21 - a simple, now broken promise
"Giyū!"
The said boy ran with all his might, trying to reach the little girl's hand, who extended her little hand from an upper ground.
He looked back, horror evidence on his face as he tried to run faster, faster than ever on his life.
As the chaser came closer and closer to him, he closed his eyes as he continued to run, fearing his own life. Tears gather at the corner of his eyes.
Pulling some courage, he opened his eyes a little.
Suddenly, the chaser ran pass him, accelerating towards the girl waiting for him up there.
He gasped as his eyes widened.
"Chihiro! Run!"
The little girl realized how the chaser ran pass her friend, coming after her instead. Her scared self trembled even more. "But- Giyū, I can't leave you!"
"I will catch up with you! For now, think about your life first!"
"No—!"
"Chihiro, please!"
Hearing the desperateness from his voice, the little girl grasped her hesitation, quickly standing up and run off, getting away from the unknown chaser.
Giyū, you better come back fast!
As the chaser realized that the girl it was after fled, it intended to accelerate more, before it felt something, a rock, hit his head.
Coming to a halt, it looked back slowly.
Its view met a little boy, holding a wooden stick on its hand, panting hard while he tried his best to glare.
"You—"
"Don't you dare touch Chihiro! I'm.. your opponent!"
He stormed off to the bigger opponent, swinging his wooden stick.
"How dare you let the rare blood go!"
A rare chuckle left the throat of the Water Pillar, startling Tanjirō with the voice.
"Looking back at it, I can't help but to laugh."
A rare smile came to his stiff face, whild his eyes looked to the distance.
So Chihiro-san have a rare-blood too...
Tanjirō thought to himself, remembering the event with the drum demon.
"But in the end, we barely managed to flee from that demon because the sun came out."
"Giyu!"
The little girl, couldn't bear to wait anymore, came back to him, only to found him in bloody mess. The chaser, the demon from before, gone in sight.
She used all her strength to approached him, despite her fears of the demon coming back.
"Chihiro... Why... did you come back... The demon... will come back... soon..."
She put his head on to her tiny laps, her tears overflowed from her big, round violet eyes. Her tears fell from her chin, to Giyū's cheeks.
"Giyū...*sniff* I... I'm sorry...*sniff* I shouldn't have asked you to come with me to get that herbs...*sniff*."
A tiny hand came to her view, trembling, as it try to swipe the tears off her face.
"It's okay... You wanted to search the way to cure the plague in Mizukuri's village, right? And that herbs only blooms in early morning. I would never let you go alone, anyway."
Her tears came out from her eyes more and more, failed to stop. "But... But..."
"We will be sure to come back safely, okay?"
She sniffed, letting out a small smile as her hand touch back his hand which was on her cheek.
"Un."
"There you are! Rare blood!"
The loud shout snapped the both of them, fear coming back to the both of them.
Giyū mustered all the strength left in him as he quickly get up, grabbing Chihiro's wrist, running for their live.
Thet stopped at a dead end, a high edge.
"Hahaha! Now you can't run anymore!"
Chihiro fell to her knees, as Giyū hugged her, shielding her from the big demon. They both closed their eyes, waiting for the demon.
The demon clawed its claw on Giyu's back, quite deeply.
"Argh!"
"Giyū!"
The said boy closed his eyes in pain, bracing himself for another attack.
If I can protect Chihiro...!
A moan of pain snapped their eyes open, looking to the demon.
In front of them, the demon started to burn slowly, dissolving to nothingness. "Gah! Ack! Khuaargg!"
Eyes wide, they both spectated the eerie scene unfold in front of them. Horror still on their face.
As the demon completely dissolved, their body instantly relaxed, the adrenaline stopped rushing as exhaustion hit them hard.
"We... are... alive...?"
Giyū fell to his knees, his arm still holding Chihiro close to him.
Chihiro, brought out from her shock, cried once more, this time louder as she launched her petite body to Giyū's same, little figure, as she hugged him tightly.
"Uwaaaa! Giyū! We... We are safe!"
