The next morning, I woke up to hear Giyu's snoring softly, but something felt off about me: my skin felt bare and cold like I wasn't wearing clothes to sleep. I worriedly lifted the blanket to see myself nude, as I looked around to see that our clothes were scattered. "Oh no…" a fear of dread washed over me. "What have I done?!" A quick recap of the night ran through my head as I remembered what we did. "Oh my…" I glanced over to Giyu who was still sound asleep, but was clearly naked too. "G-Giyu…" I mumbled, gently shaking his body. "Giyu, wake up," a big toll of my emotions was crashing on me, as I waited for him to awaken. I conjured up many scenarios where he didn't remember, or he was regretful of last night. "Giyu," my voice cracked from anticipation of his awakening, but he wasn't responding at all.

Then I made a decision, I was going to go my separate ways with him and never see him again. It was a painful situation, but what hurts the most was that alcohol was involved between our heat. I'd rather not hear what Giyu has to say if he remembered or not. "We met not that long ago," I hunched over to see Giyu's beautiful face as he slept deeply. My hand caressed his soft cheeks. "And I don't regret meeting you… but I am truly sorry to hurt you again by leaving. Maybe you'll remember what happened last night, but I cannot take the shame and be here in the same room knowing that what we did was sinful- not wedded and slept with each other. Here I will say it was a wondrous night with passion and fireworks… Giyu, forgive me for leaving you mad and broken." I planted a soft kiss on his forehead before collecting myself and leaving.

Seven months have passed and I resided in a village that was new to me. I was full term, ready to birth a baby in two months. I created a new life for myself as I told people that my 'husband' died from an illness, leaving me as a widow.

For months, I tried to occupy my mind from thinking about Giyu. The child I carried was indeed his, and coming back into his life would be a mess. I had no guts to talk to my unborn child about his father. "I hope you can also forgive me for not giving you a father," I rubbed my big belly, as I stared at the window from my house.

I found out I was pregnant shortly after leaving Giyu's side. It all happened because I fainted due to exhaustion, and this witch doctor told me I carried a life inside of me. It was hard to believe, but overtime, my stomach grew as my hunger increased.

Out in the market, I bought some fruits and couldn't help but overhear people's conversation about demons.

"He tried to claim it was a demon who ruined his family, but I think he's mentally ill by saying random shit so people could believe his nonsense."

"Demon or not, his family was slaughtered real bad. Heard that they were literally dismembered, and all their heads were right next to each other when someone saw the horror."

"What the hell…" I whispered, walking past gossiping people and heading to a secluded area of white flower trees.

I sat on the ground, chewing a peach as I thought about the awaiting child. The question that I had to think the most was: who was going to help me birth my child? Just imagining me doing it myself was going to be hard. I stayed gazing at the trees for a little bit before walking home, so I wouldn't catch a cold.

Walking through the lively village, I didn't expect to hear them. "Giyu, stop playing around." It was indeed Shinobu's voice, but I couldn't turn my head and look at them.

I needed to move forward and think about my little one's future.

"Kirika Chiba!"

"Oh gosh, why at this moment?!" I turned to the owner of the voice and saw the chief of the village.

"Do you know who these two people are?" I looked at who he pointed and it was Shinobu and Giyu who stared back at us since he didn't know how to be quiet.

"I…" I didn't know what to say, as I stared at the two demon slayers.

"They've been causing a ruckus, and nobody knows who they are. People have been spreading rumors about 'demons' lurking at night and they claim…" I tuned out the chief when our eyes met again. He stared in disbelief and I stared in complete sadness. It was like the world stopped for us to stare and not speak to one another.

Giyu broke out of his trance and ran towards me. "Kirika…!" Although he was far from where I stood, I could feel his emotions that swirled inside of him.

"He knows you?" The Chief moved in front of me, blocking my view of Giyu running towards me.

"Chief, I'll explain later. I need to go for a second…" I moved past the Chief and to the house I lived in.

I closed the front door and ran to my room. My back was against the wall as I held in my dying emotions. I knew my actions were wrong from months ago and I can't change that now.

"Kirika…! Please let me in! We need to talk. I need closure," his voice echoed in the air, through my opened window. Giyu was pleading, breaking into his vulnerable emotions.

"Sir, you need to step back from her property…" a voice chimed in, knowing it'll stir a huge commotion to which I gathered myself and walked to the front door and opened it.

Sliding the door, I let Giyu in without a word. "Don't worry about me… I appreciate your concern," I told the person who tried to stop Giyu from banging on my door.

As I slide the door behind me, Giyu never took his eyes off of me, especially when I was full term. "I understand what you're feeling—" but I was quickly cut off due to his eagerness of his questions being answered.

"You found someone?" Giyu put his distant between us, as he was emitting a hurtful pain in his voice.

"No, I didn't." Moving my hands across my round belly. "Let me start at the beginning," I stared at him, inhaling slowly. "I am sorry for hurting you…" I explained my personal reasons to him. "It's fine if you don't understand and I'll be okay whatever decision you make about now. I don't need to burden you with me and my pregnancy." I started to feel okay knowing that I was able to get things off my chest after seeing Giyu. Although my heart tightened in pain of giving birth alone and a fatherless child, I knew I was going to be okay.

"Kirika, come home."

"What?" I didn't know if I heard him right.

"I can't leave you. You are the mother of my child, and I should be there to support you. I will even go to the extend and marry you." His words were out of compassion because he wouldn't say things like this if he didn't want to.

"You…" my vision was getting blurry, as I quickly grabbed his hands into mine. "You're not just saying that right? Even if I wasn't pregnant, you'd still care?" A small tear slipped down my eye and I hastily wiped it with my sleeve.

"You are very important to me," his big hand stroked my head gently. "If I didn't care about you, I wouldn't have run after you or have you by my side." Giyu leaned over and kissed my forehead. I couldn't register his kiss because I was overwhelmed by his words. "I've lost so many people in my life, and I can't afford to lose you too."

"Okay…!" I broke down crying in front of him. "I'm sorry!" Giyu held me in his arms, letting silence engulfed us. It was a peaceful silence of forgiveness.