Gyomei was supposed to scold Y/N.

Well, that was obvious, surprisingly enough she can't just go around beating everyone up, that's the hashira's job.

But he doesn't feel like he can do it, so Y/N sits awkwardly on the ground while staring up at him, waiting for a scolding that was probably never coming. They have been like this for the last 10 minutes.

As the oldest member of the corps, Gyomei saw countless people come and go, but he can see a pattern on most of the members of the corps:

They're selfless, but also have a tendency to be self-destructive.

Their wish to protect the common people is noble, but also a double-edge sword, since it makes them not value their physical well-being that much.

However, from all the people he has come to know to this day, the one with the worst self-destructive tendency he has ever seen is Y/N.

He doesn't even know of her past. He doesn't know of Akaza, or of Ether, he can simply feel it by being around her.

In fact, he was quite grateful she seemed to be so glued to him these days, he always has this feeling that she will simply… appear dead out of nowhere.

He sighs as loses his internal battle of doing the right thing. (Which was punishing her for her violent behavior) and choosing to baby her once again.

He gently strokes her head. “Promise you won't do it again?”

Y/N frantically nods. “I won't!” She most definitely will.

He sighs. “Then you can go.”

“Yay!” She immediately springs up and runs off, showing her tongue to the group of guys she beat up, ignoring their annoyed complaints at the favoritism.

She walks deeper into the woods, wanting to lack off a bit before joining the others again in their training.

That guy reminds me of your dad. Is that why you keep pestering him?

'Doesn't he!? Isn't it wonderful?'

But Y/N, don't get too attached… you know Gyomei will also-

She stops in her tracks. 'Yeah. I know.'

Gyomei's situation is a bit complicated. He dies after the battle against Muzan ends, but different from the others, his death wasn't occasioned by fatal wounds, he died because of the mark.

You'd think that stopping him from awakening the mark is the right course of action, however, the boost of strength the mark gives was what helped him in the battle against the upper moon. If she somehow manages to stop his awakening, Kokushibou will have an easier time killing Gyomei's weaker version, which could also mess the battle pace and make the other participants of the fight die before they can kill him too.

It's… difficult to find a way to save him.

'It's a shame, they have lots in common.' Y/N sighs, feeling a bit downcast, it's kind of like she's losing him all over again.

You know, I also think you're just like him. Your dad, I mean.

'Don't be stupid. I'm nothing like my dad.'

You're the stupid one, he raised you. You might not be a copy of him, but he definitely rubbed off on you.

She rests her back against a tree, kicking a rock while thinking deeply. '…why didn't you choose him to protect? He would have done such a better job in saving lives and stuff…'

Because you are the one I love, Y/N.

She closes her eyes. 'Right. That was a stupid question.'

Ether doesn't think about who would have done a better job at saving lives, or who would have been able to better take advantage of his constant protection for the greater good. He chose someone that he wants to be happy and simply will stick with that somebody until the end.

It's a sweet notion, but also dangerous, after all, what if the person he chose to be the subject of his affection turn out to be a monster? They could cause lots of destruction with a god that doesn't let them die behind them.

Well, there's no point in thinking about such a possibility, after all, Y/N would never hurt somebody, right?

Y/N finally goes back to the training site, being greeted cheerfully by Tanjiro. “Y/N, hear that! I managed to push the boulder one cho! And Inosuke's almost there too!” He says, pointing to Inosuke frantically pushing the boulder behind him while laughing maniacally.

“You did?! Congrats, I knew you could do it!” Y/N smiles happily and claps for him, making him chuckle sheepishly.

“Where's Zenitsu though?” She looks around, seeing no signal of the yellow menace. Which was weird since normally, he's the first one to run over to pester her whenever she's around.

Tanjiro's expression turns from happiness into concern. “Oh, I think something happened to him, he hasn't been talking much and kinda isolated himself.” He points to Zenitsu, sitting atop of a boulder far away with his back turned to them. “We have been giving him space, but it's still worrying…”

“Oh.” She stares at Zenitsu's gloomy form with a frown.

