Slayed Hearts (Demon Slayer AU - Bakugou Katsuki x Reader)

Ch.10- Discomfort

Ch.10- Discomfort

Your eye twitched as another slap hit your back.

"Would you stop?!" You snapped back. "Give me a second to get across before you get out!"

Normally you would have already let the demon out, as the sun and the colors it usually cast were completely gone. But, after having found that river last night, you wanted to follow it and see if it led to a village.

Your food supply was running low, and so you wanted to try and trade some day labor for a couple of bundles of food. Your only hope of doing so would be to find a village and then asking around if anyone needed help. But after a day of walking, you had not found any sign of a village.

The best chance to find one was to follow the water, but nothing. Or at least it had been nothing until sunset. You had spotted some smoke rising across the river, and enough that meant there was at the very least a house in these parts.

A large mountain was to the north, the water in the river no doubt having come from there. And with a source of water, timber, and now a mountain... the chances of finding a village were only getting higher.

But... the issue was trying to get across the river. You had walked a little further, hoping to find an area of the river that didn't look as deep, but it seemed that no such area was here. So, you settled on an area where the current and rapids seemed the mildest and then started to pull everything up a little higher on yourself. Your haori was now gently floating in the freezing water as you crossed through it.

The basket carrying the demon had been lifted up higher, so with every kick or slap he gave your back, it was now towards your shoulders and not in the center of your back. You were tempted to dump the basket into the water for a few seconds to get him to stop, but you also knew that doing such a thing would certainly not calm the demon down.

He must have heard the water and your sloshing about in it, so you really didn't understand what he was getting so antsy about. Maybe he just didn't like water? If that was true, it must certainly be a demon thing, as the boy from your childhood had always boasted how he knew how to swim before anyone else.

You inhaled sharply as the water rose suddenly, going up past your breasts. Your breathing hitched a moment later, a rush of cold making you stiffen up. Why did you wait to cross now? It had been warm today, you should have crossed then when the cold water would have felt much cooler.

After another few minutes, you started to feel the water level go down. Your clothing was wet, but hopefully with a village or a house, or even a fire... you'd avoid freezing to death out here. Your mind buzzed for a moment, your cheeks heating up as you realized something else that could warm you up.

For a creature like a demon that was supposed to be somewhere between living and dead... Bakugou was unusually warm. You had really noticed last night when you had sat next to him. He was releasing quite a good amount of heat, maybe even more than the fire.

Could it be that his Blood Demon Art might have something to do with heat or fire?

You couldn't tell, nor did you want to try and push him to figure out himself. If he did have some sort of fire-based Blood Demon Art... nothing good would come of it with his attitude. The images of forests on fire and him standing in the middle of it entered your mind and then left as another kick came to your back.

"Ugh! Fine!" You called out, starting to reach towards the basket. "You can come out!"

You hadn't even grabbed the basket when you suddenly felt movement from inside of it and then a ripping sound. The weight disappeared and you saw the demon landing and entering the tree line, not even sparing you a glance.