The Life and Times of an Average Coward
Chapter 17: Animals
It is a testament on itself that I managed to traverse beyond the mansion's genkan without outright fainting. The haunting, disturbing, sound of a demon lingers and strengthens as Tanjirou and I went further in and oh my Sound Gods, for some reason I can't hear anything from the outside as soon as we went it.
I told that much to Tanjirou.
"Me too." Tanjirou admitted tensely. "I can't smell Nezuko and the others when we both stepped foot in here."
Suspicious. Extremely suspicious. Is this some sort of blood demon art?
Tanjirou opened the first door to the first room we came across, it's a receiving room with four red zabuton laid out before a kotatsu. Lamps lit up the place into an eerie orange glow, casting dark shadow onto the left side of the room.
Strange, I think this room should have a window from the outside structure of the house. I was fairly sure, that there was a small circular window right about here, but I could also be entirely wrong. I'm no house expert.
THONK
The thump of the tsuzumi drum rang loudly in my ears, and right before our eyes, the comely receiving room turned into an empty room. It's lit up by natural lighting from the open windows unlike before, the open windows that showed the tree tops, like we are in the second floor instead of the first.
THONK
The empty room turned into a dojo, wooden swords and all.
THONK
Now it's a pantry.
THONK
Another receiving room, this one has windows.
THONK
An empty room.
THONK
A kitchen.
THONK
Another empty room.
THONK
A library.
THONK
Empty room.
On it on, it happened three more times just as in time with the beat, until the room finally settled for a living room area, complete with tasteful inside topiary, an altar of some sort, a few bookcases and of course, a kotatsu with two purple zabutons on each side.
"T-T-T-Tanjirou?"
I didn't notice it earlier, but I seem to have taken to clinging to Tanjirou's back as soon as the room shifting happened. Now, I'm just fully sticking myself to his back.
Tanjirou's 'sound' sounds surprised and a bit alarmed, understandable really, because the whole Goddamn house is moving and shifting according to the demon's blood art, and this whole place must be tied to that demon's power or that the demon tied its power to the whole mansion.
And that it has to do with the tsuzumi drum.
"I can smell three demons, but only one of them have their scent all over the house."
He closed the door panel with a soft 'clack' in time with the 'thonk' from the percussive instrument. Tanjirou turned to the dark corridor, simultaneously reaching for my hand and leading us further in much to my distaste. The hand holding must be another one of his 'big brother' reflexes that I didn't bother to point out. The warmth and rough calluses in his hand grounded me to the fact that I'm not doing this alone, the feeling of his fingers clamped to my clammy hand helped reduce the speed of my racing heart.
Just having someone with me right now is a significant improvement to my morale and mindset.
To top it all off, Tanjirou is of the reliable sort, though the selfless reliable sort. That means, I shouldn't let my guard down and not let Tanjirou do everything, plus he's injured and I made a promise to Nezuko-chan that I'll bring him back.
Okay heart, you need to calm down. I squeezed Tanjirou's hand and I was not disappointed that he responded back. We can do this. We're going to come out alive and we're going to save the children's big brother. We are absolutely going to survive and live trying.
"That demon must be the master of the house and the one controlling the rooms. It's really a good thing that we left them outside." And they better stay outside if they want to keep safe.
Above us, I can hear someone laughing hysterically, the type that comes from the throat with nasal overtones. It was a mad one, and what's scary about it that it comes from a human, a human whose 'sound' screams beastly and uncontrolled. A young man perhaps, the voice strongly suggests that he is a man, and his musculature and heavy footsteps says that too.
(It's familiar, like I've heard it before somewhere. Maybe I've encountered this person before? But that's not it, that sound is too memorable to just forget.)
He is happy to be here, trapped inside this literal demonic lair.
Insane. Absolutely cuckoo on the head I say. Who in their right mind would be happy to be here?! Even I'm questioning myself and my sanity for being agreeable to this bullshit. I want out! But because of the fact that it would mean leaving Tanjirou behind to fend for himself, I didn't.
(Plus, I stand by the words I threw at Shinazugawa-senpai. I chose to be here to help my family and to protect people from ever experiencing the same thing I did. Weakness and cowardice aside, I've sworn by those words and I'm no promise breaker despite how I look.)
That person must be a loony dragged in here by one of the demons, or it could be that he had turned loony because he was trapped here. I would totally go insane too if it happened to me.
Poor guy.
"The rooms shift in time with that ominous sounding tsuzumi drumbeat that I've told you earlier. Let me have a moment and see if I am able to locate it."
"Thanks, that would really help us right now."
Closing my eyes and breathing evenly, I strained my ears to hear our surrounding. As we've already witnessed and surmised, the rooms change in time with the drum, but even so, the corridors and the hallways stayed the same. A good thing really, because if the hallways change too, we'd be extra screwed.
I can hear the three demons roaming the corridors, one of them is quite large, a heavy set one with a wide rounded body according to his heavy, slow waddling sort of footsteps. The large demon is on the upper floor, waddling his way to the fast-moving mad beast man who is meeting him head-on.
Wait, could beast man be another Demon Slayer dispatch like us? His breathing pattern and the two blades he is holding is proof enough for that. Something to be checked and verified. But it made sense, three demons and three demon slayers to match their numbers.
(Still an insane person for laughing at being stuck here.)
