𝟎𝟔 - 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧
┍━☽【❖】☾━┑
CHAPTER SIX: SCARY PHANTOM SPIDER MOUNTAIN
┕━☽【❖】☾━┙
"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭,"
●・○・●・○・●
【＄＄＄】
The journey to the mountain was long, and it irritated [Name]. Of course the anime made it shorter, she knew that, but the whole ordeal was annoying, especially since Inosuke kept intermittently running. She wasn't built for that type of thing.
It was early evening when they reached their destination. [Name] took in the mountain's appearance as Tanjiro and Inosuke stopped. The former turned to [Name], noticing her uneasy expression.
"Are.. are you okay?" He asked, she nodded.
"Yeah. That mountain looks... scary as hell." She responded, Inosuke humming in triumph (he taught [Name] some cuss words in Japanese).
"It does, but rushing into dark, scary mountains is part of our job as demon slayers, in order to save people." Tanjiro said gently, squeezing [Name's] hand, attempting to reassure the woman.
She sighed, taking her gourd out of her tote bag and taking a swig of water from it. She then applied more lip gloss. Gotta look hot for Murata and that one guy who got chopped into pieces by Rui.
"U-uh... guys?" Zenitsu squeaked from behind the three, who turned to find his form huddled on the ground with his arms wrapped around his legs.
"What's wrong, Zen?" [Name] asked, already knowing what he was going to say. He stood up and grabbed her arm.
"I'm scared, okay?!" He wailed loudly into the woman's ear, "Now that we're here, I'm terrified!" He gripped her arm tighter, and Tanjiro sighed.
"Zenitsu, please stop whining. We have to do this, okay? We have to help the other slayers."
Zenitsu vigorously shook his head, "No, no way! [Name], stay with me? Please?"
WHAT? Stay with him? B-but Rui! She needed to save him somehow. She wasn't going to sit and let him get killed, not after those tears she cried over him. His story was tragic, and she didn't want him to perish in the way that he did in the anime.
"Oh, piss!" Inosuke huffed, turning away from the others, wanting to prove he was the bravest, "I'll just go on ahead, and leave this weirdo to do whatever he wants." Before the others could protest, he rushed on ahead. [Name], knowing what was coming next, followed after them.
Right on cue, a lone slayer was laying in the middle of the dirt pathway leading up to the mountain. He was wearing a plain black slayer uniform that was almost covered in blood. He looked up when he heard the footsteps of his comrades, his pale brown eyes drenched in fear, face contorted into one of pain.
"He- help me!" He called, voice raspy and desperate as he held out one of his hands, for the other one was gripping his katana, his only source of protection.
"Did something happen?" Tanjiro let go of [Name's] hand and rushed to his fellow demon slayer, crouching down next to him, "Are you alright?"
The man looked up at Tanjiro, mouth open to explain what happened, but before he could get a word out, his entire body twitched, before he was violently yanked into the air. [Name] tried to grab him before he was pulled into the trees, but his hands were sweaty and they slipped out of her grasp. He vanished behind the trees.
Silence.
Tanjiro took a deep breath, turning to [Name] and the others. "I'm going." He said quietly, "I have to. I have to find him." He looked at [Name] with an expression she couldn't quite figure out. "[Name], are you sure you want to come with us?"
The woman pulled her pepper spray out of her bag and winked. "I think I'll be fine. I can take care of myself." In truth, she wasn't sure how the pepper spray would fare against demons and spiders, but she was going to find out, because the spray was the only source of preservation that she had.
Inosuke scoffed, turning to the mountain and drawing his serrated swords. "I'll go on ahead," he said, "you can follow me, if you aren't already shitting your pants." And with that, he cackled and rushed towards the mountain.
[Name] smoothed out her hair and uniform, then followed after the boar man, Tanjiro holding her hand tightly. Zenitsu stayed, crouched down on the floor while looking up at the mountain in fear.
【＄＄＄】
The three had been marching up the mountain for a while, [Name] trying not to trip and embarrass herself due to the rough terrain.
She'd left her boots at the wisteria house, knowing that whatever adventures she'd embark on with the trio and Nezuko would be dangerous, and she didn't want to ruin her $500 boots.
Meeting hot demons and demon slayers was not worth it.
