Gyutaro gently led Genya towards Shinobu's office, the tall teenager awkwardly shuffling after him. Soon they reached the office. "Alright Genya, please have a seat" the black and purple 18-year-old said, as she sat down at her desk. Genya sat down, looking anywhere but at the Insect Hashira, "do we really have to do this now? I promised my younger Siblings I'd be home in time to have dinner with them" Genya said. "This won't take long, once I'm done, you can go home to eat with your Siblings then, alright? Then you also won't have to come back for a month" Shinobu replied.
The Shinazugawa closed his eyes in resignation, "I don't see why you have to keep doing this. Haven't you already seen that it's not hurting me?" Genya asked. "Excuse me. What do you mean?" Gyutaro asked. Shinobu turned to him from where she was preparing a needle, "you may have seen it in the Swordsmith Village. Genya is unable to use Breathing-Styles. But his stomach is special, being able to digest Demon flesh, and turn the flesh into power" she explained. Gyutaro remembered Genya's Demon-like transformation, and watching him eating Upper 4's wooden construct.
"Oh, yeah, I've seen him do that" the green-haired Kamado nodded. "His stomach may be special, but the Master still worries about him, so he's asked me to give Genya check-up's once a month. But, Genya here keeps running away from me whenever his appointment comes up, making me have to chase him around before I can catch him!" Shinobu said, and even Gyutaro could tell how angry she was right now. Then Shinobu tuned back to the younger boy with a needle in hand, "now, let's see those blood samples!" she said cheerfully.
U*G.K
After she was taken the samples, Gyutaro and Genya sat, waiting for the girl to finish examining them. After a few more minutes, Shinobu frowned, "your blood is a lot more excited than normal, did you eat any particularly powerful Demons in the Swordsmith Village?" she asked. "Well, I took a bite out of Nezuko-" Genya trained off. When it looked like he wouldn't continue, Gyutaro did it for him, "he also ate some of Upper Four" he explained. "Hey!" the younger boy hissed. "Well, no wonder your blood is so worked up! You ate some of an Upper Rank, that's not good Genya. Lower level Demons are one thing, but an Upper Rank Demon has so much more of Kibutsuji's blood.
You're lucky you were able to revert to human at all. You could have permanently Demonified yourself" Shinobu said with a rare frown. Genya bit his lip. But he'd always reverted after his body digested the flesh, so he didn't think it was such a big deal. "Also, the fact that you ate some of Nezuko's flesh might be the reason for this strange reaction. Nezuko did conquer the sun only a few hours later. Perhaps your Demon form could do the same, if it was her you ate some of now" Shinobu mused. Gyutaro grimaced, "please don't let Genya start eating my little Sister just to check if he's immune to the sun in his Demon form now" he begged.
"Well, it looks like you're good for now Genya. You're free to go home. I'll contact you if I see any changes, and please contact me if you see any on your end" Shinobu asked him. Genya sighed and stood up, "sure," he replied awkwardly. Before he left the room, Gyutaro stopped him, "hey, wait a minute," he said, bring the 16-year-old's attention to him, "yeah? What is it?" he asked. "Do you think your Siblings would like to come over and play with mine again soon? I think they'd both enjoy it" Gyutaro said, discreetly passing the boy a note. "Oh, sure. Sounds good. I'll talk to my big Brother about it. Though, we'll probably be too busy soon to even think about it" Genya replied.
Gyutaro nodded, "true. Well, just think about it, okay?" he asked, before he left the room, waving as he went. As he left Shinobu's office, Genya looked down at the note in his hand, and froze. It read: 'Kagaya is planning on blowing up himself and his Wife in an effort to kill Muzan. Talk to him about having your Siblings put with mine and his children to keep them safe'. The tall 16-year-old looked up at where Gyutaro had left, "no way" he muttered to himself, scrunching the paper up.
U*G.K
Gyutaro went back to where Hanako and Hakuji were, hoping that nothing had gone wrong. He didn't feel anything, but he was still worried. Soon he reached the room where the two were staying, and entered, to find Hanako eating lunch, and Hakuji sitting and watching her. Huh, the Butterfly Girl's must have made it for her. Suddenly his Sister flinched, looking up at the Demon guiltily, "sorry Mr Hakuji. I've just been eating this whole time, while you've been forced to sit there and watch me!" Hanako apologised.
The former Upper Rank 3 waved his hand around, "nah, it's not a problem. I don't eat girl's anyway, so even if you offered me your blood for my 'lunch', I wouldn't have it, right?" he asked. Hanako frowned, before the Demon spoke up again, "besides, I've already had some blood today, so don't worry about me. You go on. It looks like you're enjoying it" Hakuji replied with a small smile. Hanako looked down at the dumplings the girls had made for her, "yeah," she replied. "So, I was thinking that after lunch, we could talk. Maybe get to know each other better. How's that sound?" Hakuji asked.
"Sounds good to me" Hanako replied cheerfully. It was at this point that Gyutaro opened the door, "I'm back Hanako" he said. "Oh, big Brother. How did Genya's check-up go?" the 12-year-old asked. "It was fine. How have things been going here?" the oldest Kamado asked. "I'm just having dinner and then we're going to talk" his little Sister replied. "Aright. Sounds like a tame night" Gyutaro replied. "So, does that mean you're going home?" Hanak asked hopefully. The green-haired young man chuckled, "not on your life. I'm not leaving you two alone, what kind of Older Brother would that make me? You're 12 Hanako. Overlooking that Hakuji is a Demon, he's hundreds of years old. I'm not leaving you alone here, no way" Gyutaro replied. Hanako began to look angry, "he was only 18 when he was turned! He told me! And he had a Fiancée!