Shaking away from those thoughts, I placed more focus to my ears, mentally mapping the halls since doing the same for the rooms would be pointless.
Two demons are lurking in the floor that we are in. The closest one is crawling in all fours with a lighter build, a quick and agile type, and very capable of sticking himself to a wall like a monstrous version of a lizard. It's currently opening random rooms one by one, down the first turn in the corridor we are at.
I violently shuddered when I heard the last one.
"Senritsu? What is it?"
Much more menacing than any of the demon sounds I've encountered so far. Heavier with the staccato of tsuzumi drum beats combined with irritation, disappointment and anger. It's most likely the master of this house from the tsuzumi drum sound alone. A towering stature, muscular and without any extra limbs, that's what I could gather so far. The tsuzumi demon is to our left, two hallway intersections over and slowly but surely making its way towards us, grumbling about interlopers and outsiders coming to his den.
This one is dangerous. Far more dangerous than expected.
I could only hope that we come out of this alive.
No, I shook my head. We will come out alive.
"There are three demons in total. One upstairs and two just down the hallway, one of them being the tsuzumi demon and the master of this mansion. There are two other people in this building, one upstairs and I think that he is also a demon slayer. The other person I can't pinpoint and must be in a room, a younger man, but wherever he is, the tsuzumi sound is coming from where he always is. That maybe Shouichi-kun's and Teruko-chan's brother." I grabbed into his haori harder and plastered myself on his back when the lizard demon came around the bend.
Right away, Tanjirou had his blade out, not at all annoyed that I was practically hanging off him.
What the hell am I doing?
"Oh, would you look at that. Two more brains to guzzle down after the last one, and oooh," The grayish thing lets his long tongue hang down his chin, head tilted way beyond human capabilities. His four eyes narrowing down at the sight of me behind Tanjirou.
"A young pretty thing. I haven't had one of those since forever."
Chill went down my spine at the utter lack of recognition to me as a person. This demon kept looking at me as if I were an A5 beef on a grill. Nothing more but a delicacy and not at all a human.
Tanjirou stiffened, his 'sound' ringing with disgust, anger and incredulity.
"Weren't you a human once? How can you fathom to say such a thing?!"
Tanjirou held his black nichirin sword before him with two hands, it's trembling from both his anger and the pain he is trying hard not to show.
And as for me, my mind short-circuited at the dehumanizing statement.
"I was. And I hated every second of it." He took one taunting step, long tongue slithering in the air. "But now that I'm a demon, my human past doesn't really matter. Because you're all food to me now!"
Quicker than Tanjirou expected and could react to, the elongated tongue was right at his face and about to pierce his left eye. His healing ribs and left leg started to lock up in pain and fear.
And at this time, the only running thought in his mind was Crap, I won't be able to dodge in time!
But luckily, it never reached its target.
The tongue bounced harmlessly on the floor much to Tanjirou and the demon's surprise, it wriggled and twitched for a few seconds before it stilled, utterly lifeless and bloody.
"Let me handle this Tanjirou, you still have injuries and I know that you're in great pain right now." A hand gently beckoned Tanjirou aside and in front of him Senritsu stood.
From her scent, he knows that she feels afraid, disgusted and angry. Even when the hand on his shoulder is trembling, Tanjirou can tell that Senritsu is resolute with her statement.
Tanjirou took a step back.
"Was that you girlie?!" The tongue regenerated back. Senritsu got into a low stance, right hand on the white hilt of her blade and her left hand holding the scabbard with her thumb, lifting the tsuba, jostling the wisteria charms tied to it. "I'll make you pay fo—"
"Storm Breathing, First Form," In a literal flash of light too fast for Tanjirou's eyes to follow, Senritsu who was standing in front of him just a second ago, reappeared four meters ahead in the hallway, the rumble of thunder sounded right at that instant, the smell of ozone and petrichor prominent in the air like an incoming storm.
"Thunderstruck."
"—r that!"
The soft click of the tsuba against the katana's scabbard sounded clear to Tanjirou's ears, the demon's head flying through the air, bouncing against the walls with red spatters. The demon's head rolled and stopped before his feet, the look of utter surprise on the demon's face mirroring his.
Tanjirou expected Senritsu to be strong from the moment he met her. She gave off the scent of someone you can rely on and Tanjirou believed that she is a very capable person despite her disagreement.
(Urokodaki-san and Sachi-san would be reluctant of her going on missions otherwise, the two seemed to be a protective bunch from what he saw when they both got back from the Final Selection. It was both heartwarming and painful to watch. They are family, that much is clear.)
He expected her to be quick as well, since he had the first-hand experience of being carried by her at speed with reflexes and extraordinary reaction time as displayed from earlier when she caught the injured man.
But never did Tanjirou expect her to be this fast, to be able to eliminate a demon in a second and make it look easy.
Amazing. Tanjirou thought, the demon next to his feet turning into ash, cursing all the way. Senritsu is truly amazing!
"Watch out!"
And before he could react, Senritsu already barreled onto him, pain shooting off from his side, making him wheeze in agony. Twisting their bodies mid-air, Senritsu took the brunt of the fall with a small grunt, and much to Tanjirou's mortification, he was cushioned by Senritsu's… cushions, making him forget the pain licking his side and left leg. Behind him where he used to stand, there was a loud bang of forcibly broken down ceiling and mad cackling as chips of destroyed wooden beams and floorboards came down from above.
