Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Sir! Are you alright?” Shinobu rushed over to a man clutching his clearly busted nose that was pouring blood down his face. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, and helped him into a sitting position from where he was kneeling on the ground.

Giyuu gripped the hilt of his sword as he trailed behind Shinobu. A slight pinch settled between his eyebrows as he took in the sight of the village, while the insect pillar tended to the older man. The village was a wreck of tipped over carts, broken building parts, and a few mildly injured villagers. He didn’t need the bright moon light of that particular night to see that a fight had just gone down.

The water and insect hashira had just finished up a mission a few miles over, when Shinazugawa’s crow looking terribly disheveled showed up. It squawked something about Shinazugawa having some difficulty with a demon nearby, but the creature was so out of breath it’s heaved out message wasn’t fully clear to them.

The appearance of the town was starting to paint a clearer picture, however. A picture that was causing Tomioka’s stomach to twist uncomfortably. There was no sign of  Sanemi or a demon for that matter. Just the aftermath of the violence.

“Pinch it like this,” Shinobu’s voice rushed into Giyuu’s consciousness. She was helping the injured man stop the incessant bleeding of his nose, and Giyuu couldn’t help but callously wish she would hurry up. They needed to find Shinazugawa. If he was injured, they needed to reach him before the demon could inflict irreversible damage. The urgency was causing Giyuu to grind his teeth together.

“Fuck,” the man hissed at the pressure inflicted on his throbbing nose.

“There you go. The bleeding should stop soon,” Shinobu said with a smile that Giyuu noticed had tight, tense lines around it.

“Thank you, ma’am,” the man responded nasally. 

“It’s no trouble,” she continued lightly. “Can you tell me what happened here?”

“The hell if I know!” the man said through gritted teeth. “Some strange white haired idiot was chasing a goddamn monster! They blew right through here wrecking fucking everything in their path. That creature knocked me clear across the street!”

“Do you know where they are now?” Shinobu pressed. Her smile wavered just slightly.

“That white haired freak was chasing it into the woods just there,” he gestured with his free hand in a vague thatta way gesture.

“That wasn’t a monster!” a middle aged woman shouted as she limped over to the two hashira. “It was the demon from the swamp!”

The man scoffed, but both Giyuu and Shinobu turned to the woman still approaching them.

“It’s that demon that’s been killing our children who venture to play down by the swamps. Please, you have to help us!” she said desperately. “Please, I’m not crazy! This isn’t the first time I’ve seen it! Please!”

“We need to go,” Giyuu firmly murmured just loud enough for the hashira next to him to hear. He had no intention of standing around when another one from their ranks was undoubtedly fighting for their life.

Shinobu’s eyes crinkled closed as she flashed her smile at the shaken woman. Waving a friendly hand she said airly, “Thank you for the information, ma’am! You don’t have to worry about that demon anymore.”

She had begun moving away as she talked, and it was obvious she shared Tomioka’s sentiment. Usually neither of them would’ve been too concerned with their fellow pillar’s ability in taking down a demon, but the way his crow had acted added to the disheveled village was stirring an urgency in both of them.

“For Shinazugawa’s sake, this demon better be an upper rank,” Shinobu said in her easy tone as they both broke into a run in the direction the man had pointed at earlier. Deep gashes on the ground helped lead them in what Giyuu hoped was the right direction. “I was looking forward to getting back to the butterfly mansion and finally getting some rest. So let’s hope this demon is worth our time!” 

The hidden undertone of a threat wasn’t lost on Giyuu.

Giyuu couldn’t blame her for being upset even if her tone said otherwise. They had both been on a series of missions together and only one chance to sleep during the grueling several days and nights. This was supposed to be the last one beofre they could go home and recover their stamina, but the message from Sanemi’s crow altered their course.

Not that the water hashira wasn’t equally as tired as the other, but he was honestly more worried than anything else at the moment. It wasn’t like the wind pillar to struggle on missions. Tomioka couldn’t think of one time that he’d ever received a crow to come and help him with anything. Not that he was particularly close to Shinazugawa, but he certainly didn’t wish anything bad to happen to him.

He didn’t want him to be hurt…

“Let’s just get this over with,” he replied to Kocho while trying to keep his face and voice it’s usual monotone. Getting all on edge wasn’t going to make him anymore useful to Shinazugawa no matter what condition they were going to find him in.

***

A string of curses gushed from Sanemi’s mouth as he bolted through the woods hot on the demon’s tail. The bastard had been so much fucking bigger then he’d expected. A whopping eight feet and bulky to boot. A sickly green color with vines and goop from head to toe that made it smell like dog shit. The earth underneath them shook with the force of its running footsteps. In its hand still clutched a dangerous club that had caused insane amounts of damage to the village they’d blown through.

Sanemi was cursing himself for letting the thing get the jump on him still. It had swung its club when the wind hashira had entered the swamp to try and hunt it down. He had barely been able to doge the wild blow, and it just grazed his shoulder. If the demon had gotten a hit dead on, it would’ve shattered his shoulder and every bone connected. There already was an obvious bruise forming from where it had managed to make contact. Even if Sanemi had kept his shoulder intact, the impact had the demon’s desired effect enough for him to run away.

Embarrassment and rage mixed together to run hot in his veins. It was so unlike him to be caught off guard like that and even more so to be struggling to keep up with the damn thing. His shoulder didn’t feel like excuse enough for this humiliating situation. Sure he’d been going from mission to mission without stopping for over a week now, but he hadn’t felt like he was tired enough to return home yet. Just maybe he’d pushed himself more than he should… Regardless the only thing that was going to redeem his ego was taking this bastard down!

“Turn around and fight me, coward!” he yelled trying to see if he could goad him into stopping this chase.

Suddenly a familiar white haori flew down from hidden in the trees. Shinobu managed to land right on top of the monstrous demon, catching her arms around its neck. While that move might’ve taken down any other unsuspecting demon, Kocho hadn’t taken into account how slimy this one was. Without her usual grace, she plummeted straight off and landed unceremoniously on her face.

With a poorly concealed curse, she shot back up to her feet and began a pursuit of her own. Her face flushed with embarrassment at the failed move, and she scolded herself for not taking into account her own exhaustion that she blamed to be the cause of her fall. She would need to be more careful and aware of her own limitations at the moment.

“Fuckin’ slippery son of a bitch, huh,” Sanemi’s loud panting voice sounded just behind her.

Her lips pinched together as she chose not to retort because the only thing she wanted to do was bite Shinazugawa’s head off. If he hadn’t screwed this up so badly, she wouldn’t be in this obnoxiously embarrassing situation. How had two hashira failed to bring this thing down already? She couldn’t think of a more humiliating turn of events than the insect and wind hashira faltering behind a lug of a demon.

“The hell are you doing here?” Shinazugawa called out to her as he urged himself faster to be in stride with her.

Before she could decide if she was going to speak to the frustrating man heaving next to her, Tomioka was hurtling his body out from the opposite direction as them and right in the demon’s path. He was meeting the demon head on, and wrapped both his arms around its middle to attempt to tackle it to the ground.

His arms slipped around all the slime and gunk coating the creature’s thick core, but he somehow managed to cling on. He dug his heels in to get the monstrous thing off balance for at least long enough for his fellow hashira to catch up.

With a hand as big as Giyuu’s face, the demon grabbed him from the back of his haori to force his grip to fail or risk breaking each and every finger. As soon as the hold was loosened, the demon swung its club square to the side of the water hashira’s face!

The blow was so powerful it flung Giyuu far to the side and crashing into a tree. Desperate hands tried to soften his impact into the unforgiving bark, but to no avail. The only thing he managed to do was to keep himself on his feet.

“ Goddamnit , Tomioka!” Sanemi found himself yelling out to the disoriented looking dark haired man. His feet faltered ever so slightly as he had half a thought to stop and see if the water hashira was seriously injured. He quickly decided against it as the priority that made the most sense was killing the demon first.

“I’m fine,” Giyuu’s faint voice called back to them as they were rushing passed him. 

“I’m-,” he took a teetering step after them before promptly falling flat on his face in a limp puddle on the forest floor.

Sanemi could hear Shinobu suck air sharply through her teeth before a quick eye roll.

“For fuck’s sake,” the white haired man cried out in frustration.

“Quick, Shinazugawa!” Shinobu’s violet eyes suddenly lit up with an idea. “Throw me!”

Too tired and out of any coherent thoughts of his own, Shinazugawa didn’t question it. Using the last bit of energy he had left in him, he grabbed both of her extended hands. Spinning them both in two wide circles, he threw her in the middle of the third swing letting her small body soar like a bullet towards the demon.

Whipping through the air, Shinobu drew her sword. “Insect breathing butterfly dance,” she called out right before she finally caught up with her target. Using a series of quick jabs, she injected her poison all across the demon’s back and shoulders.

Allowing herself to fall with as much dignity she had left to her feet, she sheathed her weapon all while watching the swamp demon slow down drastically. The poison was quickly taking its effect, and it was on its knees in a few painful seconds.

To her shock, Shinazugawa was still running. He zipped passed her and over to the demon, who had begun crawling on its hands and knees still trying its best to escape its inevitable fate. With a loud cry, the wind hashira walloped the demon's head from its shoulders in one arching blow. The head went flying so far with the force of it, that it exploded against the trees in its path.

Doing her best to get her breathing under control from having run so hard, she watched the wind hashira trot back towards her. She squinted her eyes at him ever so slightly as he came into hearshot. “That was entirely unnecessary,” she said, trying to keep her tone as light as she could manage with the irritation so heavy in her chest. “The demon was not going to survive my poison.”

