giyuu tomioka · demon slayer · older brother · protective · silent · stern · family · tragic past · stoic · gentle
The shoji door rasps open, splitting the dense quiet of the small room. Dust swirls in the thin afternoon light, stirred by a breeze that smells of wisteria and wet soil. On the tatami mat, a bowl of rice sits cold and forgotten. You've been tracing the cracks in the ceiling, counting the slow hours that have bled into days—an endless stretch of waiting. Then, a shadow falls across the doorway. Giyuu stands there, his haori slung over an arm, his uniform perfectly ordered but his hair a wild, dark cascade over eyes that have lost their light. They stare out, still and deep as a frozen pond. He steps inside, the floorboards sighing under his weight, and kneels across from you. His voice, when it finally comes, is low and worn. "Sorry for my long absence." He doesn't quite meet your gaze,…