"Gahahaha! The great Inosuke is here for a challenge! Gahahahaha!"
All of that was ignored in the face of Tanjirou's great predicament.
(From different prefectures, different men felt a disturbance in reality. One of them broke a pair of chopsticks while eating simmered salmon with daikon, one felt like bashing his cane to something hard, one bumped his head to a stalactite and started cursing the heavens, one viciously cut off old bamboo trees in flowing quick succession, one started crying and praying to the Gods, one got out from his listless daze and mercilessly cut off the demon's head, and one glared at the *mikadzuki in his hand for being too blunt.)
An unexplainable chill went down Tanjirou's spine.
But really, all the thoughts in Tanjirou's head is It'ssoftit'slikeagoosefeatherpillownonoIshouldn'tbethinkinglikethisSenritsuis—
"Sorry, are you okay?" Senritsu's concerned voice pierced through his mind.
Tanjirou immediately rolled off her and started to apologize. He felt like his entire face is on fire.
"I'm very sorry! I didn't mean to—"
"Hey!" Tanjirou flinched at Senritsu's sharp voice. The girl got up to a seating position, a glare in her usual kind eyes.
"What's the big idea?! Are you crazy?! You could have seriously injured someone from that!"
Oh. Tanjirou's mind cleared, a lingering guilt in his stomach for taking advantage of the situation and relief that Senritsu was not upset with him.
"Gyaha! Then it's their fault for standing in the great Inosuke's way! What? You wanna challenge me?!" The man? Boy? Wearing a realistic boar mask pointed rudely at them, his upper half bare while he wore what could be the lower half of the demon slayer uniform with pieces of animal fur.
Senritsu's face scrunched up in disgust. "Hell no to both! The only thing great about you is your disgusting muscles, you, you," She made some serious grabbing motions like she wants to throttle him. "—you, you, arghhh… I can't think of a nasty nickname," Maybe because you're too nice. "Tanjirou-kun, can you think of a creative rude nickname for this rude guy?!" She pointed rudely back at Inosuke, her face a mere inch from Tanjirou that he could see that her lashes aren't fully black and were instead a dark brown. "Can you think of one?"
"I…" Tanjirou can feel his face burn again, the pain in his ribs completely forgotten now.
What can he say? He doesn't want to be rude to the Inosuke guy, though he does have a fault to earn it. He could've injured Tanjirou further with his reckless actions, so it's not that he didn't deserve one. But still, Tanjirou does not want to say anything bad about him and reserve some judgement, plus Tanjirou was never good at coming up with nicknames, out of all six of them siblings, Takeo was the one great at giving creative nicknames.
Nezuko too, she's particularly good with embarrassingly creative ones.
"I, ah, I…" Tanjirou aborted the bow that he was about to execute, knowing well that it would hurt Senritsu otherwise. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't really think of anything!"
"Whoa there, it's fine." A hand held out to him as soon as Senritsu got up. Tanjirou took it without hesitation, noting that they were daintier but rough in a way that is not expected to a young maiden.
"It was pretty immature and stupid anyway." She murmured before her eyes widened in fear, Tanjirou was about to ask what was it when,
"Dodge! Tanjirou! Boar head!"
"I already knew that!"
A thump of a drum was heard a millisecond before a claw mark carved through the hallway, creating more chunks of wood to be gouged cleanly in perfect three lines. Thankfully, all three of them managed to jump away from the line of attack.
"It's him, the master of this place." Senritsu spoke, standing jittery with a hand to the pummel of her sword. Tanjirou can smell the fear and anxiousness in her like he can smell the demon approaching them with heavy footsteps.
Then the world tilted to the left.
Tanjirou would've crushed into the wall, if not for Senritsu's immediate assistance, while Inosuke is oddly glad with the abilities the demon has, cackling in what Senritsu already labeled as 'crazy' manner.
But beyond all that, Tanjirou berated himself for being useless up to this point. From the start, despite her hesitance and fear, Senritsu continued to lend him a hand and even fought in his stead because of his injuries. Throughout the mission he had been a burden and a liability that she didn't hesitate to look out for. And not only that! Tanjirou took advantage of her kindness and obliviousness even for a scant few seconds!
(If his mother was alive, she would've twisted his ear and lecture him to the next era.)
He should help. Be off use and not a burden to be carried. Yes, he is injured, but it is no excuse for him to do nothing!
Firming his stance on steadier feet, Tanjirou pulled out his blade from its sheath, preparing for the opponent's next move.
Before I could process all of Tanjirou's concerning thoughts blaring to my consciousness, another thump from the tsuzumi drum rang, and suddenly gravity is decidedly turned to the next wall. All three of us stumbled on unsure feet for a few seconds before balance returned.
Looking forward, I could only say that I'm completely out of my depth, with gravity changing its course. The demon stands there menacingly, humanoid, muscular and tall. Tsuzumi drums sprouting from his grayish skin, fused together in that crazy demon physiology. He has one in each shoulder, at the center of his stomach and one on each side of his hips.
"Flies keep coming and coming when it's not their own house, so irritating, so annoying. I need more, more marechi, marechi that I could eat to become a Demon Moon, to prove myself to him. Why are there so many pests? Why?! Why?!"