Suddenly, Inosuke stopped, gazing in disgust at his hands, which were covered in thin white spider webs. "What the fuck is this?" He asked, Tanjiro leaning in to get a closer look.
"It looks like spider webs..." He said quietly, and [Name] looked around, noting that the woods were indeed covered in spider webs.
This is the work of the mother spider demon...
"Jeez, this place is full of spider webs!" Inosuke violently shook his hands in a feeble attempt to get the webs off of him, [Name] ducking out of the way to prevent getting hit due to his carelessness.
She then checked herself over for webs and the tiny spiders that attached them to the bodies. Finding none, she breathed a sigh of relief and clutched her pepper spray to her chest.
It wasn't Raid, but it'll have to do.
"Hey, Inosuke? [Name]?" Tanjiro called out in English, and the two turned to find him smiling gently at them. "I just wanted to say thank you for coming with me. There was a weird scent coming from the mountain when we first arrived, and it scared me... so when you both decided to come with me, it encouraged me. So thank you." He looked down nervously, awaiting their reactions.
"It's no problem, baby," [Name] walked up beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder lightly, which the male felt lighter at, "We're friends. Why wouldn't I come with you?"
That was the half truth. In reality, [Name] still wanted to carry out her plan of staying with someone rich and living like a queen, and the only way to do that was to travel with Tanjiro and head to the Hashira Meeting. She wasn't lying, they really were friends, but honestly, she just needed someone to take care of her.
Nevertheless, Tanjiro smiled. "Thank you, [Name]. I appreciate it. Really."
TANJIRO KAMADO; FAVORABILITY -- 25% {+8%}
"Yeah, yeah," Inosuke butt in, the white puff balls still floating around his head, "Whatever. I only joined so I could get in on some action, not because we're buddies or anything. Make no mistake about that, Gompachrio."
Tanjiro laughed, and Inosuke started yelling at him. [Name] left them to quarrel, squinting her eyes and looking through the trees, frowning as it was dark.
She didn't give up, stepping through the brush until she spotted Murata making his way up a small hill. He was clutching his sword as tight as he could, his knuckles slightly white as he tentatively looked ahead of him.
Aha.
"[Name]? There you are!" Tanjiro came up beside her, giving her a severely worried look, "Please, don't run off like that again, it's dangerous."
"Sorry," she muttered, only half listening to his concerns as she eyed Murata. Tanjiro stopped talking, knowing that she wasn't listening, and followed her eyes, seeing Murata as well.
"Ah!" He stood up, "A demon slayer! Let's go ask him what's going on."
Before [Name] could blink, the burgundy haired slayer silently made his way to Murata, careful as to not make too much noise and startle him. Inosuke on the other hand, didn't even try to be silent as he quickly and audibly made his way to the bush that Murata was crouched behind.
He heard them coming and turned around, sword raised and ready to strike if it was a demon that snuck up on him. He relaxed when seeing Tanjiro and Inosuke, glancing behind them and raising his eyebrows when seeing [Name], noticing the weird bag and bottle she was carrying.
"Hello," Tanjiro said in a hushed tone, "My name is Kamado Tanjiro, rank Mizunoto," he introduced, then gestured to the two behind him, "This is Hashibira Inosuke and (L/n) [Name]." It felt weird to the woman hearing her last name first.
The man took in their appearances, relaxing when realizing that they meant no harm. He carefully lowered his sword. "Mizunoto? Why... why didn't they send a Hashira? No matter how many Mizunoto they send, it's pointless! It won't help!" He grit his teeth, right before Inosuke punched him square in the face.
"Inosuke!" [Name] exclaimed, holding back her laugh before going to the male's side, he rubbing his bloody nose. Tanjiro scolded the boar man, who ignored him and grabbed Murata's slick black hair.
"Shut the fuck up, asshat! As far as pointlessness goes, your existence has no point at all!" He growled, finding the man's patronizing attitude agitating.
"Why are you being rude? Don't you know I'm your senior? The crow gave us the order!" Murata shot back, glaring up at Inosuke whilst trying to wrestle his hands out of his hair.
At this point, [Name] tuned out due to not knowing what they were saying. Tanjiro pulled Inosuke's hand off of Murata. "Explain what happened, please." He told his senior.
