Chapter 2. Promise
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Inosuke was just staring with no intention to move.
Zenitsu swooned a long time ago.
Tanjiro was on his own.
"~W-WAIT! KANAO-CHAN!"
Tanjiro's swirling eyes were once again pooling with an alarmed dark red.
"Please give me a chance to explain, Kanao-chan!"
It was not Kanao's unresponding cherry smile that truly worried Tanjiro, but the subtle vapors about the scent she was giving off, an angry scent that Tanjiro remembered better belonging to a different person.
Pitted against a scent that had never before manifested in Kanao, Tanjiro couldn't shake off the dreadful thought of that raised katana coming down on Nezuko at a sudden impulse. The only sliver of hope Tanjiro could cling onto was the fact Kanao hadn't attacked just yet, because angry as she was, it seemed she was at least willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. At the end of the day Tanjiro knew that before anything Kanao-chan was a fair person, through and through.
He only wished she would've lent him her ear the first time, his face was still throbbing from getting punched out of proportion.
"I'm not sure what's wrong with Nezuko, but I know that's not like her! I need you to believe me, Kanao-chan!"
While Kanao was letting Tanjiro believe in his skills of persuasion her orchid gaze had been taking detailed note of his admirable gesture to shield the demon's vulnerable back, apparently passionately enough for Nezuko's black haori to cave and crumple under his protective grip.
Kanao softly let her lashes come together, the butterfly-ornament on her side-ponytail about to flutter at a loving tilt of her head.
Tanjiro couldn't remember having exhaled this hard ever since his gruesome training days with Urokodaki-san, running through a mountain full of death traps.
"Please don't scare me like that, Kanao-chan..!"
Thank god Kanao-chan seemed to have realized how it was all a misunderstanding.
She was finally making such a heart-warming face.
"..."
Kanao's smile was indeed perfectly calm before the two.
[Swoosh]
It was only the arm holding her sword that came down as if it was possessed.
"FULL FOCUS BREATHING!"
Tanjiro literally vacuumed the air.
Fastening his grip around the unconscious Nezuko Tanjiro span on his back to kick against the wall with force.
"...?" Kanao was uncannily still, for an extended moment wondering why it was the wood on the floor her blade had carved like butter.
Tanjiro's stunt to bounce away from the wall with a slide had saved the unconscious Nezuko's neck by a hair's breadth.
"Ngk..!" Tanjiro gripped his chest, still having trouble balancing his breaths.
Ever since he had completed his functional recovery training at the butterfly estate he had learnt to maintain his full focus breaths at all times, in a way replacing his normal breathing with an enhanced version. He had been successfully keeping it that way for months, till this morning, when he woke up covered in sweat to find Nezuko sucking the life out of him.
Losing control of his full focus breaths and going back to normal breaths for the first time after a long while was like suddenly drawing thin air into his lungs. If he thought about it Kanao-chan was not really that far off the mark with what she said about Nezuko attacking him. It was the second time today Tanjiro had almost asphyxiated because of Nezuko's abnormal behavior.
"Kanao-chan!" Tanjiro's voice desperately tried to reach her once more.
"..."
Kanao had not moved an inch after landing that slash, her eyes were absently still, unlistening.
That empty slice on the floor, was all too familiar to her.
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It was the same as two and a half years ago, up on Natagumo mountain, when she was ordered by her master to go after 'an odd demon-hunter who was protecting a demon'. She would've ended it with a single swing that day, if not for the defeated and yet persistent Tanjiro who pulled her cloak from behind, causing her to lose balance and miss Nezuko's head by an inch.
Those few seconds Tanjiro had bought Nezuko allowed her to run away, shrink and narrowly avoid losing her head for the second time. Nezuko's ability to turn into a harmless toddler had taken Kanao by surprise, for a moment even making her wonder if such a weak demon was worth chasing after.
Kanao hadn't realized how such complacent thoughts had been causing her to treat the demon hunt lightly, because when she had cornered the toddler for the inescapable third time, Kanao's time was already up. A crow appeared, issuing a new order to capture, instead of killing.