Did I hear that right or am I tripping? Demon Moon? But what's most important is—
"The great Inosuke has been trying to fight you for three days! Gahahahaha! Now fight me! Fight me! Headlong Rush! Ahahahahahaha!"
This Inosuke guy lacks common sense it seems.
He pivoted and launched himself to the demon, only for gravity to tilt once again and left us getting thrown to the ceiling. So, I was right, this demon is the master of this house, an ability to shift gravity at will, annoyingly paired with an attack that moves at the speed of sound.
Of course, of course, Fate and Life wants to really fuck us up, we're in for an annoying, troublesome, and uselessly strong opponent.
And no, I'm not being salty, it's just bullshit and for the love of the Sound God, why is there another weirdo in here?!
"Gahahahahaha! The room's spinning round n' round! How interesting, interesting! Gahahahaha!" Inosuke guy goes for another assault with two blades, barely missing another claw-sound attack that could've turned him into fleshy ribbons.
The crazy boar laughs again with that irritating laugh of his. Nothing but elation, excitement, pride and determination rolling off of his windswept wild sound. Nothing but challenge and feral want for triumph.
I don't want to assume or anything, but was this guy dropped head first when he was a baby?
"Don't just swing your sword carelessly! What if that took off our heads instead?!"
"She's right! That demon has special abilities! We should think first before we make our moves!"
As much as I'm glad that there's another sane person with me that has a working common sense, of course, of course he ignored us. Of fucking course, it wouldn't be that easy.
"You'll become a stepping stone to my path of becoming the best! Gahahahahahahaha!"
Inosuke nimbly sidesteps the upside-down lamp and proceeds to become an annoying flea, jumping all on different surfaces as the hall continued to become a washing machine tunnel.
Honestly, this is giving me a slight case of vertigo. I was never good with amusement park rides in the first place, specially the wilder ones that could kill you.
I was about to check on Tanjirou who was having a hard time adjusting his footing, when a heavy force suddenly crashed onto my left side, making me tumble and instantly pancake onto the ceiling-floor. The moment the hit landed, all the breath in my lungs was knocked out of me, all I can hear was the sound of a rib cracking under the sudden impact and my right shoulder snapping out of place when it hit the wall hard. Even my left arm didn't survived it, going underneath my body in an angle that left it sprained.
Pain was the only forefront of my mind as I run through every curse word that I know from every language. My whole left side was burning and the dislocated shoulder just added to the spice.
Fuck, shit, vaffancullo, damn, putangina, motherfucker, merde, puta, tarantado, son of a bitch, cazzo, asshole, motherfucking fucker shi—
"Senritsu!" Tanjirou yelled after he stopped rolling on the floor. His sound was a mix of concern, horrified and righteous anger, distant but present in my ears.
"Hey! Get off of her you brute!"
Yes please, I would really appreciate it if you don't crush my ribs further and dislocate another arm you uncouth thug. God, the angle of his hyper-realistic mask is unsightly, where did he even get that from? Is that from an actual boar you Tarzan wannabe?! And why the hell is he so fucking full of muscle?! I feel like I'm being pinned under a fridge with all his mass on top of me. Stupid fucking musclehead!
God… why…
I could only wheeze pathetically under him, unable to talk with the pressure seizing my lungs.
"Why should I?" For the love of mochis, the boy is honest to God confused. What in the name of fuck is there to be even confused about?! You're literally stepping on a person and not in that suggestive context!
"What? You want to challenge me too?!"
I gasped, when more pressure was applied to my ribs, my wrist joint groaning ominously. Fuck! I can't even let a cuss out. My vision is starting to have spots from the lack of oxygen and the pain.
I'm going to pass out if he doesn't let up, plus the demon is still there albeit going through some crisis. And good thing it was, or all of us would be already dead.
Where's the priorities of this guy?!
"No! I said stop!"
I can hear Tanjirou stand up, a loud scramble of feet across wood, more angry yells and then—
Air! Ow! Fucking hell! Don't breathe too quickly Sen, remember the broken rib! The damn broken rib!
All too soon breathing again was a struggle and I could vaguely hear Tanjirou's concerned voice towards me, and furious remarks to boar head, with boar head only cackling and challenging Tanjirou this time.
Carefully, I was settled down – when was I carried? – to what I could tell was a tatami floor with my head on his lap, in another timeline I would've blushed really hard if I wasn't in so much pain right now. Down the hall, the demon was walking away, fully immersed to his crisis, while across another room, the beast boy continued to rave about challenges and being the best and 'fight me gahahahaha!'.
He really is not right in the head.
"Breathe slowly—" "Fight me wide forehe—" "Are you okay?"
THONK
Inosuke's voice cuts off as the telltale sound of a tsuzumi drum blared, with the room we were in changing five times at the span of three seconds. And everytime it did, the tsuzumi drum became louder and louder, including the buzzing sound of fear.
Fear that is coming from a human.
"Sen—"
"There's a human n-nearby." I squeaked out, still out of breath and aching.
Tanjirou tested the air, the bridge between his brows crumpling further.
"I can smell old human blood, but it smells strange." His eyes zeroed on my dislocated shoulder, I'm already dreading where this is going, though I know it should be done.
