Written by Pastrixx

⌒➴。NOTES:

• Requested by: @DiamondKitten77
• Tomioka Giyuu X Reader
• Female reader
• Angst to fluff
• No manga spoilers
• 2nd POV

PROMISES
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You envied Sabito and Giyuu. Their training with the former water pillar was proving to be successful, yet the same couldn't be said for you. It was frustrating knowing you were training for the past few months and all was futile because you're too weak to even perform the most simple breathing style. You didn't want to get separated from the two.

"(Y/N) I'm sorry but if you cannot do it, I'm not allowing you to continue the training and go to the Selection," Urokodaki's grave voice further frustrates you more.

"You have to give (Y/N) more chance Urokodaki-sensei," Sabito spoke up and beside him Giyuu nodded.

"She can do it," Giyuu said.

Their support helped decrease some of the heavy feeling in your chest.

"I don't want to send someone to their death," the former water pillar turned his back to you all—facing the dense forest in front of the clearing. "Until she proves herself, I'm not teaching her anything further."

"What if..." Clenching your fist and a firm resolve in your eyes. "What if I form a breathing style other than Water Breathing? I realize that I couldn't really perform that breathing style, so I have to come up with something to derive from it."

Your response surprised Urokodaki for a bit. He looked at the other two and saw their delighted and slightly pleading faces. He sighed. "I am considering, but this is something not exactly in my field. You have to come up with this on your own and I will be keeping watch of your progress."

You nodded. "That is more than enough for me," Besides, you had learned at least the basics of breathing styles. "I want to train in the coldest mountain you know, please."

Urokodaki seems to get where you're going. He nodded and then motioned for you to follow, but before so, he addressed the other two first. "You two continue your training."

"Yes sensei!" They replied. They both wished you luck and you and Urokodaki began to trek to your destination.

The freezing wind blows harshly against your body as the lush green ground is turning to white the further you go. You exhaled and a puff of smoke emitted from your mouth.

However, the freezing condition didn't seem to faze the former pillar as he still held his straight posture. He stopped in an area clear of trees. "I will be observing your progress from time to time."

You nodded and then Urokodaki left to go back to the other two. The freezing air nips at your lungs as you inhale deeply. You shivered but held yourself. It was a must to breathe properly in this harsh condition if you desire making your own breathing technique.

"Now that's smart of you," A female voice surprised you and you spun to see a girl around your age. She has deep cyan eyes, black hair, and wore a red yukata with a pink and white flower dot pattern, over which she sported a dark-purple sleeveless haori and a paler brown piece of fabric tied around her waist. She dons a pair of light brown sandals and a white fox mask decorated by two blue flowers painted on its left-hand side.

How is she not shivering from the cold in her outfit?

"Who are you?" You felt no killing intent from her, but it was still best to stay cautious.

"I'm Makomo," she gave you a gentle smile. "I'm here to help you."

"Did Urokodaki-sensei send you here?" You asked.

"You could say that," she replied.

And for the past months—even leading to years, you had been training yourself in the freezing condition with the help of Makomo. You also had a beating with Urokodaki from time to time, when the two of you were sparring.

But long before you knew it, you were able to develop your own derive of the Water Breathing Style: Frost Breathing. You haven't fully grasped it yet and can only perform two for now, but it's getting somewhere.

"You're ready for the final test," Makomo said. You had also spoken of Makomo's appearance to both Giyuu and Sabito, but you weren't able to tell Urokodaki about her yet.

Giyuu and Sabito were just happy and relieved that there was someone helping you.

"Final test?" You asked curiously.

"You'll see," was all that she had said.

Not long after that, Makomo was saying the truth when there was really a final test. You three all watched dumbfounded as Urokodaki stood in front of three large boulders.

"Prove to me you're ready for the Final Selection by slicing this boulder in one strike. If your blade even breaks once, I will break your legs," Urokodaki said, making you wince.

"Alright! We'll prove to him we could do that, right Giyuu, (Y/N)?" Sabito exclaimed.

His confidence was infectious as it made you grin.

"Of course we can," Giyuu said.

It wasn't an easy test though. In fact, it had taken months and deep scarrings in the palm before any of you could truly split the boulder.