Shinazugawa shrugged, annoyed. “That bastard had it coming,” he answered shortly in his gruff way.

There was no point in arguing with him, and she knew that all too well. Keeping a sigh to herself, she turned back to jog over to where they’d had to leave the water hashira.

Sanemi felt his stomach sinking when he noticed it didn’t look like Tomioka had moved in the slightest from where he fell. His face was pressed into the hard dirt and his arms sprawled out above his head. If it wasn’t for the blood pooling under his head, Sanemi would’ve thought the way he’d initially tumbled was hilarious.

He reached Tomioka’s still frame before Shinobu. With a carefulness she had never observed from the usually rough, callous wind hashira, she watched him gently roll the other man over to his back to get a better look at the wound. He hissed to himself as he rotated Tomioka’s face so that the moon light could illuminate the injury being covered by the shadows of the trees above them.

Shinobu’s nose crinkled in sympathy as she finally reached them and caught full sight of Giyuu’s face. The skin was split on his forehead and led into his hairline. It was bleeding quite badly, and she knew that she’d need to administer stitches there before anything else. The whole right side of his face was a mess of purple and red as bruising was already taking place. She ran her fingers across his jaw and cheekbone to check for any fractures. The flatness of his cheek already told her that his cheekbone was undoubtedly broken, and she frowned slightly at feeling the mess of bone under his skin. His jaw seemed intact, thankfully, and the last thing she looked for was to make sure his teeth were all still there.

“He’s probably concussed,” Shinazugawa told her as she finished her initial examination.

Slowly she let her eyes drag from Giyuu and to the know-it-all crouching next to them. She blinked at him once before turning back to the hashira in need of her medical expertise. Her hands were the tiniest bit shaky as the lack of sleep was clearly taking a toll on her body, but she was planning on powering through to stitch up that nasty gash on Giyuu’s forehead.

“He needs stitches now. His head is bleeding too heavily for me to put a simple bandage on,” she began as she reached for her medical supplies she kept in a pouch on her hip. “I’ll need you to hold him down just in case he wakes up during the procedure.”

Sanemi nodded before he swiftly moved to where he could effectively pin both of Tomioka’s arms down at his sides. He rolled his eyes and adjusted his grip. “Stupid fucking bastard,” he grumbled while watching Shinobu wash her hands off with the little water she had left in her waterskin. “His reaction time was so fucking slow. The way that demon caught him right in the face like that was goddamn embarrassing to watch.”

“I don’t know if you’re the one to cast judgment right now, Shinazugawa,” Shinobu said in that airy, yet passive aggressive, voice she used often with him. “Tomioka and I have been working for almost a whole week, and I don’t believe he was able to get any sleep the solidary chance we had to rest. He was at least able to catch up to the demon once.”

The white haired man bristled. “Yeah, well the damn thing was slowing down when you two got here,” he argued with a huff befitting of a toddler. “I was about to get it before you and fucking spacey over here got in my fucking way!”

She hummed in response but didn’t say more as there was no point. Shinazugawa was the most bullheaded of the hashira and honestly anyone she knew. Besides, she was too preoccupied with threading her needle and cleaning the blood off the water hashira’s face to continue a pointless argument with the immature man.

The gip he had on Tomioka tightened just slightly, when she began stitching up the gash. Sanemi focused on keeping the unconscious man still instead of watching Shinobu work. It wasn’t that he was squeamish or anything like that. He just didn’t want Tomioka twitching and fucking up the straight stitching. It would be such a hassle if Shinobu had to start over.

Giyuu didn’t move at all except for a small groan that came from the back of his throat. The noise had Sanemi squeezing his biceps in effort to make sure he would shift around any. But it didn’t make much of a difference as Tomioka laid eerily still during the entire procedure. His face was so much paler than usual and it made the purples of his swelling bruises stand out sharply in contrast. If it wasn’t for his chest slowly rising and falling, Sanemi would’ve thought he was dead.

Sanemi didn’t realize how tight he had been squeezing Tomioka’s arms, until it was time for him to let go. There was a nagging uneasiness settling in his stomach that was becoming difficult to ignore. Something about how limp Tomioka was still laying wasn’t sitting right with him.

Questions for Shinobu of whether or not Tomioka was going to be alright, died in his throat. He didn’t want to sound like a weepy mother. Surely the water hashira had suffered his fair share of injuries, and a blow with a club more than likely wasn’t the worst out of them. He stuffed those words and feelings back somewhere in his mind, and bid them stay there and leave him alone damnit.

“He’s going to need to ride on your back,” Shinobu was saying, effectively catching his attention. She finally looked away from her clean work on Giyuu’s face, and up to Sanemi.

It was only then that he noticed how drained the insect hashira’s appearance was. Her smile was incredibly weary and her under eyes puffy. There was no doubt that all three of them were long overdue for a break.

Ignoring his own exhaustion that was taking over where adrenaline once was, he nodded and shifted around to make it easier for them to get Tomioka settled on his back. Once his unconscious body was draped over the wind pillar’s back with his arms dangling around Sanemi’s neck, Sanemi wrapped his arms underneath his thighs in a sturdy hold and moved to his feet.

Without a word, Shinobu began leading the way with the boys right behind her. Even though Tomioka was completely dead weight on top of him, Sanemi was shocked by how light he was. They were close to the same height, but Giyuu’s haori did its job of hiding his figure. A fleeting thought entered Sanemi’s head of whether or not Tomioka was eating properly. A thought he quickly shook away. It was none of his business what fucking Tomioka was doing. Didn’t fucking matter to him anyways.

Shinobu jolted to a halt in front of them, and reached for her sword. “Shinazugawa!” she warned just as a demon jumped out from the shadows in front of them.

“Mother fucker!” he cursed and took a quick step backwards while his mind was tossed into a panic of what the hell he was supposed to do! Would it be safe to set Giyuu down so he could help Shinobu? Did the insect hashira have enough energy left for a battle alone?

‘Fuck!’

Before he could make any sort of a decision, the demon was already on the move towards them.

“Blood demon art!” it growled while throwing its body up in the air. It landed with its fist slamming into the ground. “Earth shattering quake!”

Shinobu was on the move to the demon trying to reach it before its art could be used against them. She didn’t even make it two steps forward before the ground underneath the three hashira split open with a thunderous cracking! A gasp pushed itself breathlessly from her mouth as she plummeted down into the chasm. 

With nothing but air and falling rock under Sanemi’s feet, he instinctively reached back and yanked Giyuu over so he could wrap himself around the unconscious man’s head and torso. There wasn’t a damn thing he could do to stop them from falling, but he silently hoped he could protect Tomioka from suffering further harm.

Their bodies were bounced around roughly among the dirt and rocks tumbling downwards with them. The last thing Sanemi felt was his head slamming up against a particularly large rock before darkness swallowed him along with the earth.

Chapter Text

The first thing he could register was the pain. His head felt like it was going to explode and he wished it would with how much it fucking hurt. A froggy grunt boomed in his ears obnoxiously before he realized it had come from himself.

Sanemi’s eyes flew open all at once after memories of a few hours ago rushed back into his consciousness. His body jumped upright ignoring the screaming headache plaguing him. Dots danced in his vision at the movement and he instantly regretted it.

“Son of a bitch,” he hissed while trying to will his vision into righting itself. Where the hell was that demon? He couldn’t afford his body malfunctioning right then, when they were in danger.

His traitorous eyes slowly gained focus of their situation. They were trapped in a demon created hell of rocks and broken trees that were so close to having buried them alive. It was too damn dark with the rocks and dirt overhead to see very well. Moonlight struggling to break through any cracks in the rubble so far down into the earth.

How far had they fallen he wondered briefly before his heart dropped into his stomach. He’d been holding on to an injured Tomioka when they’d plummeted, and he was now very much so empty handed. Panic swelled in his chest. Giyuu hadn’t been conscious for the whole confrontation with that demon, and was in no shape to protect himself during that fall.

“Shit!” Sanemi’s dry voice cracked as he scrambled to his hands and knees as it wasn’t a big enough space to stand all the way up.

“Shinazugawa?”

Tomioka’s voice stopped him dead in his frantic, skittering movements.

“Fucking… Tomioka?” He sounded weak to his own ears… tired…

“Are you alright?” An unsettling wheezing sound that laced Tomioka’s words had Sanemi’s stomach sinking again.

“Of course, dumbass,” he snapped harsher than he’d meant to. He was having a harder time than he should’ve of keeping his emotions in check. It wasn’t like him to panic during a mission.

He needed to get a grip on himself, shit.

“That’s… that’s good,” Giyuu said waveringly. “Kocho is still… unconscious… I think.”

He was drawing ragged breaths in between each of his words that trembled ever so slightly.

Sanemi was blinking to see if he could get his eyes adjusted enough to make out Tomioka’s silhouette at least.

“Where is she?” he asked while crawling awkwardly in the direction of the water hashira’s voice.

“Next to me,” came the panting reply. “I think… I think it… missed her…”

“What the fuck does that mean, you idiot? What missed her?” Fingers reaching out to try to determine how far or close he was from his fellow hashira.

“The tree.”

“Tomioka, I’m gonna beat your ass! I can’t fucking see, and you’re not being fucking clear! What goddamn mother fucking tree?” Panic was clenched around his chest threatening to squeeze the life out of him.

“Um,” followed by a weak swallow. “There’s a tree on my leg.”

