SALVATORE || Sano Manjiro X Fem! Reader

*+*CHAPTER 3 || WELCOME HOME*+*

Manjiro sighed in exhaustion, limbs aching and his skin stained with dried red, he unlocks the door to one of his shared penthouse's with his wife with a twist of a key.

Not a moment later, he could hear the pitter patter of footsteps, ready and excited to greet him and yet all he can feel is guilt of having to come home with the scent of metal surrounding him and the few dead bodies added to his ever growing kill count.

Before she can round the corner to meet him, he stops her, his voice soft and vulnerable. "Stay there, please." And she listens, she always does, it's one of the many things he loves and adores about her, even back then when they were still tiny little teenagers.

"Can yo-- can you go to our room for a moment? I'll be there in a few." He mumbled loud enough to hear, his gaze trained at the shadowy figure thats in his view. "I'll just clean myself up really quick." He says that but they both know that he'll be in the bathroom for more than just a few minutes, cleaning and scrubbing away at the filth that stains him until he's sure nothing is left and he can allow himself to be comforted with untainted hands once more.

"Ok." She simply says in understanding. "Welcome home, Manjiro." She added, tone soft and filled with so much fondness meant just for him that Manjiro stutters in his steps when he finally moves to take off his shoes.

"Thank you." He mutters after her figure, a small hum entering his ears and confirming to him that she heard him.

Manjiro sighs once more, brushing a hand through his tangled locks, mated with dried blood.

His sock-claded feet created soft thumps on the tiled floor as they automatically led him to their shared bathroom.

Locking the door, he stripped himself off his bloodied clothes and immediately hopped into the shower after turning it on, not even bothering to wait for the water to warm up as he shivered at the cold splash that made contact with his face.

Manjiro hums in relief, body relaxing as he felt his sins for the day wash away into the drain. He knows it's still there, that no matter what he does to try to redeem himself that it'll never be enough to make up for the life of a person, which in his case it was-- is multiple of them.

He lets his head hang against his chest, his obsidian eyes lidded as they blankly stared at the red slowly fading away.

'Good.' He thinks, allowing himself some piece of mind and trying to break away from the monster he turned and molded himself to be.

Manjiro's at home now though, he's home and he has a wife and a daughter and he can let himself shed that little piece of him that created this whole entire mess in the first place, that small piece of selflessness that pushed away everyone he cares about.
He wonders what his friends are doing now, well he's not exactly sure if they all still consider him a friend or just a distant memory but he likes to convince himself that they still do.

Manjiros thoughts headed back to his wife and his chest feels all too warm all of a sudden because despite his attempts to push her away when they were younger, she still remains to be stubborn with him, pushing and pushing and pushing and painstakingly sharing his grief with him, despite his hurtful words and attempts to make her despise him, she just wouldn't go away.

He's thankful that she didn't, that she stuck with him still, that she still looks at him with that same adoration from even back then and that she didn't leave him alone by himself. And now she gave him a daughter, a small baby girl, with her sweet smiles and delicate giggles that always managed to brighten up her parents day.

Manjiro can't imagine himself to come this far if she wasn't with him, with her honey-coated words and gentle touches and comforting presence, who knows what he would have done to himself. He doesn't like to dwell too much on that part.

Blinking himself awake from his thoughts, he washed away the soppy suds covering his body, making sure that not a trace of his sins remain.

He would rather die than touch his wife and duaghter in that state.

Turning off the shower head, he stepped out and dabbed himself dry.
As he was wrapping the towel around his waist, a small knock came from the door followed by the muffled voice of his wife. "Manjiro? I know you told me to stay in our room but I wanted to give you some fresh clothes to change into."

Manjiro smiles softly, turning the knob open before finally allowing himself the view of her. "Y/n." He mutters her name.

She gave him a bright smile, his clothes in her arms. "Manjiro." She says his name again and he just absolutely melts on the spot.

Manjiro steps forward, his strong but gentle hands coming up to cup her cheeks before he's clashing their lips together in a heated kiss. He felt her sigh against his lips in content, one of her delicate hands brushing their fingers on his own.

Breaking away, he leans his forehead on hers. "I'm home."

"Welcome home." She repeats ber words from earlier, lashes fluttering prettily atop her cheeks before she's pushing him away with a giggle, droplets of water coming from his hair cascading themselves down on her forehead.

Manjiro grins cheekily before he pulled her flush to his chest and shook his head aggressively, letting his hair splash tiny droplets onto her.

Y/n laughs playfully. "Manjiro, stop that and change already!"

He lets out a wide smile, leaning forward to press a long kiss to her cheek before he's pulling away to grab at his clothes from her hands. "Thank you." He says, moving to head into the bathroom once more.

"Oh and please do hurry, dinner is gonna get cold." She says after his figure and for some odd reason he finds himself falling in love all over again.