE PLOT
Im honestly excited to see how this story ends!
Have a great rest of your day/night!
TW: mention of sh
Insert mini timeskip brought to you by the power of shipping charts
Sabito's POV
I continued to hug Giyuu's frame to my body as he slept peacefully in my arms.
Soon after he fell asleep, I'd picked him up and moved over to a thicker patch of grass, perfect for laying on. I had been surprised to find that the water hashira was scarily underweight, and I made a mental note to make sure he ate three full meals a day from then on.
Back in the present, the pale sliver of the moon sat high in the sky, illuminating the clearing in ghostly white light.
I wanted to thank the gods for the absence of troublesome demons, but I didn't want to jinx our luck. I lowered my gaze down to Giyuu, who shifted slightly under my watchful eyes, his head still resting on my chest. I'd been in a protective mood the entire night, almost like a mother cat protecting her kitten. My brain registered him as a fragile flower stem, one wrong touch being enough to break him.
I'll never let that happen. Nothing and no one will ever hurt him again.
I snapped back to reality when I heard Giyuu whimper, clutching one of his wrists tightly. He curled his nails inward, pressing down onto the soft fabric before dragging them down the length of his forearm.
Is he having a nightmare?
I shook his shoulder gently, just enough to wake him up.
"Sabito!" He yelped, sitting up next to me in a panic. His eyes flicked over to me, and he relaxed slightly. "You're okay. You're still alive." He mumbled, trying to convince himself.
I frowned and scooted closer to him, wrapping one arm around his shoulders in a comforting gesture. "It's okay, it was just a nightmare, Yuu. Everyone is fine."
Giyuu let out a long, quiet sigh, resting his head on my shoulder. "Thanks."
"No problem," I smiled back at him. "I'm here for you."
The flapping of wings drew my attention to the black bundle of feathers that cannonballed into Giyuu's lap. The kasugai crow shook it's head, hopping a few feet away.
"Kanzaburo?? What are you doing here?"
"CAWWW I'm here to inform you that the master needs you back at the demon slayer headquarters for the semi-annual hashira meeting!!"
Giyuu groaned loudly, pinching the bridge of his nose. "When does he need me back," he asked in a straight tone.
"Midday tomorrow!!"
"Good, I can stay here for the rest of the night and leave in the morning." The water pillar emphasized the word 'leave' with a sad tone.
"Why don't you seem happy to go back?"
"It's just that I don't ever feel like socializing with any of the other pillars." He paused. "Besides, none of them actually think I'm worthy of the hashira title. Not even I think that I deserve it. No one there likes me," he mumbled the last sentence, but I still caught it.
I narrowed my eyes. The pillars better not be mean to Giyuu. I'll rip all their hair out and punch their stupid faces if they so much as say one harmful word to him.
"Are they rude to you?" I asked.
He hesitated before answering. "No, I can just tell."
"Then how do you know they think your not worthy?"
"Because if I don't think I am, why would they."
"Why don't you think you deserve it? I think you're a great hashira, and I haven't even seen you fight yet!" I exclaimed.
Giyuu looked at me with an appreciative look that quickly faded, to be replaced with sadness. "Because I can't protect anyone. I couldn't protect you. I didn't arrive fast enough to stop Kamado's sister from becoming a demon." He looked at the ground "I drive people away from me so they don't get hurt."
I noticed he winced slightly and rubbed his wrist where he had scratched it. Suspicion rose in my throat like bile, and I reached out to grab his hand with one of mine, and held his sleeve in the other. "I need to check something, okay?"
He tried to rip his arm away from me, a scared look on his face.
Shit. Please tell me you didn't do this again.
"May I?" I looked into his eyes pleadingly.
A whole five seconds passed before he nodded slowly, turning his head away from me. I slid his sleeve up his arm, revealing newly opened cuts running horizontally along the length of his inner arm. Many more pale scars decorated his skin, crossing over each other and coming in all different sizes. The newer they looked, the bigger they were.
Free from the confines of the stained fabric, the blood from his cuts flowed freely down his arm, dripping down onto the grass below us. I breathed in sharply, dragging my teary eyes away from his arm to look at his face, painted with a pained and scared expression.
"Kanzaburo, right?" I asked without taking my eyes off of Giyuu. "Go to Sakonji Urokodaki's cabin and bring back some bandages, okay?"
The crow dipped his head once and flew off in the general direction of my former teacher's home.
I immediately stood up, pulling Giyuu up gently as I did so, leading him into the forest towards the nearest creek. I switched hands so I was holding the one that wasn't dripping with blood.
"Sabito-"
"Shhh."
I didn't mean to come across as angry, but I was just barely holding back my confused and heartbroken tears.
Why would he do this to himself?
Is his life really that bad?
Does he think lowly of himself??
Who put bad ideas in his head??
What else don't I know???
We reached the small creek fairly quickly, and I knelt by the waters edge to cup some in my hands. I looked at Giyuu expectantly, motioning for him to hold his bloodied arm out. He complied, and I slowly poured the frigid water over the cuts, washing some of the blood away.
He hissed at the sudden contact with cold water, but remained still with his arm extended. I dumped more water on it, repeating the process until all the blood had been cleaned off. Giyuu's kasugai crow returned, clutching a roll of bandages with both it's talons. I took them from him and began wrapping the cloth around Giyuu's arm. A little bit of blood soaked through, but as far as I could tell, the bleeding had either slowed, or stopped entirely.
I let out a breath of relief, turning my head to look at his face. "Hey. I'm not mad, alright? I'm just confused, and scared, and- well, a lot of things are going through my head right now. But I'm not mad." I embraced the water pillar, planting a kiss on the top of his head lightly. "I'm coming with you tomorrow."
He looked up at me, surprised. "B-"
"It's not up for discussion. I'm not letting you out of my sight after everything that's happened in the last few years."
Giyuu's gaze dropped, and he hugged back with his arms wrapped tightly around my torso. "That actually makes me feel a lot better about going to the headquarters. Thanks, Sabito."
I smiled softly. "Anything for you, Giyuu. Remember, I'm here for you, okay? Whenever you need to talk to me, or if you need help with something, just ask, and I'll gladly do what I can to help."
"I appreciate that." I could hear the smile in his voice, even though he wasn't looking at me.
"Plus," I smirked, "I can't give you kisses if you're all the way across Japan."
Giyuu blushed a light pink, and he pressed his face into the fabric of my clothes in an embarrassed fashion.
I laughed at the child-like behavior he was adopting.
I love him so much.
Filler chapter!
I'm so tired TvT
Time to sleep.
I'll probably finish the next chapter tomorrow.
Byeeee