A Slow Recovery - Sanegiyuu

8 - Butterfly estate

3rd person pov:

Giyuu coughed up blood and looked up. His eyes widened when he saw the demon. The demon looked even crazier, one of its pupils was dilated and the other pupils had shrunk so much, it became a tiny black dot. Parts of its gray skin turned black and looked rotten. Veins were popping out of his forehead and he scratched his face harder.

"You bitch. YOU PROBABLY THOUGHT YOU KILLED ME HUH" the demon mocked. Giyuu started recovery breathing and forced himself to stand up. He used his sword as a support when he pushed himself off the ground. He held up his sword, almost dropping it when he felt how heavy it was. His entire body was aching and his limbs were as heavy as lead, which was unusual since he is a hashira and lower moons were supposed to be a piece of cake for them.

"Fuck.. that wasnt his real head?" Giyuu muttered under his breath.

"Oh no~ ARE YOU NERVOUS~" the demon spoke, mimicking giyuu's voice. He charged towards giyuu, extending the spikes on his tentacles and leaped through the air to gain momentum. Giyuu held up his sword in the nick of time and parried the demon's claws which were aimed for his eyes. The brunette squat down and swung his leg out, kicking the demon and making it lose its balance. The demon stumbled and cursed under its breath, he picked up the body of the dead child and threw it at giyuu. Giyuu dodged the child and the demon used the opportunity to fling giyuu into a brick wall. The brunette collided with the wall and fell to the ground. His back was on fire, it felt like he was hit by a train. The pain in his back was so intense, he almost blacked out. He managed to pull his conscience together and stood up. He wiped the blood that was trickling out of his mouth and held his sword up. The demon chuckled, amused by giyuu's determination.

"Water breathing 4th form: striking tide" the hashira was the first to attack the demon, his movements were precise but he didn't put in enough strength into his attacks. His cuts were too shallow on the demon's body. Giyuu stumbled, trying to catch his breath. He was already at his limit and the demon was still not dead.

"Water breathing 1st form: Water surface slash" giyuu took a deep breath and sprinted forward. He aimed for its neck and was so close to decapitating the demon but he lost his fucking footing. He slipped and fell to the ground. The demon's eyes widened when it saw giyuu fall, its
lips curved into a grin, mouth was salivating as it imagined tearing giyuu apart limb by limb. The demon's tentacle aimed for giyuu's chest, it had almost impaled his heart when something white flashed infront giyuu.

"Oi be more fucking careful. You almost died dipshit" sanemi growled. The wind hashira was standing infront of giyuu, protecting him from the demon. The portion of the tentacle sanemi had severed was wiggling on the ground, desperately trying to stop itself from disintegrating.

"YOU FUCKING DICKHEAD" the demon screeched. It gritted its teeth, morsels cracking at the force applied. The demon was pissed that another hashira has ruined its opportunity to eat the ravenette.

"Wind breathing first from: Dust whirlwind Cutter" sanemi dashed forward at a blinding speed, decapitated the demon. Turns out the demon's brain was inside his chest so all sanemi had to do was cut the demon in half.

"HOW ARE YOU FUCKING STRONGER THAN ME" the demon yelled. Sanemi stomped on the demon's head, smashing it to bits. Sanemi walked to giyuu and lightly nudged him with his foot.

"Oi tomioka get off the ground"

Giyuu didn't respond

"Oi, tomioka I said get off the fucking ground" sanemi repeated, shaking giyuu's shoulders. Giyuu still didn't respond, he layed face flat on the ground. Sanemi flipped giyuu over and saw giyuu's dire state. The brunette had passed out and his uniform was soaked in blood, the deep cut in his chest was bleeding profusely.

Sanemi's pov:

Holy fucking shit. He's gonna bleed out. I sheathed my sword and lifted tomioka bridal style. I asked Sorai to send to message to the kakushis to clean up the scene and sprinted for the butterfly estate. Carrying giyuu while running was a relatively easy task since giyuu was light as fuck. It felt like I was lifting nothing even though I was carrying a human being who weighs at least 70kg. This is very concerning. How the hell is he so light?

"Fuck.." I muttered and picked up my pace. I needed to get to shinobu quickly or tomioka will fucking die.

...

3rd person' pov:

Sanemi burst through the front door of the butterfly estate, startling the girls working there. Aoi screamed at the sudden intrusion and shinobu came in an instant. She held her sword to sanemi's neck, thinking it was a demon.

"Oh, its you." Shinobu sighed. She sheath her blade and turned to sanemi.

"So what brings you here" the insect hashira said warmly, putting on a smile.

"Tomioka needs help" sanemi replied urgently. Shinobu trailed her eyes to the brunette who was unconscious in sanemi's arms. Her smile quickly fadding away when she saw giyuu's bloody clothes.

"Come" she ushered sanemi into a room and ordered him to lay the brunette on the bed.

"Help me undress him, I need to take the equipment" shinobu hurried out of the room. Sanemi worked on undressing giyuu, tossing giyuu's soiled top on the ground. His breath hitched when he saw giyuu's upper body. Giyuu was very thin. He was practically skin and bones. His ribs were visible, and his collar bones and shoulders jutted out. His arms were unbelievably thin and his wrists were wrapped with bandages that were stained red. Sanemi stared at giyuu's emaciated body, his brain trying to process the fact that giyuu was starving himself. Shinobu pushed a cart into the room and a lump formed in her throat when she noticed how thin giyuu was. The insect hashira sucked in a breath and began working on treating giyuu's wound. She cleaned the blood and disinfected the wound before sowing it shut and wrapped it in bandages. Her hands were steady and quick, allowing her to close giyuu's wound before it became fatal. She moved on to giyuu's arms and unwrapped the bandages. Her hands paused when she saw giyuu's deep cuts. There were a variety of them, some were long and some were short, most were horrizontal and the rest of the cuts was vertical. Sanemi stared at the brunette. His heart stung with a pain far greater than the pain he felt when genya accused him of being a murderer. He felt like crying when he saw giyuu's cuts. Shinobu gingerly stitched giyuu's cuts together and handed sanemi a white yukata.

"Can you help me change giyuu into this?" She mumbled

"Yea sure.." sanemi took the yukata and began unbuckling giyuu's belt. Shinobu stepped outside of the room while sanemi changed giyuu. She stared at the floor, trying to process what she just saw.

...

Shinobu knocked on the door a few minutes later. She entered the room after hearing sanemi said it was okay to come in. She walked towards giyuu and started treating the wounds the brunette had on his leg from the fight with the demon. She placed a heat pack on Giyuu's swollen ankle to lessen the swelling and re-examined giyuu.

"He might wake up tomorrow" the female said after examining giyuu.

"Ah.. okay"

"Do you need any medical treatment?"

"No, I'm fine" sanemi nodded his head at shinobu and left the estate.

...