—START—

-3rd Person POV-

It had been quite a nice day.

He'd gone out and done some shopping, some of his training matt had been broken and he cracked some of his floorboards when training so he needed to find substitutes for those.

Normally this matter would be handled by a Kakushi, it was a part of their contract to maintain the state of the Hashira they were under.

But Tomioka was a different kind of individual, for him utilizing the Kakushi's time for a matter like this one would be a waste.

People with the potential to save others by virtue of knowing how to treat patients in situations of immediate danger was an unvaluable skill needed at all times.

A Hashira should have a small group of them always ready for deployment whenever he needs it, their value for the mission being too high not to.

But he preferred to let them help others, just telling them to follow lesser ranked slayers for the aftermath, a quicker way than having a crow track one down.

Besides he was an adult, menial tasks like this is something he should perform for his own home.

His eyes darted around the familiar street, he was nearing the Water state at this point.

One last turn was taken and the manor was in sight, it was all a straight path from here and he'd reach the door.

And yet a familiar figure stood in front of his door.

"Giyuu-san, are you there?!" Shouted a very spirited boy of red hair and a squared patterned haori of green and black. "I need to talk to you!"

Giyuu approached the persistent kid, he looked much different from when he chose to spare his sister two years ago, much stronger albeit somewhat strained. (I had heard he was still recovering from his encounter with the sixth Uppermoon, why is he here?)

"Tanjiro"

"EHHH!"

The moment he was near enough to converse with his Tomioka called his name, prompting the boy to shout in absolute surprise as the man who he'd been looking for was behind him.

Normally Tanjiro could have felt him with his nose, but with the medicine he'd been taking his senses were still somewhat dulled. "You should pay attention to your surroundings"

In the end Tomioka simply offered a little advice for it before turning to open the door. "I will Giyuu-san" Then the Kamado remembered why he was here. "Oh, could I take a moment from your time?"

The water Hashira wondered what needs would he have for him, and considered just turning it down as he had things to do, but Tanjiro was his prospect of a successor, someone who'd master water breathing and take his place.

And in a way he and his sister were his responsibility.

Prompting him to accept the request. "Ah, Thank you"

The two went inside the empty main room of the state, allowing Tomioka to put all of his goods to the side before focusing on Tanjiro waiting for him to explain.

A fact the kid did not understand after a long minute of silence.

"Oh, yes, I wanted to ask you if you could take care of Nezuko for a couple of days" It was surprising to hear that he needed to part ways with his sister, but that was not the whole story. "Since I am better now I wanted to visit Senjuro, but Nezuko makes him really nervous"

Tanjiro was nowhere near recovered completely but Shinobu most likely let him deal with that as long as he returned as soon as possible to the Butterfly Mansion. "Wouldn't Kocho take her in?"

"Shinobu-san is on a mission along with Kanao, Aoi went to see some patients in the field so the clinic in temporarily down, I couldn't just leave Nezuko there"

It was a valid reasoning what he was telling him but what he couldn't understand was why he came to him.

Nevertheless, these two were something he'd allowed to happen, Kocho shouldn't use time with them outside of treating them like any other slayer as it would be as if he's the one wasting her important time as one of the few professionals in medicine they had.

So he wouldn't reject the notion, accepting to take care of the girl was the least he could do.

"Very well, I wish you safe travels" Tanjiro smiled radiantly when he agreed.

In the end his plan wasn't interrupted.

After the boy left Tomioka took it upon himself to cover any possible spot from where sunlight would enter the room.

While it would somewhat difficult his task of repairing the floor it was a preferable outcome than the girl leaving the box and then burning accidentally.

And yet, now an hour into it she had still to make any kind of attempt to exit it.

The plank was in place, all that he needed to do now was make sure it was correctly secured to the floor. (Sensei did say she slept most of the time, it may be what she's doing right now) Still, Giyuu couldn't help but let his thoughts wander to the box.

He breathed deeply before returning to the floor.

Or he would have, had the same box he was thinking about not moved.

"…" Now he was invested in what would happen, so he watched as the door opened, releasing the incredibly small girl into the room.

"Hmm?" Nezuko acted very docile for someone who found themselves in a completely new environment, looking around herself with eyes that didn't seem to focus on anything.

That is, until those eyes landed on him. "HM HMMHM!" Her sluggish movements turned much more active, something of a recognition shining in her eyes.

(Maybe it's sensei's hypnosis at work) The water Hashira was pretty sure Nezuko, while having cognitive thoughts, in this state was much less aware than a five year old.

So her seeing him as a family member due to that was more realistic than her recognizing a man she met two years ago.

BAAM

Tomioka's train of thought was brought to an abrupt halt by a crashing body.

It wasn't a strong impact at all, rather the sound was made by him dropping the saw he had been using to adjust the wood to the necessary size.

Her running up to him and basically crashing in a hug was completely unexpected after all.

"Do you…need something?" she had latched unto him, and Giyuu had no idea what to make of it.

He attempted to make her let go by prying her off but her strength would have been enough to rip his haori if he tried.

That only left him more lost.

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, Nezuko had no intentions of letting go and Giyuu simply stayed still, looking at her for any signs of release.

Despite her status as a demon Giyuu's instincts weren't warning him of anything, normally even humans gave off a bit of a feeling of danger even knowing they weren't a threat or had any intentions of being one.

