5 Until morning

Two months after Giyu's 13th birthday, unsettling news spread through their small village—a young girl had vanished without a trace. Her belongings remained untouched, and there were no signs of a struggle. The villagers whispered in hushed tones, fearing the worst, though no one could say for sure what had happened.

Giyu wasn't oblivious to the rumors. He knew immediately that a demon was responsible for the girl's disappearance. His instincts urged him to patrol the village and search for the demon at night, but fear for his family's safety kept him from acting rashly. He decided to wait—he was certain the demon would target his sister next since his sister wedding was the day after tomorrow. the same day her life was taken by the demon.

***

That night, after watching Tsutako fall asleep, Giyu quietly slipped out of bed and positioned himself in the living room, his sword lying beside him. Hours passed as he strained to hear any unusual sounds. The night was eerily still, until, to his surprise, Tsutako woke up and found him sitting on the floor with the sword near him.

She looked at him with confusion, both of them staring at each other in silence as sweat began to drip from Giyu's face.

"Giyu, what are you doing up at this hour?" she finally asked, approaching him. She noticed the mark on his cheek, which had revealed itself again. She didn't know much about it, but after spending so much time with her little brother, she had observed that the mark appeared whenever Giyu felt a significant emotion. For example, when Giyu showed a very happy or sad expression, the mark would immediately appear, only to disappear when Giyu returned to his usual blank expression.

(Author's note: For those wondering, I decided to make changes to how Giyu's mark works. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, just like Yoriichi, Giyu was born with the mark. However, unlike Yoriichi, Giyu's mark appeared due to the shock of being reborn, causing his heart to beat rapidly. Instead of it being permanent like Yoriichi's, Giyu's mark appears and disappears based on any small changes in his heart beat or when Giyu needs it.)

"…I couldn't sleep," Giyu replied, avoiding eye contact with his older sister.

"Oh, Giyu," she sighed, assuming her little brother was too frightened to sleep due to the recent disappearance. Some villagers were already speculating that a mountain bear had taken the girl. Before she could pick him up from the floor, Giyu's head snapped toward the entrance.

The sliding door slowly creaked open, revealing a pale hand pushing it aside. Tsutako instinctively grabbed his hand and put herself in front of her brother, but before she could make a sound, her vision went black. Giyu had struck her on the back of the head with the hilt of his sword.

"I'm sorry, Tsu-chan," he whispered as he gently caught her and laid her down on the floor.

"Oh, oh! W-why are you hitting your sister, boy?" A chilling voice echoed through the room as the demon finally revealed himself, standing ominously in the doorway.

Giyu ignored the question, focusing instead on the demon. He had envisioned this moment countless times.

"Answer me—" The demon tried to speak again, louder this time, but before he could finish his sentence, his surroundings changed rapidly, as though the world itself was spinning. He suddenly realized with horror that he couldn't feel his body. As the spinning slowed, he saw the entrance of the house, now several meters away. To his shock, his body lay in pieces—his hands, legs, and torso were all severed.

The demon's head stopped rolling at someone's feet, a child, the same child who had been inside the house just moments ago. Their eyes met, and the demon snapped out of his daze. "What did you do?" he yelled, only to spot the steel sword in Giyu's hands. "No way…" His frightened expression twisted into a menacing grin. "I don't know how you managed that, but it was useless! You can't kill me!" he declared as new legs began to sprout from his severed head.

Giyu watched calmly as the legs formed, then swiftly sliced them off the moment they took shape, leaving the demon's head to fall and roll on the ground once again.

"Wha—"

"Stop talking. Your voice is disgusting," Giyu finally spoke, his words freezing the demon in place.

The demon's eyes, full of anger, met the child's calm gaze. Attempting to read his next move, the demon focused on the sword, but Giyu moved faster than he could follow, and darkness suddenly enveloped him as a cut appeared across his eyes, blinding him.

"Don't look at me with those eyes!" Giyu said, his calm expression twisting into one of anger with each word. "They're just as disgusting."

The demon quickly regenerated his eyes, his expression now one of pure terror. The child before him was a monster. Although Giyu lacked a Nichirin sword, which meant he couldn't kill the demon outright, the demon hoped that eventually, Giyu would lower his guard or get tired.

"You're thinking that I can't kill you," Giyu said, noticing the demon's confusion. "And you're right."

The demon frowned, uncertain.

"But killing you was never my intention," Giyu continued, his voice cold. "I don't plan on letting you off that easily."

"I'll keep cutting you down until morning."

(Author's note: One more thing, for those who think the fight was too short. I'm not sure what you expected. Giyu has a mark that awakened at birth and due to how sensitive it is to heart beat changes he spend half of his life so far with the mark manifested. Because of that, his body began to adapt, making him much stronger and faster than a normal 13-year-old. Most importantly, he was one of the strongest Hashiras in his past life, and he is fighting a random demon. The only realistic outcome is Giyu one-tapping the demon if not for the lack of a Nichirin blade.)