Living with in your Heart

A small one-shot, about Giyuu and Tanjirou. Small, but cute and fluffy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Demon Slayer/Kimetsu no Yaiba, the series belong to Koyoharu Gotoge.

After a mission, Tanjirou, Nezuko and Giyuu all rested inside a cave. They had brought their futons and blankets, Giyuu had cooked for them all, while Tanjirou chopped wood for a fire.

"We should go to bed now, tomorrow, when the sun rises we'll be going." Giyuu instructed, rolling over the futons. Tanjirou nodded and pulled out his, setting it down and getting it ready. Nezuko was going inside her box, she was so used to it she didn't need to sleep in futons.

Tanjirou patted her head and wished her the goodnights when she closed her door, before he got comfortable on his futon.

"Good night, Tomioka-san."

"Sleep well and get well rested, Tanjirou..." Giyuu nodded and got inside his futon, his back facing Tanjirou as the boy had already closed his eyes. Giyuu opened his eyes and turned to face his intern, he found him fast asleep and the Hashira sighed, the boy was easy to reconcile sleep, he usually got trouble with sleeping fast. He almost envied Tanjirou for sleeping fast, now he was on his back and looking at the ceiling of the cave, unable to get sleep. He had thoughts spinning over his mind, how he managed to spare Nezuko and not kill her that moment, how he proved the others the girl wasn't a threat, and he didn't need to commit seppuku, clear it was, Nezuko was not a threat.

About thirty minutes after Tanjirou had gone to bed, Giyuu was still awake and restless, still he couldn't close his eyes. When a whimper caught his attention and he turned to Tanjirou again, sitting up. The boy was whimpering and thrashing about in his sleep. Giyuu knew he should let him wake on his own accord, normally when someone was having a nightmare, it wasn't a good idea to immediately wake them up. But Tanjirou has started wailing in his sleep, calling out unknown names that he had never heard off.

So he decided to wake him. Giyuu stood and walked over to the wailing boy and shook him violently.

"Tanjirou, wake up!" he ordered, shaking him.

"Hanako, Takeo, Shigeru, Rokuta! Mom!" Tanjirou all but wailed and thrashed. Giyuu slapped him twice in the face.

"Wake up, it is just a dream! Wake up, Tanjirou. Come on!" He called out. He could tell that they were his fallen family. He felt for the kid but he had to wake, for his own sake.

Tanjirou gasped and woke finally, although, he was already crying his eyes scanned around, choking in wails and sobs. "T-they're all gone-!"

"Tanjirou, breath, relax. Breath." Giyuu instructed firmly, grabbing him by the shoulders to keep looking at him in the eye. He even got him water from his own sword, he had the water power after all.

Tanjirou wasn't listening he struggled and sobbed. Lastly, Giyuu oughted to hug him and hold him there, quietly until he cried himself to sleep. He was holding him close, rubbing his back in soothing circles. He knew exactly what horror it was for Tanjirou, seeing his family dead, he experimented the same thing with Tsutako. He shook his head, blinking away tears, trying not to think of his own tragedy, when he knew Tanjirou needed his comfort, he was trying his best to provide it to him, it wasn't difficult, since he had gotten soft with the boy as they days went on. He urged to protect him, to hug him and keep him alive.

"It's alright, Tanjirou. It was just a dream." the Hashira soothed, his voice soft and barely above a whisper. Tanjirou sobbed and hiccuped, clinging from Giyuu for dear life, as if he life depended on it, he was broken, this all still affected him. To be honest, the boy cried secretly when no one was watching, he missed his mother, his other siblings, everyone. How could he not, they were his family.

Giyuu lightly rocked back and forth as he continued soothing the miserable Tanjirou. Tanjirou took a long while to calm down, but he managed to, he shifted and looked at the Hashira in the eyes, sobbing.

"Feeling better?" Giyuu patted his back, glad that Tanjirou had calmed a little. "They're still with you, right here," he reached a hand and poked Tanjirou's chest, right where his heart was.

"M...my heart...?"

"Correct. They never really left you. They live inside your heart, Tanjirou." Giyuu said softly. Saying the same words, Sabito once told him when Tsutako died protecting him.

Tanjirou closed his eyes, resting his head against Giyuu's chest, the sound of his slow heartbeat was soothing. Giyuu was a bit frozen up when he did that, but if it would help him soothe him, then be it. He rubbed his head soothingly, ending humming the Tomioka lullabye, the one hummed to him when smaller. Tanjirou bit by bit was getting soothed, until he ended up falling asleep again.

Giyuu slowly shifted and gently layed him down and tucked him in. He placed a hand to his forehead. "Turn those bad dreams into happy ones." he whispered and then used his haori sleeve to wipe away his tears. The Hashira felt relieved when Tanjirou seemed to be having good sleep now. It all took around twenty minutes to soothe his crying, he felt bad for him. Even Nezuko slowly opened her box, poking her head out.

Giyuu put a finger to his lips. "Shh." the demon girl nodded and closed her box once again. The Hashira turned once more to Tanjirou and noticed the smile forming and he gave a ghost of smile of his own, rubbing his head once more and then her got inside his own covers.

"Goodnight, Tanjirou."