“ Shit ! Goddamnit, you moron!”

Sanemi’s outstretched fingers bumped up against a shoulder shaped lump.

“Shinazugawa?”

“Yeah, you idiot,” he grunted as he shifted off his knees and into a sitting position. He let his fingers travel across Giyuu’s shoulder to search for his face. A sticky liquid was running down his jawline and cheek.

“You busted your stitches,” the wind hashira said accusingly like Giyuu did it on purpose. Even if Shinobu wasn’t unconscious, there was no way she could stitch him back up with how dark it was.

“Where is Kocho?” he asked with this hand still on Tomioka’s face to see if he could gauge how quickly he was losing blood.

“O-over here… on… my other side,” said the unsteady water hashira.

“You sure she’s not stuck?”

“Yeah, I… I checked i-if she was br-... uh breathing, and if- Her arm feels… t-twisted.”

“Fucking hell,” Sanemi huffed. Shinobu being hurt too was going to make this whole damn thing a lot harder, but at least she wasn’t trapped. Maybe her arm wasn’t too bad off, and Tomioka was just too concussed to know what he was talking about.

Giyuu didn’t say anything for a moment. He didn’t move aside from his heaving chest that moved like it was a great effort, as Sanemi wiped at some of the excess blood on his face.

“How did we get here?” he asked when Sanemi’s oddly gentle fingers left his swollen cheek.

“Fuck ass demon,” came the biting reply. “There was another one hiding and waiting for us.”

The raven haired man grunted in response, and Sanemi could hear him shifting slightly.

“Is it… is it in here too?”

“Well, since we’re not fucking dead yet, I’d guess not.” 

The next breath Giyuu took was terribly strained, and he shifted again uncomfortably. “I… I think it’s… broken,” he grated out through clenched teeth.

Pressing his lips into a concentrated tight line, Sanemi’s hands fumbled to find the other’s leg. Fingers located a thigh and ran down to feel up the big ass tree that had landed right over the hashira’s shin. It was a thick fucking tree and heavy as hell. There was not a doubt in Sanemi’s mind that Giyuu’s leg was badly busted.

Fuck.

“Is it on your other leg or just this one here?” Sanemi asked while still trying to feel around the injury and the damn tree causing it.

“N-no,” was the short answer. It was obvious that talking must be painful for the water hashira with his broken cheekbone, so Sanemi wasn’t going to push him for details.

“If I lift this damn thing, can you slide your leg out?” he asked after a stretching pause that was only filled with Giyuu’s ragged breathing.

“Um… Do you think… that’s safe?” Giyuu panted. “What if… if it makes everything c-collapse?”

“I’m just lifting it high enough to get your stupid leg out! It’ll be fucking fine!” he was becoming increasingly flustered by this whole situation. His head was killing him, and all he wanted was to lay down and sleep. Definitely not trying to communicate with the most frustrating man he’d ever known.

“I d-don’ know.” He was slurring now…

That couldn’t be fucking good.

“Can you move your leg or not?” Patience was wearing thin.

“I… Y-yeah,” he answered. Any more protest dying in his throat as he could feel Shinazugawa getting his arms in the gap under the tree.

“Okay, I’ll lift on three. Once it’s up high enough for you to move, hurry up and get your damn leg out of the way.”

“Al-alright.”

“Okay on three.”

Sanemi grunted with the effort of trying to get a solid grip on the tree. It would’ve been so much easier if he could’ve had the space to stand up. He needed to just make it work anyway.

“One. Two.”

Giyuu let out a sharp gasp that quickly dissolved into a choked cry as the tree on his injured leg shifted.

“Three! Move, idiot,” Sanemi grunted out.

The small, muffled pained noises from Tomioka did nothing to calm Sanemi’s anxiety and racing heart. He grappled his hold with far more effort then he should’ve had to exude. Panic pulsing through his veins had him wondering what if he dropped the tree back down before Tomioka was fully in the clear. What if he misjudged and didn’t pull his leg back far enough?

“‘M out,” a weak, slurring voice broke through Sanemi’s anxious haze clouding his ears.

Trembling, exhausted muscles slowly let the damn tree lower back down to the ground. Sanemi let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, once he was able to let go. He paused a second to listen for any dangerous shifting of the rubble, but it seemed like they were in the clear.

He was due for a break anyways.

Tomioka’s breaths were coming out in pain filled hitches that quickly drew Sanemi’s attention. He could feel the water hashira’s trembling as he scrambled closer to him.

“I… I think it’s r-re-really f-fucked,” Giyuu heaved the words out with extreme effort. His voice sounded wet and dry all at the same time, and the notes of panic there were strong.

Sanemi hesitated for a second unsure if he should even touch the injury to see if he could figure out how broken it was. He didn’t want to cause more pain unnecessarily, it was clear Tomioka had had about enough for right in that moment. But he didn’t think he’d ever heard Tomioka curse before…

Instead, a wavering, heavy hand settled for patting the raven haired man awkwardly on the shoulder.

“I’m sure it’s nothing Kocho won’t be able to fix,” he tried to assure. He didn’t like the way Tomioka shook under his hand. He didn’t like how wheezy the breaths coming in and out of his lungs were. He didn’t like the small, muffled grunts of pain that Tomioka was clearly doing his best to cover.

He didn’t like fucking any of it.

“Can- I need to check how bad it is,” he started trying to keep his voice level and keep its usual roughness at bay.

“N-no!” Tomioka gasped and shoved Sanemi’s hand off his shoulder at the other’s words. “J-jus’ lea-... No, th-anks.”

“‘No thanks’? What the hell you mean ‘no thanks’?!” His bark was back in his voice even though the back of his mind was telling him yelling at the injured man wasn’t going to help anyone. It certainly wasn’t going to make Giyuu any less resistant to letting him check his injury.

Sanemi couldn’t stop the pangs of anger bubbling up through his body. Did the water hashira think he wasn’t good enough to check a broken leg? Was… certainly he didn’t think Sanemi was going to hurt him on purpose.

“You n-needa ch-eck on, Sh-Shinob-u,” Giyuu said between clenched teeth. 

“Just let-”

“No, pl-ease, jus’...” A desperate swallow. “Need jus’ a m-minute.”

He was trying to say it as a statement, but to Sanemi it sounded like the other was begging him. A frantic plea for a break. His voice was so thready and shook like a newborn deer. Sanemi didn’t think he’d ever heard so much expression from Tomioka before. And all though he liked to harass the other for always being so damn monotone, the alternative right then was making him feel unsettlingly anxious. 

How dare this damnable idiot do this to him! After all this time, now he wants to be all expressive and shit just to make Sanemi lose his mind! It was fucking deliberate, Sanemi decided.

“Fuck you, asshole. Maybe Kocho will be more grateful than your stupid ass,” he lashed out, letting anger in place of anxiety.

“Th-thank you,” Tomioka gulped in relief when Sanemi scooted off over to their other fellow hashira.

“You can keep your mouth shut! I don’t want to hear from the dumbass who lost to a tree twice in one night,” he snapped.

There was no reply to the inflammatory words. Just hitching, labored breathing as Tomioka leaned back against the rocks behind him.

“Don’t fucking sleep, you selfish bastard!”

“I won’,” Giyuu slurred and valiantly fluttered his eyes back open.

“I don’t care how injured you are. I’ll beat the shit out of you,” he threatened to make a point. He could feel Shinobu’s side, and shifted back to sit on his heels. “Did you hear me, Tomioka?”

“Mmm hmm.”

“Stay awake.”

“Mmm hmm.”

Sanemi cursed under his breath at the lackluster responses, but quickly busied himself with checking on the younger of the three of them. He started with her head to see if there was anything significantly wrong there, but couldn’t find any bumps of alarm size and nothing felt bloody. So far so good, he guessed.

That was until he reached her right arm. Giyuu hadn’t been wrong when he said about her arm being twisted. Her wrist felt very badly out of place, but hopefully not broken. Her elbow also felt either broken or out of joint, and Sanemi wasn’t good enough with medical shit to be able to tell, especially when he still couldn’t really see.

“Sh-she alright?” Tomioka called over with what little strength he could muster.

“Shut up,” Sanemi barked back. He was beginning to panic more and more with each passing second. What the hell was he supposed to do? With both of the other hashira injured, it was going to be all on him to get them out of there. They couldn’t afford to stay for long. He had no idea how much time they had before their surroundings might collapse, and not to even mention the demon that was still out there. And there was no way Tomioka was going to be walking on his own any time soon. How was he supposed to fight while carrying two hashira on his back?

Fucked. They were so, so fucked.

His breath was coming out in wild puffs, and his chest hurt with the pressure. It felt like it was going to explode. Like his whole body was going to burst apart at the seams.

“Sh-inazuga-wa?”

He wanted to yell back at him to shut up, but the tightness in his throat wouldn’t allow words to form. Why wouldn’t Tomioka just shut up ? Giyuu’s painlaced voice wasn’t fucking helping! And he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep him awake while he had to do everything else. That stupid bastard was going to let himself fall asleep with a goddamn head injury and he was going to die! Sanemi wouldn’t be able to stop it by himself, and Giyuu was so damn vulnerable at the moment and that so unlike himself that Sanemi couldn’t fucking stand it! It was creepy and horrifying and he hated it. He hated him!

A thick grunt interrupted his spiraling. Shinobu was shifting under his hands that he quickly removed. She groaned before carefully moving to sit up.

“Shin-obu?” Tomioka’s voice called over at the new sounds.

