#ic. ɢᴇɴʏᴀ

[kyousei-a]

     ❝It’s not a fuckin’ garbage bag!!❞

[kyousei-a]

     BIG YAWN.

     ❝Mm.❞

[kyousei-a]

     Rrrrgghhh...

[kyousei-a]

     Trembles.

[kyousei-a]

     @sociieties​ ᴀsᴋᴇᴅ: inosuke, oblivious idiot, has not only walked up behind genya, but he’s also up and stolen the other’s gun right off of him. how? easily! it was very out in the open! very grabbable! why? well — “ what’s this? ” he’s waving the gun around. repeat: hashibira insosuke is waving around a shotgun. // unprompted

     — YOINK!

     Genya is speaking with a Kakushi when he feels a sudden... weight being lifted from him. And not in a way that’s any sort of relieving. It’s a weight that has the belt holding his Nichirin Blade and shotgun firmly against his lower back going slack. This has to be a mistake... Right?

     He pauses, mid-conversation, and his already pale face loses a few more shades with the sight of Hashibira Inosuke with a shotgun. His shotgun. That’s LOADED.

     ❝W-WAIT!! Inosuke, don’t pull the trigger!!❞

     Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck—

     ❝INOSUKE HAS A GUN!!❞

[kyousei-a]

     ❝Poor Tomioka-sensei...❞

[kyousei-a]

[_____] has appeared! What do you do?

Genya Shinazugawa has appeared! What do you do?

Kick

Caress cheek

Take picture

Make them mine

[kyousei-a]

     ᴀɴᴏɴʏᴍᴏᴜs ᴀsᴋᴇᴅ: kiss, marry, kill: kanao, muichiro, tanjiro for genya! // unprompted

     ❝What’s with these stupid games...❞ Genya mutters. This one was harder. Arms fold across his chest, lips pursing for a moment. He could...

     ❝Uhm... Kiss Tokito-san.... a-again.❞ This is really making it sound like he wants to kiss the Mist Hashira, doesn’t it? The thought doesn’t help the color in his cheeks, not in the least. ❝Marry... Kanao... I-I think, uhm... She’s really nice to me and she's... pr-pretty.❞

     And that leaves... Genya hunches awkwardly with a small groan. Forgive him, Tanjiro. ❝And kill Tanjiro? I don’t think I could win in a fight against him anyway, even if I was, uh... You know.❞

[kyousei-a]

     ❝Am I really a... stray dog?❞

[kyousei-a]

     @never-surrender​ ᴀsᴋᴇᴅ: She’s short... so she's counting on his lack of lookin down to help her. Running up, Suk-ja aims a well placed kick at Genya’s shins, unsure if she'll connect... if she does then payback bitch // unprompted

     ❝H-Hey!! You fuckin’ bi—hiiiiih...❞

     Fuckin’... Fuck. Fuck. She’s a girl (FUCK.) and that fact is suddenly presented at the forefront of his mind. Flush rises incredibly quick into his face, a strangled noise coming out of his mouth while he cranes himself in the opposite direction of Suk-ja. The pain in his shin wasn’t that bad...

     ❝... No.❞

[kyousei-a]

     Genya doesn’t remember when he stopped feeling pain.

     It isn’t something he is unaware of. He realized in the midst of battle, demonic blood coursing through his veins, where injuries that would have incapacitated him otherwhere were ignored like water off his back. Genya used to feel it later, after his arm had stitched back together slowly over the course of the night. It was the ache of humanity catching up with him that left the scars to remind him of the choices he’d made to be here.

     This made sense back then. He had been a demon under the moonlight, and demons don’t feel pain... right?

     Genya realized even that ache of humanity had dulled when slicing vegetables with Tanjiro to share a meal with the group. He watched those bright maroon eyes widen while he spoke about this or that, following Tanjiro’s gaze until he was met with the sight of radish chunks sitting in a pool of blood. He’d cut the meat of his hand and hadn’t felt it at all — and it wasn’t due to the sharpness of the blade.

     So it’s funny, Genya thinks, that I don’t feel this at all.

     What he does feel is cold as the blood rushes from his body. He would have been dead ages ago had it not been for the demonification. Genya sees the puddle beneath him grow with every passing moment, but focus instead is on his sibling hovering and screaming. His vision is starting to whiten.

     He hears little past the sharp ringing in his ears, but speaks anyway. This is his only chance, you know? To tell Sanemi how he feels. Tanjiro said it was okay...

