Chapter Text
Tamayo observed Bri from across the table where they had sat to speak in private. She wanted to speak with the woman one on one before letting her near Kyojuro. Sometimes intense emotions could cause relapses and Kyojuro was so early in his healing. He was incredibly powerful, she could feel it. And the fact that he had been turned by a very powerful demon could make the urges even stronger. As disciplined as he still seemed to be, she was worried for both people involved.
She had heard much about Bri the last few days while Tanjiro traveled to and from the Master’s estate. Once Kyojuro had remembered he was married he had asked the two boys many questions. They did not know much about her on a personal level but he hung on to every word they said.
From Zenitsu and Inosuke she had learned that Bri was a Hashira. She used a breathing technique derived from the same one Kyojuro used. She was one of the primary healers of the Demon Slayer Corps helping run their hospital. According to the letter sent by the Master, she was very interested in trying to help Tamayo with her mission to be able to reverse the transformation.
The two boys had said she had been very kind when they met her in the hospital after their battle on Mount Natagumo with the spider family and Lower 5. Zenitsu had also mentioned she was beautiful.
The woman in front of her was incredibly beautiful. She had cinnamon red hair and big green eyes with long dark eyelashes that stood out against her light complexion. Bri had been nothing but polite, friendly even, since she came through the door. She had been respectful and present when speaking with Tamayo.
But Tamayo could tell Bri’s patience was beginning to wear thin. She had been interested in knowing Bri’s stance on things and stalling for time. Part of her did not want to see the young woman try to stay strong if her husband did not recognize her without being told she was his wife. Part of her still feared that Kyojuro would be driven to feed by her presence. But she knew she was only delaying the inevitable.
“Come,” she said. “Lets not waste any more time, I know you wish to see your husband.”
Kyojuro had been pacing the basem*nt since Tanjiro had arrived back with Nezuko and his wife. He wanted to kick himself for not remembering what she looked like. Not remembering a single moment with her. He could only remember a slight echo of how deeply he loved her.
He had felt like he was missing a piece of himself since he had woken here to discover that this was not a bad dream. Something told him that his wife was the missing piece.
Staying down here waiting while Dr. Tamayo spoke with her was torture. What if she was telling his wife to leave him? What if she was trying to convince his wife not to leave him? Would his wife even still want him as a demon? Would she fulfill her duty and end him on the spot?
His eyes widened as his memory cleared a little more with that thought. She was a Hashira…
the… the… Gravity! She was the Gravity Hashira!
He closed his eyes and tried to remember more. He grit his teeth, nicking his lips with his fangs. MORE! FOCUS!
No sword… she didn’t use swords any more… She used… Tessen! Nichirin tessen! Nichirin… something else… something else nichirin… Dammit, he knew it was important. This something else made of nichirin… a gift? Necklace! His hand went to his chest.
“My necklace.”
“Oh!” Zenitsu jumped up and went to a box that had Kyojuro’s few possessions he had had with him in it. He pulled out a small silver charm. “The chain couldn’t be saved but Nezuko found this under where you had fallen.”
He looked at the charm in the palm of his hand. It resembled his sword hilt, a flame. He inhaled sharply as a memory slammed into him. This was one of two identical necklaces. Two flames… no. Twin Flames.
Kanamori sat down in front of the two of them. He had told them he had their reforged weapons ready, but he had something else for them first.
They had told him they had recently gotten married. He remembered when he had first met them and was forging weapons for both of them, that it had been brought up that the reason she wanted his flame emblem on her tessen was that when they were growing up, his mother had often called them twin flames.
He presented them a wedding present he had made just for them. Two identical pendants. One flame emblem for each. Together Twin Flames.
They had never taken them off.
“Sorry we took so long,” Tamayo said as she came down the stairs.
Kyojuro turned to look but was staring right past her. His wife. He knew it. The second his eyes touched her, he knew it was her. The flame emblem on her neck confirmed it.
The feelings that flooded through him took him to his knees. He had not felt anything… this… intensely since waking.
She flew around the healer, ignoring everyone telling her to stand back. Telling her that they were not sure what had happened. Bracing to grab their swords.
Kyojuro watched her rushing to him. It felt harder to breathe as he realized… She already knew. She already knew she was safe with him. She still had unwavering faith in him…
Suddenly Bri was kneeling in front of him, holding his face in her hands. She put her forehead to his, pressing several soft short but almost desperate kisses to his lips. “I’m here. It’s okay. I’m here.”
Kyojuro still couldn’t get words to form. He grabbed her to him, caging her in his arms and burying his face in the crook of her neck, breathing her in. His tears began to fall. So many different emotions slamming through him all at once.
Love. So much love for the woman in his arms. Fear. Fear of what he was now, fear of hurting her or someone else, fear of becoming a monster… Fear she would leave him. Anger. Anger for having been turned into a demon against his will. Guilt. Self Loathing. He was a demon now yet he was so grateful to still be alive. To still be holding his world in his arms.
She buried one hand in his hair, the other arm wrapped around his shoulders, clinging to him just as tight.”
“It’s okay. We’re together, Kojo. We’re together again. There is nothing we cannot do if we are together,” she whispered, using a name she and she alone had called him their whole lives, trying to reassure him nothing had changed.
Her tears were raining down as she clung to him, burying her face in his now black and blue tipped hair. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was he was alive and in her arms again. She turned her face and kissed the top of his head.
She continued to whisper against his head as they clung to each other. “It’s going to be okay, my love. Nothing has changed. I promise. It is just like always. The two of us against the world, never against each other. I’m here, my love, I’m here.”
Tamayo wiped a tear from her eye seeing the couple reunited. Bri had rushed to Kyojuro, realizing he was having a panic attack. There was no hesitation in her touch. No hesitation or reservations about having a newly turned demon not only wrapped around her, but with his face buried in the crook of her neck. Bri had no hesitation in whispering words of reassurance. No Hesitation.
These two were different. They would pull through this together. She knew it.
