It's over.

Muzan's dead, he saw to that. The bastard is thoroughly dead now. They won. Demons are no more.

There's nothing much anchoring him to the world of the living anymore. Genya is still alive. He managed to protect him this time. His younger brother will live. Genya can now live the life he always wanted his younger brother to live.

Tsukumo…

He couldn't uphold his promise to her. She's dead. She had no pulse when he was forced to leave her side because the war with Muzan had not yet ended. The Corps still needed his strength, they needed their Wind Pillar. Genya had managed to find the Kakushis to tend to her before he was forced to leave but she had no freaking pulse when Himejima and Tokito tore him away from her side, yelling at him not to let Tsukumo's sacrifice be in vain. He gritted his teeth and dashed off to find Muzan after hearing that, yelling his frustrations and grief out the entire way with Himejima and Tokito trying to keep up from behind.

Hell or Heaven, he will find her. He will find her and apologise to her over and over again for breaking his promise to her, the promise that he never told anyone, the promise that he will always protect her.

He looked around in the void where he is currently at. His siblings… they are over there. On the bright side where the light shines.

Where's Tsukumo? Where's his mother?

He turned back to the pitch black darkness.

"Mum? You're there, aren't you?"

He knows she's there. He can sense her. He cannot explain it but he can sense her deep within the darkness.

"I-I can't go there."

That's the familiar voice he knew. That's his mother's voice.

"Why not?! Let's go together! Come on!" He yelled as he somehow managed to grab onto her hand and dragged her out. "Come on, Mum!"

"I killed my own children! I… I cannot…"

Ah, so that's it.

"Fine. Then I'll go with you, Mum." He said with a smile, a sense of peace washing over him. "I'll carry you and we'll walk to hell together."

Now, the only person left to find is the airhead. Where's she? Why couldn't he sense her? He wants to accompany her too. He wants her and his mother to meet each other.

His train of thoughts were broken when a large pair of rough hands separated his hand from his mother's.

"Let go. Shizu's coming with me."

"YOU-!" Sanemi shouted in absolute fury when he was forcefully shoved aside by the pathetic piece of shit that he used to call father. "Fucking old man! Let go of Mum! Fucking let her go!"

"You won't be going anywhere. Not here, nor there." The face which Sanemi never wanted to see again stared at him as Sanemi flailed about in the void, trying to reach out to his mother but failing to do so as he floated further and further away. "Be grateful you're my son. You are goddamn strong. Now, go. You still have people over there waiting for you to go back to them. I don't want to see you or Genya down here for at least the next few decades, you got me, shitty brat?"

Fucking shitty old man! Mum! MUM!

"-ah! He's waking up!"

"He's alive! He's alive!"

"Nii-chan! Nii-chan!"

He felt the faint light of the rising morning sun assaulting his eyes and he slowly opened them. What greeted him was the sight of the happy faces of the Kakushis and his brother, Genya.

Ah, fuck. He's alive.

That's the only coherent thought he could remember having in his mind before he knocked himself out once more.

It. Fucking. Hurt.

Correction.

It fucking hurts like a goddamn fucking bitch.

He let out an uncontrollable groan of pain, his body wrecking with spasms and seizures that he could not control. He heard movement and people rushing towards him.

"-chan! Nii-chan! Can you hear me?! It's me, Genya!"

"Gen… ya…" He croaked out as he tried to open his eyes. His vision is blurry but he could make out the shape of his brother's face. He blinked a few more times before his swimmy vision finally cleared.

"He woke up!" He heard some random Kakushi cheer from beside him. "Shinazugawa-san woke up!"

"Wa...ter…"

Genya immediately went to fetch him a glass of water. Slowly, and carefully, Genya helped him to sit up and Sanemi greedily drank the entire glass. It was then that he saw how seriously wounded he was in his battle with Muzan. He barely got a scratch with the battle he had with the Upper Moon One because Tsukumo was there supporting him, deflecting and redirecting every attack that could have hurt him, covering all of his blind spots and weaknesses. He wasn't that lucky with Muzan.

Tsukumo… Fuck. He left her all alone down there just by being here. He left his mother down there with that scum of a man all alone by herself.

Fuck. He couldn't protect them, even in death.

"Nii-chan?"

