𝟎𝟕 - 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭?
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CHAPTER SEVEN: WAIT, WHAT?
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"𝐈'𝐌 𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐘 𝐖𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐄,"
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Rui stared down at the four, not making any move to attack them due to finding them all relatively weak. He glared down at the checkered haori boy, who was protecting a woman wearing a demon slayer uniform.
Rui immediately knew that she was a foreigner, eyes slightly widening at the fact. What was a foreigner doing in Japan?
"You..." He spoke to [Name] in English, her previously terrified eyes lighting up slightly and widening, "You're not from here, are you?"
What? He speaks English?
[Name] had a feeling that demons spoke all tongues, but she didn't think that it was real. So the fact that Rui was here, speaking fluent English, surprised her greatly.
"You..." She paused, taking a deep breath, "you... speak English?"
The spider demon gave a slight nod. "Demons speak all languages. You're a foreigner, aren't you? What are you doing in Japan?" Rui was slightly on edge; he wasn't sure what this woman was capable of, his voice and questions dripping with caution.
[Name] hesitated to answer, Rui narrowing his eyes at this. Tanjiro put a hand on [Name's] shoulder, giving her a soft smile. "You don't have to answer, it's okay."
The woman shook her head, putting her pepper spray in her bag and walking towards where Rui was hovering, the spider webs he wove giving him support and successfully making him more menacing.
"I don't know what I'm doing here," she stated simply, "But I mean no harm to you. Don't --" she gestured to her friends and Murata, "Please don't hurt them."
"I don't have time for this," Rui stated in Japanese, glowering down at [Name]. "Stay away from my family, or Mother and I will kill you all." Without another word, he vanished.
Well.
That could've gone better.
Regardless, she was still going to try to save Rui from Giyuu's cold blade. She'd do everything in her power. She turned back to Tanjiro and Inosuke, the latter yelling at where the demon once stood, telling him to come back and fight like a true demon.
"[Name], are you alri-" Tanjiro dodges a manipulated slayer's attack mid sentence, jumping out of the way and sliding across the ground. He grit his teeth, turning to Inosuke.
"Inosuke!"
"Shut up already, forehead! Dammit! I'm doing it!" Inosuke screamed back, stabbing both of his jagged swords into the rocky dirt on either side of him. He got down on one knee and said quietly, "Beast Breathing, Seventh Form: Spatial Awareness!"
In the anime, it looked really cool when he did it, but since the breathing styles weren't visible, technically it was awkward standing there and watching him on his knee with his arms spread out.
[Name] watched him for a little too long, and didn't hear the slayer creep up behind her until it was too late. A sharp pain shot down her back where she was sliced by the slayer's sword, she screamed in pain and fell to the ground.
FUCK FUCK SHIT! THAT SHIT HURTS, DAMMIT!
She felt blood running down her back, but she stood up and pushed the looming slayer that was over her away. When she did so, the pain worsened and she collapsed.
"[Name], oh my God! Are... oh God..." Tanjiro kneeled over the crying woman, he grabbed cloth and bandages as he pressed down on [Name's] back, trying to stem the bleeding. His hands were shaking and his vision was blurry as all the possibilities of [Name] dying buzzed in his brain.
"FOUND IT!" Inosuke declared, standing up and pulling his swords from the ground, "It's this way! Come on, Kentaro, [Fresmane]!"
...
"Huh?" Inosuke noticed Tanjiro hunched over [Name's] form, crying and begging her not to die. Inosuke marched over quickly, Murata kicking a demon slayer away and rushing to their aid as well.
[Name's] eyes were wide as she laid on the ground. The pain was to the point where she didn't feel it anymore. Her entire body was numb and she slowly closed her eyes.
Am I going to die? Already? Shit...
I knew I wouldn't survive for long.
.
.
Wait. Why couldn't she feel the stinging sensation anymore? [Name] sat up abruptly, trying to feel her back, also turning around and trying to see her wound. She stood up and stretched.
Huh?
"[N-Name]?" Tanjiro asked quietly, "Is... are you... but... your wound... the blood..." He looked at his bloody hands and at the cloth and bandages, both drenched in blood.
"HUH? WHAT THE FUCK?" Inosuke pushed [Name] to the ground, "You were bleeding! I saw you! Where's your cut, huh? How'd you do that?"
Tanjiro and Murata were trying to pull Inosuke off of [Name], who wasn't even paying attention anymore. She was too busy worrying about what the hell just happened and how she healed her wound so quickly. Nothing was there. She didn't feel anything. It was like the wound never existed, the only evidence being the blood on the cloth, bandages and her uniform.
SHIT!
"MY GUCCI TOTE BAG? WHERE IS IT? AHHHHHH!" With newfound strength, she hauled the boar man off of her, stood up, and looked around frantically, eyes scanning for any sign of her purse. She found it a little ways away and rushed towards it, grabbing it and pulling it close.