"Do you know h-how to…"
"Yes." Carefully, he settled his hand on it, his touch barely there. "I promise to do it quickly, and, I'm sorry."
I nodded mutedly, already biting on my haori sleeve and clenching my eyes shut for the incoming pain.
Okay, okay, this is gonna—
SNAP
Fuckingsonavabitchmotherfuckingbullshitpainintheass—
"FUCASONABEETMOHERFUHEERBUUSHIFFMAIZEAAH—"
Agony, agony, pain, fuck, suffering, shitty life urkkk…
When I see that Inosuke guy again… Oh, Tanjirou is asking me something wha…
"I'm sorry, if you weren't too occupied about minding me. Then you wouldn't have gotten injured."
What the hell is this guy talking about? And his sound, he's blaming himself again! What's with water breath users and their propensity to blame themselves? Yuu has yet to get over Sachi's injury. Sachi kept blaming himself for having Yuu blame himself. Tengu-jiji blames himself for not being a good enough teacher and having his students blame themselves.
(And then there's me, I'm self-aware enough to know that I often blame myself on some shit that really shouldn't have anything to do with me. It's ridiculous really, is water breathing the breath of depression? Breath of idiocy? Is knowing how to use this breath style make you some self-blaming idiot?)
I could really use some strong pain killers right now, that boar did a number on me, weren't we supposed to be on the same side? I'll say it again, that guy is really not right on the head.
And he's gonna get it for doing this to me.
(I hope all those important idiots in my life does not learn of this incident, they would most likely maim the idiot and make the idiot more of an idiot. Plus, I don't want murder to be done under my name, those morons doesn't have the right sense of moderation when 'protecting' or 'avenging' me.)
"Shut up!" I practically hissed at him, making Tanjirou cringe and I to feel even more horrible.
Wait, that's not what I want.
"Were you the one who did this to me?"
He shook his head.
"Did you tell him to do that?"
There he looked completely mollified. "No!"
"Did you plan for this to happen?"
"No!" Tanjirou shook his head furiously, his hanafuda earrings slapping against his cheeks.
I glared at him full of stern reprimand.
"You didn't do this to me. Therefore, it is not your fault and is not to blame. It's natural that we should look out for each other," I raised my most likely sprained left hand and proceeded to poke his wide forehead in hopes that I will get through his literal thick skull. "But you don't have to take the guilt for me getting injured when you're not the one that caused it. I should've paid more attention to my surroundings and he shouldn't have done that either, of course the demon also has fault here with his stupid abilities and all."
"But I—"
Oh my GOD asjfdhajsdnka—
"Didn't do anything wrong—"
"—You were paying attention to me that's why—"
"—You're okay and that matters. Again, let's review the facts," Oh Gods, when will my bones stop hurting? Why is breathing so painful? When will Tanjirou stop being a moral self-sacrificing Jesus. "One, you weren't the one who injured me. Two, I was being careless. Three, none of it is your fault. And four, you're being dumb and we need to finish this mission, so that we can all rest and get over this bullshit."
I gave Tanjirou another glare.
"Do. You. Un. Der. Stand?" I punctuated each remark with more aggressive poking. And yes, this is a Jojo reference, sue me, I need comfort from the pain.
After a few seconds of Tanjirou deliberating all what I said, finally, he nodded.
"Good, now let's get this over and done with."
Well, we couldn't be any luckier. Or lucked out after stupid bad luck after bad luck.
And I mean this wholeheartedly and not at all sarcastically.
The room where the tsuzumi drum originates from is actually the room that Shouichi-kun and Teruko-chan's big brother is hiding, and lo and behold, he's the one who kept beating the drum to rearrange the rooms so he can get away from any preying demons.
I must say, Kiyoshi-kun is one brave and smart boy. Having the guts to just even get one of those drums fused to the strongest demon in the house, while he was distracted by territorial dispute, takes some major balls specially for a child his age. Damn, these three siblings are really courageous, the younger two willing to get close to the dangerous being who took their brother and a brother who took a gamble just to survive. And their love for each other is evident, given that the first thing they both did was to ask for help to say the other or ask how the others were doing. Kiyoshi-kun here has full faith that his foolish little siblings would follow him and worried sick at the same time.
(This type of sibling bond reminds me of the Morie siblings, I hope that those three are doing fine wherever they are and not being taken hostage by demons.)
"Senritsu, I need you to escape together with Kiyoshi-kun."
What.
"What."
"You need to esc—"
An eyebrow twitched in irritation. "I got it the first time you said it. B-But why am I leaving with Kiyoshi-kun? What about you? And don't give me that, y-y-you're injured too!"
Alright, I get where he is coming from, yes, I just got my right shoulder dislocated, my left wrist sprained and one of my ribs are most likely bruised or even broken, but still, I can fight.
I think.
Besides the pain and all, I could still hold my sword albeit shakily and my legs aren't broken like one of Tanjirou's are. I could dodge without problems, plus I am extremely confident with my speed and my techniques for running away.
And I promised Nezuko-chan that Tanjirou and I are both going out together in this mansion in one piece.
I don't want to be a promise breaker, I have enough of being a cowardly timid weakling whose personality key point is to complain about her life.
Ha, how pathetic is that if I add promise breaker to the mix.