With some difficulty, he turned his head to face his younger brother. At least he managed to protect one person close to him. He didn't totally fail yet.

"Genya… How… you…"

"I'm fine." Genya quickly reassured him as the Kakushis busied themselves with checking him over. "It's been two days. It's late into the night now. We lost quite a number of people and there were a few hiccups with Tanjiro nearly demonized by Muzan but we… we won, Nii-chan. We killed Muzan. We won't need to fight against demons anymore. We are all alive. Me, you, Tsukumo onee-chan. We are all alive."

Sanemi closed his eyes in relief until he suddenly jerked himself back to full alertness. What did Genya say again?

"Tsukumo?"

"She's alive, Nii-chan. Heavily injured, but at least not as bad as you are. She lost a lot of blood and the stab wound to her left thigh turned out to be a lot worse than we thought. Recovery's slow on that leg and we don't know if it will heal fully, but the Kakushis managed to get her heart beating again. They managed to bring her back. She's asleep now, but she has been drifting in and out a few times and managed to talk to me for an hour before going back to sleep again. She's alive, Nii-chan. She's alive."

"Fu- Get me out of here." He struggled in his brother's hold as he tried to get out of bed, ignoring the Kakushis' protests for him to remain lying down on his bed. "I said GET ME OUT OF HERE! I WANT TO SEE TSUKUMO! FUCK OFF!"

There was no stopping him as he pushed everyone else away who only wanted to keep him pinned down on the bed. Genya understands, and tries to help him stand on his own two feet by supporting his weight. They didn't say a word. They didn't need to say a word to understand each other because they are brothers.

Genya slowly led him to a separate room within the Butterfly Estate. It's obviously late at night from how dark it is. He passed by a sleeping Tomioka, also heavily injured and resting on a bed. He couldn't bring himself to care about his fellow Pillar. All he cares about is seeing her with his own two eyes, to ascertain that she's really alright and alive.

With great difficulty, he managed to hobble and stumble into a separate room reserved for the female Demon Slayers. There were only two in that room. Tsuyuri Kanao was awake and reading a book. She spotted them immediately when they entered. She silently left the room to give them some privacy, a gesture Sanemi greatly appreciates.

She's there. Sleeping, but alive.

Genya managed to sit him down on a chair by her bedside and Sanemi tried to move his arms. They felt like lead. He had never thought it would be this difficult to move his arms before. Genya spotted it and gently helped to move his arm to rest on her bed, helping to put their hands together and allowing him to hold her hand again.

"Thanks, Genya."

"Don't mention it."

He quietly looked at her sleeping face. The left side of her face is wrapped up in bandages, which instantly reminded him of the nasty gash she had gotten on that side of her face. Her left eye is probably blind for good. It doesn't matter. He will be her eyes then. Genya said that there's a horrible stab wound on her left thigh and she may never be able to walk properly again. That's fine. If she couldn't walk then he would carry her for however long it takes.

He owes her that much. As a man, he had owed her too much. A scum like him doesn't deserve her endless love.

For her, he will be the best man there ever will be. He will love and protect her until his dying breath.

He felt a sense of drowsiness and his eyelids getting heavier. He tried to fight against the sleepiness to no avail.

"Rest, Nii-chan. I'll watch over the two of you."

With those reassuring words, he lay his head on her bed, his hand holding tightly onto hers while he's still sitting in that chair, finally allowing sleep to take him.

He felt the stir. He felt the hand that he's holding twitching and his eyes immediately shot wide open. He lifted his head up, ignoring the soreness in his neck for that bad sleeping posture. He doesn't care about that. His head shot up to immediately look at Tsukumo's face.

"Tsukumo?"

He saw her eyes slowly fluttering open. He saw the bleary look in her eyes that is always there whenever he had to wake her up from her afternoon nap when she fell asleep while cloud watching. That look vanished the moment she saw him.

"Sa... kun…?"

"It's me." He said as he held onto her right hand with both of his and rested his forehead on it, saying a silent prayer to whatever deities that had returned her back to him and giving them his thanks. "You're alive. You're alive."

She tried to sit upright but she failed. He tried to stand up to try and support her but his legs felt weaker than noodles. Genya is sleeping in a chair in a corner of the room, probably succumbing to his exhaustion from trying to watch them constantly ever since their fight with Muzan ended. He doesn't want to wake him up so he didn't make a sound.