          He’s sorry.                He didn’t mean to blame you.                     He was a burden.                          Thank you.                               He wanted to protect you.

          Please don’t die.

     In a weird way Genya feels himself crumbling away, but that isn’t painful either. It feels more like... an absence. It feels like how he imagines the space inside an empty hole feels. His vision is already white.

     He wanted to see Sanemi smile one more time. The last time was...

     In the distance he hears something. He hears it again, and again. It’s so faint that he can barely hear it, but that ringing keeps—

     ❝Genya-nii-chan!!❞ ❝Nii-chan!!❞ ❝’Ya-nii!❞

     A little body slams into the back of his knees and he stumbles forward. In an instant Genya is standing again. Standing in clothes he hasn’t worn in years with a pounding in his chest that he’s forgotten. He knows that voice. Those voices.

     Grin splits across his face that hasn’t made the light of day since his family was torn apart and he whips around to embrace his siblings. Sumi and Teiko are pulling at his shirt, bouncing and laughing and smiling as Genya kneels to pull them into his arms. Shuya, Hiroshi and Koto are not far behind, each of them jumping over one another to hug their big brother.

     Genya laughs and squeezes the two, now three as Hiroshi bullies his way in between the others, in his arms and touches Shuya and Koto’s cheeks with a warm hand. He’s sure they’re older, or maybe that’s just his imagination. Sis sisters look just like their mother, and Shuya is already as tall as he was at that age. Everything was worth it if this was had been awaiting him in the afterlife. Time with his siblings.

     ‘Nemi can join them later, once he’s helped defeat Muzan and lived a long and happy life. He can find someone to love him as much as he deserves, have a family and treat them like they all should have been. They’ll be waiting here. Together.

     ❝Where’s ma—❞

     ❝You can’t stay here, Genya-nii-chan.❞

     It is Shuya that speaks, the oldest below Genya, and Genya’s head snaps up from pressing his cheek against his littlest sister’s hair. ❝What—❞

     ❝You can’t stay!❞ Koto follows, her small hands balling into fists in front of her. ❝You have to protect ‘Nemi-nii-chan!❞

     Genya’s eyes slowly widen, gaze juggling between the two eldest siblings. ❝You...❞ The little hands fists in his shirt shake and pull at the fabric and he looks down at the three still nestled in his arms.

     ❝You said you would!❞ ❝You made a promise!❞ ❝We’ll be mad at you forever if you don’t!❞

     He’s stunned into silence, eyes welling with tears that slowly spill over onto his cheeks. Sumi, Teiko and Hiroshi hold onto him tightly for a moment longer before each of them are pushing and shoving at his chest. Genya’s shock makes him flounder back to his feet as the five of them huddled together opposite where he stood.

     ❝I can’t go back, I.. I have to stay with you guys!❞ He shakes his head in disbelief, unable to fully grasp what they’re asking of him. Genya was... he was dead. His body has crumbled to ash. In his mind he shouldn’t even be here, in all this white, with them.

     Once again it is Shuya who has stepped up. He’s been a good big brother without him and Sanemi... He should be proud. ❝You have to go!!❞ Shuya yells and shoves at Genya’s chest. Hard. The eldest two weren’t the only ones who inherited their father’s monstrous strength.

     Genya takes one, two quick steps back and a third that feels like the ground has given out from under him. He slips and falls backward, his stomach rising into his throat as he reaches for his brothers and sisters. ❝Shu—❞

     ❝Go protect ‘Nemi!!❞ Each of the five have rushed to the invisible edge. They smile wide and rub at their eyes, waving as he falls backward into... Wherever he will go. ❝We’ll be okay! Promise!❞

     Genya blinks as the wind rushes past his ears. It’s black again. He hears a roaring yell in his left ear and feels arms gripped tightly around his back. Pain shoots through his left side and his body jerks with an uncomfortable groan. Eyes — eye? — peel open only just,

     Sanemi’s familiar white hair, stained red with blood that’s probably his (probably...? Why can’t he...) is the first thing he sees, torn Death haori, scarred skin. Gyomei is kneeling some ways away. Weakly, he reaches left arm around his brother’s back. Fingers curl limply into the Wind Hashira’s at the same time he presses his right cheek to Sanemi’s neck.

     He realizes then half his vision isn’t just blurry, but gone, when his other arm snakes around Sanemi’s back and he can’t see it until fingertips are at the edge of his sight picture. That isn’t important now.