I'm the first girl he's had any feelings for in hundreds of years! And if he treated his Fiancée well, what makes you think he wouldn't do the same to me?!" she snapped. Now it was Gyutaro's turn to get angry, "did you forget what his former Master did to our Mother?! Just because he says he doesn't harm women or children, just because he says he's changed, doesn't mean anything! If you had been home that night, that Bastard would have killed all of you! Not just our Mother, but 6 innocent children! You think I trust Hakuji's word, when he's done things that are just as bad! He would have killed Kyojuro, taken him from his younger Brother without a second thought at the Mugen train! And he almost killed Tanjiro! Have you forgotten that!
Hakuji isn't like Ume and Nezuko. He's a Demon that's lived for hundreds of years and killed and eaten hundreds and hundreds of people! I just want to keep you all safe, and you being in a relationship with a Man-eating Demon isn't helping me!" Gyutaro yelled. Hanako stared at her Older Brother with tears in her eyes. "So what you're saying is that you don't trust me" she said, struggling to hold back her sobs.
"No, I'm not! It's him I don't trust!" Gyutaro replied, pointing at Hakuji, "Hanako, I do trust you, please believe me, but-" he began, calmer now, but his little Sister cut him off, "no you don't! If you trusted me, you'd trust Hakuji too! He's a good person, even if he's a Demon! But you haven't even taken the time to try and see that! You can't look passed your Bias and hatred of Muzan, to see that Hakuji has already broken away from that monster! You're just like the other Hashira that wanted to kill our Sisters! Even though they hadn't done anything!" Hanko cried.
She threw her chopsticks down and stood up. Walking around the table, Hanako grabbed Hakuji's arm, "come on Hakuji, we're leaving!" she snapped. "What? Where?" the Demon asked in bewilderment. "Away from my stupid Older Brother!" the 12-year-old replied, shoving past Gyutaro as she dragged Hakuji away. "Hanako! Hanako, come back here now!" Gyutaro yelled. "Leave me alone!" Hanako cried, as the two left the Butterfly Mansion behind.
U*G.K
Gyutaro had tried to follow the two after they'd left, but they had long since disappeared into the night. "Fuck!" he cursed, punching a tree. Despite wanting to protect his baby Sister, he'd ended up hurting her even more, and now she'd run away. He had to find them, before something happened. 'Why did I say all those things? I've never seen Hanako get that mad at anyone before. But I guess she takes after Nezuko. She screamed just like that when that guy back home hurt that kid.' He leaned against the tree he'd punched, 'this is my fault' Gyutaro thought.
He shook himself out of it and stood up straight, "well, I just have to find her and apologise. So first-" he went to their house to get Tanjiro. Thankfully Yuichiro had already gone to bed, so he didn't make a fuss about being separated from 'Father'. Tanjiro sighed as he tracked the two's scent, "you know, you should really work on your anger Gyutaro. It doesn't surprise me that you made Hanako angry enough to run away with Hakuji" he said. "What I want to know is why everyone can just forgive Hakuji after everything he's done. And how can Hanako like him of all people, out of everyone else." Gyutaro huffed.
Tanjiro looked up from where he was sniffing a tree, "we can't help who we love big Brother" he said seriously. Gyutaro looked down, still unable to believe that Hanako could love Hakuji. "Demons used to be human Gyutaro. If humans can love each other, why couldn't a Demon and a human fall in love?" Tanjiro asked. The older Kamado sighed. Maybe he was being too hard on Hakuji. He had apparently been working in the Butterfly Mansion since the Mugen Train Mission. And since then, he and Hanako had started to fall in love. If Hakuji hadn't harmed anyone at the Butterfly Mansion, even though it would be so easy for him to do so, maybe he should give him a chance.
He made Hanako happy after all. A few minutes later, the Brother's reached a cave. "Okay you two, we know you're in there. Come out!" Gyutaro called. There was no response and no one exited the cave. Tanjiro placed his hand on his Older Brother's shoulder, "maybe I should try" he suggested. Remembering how angry Hanako had been at him earlier, Gyutaro nodded to his younger Brother. Tanjiro removed his hand and turned to the cave, "it's okay Hanako, you're not in trouble. Can you please come out before you get sick?" he called. Finally, slowly, Hanako shuffled out of the cave holding Hakuji's hand.
Their little Sister looked like she'd been crying. Gyutaro sighed in relief that she wasn't hurt. He fell to his knees and hugged Hanako closely, "thank god you're not hurt! How could you run away like that?! You scared me half to death Hanako!" he scolded. "I'm sorry, I was just- just so sick of you judging Hakuji, when didn't even do anything to us! He didn't kill Mr Rengoku, he didn't kill Tanjiro-!" but Hakuji interrupted her with a gentle squeeze to her hand, "it's okay Hanako, you don't have to defend me. I know that I've done awful things in the past. Your Older Brother has every reason not to trust me with you" he said softly.
Tanjiro looked up at Gyutaro, "he doesn't smell deceitful at all Gyutaro. I think we should trust him" he suggested. Gyutaro closed his eyes and out an explosive sigh, "alright! I'm sorry Hakuji. I'm glad that you make my baby Sister happy, and I'll try to be more accepting from now on. Alright?" he asked. Hanako smiled, "that's all I wanted to hear Big Brother Gyutaro!" she cried, as she threw her arms around his neck in a hug. Gyutaro patted her back, "okay. Let's go back. If we're lucky your dinner might still be a bit warm" he said.
And so the four of them returned to the Butterfly Estate.