"Well..." Murata explained, sitting up straight and wiping his nose, the blood smearing across his face, "Ten of us demon slayers came here, and while we were traversing the mountain, looking for any signs of the demon, we heard this... this clicking sound, and then the slayers started killing each other!" He started shaking, recalling what happened with his colleagues.
Tanjiro briefly explained to [Name] what Murata said, motioning as he did so and switching between English and Japanese. Murata noticed.
"She's a foreigner?" He asked, looking between the two, Tanjiro nodding. "Ah... I see... so, she doesn't speak Japanese?"
[Name] shook her head. "I only know little Japanese." She told him, he nodded in understanding.
Murata wanted to ask where [Name] was from and what she was doing here, finding that someone with little knowledge of Japanese like she was concerning, especially in this world with demons lurking about. Before he could say anything, though, the group heard rustling in the bushes.
"Stay close to me," Tanjiro whispered, mostly to [Name] as he crept forward to the noise, preparing to strike.
【＄＄＄】
Meanwhile, Zenitsu was still sitting on the dirt pathway, shaking and ugly sobbing. He looked up from his crouched position and stared at the mountain longingly. He sighed dramatically, running his hands through his yellow hair.
I wonder if they hate me... they would have talked me into going if they didn't, right? But no. They went up on their merry way to that scary ass mountain. I'm left alone now...
CHIP CHIP!
Zenitsu looked to his right to find Chuntaro, his sparrow, perched on the ground next to him. Zenitsu sighed and gave the bird a pointed look. "Lucky you, you don't know a thing about humans, do you?" He said spitefully.
CHOMP!
"AHHHH OW OW OW! FUCK YOU! YOU'RE NOT CUTE AT ALL, DAMMIT!" Zenitsu cursed, rubbing his sore hand where his sparrow bit him. He swatted at the bird, muttering curses. "Look at how cute and amazing [Name] is, a human, and you're a sparrow, so vicious! I don't get why-"
...
"SHIT! HE TOOK [NAME] WITH HIM, DIDN'T HE? SHIT! FUCK! MY FUTURE WIFE!" Zenitsu momentarily freaked out before rushing into the mountain, his previous crippling fear gone as he was determined to find his precious [Name].
"Dammit, Tanjiro! Why'd you have to take her with you, she's not even a slayer! Asshole! Stupid! I'll kill him if [Name] dies!" Zenitsu ground his teeth.
"I'M COMING, [NAMEEEEEEEEEE]!"
【＄＄＄】
[Name] sneezed, and Tanjiro patted her back.
"I'm okay. It's probably just this pollen." She replied.
They had gotten Murata to calm down after he told his sob story, and since [Name] didn't know what he was saying, she decided to just check her nail polish. She wanted to make sure it didn't chip, since she'd just re-applied it right before they left the wisteria house.
It was quiet as the group made their way through the thick brush, until they heard the clicking, causing Murata to flinch. "There... there it is again!" He exclaimed, "I heard this clicking right before people went on a killing spree." He explained when Tanjiro turned his way.
"Well turn it off, dammit!" Inosuke yelled into the air, Tanjiro shushing him. The clicking was louder now, all around them. The group was tense, and [Name] squinted into the darkness and saw someone headed towards them. She raised her pepper spray, ready to attack.
Wait...
The woman looked around her. Crippled, broken bodies staggered towards them, forming a circle around the group. They were all wearing demon slayer uniforms and carrying swords. Their eyes were empty, and [Name] immediately knew that they were dead. Without a word, they started attacking the group.
[Name] barely dodged as a boy swung his sword in a downwards motion at her; she ducked and kicked him in the shin, causing him to just hang limply in the air due to the strings that were holding him up. He then twitched and moved, limbs going in a horrifying twisting motion, causing a sickening crack, making the woman flinch and cover her eyes.
It was one thing seeing it in the anime. But in real life...
It was horrible.
"[Name]!" Tanjiro called, fending off a demon slayer and rushing to the woman, "Stay by me, okay?"
Say less.
"HAHAHAHA!" Inosuke laughed, dodging a slayer's attack, "Morons! Don't they know it's taboo for us demon slayers to attack each other?"
"It's not them! They're being manipulated by something!" Tanjiro called back, going over to Murata and helping him fend off their dead comrades, the two synchronizing their movements to be more effective. Inosuke, hearing what Tanjiro said, readied his swords.