He managed to stand upright in the end. She couldn't really move her body, but she had enough in her to shift her body a little more to the side of the bed, making space for him to lie on the bed with her.

"I heard Muzan's dead. Genya told me."

"Yeah. Genya told me that too." Sanemi said softly, satisfied that he can finally lie down with her like this. His right hand slowly reached out to cup the left side of her face. She flinched and looked away, not wanting him to touch her face.

"Tsukumo?"

"I… It's ugly, my face. I saw my reflection when the Kakushis were helping to change the dressings and-! I… I-I don't want you to see it! That ugly side of me."

His heart clenched at those words. Tsukumo had never shied away from dirt, blood, and gore but she's still a woman. She still cares about her looks, he knows that better than anyone. She's beautiful and will always be an unrivalled beauty in his eyes.

She's still beautiful.

"You're still beautiful." He told her as his right hand gently cupped the left side of her face, slowly encouraging her to face him and meet his gaze. "Sorry, I still wasn't fast enough to protect you. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have nearly died. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have suffered these injuries. I'm always the one with the scars anyway. Adding a few more to what I already have wouldn't have mattered."

"Sa-kun…"

"After we both have fully recovered, let's get married. Let's not wait any longer." He said with determination. "It doesn't matter what the left side of your face looks like or whether you can see out of your left eye or whether you can walk with your left leg, I'll still marry you either way. It doesn't matter even if you cannot move a single finger I will still marry you. I will still take you as my bride. I will take care of you for the rest of my life. Four kids, three boys and one girl, remember?"

She let out a soft laugh that she muffled by burying her head into his chest. He felt the wetness of her tears. He didn't say anything but to slowly wrap his still aching arms around her, pulling her into a hug.

"Sa-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"After I recovered, I want to dance for you. Every single day."

He pressed a kiss on her forehead, happy that they have a chance to fulfil their promise they made to each other.

"I'd like that."

"Daddy!"

He grabbed and swung his daughter about with practiced ease, making her laugh in delight.

"Have you been listening to your mother when I'm not around?"

"Uh huh!" His eldest daughter, Junko, nodded with eagerness. "I helped Mummy with the flour when she was making dinner!"

"Where's Mummy?"

"Out in the back! She's watching the clouds again!"

Must be spacing out again.

He let his daughter lead him to the back of their home. He and his wife didn't have four kids yet but already their dream of having three boys and a girl had gone up in flames. They currently have two girls and a boy. He's fine with whatever gender their children may be because they are their children all the same, but he knows Tsukumo had always wanted to give birth to more sons to help him to carry on the Shinazugawa bloodline. It took him a while to talk her out of it.

He found his beautiful wife sitting on the back porch watching the setting sun dip below the horizon. The clouds are drifting lazily in the skies today, coloured in a warm orange hue thanks to the setting sun. Her wife is gently rocking their infant son in her arms, humming a tune under her breath. Their second oldest lay asleep on the floor beside her mother, head resting on her lap and limbs sprawled like a starfish.

"Welcome back."

"I'm back." He greeted as he sat down beside her, their oldest sitting in his lap and watching the clouds with them for a short moment. They have to get up after a while because they need to eat dinner. After he managed to get his two rowdy daughters to eat their food and stop making a mess out of everything, he cannot help but to heave a sigh of relief. His wife had just finished breastfeeding their youngest and tucked him into bed along with their two daughters. The two rowdy hellions had worn themselves out from the ruckus they were making earlier and had knocked themselves out soon enough. Seems that their children will be turning in early tonight. What a rare sight.

"How's Genya-kun?"

"He's doing well. I have a feeling that he's seeing someone but I didn't ask. If he wanted to let me know he would."

"Aww, so he finally managed to open up enough to woo a woman?"

"Probably."

They watched their children sleeping peacefully in their beds. Long ago, they would have to constantly worry about demons invading their home in the dead of the night but that will not happen anymore. Muzan's dead. Demons are no more.