First it was Sabito, then Giyuu and lastly you who were able to split the boulder. You all expressed your joy upon finishing Urokodaki's final test.

Now the three of you and Urokodaki sat inside his house. The small light from the fire inside the lamp illuminated the building.

"The three of you had grown since the beginning," Urokodaki started, though he held a grim voice. "I did not expect any of you to break the boulders. But you all proved me wrong and I hate to send anymore children to their deaths," Your eyes softened at this.

"We promise we'll come back alive!" You said but Urokodaki did not say anything and instead, he brought out three fox-masks. He then gave each of you the masks; yours has blue painting.

The former water pillar then had explained to you three about the meaning behind the masks and how he would always give it to children whenever they go to the Final Selection.

After that, Urokodaki briefly left, leaving you three to start dinner.

The three of you were idly chatting about the Final Selection and how each of you felt about becoming demon slayers after that.

But then Sabito had to open his big mouth.

"But you know Giyuu, becoming demon slayers means you wouldn't have the proper time to spend with (Y/N), she likes you you know?" Sabito cheekily said, which made you sputtered out a cough—trying to dislodge the food that got stuck in your throat.

"What?" Giyuu's eyes widened and he turned to look at you.

You manage to stop choking, but your fluster didn't die down. You glared at Sabito. "What? No, that isn't true!" However, you were panicking internally. Was it that obvious?!

Sabito laughed. "Alright, I'm joking! You should've seen your faces though."

"It isn't a good joke. You shouldn't be messing with (Y/N)'s feelings," Giyuu frowned. "Besides, this isn't the time to have romance and it will just be a hindrance to us, and I know none of us wanted to experience the loss of a loved one again."

Everyone became silent after this, being reminded as to why they had even wanted to be demon slayers anyway. Although the indirect rejection stung a bit, you wouldn't be totally upset over it. Giyuu's words had some real sense to it, so it's understandable.

The dinner ended, and Sabito's outburst resulted in an awkward tension between you and Giyuu. Thankfully, Sabito hadn't teased about it. You didn't know why it was so awkward being with Giyuu though, you thought he believed that it was just a joke.

He does think it's a joke though right?

Soon everyone decided to rest for the night, but for some reason you couldn't sleep. You decided to sit in front of the porch to gaze at the night sky. It would be a good time to recollect your thoughts around the Final Selection tomorrow.

"(Y/N)?" You heard the voice of Sabito behind you. "Why are you still up this early?"

"I couldn't sleep," You replied, turning to look at him. "What about you?"

"I woke up with a parched throat and planned to get a drink. I got surprised and worried you weren't in your bed and decided to look for you," he replied then he sat beside you.

"You know, you really didn't have to do that earlier," you crossed your arms at him.

Sabito only smiled, then gazed at the half moon above. "I know you care a lot about Giyuu. You've known him longer than I do. And I can see it that he appreciates you being there for him. I just want you to start taking care of him more."

"Why are you saying as if you wouldn't be also by his side?" You frowned at this.

"Of course I'll be there with you two. I just think I like seeing you two together," he grinned and this made you flustered.

"Well, why don't I include you as well? I promise to take care and protect you two," you said.

"Yes, we'll all be together to take care and protect each other. Now we should get some sleep," you nodded at this and the two of you returned back. This time, you were able to finally sleep because of the promise.

The next morning, the three of you stood in front of Urokodaki's house. You were wearing a light blue yukata with snowflake pattern, Giyuu was wearing a maroon yukata (a reminisce of his sister you noticed), while Sabito was wearing a thin, white haori over his green yukata with the notable geometric pattern. You three were also wearing your respective masks.

"You three better come home alive," Urokodaki said and you all nodded at him.

After that, the three of you travelled to the Final Selection Site. When you all arrived, you were in awe at the beautiful sight of wisteria trees surrounding the location.

There were also a lot of teens around your age on the exam site.

"We should never split up," Giyuu said, making you and Sabito nod.

"Of course," you gripped the hilt of the sword tighter. This is it. Taking a deep breath.

The selection begins.

It was going great so far. The three of you seemed to be unstoppable; you would be each other's backs whenever a demon tried to catch one of you off guard. But it wasn't meant for you to get separated from the group.

The cry from a little boy had lured you away from the group, as they were too busy dealing with the demons on their own.