"No! Don't hurt them! Some are still alive!" Tanjiro yelled before Inosuke could do something stupid. This annoyed him, being yelled what to do by his 'minion,' so he turned and rammed his head into Tanjiro's stomach.
[Name] carefully (checking for dirt and bugs) picked up a sword that a slayer had dropped. She rushed over to Murata, who was fending off a man who was taller and better built. He was struggling, and a girl was sneaking up to him with her sword raised, dead eyes trained on Murata's form.
Just as she was about to strike, [Name] came up behind her and pushed her to the ground, swinging the sword she'd grabbed over the girl, cutting the strings. But since the girl was long dead, she didn't move an inch.
[Name] exhaled shakily and moved onto the guy Murata was fighting off, kicking him to the side and cutting the strings. The guy was still alive, and he let out a low groan as he hit the ground.
And she did it all while carrying her tote bag, surprising even herself. Murata stared at her in awe, and [Name] smirked and did a hair flip.
Haha! Feast your eyes on that, Murata. I knew you'd be impressed.
Tanjiro saw [Name] when she slashed the strings above the fallen female slayer, and he gripped his sword and slashed above the guy he was fighting. "It's the threads! Slash the threads!" He shouted, moving onto the next manipulated slayer.
Inosuke cackled, "Don't need to tell me twice!"
Tanjiro gagged and covered his nose. [Name] didn't have a keen nose like he did, but based on the anime she thought he must have smelled the demon's scent. [Name] felt something crawling up her arm. She shrieked, knowing that a spider was on it, and she vigorously shook her arm.
Tanjiro whipped around when she screamed, ready to kill whomever or whatever hurt her, and when he saw her arm yank forward he paled and froze. Inosuke lunged forward and slashed the strings and the woman's arm went limp.
Shit, I hope it didn't bite me...
She looked at Inosuke, "Thanks, I appreciate it, Ino."
The male 'hmphed' and turned away.
INOSUKE HASHIBIRA; FAVORABILITY -- 19% {+10%}
When Inosuke sliced the strings that pulled on [Name's] arm, spiders fell to the ground, confirming that spiders were indeed attaching the threads. "Inosuke!" Tanjiro called out, "If you have the power to see where the demon is, help me out! And also..." Tanjiro paused and turned to Murata, realizing that he didn't know the older male's name.
"It's Murata!" He responded to Tanjiro's questioning gaze.
"Murata and I will handle those being controlled!" The man fended off a dead slayer.
Wait.
"TANJI! What about me?!" [Name] called, knowing that Tanjiro just wanted to keep her safe but also feeling slightly hurt. He didn't think that she could take care of herself.
"[Name], please, just stay by me. I can't let you get hurt." Tanjiro gave her a slightly pouty face. She was about to retaliate when a cold chill ran down her spine, and she froze. It was like nothing she'd ever felt before.
Rui. He was here.
Tanjiro saw that the woman had froze and immediately rushed to her side. He saw the cold beads of sweat running down her face as she kept her terrified eyes trained on the ground. He held her close. "[Name]," he whispered, his voice gentle, "I know. Don't look up."
The woman gulped and ignored Tanjiro's warning; she slowly looked up and met Rui's eyes. They were cold and unrelenting as he stared down at the four. Rui possessed a white, spider web-covered kimono tied with a dark red obi that complemented his pale skin tone, his face had red dots that spaced across his cheeks. He had sky blue eyes with red sclera.
The kanji for lower five in his left eye was hidden behind his white hair that resembled a spider.
NEW IMPORTANT CHARACTER UNLOCKED!
RUI; FAVORABILITY -- 0%
He spoke, "Don't disturb my family's peaceful life."
Murata looked up from where he was fighting when he heard Rui's voice, eyes widening when meeting the demon's eyes.
"Mother will kill you all right away."
【＄＄＄】
< 𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐎 𝐄𝐑𝐀 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐒 >
- [Name's] hair got messed up a lot while she was traveling, and had to stop numerous times to fix her hair, delaying their arrival by an hour
- Murata is impressed by [Name's] skills, considering she's a foreigner, but knows that she wouldn't last 2 seconds by herself
- Zenitsu has confronted the brother spider demon
- Inosuke won't admit it, but he likes when people praise him (mostly [Name], though)
...
{A/N: oh my, thank you for 100 reads! i appreciate it!}
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