And yet she portrayed none of that feeling, she even seemed to be trying to appease him and get his attention.

(Who could she be seeing that she's acting like this) It wasn't particularly uncomfortable having her latch unto him while he was sitting and it wasn't impeding his movements either, so he guessed it didn't matter much where she choose to sit.

Thus he continued securing the new floorboard in its place, hammering a few nails in key places so the plank wouldn't move, an activity the girl was soon interested in.

She grabbed his arm while he grabbed the last few nails he needed, looking with curious intentions at him once more. "Humm" agitating the arm she took in a similar motion to hammering.

It didn't take much to figure out what she was trying to say. "Do you want to try?" Tomioka wasn't forced to listen to her request in any way.

It would be so easy to simply ignore the girl and keep doing what he'd been doing and leave her to herself the entire week.

(But those two are MY responsibility) He was the one who broke the code of the slayers, he was the one who protected a demon.

He had been the one who pushed Tanjiro into this dangerous world for the girl now in his arms.

Tomioka had bet his life on this demon, and she had completely delivered up until now.

And up until no he simply shrugged that off and let Kocho take care of them.

How could he expect Tanjiro to take his mantle as Water Hashira if he did nothing in guiding him or taking care of him as he should if he was to be his Tsuguko.

His thoughts continued to ramble as Giyuu wasn't sure what to do, staying under one of the real Hashira would benefit the boy more than being under him.

But at the same time it should be necessary for him to perfect water breathing and the others knew nothing of the style, no matter how much of theirs was derived from it.

A hand poked his cheek. "Hmh hmm" once more the girl was trying to get his attention, still holding on strongly to his arm.

"…Sure…" In the end it all resumed in how responsible he felt for the two and if this way he could slowly pay back for arriving late for the two then he would do so.

And help Tanjiro in the future too.

He placed the nail correctly and gave it a smack himself so it stayed stable, then he handed the hammer to Nezuko, before his own brain could question if it was actually a good idea. "hit it slowly but with some strength." He used her hand as a demonstration, hitting the nail and driving it into slightly.

While his words didn't particularly reach his gesture was enough for her to understand, copying him as she continuously hit the nail.

Her eyes sparkled as a child in a candy store.

What she found so entertaining about this, he didn't know, but Giyuu wasn't about to let it die down.

So he placed another one.

And the next.

Leaving all laid in place with a small Nezuko after them, nailing them all completely.

For the next few days Nezuko followed him like a shadow.

Whether it was day or night, as long as Giyuu was within her reach she would follow him wherever he went, joining him in whatever he did.

She even insisted on having her box in Giyuu's room, where she would spend a good portion of her day while the Hashira took care of matters outside.

Something that made him somewhat uncomfortable the first two days, she was still a demon, but it mattered not as she proved that she was trustworthy enough.

So he let her, only to find her waking up beside him, hugging him like a child who seeks comfort from their parents when they have a nightmare.

Nezuko had gotten really attached to him in so little time and Giyuu didn't know what to do with that.

It was baffling for him, seeing the girl acting and accompanying him was a reminder, one that told him he'd made a good choice when choosing to spare her.

And if he was honest, the company was very well appreciated.

It had been so long since he spent so much time around another individual for an extended period of time that he had gotten accustomed to the deafening silence of his life.

Even if she didn't speak nor communicated more than the most basic necessity it was more than enough.

These past days had been more noisy than ever, and yet, it wasn't an awful noise. Quite the contraire actually, it made the Water state feel alive for once.

No matter how much Giyuu felt he didn't deserve something like this most of the time.

Beside, this was a direct consequence of his own actions, something that occurred due to his choices so why wouldn't he deserve it, as for once, he'd manage to protect something.

If he had to give his life for this child…well, it wasn't a burned on him, not anymore.

The sound of a blade unsheathing caught his attention. "Nezuko, drop that" The girl listened to him immediately but her picking that up was a sign that his introspection time was over.

A habit Nezuko was a good breaker off

Especially when she had gone and grabbed one Nichirin blade that had been stored in the manor for quite some time.

Her face expressed some sadness at not being able to play with it and Giyuu, having become weak to the girl, decidedly spoke. "It's dangerous "

Another thing he'd noted while spending time with her was how little of a notion of danger she held, only ever seeming concerned over the sun and that was mostly instinct.

But that was beside the point, now he needed to erase that frown. "Sun's falling, we can go out for a walk"

Patrolling was still a part of his duty, thus he could not leaving it in favor of keeping an eye on Nezuko, however, in their first day out after Tanjiro brought her she had chosen to accompany him.

Tomioka saw firsthand a demon fighting to protect humans again, much how she had done against him.

And she looked so cheery just by virtue of spending the time around him.

Maybe he'd never be able to understand why she does, or who she may be seeing him as, but one thing is certain, she cared for such a person and in turn she cared about him.

Tomioka Giyuu didn't need anything else, how could a person who was taking the place of another enjoy such a thing, such a familial kind of affection.

He didn't know, but there was one thing he did, that for once, he'd saved someone, and they appreciated him for it.

Thus, he accepted her company here too, enjoying the fact that someone, did in fact like him.

"I'm no hated by everyone"

—END—