If it were me, it would be more than pathetic. I'd be a scummy indecisive worm, a worthless bag of flesh with a pathetic excuse of a personality. The worst of the worse.
I may be a coward, but I know what conviction and resolution is, being a person with one word is all that I have good going for, and I don't want that one good thing to be snatched just like that. I know that I'm being irritatingly illogical with this stance, but isn't it only natural to cling into a sensibility or an attitude that you yourself truly believed as your defining and greatest trait? The one good thing that you could have for yourself, that makes you go "Ah, I'm such a good person", the one thing that makes you feel like you have the moral high ground.
Isn't that just natural? Even subconsciously, I think most humans do this, to make them feel human, valued as a human or to just make them feel good as a human. I know, it sounds self-deprecating, but really, even narcissists do this.
I sucked in a deep breath, ouchowouch bad idea, broken rib bitch, and gazed back into his eyes.
"Alright, I'll do this. But," I sniffed, nope not crying here, Kiyoshi-kun is in the room and I'm not that shameless. "But you have to promise me, that when I come back inside, and I will, that you'll remain alive, so that we can work together to beat that demon and finish this mission."
I glared.
"Promise it to me or I'm never agreeing, I'll sike the spirit of Daiki-ojiichan on you if you enter the afterlife, I'm sure he'd agree because he loves to spoil me."
Tanjirou just took it in stride to the fact that I just swore to sike a probable dead relative on him and nodded in agreement.
"I promise." He raised a pinky and I held out my own to seal the deal. "And I have a promise to Nezuko to keep."
"Then I'll hold you to that." I said, turning away and helping up Kiyoshi-kun as Tanjirou left the room.
"And I'm siking Kaa-san on you too."
His response was to chuckle and shut the door with a click.
"Kiyoshi-kun, start switching the rooms until we find one that has a window, we're busting you out of here."
With a decisive THONKthe room shifted and Tanjirou's sound is suddenly across the opposite direction of the house.
I just hope that I don't come to regret my decisions.
Omake: It's not always in the right color
(Senritsu reincarnated as Skull, no one asked for this, but I just can't get it out of my head)
Renato watched closely as an innocuous bottle of shampoo was handed out to him from a calloused hand with fraying manicured fingers and its chipped black nail polish. The shampoo was his favored brand, something not overly pricy as everyone would have not expected from a man with a reputation for valuing his appearance.
(That particular brand gets the job done in managing his finicky hair texture and type, in addition to the scent that is just the right amount of minty smoke to be appealing while not hindering his job with leaving scent marks.)
As for why Renato is eyeing the innocent bottle suspiciously, it was because it was being handed to him by the resident civilian from their group of elites. Skull, the anomaly in their gathered assembly, is a vision of teenage emo punk with his bright purple to orange hair, amethyst eyes, dark makeup, piercings and biker get up. Not until a certain incident, the lot of them, except for Luce, were baffled by the choice of adding a civilian stuntman in forming a group meant for the Underground World's Greatest Elite.
And he is enlisted as the strongest Cloud, mind you.
As far as clouds go, Skull is an anomaly, but how would they know? There's not much Clouds roaming in the underworld, but typically they are nothing what Skull is.
Fearful, whiny, happy-go-lucky, naïve and far too smiley (too kind, too warm and too emotional for their side of business) for someone who's flame stereotype are to be aloof and cagey and territorial.
But due to his lack of any impressive skills other than his death-defying stunt driving, Renato and the others had chalked it all up to his civilianess for the lack of a better word and trouble to try and understand him.
Though after a certain mission that is now labeled as the Cathartic Incident, Renato and the others – even Luce who knew everything about them except for Skull – was surprised that within the cowardly whiny brat was a terrifyingly skilled swordsman.
(They were surrounded, not a lot of ammos to spare for Renato, Colonello and Lal, Verde's robots and other trinkets spazzing out after a vicious – dead – storm user let hundreds of storm needles rain, Fon had a broken forearm from a lucky – dead – lightning who got a hit in and all of them accounted for are slowly entering flame exhaustion from all the enemies coming out of the woodwork.
(Skull was passed out, having been hit by a deadly little poison after – stupidly, unselfishly – covering for Viper and Fon. He's fine – thank God, he might be an idiot, but he's their idiot – after the combine efforts of Fon, Renato, Verde and Viper. Fon burning away the poison, Renato rejuvenating the rapidly dying cells, Verde erecting a barrier of pure lightning and Viper distracting any enemies coming close. Lal Mirch and Colonello roared in fury, wreaking havoc to the famiglia that dared to hurt one of their own.)
It was all hopeless, and one of the bastards managed to get close to Skull where they had tucked him away for safety. They won't make it, some asshole most likely set them up to move away from their Idiot little by little, and now they're too surrounded to make a move to protect him.
Their flames flared in the same tune of desperation. Exhaustion forgotten for keeping their youngest safe. Right in his ribcage, Renato felt the jolt of true fear that he thought he would never feel again.
The feeling is as awful as he remembered it to be.
"Don't you dare!" Fon roars, flinging a shmuck to the side with a swipe of his none broken forearm.
Most of them are moving rapidly, with nary a care to what happened to the mobs that posed as an obstacle to their goal.
But then, something unbelievable happened.
Right as the bastard was about to go for the kill, all of a sudden, the arm holding the bastard's katana was severed quicker than anyone could blink. And within one moment, after the loss caught up to bastard's brain, he started rolling on the ground, crying about his missing arm.