She hummed out another groan in response to her name being called, so at least she was lucid. Sucking in a sharp breath, she managed to haul herself up into a sitting position. She didn’t say anything as she gathered herself.

“Your arm is really messed up,” Shinazugawa’s voice filled the brief silence. The nervousness that laced his words wasn’t lost on either of the other two hashira.

“Yes, I can feel that,” Shinobu said, trying not to be snippy. A rough sigh fell from her mouth before she began to check her injury.

Sanemi rocked on his heels as he wondered if he should offer to help. Not that he knew what exactly he could do especially with the low visibility, but it almost felt cruel to make her deal with her injuries by herself. On the other hand, she would probably let him know if she needed something, wouldn’t she? He didn’t want to make it worse.

The softest groan snapped his attention from his one injured comrade to the other. He could just make out Giyuu’s crumpled silhouette from where he was slowly curling in on himself. The harsh breathing was a sorry excuse to try and cover the pained noises that were slipping out of the cracks of his facade.

Baring witness to stone faced Tomioka show more emotion then Sanemi had ever seen from him due to pain was maybe the most unsettling thing terrifying the wind hashira. Tomioka was weakly trying to cling on to that void expressionless, reactionless mask, but it was so far gone from his grasp right then. 

“A tree landed on stupid over there’s leg,” Sanemi heard himself saying before he could think if he should fill her in now or later. 

Shinobu’s fingers stuttered across her elbow, and spared a glance Shinazugawa’s way. “Is it broken?” she asked while continuing to feel around her dislocated joint.

“He won’t let me fucking check, but I don’t think there’s anyway it’s not,” he said bitterly.

She sucked in a thoughtful breath and tried to tame her own pain. “Alright. My arm does not appear to have any breaks. A small fracture in my wrist, but the elbow is just out of place. Once I put it back in its socket, I’ll check on Tomioka.”

“He also busted his fucking stitches,” Sanemi grumbled like Tomioka did it to personally spite him.

Kocho hummed in response, but was too focused on righting her joints.

Deciding to let her get to it, the white haired man shuffled back to make sure that idiot hadn’t fallen asleep. Tomioka was almost bent in half on himself, and groaning softly with each breath.

“So help me, Tomioka, if you’re not fucking awake, I’ll-”

“‘M ‘wake,” came the slurring answer.

Grunting shortly at the confirmation, Sanemi slid over to sit down next to the other. Letting his own achy head rest back on the rocks and dirt behind him, he allowed himself a moment to close his eyes. Being so close to Tomioka, he could feel the pain filled tremors that shot through him with each labored breath. He might not be very close to the raven haired man, but he didn’t relish him being in pain like that. He wasn’t a monster. Sure, they had plenty of differences, but he didn’t think Tomioka was a bad person who deserved to suffer.

“Kocho’s going to come check on your leg in a second,” Sanemi spoke softly. He was so tired and didn’t have the energy to properly threaten Giyuu into being cooperative, damn him if he wasn’t going to try anyway. “You’re going to let her look at it too, you stubborn asshole, or I’m gonna break your other leg.”

Tomioka grunted a tight affirmative, but didn’t say anything.

Sanemi had a strange urge to put his arm around the other and tug him into his side. He didn’t know where that thought came from, and tried to quickly dismiss it. It was just that Tomioka was trembling so much, and maybe if he was tucked into Sanemi’s warmth he wouldn’t shake so damn much.

It was a stupid thought. There was no way Giyuu wanted that, and no way Sanemi was going to embarrass himself like that. He was just really exhausted was all. Just needed some fucking sleep. His brain wasn’t working right was what it was, damnit.

A sharp squeal of pain from Shinobu had his eyes flying back open. She was hissing in controlled breaths through clenched teeth to deal with the pain of having relocated her elbow.

Sanemi’s mouth twisted sympathetically, and knew that must’ve been difficult to perform by herself on herself.

There were a few moments where no one moved. Just all three of them trying to get it together in their own ways. Give their brains a second to catch up to their bodies. Preparing for what needed to be done next because they were going to suck it up and persevere. 

They didn’t have any other choices.

“Alright, Giyuu,” Shinobu began gently. Any trace of pain was gone from her cheery voice as she put on a brave face. “Let’s look at that leg of yours, shall we?”

The lack of any sort of response from the water hashira, had another unwelcome stab of panic shoot through Sanemi. He quickly reached over and gave the other man an overly rough shake by his shoulder.

“I told you to stay awake!” Sanemi shouted. Panic beating into his eardrums.

Giyuu let out the most pathetic sounding whimper that made Sanemi want to fall through the earth again. He brought a weak arm up to ward off Shinazugawa’s assault.

“Not sleepin’,” he protested the rough treatment. “S-stop.”

“You were fucking sleeping, you selfish asshole!” Despite himself, he let Tomioka go. He brought his arms tightly across his chest in a self soothing sort of pout.

“Shinazugawa, please.” Kocho sounded weary as she neared the boys. She was moving slowly in obvious pain that she was choosing to put aside. “Let me look at your leg, Giyuu.”

Giyuu didn’t answer. He didn’t move from his curled up position either. If it hadn’t been so dark, they would’ve seen him desperately chewing on his bottom lip to keep from letting out any other embarrassing noises of pain. The trembling he had no control over was humiliating enough, and he was really wanting to keep any sort of dignity he could. He didn’t want the other hashira to think he couldn’t handle a few injuries, and he knew Shinazugawa must be so agitated with him already for dozing off for a moment.

Burning agony ripped across his body at Shinobu’s feather light touch. He bit his lip harder to keep from crying out at the sensation. His leg had to be broken in several places for it to hurt to that extent. The pain was nauseating along with the constant throbbing in his face. It was so overwhelming as it crashed over him. Wave after wave of pulsing misery, and he wished so badly to pass out.

But he guessed if he did pass out, Shinazugawa would kick his ass…

Shinazugawa he-

He had his hand on his back between his shoulder blades. The touch was so light, Giyuu almost missed it at first. Desperate to distract himself from the pain of Shinobu’s examination, he focused in on how warm Shinazugawa’s hand was. And then ever so slowly, the gentle hand started moving up and down in a careful stroking pattern. Up, down, up, down. Side to side, side to side. Up, down again. Steady and grounding.

Giyuu found himself breathing in time with the movements. He couldn’t remember anyone ever touching his back like that before. Maybe his sister had a long time ago. Too long to have a real memory at least. If he wasn’t trying so hard to keep up appearances, he would’ve liked to melt into that touch. Let it go on forever just like that. Sanemi being the one touching him like that too just added to the feelings swirling around in his mind. He truly hadn’t expected the wind hashira to be capable of such gentleness. Let alone being that gentle with him of all people. It felt… It felt like a very special thing was being shared with him.

Sanemi kept up his careful caressing of Giyuu’s trembling back, as he chewed on the thumbnail of his free hand. Tomioka seemed to be finding some comfort in the touch, so he was determined to keep it up until Kocho was finished with him. He just couldn’t stand to sit by and watch Tomioka twitch and fight back against groans buried in the back of his throat. It was… It was fucking pathetic, and Sanemi couldn’t stand watching that shit.

“So,” Shinobu’s voice brought both the boys' attention back to the present, “your leg is broken in at least three places, Giyuu. I’m going to make a splint for you, but that’s all I can do here for the moment.”

Swallowing shakily, he managed an acknowledging, “O-okay.”

She smiled at him even though he couldn’t see it. Finally dropping her hands away from where they’d been poking and prodding the tender leg, she turned towards the white haired hashira. “Shinazugawa, have you been able to see if there’s an exit route?”

“No, I’ve been too busy making sure the two of you dumbasses weren’t fucking dead,” he snapped back at her with unwarranted aggression. His hand still hadn’t stopped running across Giyuu’s back.

“While I’m splinting Tomioka’s leg, you should see if there’s a way out,” she said lightly like she didn’t hear what he’d said or the tone in which he said it. Choosing to ignore his bad attitude in the pursuit of working together. It was clear that Giyuu wasn’t going to be able to walk himself out of there, and they had a duty to help their fellow hashira when he was downed. 

Grumbling under his breath, Shinazugawa drew away from Tomioka’s side in favor of scouting out the area they were trapped in. It was slow going as there wasn’t room enough for him to stand up anywhere, and he had to just crawl around on his hands and knees while blindly searching in the blinding darkness. 

The way Tomioka’s body spasmed when he moved his hand away was doing something funny in his chest. The barely audible gasp that left pale lips. The way his body tipped into the open space where Sanemi had been sitting. Like he just wanted Sanemi to stay. Like he wanted him to keep touching him. It…

It was pissing him off!

Since when had he become so damn sensitive to the usually masked feelings of Tomioka Giyuu? What was wrong with him? It had to be the lack of sleep he’d had the last few days. That was the only rational explanation he could gather at the moment. He wasn’t thinking clearly.

There was a twisting in his stomach as he wasn’t able to find signs of a space to crawl out. Just rock, dirt, broken tree parts, more rock, more dirt, even more damn rock.

‘Fucking hell!’

He was about to pull his hair out in frustration before he bumped into a rock that shifted under his touch. Feeling ballsy, he pushed it a little harder to see if he could get it to give more. A shower of dirt sprinkled over his head at the movement, and he paused. He didn’t want to bring the rest of the shit down on them, but this was the only sign of a way out he’d had the whole time they’d been trapped.