     Only the promise he made.

     ❝Ani... ‘Nemi... Sanemi. They made me promise.❞

[kyousei-a]

     @resolutepath​ ᴀsᴋᴇᴅ: He has waited amongst the wisteria with fraying nervous as the selection takes place, holding himself back to approach until the last of the candidates have vanished except for him. Sanemi staggers forward on uncertain feet before he folds himself before his little brother and presses his head to the floor in penance. "I should never have abandoned you." Choked words are breathed in hoarse tones as eyes sting with tears unshed. "You may not believe me, little brother, as is your right, but know I am deeply ashamed of my behavior and I ask forgiveness." // unprompted

     Fuck, his arm hurts.

     That little bastard with the fox mask... Genya’s seething anger only mixed with the pain of his broken arm that was still being nursed against his chest. One of those masked assholes at the top of the mountain had made him sit to have it bandaged and slung after the survivors had chosen the ore for their Nichirin blades, but medicine had been blatantly refused.

     Additional injury had made Genya the last to descend the wisteria mountain. Brows are knit in irritation, scowl pulling at his mouth. He still tasted blood. He wanted his sword — he was promised a color-changing blade! Ten days was too long to wait; he needed to find his brother and tell him he passed. They could fight together then, and he could apologize for calling Sanemi a murderer.

     He didn’t mean it. He didn’t.

     All he wanted was his brother back.

     Footsteps pause Genya’s journey and any words that come to mind are choked at the back of his throat. This is... ‘Nemi? He’s given little time to understand why his brother was here before Sanemi is on his knees with forehead touching the ground.

     ❝Nii-...❞

     ❝Nii-chan!!❞ Genya yells and throws himself forward, his own knees scraping the ground as he slides to a stop in front of his older brother. Broken arm is quickly forgotten, uninjured hand pulling at Sanemi’s shoulder to lift his head. ❝Don’t— Don’t do that! I should be saying sorry!!❞

     Already he can feel tears beginning to well in his eyes, handful already spilling onto scarred and dirty cheeks. Was this really happening? He’s waiting to wake up in that death forest again, surrounded by demons who want to eat him.

     ❝I’m sorry! I’m sorry; I didn’t mean it! You’re not a murderer!! I know you were trying to protect us!❞

[kyousei-a]

     Content rumbling.

[kyousei-a]

     ❝STOP!!!!!!!❞

[kyousei-a]

     Is he really a zero..?

[kyousei-a]

     @slayersaided​ ᴀsᴋᴇᴅ: would you look at that, it's a note left at the rock pillar’s estate, left just for genya! ‘i hope you're having a good day! make sure to eat something if you haven't today, & try to get a good night's sleep! visit the manor soon, alright? i miss you! - haru’ // unprompted

     To say that Genya was surprised was an understatement. A letter? For him? He’d even said, Are you sure? out loud when Gyomei had mentioned one had been left.

     Truthfully... Genya had never received a letter before. He knows it can’t be from Sanemi, unless his elder brother had suddenly learned to write during his time in the Slayers. (He knows his Aniki could learn if he truly wanted, but he also knows the chances of the Wind Hashira asking for help to do so are slim to none.) The handwriting scrawling his name was unfamiliar, but — and even the thought of this makes him tilt his head in confusion — looks warm in a way he can’t quite explain. Like... Like each character was written with care.

     He feels a double skipped beat in his chest.

     Opening the parchment carefully, it takes Genya longer than he’d care to admit to read over the short message. Whoever had written it had been mindful to use words he was familiar with and avoid messy lettering that could confuse him. That warmth seemed to fill the air again as he read it over and he suddenly understood why he got that feeling when arriving at the name listed. Of course it was Haru...

     Haru, who bothered him at every opportunity with reminders about food and taking care of himself. Haru, who listened about the silly little bonsai tree he kept in his room. Haru, who always managed to sneak a watermelon-flavored anything into his meals when he was laid up at the Butterfly Mansion. Haru, who... missed him. He didn’t deserve it. Not at all.

     Haru wouldn’t think so either if he ever learned how he could still be a Slayer without being able to use Breaths.

     His throat is dry at the same time that heat burns at his ears, a strange sensation that doesn’t leave his conflicted feelings up for debate. The letter is folded back into place and squeezed carefully against his chest for a moment before he tucks it into the breast pocket of his uniform.

     He needs to tell Haru. And soon.