"My baby!" She sobbed, "I'm sorry I neglected you!"
Tanjiro and Murata sweatdropped at the scene.
"Okay," Tanjiro snapped back into focus, knowing that they didn't have all night to frolic around. He knew that he and [Name] had to have a serious conversation about how she healed so quickly. But right now, they had a demon to kill.
"Inosuke, lead us to where the demon was, okay? Murata, will you be fine by yourself?" Tanjiro called to the older slayer.
"Yes! Please, just go!"
Without another word, Tanjiro (respectfully) grabbed [Name's] arm and followed Inosuke through the brush, careful to dodge any branches or spider webs they encountered.
They ran and ran, and soon came across a small clearing with less trees, and a headless shadow loomed over them. Inosuke stopped, holding one of his swords to point at the demon. "Come on out, scum!" He shouted.
The demon came from the shadows, revealing its headless nature. "Huh? What? It doesn't have a head?" Inosuke stared at it -- at least [Name] thought he was, his boar head made things difficult, because the eyes were pointing in different directions. It was real, the demon instead had a jagged cut on its torso where its head should be.
Tanjiro bit his tongue and looked at [Name], who was staring at the demon in horrified fascination. "[Name]... stand back, please..."
The woman wordlessly stepped back, watching as Tanjiro and Inosuke started to ready themselves to fight the demon. Inosuke rushed forward and attempted to cut the demon's arm, but he was swatted back when the demon swung its arm to the right. His arm hit Inosuke in the stomach, causing a 'crack' from the slayer.
Crap! I have to help!
She rushed towards Inosuke and crouched down next to him, about to help him up but he sprang up like nothing happened. [Name] stifled a laugh at his shenanigans as he ran back to help Tanjiro.
The battle was tough, and [Name] wanted so badly to jump in and help. But since she had no prior combat experience and almost died from a cut earlier, she figured that it was best if she stepped back, as much as she didn't want to. The demon didn't have a head, and therefore no eyes, so she couldn't use her pepper spray.
She watched as Tanjiro told Inosuke to aim for the torso; to strike in a diagonal motion. Inosuke surprisingly listened, and the two defeated the demon with effortless teamwork.
"HAHAHAHA!" Inosuke cackled as the demon was crumbling, "Nice work, Monjiro! Though I did most of it."
Tanjiro didn't hear what the other said, for he was sniffing the air, trying to locate the demon. He turned to the other two, "I'm going to find the demon. Inosuke, could you stay here with [Name], make sure she's okay?"
"HMPH! I was going to do that anyway, Gompachrio!" Inosuke huffed, making his way to [Name] and sitting next to her. He looked her up and down, decided that she was okay, and laid down with a sigh.
[Name] took this chance to freshen herself up a bit. She took her lip gloss and a hand mirror out of her emergency makeup kit and started applying her lip gloss. Then she decided to apply some mascara and brush her hair.
There. All sexy. As always. She winked.
Tanjiro came back, a serene look on his face as the woman put her makeup away. He came up next to her. "[Name], I-"
"HEY! FOREHEAD! I ASKED YOU WHETHER OR NOT YOU KILLED THAT THING! ANSWER ME!" Inosuke was fuming, and Tanjiro turned to him with a bored look.
"I did, Inosuke. You don't have to worry-"
"I wasn't worrying, dipshit! I was just asking..."
He trailed off, shaking. [Name] looked him up and down, noting that he was injured severely. The loss of blood was starting to take a toll on him, and Tanjiro set his box down and pulled out some bandages to wrap the wounds on him. "Hold still, Inosuke..."
As Tanjiro was attempting to wrap the boar man up, [Name] closed her eyes, retracing their steps.
They had just defeated the mother spider demon and the headless demon, and now they were at the moment just before the river fight with the father spider demon. This was a good thing, because the woman wasn't sure she could handle seeing that monster up close.
And the fact that he was blinded with one goal; protecting his family no matter what, made her nervous. His battle against Tanjiro and Inosuke had her on the edge of her seat, because at that point he was the most powerful demon that Tanjiro had gone up against (physical strength).
The woman exhaled heavily, catching the attention of the other two men. Tanjiro looked up at the moon. "Let's head north," he said, "Maybe we can find the demon from earlier there."
[Name] smoothed out her slayer uniform and gave Tanjiro a smile, following him to the river.
【＄＄＄】
It took longer than expected to reach the river, partly because Inosuke kept bragging about being the one who slayed the headless demon even though everyone had already moved on from that.
"Okay, shut up, we get it, dude," [Name] snapped as they arrived at the river. Inosuke glowered at her, annoyed that one of his minions was talking back to him.