Weighing their options and honestly lack thereof, he tried to move the crumbling rock slower in an attempt to keep everything else in its place. Dirt still dropping down in little clumps as he worked, he was able to get the damn thing to give way. Moonlight poured into the opening he’d created, and he had to squint at the sudden brightness.

“Well done, Shinazugawa,” Shinobu called from somewhere behind him.

He stuck his head through the opening, and wriggled outside to check what they were up against. The chasm the demon had created was wide and deep. It stretched so far ahead of him that he couldn’t quite see the end with it still being low visibility at night. From what he could see was that it looked like it got less steep the further it went like on an incline up. So he figured they’d need to just follow it and hope it would lead to a spot not too difficult to climb up.

Glancing up at the sky, he tried to gauge what time it was. The sky was still pretty dark, but not as dark as it had been. He figured daybreak was probably still a good few hours away.

Being careful to keep his movements relaxed and not too frantic, his eyes ran across every inch of rock that he could see. That mother fucking demon had to be there somewhere. There’s no way it just left three hashira under some rubble with no plans to devour them. At least it would want souvenirs to bring back to Kibutsuji.

No sign of it, though. Not above them. Not behind a rock. And no sign was a bad sign.

He stood out there for as long as he could just trying to make sure he wasn’t missing anything, before Kocho was calling for him to come back and help her. The kind of uneasiness that settles over a person before a fight was making itself at home in the pit of Sanemi’s stomach. Tired or not, he couldn’t let his guard down again.

With an opening to their little pocket of earth, it made the space much brighter and Sanemi could actually see both Giyuu and Shinobu finally. They looked like shit, but he guessed he probably didn’t look much better. Shinobu’s hair had completely fallen out of her now broken butterfly clip. Her face smudged with dirt and a scrape on her chin. A very slight pinch was barely visible between her brows.

Tomioka on the other hand… He was barely conscious. Splinting his leg having drained the last bit of energy he’d had as he slumped over. His leg was in a securely handcrafted splint from whatever sticks Shinobu had been able to dig up. With valiant effort he was fighting with himself to stay conscious through half closed eyes. His face was so gaunt but he had a distant fog over himself like he was letting himself dissociate to deal with it all. It seemed like Shinobu had used the newly acquired light to fix his busted stitches. The bruising on his face looked worse than ever.

“I got him,” Sanemi told Shinobu firmly before she could even ask for assistance.

Grateful for the help as she knew there was no way she could drag Giyuu outside with her arm still being so tender. She nodded and gave a brief smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. Leaving them to it, she crawled her way to get out of their earthy prison.

“Alright, easy now, Tomioka.” Sanemi barely recognized his own voice as he hooked his arms under the limp man's arms to lock his hands around his chest. “I’m getting you out of here, so don’t give me any trouble,” he said, trying to bring back his usual biting, threatening tone.

Giyuu gasped and jolted in the tight hold as Sanemi began scooting them towards the exit. Fingers weakened from blood loss and exhaustion clawed at the scarred hands locked around his chest. He let out a helpless moaning whimper at his inability to grasp any sort of control on what was happening to him.

“It’s just me, idiot. Let me help you, you… stubborn fucking princess,” Sanemi sputtered. He allowed them a slightly slower pace so Giyuu’s leg wouldn’t bump and snag on every little thing as they went.

“Sh-anzugawa?” a fragile tremor in his voice as he was fighting against dissociation.

“Who else?” he grumbled back without any heat.

Giyuu seemed to be trying to assist in Sanemi’s efforts as he moved his good leg against the ground.

“Take it easy,” Sanemi scolded at the unnecessary exertion. Was the dumbass trying to hurt himself more? Couldn’t just trust him to help, could he? Had to do everything his damn self because no one was good enough to help, huh?

“N-not gonna b-b-be a b-urden.” He didn’t stop in his weak efforts to pull himself together, so no one else would have to bother.

Oh.

No, fuck that.

“You’re not a fucking burden. You’re just injured. Don’t be stupid, Tomioka, it’s not a good look on you,” he snapped.

He carefully propped the water hashira up next to the small exit. Tomioka was clinging on to consciousness like a vice. Brows covered in sweat and furrowed as his rebelling eyes kept trying to close.

Moving quickly, Sanemi shoved himself outside before reaching back in and hauling Tomioka out. Giyuu couldn’t stop the yelp that escaped him at the quick movements. He also was helpless to muffle more pained noises as his leg hit the ground, when Sanemi held him to a limp standing position. 

The throbbing in his leg caused his vision to go white with agony, and he wasn’t fully conscious to be aware of the cumbersome process of Shinazugawa slinging him around to rest on his back again. Slowly, he came back into his mind, when he was lifted with the utmost amount of care. His arms hung around Sanemi’s shoulders, and legs being caught in a gentle hold on either side of the wind hashira’s hips. He let his forehead droop down to rest on the back of Sanemi’s neck. His barely conscious mind made a loopy note of how nice Sanemi’s hair smelled despite the sweat and dirt.

“Don’t fucking sleep!” a gruff voice and a careful, but firm, shake brought him out of his head.

“‘M not,” he assured with as much strength in his voice as he could muster to be convincing.

“We need to go,” Shinobu urged. There was no sign of her usually present smile, as a shadow of the seriousness of the situation they were still in was cast over her face. She also seemed to notice the lack of a demon with the power to bury them. 

Her purple eyes gave Shinazugawa a pointed look, to which he nodded to in understanding. They needed to go. Without another word, they began heading for higher ground. Alert, trained eyes in vigil for signs of danger.

Two red dots went unseen from the hole they’d just exited. The twisted face of the demon kept low and out of the moonlight, as it watched its prey walk away with their backs facing the hungrily drooling creature.

Chapter Text

Giyuu stifled a noise of pain and shifted ever so slightly in the unyieldingly tight grip Sanemi had on him. His injured leg kept bumping with every step Shinazugawa took, and each time it caused Giyuu’s vision to blur in the blinding white pain. He wasn’t trying to be a difficult passenger, but the pain was threatening his thread to consciousness. If he passed out now that they were half way through the chasm to higher ground, he was afraid of what the wind hashira would do.

“Stop wiggling around, Tomioka, goddamn,” Shinazugawa snapped, causing Giyuu to instantly still his shifting. “Want me to fucking drop you, you idiot? Huh?”

Clearing his groggy throat weakly, when he realised the white haired man was looking for him to verbally respond. “Jus’... m’ leg is-.”

“Well excuse the fuck out of me that this isn’t a smooth carriage ride, princess ,” Sanemi interrupted his stuttered attempt of a responce. Tomioka sounded too pathetic for him to let the dark haired man stumble over basic words. It made something in his chest ache, and he didn’t want to hear how fragile, weak the other hashira sounded anymore. 

“So sorry I’m not comfortable enough for your fuckass self,” he growled back, when he felt Giyuu twitch again. Every little move of discomfort just reminded Sanemi of how close Tomoika was to passing out due to the unhealed injuries.

“S’not that.” Giyuu’s voice was so soft that if he hadn’t been so close to Sanemi’s ear, he would’ve missed it. The injured man didn’t care to further explain himself, and dropped his forehead into the crook between Sanemi’s neck and shoulder. The skin there was so soft and cool in the late night air. It felt strangely soothing to Giyuu’s all to warm head. 

A grunt stuck in Sanemi’s throat. The sudden weight of Tomioka’s head caught him off guard, and caused him to sputter over complaints for a flustering moment. A feeling of panic stabbed through his chest.

“Don’t fucking sleep, you bastard!”

“M’not,” Giyuu answered thickly before Sanemi could shake him again. In all honesty, he wanted nothing more than to close his achy, prickling eyes, and escape the pain for a few blissful seconds. But Sanemi would murder him for sure. Also it just wouldn’t be fair to sleep when the others couldn’t. He knew Shinobu hadn’t had much sleep in the last several days either, and Shinazugawa was very visibly worn out himself. There was no way he was going to allow himself the luxury, when he was already weighing them all down.

“Just stop fuckin’ moving and enjoy the free ride, princess,” Sanemi’s grumpy words rumbled throughout Giyuu’s throbbingly painful body like a balm. “Before I change my mind, and make your lazy ass walk.”

He felt Giyuu hum in a half hearted response, and his eyelashes fluttered against the back of his neck. The skin on the water hashira’s forehead was blisteringly hot against his own skin. It did nothing to calm the pit of anxiety that had made itself at home in Sanemi’s stomach.

Sanemi couldn’t remember a mission where he’d felt so jumpy. Then again he wasn’t usually on missions with others besides occasionally Iguro. But never on a mission with Obanai had they both been injured and lost sight of a demon. Between the way Tomioka was heavy and limp in his arms and how he could hear Kocho’s unsteady footsteps behind him as she fought through her own pain, it was enough to make his ear drums buzz with his unease.

Instinctually, those jumpy feelings were being funneled into anger. Anger was familiar. Anger was comforting to him. It was warm and protective. Anger was an all consuming hum in his system that distracted him from how anxious the pained gasps that Tomioka thought he was hiding in every breath made him feel.

Damn Tomioka.

Sanemi couldn’t believe he’d fucked himself up so badly. Stupid. So stupid to let himself get clubbed into that tree in the first place, and stupider to let a tree fall on himself like that. The fuck was wrong with him? He was a hashira after all.

