《• ʀ ᴇ ʙ ɪ ʀ ᴛ ʜ •》[ ᴍᴜᴢᴀɴ x ᴏᴄ ]

C54:☆Someday☆

He looked at the woman infront of him as though she was the center of his universe. He looked at her as if she was the reason he was existing.

"Hello, Yuu." She smiled a smile that wasn't a smile. It hurt but his mind that had long deteriorated mistook it for something else.

Something like a long awaited greeting between two lovers.

"Let's go home..." He extended his clawed hands as if they were harmless decorations and not  tools used to end lives. He outstretched them harmlessly as though they haven't been soaked with blood a countless number of times.

"Nao-sama! Please step away from him!" Tanjiro yelled before he suddenly gasped and held his stomach, his wound throbbing in pain.

"You won't come with me..?" Yuu asked while tilting his head at her prolonged silence.

He slowly encircled his hand around her delicate neck. One wrong move and he could snap it in half.

"You do realize that everyone here is going to die...? The moment you refuse me, I'll make sure that this whole place and everyone here burns to the ground."

Nao's smile remained. Her eyes were shining with clarity as if she did not hear him say those threats.

"Nao-sama..! Please get back! Run! I'll.." Nao stepped towards Tanjiro calmly.

"Tanjiro-kun." She said in a soft voice.

"I'm going with him."

Tanjiro's eyes widened.

"You can't protect me. You can't protect that girl, Aoi. You are too injured to fight and your face is so pale that any drastic movement is going to cause you to faint. You have lost too much blood from your previous battle." Nao smiled sadly, resignation evident in her tone.

"You cannot beat Yuu at your current level."

"Mimi-san is right. " Yuu said, stepping behind her. His looming figure gave Tanjiro the chills. Not only was this demon tall, his presence and aura was ridiculously strong.

"Boy, I am not like the original demon. I don't harm humans without any valid reason. There are only two reasons why I would be forced to kill them." He lowered his head so that he was looking down at him.

"The first reason is when they get in my way. The second reason is.." He whispered the next words into his right ear.

"... when they're preventing me to be with Mimi-san."

Tanjiro was frozen and so was Nao. She had a grim look on her face. Against a powerful demon who has lived for one thousand years just like the original demon, there was no possibility of winning when Tanjiro is injured while Nao was as harmless as a fly.

Nao gripped her sleeves, the clothes wrinkled in response.

"Tanjiro-kun.. tell my brother that I was happy to see him again....I was really happy. "

She carefully placed a hand on his cheek, her lips smiling.

"Can you please tell him that..?"