"YOU WANNA FIGHT? I'LL TEAR YOUR BREASTS OFF!"
"I DON'T FUCKING UNDERSTAND YOU, BUT COME AT ME!"
"Guys..."
"SHUT UP, FOREHEAD!" Inosuke and [Name] yelled simultaneously, and Tanjiro shut right up, turning around and exhaling.
[Name] tore her gaze away from Inosuke, already feeling her blood beginning to boil. She needed to fil up her gourd, so she crouched down next to the river, the rocks crunching under her knees. She opened her gourd and began to fill it up.
Normally, she wouldn't do this, but she was in Taisho Era Japan, where the water was significantly less dirty than it was in 21st century America. She was parched, so she couldn't give a lesser shit.
After filling her gourd up and taking a swig of water from it, she looked up and met a pair of bluish-grey eyes belonging to the sister spider demon. The demon's eyes widened when she spotted [Name] and the other slayers, her eyes darting frantically between her and Tanjiro and Inosuke.
She's... that's... the foreigner Rui-nii warned me about!
The demon backed away, and [Name] stood up immediately. Tanjiro turned in her direction, thinking something was wrong, and noticed the demon girl as well.
The demon knew she was no match for the demon slayers and decided that her only option was to run.
Inosuke let out a shrill laugh. "I'm gonna tear you to shreds, you damn demon!" He carefully and quickly hopped onto the rocks along the river, grunting as the demon girl didn't stop. Instead she called out, "Otou-san!"
No!
[Name] snapped her head up as a huge wave of water suddenly came out of nowhere, and she ducked out of the way to avoid getting drenched. The force pushed Inosuke back by several rocks, and he landed on his feet as Tanjiro got in front of [Name], making sure she was okay and shielding her from any debris.
A massive, muscular, dark grey demon with long white hair stood up and faced the three. His face was grotesque. He had six eyes, each a sky blue of emptiness and disdain, and a huge mouth with long, jagged yellow teeth the length of a chopstick, maybe longer, along with two huge elephant- like tusks on either side of his mouth. He roared, saliva flying everywhere.
"DON'T COME NEAR MY FAMILY!" The demon roared, readying his massive fist, "STAY AWAY!" He punched the rock Inosuke was on, causing him to fly backwards, and also shattering the rock into a million pieces, making more water fly everywhere. Beyond the shattered rocks and water flying around, [Name] met the small demon girl's cold, condescending eyes.
"I'm leaving this to you, Otou-san." She vanished.
DAMN!
The woman took several steps back, biting her lip. She was hoping to stop the demon from calling out to her father, for she knew that the father spider demon was a demon that only a Hashira or someone with higher rank could handle. She also knew that Giyuu arrived and saved Inosuke as he was about to get his head crushed, and she didn't want to interfere with that.
She watched in horror as the massive demon got ready to punch Inosuke with the intent of delivering the final blow, but Tanjiro interfered with a downwards strike to the demon's right arm. He slashed, but it didn't go through.
Not even halfway.
Just great.
【＄＄＄】
He stood there, looking at the corpses of his subordinates. Their cold, dead eyes stared back at him, their bloody figures lifeless and twisted in horrible positions. His sapphire blue eyes remained unblinking as he stared into another woman's lifeless hazel ones. He closed his eyes, saying a silent prayer.
"Were you acquainted with any of them?" A woman asked, her voice light and gentle considering the gravity of the situation. He didn't answer her, nor he didn't move to face her.
"There don't seem to be any survivors here." The woman continued, hoping the man would say something back, "We were just advised that some rookie Mizunoto were assigned here, but they might be dead by now, don't you think?"
"...Let's go." Was all the man said.
...
"Isn't the moon lovely? Since we've just been given this joint mission, let's try to get along, okay?" The woman said, that placid smile still in place.
"I'm only here to slay demons." The man responded stoically.
"My, how callous of you!" She giggled, as this response was typical of the man.
"I'll take the north side, and you'll take the south side, okay?" The woman smiled.
"Agreed."
【＄＄＄】
"UGH!" Inosuke pressed both of his blades into the monster spider demon's arm, "So hard!"
Hehe, that's what she said-
No, focus, [Name]! This isn't the time to make jokes...
[Name] stood on the river bank, aching to do something as the demon charged at Tanjiro again. He swung his gigantic fist in a circular motion, and Tanjiro leaped out of the way in the nick of time, landing on the riverbank next to [Name]. He immediately searched her for injuries, "Are you okay?!"
[Name] grabbed both of his hands, willing him to stop. "I should be asking you that, dumbass.." She retorted, "You almost got your ribs broken, and you were tossed around. And I'm sitting here not being able to do anything!" She watched as Inosuke was tossed across the river and then chased by the demon.