Giyū's eyes softened as he looked at the top of her head. He looked to the side, to where the demon once stood. His eyes met a blinding light.
"The sun..."
"Giyū! I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!"
Her grip on his blue kimono became tighter, as it trembled.
He smiled, bringing his hand to the top of her head, patting it softly.
"I already said that it's okay, right? And now, we're safe."
"But you're injured! Because of me!"
The little boy grabbed the side of her arms, letting the both of them to sit up. A serious expression on his face.
"No, Chihiro, this isn't your fault. We wouldn't expect that a demon will suddenly chase us, right?"
"That's—"
"And I'm injured because I'm weak. It isn't your fault, okay."
The girl gasped at his statement.
"No, Giyū! You aren't weak! You're strong enough to face that demon!"
"Eh? I'm weak!"
"No, strong!"
"Weak!"
"Strong!"
The little girl pouted at him, puffing her red cheeks, crossing her petite arms.
Giyū smiled at her, finally getting back to her usual self. He let out a defeated sigh.
"Alright, alright. Let's meet in the middle and say that I'm strong, but not strong enough to beat that demon, how is it?"
"Good enough for me." She smiled brightly and proudly at him.
They both looked at each other, a smile on each of them, their body full of dirt and scratches, while Giyū with an amount of some injuries.
"Pft—"
They both looked at their states, laughing at each other. Their laughter as if the whole incident never happened.
They laughed and laughed, while they bathed under the morning sun.
After awhile, they stopped, a smils still adorning their cute faces. Both looked at the side, at the rising sun.
"Ne, Chihiro?"
"Hm?"
"I'm... going to get stronger, so I can protect you and everyone. So you don't need to cry anymore." His gaze straight to the blazing sun.
Chihiro looked at him, surprised, her red cheeks reddened even more, though Giyū didn't saw this.
"T- Then, I'm going to get stronger too!"
"Eh?" This time, Giyū was the one looking at her.
"So I can prevent you from getting injured!"
An innocent smile made its way to her round face.
This time, Giyū's cheeks reddened at how cute the girl in front of him was.
They both stared at each other again, determined look painted their features.
Slowly, as if on instinct, they both let out their pinky fingers, intertwining them.
"It's a promise then."
They moved their hands together, swinging it.
"Finger cut-off, ten thousand fist-punchings, whoever lies has to swallow thousand needles!"
Finishing their chant, they chuckled again, a content feeling filled them.
"What a wonderful promise."
Tanjirō looked up to the taller man, a bright smile on his face.
"You think so?"
He frantically nodded his head off.
Giyū glanced at the younger boy.
"But not long after that, I broke that promise."
Tanjirō's smile slowly fell. "...Huh?" His eyes widened slightly, noticing a sad scent coming out from Giyū.
"...That day, when Kibutsuji attacked her family, I was supposed to have a sleepover there. But, because my mother fell sick, I need to tend to her. So, I cancelled my plan."
He stopped awhile, as if in pain.
"The next morning, I came there. And there were many adults that I didn't know, including Urokodaki-san and Kaguya-sama. There... I watched as she danced, the kagura dance of mourning."
Tanjirō understood where it will continue.
"I looked at her sad, pained face as she dance, and noticed the blood and where her family were buried. And—"
He gritted his teeth.
"Before I realized it, I... I felt relieved... That I didn't come to that sleepover... I felt relieved, that I was still alive."
What is this scent? Regret? Anger? For who? For... Himself?
"How could I think like that, I wonder. I failed at protecting her. If I was there, I... I could at least protect her. And... I couldn't stop her tears also. I failed. I broke that promise."
Giyū-san... Stop...
"Then she left just like that. Maybe it was my punishment... Swallow thousand needles... I wonder if this is its way to punish me."
Please...
"A year after that, a demon attacked my family. And, just like what happened to Chihiro, my precious family, Tsutako-neesan... They all died. I really wonder if I will suffer thousand punishments in change for swallowing the thousand needles?"
He looked at the pained boy beside him, his lifeless eyes stared right at him as the same pained expression plastered his face.
"My punishment never stopped after that, even after I finally met her again."
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