The area you're in suddenly became too quiet. Not a single demon on sight; the cries of a little boy is the only thing you can hear.

You stumbled upon a clearing and froze when you had seen who was crying.

It wasn't a little boy that was wailing.

It was a demon. And it had successfully lured you away from the group. You cursed yourself with your carelessness.

The demon let out a feral growl before lunging at you—its blood red eyes hungry to kill.

You took a stance and breathed deeply while gripping your drawn out sword.

"Frost Breathing, First form: Piercing Frostbite!"

Successfully dodging the demon by leaping, you spun and then slash down—slicing the demon's neck down to its torso. Knowing you weren't done yet, you took the demon's stunned moment as an opportunity to slice up more of its limb and render it immobile.

Now you took this as a cue to run away from there.

However as you keep running, you don't recognize the place you've run into and the realization hits you that you were really lost.

'I'm really an idiot! Why did I disobey Giyuu's words?' You thought and then froze up when you heard growls. Silently, you hid behind a tree to see where it's all coming from—only to see dozens of demons prowling about. They were blocking the way.

You didn't know if you could finish them all off due to their sheer number and you were all alone, but if it meant keeping your promise with Sabito then so be it.

You hadn't realized that the sun had risen up by the time you'd finally kill the eleventh demon. The remaining one got killed from the sun. Your clothes were in tatters and scars are everywhere on your skin, yet you've managed to survive.

You sighed out of exhaustion. This means you passed right?

You jogged a bit more and was relieved to see the staircase, only to step back in surprise to see people clad in black clothing carrying a stretcher. The body was covered by clothing, so you assumed it was a corpse. It seems that only one had died though.

The people were all surprised to see you. "Oh we got another one here!" The one nearest you exclaimed. "So only one really failed the selection huh?"

"Everyone who passed had already left," you looked at the disbelief. Even Giyuu and Sabito? "But you can still get the ore of your Nichirin Blade up the staircase," she said.

You nodded and was about to continue up the stairs, only to halt when you saw a familiar pattern clothing sticking out from the stretcher.

You felt your heart drop in dread. No way...! He's the best one out of all of you! How? What about your promise with him?

"S-Sabito?" You whispered out. You were only able to lift the clothing up slightly and your fears were confirmed.

It was really Sabito. A sob broke out from you as you stumbled away from your friend's corpse, the Kakushi thankfully was there to prevent you from falling down the stairs.

His body wasn't even entirely there.

In the end, you didn't have strength to even go get an ore. You were too numb from the pain, as your memories with him and Giyuu flashed in your mind.

Giyuu...! That means he's alive too! Suddenly, all the grief got flooded by guilt. Would Sabito possibly live if you hadn't gotten yourself lost? Giyuu probably thought you're dead. How could you ever face him or even Urokodaki now?

That day was the day you became demon slayer, but becoming a demon slayer was also a haunting reminder that you had lost a dear friend.

You never contacted Giyuu or Urokodaki after that, for the guilt you bear prevented you from doing so. You've managed to slay countless demons, taking your anger out and grief on them. And one day, you were able to slay a lower moon.

Thus, earning you a position as a pillar and becoming the Frost Pillar.

However on the day you've become a pillar, the master had called you in the headquarters and there you met all the other pillars.

They were all really great.

But you hadn't expected Giyuu to be there as well.

It's been years since you saw one another.

Giyuu was also shocked that he sees you alive and well.

Like a dam breaking down, all the negative feelings you suppressed from the previous years flooded back when you saw him.

You didn't care if the others saw this, but you found yourself running up towards him and hugging him.

Giyuu stiffened up from your sudden embrace, but gently returned it as well.

"I'm sorry...! I'm sorry! Sabito–" You weren't able to finish what you want to say because you broke down when you said his name.

"I have a lot of things to ask you," from the tone of his voice, it seems he wanted to cry himself but found himself unable too. "But I'm glad you're alive. (Y/N), I thought you died."

"I'm really sorry for everything...!"

Giyuu still hadn't let go of the embrace. "You don't need to apologize (Y/N). What Sabito wanted was for you—for us to keep our promises," he whispered.

"Now, our job is to protect and take care of each other. And work together to put an end to the demons."

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Written by Pastrixx

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