If Y/N's remembering correctly, this is around the time he received the letter. The one that informs him that Kaigaku turned into a demon, and as a result, his grandpa committed seppuku to repent for it.

How is he feeling? All alone there, talking to nobody?

Since everybody decided to give him space, Y/N at the start had decided to do the same, but that really didn't last long enough, the little voice inside her that made her restless until everybody around was happy kept pushing her.

As a result, later that day, she approached Zenitsu's boulder. “Have you eaten yet? You have been there all day.”

He didn't answer her question. She almost starts shifting awkwardly in her spot before his voice softly mumbles out: “Go away.”

It was silent for a while, so silent that Zenitsu assumed that Y/N listened to his words and left, but no, she suddenly hopped on the boulder beside him. “Didn't you hear me?!”

“I heard you, but I rejected your rejection!” She proudly exclaims back.

“THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS!”

She grins back at him, happy that he's being loud again. He notices that, and looks away with a soft blush. “...why are you here?”

“Because I care about you.” She doesn't hesitate for a second to answer.

“I know you do, but…” He sighs.

The way to comfort a sad person varies. Sometimes, yes, the right course of action IS leaving them alone and giving them space to regulate themselves, but she feels like this isn't exactly the case with Zenitsu right now.

Because Y/N knows that he doesn't like being alone.

Y/N has seen plenty of people dying, and lots of these times she had nobody to comfort her or to say things were going to be fine. Everything she had, ever since she could remember, was this god saying that “It's okay, I will just reset the timeline again.”

It's sweet that he wants to help, but at the same time, it's a reminder that to Ether, these lives are nothing. And because they are nothing to him, he can't understand when Y/N is upset over them.

Y/N scoots even closer to Zenitsu, arms wrapping gently around his waist and her chin resting on her shoulder, hugging him comfortingly. “I don't know what happened, but you're not alone, Zenitsu. It's okay to cry and be upset, you wrote that to me, remember?” She softly mumbles.

The manga didn't show much of his reaction to his grandpa's death, besides showing him getting determinate and drowning himself in training. Did he ever cry? Or if he did, did he just cry alone while nobody was around? That was such a sad thought, one that made Y/N upset.

After a while of silence, tears slowly drops from his eyes, rolling down his cheeks. “... Why are you doing this to me?” He sniffles.

Y/N smiles gently. She has seen him cry so many times, but never in such a sad way. “Because I care about you.”

“You already said that…!” He sobs.

“I know, but it's the truth.”

He only started to cry harder. “There you go, it's okay… it's okay…” She lets him lay his head on her lap while he sobbed furiously, stroking his hair soothingly.

He stays like this for a while, until he finally let all of it out and regulated himself, taking small, deep breaths.

“Better?” She grins, wiping off his runny nose with her handkirchief, Zenitsu blushes at the way he's being treated like a little kid.

“Yeah.” He looks away, burying his face in her lap to hide from the embarrassment. It's weird for him, he's always crying in front of her, but this is the first time he feels embarrassed from it.

They stay in the same position for a while, with Y/N letting him decide when he's going to let go of her, though it's probably going to take a while, sad or not he's still Zenitsu at his core.

“I love you.” He suddenly mumbles out, voice muffled by the fabric of her [skirt/pants].

“Yeah, yeah, of course you do.” She chuckles and pats his head, not taking his declaration seriously because, well… he's Zenitsu.

“No, I mean it!” He lifts his head off her to stare directly at her face. “I truly love you, Y/N.”

Her eyes widen in shock. That… did sound sincere.

Instead of answering, she pulls him back down her lap, not wanting him to see her expression.

“I'm… happy you told me.” She forces a gentle smile despite her internal turmoil, and starts stroking his head again, making him melt on her like a domesticated cat.

She looks down at him. 'Great. Just great…' She frowns sadly. 'Another person I'm going to hurt.'