"Shit, sorry..." Tanjiro cursed in English, something that was unheard of, "I just don't want you to get hurt on my watch... when you got cut, I-"
"No time!" The woman interrupted, grabbing her tote bag that she stashed behind some bushes, (she wanted to keep it safe from water and spit), and dashing to the part of the river where Inosuke was thrown. Tanjiro followed immediately.
As she was running, The (h/c) haired woman looked around for the tree that Tanjiro slashed in the anime. She spotted it, its dead branches twisting out in all directions over the river.
"Tanjiro! That tree!" [Name] snapped her fingers, getting his attention, and pointed to the tree. The man got the hint, and slashed the tree. It fell into the river, landing on the demon and trapping it underwater, angry bubbles coming up to the surface.
Tanjiro should be able to cut his neck now. He leaped onto the rickety trunk of the tree, and [Name] followed.
She didn't even know WHY.
Worst mistake ever.
The demon growled and rose out of the water, Tanjiro and [Name] spreading their arms to gain balance so that they didn't fall, the latter clutching her purse like her life depended on it (which it did). The father demon took the trunk with the two on it and swung it like a bat, flinging them both off.
[Name] shrieked as she fumbled with her purse, her phone falling out and her narrowly catching it, feeling her entire life flash before her eyes at the fact.
Inosuke rose out of the water in shock, "KENTARO! [GLAME]!"
"Inosuke!" Tanjiro yelled, "Be careful! Whatever you do, don't die! Don't die! That's one of the 12 kizuki!" He added, [Name] cringing because the spider demon was not one of the Kizuki.
She ignored that, too busy focusing on trying not to die. As they were falling, Tanjiro grabbed [Name's] waist and performed a Breathing technique, breaking their fall, but not by much. [Name] still got the wind knocked out of her.
Pain shot all across her body as she struggled to breathe, her purse flying out of her arms and landing in the bushes. Tanjiro rushed to her side, "[Name]! I'm sorry, I should've been more careful! Are you alright?"
[Name] swatted him away, her only focus was finding her purse as she slowly stood up and searched the bushes where it landed. She found it, all its contents still inside due to her zipping it closed, and let out a heavy sigh. She turned to the man and smiled. "Now I am."
He breathed a shaky sigh of relief, placing his hand to his chest.
Suddenly, the two heard voices. Yelling. "Stop! Please, have mercy, I'm sorry!"
They followed the source of the yelling, Tanjiro's nose helping out a ton, and crouched behind a nearby thorn bush. [Name's] eyes widened.
It was the demon girl and Rui. The girl was on the ground, blood spilling from cuts on her face. She removed her hands, allowing tears to escape. Rui was standing over her, looking down at her with an unreadable expression. He had his hands held out, his threads woven between them.
"What are you two looking at?" Rui questioned, "This isn't some show, you know." He noticed [Name], eyes narrowing at her once again, displeased that she was still alive.
RUI; FAVORABILITY -- -17% {-17%}
"I didn't think you'd slip past father's grasp," he told her in English, Tanjiro wishing that he knew exactly what the demon boy said, "Yet another reason why you're a thorn in my side. That, and the reason that you're a foreigner."
[Name] winced, each of Rui's words cutting deeper into her chest like shards of glass. He was mean in the anime, hut she didn't think that he'd be this mean in person.
"What are you doing?" Tanjiro questioned, stepping in front of the woman before she could retaliate.
"Aren't you two allies?" [Name] asked.
Rui glowered at her. "Allies? Don't put us in a similar category as something that flimsy. We're family, joined by a powerful bond. This is between me and my sister. Stay out of it." He raised his hands, "Or I'll carve you up."
A chilling silence.
Suddenly, Tanjiro spoke, "You're wrong. Whether it's family or an ally, if you have a strong bond, then it must be precious! Calling it weak like you're not related by blood... that's not true at all!"
Not only that, but siblings share a scent of trust! But all I'm getting from you two is terror and hatred! That's not what you call a bond!"
[Name] stood up. "It's forged." She said boldly, looking between the two demon 'siblings.' Rui lowered his hands, eyes wide. The demon girl also looked up at [Name], horrified. She put her hands over her mouth and shook her head, and [Name] knew that she struck a nerve.
She didn't care. She needed Rui to realize this in order for him to unlock his human memories, no matter how sad and tragic they are.
She was going to stand her ground and help him.
【＄＄＄】
< 𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐎 𝐄𝐑𝐀 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐒 >
- Tanjiro is kindaaaa jealous of [Name's] purse. He sometimes wished that she was as attentive to him as she was to inanimate objects
- On the way to Mount Natagumo, [Name] taught the trio some more English, while she learned more Japanese
- Murata thinks that [Name] is fabulous and bold
- Zenitsu hopes that his 'girlfriend' is okay. He says to "hang in there."
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