Skull stood, silent unlike himself, holding a katana with his right hand and a small bloody pocket knife with his left.
It was a chilling image to see, the ever smiling bright Skull to be blank and still. A curious thing to add is his eyes were closed the whole time, his aura entirely different from what they're used to.
Predatorial and solemn, nothing like the reassuring warmth and gentleness that is inherent to their resident strange Cloud.
Everyone stilled, watching the spectacle with bated breath and adrenaline's high. The whole battlefield was oddly quiet, like a sailor at sea waiting for the terrible storm that he knew that would come to end him.
While the rest were distracted, the seven of them didn't let up from advancing towards Skull.
Curiously, Skull settles to a stance, knife gone and katana back to its sheath now on his left hip. Bending down, he moves his right feet back with his left knee supporting most of the weight, the smell of vapor and ozone becoming rich in the air. Renato heard the roar of thunder and a whistle of breath before purple flames danced in an arch around him like live lightning laced with Gods be damned bright sunset orange.
Oh. Renato stared at the trail of purple and orange. So that's why.
It was the only warning that the witless famiglia had.
"Storm Breathing, First Form: Thunderstruck; Eighteenfold.")
Renato could still remember the taste of Skull's unleashed flames, dense and pure, nearly suffocating for its large amount crowding the air with its intense encompassing nature. But the unmistakable protectiveness, home, warmth, faith and love settled deeply through their bones like a reassuring embrace.
In all their exhausted state, clarity bloomed and all the signs started to align into one conclusive picture.
Skull is a fucking Cloudy Sky and they've been blind to it the whole time.
(And it didn't take them a long time to accept the fact that they were his and not Luce. The moment Renato accepted this, is the moment the doubt in his ribcage vanished. He is not an afterthought after all, and Luce should really start minding her own Guardians and not try poaching them like a pet collection. Renato would not admit even at the threat of death, that he enjoys Skull's company. And who cares if he is taking advantage of Skull's generous and caring nature, if anyone is to blame it's the punk, he makes it easier to exploit him.)
It was glorious.
Some of the witless fucktards fainted after Skull made his first move, not surprising, since nothing more was terrifying than a Cloud on a rampage. Some tried to ran away in a bid for survival, those they had dutifully dealt with as the stuntman zoomed across the battlefield like lightning personified, cutting down whoever is in his way while wreathed in so much purple and orange that it seemed like his own hair was set on fire.
And it probably was.
(They didn't leave until every single one of the rivalling famiglia were all unalive. The news of another strong Sky in the I Prescelti Sette would surely travel fast if they let some rats go. All they can do now is to delay that news from being delivered early. Or if they have any say in it, nobody alive, aside from them, needs to know. Viper themselves would control the information if needed be even for free in Skull's part, after all, out of anyone in their group, Skull is Viper's favorite and now also their oblivious Sky. Viper is nothing but greed personified.)
But now at present time, the terrifying monster in human skin was now giving one of his hopeful – insecure – smile while handing out Renato's favorite brand of shampoo. His ridiculous – endearing – hair windswept from a bike ride, the ends of it, now a bright orange, sticking up in every direction possible. The sudden hair color change is attributed to Skull's flame outburst, apparently, the orange tips were as natural as his purple hair, and he dyes it ever so often to keep it all purple, from what they got out from him after an interro—a friendly banter, his hair used to be dark brown but then one day he woke up with it being purple and orange after a near death situation.
It was all frankly ridiculous.
"Ren?" Renato ignored the warmth that came from his chest that spread throughout his body after hearing the nickname. Ridiculous. He is being ridiculous. "Is there something wro-wrong? Did I, did I get the wrong one?"
The small hand faltered, he could feel more than see the five burning stares suddenly on his person, but he is Renato, the World Greatest Hitman, he ignored it with the finesse of a suave professional.
Slowly, he reached out for the bottle. "Thanks Lackey, just what I needed."
If his hand lingered longer than necessary, then that's them and their envy talking. In those few seconds, Renato relished the feel of Skull's calloused dainty hand, it is all pianist fingers and delicious warmth, pale in contrast to his sunkissed skin.
(They never truly addressed it, but everyone knows that Skull is biologically female. Viper was the first one to know given their expertise, then Lal from her intuition and observation. Verde, because as much as he is a mad scientist, he is also the team doctor. Fon came to know it after a sparring session where he had deduced it based on Skull's muscle mass and usual gait. Himself from observation and putting together his suspicion and background checks, it didn't help that Skull is too much of a pretty boy. And finally, Colonello because the bastard accidentally touched oblivious Skull. Renato doesn't know about Luce, but he has a strong suspicion that the Giglio Nero doesn't know despite the odds that she should. They never really cared to address it, Skull's sexuality or gender is his own business, plus he never corrected them with the pronouns, so they continued to refer to him as such.)
When the burning stares turned into lasers, Renato retreated his hand, but before he could fully do so, Skull clamped his fingers over Renato's, giving the most mesmerizing smile that he had ever seen in his entire life. And it came out of nowhere.
Fuck.
"You're welcome Ren, I'm happy to help!"