He felt her arms slowly wrapping around him and her head leaning onto his chest. He looked down, seeing her face. There's a vertical scar running down from above her left eyebrow to the middle of her left cheek. Her left eye had been blinded from their fight with the Upper Moon One. The stab wound in her left thigh had healed but she sometimes complained about phantom pains when the full moon is out. He would try to massage her leg to ease her pain when that happens. Thankfully, those occasions weren't common. He doesn't like to see her in pain and him not knowing what to do to help her.

She is still a little insecure about the scar on the left side of her face. He has to keep reminding her that he doesn't care how many scars she could have on it and he will keep reminding her about that as many times as he needs to. Her face might have been partly disfigured, but she's still beautiful to him.

"Sa-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"I want to have another child."

"So soon? You just gave birth to Saburo a few months ago."

"I just feel like it. We wanted four children, remember?"

"Yeah, three boys and one girl. I got a feeling that it may end up the other way round instead from the way things are looking. Well, I don't think that's a bad thing. If we have daughters at least they will end up more like you and less like me."

She giggled softly at his remark.

"Sa-kun?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I dance for you now? Right at the back of our house outside? The moon's bright tonight. I think I will look nice out there."

"Yeah, you will." He said with a smile, already picturing the scene in his mind.

"Sa-kun?"

"Yes?"

"You…" She tiptoed to whisper in his ear. "You can do whatever you want to do to me tonight. After my dance, I'm yours."

He felt all of his blood shooting to his head and right between his legs from how sensually she had whispered into his ear.

"Oh fuck this, you are fucking doing this on purpose. How dare you tease your husband like that. Come here, don't run. Wait till I catch you."

He made a grab for her and she dodged each and every of his attempts while laughing silently the entire time, not wanting to wake their children up from the din they are creating. She had created some distance between them and when she turned around to face him, her fingers were moving in a half-beckoning, half-taunting gesture for him to come catch her and he accepted her challenge right away. Her playful demeanour is infectious as he quickly tried to catch her within the small confines of their house and not let her escape his embrace. Their footsteps are naturally silent, a reminder of the training they put themselves through when they were fighting to keep the world safe from demons.

She dashed into their room for cover and he quickly entered the room, sliding the door shut behind him. Whether she did dance for him that night is a secret that only the two of them would know, but the sensual moans and the soft rustling of sheets are probably the beginning signs that another Shinazugawa might be added into their family soon.

Where the wind blows, the cloud will go. Clouds can only drift in the sky only if wind is present.

The winds had picked up again, this time, blowing the cloud into a direction of a brighter future.

~END~

AN: I'll admit, I had never thought of writing another fanfic for KnY. In fact, I was busy writing more chapters for my pokemon stories until I decided to take a break from it due to writer's block. I decided to hunt for any new stories recently published because I haven't been doing so in a while. DBlaviken got me interested in the KnY fandom once more because of our correspondence, so I decided to check out if there's anything new in the KnY fandom.

And lo and behold, I wasn't disappointed.

I was inspired to write this short story after reading through a few good ones. If you want a good world-building story with extremely good plot, there's Blizzard by DBlaviken. I am personally looking forward to how he's going to develop his idea. Then there's Wisteria Eyed by The Otaku Lady Priya who I felt is the more realistic approach if one really happens to find themselves in a world full of demons. There's also What is This Feeling by Anime no Akuma who delves deeper into the psyche of psychopaths and is a genuine good read on character development. That story actually made me sympathise with Doma, like, fuck. How?!

Since I wanted this to be just a short story I chose to gloss over some of the major battles in canon. This story is also different from my other stories because this is the first time I am not writing a reincarnated oc fic. The oc is simply a resident of the world and that's that. I want to try writing a female oc because there's too many males in canon. I also like Shinazugawa as a character because I find him relatable, at least to me. I also found him interesting to write about and that is a plus. I almost wanted this to end in a tragedy but… nah, next time, maybe. I've grown to like Tsukumo too much as a character. Maybe I would write a tragedy the next time I write another short story. Writing this story wasn't too hard and I didn't exactly rush through it, only taking me two days at a slow pace to see it through from start to finish before I think it is good enough to be published. The hardest part was trying to get all the information right because I don't really remember much of canon myself. Still, writing this has been overall rather relaxing and it's a welcomed break before going back to try and continue writing my pokemon series.

In any case, I hoped that you enjoyed this story. I certainly did enjoy the process of writing it.

Cheers,

BANIX