Chapter Text
He remembers the blood.
He remembers it splattered all over the floor, the walls, the ceiling.
He remembers it pooling around the corpses.
He remembers it leaking out of his chest, where his heart is supposed to be.
He remembers it coating a blackened sword with eyes along the blade.
He remembers that very sword sticking out of his chest.
Get up.
I can't.
You must.
It hurts.
Find help.
Where am I...?
You need to leave.
Something smells good...
No.
But I'm so hungry...
No, don't...!
...I can't eat that.
Yes, that's right.
You can't eat that.
It's not good for you.
But...what else is there...?
I don't know.
I don't feel well...
I'm sorry.
I'm lonely...
I'm so sorry...
I'm cold...
Take my haori.
Everything hurts...
Hold on a little longer.
Where are you...?
Giyuu... I'm so sorry I left you all alone.
Please don't forget who you are.
There is snow everywhere he looks. The trees around him are bare, their leaves having long since fallen and shriveled up. The gloomy gray clouds cover the sky, blocking out most of the sunlight. The only thing colorful here is his red haori and the bloodstained trail of footsteps behind him.
He doesn't know how long he has been walking, only that the sun had risen a couple of times; and wherever he came from has to be far, far away at this point. His legs and feet ache from the trek, burning from the biting winter chill.
He needs to keep moving. He's scared and lonely. He's too tired to cry.
He can't remember why.
He stumbles a few times, when the malaise and hunger grow so strong he feels dizzy and light-headed. Sometimes he lets himself fall, if only to rest, and each time he takes longer and longer to get back up. Each time, he wraps the haori tighter around himself.
It's going to be okay, a voice in his head tells him. Everything will be okay.
When he falls to the ground again and pain flares through his whole body, this time he stays there. He needs to keep moving, but is there even a reason for him to? He lays still, no longer caring about the stabbing throb in his chest, nor how it seems to get warmer despite being in the snow. Just...for a moment... His eyes close, only reopening when he smells the faint scent of rivers and hears the crunching of footsteps nearby.
Something warm presses against his back. He raises his gaze to meet a red tengu mask. "Are you Tomioka Giyuu?"
Giyuu...? His brow furrows.
Please don't forget who you are.
That's right. I'm...Giyuu. I'm Giyuu. His voice refuses him, however, so he has to settle for nodding slowly.
The man gently pats his back. "Aren't there better places to take a nap?" His voice is soft, a bit joking in a clear attempt to comfort and lighten him up. Giyuu lets the man carefully turn him over, doesn't let out a peep when arms hook around his back and under his legs and scoops him up. He's warm... Giyuu rests his head on the man's shoulder, wondering why this warmth feels so familiar.
That is his first meeting with Urokodaki Sakonji.