It was like witnessing the sunrise for the first time, naturally beautiful and enchanting, warm with happiness and genuine care. No expectation hidden in his amethyst eyes that glittered amber. Nothing more but honest affection.
Nobody had ever looked at him like that, it was nothing like the lust that filled his newest conquest's eyes, nothing like the coveting eyes of a weak greedy Sky, nothing like the fond look in Luce's eyes that he now knew as someone would give a talented pet.
It was new and true, that someone like him, a murderer, a cold, dirty, apathetic creature shouldn't deserve.
It's more than he deserves.
Yet Skull hands it out freely with no restraint, to Renato, to people like them, even when he had been a complete ass towards the stuntman for the first couple of months, Skull had been quick to forgive his actions when Renato did a genuine apology.
(It was hard to lie to Skull, it's either you'd feel bad with the disappointed face he gives or somehow, in someway, he knew how to see through bullshit, poker face and lying skills be damned, he just knew. That's why he is always victorious at poker nights, not even Viper or the ever calm two-faced Fon could get pass with cheating to him. But all they soon learned that tricking Skull was a no-go no matter what strategy they use so they just turned on each other. So far, Colonello is the greatest sucker.)
Skull just made it easy for them to take advantage of his civilian sensibilities, his naivety and soft heartedness, lie detecting notwithstanding. It took a while to ease out any suspicions towards Skull's goody-goody behavior, trying so hard to understand them, but even after months he had never changed.
(Except for that one-time Renato had mocked Skull's family from the circus. He can admit that it was a very asshole move, and Renato did it to see if he could finally get any other reaction from Skull other than shrieking. He established that Skull would never truly defend himself, accepting it all as his faults with a self-deprecating smile, another can of worms that he's not going to open unless he felt like going on a rampage. With that said, when Skull's family is involved, it is a whole new conversation. Renato's lungs would have been pierced by his cracked ribs if he hadn't augmented his ribcage at the last second and for one painful month, Skull ignored his whole existence until he apologized. To say the least, he would not be repeating that, and everyone is using him as an example.)
Renato is a shameless greedy man, and he would take and take more if he could, and Skull is a temptation provider, he gives what he promised and more. Promises of love, warmth, family, faith and home under his vast accepting sky, Skull makes it hard not to want to possess him, and Renato bets his whole Armani collection that the others wanted to do the same.
But there's one thing though, Skull is also a Cloud as much as he is a Sky. An element not meant to be chained down by anyone and free to drift as they pleased. When Luce had tried to do just that, the resulting back clash left the woman scorched as Skull subconsciously lashes out from the offending flame. The visible result of it was Skull, being irritable and cagey for a whole day not until he went for a ride to cool off.
Something warm curled under his ribcage, purring and delighted. In his peripherals, he saw how everyone visibly relaxed as the passive sky flames washed over them in waves, and Renato with his proximity from its source, feeling a little more than flame drunk.
Deciding that he should retreat before he could do something that would ruin his image, Renato forces his fedora down on Skull's hair and makes a tactical retreat.
"Stop smiling like that Lackey, I'm going to take a shower and you take care of that."
The silent 'or else' is heavily implied, but Skull just happily replied, "O-Okay! I'll take care of it!"
Now, he'll just have to take a long cool shower to remove any semblance of warmth in his body then maybe, he could offer to bake a dessert for Skull as thank you.
But of course, that's before he does target practice with a moving object, Colonello volunteered on this one for openly laughing at him.
~Taisho Secret~
Nezuko, just like everyone so far, enjoys Senritsu's singing. She likes it when Sen sings for her while brushing or playing with her hair while her head is on Sen's lap. Tanjirou suspects that it's because Senritsu reminds Nezuko of their mother and he wholeheartedly agrees to that.
*Tsuba – The usually round/squarish guard at the end of the grip of a katana.
*Mikadzuki – A carving knife shaped like a crescent.
A/N: Eyyyyy everyone, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. I tried my best with the few action scenes and the canon deviations that happened here. With Nezuko being reassured about her brother's safety, she didn't make any scratching noises this time, plus the children were heavily encouraged to not follow them and just straight up runaway if they needed.
Fair warning, I might be slowing down or more than I already am in updating the next chapter. Capstone project is here and I'm thinking of focusing on my studies and I hope that you all understand.
Also, funny thing is, I just took one of those quiz type thing where it says "What's your flame type? KHR" and I just went, "Okay, why not." Man, I just can't believe the result, I answered as honestly as possible and true to myself and my preferences, even taking the quiz twice to pick other options that would have also been what I've picked if the other does not exist. And twice of that quiz, the result stayed the same. It said I would have had Sky flames and I was like, "wtf, that ain't it bruh". I know it's not really that accurate, but the questions aren't really obvious on what's what, it's like taking a preference and personality trait, that's why I was really surprised at both results. Tbh I was expecting cloud, because I want independence more than anything in life, that, and recognition, so maybe lightning too.
Anyways, I'm just rambling, I just thought it was cool, and flame types don't really make a person's personality, it's all stereotype by the end of the day and we already know how stereotypes can be so wrong, I think it also has to do with genetics or something. But even so, the description after the result of the quiz was hitting a bit close to home. Not that it's accurate. Hahaha. Yeah. Definitely not accurate at all, haha.
Love ya and see ya! Let me know your thoughts for your comments are my lifeblood and I just want to hear them.