More frustratingly, Sanemi couldn’t pin what it was about Giyuu being hurt so bad that was the root for the nagging worry that the anger wouldn’t fully swallow. What was different about him being hurt then Kocho? Or any of the other demon slayers he’d seen get hurt throughout the years? What was so special about the way he gritted his teeth and fought back expressions of pain? Even Tomioka trying to hide his pain like that had pissed Sanemi off and made his stomach twist all at the same time. Ever stoic Giyuu Tomioka letting his mask slip in overwhelming hurt…

“So,” Shinobu’s voice broke him out of his spiraling thoughts. Her voice shook ever so slightly, that anyone who wasn’t a hashira wouldn’t have ever noticed. “When did this start?”

He jerked his head around to look at her, and ignored the suck of air from Giyuu at the sudden movement. “When did what start?” he grumbled all while giving her a look that should’ve told her to choose her next words carefully.

A mistake on his part to think Shinobu was one to be intimidated by anything.

She cocked her head to the side just slightly. Her eyes moving suspiciously between Sanemi’s tight face to the way Giyuu’s head was snuggled into his neck.

“ This ,” she repeated, lifting her finger to wag from water to wind hashira.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Sanemi all but shouted. Face burned hotter than Giyuu’s feverish forehead. 

“You tell me, Shinazugawa.” A smile was toying at the end of her lips.

Sanemi scoffed and sputtered before turning away from her, so she couldn’t smirk at his flushed face. “I don’t know what the hell you mean, Kocho ,” he growled a final warning at her to drop it.

“Do you want to tell me when all this started, Tomioka?” she turned her question to the other hashira, who valiantly tried to perk his heavy head up at her words directed to him.

“Hmm? I d-don’t-,” he started while struggling to clear the fog in his head to understand what was being asked and what was happening. He could feel Sanemi shaking slightly underneath him, and it was all so confusing.

“Fucking leave him alone! He’s too far out of it to understand anything you’re saying anyways!” Shinazugawa’s voice rumbled against him.

“Wha-,” Giyuu tried again before Sanemi readjusted his grip on him. Wincing he let his head thump back down to the white haori covered shoulder. He swallowed a groan that was inching its way up his throat.

“Just focus on staying conscious, Tomioka,” Sanemi snapped. “You’re both fucking concussed and annoying as hell. I don’t want to hear from either of you assholes the rest of the way back, or so fucking help you. Damn!”

Shinobu snorted softly at his agitated order. Even though she wanted to press it to see just what she could get a loopy Giyuu to admit to, she decided against it in favor of continuing to scan the area around them for the demon. She’d been keeping an eye out the whole time they’d walked, and the further they got without coming across any sign of the creature caused her blood to run cold. Was the demon that good, or were all three of the hashira too exhausted and injured to be any use? Either way it unsettled her.

A sharp prickle ruffled the hairs on the nape of her neck, and she drew her sword in her good hand before spinning around.

“Shinazugawa!” she frantically called out in warning just as the demon leaped out from where he was hiding behind some fallen rock and dirt.

The demon’s fist was raised and falling threateningly towards the ground in an attempt to bury them all once again.

Shinobu was ready for that move this time.

Vaulting herself up into the air to meet the creature, she swung her sword with all her might at his outstretched arm. If she could manage to inject him with the poison before his fist hit the ground, that might be enough to stop him!

As her weapon neared its target, it seemed her wounded body wasn’t at her usual speed.

The demon was able to dodge the blade, by yanking himself out of the way to land on the broken ground a few feet away from her.

Sanemi was standing almost frozen, heart beating wildly against the confines of his chest. He turned when Shinobu called out to him, but didn’t react in enough time to help her. She might’ve missed, but at least she’d been successful enough to keep him from burying them further under the earth. Mentally he began cursing himself for not noticing the threat at the same time as the insect hashira.

Now he was just still stuck standing there watching her face off with the demon. Tomioka had begun pushing off against him like he was trying to get Sanemi to set him down. Apparently, he was lucid enough to know they were in danger. There was no chance Giyuu was ready to stand and fight. Sanemi wasn’t convinced he was well enough to even accomplish standing by himself. And Sanemi-

Sanemi wasn’t even sure what he was supposed to do. Shinobu was already back on the move in a valiant attempt to defend her fellow hashira, and he was just rooted pathetically. Suffocatingly. His lungs constricted, and Giyuu’s weight on his back felt crushing. But he didn’t feel comfortable setting Tomioka down to go help her either. That would leave Giyuu completely vulnerable in his weakened pain addled state, and in such a bad spot if the demon got by them.

The thought of Giyuu lying alone on the dirt without the strength to lift his head, while a demon ripped him apart caused Sanemi’s chest to hitch painfully.

On the other hand he couldn’t just stand there and let Shinobu do everything! Despite his still ringing head, he was still in better condition than either of his companions. It was his fault the other two hashira were in his mess to begin with. This had been his mission, and if he hadn’t fucked it up so badly neither of them would have to be suffering along with him.

Fuck. He just didn’t have any good options. Didn’t really even have more than one choice, either.

With a trembling sort of urgency, he jogged away from the fight Shinobu was putting up to get Tomioka a safe distance away. He couldn’t just drop him all exposed where he could get his stupid ass killed. Maybe he could tuck him behind a fallen tree or something, and that would be enough to keep him from the demon’s gaze.

Yeah, he could do that, he decided. Get Tomioka somewhere nice and out of sight. Somewhere safe. Somewhere he couldn’t get hurt again.

His limbs were burning with guilt as he found a defendable spot for the injured man, who was still struggling against him. The sharp, breathless gasp of pain that escaped Tomioka’s all too pale lips at the hurried movement, did nothing to lessen the overwhelming guilt building in Sanemi’s lungs.

“Don’t be fucking difficult,” Sanemi bit out as he put Giyuu down behind some rubble of broken tree and overturned earth with a carefulness that time couldn’t spare. The way Giyuu’s body fluttered and shuttered at even the lightest jostle, had Sanemi’s nerves alight.

“I’m… I-I can- help,” Giyuu ground out passed clenched teeth with as much strength as he had left in his whole body to be convincing. He couldn’t stop the breathless gasp, when his throbbing body was set down against uneven ground. The hot white pain threatened to take his vision. But there was no way he was going to let it stop him.

 “N-not gonna just… sit here…” he tried to protest as Sanemi shifted backwards. He’d never seen this type of look on Shinazugawa’s face before, and it unnerved him. Shinazugawa had been pushing himself too hard, and he needed some back up. Giyuu wasn’t going to be left behind, while Shinazugawa charged off with no regard for his own damn well being.

“You’re gonna sit here, or I’m going to beat what little sense you have left in your head out your damn ears, you stubborn asshole,” the wind hashira said harshly, shaking both of Giyuu’s shoulders for emphasis. The frown of determination pinching Giyuu’s eyebrows together, had Sanemi desperate.

“Don’t be a dumbass. Just… stay put, okay?” he put as much authority in his voice as he could to try and force Giyuu to be reasonable.

Sanemi scanned the other’s trembling form once… twice… just to be sure he was safe-

As safe as he could be, at least…

Giyuu’s breath was catching in his chest and throat before escaping his lips in little gasps. He stared at Sanemi’s eyes with a recklessness and pleading that Sanemi didn’t have the time to dispel.

“Just wait for me,” Sanemi managed to say passed the twisting in his gut. He couldn’t let Shinobu fight alone for this long with only one good arm. But the horrifying feeling that the stubborn water hashira wasn’t going to listen, and get himself killed was giving him pause. Made his heart clench, and teeth grind together.

“Please, Tomioka,” he heard himself say so embarrassingly pathetically, before he squeezed the other man’s shoulders like the gesture would forcibly ground him there. His voice so desperate with a sort of hopelessness as he knew he couldn’t just stay there and talk Giyuu down. He took a moment longer to search the blue eyes with one blown out pupil and blood shot from the blow he took from Sanemi’s failed mission. 

“I’ll be right back.” Sanemi was stumbling backwards to give a final look to the deathly pale man slumped over against a broken tree trunk. He tore his gaze away before he broke off into a run to make it back to Shinobu, who was commendably holding her ground while keeping the demon from using his blood demon art.

Giyuu moved his embarrassingly shaky arms to try and leverage himself into a standing position. It’s like his whole body was fighting back against him and any movement besides sitting on his ass. There was just no way he could sit back, while Shinazugawa and Kocho battled. But his leg screamed at him to stop his feeble attempts in getting up.

He refused to be so pathetically useless. Not when he knew there was no way Sabito would’ve ever been in this position. No way he would’ve gotten his face half broken by a demon with a club. There was no doubt in Giyuu’s mind that Sabito would’ve taken out both demons at the beginning of the night and saved both Shinazugawa and Shinobu with little exertion.

And there Giyuu was… Struggling to even move on his own.

A burden to all of them.

A disgraceful pillar.

Gritting his teeth to push passed the trembling in his every muscle, he continued to try and pull himself to his feet. He fought through his blurred vision as the pain threatened to take him down. If he was to have outlived Sabito, the very least he could do was make sure he didn’t let his other friends meet the same fate.

He owed that much…

A light sweat broke out in a thin, cold layer on Shinobu’s forehead as she battled the demon and the pain from her own injuries. Forcing her breaths to stay nice and even, she kept her focus on keeping the demon from getting passed her. It wasn’t a large demon. Probably only a few inches taller than herself. But it was fast and agile. The evil creature evaded her every attack with quick flips and jumps.

Although slightly perturbed that she couldn’t get a blow in, she knew that as long as she kept him from using his blood demon art that was all that mattered. So she forced her sore body to keep moving and have him on the defensive.

“I’m surprised you are able to put up such a fight against me!” the demon’s gratingly high, wheezy voice said, while swerving away another jab from the insect hashira. “After all those injuries you sustained! Very impressive! You must be hashira!”