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Kanao didn't even feel a shred of resistance drawing her stuck blade from the wooden tiles, it was as if she was easily pulling a knife out of a cake. She was done reflecting on her mistake that day, how even for a second she had let herself believe that Tanjiro's toddler demon sister was not a threat. A toddler demon sister, that once without that bamboo piece to bite on, would not lose a chance to grow back in size, turning her fangs on the one person that would gladly throw his life away to protect her.
"..Kanao-chan.." Tanjiro pined watching her just stand there with a dejected sword in her hand.
He knew Kanao-chan was not doing this because she wanted to.
It was a scent too faint to tell apart amidst that boiling anger, but that faint scent was a whisper of Kanao-chan's true feelings.
Streams of a melancholic breeze were trapped inside the tempest of her anger.
Tanjiro had finally seen things clearly when he decided to let Nezuko's unconscious body gently rest on the floor.
"..Nezuko.."
Her demon fangs were receding, but she was breathing heavily and her eyes were in pain, beads of sweat forming on her skin like she was fighting an agonizing nightmare.
"..I'm sorry, Nezuko.."
Tanjiro softly caressed the girl's damp forehead up to the cushion of her bun-like fringes, regrettably aware that there was not much he could do for her.
"..I don't know what the demon blood is doing to you.. but I promise I'll make it work.. I promise you will be human again.."
Pledging himself to that oath Tanjiro's eyes of dark red steeled with unsmiling resolve. He knew that if he wished to see the day Nezuko would show him her human smile again he would first have to confront Kanao-chan.. and that had already become a complicated task.
Just as Tanjiro called his knee to stand up "—!" his nose winced.
The intensity of a foul smell took him aback.
"A demon—!?"
The smell was too grotesque to belong to Nezuko.
Whooshing around Tanjiro's haori flapped and flurried as he readied to draw his nichirin blade.
"..."
"ZENITSU!?"
He was the source of that smell!?
Tanjiro was shocked he hadn't noticed him lying there.
That was likely because Zenitsu had been eerily quiet compared to his usual self, now curled up like a fetus.
Why was he curled up like a fetus?
Worried by Zenitsu's fetal situation Tanjiro reached for his friend's dismal shoulder.
"H-Hey Zen—...!"
Zenitsu rolled his way with a doomed smile.
"Z-Zenitsu! What's wrong...!? Why are you cryin—"
"I wish you a god-awful death, Tanjiro."
Zenitsu was never going to forgive Tanjiro for seducing the innocent Nezuko-chan.
"...!" Tanjiro had backed away a bit, not because he had flinched, but because his eyes were pining the more they held Zenitsu.
The smell was spiteful, envious, cursing, regretting, and yet very sad... just like the sorrowful smell a demon would give away during its dying moments.
"...Oi."
"..." Tanjiro was touching Zenitsu's hand on his forehead, chanting an inward prayer for his soul to find its way.
"DON'T FEEL BAD FOR ME YOU ASSHOLE! I HATE YOU!"
Seriously what the fuck!?
Just like Inosuke's obsession to bash his head at everything Tanjiro had that habit to hold the hand of dying things!
"FREAKS!"
Noticing Zenitsu's high spirits Tanjiro beamed like a light-hearted dummy.
"Ah, Zenitsu. You're feeling better."
"NO!" He exclaimed with shark jaws.
"Can I ask you for a favor?"
"HOW INCOMPETENT ARE YOU AT READING THE MOOD!?"
"I need someone to take care of Nezuko while I—..."
Zenitsu was prostrate and ready to accept Tanjiro's tribute of apology.
"I'm your humble servant, Tanjiro."
Well that was a quick change of heart, Tanjiro was glad.
"You're in good hands, Nezuko."
Tanjiro was feeling at ease as he entrusted his sister in Zenitsu's tremulous but nevertheless trustworthy hands.
"Let's run away together, Nezuko-chan."
Zenitsu may be timid, but Tanjiro knew he could always count on him to keep Nezuko out of harm's way.
"I promise you I'll be a big brother who can appreciate your feelings of passion!"
Fuck, he was going to dye his hair red if he had to, blonde wasn't working out for him anyway.
With Nezuko looked after by Zenitsu Tanjiro was only left with Kanao-chan to worry about.
Almost.
"..Inosuke?"
"..."
Inosuke was still staring at Kanao's back, as if he had been remembering hell on earth.
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17/05/19
Reviews are welcome! TBC