Give Life a Chance

Chapter 36 - Mount Natagumo Part 2

With Giyuu

"Nezuko!" Tanjiro yelled. He crawled over to his sister and hugged her. Both of them had fallen to the ground out of exhaustion.

The demon that Giyuu had slain was somehow able to move its body despite already beginning to fade to ash. He looked at the boy's sister and connected the dots in his mind. This definitely was the boy who he had saved from Mount Kumotori.

Giyuu turned and looked at the demon, confused by what it was doing, but content that it couldn't harm the boy.

He watched the body collapse in front of Tanjiro and stretch it's hands out towards him. Tanjiro then placed a hand on the back of the demon's body and began to cry.

Seeing this enraged Giyuu.

"What are you doing?" He asked, managing to maintain his composure.

"He is giving off an overwhelming sense of grief." Tanjiro said, still crying.

Giyuu began to walk over, and the demon completely faded into ash, leaving only its clothes behind.

"Goodbye Rui. I hope you can find peace in the afterlife. Maybe you'll even find a real family." Tanjiro said kindly.

Giyuu made it over to Tanjiro and stood on the Haori that the demon known as Rui had worn.

"Don't waste your sympathy on a demon that devoured humans. It may look like a child, but it's a hideous monster that's lived for decades, killing people for food and amusement." Giyuu said coldly.

"To avenge the people who were killed, to make sure there aren't more victims, of course I'll kill any demon without hesitation. But, as for those who being a demon brought despair, and those who regretted their actions, I will never trample on them. Because demons were once human too, just like us they were human too. Now please step off him." Tanjiro begged.

Giyuu looked down at the boy and didn't move. His words were innocent and pure, in a perfect world that's how people would think. But they did not live in a perfect world, and Giyuu felt anger towards what the boy was saying.

"Does their regret help their victims? Does it bring back the families they slaughtered from the dead? Regret means nothing in the face of what they did. I don't care if they were human once, if a demon makes the choice to kill humans, then they deserve nothing more than an eternity of torment. They are hideous creatures; they don't deserve our sympathy." Giyuu said harshly, refusing to move.

"They're not hideous at all. Demons are hopeless creatures, tragic creations. They're found when they're at their lowest and exploited to become puppets. Do you not understand? These demons were once humans, doomed to suffer for their entire life. This was their only escape, and once they turned, there was no way of getting back their earlier lives." Tanjiro said passionately.

Giyuu continued to hold his icy demeanour, until he looked down at the sleeping face of the boy's sister. The demon who refused to eat humans and protected her brother. If she could exist, then what of others?

The moral dilemma began to manifest itself in Giyuu's head until he saw a butterfly, one that typically heralded the arrival of a certain Hashira. He looked at the demon girl again then realised something. He quickly drew his blade and countered the incoming Shinobu.

"What?" Shinobu asked as she propelled back by Giyuu's block.

Giyuu put his hand back motioning at Tanjiro not to move.

"Ara ara, why did you stop me Giyuu-san? And after all that talk about how we couldn't befriend demons, you're here defending one. You're so confusing, maybe this is why you struggle to get along with others." Shinobu teased.