Pushing herself to keep up with the demon in an effort to keep him backing up away from her fellow core members, she couldn’t help a slight frown at the demon’s attempt in conversation. 

Briefly she sized his form up and down taking careful note of his flexibility and strength in his legs and forearms. His eyes were a filthy yellow with red pupils, and skin a snotty green. The shade of green was similar to the much bigger demon they’d been chasing at the beginning of this whole mess. With his eagerness to talk, Shinobu wondered if she could work that to her waning advantage.

“Was the larger demon we fought from the swamp a friend of yours?” she began while following it up with another swipe of her sword. “I see a resemblance. A brother, perhaps?”

A twist of a snarl caused jagged lines in the flesh around his mouth and forehead. A large vein bulged at his neck, and he bared his teeth before saying, “You’re desperate, hashira! You know it’s only a matter of time before I bury all of you for good.”

“I sincerely doubt that,” Shinobu said sweetly while fighting off the shakiness starting up in her legs. Her injured arm screamed in protest to every movement causing hot white pain to ripple up to her neck and down her fingers. “If you were going to bury all of us, you would’ve done so by now. Why wait until after we escaped? If you were really all that strong, you would’ve used your blood demon art on us again while we were still unconscious.”

A shrill laugh erupted from the monster’s throat. “You’re right, I could’ve feasted on the lot of you while you were lying there pathetically! Truly an embarrassment to the demon slayer core, how you all just crumpled so easily.”

He twisted out of reach again. His eyes were gleaming with a new look that Shinobu recognized in demons all too well. Raw, ravenous hunger. The look of a predator who had its prey right where it wanted them.

“I’m not the sort of demon, who likes a quick kill,” he continued before licking his unnaturally long tongue across bumpy lips. “You taste all the better after you’ve been flailing with pathetic desperation to live. The fear is,” he breathed in dramatically before back flipping out of Shinobu’s reach, “ intoxicating !”

Without any intention of giving her more information than that, he suddenly changed direction to charge directly for her instead of his previous retreat.

The sudden shift in strategy, on any normal night, would’ve been something Shinobu could’ve anticipated far before the demon had begun to move. But with her head addled with pain from her wounds and deep rooted exhaustion, she could only flinch back in surprise.

Her slight falter was all the demon hoped for. Delivering a quick kick to her forehead, he sent her tumbling backwards tripping over rubble on her way down.

Desperately trying to stop her assent, she tried to soften her landing by throwing up both her arms in an attempt to catch herself. A sharp cry broke past her lips at the crippling agony coming in shocking waves from where she’d hit the ground directly on her injured arm. She sucked in another cry of pain, and fought against her darkening vision.

The demon had no plans of letting her regain her composure. With a drooling grin, he vaulted himself into the air to deliver his killing blow.

A sudden weight flung around him, catching him at the waist. The momentum of the unexpected attack flung the demon backwards a healthy distance from the downed insect pillar.

Sanemi scrambled to get back up before the demon could become fully aware of what exactly just happened. Taking the briefest second to allow himself to get into proper stance, he lunged at the damned monster.

“Wind breathing first-,” Sanemi started, gathering up his incomparable sense of willpower. 

In a half blink of an eye, the demon had charged for him before Sanemi could complete his form. Running on pure instinctual muscle memory, Sanemi miraculously managed to throw himself to the side to avoid a what would’ve been devastating kick to the head.

“Last hashira standing, are you?” the monster taunted, with a sideways turn of his horned head. “Where’s the dark haired one with the ugly haori?”

Sanemi ignored the panic twisting in his stomach, and tried to get himself together. He had no plans on continuing to embarrass himself tonight. Even if he could just protect the others until sunrise, that would be enough.

But something in the way that the demon seemed ready for conversation, and how he stayed a safe distance away from Sanemi without any move for an attack, was enough to alight the anxiety that he couldn’t seem to shed.

Was… was it stalling for time?

The thought had Sanemi second guessing his next move to defend. Why would a demon be stalling? Usually they were the ones in a rush to finish off the demon slayers before time ran out and the sun came up. Right off the top of his head Sanemi couldn’t come up with a good reason this bastard would be trying to stretch this fight out. Panic was moving its icy grip to his lungs.

“He isn’t dead is he?” the demon continued, pacing back and forth in an all too casual, relaxed way. His eyes trained on the wind hashira like he was able to see all the way through him. “Don’t tell me he was so weak that he succumbed to his injuries already? That’s no fun.”

Shinazugawa tried to scoff away the anxiety eating up his insides. There was no way he’d let this low life get a reaction out of him. 

“Worry about yourself, asshole,” he sneered back, brandishing his sword. “I’m gonna be finishing what I started here tonight.”

“If you were going to do that, why didn’t you seize the opportunity while we were in the rubble together?” He bared rotting teeth in a cocky smile at the brief confusion on Shinazugawa’s face. “Didn’t know I was there the whole time watching you all, did you? And here I thought the hashira were supposed to be the best the demon slayer core had to offer.”

“Lot a big talk for a demon who buried himself with his own blood demon art,” Sanemi growled in return. “Seems like you’re more yap than action.”

“My art is powerful as you’ve experienced,” the demon continued while slowly raising up a threatening hand. “It’s only flaw is that it takes quite a bit out of me, and it takes me a while to recharge. But,” he rotated his wrist and flexed his fingers before relaxing them into a fist, “it seems I’m all rested up.”

Sanemi’s heart slammed into his throat at what happened right after those words left the demon’s mouth.

Giyuu seemed to appear out of absolutely nowhere directly behind the demon with his sword reeled back in perfect position to behead the monster. His gaunt face set in rigid determination as he pushed past crippling wounds.

And Sanemi-

Sanemi felt like all the air had been forcefully sucked out of his lungs. Like he was floating or watching the scene unfold from behind a window. 

Tomioka hadn’t trusted him to take care of it on his own. Apparently he thought it better to push through injuries that should have him unconscious, than rely on him. The thought both sickened and angered him. 

Did Tomioka think him to be weak? Unable to behead this damn thing by himself? Tomioka referring to himself as a burden earlier, seemed to disprove that thought, but all the same…

He clearly didn’t think he could rely on Shinazugawa, and that caused the knotts twisting in his stomach to tighten painfully.

Not that there was a moment to come up with the reason as to why it made him feel as sick as it did.

Not when his facial expression seemed to alert the demon to the threat behind him.

Not a second had even passed from when Tomioka appeared to the demon noticing the pinched look on Sanemi’s brow. The beast ducked just to barely avoid the water hashira’s sword that sliced through the tip of one of the two horns on his head.

The demon scrambled to get away from Tomioka, who stumbled forward when his attack failed. His leg still secured in the hand crafted splint trembled under his weight, but he stubbornly kept himself upright. Moving to hold his sword with both of his hands, he readied himself for the next attack.

“Tomioka, get the fuck out of here!” Sanemi bellowed at the stupid, stupid stubborn asshole, who couldn’t listen to simple directions for shit! “You fucking bastard, I told you to fucking wait for me!”

Tomioka shows no signs of hearing Sanemi even a little bit. Instead he was locked in to the demon, who was quickly heading back for him. Spreading his legs slightly, he attempted to strengthen his stance. Knuckles white with the grip on his sword., Crimson stained his pale face, as his head wound began leaking its sticky fluid again. Pure adrenaline was the only thing to thank for him not having face planted in the ground.

“You fucking idiot!” Shinazugawa yelled with a telling wheeze right before the demon flung itself back at the water hashira. Every thought Sanemi had was screeching at him to run! To get in front of Tomioka! To get the demon before it reached him, but none of his muscles would listen to him. He couldn’t tell if it was the exhaustion or the anxiety that was making him a prisoner of his own body.

Sanemi felt like he was watching in slow motion. The demon doesn’t seem interested in anyone other than Giyuu for the moment. The panic Sanemi had been battling the whole night was wrapping itself so tightly around him. Forcing him to be motionless and watch. Watch as Tomioka was about to be slaughtered in front of him. Make him watch like it had when he and Genya both watched when their mother had killed his siblings…

Helpless.

Useless.

Unreliable.

He’d barely been fast enough to save Genya that night.

It was foolish of Genya to have relied on him then, and it was stupid for either Shinobu or Tomioka to do the same now.

He couldn’t ever seem to save the ones he cared about.

Giyuu swung his sword with all the strength his adrenaline could muster right as the demon reached him. The damned creature ducked while aiming a well placed kick to the knee of Giyuu’s injured leg. 

The blow makes contact right on the side of Giyuu’s splinted knee, and Tomioka drops with a broken cry that he instinctually tries to muffle. His eyes swim out of focus and spots dance in his vision. The swelling feeling of helplessness was as nauseating as the pain, but no amount of urgency and stubborn perseverance could get him back to his feet.

He was going to die without making a single difference in the fight.

Without being able to help Sanemi and Kocho in the slightest.

Like a worthless weight in the hashira ranks.

If Giyuu’s vision hadn’t been devoured by darkness, he would’ve seen a familiar haori fling in front of him. Shinobu’s sword narrowly missed its target right before the demon could deliver a finishing blow to the crown of Giyuu’s head. 

Shinobu’s eyes are bloodshot and dangerously wide with a vein in her forehead bulging. Breath puffed out in measured pants from clenched teeth. Planting her feet firmly in front of the fallen water hashira, she sent another vicious jab the demon’s way.

Startled, the demon stumbled backwards. Clearly not expecting Shinobu to be well enough to re-enter the fight, especially with that sort of ferocity, for a second he seemed uncertain of what his next move was. It had been obvious before to take out the weakened hashira first to get them out of the way, but he hadn’t expected them to still be putting up such a vigorous fight.

Shaking his head to clear away the uncertainty, the demon raised his fist and leaped into the air with one attack in mind. His eyes alighted with intent to bury them all once and for all.

Heart pounding from its new place in his throat, Sanemi shattered the anxiety that had his feet previously shackled to the ground. Moving with a speed that pushed his body to its limit, he swung himself up into the air into wind breathing’s fifth form. His blade met the demon’s arm, effectively cutting it off from the elbow before the fist could slam into the ground.

The demon lifted terrified eyes over to the wind hashira in complete shock. Not letting another second go by, Sanemi swung his sword and sent the cruel head flying away from them.

Sanemi’s chest was heaving with exertion. Adrenaline vanished into his allconsuming exhaustion and throbbing ache in his head. The pain was tingling down the back of his neck and tops of his shoulders. His vision blurred ever so slightly to make his surroundings fuzzy, and he attempted to will it away.

A small grunt behind him, had him forgetting all about any pain he was experiencing. Shinobu was struggling to keep Tomioka from tipping over completely. The water hashira was complete dead weight against her as he’d finally lost his own battle with consciousness. That final push for strength sapped him of any control he’d had left over his ability to stay awake. If it wasn’t for the shaky rise and fall of his chest, Sanemi would think him dead with how slack his face and body looked.

Swallowing around a choking lump forming in his throat, he forced tired, achy legs to move him over to take Giyuu’s weight off of a swaying Shinobu. He thought maybe Shinobu was saying something to him, as he ever so gently moved Giyuu off of her and into his own arms. If she was saying something, it was lost on him as he could only focus on the small puffs of breath leaving Tomioka’s mouth that brushed against his chest. As he tried to get his own breathing to even out, he just let himself stay in an awkward half kneeling position and just kept Giyuu steady.

They were alive.

The demon was dead.

They were all still alive, and the demon was dead.

It wasn’t like with his family.

They were all still there.

Sanemi killed it in time.

Giyuu’s body felt so incredibly fragile in his arms. Each tremor that rippled through the unconscious man like it threatened to break him. It was all Sanemi could do just to keep him close. Close enough to stop him from shattering.

To stop them both from shattering…

He was so warm against Sanemi’s body. His fever was going to need attention soon. Sanemi’s arms spasmed around him, and somehow one of his hands found their way into thick black hair…

“Shinazugawa!” Shinobu snapped her fingers in front of his face to pull him out from where he was deeply retreating into his own head. Her face swam into his wavering line of sight. Her expression was pinched with both concern and annoyance.

Stifling a sigh she started, “We need-”

“Never fear! Your calvary is here!” a new voice boomed, shattering Shinobu’s sentence.

Both wind and insect hashira shared an incredulous look before turning to look up at the top of the chasm to see Uzi and Rengoku standing on the edge looking down.

“What the fuck!” Shinazugawa shouted as soon as he found his voice.

“In need of some assistance, Shinazugawa?” Uzi taunted while striking a pose. “Your rescuers have arrived! Feel free to start showing your undying appreciation.”

Sanemi’s face burned and he opened his mouth to let that full of himself bastard know where he could put his appreciation.

“Your crows all said you were in need of backup!” Rengoku yelled much louder than necessary down to the three at the bottom of the chasm. His volume was enough to make Sanemi’s head spin. “Are you injured?!”

“Some fucking back up you two fuckers are!” Sanemi shouted back while unconsciously moving Giyuu slightly tighter into his chest.

“Yes, and Tomioka’s unconscious,” Shinobu responded over top of Sanemi’s insults.

“Allow us to help you up!” Rengoku moved quickly to get in a position to assist in dragging them up to ground level.

Shinobu rose to her feet with hidden difficulty, and gave Sanami a look before she made her way over to Rengoku.

“Don’t worry, Shinazugawa, I understand it’s embarrassing that the three of you couldn’t manage to kill a demon without us,” Uzi jeered. His too white teeth seemed to glow in the early morning darkness. He seemed to be getting too much pleasure out of their embarrassing position.

Sanemi snarled in response, not having the energy to keep up the same fighting spark he usually had. Turning his focus away from the two loudest hashira, he gathered Giyuu up into his arms bridal style. Forcing his steps to be even and smooth so as not to jostle the unconscious man, he headed over to where Rengoku was hauling Shinobu up and out with her good arm.

While the insect pillar gave the new arrivals the rundown on what happened, Sanemi focused on shifting Giyuu from his own arms to Rengoku’s. The flame hashira frowned in concentration, as he attempted to get the wounded man up without aggravating any of his many injuries.

Uzi let out a boisterous laugh at Shinobu’s rendition of how Shinazugawa had managed to let the first demon lead him through an embarrassing chase around the woods. Chewing on the inside of his lip so as not to explode on everyone around him with energy he no longer had, he swatted Rengoku’s hand away in favor of climbing up his own damn self.

“I’m glad we were just a few villages away,” Rengoku exclaimed sincerely to Shinobu as she wrapped up the story.

“How do you let not one, but two demons get the better of you?” Uzi was wheezing with laughter, bent over with his hands on his knees. “I’m never letting you live this down! Tomioka running into a tree- I can’t!”

“He didn’t run into a tree, shit for brains,” Sanemi barked. He felt like his brain was melting out through his ears, and he just wanted the flashy idiot to shut the fuck up.

“Oh it’s too much,” Uzi continued, completely ignoring him. He wiped his eyes as his laughter started to die down.

“Fucking stupid mother fucking bastard,” Sanemi grumbled to himself, as he moved to where Rengoku had laid Tomioka out on the ground. He looked even worse in the sun that was just beginning to rise. Face molted with bruises and a dried trail of blood splattered down the side of his jaw. His leg was still painfully twisted and in need of urgent medical attention. Sanemi didn’t know whether to be glad he was finally unconscious and unaware of the pain of his injuries, or to be pissed that he used up the last of his energy like a fucking dumbass and passed out.

“Fucking stupid,” he muttered again before bending down to begin lifting the water hashira up. Carefully sliding his arm under his shoulders first to try and shift him into a sitting position. His tired limbs protested the movement.

“We really need to get Tomioka to the Butterfly Mansion,” he heard Shinobu say from somewhere behind him, while he struggled to get the water hashira up. “His leg needs to be treated, and I’m afraid of his face wounds getting infected.”

A firm, large hand on his shoulder halted Sanemi’s efforts. He turned slightly to see Rengoku kneeling next to him. The flame hashira gave him a careful smile before patting him on the shoulder in a way that he hadn’t meant to be patronizing, but most definitely felt patronizing to Sanemi.

“I’ve got him,” Rengoku said before Sanemi could start cursing him out. The bright haired man kept his tone lower than it’s usual blistering boom. “Let yourself rest. I’ll carry him.”

“No, I fucking got him!” Shinazugawa snapped before he thought better of it. He could see Uzi raise an eyebrow without having to look at him.

“You have a head injury, Shinazugawa,” Shinobu sighed. She’d reached her limit with him a long time ago, but did her best to not just straight up yell at him. “Let Rengoku take Tomioka.”

Heat flushing his face, Sanemi got up and stumbled back away from both Rengoku and Tomioka. He grumbled under his breath words that nobody was really listening too, as Rengoku shifted Giyuu around until he was draped carefully over his back in a secure position.

Uzi offered Shinobu a ride on his back too, which she reluctantly accepted. The sound pillar had enough respect for her to not make it unbearably awkward or inappropriate, and she didn’t think it wise to keep pushing her limits.

Her new height combined with the light from the rising sun gave her a better view of Shinazugawa. The white haired man had yet to take his eyes off Giyuu, whose head was resting on Rengoku’s shoulder. Purple eyes hazed with fatigue, sharpened at every jostle Rengoku caused the water hashira, as he began to move. Watching him with a protectiveness Shinobu had never seen from the usually cruel tempered man. 

“Don’t worry, Shinazugawa,” she said with a voice dripping in amusement. “Rengoku will take good care of your boyfriend for you.”

Sanemi’s face turned such a dangerous shade of red, Shinobu was convinced he was about to bust every blood vessel in his face.

Uzi sputtered.

“You shut the hell up!” the wind hashira yelled, jabbing a threatening finger in her direction. “I’ll have you know I don’t give a flying fuck about Tomioka!”

“Sure didn’t seem that way to me,” she chirped back. “It looked like you were both cuddling when I was tending to his wounds earlier.”

“WHAT?!” Tengen sounded like he was choking on fresh air.

“Get fucked! That’s a total exaggeration! I’m not a fucking monster, I just didn’t want him to fucking die.” The heated flush in his face was serving to piss him off all the more.

“I need these details now, Kocho,” Tengen demanded.

“You can shut the fuck up too, you damn peacock!” Sanemi all but blew up in a rage that he wouldn’t recognize as anything other than annoyance at their nosiness. “I’ll fucking beat all three of your asses right fucking here right the hell now! You shitty pricks!”

Giyuu shifted ever so slightly at the yelling, as Uzi and Shinobu teamed up against a furious wind pillar. He didn’t have the wherewithal to make out distinct words, let alone figure out what they were all yelling about. The warm sunshine grazing his skin was all too soothing, and had him feeling safe enough to let the blissful darkness of sleep pull him back under.